Surprising upsets scramble playoff picture

Never count a team in the NFL down and out this early in the season, even if it's coming off a streak of losses. That's what both the Indianapolis Colts and the Oakland Raiders proved last week, as both teams rebounded from dismal slumps to pull themselves back into their respective division races.

After a 4-0 start, the Raiders fell into a tumble _ the offense suddenly fell apart, and the team went on a four game skid. Last Monday though, they looked like the Raiders of early season, as Rich Gannon led his team to a 34-10 rout of the Denver Broncos. No one would have expected the Raiders to stun the Broncos at Mile High in the fashion that they did. The 6-2 Broncos rode into their home stadium the favorites to win this 500th Monday Night Football match-up.

In the end, though, it was the Raiders who walked away with the victory. Dominating the line of scrimmage against the Broncos, the Raider's offense put in a record setting performance, as quarterback Rich Gannon completed 34 of 38 passes for 352 yards. Gannon's performance was so impressive that the entire Raider offense was based on Gannon as his three touchdown 352 yard passing game paired with his 12 yard team rushing yards accounted for 364 of the Raiders 374 total offensive yards. In fact the Raider's starting running back Tyrone Wheatley only touched the ball four times throughout the entire game.

With the decisive victory, the Raiders took back what looked as if it had turned into a lost season. At 5-4, the team now stands only one game behind the Broncos and the San Diego Chargers, who are tied for first.

The Raiders weren't the only team that proved that it isn't out of the playoff picture just yet. After their own three game skid, the Indianapolis Colts rebounded from their dismal seeming season with a road upset of their own against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Colts entered the game tied for first place in their division, but needing to turn their season around if they had any plans on advancing in the post-season.

And turn the season around is exactly what the Colts did against the Eagles, as they crushed Philadelphia with an unstoppable offensive attack of their own. With a more balanced attack than the Raiders, quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 319 yards along side of rookie James Mugro's 114 yards on the ground to put up 35 points on the board against an Eagles defense that is ranked third in the AFC.

The most impressive performance of the game, though, was neither Manning nor Mugro but wide receiver Marvin Harrison, who caught touchdown passes of 57 and 43 yards on the day. Harrison's receptions put him on an incredible pace to finish the season with 133 total receptions. After being outscored 64-10 in their previous three losses, the Colts offensive revival has them back on track. The true test for Indianapolis will come in week 12 when they travel to Denver to take on the Broncos.

After rebounding from their mid-season skid last week, the New England Patriots showed that they are back on track with a come from behind victory against the Chicago Bears. Falling back into their mid-season woes at the beginning of the game, down 21 points in the middle of the third, Tom Brady and the rest of his team refused to quit as they put 27 points on the board in the second half to overcome the Bears 33-30.

The Bears dominated for much of the game, and they looked like the Bears of 2001 that complied a 13-3 record. But in the end, their 2-6 record showed through, as a defensive collapse allowed the Patriots to sneak back into the game and steal away the victory. With back to back wins, the Patriots look as if they're back on their early season roll. They face a tough test this weekend though as they travel to Oakland, another team that righted itself last week.



The Good

With former star quarterback Kurt Warner out with a finger injury, replacement Marc Bulger has led the St. Louis Rams out of their 0-5 hole and into a four game winning streak. With an astounding 453 yard performance against the Chargers last Sunday, Bulger passed for all four of his team's touchdowns and threw no interceptions. Over the course of the Ram's winning streak has completed 66.7 percent of his passes, averaging 8.33 yards per completion.

Though Kurt Warner looks ready to come back and take his role as the starting quarterback, if Mike Martz can't find a place for Bulger on his roster, someone in the NFL will.



The Bad

After leading the Atlanta Falcons' 31-17 going into the fourth quarter, a defensive collapse by the Pittsburgh Steelers' let the Falcon's back in to a game that nobody would end in the NFL's first tie since Nov. 23, 1997. While Steeler's quarterback Tommy Maddox played an excellent game throughout the first three quarters, the Steelers D was unable to stop Michael Vick in the fourth quarter, as he led the Falcons' comeback.



The Ugly

Even though the Miami Dolphins are playing without their starting quarterback Jay Fiedler, they should have been able to muster up a victory against the New York Jets. Falling to their third consecutive defeat since Fiedler's injury, Miami's loss dropped them out of sole possession of their division and exposed a lack of depth on offense that is sure to hurt the team in the post season even with Fiedler back.

And the Bengals, just because.