NFL's first half marked by craziness

Prognosticators and gamblers alike are now officially in a frenzy after Week Nine in the NFL. But has this week been any different than the eight before it?

Probably not, considering none of last year's division winners are currently in first place and the two Super Bowl teams are a combined 6-10. With half the season now in the books, and another eight weeks of squandering money on stupid bets to go, it is time to survey the weirdness of the first half landscape.

First half MVP: One need look no further than Nashville, Tennessee, where Steve McNair has proven week in and week out that the Titans are his team, not Eddie George's. With the once "franchise poster boy" George averaging only 2.9 yards a carry, McNair has only fought through nagging injuries and a sub par receiving corps to lead all regular starting quarterbacks in passer rating (105.1). Oh, and his team is 6-2. Others in the running were Daunte Culpepper, Randy Moss, Jamal Lewis, and Marvin Harrison.

First half Rookie Stud: It is far too early to tell, especially in the NFL, where the difference in the speed and pace of the game from college to the pros is tougher than even in, say, the NBA. But the two new guys who have caught the most eyes are Domanick Davis of the Houston Texans and Anquan Boldin of the Arizona Cardinals.

Davis, a fourth round pick out of LSU, has come into a very dicey situation and been nothing short of impressive, starting in three games due to injuries and averaging 4.9 yards a carry as the expansion Texans have clawed their way to a respectable 3-5 record. He also could possibly eclipse the 1,000 yard mark. Boldin, another low pick (second round, fifty fourth overall), has also played a large role on a 3-5 team that had expected their big time rookie receiver to be Bryant Johnson from Penn State. But Boldin, a Florida State product who one coach calls "the smartest receiver I have ever coached," is on his way to greatness.

Honorable mention also goes to Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens, whose six sacks are tops for rookies. The same Cardinals who got a steal in Boldin are cursing the day they let this hometown product fall through their grasps.

First half stud coach: Bill Belichick in a landslide, with Dick Vermeil, Tony Dungy and Bill Parcells making cases as well. But the difference between those others and Belichick has been injuries to key players, a distinction the Pats are now wearing as a badge of honor more than anything else.

The 7-2 Patriots (fresh off a flat-out rad win in Denver) have seen Adam Vinatieri miss some kicks he used to make, they possess no 1,000 yard-type back, and their defense looks like it pulls names out of the hat to determine who starts. But they continue to win somehow, and it is a testament to Belichick's ability to put players in the right place at the right time. How else can you explain three sacks last week for Mike Vrabel?

Biggest letdown of the first half: Pick a team, any team. The number of teams that have left their recently proud fans crying in their soup is astounding.

But of all of them, I would have to say the Oakland Raiders take the cake. At 2-6, without any sort of team unity (fallout from the Bill Romanowski punch and the Barrett Robbins ordeal), and coming off a loss to the lowly Lions, Rich Gannon and co. must want to crawl into a Black Hole rather than play in front of one. He knew what he was doing getting injured. Abandon ship!

Biggest surprise team of the first half: The Dallas Cowboys. Most people thought Parcells would turn this franchise around eventually. But Parcells probably told himself that at his age "eventually" did not fit in his vocabulary, so he settled for right now. Who's gonna argue with Bill?