Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

I don't have too much to say about football this week, primarily because the Bills did not play. Their bye week mercifully came immediately after the shellacking they received courtesy of the Patriots, so they could lick their wounds and maybe practice a bit on defense and get ready for what remains of their schedule. Notes on yesterday's action:

:: The AFC East is now a logjam, with the Dolphins, Patriots and Bills all at 5-4, and the J-E-T-S JetsJetsJetsJets still alive at 4-5. That said, it's starting to look like it's another year for the Pats, I'm sorry to say. The Bills have been overachieving, and with them heading into the tough part of their schedule I expect their defensive weaknesses to finally prove fatal. The Dolphins are in free-fall, and we're not even in December yet, which is when the Dolphins usually collapse. The Jets may have some surprise left in them, but right now the Pats are the most experienced and best coached team in the division. Ugh, but that seems to be the lay of the land.

:: Neither of my Super Bowl picks won yesterday, although at least the Steelers didn't lose, either -- they blew a big lead and came away with that rarest of NFL results, a tie. (I find it interesting that a tie occurred in the NFL so soon after a lot of public discussion as to whether the NFL should abandon sudden-death OT in favor of the college system.) The Eagles, though, got clobbered at home by the Colts in a game that featured four former Syracuse University players. Philadelphia is still leading the division, but they are well behind in the hunt for home-field advantage, which actually matters in the NFC. The Steelers are also leading their division, but it's a crappy division, so it's hard to gauge them accordingly.

:: The Rams are looking like the Rams these days, instead of the Bengals. Weird. I'll be interested to see what happens in the off-season this year, as I would expect other teams to be interested in Marc Bulger. I don't know if the Rams will make the playoffs -- they still would need to go 6-1 the rest of the way to have a real shot -- but they may finish up 8-8, which given their 0-5 start would appear miraculous. Of course, Mike Martz may end up getting a lot of the credit, which may not be a good thing.

:: The Vikings are 2-7. They benched Culpepper yesterday, but they nearly rallied for a win. Their first-round pick played his first game after a long, stupid holdout. This franchise is a total mess.

:: Am I missing it entirely, or does nobody ever talk about moving the Cardinals? Why does that franchise exist, where it does? Consider: Sun Devil Stadium, where the Cards play, has a seating capacity of 73,234. Attendance at yesterday's game (Seahawks 27, Cards 6) was 29,252. That means that the following cities could have sent every person living within their borders to the game: Jamestown, NY; Burlington, VT; Cedar Falls, IA; Hillsboro, OR. Amazing. (That's based on 1990 population figures, though -- I couldn't find any 2000 numbers. But I didn't look very hard.)

:: If the Packers get home-field throughout the playoffs, fuhgeddaboudit.

:: Speaking of the Packers: on his "Two Minute Drill" segment on SportsCenter last week, Chris Berman noted that the Pack excels at scoring just before halftime, which can be crucial to setting the tone of a game. Yesterday, against the Lions, they scored 14 points after the two-minute warning in the second quarter.