Random Observations: Week 8 Edition
(Come get some)

Hanging Chad: Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson has to be a likeable guy. Case in point: he can challenge guys like Fred Smoot or Al Harris with his "cover" list or pre-game trash talk, but after the game they're hanging out, hugging and smiling. A guy like Steve Smith challenges these guys and they want to meet him out in the parking lot after the game.

Stat of the Week: Uberback LaDainian Tomlinson has more passing touchdowns this season than all New York Jets combined.

Addendum: Chad Pennington leads the Jets in touchdown passes and he hasn't played since September.

God Bless You: The hits just keep coming for New Orleans. Wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim missed Sunday's game after injuring himself sneezing. Yes. Sneezing. I bet there is nothing that would surprise Jim Haslett at this point.

Quote of the Week: "I was afraid if I didn't catch that, I'd get cut". --Jaguars rookie first round pick Matt Jones after catching a wide open touchdown Sunday.

Mrs. Pac Man Maybe: Okay, enough of this "Pac Man" Jones thing. He has to make up for that embarrassing effort on the Joey Porter touchdown. If you've seen any highlights from this past weekend, then you know what play I'm talking about. From now on it's Adam Jones... you have to be good to have a nickname.

Headlines: From The Tennessean, the Nashville newspaper on Wednesday... "McNair's Sack Pain Lingers". Can you print that?!

High Praise: Carolina's Ricky Proehl is the oldest WR in the league. He says that Steve Smith is the best he's ever been around. Proehl has played with Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Muhsin Muhammad, and Joey Galloway, just to name a few.

Say What?: Referee Ron Winter had this announcement on Sunday: "Delay of game - defense. Performing an unnatural act..."

Fumble-itis: New England fullback Patrick Pass fumbled the ball Sunday, dropping the football so he could grab his injured hamstring. I bet--and I'm just guessing--that "grabbing your injured hamstring" is not an acceptable reason for dropping the ball in Bill Belichick's book.

Why they Play the Game: San Francisco 15 Tampa Bay 10

Maddenism of the Week: During Monday night's game, Steelers upback Sean Morey jumped into the neutral zone before the punt. Morey went to college at Brown. John Madden said, "If he's smart enough to graduate from Brown, he shouldn't be jumping in the neutral zone". Hmm... good point, John.

Senior Moment: Does anyone else feel old when the Niners say that they're wearing their "1989 throwback uniforms"? Or is it just me?

Statomatic: If I were to have told you on Saturday that tomorrow, Jason Elam would score seven times, would you believe he'd only have seven points? Yeah, neither would I.

All in the Family: NFL players Chad Johnson, Keyshawn Johnson, and Samari Rolle are cousins.

Go Figure: The Packers have scored 20 touchdowns and held their opponents to 16. They have scored 6 field goals, while allowing 10. The Packers are 1-6.

MC's Weekly Soapbox: I was without cable this weekend because some brainiac crashed into a pole outside a local restaurant. All was well in the end, though, because when my connection to the outside world came back, I was up by 41 points going into Monday night, with my opponent just having Fast Willie Parker to go.