5. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 5:

a. Az Hakim, now with the Saints, has lost his ability to separate from corners, and his hands stink. Other than that, he's a fine player.

b. If every one of the 11 Saints on the field can say they gave their all when linebacker Nick Barnett intercepted Todd Bouman's fourth-quarter pass and lumbered 95 yards for a useless late touchdown, then my name is Tom Benson and I'm moving the franchise to Minot. Particularly you, Wayne Gandy. Look yourself in the mirror and ask what kind of effort you gave on that play.

c. One last Saints opinion: I'll puke if I hear one media guy say, "Well, of course they struggled for the last month and got waxed in Green Bay; what do you expect from a team that's been made a bunch of orphans because of the hurricane?'' Wait: I just puked. Chris Berman said: "The Saints are going to have some days like this. They're only human.'' Professional humans, Chris. Don't give me that crap about it being okay to lose by 49 to a winless team. I don't care if they've got home games in the Himalayas. No team, and I mean no team, should have put on a horsecrap performance like the Saints put on.

d. Deion Sanders, you can't catch Shawn Bryson? You're kidding me, right? Bryson's a 232-pound back, Deion. If the Ravens want a good example of why their playoff dreams went crashing down, play the tape of that run.

e. The cars.com commercials. Not funny. Please stop bombarding us with them.

f. Stop the fighting, Ronde Barber. That's not you.

g. Alex Smith. I realize it was his first start, but in what league does flinging the ball without a conscience constitute the play of a smart quarterback, which everyone says Smith is?

i. I can smell the Eagles' running game from here.

6. I think I could probably spend a few paragraphs about the Baltimore Ravens and poise, but that would be repeating the obvious. Let's just say that incurring 21 penalties, two fumbles, two interceptions, two ejections and giving the Lions 35 points is a disgrace.

7. I think you can't stop the Patriots. You can only hope to contain them. That team just won't die.

8. I think this is the most impressive feat of Sunday in the NFL: Dallas held the Eagles to 129 net yards. There aren't enough exclamation points on a keyboard to praise that.

9. I think the football world, whether it wants to admit it or not, is pretty happy for Joe Paterno this morning.

10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Hockey is a wonderful game, and I'm glad it's back. But why would a league schedule a phenom like Sidney Crosby to debut and disappear in the Meadowlands a la Jimmy Hoffa? Idiocy. If you live in North Jersey, as I do, the Crosby debut was so far down the list of important things-beyond the baseball playoffs, the football season, Vinny taking over-that the phenom was relegated to page 10 in the sports section, basically. Why couldn't this game have been in Pittsburgh?

b. Not to shill for Heineken, but their new light beer, being test-marketed in four metro areas right now (I found it in Providence) does not taste like a light beer. Which is to say, it tastes good.

c. And not to rip announcers, but Bob Davie, you've got to be kidding me. I heard you actually say on an ESPN game 'cast: "A great percentage of New England winning three Super Bowls was Charlie Weis' play-calling.'' Wow. Is a "great percentage'' 30 percent? Forty percent? Look at everything that constitutes a team winning three Super Bowls. Great players. Great personnel evaluation. Great ownership. Great players. Great head-coaching decisions and work ethic. Did I mention great players? A great quarterback. And, certainly, great play-calling. But it is patently absurd to think that a third or half of the reason a franchise wins three Super Bowls is because the offense coordinator made good gameplans and called the plays right. Sheesh. Talk about coaches buddying up to coaches.

d. Coffeenerdness: OK, it's a quad venti hazelnut latte this morning. Can't help it. I am fried after this weekend. Gotta get four quick shots into me.

e. Next time you make the playoffs, Padres, it would be nice of you to show up.

f. Re: the demise of the Red Sox: So many things to say. I find it amazing that a team as flawed as this one won 95 games and made the playoffs in the first place. I believe the only reason the Red Sox did make the postseason is the immense gag job by the Indians in the last week of the season. You're not going to win much of anything when your stopper is a knuckleball pitcher-which means you don't have a stopper-and that is with all due respect to a pitcher I hugely admire, Tim Wakefield, who should be a No. 3 starter at best. Curt Schilling was Joe Mays this year. Matt Clement was Victor Zambrano. David Wells was good on about two of every five starts. I mean, who won those 95 games? I still can't figure it out. And as for the lineup, if I hear one more time what an incredible hitting team this is I'm going to puke. This team had a good leadoff hitter and the best 3-4 combo in recent baseball history. Jason Varitek is a great leader and a good-hitting catcher, a tremendous asset to any team. Four dangerous offensive players. Four, not seven or eight or nine. Now for the other five spots in the lineup. Trot Nixon, 13 homers. Kevin Millar/John Olerud, 16. Tony Graffanino, Edgar Renterria (I still don't know why anybody would think this guy's $4 million a year more valuable than Orlando Cabrera), Bill Mueller. Folks, the Red Sox have a downright pedestrian 5 through 9. You can hide that when Ortiz and Ramirez are combining for 292 RBIs. This team was smart to not sell its soul at the deadline for an A.J. Burnett or whatever arm was out there. The only way you're going to be good long-term is not to trade the gems from your system. You have to let them develop in roles over time. How can you not like Jonathan Papelbon? In the end, the Red Sox had an entertaining season. They were maddening, but fun to watch.

g. David Wells and Bobby Jenks both have to be over 300. Just look at them. That Jenks is going to be good for a very, very long time.

h. And one thing about the White Sox: Give them their due. That's a team that plays defense, plays smallball exceedingly well, and hits well enough to win a series against any team in baseball. Oh, and El Duque. That was the best clutch relief appearance I've ever seen. Imagine entering a game up 4-3, no outs, bases loaded, in a park with the out-for-blood fans as close to you as in any other park in the big leagues, with a lost lead inevitable. Imagine going to three balls on three straight hitters. And imagine, in the midst of a tension-filled 13 minutes of some of the most gut-wrenching duels in any sport, coaxing, collectively, seven foul balls on those three-ball counts and never throwing ball four. Imagine retiring three straight -- Varitek, Graffanino and Johnny Damon -- on a foul pop, infield pop and swinging strike three? I mean, that's a man right there.

i. Craig Biggio. First-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

j. Good luck on your first day at the new job, Laura King. You're three time zones away, but we're with you.

WHO I LIKE TONIGHT, AND I DON'T MEAN AL MICHAELS

The Chargers are a tough match for any team these days because they can run the ball so well (158.3 yards per game) and they can defend the run almost as well (91.5 yards per game). I appreciate the fact that Bill Cowher has had two weeks and a day to prepare for this game, which is almost an unfair advantage against a team that had an East Coast trip last week. But right now I don't see anyone stopping LaDainian Tomlinson. Watch the guy tonight. Study him. You know what he does so well? The Chargers will give him a pitch wide, and he'll say: "Wait a minute. I'm not going wide, even though all my blockers are paving the way for me. I see a sliver of room four holes over that I like, and I'm taking that one.''

You get the idea. I like the Chargers. And I haven't even discussed how Drew Brees outplayed Tom Brady last week on Brady's home turf.

San Diego, 33-13.