Houston finally finds someone it can beat

The Expansion Bowl. Or "The You-Can't-Stop-Joe-Pendry's-Offense-You-Can-Only-Hope-to-Contain-It Bowl." My only prediction here is Pendry will allow David Carr to throw it more than the nine times he did last week.

These two teams haven't met since 1996. Why do I get the feeling that the game doesn't mean as much to Rams Nation as does the intrigue between the Ram front office and coach Mike Martz, who will be watching the game at home and not phoning his offensive coordinators from his suburban home?

The Dallas D has 21 sacks and eight interceptions. I expect both totals to double against young and very nervous Josh McCown at Texas Stadium on Sunday.

I don't know what's wrong with Daunte Culpepper. I saw him at his best--crushing the Saints in Week 3. But he's already thrown more picks in six games (12) than he threw in 16 last year (11). You can't tell me it's all Randy Moss.

I love this game. Just love it. Santana Moss (and his 19.6-yards-per-catch average) is licking his chops at facing the 31st-rated pass defense in football. I say with big brother Peyton in the house (and Peyton will be at Giants Stadium Sunday), Eli shows off another ending. I think Eli's going to get a patent for impossible finishes pretty soon.

I was at the game the last time these teams met. Joey Harrington bought his ticket out of Detroit that day, throwing five interceptions to hand the Bears a win they barely deserved. I expect Jeff (Don't Call Me Karim) Garcia to manage the game a little better in this one.

Guess who's leading the NFL in touchdown passes? Brett Favre. Fourteen. Guess who's second? Carson Palmer. Thirteen. Knowing how respectful Palmer is, I expect him to do a Wallace Cleaver impersonation when he meets Favre before the game.

The temptation is to say: Hey, the Raiders, at 2-4, aren't dead yet. And then you look at the next 25 days: at Tennessee, at Kansas City, Denver, at Washington. Oooof.

Well, they're not going to be the New Orleans Saints anymore. Why retard progress? Let's just give 'em a new name in their new city right now.

On my tombstone will be the words: Stubbornly, he didn't know when to take San Diego out of his Fine Fifteen.

Chris Simms has the benefit of a bye week and faces a pass defense allowing 329 yards a game. If he doesn't throw for 300 and three scores, I'll be stunned.

The most notable stat of the day will be the total of Philadelphia rushes: 28. I asked Andy Reid the other day: "Who do you think you are, Mouse Davis?" But I think he'll start to tilt more toward 60-40 run-pass from now on.

Poor Buffalo. Coming off a crushing loss at Oakland, traveling west to east, traveling again to Foxboro, and facing a team that's been off for two weeks. A Belichick team that's been off two weeks. This one could be ugly.

Not to rub it in, but the offense run by Brian Billick and Jim Fassel is averaging 11.5 points per game. In six games, the Ravens have run for one touchdown. Gentlemen, polish your resumes.