5. I think this is what I liked about Week 10:

a. Fred Taylor's bruising, steamrolling run for his 10,000th career yard at Tennessee.

b. Five minutes left, first quarter, Lambeau, regular old Adrian Peterson run between right guard and right tackle. Peterson sprints forward into the pile of Green Bay tacklers and boom! He sends a Packer linebacker sprawling onto his back. If you're like me, you're just hoping the MRI on his right knee comes out OK today.

c. Dallas: 75 points against the Giants in eight quarters.

d. What a tackle by Jacksonville safety Reggie Nelson, the rookie, on a quick slant completion from Vince Young to Roydell Williams. Perfect tackle, in fact, chopping out the quick Williams' legs in the blink of an eye.

e. Amazing to me a back as good and shifty and relatively fast as Pierre Thomas of the Saints could go undrafted after his strong Illinois career.

f. Bernard Pollard blocked his fourth kick in the last year-and-a-half for Kansas City, giving the Chiefs two valuable points when his blocked punt rolled out of the end zone against Denver. Pollard has a great sense of where he is on the punt-block unit.

g. Speaking of having a sense of where you are (with apologies to Bill Bradley), what a tremendous job Tennessee wideout Justin Gage did, flat on his back in the end zone, crushed by Jags defensive backs and having the presence of mind to reach up and cradle the ball.

h. Morten Andersen, kicking a 47-yarder at age 47.

i. Brett Favre is on pace for his most accurate year and most productive year in terms of yards passing. He's 38!

j. Darnell Dockett: huge force against Detroit for Arizona. He looked unblockable at times, and gives the Cards some hope that they're not out of the bad division race that is the NFC West.

6. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 10:

a. Only one negative for Cleveland, aside from the loss: Where's the clutch play by a bunch of rising stars on offense in the second half?

b. The Vikings just didn't show up. I saw two-thirds of that game, and you can't tell me the Packers are that much better. Good character doesn't get overwhelmed like that.

c. Vince Young is way too inaccurate. His crucial third-quarter interception against Jacksonville was thrown three feet behind Roydell Williams.

d. You've got to love Damon Huard, Herman Edwards, but his time is gone. Now it's Brodie Croyle, sink or swim.

e. John Beck must really be a slow learner if he's not beating out Cleo Lemon.

f. Does Jamal Lewis fumble every time he faces the Steelers? It only seems that way. He lost his seventh career fumble against Pittsburgh in 14 career games, helping the Steelers get back in the game Sunday.

7. I think I think the most interesting 2008 draft story -- and I touched on this on HBO the other day -- will be what the Patriots do with the unexpected riches they'll have because the 49ers are so bad this year. To refresh: Last April, the Patriots traded the 28th pick in the draft to San Francisco for the 49ers' fourth-round pick this year and their first-round pick next year. New England traded the fourth-rounder to Oakland for Randy Moss. Now the Patriots will have a much higher first-round pick than anyone thought when the 2007 season started and the 49ers looked like a playoff contender. If the season ended today, San Francisco would hold the fifth pick in the 2008 draft.

On the draft trade chart that all teams use to calculate draft value, the sixth overall pick is worth 1,600 points. The 32nd overall pick is worth 590, while the 16th overall pick is worth 1,000. In essence, the Patriots, by virtue of the 49ers' crappy season, are likely to have exactly the same value they thought they'd have entering the season, and before Roger Goodell took away their first-round pick over Spygate -- the value of a mid- and late-round pick. I should note that because we haven't seen the frenzy to acquire the top few picks in recent that we've seen in the past, the value board for the top 10 picks should probably be scaled down.

In any case, there will be certainly be significantly more value for the sixth pick than there would have been for the 18th or 20th pick, obviously. New England's history is free-wheeling on draft day, and they hate the value of high first-rounders, preferring to pick players later for less money. And they've been right.

Laurence Maroney was the 21st pick in 2006. His cap numbers the next three years: $1.443 million, $1.634 million, $1.774 million. Brandon Meriweather was the 24th pick this year. His cap numbers over the next three years: $1.140 million, $1.406 million, $1.647 million.

In any case, the draft outlook is looking much brighter for the Patriots than it looked the day Goodell whacked Belichick. The 28th pick in the draft for the best receiver in football right now and a top 10 pick. Not bad.

Postscript: With the 28th pick this year, San Francisco took Central Michigan tackle Joe Staley, who has been turnstiled by a couple of pass-rushers, including Michael Strahan, this year. Oakland, with the 110th pick, chose University of Cincinnati safety John Bowie, who has been inactive for every Raiders game.

8. I think the Sunday night game was one of the weirdest I've seen in a long time, particularly how it ended, and I was not alone. "This is probably the weirdest game I've ever been in, but it's a win, and it counts the same,'' Philip Rivers said after the Chargers beat the Colts 23-21.

Think of it. The same man, Darren Sproles, returned a punt and a kickoff for touchdown -- in the first 10 minutes of the game. Peyton Manning threw three interceptions in a quarter for the first time in his NFL life, four in a half for the first time in his NFL life, and six in a game for the first time in his NFL life. Adam Vinatieri missed a game-winning kick FROM 29 YARDS AWAY! And, uncharacteristically, Tony Dungy lost his cool, and it helped the Colts lose. Very, very odd.

The Colts, with 1:36 left, had a fourth-and-one at the San Diego seven. Ben Utecht was called for a false start, though it appeared he was shifting legally when the officials made the false-start call. Dungy was so angry at the call he used the Colts' first timeout to argue his case, unsuccessfully, with the officials. Pushed back to the Chargers 11, the Colts then had Vinatieri try his 29-yard field goal. No good.

Now, it wasn't Dungy's fault his ace kicker missed. But it was Dungy's fault he used a timeout the Colts ended up needing desperately. On the ensuing Charger possession, the Colts called timeouts after the first two Charger runs, but couldn't call time after the third run, and so instead of the Chargers punting the ball to Indy with 1:08 left in the game, Manning got it with just 22 seconds left to play, at his 33. Not enough time. "I wasted a timeout,'' said Dungy, "which is dumb, and hurt us in the long run.''

Like I said, a strange, strange game.

9. I think, still, that this is Donovan McNabb's last year in Philadelphia. Too much poisoned water under the bridge. He'll look good in Vikings purple or Bears white next year.

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

a. I've got to take on Barry Melrose here. Keep in mind I'm part of a New Jersey Devils season-ticket group, so I have a vested interest in the team and the new arena -- the Prudential Center in Newark, where I saw the Devils and Penguins last Monday.

Melrose has since backtracked from his gratuitous line about the arena and city, but here it is: "It [the arena] looks great on the inside, but don't go outside, especially if you've got a wallet or anything else, because the area around the building is so awful.''

I am in Newark quite a bit, unlike Melrose, who admitted he hasn't been to the arena yet. And what's happening there is the hockey arena is the centerpiece for some badly needed downtown development. The area around the building right now is not nice. But is it unsafe? Absolutely not. The place is crawling with cops. The parking areas are as secure as the ones at any stadium or arena I've been to. It's a simple in-and-out place if you're driving, and not quite as simple but no less safe if you take the train to Newark Penn Station, a three-block walk away.

I guess my point is this: If you walk eight blocks from the arena at 11 at night, are you asking for trouble? Probably. If you walk eight blocks from Yankee Stadium or Joe Louis Arena or the Staples Center at 11 at night, are you asking for trouble? Yes, yes and yes. I'd also say that I've been to a lot of the nice new arenas in the country. I think the Pepsi Center in Denver is the best I've seen. But this one in Newark is on the next level with any other one, a showplace a beleaguered city should be proud of. I hope Melrose gets to see it, and I hope he walks about the outside of it, too, to see his wallet is very safe there.

b. You've got to see this Sidney Crosby.

c. I see the New York Post called one of baseball's truly nice guys, Brad Lidge, an "elite closer'' after his trade from Houston to Philadelphia. Well, half of that statement is correct. He's a closer, all right. In 2007, 32 pitchers, including Lidge, saved at least 15 games. Lidge's .704 save percentage was the worst of the 32.

d. Coffeenerdness: This from NYTimes.com, about the writers' strike at the television networks, last week: "Over at Warner Brothers, which is the largest producer of television programs, several of the 50 or so pickets shivered in their red T-shirts and complained about the abnormally chilly morning. (It was about 60 degrees.) 'Honey, can you bring me an extra-hot latte from Starbucks?' asked one writer into her cell phone.''

e. Loved American Gangster, even though I've found out it's a little more fiction than fact. Great job by Denzel Washington, but then again, when's the last time you saw a movie with him and said, "Bad job?''

f. If you're planning to come to New York for the pleasant time of the year the late autumn and holidays are, I've got two recommendations: Please don't, and ... no, just kidding. Just make sure to bring lots of money and even more patience. This place is jammed, even now, and unless you're traveling by helicopter or flying sleigh, plan on taking three times as long to get anywhere as you'd think is normal.

g. A nod to my colleague at NBC and HBO, Elliott Kalb, for his book "The 25 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time.'' Kalb asks the kind of common-sense questions you think of from time to time that never get much of an airing. Like: Why weren't there any Japanese players in the Major Leagues prior to 1995? There weren't any rules against it. Kalb gives us motives and lays out the conspiracy theories, and gives us his opinion, ranking each chapter with one to five Oswalds.

The thing I like about Elliott is that we disagree more than we agree on the sports scene, but I learn something from him every time we talk. Good reason to check his book out.

Who I Like Tonight, and I Mean Tony Kornheiser

Neither team, actually. But 49ers QB Alex Smith is playing so poorly right now, and missing on so many deep balls, that I think it's going to be a Seattle rout. I feel for Mike Nolan. I wish the sympathy factor would translate into some points for his guys. Alas, I don't see it. Seattle, 33-10.