NFL Midseason Report: 2008

Rookie Chris Johnson (28) and the Titans' ground game is a big reason why Tennessee, at 7-0, is the only unbeaten team remaining. AP Don Banks's Mailbag Submit a comment or question to Don Banks. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Don Banks on Twitter

Two months down, two months to go in a NFL regular season that has defied conventional wisdom even more than most. You know the drill. It's midseason review time...

Most over-hyped storyline: Anything having to do with Brett Favre. Look, no one's saying that when a beloved league icon who happens to be the NFL's career touchdown pass leader un-retires and switches teams it isn't news. But I would like to point out the following: Without Favre last season, the Jets finished in third place in the AFC East. With Favre this season, the Jets are in third place in the AFC East. And that's without you-know-who playing quarterback in New England this year.

Most overlooked storyline: The undefeated Tennessee Titans. It's remarkable to think that it only took the Titans eight weeks to build a four-game lead over the other three teams in the AFC South -- a division that last year featured three playoff teams and no clubs with losing records. Not only is Tennessee the NFL's lone unbeaten entering November, but the well-balanced Titans feature the league's toughest defense to score against (12.4 points per game) and the NFL's fourth-best run game (145.0 yards per game). And they've done it all with their backup quarterback taking over full time since Week 2.

Sideshow of the year: The Al Davis press conference. It was like that scary, morbid, fascinating car crash we all slowed down and gawked at, but immediately felt a little sleazy for doing so. The Davis-Lane Kiffin divorce was a carnival event that went on far too long, but it did provide fascinating insight to the level of dysfunction, intrigue and paranoia existing in Oakland. And hey, who knew anyone still owned an overhead projector?

Story of the year: Tom Brady's knee injury. Though they won their opener against the Chiefs, the Patriots' attempt to duplicate their perfect regular season of 2007 effectively ended less than eight minutes into 2008. That's when No. 12 was felled by K.C.'s Bernard Pollard, setting off what I've already identified earlier this season as a seismic shift in terms of the league's balance of power. With no New England in the role of the NFL's Goliath, the league features a bunch of scrappy David's fighting it out. And it's kind of fun.

Trend of the year: The "Wildcat'' formation. Who needs quarterbacks? They're always getting hurt (or benched) anyway. The Dolphins, who have been trying without success to replace Dan Marino since 2000, are on to something here. Just snap the ball directly to running back Jim Thorpe, uh ... I mean, Ronnie Brown, and let him either run it, throw it, play-fake it to a motioning Ricky Williams, whatever. The single-wing formation that Pop Warner invented 101 years ago is restoring some fun to the No-Fun League. And it's getting copied left and right in the copycat NFL.

Best feel-good story of the year: Ending an error that was eight years in the making. The Lions finally fired team president/CEO Matt Millen after three games this season, making all of Detroit feel good. Millen, who was Detroit's most visible failure since the Edsel, had presided over Lions teams that went a staggering 31-84 (.270) since he took over the front office in 2001. But the Lions steadfastly refused to put him out of his misery until Bill Ford Jr., the son of team owner William Clay Ford, came out in favor of his firing at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club.

Best player you don't know enough about, offense: Andre Johnson, Houston, WR. He piled up 103 catches for 1,147 yards as recently as 2006, so Johnson isn't an unknown quantity. But the Texans' relatively low national profile has kept him from getting sufficient pub. The guy has numbers that the other Texas-based No. 1 receiver -- the one and only T.O. -- would kill for. Johnson leads the league in receptions (56), receiving yardage (772), 100-yard games (five) and games with 10 catches or more (four). In October alone, he caught 41 passes for 593 yards and two touchdowns.