The Game Plan (cont.)

Ten Things I'll Be Watching For This Weekend

Thirteen weeks after pulling his hamstring, Aaron Ross hopes to return against the Falcons. Evan Pinkus/Getty Images

1. Darrelle Revis vs. Randy Moss. Revis said he covered Moss man-to-man in their first meeting in September, when Moss caught four passes for a measly 24 yards and no touchdowns. Moss said Revis had safety help. Then Revis said he did not. Then Moss said he did too. Then Bill Belichick said he had safety help. Then Revis said he did not. Then, thank the Lord, Revis said Wednesday, "That question is dead from now on.'' Play the game already.

2. Sebastian Vollmer. Never heard of him? Second-round Patriots left tackle. Took over when Matt Light went down a month ago with a knee injury. On Sunday night against Dwight Freeney, Vollmer allowed exactly one quarterback pressure and broke Freeney's nine-game streak with at least one sack. The Patriots had to help right tackle Nick Kaczur more on Robert Mathis on Sunday than they had to help Vollmer on Freeney.

German kid. Speaks English with a German-Texas twang after spending four years at the University of Houston. Faces an interesting challenge this week with the Jets' changeup pass-rush. At 6-foot-8 and with arms like a power forward, he's a very, very interesting long-term prospect.

3. Kurt Warner returning to the scene of his prime. Warner is 25-4 at the Edward Jones Dome. His 26th win is likely but not promised, because the Rams are playing hard and gave the Saints everything they could handle last week.

4. The beginning of the Bruce Gradkowski Era in Oakland. Well, it can't be any worse.

5. The beginning of the Perry Fewell Era in Buffalo. Actually, the Bills game is in Jacksonville, but Fewell and Gradkowski do have something in common: They have a puncher's chance of winning their jobs full-time in 2010.

6. The Saints secondary, just trying to survive. Other than Drew Brees, the one injury the Saints couldn't afford last week was one to a cornerback -- and what should happen but second-year standout corner Tracy Porter goes down for a month with a knee injury in St. Louis. With the other corner, Jabari Greer, already very questionable with a strained groin, the Saints signed a Ravens relic, Chris McAlister, to scotch-tape their secondary through the next few weeks. Suddenly, the game in Tampa against rookie QB Josh Freeman is not a gimme. By the way, this bit of good news for Gregg Williams' D: Tom Brady's coming to town next week.

7. The top of the 2005 draft, revisited. Mike McCarthy, putting his two cents in as offensive coordinator of the 49ers in 2005, voted for Alex Smith. Niner coach Mike Nolan and GM Scot McCloughan also voted for Smith. So Smith it was. A year later, McCarthy was in Green Bay with the booby prize, Aaron Rodgers, picked by the Pack with its first-round pick in '05. Funny business. Now it's Rodgers who's entrenched as the Packers' franchise guy and Smith who's fighting for his football life. They meet on the Frozen Tundra (well, not actually frozen; more like nippy, with temps around 52 in Green Bay) on Sunday afternoon.

8. The return of Aaron Ross. The Giants suffered two debilitating training-camp injuries -- to safety Kenny Phillips (for the year) and cornerback Ross (for two or three weeks, they hoped). Try three months. Hurt on the last practice of training camp (Aug. 25), Ross hopes to return against the Falcons 13 weeks after pulling the hammy. Thursday was his fourth straight practice without re-injuring it.

The New York D needs him badly. Jints allowed 71 points in their five games, all wins. Jints have allowed 123 points in their last four games, all losses. Very odd bit of good news for the Giants: On Thursday, the 53-man roster practiced in toto for the first time this year.

9. Jay Cutler, the Eagles and the Hex of Al Michaels. How will Cutler be greeted by the angry home crowd in Chicago, and how will he perform, on the heels of his five-pick nightmare at San Francisco? Philly's 0-7 on Sunday night since NBC took over the primetime package in 2006. I'm sure Andy Reid cares. Looking on the bright side, though, they're winless with Michaels on Sundays, but unbeaten with Cris Collinsworth.

10. T.J. Houshmandzadeh keeping his second-guessing to himself. "As of right now, it doesn't look like the best decision,'' Houshmandzadeh told Danny O'Neill of the Seattle Times, looking back on his pick of the Seahawks over the Vikes in free-agency. Though Houshmandzadeh said "it's early in the process'' and qualified it about 16 other ways, you can bet he regrets not being on the end of Brett Favre's aerials, and the pangs won't get better when Seattle visits Favreland on Sunday.