* The Philadelphia Eagles have returned seven balls for touchdowns this season, in just their first five games, which is the most in NFL history. Only four teams had six (including Dante Hall's KC Chiefs in 2003), and no one else this season has more than three!
* JJ Watt (occupation: Houston Texan defensive end) has two of those himself, including the amazingly athletic fumble return last night off Andrew Luck, as well as a TD catch as an offensive crossover. Besides being a budding media superstar and (by all accounts) a tremendously nice man, he is the most spectacular and arguably the most valuable defensive player in the league. However, as Colin Cowherd made note of this morning, he is NOT the league MVP, nor will he be. It's basically impossible to imagine a situation where a player who touches the ball twice a game on average is your most valuable, QBs have the huge advantage of handling it and determining the direction of it every single play, and the only other positions with a chance would be the others the handle it regularly - backs and receivers. Watt was spectacular last night...and the Texans lost, again, for the 15th time in 22 games, because their QB play was not up to snuff. In this case, not up to Luck. (Or Manning, or Brady, or Rogers, or Wilson or Brees or any of those top passers that dominate the games they play.
Sorry, JJ - we love you; we really do! But you won't be the MVP.
* Todd Gurley, Georgia's Heisman-candidate running back, got caught puling a Manziel, signing autographs for money. He made approximately $400 by ESPN's estimation, and it may be that his college career is over.
Meanwhile, the Power Five conferences (of which Georgia is a member) are about to start supplying cost-of-living expenses for their players, including insurance benefits and more, which will amount to hundreds of times more money flowing to every football player like Todd Gurley than he just got banned from the game for.
Irony.
* If you're Peyton Manning, six touchdowns from tying Bret Favre's career TD record, and you're playing at the Jets this Sunday in a "who cares" road game before coming home for two important games against SF and SD... How many scores do you throw for this week? Certainly, not six or seven - he'd like to break the record at home, I'm sure. But this IS the Jets, after all, and wouldn't it be nice to get close so he can relax about "IT" happening sometime during that five day span. Our bet: if Peyton doesn't throw at least FOUR (and more likely five!) in New Jersey, it'll be an upset.
* The Cards are probably starting Logan Thomas, late of Va-Tech, at QB against Washington this weekend. Thomas' career stat sheet is remarkable, so I'll remark on it: 1 for 8, for 81 yards. The one was a mistake that the defense whiffed on, leaving the receiver to take it home without interference. Even against Washington, this could be ugly...
* Finally, two unusual college teams to watch out for... the Kentucky Wildcats are a three-OT, missed delay-of-game penalty away from an undefeated record, and the California Golden Bears are a Hail Mary loss to Arizona from a similar 5-0 record. Both teams have shown resilience and the ability to bounce back when down this year, despite meager recent histories... Why not them? Why not this year?
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