I had mixed feelings watching that Broncos-Colts game last night. On the one hand, you kind of have to like and appreciate Andrew Luck, and it was time someone beat a Broncos team that some were starting to call unbeatable. On the other hand, I don't like to see teams that cast aside legends who are supposedly finished seem to be correct. I wanted to see Peyton Manning stick it to Jim Irsay for evidently failing to appreciate how good he had it all those years. On the bright side, it was a fun game to watch and maybe both sides were a little bit right. And it capped a pretty awesome day of football.

Bucs at Falcons: There's some life in these Falcons after all. The clear beneficiaries of all the injuries were not only Harry Douglas, as expected (though he was even better than expected), but also Jacquizz Rodgers, who caught 2 touchdowns and was targeted at the goal line on yet another series but couldn't hang on. Eerily quiet day from Tony Gonzalez, a supposed beneficiary of the injuries. Matt Ryan attempted 20 passes and 15 went to Douglas and Rodgers. ... Awesome Vincent Jackson touchdown, took it away from defender with one hand and went on to score. Near TD for Doug Martin, but got drilled near goal line, and left with injury. Mike James in, he's your handcuff there. Mike Williams didn't do much. Which Florida team won't win a game all season? I see two candidates. ... Disappointing game for Tim Wright, hardly surprising though that the Bucs don't take advantage of their playmakers.

Rams at Panthers: The Sam Bradford injury is the big news here. I picked him up last week, proactively, to cover the fact that both of my QBs are on byes this week. Unfortunate. I'll be looking at scraps this week, and will not consider Kellen Clemens. ... Zac Stacy didn't have big numbers, but given the quality of the run defense, he did well. Just missed out on a short touchdown, ruled down short of the goal line. I'm a believer. ... Tavon Austin sighting. Long TD reception, called back for a penalty. Still, maybe it will get his/the Rams' confidence in him up. Can't hurt. Near TD for Austin Pettis, couldn't hang on in the end zone. Panthers secondary seemingly doing it with mirrors. ... Steve Smith touchdown, nearly another one. And in the middle of a few skirmishes, too, as is his history. Trash was talked, fights occurred, but hey, Panthers are winning some games and the Rams aren't. ... Yet another game where DeAngelo Williams has a near-perfect matchup and does very little with it.

Bengals at Lions: How about those Bengals? They're playing a lot of thrilling games against a lot of good teams and coming out on top. That's wins over the Lions, Packers and Patriots now. ... Gio Bernard didn't do much for me. The problem with committee backs, you never know if they'll get enough chances. ... A.J. Green long touchdown bomb. Boom. Big day. ... For the Lions, and end zone chance for Calvin Johnson, then one for Fauria. Then one for Pettigrew, with Pettigrew scoring. Later Megatron scores. Twice. ... Joique Bell catching a screen pass. Looks fine. Quiet game for the Lions ground game, though. ... Nearly a touchdown for Ryan Broyles. Yes, he's alive. Stafford just missed him open over the middle. ... Leaping touchdown grab from Tyler Eifert. ... Lions lose on 54-yard field goal on final play. Bad sports weekend for Detroit. Sorry, I'm a lifelong Red Sox fan.

Chargers at Jaguars: The Chargers were in the red zone against the Jaguars almost all day. Bad defense, very good offense. Numbers were a bit disappointing, only because they kept making mistakes. Keenan Allen was thrown to twice in three plays in the end zone, interfered with on both to prevent touchdowns. Philip Rivers was stopped short on a scramble right before the half, and the clock ran out. Antonio Gates fumbled after a catch near the goal line. Bottom line, Chargers offense looking good despite some players putting up less than stellar numbers. Nice game and even a touchdown from Ronnie Brown. ... Oh yeah, Jags are bad. Disappointing game from Justin Blackmon, but that will happen every once in a while. He did have a sweet-looking catch in the edge of the end zone, but couldn't get both feet down. Keep starting him.

Bills at Dolphins: Looked like Fred Jackson got hurt early on, when he got rolled up on the sideline by a defender, already out of bounds. Unfortunate. No, he's fine! Scores a short touchdown. The hurt one is C.J. Spiller, who the Bills really need to think about giving a week or two off. ... Couple of really bad picks by Ryan Tannehill, one a pick 6, the other a force in the end zone to a well-covered Brian Hartline. Finished with strong numbers. ... Awesome leaping touchdown by Brandon Gibson. Two defenders between him and the goal line and he basically leaped over them for a touchdown. Later, another one. So in the unlikely event you started Miami's slot receiver, who benefited from Charles Clay catching only one pass, good on you. ... Dan Carpenter winning field goal for Bills against his former team. We joked about it in the Weekly, but it comes to pass. Revenge!

Patriots at Jets: Thrilling game. Jeremy Kerley TD -- called him a sleeper last week. Jeff Cumberland surprisingly busy. Nearly caught a touchdown, broken up on a great defensive play. ... Announcer Dan Dierdorf charting hits on Gronkowski's arm. Good grief. Gronk, as many expected, was huge. Went over 100 yards, caught a ball down to the 1-yard line that was nearly a touchdown. Also had a near one-handed catch in final minute, would have probably been game-winning touchdown. Wasn't using his injured arm to help pull it in. Anyway, guess you can start him with confidence for now. ... Brandon Bolden and Stevan Ridley both scored in this game. ... Geno Smith making plays with his legs. Safe to say he's won the Jets fandom over, despite all the sacks and turnovers. Not like the Jets aren't used to those. ... Jets winning field goal after Patriots called for unsportsmanlike on earlier attempt. Controversial. I guess that's things evening out for New England's ridiculous win over the Saints? If you believe in that kind of stuff.

Cowboys at Eagles: Joseph Randle, nothing special out there. As expected. Phillip Tanner around goal line, scores a touchdown. DeMarco Murray maybe not out for long. Am assuming the idea the Cowboys not sold on him bogus. I mean, we know he's not Emmitt Smith, but that doesn't mean they have another option in their sights. ... Rough day for the Eagles offense. Nearly a TD reception by DJax, knocked away at the last minute. Then there should have been a TD to Jason Avant,but he couldn't hang on, and it took a wild, crazy bounce into the air and was picked off. Bad luck day. Nick Foles, concussion. Matt Barkley nearly serves up a pick 6. Later in the series, picked. Later in the game, picked again. Won't be adding Barkley this week. Maybe Vick back soon.

Bears at Washington: Pretty sure Jordan Reed was the story of this game. Saw him make a couple of catches early, said to myself, hey, he's off to a nice start, but he kept on going. Huge game. Oh yeah, the other story -- there are several, really -- is Roy Helu vulturing 2 TDs from Alfred Morris. He's not the goal line back, they were just having a lot of success with passing formations, and kept him in the game. ... Other big stories. Jay Cutler with a groin injury. Matt Forte carrying near the goal line and having a big game. Devin Hester return TD. About time! I have the Bears D in a league and don't even carry another defense; would hate to consider benching them. Probably take a zero on their bye next week. Seriously.

49ers at Titans: Lot more offense in this game than expected; granted, all of Tennessee's came late. Hope you saw the touchdown reception by Chris Johnson, who I realize has disappointed a lot of people all season and was on many benches yesterday. Pretty impressive, though, to see him just accelerate away from people when there's green in front of him. The schedule is a lot more favorable the rest of the way. ... With Colin Kaepernick also putting up some nice numbers, maybe he can be used against with more confidence. I've been benching him for Eli Manning lately.

Browns at Packers: I love those Packers throwback uniforms. I don't know how I don't happen to have a Favre one, seeing as I have 3 or 4 other Favre jerseys. Yeah, they look like college uniforms; I love 'em anyway. ... Pretty impressive Jermichael Finley TD, where he took a short pass, ran through 2 tacklers, into the end zone. Hard-nosed play. Later, of course, he suffered a scary neck injury, and is still hospitalized as I write this. We'll see,. Andrew Quarless is next man up. ... Packers are really doing a nice job on opposing No. 1 wideouts, with Josh Gordon the latest. ... Jarrett Boykin makes a strong case in favor of starting the no-name fill-in in a strong passing offense.

Texans at Kansas City: Much closer game than expected, and many of course were hurt by the early Arian Foster injury. Houston's on a bye next week, so we'll see. It also looks like the team won't hurry to switch from Case Keenum back to Matt Schaub. ... Fun fact, Alex Smith's numbers -- passing yards, rushing yards, touchdowns, etc. -- are very similar to Colin Kaepernick's.

Ravens at Steelers: As expected, not a lot of offense here. I think I might have picked the exact right score, for what it's worth. ... Decent rushing numbers against a good run defense from LeVeon Bell. Only negative I saw was a goal-line carry where it looked like he could score but was brought down on a nothing special kind of tackle. Didn't show the elusiveness or power on that play I hoped to see. Hey, just one play. All in all, good game for him, and the Steelers are back in the mix in the AFC North.

Broncos at Colts: Like I said, fun game to watch. Frequently these Sunday night games are just on in the background while I'm working, or playing, or whatnot, but this one held our attention throughout. Disappointing numbers from T.Y. Hilton and of course Trent Richardson, though at least I didn't start the guy. Might have been shaken up early, not sure. Big story here is the Reggie Wayne injury, which early reports are suggesting is a torn ACL. I don't have him anywhere because, you know, he's old, but it's a shame and a blow to Luck's value. ... Costly Ronnie Hillman fumble, that should get Montee Ball back in the No. 2 role perhaps. Perhaps.

Monday, Monday: Two bad defenses here, so I'm thinking there will be a lot of offense. Although the Vikings have Josh Freeman at quarterback and the Giants will have either Brandon Jacobs or worse at tailback, so I'm not guaranteeing it. And I'm now rooting against Manning, since I have a 40-point lead over a team that's starting him. I'll go Giants 24, Vikings 23, with big games from Cruz and Adrian Peterson. And I'm pretty sure it won't be as good as last night's.