Around the NFL: Steelers Clip Cardinals' Wings

The number of bridge jumpers in the Steel City seems to have slowed to a halt with the Steelers finally starting to look more and more like the team we all expected. They easily thwarted the Cardinals efforts to pick up a rare win in the eastern time zone and jumped back into the national spotlight as a legitimate contender. This week that notion could be either further enhanced with a win against the New England Patriots. But let's look back before we look ahead and go around the NFL.

STEELERS 32, Cardinals 20

• The Steelers don't win with as much pizzazz as the New England Patriots or the Green Bay Packers, and they rarely have the dominant defensive performances that the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets occasionally produce, but these players, as well as head coach Mike Tomlin, know how to win football games. They are aggravating to watch a lot of times, but they are a better team than the 67% of fans on espn.com that picked the Patriots to beat the Steelers next week think.

• Ben Roethlisberger has been on fire and is it any wonder why? Even while he remains the best quarterback at evading a rush and making a play (Mike Vick can evade the rush, but where the play ends up is anyone's guess), any quarterback is better behind a strong offensive line. The Steelers offensive line has been nothing less than stellar the last couple of weeks and it shows.

• I'm sure a lot of it was the obvious lack of ability that Kevin Kolb displays with each drop back, but the secondary looked great again, shutting down Larry Fitzgerald who has done more against way better secondaries. If anyone still has complaints, then shall I suggest becoming a fan of the Eagles and their "dream team" secondary?

Around the NFL

• Who would've thought that a team would be clamoring to have Tarvaris Jackson back at quarterback? Well I bet that's how the Seattle Seahawks feel after the way Charlie Whitehurst played in a loss to the Cleveland Browns.

• Don't look now, but the Chicago Bears are right behind the Detroit Lions in the NFC North. The Lions took round one, but it'll be fun to see how much their game means when these two teams meet in week 10. 

• How amazing is it that when you let a young quarterback loose, they come out looking golden more often than they look bad? Tim Tebow didn't even have ten attempted passes through the third quarter against the Miami Dolphins, but when the Denver Broncos finally got desperate enough to call a few pass plays they thrived, erasing a 15-0 deficit and winning in overtime. I'm not saying he will be a star, but if they let him get comfortable he'll win them a few games.

• The San Diego Chargers proved once again that they will never win an important game so long as Philip Rivers is the quarterback. Rivers played miserably in their loss to the New York Jets, and showed why Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning are the top two quarterbacks of that draft class.

• The Atlanta Falcons sent a major wakeup call to the Detroit Lions and the rest of the NFL. The Falcons remain very much in the playoff race and are looking better with each passing week. The Lions, meanwhile, have now dropped two straight and really need to pick up their game after two potentially pivotal conference losses.

• The Washington Redskins look like they will quickly become one of the NFC's whipping boys as Tim Hightower and Santana Moss are out for an extended period of time and there are plenty of issues at the quarterback position. When you can't beat the Carolina Panthers you know you're in trouble.

• I feel like I'll be eating my words soon about the Tennessee Titans. They got pummeled by the Houston Texans after a bye week, and have struggled against teams with better records. I still don't think the Texans are even close to a top tier team, but I'm not sure that they have any competition in the AFC South.

• The Kansas City Chiefs are back in the hunt. I picked them to win the AFC West but I'm shocked at how they've been able to turn it around after one of the league's worst starts. There is plenty of talent on this team, but I thought that injuries to key players mixed with Matt Cassel's inability to take a game over would do them in. Next week against the Chargers should tell us everything we need to know about the Chiefs.

• I know it was Carson Palmer's first game in quite a while, but three interceptions in one half of football is inexcusable. I've been saying for a long time that he isn't that good. He wasn't worth the first round picks, that's for certain. I know that he'll play better than he did this week and I know that he'll play better than Kyle Boller, but what did they expect to do with Jason Campbell when he comes back? I'll take Campbell any day over Palmer and I have a feeling the Oakland Raiders will be saying the same thing. For the time being, I believe Palmer is easily the best option, however he's got to shake the rust immediately.

• It's good to know it isn't just Sam Bradford. The St. Louis Rams got pounded by the Dallas Cowboys with A.J. Feeley playing quarterback and my suggestion would be make sure Bradford is 100% before he plays again because this season isn't going anywhere.

• Before anyone gets too high on their New Orleans Saints horses, remember that this is the same Saints team that lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week after Tampa got destroyed by the San Francisco 49ers. The Saints are good, but a 62-7 win alone doesn't put them at the top of the NFL.

• There is no way Peyton Manning touches the field in 2011 if I'm the Indianapolis Colts. Well, that is, unless they want to showcase him for a trade...

• And we get to end with my favorite topic of the week: The Baltimore Ravens. Their offense is pitiful with the exception of Ray Rice. Their defense is really good, but they can be scored on. I just don't think this team has the ability to be a top tier team and for at least the week hopefully the national media will agree with me.

-