FanHouse Antoine Cason

The San Diego Chargers are still in the AFC West race, amazingly, thanks to their 41-24 win in Tampa Bay. Coming into this game, I felt Philip Rivers would have a tough time throwing on the No. 3 pass defense in the NFL, which would give the Buccaneers a nice advantage. Shows what I know, as he torched the Buccaneers to the tune of 21-of-31 passing for 287 yards and four touchdowns.

So, depending on what Denver does against Buffalo today, the Chargers could be playing for the division title next week, despite starting the season 4-8. Only in the AFC West.

Tampa Bay actually went into the fourth quarter leading the game 24-20, only to pretty much collapse and allow San Diego to close the game with three unanswered touchdowns, including a pair of Rivers touchdown passes -- a five-yard toss to Antonio Gates, and a 32-yard score to running back Darren Sproles. Antoine Cason sealed the win with a 59-yard interception return late in the fourth quarter.

After an amazingly hot start to this series, last week we went a measly 0-6. Hey, everyone has bad days. We'll bounce back accordingly. Here are some stars you might consider benching for whatever reason this week.

Quarterbacks

Brett Favre, GB -- Although he's had some amazing showings on Monday Night Football, Favre is ready for a let down game. Rookie cornerback Antoine Cason has impressed for the Chargers, and the defense will be thirsty for their first win. It isn't like he's going to have a horrible game, but if you have a bench player like Trent Edwards or J.T. O'Sullivan, it might be worth plugging him in over Favre.

Carson Palmer, Cinc -- Ready, everyone..."Same verse, same as the first! This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and now they keep on singing it together just because..." He will have to show us something before anyone believes in this guy again.

If Mediocrity had a football team, its mascot would most likely wear a giant foam Mike Stoops head

Ahhh, mediocre college football. Three words that go together like turkey, gravy, and stuffing.

While the majority of space here at FanHouse and on every other college football publication will be focused on the Top 25, season after season a huge slice of the college football fan pie (mmmm...fan pie) find themselves supporting a team who would most aptly be described as thoroughly mediocre, at best. I'd venture to guess that for every legit contender, there are probably three teams with a couple of flaws so glaring that only those blinded by the partisanship of homerdom can pretend their team's downsides won't inevitably sabotage any hopes of playing in a bowl of even moderate respectability.

And therein lies one of the most cruel realities of the college football landscape: winning 6 or 7 games is no small feat, and yet every year coaches and players around the country will be abused for achieving that very milestone. Of course, when you play in a conference like the Pac 10 -- who rewards its third place finisher with a December 31 game in El Paso's Sun Bowl -- can you really be that surprised when fans and pundits are critical of barely topping out above .500?

Who from the Pac 10 will slide to the middle of the pack in 2008? Here's a quick rundown of the leading candidates for Pacific time zone mediocrity this season.

If this had been any other third-year cornerback, I would've just dismissed it as silly talk. But when the Chargers' Antonio Cromartie says that he has impossibly big plans for the 2008 season, well, I believe him.

Cromartie is throwing around the number 15. You hear it and know what he must be referring to. Yet you must get clarification.

Antonio, you seriously think that's how many interceptions you can get in a single season? This season?

"That's a very serious statement," Cromartie said. "A very, very serious statement."

And you know what, I'm taking it very, very seriously. Cromartie pretty much forces you to do so after some of the things he did last season (see YouTubes fun above).

The thing is, the Chargers' could have one of the best secondaries in the AFC in a year or two. Second-year safety Eric Weddle may not look like much, but he's a player. And 2008 first-round pick, cornerback Antoine Cason has a chance to be the team's nickel back while he's groomed for the starting gig at some point in the future.

In other, less pick-erific news, there's the Steelers Ike Taylor. A fine cornerback in his own right, who also happens to have cement mitts for hands. From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Ike Taylor has made six interceptions since becoming a starter in 2005. The Steelers cornerback said that total should be closer to 25.

"At least eight a year," Taylor said of how many interceptions he could have made the last three seasons.

Ike Taylor, the anti-Cromartie.

There was a clear consensus on the top four cornerbacks in this year's draft, but who's No. 5? The Chargers' front office thinks it's Antoine Cason, whom they selected with the 27th pick in today's draft.

The people who like Cason point to three things that make him worthy of being a first-round pick: He has good ball skills, he can return punts, and he's a high-character guy. I don't disagree with any of those things, but I still have my doubts that he was worthy of being chosen this highly. I'm just not convinced Cason is good enough in coverage to stick with NFL wide receivers.

With each pick of the FanHouse mock draft, we get into the head of an NFL general manager and let you know who he'll pick and why.

The Packers won 13 games last season and pretty much everybody outside of the New York Giants figured they were headed to the Super Bowl after beating the Seahawks in the NFC Divisional round. Yeah, that didn't happen. Oh, and Brett Favre retired too.

But other than those two monumentally huge events, Green Bay is in pretty good shape heading into the 2008 season. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers seems ready to assume the full-time job from Favre, Ryan Grant came out of nowhere to become the Packers' feature back, and the wideouts are a nice mix of really old (Donald Driver) and new (Greg Jennings and James Jones).

On the other side of the ball, defensive tackle Corey Williams was traded to the Browns, but the hope is that 2007 first-rounder Justin Harrell can fill the void. Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk are solid at the linebacker position (well, except when officials attack), but Brady Poppinga is better in rushing situations than in pass coverage.

Perhaps a bigger long-term need, though, is in the secondary. Al Harris and Charles Woodson are two of the most physical cornerbacks in the league, but they're also a combined 64 years old. At some point soon, the Packers will need to think about phasing them out.

With that in mind, Green Bay would do well to take Arizona's Antoine Cason. Like Harris and Woodson, Cason is known for his physicality, and NFLDraftScout.com compares him to Chris McAlister. If he's 85 percent the player McAlister is, this is a no-brainer selection.

The Skinny:
Team Needs: OLB, CB, TE
Player Selected: Antoine Cason, CB Arizona
Also Considered: Dustin Keller, TE, Purdue; Brandon Flowers, CB, Virgina Tech

Previous Pick: No. 29, Quentin Groves, LB, San Francisco

Next Pick: No. 31, New York Giants