FanHouse Raiders

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around pointing skyward, while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Studs

Tom Brady, QB New England (29 of 34, 380 yards, 6 TDs) -- People were questioning his knee this season. He seemed jittery in the pocket, made throws he didn't used to make, and wasn't leading the Patriots like he had during those three Super Bowl years and undefeated regular season in 2008.

If it had happened on Playmakers, the NFL would have used it as further evidence that the ESPN show was hopelessly out of touch with what really happens in the league: Art Shell becomes the head coach of the Oakland Raiders and he hires as his offensive coordinator ... Tom Walsh.

Who's Tom Walsh? That's what everyone wanted to know. Turns out he had been an assistant years earlier, but that his most recent job was managing a bed-and-breakfast. And the Raiders' offense played about as well as you'd expect an offense to play when it's run by a bed-and-breakfast manager.

The Raiders' offense was historically bad. Toward the end of the season Shell finally demoted Walsh, but it was too little, too late. The Raiders were toast, as was Shell. And toast is what Walsh will now be serving as he returns to his bed-and-breakfast duties.

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Lane Kiffin had is introductory press conference and if you haven't seen it yet, you really owe it to yourself to see it here. If for nothing else, it is amazing for Al Davis to keep a straight face when he says that Kiffin was his first choice. Yeah. Or maybe the line where Kiffin said that his team was going to play hard, and going to play happy. (That might be enough to entice Jerry Rice out of retirement.)

The first impressions of Kiffin, however, were not that favorable. The animatronics at Disneyland seemed more life-like than Kiffin. The whole press conference seemed scripted, yet the acting was somewhere south of Show Girls. Nobody has been this ill-at-ease in front of a camera since ESPN's Sports Guy Bill Simpson appeared on the Colbert Report. Hopefully this guy can coach, because he is not going to be the charismatic leader that Jon Gruden was.

Let's face it. Heading into last Sunday, not many Seahawks fans expected to come out of Kansas City with a win, and none expected Seneca Wallace to throw for three touchdowns in the game.

It was the classic "no pressure" situation, with very low expectations on the Wallace-lead Seahawks, and a lot of help from the sloppy play of the statistically superior opposition. And after having a ride on the emotional roller-coaster that was the last 6 minutes of that game, I almost would be happier if Kansas City won in a blow-out, like they should have.

Deep down, I'll be Seneca Wallace does too.

Now, the tables have turned 180-degrees, and given the "near miss" in KC, there's nothing but great expectations on Seneca Wallace heading into the Monday Night Football game with the Raiders.

It's week 3 and the Chiefs managed to not lose a game for the first time this season. Chiefs' fans rejoiced. "I couldn't believe it when I heard it," a fellow Chiefs' fan told me. "This is a major moral victory for the city of Kansas City. I've already cut Lamar Hunt a check for $1,000 to pay for the new Arrowhead renovations. Heck, I'm even going to build a rolling roof of my own over my garage!"

Not all the city or the nation was thrilled about the Chiefs' non-loss this weekend. The response from AFC West rival teams' fans has been mixed:
Broncos' fan: "Whatever. Last time I checked, we just beat you chumps. Hey, you guys interested in trading for Plummer?"
Raiders' fan: "Your record is still as bad as the Raiders' is, loser. Somehow, we still believe we're better than you."
Chargers' fan: "Didn't you guys have a bye this week?"

The news hit fantasy football owners especially hard. I spoke with a fantasy football owner in my office league. Our conversation went something like this:
Anonymous: LJ really sucked it up for me this week.
Me: Zero points. Zero touchdowns. Why didn't you bench him?
Anonymous: #1 rule of fantasy football. NEVER bench LJ.
Me: i.c.
Anonymous: LJ once ran for 200 yards on Chuck Norris.
Me: lol
Anonymous: Anyway, I gotta go. The boss is looking over my shoulder and he looks pissed.
Me: ? Why is he pissed?
Anonymous: Looks like he started Trent Green this week. Horrible decision.

Local critics still found a way to criticize Herm Edwards. "Typical Herm Edwards," one patron at a Kansas City bar told me. "No yards?" she continued. "Oh, biiiiggggg surprise. Hey, you want to give me a ride to White Castle? I'm starving."

Another patron described Edwards as a manipulative snake. "He didn't tell us," the man told me. He was decked out in Chiefs' gear: Lin Elliot jersey, tattered foam finger, face painted red and yellow. "I've been sitting here in Arrowhead for 10 hours. Why didn't they tell me we weren't playing at home this week? It's that sneaky Herm Edwards character. He thinks he can roll into Kansas City and pull a stunt like this? Go back to New York, moron. And take that lousy Terrence Law guy with you!"

Herm Edwards found a way not to lose this weekend. The reaction is mixed, but my feeling is, the Chiefs will find it much tougher to keep their non-losing streak alive next week when they square off against the 49ers.