FanHouse Mauricejonesdrew

If I know Bengals fans, they are hyped that their team is 1-8. Okay that doesn't sound like much but when that "1" came today, forgive Cincinnati for celebrating. They should celebrate as the pressure of a winless season finally goes away.

Chad Johnson is. He broke out of a season long funk with two TD grabs and a kiss on the cheek for both head coach Marvin Lewis and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Cincinnati got their first win with a gutsy 21-19 victory over Jacksonville.

Here's a screwed up stat for you: the Bengals are 8-1 when they wear the orange jerseys they sported today.

It wasn't their duds that won the game. Cincinnati was aggressive on both sides of the ball and finally played somewhat physical. They even had a guy (Andrew Whitworth) ejected from the game for exchanging punches with the Jags' John Henderson (Henderson was given the boot, too).

Still, Jacksonville nearly stole this one away.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time

The 1's

Kansas City at Atlanta: It's a game featuring a team with a rookie quarterback taking on a team with no quarterback. Falcons signal-caller Matt Ryan had a dreadful week two, missing on his first nine passes, while the Chiefs are still playing musical chairs with Damon Huard and Tyler Thigpen. Larry Johnson isn't impressed by any of it.

Oakland at Buffalo: The Buffalo Bills haven't started a season 3-0 since 1992, and that's exactly what they'll do if they can defeat an Oakland team that has spent this week worrying about who its coach will be, as opposed to the task at hand in Buffalo. If the Bills get that 3-0 start, there's a strong chance Raiders' head coach Lane Kiffin will be searching for a new job on Monday morning. Seeing as how they're likely without Justin Fargas, Darren McFadden is fighting some turf toe and Javon Walker can't make it through practice, there's a good chance that happens.

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

James Butler, Giants
You know, I was a little hard on Manning the Younger last night. I accused him of playing great football for 30 minutes, and then turning into an interception-throwing pumpkin, while the Patriots did what they do: mount a second-half comeback and win in handsome Tom Brady fashion.

But after some soul-searching, I've come to the realization that the Patriots-Giants game didn't turn on Manning's fourth-quarter pick, but on what transpired three plays prior. You can see the birds-eye view here, but all you need to know is this: safety James Butler must've blacked out because when the cameras finally caught up with him, he was about 15 yards behind Randy Moss. Moss was making his way to the end zone after hauling in a 65-yard bomb from Brady.

That was the game-changer. To that point, the Giants' offense was moving the ball without much trouble, and the defense was like Plexiglas Burress: bend but don't break.

On the bright side, Manning played probably his best game as a professional, and the timing couldn't be better.
Sorry, No Photos

think it's a little early to say Shawne Merriman's "back to his dominant self," but he did have a nice little outing on Sunday. Of course, every team that faces the Ravens' offense can usually say that after the game. Whatever, Merriman, the Chargers' first-round pick in 2004, looked a lot like the guy who registered 17 sacks last year.

[On Sunday,] Merriman finished with a team-high seven tackles as the Chargers dominated the punchless Ravens, holding Baltimore to 210 yards in a 32-14 victory that once again put San Diego alone atop the AFC West.

Merriman spent much of last week living down this, and perhaps that was the motivation he needed to snap out of his funk:

"My friends are the worst," he said. "My teammates are the worst. They think the TV played it out; my teammates gave me hell about that. We all laughed because it doesn't happen often. They've got to get me when they can. I heard it all week."

Maybe the Chargers can work out a system where MJD jacks up Merriman before every game. Kind of like the routine Jags' John Henderson and the trainer have worked out.

Click here for final game stats from AOL Sports.

Fred Taylor is not done with you people.

The Jacksonville Jaguars' veteran running back rushed for 104 yards on 14 carries, including a 50-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter, to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 36-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

Taylor, who needs only 443 yards to reach 6 rushing miles in his career, picked up the slack for Maurice Jones-Drew, who was at one point had minus-17 yards rushing. This was a direct result of the Jaguars' offense running a sweep to the left, which the Bills' defense sniffed out every single time. Why they kept running that play was a complete mystery to me -- until Jags quarterback David Garrard ran play-action on that sweep and threw a pass the other way to convert a 3rd down.

Seven yardage-losing plays to set up one 3rd down? It was just crazy enough to work today.

Of course, it worked because Garrard continued to be a highly effective passer -- as opposed to J.P. Losman, who was forced into three turnovers by the Jacksonville defense.

We haven't heard much about Maurice-Jones Drew's knee, which he sprained at the end of the Monday night loss to Indianapolis. It's still bothering him, though, and he's listed as questionable for Sunday after missing parts of practice throughout the week.

This doesn't appear to faze him, though. He's telling reporters that he will play on Sunday, and with David Garrard definitely not playing, the Jaguars could definitely use him.

That said, the Jaguars have enough depth at running back that they don't need to rush Jones-Drew back with a full day. Fred Taylor is still capable of a productive 20-to-25-carry afternoon, and Greg Jones can spell both backs fairly effectively. This gives Jack Del Rio some options in the running game. How much he uses those options, though, may ultimately depend on whether Quinn Gray develops any passing accuracy. We might even see all three backs in this one.

If I had a favorite to get the most carries at this point, it would be Taylor. Of course, I'm only hoping for that because Taylor became my fantasy starter after Ronnie Brown blew out his knee, so I may be a little biased.

Perhaps the biggest untold story in the Jacksonville Jaguars' big win over Houston on Sunday was the return of starting center Brad Meester, who helped the running game reawaken from its early-season coma.

The Jags lost Meester for two months after he broke an ankle early in training camp. With Dennis Norman filling in for him at center, Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew averaged only 93 yards combined per game -- an average that drops if you take away Jones-Drew's 52-yard touchdown run, his only big play of the season up until that point.

So what happened when Meester was back under center? Taylor averaged 15 yards per carry on a dodgy groin -- or as Fred called it, his "adductor area" -- and Jones-Drew has his biggest game of the season so far -- 12 carries, 125 yards, 2 TDs, plus four catches for 59 more yards.

Clearly, if anyone should be named Meast of the Week, it's Meester. Not only did he help Taylor and Jones-Drew gain more than twice their season average up until Sunday, but he may have saved a lot of fantasy owners' bacon. If the Jags run wild again when they face the Colts next Monday night, you'll know the biggest reason why.

Last week, Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter was whining about how much he hates a ball-control offense, and how he wants the offense to score more points.

Is 30 points on offense enough for you, Dirk? How about two running backs rushing for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns on 18 carries? How's that for a big play offense?

The coordinator may not like it, but right now, there is no reason for David Garrard to stop giving the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew. He's proven very capable of turning short runs into long runs and short passes into big gains. It doesn't hurt when Fred Taylor gets 90 yards on 6 carries, either.

That kind of running game opens up Garrard to pass, and five games into the season, he's got six touchdowns and zero interceptions. He's not nearly as spectacular as some other quarterbacks, no, but he doesn't have to be. He's a steady hand who knows how to lead this offense to one first down after another. That has translated into a 4-1 record.

Koetter should appreciate this offense for what it is -- a throwback to the powerhouse days of another successful Florida team from the 1970s. The Dolphins rode Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick to back-to-back Super Bowl titles. There's no reason for the Jaguars' offense not to ride Jones-Drew and Taylor as far as possible. They look fully capable of taking the weight.

The Jaguars beat the Texans by sticking to their formula: Run the ball, conservative mistake-free quarterbacking, and play aggressive defense to make the other team one dimensional.

The Texans did the Jags a few favors along the way, failing to keep their composure on the road, being incapable of scoring in the red zone and making key mistakes. The score early on in the game could have easily been 17-0 Texans.

The Texans couldn't convert 3rd and goal early in the game after marching it down the field. They marched easily down the field again the next possession and Andre' Davis appeared to score another touchdown. Replays showed that he fumbled it out of the endzone for a touchback.

One of the key plays of the game was a Jack Del Rio Has Stones call. Before the half, with the game close, Del Rio called for a surprise onside kick. It caught the Texans off-guard and the kicker recovered it. This kept the Texans defense on the field longer on a hot day, kept the Texans offense from having the ball with much time left, and allowed the Jags to get a field goal to go into half time leading 10-6.

Hey, look, more idiocy from the league office! I'm all for cleaning up the NFL. And by "cleaning up" I mean "doing away with the Bengals franchise, because 95 percent of all felonies are committed by Cincinnati players." Okay, slight exaggeration, but here's my point: if Commissar Goodell is all about eradicating the ne'er do-wells, that's splendid, but easy, man, you're doing to OD on the power trip.

Two weeks ago, Goodell fined Ravens backup wide receiver Devard Darling $7,500 for following Yamon Figurs into the crowd after a touchdown. Meanwhile, guys throwing players on their head, or grabbing facemasks were only out $5,000. Makes sense.

Now, after Maurice Jones-Drew mistook an NFL goal post for an ATM machine, he's likely to be a little lighter in the wallet.