• San Diego’s offensive line — Earlier this year, the Broncos dominated the Chargers’ line. On Sunday, the unit got its revenge as the Chargers held the Broncos without a sack.

• Matthew Stafford — Never mind the five touchdown passes and 400-plus yards passing, Stafford showed the heart of a champion to come back on the field and throw the winning TD despite the pain he was in from getting clocked on the previous play. I also have an honorable mention for Brady Quinn, who has obviously not brought the luck of the Irish to Cleveland.

• Brett Favre — Right now, it seems to be a three-man race for MVP between Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Favre. I’m putting my vote with the senior citizen.

• Chris Chambers — It’s not often a guy comes off the waiver wire and makes an impact late in the season. That’s exactly what Chambers has done in his short tenure with the Chiefs.

• Bruce Gradkowski — It wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty as Gradkowski made enough plays to defeat the hot Cincinnati Bengals.

Bill Belichick made the right call in going for it on fourth down and has three Super Bowl rings as justification for his decision.

Belichick rightfully thought that his defense could not stop the Colts. Based on that assessment, he opted to put the ball in the hands of his best player, Tom Brady, who is also the best player in the league.

Belichick has used his intuition to win three Super bowls and navigated a 16-0 regular season. His instincts served him well and his team executed the play. It’s laughable that people would call Belichick’s decision making into question given his accomplishments.

Leadership is not easy. Belichick chose to lead as he has done successfully for many years. His only mistake was handling his timeouts, but no one could have guessed that he would need that final timeout for a review.

Bottom line, things happen and Belichick did what he felt was right in that situation. No different than what he’s done for many years. That’s why he’s a future Hall of Fame coach.

It’s that time again, time to pass out my midseason awards. I’ve got some special awards to hand out, including the Barry Sanders Award (aka, I’m so fed up with losing it’s time to retire), the Fall Award (players who thrive during the fall, but wilt during the winter) and the Enron Award (demonstrating poor football etiquette).

Check out the video from NFL Total Access to find out the winners.

Midway through the season, it’s time to see what we’ve learned. I took a look at Ted Thompson, Eric Mangini, Vince Young, Roy Williams (of the Cowboys), Tom Coughlin and, last but not least, Drew Brees, on Saturday’s NFL Total Access on NFL Network. But here’s the bit: I did it Twitter-style, offering my thoughts in 140 characters or less.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. THERE WILL NOT BE A PLAYERS WALKOUT BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS! Let me repeat: THERE WILL NOT BE A PLAYER WALKOUT BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS. There are rumors being floated around from sources who have no credibility. All they have is access to the Internet. I have talked to high-ranking officials in the NFLPA, and they are infuriated by these erroneous reports.

Catch me on Twitter @jamiedukes

Expectations were high in Tennessee this season, but it’s been an awful year for Jeff Fisher and the Titans. The Titans are mired in an impossible hole.

What has been the problem? Is it because they lost their best player, Albert Haynesworth, in free agency? Is it because QB Kerry Collins is playing his age? Is it because they lost defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz? Or because of injuries?

No, history shows us that when you disrespect the Terrible Towel, bad luck comes your way. Check out my Put Up Your Dukes segment from NFL Total Access, where I explore the illustrious history of the Terrible Towel. It might be a good idea to show the Terrible Towel some love.

While I didn’t expect the Vikings to be undefeated at this point in the season, I did expect Brett Favre to be playing well as long as his arm held up. The reason is as simple as A-B-C. Teams are rightfully locked in to Adrian Peterson in the form of eight-man fronts. Therefore, it is easier for Favre to recognize in his pre-snap surveillance which receiver has man coverage.

Some teams have tried to keep the safety in the middle of the field to mask the coverage, but that’s not working, either. Favre still has a lot of arm strength and that’s why he’s hitting Sidney Rice on the deep slant. Watching the tapes, you will also see Favre manipulate the safety by looking to one side, which causes the safety to drift in the direction of his eyes, and then he throws back to the backside.

What say you?

Catch me on Twitter @jamiedukes

All of the juicy soap opera scenarios appear to be coming from one place this season — the NFC East.

In Dallas, Wade Phillips seems to be the fall guy for Tony Romo’s shortcomings. But it’s not his fault. In Washington, Jim Zorn sounds like he’s a beaten man. But his players need to play better. Then there’s Brandon Jacobs in New York, who was kind of right, but really more wrong in his comments this week, on a few different levels. Last but not least, it’s back to the drawing board for Andy Reid in Philly. The Wildcat and Michael Vick didn’t make much of an impact last week. 

Check out the video above from Saturday’s Total Access for my latest.

For some teams the Wildcat is a trend or trinket. Consequently, these teams make a cursory attempt at executing the Wildcat offense. Just like any other aspect of life, if you give a half-hearted attempt it will yield little or no fruit. If you are going to be successful with this or any other offense, it requires execution.

The reason the Wildcat is working so well for the Dolphins is because the players are committed to executing the play. More importantly, the players recognize the Wildcat is a vital part of their offense. I’ve heard recent criticism of Andy Reid and his utilization of Michael Vick, but Reid is in a precarious position. His starting QB is insulted because the team is utilizing “gimmicks.”

If the team looks at these plays as gimmicks, they will execute them like they are gimmicks.  Reid has to be as meticulous and demanding of perfect execution as he is with other plays.  Players are fickle and if Reid puts some players on blast after a poorly executed Wildcat play, the results will be better.

What say you?

Catch me on Twitter @jamiedukes

I was one of the loudest critics of Ted Thompson’s decision not to welcome Brett Favre back after the QB decided to unretire. Thompson is right in his assessment that Aaron Rodgers is a good quarterback. I just didn’t like the timing, considering they were a missed field goal away from the Super Bowl. But at this point, that’s water under the bridge.

Thompson’s second big mistake was not drafting a young tackle, especially since the Packers didn’t re-sign veteran Mark Tauscher. The offensive line was already suspect after last year’s performance. As much as I like rookie DT B.J. Raji, you have to draft a franchise caliber tackle. And before you say all the good ones were gone by the ninth overall pick, most of the teams in the top 10 were trying to trade out, so the opportunity to move up was there.

I’ve always said when it comes to quarterbacks … they’re like the fine family china. You don’t let everyone eat off the china. You put it in a cabinet to protect it.

What say you?

Catch me on Twitter: @jamiedukes

In my latest edition of Put Up Your Dukes, I “talk” with Terrell Owens about the state of the Bills’ offense as well as his relationship with Cowboys QB Tony Romo. I also take T.O. to task for his attitude following the Bills’ loss to the Saints last weekend.

I don’t want to say NFL coaches are lying, but when you listen to what some of them are saying, it’s neither here nor there. On Friday’s NFL Total Access, I broke down some tape to translate for you.

Week 3 was filled with sensational finishes and as each game passes, the words of Patriots QB Tom Brady from a few weeks ago shine through. Brady said — and I’m paraphrasing here — no one is bigger than the game and this game goes on without you. Such is the case for former Giants WR Plaxico Burress, who recently began a two-year prison sentence for a weapons conviction stemming from his self-inflicted gunshot wound last November.

I have been extremely critical of Burress over the years because of the other self-inflicted wounds he continues to sustain. But I must confess, seeing the images of him in front of the judge last week with those bloodshot eyes gave me a genuine sense of grief. As a father, it was tough watching Plax with his son, Elijah.

I know there are many who say that Plax deserves what he gets for being stupid and they might be right. My issue is that I know bad people and Plaxico is going to jail for doing something stupid as opposed to being a real criminal, which by my definition is someone seeking to do harm.

What say you?

Catch me on Twitter @jamiedukes

In my latest edition of Put Up Your Dukes, I examine buyer’s and seller’s remorse among NFL teams. Championships in the league are won and lost during the offseason, when key pieces are added and subtracted. It’s time to take a look back at the best and worst moves. Check out the video above.

Every year the NFL has what I like to refer to Jekyll-and-Hyde teams. As an analyst, it is particularly frustrating and for fans it has to be impossible to handle. Here’s a list of the 2009 teams:

• Cincinnati Bengals — The Bengals had finally started making all the right moves coming into this season. The improved defense got more weapons for coordinator Mike Zimmer. The defense has been good (outside of one fluke play to the Broncos) but QB Carson Palmer and the offense laid a big egg versus the Broncos in Week 1. The offense looked good in pulling off arguably the biggest upset of Week 2 by beating the Packers. (Though the Jets might claim that title with a huge win over the Patriots.)

• Houston Texans — QB Matt Schaub and the Texans were pathetic versus the Jets in Week 1 on offense, which is not a reach considering Rex Ryan is one of the premiere defensive minds in the league. There is no way that rookie QB Mark Sanchez should have carved you up with such a pedestrian receiving crew. The Texans go on the road and win a shootout over the Titans and their vaunted defense in Week 2, but the defense remains a concern allowing 31 points and some huge plays to RB Chris Johnson.

• Green Bay Packers — The Pack was the talk of preseason as they literally dismantled all comers. The offense got off to a rocky start but did enough to win versus the Bears in Week 1. Aaron Rodgers and the Pack aerial attack don’t appear to be as sharp, losing to the Bengals. The defense looked great against Bears QB Jay Cutler and RB Matt Forte but allowed but allowed Bengals RB Cedric Benson to rush for 147 yards in Week 2.

It’s early to panic, but I had high expectations for these teams.

What say you?

Catch me on Twitter @jamiedukes