Sunday was a fun day to be living in Wisconsin. After Andrew Luck orchestrated a beautiful game winning drive to defeat the Packers 30-27, reality hit the state of Wisconsin and their beloved Pack; maybe they just aren’t that good. There was no refs to be blamed, Aaron Rodgers wasn’t lying on his back the entire game, and the team that just took them to the woodshed was a very average football team, the reason they lost was because they just aren’t as good as we thought. Aaron Rodgers is still a stud, but whats surrounding him? A poor offensive line, a poor running game that just lost its anchor, and a very mediocre defense that let Reggie Wayne go off for 200 plus yards. I haven’t lost all faith in the Packers yet, I still think they can make a push for the playoffs and either grab a wild card or knock off the Bears & Vikings to win the division, but these are not the same Packers we saw the past two years – theres no chance they’ll be playing in February.

Reality hit the state of Arizona this week. The Cardinals finally lost, 17-3 to my Rams. It was the kind of game you’d expect from the NFC West – two very good defenses showing off how good they are, and two very poor offenses showing off how bad they are. The Rams scored two offensive touchdowns, one being set up by a remarkable 44 yard catch by Danny Amendola, and a 51 yard bomb caught by rookie Chris Givens. Other then that, the offense looked awful. And Kolb’s offense looked even more hideous. The Rams pass rush abused him, 9 sacks, 3 of them from second year man Robert Quinn. Regardless of how bad these two offenses are, defense wins championships in this league, and I wouldn’t be surprised if all 4 NFC West teams we’re pushing for the playoffs in December. San Francisco is on another level then the other three, they’ll take the division with ease. But these two teams along with Seattle could all be in the mix, although I doubt any of them will make it in the end.

Did anybody pick against the Saints this week? If so, whats wrong with you? Did you really think Drew Brees would lose a game in prime time, where he set a new record, his coach in the stands, his team pushing on 0-5, and not to mention playing his former team? There’s no way. The Chargers aren’t that good of a team to prevent Drew Brees from winning this game. Brees went off for 370 yards and 4 TD’s, and got the Saints their first win of the season. But this isn’t the Saints team we’ll be seeing for the rest of the year. They will compete, and they are certainly better then 1-4, but they won’t be in the mix for the postseason. The other elite quarterbacks that played on sunday? The real Manning-Brady rivalry was renewed, with the Patriots smacking the Broncos. The 31-21 score didn’t do this game justice, the Brady bunch won this game handily. Peyton played great, Brady played greater. Does that sound familier? I think so.

Its a little bit early, but I’m going to make my playoff predications now. Out of the AFC, I like the Texans, Patriots, Broncos, Ravens to win their divisions. I don’t believe in San Diego at all and the Broncos will take care of business there, while the other three are locks. The wild card situation is tougher. I’ll take the Steelers for the first spot. The second spot? Who knows. San Diego looks to be the front runner, while the Colts and Bengals may be the dark horses. But at some point the Empire State will explode when Sanchez has one more awful game, and soon enough Tebow Nation will take the league by storm once again, and the New York Jets will take the 6th seed. As for the NFC, my division winners are the 49ers, Falcons, Giants, Vikings. Yup, I said the Vikings. I have 0 faith in Jay Cutler and the Bears. None. They have played an easy schedule and will have another second half collapse. I’ll take the Eagles for the first wild card, and the Packers to make a comeback and take the second, beating out Dallas, Chicago, and St. Louis, the other teams competing with them come December. I’ll take the Texans over the 49ers in the Super Bowl, but that one is subject to change.

There are a lot of worthy recipients for the Michael Vick Award for Best Performance this week, but you have to give it to Reggie Wayne. 13 Receptions, 212 yards and a touchdown, and caught almost every pass on the final drive. This was a career day for Wayne, he notched his career high in receiving yards and possibly had the best game of his life. He also greatly boosted the confidence of his rookie quarterback, catching almost everything that was thrown his way. Wayne played heroic in honor of his coach on sunday. This week’s honorable mentions go to Ahmad Bradshaw and JJ Watt.

This week’s Kyle Orton Award for Worst Performance is the front runner to win the Caleb Hanie Award for Most Disappointing season, and thats our boy Cam Newton. Cam had another awful performance on Sunday – 12 for 29 with 141 yards, 42 rushing yards, one fumble, and a 15.1 QBR. Just to show how bad that is, Ryan Fitzpatrick was 16-26 for 126 yards and an INT and had a 44.1 QBR. His team lost 45-3. Cam Newton added another terrible performance to his resume this year. Good news for Cam though – it can’t get any worse, can it? Its not like Derrick Anderson or Jimmy Clausen could do any better, Cam is not on a tight leash whatsoever.

The Golden Tate Award for Most Deceiving Performance goes to Mark Sanchez. Not for the normal reasons I give this award though. If you didn’t watch the game, you probably think he played historically bad, and I guess ESPN did too, seeing as he got a QBR of 10. And even though I think the Jets have a better chance with Tebow at the helm, Sanchez does not deserve to get benched for this performance. He threw a lot of low balls, and JJ Watt capitalized on every one of them, batting them down or into another defenders hand. Sanchez played below average, but he wasn’t Caleb Hanie out there. He played like Mark Sanchez. His receivers didn’t give him very much help, his running game gave him no help, and his offensive line gave him even less help. But Tebow Time is coming. If Sanchez has a terrible game against Indianapolis next week, I think his time will be up.