Which teams were this year's biggest surprises?

Cleaning my desk yesterday, I came across a piece of paper where I had written the over/under for wins for every NFL team, as mentioned on The Dan Patrick Show in the preseason. Here's how they match up after 16 weeks of football.

Team	o/u for wins	actual wins	difference
Dallas Cowboys	9	13	4
Philadelphia Eagles	9	7	-2
New York Giants	8	10	2
Washington Redskins	7.5	8	0.5
Chicago Bears	10	6	-4
Green Bay Packers	7.5	12	4.5
Minnesota Vikings	6.5	8	1.5
Detroit Lions	6	7	1
Carolina Panthers	9	6	-3
New Orleans Saints	9	7	-2
Atlanta Falcons	7.5	3	-4.5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	7	9	2
Seattle Seahawks	9	10	1
San Francisco 49ers	7.5	5	-2.5
St. Louis Rams	7.5	3	-4.5
Arizona Cardinals	7	7	0
New England Patriots	11.5	15	3.5
New York Jets	8	3	-5
Miami Dolphins	7	1	-6
Buffalo Bills	6	7	1
Baltimore Ravens	9	4	-5
Cincinnati Bengals	9	6	-3
Pittsburgh Steelers	9	10	1
Cleveland Browns	5.5	9	3.5
Indianapolis Colts	10.5	13	2.5
Jacksonville Jaguars	9	11	2
Tennessee Titans	7	9	2
Houston Texans	6.5	7	0.5
San Diego Chargers	10.5	10	-0.5
Denver Broncos	9.5	6	-3.5
Kansas City Chiefs	7.5	4	-3.5
Oakland Raiders	5	4	-1

Granted, the season isn't over yet, but the Packers and Dolphins have clinched at least a tie for the most pleasantly surprising and disappointing teams, respectively.

Collins should start until the Skins lose

Jason Whitlock made a tremendous point about the quarterback situation in Washington. With Al Saunders as offensive coordinator, in 1997 the Chiefs were 6-2 when Elvis Grbac got hurt in week 10. Rich Gannon came in, went 5 for 5 to beat the Steelers, lost his next start, then won the next five. The Chiefs started Grbac in the last game of the season, then lost 14-10 to Denver in their first playoff game after going 13-3. Gannon played one more season in Kansas City before signing with Oakland, making them a legitimate Super Bowl contender for the only time in the last 15 season. The moral is you want continuity going into the playoffs, and you frequently see NFL quarterbacks turning their career around after the age of 30.

Time to flush the turd

The NHL can't catch a break. Every story with any staying power about the NHL is negative, such as the gambling ring involving Rick Tocchet and Wayne Gretzky's wife, or the various acts of violence that draw suspensions of 20 games or more. Raging alcoholic and power forward Chris Simon has Beamoned his own record of longest suspension (25 games) with a 30 game suspension for trying to slice Jarkko Ruutu's Achilles with his skate. I don't care how silly that guy's name looks in print, trying to cut him with a blade is absolutely the cheapest shot I've ever seen in my 20 years of following hockey (and I've seen many), and Chris Simon should immediately be banned by the NHL.

Thirty games? Who gives a shit? That's the equivalent of six games in the NFL. That's a steroid suspension and a half. I'm glad that American sports have cracked down on performance enhancers, but going after someone on the ice with a deadly weapon is far more damaging to the sport. If the NHL gave him a lifetime suspension it would be at least somewhat positive press, because they would be showing some backbone. It's like politics - no one has ever lost votes for being too tough on crime. Last year Albert Haynesworth dragged his cleat over the exposed face of Andre Gurode, earning a five game suspension. Granted, this was a more lenient penalty that what Simon received, but it was a less egregious crime. There's attempting to hurt and then there's attempting to disable.

Want to know why Parcells took the Miami job?

The Dolphins and Falcons have similar teams. Ronnie Brown, Jason Taylor, and Zach Thomas equate to Roddy White, John Abraham, and Keith Brooking. Miami will be picking a little higher in the draft, but with salary cap ramifications there's not much difference between picking 1st and 4th. But there's one staggering difference between the two teams' outlooks for next season:

Team	Signed Players	2008 cap room
1. Tennessee	39	$40.85 million
2. San Diego	44	$33.03 million
3. Jacksonville	43	$32.69 million
4. Buffalo	49	$32.05 million
5. New Orleans	39	$31.69 million
6. Cincinnati	48	$31.45 million
7. San Francisco	48	$30.91 million
8. Cleveland	42	$30.31 million
9. Arizona	34	$30.27 million
10.N.Y. Jets	45	$27.72 million
11.Oakland	40	$25.98 million
12.Tampa Bay	48	$25.90 million
13.Miami	48	$25.56 million
14.N.Y. Giants	49	$24.47 million
15.Detroit	42	$23.50 million
16.Houston	43	$22.91 million
17.Dallas	40	$20.61 million
18.Kansas City	44	$20.27 million
19.Chicago	52	$19.80 million
20.Pittsburgh	43	$18.61 million
21.Green Bay	48	$18.37 million
22.Philadelphia	49	$17.17 million
23.Denver	49	$16.77 million
24.Minnesota	49	$14.88 million
25.New England	41	$10.93 million
26.St. Louis	45	$9.61 million
27.Seattle	44	$9.55 million
28.Indianapolis	48	$8.49 million
29.Carolina	35	$6.05 million
30.Atlanta	52	$5.79 million
31.Baltimore	42	$5.00 million
32.Washington	45	-$20.72 million

The Falcons have the third least cap room of any team for next season, the Dolphins have the 13th most. (Salary cap information from Peter King's 12/10 MMQB Column) Atlanta will get some cap relief from Michael Vick's contract, possibly an enormous amount of relief, but he knows he'll have $25 in cap room to sign free agents and draft picks in Miami.

Other conclusions to draw from teams' cap room situations: Albert Haynesworth will definitely be franchised and the Redskins roster could look a lot different next season.

Oh how I hate the Big 10

If you know me well, you know that I hate the Big 10 with a passion. Especially Big 10 football. No one in the conference ever plays anyone of significance out of conference, and when they do it's generally at home. In both sports they have some of the greatest regular season upsets of all time: North Dakota State over Wisconsin in basketball, Appalachian State over Michigan at the big house in football. But this latest flap is absolutely the worst thing since Woody Hayes punched a player Bobby Knight choked a player Michigan had to vacate their back to back finals appearances with the Fab Five Maurice Clarett filed a false police report. Big 10 referee Stephen Pamon, who was the side judge for the biggest game of the year, Illinois at Ohio State, filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after piling up $492,407 in debt, much of which was owed to casinos. The rest of his rapsheet:

• He allegedly has gambled at casinos as far back as the 1980s, and a sister-in-law said gambling losses incurred by Pamon and Pamon's wife led to the couple filing for bankruptcy.
• In 1997, he was charged with repeatedly beating three of his girlfriend's four sons with an electrical cord. He told authorities he beat the boys three times.
• He allegedly was fired by the Chicago Police Department in 1996 after two female officers accused him of sexual harassment, according to published reports that cited law-enforcement officials as sources.
• One of Pamon's former wives accused him during a court hearing in 1994 of striking her and sexually assaulting her 19-year-old niece, according to court records.

These facts came to light after Purdue coach Joe Tiller complained about some calls from Pamon's crew during a November 3 game at Penn State. The Big 10 suspended the crew for the last week of the regular season, but they still refereed Ohio State's only loss, along with the biggest reason Illinois is in a BCS Bowl.

I can walk into any major chain electronics store in the United States right now and find at least 10 guys who can referee a football game. How can they not be a little more choosy in the Big 10? It absurdly easy to check if someone has filed for bankruptcy; it would seem to me that not owing six figures to casinos would be a desirable quality for someone who can easily determine the outcome of a game.

A Dead Ringer

Watch this now!

The opening scene of The Dark Knight is still up at Gizmodo.