Dirty dozen
The top six and the bottom six heading into Week 9:
| Team | Comment |
| 1. Philadelphia (7-0) | No one close in NFC |
| 2. Pittsburgh (6-1) | The spoilers are good in their own right |
| 3. New England (6-1) | Pressure off? |
| 4. New York Jets (6-1) | Why is Curtis Martin overlooked? |
| 5. New York Giants (5-2) | NFC’s second best by default |
| 6. Kansas City (3-4) | Can’t overlook 101 points in two games |
| 27. Buffalo (2-5) | A home win over Arizona? So what? |
| 28. Arizona (2-5) | Awful on the road |
| 29. Chicago (2-5) | Don’t get too excited about beating a losing team with a backup QB |
| 30. San Francisco (1-6) | To Jeff and Terrell: Make up and come back |
| 31. Oakland (2-6) | League’s worst defense and Collins has been awful |
| 32. Miami (1-7) | Now the defense is collapsing |
Source: Associated Press