Dirty dozen
The top six and the bottom six heading into Week 7:
| Team | Comment |
| 1. New England (5-0) | Someone always makes a game-winning play |
| 2. Philadelphia (5-0) | Average margin of victory is 14 points |
| 3. Indianapolis (5-1) | Defense is playing well enough to provide offense with a comfort zone |
| 4. Denver (5-1) | Davis, Gary, Anderson, Portis … Droughns |
| 5. New York Jets (5-0) | The teams they’ve beaten are 6-22, but “W” is all that counts |
| 6. Minnesota (5-1) | Culpepper is on track to shatter a bunch of single-season passing records |
| 27. San Francisco (1-5) | Competitive but green |
| 28. Buffalo (1-4) | Don’t move up too far by beating Miami |
| 29. Chicago (1-4) | Might be better if Grossman hadn’t been hurt |
| 30. Cincinnati (1-4) | Back to the past |
| 31. Arizona (1-4) | Some signs of progress, but we’ve seen that before |
| 32. Miami (0-6) | A glimmer of hope: the Cardinals come to town Nov. 7 |
Source: Associated Press