Even after an exciting first half, there are some unanswered questions heading into the remainder of the season. Can anyone knock off the Patriots? Will Adrian Peterson ever slow down? Who will breathe some life into the Dolphins and Rams? And which NFC team will be the AFC's punching bag in the Super Bowl?

Here are 13 questions worth pondering as we head into the season's second half.

1. Will the New England Patriots go 16-0?
Conventional logic suggests that no team will go 16-0, let alone the 19-0. However, I'm of the belief that New England is going undefeated this season, with only a likely rematch with the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game standing in the way. In addition to "Spygate," Randy Moss trying to prove to the world he's still a great player and Tom Brady taking his game up a notch, the Patriots are playing with an edge. Some players such as Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel realize this is probably their last chance at a title. Here's one additional thing to

The NFL has determined that an irritating sound heard during the telecast of the New England Patriots' 24-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday was a broadcast audio glitch.

"CBS has informed us that the unusual audio moment heard by fans during the Patriots-Colts telecast was the result of tape feedback in the CBS production truck and was isolated to the CBS broadcast," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "It was in no way related to any sound within the stadium and could not be heard in the stadium."

Patriots president Jonathan Kraft approached NFL vice president of security Milt Ahlerich about the distracting noise after Kraft and his parents, Patriots owners Bob and Myra, left the Patriots locker room following the game. Kraft was angry as he told Ahlerich the league needed to look into the allegation. Ahlerich is the same person who confiscated a videotape made by the Patriots during a game against the New York Jets in Week 2 that led to the Spygate controversy.

In the past,

INDIANAPOLIS – There's a quality New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick shares with Hall of Fame coach Don Shula that goes beyond multiple championships into the depths of the coaching psyche.

They are, or in the case of Shula were, miserable after victories; curmudgeons who grade as much on artistic quality as the end result. Belichick is the kind of man who could go to museum and find fault with Monet's brush strokes.

That may explain the reaction of wide receiver Donte' Stallworth, who has learned after only nine games what it's like to work for Belichick. Stallworth was asked about the 146 yards in penalties the Patriots had to overcome in a 24-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

"What does it mean? It means I'm not getting on that plane now," Stallworth said of the team flight back and the reaction he expected from Belichick to the 10 penalties, which included a pair of uncharacteristic personal fouls.

"I've never experienced how he does it," Stallworth said.

Want to know just how precise Peyton Manning wants things to be?

In Manning's drive for constant perfection, he noticed one thing was amiss in the Colts office early in the offseason. The clocks – like those big, battery-operated ones that hang in most offices and schools around the country – were not good enough, Manning surmised.

Of course, Manning made this suggestion after the Colts had reached the summit with a victory in Super Bowl XLI over the Chicago Bears.

"We're close and the great thing about Peyton is that he's concerned about everything that happens in the organization but he also knows he has enough to handle," Colts owner Jim Irsay said at the NFL's fall meetings in Philadelphia last week. "But he just sent me a note and said, 'We need to get this system in the building where all the clocks are synchronized.' It's like I didn't even know there was such a thing. 'Yeah, it's so that they're synchronized in the locker room and the hallways and no one has an excuse for being

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots continued the Bill Belichick Revenge Tour with yet another thrashing that left yet another opponent awed by the immense precision with which they are playing right now.

But the more pertinent questions coming from the 52-7 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday at Gillette Stadium revolves more on style than any of the staggering numbers the 8-0 Patriots have produced in a half-season of work.

First, how much flak are the Patriots going to take for running up the score? Second, is there anything anybody can really do about it? Third, will they use that flak as another perceived diss to further feed their desire to win?

All of those questions figure to get plenty of debate this week as New England heads to Indianapolis for a historic matchup with the 7-0 Colts. This is the latest point in a season in which two undefeated teams have ever met in the history of the NFL. The last time it was even this close was 1921, when the 7-0 Akron

If Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga decides to make significant changes this offseason, don't be surprised if Bill Parcells surfaces as a top candidate to help in a resurrection of the 0-7 team.

While such change is purely speculative and premature at this time, a source close to Parcells said it's completely logical.

"It makes a lot of sense that the Dolphins would be a job he'd be very interested in if it came open," a source close to Parcells said Friday. "But only as the GM. I don't think he'll ever coach again."

Huizenga told The Miami Herald last week he is not only unhappy with the state of the team this season, but that he would have the team conduct "internal self-studies" before he made decisions on the future of both general manager Randy Mueller and first-year coach Cam Cameron.

Huizenga expressed his unhappiness again earlier this week at the NFL fall meetings in Philadelphia. However, Huizenga said he hadn't spoken with Parcells since playing golf with the former coach

By the time the Miami Dolphins return to action following their bye on Nov. 4, they could have a new starting quarterback.

Backup quarterback Cleo Lemon is expected to make his third start of the season Sunday against the New York Giants in London. However, rookie John Beck could be the starter on Nov. 11 when the 0-7 Dolphins play host to the Buffalo Bills, two sources said this week.

Quarterback Trent Green, who began the season as the starter, is on injured reserve for the rest of the season. Green's injury and the team's slow start have combined to convince top-level Dolphins officials it's time to play Beck, the team's second-round NFL draft pick in April.

At least one high-ranking member of the organization believes the team needs to find out if Beck is a good enough player to build around for the future.

"We need to know (about Beck) so we know if we have to take a quarterback with that pick (in next year's draft)," one of the sources said. Among the top quarterbacks expected to

PHILADELPHIA – The NFL simultaneously reminded its owners that it's bad to cheat. The owners then spent much of the day talking about the NFL Network, the league's television product which would be strongly aided by the New England Patriots going undefeated. The same Patriots who were found guilty of "Spygate" earlier this season and have since taken revenge on the NFL with one blowout win after another.

If all of this sounds like some odd collection of facts from the old PBS mini-series "Connections" with James Burke, stay with the program for a moment. It will all make sense in the end.

On Tuesday, the NFL Network and its battle with cable distributors dominated the owners meetings, which will finish up Wednesday. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the chairman of NFL Network, then gave a detailed briefing to the media about how the cable companies were denying the NFL Network to the football-loving public and the league's plans to lessen the restrictions.

The overriding theme of