Andre Caldwell(notes), Kick Returner, Cincinnati Bengals. Andre Caldwell has made some big catches for the Bengals this season, but I'm afraid that yesterday's boner trumps them all. Raiders special-teamer Brandon Myers(notes) poked the ball away from him and recovered it. Sebastian Janikowski(notes) came on, buried the winning field goal, and that was that. Of course, if you're the Bengals, there's no reason you should be in a close game with the Raiders to begin with, but being good is new to the Bengals, too. They'll get the hang of it.

Hank Poteat(notes), Cornerback, Cleveland Browns. When Matthew Stafford(notes) scrambled out of the pocket before his desperation heave into the endzone yesterday, Hank Poteat thought, "Hey, I better not let Calvin Johnson(notes) catch this." That part was good. But Hank Poteat also thought, "If the quarterback leaves the pocket, it's okay for me to run around and indiscriminately tackle wide receivers at my own whim. Wheee!" Unfortunately, this rule exists only in Hank Poteat's head. He shoved Calvin Johnson out of the back of the endzone, got flagged for it, and Stafford made the Browns pay.

Chris Simms(notes), Quarterback, Denver Broncos. Kyle Orton's(notes) ankle wasn't healthy enough for football activity yesterday, so the Broncos started Chris Simms. By halftime, Josh McDaniels decided that a one-legged Kyle Orton was a better option than Chris Simms. The Broncos still got pounded, but Simms was bad enough for McDaniels to decide that it was worth risking the long-term health of his starting quarterback. I never understood why McDaniels didn't go back to Simms when it was clear that the game was decided, though.

Mark Sanchez(notes), Quarterback, New York Jets. The up-and-down season continues for the rookie quarterback, with yesterday being his second worst game of the season. Sanchez completely Jamarcus'd out against the Patriots, going 8-of-21, with four interceptions and just one touchdown. When it was all said and done, his quarterback rating in the game was 64 points lower than it was in his first outing against the Patriots.

Brandon Gibson(notes), WR, St. Louis Rams. Gibson dropped a pass in the endzone that would've given the Rams a chance to tie the Cardinals and force overtime. Here's a related stat for you: Tied for the lead this week in times targeted were Wes Welker(notes) and Brandon Gibson, both with 17. Welker had 15 catches. Gibson had five. I'm sure Marc Bulger(notes) shares a lot of the blame on that, but it's still an awful, awful percentage.

"Cry, Whine and Moan" is a weekly Sunday evening feature where fans of victory-challenged teams can gather to commiserate. Feel free to vent your frustration with your team's players, coaches or management in the comments below. And please, fans of teams who aren't on the list: Leave those less fortunate alone. This post is a taunting-free zone. The losers deserve that much.

Washington Redskins. It wouldn't feel right to make fun of the Redskins this week, because the guys on the defensive side of the ball all did their jobs, and then some. As for the offense and the coaching staff ...

The following quotes are passed along from Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog, your online home for postgame quotes that somehow find a way to further humiliate the Redskins. The Redskins needlessly burned two timeouts in the second half. Here's Jim Zorn explaining the first one:

"Well, shoot," he said. "Yeah. We got caught on a clock, and I really don't know how it happened, because I felt like we got the play in, I felt like we were out of the huddle, and we were down to :01 [on the clock] before we knew it. Absolutely have no idea how that happened. Because we were moving in and out of the huddle pretty well then.

And here's Jim Zorn explaining the second one.

"And then on the second timeout, that use of timeout, that was just so frustrating to me. We hurt Jason on that play. I hurt him, because I didn't have the needed call, and we got caught on time again, where we had a shift and a motion and I had to call timeout because it wasn't gonna be [snapped in time]. It was just totally mine, totally on me. I screwed us out of that timeout. I did everything I could just to maintain my composure, and then it absolutely had an issue at the end of this football game, so it's just on me."

I think we're about two Redskins losses away from Jim Zorn sitting in front of the mic at postgame press conferences, pulling out an acoustic guitar and singing a song he wrote called, "If You Had Any Shred of Mercy in Your Soul, You'd Fire Me Right Now."

Cleveland Browns. You've got absolutely nothing to be ashamed about this week, Browns. Any bad team can be boring. But you and the Lions went out there and made a hell of a football game out of something that should've only drained our collective will to live. That is a contribution. I'm absolutely serious about that. Thank you, Cleveland Browns, for what you did today.

Buffalo Bills. I have no Bills or Jaguars on my fantasy team, I had nothing else riding on the game, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even have noticed if CBS decided not to send a camera crew down to Jacksonville for this one. I realize that that's unfair since the Jags are 6-4 and a playoff contender, but I think on a subconscious level I see that no one in Jacksonville even cares, so that makes me not care myself.

Seattle Seahawks. Brett Favre(notes) completed 22-of-25 passes for an 89% completion rate to go with his four touchdowns. Is that it, Seattle? You're going to let him leave town with just that? What about his hot oil rubdown, or the personal one-on-one concert from Sir Mix-a-Lot?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Josh Freeman(notes) is playing, learning, making mistakes and hopefully learning from these mistakes. That's the good news, slight as it may be.

St. Louis Rams. Way to hang around in the second half and threaten to make a comeback, Rams. Late in that game, you didn't like look like a 1-9 team to me. Somewhere around 3-7, maybe.

Denver Broncos. That makes four losses in a row, and if Kyle Orton's(notes) ankle doesn't get healthy soon, I feel pretty confident that it'll become five on Thanksgiving night. Chris Simms(notes) is a loooooong way away from his 2005 "prime," which wasn't that great to begin with. Orton wasn't himself, either, with the bum ankle. If that doesn't get fixed, a 6-0 start is going to be wasted.

Pittsburgh Steelers. I think Mike Tomlin called Marvin Lewis after last week's game and said, "Listen, that game was tough on both of us. We can keep fighting it out for the division after Thanksgiving, but what do you say we both just take this weekend off?" An agreement was made, and there was joy in Kansas City and Oakland.

Cincinnati Bengals. Honest question: When Bruce Gradkowski(notes) stepped in and won his first game as a starter, do you think JaMarcus Russell(notes) said to himself, "Wow, I've really got a lot to learn" or, "If it had been me in there, we'd have won by 30"?

See last week's absurdly premature playoff picture here.

AFC First-Round Byes:
Indianapolis Colts
Cincinnati Bengals

Other AFC Divisional Champions:
New England Patriots
San Diego Chargers

AFC Wild Cards:
Pittsburgh Steelers
Denver Broncos

NFC First-Round Byes:
New Orleans Saints
Minnesota Vikings

Other NFC Divisional Champions:
Dallas Cowboys
Arizona Cardinals

NFC Wild Cards:
Philadelphia Eagles
Green Bay Packers

• As promised, with its win over Pittsburgh, Cincinnati slides into the second first-round bye spot in the AFC. The Bengals thoroughly earned it. They should stay there for a while, too, as their next three games are against three teams that would be playing in the UFL next year if the NFL worked like English soccer: Oakland, Cleveland and Detroit.  

• We also had a change in the divisional champion out west, with San Diego taking over for Denver. As always, this comes with the requisite warning that this could be a homer pick, and if you believe it is, well, fair enough. The good news? Any homerism gets rectified this weekend, as the Chargers and Broncos play for that spot. AFC West Divisional Champion spot ... ON THE LINE.

• I like San Diego in that game, though, which is why I've given the Chargers the nod today. They're a better team today than they were when they played Denver the first time, and I don't know if anyone can say conclusively that the Broncos aren't worse. Especially if Kyle Orton(notes) can't go.

• Over in the NFC, everything stays the same outside of the wild-card spots, which are a mess. There's a gaggle of teams at 5-4: Philadelphia, New York, Green Bay and Atlanta. We've also got a couple of 4-5 teams we can't completely discount yet: Chicago, Carolina and San Francisco. Of those, the 49ers have the most favorable schedule remaining, but their win over the Bears was not exactly the stuff of which legends are made.

• I ended up going with Philadelphia and Green Bay, simply because of the "When in doubt, go with the best quarterbacks" philosophy. Philadelphia put forth a game effort in San Diego; the Eagles shot their feet off in the red zone. If Brian Westbrook(notes) is out for a while (and I've got a hunch he will be), that'll hurt, but the Eagles deserve a chance to show they're prepared for his absence, which they absolutely should be.

• If that defensive performance Green Bay put forth against Dallas was real, I love Green Bay's chances to snag a wild-card spot. The Packers are still far from a perfect team, obviously, but they're the most explosive offense in wild-card contendership, and if the defense can start to match that at all, I like it.

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The injury reports from today's games read like a who's who of recent NFL standouts. An All-Pro safety, the starting quarterback off a division leader, three starting running backs from playoff contenders and two long-time offensive lineman were among the carnage in a day that could come back to haunt a number of teams with Super Bowl aspirations.

The list of the fallen include:

Cedric Benson(notes) (RB, Cincinnati Bengals) -- Hip

Ronnie Brown(notes) (RB, Miami Dolphins) -- Ankle

Marc Colombo(notes) (T, Dallas Cowboys) -- Broken leg

Jordan Gross(notes) (T, Carolina Panthers) -- Ankle

Julius Jones(notes) (RB, Seattle Seahawks) -- Chest

Kyle Orton(notes) (QB, Denver Broncos) -- Ankle

Michael Turner(notes) (RB, Atlanta Falcons) =- Ankle

Brian Westbrook(notes) (RB, Philadelphia Eagles) -- Concussion

Orton will reportedly miss next week's game, Turner and Benson are said to have potentially "serious" injuries and Westbrook's concussion was his second in 20 days. His loss wouldn't devastate the Eagles (at this point, it's almost a surprise when he does play), but prolonged absences by the others could mean the difference between a postseason berth or mid-January tee times.

Today's list isn't out of the ordinary or anything. The crawl on SportsCenter every Monday morning shows more medical conditions than it does scores. However, days like today should remind the NFL that it's hard enough for players to get through a 16-game season, let alone the 18-game season that Roger Goodell would love to expand to.

Do the bright lights of prime time games blind Jay Cutler(notes) to open receivers? Does the additional mental prep time of a night game turn Cutler's finely-tuned competitive spirit into a mish-mash of ineffectiveness and petulance? In games played after 8:00 PM EST this year -- Chicago's season opening loss against the Packers on Sunday Night Football, the Week 6 Sunday Night loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and the Thursday night loss to the 49ers -- Cutler has put up some truly craptacular statistics. In those three night games, Cutler has completed 73 passes in 131 attempts for a 55.7 completion percentage, three touchdowns and 11 interceptions. That, folks, gives Cutler a quarterback rating of 49.3. In his five day games, he's 138 of 207 for 1,469 yards, with 11 touchdowns and six picks. That's a quarterback rating of 92.8.

And it's not as if Cutler put up those great daytime numbers against tomato cans -- his second-highest quarterback rating of the season (104.7) came against the Steelers in Week 2, and he excelled statistically against a pretty solid Cardinals defense, though many of his throws were in desperation after Arizona put up a 31-7 lead at halftime.

Is Cutler more comfortable when the eyes of the football-crazed nation are not exclusively on him? Some players thrive under the harshest of spotlights, and others shy away from that focus. But this wasn't as much of a problem for Cutler in 2008 -- he lit up the Raiders and Browns defenses in prime time, though the Chargers and Patriots gave him fits after dark.

What is it about Cutler's decision-making process that switches this year? Is he feeling the pressure of the "franchise quarterback" label after the Bears basically gave up two drafts for his services? Is he missing Brandon Marshall(notes) and Eddie Royal(notes) and finding Devin Hester(notes) and Earl Bennett(notes) lacking? Or is this just one of those things where everyone has to adjust and get used to each other?

The Bears don't seem to be exploiting Cutler's one supreme ability -- to get the ball downfield with consistency and accuracy. Instead, because of an ineffective offensive line and conservative game plan, Cutler's caught making checkdown after checkdown in an offense that any half-decent "game manager" quarterback could handle. You know -- the types of quarterbacks that don't cost multiple top draft picks and your existing starting quarterback. If all the Bears were going to do was throw bubble screens to Matt Forte(notes) and quick outs to Greg Olsen(notes) ... well, couldn't Kyle Orton(notes) have handled that?

Shutdown Corner is proud to present the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints
		The Saints are turning scoring in the NFL into something more golf-like, where certain teams have handicaps. Against the Dolphins, Falcons and now Panthers, the Saints have given them a bunch of strokes on the front nine, and then Drew Brees just squashes them on the back nine. Brees also retook the lead in 2009 quarterback rating this week, at 106.1.
2. Peyton Manning(notes), Indianapolis Colts
		Manning threw the ball 40 times in the first half against the Texans. Not that that stat makes him a great quarterback, but it does illustrate pretty well just how much the Colts are leaning on him. Earlier in the season, Brees and Manning were clearly numbers one and two here, leaving everyone else to fight for third and beyond. Now, though, we're at a point where the one-two combo could be broken up at any minute.
3. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		The Steelers were pretty convincing in the second half last night, weren't they? They didn't leave much doubt about who was the better team on that field. What you saw in the second half was legitimate knockout power. Even if a fight isn't going their way, Ben Roethlisberger and the receiving corps still give them the ability reach out and turn your lights off at any moment.
4. Brett Favre(notes), Minnesota Vikings
		Favre had a week off, so he'll sit quietly here in the four spot. There are two things I'll say while we're here, though. First, you know the traditional second-half meltdown from Brett Favre, where he turns into a Juggs machine that can only throw to the other team? That's not coming this year. Secondly, Brett Favre is exactly one-tenth of a point behind Drew Brees in quarterback rating. In fact, the top five guys (Brees, Favre, Peyton, Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers(notes)) are separated by less than three points.
5. Tom Brady(notes), New England Patriots
		Handsome Tom makes a big jump this week, not necessarily based on his 25-of-37, 332-yard performance against the Dolphins, but because his level of play over the last few weeks has so good. It was really only a matter of time before Brady pushed back into the top five; I just wanted to see him string a few good weeks together. He's very close to being vintage Tom Brady.
6. Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans
		It wasn't the finest of weeks for Matt Schaub, and I should probably deduct more points because it was a week where the Texans really needed him. Still, he leads the league in yards passing and touchdown passes (tied with Brees with 17), so you can't move a guy like that too far down the list.
7. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		Rivers threw a pair of interceptions on Sunday, and I was afraid I was going to have to move him down. That last drive, though, salvaged the week, to say the least. I know the Giants secondary isn't the most fearsome unit ever assembled, but still, that's on the road, on the other side of the country, in a hostile environment against a desperate team.
8. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
		Okay, maybe I got a little carried away with Aaron Rodgers at number three last week. Eight is probably a little low for him, too, but there's got to be some kind of a punishment when you throw three interceptions to the Bucs, and even worse, take six sacks. Rodgers is on pace to be sacked 74 times this season. Maybe his offensive line isn't great, but for all the great things Rodgers can do, no one gets sacked that much if they have any kind of pocket awareness and know when to get rid of the ball.
9. Carson Palmer(notes), Cincinnati Bengals
		Sort of like Tom Brady, I feel like Carson Palmer's finally rounding back into his true form, too. His stats from Sunday's game against Baltimore don't really do his performance justice. Cincinnati won that game in part because they had an effective all-around offense, and Baltimore didn't. That starts with the quarterback.
10. Tony Romo(notes), Dallas Cowboys
		Romo wasn't spectacular on Sunday night against Philadelphia, but he did enough to keep himself in the top ten here. Any time you go on the road and win (against a non-Washington-based team) in the NFC East, you've accomplished something.
Noses pressed against the glass: Kurt Warner(notes), Arizona Cardinals Eli Manning(notes), New York Giants Jay Cutler(notes), Chicago Bears Joe Flacco(notes), Baltimore Ravens Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles Kyle Orton(notes), Denver Broncos

On the very special 30th podcast here at Shutdown Corner, we take a look at arguably the AFC's most interesting team, the Denver Broncos. To help us do so, special guest Kyle Montgomery of BroncoTalk.net swings by to drop some Broncos knowledge.

We talk, of course, about last week's disaster in Baltimore, why it happened, and what it means for the Broncos going forward. We talk about the evolution of the Josh McDaniels era, and how much fun it's been if you're a Broncos fan. There's Kyle Orton(notes) talk, Brandon Marshall(notes) talk and plenty of talk about this week's key matchup against the Steelers.

Danks and I also have the standards: the abusive e-mail of the week, the Hot Routes and I try to protect my one-game lead in the Picks Segment. Here are the games we pick this week (home teams in CAPS):

Baltimore Ravens -3 vs. CINCINNATI BENGALS
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS -9 vs. Houston Texans
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS - 13½ vs. Carolina Panthers
NEW YORK GIANTS - 4½ vs. San Diego Chargers
Pittsburgh Steelers -3 vs. DENVER BRONCOS

You can listen right here:

Or download the MP3 right here. MP3, 38:31, 18.1 MB.

Shutdown Corner is proud to present the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints
		Once again, this week features the Brees/Manning flip-flop at the top, with Brees placing his foot squarely on top of Manning's head this week. He did have the one interception where Falcons DB Brett Grimes climbed air to snatch it out of the sky, but Brees spent most of the game being pretty damn brilliant. I'm not predicting 16-0 for the Saints, but if there's one reason they can get there, it's that the play they get from the quarterback position gives them a very big margin for error in every game. Like last night, for example.
2. Peyton Manning(notes), Indianapolis Colts
		Not a great week for Peyton, but his season so far gives him enough juice to keep the top spot. It's kind of funny that the guy can complete 31-of-48 passes for 347 yards, and I'm calling it "not a great week," but that's the level of quarterback play we're being blessed with this year in NFL National Football League. Sorry, I wanted to try that.
3. Aaron Rodgers(notes), Green Bay Packers
		The Vikings outplayed the Packers, but did Brett Favre(notes) outplay Aaron Rodgers? Sort of yes, sort of no. Favre was just about flawless, but the burden on Rodgers was far greater. The Packers had no Adrian Peterson to lean on, they don't have a great defense, and they didn't get to play with a lead. They asked Rodgers to do everything, and he responded with 287 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks. I'm giving the edge to Rodgers based on degree of difficulty. As a side note: You know who has the best quarterback rating in the league right now? It's not Brees, and it's not Manning ... it's Mr. Aaron Rodgers. The top two is dangerously close to being broken up.
4. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings
		Continuing the Rodgers vs. Favre on Sunday discussion from above, I do have to acknowledge some bias towards Rodgers. I know this, and you know this. I still think a slight edge to Rodgers is the right call. Favre's been amazing, but the Minnesota offense is so perfectly tailored to putting the quarterback in a great position. Obviously, that doesn't mean just anyone could step in and put up the kinds of numbers Favre is putting up, but he doesn't have the weight of an entire offense on his shoulders, either.
5. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		A week off for Pittsburgh, and Roethlisberger stays put in the five-hole.
6. Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans
		Matt Schaub slides a bit this week after a zero touchdown, two interception performance against the Bills. I don't think Schaub will mind, though, because he also got some good news this week: he might soon have a running game, courtesy of Ryan Moats(notes). If the Texans add a consistent ground game to what Schaub and Andre Johnson(notes) are already doing ... sweet sassy molassey, that's going to be quite an offense.
7. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		It's so difficult to hash out the bottom of this list every week, because there's so little separating so many quality quarterbacks, but it seems like Philip Rivers is the one guy who can be counted on for consistency. His QB rating has been 93 or better in his past four games, and he's never been below 84.5 on the year. Thank you, Phil, for making this slightly easier.
8. Tony Romo(notes), Dallas Cowboys
		Just 15 minutes and 30 seconds into the Cowboys/Seahawks game, Tony Romo had already hit five different receivers. By the end of the game, 10 different Cowboys had caught passes. I love that stat, because it shows that a quarterback is getting through his progressions, making all kinds of different reads, and isn't relying too heavily on one guy. Three stellar weeks for Romo and counting.
9. Joe Flacco(notes), Baltimore Ravens
		Here's what Flacco accomplished on Sunday: 20-of-25, one touchdown, no interceptions, one win against an undefeated team and one big, sloppy wet kiss from Dan Dierdorf avoided after the game. I like Dierdorf, but he does tend to get carried away at times ... and yet, the unyielding river of verbal lust that he lavished on Flacco on Sunday was completely warranted.
10. Tom Brady(notes), New England Patriots
		Brady had the week off, so let's talk about the two other guys who were considered for this spot. First, Eli. After reaching as high as number two on this list, he is now completely gone. Sorry. There are too many good quarterbacks here for three bad weeks to be tolerated. Second, Mr. McNabb. Great, great game on Sunday, but you know what I'd like you to do? Have two of them in a row. You've burned me before, sir.
Noses pressed against the glass: Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles; Carson Palmer(notes), Cincinnati Bengals; Eli Manning(notes), New York Giants; Kyle Orton(notes), Denver Broncos; Jay Cutler(notes), Chicago Bears

Vince Young(notes), Quarterback, Tennessee Titans. I wouldn't say that Vince Young was the reason that the Titans won yesterday, but Young did everything that could've been asked of him. 15-of-18 for 125 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions? Jeff Fisher will take that every time. Of course, he it helps if you have a running back that goes for 228 yards and two touchdowns (thank you, Chris Johnson), your defense gets two interceptions and you get to play from ahead (something Kerry Collins(notes) rarely got to do). Did VY's presence in the line-up spark this kind of performance from the rest of the team? Things like that have been known to happen.

Greg Mattison, Defensive Coordinator, Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens played, by far, their best game of 2009 against the Broncos yesterday. They were strong, they were physical, they were tough and they had the right game plan. They decided that they would tee off on the Denver running game and short passes, and if Denver wanted to beat them by going vertical, then hey, have it it, Kyle Orton(notes). He couldn't do it. Denver's biggest play of the day was a 39-yard pass interference call on the Ravens. Outside of that, the Broncos had just one play all day that went for more than 20 yards, and it came in garbage time.

Ted Ginn, Special Teams, Miami Dolphins. Note that it doesn't say, "Ted Ginn, Wide Receiver." Ginn didn't catch a ball (though, it should be noted, neither did his replacement, Brian Hartline(notes)). That didn't stop Ginn from just about singlehandedly winning that game for his team, though. That Miami offense was doing nothing yesterday, Wildcat or no Wildcat. But they got one defensive touchdown, and two special teams touchdowns from Ginn, both of which were "Man, that guy is crazy athletic" moments.

DeAngelo Williams(notes) and Jonathan Stewart(notes), Running Backs, Carolina Panthers. This result -- a 34-21 Panthers win over the Cardinals -- I did not see coming. The Cardinals were on the come, and the Panthers looked to be in trouble ... and then this happens. And the reason that the Cardinals were on the come was their run defense, and the Panthers plowed through them for 270 yards on the ground. They were so effective that Jake Delhomme(notes) only had to throw the ball 14 times, and that fact is not at all coincidental to the fact that the Panthers won.

Shawne Merriman(notes), Linebacker, San Diego Chargers. Shawne Merriman actually affected a game yesterday. His presence was actually noticeable on the field. It started a little bit with the game against the Chiefs last week, and then exploded this week. He had two sacks against the Raiders and wreaked havoc in their backfield all day.