Five Questions for Week 10

1. What's Up With the Jaguars?

"The engine ain't runnin' right," Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson told the Florida Times-Union's Mike Wright after Sunday's humiliating loss to the previously winless Bengals. Yeah, well, it's more than the engine, Mike. It's the brakes too and Jacksonville's headed downhill at a Bridge Out sign with no sign of being able to take control. Last week, it was the Browns feeling good about themselves after playing the Jags. This week it's Cincinnati. Next week...(gulp) Detroit?! This is a team that was good enough to knock off the Steelers in the playoffs last season. A team that went into its bye week buoyed by a win in Denver. Now they're 3-5 and in dire straits since the AFC Wild Card race is led by teams that are two full games up on the Jags at this point.

Said Peterson: "We haven't taken control of a game yet.I'm talking about where we intimidate running backs, where they know they're fixin' to get hit, we're gonna trash talk and if your fingers are down on the ground, we'll step on your fingers. That's what I call (having) that dog, man. We don't really have that dog in us right now for whatever reason."

When the dog's got no bite, the man holding the leash usually has to answer for it and Jack Del Rio - despite having had good success with the Jags - will have some s'plainin to do if this keeps up. The Jags are too talented to be this bad.

2. Patriots-Bills or Giants-Eagles...Which Game's Bigger?

There's a handful of good matchups this weekend but the two prettiest are in the East...Buffalo at New England and the Giants at Philly. Mama Peacock has the Eagles-Jints and it's got more starpower but for cutthroat need-to-win, I like the Pats and Bills. Both teams are 5-3 and New England is facing its first threat to Divisional supremacy in years. If anyone's going to knock them off, it's Buffalo. And while the Pats and Bills both lost Sunday, neither played poorly overall. It was a simple fact of both having to pay high costs for subtle mistakes (or in Buffalo's case, repeated red zone inadequacy). While we're on that topic, if you're the Patriots and you have Matt Cassel entering the final year of his contract, how hard do you try to retain him. And if you're Matt Cassel, are you looking to cash in on what you've done this season and get a starting job elsewhere?

3. Which Coordinators Make the Jump?

To me, there are three guys standing out as ready to make the jump from coordinator to head coach. First is Jim Schwartz, the Titans defensive coordinator. He was in the mix for the Redskins job last year but didn't get it. Now, he's calling the shots for an 8-0 defense in Tennessee doing nothing to hurt his candidacy. Second, there's Steve Spagnuolo in New York. The guy exudes confidence and his schemes calling the Jints defense are just nasty. Finally - and he's probably still too young - you have to look at the work done by Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel and marvel. He's got Cassel running the show, he's lost LaMont Jordan, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris from the running game and still the Pats are playing this well. The kid's remarkably talented. It's no coincidence either that all three are under three of the most organized and consistent head coaches.  

4. Taken No. 1 Doesn't Mean You're No. 1, Does It?

In the array of potshots Al Davis took at Lane Kiffin during his scorched earth press conference, one of the lowest blows was airing Kiffin's misgivings about JaMarcus Russell. Davis said Kiffin didn't want him. Davis said Russell was going to be a star. Guess who looks closer to being right? Yeah, the guy out of a job. Russell led the Raiders to three first downs Sunday against the Falcons. He threw for a grand total of 91 feet on 6 of 19 passing. In five of his eight starts he's completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes and in three of those he's been under 40 percent. This is a guy that Davis HAD to have. A guy who's making more than Tom Brady. People think the Niners screwed up with Alex Smith? JaMarcus is making Alex Smith look like Johnny Unitas.

5. Browns, Jags, Texans, Chargers...Do Any of These 3-5 Teams Have a Shot?

I'm going to say the only one with a prayer is the Chargers and that's because they can still win the West. Otherwise, the other three are all dead because there's too much Wild Card competition.