And then there were five …

Five undefeated teams remain in the NFL, and I’m thinking all five have a decent chance of staying that way next week. Dallas hosts the Rams, which will be a huge upset if the Cowboys lose; Pittsburgh plays at Arizona and Green Bay is at Minnesota, not automatic wins but the road teams are clearly the superior team; Indianapolis welcomes a Denver team that I don’t think is that good; and New England plays at Cincinnati on Monday night, and even if the Bengals are ready, it’s going to be at least a few week before the Patriot juggernaut is stopped. Here are my guesses when each team suffers loss one (yes, that last undefeated Dolphins team will get to celebrate again): Green Bay in Week 5 to the Bears (not homering, really, but I don’t think the Pack can keep this up), Dallas in Week 6 to New England, Indy Week 7 to Jacksonville, Pittsburgh in Week 7 to Denver, and the Patriots in Week 9 to the Colts.

– What a swell guy Atlanta’s DeAngelo Hall is. Three penalties, 57 yards, all in the same drive that allowed the Panthers to take control of their victory over the Falcons. That selfishness overshadowed Joey Harrington not having that bad a game. Just 13 games left before Atlanta’s season is over, too bad it won’t come sooner

– More bad news for the Saints: Deuce McAllister is out for the season with a torn knee ligament. We’ll see how Reggie Bush steps out of the running back by committee, my hunch is he’ll do fine but won’t get quite as many receptions, meaning the Saints will lose a dimension to their offense that already was pretty flat. The bye week should help, but they can’t afford to lose to Carolina in Week 5.

– The saga of Rex Grossman … is for another post. I’ll say one thing, the Bears’ problems go beyond Rex. They would be 1-2 if he wasn’t their QB, but the two losses (and one win) would not have looked so painful.

– Finally, what do Chris Brown, Jamal Lewis, Derrick Ward, LenDale White and Sammy Morris have in common? They are among the 29 running backs that have more rushing yards this season after three games than Larry Johnson. Add Najeh Davenport and DeAngelo Williams, and there are 32 RBs with more yards than LaDainian Tomlinson. These first three weeks have been weird, for sure.