The Falcons have had a surprisingly potent passing game this year, but we may find out on Sunday if it's truly a one-man show.

Roddy White is questionable after suffering a concussion during practiice on Wednesday. If he can't play, there's a pretty good chance that the Falcons passing game may disappear without him. Atlanta has had a pretty good passing game in the first five weeks of the season, but it's all because of White.

No wide receiver in the league has played a larger role in his team's passing game--and it's not even close. No other receiver accounts for more than half of his team's passing yards. White also has half (two) of the team's passing touchdowns and half (19) of the team's first downs through the air.

Well, five weeks in and I finally land my first push. Which is good news (and a little bizarre) I guess, since I still went 5-7-1 for the week. Which brings my astounding season total to 31-41-1. On the bright side, my Tungsten picks are 7-3, so if you've been placing your money ... actually scratch that. If you're wagering on my picks, you're a bigger loser than me.

But, I have been known to occasionally get warm. Streaky business this handicapping. Let's rock.

Oakland Raiders @ New Orleans Saints (-7)
You would think that the Saints could come off Monday night's debacle and piece together a decent game against the frigging Raiders. And I don't want Mantz accusing me of jinxing the Saints this week. Or did I just do that? Crap.

Saints -7

Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts (-4)
Peyton Manning is like the Phil Mickelson of football and that should be self explanatory. (Loser turned winner goofball type.) Sage Rosenfels is still working on that transition so maybe Peyton doesn't deserve all the credit. Still, I'm not generally inclined to bet on Joe Flacco over anyone named Manning.

Colts -4

Cincinnati Bengals @ New York Jets (-6)
Doesn't this feel like a trap game? Cincy's horrible but they've at least been close in a few recent games. Jets favored by less than a touchdown, people teasing Brett Favre all over the place (No, not the "Nice painkiller addiction, wuss!!" type of teasing, you jackass.) And then BAM. Ryan Fitzpatrick gets all up in your bidness.

Bengals +6

Every week I take a look at the battle at the line of scrimmage in one NFL game. Check back every Thursday for a new edition of Between The Lines.

If you actually watched the Falcons last year, you got to witness a disaster. The team didn't have a quarterback to count on, and relied on an aging Warrick Dunn while a younger, more talented back (Jerious Norwood) spent the season as his backup. Oh yeah, the quarterback was in jail and the coach bailed on the team in the middle of the season, but hey, at least he left a note.

But as bad as all of that was, the worst part of the 2007 Falcons' team was its offensive line. The team went through four left tackles as Wayne Gandy's blown knee was the first of a series of injuries. Rookie guard Justin Blalock struggled and additional injuries forced shuffles at right tackle as well. The result was plenty of sacks, no holes for the running game and general disorganization.

The revolving door that is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback position appears as if it's about to take another turn this Sunday, as all signs are pointing to Jeff Garcia taking back his starting job. We knew this was a possibility earlier in the week, but as Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune explains, we're one step closer to it becoming a reality.

Griese sat out the morning walkthrough and will skip today's practice as well. He said he could return to work on Thursday but it may not matter. The feeling here at One Buc Place is that the Bucs have already decided to change quarterbacks for the second time this year. All indications then are that Jeff Garcia will be back at the helm when the Bucs take on the Panthers in their critical matchup Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

As I've said before, I think this is a good thing for Tampa, and this situation is almost identical to the scenario that led to Brian Griese taking over the job following the team's week one loss.

Cummings also suggests that Jon Gruden is unhappy with Griese's habit of throwing passes to guys wearing different uniforms, as well as his inability to hit open receivers. That's quite a 180 from what the Buccaneers coach argued at his press conference a week ago.

Rookie CB Tracy Porter was progressing nicely in his first NFL season after a great collegiate career at my alma mater (Indiana University). He had almost allowed Saints fans to forget about the non-coverage "provided" by Jason David on the outside.

After making several pass breakups, including a very solid one in the red zone late in the first half, Porter left the game with a dislocated wrist.

Tuesday evening it was reported that Porter will miss the remainder of his once promising rookie season. What a shame.

By the way, check out the comments under the above linked post. Saints fans are ready to jump. I hate to say this part is funny, though it is: Most of the comments illustrate that the fans aren't necessarily panicking because Porter is gone, but instead panicking because David may be forced into action.

I think my favorite was the one where the commenter asked -- seemingly legitimately -- why David never gets hurt ... only to turn around and answer his own question by saying David's never close enough to the action to get hit.

It's safe to say, the Saints and their fans aren't having a good week. At least Drew Brees is still ok. For now.

What more can you ask for? NFL cheerleaders wearing their uniforms in a haunted house is pretty cool.

That's what you get at Tampa's Busch Gardens during their "Hall-O-Scream" event. As most people know, pretty much every amusement park turns into a series of halloween themed attractions during the weekend evenings.

The video above shows the Tampa Bay Buccaneer cheerleaders touring the "Hall-O-Scream" and topping off the night by performing with the Naughty Nurses for a bit of "The Time Warp."

The Bucs cheerleaders will need to get their wits back about them as they will be needed against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Remember, no cheerleader is safe when these two teams meet in Tampa.

(Hat tip: The Pewter Plank)

I'll have more detail on this when I focus on the Falcons rebuilt offensive line in this week's Between the Lines on Thursday, but the Football Outsiders have a solid piece today explaining how the Falcons have gone from laughing stock to second place in the NFC South.

As FO points out, the biggest difference between last year's debacle and this year's turnaround (besides getting rid of Bobby Petrino) is the much improved running game. Obviously replacing Warrick Dunn's 770 yards (3.2 yards per carry) with Michael Turner has been a big part of that, but having a relatively healthy offensive line with more talent (thank you Sam Baker and Harvey Dahl) have played a big part as well.

And of course, Matt Ryan has played better than you can expect a rookie quarterback to play.

The schedule gets a lot tougher in the next two months--there are no Lions or Chiefs-style patsies on the schedule until the Rams in Week 17--but this Falcons team has already shown that it's a lot better than people expected. While they may not be a playoff team, it does look the rebuilding effort is ahead of schedule.

Hey, it's one of those early-season "must-win" games! The 1-3 Vikings travel to New Orleans to face the 2-2 Saints. A lot of people had both teams as preseason favorites to make deep playoff runs, and as it stands, only the Lions stand between the Vikes and last place in the NFC North, and the Saints are in the NFC South basement looking up at ... wait, the Falcons? For real?

Whatever, we'll be live-bloggin' it up tonight, Fun starts at 8:15-ish.

Tony Gonzalez passed Shannon Sharpe for all-time receiving yardage for a tight end. That is the beginning and the end of the good news for the Kansas City Chiefs today.

The Carolina Panthers just drilled the Chiefs, 34-0, and took sole possession of first place in the NFC South.

The stat of the game isn't how the Panthers outgained the Chiefs 441 to 127. It isn't that this was the biggest shutout in Panthers history. It is the fact that Carolina held Larry Johnson to just two yards rushing.

Yep. Just one week after nearly topping the 200 yard mark, LJ gained just two yards on seven carries. He now joins quite a list of backs who failed to hit the century mark rushing against the Panthers: LaDainian Tomlinson, Matt Forte, Adrian Peterson and Michael Turner.

The Chiefs passing game was a joke, too. Damon Huard threw for just 86 yards before he was pulled for Tyler Thigpen. The Chiefs gained the smallest amount of yardage in 22 years.

Carolina couldn't relate to KC's problems since their offense was doing anything they wanted.

Occasionally FanHouse's resident referee will chime in with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report.

The most difficult calls for an official are judgment calls. Unfortunately in football that covers pretty much everything. Rarely is there a call as easy as an upper deck home run or a ball going into a hoop. This is simply the nature of officiating football. One call which carries a ton of discretion is roughing the passer, and it has been controversial for years. As Bruce Ciskie said this past week on an email chain,

"(I've seen) defensive players rushing with their arms up to try to block a pass, grazing the QB's helmet with a hand on the way by, and drawing a flag for it. I mean, it's one thing to tell these guys they can't hit the QB, but to tell them they can't try to knock a ball down because they might touch the QB's helmet is just ridiculous."

I agree. Let's take a look at some plays from this past week.