Think back to the 2007 Patriots season. Spygate, win after dominate win, and even a little chatter from the media about Bill Belichick running up the score on some less fortunate teams. How did that team handle the multitude of questions from the media? Well, by never really returning the punches swung at them.

Now look at this 2008 New York Giants team. A Super Bowl ring, a 4-0 start and now being dogged by a member of the 1-3 Cleveland Browns. The Giants have decided that the best response to the talk of "knocking (Brandon Jacobs) head off" and "There ain't nothing physical about (their offensive line)" is to follow the Pats professionalism and just let their game walk the talk.

"Not me anymore," said Jacobs, no longer taking the verbal bait, instead accepting cues from center Shaun O'Hara.

"The best statement you can make is walking off the field a winner," said O'Hara. "I can honestly say I never won a game because of bulletin board material or lost a game because of bulletin board material. You have to play the game. It makes for great TV and great drama for those not involved, but in the end it's all just hype."

Last week, Ryan Wilson pointed out how 49ers tight end Vernon Davis has been less productive under innovative offensive coordinator Mike Martz than he was under the boring and vanilla Jim Hostler. After all, heading into Week 6 action, the third-year tight end had only registered five catches, and was growing frustrated by being used in pass-protection more often than he was being used as a pass-catcher.

That said, it's only fair to point out that yesterday the 49ers used him a little more often, as he hauled in more passes than he did in the previous five games ... combined. Whether it was intentional or not, Davis was clearly a bigger part of the team's offense. Especially since he was targeted on seven passes on Sunday, while only being thrown to 11 times in the previous five games.

Davis finished with six catches for 75 yards, including a 57-yard catch in the third quarter. The final numbers were so good that it almost makes you forget he had three catches go for negative yardage, and another go for only six yards. Oops. Still, 57- and 24-yard plays are the types of things 49ers fans were expecting when the freakish athlete was taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 draft.

Of course, in the end, Davis' big plays were wasted when quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan forgot which team he was playing for, and handed the ball back over to the Eagles three times in the final six minutes.

This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands."

First of all, I like to thank all of you who said kind things to me over the last weeks as the Haus' resident beleaguered Texan fan. Gracias. Here's some flavor of the game, including a cheerleader video for those who like that sort of thing:

Welcome to Hispanic Heritage Day

The Texans have themes for their home games and yesterday was "Hispanic Heritage Day." My buddy Sweet, from the Raging Bull Tailgaters, celebrated with his Texans poncho. He bought that in Mexico, and I'm guessing that isn't an NFL-approved product.

In a nod to the themed day, the Texans cheerleaders originally came out of the tunnel wearing frilly skirts. A friend sitting near me said he thought they looked more like French maid outfits. He did not mind. I did not take pictures of the outfits, but if you want to judge the frenchmaidiness of the cheerleaders, there's plenty of pictures over at TexansBullPen.com.

Strangely enough, the cheerleaders after the half came out in track suits. They temporarily clothed themselves to do a promotion for the Texans Junior Cheerleaders, a program that allows young girls to cheer at one of the games. A junior cheerleader dances with the regular cheerleaders in this video:

Quarterbacks, good ones anyway, have a swagger that says they're the best, most important person on the field. They're usually quieter about it than your average wide receiver named Owens or Ocho Cinco but there's no question that a high self opinion is a crucial part of most of the better quarterbacks in the league.

Note that I said they're usually quieter about it. Jay Cutler of the Broncos spoke to the Sporting News last week and wasn't shy about comparing himself to the patron saint of Denver football.

"I have a stronger arm than John Elway, hands down. I'll bet on it against anybody's in the league. Brett Favre's got a cannon. But on game days, there's nobody in the league who's going to throw it harder than I am at all."

Cutler threw 16 of the strongest incompletions you've ever seen while leading the Broncos to a 24-17 home loss to the Jaguars yesterday. Judging from Elway's own history against the Jacksonville side, perhaps the Jags are just well-suited to beating strong-armed quarterbacks.

I realize he didn't say anything explicitly about being a better quarterback than Elway (or Favre for that matter) but, unless the writer chose not to include his disclaimer that there's more to the position than a strong arm, it's hard to miss the implication. And good as Cutler may turn out to be, he's not worthy of mention in the same breath as those two guys just yet.

(H/T PFT)

And the news just gets better for the Cowboys. After ninth-string wide receiver/special teams maven Sean Morey blocked a Mat McBriar overtime punt to give Arizona a 30-24 victory over Dallas yesterday, we now find out that Tony Romo will miss four weeks with a ... broken pinky on his throwing hand? Really?

At least that's the word on the street according to ESPN's Michael Smith. Romo took a pretty good beating against the Cards -- the first time he's really been pushed around all season -- although I don't remember him ever grabbing his throwing hand at any point during the game.

Whatever, the Cowboys' season now lies in the very capable -- and ancient -- hands of Brad Johnson, who is four years older than Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, 36. Johnson was the Vikings starter for most of 2006, but has only attempted 11 passes since (he did complete seven, however!).

If there's a bright spot, it's this: Dallas has their bye in Week 10, which means that Romo should only miss three games. Johnson will face the red-hot, one-game-winning-streak Rams next week, then the Bucs (the team Johnson won the Super Bowl with in 2002), and finally the Giants.

If all goes well, Romo will return to face the Redskins in Washington on Nov. 16. In the meantime, he will rehab at a Mexican resort with his D-List ladyfriend.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 6 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Drew Brees, QB NO (26-30, 320 yards, three touchdowns) -- Brees is slowly become the elite of the elite at his position, carding his fifth game in six weeks with at least 320 passing yards. The Purdue graduate is basically picking apart opposing defenses week in and week out and is on pace to eclipse Dan Marino's single season passing yardage record set in 1984. After the game, new head coach Tom Cable of Oakland said, "You have to use him as a model if you are the Oakland Raiders." Now 3-3, Brees and the Saints will face an exposed Panthers defense next week and then host a Chargers secondary that gave up 350 yards to Jay Cutler in Week 2. Needless to say, don't expect his numbers to drop.

Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Mittens blog.

It took six weeks, but the Colts are back. Or it sure seems that way after yesterday's effort. In the first month of the season, Indianapolis looked old, but it was probably more accurate to describe them as injured and inexperienced.

Peyton Manning underwent two offseason knee surgeries, and it showed in the Week 1 loss to the Bears; Marvin Harrison was also returning from a knee injury, and in the first four games, he appeared slow, frail and out of place. That all changed Sunday.

If you're wondering why Tony Gonzalez, who has spent his entire 12-year NFL career with the Chiefs and always talked about how much he loved playing in Kansas City, is suddenly open to being traded, consider the encounter he had with Barack Obama.

Gonzalez -- who is apparently buddies with Obama -- tells Joe Posnanski that Obama told him he should read My Losing Season by Pat Conroy. When a person like Obama is giving you subtle hints that you're going to have to learn how to get through a bad year, that's a stark reminder that the Chiefs are going to be lucky to win five games this season.

My Losing Season, for the record, is Conroy's memoir of his senior year in college at The Citadel, when he was the point guard of a bad basketball team. This is not one of those sports stories that has a happy ending, with the main character leading his team to victory in the big game.

But the good news for Gonzalez is that with a little over 24 hours left before the NFL trade deadline, it's still possible that he could end his career with a contender. Maybe some day Gonzalez will write My Winning Season.

It's hard to imagine the first six weeks of the NFL season going much better for the Steelers. Even with a debacle at Philly, the Steelers are sitting in much better shape than could have been asked for when the season began.

With the Ravens' blowout loss to the Colts, Pittsburgh (4-1) now has a two-game lead in the division on Baltimore. Add to that the fact that the Steelers have already beaten Baltimore once, which means at worst the Steelers will split the head-to-head series which is the first playoff tiebreaker. Pittsburgh also has a 4-0 conference record compared to Baltimore's 2-3 mark, which is the third playoff tiebreaker. And it will be hard for the Ravens to make a late run at the Steelers, as the most difficult part of the Ravens schedule is back-weighted, as Baltimore will face the Giants, Eagles, Redskins and Cowboys in the second half of the season. Even though Joe Flacco has looked pretty polished for a rookie, it's hard to imagine the Ravens finishing much better than 9-7.

This first half didn't go the way we thought it would. For the first 29 minutes, there were zero offensive points scored. From then on, however, we, as fans, got ours. This was a phenomenal game to view as an unbiased football fan. Kurt Warner put the turnover woes away, Steve Breaston, Larry Fitzgerald, and Marion Barber racked up the receiving stats, and Tony Romo piled up the numbers.

When the dust settled, however, we were left with an unfamiliar feeling. The Arizona Cardinals, through six weeks, are a damn good football team. Say what you will about any of the external variables. There's going to be whining about the officiating (which I'll cover Wednesday), name-calling directed at Romo vis a vis his "clutch" play, and finger-pointing at the Cowboys' special teams.

It's only natural to blame special teams when you miss a field goal, allow a KOR runback, and lose the game on a blocked punt in OT to blame the special teams. And they should primarily do so. Those mistakes are unacceptable if you want to be an elite team. The Cowboys have sky-high expectations, and when you neglect one very important aspect of your team like this, blame is going to be laid.