NFL Storylines After Week 6:

Vikings and Saints Stay Unbeaten: The Vikings needed a little luck at the end of the game, but they did pull out the 33-31 victory over the Ravens. Minnesota dominated all game but their defense let the Ravens get back in the game. That pass defense showed some major holes down the stretch and will be something Minnesota needs to work on. As good as Favre and Peterson are playing, the Vikings should be playing deep into the playoffs this year. As for the Saints, they absolutely established themselves as the team to beat in the NFC. The dominated every facet of the game from start to finish. They ran on the Giants defense, torched their secondary and stopped their pass rush cold. At the same time they put pressure on Manning, held their receivers at bay, and held the Giants to under 100 yards rushing.

New England Embarasses the Titans (and themselves): Someone should remind Bill Belichick that this isn’t college football and there is no such thing as style points. Also someone should have told the Titans that they had to actually play in the game on Sunday, because no one outside of Chris Johnson decided to show up. The Titans passing attack went a combined 2-14 for -7 yards and 2 interceptions. And their defense was nonexistent, allowing the Patriots over 600 total yards  and 59 points. Look, I understand wanting to give your back up QB some throws to see what you have behind Brady. But come on New England, what were you doing going for it on 4th and 6 from the 31? Sure a field goal was unlikely, but pooch punt it. You are already up 52-0, you really don’t need to add insult to injury in that situation. That to me was just a classless move right there by Belichick, give Fisher and the Titans the respect they deserve.

Jim Zorn One Foot Out of the Door in Washington: After going just 2-3 in a five game stretch against St. Louis, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Kansas City, the Washington Redskins announced that Jim Zorn was being stripped of his play calling duties. In that five game span against some awful defenses, the Redskins managed just 62 points (or just 3 more than the Patriots put up on the Titans in three quarters yesterday). The Redskins defense practically gift wrapped 14 points for the offense against Carolina, making the lackluster performance even more troublesome. While the Skins have had some injuries and ineffectiveness, the play calling has been particularly awful this season. Given the overall talent level on the team and the fact the defense never gave up more than 20 points in any one of those games, the fact that they only managed a 2-3 record during that stretch falls pretty squarely on Zorn’s shoulders. Unless Zorn can beat the Eagles next Monday night, I think he will find his way to the unemployment line during the Redskins bye week.