What a way to go into the bye week!

Our New England Patriots traveled to Investco Field at Mile High in Denver to take on the limping Denver Broncos. Limping or not, the Patriots had only ever won once at Mile High, and that was nearly 30 years ago.

Denver was down to their third string quarterback, Danny Kanell, who was signed only a couple weeks before. Kanell had last played for Atlanta - three years ago. Following stints in the arena league, Kanell was coaching high school football.

The game was a give and take. After capitalizing on two Patriots turnovers, the Denver Broncos seemed to have the game tight in their grip. But Tom Brady launched a big downfield pitch to Deion Branch to tie up the game at seven all.

Later a pair of field goals kept the game tied, but a dramatic touchdown very late in the second from the Broncos seemed to seal the agony of the game. But then Bethal Johnson with his incredible speed turned a kick off return into good field position, and a field goal made the halftime score 17-13. This was a small miracle, considered the Patriots committed 9 penalties and possessed the ball only eight minutes of the half, not to mention the two turnovers. It looked like New England was basically handing the game over. But the Broncos were playing most of the game without kicker Jason Elam, who pulled a groin muscle during a field goal attempt in the first quarter, giving New England a small edge in the kicking department. Denver would not be able to attempt anything long with their punter filling in for Elam.

The second half delivered more Patriots domination. They were able to hold the ball longer on offense, the defense started to deliver more three and outs, and Tom Brady was looking as good as Danny Kanell looked rattled. But late in the fourth quarter, the Denver Special Teams unit would leave the Patriots terrible field position, punting a kick to the yard and a half line. The Patriots were unable to move the ball, and with 4 and 10 on their one yard line with the score 24-23 in favor of Denver, Bill Belichick ordered long snapper Lonnie Paxton to snap the ball over punter Ken Walters' head giving Denver a two point safety. The play allowed New England to kick the ball from their 20, and the return was botched, which left the ball on the Denver 15 yard line with the Patriots possessing all three timeouts. 41 seconds later, Denver was three and out and handing the ball back to the Patriots with 2:15 on the clock. One more Tom Brady march down the field for a David Givens touchdown in the endzone and the Pats go 7-2 on a 30-26 victory over the Denver Broncos.

"Our coaches did a heck of a job," Patriots tackle Matt Light said. "I personally think we have the best coaching staff in the league. What a great call. I didn't see it coming, it's a heck of a play. Lonnie (Paxton) doesn't snap anywhere other than the target, so we knew it (the high snap) was on purpose. What a great call!"

Brady was 20-35 for 350 yards and 3 TDs. Deion Branch had three receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. And the Pats waltzed into the bye with a grand win over Denver and a 7-2 division lead in the East

BENGALS (4-5) 34, Texans (3-6) 27 - FINAL: Forget Corey "I'm hurt and wanna go to Dallas" Dillon. Bengal runner Rudi Johnson dashed for 182 yards on 43 carries and scored two touchdowns. He had just as many yards rushing as Jon Kitna had passing, who tossed one touchdown. The Bengals? An offensive machine? And the Texans weren't laying back either. David Carr tossed two touchdowns and the Texans racked up some points.

PANTHERS (7-2) 27, Buccaneers (4-5) 24 - FINAL: The Bucs never did shake those Super Bowl smiles off their faces. This will probably make the second time in as many years where the reigning Super Bowl champ - and the runner up - will not make the playoffs the following season. Amazing, and amazing are the Panthers who are back to the glorious winning ways. Hate to be Jon Gruden this morning.

STEELERS (3-6) 28, Cardinals (3-6) 15 - FINAL: Big deal, the 2-6 Steelers beat the 3-5 Cardinals.

JAGUARS (2-7) 28, Colts (7-2) 23 - FINAL: Wow! Upset and a half, the Jags handing Peyton and Co. their second loss of the season. How do these miracles happen?

CHIEFS (9-0) 41, Browns (3-6) 20 - FINAL: This was an easy win for the Chiefs. They probably won't have another challenging matchup for weeks.

Falcons (2-7) 27, GIANTS (4-5) 7 - FINAL: Boing! The Giants are in deep trouble. Losing to the Vick-less Falcons these days is a sure sign that all is not well in North Jersey. Special win for Atlanta coach Dan Reeves. It was his 200th victory as a head coach.

TITANS (7-2) 31, Dolphins (5-4) 7 - FINAL: Ok, for all of you who emailed me before the season and ridiculed my anti-Miami predictions (I said they'd go 5-11), tell me how off I am now? Ricky Williams had 37 yards on 13 carries. Brian Griese was ineffective with 3 picks and a 29% quarterback rating. The defense was horrible, giving up 31 unanswered points and allowed the Titan offense 37 minutes of possession. No, I am sorry (and this goes out directly to you, Mike), Miami is nothing. I was right before the season, and I am right now.

REDSKINS (4-5) 27, Seahawks (6-3) 20 - FINAL: How do the Redskins all of a sudden pull out a win? How do the Seahawks let them win?

LIONS (3-6) 12, Bears (3-6) 10 - FINAL: Whatever.

CHARGERS (2-7) 42, Vikings (6-3) 28 - FINAL: 41 year old Doug Flutie started for the first time all season, tossed 248 yards with a 72.4% completion rating, 2 TDs passing, 2 TDs rushing, 121% quarterback rating. Oh yeah, the Chargers won the game.

COWBOYS (7-2) 10, Bills (4-5) 6 - FINAL: Formers Patriots versus Former Patriots. All now Ex-Patriots. That stat is more exciting than the score.

Jets (3-6) 27, RAIDERS (2-7) 24 - FINAL/OT: Poor Al Davis. He'll die while watching his team lose.

RAMS (6-3) 33, Ravens (5-4) 22 - FINAL: The Rams had something like 121 yards on offense. Look at this score! Baltimore turned it over seven times. Seven! But the important thing to remember here: one of the Patriots' first round picks for next year will come from the Ravens from a trade this past April. The worse they do, the better that pick will be.

Eagles (5-3) at PACKERS (4-4) Tonight 9 PM ABC

Open date: Denver, New England, New Orleans, San Francisco

Wide Receiver David Patten has been placed in inured reserve and is out for the year following surgery on his knee last Wednesday.

The Patriots have also waived rookie free agent Shawn Mayer. Mayer began the season on the New England practice squad, but was activated to the 53-man roster prior to the Week Seven game at Miami. The Patriots also release of linebacker Justin Kurpeikis from the practice squad on Thursday. New England has two spots open on the 53-man roster and one opening on the practice squad.

The Patriots will be wearing silver jerseys for Sunday night's game. The league allows teams a third color to be worn twice a year for special events during the season. Last year the Pats re-introduced the throwback red jerseys for the Thanksgiving Day game.

Jacksonville (2-7) at Tennessee (7-2), 1PM. AFC South game. With the big win over Indy this week, Jacksonville can do themselves a big favor and win this even tougher divisional opponent.

N.Y. Giants (4-5) at Philadelphia (5-3), 1PM. NFC East game. Amazing how it goes. Jersey is on the way down, while Philly is on the way up.

Atlanta (2-7) at New Orleans (4-5), 1PM. NFC South game. The Vickless versus the Aints. The suspense is killing me.

San Diego (2-7) at Denver (5-4), 4:05 PM. No word on whether Jake Plummer will be starting, but I am sure Doug Flutie will be in for Diego, which now makes this a ballgame.

Green Bay (4-4) at Tampa Bay (4-5), 4:15 PM. Battle of the Bay 27 (or so it seems). These two are struggling so bad, the game really isn't worth watching.

Dallas (7-2) at New England (7-2), 8:30 PM. Bill Bowl I. Boomer Esiason has dubbed this the Game of the Year. The Tuna versus the Ultimate Genius. Winner gets to stay on the God-Like Pedestal. Losing gets knocked down, doubted, dragged through the mud and ridiculed until the two meet again.

BYES: Week 10 was the last week for byes. Say bye-bye to the byes.

1. The Patriots, the bye and the upcoming Bill Bowl.

2. Since everyone loves a milestone, let's give a shout out to Dan Reeves and his 200th win as a head coach. Of course it might be his last, but...

3. Great to see Doug Flutie starting - and excelling in the NFL. Who said Flutie couldn't play?

4. Seeing Indy lose to Jacksonville, I am thinking that the Colts might turn back to the Peyton Colts of yesterday years, where a team, say one coached by Bill Belichick, can come in, clobber the bejesus out of them and leave Indy with a nasty loss. Just a thought.

5. Ok all you Miami fans. Where'd ya go?

6. Cinci wide receiver Chad Johnson said about Kansas City, and I quote, "They're only undefeated until they come in here. We will win. That's a guarantee." Now, I am not a huge believer in Cinci, at least not this year. They are doing much better, thanks to Marvin Lewis. And I have not been on the big band wagon of KC. However, that statement, call me crazy, but I believe it. Sort of. But I still do. I would not be surprised to see KC loss to the Bengals next week. It isn't because I am so against KC and so for Cinci, but more that I don't believe KC is that Godzilla-like of a team, and even though their remaining schedule says they can run the table, I have my doubts they'll go 16-0.

7. There are a handful of coaches who are fighting for their jobs: Dan Reeves, Bill Cowher of Pittsburgh, Herm Edwards in Jersey, Marty Schottenheimer in San Diego, Steve Spurrier in Washington, Dave Wannstedt in Miami, Dick Jauron in Chicago and certainly many others, including first timers (at their current team) like Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville and Steve Mariucci in Detroit. For the second half of the season, the coaching watch will be on. That could be more exciting to talk about then their team's Sunday performance.

8. It is my belief that Tampa Bay is losing because they suffer from Super Bowl hangover. Much of Warren Sapp's cocky and heavily penaltied behavior is probably tied to it. Jon Gruden is a good coach, but not great enough to pull his team together to get anything out of this year.

9. The Bengals have a good runner in Rudi Johnson. He dashed for 182 yards in Sunday, which might be more than Corey Dillon has run all year.

10. I am hoping - praying even - for a Patriots victory on Sunday night. Just seeing Bill Belichick beat the Tuna would be more of a joy than seeing the Patriots go 8-2.

ejh