If one more announcer says, "So the sky isn't falling after all" ... First off, the sky was never falling. And theoretically, the sky can't fall. If it could, we would demand that New England go back to the Pat Patriot uniforms and the Red Sox retire Marty Barrett's No. 17.

People hissed at the No. 18 ranking last week. We gave the Pats a solid surge here for wasting last week's top team, but No. 11 is as far as we go. New England had failed to impress in any game this season before Sunday night, and was finding the going rough when there was no Matt Cassel around to gift-wrap four interceptions. All that said, what an impressive win. The Pats shut out Cincinnati on third down (0-for-7) and put up over two bills on the ground. Next up: at Buffalo, with first place in the AFC East on the line.