Still up in Stamford, wrapping up a great day of football with the Patriots-Eagles while working on tomorrow's Morning After. Couple random thoughts to get off my chest ...

1. Of course the Patriots can be beaten on a given night, and the Eagles showed that tonight. The Eagles offensive line neutralized New England's pass rush, and the Eagles smartly spread out the Pats to expose their biggest weakness: secondary depth.

This is the best Patriots team I've ever seen, but it's far from the best defense. They give up a lot of yards-per-carry, and the cornerbacks after Asante Samuel are ordinary. They struggle with versatile backs like Brian Westbrook. The Patriots are a very good defense, but not great like some of their past units. Losing Rosevelt Colvin for an extended period would be a huge blow.

As John Madden said, the Eagles put up a blueprint tonight, and teams are going to copy much of what was seen on both sides of the ball. Now of course the Eagles played brilliantly, and still lost, which shows how hard it's going to be to go into Foxborough and win. But tonight is a great reminder the Patriots are mortal like all teams, especially on defense. And the Colts, for one, have the weapons to make them look mortal again.

2. Asante Samuel has a tattoo that says Get Paid, and he's certainly going to be a happy and rich man this offseason. What an encore year he's enjoyed, perhaps better than 2006. The Patriots won't be able to franchise him again, so they may have to give him $30 million guaranteed and more than $10 million-per-year to keep him.

3. I think Broncos-Bears was the game of the year. Certainly not the two best teams, but a wildly entertaining and well-played contest that included a lot of gutsy efforts from both sides. Devin Hester is ridiculous, but Bernard Berrian, Adrian Peterson, Rex Grossman, Andre Hall, Brandon Marshall, and Jay Cutler all deserve some kudos for fantastic games.

Catch everyone tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.