Week 6 is in the book. Or at least 13/14ths of it pending Monday Night Football. And the trends, storylines, surprises and disappointments that will define the season are slowly taking shape.

 

Here's one Troll's take on the 10 big stories of Week 6.

 

1. The Packers are in trouble. Four weeks running, Green Bay has played games decided by three points or fewer, against teams with a combined record of 11-12. By definition, that puts Green Bay firmly in the mediocre range, as does their 3-3 record.

 

And their next five games are arguably against top-10 teams talent wise: vs. Minnesota, at the Jets, vs. Dallas, at Minnesota, at Atlanta. Ouch! With injuries adding up, it's hard to see even the remarkable Aaron Rodgers leading the Pack to any better than 5-6 or 6-5 after that stretch – with games against the Patriots, Giants and Bears still waiting in December.

 

2. The Defensive Player of the Year is going to be a Steelers linebacker. With an interception and two sacks against a respectable Cleveland rookie Colt McCoy Sunday, Lawrence Timmons' numbers are impossible to ignore. He's on pace to finish with 134 solo tackles, 10 sacks, 3 INTs and 3 forced fumbles.

 

But what about 2008 Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison (pictured)? His numbers translate to 96 solo tackles (extremely high for a 3-4 OLB) and 14 sacks with 12 forced fumbles. The Steelers' D is the best in the league (No. 1 at 12.0 PPG), and these two players are the biggest reasons.  

 

3. The Saints are working through their issues and could gain homefield again in 2010. While the rest of the NFC powers are beating up each other, New Orleans is quietly pulling things back together. Sean Payton's a hell of a coach. Give him a couple of weeks to figure out what to do without Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas, and all of a sudden he's got Chris Ivory, Ladell Betts and Julius Jones running for 210 yards in a 31-6 victory over Tampa and a defense that looked strong early this year.

 

Meanwhile, the Saints' defense is improving. They're 11th in yards per play allowed (5.0) and seventh in scoring defense (18.0). They'll get Bush and Thomas back, and the offense should be peaking at the right time. Don't bet yet against the Saints to repeat.

 

4. The Seahawks and Rams are ... for real? It's hard to see 3-2 Arizona winning five more games with their bare cupboard, and the Niners don't look to have seven more wins in them after getting their first Sunday against Oakland.

 

So the NFC West shapes up as a race to .500 between Seattle, which beat Chicago 23-20, and St. Louis, which shocked San Diego, 20-17. In Chicago, Seattle won in a rare game with no turnovers – on the road, despite allowing a punt return TD to Devin Hester. That's as an impressive win as anyone in the West can claim – more so than Arizona's fluky win over New Orleans.

 

Seattle has a pass rush (sixth with 17 sacks) and a respectable offense by the standards of the division (19.6 PPG). Not a bad combo.

 

As for the Rams, their front seven in particular is starting to look really good, and while Sam Bradford isn't there yet he's miles ahead of anyone the Rams have had over the last half-decade. Never thought we'd say this, but the NFC West is going to be kind of fun to watch.

 

5. Washington's defense is underappreciated ... at being terrible. Because Donovan McNabb and the tidy Redskin offense has been so effective, their horrible D has yet to really be exposed. They're 14th in scoring defense (19.8 PPG), so they can't be that bad, right? Wrong.

 

Great kicking and coverage units, and an offense that has only turned it over six times in five games, are being completely crushed by terrible defense.

 

Redskin opponents average 5.9 yards per play, they've allowed at least 350 yards in all six games, and they're dead last in total defense (420.0 YPG).

 

Peyton Manning and the Colts feasted on this defense (469 yards) in their 27-24 win in Washington Sunday night.

 

Dating back to last year, the Redskins defense has been more or less dominated in 11 of their last 12 games. Now, they have played Dallas, Houston, Green Bay, Philly and Indianapolis this week. So there is some excuse. But not much of one. We spoke of Shanahan's offensive wizardry earlier, and it's still there. But the defensive struggles that cost him his job in Denver are still there too. 

 

6. Firing Norv Turner isn't going to help what ails San Diego. At least not right now. When the Broncos fired Mike Shanahan after the 2008 season, it was assumedly because they felt they needed a change. But Shanahan took his zone-blocking acumen with him, and Denver really hasn't been the same since. They can barely run for a first down, let along plug any scrap running back in the lineup and get 1,000 yards.

 

Taking Turner out of the equation might lead to a different feel, but it could also put a big dent in San Diego's incredible passing game, which has been one of the most constant qualities in the league and the main reason the Chargers will still probably win the AFC West. The Chargers are still a three-game winning streak away from first place, and Turner's offense is the reason they go on such streaks. 

 

7. As for Dallas, firing Wade Phillips isn't going to help either. The Trolls may be in disagreement on this issue. But for Dallas to get another excessive celebration penalty goes a long way toward pointing out the problem there is with the players, not the coaching.

 

There are a lot of incredible football bodies on that Dallas team, but are there a lot of genius football minds? Tony Romo is an excellent quarterback, and their problems can't be laid at his feet, but somebody's got to do something here. Jerry Jones has proven that he's got an eye for talent, but as defacto GM he doesn't seem have the football genius that allows him to build a real team. All that said, don't be shocked for a second if the Cowboys win 9 of 11 and wind up in the playoffs.

 

8. The Jets' win in Denver enhanced their credibility as a championship-caliber team. If you don't play well in Denver, you lose. That's pretty much what teams have learned over the past three or four decades. But the Jets overcame a poor game and won 24-20 on Sunday.

 

New York's normal impenetrability vs. the run wasn't there against Denver, which had seven rushing first downs and managed 145 yards between seven different ball-carriers. Mark Sanchez threw two picks, LaDainian Tomlinson was bottled up. And Denver won the turnover battle.

 

Yet the Jets won the game – covering the spread, to boot, with a late touchdown. Beating the Vikings and Patriots at home surely felt good. But winning a tough road game is the stuff dreams are built on.

 

9. Houston's 35-31 win over Kansas City was thrilling, but it's not too early to start writing their season obit. Is it even possible that a team that has given up 24, 27, 27, 24, 34 and 31 points in six weeks could get serious notice as an NFL power?

 

Houston's defense made the previously punchless Chiefs offense look like the 1989 49ers. And that was with DeMeco Ryans playing half the game before being carted off for the season.

 

The Texans allow 6.3 yards per play, against teams with a cumulative 17-17 record. To put that in perspective, the powerful 2009 Saints offense averaged 6.3 yards per play – how good are the Texans possibly going to be if every opponent looks like the 09 Saints?

 

With Mario Williams and Andre Johnson both playing through pain, Texans fans should probably keep memories of September and October warm to get them through the colder months.

 

10. Matt Ryan is as average as average can be. Ryan has successfully scored a couple of national ad campaigns and unwavering respect from the NFL media. But we're not sure why.

 

He was easily outplayed Sunday by Philly's Kevin Kolb, in a 31-17 Eagles victory.

 

The Atlanta quarterback played better as a rookie than he has since, despite what most would agree is a top-five WR-TE combo in Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez the last two years. We like to use 80.0 passer rating as the general barometer for QBs – over 80 for a game, you did OK, under 80, you didn't.

 

Since the start of 2009, Ryan is 11 over, nine under. This year, he's ranked 18th in passer rating and 23rd in yards per attempt. Last year, he was 20th in passer rating and 21st in yards per attempt. And we're supposed to buy razor blades from this guy?