Best and worst

By Dave Goldberg ~ The Associated Press

The accolades have gone out to Peyton Manning; Steve McNair; Jamal, Ray and Marvin Lewis; Bill Parcells; Bill Belichick; and 86 guys who made the Pro Bowl, some deserving, some not.

So here are some odds and ends on the good, bad and ugly that have fallen through the cracks this season:

ODD MAN OUT: If not for Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook would be the MVP of the Eagles this season. He was not among the Pro Bowlers because there's no position for a guy who does almost everything well.

But with the Eagles losing the lead for home-field advantage in the NFC, Andy Reid could be coaching in the league's all-star game for the third straight season -- the losers of the conference title game get to go to Hawaii.

The coach picks a "need player" and there would be none better than Westbrook.

For what it's worth, Westbrook also is the second-best NFL player from Villanova, ahead of Brian Finneran, but behind a sometime actor, Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long.

SACKMASTER -- Michael Strahan made the Pro Bowl (his sixth). But unlike two seasons ago, when he set a single-season sacks record, the Giants' star defensive end has been somewhat overlooked this season because his team has been a huge disappointment.

Still, he leads the NFL with 17 sacks despite being double- and triple-teamed. He also has more tackles than in any of his 10 previous NFL seasons. Maybe John Fox, his old defensive coordinator, will have Jake Delhomme fall down a half-dozen times and let Strahan break the record he got when Brett Favre hit the ground on his own late in the 2001 finale.

DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES -- Oakland and Tampa Bay, the Super Bowl teams from last season.

Keyshawn will be somewhere next season. Bill Callahan may not.

BEST PASS BY A NON-QUARTERBACK -- Deuce McAllister's perfect crossfield lateral to Jerome Pathon, the last pass in the wacky sequence that allowed New Orleans to score on the final play of last week's game in Jacksonville.

WORST EXTRA POINT ATTEMPT -- John Carney, New Orleans.

SOUR GRAPES AWARD -- To Saints coach Jim Haslett, who two days after the miss groused that the Jaguars used an illegal "leverage" ploy to try and block it.

SKINFLINTS -- The Chargers, who may have passed the Cardinals and Bengals in the tight wallet department.

Marty Schottenheimer might not be entirely to blame for their 3-12 record, but most coaches with that mark get the ax. Much of Schottenheimer's salary for his first two seasons was paid by the Redskins after they fired him. But the Chargers owe him $4.5 million for the next two years and Alex Spanos won't eat that.

WORST COACHING TREE -- Jimmy Johnson's.

Jimmy was 89-68 in his career with Dallas and Miami, 88-53 if you throw out his first season, 1989, when Dallas went 1-15 running what turned out to be a tryout camp.

His former assistants -- Norv Turner, Dave Wannstedt, Dave Campo and Butch Davis -- are 167-203-1 as NFL head coaches. Wannstedt and Davis may be back with Miami and Cleveland next season.

Or they may not be.

WORST OFFSEASON BY A FRONT OFFICE -- New York, New York.

The Giants' problem was who they brought in: a bunch of special teamers instead of desperately needed offensive linemen. After all, in 2000, they went to the Super Bowl after signing veterans Lomas Brown and Glenn Parker to add experience to that unit.

The Jets' problem was who they let go: four guys to Washington who had been major contributors in Laveranues Coles, Randy Thomas, John Hall and Chad Morton.

Not that the Redskins did much with those guys.

Of the special teamers signed by the Giants, only punter (and holder) Jeff Feagles has worked out. Return man Brian Mitchell, hailed as a great addition, has averaged just 4.8 yards on punts and 20.3 on kickoffs, numbers that put him 29th in the league in punt returns and out of the top 30 in kickoffs.

The weak offensive line limited the good skill players -- Kerry Collins, Tiki Barber, Jeremy Shockey, Amani Toomer, etc. Then the offensive linemen got hurt (as did Collins and Shockey) and the Giants have played the last half of the season with offensive linemen right off the street.

Naturally, Jim Fassel got fired.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO -- Julius Peppers, who looked like the next great pass rusher after getting 12 sacks in 12 games as a rookie before being suspended for using a banned supplement.

This year, the second overall pick in the 2002 draft has six sacks in 15 games. He was double-teamed early, but that stopped when Michael Rucker began piling up sacks. Peppers now is Carolina's third-best defensive lineman behind Rucker and tackle Kris Jenkins.

Does it matter? The Panthers (10-5) are the NFC South champions two years after finishing 1-15.

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DIRTY DOZEN: For the final week, we'll rank them 1-32 (records going into the weekend):

1. New England (13-2). Belichick has to be coach of the year.

2. St. Louis (12-3). The biggest improvement is defense.

3. Denver (10-5). Dangerous playoff team, especially if Portis returns.

4. Indianapolis (11-4). Might get the Broncos again next week.

5. Tennessee (11-4). Slipped since McNair started limping.

6. Kansas City (12-3). Not going anywhere unless the defense resurfaces.

7. Philadelphia (11-4). Leaky run defense could kill Super Bowl hopes.

8. Minnesota (9-6). Explosive, but 1-14 outdoors in last three seasons.

9. Carolina (10-5). A defense and running game fit for the playoffs.

10. Baltimore (10-5). Eight Pro Bowlers, but very average QB.

11. Green Bay (9-6). Favre always performs under pressure, but Monday night was beyond that.

12. Dallas (10-5). With all the holes on offense, still better than most.

13. Miami (9-6). Could be first 10-win team since 1991 to miss the playoffs.

14. Seattle (9-6). Great at home, awful on the road.

15. Cincinnati (8-7). Ditto.

16. San Francisco (7-8). Ditto. Ditto. Ditto, although the win in Philly was big.

17. Chicago (7-8). Four wins in five games in run toward .500.

18. Tampa Bay (7-8). At least the Bucs won the Super Bowl before their window of opportunity closed.

19. New Orleans (7-8). Too much showboating, too little substance.

20. Pittsburgh (6-9). Nice closing run by The Bus.

21. Buffalo (6-9). What happened to Bledsoe?

22. Atlanta (4-11). Vick makes a difference.

23. New York Jets (6-9). So does Pennington.

24. Jacksonville (5-10). So will Leftwich.

25. Houston (5-10). Carr, Davis and Johnson are building blocks.

26. Washington (5-10). Too many good players to be this bad.

27. Detroit (4-11). The Millen administration is 9-38.

28. New York Giants (4-11). Backups to backups to backups playing in the secondary and offensive line.

29. Cleveland (4-11). Two high first-round picks in DL, but yielded 500 yards to Jamal Lewis and 200 more to LaDainian Tomlinson.

30. San Diego (3-12). Spanos is a century behind.

31. Arizona (3-12). Can Bidwill learn from the Bengals?

32. Oakland (4-11). Didn't even try last Monday.