Week Nine is in the books and the Pickle is back with his thoughts and observations on the past weekend’s action in the NFL. The Eagles disappoint on Sunday night, Fast Willie is done in Pittsburgh, give me Chris Johnson, Steelers and the Colts are the teams to beat in the AFC, and more.

Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys rolled up 38 points on a beat up Seahawks defense that cannot seem to stop anyone nor score score on anyone. Romo completed passes to ten different receivers as he carved up the Seahawks secondary for 256 yards and three touchdown passes. The Seahawks continue to reel allowing 25 or more points in four of their last five games and have scored fewer than 20 points in five of their seven contest this season.

On several different levels this had to be the most confounding game of the week. The Panthers outgained the Bills 425 yards to 167 and allowed only 9 first downs and the Bills converted just 3 of 14 third downs. Carolina’s defense played well enough to win the game, yet, they somehow managed to blow this game.

This week’s Monday Night game quickly became the DeSean Jackson and Will Witherspoon as they led the Eagles to a comfortable ten point win in Washington. Jackson took an end around on the fourth play from scrimmage 69 yards to the house to put the Eagles up early. Trade deadline acquisition made his presence felt early corralling a tipped Jason Campbell pass at the nine yard line taking it in for a touchdown, and stripping Jason Campbell of the ball on the ensuing possession setting up a field goal to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead.

Papa Halas must be rolling over in his grave after this embarrassment. The Bears came to town as one point favorites and got flat out steam rolled by a Bengals squad looking to show that last week’s loss to the Texans is just a mere speed bump on the road to a playoff appearance in January. The Bears were never really in this one as the Bengals opened up a 14-point first quarter and never looked back as they ran up 31 unanswered points until the Bears kicked a field goal to close out the first half.

In what ended up being a tale of two halves the Saints blitzed the Dolphins to the tune of 36-10 in the second half to rally from a three touchdown deficit to remain unbeaten. Meanwhile the Dolphins are wondering what happened after looking as though they were cruising to their third straight win and staying in the mix in the AFC East.

On a day where defenses controlled the flow of the game it stands to reason that two fourth quarter returns for touchdowns led the Steelers to a hard fought victory. LaMarr Woodley scooped up a Brett Favre fumble for a 77-yard touchdown with 6:23 remaining, and Keyaron Fox grabbed a tipped pass taking it 82 yards to the house to clinch the win with just a minute remaining. This was the marquee game of the week and it did not fail to deliver in terms of being a hard fought battle with an exciting finish.

Eddie Royal returned both a punt and a kick for a touchdown to lift a struggling offense and Kyle Orton threw a pair of second half touchdown passes in leading the Broncos to their sixth consecutive win to start the season. Denver’s defense was able to hold the high-scoring Charger offense to just 16 points allowing just a field goal in the second half.

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the reeling Redskins in what ended up being a battle of attrition. Neither team was able to accumulate more than 270 yards of offense or score a touchdown as the Chiefs notched their first win of the season while the ‘Skins fell to 2-4 dropping their second straight game.

DeAngelo Williams led a resurgent ground attack to 267 yards and a victory over the winless Bucs. Williams ran for a season high 152 yards and a pair of scores while his backfield-mate Johnathan Stewart chipped in a season high of his own with 110 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile the Bucs continue to struggle offensively under the leadership of second year quarterback Josh Johnson.