Ryan Mathews is a top-five back. I can see ranking Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice, Darren McFadden and/or LeSean McCoy ahead of him, but no one else. Rashard Mendenhall and Chris Johnson are stuck behind poor offensive lines, and neither was particularly impressive last year. Mathews is getting goal-line carries now and is catching plenty of passes on an elite offense. Mike Tolbert is nothing more than a backup/third-down back at this point, and I wouldn't be surprised if Mathews cut into his third down work. If healthy, Mathews will have 275-plus carries, 45 catches and 14-plus TDs.

I'd take Maurice Jones-Drew ahead of Mendenhall and Johnson. Fred Jackson is a tougher call. Put him at No. 9 or so for now.

The Chargers are absolute torture to back in Survivor, and I feel very lucky I got through with them. Against good teams, that kind of clock and play-calling mismanagement along with mental errors will usually cost them the game. They need to outplay teams by a significant margin to win.

Tom Brady will threaten Dan Marino's passing yards record and possibly his own TD pass record. The Pats defense will threaten someone's passing yards allowed record, too.

Felix Jones, I'm loathe to admit, looks decisive and explosive against the Redskins. If he can hold up, he'll prove me wrong for mocking those who drafted him. Reggie Bush, I'm confident, will not.

I bet the Niners regret giving Frank Gore $15 million guaranteed about now.

The loss of Kenny Britt ruined Tennessee's season last year, and it probably will this year as well.

Besides being yet another example of how meaningless the NFL preseason is, Torrey Smith's explosion could go a long way toward solidifying the Ravens as a Super Bowl frontrunner. Last year, the team was good, but limited by its ultra-sluggish trio of Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Now whether it's Smith or an eventually healthy Lee Evans, the Ravens have a vertical dimension that's going to make them far harder to defend.

Victor Cruz's breakout is a significant development for Eli Manning and the Giants passing game. If Travis Beckum ever lives up to his receiving pedigree, and Mario Manningham comes back healthy from his concussion this week, the Giants will have a lot of balance on offense, especially when Ahmad Bradshaw is in the game. Their secondary also played a lot better with deservedly maligned former first-rounder Aaron Ross making two picks.

While the Vikings might have collapsed in the second half for the third straight game, let's not forget they covered two of three.

The phantom holding call on the Bears during what was possibly the most ingenious kick return plan in NFL history to deny me the backdoor cover was beyond disgraceful.