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Peyton Manning produced a quarterback masterclass, says Neil Reynolds

Image: Manning: is there anything he cannot do?

If you like offensive football then you would have enjoyed our showdown between the undefeated Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys on Sky Sports on Sunday night.

Schaub continues meltdown

When people spoke to me about the Houston Texans in the preseason and raised the possibility of Gary Kubiak's men being possible Super Bowl contenders in the AFC, I was having none of it. I have just never truly believed in the ability of quarterback Matt Schaub. I am probably not alone in that thought now. Schaub threw three interceptions in Houston's 34-3 thrashing at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. And each pick was crucial. The first was returned for a 49ers touchdown by Tramaine Brock. The second interception from Brock set up an Anthony Dixon touchdown for San Francisco and the third error halted Houston's best-looking drive of the evening. This was no aberration from Schaub. He has now thrown an interception that was returned for a touchdown by the opposition in four straight games. That's extreme generosity and could yet land Schaub on the bench. He was rightly replaced by T.J. Yates in the fourth quarter and while I don't think Yates is good enough to lead Houston to the playoffs, he cannot be any worse than Schaub at the moment.

Luck on their side

The Indianapolis Colts are going to make everyone sit up and take notice of them if they keep playing like they did on Sunday night. Indy improved to 4-1 with a tough, gutsy and hugely impressive 34-28 home win over the previously undefeated Seattle Seahawks in Week 5. Although he is only in his second season, I have come to expect the picture-perfect touchdown passes from Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and he fired a couple of beauties to T.Y. Hilton covering 73 and 29 yards. But what impresses me the most about these Colts is that they are now able to stare down physical, bullying teams like the Seahawks and come away with a win. In the past three weeks, the Colts have taken on and defeated arguably the toughest two teams in the NFL in Seattle and San Francisco. That tells me this Colts team is improving and heading in the right direction because when I think back to their playoff appearance last season, they couldn't match the physicality of the Baltimore Ravens and crashed out. They appear better equipped for the post-season this time around.

Brady comes up empty

I think the job that Tom Brady did in the opening four weeks of the season - breaking in a new set of young receivers while leading the New England Patriots to a 4-0 start - was one of the most commendable achievements of the opening month. But Brady and the Patriots ran into a tiger-clad wall on Sunday night as they fell to a 13-6 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals. Brady is such a fierce competitor that any loss really strikes him at the very core, but this one would have really irked him. Brady saw his streak of consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass come to an end at 52. The current record is 54 held by Drew Brees, of the New Orleans Saints. Had Brady thrown a TD strike last night, he could have tied the mark against Brees and the Saints next weekend. Instead, the Patriots are left grudgingly admiring a Bengals front seven that is among the best in the game and one which finally played to its full potential on Sunday.

Ponder on the hot seat

Those wondering if Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder enjoyed his bye week after travelling back from London, I can tell you that the answer would be an unequivocal "no." First, Ponder is dealing with the pain of broken ribs near his heart. Second, he knows that Matt Cassel played really well at Wembley Stadium and avoided the kind of mistakes that plagued Ponder's game in the opening month of the new campaign. And now, he sees that the Vikings have signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter Josh Freeman to a one-year deal. Freeman had the chance to join one of several teams around the NFL. He had reportedly been promised the starting gig in Oakland and Buffalo (albeit in the short term) so you have to think he is in the mix to start in Minneapolis. The Vikings claim publicly that they trust Ponder and he is their guy. This move screams out that this is not the case. No team is running away with the NFC North and the Vikings are only two games out of first place. They certainly feel their season can be salvaged - they just don't appear to think that Ponder, or Matt Cassel for that matter, is the player to help them do it.

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