Last weekend I mused about questions that might be answered as follows:

1. Can Chris Simms recover from what was clearly a stinker of a performance and play a decent game for the Bucs, or will Tim Rattay suddenly find himself starting for a team on the other side of the country?
2. How will Kurt Warner fare on his return to the starting position for the Cardinals?
3. And, most intruigingly, how will Joey Harrington fare now that Jeff Garcia is banged-up and unable to play this weekend?

The answer to those questions appears to be
(1) Simms is still on a short rope. He once again threw an interception, looked uncomfortable, and he must be in danger of being replaced by Rattay in a game real soon unless he gets on the same page as his receivers.
(2) Not great. Warner struggled, but then the Cardinals offensive line is a reasonable approximation to a sieve right now. The lack of a running game places a premium on pass protection. In his Rams days, Warner was prepared to hang in the pocket, knowing that the O-line would hold up and a receiver would bail him out by getting open. The Cards receivers cannot consistently get open at present, so Warner is getting beat up and criticised for not getting rid of the ball. This policy of hanging tough in the pocket allowed Warner to make great plays in the Rams's heyday. It does not work at present with the Cardinals.
I suspect that Warner will not be back in Arizona next year, and he may decide to retire if he cannot have a genuine run at a starting job. Which would be a shame, since he is genuinely talented, a great team player and would do well behind a good O-line with some intelligent receivers.
(3) Harrington played like, well, Joey Harrington - inconsistent. The Lions offense is all over the map right now, and the lack of a veteran hurts them in game situations. I suspect that Mariucci only played Harrington because Jeff Garcia is banged up. In a couple of weeks, unless Garcia fails to heal, I expect that he will be back under center. Garcia can make something out of broken plays because of his mobility. Harrington lacks that ability right now. I see a re-run of the Tim Couch Saga in front of us.

Elsewhere, Cody Pickett did OK in his first game with the 49'ers, Vinny Testaverde probably played his last game for the Jets (he aggravated his calf injury, and Brooks Bollinger looks quite sharp), and Dick Vermeil, unusually for an NFL head coach, rolled the dice to give the Chiefs a win over the Raiders, going for the touchdown instead of a field goal that would have sent the game to overtime. Of course, he would have been condemned as a doofus if the play had failed...
And...the Colts stomped the Patriots on Monday night. Basically, they outplayed the Pats in most departments of the game, and wore them down in the second half. What I found most interesting was the way that Tom Brady quit on the game. He sat slumped on the bench in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, and all of his body language said "where is the exit - get me out of here". Then the Pats put Doug Flutie on the field for their final series. The game was already lost, but Flutie at least livened it up in his own inimitable way, scrambling around trying to keep a drive alive, and even reprising his famous Heismann-trophy-winning Hail Mary at one point when he heaved a throw into the end zone (it fell incomplete). I don't know if Brady asked to be taken out or whether the coaches looked at him and said "he's not going back in", but it was the first time I can remember Brady looking hacked-off and demotivated during a game.