If someone were to ask me before the games today how many points the Broncos would score if Kyle Orton threw for 476 yards, I probably would have responded with: “31.”

Because you have to figure that Denver gets in the end zone at least four times if Kyle freaking Orton is throwing for 476 yards. I mean, there’s no way the Broncos are scoring less than 31 points if Kyle bowl haircut Orton throws for 476 yards, right?

Thirteen. As in 13. As in 13 points the Broncos scored on Sunday in their 27-13 loss to the Colts.

How does Kyle Orton throw for 476 yards and the Broncos only score 13 points? Matt Schaub threw for nearly 500 yards last week in Washington. Do you know how many points the Texans scored? Thirty. I realize that Houston has a much more potent offense than Denver, but the math doesn’t add up when a quarterback throws for nearly 500 yards, only turns the ball over once and his team only scores 13 measly points.

Josh McDaniels is going to look at the film from the game today and puke. Peyton Manning threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns, but everyone knew he was going to do that. He’s Peyton Manning. When Kyle Orton gives you 476 yards, you have to at least be in position to win that game in the end.

The Broncos ran nine plays inside the Colts’ 15-yard line in the second quarter alone and only came away with three points. The red zone offense was brutal the entire game and some of that is on McDaniels, some of it is on Orton, some of that is on his receivers, some of it is on the offensive line and some of it you just have to chalk up to good defense.

Either way, Kyle Orton threw for 476 yards today and the Broncos only scored 13 points. I guess I could have just written that and saved myself 250-plus words, because it explains it all.

Garrett Hartley’s best friend right now goes by the name of Sebastian Janikowski.

Just three hours after Hartley missed what would have been a game-winning 29-yard field goal for the Saints (who wound up losing to the Falcons in overtime earlier in the day), Janikowski missed his own chip shot as the Raiders fell to the Cardinals 24-23 in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

Bruce Gradkowski and Darren McFadden led the Raiders on an 11-play, 66-yard drive to the Arizona 14-yard line to set Janikowski up with what should have been a game-winning kick. But he pushed the 32-yard field goal right and the Cardinals hung on to a not-so-well-deserved victory. (They turned the ball over three times and committed seven penalties for 104 yards. This coming after turning the ball over three times and committing 10 penalties for 109 yards in a loss to the Falcons last week.)

Besides Janikowski’s miss, the story here is the continued stellar play of Gradkowski, who completed 17-of-34 pass attempts for 255 yards and a touchdown. He did throw an interception, but he led the Raiders into the red zone twice late in the fourth quarter and gave them a chance to win. If anyone thought he would relinquish the starting quarterback job after snatching it from Jason Campbell last week, you were mistaken. It looks like for now, Tom Cable made the right decision to stick with Gradkowski.

Go ahead, Bruce – get down with your bad throwing-motion self.

If you hate the Cowboys, these past two weeks have been glorious.

Food has tasted better. Little gumdrop midgets have been seen frolicking in dewy meadows. Even naked Twister with your wife has actually been somewhat enjoyable.

Yep, life has been good. “I told you they’re not as good as the media makes them out to be,” could be heard muttered from New York to Philadelphia to Washington over the past two weeks.

But alas, all that ended Sunday when the ‘Boys somehow lucked into a 27-13 win. Well, it may not have been luck but it sure feels like it. Dallas may have outgained Houston in virtually every statistical category and scored more points, but pay no attention to that – they were fortunate to win.

If you’re a Cowboy fan and you’re seething – relax. I’m being sarcastic. The truth of the matter is that people should have seen this win coming from a mile away. The Texans were coming off two emotional victories and were now facing a desperate Dallas team in search of its first win. They were also down their starting left tackle Duane Brown, who was suspended four games earlier this week for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The Cowboys entered Sunday with only two sacks, yet they recorded four today in Brown’s absence, two by DeMarcus Ware (who probably couldn’t sleep Saturday night thinking about playing against a shorthanded Houston O-line).

The point is that the Texans were due for a letdown and the Cowboys were due to get back on track. Cowboy haters have relished the past two weeks, but the fact remains that Dallas is a pretty good football team. They’re still an underachieving bunch, but this game was set up perfectly for them to win and they did.

As for the Texans, this is a painful reminder that if they want to reach the playoffs then they have to play at a top level each and every week. They’ll learn from this.

Here’s a look at what local NFL beat writers and columnists have to say following their teams’ performance on Sunday.

- Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes that the Vikings got their first glimpse of Brett Favre’s legend in Minnesota’s last-second win over San Francisco.

- After 19 straight losses, Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press says that there’s finally relief for the lowly Lions.

- After getting a taste of action in a win over the Chiefs on Sunday, Ashley Fox of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Michael Vick is fine with his role with the Eagles, for now.

- Steve Serby of the New York Post says that Jets’ rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez uses his head to make history.

- Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe notes that the 2-1 Patriots are still a work in progress despite their 26-10 win over the Falcons at Foxboro.

- David Climer of the Tennessean says that the 0-3 Titans buried their playoff hopes with a loss to the Jets on Sunday.

- Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post writes that the Redskins’ focused disappeared long ago.

- Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ably points out that the brutal Rams are now the new Lions.

- David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune writes that Johnny Knox and the Bears’ wideouts are making quarterback Jay Cutler look good.

- Will Leitch of the New York Magazine says that the contract extension Eli Manning signed in the offseason might be a bargain with how well he’s playing so far this season.

Zero receptions, 0 yards, 0 touchdowns. That was the stat line for Terrell Owens in the Bills’ 27-7 loss to the Saints on Sunday.

For the season, T.O. has five catches for 98 yards and one touchdown, which are rather pedestrian numbers for one of the best receivers in the league.

Don’t think for a second that Owens is going to let this fly. He figured that when he signed with the Bills this offseason, that he would be the center of their offense. But so far, he isn’t even quarterback Trent Edwards’ fourth option in the passing game.

When asked about Edwards’ decision-making following the loss, T.O. said: “I don’t want to answer that, because whatever I say you guys are going to turn it into however you want to say it.”

Don’t worry T.O., because we can still read between the lines. You’re pissed off and don’t like the play calling. You don’t think Edwards is making wise decisions and you want to have a bigger role in the offense.

Eventually, Owens will say all of this himself. If Tony Romo couldn’t keep him happy, then Edwards sure as hell won’t. I don’t blame the Bills for taking a shot on him in the offseason (what did they have to lose?), but they’re about to see the real T.O. emerge soon if he continues to be a ghost in their offense.

As for the Saints, it was nice to see Pierre Thomas rush for 126 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. As long as he’s healthy, he needs to be a part of their offense, especially on a day where Drew Brees (16 of 29, 172 yards, 0 TDs) looked human.

Hopefully Sean Payton won’t shelve Thomas once Mike Bell is healthy again.

Let this sink in for a second: The defending champions are 1-2.

The Steelers were a 4th and 10 stop away from being 2-1 when they were up 20-15 with only 36 seconds remaining in Cincinnati on Sunday. But Bengals’ QB Carson Palmer avoided a sack and found Brian Leonard on an 11-yard completion to set Cincinnati up with a 1st and 4 from the Pittsburgh 4-yard line. Two plays later, Palmer found Andre Caldwell on a four-yard touchdown pass to put the Bengals up for good 23-20.

The theme continues for the Steelers. While they were able to rush for 102 yards, they only managed 3.6 YPC and essentially weren’t that effective. When they were leading 20-9 late in the third quarter, they couldn’t put Cincinnati away because they couldn’t milk the clock.

Pittsburgh won a Super Bowl last year despite the lack of a running game, but teams can’t consistently win when they can’t run the football. Some are going to look at the stat sheet and think that the Steelers were effective on the ground because they rushed for over 100 yards. But that simply wasn’t the case and it shows because the Bengals were able to score two fourth quarter touchdowns to earn the victory.

Willie Parker had a decent game, but when it was time for the Steelers to grind out the clock in the second half, he was much less effective. That caused Pittsburgh’s defense to be on the field too long in the fourth and Cincinnati capitalized.

But let’s give credit where credit is due – the Bengals’ deserved the victory. They came up with a huge play in the third quarter when a miscommunication between Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes led to a Jonathan Joseph 31-yard interception return for a touchdown. They hung around and hung around, waited for its moment to seize a win and then did so.

What’s amazing is that the Bengals could be 3-0 if it weren’t for Brandon Stokley’s fluke touchdown reception in Week 1. What’s even more amazing is that Cincinnati could be 3-0 and would have wins over the Packers (in Green Bay no less) and the Steelers.

There’s something about this Bengals team. They have an underrated defense, a healthy Palmer, a rejuvenated Cedric Benson and are finally playing inspired under Marvin Lewis.

It’s amazing how unsung heroes emerge every week in the NFL.

For the Vikings, the unsung hero in their 27-24 win over the 49ers was receiver Greg Lewis (yes, the same Greg Lewis that never developed in Philadelphia), who made an unbelievable catch on a 32-yard pass from Brett Favre with two seconds remaining to propel Minnesota to victory.

Things looked bleak for the Vikes, who had relinquished several leads throughout the game and who appeared destined for a loss trailing 24-20 with only 1:29 left in the fourth. But Favre led Minnesota to the 49ers’ 32-yard line and with only 12 seconds remaining, zipped a pass to Lewis to earn an improbable win.

For the Niners, things went from bad to worse when it was discovered that running back Frank Gore would probably miss at least the next two weeks with a high ankle sprain. He rushed just one time for four yards against Minnesota before leaving the game.

The good news for San Fran is that although the Vikings took away the Niners’ running game, Shaun Hill was able to make plays threw the air. Vernon Davis had a big day, hauling in seven passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns as San Fran beat Minnesota’s Cover 2 defense by attacking the middle of the field.

The bad news for San Fran is that it blew the final play. Why were they in a normal defense when the game was on the line and Minnesota had to go 40 yards to score a touchdown to win? The 49ers should have had more defenders back to protect the only play that could hurt them and shouldn’t have allowed Lewis to sneak behind their coverage.

But Mike Singletary and the Niners will learn from the loss and move on. This is still a solid team and should be competitive all season.