During the Giants’ five-game winning streak at the start of the season, Eli Manning didn’t have a QB rating lower than 93.5. In the Giants’ current three-game losing streak, Manning hasn’t had a QB rating higher than 61.0, which includes his 55.7 mark in New York’s embarrassing 40-17 loss to the Eagles in Week 8.

To say that Manning hasn’t been good lately would be an understatement. In the loss to Philadelphia, he was 20-of-39 for 222 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. And given how inaccurate he was most of the day, he could have been intercepted at least two more times.

In his last three games, Manning has thrown six interceptions to just three touchdowns. The mistakes he’s made aren’t typical of a veteran quarterback that has a Super Bowl ring – they’re more akin to a first year starter with little to no experience. He looks like a player with zero confidence and he doesn’t appear to trust his own decision-making.

While the Giants have more issues than just Eli (the secondary has also played poorly and the team continues to struggle with injuries), they have to be concerned with his play. New York has needed him to put the team on his shoulders and carry them to victories and he hasn’t. And based on the way he’s played the past three weeks, there’s serious doubt he’ll be able to break the Giants out of their funk without a lot of help from his defense and running game.

That said, it’s only been three games and while he has looked horrible in those three outing, he looked great in the first five games of the season. The problem is that the Cowboys were the only team with a winning record that the Giants have beaten this year. Eli’s impressive numbers have come against teams like the Redskins, Bucs, Chiefs and Raiders, while he has struggled against tough opponents in the Saints, Cardinals and Eagles, respectively.

With David Carr listed on the depth chart behind Manning, the Giants won’t consider a QB change. But the entire team better start picking up their play before the season starts to slip away from them, and it all starts with Eli.

Remember the name Jairus Byrd, because he just jumped on this list…and don’t rule out Michael Crabtree, who had a very impressive NFL opening game against Houston last weekend.

1. James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams—Four more solo tackles against the Colts last Sunday, so this kid has done nothing to hurt his standing.

2. Jairus Byrd, Buffalo Bills—This safety has been flying under our radar, but he was chosen as the NFL’s defensive rookie of the month for his 15 tackles and (yikes) 5 interceptions in October alone. Wow.

3. Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos—The bye week should have this young stallion rested and ready to face two daunting defenses in the Ravens and Steelers coming up. Can he handle it? Time will tell.

4. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—Did you see that lucky grab and run for a score Sunday night? Maybe it was more than luck…it was being in the right place at the right time, football instincts that can’t be taught. And along with Byrd, Nicks won NFL offensive rookie honors for October.

5. Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia Eagles—This rookie has become a new favorite target of Donovan McNabb, and had 5 more catches Monday night against Washington.

Honorable mention: Matthew Stafford, Lions; Johnny Knox, Bears; Ryan Succop, Chiefs; Michael Oher, Ravens

After their loss to the winless Kansas City Chiefs last week, the Washington Redskins stripped head coach Jim Zorn of his playcalling duties and handed them over to Sherman Lewis, who hadn’t even been with the team for a month.

The move was made in hopes to spark the Redskins’ dismal offense, but as their 27-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles tonight can attest to, Lewis isn’t going to change Washington’s misfortune over night.

The Redskins’ loss to the Eagles actually had very little to do with Lewis’ playcalling and more to do with Washington’s lack of execution. In the first half, quarterback Jason Campbell had a ball batted into the air by a defensive lineman and intercepted by linebacker Will Witherspoon, who returned it for a touchdown. Later in the half, Campbell escaped the pocket but didn’t get the ball out of his hands in time and was stripped from behind. The Eagles recovered and turned the gift into three points to take a 17-0 second quarter lead.

Campbell finished the night 29 of 43 passing for 284 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. For all intents and purposes, his final numbers weren’t bad (he had a QB rating of 91.6), but he often settled for check downs or underneath routes and both of his touchdown passes came around the goal line. He still struggled with hanging onto the ball too long and missing open receivers.

That said, his pass protection wasn’t that great and his receivers dropped a few passes. He also didn’t have Chris Cooley, who left the game early in the first half due to an ankle injury and never returned. All in all, it was a complete team effort by a Redskins squad that somehow generated 17 points from a brutal showing. Lewis wasn’t the problem tonight – lack of execution by the players was.

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Matthew Stafford helped the Lions win a game but he’s hurt now and, well, the Lions still have just one win. So he slips to honorable mention. Meanwhile, you’ll see some other names jump into the fold….

1. Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos—Leading all rookie running backs with 337 yards and 2 total TDs. And with Denver’s crazy backfield situation, look for more of this kid in the coming weeks.

2. James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams—With 31 tackles and 9 assists, not only does Laurinaitis lead all rookies in total tackles, but playing on a crappy team his numbers are approaching Ray Lewis’. That’s really saying something.

3. Mark Sanchez, New York Jets—Though he stopped throwing to the other team this past week, he didn’t exactly have gaudy numbers as his team lost its second straight game.

4. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—Even though Steve Smith and Mario Manningham are leading the way in the Meadowlands, this rookie has shown great hands and some nice moves and has a really bright future catching passes from Eli Manning.

5. Michael Oher, Baltimore Ravens—Started at left tackle last week and held Antwan Odom, the NFL’s sack leader, to zero sacks. That’s impressive.

Honorable mention: Matthew Stafford, Lions; Jeremy Maclin, Eagles

Amazingly, Josh McDaniels and Marvin Lewis are still tied atop this list. And even if they were ranked 1-2, what difference would that make? They both have exceeded expectations in a big way to this point.

1. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos & Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—After last weekend, these two are still tied, even though McDaniels’ team is 5-0 and Lewis’ is 4-1. Denver beat the Patriots and McDaniels’ mentor Bill Belichick last weekend in Denver, while Lewis’ Bengals had an emotional win over the Ravens in Baltimore a few days after defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s wife tragically passed away.

2. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—Really, did anyone expect the Colts to be 5-0 out of the gate? Everyone thought that with the departure of Tony Dungy and Marvin Harrison, there would be a regression. Then Anthony Gonzalez got hurt, and still, Caldwell and Peyton Manning are carrying on the winning tradition.

3. Tom Coughlin, New York Giants—You have to give a guy credit when he has his team fully prepared each week. The last three weeks, the Giants have utterly dominated their opponents, because Coughlin and his team take no one lightly. The Giants have been hit fairly hard by injuries too, but Coughlin always seems to have a guy to plug in.

4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—With a 5-0 start, it’s time we gave this guy his due for having the balls to coax Favre back even after Favre’s waffling act teetered on the retirement side again.

5. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—His team came flying out of the gate with the same high-flying offense, but also with a much-improved defense. We’ll see if Sean is still sitting here after the big showdown against the G-men Sunday.

Honorable mention: Mike Smith, Falcons; Andy Reid, Eagles; Lovie Smith, Bears

- RED’S ARMY comments on Phil Jackson’s decision to bring Andrew Bynum off the bench. (He’s making $12.5 million this season.)

- THE 700 LEVEL reports that Michael Vick will star in an eight-part “docu-series” (reality show?) on BET.

- STATE FARM has video of LeBron James working out with his old high school team. He says that if he wanted to, he could quit basketball and play in the NFL. Duh. Who wouldn’t want a 6′8″ phenomenal athlete playing tight end?

- Per DEADSPIN, Alabama fan (and Father of the Year candidate) Dave Grzyb is pleased that his daughter’s domestic abuse charge won’t interfere with the Crimson Tide’s season. Nice. The site also details an open letter to Ron Artest that went awry.

- WITH LEATHER has video of a hockey fight. Funny.

Senior NFL.com analyst Pat Kirwan suggested in a recent article that now might be the best time for the Eagles to trade Michael Vick.

Michael Vick said he expected to be a starting quarterback when he reentered the NFL. When I look at some of the quarterback situations around the league, I think he’s right, but I don’t really see him as a fit in Philadelphia after watching Kevin Kolb for the past two weeks.

The return of Donovan McNabb, as well as having Jeff Garcia under contract, makes Vick a guy to consider trading. He saw limited duty in his first real game and he will get better with more work, but his contract next year probably means he will not be an Eagle after 2009.
In the past two weeks, Kolb has completed 55 of 85 passes for 718 yards (8.44 yards per attempt) with four touchdowns, three interceptions and just two sacks. Any young QB that only gets sacked once every 43.5 attempts and distributes the ball to seven different receivers every game is the future — and he’s a whole lot cheaper than Vick.

In Vick’s career, he has been sacked an average of once every 10 pass attempts. And when it comes to the Wildcat, receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin can handle those duties if the Eagles care to continue using it.

I don’t think there are any real worries about the fallout from Vick’s off-the-field issues anymore and maybe a team like the Raiders would love to have him on the roster. He has to be worth a decent draft pick. Garcia is the veteran backup the Eagles need for insurance. When the Eagles activated him to the 45-man roster this weekend, they confirmed they see him that way, too.

Garcia was just released so that the Eagles could make room for middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, although I don’t think that would change Kirwan’s mind regarding Philly trading Vick.

Kirwan suggests that Vick “has to be worth a decent draft pick.” Not sure I agree with that. He hasn’t shown enough in his limited time back to convince any team that he can be their starting quarterback and no team is going to part with a draft pick just to use Vick in the Wildcat.

One thing I do side with Kirwan on is how teams don’t have to worry about the fallout from Vick’s off-field issues. The Eagles essentially took the first blow and they didn’t receive much criticism. But again, I don’t see any team parting with a 2nd or 3rd rounder (what I would deem a “decent” draft pick) to add Vick just based on what we’ve seen so far.

Michael Vick is a little confused. He figured that even though he had been out of football for two years, the Eagles would still start him on Sunday because Donovan McNabb is hurt.

From the USA Today:

Vick, in an interview with CBS to air Sunday, said he thought he would be a starting quarterback upon his return to the NFL.

“This is not the exact scenario I thought would play out,” Vick told CBS. “I thought I’d be playing with a team and actually starting.”

Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg confirmed Thursday that Vick will play against the Chiefs on Sunday. It is the first game Vick will be eligible for since 2006, before he served a 20-month federal sentence for a dogfighting conviction.

“He’ll play,” Mornhinweg said. “How much? We’ll see as the week goes on. I think he’s in top physical condition. We’ll see how he handles the few things that we have in for him.”

Mikey picked the wrong team if he thought he was going to walk out of prison and be handed a starting quarterback job. Quite frankly, he’s lucky to be on any team and it’s a little surprising (appalling even?) that he didn’t think he would have to work his way back into a starting gig.

Take it slow, Mike. Enjoy the fact that you’re not in prison and let everything else take care of itself.

According to SI.com’s Peter King, Matt Hasselbeck is expected to play this week against the Bears despite suffering a rib injury in Sunday’s loss to the 49ers.

From King’s Twitter page:

Re injuries: Am told Westbrook not bad, should play this week. Ditto Hasselbeck. McNabb? Still very sore. But Vick will only play spot duty.

King also reiterated on NBC last night that McNabb was doubtful to play in Week 3 as he continues to battle a rib injury himself. As King noted, the Eagles will continue to start Kevin Kolb (or get Jeff Garcia ready?) and ease Vick into games in sub packages.

Kolb threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns on 31 of 51 passing, although he did throw three interceptions. I know Andy Reid likes to throw the ball, but it’s probably never a good sign if Kolb is attempting 51 passes. Fortunately for the Eagles, they host Kansas City this Sunday and have their bye in Week 4.

Talk about a great time for the bye.

Jay Glazer reported on his Twitter page that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb will miss this Sunday’s game against the Saints with a fractured rib. After that, it’s unclear how long he’ll be out.

Philadelphia will likely start Kevin Kolb under center this week, although rumor has it that the team might re-sign A.J. Feeley to compete with Kolb in practice. Either way, the Eagles will suffer a downgrade at quarterback.

The Eagles are a Super Bowl contender this year, but not without McNabb. Kolb has struggled in the brief opportunities he’s recieved over the past couple years and it’s looking more and more that the former second rounder was a bust pick for Philly.

Of course, if McNabb misses an extended period of time and Kolb struggles, Michael Vick comes off his suspension in Week 4 and could start. But chances are that Andy Reid would stick with Kolb for as long as he can, seeing as how Vick hasn’t played in two years outside of a couple preseason games.

This will be an interesting situation to watch develop over the next couple weeks.