Here was your best game from the early action in the NFL:

Falcons 29, Bengals 27
Atlanta has walked on the wild side the past two weeks, but what a win by the Falcons. Cincinnati had everything going in the first half – especially on offense. After a Rudi Johnson rushing touchdown, Carson Palmer hit Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson for a nine yard score to build a 14-6 lead halfway through the second quarter.

Atlanta never gave in on offense, however, and Michael Vick put together another fantastic day through the air. Vick was 20 of 28 for 291 yards and three touchdowns. More importantly than his stats, however, was the way Vick picked apart the Bengals defense by making smart reads and taking exactly what Cincinnati gave him. Vick hit Alge Crumpler, Michael Jenkins and Justin Griffith for scores while also rushing for 55 yards.

Most impressed with: Along with Vick, the Falcons defense played superb in the second half. After giving up 17 points in the first half, the Atlanta defense made adjustments at halftime and tightened-up its overall play. If it weren’t for a 55 yard bomb to Chris Henry towards the end of the contest, the Falcons defense would have held the Bengals to only three points in the second half.

Least impressed with: “Ocho Cinco” vs. DeAngelo Hall was a real dud. Johnson finished with six catches for 70 yards and the one score, but most of that came against the Falcons other corner, Jason Webster. Speaking of Webster, he was horrible in coverage for the second straight week. I’m shocked that Jim Mora hasn’t gone to the rookie Jimmy Williams yet. I think Atlanta got the benefit from some calls by the officials too.

Quick Shots:
The only other early game that was even remotely close was the Chiefs beating the Seahawks 35-28. This was an absolute wacky game that included a botched Kansas City field goal that turned into a 61-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Seattle’s Kelly Herndon. The story of this game was Larry Johnson absolutely going off for 155 yards and four total touchdowns…Speaking of going off, the Bears spanked the 49ers 41-10. Chicago scored every single one of its 41 points in the first half. QB Rex Grossman was 23 of 29 for 252 yards and three touchdowns – completely shaking off his dismal performance on Monday night two weeks ago…The Packers notched their third win of the season with a 31-14 rout of Arizona. Brett Favre threw a touchdown and ran for another while RB Ahman Green rushed for two scores and 106 yards. Ranked dead last in passing defense coming into the game, Green Bay held QB Matt Leinart in check, picking off the rookie once and limiting him to 157 yards through the air…Houston fell to the Titans 28-22 after David Carr absolutely handed this game over on a silver platter. Carr was benched for Sage Rosenfels after losing the handle on two fumbles and throwing two picks. Rosenfels almost led the Texans to a comeback victory, but fell short in the end. Rookie QB Vince Young threw just 15 passes in this contest, but completed seven of those passes for 87 yards and a touchdown…The Jaguars, who got waxed by those aforementioned Texans last week, came out this Sunday and smoked Philly 13-3. Jacksonville’s defense finally showed up again after a few turbulent weeks, holding Donovan McNabb to 161 yards passing and Brian Westbrook to just 38 yards rushing. Fred Taylor ran well for the Jags (103 yards and their only score), while QB David Garrard wasn’t asked to do too much in spot duty for the injured Byron Leftwich. Garrad attempted just 17 passes and finished with 87 yards…Brian Billick wanted to call his own plays for the Ravens and after a 35-22 win over the Saints, it looks like Billick made the right call firing Jim Fassel. Let me get this straight: the Ravens start off hot; look awful on offense the past few weeks and then hammer (the score was closer than the game actually was) a previously unbeaten Saints team in New Orleans? Weird. Nice game by QB Steve McNair who bounced back from a concussion he suffered two weeks ago to finish 17 of 23 and three total touchdowns…The boring game of the day goes to the Giants and Bucs after New York squeezes out a snoozer: 17-3. There was nothing boring about WR Plaxico Burress’ first half touchdown, however. Burress reached out for an Eli Manning pass and snagged it one-handed to give New York its first score. The Giants defense is playing excellent of late too, holding Tampa Bay to just 174 total yards.

Don’t forget to check out my NFL Random Thoughts blog on Monday.