Studs and Duds, Week 3: MJD's World

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Studs

Maurice Jones-Drew, RB Jacksonville (23 rushes, 119 yards, 3 TDs, 4 catches, 28 yards) -- He has one of the games each year, where you are kicking yourself that he isn't your running back. Mini-Michael Turner continued the fun game the NFL is currently playing called "expose the Texans defense," following Chris Johnson from week two as the guy that made running the football extremely easy.

MJD has never been that consistent of a runner, but when he gets it going, things like this past Sunday can happen. His 61-yard scamper in the second quarter showed that while he's better bouncing off defenders in the red zone, he can break away in the open field and make things happen with his legs.

Kevin Kolb, QB Philadelphia (24-34, 327 yards, 2 TDs, 1 rush, 1 TD) -- I'll make this hindsight bet with you -- it's week three of the 2009 NFL season, and I bet the quarterback we're talking about leading the Eagles isn't Donovan McNabb or Michael Vick. What odds are you giving me?

Kolb became the first passer to ever go for 300 yards in his first two starts, leading the Eagles to a win over the Chiefs. His passer rating was 120,6, and he is doing exactly what he needs to do right now to keep his job over the media-hyped Vick -- shut your mouth, make good decisions and hope you can keep this team afloat until McNabb is back.

Sure, it doesn't hurt that DeSean Jackson is lining up outside, but Kolb is finding the first personal and his second game was very salty.

Peyton Manning, QB Indianapolis (24-35, 379 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT) -- It wasn't a perfect game for Peyton by any means, but it was the type of game that has made him the best quarterback in our league for a number of years. Playing the defending NFC Champions in Arizona on a Sunday night, Peyton did what Peyton does -- picked apart a secondary that is still a bit overrated.

He made corners bite on his pump-fakes. He put the ball in positions only his receivers could catch it. He continues to make Dallas Clark look like Antonio Gates 2.0.

The offense runs through Manning unlike anyone else in the NFL, and it really is an art. His game on Sunday night was exactly why you'd want him to be heading your team coming into December.

Duds

JaMarcus Russell, QB Oakland (12-21, 61 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs) -- How bad is Russell been this 2009 season? Well, see that passing yardage total for Peyton Manning in the above category? Subtract a yard from that, and you get what Russell has thrown for all year. He has four interceptions to just one touchdown and is currently sporting a shiny 39.8 passer rating for '09. He looked so bad against Denver on Sunday, you would have thought this was the 1998 Broncos squad, not the one in '09 that is hoping to steal a weak conference.

The question remains -- how long can they stick with Russell at quarterback and hope to be successful? If his numbers continue, it won't be very long.

Limas Sweed, WR Pittsburgh (1 catch, 5 yards) -- It wasn't his stat line that landed Sweed in this category -- it was the non-catch that doomed him. In the third quarter, Ben Roethlisberger tossed a 34-yard beauty to Sweed, who was in the end zone by himself. The pass hit his hands, he hit the ground and for some reason, those two things didn't like each other -- the dropped touchdown pass would have put the Steelers up 20-9, but instead forced them to try a 52-yard field goal, which they missed and the rest was history. Big Ben has made some silly decisions in his career, but this was a incredible toss and Sweed just straight dropped it. The game would have probably been out of reach at that point for the Bengals. Instead, it was a morale-killing loss for the Steelers.

Terrell Owens, WR Buffalo (0 catches, 0 yards) -- On Monday Night Football, as the Cowboys hosted the Panthers, the crew decided on a rather unusual package. They had put together a piece on TO, and played it, explaining that they really thought the Cowboys would miss his explosiveness and receiving ability and on and on. The thing was, they probably cut that package way before TO went out and laid an egg for the Bills in just his third game. Zero catches, zero yards, and a postgame press conference we have all come to know too well.

The thing is simple -- in sports, when you become such a story that people forget that you aren't as good as you once were and don't even talk about it, well, that isn't a good thing. TO isn't an elite wideout anymore. Heck, he might not even be the best receiver on his team (hello Lee Evans). Everyone knows, no matter the destination, he will eventually make it more difficult than it's worse to keep him happy. If he's great, that's fine. If he can't catch the ball anymore, it isn't so great. Sadly, we're leaving towards the latter.