By BOB MATTHEWS
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

Here we are, midway through the NFL season, and we have no idea which teams will be playing in Super Bowl XXXVII. One week's zeroes have a good chance to be the next week's heroes.

Nothing about the NFL is predictable. That's why it has replaced baseball as America's Pastime.

NFL 2002 Mid-Season Report:

Most Valuable Offensive Player: Green Bay QB Brett Favre. The Packers have an NFL-best 7-1 record and he still is the team's best player with a league-best 100.2 passer rating as well as the league's most inspirational leader. He's halfway to an unprecedented fourth league MVP award.

Honorable mention (in order of preference):

- Buffalo QB Drew Bledsoe. He leads the NFL with 2,802 yards passing and his arm gives the Bills a shot every Sunday.

- Kansas City RB Priest Holmes. He makes the Chiefs competitive despite a defense on pace to allow the most yards in NFL history. He leads the NFL in rushing (857), total yards from scrimmage (1,297) and TDs (15).

- San Diego RB LaDainian Tomlinson. A do-everything back with 1,109 yards from scrimmage and 9 TDs.

- St. Louis RB Marshall Faulk. The league's MVP over the past three weeks with 651 yards from scrimmage in three victories.

Most Valuable Defensive Players: Tampa Bay's LB Derrick Brooks and DT Warren Sapp (tie). The opportunistic Brooks has four defensive TDs and Sapp has 7.5 sacks, two interceptions and one forced fumble.

Honorable mention: Denver DE Trevor Pryce.

Top Offensive Rookie: Denver RB Clinton Portis. The latest in the Broncos' seemingly endless line of excellent running backs, with 562 yards rushing and 4.9 yards per carry.

Honorable mention: Detroit QB Joey Harrington. The Lions are 3-3 in his six starts.

Top Defensive Rookie: Carolina DE Julius Peppers. He leads the NFL in sacks (9.0) and is a major contributor to the league's most-improved defensive unit.

Honorable mention: Jacksonville DT John Henderson.

Top Executive: San Diego's John Butler. His moves paid off with a 6-2 first half. The team should be able to avoid a repeat of last season's collapse (0-9 after a 5-2 start) because it has more talent and better coaching.

Honorable mention: Buffalo's Tom Donahoe.

Top Coach: Green Bay's Mike Sherman. The Packers have the NFL's best record despite injuries to several key defensive players. He's proving he can handle the head coach-general manager-executive vice-president role. It's too much for most of his peers.

Honorable mention: San Diego's Marty Schottenheimer and Carolina's John Fox.

Top Flop Coach-Executive: Seattle's Mike Holmgren. The magic he had in Green Bay has disappeared and his 2-6 Seahawks are spinning their wheels.

Most Disappointing Player: Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning. Maybe he isn't regressing, but he sure isn't improving.

Most Balanced Teams: Philadelphia, Denver and New England. They're the only teams ranked in the top 10 in both total offense and total defense. The Eagles are 6th-2nd, the Broncos 5th-3rd and the Patriots 10th-9th.

Least Balanced Team: Kansas City. The Chiefs have an NFL-best 6.1 yards per offensive play and rank third in offense with 382.0 yards per game, but they're last in defense, allowing 438.0 yards per game.

Most Daring QB Switch: By Pittsburgh's Bill Cowher, who benched 2002 NFL MVP candidate Kordell Stewart in favor of former XFL MVP Tommy Maddox. The Steelers have won four straight.

Most Overdue QB Switch: By the New York Jets. Vinny Testaverde had seen better days and Chad Pennington needed a chance to show if he can play. So far, so good. In four starts, the Jets are 2-2 and he has completed 94 of 122 passes (.770) for 1,005 yards with 6 TD passes and 2 INTs.

Most Confusing QB Switches: By Washington coach and passing guru Steve Spurrier, who has used three different starting QBs. The lack of continuity helps explain why the Redskins rank only 24th in passing offense, with 191.2 yards per game.

Most Surprisingly Successful QB Switch: In St. Louis, where the team was 0-4 when two-time league MVP Kurt Warner (1 TD pass and 8 INTs) went down with a broken finger. The Rams lost a fifth straight with Jamie Martin at QB, and are 3-0 since No. 3 QB Marc Bulger replaced Martin.

Biggest Surprise of the First Half: 0-5 start by the Rams.

Most Exciting Player: Atlanta QB Michael Vick. No one is better at messing up a carefully constructed defensive game plan.

Honorable mention: Philadelphia QB Donovan McNabb and San Francisco WR Terrell Owens - as good as he says he is.

Best Trade: Buffalo obtaining QB Drew Bledsoe from AFC East rival New England for a 2003 first-round draft pick.

Honorable mention: Miami's acquisition of RB Ricky Williams from New Orleans for a package including the No. 25 pick in the 2002 draft, DE Charles Grant.

Best Replacement: New Orleans RB Deuce McAllister. He's the reason the Saints could afford to trade Williams. Williams is having a fine season for the Dolphins, with 177 carries for 758 yards and 6 TDs plus 21 catches for 222 yards and 1 TD, but McAllister is having an even better season, with 171 carries for 836 yards and 7 TDs plus 30 catches for 234 yards and 2 TDs.

Most Underrated Team: The 5-3 Atlanta Falcons. QB Vick gets most of the attention but former Buffalo head coach Wade Phillips has produced a vastly improved defensive unit ranked No. 6 in the NFL and allowing 305.4 yards per game compared to 365.3 yards per game.

Team Most Likely to Rise: St. Louis. As long as Marshall Faulk stays healthy, a playoff berth is within reach after a 0-5 start.

Honorable mention: Tennessee. RB Eddie George appears back on track.

Team Most Likely to Slip: Arizona. The Cardinals should be 5-4 after Sunday's home game against Seattle but the rest of their schedule is brutal - at Philadelphia, Oakland, at Kansas City, Detroit, at St. Louis, San Francisco, at Denver.

Best Game: Miami's 24-22 win in Denver Week 6. It was intense for 60 minutes with a memorable finish as the teams traded long field goals in the final minute.

Most Significant Recent Addition: Four-time Pro Bowl CB Dale Carter returns to New Orleans after his latest substance abuse suspension. The Saints are a scoring machine and the return of Carter will be big boost to the beleaguered defense.

Most Underrated QB: Tampa Bay's Brad Johnson. He doesn't have the best offensive line or fastest wide receivers, but he continues to win (47-27 career record).

Revised Projected Division Winners: New England (AFC East), Pittsburgh (AFC North), Tennessee (AFC South), Denver (AFC West), Philadelphia (NFC East), Green Bay (NFC North), Tampa Bay (NFC South) and San Francisco (NFC West).

Most Likely Wild-Card Teams (two per conference): Miami and San Diego in the AFC and New Orleans and St. Louis in the NFC.

Most Costly Offensive Injury: Carolina RB DeShaun Foster. He had an outstanding preseason and the Panthers had high hopes. But he was derailed by a knee injury and the team hasn't had a running game since.

Biggest Loss Defensively: Chicago DT Ted Washington, literally and figuratively. The Bears were 2-0 when he went down. They're 0-6 since. They allowed 203 points in 2001 and are on pace to allow 398 points in 2002.

Most Surprising Whiners: Classy Oakland future Hall of Fame wide receivers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, who have lobbied for more passes to be thrown to them while their team was fading in the AFC West.

Greatest Statistical Milestone: Dallas RB Emmitt Smith breaking Walter Payton's NFL career rushing record.

Sad Sacks: Houston's David Carr has been sacked 45 times (the NFL record is Randall Cunningham's 72 in 1986). Washington's Bruce Smith, determined to top Reggie White's NFL-record 198.0 career sacks, had 2.0 sacks in Week 8 to boost his 2002 total to 3.0 and his career total to 189.0.

Many Happy Returns: A total of 22 kicks were returned for TDs all of last season, 12 on punts and 10 on kickoffs. There already have been 12 punt returns and 10 kickoff returns for TDs this season with eight weeks to go.

Almost Guaranteed to Happen in the Third Quarter of the Season: Home teams and favorites will improve their winning percentages. Home teams are a mere 70-60 and favorites are 76-53 outright and a ridiculous 52-75-2 against the Las Vegas point spread.

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