Tom E. Curran • E-mail

You can see the halfway point from here. The fast-moving 2009 season is getting down to the weeks where you can start looking at the standings.

And for some teams, what they’re seeing is alarming.

Here are the stories to watch for Week 7.

1. That Brett Favre fella
It doesn’t matter that he missed most of training camp. It doesn’t matter than he wrung his hands and played Hamlet in shoulder pads role again. It doesn’t matter that he has a frayed rotator cuff. It doesn’t matter that the Vikings sent a bad message to the rest of the team by allowing him to waltz in on his own clock.

It doesn’t matter that Brad Childress looked impotent in his months-long courtship of Favre. It doesn’t matter that Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson got jobbed. It doesn’t matter that he may have come back just to stick it to Ted Thompson. It doesn’t matter how he finished in New York last year. It doesn’t matter that he threw a cheap block on Eugene Wilson in the preseason. It doesn’t matter that the over-the-top deification by the networks is stomach-turning.

What matters is this: Brett Favre is playing at an absurdly high level for any quarterback, never mind for a 40-year-old. His Vikings are unbeaten and we’re all better off as fans and observers that he’s playing for Minnesota and not on his much-discussed tractor.

Slideshow   Week 11 action Take a look at shots from the NFL's 11th week of play in 2009. NBCSports.com

There. I said it. Now, how will he do against the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers this Sunday?

2. Can the Wildcat slow down the Saints?
Through five games, the Dolphins’ average time of possession is 35:29. With the Saints headed to South Florida playing at an offensive level comparable to the 2007 Patriots, the most obvious way of controlling Drew Brees and Co. is keeping them on the sidelines sipping Gatorade and waiting for their turn to wreak havoc.

More stats? Miami is 47 for 80 on third- and fourth-down conversions this year, so bet on the Dolphins and offensive coordinator Dan Henning rolling the dice a few times in an effort to keep the ball away from Brees.

The Saints, meanwhile, are allowing just 27 percent conversions on third down, and are holding opposing ground games to 83.4 yards per game. So it’s going to be a fascinating matchup between the Miami offensive line and the Wildcat alignment and the New Orleans defense.

3. The ongoing car wreck in Washington
Uhh, Jim? I think you dropped this. Says, ‘self respect” on it? Yeah, it’s yours. Found it right over here near this ball of tape. The Redskins are going to another play-caller this week. And your role is … what? Announcing meeting times? Pumping up footballs?

Look, so it hasn’t worked out in Washington. And it’s not going to. But you’re surrounded by dysfunction. Don’t allow yourself to get your reputation trampled in the process. Guys get second chances. And they make a lot of them. Quit before they fire you.

Fan ranker Who’s on NFL’s ‘hot seat’? With Dick Jauron's firing last week, can Cleveland coach Eric Mangini be far behind? Here’s your chance to rank all the NFL coaches. NBCSports.com

Take a flamethrower to the place in the postgame press conference. You’ve been emasculated and the only way anyone’s ever going to look at you as being capable of leading a team again is if you show some legit backbone on the way out the door. Just sayin’.

4. Bounce-back Iggles?
We have ourselves a little cluster of two-loss teams in the NFC. We can presume that the Saints, Vikings and Giants are quite legit. And the Falcons also are worth tossing in there. Somebody will win the NFC West, meanwhile, but they’re not getting a wild card.

So all the teams not in first place and not playing in Atlanta need to start getting their affairs in order.

And for a team as talented as Philadelphia to get disgraced at Oakland? That’s bad news. At some point, will we focus for a minute on whether the risk/reward/time invested equation when it comes to the Eagles and Michael Vick and conclude that it was an unnecessary distraction? Actually, I figured that out in August. When will others start noticing?

5. Are the Jets in trouble?
They’ve gone from 3-0 to 3-3 and that swagger’s looking like a drunken gait. This week, they visit the Raiders who are still “not to be taken seriously,” but are edging nearer to it.

Even though New York lost Kris Jenkins — the nose tackle who’s been absolutely ruining offenses — they should be sufficiently embarrassed and talented enough to return JaMarcus Russell to his normal horrific performance level.

But how will Mark Sanchez do against a Raiders defense that played with an itty-bitty piece of pride against the Eagles? Big week for Sanchez because the trucks headed downhill fast and the brakes are failing.

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