Mike Florio weighs in on the biggest storylines of Week 9

1. Dolphins take Wildcat back to Foxborough
Last year, the 0-2 Dolphins dragged their dorsal fins to Foxborough for what most presumed would be a beat-down, despite the absence of Tom Brady.

But the Fins sprung a feline surprise for the Pats: The Wildcat.

Miami pulled the sheet off their new toy, with running back Ronnie Brown taking the direct snap. The result? Six plays, four touchdowns in a 38-13 rout.

This time around, the Patriots will be ready. But when the Wildcat is clicking, preparation doesn't matter, as the Jets learned on a Monday night in October.

The real test for the Wildcat will be whether it will continue to work now that the shock value has evaporated. As Miami tries to get back to .500 after losing three straight to start the season, the Dolphins are banking on the fact that the answer is, "Yes."

2. Elimination game in AFC North?
Several weeks ago, the Cardinals and Seahawks played what was essentially an elimination game in the NFC West. The Seahawks lost and are now fading, and the Cards catapulted to the top of the division.

This weekend, the Ravens visit the Bengals in a rematch of a Week 5 game that Cincy somehow stole in Baltimore.

This one will operate as an elimination game only if the road team fails to settle the score. If Cincy wins, they'll move to 6-2, giving them a two-game lead over the 4-4 Ravens that would be, as a practical matter, a three-game lead due to the fact that the Cincinnati sweep would give the Bengals the first head-to-head tiebreaker.

A win by Baltimore, however, would make the division a three-team race -- especially if the Steelers lose to the Broncos in Denver on Monday night.

3. 44-6 revisited
With the Giants hitting a three-game pothole after starting off with five wins in a row, the Cowboys and Eagles are now sitting atop of the NFC East.

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Now Dallas returns to Philly, the scene of a season-ending game last December that had a playoff berth hanging in the balance.

That's when the Eagles dismantled the Cowboys, 44-6. This season, both teams have looked bad at times, and each has only one impressive win -- the Cowboys over the Falcons, and the Eagles over the Giants.

Meanwhile, receiver Roy Williams is potentially disrupting the post-T.O. harmony on offense, which has erupted in the midst of an unlikely three-game winning streak.

Bottom line in this one? Whoever controls the NFC East might have a very hard time getting past this year's elite teams in the NFC -- the Vikings and Saints.

4. Panther uprising in New Orleans?
For teams in the midst of special seasons, the games that entail the greatest risk involve their division rivals.

And that's particularly true for the Saints, who'll be hosting the Panthers on Sunday.

Consider this: The Panthers under John Fox have never lost in New Orleans. Not once in seven games.

Also, Carolina quarterback and Louisiana native Jake Delhomme has never lost at the Superdome as a Panther, a Saint or a Louisiana-Lafayette Rajun Cajun.

Then again, that might be all the motivation the Saints need to prove that they truly have arrived. It also helps that the Panthers haven't been very good.

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But Carolina seems to be improving, winning three out of four after starting 0-3. And Delhomme could make a lot of folks forget about his poor early-season performances by shocking the Saints.

5. High stakes for current, former Chicago teams
Two of the last three NFC champions meet on Sunday in the city where both teams were founded -- Chicago.

The 4-3 Cardinals, who had landed in Arizona after a stretch in St. Louis, are coming home with a one-game lead in the NFC West. In the North, the 4-3 Bears are looking up at the 7-1 Vikings, and thus are thinking more about jockeying for wild-card positioning.

Neither can afford to fall to 4-4.

The pressure is even greater on the Bears, given that the expectations for the current Chicago team were even greater entering the 2009 season, even though the Bears didn't make the playoffs last year.