5. Love this statistic: With their win Monday night against the Jets, the Patriots reached .500 as a franchise for the first time since mid-Sept. 1969, when they were 60-60-9. The Pats are now 354-354-9, after being as low as 54 games under the break-even mark in 1994 (228-282-9). New England is 51 games over .500 since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994, and 40 games over (72-32) since Bill Belichick was hired as head coach in 2000.

The strength of schedule winning percentages of the five teams involved won't be final until Week 17 is finished. But if we do get ties at 3-13, the Saints -- and if ever there was a team deserving of a break it's New Orleans -- might be in the driver's seat.

The Saints close at Tampa Bay (10-5), and New Orleans' opponents currently have a .517 winning percentage. Houston and the Jets are tied at .533 (coin flips would break those kind of ties), with Green Bay (.542) and San Francisco (.546) bringing up the rear.

Would the Saints, with veteran running back Deuce McAllister signed to a long-term deal, choose Bush or choose to trade the pick for a bevy of selections? Let the hype-fest of speculation begin.