You don't have to be a fantasy league geek to know that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning's numbers have been huge so far this season. But how huge?

He already has had a franchise-record five consecutive games of 300-plus yards passing. If he has a sixth today in St. Louis -- a good bet -- he would tie the NFL record of six in a row currently shared by Steve Young, Kurt Warner and Rich Gannon.

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Since Week 1, he has passed Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton for third on the NFL's career list for touchdown passes and broken Hall of Famer John Unitas' franchise record for wins by a quarterback.

He is on pace to complete 426 passes, which would be second in league history to Drew Brees' 440 last year, and throw for 5,264 yards, which would break Dan Marino's single-season NFL record. Manning's league-leading completion percentage of 73.5 also puts him on pace to break Ken Anderson's single-season mark of 70.55 percent, set in 1982.

Richard Seymour and the Oakland Raiders earned a bit of poetic justice this week. After the Giants embarrassed the Raiders, 44-7, Oct. 11, Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce referred to the game as a scrimmage. Last week, the Giants were themselves humbled in New Orleans, 48-27, while the Raiders upset Philadelphia. Said Seymour: "They got what they deserved. I'm not sure how many points the Saints scored on them, but if I'm not mistaken, it was half a hundred. So, I think he got enough to chew on himself with that."

If Pierce was eating crow this week, Washington coach Jim Zorn was swallowing a super-sized side order of pride when the decision was made for "consultant" Sherm Lewis to take over play-calling duties when the Redskins face the Eagles tomorrow night. How will it work? Lewis will call the play from the coaches' box to offensive coordinator Sherman Smith. Smith will then relay the play to quarterback Jason Campbell. In their magnanimty, Redskins management will allow Zorn to listen on his headset.

At one point this week, the Browns had 12 players missing from practice because of flu-like symptoms. With the cloud of swine flu hanging over not only the United States but the world, it brought to light a policy to provide relief to teams if they should be hit hard. The NFL sent out a memo to teams earlier this month saying they can receive roster exemptions if enough players contract swine flu. It is the first of the four major pro American sports leagues to institute such a policy.

The Patriots and Buccaneers play in London's Wembley Stadium today -- the NFL's annual mission to bring the game to foreign soil. In some respects, it will be a home game for Tampa Bay. The Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers, also owns soccer power Manchester United -- among the richest pro sports franchises in the world.

Fox NFL analyst Troy Aikman believes the wildcat formation is more a fad than a trend that will carry weight in a team's playbook for a long time.

"The wildcat is a lot like Twitter right now," Aikman said. "Everyone is doing it because they feel like it's what they're supposed to do, yet nobody really knows why they're doing it."

Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson's 5.16 yards per carry average through 36 career games is the highest in NFL history at that stage of a career. Barry Sanders had a 5.12 average and Jim Brown had a 5.07 average, according to Stats LLC. ... Despite holding out, missing camp and also the first five games of the season, 49ers No. 1 pick, wide reeiver Michael Crabtree, is expected to start today. ... Tampa Bay's 0-6 start marks its longest losing streak since 1977. ... Conversely, never in the post-merger era has the NFL had four unbeaten teams this deep into a season.

Ed Bouchette's blog on the Steelers and Gerry Dulac's Steelers chats are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.