Alicia de la Garza:Green Bay Packers

With a 4-1 record so far this season, the Green Bay Packers are definitely one of the biggest surprises the NFL has seen.

The 1998 season was the last time the Packers saw a 4-0 start.

Yet even with four victories under its belt, the team didn’t seem to play as well as it is capable of playing. Green Bay has yet to play a game using its full potential, which is obvious when you look at the flaws in each victory.

It’s also hard to point out every flaw in a team that has only lost one contest so far. It’s difficult to blame the team for being on “Cloud Nine” right now.

Of course, in the win at Minnesota, star quarterback Brett Favre threw two touchdown passes and passed up Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino (420) for the most touchdown passes in NFL history.

It’s easier to play knowing you have a guy like that on your team. Not to mention, in his 17-season career, he received 12 Offensive Player of the Week awards and he has already obtained two this season.

Favre has played some of the best ball of his career, making the Packers look like playoff candidates, even though it is early in the season.

Without the effort Favre has been putting in, there is no way Green Bay would be doing so well, and that right there is a surprise in itself.

Victor Nieto:St. Louis Rams

For all those fantasy football managers who were picked second in this year’s draft, I offer you my condolences. For those of you who added Marc Bulger to the mix with Stephen Jackson, may the football gods have blessed your other players because you are likely with the St. Louis Rams – in last place.

It is truly hard to fathom how the team once branded “the greatest show on turf” has deconstructed into a strewn mess of wasted talent, missed opportunities and untimely injuries.

After a quietly successful offseason in which the Rams strengthened their defense by adding free agents linebacker Chris Draft and cornerback Mike Rumph, as a return man, many people believed the Rams were on the fast track to winning the NFC West and possibly represent the NFC in the Super Bowl as a dark horse.

Oh how the beauty of an optimistic preseason can suddenly shatter, twist, tear and aggravate into a funnel of despair and sorrow. It was just last year when the potent offense of the Rams sported a running back who led the NFL in yards from scrimmage, a quarterback who was top three in passer rating and an eight-time Pro Bowl tackle anchoring the offensive line.

Throw in Torry Holt and a defense that made vast improvements on paper, and you have yourself a winning squad, which was what many passionate St. Louis fans expected going into the offseason. However, a record of 0-6 is where the team stands.

For the Rams, losing Orlando Pace was the first key ingredient in the composition of an implosion, as stars Stephen Jackson (groin pull) and Marc Bulger (back, legs) soon fell after. But despite the turmoil, the Rams have had numerous opportunities to pull out victories in the lowly NFC West just to let the game slip between their fingers.

They can easily be a 3-3, team but instead have decided to join the lowly Saints and Dolphins among the cellar dwellers of the league, leaving many St. Louis fans looking forward to spring training.

Andrew Eggers:New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints have let down an entire city so far this season. This year the team started 0-4 after making it all the way to the NFC Championship game last year.

The Saints went from being a game away from advancing to the Super Bowl last year to being the in-the-cellar of the NFC South this season. I thought they would actually be good this year because they showed they had a great offense last season. This year they look terrible on offense, averaging less than 13 points per game, and it doesn’t help that the team lost its bruising running back Deuce McAllister.

I am not giving the Saints a pass for McAllister’s injury because New Orleans was awful even when he was healthy.

The Saints don’t have a good excuse to give their fans either; the whole team looks like it is still in preseason working out the kinks. With weapons like Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and Marques Colston, the Saints should be winning games.

I picked the New Orleans to be an elite team in the water-downed NFC before the season started, but now I give the Saints a small chance to make the playoffs.

It is sad because the team seemed to be helping the rebuilding process in New Orleans by winning games last year, which allowed the fans to get their minds off the tragedy. It was a great story and fun to watch because Saints fans really haven’t had anything to cheer for in a long time. I think most of America didn’t mind seeing the Saints do well last year because of the circumstances, so it is a major disappointment to see New Orleans lacking this season.

I really don’t think the Saints are that bad – they’re just playing horribly. They are obviously either not on the same page or not focused. Honestly, I hope the Saints snap out of the funk they’re in and win a couple games. It’ll give the fans hope and let them know that its not a “flash in the pan.”

Galen Kusic:Houston Texans

Even though the Texans are dead last in the AFC South division, there has been a vast improvement from last season. At 3-2, their losses have come in games that were not only close, but games Houston could have easily won.

In a game against the Indianapolis Colts in week three, the Texans lost 30-24 to the defending Super Bowl champions. Even though Houston didn’t come out on top, it was a hard-fought game and sent a statement to the Colts and the rest of the league that the Texans are indeed a force to be reckoned with.

Newly-acquired quarterback Matt Schaub lived up to his billing by completing 70 percent of his passes with a current passer rating of 95.5.

The Falcons are kicking themselves for giving up one of the best back-up-turned-starting-quarterbacks in the league. The permanent loss of basically the entire team, thanks to Michael Vick, has the Falcons organization in a position where it would do almost anything to have Schaub back.

With running back Ahman Green and wide receiver Andre Johnson coming back from knee injuries in the upcoming weeks, the Texans’ offense will be back to full strength. Ron Dayne only averages 2.9 yards per carry, so getting Green back will be key to a rushing attack and offense that has struggled without him. Andre Johnson’s return will add to an already potent receiving corps including Andre Davis and Owen Daniels.

The Texans’ defense is solid, led by second-year middle linebacker Demeco Ryans, who is currently sixth in the NFL with 43 tackles. Rookie defensive tackle Amobi Okoye leads the team with four sacks and is followed closely by second-year, first-pick of the draft, defensive end Mario Williams with three. The Texans as a team are stingy against the run, giving up only 91.4 yards per game.

The real test for the Texans will be in the next two weeks when they face the Jaguars and Titans, division rivals that are both 3-1. The next few weeks will restructure who is on top in the South and who has a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. For the Texans, a playoff appearance would be their first, silencing a lot of critics in H-town.

In all likelihood, that won’t happen, but the Texans are still a surprise so far in this young NFL season.

Lamont Weaver:New Orleans Saints

It’s official, the New Orleans Saints suck again.

How can this happen? The Saints were arguably the most hyped team going into the season. I got so sick of watching all those stupid Reggie Bush commercials last summer and ESPN, which was blowing them up, saying you should just pencil them in the Super Bowl. How can a team that did so well last year, a team that was so close last year, be playing so badly now? I can only think one thing: conspiracy.

Am I the only one who noticed certain teams always seem to have an “inspirational” season after a certain event happens? It might be the biggest case of coincidence that the Patriots, who before the 2001 season were one of the NFL’s “who cares?” teams, came out of nowhere to win the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, just five months removed from the Sept. 11 attacks and patriotism being the mindset of a still shocked and scared nation.

Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster that ever happened in the U.S. and it left New Orleans destroyed. The Saints couldn’t play in the Superdome and were forced to be, like the people in their city, refugees and scavengers who had to take what was given to them.

I can only imagine the “emperors” of the NFL coming together in a big room, sitting at a long table like the justice league and saying we could, in our own way, help New Orleans. If we can make the Saints have just one great season then we can make the people of New Orleans happy.

They would have kicked all the homeless people out of the Superdome so the Saints can have their “triumphant” return. They talked to the Houston Texans and “convinced” them to select average defensive end Mario Williams over Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush. They “convinced” Drew Brees that he could win a championship in the N.O. sooner than the San Diego Chargers.

You know the rest. They were the “inspirational” team of the year, the “feel-good story” of the sports world. Now with people happy, this year, the NFL has let the Saints go back to being their old sorry selves.

Fernando Gallo:Oakland Raiders

It’s October. Halloween is just around the corner, the Colts are undefeated and the Raiders are already out of the playoff picture, right? Well fortunately for Raider Nation, only the first two are correct this year.

The biggest surprise this season has been the Oakland Raiders, who as of Oct. 12 were all alone in first place in the AFC West. The Raiders haven’t been in first place so late into a season since 2002, when quarterback Rich Gannon had his MVP season in the silver and black.

Even more surprising than the team’s position is the way it got there. Former Pro Bowl quarterback Daunte Culpepper is now the starter, but instead of throwing the ball 30 times a game, he’s handing it off to anybody who will take it. Lamont Jordan was second in the league in rushing going into the Raiders’ bye week, but when he got hurt against Miami, Justin Fargas came in and rushed for 179 yards. Former Colt Dominic Rhodes is back from a four-game suspension, giving the Raiders three very capable backs that should sustain the league’s No. 1 rushing attack.

The offensive line, which last year couldn’t have blocked the pass rush from a powder puff team, is playing well together and keeping the quarterback on his feet instead of on his back.

Perhaps what is most astonishing is 32-year-old Lane Kiffin, the man in charge of the rowdiest retirement home in the NFL. Kiffin looks young enough to make me wonder if his mom drops him off at the stadium before games, but he has brought in a winning mentality that he borrowed from his former boss, USC coach Pete Carroll. Owner Al Davis may be a crotchety, vindictive, controlling old maniac, but give him credit for being able to identify young talented coaches. He lucked out when he took a chance on former coach Jon Gruden, and maybe he’s struck gold again with Kiffin.

Of course, now that I have jinxed the Raiders by giving them praise, they’ll probably finish 5-11. But at least they’ve brought some joy back into the hearts of their fans for now.

The State Hornet staff can be reached at [email protected].