More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

13 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson (32) is tackled by Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs (55) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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I had a rough week this week, which was highlighted by a broken down car that I had to have towed from a 6'6" garage in downtown Dayton. Note, they don't make many tow trucks today that are 6'6". However, while my week was rough, Cedric Benson and Carson Palmer each had a good week, thanks to an offense that exploded for 45 points Sunday. Palmer had already won the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award earlier in the week.

That wasn't enough. It never is.

On Friday, Palmer was named the FedEx Air Player of the Week and Benson was named the Fed Ground Player of the Week. Call it FedEx Domination. A FedEx Sweep. Have a problem with the UPS guy drawing on the white board? Call in the FedEx Dominators, Palmer and Benson. They'll show you where that marker won't easily erase. Sorry. Got carried away.

This is the second time that Benson won the FedEx Ground Player of the Week. Against the Baltimore Ravens, Benson rushed for 120 yards on 27 carries and scored a touchdown.

More photos » by Gail Burton - AP

27 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer throws during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

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So it's understandable why they call it offensive player of the week when all it means is that the player plays offense. I mean, it's not like Palmer's offensive, is he? He takes showers, he's not vulgar, save for the random hand smelling moments after taking a snap from Kyle Cook. And it's not like he's offensive when he speaks. He's a rather clean cut fellow who doesn't offend. In all honesty, there are several football terms that, you know, could be misinterpreted if the context isn't clearly about football. What about "The hole closed on him before he could penetrate it." How about anytime that an announcer says, "he's off to the sidelines for a quick blow"? Interesting. "He gets penetration in the backfield." Yikes. "He found a hole and slid through it." Understandable. Racing has "pole position". What about muffed?

Speaking of Palmer, do you know what 233 yards passing, five touchdowns and a 146.7 passer rating gets you? A lot of women if you play your cards right. And what awesome quarterback wouldn't like a lot of women? However, the husband and proud father of two has no more use for women that dig great passer rating statistics. Note: I once threw a touchdown pass in middle school for a perfect passer rating. Note, part II: No, I didn't. Instead, he'll have to settle for beating the hell out of opposing secondaries, with a side of weekly recognition awards.

Geoff Hobson writes that Palmer was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

It is Palmer’s first league recognition since he was named AFC Player of the Month in September of 2005 (eight TDs and two interceptions in the first three games) and his first Player of the Week award since he engineered 24 fourth-quarter points in the 27-26 win at Baltimore on Dec. 5, 2004. Stat guru and PR chief Jack Brennan noted that his five touchdown passes and no interceptions tied Boomer Esiason’s club record for differential set 20 years ago in a game against Tampa.

That's one award down. Can the Cincinnati Bengals complete the offensive trifecta, with Palmer winning the FedEx Air and Cedric Benson winning FedEx ground awards? You can do something about it, as long as you vote, vote, vote and vote. You have until noon on Friday to make the vote.

So, like the Bengals played really good last week. They scored a bunch of points and didn't allow many points. That's a recipe for a great weekend, wouldn't you say? As a result of super awesome weekend in which the Bengals beat the Bears by five touchdowns, two players are nominated for this week's FedEx weekly awards.

Carson Palmer is nominated for this week's FedEx Air Player of the Week. Cedric Benson is nominated for this week's FedEx Ground Player of the Week. The nominations are:

Vote for the Bengals. Tell all of your friends too.

One could argue that Cedric Benson won the FedEx Ground Player of the Week award because he did it against a team that hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 39 straight games. With 27 carries, Cedric Benson recorded 120 yards rushing and a 28-yard touchdown. The touchdown, in the closing minutes of the third quarter, gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead over a heavily favored opponent. In Baltimore, no less.

Benson, the NFL leading rusher, has recorded two 100-yard rushing performances this season, three touchdowns with a season-average of 4.4 yards-per-rush. In five games this year, Benson hasn't recorded less than 74 yards rushing, and fell below 4.0 yards-per-rush in one game (Denver). Rudi Johnson holds the franchise record for most yards rushing in a season, rushing for 1,458 on 337 attempts and 12 touchdowns in 2005. Below, we compare Rudi Johnson's franchise setting season to Cedric Benson's season this year.

While Cedric Benson is nominated for the weekly FedEx Ground Player of the Week (don't forget to vote by going here... a lot), Benson didn't win the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Sure, he was nominated. But Denver Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton won the prize. Here's the story on Orton's performance during the Broncos win over the New England Patriots:

• Orton completed 35 of 48 (72.9 percent) passes for 330 yards with two touchdowns versus one interception and a 96.7 passer rating in Denver’s 20-17 overtime win against New England. 
• Orton’s two touchdown passes came in drives that covered 98 and 90 yards.
• He completed 6 of 10 passes for 76 yards on Denver’s 98-yard TD drive that tied the game at 17 with 5:21 remaining in the fourth quarter. 
• In overtime, Orton completed 4 of 6 passes for 31 yards and led Denver 58 yards on 11 plays to set up a game-winning field goal by kicker Matt Prater. 
• Orton helped Denver post a 5-0 record for the first time in 11 seasons (1998). 
• In his fifth year from Purdue, this is Orton’s first career Player of the Week Award.  He joins Jay Cutler, John Elway, Brian Griese, Gary Kubiak and Jake Plummer, as the sixth Broncos QB to win the award.

Also nominated for AFC Offensive Player of the Week are:

• Cincinnati running back Cedric Benson, who rushed for 120 yards (4.4 average) on 27 attempts with one touchdown in a 17-14 win over the Ravens.
• Indianapolis rookie wide receiver Austin Collie, who totaled eight receptions for 97 yards (12.1 average) with two touchdowns in a 31-9 victory over Tennessee.
• Miami quarterback Chad Henne, who completed 20 of 26 passes (76.9 percent) for 241 yards with two touchdowns versus zero interceptions and a 130.4 passer rating in a 31-27 win over the Jets.
• Cleveland running back Jamal Lewis , who gained 117 yards (3.8 average) on 31 attempts.
• Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning , who completed 36 of 44 passes (81.8 percent) for 309 yards with three touchdowns versus one interception and a 109.2 passer rating. 
• Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who completed 23 of 30 passes (76.7 percent) for 277 yards with three touchdowns versus one interception and a 123.9 passer rating.

In case you're interested, James Harrison won AFC Player of the Week and punter Dave Zastudil won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. If you're interested even more, then:

NFC Offensive Player of the Week: WR Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys
NFC Defensive Player of the Week: CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Arizona Cardinals
NFC Special Teams Player of the Week: P Jason Baker, Carolina Panthers

Cedric Benson is nominated for this week's FedEx Ground Player of the Week after rushing for 120 yards against the Baltimore Ravens, who hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 39-straight games. Unlike the league's version of the weekly award, FedEx Ground and Air players of the week are voted on by the fans. Nominations for FedEx Ground Player of the Week are.

So go vote for Benson. Vote often.

On the same day that it was announced that the AFC Defensive Player of the Month was our very own Antwan Odom, Rey Maualuga was considered and nominated for the September NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month. Maualuga has started all three games this season, ranks fourth on the team with 15 tackles, has also recorded a sack and forced two fumbles. Not a bad start for a guy that 31 other teams passed up on, some twice.

The award eventually went to Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas, who recorded 17 tackles, three passes defensed and a fumble recovered and returned 65 yards for a touchdown. Other nominations, aside from Maualuga, include:

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More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

about 1 month ago: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer (9) hugs guard Evan Mathis (66) after Palmer threw a four-yard touchdown pass in the final minutes of the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009, in Cincinnati. Cincinnati won the game 23-20. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

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Here's Carson Palmer's stat-line against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday. Of 37 passes, he completed 20 (54.1%). He recorded 183 yards passing, one touchdown, no picks, a 76.7 passer rating and one badass touchdown drive to beat the defending Super Bowl Champions that could go down as a trend setter for this team. On a purely statistical level, his stats weren't overly impressive; especially when you factor in what he's been able to do in the past. Of course, you'll take the game winning touchdown drive every week -- you'd be crazy not to.

And maybe that's why Palmer was one of nine AFC Offensive Player of the Week nominations for week three. We find it hard to believe that Palmer would be nominated for his game performance -- how many players have been nominated with a 76.7 passer rating? It's not that he was bad. He wasn't. In fact, I still think all things considered, he's playing as well as we could have anticipated with the injuries and offensive line uncertainty. However, there's few players that successfully come alive when it counts. And Palmer came alive when it counted; twice if you consider the Denver Broncos "loss".

Here's the thing. Palmer always used to put up gaudy numbers. The one knock on him in the past was his inability to lead this team during adversity. If there's one thing that we've noticed this year, it's that he's coming through when we need him to the most. And that's the type of quarterback that we had hoped Palmer would become all along.

Maurice Jones-Drew eventually won this week's award, rushing for 119 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns. Other nominations included:

• Denver running back CORRELL BUCKHALTER, who totaled 14 carries for 108 yards (7.7 average) in a 23-3 win over the Raiders.
• New York Jets wide receiver JERRICHO COTCHERY, who registered eight receptions for 108 yards (13.5 average) with one touchdown.
• Baltimore quarterback JOE FLACCO, who completed 25 of 35 passes (71.4 percent) for 342 yards with one touchdown versus zero interceptions and a 111.8 passer rating.
• The New England offensive line, which did not allow a sack and helped Tom Brady complete 25 of 42 passes for 277 yards in a 26-10 victory over Atlanta.
• Indianapolis quarterback PEYTON MANNING, who completed 24 of 35 passes (68.6 percent) for 379 yards with four touchdowns versus one interception and a 130.5 passer rating.
• New England wide receiver RANDY MOSS, who hauled in 10 receptions for 116 yards (11.6 average).
• New England running back FRED TAYLOR, who gained 105 rush yards (5.0 average) on 21 attempts with one touchdown