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Hands up if you haven't noticed the Indianapolis Colts are 6-0 this season.

OK, they're not quite that anonymous but Jim Caldwell's group could be one of the least talked-about 6-0 teams in NFL history. Everyone has been wowed by the New Orleans Saints' fast start, the Denver Broncos have garnered plenty of headlines because they were not expected to be so good and

But despite coming into 2009 on the back of an off-season of change, the Colts have the look of Super Bowl contenders and it's tough to pick a team who could knock them off if the AFC playoffs were to begin tomorrow.

The Colts lost head and politely showed ageing and hobbling receiver Marvin Harrison the door. He was invited to take his mammoth salary with him and some wondered how quarterback Peyton Manning would cope without his record-breaking partner.

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When I was asked to give you 'behind the scenes' information on my day at Wembley Stadium covering the , I thought it would be a doddle.

I had a busy schedule from mid-morning until late into the night and there would be a great deal to write about. Well, I have plenty to tell you, but not everything ran smoothly on Sunday.

I'm not sure if the stars were aligned incorrectly or something because I seemed to jinx everything I was involved with.

My day began around 6:45am, which was actually 5:45am by the time I put the clocks back. If anyone ever tries to peddle that to me again I'll gently remind them it doesn't apply when you have three children under the age of eight.

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When I was in Boston last week, New England Patriots owner but was reluctant to pull the trigger on the deal due to concerns over the structure of the salary cap-less Premier League.

I cannot help but think Liverpool missed a trick because under Kraft's leadership, the Patriots - - have become one of the most successful teams in American sport and you have to wonder what he could have done at Anfield.

Kraft's wisest move in New England was to hire as head coach. Since taking charge in 2000, he has guided New England to six AFC East Division crowns, four Super Bowl appearances and three NFL title game victories.

And he has achieved all of that success with steely determination, an almost robot-like focus on preparing for each game and on a total refusal to let any single player become more important than the team.

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I made a whirlwind visit to the United States last week, spending one day with the New England Patriots before flying into Tampa for 24 hours with the Buccaneers.

, they will be the focus of my attention this week. I'll take a longer look at the Patriots in my Thursday blog. For now, I want to focus on the winless .

A losing team's locker room is an intimidating place to try to grab an interview because while it is officially an open session, players often disappear for 'treatment' or they position their chairs so they have their backs to the assembled media. It can be nerve-wracking to approach a 330-pound offensive lineman who has a face like thunder and shove a microphone under his nose.

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The Oakland Raiders, who play the Eagles this weekend, have always been one of the NFL's most colourful franchises but even at the height of their powers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Raiders - who were based in Los Angeles from 1982-94 - were never going to be confused with a 'model' NFL franchise like today's New England Patriots.

Maverick owner was constantly at odds with the NFL, quarterback Ken Stabler would often turn up at practice straight from a night on the tiles, receiver Fred Biletnikoff's pre-game meal consisted of coffee and cigarettes, and linebacker Ted Hendricks once arrived at a training session riding naked on a horse.

But the one thing that crazy band of rebels and cast-offs from around the league had going for them was that they really knew how to play the game.

It's sad to see a team that is now a mere shadow of its former self. And the decline in Oakland has been startling since they reached the . Over the past six years, the Silver and Black have won just 24% of their games.

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Each NFL season throws up surprises. You only have to look at the starts made by the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals this year to realise that is the case.

But the most shocking start of this 2009 campaign has to be the

This is a club that opened the 2008 season with 10 straight wins and one that should have gone at least to the AFC Championship Game last term. They are normally well-coached, disciplined and tough to beat.

That could not be further from the truth this season. Coach Jeff Fisher's men have been plagued by some poor personnel decisions, suspect coaching and a lack of production on the field.

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I spent a few days at the New England Patriots training camp in August and quickly discovered what the team that visits London to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley in two weeks' time is all about.

but if you don't know how to play the game, the Patriots don't have a place for you on their roster.

A wise old coach once told me that speed alone is not enough to succeed in the NFL because if you don't know where you are going, all that pace will do is ensure you are out of position faster. His belief, and it is one shared in New England, is that football intelligence is as important as athletic ability.

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It is often said that NFL head coaches would run over their own grandmothers if it resulted in a victory for their team each Sunday. And I wouldn't like to think what most of them would do in exchange for a precious Super Bowl ring.

Being a coach in the NFL demands a great deal of personal sacrifice. Until he moved into the commentary booth this year, kept some legendary hours with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as his work day began each morning around 3am. And I remember English-born coach telling me about the hours he put in when he was offensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins. He would start at 7am at the latest and would go until 11pm or midnight every day.

In short, these guys give up a great deal in a bid to be successful. I think it's accurate to say that being married to the job is a definite lifestyle choice for an NFL head coach.

Bearing that in mind, it seems New Orleans Saints head coach may have taken that kind of commitment to winning to a new level.

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It's ironic that on the day he interviewed for the job of Cleveland Browns head coach in January, Eric Mangini was suffering from a stomach bug and kept visiting team owner Randy Lerner's bathroom.

That's fitting because Mangini's head coaching career is threatening to go down the toilet and it looks like he'll be taking the Browns with him as they have lost their first three games this season.

I think Lerner got it spot on when , but he couldn't have got it more wrong when he by the New York Jets.

And after the way he has gone about his business in Ohio, there are those who feel Mangini might be one of the worst coaching appointments in NFL history. I wouldn't go that far just yet, but he has made some catastrophic errors since taking charge of the Browns.

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