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J.J. Watt, a defensive end for the Houston Texans, said it best after Monday night's 23-17 victory over the New York Jets, which was preserved when a pass by Mark Sanchez was intercepted with 1:51 remaining. "That's what you dream about," Watt said. "It's 'Monday Night Football.' You're on the field. You have a chance to end the game. That's what you want. For us to go out there and do that, it's huge. " OK, he's probably talking about winning the game and not about preserving the Texans' No. 2 ranking in the Times' NFL power rankings, but it's fun to pretend.

The Times' NFL power rankings after Week 4 have been released, and while the top and bottom teams remain the same, there are quite a few changes in between. The Atlanta Falcons remain on top after a 30-28 victory over No. 23 Carolina, and Cleveland remains at the bottom after a 23-16 loss to No. 4 Baltimore. The biggest gainer? The Washington Redskins jumped six spots to No. 19 after a 24-22 win over No. 25 Tampa Bay. The St. Louis Rams rose five spots, from No. 23 to No. 18, after a 19-13 victory over No. 13 Seattle.

Week 4 of the NFL season is wrapping up, so there's plenty to discuss on Monday's edition of "NFL Slam With Mark and Sam. " Mark Thompson, formerly the Mark part of KLOS' dynamic morning duo Mark & Brian, and The Times' NFL columnist Sam Farmer will also welcome special guest Casey Wasserman, a key player in the effort to bring the NFL back to L.A. In his Monday column, Farmer discusses the "lost and found" from the NFL weekend. He puts the 0-4 New Orleans Saints, the slumping Detroit Lions and several injured players in the loss column.

This week's edition of The Times' NFL power rankings features some radical shifts, a new No. 1, and an item of interest for those who watched Monday night's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. The biggest riser week was the Chicago Bears, who defeated the St. Louis Rams, 23-6. As Lance Pugmire writes of the Bears, they "unleashed hounds on defense to get six sacks... kept Rams to 160 yards and six points. RB Michael Bush sturdy sub for Matt Forte. " The Bears jumped from No. 18 to No. 9. The biggest fall this week goes to the Washington Redskins.

The NFL has been using replacement refs for three weeks now. The experiment really hasn't worked from the beginning and now it's reached the level of a full-fledged debacle with the "Monday Night Football" game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks being decided by a blown call on the final play. Did I say debacle? Actually, "disgrace" is probably a better word to describe what is going on in the NFL right now. Full list: Times' NFL power rankings On Monday night, Golden Tate pushed off a defender and tried to wrestle away a clear interception by Green Bay's M.D. Jennings, all of it right in front of an official - and was awarded a game-winning touchdown for his efforts.

Cam Newton laid a giant egg on national TV on Thursday night. That can't be debated. The Carolina Panthers quarterback and reigning NFL rookie of the year threw three interceptions and finished with a career-low passer rating of 40.6 in a 36-7 loss to the New York Giants in his prime-time debut. But it could have been worse for Newton. He completed 53% of his passes (16 of 30), which isn't great but is better than three of his outings during his much-heralded season a year ago. He also compiled 242 passing yards, which tops nine of his efforts from last season.

Former NFL receiver Chad Johnson was sentenced to a year's probation and a counseling course under a plea deal with prosecutors in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Johnson had pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge involving his then-wife, Evelyn Lozada. Johnson was arrested in August after Lozada said he had head-butted her during an argument. She was treated at a local hospital for lacerations to her head. Lozada quickly filed for divorce, which was finalized earlier this week.

Eli Manning and the New York Giants sure looked like they were in Super Bowl form again Thursday night, don't you think? What? You didn't see the game? Well, what about Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler? He really looked like a jerk shoving his own teammate on the sideline last Thursday night, didn't he? Huh? Didn't see that one either? What kind of NFL fan are you anyway? Don't you want to see every single game shown on national TV? Oh, wait a minute. You're a Time Warner Cable subscriber, aren't you?

Tim Tebow is a straightforward, honest guy. Really nice too. Outgoing, friendly and helpful to everyone he meets. A person like that surely wouldn't make it in the cutthroat world of politics, right? Ha! That's just the kind of thinking that might have us hearing the phrase "I'm Tim Tebow, and I approve this message" coming from our TV sets one day. “You can get looked at in a certain light, or people think, 'This is this type of person, he wouldn't do this.' Sometimes it's fun breaking those norms,” the New York Jets backup quarterback said in an interview that appears in the upcoming issue of Vogue magazine.

We're a little late getting to the inaugural Times NFL power ratings, but here they are, after Week 2 of the NFL season. Staff writer Lance Pugmire starts off with, no great surprise, the San Francisco 49ers as the No. 1 team.   Figure that these rankings will go through quite a bit of shuffling as the season goes on.   Why? There's a lot of middle ground here. Of 32 teams, only six won their first two games; only six lost their first two games, which means 20 teams are at .500.