Approaching the mid-point of the 2011 NFL Regular Season, it should come as no surprise that the teams with the most successful quarterbacks are riding high, while those with problems in the passing position are trailing the field.

Sitting atop the passer rankings after Week 8 were four QBs with ratings above 100. By no coincidence, all four play for teams at the head of their divisions.

After just three and a half seasons of signal calling for the Green Bay offense, Aaron Rogers already has cheese heads thinking “Brett who?” His passer rating going into Packers’ bye week was 125.7, including 20 touchdowns versus just three interceptions.

There’s no doubt that Rogers’ success is the reason his team has started the season 7-0 to lead the NFC East. His arm should be well rested as he travels to the left coast to see if he can keep the Pack perfect in San Diego in Week 9.

In contrast, New England’s Tom Brady is not having his best year. After seven games, he’s been intercepted eight times. In 2010, he gave up only four picks all season and ended up ranked #1 overall.

But even when he’s off, the Patriot’s quarterback is still phenomenal. With a 104.4 passer rating, Brady has tossed his team to a record of 5-2, currently tied for the lead with Buffalo in the AFC East.

Sporting a 102.1 rating, New York’s Eli Manning is ranked #3 in the league. His 5-2 Giants are comfortably ahead of the other three teams in the NFC East, none of which has a top rated aerial attack. (Tony Romo in Dallas comes closest in the low 90s.)

Still negotiating a new contract in New Orleans, Drew Brees has been showing Saints fans that he’s worth every penny he wants. His 100.6 passer rating includes 2,746 yards in the air, more than any other quarterback in the league at this stage. The 5-3 Saints are clinging to a slim lead over the Falcons and the Buccaneers in the NFC South.

On the other end of the standings are the NFL’s two winless teams, Miami (0-7) and Indianapolis (0-8). The Dolphins have choked in the air with Chad Henne (79.0) and Matt Moore (65.3). The Colts, of course, were devastated by the loss of injured Peyton Manning; his replacement, Curtis Painter, has a passer rating of just 75.1.

Ironically, having Manning off the roster simply proves why giving the Hall-of-Fame-bound QB the recent contract extension he wanted was worth $90 million. More than any other component of play, passing wins games. And that’s a stat you can bet on.

Back in March, when the 2011 NFL Season was still a question mark in the minds of both locked-out players and worried fans, NFL owners quietly voted to change the rules of how kickoffs are conducted. They moved the spot of the ball up five yards to the 35-yard line while restricting the running start of coverage units to five yards behind the ball.

The owners had their reasons. First and foremost, they wanted to limit injuries caused by head-on collisions at full speed. Giving kickers a shorter field should mean more balls sailing into the end zone. That should in turn result in more touchbacks and a decrease in injuries caused by contact.

As it turns out, they were mostly right. During the full 2010 season, returns were attempted on 84% of all kickoffs. During 2011 through Week 7, that figure was down to 49%. In other words, fewer than half of all kickoffs are being returned.

But here’s where the statistics take a twist. Throughout 2010, for all teams combined, the average yardage per return was 22.3 yards. So far in 2011, the average run back has been 24.2 yards—an increase of 8.5%.

Also, in all of 2010, only six of the 32 teams had a kickoff return of 100 yards or longer. Already, five teams have done so in 2011, and the season isn’t even half over.

Several things are happening to the kicking game that the owners may not have anticipated. For one, return specialists are showing they are not afraid to field the ball in the end zone and run it out. Don’t try telling Chicago’s Devin Hester, Green Bay’s Randall Cobb or Ted Ginn of San Francisco to take a knee when a touchdown is just a 100-yard dash away.

Another factor contributing to longer returns is a letdown in coverage by kicking units. Special teams aren’t getting enough opportunities to make stops. When there’s only a 50% chance of action, they don’t bring the same reckless abandon to coverage that they do when solid tackling is the only barrier to six points.

On the other hand, only six kickoffs have been returned for TDs in 2011 to date—less than one per week, which is far off the pace that produced 23 such scores in 2010. Indeed, the only players padding their stats under the new rules are the kickers.

In 2010, Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff was the league’s lone legman to see more than 50% of his kicks result in touchbacks; he consistently averages over 70 yards per boot. Right now, with 69.7% TBs, he’s ranked only third behind Kansas City’s Ryan Succup at 70.8% and Denver’s Matt Prater at an amazing 85.2%. Fully 15 NFL kickers are currently over 50%.

Fans have lost a lot due to the rule change, as the number of exciting runbacks has been dramatically reduced and return men have been greatly devalued in fantasy football. But there is a silver lining—for in-running betting at sportsbooks, wagering on the kicking game—touchbacks, return yardage and 100-yard scores—has been given entirely new life.

Most bettors subscribe to either of two theories about how well NFL teams perform after their annual bye weeks. One camp says they come back rested and ready to win, while the other claims that a week off robs them of momentum.

The NFL instituted its current system of one bye week for each team in 1990. In the two decades since then, the overall post-bye records of all teams is just about 52%, suggesting that the bye may provide an advantage, albeit a slight one at best.

One can argue that the chance to recuperate is the main benefit of having no game on one Sunday. Assuming that’s true, then teams taking their bye later in the season, say week 9 or 10 when they are likely to be banged up and needing to heal ahead of the playoffs, might get more out of it than those resting in weeks 4 or 5.

On the other hand, the bye week gives a coaching staff more time to get ready for coming opponents. It is also an opportunity to make strategic adjustments, which have more impact when made earlier in the season. A team that has lost six or seven games before its week away probably can’t change enough to save the season.

When it comes to handicapping, some factors to consider about bye-week teams are whether they enter the bye after a win or a loss, at home or away, and whether the next match-up will be on the road. A long stint with family and friends and sleeping in one’s own bed can do a lot for individual morale as well as team spirit.

Also, it’s a good idea to examine which other teams are taking their byes during the same week, especially if they are in the same division. In 2011, for example, three of the four AFC West teams (San Diego, Kansas City and Denver) all got the same Sunday off in Week 6, so theoretically it should not favor any of them more than the other.

Bye weeks can wreak havoc on fantasy football line-ups, of course. They can cool down hot players just as easily as they can give roughed up ones a chance to mend. Some teams, like the Philadelphia Eagles under Andy Reid, tend to roar back into play, while others look like they are almost “too rested” and find it difficult to get back into rhythm playing at full speed.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the bye week system is the one that NFL bettors get—17 weeks of regular season action instead of just 16. That one extra weekend of wagering at sportsbooks can make the difference between a winning or losing bankroll going into the all-important post-season, so use it wisely.