Here's the news report from KDKA in Pittsburgh.

The kid only suffered a little bruising, and, as the video notes, he's fine now. In fact, I'd argue that he's even better than he was before, because now he knows he's got a friend that has his back.

Seriously, a nine-year-old boy picks up a stick and starts clubbing a crazed deer? That kid is awesome. He can be on my team any day. Bring the stick, young man. We've got a defensive line to get through.

Gracias, Second-String Fullback.

Well done, "House" writers. The Tomlin/Epps resemblance was something I first noticed on about, oh, I don't know ... January 20th, 2007 at 3:30 p.m. It had sort of faded from memory recently. They say comedy is all about the timing.

Gracias, Morning Freak Show, via With Leather.

Catch Vince Young(notes) 2.0 in action here tonight, as we'll be here all night with running commentary on the game, observations, insights, polls, blatant lies and a high level of interactivity with you, the reader. We'd love it if you joined us. Kickoff is set for 8:30. We'll be here a few minutes prior.

Andre Caldwell(notes), Kick Returner, Cincinnati Bengals

Hank Poteat(notes), Cornerback, Cleveland Browns. When Matthew Stafford(notes) scrambled out of the pocket before his desperation heave into the endzone yesterday, Hank Poteat thought, "Hey, I better not let Calvin Johnson(notes) catch this." That part was good. But Hank Poteat also thought, "If the quarterback leaves the pocket, it's okay for me to run around and indiscriminately tackle wide receivers at my own whim. Wheee!" Unfortunately, this rule exists only in Hank Poteat's head. He shoved Calvin Johnson out of the back of the endzone, got flagged for it, and Stafford made the Browns pay.

Chris Simms(notes), Quarterback, Denver Broncos. Kyle Orton's(notes) ankle wasn't healthy enough for football activity yesterday, so the Broncos started Chris Simms. By halftime, Josh McDaniels decided that a one-legged Kyle Orton was a better option than Chris Simms. The Broncos still got pounded, but Simms was bad enough for McDaniels to decide that it was worth risking the long-term health of his starting quarterback. I never understood why McDaniels didn't go back to Simms when it was clear that the game was decided, though.

Mark Sanchez(notes), Quarterback, New York Jets. The up-and-down season continues for the rookie quarterback, with yesterday being his second worst game of the season. Sanchez completely Jamarcus'd out against the Patriots, going 8-of-21, with four interceptions and just one touchdown. When it was all said and done, his quarterback rating in the game was 64 points lower than it was in his first outing against the Patriots.

Brandon Gibson(notes), WR, St. Louis Rams. Gibson dropped a pass in the endzone that would've given the Rams a chance to tie the Cardinals and force overtime. Here's a related stat for you: Tied for the lead this week in times targeted were Wes Welker(notes) and Brandon Gibson, both with 17. Welker had 15 catches. Gibson had five. I'm sure Marc Bulger(notes) shares a lot of the blame on that, but it's still an awful, awful percentage.

Mike Sims-Walker(notes), the Jacksonville Jaguars receiver who had a nice game of his own (eight receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown), celebrated his score by stretching his arms out to make the shape of a "T", and then putting them above his head for an "O", in tribute to Owens.

After the game, Sims-Walker even asked Owens for his jersey.

“When you speak of Terrell Owens, you speak of greatness,” Sims-Walker said. “He’s been doing it for 10 or 11 years. I place him up there with the Torry Holts, the Jerry Rices, those great guys – the Randy Mosses. He’s one of the best in the league.”

Owens took Sims-Walker’s request for his jersey as a compliment.

“Everyone wants my jersey after every game,” Owens said. “I take it as a compliment that I can still play this game.’’

Either that, or Mike Sims-Walker has a lucrative second career as an eBay power seller of game-worn sports memoribilia. One of the two.

I kid, I kid. Sims-Walker is right when he refers to Owens as one of the greats of all time, and he collects the jerseys of great players. It's nice to see a relationship where a young receiver has so much respect for a veteran.

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Matthew Stafford(notes), Quarterback, Detroit Lions

Nnamdi Asomugha(notes), Cornerback, Oakland Raiders. Someone from Oakland deserves to be in here. I could go with Bruce Gradkowski(notes), but I figure JaMarcus Russell(notes) doesn't need another swift kick to the self-esteem right now. I'll take Nnamdi, who shut down Chad Ochocinco(notes) yesterday. Chad had four catches on the day, with only one of them coming against Asomugha. It was a fantastic day all around for the Oakland defense, as Carson Palmer(notes) was held easily in check, and the Raiders got more pressure on the quarterback than they usually do.

Eli Manning(notes), Quarterback, New York Giants. Welcome back, young man. Instead of a big explanation, here's a handy graph illustrating Eli's quarterback performance by game this season:

Graphs are fun and educational.

Andy Studebaker(notes), Linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs. Studebaker's two interceptions of Ben Roethlisberger(notes) yesterday were the biggest factors in the Chiefs' shocking upset of the Steelers. The second-year man out of Wheaton College made the first start of his NFL career yesterday, and I'm predicting that he'll keep his two-interceptions-per-game pace up for the next ten years or so. I don't think that's unreasonable to expect at all.

Leigh Bodden(notes), Cornerback, New England Patriots. His last name might be as fun to say as Studebaker's, but Bodden actually topped him with three interceptions yesterday against the Jets. As a sidenote, how insane was yesterday? This was probably the most talked about game through the week, and we had so much other crazy stuff go down yesterday that no one's even talking about the Patriots' spanking of the Jets.

Today, another such injury was added to the list. Eric Wood(notes), a promising rookie lineman for the Buffalo Bills, suffered an injury just as sickening as any of those listed above.

CBS, during the game, refused to show a replay of the injury. The internet being what it is, though, it is available for easy viewing online (unless the video gets pulled, which wouldn't shock me). It is, as promised, gross. You can click the play button, or you can not click the play button. Your eyeballs, your call.

Told you.

I do want to add, too, that I'm philosophically opposed to CBS refusing to replay an injury because they've deemed it too graphic for me. We're all watching football, we're all aware that it's a violent sport and we're all aware that things like this can happen. I'm not saying anyone wants to see it happen, but we know it's a possibility.

The fact of the matter is that an injury to Eric Wood is a major part of the game. Networks are supposed to show major parts of the game. They don't have to show it 50 times, and they don't have to celebrate it, but they should give people a warning that it's graphic and they should show it. It's newsworthy. It's as relevant to the game as any touchdown, field goal or interception.

Wood's leg, as you may have guessed, was broken, and he'll have surgery in Jacksonville. He's done for the season. We all wish him the speediest and quickest recovery.

Gracias, SN's The Trenches.

The following quotes are passed along from Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog, your online home for postgame quotes that somehow find a way to further humiliate the Redskins. The Redskins needlessly burned two timeouts in the second half. Here's Jim Zorn explaining the first one:

"Well, shoot," he said. "Yeah. We got caught on a clock, and I really don't know how it happened, because I felt like we got the play in, I felt like we were out of the huddle, and we were down to :01 [on the clock] before we knew it. Absolutely have no idea how that happened. Because we were moving in and out of the huddle pretty well then.

And here's Jim Zorn explaining the second one.

"And then on the second timeout, that use of timeout, that was just so frustrating to me. We hurt Jason on that play. I hurt him, because I didn't have the needed call, and we got caught on time again, where we had a shift and a motion and I had to call timeout because it wasn't gonna be [snapped in time]. It was just totally mine, totally on me. I screwed us out of that timeout. I did everything I could just to maintain my composure, and then it absolutely had an issue at the end of this football game, so it's just on me."

I think we're about two Redskins losses away from Jim Zorn sitting in front of the mic at postgame press conferences, pulling out an acoustic guitar and singing a song he wrote called, "If You Had Any Shred of Mercy in Your Soul, You'd Fire Me Right Now."

Cleveland Browns. You've got absolutely nothing to be ashamed about this week, Browns. Any bad team can be boring. But you and the Lions went out there and made a hell of a football game out of something that should've only drained our collective will to live. That is a contribution. I'm absolutely serious about that. Thank you, Cleveland Browns, for what you did today.

Buffalo Bills. I have no Bills or Jaguars on my fantasy team, I had nothing else riding on the game, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even have noticed if CBS decided not to send a camera crew down to Jacksonville for this one. I realize that that's unfair since the Jags are 6-4 and a playoff contender, but I think on a subconscious level I see that no one in Jacksonville even cares, so that makes me not care myself.

Seattle Seahawks. Brett Favre(notes) completed 22-of-25 passes for an 89% completion rate to go with his four touchdowns. Is that it, Seattle? You're going to let him leave town with just that? What about his hot oil rubdown, or the personal one-on-one concert from Sir Mix-a-Lot?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Josh Freeman(notes) is playing, learning, making mistakes and hopefully learning from these mistakes. That's the good news, slight as it may be.

St. Louis Rams. Way to hang around in the second half and threaten to make a comeback, Rams. Late in that game, you didn't like look like a 1-9 team to me. Somewhere around 3-7, maybe.

Denver Broncos. That makes four losses in a row, and if Kyle Orton's(notes) ankle doesn't get healthy soon, I feel pretty confident that it'll become five on Thanksgiving night. Chris Simms(notes) is a loooooong way away from his 2005 "prime," which wasn't that great to begin with. Orton wasn't himself, either, with the bum ankle. If that doesn't get fixed, a 6-0 start is going to be wasted.

Pittsburgh Steelers. I think Mike Tomlin called Marvin Lewis after last week's game and said, "Listen, that game was tough on both of us. We can keep fighting it out for the division after Thanksgiving, but what do you say we both just take this weekend off?" An agreement was made, and there was joy in Kansas City and Oakland.

Cincinnati Bengals. Honest question: When Bruce Gradkowski(notes) stepped in and won his first game as a starter, do you think JaMarcus Russell(notes) said to himself, "Wow, I've really got a lot to learn" or, "If it had been me in there, we'd have won by 30"?

All four teams in the AFC North lost today in as gut-wrenching a fashion as you could imagine. It'd be bad enough for an entire division to go winless (especially when said division is arguably the best in the NFL), but for each of the four teams to lose games in which they held fourth-quarter leads, well that's a whole new level of disappointment.

Shutdown Corner recounts the carnage, listing the games in order of least to most crushing:

Baltimore Ravens 15, Indianapolis Colts 17 – The box score doesn't look too bad: A two-point loss to the undefeated Colts is nothing to hang your head at. But when you consider that the eventual game-winner for Indy was kicked by Matt Stover(notes), the long-time Ravens vet who was cut in the offseason and that the Ravens replacement for Stover's replacement missed a 30-yarder in the third quarter, then it hurts a bit. Throw in a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line that resulted in a field goal and, ouch.

Pittsburgh Steelers 27, Kansas City Chiefs 30 (OT) – Losing while giving up two touchdown returns of 95+ yards, dropping an interception before the play that put the Chiefs in overtime field-goal range, having another possible concussion suffered by Ben Roethlisberger(notes), outgaining their opponent by 257 yards and holding the ball for 19 more minutes than their opponent would all be bad enough. But when it comes against the woeful Chiefs, that's a whole other level.

Cleveland Browns 37, Detroit Lions 38 – We already recapped this one earlier today on Shutdown Corner. The Browns have the distinction of being the only NFL team to lose this year after the clock hit zero while they had the lead. But a pass interference penalty gave the Lions another untimed down and the rest is another chapter of Cleveland infamy. For any other team this would have rated as the biggest stomach punch of the day. But, for Browns fans, it's just another regular Sunday.

Cincinnati Bengals 17, Oakland Raiders 20 – This game was done. The division-leading Bengals held a seven-point lead with under one minute to go and the hapless Raiders, led by a quarterback (Bruce Gradkowski(notes)) who hadn't thrown a touchdown pass since 2006, were facing fourth-and-10 from near midfield. But, just like that, Chaz Schilens(notes) hauled in a first-down reception and then, on the next throw, Gradkowski hit Louis Murphy(notes) for the game-tying score. So it was going to overtime. Except that Andre Caldwell(notes) fumbled the kick return with 27 seconds remaining and the Raiders recovered and kicked a game-winning field goal 11 seconds later. From one play from victory to one return from overtime to another crushing loss, all in a span of 43 seconds. On the bright side, at least Cincy knows how to deal with late-game disappointment.

Manning also got away with several other throws which were either bad reads or plays in which his receivers were not in the right place. Bottom line is that Manning struggled and the Colts didn't fall apart against a very game Ravens team. In their 17-15 victory, Indy relied on their defense to keep Baltimore out of the end zone, which they did by holding the Ravens to 0-for-4 in red one efficiency. That included a stand when Baltimore had the ball at the Colts' one-yard line and couldn't punch it in with three tries. When Ed Reed(notes) lost a desperation lateral on a punt return with 28 seconds left in the game, the Colts breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the Saints, they kept the "L" column clean in a more typical way -- a productive but conservative day from Brees (who threw for 187 yards and three touchdowns) and great gains from their newly effective running game. Mike bell(notes) scored twice and Pierre Thomas(notes) gained 92 yards on only 11 carries in the Saints' 38-7 walloping of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After the Bucs and first-year quarterback Josh Freeman(notes) impressed with an opening-drive touchdown, New Orleans shut things down and took advantage of Freeman's rookie mistakes. Freeman threw three picks, while Brees didn't have an interception for the first time in five games.

Next, the Saints will welcome the New England Patriots to the Superdome on Monday Night Football, a barn-burner that should leave even Jon Gruden unable to give nicknames to all the primary characters. Meanwhile, the Colts play the Texans in Houston next Sunday. You may remember the Texans as the team that gave the Colts a fairly tough battle with a 20-17 squeaker on November 8. If these two teams are still undefeated after their next games, they'll certainly have earned it.

Late last night, a fire alarm was pulled in the Jets' team hotel, rousing members of the team out of their slumber and forcing them to vacate their rooms. Except there was no fire and it was the Jets' team hotel. You do the math.

According to the time stamp on a tweet from tight end Dustin Keller, the fire alarm was pulled around 1 a.m.:

So much for a good nights sleep..the alarm just went off in our teams hotel hahaha grown men walking around the hallway in their draws haha

He's pretty good-natured about it. I certainly wouldn't give one "ha" about getting awakened in the middle of the night, let alone three. Especially if I was wearing "draws." 

Cornerback Kerry Rhodes(notes) also posted a tweet about the late-night wake-up call, but he waited until the morning to share:

you know we are playing new england when in the middle of the night when u r sleep somebody pulls a fire alarm to wake u up!! wow!!

The same thing happened to the Buffalo Bills before a Week 1 game in New England. It sounds like there's a fan (or fans) who still like to pull middle school pranks to help support the team. Or maybe it's not a fan at all. Judging by his past history, I wonder if Bill Belichick has an alibi for last night?  

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The Lions scored a touchdown on the final play of the game to earn a thrilling 38-37 victory over the visiting Browns. But, of course, in true Detroit-Cleveland fashion, the game ended with two colossal errors (each by the Browns). 

On the final play of the game, a Matthew Stafford(notes) pass fell incomplete and the Browns began to celebrate their second win of the year. But Hank Poteat(notes) was flagged for pass interference, which gave the Lions another down with no time on the clock.

There's more: On the Poteat play, Stafford was hit when he released the ball and stayed down on the field in obvious pain. The rookie clutched his non-throwing shoulder as he ran off the field and was replaced for the final play by Daunte Culpepper(notes). With a cold Culpepper under center, the Lions prepared to snap the ball from the 1-yard line with the clock reading zeroes to get the go-ahead score. Amazingly, Cleveland called timeout before Culpepper could get the snap. This stoppage allowed Stafford to come back in the game and he promptly hit Brandon Pettigrew(notes) for the game-tying touchdown. A Jason Hanson(notes) extra point sealed the game.

Not that anyone should expect good coaching decisions by Eric Mangini, but that timeout was borderline criminal. Culpepper had to rush onto the field with no warning, having stood on the sideline for the previous three hours. The Lions had no timeouts and were in the confusing spot of having to run another play after having thought the game had ended. Sure, the Browns had to do the same on the defensive side, but the burden is on the offense. The last thing any coach wants to do in that situation is give an unprepared team time to regroup. 

Among the amazing stats from the rest of the game:

• The Browns scored 13 more points today (37) than they had in two-thirds of their other games combined (24).

• Matthew Stafford (five) and Brady Quinn(notes) (four) combined to throw nine touchdown passes. Coming into today the former first-round picks had a total of nine touchdown passes in their careers. 

• Cleveland was averaging 214 yards of offense per game. The Browns gained 439 against Detroit.

• With the win, the Lions avoided becoming the first NFL team in history to go 2-32 over a 34-game stretch.

• Detroit's defense was statistically the worst in the NFL before today. After today: Yeah, they're still the worst. But how about that offense?!

• Unless they were in attendance, most Lions fans couldn't see the victory. Because it wasn't a sellout, the game was blacked out in the Detroit area. 

As for the Chiefs, coming into their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 2-7 record meant that any win would be nothing more than a feel-good story. But KC held up tough, exploiting Pittsburgh's weaknesses for a 27-24 win the extra frame. This game was the eighth straight in which Pittsburgh allowed a return touchdown, giving up a 97-yard kickoff run from Jamaal Charles(notes) on the opening play. There was also a 94-yard interception return of a Ben Roethlisberger(notes) pass in the end zone by linebacker Andy Studebaker(notes), but that wasn't a score. The Steelers have now gone more than 100 carries without a touchdown from their running backs, and the constant attacks on Roethlisberger finally caught up when Big Ben was kicked in the head in overtime and came off the field with what coach Mike Tomlin later classified as a "concussion-oriented thing".

Backup Charlie Batch(notes) couldn't seal the deal in OT, and the Steelers gave up some big passing plays in the second half without Troy Polamalu(notes) to cover deep. It was Matt Cassel's(notes) 61-yard play to Chris Chambers(notes) that put Ryan Succop(notes) in position to win the game with a 22-yard field goal. The only good news for the Steelers is that the Ravens also lost, which keeps Pittsburgh a game ahead of Baltimore at 6-4. The Steelers and Ravens go at it for the first time this season next Sunday night.

Today, this test is in the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, whose defense is not what it used to be. Edge-rusher Terrell Suggs(notes) could miss up to a month with a knee injury suffered after Browns quarterback Brady Quinn(notes) went into him with a low block last Monday night. Nose tackle Haloti Ngata(notes) will be playing on a sprained ankle if he plays at all. And cornerbacks Fabian Washington(notes) and Domonique Foxworth(notes) have not performed as expected, struggling in man coverage and allowing 7.0 yards per passing attempt, a decidedly mediocre number. The worst thing that can happen to an injured defense is to face a quarterback as conversant with the no-huddle as Manning is -- he will take Baltimore's substitution packages out of the game and limit their ability to switch from base coverage to nickel. This is one of Manning's real gifts: because the Colts go single-back, three-wide so often, and the success of his offense is based more on execution than formation diversity, he's able to bulldoze down the field with his arsenal of calls.

For the Ravens, the best strategy might be the lesser of several evils. When the Colts narrowly beat the Texans on November 8, the Texans bracketed the outside with coverage and let Clark catch stuff over the middle with stud rookie linebacker Brian Cushing(notes) in coverage. It was a mismatch in Clark's favor, but he averaged only 8.5 yards per catch on his fourteen catches and his longest play was for 17 yards. The Ravens have the inside linebackers to stop the dink-and-dunk short, and the offense to keep the game close.

For those in the know, Asomugha's been regarded as perhaps the best at his position in the game -- about the closest we've seen to a (wait for it!) shutdown corner since Deion Sanders turned his side of the Cowboys' defensive backfield into a vacant lot in the mid-90s. For the 2008 season, Football Outsiders charted Asomugha as the primary target 32 times, which ranked 96th -- an incredible number for a cornerback who started 15 games. When Asomugha did allow a catch, opposing receivers gained an average of 0.7 yards after catch, making him the only DB with 15 or more targets to allow less than a yard after catch on average.

These two last faced off on December 10, 2006 in Cincinnati, and it'd probably be fair to say that Nnamdi won a split decision on points. Chad caught five balls for 101 yards (including a 42-yarder), but Nnamdi brought in two interceptions in a 27-10 Bengals win. When asked about his adversary this week, Chad told the media that Nnamdi doesn't trash-talk -- he just locks down.

I tried to frustrate him the last time he was here, and he doesn't say much. So, I don't know. But he is the best. I'm not going to sit here and play around about it. I've watched him on film. I actually got cut-ups on him. When I saw the schedule, I get the cut-ups on who I think I need to study. So, once I saw the schedule for the 2009 season ... I said, ‘Let me see what they did last year and see who they went against that was of quality' and just get a jump on them. I've studied him this year, and it's still the same: he's one of the best.

The Bengals are in a three-game stretch in which they face the Raiders, Browns, and Lions -- they could be 10-2 in the blink of an eye and talking seriously about first- or second-seed in the AFC, depending on that the Colts do in the next month. The Raiders are just looking for some measure of respectability (good luck with that) with new starting quarterback Bruce Gradkowski(notes), and Nnamdi could help by shutting Chad down ... and shutting him up! Chad, for his part, refused to send any gifts to the Raiders this week, citing concerns about shipping and handling fees. More likely, he doesn't want to put any bulletin-board material in Nnamdi's pocket.

A Wisconsin National Guard unit charged with keeping watch over detainees in Baghdad decided to put up Packers colors and logos all around the camp. The prisoners noticed, started asking questions and suddenly, Favre became an unwitting ally.

From 620WTMJ's Jay Sorgi (subbing in for the injured Waylon Manning):

"They know Favre by name," said First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, who is from New Richmond, Wis.

"One of the big words they know now is shenanigan.  They'll constantly talk about 'Favre shenanigans,' 'He's so good for the Vikings,' and 'The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.'  "

[...] "They obviously then started up the conversations, and started talking about Brett Favre. They soon learned about Favre going to the Vikings, and things just started going downhill from there."

In retaliation, I think our troops should make the detainees watch ESPN's Week 4 Monday Night Football contest between the Vikings and Packers, including pre- and post-game shows. They'll never want to mention Favre again.

Stating that "there's nothing else to say", Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith has refused a Bob Costas interview request in anticipation of the Bears Sunday Night Football game. Jay Cutler(notes) and Bears general manager Jerry Angelo will also be unavailable to the network.

It sounds like a simple enough decision. The Bears have already been on NBC three times this year. They're in the midst of a difficult year and probably don't feel like answering any more questions aboout it. Blow off the interview, say it's because you want to focus and no big deal, right? 

Look, we know these pre-game interviews are next-to-worthless. Costas (or whomever) lobs in some softball questions, the athlete or coach talks about working hard and the desire to win and how the next opponent will be tough, there's a jokey question or two and then it's over. In almost all of these talks, nothing remotely interesting ever happens. 

But doing these interviews are part of the job. NBC pays hundreds of millions to broadcast games, money which ends up in the very deep pockets of Cutler, Angelo and Smith. The least they can do is throw a bone to Costas and give NBC some soundbites. (For what it's worth, Costas says he doesn't mind.)

An obligation to a television partner isn't the biggest problem. This thing was so foolish because it was so obviously going to become a problem. Instead of answering questions about the game for a few minutes, they're going to have to answer questions about not answering questions for the next three days. They should have thought of it like going to the in-laws for Thanksgiving. You'd rather do something else, but you know the fallout would be too great, so you suck it up and do it.

It's also a bad decision by Smith and Angelo to bring Cutler into the fold on this one. Like the new Bears quarterback doesn't have enough image problems in that city and nationwide. Now he needs to be pegged as a petulant, pampered star who won't talk to the media because he had a bad game against the 49ers? The last thing Cutler needs is to give the public more reasons to dislike him.

 Thanks, The Sporting Blog

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"I don't like when it's our quarterback, but if they're not going to call it then I'd like to see our guys do it to their quarterback," Mora said at his Monday press conference, in revealing that he'd sent 17 plays to the NFL's head office for review. "If they're not going to call it. I don't know what the rule is. I haven't heard back yet, so I don't know what they're seeing there. But if that's not going to be called, then we should be doing it."

People have criticized Mora for going public with his complaints, and perhaps rightly so. But who else was standing up for Hasselbeck? Nobody on the field with him. According to current Ravens and former Vikings center Matt Birk(notes), that's not how it's supposed to be done. From the book:

The code to me is all about not taking unnecessary cheap shots or playing dirty. When a player is in a vulnerable, susceptible position, our code says that you have to back off. Sure, you can hit a guy hard, but you can't intentionally try to hurt or injure him. If you do, that is when you will get retaliated against ... if a guy plays dirty or does something that violates the code, we see it and make a note of it for the next time we play them.

Nobody wants more injuries. But with increased focus on what the league deems as unnecessary roughness, and Roger Goodell's insistence on a family-friendly game, is there room for "the code" anymore? Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson(notes), also interviewed for the book, took the concept a step further by calling it "a moral code". But in the battle of the players' morals and the league's ethics, reality will trump old-school justice in the long run if that's the way the NFL wants it. If that's the way the NFL wants it, Step One has to do with throwing that flag and having officials observant enough to see what's going on. And if the refs don't do their jobs, the league can't blame the players for stepping back in.

If you're lucky enough to spend some time on Thanksgiving watching football, you might catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama tossing around the pigskin. Obama lent his time and athletic prowess to the NFL's Play 60 campaign today for a commercial shoot with some NFL stars.

[DeMarcus] Ware and fellow NFL players Drew Brees(notes) and Troy Polamalu(notes) filmed a public service announcement with Obama in October that will air during the league’s Thanksgiving games.

The 90-second spot shows Obama and the NFL stars playing touch football with local children on the White House lawn. The PSA promotes the league’s Play 60 campaign, which encourages physical activity to combat childhood obesity, and the president’s community service initiative United We Serve.

Obama wore a Chicago Bears jacket in the commercial (it would be nice if you could make that less embarrassing for him, Jay Cutler), and Ware said that the President displayed a solid knowledge of football when talking to the players.

Obama's known for being more of a basketball guy, but there's no need to worry about him humiliating himself on the football field. The Lions and Raiders play on Thanksgiving Day, ensuring that Obama won't be anywhere near the worst football player on television next Thursday.

UPDATE: Here's the video. Excellent technique from the president on that catch. Polamalu, you look a little slow in coverage.

So why now? Who knows? At this point, the season is already lost. Other non-competitive teams are now in the mode where they're switching to their younger quarterbacks so they can evaluate them for the future. The Raiders are doing the opposite. Bruce Gradkowski(notes) is the older, more experienced guy and clearly is not the future of the franchise, while Russell, some believe, still might be.

It made sense to make the move in Week 4 or 5, when there might have been a season to salvage. It makes less sense now, but still, I guess there's never a bad time to bench the worst starting quarterback in the league.

My theory on the timing is that owner Al Davis calls most of the shots in Oakland, he's in love with Russell's size, strong arm and athleticism, and it took this long for him to finally say, "Okay, maybe we should try something else." I do not believe that Tom Cable -- or any other NFL head coach who is allowed to make decisions for himself -- would've stuck with Russell for this long, had it been his call.

Cable says that's not the case, and it's been up to him all along. I don't buy it. I think he's a better coach than that. I also think that he sees it as part of his job to cover for the owner in public. It's the only scenario that makes sense. No quarterback with Russell's numbers survives as a starter for that long unless it's someone other than a coach making the decision.

What does it mean for the long-term future of JaMarcus Russell? There's some speculation that it means the Raiders are done with Russell, and are finally ready to give up on him. I doubt that's the case. All along, he's been Al Davis' pet project, and really, there's no reason for that to change now. Russell is still young and still gifted. Guys like that seem to have an endless string of second chances.

It might mean, though, that his days of being handed playing time are over. From now on, he's going to have to earn it by being the better quarterback, and that should have been the case a long, long time ago.

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When Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown(notes) was put on injured reserve this week with a foot injury, the Wildcat formation went out the window to a degree. Brown has been the formation's pointman for the most part -- it's generally Brown who takes the direct shotgun snaps from center and either runs over right guard, hands to the sweeping Ricky Williams(notes), heads outside right himself, or runs a counter option that's occasionally good for a touchdown pass. With Brown out for the season and the Dolphins at 4-5 coming into tonight's game against the Carolina Panthers, it's tough to know how the team's offensive identity will change. Second-year quarterback Chad Henne(notes) isn't ready to lead the offense, Williams isn't as familiar with direct snaps or passes, and Miami's receiver corps lacks an elite target.

What may save the Dolphins in the short term is the ability of rookie quarterback/wild card Pat White(notes) to run more read-option plays as he did against the Patriots two weeks ago in a 27-17 loss. In that game, White ran left from a shotgun snap for 33 yards and pitched outside to Williams for a 15-yard touchdown. The Dolphins were having trouble getting White acclimated to the timing of the Wildcat formations, but the simpler read-option was completely in his wheelhouse. White ran six times for 45 yards in that game, compared to Brown's 48 yards on 15 carries. With Williams taking snaps, there isn't a sweep threat. If White takes the ball, there are more options available to the Dolphins as they try to fool the Panthers' defense. With fullback Lousaka Polite(notes) blocking as well as anyone playing his position, Miami may want to go with more two- or three-back sets, as they did with an option handoff from a "full house" (inverted wishbone) formation last Sunday against the Buccaneers.

There's still some mileage to be gained out of odd formations for the Dolphins, even with Ronnie Brown out of the picture. It's just a matter of doing what good coaching staffs have to do all the time -- adjust to current circumstances and make the best of what you've got.

The most fascinating thing about it is Vince Young, of course, and how on earth he managed to compile a 3-0 record as starter since taking over. Jimmy tells us what VY does for the offense that Kerry Collins(notes) couldn't do, as well as what else has been clicking for the Titans. We talk about Bud Adams and his mischievous fingers, the disappearance of LenDale White(notes) and why Chris Johnson is the best running back in the NFL.

This edition's Abusive E-mail of the Week again insults my wife, who was able to take the insult in stride, mainly because she doesn't exist. The Hot Routes touch on JaMarcus Russell(notes), Ronnie Brown(notes), Pat White(notes) and Mike Shanahan's chances of being the next coach in Buffalo. Here are the games we call for the Picks Segment, where Danks went 5-0 against the spread last week (home teams in CAPS).

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS -3 vs. Chicago Bears
PITTSBURGH STEELERS -7 vs. Cincinnati Bengals
MINNESOTA VIKINGS -16½ vs. Detroit Lions
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS -2 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS -3 vs. New England Patriots

You can listen right here.

Or download the MP3 right here. MP3, 37:25, 17.5 MB.

So we say things like, "Hey, wouldn't LeBron be a great tight end or wide receiver for the Browns?! He'd be their best player immediately! Ha ha ha!" And then we go on about our day, mocking the Browns and wondering if the Shaq/LeBron pairing will work out how the Cavaliers want it to.

The Browns, though, sound rather serious about it, which in turn makes them sound rather desperate. And they are desperate, of course, being 1-8 and maybe not even as good as their record indicates. Still, though, I find the desperation in their voices here just a little bit sad.

Brady Quinn(notes) says that the Browns would be more than willing to accept LeBron. Defensive tackle Shaun Rogers(notes) took the route of challenging LeBron and calling him out. From ESPN.com news services:

"I have mixed emotions about that. A great athlete? Yes. A football player? No."

Rogers then looked into TV cameras.

"Yeah LeBron, I said it," he said. "It's a punishing game. I just don't think you can step off the basketball court after not going through this year in and year out and just play football. From that standpoint, I just don't think it's possible. You have to weather and condition your body to take this punishment."

Even head coach Eric Mangini called LeBron an athletic freak, and said he "should come on down."

To me, it all sounds like begging. "LeBron, please come save us! We're a bigger mess than the Cavs were! Did you see that Monday night game? You could play both ways and be the head coach! Pretty please?"

LeBron likes to talk about how he'd be great at football, and he's probably right. He's one of those special athletes that could dominate nearly any sport he chose. But he's not serious about playing for the Browns, so maybe everyone in the organization pining for LeBron should pause for a second, scoop their dignity up off the floor, and see if they can maybe improve on their own.

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See last week's absurdly premature playoff picture here.

AFC First-Round Byes:
Indianapolis Colts
Cincinnati Bengals

Other AFC Divisional Champions:
New England Patriots
San Diego Chargers

AFC Wild Cards:
Pittsburgh Steelers
Denver Broncos

NFC First-Round Byes:
New Orleans Saints
Minnesota Vikings

Other NFC Divisional Champions:
Dallas Cowboys
Arizona Cardinals

NFC Wild Cards:
Philadelphia Eagles
Green Bay Packers

• As promised, with its win over Pittsburgh, Cincinnati slides into the second first-round bye spot in the AFC. The Bengals thoroughly earned it. They should stay there for a while, too, as their next three games are against three teams that would be playing in the UFL next year if the NFL worked like English soccer: Oakland, Cleveland and Detroit.  

• We also had a change in the divisional champion out west, with San Diego taking over for Denver. As always, this comes with the requisite warning that this could be a homer pick, and if you believe it is, well, fair enough. The good news? Any homerism gets rectified this weekend, as the Chargers and Broncos play for that spot. AFC West Divisional Champion spot ... ON THE LINE.

• I like San Diego in that game, though, which is why I've given the Chargers the nod today. They're a better team today than they were when they played Denver the first time, and I don't know if anyone can say conclusively that the Broncos aren't worse. Especially if Kyle Orton(notes) can't go.

• Over in the NFC, everything stays the same outside of the wild-card spots, which are a mess. There's a gaggle of teams at 5-4: Philadelphia, New York, Green Bay and Atlanta. We've also got a couple of 4-5 teams we can't completely discount yet: Chicago, Carolina and San Francisco. Of those, the 49ers have the most favorable schedule remaining, but their win over the Bears was not exactly the stuff of which legends are made.

• I ended up going with Philadelphia and Green Bay, simply because of the "When in doubt, go with the best quarterbacks" philosophy. Philadelphia put forth a game effort in San Diego; the Eagles shot their feet off in the red zone. If Brian Westbrook(notes) is out for a while (and I've got a hunch he will be), that'll hurt, but the Eagles deserve a chance to show they're prepared for his absence, which they absolutely should be.

• If that defensive performance Green Bay put forth against Dallas was real, I love Green Bay's chances to snag a wild-card spot. The Packers are still far from a perfect team, obviously, but they're the most explosive offense in wild-card contendership, and if the defense can start to match that at all, I like it.

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The New York Daily News reports that the New York Giants owner has issued a formal complaint to the NFL because he feels his team will be at a competitive disadvantage in its Thanksgiving night game at the Denver Broncos. His issue: The Giants will have to travel the 1,779 miles from New York to the Mile High City on a short week.

Boo-freakin'-hoo.

There's no doubting that Thursday games are inconvenient for teams, but it's part of the life in the NFL. Plus, I doubt John Mara is whining when his cut of NFL Network revenue comes in. The only reason we have night games on Thanksgiving (and other Thursdays throughout the year) is to show games on the television network the owners control. To complain about that is like Al Davis complaining about Raiders draft picks. 

Not only that, but the Giants alleged travel woes aren't even that bad. Of the nine midweek games this year, the G-Men only have the fourth-longest distance to travel. Three teams will have farther journeys for their Thursday games (or, in the case of the Chargers, a Friday game):

Bears: 2,132 miles from Chicago to San Francisco

Chargers: 2,023 miles from San Diego to Nashville

Raiders: 1,812 from Oakland to Dallas

And let's not forget that in 2005 the NFL awarded an extra home game to the Giants because of the damage done to the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina. I'd say that was worth a quick holiday trip halfway across the country.

Thanks, Pro Football Talk

The Bills signed Terrell Owens(notes) this past offseason, admittedly because they wanted to make a splash and get some attention. Yet, here we are in Week 10, and the Bills, as they have been for a while now, remain unremarkable in every way. They sport a record of 3-6 and sit at the bottom of the AFC East. They can't even get attention by being bad enough to be mentioned along with the Lions, Browns, Rams, Raiders, etc.

Dick Jauron takes the fall for it, and it's not unfair, because that's just the way things work in the NFL. This is also true, though: Dick Jauron had as much chance of winning in Buffalo as I did of being the winning jockey in the Breeder's Cup.

In his three-and-a-half years in Buffalo, Jauron's quarterbacks have been J.P. Losman(notes), Trent Edwards(notes) and Ryan Fitzpatrick(notes). Losman might have been the best of that lot, and he's currently playing for the Las Vegas Locomotives. I almost consider it a coaching miracle that Jauron was able to put together three straight 7-9 seasons.

It doesn't matter, though. When ownership wants to make a change and say to the fans, "Hey, we're trying here," there's not much they can do but fire the coach. Jauron will land on his feet. He'll probably end up as a defensive coordinator somewhere next year, and he'll do a fine job. As for the Bills and their next head coach, they'll see some success just as soon as the personnel in Buffalo improves.

Shutdown Corner presents the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Peyton Manning(notes), Indianapolis Colts
		If he had been facing, for example, the number eight quarterback on this list, Bill Belichick may have punted on that 4th and 2 Sunday night. He wasn't, though. He was facing the number one quarterback, and he knew that guy was going to score from anywhere on the field.
2. Brett Favre(notes), Minnesota Vikings
		This week, Favre became your NFL leader in quarterback rating. In a year where we're blessed with five different quarterbacks with a rating of 100 or better, Favre stands at the top. He's thrown 285 passes, and just three of them have been intercepted. Favre might be asked to do a little bit less than most guys on this list (he's 16th in the league in pass attempts), and he might be in the most quarterback-friendly situation in the league, but he's been close to perfect. Wrangler sales are even up.
3. Tom Brady(notes), New England Patriots
		Brady made some tremendous throws in a losing effort on Sunday night. He didn't get the win, but he did play well enough to continue his rise towards the top of these rankings, where he belongs. He's been over 300 yards in his last four games, which isn't something he hadn't done since Week 1.
4. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints
		Saints fans are going to be mad at me, but I'm afraid it had to be done. Through his first five games, Drew Brees threw for 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. Over his last four games, Brees has six touchdowns and seven interceptions. That's not good, and I'm afraid it mandates a slide in the rankings. His yardage totals and completion percentages have still been awesome, but to stay in the top two, I'm afraid we need a better TD-to-INT ratio.
5. Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans
		Schaub rises a spot, even on his bye week, because it wasn't a particularly great week for the best quarterbacks in the league. But now, after everyone's had their bye week, let's check and see where Schaub ranks in some key statistical categories. He's third in yards passing (behind Manning and Brady) and tied for fifth in touchdowns (behind Manning, Brady, Brees and Kurt Warner(notes)). Not at all shabby.
6. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		A brutal week drops Benjamin a few spots: He was 20-of-40 for 174 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception. In a huge game for the Steelers, he came up with a quarterback rating (51.5) fewer than 10 points away from JaMarcus Russell's(notes) (43.6). That's not what you're looking for.
7. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		It was a very solid week for Rivers, who faced an Eagles defense that ranks fifth in the league in opposing quarterback rating. He went 20-of-25 for 231 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. This will be the fourth straight week where Rivers checks in at number seven.
8. Aaron Rodgers(notes), Green Bay Packers
		A good, but not great effort from Rodgers against the Cowboys: 25-of-36, one touchdown, no picks, and just 189 yards. Not good enough to move him up the list, but not bad enough to move him down. He's been sacked 12 more times than anyone else in the league, and more than Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees combined. Dallas got him four times.
9. Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
		Welcome, Kurt! I'd still like to see more consistency from you, but two consecutive phenomenal weeks will get you in the mix. Over his last two weeks, Warner's thrown seven touchdowns against zero interceptions. If he has another good game this week, it'll mark the first time all year he's strung three quality games together. He's playing the Rams, too, so it's not exactly a tall order.
10. Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles
		The 450 yards against San Diego were really nice, but would have been nicer if a few more of them had come in the red zone. Again, I'd like to see some more consistency. Really, it was a three-way toss-up here between McNabb, Romo and Palmer, so I thought I'd go with the guy coming off the best week. I'd consider McNabb's grip on the 10th spot very, very tenuous.
Noses pressed against the glass: Carson Palmer(notes), Cincinnati Bengals Tony Romo(notes), Dallas Cowboys

Ryan stood in front of his New York Jets team on Monday morning after a tough loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars and, for the second time this season, bawled like a little girl with a skinned knee. Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post tells us that the tears moved and motivated the team.

The memorable moment simultaneously stunned his players and made them want to run out of the auditorium right then and there and board the bus to Foxborough, Mass., for Sunday's last-stand game against the Patriots.

"He didn't bash us at all; he was just very emotional . . . he was crying," right tackle Damien Woody(notes) told The Post. "Rex believes in our team so much I can't even put it into words and it would be a shame if we didn't capitalize on our opportunity."

Your thoughts, Darrelle Revis(notes)?

"I was a little upset to see him that way," Revis told The Post. "I'm upset for the same reasons he's upset."

Asked if he's ever been a part of a meeting with such high-powered emotions, Revis said: "No, I haven't been a part of a meeting where a coach cried like that. . . . In the future, I hope there are more tears of joy than the one this morning."

Ryan also cried tears of joy after the Jets' season-opening win against Houston. For those of you scoring at home, that's nine games and two crying fits, for a crying percentage of .222.

I'm all for the tears. When I first read about it on Pro Football Talk, I thought, "There's nothing wrong with being an emotional fellow, but it's a long season, and you probably don't want to get too high or too low." But then I thought about Dick Vermeil, and I really felt like he was a great coach, so you know what? Cry your heart out, Rex. Football's an emotional game. Tell the equipment manager to stock up on Kleenex.

We'll see how it works this weekend when Ryan, the NFL's cryingest coach, takes on its most robotic, Bill Belichick.

We'll be here throughout the game this evening with running commentary on the game, observations, insights, polls, blatant lies and a high level of interactivity with you, the reader. We'd love it if you were here. Myself, Chris Chase, Doug Farrar, and Matt Sussman will all be on hand.

Starting just a few minutes before kickoff.

Jon Gruden signed a "long-term" extension today with ESPN that will keep him on Monday Night Football and other network broadcasts for the "forseeable future". In Washington, Cleveland, South Bend, Louisville and all other football towns that will have possible coaching vacancies this off-season, there was much fretting that Gruden's new deal means he won't be available to take over those teams. In the words of another ESPN personality, "not so fast, my friend."

Here's part of Gruden's statement, which was released via ESPN this afternoon:

"Working with Mike, [Ron Jaworski] and our entire Monday Night Football team is the most fun I have had in years, and I am fired up to make this long-term commitment to ESPN. Monday Night Football is special and I look forward to remaining a part of it and continuing to call these great games."

That comment is more telling for what it doesn't say than what it does say. Gruden never addresses whether he's fully committed to the MNF booth for 2010, let alone "long-term", he never says he won't listen to offers and he never says he won't someday go back to coaching. All he says is that he's made a "long-term commitment". The lack of specifics is telling.

Bob Glauber of Newsday reports that industry sources say Gruden told ESPN he's definitely in for 2010, if not 2011, and I have no doubt that Gruden said that. I also have no doubt that he's being totally honest about his intentions. But Brett Favre(notes) thought he'd stay retired both times too, you know? People change their minds. It's human nature.

You don't think if Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones or Notre Dame boosters offer Gruden $10 million per year and the chance to resurrect some of the most historic teams in football history that he's not at least going to listen? He's a football coach without any good reason (that we know of) not to coach football. The comparison to John Madden is thrown around a lot, but Madden stayed out of coaching for a very specific reason: He hated to fly. 

I don't know what's going on in Gruden's mind. Maybe he loves the life of a broadcaster, who knows. But nothing he's done in his decade in the spotlight has indicated he's the type of guy who will be content to sit in production meetings with Eli Manning(notes) on Fridays instead of game-planning for an upcoming opponent.

Today's developments do nothing to shake my belief that Gruden will be back on the sidelines by 2011, at the latest. Although maybe I'm just projecting my hope that he does because, as I wrote last month, as a broadcaster, Gruden is a great ex-coach.

And it's as if they didn't want that feeling to last longer than 24 hours. Multiple reports indicate that the Bengals are about to sign running back Larry Johnson, who was recently released by the Kansas City Chiefs after publicly criticizing his head coach and repeatedly using a homosexual slur. He's also got a spotty history with the law.

In short, he's exactly the kind of guy who would have fit in perfectly with the Bengals in their recent "We will hire anyone who can get arrested and fail to win football games" phase.

You'd think that now that the ship is sailing smoothly, they wouldn't want to mess with it, especially for a guy expected to be a situational player. The locker room seems united and harmonious. Much of the criminal element is gone, and what remains seems to have fallen in line. Why bring in a potential distraction now? Why bother with a guy who has recent and serious transgressions?

Cedric Benson(notes) was injured yesterday, but Marvin Lewis says the injury isn't serious and that Benson was likely to play against the Raiders this week. Even if he wasn't, Bernard Scott(notes) and Brian Leonard(notes) are capable fill-ins.

And even if you don't like them, you can't find someone other than Larry Johnson(notes)? He was averaging 2.7 yards per carry before the Chiefs -- the Chiefs, as in, the Chiefs who are way worse than the Bengals -- cut him because they didn't want to look at his face anymore.

If you need to bring in an outsider, Bengals, dip in to the UFL and bring DeDe Dorsey back to the squad. He knows the system, you know exactly what he's going to bring to the table and he's in game shape.

While I don't think it's a smart move for the Bengals, it works out beautifully for Larry Johnson. He gets to go from the Chiefs, who had virtually no chance of making the playoffs, to the Bengals, who look like one of the better teams in the league. A break like that should go to someone a little more deserving.

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Mike Zimmer, Defensive Coordinator, Cincinnati Bengals

Bernard Scott(notes), Running Back, Cincinnati Bengals. I try to avoid having two people from the same team in the same top-five list, but I'll make an exception for a win the size of the one the Bengals had over the Steelers yesterday. Scott scored the game's only touchdown on a first-quarter kickoff return, and it proved to be the difference on the scoreboard. Scott also gets consideration here because if Cedric Benson(notes) is out for an extended period of time, the Bengals will still be fine at running back. The rookie sixth-rounder from Abilene Christian has some sweet feet.

Hunter Smith(notes), Punter, Washington Redskins. I'm calling it the Play of the Day from yesterday, regardless of anything Bill Belichick did. I don't know who was responsible for the play design; Jim Zorn, Sherm Lewis, Dan Snyder, or some drunk who happened to be driving by practice one day. It worked beautifully, though. The Redskins lined up to kick a long field goal, then shifted into punt formation, then ran the fake out of that. Credit goes to 316-lb. Marcus Thomas, the Broncos defensive tackle who did try to cover Mike Sellers(notes) streaking down the field, but was unsuccessful because, you know, he's a 316-lb. defensive tackle. Great call.

Charles Woodson(notes), Cornerback, Green Bay Packers. Charles Woodson turned back the clock yesterday. That was a vintage defensive tour-de-force in the near-shutout of the Cowboys. Woodson made a diving interception in front of Jason Witten(notes) at his own goal line to keep the Cowboys from getting back in the game. Before that, he clobbered Tony Romo(notes) on a backside blitz, knocking the ball loose, which led to the score that made it 17-0.

Reggie Wayne(notes), Wide Receiver, Indianapolis Colts. Larry Fitzgerald(notes) and Andre Johnson(notes) get most of the attention in "best receiver in the game" conversations, but Reggie Wayne doesn't have to take a backseat to anyone. The Patriots let him work one-on-one most of the time last night, and whoever tried to cover him, he punished. The move he used in the game-winning touchdown was beautiful. I don't think there's a corner in the game who could've stopped that.

Rodney Harrison(notes), who still calls the Patriots "we," verbally put the boots to Belichick from the NBC post-game show. Tony Dungy, maybe the friendliest guy on the planet, lambasted him for it, too. Over on ESPN, Trent Dilfer(notes) absolutely murdered Belichick for the call.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Chase, Harrison, Dungy and Dilfer. I think "The Decision" was the right one.

Before we start, I just want you to know that I loathe the man. I think he's cheated, and I think he'd bite his own mother's left leg off in exchange for a win. Or even a first down. It brings me no joy to defend Bill Belichick.

The fact is, though, that the pros outweigh the cons here. Yes, he ended up giving Peyton Manning(notes) a short field, and yes, he showed "a lack of faith in his defense." I would suggest that Peyton Manning was going to score a touchdown there, whether it was from the Patriots 28, or his own 38. Belichick knows how good Manning is, and he knows how good his defense is. If you had to put your money on one unit, would you take the Colts' passing game, or the Patriots' pass defense?

As for showing "a lack of faith in his defense," you can call it that if you'd like, but I prefer to call it "being realistic about the situation." What, are we worried about hurting the defense's feelings? Awwww. If they don't like it, they can feel free to get better. Maybe there would be more faith in them in they didn't give up, oh, I don't know, just as an example ... 327 yards and four touchdowns to Manning.

Belichick had a chance to put the game on ice and keep the ball out of Peyton Manning's hands. All they had to do was complete a simple little play that they've run successfully about 28 million times. If Kevin Faulk(notes) doesn't bobble the pass right at the sticks, Bill Belichick is a genius this morning. I think Faulk might have gotten the first down anyway. We couldn't find out for sure because the Patriots couldn't challenge after having burned all their timeouts (if you want to criticize Belichick for something, I'd start there). They got burned because they couldn't execute a play that Tom Brady(notes) and Kevin Faulk can normally execute in their sleep. At what point would you ever bet against Tom Brady being able to get a ball to Kevin Faulk for a two-yard gain?

The raw statistical data backs up the decision to go for it, too. The following comes from Advanced NFL Stats, an excellent site that tracks "In-Game Win Probability" based on stats accumulated and in-game situations. Here's what they came up with, and you can get a more detailed explanation here. WP = Win Probability.

With 2:00 left and the Colts with only one timeout, a successful conversion wins the game for all practical purposes. A 4th and 2 conversion would be successful 60% of the time. Historically, in a situation with 2:00 left and needing a TD to either win or tie, teams get the TD 53% of the time from that field position. The total WP for the 4th down conversion attempt would therefore be:

(0.60 * 1) + (0.40 * (1-0.53)) = 0.79 WP

A punt from the 28 typically nets 38 yards, starting the Colts at their own 34. Teams historically get the TD 30% of the time in that situation. So the punt gives the Pats about a 0.70 WP.

Statistically, the better decision would be to go for it, and by a good amount.

At the end of the day, it was an unconventional call that's easy to question, given how things turned out. Belichick, though, has made a hall-of-fame career and built his own legend around making decisions just like that one. That way of thinking is what makes him great. If he wasn't willing to take those risks or do the unconventional thing, he wouldn't be Bill Belichick, future hall of famer and NFL coaching legend. He'd be Bill Belichick, that doofus that the Browns hired once a long time ago.

Even if you think it was a bad call, it was still a very Bill Belichick call, meaning that it went against the grain, defied traditional football logic and went for the jugular. Most of the time in the past, when Belichick's made such a call, it's worked out. Last night's didn't.

It happens. If the Colts and Patriots happen to meet again in the playoffs, and that exact same situation comes up, it will again be the right call to go for it.

Bill Belichick's swagger and arrogance helped the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl titles earlier this decade. Sunday night, those attributes put a big dent in the team's quest for a fourth.

Nursing a six-point lead with 2:08 to go, Belichick decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 from his own 28 instead of punting the ball and making Peyton Manning(notes) and the Indianapolis Colts go 80 yards for the score. The fourth-down play failed, the Colts took over possession and scored with ease, winning their ninth straight game to start the season and getting in the driver's seat for home-field advantage in the AFC.

Personally, I appreciated the call when it happened, mainly because I like watching teams take risks. But this wasn't the spot to go all-in. It was too risky.

You go for it on the Colts' 38, not your own 28. That would be daring, but not stupid. Going for it from your own 28 fits both categories. A 70 percent fourth-down success rate (which is about what the Patriots have had in the past five years) is a good bet most of the time, but not if 30 percent of the time puts Peyton Manning eight yards away from the red zone after the two-minute warning.

Punting would have put Peyton about 80 yards away, so there still would have been plenty of time for him to march down the field and get the game-winning touchdown. But there would have been plenty of work left to do. When the Pats failed to get the first down, it felt like the Colts had already scored that TD even though they were 28 yards away. I don't think anyone involved in that game thought any differently. The mental aspect of it was huge. It wasn't just that the Patriots gave Peyton the ball back, it's that they were mentally defeated the instant they did. 

Heck, maybe that was the case before the play too. The Pats have always embraced Belichick's swagger, but when the call came in to go for fourth-and-2 from their own 28, it wouldn't have surprised me if a few thought, "wait ... what?!" to themselves before breaking the huddle. Suddenly, the team isn't as confident as it once would have been. 

After the game former Pats safety Rodney Harrison(notes) said on NBC that going for it was the "worst decision" he's ever seen Belichick make. Tony Dungy, normally one to hedge his criticisms of former colleagues, said the Pats "had to punt in that situation." It was the kind of call that's so bad that if it was made by your friend during a game of Madden, you'd say, "come on, play for real."

The post-game chatter all put the blame squarely on Belichick (and he admitted to it), but NBC cameras captured Brady saying something to Belichick before the play that caused the coach to smirk and give one of those "that's not a bad idea ..." smiles. It was a bad idea ... a really bad idea. It may have worked and it may have won the game, but its failure almost assured a loss.

When his career is done, Bill Belichick will go down as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. You wouldn't know it from watching the fourth quarter last night.

Unfortunately, Adams isn't as familiar with the concept of public etiquette, as evidenced by his actions during the Titans' 41-17 home win over the Buffalo Bills. Perhaps emboldened by the AFL throwback uniforms exhibited by both teams, the 86-year-old Adams was seen flipping the Bills the double-handed bird on more than one occasion. Of course, one alert fan was on the case with his camcorder, and we have the visual evidence after the jump.

WARNING: If you're offended by the sight of a really old guy flashing two middle fingers, or you're in an environment in which such things might be frowned upon by your family, friends, co-workers or supervisors, consider yourself forewarned.

 

Here's the best part of the story: According to Yahoo Sports' own Charles Robinson, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was in Adams' luxury box during at least part of the game. I'm guessing that if the matter wasn't discussed at the time, it soon will be.

Two late drives – one of six plays and 48 yards, and one of four plays and 29 yards – ended in touchdowns, and the Colts walked out of their home stadium with the 35-34 win that kept them undefeated, put them three games ahead of their archrivals in the fight for home-field advantage in the playoffs, and tied New England's two 18-game winning streaks, the second-longest in NFL history behind the Pats' 21-gamer from 2003-2004.

Neither Brady nor Manning went into this game expecting a balanced attack – the Pats attempted 42 passes and the Colts 44 – and New England opened their first defensive series with two down linemen. Everyone knew what was coming, and neither defense was especially expert in stopping it. The Pats rolled tight end Dallas Clark(notes) in a ball of coverage, leaving Peyton's other targets open enough for Reggie Wayne(notes) to catch 10 balls and two touchdown passes (including the game-winner) and Pierre Garcon(notes) to haul in three catches and a score. New England espoused a little more of a ground attack, getting decent yardage out of do-it-all back Kevin Faulk(notes), but the home runs had to come from Brady and Randy Moss(notes), who exploited Indy's undermanned secondary for nine catches and two touchdowns.

From a star standpoint, it was as even as it gets – both glamour-boy quarterbacks and #1 receivers had their A-game going, and it took one very questionable late coaching decision to allow the Colts to pull away at the end. When Bill Belichick decided to go for it with 2:08 left in the game and fourth-and-2 from his own 28-yard line, he was either exhibiting too much confidence in his offense, or not enough in his defense. The short pass to Kevin Faulk was bobbled by the receiver, and the call was to deny Faulk the forward progress that would have given New England the first down and the game. Having used up all his timeouts, the coach couldn't challenge the call. Chris Chase will take a closer look at this decision, but in an achingly tight game that lived up to every battle of its kind, Belichick walked away knowing that the key to his team's defeat lay in his own hand.

Still, it's wrong not to lay equivalent credit for the win at Peyton Manning's feet. No matter how far the Colts get, at the end of this season, we're going to look back at the way Manning is playing as one of those "we can tell our grandkids about this" extended performances that define all that's great about this game we love. And once again, the Patriots-Colts game was everything it was cracked up to be.

Setting off fireworks indoors is about as good an idea as not trying to pressure Peyton Manning(notes) or giving Randy Moss(notes) a 15-yard cushion off the line of scrimmage. But, that didn't stop Indianapolis Colts employees from celebrating the team's first touchdown in tonight's game versus the New England Patriots by lighting a few pyrotechnics. Some of those remnants then fell to the ground and burned the artificial grass at Lucas Oil Field.

Someone from the sideline put out the blaze with a Gatorade bottle, but the fire burned long enough for NBC cameras to pick it up and for people nationwide to make jokes ranging from the lame to the obvious Billy Madison reference.

Before the game started, Tomlinson found a small gift in his locker from his wife, LaTorsha. The note attached read, "Open immediately!" He did, and inside he found a pregnancy test from his wife. It was positive.

An overjoyed Tomlinson relayed the news to the media after the game.

"It was weird," he said in the postgame press conference. "I thought it was going to be a necklace or something. It was a pregnancy test."

It will be their first child. Four years ago, LaTorsha had a miscarriage that devastated the couple, so you can imagine how happy they are with today's news. You can read more here about the aftermath of the 2005 miscarriage, and read more here about LaTorsha.

My warmest congratulations to both of them.

Pittsburgh Steelers. If it wasn't real before, it certainly is now. The Bengals have beaten you twice, the most recent time, in your own house, in a low-scoring, mouth-punching, knuckle-smashing game. Compared to the regulars here, you still might be in perfectly rosy shape, but it might be difficult for Steelers fans to accept that they are no longer the biggest, baddest dog in the AFC North kennel. The good news, though, is that if you want a rematch, I think there's a decent chance you'll get one sometime after the new year.

Denver Broncos. That's the kind of loss that will prompt you to ask yourself, "Do we just suck?" And while the answer is probably "no," it's not the clearest "no" in the world. The previous two losses were both of a very convincing nature, and this one came against a bad team, even after they spotted you a pair of gift touchdowns early.

Detroit Lions. Not a bad effort, gang, at least offensively. Matthew Stafford(notes) had no interceptions in 51 passing attempts, and he got the ball to Calvin Johnson(notes) eight times. Those are minor victories. You didn't come close to stopping anyone in purple from doing anything they wanted, but not a lot of people do.

St. Louis Rams. Unfortunately, you fell a tad short of pulling off the upset of the year, but Marc Bulger(notes) did outperform Drew Brees(notes), and that's a pretty huge upset itself, is it not? Congratulations, spread beaters!

Buffalo Bills. We all weep for a team that gives up 41 to Tennessee and brings in Ryan Fitzpatrick(notes) for an offensive spark. A lot of people out there, though, are thankful for the Bills for giving up that otherworldly fantasy day to Chris Johnson.

Oakland Raiders. I had a template ready for this one. "[Losing team here]. It was a sad, sad week for you, because you lost to the [winning team here]." Would've worked either way.

Seattle Seahawks. That was a brutal second half, Seahawks, but there could be an upside: Sometime in the future, you might look back at this game as the beginning of Justin Forsett's(notes) reign as your No. 1 running back.

There was only one way the New York Jets were going to get the ball back late in their game with the Jacksonville Jaguars today and it involved letting Jags running back Maurice Jones-Drew(notes) score a touchdown. Despite holding a one-point lead with under two minutes remaining, the Jets were without a timeout and were conceding a Jags score in hopes of returning the kickoff and driving down for a game-winning score of their own.

MJD wasn't fooled.

Instead of running into the end zone for a 10-yard TD run on first down with 1:48 left in the game, Jones-Drew alertly fell at the 1-yard line to keep the clock moving. Two kneel-downs later, the Jags brought out kicker Josh Scobee(notes), who booted a game-winning 21-yard field goal as time expired.

It was reminiscent of the play in 2007 when Brian Westbrook(notes) did the same thing to preserve a Philadelphia Eagles victory. However, Westbrook's was a less-obvious move (the Eagles would have been up two scores had he scored). MJD's was just good football strategy (unless, of course, Scobee misses the kick), but that didn't stop him from apologizing for the move. After the game he said:

"We knew they were pretty much going to let us score. So the coach said to just take a knee. Sorry to my fantasy owners, I apologize."

Coming into today, MJD was the No. 1 overall fantasy running back in most Yahoo! leagues. Therefore, if MJD is going to apologize for anything it should be for bailing on the touchdown celebration he planned with Yahoo! last week and pulling a turtle from his pants (see the video after the jump):

Update: Yahoo! Sports had the foresight to discuss this very type of play with Maurice Jones-Drew before this week's game. He remembered the Brian Westbrook play and shook his head, lamenting the fantasy implications involved:

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The list of the fallen include:

Cedric Benson(notes) (RB, Cincinnati Bengals) -- Hip

Ronnie Brown(notes) (RB, Miami Dolphins) -- Ankle

Marc Colombo(notes) (T, Dallas Cowboys) -- Broken leg

Jordan Gross(notes) (T, Carolina Panthers) -- Ankle

Julius Jones(notes) (RB, Seattle Seahawks) -- Chest

Kyle Orton(notes) (QB, Denver Broncos) -- Ankle

Michael Turner(notes) (RB, Atlanta Falcons) =- Ankle

Brian Westbrook(notes) (RB, Philadelphia Eagles) -- Concussion

Orton will reportedly miss next week's game, Turner and Benson are said to have potentially "serious" injuries and Westbrook's concussion was his second in 20 days. His loss wouldn't devastate the Eagles (at this point, it's almost a surprise when he does play), but prolonged absences by the others could mean the difference between a postseason berth or mid-January tee times.

Today's list isn't out of the ordinary or anything. The crawl on SportsCenter every Monday morning shows more medical conditions than it does scores. However, days like today should remind the NFL that it's hard enough for players to get through a 16-game season, let alone the 18-game season that Roger Goodell would love to expand to.

Despite their 6-2 record, few gave the Bengals a shot at taking the Steelers in Pittsburgh. The winning tradition was clearly on Pittsburgh's side, and most assumed that Cincy's bubble would have to pop at some point. What the naysayers didn't expect was a Bengals defense that held up all day to the challenge, allowing a mere 80 rushing yards, and 16 of those came on Ben Roethlisberger(notes) scrambles. Big Ben was on the run all day, getting sacked four times, and hit and hurried all day. Roethlisberger is usually able to outrun and outgun those who seek to stop him, but not in this game. The Bengals limited the Steelers to three of 15 third-down conversions, and their defensive backs were able to hang with Pittsburgh's receivers even when blitzes left them on an island. The cornerback duo of Johnathan Joseph(notes) and Leon Hall(notes) deserves more recognition as one of the league's top tandems.

On offense, the Bengals took what they could from a Steelers defense that played very well despite the loss of Troy Polamalu(notes), who left the game with a knee injury in the first quarter. Carson Palmer(notes) could only lead his offense into the Pittsburgh red zone on three of 12 drives, but kicker Shayne Graham(notes) booted four of five field goals, and the aforementioned Bernard Scott made the difference with a 96-yard kickoff return. Scott almost outgained his offense on kick returns alone, with 206 return yards and 218 for the offense.

At this point, anyone not taking the 7-2 Bengals seriously is just not paying attention. With games against the Raiders, Browns, and Lions in the next three weeks, this could be a 10-2 team before anybody knows it. Should Cincinnati residents start thinking about home playoff tickets for the first time since 2005?

It's a bad time to come up short, roster-wise. Not only is Philip Rivers(notes) lighting up the NFL with big, fast receivers Vincent Jackson(notes) and Malcom Floyd(notes) and tight end Antonio Gates(notes) (Legedu Naanee(notes), who sees favorable matchups with all the attention on the stars, could be in for a big day if the replacements can't hold up), the Chargers have also gone away from the balanced attack they had when LaDanian Tomlinson was at his peak to a more aerial-intensive attack. Through Week 9, only the Arizona Cardinals have run the ball fewer times than the Chargers' 182, and no team is worse per carry than their 3.1 -- that's over a yard below the NFL average of 4.2. The Eagles will be challenged by Rivers and his pals when they hit the field in sunny Southern California, but there's one thing head coach Andy Reid and chief playcaller Marty Mornhinweg could do to stem the tide -- run the ball!

The Chargers' primary weakness is their run defense. Without nose tackle Jamal Williams(notes), San Diego has allowed 4.29 yards per carry overall, and 5.11 up the middle. Reid and Mornhinweg generally prefer to throw the ball at a 60/40 clip at the very least, but they should consider putting the triad of Brian Westbrook(notes), LeSean McCoy(notes) and Leonard Weaver(notes) on the front burner and controlling the clock. The best way to stop Rivers and the Chargers from blowing up all over Philly's defense is to keep them off the field altogether.

The Pro Bowler traveled to Berea, Ohio, to walk onto the field on senior night with the son of one of his former college coaches. Michael Drake, a senior receiver at Stow High School, lost his father, Mike, in 2005 to lymphoma. He had assumed he'd be accompanied by his mother and sister for senior night introductions and was stunned when he saw Cribbs arrive minutes before the game.

''I looked, then looked away, then said, 'Why are you here?''' Michael recalled. ''I was shocked.''

A receiver, cornerback and holder for extra points, Michael said Cribbs offered advice before his final game.

''He said, 'Play your heart out. This is it. Give it your all. Don't ever stop on any play. Keep pushing,''' Michael said. ''I almost felt worried. I didn't want to look bad for him.''

Michael's late father recruited Cribbs to play at Kent State and served as a father figure to the D.C. native during his time at Kent. Mike Drake was the offensive coordinator for the Golden Flashes during Cribbs' freshman and sophomore seasons. Cribbs played quarterback in college and credits Drake for helping him drive home the fundamentals that he still uses today. So, when the idea of returning for senior night was pitched to Cribbs this summer, he didn't hesitate.

It's a small gesture, but it says a lot about the character of Cribbs. He apparently didn't feel the need to talk about it publicly; this happened Oct. 30 and, as far as I can tell, yesterday's report in the Akron Beacon Journal is the first it's been mentioned. Similarly, Drake's mother is quoted in the piece as saying that Cribbs took great pains to underplay his presence at the game for fear of taking away the spotlight from Michael and the other seniors. This shows a humility that other professional football players could sometimes stand to emulate.

Cribbs is back on the field Monday night when the Browns host the Baltimore Ravens.

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On October 11, Bengals running back Cedric Benson(notes) broke Baltimore's 39-game streak of preventing any single back from gaining 100 yards or more against them with a 27-carry, 120-yard performance that announced Cincy's arrival in the "These guys are for real" division. Last week, Benson followed up with 34 carries for 117 yards in the Baltimore sequel. Benson can run over excellent 3-4 defenses, but the Steelers are a different story. Benson ran for 76 yards on 16 carries in a 23-20 Week 3 home win over Pittsburgh, but that was a case where the Bengals had to throw more in the second half to overcome a 20-9 deficit.

Today, the Bengals are looking to sweep the Steelers and basically tie up the AFC North unless something ridiculous happens down the stretch. If they are to do so, one of the most important aspects will be the performance of their unheralded but extremely effective interior offensive line. The Bengals made the Ravens pay for their A-gap blitzes and man coverage with deep passes to the perimeter because center Kyle Cook(notes), left guard Evan Mathis(notes), and right guard Bobbie Williams(notes) were able to block those blitzes with help from fullback Jeremi Johnson(notes) (maybe the best blocking fullback in the NFL right now) and tight end J.P. Foschi(notes). So, Carson Palmer(notes) had time to burn Baltimore's corners with sideline throws.

Cincinnati's ability to counter the devious blitzes of Dick LeBeau will make all the difference. The Bengals didn't have to deal with Troy Polamalu(notes) in the first matchup, and LeBeau will send Polamalu from just about anywhere -- from nose tackle to delayed blitz in a deep safety look. That offensive line is great when it comes to holding ground with power, but they'll have to employ more exotic concepts -- like passing from six-man lines and using blocking tight ends in motion -- to pull this off. For the first time in years, they have the personnel to make it possible.

Of those four prior games against New England, Clark's only statistical standout came in the 2006 AFC Championship game, which safety Rodney Harrison(notes) missed with a knee injury. Clark caught six passes for 137 yards in the game that finally game the Colts a one-up on their great rivals. Harrison was matched up against Clark in each of the other three games, and Clark totaled eight receptions for 120 yards. Clearly, with Harrison retired, the Pats will have to find a favorable safety coverage scheme to counter Clark.

Fortunately, they have one in the person of Brandon McGowan(notes). The fifth-year player and former Chicago Bear is impressing in his first season with the Pats, especially against marquee tight ends. When he covered Atlanta's Tony Gonzalez(notes), the future Hall-of-Famer caught one pass for 16 yards. When matched up with Tampa Bay's Kellen Winslow(notes), Winslow caught two passes for nine yards. He's the main reason New England is giving up only 5.9 catches, and 35.9 yards per game against tight ends. Whether the Colts release Clark into more of a flex role or keep him inside, this will be McGowan's toughest test to date. When asked about Clark this week, Bill Belichick acknowledged the challenge.

"Tight ends are usually hard to match up against: the (defensive backs) don't have the size and the linebackers can't usually match their speed and quickness. Clark runs well; he runs like he's a receiver. When he gets down the field, he's a vertical guy, but he has good quickness and can win underneath."

If McGowan can keep with Clark and prevent Manning from using his absence up top as an excuse to exploit other defenders with the deep pass, the Patriots will take a big step forward to winning this always-compelling game.

Not speaking to the media is an unusual act for Porter. Last week, before Miami's 27-17 loss to the New England Patriots, the outspoken defender claimed that the league had specific rules designed to protect Tom Brady(notes), that he had a "natural hate" for the Patriots, and that the Pats were "cheaters", an obvious dig back to the Spygate days. But in the game, Porter was completely shut down by rookie left tackle Sebastian Vollmer(notes) -- he registered no sacks and no tackles. His backup, former CFL standout Cameron Wake(notes), has been as productive as Porter, registering 11 tackles to Porter's 12, and 3.5 sacks to Porter's 2.5. It's a big comedown for a guy who had 17.5 sacks a season ago, but the downturn can't be too much of a surprise. Porter's sack total last year was five more than in his two prior seasons combined, and at 32, he's hit an age when most edge defenders start to trend down.

Word is that Porter will be replaced in this game by Matt Roth(notes) or Charlie Anderson(notes), and Wake will get more looks as well. But the important thing to note in this case is that the Dolphins have gone out of their way to indicate that injury is not the reason that Porter is out -- team spokesman Harvey Greene told Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald that this is not a coach deciding that a player will sit because he can't go.

Is this a motivational tactic or a peek into the future? When asked recently about Porter's disappointing season, head coach Tony Sparano didn't go there. "I see no frustration," Sparano said. "I don't think that he's affected, but what I do see is a guy that's played in enough football games to know ‘there's some things I need to do better out there.' There's a lot of things that people say about Joey that are not always favorable, but one of the good things about Joey is [that] the guy's a pretty good pro. He sees it, he knows. When he sees it, and he knows, he takes it personally. The guy cares, and I think that's a hell of a quality to have when you've played the game for as many years as Joey."

First, there were his May, 2009 comments on 790 the Zone in Atlanta about serial retiree Brett Favre(notes). When asked about Favre's continued dalliances with the NFL, Tarkenton was more than succinct.

"I think it's despicable. What he put the Packers through last year was not good. Here's an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn't about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favres of the world so much, they think it's about them ... I kind of hope (Favre's unretirement) happens, so he can fail."

Well, bah, humbug! Of course, Favre put us all through a few months of media torture in his current comeback to the Vikings, but he's certainly isn't failing. As he acclimates to Minnesota's offense, he's lighting it up at an age when most quarterbacks only wish they could. Having swung and missed on Favre, Tarkenton has now taken aim at another NFC Norris quarterback -- one Jay Cutler(notes), fresh from his five-pick disaster against the 49ers last Thursday. Back on the radio went Fran, and back went the mouth into overdrive, on Chicago's "Waddle and Silvy Show" (no, really):

"I really question whether he can play. Quarterbacks need to make their team better. If it's a bad team, they can even make a bad team better. Somebody may say well, even Peyton Manning(notes) couldn't help the Bears. Yes, he could. Tom Brady(notes) could, too. They might not win the championship or get to the playoffs, but they would make that team better. Those wide receivers who are struggling would be better because they would make them better."

Tarkenton then went on to say that the best way for Cutler to prove him wrong was to march into offensive coordinator Ron Turner's office and "tell that coach [expletive]." Tarkenton related a story in which he told the young Dan Fouts to tell his offensive coordinator to kiss off. Of course, one of the guys responsible for Fouts' development was Bill Walsh, San Diego's offensive coordinator in 1976, and I sincerely question the professional future of any quarterback dumb enough to pop off to Walsh.

If he can take it as he dishes it out, I think the best advice for Tarkenton could be taken from that noted military philosopher, Sgt. Hulka: "Lighten up, Francis." The pressure on these guys is bad enough, even when it's self-imposed, without former greats copping headlines with their "Grumpy Old Men" routines at the worst possible time. Telling guys like Favre and Cutler to "get off my lawn!" just stings Tarkenton's own legacy, and that's a shame.

Chad Ochocinco(notes) is going to need 19,999 more dollar bills to pay off the fine resulting from his attempted bribe Sunday during the Cincinnati Bengals-Baltimore Ravens game.

According to Chris Mortensen, the NFL fined Ochocinco $20,000 for his tongue-in-cheek attempt to alter the outcome of a replay review that was looking to see whether he had two feet in bounds on a play ruled a reception. Ochocinco's use of the word "bribe" in a post-game press conference was said to have played a large role in determining the amount of the fine.

The fact that the NFL levied a fine isn't surprising. This is a league that devotes pages in its rulebook to regulate how much players can celebrate after scoring a touchdown, so that it showed no sense of humor was to be expected. And while the fine is way too high, we understand that the league wanted it to act as a deterrent so the appearance of impropriety won't become an issue again.

But the Commish doth protest too much, methinks. Really, did anyone think this was serious? Were people going to make the connection between a clear Ochocinco joke and a conspiracy to fix games? The only reason we're still talking about this is because the NFL extended the conversation by levying the fine. This story had cycled out of the news by Monday morning. Now it's cycling again and will probably be discussed on sports blogs and on PTI today and on Sunday morning pre-game shows. By fining Ochocinco, the NFL did exactly what it didn't want to do: bring attention to gambling.

As for paying off the fine, Ochocinco should totally send a box full of 20,000 ones to the NFL offices. If he needs help getting that large an amount of bills, I'm sure he can get Pacman Jones' phone number pretty easily.

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And it's not as if Cutler put up those great daytime numbers against tomato cans -- his second-highest quarterback rating of the season (104.7) came against the Steelers in Week 2, and he excelled statistically against a pretty solid Cardinals defense, though many of his throws were in desperation after Arizona put up a 31-7 lead at halftime.

Is Cutler more comfortable when the eyes of the football-crazed nation are not exclusively on him? Some players thrive under the harshest of spotlights, and others shy away from that focus. But this wasn't as much of a problem for Cutler in 2008 -- he lit up the Raiders and Browns defenses in prime time, though the Chargers and Patriots gave him fits after dark.

What is it about Cutler's decision-making process that switches this year? Is he feeling the pressure of the "franchise quarterback" label after the Bears basically gave up two drafts for his services? Is he missing Brandon Marshall(notes) and Eddie Royal(notes) and finding Devin Hester(notes) and Earl Bennett(notes) lacking? Or is this just one of those things where everyone has to adjust and get used to each other?

The Bears don't seem to be exploiting Cutler's one supreme ability -- to get the ball downfield with consistency and accuracy. Instead, because of an ineffective offensive line and conservative game plan, Cutler's caught making checkdown after checkdown in an offense that any half-decent "game manager" quarterback could handle. You know -- the types of quarterbacks that don't cost multiple top draft picks and your existing starting quarterback. If all the Bears were going to do was throw bubble screens to Matt Forte(notes) and quick outs to Greg Olsen(notes) ... well, couldn't Kyle Orton(notes) have handled that?

Not any more. Da Bears go into tonight's game against the San Francisco 49ers with a ranking of 22nd in Defensive DVOA. And for those averse to advanced stats, let's keep it blood-simple. In their last two losses -- to the Bengals and Cardinals -- Chicago gave up a total of 86 points, 886 yards, and 397 rushing yards. Even the pathetic Cleveland Browns ran for 117 yards against this formerly unstoppable defense. The Bengals have a very impressive power running game this season, but 215 yards allowed? What in the name of Richard Dent is going on here?

Losing linebacker Brian Urlacher(notes) for the year in the season opener was a blow, but the Bears have also had dominant tackle Tommie Harris(notes) on the field in a way they haven't in some previous seasons. Before he was given the boot against the Cards for sucker-punching guard Deuce Lutui(notes), Harris had played in every game except that Week 7 debacle against the Bengals, and he was reportedly a "healthy scratch" for that one. Beyond Harris and Urlacher, the front seven is a big question mark. The trade for Gaines Adams(notes) has yet to pay dividends -- the Bears have a grand total of two sacks in their last four games -- and there are no new standout defenders on the team.

In the end, that may be the big problem. General Manager Jerry Angelo hasn't drafted a defensive standout -- or even a reliable starter -- since 2006, when he brought in Danieal Manning(notes), Devin Hester(notes), Dusty Dvoracek(notes), and Mark Anderson(notes) (though sixth-round pick Al Afalava(notes) looks like a find). Angelo spent his first pick of 2009 -- a third-rounder due to the selections expended in the Jay Cutler(notes) trade -- on San Jose State tackle Jarron Gilbert(notes), who hasn't yet done much in games to date. Maybe the Bears need to put a swimming pool in the middle of Soldier Field?

Angelo may be undone by his impatience. Even teams like the Patriots, who are brilliant at stocking their defenses with aging (but still effective) veterans, know that the key to long-term success on the defensive side of the ball is the youth and speed that comes only from the draft. Most the Bears' true standouts over the last few years -- Harris, Urlacher, Lance Briggs(notes), Charles Tillman(notes) -- were found in the draft. Then, you go out and find the Adewale Ogunleyes of the world. And with next year's draft also affected by the Cutler trade, the Bears will have to put a new defense together in a different way. So far, this one isn't working.

Tonight, it starts with the 49ers and the Bears on the NFL Network. We'll get started here shortly before the 8:30 EST kickoff, and we'd love it if you joined us with your comments, questions, insights and whatever other nonsense clouds your head.

One eighth-grade lad named Dustin Reader was so excited, in fact, that the got his hair cut to resemble a Cincinnati Bengals helmet. And why not? That's the kind of thing that seems like a good idea when you're an eighth-grader or Ron Artest. As you can see, he's got the helmet stripes shaved in there, and the Bengals "B" logo carved into the back of his head. It's everything you could ever want from a Bengals haircut.

When he got to school Monday to show it off, though, school authorities didn't think too highly of the 'do. They actually suspended him for it. From Richard O. Jones of the Dayton Daily News:

Because it’s a discipline issue, school officials would not talk about it, but confirmed the suspension was for violating the school’s code of conduct, which prohibits “unnaturally colored hair, extreme/distracting makeup, haircuts and hairstyles.”

The code of conduct is reviewed and revised every year, said assistant superintendent Kathy Leist, who said a suspension “would be a building-level decision based on the code of conduct.”

Even worse, it was an in-school suspension, where the kid has to show up to school and do work; he's just isolated from the other kids all day. It's not even one of those cool suspensions where you get to stay home and play Madden.

The school must be wonderful, though. I'm assuming that all the children there get straight A's, all the kids hold and hands and sing Mary Poppins songs while walking through the hallways, and the only graffiti on school grounds came when the Science Club spray-painted the periodic table in all the bathroom stalls.

I'm assuming all that is happening because otherwise, it would seem pretty silly to spend time worrying a "B" shaved into a kid's noggin.

School officials say that the boy will remain in isolation until the hair grows out, or the haircut is changed, which I guess would require shaving his entire head. His parents remain on their child's side and say they won't force him to change the haircut. I guess if parents are going to argue with a school, at least it's over a really worthwhile issue, you know, like a haircut that isn't rude or offensive in any way.

Way to go, adults.

That comes from Ocho himself, the irrepressible scamp that he is, on his Twitter account.

In other Ocho news, he's also rambling about how he wants to fight UFC superstar Anderson Silva for charity. Let's hope that fight doesn't come together before the weekend, because it would be really nice if Chad could still walk on Sunday for the game against the Steelers.

Opinions will vary, as they always do. Optimistically, I do believe that The Who has some songs that will make for a fun halftime show -- "Baba O'Riley", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Who Are You", and "The Seeker", to throw out a few. I'm also assured by Jamie Mottram, who's seen them perform live recently, that The Who can "still bring it."

Myself, I've accepted that the Super Bowl Halftime show just isn't aimed at entertaining me. Or anyone under the age of 40, for that matter. It's aimed at entertaining (or at least not offending), the slightly older, extremely mainstream audience that the biggest television event of the year draws. Four of the last five Super Bowl Halftime acts have been white males in their late '50s or older.

I'm cool with it, but I'm anxious to get everyone else's thoughts. Would you rather have someone a little more current, or are you cool with Roger Goodell only picking bands that are represented in his personal CD collection?

Also, this episode's Abusive E-mail of the Week, from a fellow named Jeremy Larson, goes way, way, way too far. The Picks Segment is kind of fun, too, as I get to review last week's 5-0 against-the-spread performance. Of course, probability being what it is, that probably means I'm going to go 0-5 this week, but I'm going to bask in it while I can.

Here are the games we call this week:

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS -3 vs. Chicago Bears
PITTSBURGH STEELERS -7 vs. Cincinnati Bengals
MINNESOTA VIKINGS -16½ vs. Detroit Lions
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS -2 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS -3 vs. New England Patriots

You can listen right here:

Or download the MP3 right here. MP3, 37:57, 17.8 MB.

"If someone asks if you want extra mayonnaise, you have to say 'yes'. 'Cause that's part of it."

I think that makes more sense than anything I've ever heard. From now on, I'm keeping a pair of scissors on me at all times, and if I ever heard a man with a mullet turn down extra mayonnaise, I'm cutting the neck blanket right off him. He doesn't deserve it. And if he doesn't like it, he can take it up with Jared Allen.

Gracias, Chris Cooley.

That is not okay, people of New England.

See last week's absurdly premature playoff picture here.

AFC First-Round Byes:
Indianapolis Colts
Pittsburgh Steelers

Other AFC Divisional Champions:
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots

AFC Wild Cards:
Cincinnati Bengals
Houston Texans

NFC First-Round Byes:
New Orleans Saints
Minnesota Vikings

Other NFC Divisional Champions:
Dallas Cowboys
Arizona Cardinals

NFC Wild Cards:
Philadelphia Eagles
Atlanta Falcons

• We'll get to the brand-new, first-round bye team in a second, but I want to start with Indy. Obviously, with a two-game lead over everyone else in the conference and a three-game lead in their division, the Colts' chances for a first-round bye are strong to quite strong. Keep this in mind, though: They have massive injuries on defense, and four of their next five games are against the Patriots, Ravens, Texans and Broncos, all games that will be difficult. The Colts are about to be tested severely. Keep an eye on it.

• Welcome back, Pittsburgh, to the first-round bye slot. You were last there in Week 4, and I feel like it's an understatement to say that the Week 9 Steelers are scarier than the Week 4 Steelers. If Rashard Mendenhall's(notes) going to be running like that, I'm not sure there's much that can be done to stop this offense.

• There's not a wide distance between Pittsburgh and the next team in line, though. The Bengals have been pretty damn impressive on their own, and guess what? They happen to play the Steelers this weekend. Regular-season games don't get much bigger than that, and this one involves some personal dislike. AFC first-round bye spot ... ON THE LINE.

• And, as mentioned previously, the Colts have the Patriots this week, and while I'm going to stop short of putting a first-round bye spot on the line there, the Patriots are pretty close to the front of the line. This is going to feel like divisional playoff weekend in the AFC.

• On the wild-card side of things, I'm still riding with the Texans, even though I feel like they let me down against the Colts this weekend. The Jets are still right there, the Ravens are still right there, and the Chargers are coming hard. That's a team that's been improving recently, but the real test comes over the next two weeks, with Philadelphia and Denver.

• For the last wild-card spot in the NFC ... hey, flip a coin. Atlanta gets it on the strength of a win over Washington, which should tell you something about the rest of the contenders. All other things being equal, I like to go with the best quarterback, which would be Aaron Rodgers(notes), but he just lost to the Bucs, and a great deal of it was his fault. The Bears were just throttled by the Cardinals, it feels like the Giants haven't won a game since 2007 and any other "contender" is two games under .500. It's Atlanta by default.

• The Cardinals may have finally found a rushing game, piling up 182 yards on the ground this weekend against Chicago. That is not coincidental to Kurt Warner(notes) having his best game of the season. Arizona's been over 100 rushing yards only one other time this season, and that was back in Week 2. If Beanie Wells(notes) can consistently give the running game some pop, that's going to make a world of difference for the rest of the offense, and that would be bad news for the 49ers.

Nope. Definitely no fur there. Tony, a committed vegan, definitely believes in the cause.

"We should be protecting animals, not sacrificing their lives for the sake of fashion or luxury," says Tony Gonzalez(notes). "October and I have changed many of our habits in light of the inhumane treatment of animals that occurs not only in the fur industry but also on factory farms."

If you'd like to join Tony in his anti-fur campaign, you can yourself over to the PETA website and sign a pledge to be fur-free. I'm considering it, but I'm waiting for a smuttier series of photos. I think that might really awaken me to the cause.