Thanksgiving Pigskin Preview

Green Bay at Detroit: The Lions, coming off a dramatic comeback victory over the Cleveland Browns, welcome their long time rival to Ford Field for a Thanksgiving showdown. The Packers are looking for a win to remain in the NFC playoff picture, while the Lions are simply looking to put back back to wins together for the first time since 2007. It is going to be a tough task for the home team in this one. For starters, the Lions secondary is all banged up and they will be forced to start safety Marvin White, who was signed only a month ago after being cut by the Cowboys. Starting alongside him will be rookie Louis Delmas who is nursing injuries of his own. Add that to the fact that starting QB Matthew Stafford is nursing an injury to his non throwing shoulder after separating it at the end of last weeks game, and things look even worse. It is hard to imagine the Lions secondary being able to stop Aaron Rogers and company in this one, but it may be closer than the most people think.

Oakland at Dallas: The Raiders travel to Jerry's World after an improbable victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, while the Cowboys come off a very uninspiring defeat of the Washington Redskins. The Raiders offense seems to have found some rhythm behind new starting QB Bruce Gradkowski, probably because his throws are actually to his receivers. If the Raiders defense can put some pressure on Tony Romo, he will make plenty of mistakes and make this game closer than it should be. I'll take the Raiders and the upset as Romo will again prove that he is not a top flight NFL QB.

New York Giants at Denver: Boy how the Broncos have come back down to Earth. The team that had everyone talking about how wrong they were to start the season is now proving everyone right. The Denver defense is still playing very well, but the lack of offense is catching up to them. As opponents have had a chance to watch tape of Kyle Orton, the lack of any ability to throw the ball deep has become evident. Teams are now taking away the short stuff and forcing Orton to throw the ball down the field more. The Giants snapped their four game losing streak with an overtime win against the Falcons last week, but they have been struggling themselves of late. The Broncos defense should be able to keep this game close through the first half, but the offense will not be able to keep us as the game wears on. Look for the Giants to win this game by two scores.

The Most Impressive Teams Today

In looking at today's games, two teams really stood out. New Orleans went down to Tampa Bay and beat the Buccaneers 38-7. While Tampa Bay is far from a top flight team, these are the games that have a tendency to jump up and bite the favored team. These are the games that an undefeated team has a tendency to look past. It is easy to get up for the big games, but it isn't quite as easy to get up for the games that everyone knows you're supposed to win. Top teams always win the games they are supposed to win and that's what the Saints did on Sunday. The second team that caught my attention was the San Diego Chargers. I have been saying for the past couple of weeks that the Chargers really seem to be hitting their stride and Sunday that continued. They went into Denver and took over the division lead with a dominant victory over a division foe. While the Broncos may not be quite as good as their record, they are still no pushover. That is especially true at Invesco. The Chargers defense, however, went into Denver and completely controlled the game. The offense didn't put up huge numbers, but they still managed to put 32 points on the board. The Chargers again continue to build momentum and, if this keeps up, they are going to be very tough to beat come playoff time.

Quick Hits From the NFL

What was Bill Belichick thinking? My gut reaction is that he wasn't thinking at all. Going for it on 4th and 2 from your own 28 with a six point lead and less than 2 minutes left seems crazy. Add to that the fact that the Colts had no timeouts left and a 70 yard drive seems even less possible. After thinking about it, however, you can see where he was coming from. The Colts previous 2 possessions were longer than 70 yards and took less than 2 minutes. Belichick clearly had more confidence in his offense gaining 2 yards than in his defense stopping Peyton Manning. I still would have kicked it away, but I can see where he is coming from.

At what point can we give up on Tony Romo. He clearly is not a top level NFL Quarterback. Time after time he fools everyone into thinking he has taken the next step and then he comes back to Earth. The Cowboys have not won a playoff game in over a decade and I don't think Romo changes that. He is simply too careless with the football and way too laid back to be an effective leader.

The Cincinnati Bengals have now swept their season series with both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The offense is firing on all cylinders, but the defense has been the key. Both corners are plating shutdown defense, allowing Mike Zimmer to be his aggressive in his scheme. Credit linebackers Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga with bringing a hard nosed attitude and giving the whole defensive unit their swagger. They have to be considered one of the top teams in the AFC.

NFL Week 9 Rankings

Every week Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the world's largest oddsmaking company, releases their top polls/rankings for the major sports. They describe their polls as ones in which "teams are ranked purely by the numbers, without media, regional, league, conference or any other biases – just the facts as determined by LVSC’s team of experts." Because they use the same information that is used to make the betting lines, it is perhaps the most complete and accurate poll. We will post the updated college football poll here every Tuesday and the updated NFL rankings on Wednesdays.



Not really much surprise here. Some might have Denver higher than the boys from Vegas, but you can see the argument for the teams ahead of them. With no surprise, Cleveland checks in at the bottom of the rankings. They are a complete mess from top to bottom. Not only is the team terrible on the field, but they just fired General Manager George Kokinis after less than a year on the job. They will now be paying over $20 million to former coaches and GM's through 2011. I may not be a genius, but I am pretty sure that paying $20 million to people who no longer work for you is not the best way to run an organization. It has to make you wonder how it will affect their handling of Eric Mangini. Players do not seem to care for him, so it will be difficult to convince top free agents to join the team. They clearly do not have the personnel in place to win, but how will it get better. I can't imagine Randy Lerner will be too quick to fire Mangini who is in the first year of a four year, $12 million contract.

In the NFL, You Just Never Know

Until 3 weeks ago, the New York Giants looked like arguably the best team in football. Then came a loss at New Orleans, followed by a home loss to the Cardinals and another at Philadelphia. Losing in New Orleans is nothing to be ashamed of as the Saints are among the top teams in the league. The troubling part is the performance of Eli Manning over the last couple of weeks. For the second consecutive week, he has thrown multiple interceptions and looked completely out of sorts. This week, the defense chipped in as well giving up multiple big plays to an Eagle offense that had been struggling coming in and was without Brian Westbrook. The Giants' injuries may finally be catching up with them. The Eagles now move ahead of New York for first place in the NFC East and the Giants better figure it out in a hurry. They have a very tough schedule through the end of the season. Their bye after next week's matchup against the Chargers can't come soon enough.

The Rams Are on the Board

The St. Louis Rams finally put one in the win column with a 17-10 victory over the Detroit Lions. In a battle of two bad teams, the Rams came out on top thanks to a Stephen Jackson touchdown run in the last two minutes. It may have come against the lowly Lions, but a win is a win and it has to make the Rams feel better going forward.

Police on Alert in San Diego

The Oakland Raiders and their fans invade Qualcomm Stadium to take on the Chargers. At 3-3, the Chargers are considered by most to have underachieved. On paper they have more talent than most teams, but the defense has not held up. They are in the bottom third of the league in both total yardage and points allowed. The Raiders offense, however, may be just what they need. Led by ridiculously inept QB Jamarcus Russell, the Raiders are last in the NFL in total yards and next to last in points. Russell was pulled in the first half last week against the Jets, so expect the leash to be short again. With a struggling defense as well, the Raiders are going to a very hard time keeping this game close. Look for Philip Rivers and Vincent Jackson to carry over last week's rhythm and lead the Chargers to a fairly easy victory. The big question for this game. Which number will be higher, Raiders points or Raider fan arrests?

Vince Young Gets a Second Chance

With a not so subtle nudge from ownership, Jeff Fisher announced today that Vince Young will be the starting quarterback this week as the Titans welcome the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Titans have now gone from stomping on the "Terrible Towel" to waving the white flag. The Titans would owe Young a 4.5 million dollar roster bonus if he were to stay with them next season. Ownership wants to get a look at him before they make that decision. You can not blame them for wanting to take a look, but the fact that longtime head coach Jeff Fisher has not put Young in before this week should be all they need to know. Kerry Collins has thrown only 5 touchdowns with 8 interceptions while leading Tennessee to an 0-6 record. If Fisher had any thought that Vince Young gave them a chance to win, he would have been on the field by now. The biggest challenge Jeff Fisher will face now is convincing the rest of the team that the organization is still playing to win. In an interview earlier this season, analyst and eight time pro bowler James Lofton talked about how surprised he was to see Vince Young paying no attention on the sidelines while the offense was on the field. Nearly every other backup QB in the NFL has a headset on listening to the play calls and watching every offensive play to learn and prepare to start. You know all of his teammates noticed the same thing. If he does not care enough to learn and prepare, how is he supposed to lead? Vince Young, with his 33 career interceptions compared to only 22 touchdowns, clearly does not give Tennessee the best chance to win. The best explanation for the move. At this point, what is there to lose?

From Calling BINGO to Calling Plays

The Philadelphia Eagles travel to Washington to take on the Redskins tonight. The Redskins have been embarrassingly bad so far this season. Their first six games have come against teams looking for their first win. Four of those teams got their first win, including the lowly Detroit Lions. How bad is it in Washington? After last week's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, owner Daniel Snyder stripped Head Coach Jim Zorn of his play calling duties and passed them off to newly hired offensive consultant, Sherm Lewis. Lewis has been calling BINGO games at a senior center in Michigan for the past five years and after just two weeks back in the league, he will be calling the plays. The Redskins are quickly becoming the Raiders of the East.

QB Changes in the Bay Area

The 49ers pulled QB Shaun Hill and replaced him with former #1 pick Alex Smith. Smith made Head Coach Mike Singletary look good throwing for 3 touchdowns and giving the team a chance to win. We'll see who gets the starting nod next week.
Meanwhile, in Oakland, Tom Cable has finally seen enough of Jamarcus Russell. After 3 first quarter turnovers, Cable put the hefty QB on the sideline in favor of journeyman Bruce Gradkowski. The only question you can have regarding this move. What took so long?