Here's what happens when you sit an NFL Junkie down in front of multiple big screens with Sunday Ticket and fresh batteries in the remote...

Is Stuart Scott trying to be funny? Seriously.

As you know, Jake Plummer will miss a few weeks with an injured foot. Details were pretty sketchy but apparently, he injured the foot while playing but the real damage came when he got out of his chair at home. No word as to whether Brian Griese's dog was involved.

With the Giants best cornerback, Will Peterson, out for the next two months, it was expected that this could be the game where a Philadelphia receiver could break the end zone. Instead, it was the game where they struggled just to catch one pass.

I remember reading somewhere that Jay Leno was scared to death of going on vacation. He says the Tonight Show is the best job in the world and he didn't want anyone else getting a shot. Sounds sort of like Tiki Barber to me. Barber didn't do anything to come off the field other than get tired. He carried 19 times for 79 yards while adding 5 receptions for 34 more and appeared to be having a solid game. He came out for a breather and Dorsey Levens never let Barber get back in the game.

This is just great. It's tough enough that Brandon Manumaleuna is getting enough attention that I have to learn how to spell his name. Now Marques Tuiasosopo gets a shot at quarterback for Oakland.

Asked if he had ever seen a play like the one Moss made Sunday, flipping a no-look, over-the-shoulder lateral -- as he was being tackled by two players -- to a trailing Moe Williams, who then raced 15 yards for a touchdown as the first-half clock expired, Denver receiver Rod Smith replied: "Yeah, on PlayStation. ..."

I love the Budweiser "True" commercials with Leon. Quincy Carter is the Anti Leon.

When the schedules came out, nobody would have been surprised to hear that the week 8 game between Tampa Bay and Dallas would feature the league's # 1 Defense. But I bet not many people thought it would be Dallas with the top defense.

I don't hear nearly as much "Mike Martz is an egotistical idiot" stuff as I used to.

I've been on Donovan McNabb as much as anyone. With good reason, he's been terrible. But you can forget any notion of McNabb seeing the bench except for injury. There's zero chance he gets pulled for his play. Why? Because this league is a business. And few businesses have made the decision to feature and market an employee more prominently than the Eagles have McNabb. Rightly or wrongly, the Eagles have chosen to market themselves and create their "brand identity" as Donovan McNabb and you don't bench your "brand".

The job of every coach is to make the most of their personality. Dick Vermeil does his thing with caring, Bill Parcells does it with grousing and Mike Tice showed last week that he does by "being one of the guys". Tice emerged from the Viking locker room for one of their bye week practices decked out in his shoulder pads, helmet, and his old Minnesota # 87 jersey. The players went crazy.

Speaking of old jerseys, nice move from Daunte Culpepper in the Minnesota post game press conference. Showed up wearing a throw back # 44 Chuck Foreman jersey.

I told you last week about my new favorite player: Minnesota's Safety Brian Russell. He was leading the league in interceptions going into week 7 but as an undrafted free agent and former practice squad player, he said he wasn't letting up one bit. He must have meant it as he picked off another pass Sunday.

Checking the San Diego Box Scores. Something is not right when your running back has almost three times as many yards rushing as your quarterback does passing.

Referee Jerry Austin said the Patriot players didn't understand which part of the coin was "tails". The Patriots say Austin made a mistake and turned the coin over when he picked it up. Are we down to having a coin that is marked with the words "heads" and "tails"?

Watching the Dolphins and Patriots play on the baseball dirt Sunday made me think. Do the football guys wear baseball cleats? I know the spikes wouldn't be allowed but do some of the baseball players use cleats that would fall within the rules allowed for football?

Philadelphia gained more yards returning punts than they did passing and rushing combined Sunday.

I've got a new theory on the Bengals. Their number of wins in a season are inversely related to the number of times that Mike Brown's name is brought up. I think I'm on to something.

Speaking of Cincinnati, note to Corey Dillon: the time to start whining and complaining is not when your team finally starts to turn things around and not after you've rolled up 39 yards rushing on 18 carries.

Here are a few nuggets of wisdom from Dillon: "I want out, Trade me to Dallas." Dillon later said he was joking about Dallas -- the trading deadline was Oct. 14 -- but not about his desire for change. He has two years left on his contract. "I'm telling you, ain't nothing permanent, ain't nothing concrete," Dillon said. "You sign a contract with your wife -- you can get rid of her, can't you? And that's a lifetime contract. What I'm basically trying to say is, ain't nothing permanent, ain't nothing sketched in stone. There's ways out of anything."

Marvin Lewis said he got a little teary last week preparing for the Ravens and watching film of his old defense. Although he might have been crying over the fact that it took his Bengals until last week to recover a fumble.

It was nice to see Ray Lewis run across the field smiling after the game to give a congratulatory hug to Marvin Lewis. Brian Billick wasn't quite as smiley.

Ki-Jana Carter scored a touchdown Sunday. Just thought you'd want to know.

Coming into the Tennessee game Sunday, the Panthers were one of the few undefeated teams left. Defensive tackle Kris Jenkins showed up for the game wearing a jersey from the Miami Dolphins' perfect 1972 season. Nice move, Kris.

Is there a bigger tease in the NFL than New Orleans' Donte' Stallworth? I think not.

Why aren't more QBs better at faking the play action pass handoff? I mean, that takes no skill. I'd be a world class play action faker.

Detroit's Joey Harrington finished the first half Sunday with a quarterback rating of 7.1. His opponent, Quincy Carter, finished the first half with a 130.1 rating. Guess who won?

Going into Sunday's game, Rob Johnson had been sacked once for every three passing attempts. Some things just don't change. Johnson will land somewhere and continue taking sacks.

If I'm Ron Jaworski, the next time my contract comes up at ESPN, I'd be for writing in some sort of clause that keeps them from airing that old picture of him in the Eagles uniform sporting the Sasquatch beard.

Viking wide receiver Kelly Campbell picked an odd "guarantee" for the game last week: "I'm going to block a punt this week. You can put that in the paper." The paper did and Campbell didn't. Although Campbell made up for it catching a touchdown pass.

ESPN's Steve Young says Randy Moss just makes a mockery out of routes. "He just runs out there".

I'm really surprised to hear some folks talk about Mike Vick and how he might not come back this season if the Falcons have no shot at the playoffs. I've heard people ask "why should he come back?" He should come back because he's a professional football player and that's what he's paid to do. Maybe I just haven't seen it but I'm still very surprised to see Vick not have a headset on and be involved in the games. I know he's a young QB but so is Chad Pennington and you didn't see Pennington wandering around the sidelines.

Tampa Bay's Simeon Rice did a feature Sunday where they followed Rice around for the day. One scene was Rice in the salon getting a manicure. You going to make fun of Simeon Rice for getting a manicure? Me neither.

ESPN interviewed Miami's Ricky Williams and they asked the mandatory questions about his hair. When they went back to the studio, Tom Jackson said of Williams' hair, "I been thinking about going that route myself"

New Orleans' Joe Horn is averaging only 1.7 yards gained after the catch this season.

Hats off to Chicago's Chris Chandler. He's in a nearly hopeless situation and he knows it. But Sunday you saw the most fragile quarterback in the league lowering his shoulder and trying to squeeze his way into the end zone for the two point conversion. I hope Mike Vick was watching that.

Here's how Chandler described his run: "It was just kind of sandlot, chicken-with-your-head-cut-off running. I was looking for anything that was open. Everyone was on the right side of the field and I just tried to make it in."

Steve McNair was so good Sunday that he completed a pass to himself.

Steve Beuerlein suffered the ugly broken finger Sunday. "My hand was pinned under me. I felt terrible. I felt like my whole finger was bent back, which we found it was." He was great the way he sort of had it hidden then as the trainer approached he flopped his hand out there. Fingers are most definitely not supposed to bend that way.

Tim Couch should just give up on Cleveland.

The Saints' Joe Horn was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct when he mimicked shooting a gun after scoring his touchdown. "I'm sure the league will have something to say to him," coach Jim Haslett said. "If he wants to dance a little, that's fine. But you can't be pulling out six-shooters or guns on the field."

Good thing for William Shatner that Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were there to salvage the Monday Night Football intro.

I happened to turn on the TV Wednesday night and it was still on the ABC channel from Monday Night. "The Bachelor" was on. I lost 25 IQ points before I could change the channel. Please tell me none of you guys like that show.

It's getting tougher and tougher to defend Jim Fassel.

Arizona quarterback Jeff Blake had this advice for rookie wide receiver Anquan Boldin: "He is No. 1 since day one, and it's because he plays. He plays hurt. You have to be tough. This is a big man's game, this ain't no little boys game. You have to play hurt. They have medicine for you, strap it up and play. ..."

Dick Vermeil's Chiefs almost lost to the Raiders Monday led by backup quarterback Marquis Tuiasosopo. Vermeil had coached Tuiasosopo's father in college. "I knew him before he was born," Vermeil said of the younger Tuiasosopo. "I'm happy to see him doing well. I'd just (rather) have him do it against somebody else."

Buffalo wide receiver Eric Moulds found it tough to miss another game Sunday: "It's hard being on the sideline. Sometimes when the offense was going out on the field, I had to catch myself to keep from going out there. Then I looked down and noticed I had regular clothes on. Good catch there, Eric.

Denver's Rod Smith summed up his feelings on backup quarterback Danny Kanell: "Danny did a good job. If he did a great job, we would've won."

They could create a new position for Kelly Holcomb: The "Relief QB". He's excellent coming off the bench but hasn't been nearly as effective when starting.

Ken-Yon Rambo, one of my favorite NFL names surfaced Monday. He worked out for the Broncos but did not sign.

Think the head coach has a fun job? How'd you like to be Steve Mariucci choosing between Mike McMahon and Joey Harrington?...

Ironic Twist: The NFL career leader in TDs, Jerry Rice is the only player in the NFL in the top 30 in receiving yards, without a TD.

Evidently, the Jaguar's axe fiasco in the locker room which put punter Chris Hanson out for the season has prompted other teams to be careful as well. Says Carolina coach John Fox, "I get concerned about them having towels".

Tennessee's Steve McNair summed up the Carolina ball control offense pretty well: "We wanted to score first and see if they could come from behind," McNair said. "They couldn't."

49er defensive end (and former Buccaneer) Chidi Ahanotu had this to say on what he told his new teammates about his former team: "I told them, 'Man, keep running right at them,"' said Ahanotu, Tampa Bay's former franchise player. "Run it down their throat. They want to dance. They want to look pretty. When you run it right at them, you really get into their psyche and take them out of everything they want to do."

Truth is, the Bucs just don't scare anyone now.

Andrea Kremer from ESPN reports that Oakland linebacker Bill Romanowski is considering three weeks of daily sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber in hopes of regenerating brain cells. That can't be good.

Does anyone miss Rush Limbaugh? I don't think so.

Caught just a few pitches of the World Series game Sunday. Saw enough to learn that the Marlins' Alex Gonzalez lists his favorite movie as Scarface and his favorite musician as Yanni. Baseball players.

After a brief tease, the Lions look worse than ever. Maybe Steve Mariucci isn't the answer we thought he was. He looked shaken after the game. "I hope this is the bottom. I was just as surprised by this as everyone else in the stadium. I don't ever remember coaching a game like this before."

Somebody has to put an end to those Clemson uniforms Cleveland seems compelled to throw out.

I know Steve Beuerlein is old and all. But does he really need to ride the golf cart to the locker room after a finger injury?

Best punt of the day might have been Jeremy Shockey kicking the ball into the end zone stands after his TD.

Will Tampa Bay ever return a kickoff for a TD? Ever?

Referee Jeff Triplette worked his first game in Cleveland since 1999 when he threw a penalty flag and accidentally hit former Browns offensive tackle Orlando Brown in the eye. I bet that was a little weird for him.

Washington's Patrick Ramsey had three fumbles in two plays. That's not easy to do.

Buccaneer Todd Yoder leveled his coach, Jon Gruden on a play Sunday. It wasn't Yoder's fault but he was awfully quick to help Gruden as a backup TE should be.

How many times can they run the commercial for the NFL Network with all the different fans standing in line behind Don Shula? I like the Steelers guy towards the front. He looks like Popeye's Dad.

Doesn't Terrell Owens talk a lot to drop as many passes as he does?

In Sunday's New Orleans - Atlanta game, Warrick Dunn rushed for a 69 yard TD on the 2nd play of the game. On the 5th play of the game, Aaron Brooks threw a 69 yard TD to Donte' Stallworth.

Peter King had this from Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil: "You know me. My motto is 'I'm never going to act as old as I am.' I'm one of those guys who gets into the lives of his players. I love them. I can't tell you how much I love these kids. And they are kids. They're all younger than my own children. I miss these players so much on Mondays and Tuesdays, when they're not here after we win. And every Sunday, I can't wait to watch 'em play.''

I know it's been tough for Cubs and Red Sox fans. But do you think they realize that people who are not fans of the Cubs or Red Sox don't really care?

Hard Luck Awards. Here we go.

That'll do it for today, Folks. Here's to Football.

Joe

Joe Bryant is an owner of www.footballguys.com You can usually find him on Sunday afternoon staring at the Sunday Ticket broadcast muttering "this is so cool..."

Thanks to Footballguys Bob Harris and Jeff Haseley for the help on this one.