Hi Folks,

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...

Cincinnati fullback Jeremi Johnson joins Pittsburgh's Jerame Tuman,
Seattle's Jerramy Stevens, and Jerheme Urban and in the "Another Funky
Way To Spell 'Jeremy' Club".

Anyone else think it was a little embarrassing to see a once proud
franchise like Miami be toyed with by a guy no more accomplished at
this level than Nick Saban? It'll be interesting to see how he fares.
No back to back games of Troy State and Vanderbilt at this level...

How bad has it been for Tennessee? Every fan at the Coliseum last
Saturday was to receive a free Santa hat, courtesy of the Titans, but
a train carrying the shipment of more than 68,000 of the hats
derailed.

Agent Joel Segal earns my vote as smartest guy in the NFL by a
landslide. Anyone who can convince Arthur Blank that Mike Vick and his
76.6 passer rating are worth 100 million dollars is a genius in my
book. See all the passer ratings here
http://www.nfl.com/stats/playersort/NFL/QB-PASSING/2004/regular?&_1:col_1=15

Funny line from our Mark Wimer last week: "Rex Grossman was the man
for Chicago back in week 1 – since then, they've started three other
guys under center. Chad Hutchinson is the latest starter, and perhaps
the best since Grossman, for the Bears. Hutchinson enjoyed one good
outing, in his first start – he hasn't managed to throw a TD since
then, though ("best since Grossman" is a conditional phrase, you
see)." He's right.

Note to Deuce McAllister owners – Yes, Jim Haslett really does hate
you. Check this series from the Hard Luck section:

1-7-ATL7 (5:35) McAllister right guard to ATL 4 for 3 yards
2-4-ATL4 (5:02) McAllister right guard to ATL 1 for 3 yards
3-1-ATL1 (4:19) McAllister right tackle to ATL 1 for no gain
4-1-ATL1 (3:33) Brooks up the middle for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN

An unnamed (imagine that) New York Giant player reportedly said this
recently, "Guys absolutely hate Tom Coughlin." I've been talking about
the Captain Queeg thing since Jacksonville.

San Francisco full back Fred Beasley summed up the 49'ers season:
"Hopefully, this is a bad dream. Once this season is done, hopefully
we'll go home and wake up, and then we'll get ready for next year."

"They're sitting there worried about Baltimore and Pittsburgh. They
should have been worried a little bit about us." -- Texans defensive
end Gary Walker on Jacksonville overlooking Houston.

>From the NFL.com game recap: "(Jacksonville coach Jack) Del Rio said
he would not have put Leftwich back in the game had he known he had a
concussion." Wow. You think?

Kansas City kicker Lawrence Tynes washes his car before the game for
good luck. He didn't wash it Saturday and was wishing he had before
the game deciding kick. "It was too cold this morning (to wash the
car)," Tynes said after booting his first game-winning field goal in
the NFL. "I was thinking I should have washed it."

The Dolphins are on FIRE.

With as many passes as LaDainian Tomlinson catches (53 so far this
season), it seemed odd that his receiving TD Sunday was his first of
the year.

Talk about a tape job – Jamal Lewis looked like he was sporting a ski
boot on his ankle.

The difference between good and great? Pittsburgh's Antwaan Randle El
pulled down a fantastic one handed grab Sunday. And then fumbled the
ball on the next play.

Is there a more irritating actress on TV than the "AOL Mom"? I think not.

Weird story floating around that Rams offensive lineman Kyle Turley
threatened to kill coach Mike Martz. Both Turley and Martz claim the
story is totally untrue. I know some Marshall Faulk owners that might
want to have a "sit down" with Martz though...

Eli will be fine.

The Indianapolis kickoff guy is the shakiest position in football.
Martin Gramatica was the fifth different player to man that post
Sunday.

Why don't they televise a little more of the post game interaction
between the players? I'd like to see that.

Randy Cross had an interesting observation during the Indy game.
Peyton Manning placed a perfectly thrown pass to Reggie Wayne where
only Wayne could touch it. Cross said, "Wayne didn't beat (Charger
cornerback) Florence. Manning did."

My one note on Manning breaking the record:  It didn't surprise me at
all but the fact that Manning's first reaction after breaking the TD
record was to signal for a two point conversion so his team could tie
(and eventually go on to win) the game says as much about him as the
record does. This is a guy that wants to win football games.

I saw Dennis Miller pitching Netzero recently. That's a long ways to
fall. Moral of the story? Don't cross Al Michaels...

Scary moment in the New Orleans game when umpire Jeff Rice was caught
up in the tackle and suffered a bloody forehead. I honestly don't see
why this doesn't happen all the time. I've been saying it forever but
no one seems to care or listen – You'll see the officials wearing
helmets at some point. Why not now?

I feel sort of bad watching Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs.

Just when you give up on Kevan Barlow, he finishes this drive pretty
impressively:

1-10-BUF14 (7:36) Barlow right tackle to BUF 10 for 4 yards
2-6-BUF10 (7:00) Barlow up the middle to BUF 1 for 9 yards
1-1-BUF1 (6:22) Barlow right guard for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN

Funniest line on ESPN in a while comes from their TILT previews: "I've
got an in with the Matador." They apparently call this guy "The
Matador" because of his devastating capacity for "luring young bulls
into the ring." The cheese factor is off the charts there. Even for
poker. And that's saying something.

Mike Vanderjagt's game winning field goal in overtime looked like it
would have been good through a set of uprights three feet wide. It was
perfect.

New York's Kurt Warner said he'd like to be a starter somewhere next
year. That's understandable. To his credit, he was pure class after
being benched in favor or Eli Manning. He didn't complain and he was
Manning's biggest cheerleader on the sidelines. Sometimes his only
cheerleader. Warner described Manning's progress: "You see his play
continually improving week-in, week-out, and you know he is at the
point where he just wants to get a victory," Warner said. "He just
wants something to go in our favor, for us to make that one play that
will make the difference in a game and get win and build off that."

Sorry if I'm a little distracted. I'm just a little nervous about that
Continental Tire Bowl coming up...

Seemed a little ironic that the Anthony Thomas era unofficially came
to an end Sunday in Detroit. The former Michigan star was relegated to
the #3 running back. He'll be an unrestricted free agent after this
season and likely not part of Chicago's plans.

Didn't you sort of expect to see Jeff George for Chicago before the
year was over? I kind of did.

Cleveland's Lee Suggs set a franchise record Sunday with 38 carries.
It's one thing to set a team record in Houston or Jacksonville or
Carolina. But when you start setting team records for Cleveland,
that's saying something. Those guys have been at it for a while.

How bad is it in Washington? Ifeanyi Ohalete still hasn't collected
the $40,000 Clinton Portis owes him for giving up his 26 jersey number
and Ohalete says he'll take Portis to court if something doesn't
happen soon. "It's up to Mr. Portis as to whether this thing will go
all the way to trial," said Ohalete's attorney, John Steren.

Glitch in the Matrix: Packers won 34-31 over Minnesota last week. Just
like they did in week 10...

Did you notice that both Brett Favre and Mike Sherman had ear plugs in
during the game in Minneapolis? That's a loud place to play.

Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor missed a start Sunday with a
sprained knee. You old timers probably remember "Fragile Fred". Before
you get too excited, it was Taylor's first missed game in 47 straight
games. He's expected back this week.

New addition to the BlackeyedJoe.com All Name Team. Denver signed
running back Santonio Beard to it's practice squad. But he's a starter
on the All Name Team this week.

Interesting case of the vet learning from the young guy. Bengal QB Jon
Kitna said he could use some of Carson Palmer's
"water-off-a-duck's-back demeanor." "I tend to wear my emotions on my
sleeve a little bit more than he does," Kitna said. "I think that's
kind of helped him. I think that if I could probably be a little more
even-keel, that would help me a little bit."

Note to Saints fans:  Yell loud if you want your team to go for it on
4th down. It worked Sunday as the Saints were prepared to kick a field
goal facing a 4th and goal from the 1. Coach Jim Haslett called
timeout, talked it over, and sent the offense back on the field. "We
wanted the lead," Haslett said. "The players thought they could make
it, the coaches wanted to do it. I was the only one who didn't want to
do it. The fans wanted to go for it, so I was outnumbered."

Thanks for the avalanche of email from all you folks busting me on the
"step up" last week. Guilty as charged. Free Footballguys hat goes out
to Dale Kendall for being the first to email me about it.

The Eagles couldn't change their playoff position Monday night and
were obviously concerned about injury, having just lost Terrell Owens.
As Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Bob Brookover put it Tuesday,
"Terrell Owens was at home last night with a couple of screws in his
ankle. Tra Thomas had to return home to tend to a personal matter. And
Brian Westbrook and Jevon Kearse were placed in the player-protection
program by Eagles coach Andy Reid." Donovan McNabb took a seat after
one series giving the game an exhibition feel. That's probably not
what the advertisers paying huge sums of money to Monday Night
Football were hoping for. Obviously feeling the heat, quarterback
Donovan McNabb said, "We treated it as a regular-season game." You
figure that one out.

Looks like I've got at least one more year to quote Mike Tice in
Minnesota. The Vikings extended his contract this week to run through
the 2005 season.

Hats off to interim Miami coach Jim Bates. Miami is 3-3 since Bates
took over. They were 1-8 under Dave Wannstedt before he quit the team.
Bates' only other head coaching jobs were in 1985 in the USFL, and in
1969-71 at a high school in Tennessee. "To have the players' support
is as rewarding as anything I can have,'' he said. "You can get all
the kudos and everything from the outside, but when you get it from
within, that's the most satisfying thing. When I leave this position,
that will be something that I will always carry with me as long as I
live. This has been a very rewarding time.''

Barry Sanders. Billy Sims. And now Kevin Jones. Jones joined a pretty
exclusive club last Sunday. By rushing for 123 yards, Jones joined
Sims and Sanders as the only Lions rookies to rush for 1,000 yards in
a season. "It's a great honor because those are two of the best ever,"
Jones said.

Lots of people (myself included) put a special emphasis on how a
player finishes up the 2nd half of the season. If you're one of those
guys, keep an eye on Houston's Domanick Davis. During the second half
of the season, Davis has averaged 102.4 yards per game and has scored
at least one touchdown in a team-record eight straight games. He
averaged 51.4 yards and scored five touchdowns during the first half
of the season.

I don't really understand Terry Robiskie. Luke McCown is not a good QB
right now. Whether he becomes a good QB remains to be seen. But
Robiskie certainly isn't doing much to help that along. Asked directly
whether McCown has proven he can be the quarterback next year,
Robiskie would not endorse him. "That's hard to say today, especially
after such an emotional (loss) last night," Robiskie said. "As I stand
on the sideline on Sundays, I would probably say, 'No, he's not.'" Now
maybe he isn't ready yet. And Robiskie is just being honest. But you
can answer that question a little more politically than, "No, he's
not."

And just to add, if it wasn't confusing enough with Josh and Luke
McCown starting. (Josh for Arizona, Luke for Cleveland) The Browns
backup to Luke McCown is Josh Harris.

Seattle's Darrell Jackson reached 5,000 receiving yards in just his
76th game. It took Steve Largent 78 games to hit 5,000 yards...

Talk about tough luck, Eagles rookie running back Thomas Tapeh ran the
ball with just 28 seconds left in the game. And suffered an ugly
dislocated hip.

On third and six, Seattle QB Trent Dilfer stumbled for a seven yard
gain. "That's just lack of athleticism," Dilfer said. "I was just
trying to keep my eyes up so my head wouldn't fall." Shaun Alexander
said, "I was thinking, 'Run faster! I was wishing he had my legs
there." And finally, Mike Holmgren added, "That was the longest 7-yard
run I've ever seen."

>From the "it evens out department":  After making 17 straight field
goals to start the season, Phil Dawson has now missed five of his last
seven attempts.

Hard Luck Awards

GB QB Favre 8 yard pass to the 1 to WR Driver (Green TD)
GB RB Green 4 yard rush to the 3 (Favre to Driver TD)
HOU QB Carr 7 yard pass to the 1 to TE Miller (Davis TD)
OAK RB Crockett 5 yard rush to the 5 (Collins to Porter TD)
KC QB Green 14 yard pass to the 4 to WR Parker (Johnson TD)
BUF QB Bledsoe 9 yard pass to the 5 to WR Reed
BUF QB Bledsoe 2 yard rush to the 3 (McGahee TD)
SD RB Tomlinson rush for no gain from the 5
SD QB Brees 1 yard rush to the 4 (Brees to Gates TD)
IND QB Manning 11 yard pass to the 3 to WR Stokley (Manning to Mungro TD)
WAS RB Betts 2 yard rush to the 5 (Ramsey to Royal TD)
DET QB Harrington 26 yard pass to the 1 to WR Williams (Jones TD)
CAR QB Delhomme 14 yard pass to the 4 to TE Seidman (Delhomme to Colbert TD)
CAR RB Goings 16 yard rush to the 1
CAR RB Goings –1 yard rush to the 2 (Delhomme to Seidman TD)
CIN QB Kitna 17 yard pass to the 5 to Houshmandzadeh (Kitna to C. Johnson TD)
CIN QB Kitna 21 yard pass to the 1 to RB Watson (R. Johnson TD)
CIN QB Kitna 19 yard pass to the 5 to WR Houshmandzadeh
CIN RB Watson 1 yard rush to the 4 (Kitna to C. Johnson TD)
NYG QB Manning 6 yard pass to the 1 to TE Shockey (Barber TD)
NO RB McAllister 3 yard rush to the 4
NO RB McAllister 3 yard rush to the 1
NO RB McAllister rush for no gain from the 1 (Brooks TD)
BAL QB Boller 19 yard pass to the 5 to TE Jones (Lewis TD)

Sometimes it's better to just not know.

Thanks for playing along. Hope all the bounces go your way this week.

Joe



Thanks to Footballguy Bob Harris for the help on this one.