$.01--The headline game of the week was Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. Technically it was the Denver Broncos visiting the New England Patriots, but the copious amount of national coverage focused solely on the legendary quarterbacks. With good reason…

"Manning and Brady’s combined 306 regular-season wins are most ever by opposing starting QBs in a game, according to Elias Sports Bureau," wrote Adam Schefter on Twitter.

The game wound up being a tale of two halves. New England fumbled on its first three possessions. Von Miller returned the first one for a touchdown, then forced the fumble two plays later when he strip-sacked an unaware Tom Brady. Knowshon Moreno quickly capped that off, and it was 14-0 before the Patriots defense got introduced on the national broadcast. 

It was so bad for New England that neither the play clock nor the game clock were operational in their home stadium when they fell behind 17-0 late in the first. They had five fumbles and three drops before halftime. Manning was steady and the Broncos surged out to a huge 24-0 lead.

And then came the second half, when it became Tom Brady’s turn to bolster his argument for which QB is better. The Patriots erupted for four touchdowns in the third quarter, with Brady throwing poison-tipped darts to Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and friends. The Broncos offense sputtered, with Manning throwing a bad interception and the fumblitis apparently crossing the field to the Denver sideline.

Ultimately the game went to overtime, and Broncos safety Tony Carter earned the goat horns. When a late punt by New England caromed into an unaware Carter, the Patriots recovered. That led to the game-winning field goal, capping off the largest comeback win in Patriots history.

This was quite a game between the two top teams in the AFC. The win could prove huge for New England, as once again Peyton Manning proved he cannot beat Tom Brady in New England. 

$.02--Tony Romo doesn’t want to hear about the pervasive national narrative that he’s a notorious choke artist. Hopefully he dispelled some of that talk with a clutch performance in a huge win over the New York Giants. 

Romo drilled two key passes that converted third downs on the final drive, which was capped with Dan Bailey nailing a 35-yard field goal as the clock expired. The Dallas Cowboys' QB was poised and accurate down the stretch, methodically picking apart the Giants’ suspect secondary. 

The comeback win marked Romo’s 11th since the start of the 2011 season. No other QB in the league has more in that time span. This victory vaulted the Cowboys back into a first-place tie in the NFC East with the idle Eagles. It also all but ended any realistic playoff hopes for the resurgent Giants, who fall to 4-7. Dallas converted the season sweep of New York, which also gives them the tiebreaker should the Dallas defense let down Romo and the offense and allow the G-Men to sneak back up later this season. 

No small part of the comeback was a renaissance of Romo looking for Jason Witten when the chips were down. The veteran tight end caught two touchdowns, and all four of his receptions produced first downs. Oft-injured Miles Austin contributed a huge catch over the middle on the game-winning drive. It’s funny how we tend to focus on Dez Bryant and forget that there is a lot of talent around him. Romo did not forget, and because of that the Cowboys are right back in the thick of the NFC playoff race.

$.03--The NFC North is a hot mess right about now. The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears both suffered humiliating defeats, yet still remain atop the division at 6-5. The Green Packers had a chance to turn it into a threesome, but they decided that looking in on the action was more appealing and settled for a tie with bottom-feeding Minnesota. The Packers are now 5-5-1, while the Vikings are 2-8-1. 

Chicago and Detroit arrived at 6-5 in similar fashions. They combined for eight turnovers (five by Detroit) while failing to record a single takeaway. Both allowed a defensive touchdown as well as a big play score by the opposing offense. Both ran at least twenty more offensive plays than their opponents.

Detroit’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was particularly demoralizing. Lions fans weren’t happy about losing in Pittsburgh, but falling on the road to the Steelers is understandable. Losing at home to the now 3-8 Buccaneers is unfathomable. Judging by Twitter and message boards, it’s unforgivable. This was Matthew Stafford’s worst game in years, and it wasn’t much better for coach Jim Schwartz. 

Chicago at least has the excuse of rolling with backup QB Josh McCown, though to these trained eyes he’s a very reasonable facsimile of Jay Cutler. It’s the putrid, toothless Chicago defense that is the Bears’ primary problem. The Rams bagged 258 carries on 29 yards, notably a 65-yarder by tiny rookie Tavon Austin on a sweet pivot move that Bears safety Chris Conte is still chasing in the wrong direction.

The Packers get a chance to surge to the top when they travel to Detroit for the early Thanksgiving game. Detroit is teetering on the verge of a brutal implosion, but the Rodgers-less Packers are arguably playing even worse. In a division where eight wins might equal the playoffs, the last team to avoid the sixth loss has a big advantage.

$.04--The underwhelming mediocrity of this NFL season can best be summed up by the bottom of the AFC playoff race. 

As the late games on Sunday began, Pittsburgh held the sixth and final spot thanks to a thorough 27-11 flogging of perennial whipping boy Cleveland. The Steelers improved to 5-6 with the win, but that was good enough to lay claim to the spot. Had Cleveland won, which would have been a lot more likely had Jason Campbell not been forced from the game, they would have been in the catbird seat.

However, the late games mattered. The Tennessee Titans bubbled up into the six seed when Ryan Fitzpatrick found Kendall Wright with just ten seconds left on the clock to beat the Raiders in Oakland. The Titans are also 5-6. Had the Raiders won, their 5-6 record would have held the Wild Card spot.

I can’t tell you who is going to wind up with the six seed. There are nine teams that are either 5-6 or 4-7, and all have realistic aspirations. I can, however, tell you who the big winner is in all this madness: the No. 3 seed in the AFC. That figures to be decided when the Colts visit the Bengals in Week 14, as both teams are 7-4 after the Colts were annihilated by the Cardinals 40-11. On second thought, maybe that 6th seed has a chance after all… 

$.05--Just when you thought the Kansas City Chiefs were for real…

When the Chiefs sprinted out to a 9-0 record on the heels of their 2-14 debacle in 2012, everyone got giddy about the feel-good story. Even though they had earned those wins against a cadre of backup quarterbacks and bottom-feeding teams, it was still a mighty fine story.

Since then, the Chiefs have lost two in a row. There is no shame in losing to Peyton Manning and the Broncos, or really in dropping one to the sporadically great Chargers. The problem is that these have come in back to back weeks after a bye week.

Did the Chiefs lose their mojo on their week off? Perhaps a little, but what they really lost was the element of surprise. Nobody is taking them lightly anymore, and teams have now seen enough game tape of Alex Smith running Andy Reid’s offense to adjust. They’ve also taken away KC’s biggest defensive advantage, the pass rush.

That offense still looked effective against the Chargers. This week it was the defense that was the problem. Both Justin Houston and Tamba Hali missed most of this game with injuries, but nonetheless it was the fourth game in a row where they recorded either zero or one sacks. They had 34 sacks in their first seven games, two since. Opposing offenses are getting the ball out quicker and using more tight ends and backs in pass protection, and it’s working.

The Chiefs still have a chance to prove their mettle, drawing the Broncos at Arrowhead next Sunday. But if they can’t get to Peyton Manning and cannot stretch the field offensively, they stand little chance. They’re still a feel-good story, but the hangover might be coming a little early from the premature celebration in Kansas City.

$.06--The Jim Schwartz Rule, as it is condescendingly but accurately named, refers to penalizing a coach when he attempts to challenge a play that cannot be challenged. Schwartz infamously did so in the Thanksgiving Day game against Houston last year, and it cost his team a win.

Yet Schwartz and his Lions were wronged by the same rule in their loss to Tampa Bay. Bucs coach Greg Schiano threw the challenge flag to argue a missed field goal, a play which cannot be challenged. Yet even though the official stated in the explanation “the result of the play cannot be challenged,” there was no penalty assessed.

The officials in the Giants/Cowboys game also dropped the ball with the Schwartz Rule. After a series of ponderous calls throughout the game, Giants coach Tom Coughlin attempted to challenge a penalty interpretation on a muffed punt. The officials ruled, apparently correctly, that fair catch interference on a muffed punt results in a fair catch. Or at least I think that’s what the explanation is. Evaluate former Director of Officiating and noted referee sycophant Mike Pereira’s tweet on the issue:

 

Huh? I’m a former official, I vociferously keep up with the rule changes and I have no freaking clue what he’s trying to say about that rule there. To Pereira’s credit, he quickly followed that up by stating that Coughlin should have been penalized, but was not. Why concoct a rule if it’s not enforced, yet enforce a bizarre rule that appears to be concocted by drunken lawyers?

$.07--Florida State star quarterback Jameis Winston is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Winston is embroiled in allegations of a sexual assault from more than a year ago.

I don’t want to get into the sordid details (Google them if you like) and I won’t claim to know what happened. Only two people do, and those people disagree.

Here’s what I do know: it’s very disappointing that the accuser was almost certainly bullied by the Tallahassee Police Department. The TPD is right to warn her about potential recriminations to her going forward with accusations against such a prominent and likable local hero, but they went a step too far in (allegedly) delaying potential prosecution.

It’s also quite disappointing that all this is being played out in public before anything official happens within the legal system. I’m not saying at all that this is the same case, but we saw what happened to the Duke lacrosse players in the court of public opinion. Guess what? They were innocent, wrongly accused by someone now convicted of murder.

So before you demand that Florida State suspend or expel Winston, or before you rush to drown the female accuser with sexist insensitivities or outright lies, be real careful. Let the courts decide before you decide from afar.

$.08--NFL Quickies

1. It might not seem like much, but on Thursday the Detroit Lions had full 53-man participation at practice. Every player on the active roster was healthy enough to go through a full workout. If you’re looking for a reason why the Lions are on top of the NFC North, that’s a big one.

2. The Fritz Pollard Alliance, which is named after the first African-American NFL player and was formed to promote diversity in hiring, has come out urging NFL players to stop using the “N” word on the field. I support their position, but for a league which has a team moniker which is a similarly hurtful and offensive ethnic slur, I feel like their efforts are narrow and hollow.

3. News broke out Sunday morning that Robert Griffin III asked the Washington coaches to not show any of his bad plays in film sessions. Two thoughts here. First, those film sessions must be really short. Second, there is no better road to self-improvement than being aware of your errors and making an effort to fix them. My old mentor and friend Paul McGrady taught me that when I was a young, cocky greenhorn. RGIII needs to embrace that, not run away from it, or else the Ethnic Slurs are doomed.

4. Line of the night goes to Dan Patrick of NBC. After watching Cam Newton praise himself in Carolina’s victorious post-game presser, Patrick quipped “Newton did not get injured patting himself on the back”. Whoever wrote that--it might have been Patrick himself--deserves kudos for that one.

$.09--College/Draft Quickies

1. Since Mel Kiper Jr. trumpeted the draft virtue of Auburn tackle Greg Robinson, I decided to check out the redshirt sophomore left tackle. I see why Mel likes him, especially as a run blocker. He has devastating power, with an excellent initial punch and superb leg drive to back it up. He’s an aggressive kind of tackle, in the Orlando Pace mode. I need to see more, but should he declare I can easily see him vaulting guys like Taylor Lewan and Cyrus Kouandjio, both of whom I find overrated.

2. Northern Illinois passed another big test when they knocked off Toledo in yet another midweek #MACtion battle. A week after the Rockets wore all black and dominated a good Buffalo team, Toledo wore navy and pink and got manhandled by the Huskies. NIU has now won 24 straight regular season games and will earn another BCS berth if Fresno State loses a game. Jordan Lynch earned my FWAA first-team All American vote at quarterback, and he deserves to be among the Heisman finalists as well.

3. On a weekend where many prominent teams annihilated low-level cupcakes (Alabama, Florida State, South Carolina, Clemson), one of the cupcakes baked up a major upset. Georgia Southern won at Florida, winning in The Swamp despite not completing a single pass. Gators coach Will Muschamp might as well start making calls for a new job.

4. I am not a Heisman voter (yet), but here is what my current ballot would look like after a weekend where many top candidates struggled:

1. Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State, 2. Jordan Lynch, QB, Northern Illinois, 3. Andre Williams, RB, Boston College, 4. Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M, 5. Aaron Donald, DT, Pittsburgh.

5. With #4 Baylor and #5 Oregon both getting blown out, by Oklahoma State and Arizona respectively, the BCS bowls are looking less attractive. Imagine if Michigan State beats Ohio State in the B1G title game, Auburn shocking Alabama in the Iron Bowl, and Arizona State stunning Stanford in the PAC-12--all of which are very realistic possibilities. The battle to play against Florida State, which is not going to lose in the ACC, will be up for a major battle of unglamorous upstarts.

$.10--This coming week is Thanksgiving, a holiday which means a lot of things to a lot of people. For many, it’s a chance to score bargain deals by abandoning the family and trekking out early Friday, or even late Thursday, and going Black Friday shopping.

Not me. Not again. Two years ago I was one of those suckers. At halftime of the nightcap NFL game, I set out for the deals. I stood in line outside a Toys R Us in Webster, Texas for almost two hours to score a couple of advertised mega-deals. Once inside, I quickly found my items and then proceeded to wait over an hour for the checkout lines. Thank God I was prescient enough to bring headphones and a fully charged cell. I saved a total of $44.

But I wasn’t done. Just after 1 AM Central time, I finally exited Toys R Us and screamed across the clogged mall parking lot to get to Kohl’s. The entry line was just 20 minutes, but the checkout there took over two hours. I bought a Shark Steam Mop (awesome product), a couple of outfits for my daughter that she wanted, and two toys for my nephew. The checkout receipt said I saved $96 when I paid $122.

I was pretty pleased with my outing, though I was not too happy when my daughter found her Dora flute at 8 AM. I went through the rest of Friday in a fog. Saturday was a trip to a football game, Sunday was my typical 16-hour NFL writing day. I was in a lousy, sleep-deprived mood pretty much until Christmas.

I was not alone. Employees of those stores wore beaten faces with puffy, bloodshot eyes all shopping season. Good tidings and great joy were conspicuously absent in the retail world.

Worse, I found every single product I purchased at such a great deal on Black Friday on sale for even less the week after Christmas. Every single one of them. I wrecked my holiday buzz for what?

I encourage you to resist the urge on Black Friday. I implore you to not feed the beast and shop anywhere on Thursday. If you don’t shop, the stores will give up the ridiculous demands upon their hard-working employees. Have a heart and put off the shopping. If you must scratch the itch, do it online or on Small Business Saturday. Trust me, you won’t regret it.