NFL Quick Hits

- Wow Thursday's games were terrible. I'm not sure if it was the turkey or the games that put me to sleep.

- For those of you who were confused after last week's Bengals-Raiders game, no, Bruce Gradkowski is not the answer. For Oakland's fans' sake, I hope the Russell benching is just to send a message, because Gradkowski has proven that he's terrible (of course, so has Russell). If the Raiders truly believe Gradkowski is the better option, then either Russell is even worse than he's looked, or whoever's making the decision doesn't understand the quarterback position.

- I'd say the most disappointing part of Thursday's slate was that the NFL forgot to tell the Giants that this wasn't a bye week for them. Given the news that Eli has a stress reaction in his foot, perhaps they should have just sat at home and ate turkey.

- Carson Palmer, thank you for just going through the motions today. I wasn't counting on you for my fantasy team or anything, for only the second time all season. It's not like you were playing a real NFL team, either. You were playing the Browns. They're barely a college-level team. You couldn't have done better than 13/24, 110 yards and 1 TD? And 16 points total? Really? Was it necessary for you to let your charity work spill over into your job? I know the Browns are sad-sack, but it's not your job to keep them within striking distance of your team. Next time, maybe you'll put a full effort into things? Or at least warn us before the game starts? Please?

- 4 interceptions, Miami? Against Buffalo? Jeez, at least Cincinnati won their game against Cleveland. I wonder who Tony Sparano is going to whack after that putrid showing.

- No matter how bad things get for the Seahawks (and they're bad, believe me), at least beating the Rams is still right up there with death and taxes. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 95 yards (don't ask, I don't know how that happened either), and the game was never in doubt. What does this mean? The Rams are awful.

- Jake Delhomme threw 4 more INTs. Congrats on that extension this offseason, Panthers, it looks really great right now.

- Chris Redman has a pretty good gig. He gets to play once every couple of years, chuck the ball all over the place, and win a game. And probably gets 6 figures for it. This one was a real barnburner. Yes, it was against Tamap Bay, but it still goes into the books as a comeback win for Redman, and good for him.

- Philly is the worst good team in the NFL. They're probably going to the playoffs, and they do not put teams away. The Redskins should never have been in this game, and Philly needed a touchdown, 2 point conversion, and field goal in the 4th quarter to pull this one out. Yuck. They won't get back to the NFC Championship game this year. I sense a one and done effort.

- SI writer Don Banks opined that Houston needs to fire Gary Kubiak and go in some other direction. I can't really argue with that. Houston cannot finish a game to save their lives, and it's not because they don't have talent. They have it on both sides of the ball, but it's always either a come-from-ahead loss or a near loss. At some point, it's a pattern and that falls on the coach. I think we're a few games past that point. On the other side, what more needs to be said about Indy. You're going to have to kill them twice, because they've been down in the 4th quarter 5 times now this season, and they're 11-0.

- For anyone wondering why Philly gets the worst good team label over Jacksonville, the reason is simple. Jacksonville isn't good. I don't care if they're over .500, they're not a good team. At all.

- Vince Young just might be a real NFL QB after all. He one-upped Matt Leinart once again, almost 4 years later with some late game heroics. This time it was an 18-play, 99-yard drive featuring 3 4th down conversions, including a 10-yard TD pass to Kenny Britt as time expired for the 20-17 win. Don't look now, but Tennessee has now won 5 straight after starting 0-6 and they take their hot streak to Indianapolis next weekend.

- Baltimore is now losing to the Steelers in the 4th quarter. A Steelers team without their best defensive player (Polamalu, he's too busy shooting commercials), their starting quarterback, or their backup quarterback. This is officially an embarassment. Joe Flacco, pull your head out of your...rectum.