1. The demise of Donovan McNabb – a terrific athlete and a seemingly nice guy – has been painful to watch. It is nice to see the notoriously brutal Philly fans pinning most of the blame for this stinker of a season on coach Andy Reid. The abrupt QB change at the half of a winnable 10-7 game seemed like the move of a man to save his job. Did the Eagles have a nice 10-year run thanks to McNabb, or in spite of him? Wouldn’t be shocked if this becomes a black-white thing.

2. Nobody – not Peter King, Emmit Smith, God, Bill Cowher, the Football Outsiders, the ghost of Vince Lombardi or Isaac Newton – could possibly begin to figure out the following teams: Denver, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Carolina. The quartet are impervious to logic, and trying to gauge what they’re going to do week-to-week is like trying to grasp the popularity of the Jonas Brothers, the acting career of Jennifer Aniston, or why gas station credit card machines tell you to remove your card “quickly.”

3. We were really close to adding Buffalo to that list after it scored 54 points in KC, which is the same amount of points it scored, total, in losing its previous three games. Then the phone rang, it was Scott Norwood, and you know how this story ends.

4. Remember that vehicle from the Abyss? That’s what you’d need to find out how deep the New York Giants are. No Plax and no Brandon Jacobs and the Giants still went into Arizona and beat the Cardinals? If you’re trying to compile a list of the most impressive wins in the NFL this season, this one has to rank in the top three.

5. Which brings us to the Jets, who also registered an equally awesome triumph, toppling the previously unbeaten Titans in Nashville. We plan on attempting to write more about this landmark victory (hopefully, accompanied by another “Fuck Yeah!” video from Favre) later in the day. Leon Washington, this season alone, has done more for the Jets than No. 2 overall pick Blair Thomas ever did.

6. Even though we said San Diego was done if it didn’t defeat Indianapolis … they’re not. But only because of Denver’s stunning home loss to offensively-challenged Oakland. As bad as San Diego has been – and it’s been four different shades of awful, like a Ben Stiller movie – the Broncos only lead the Chargers by a two measly games in the AFC West, and they play in the final game of the season.

7. The fact that Matt Cassel has back-to-back 400 yard passing games puts him in the same class as Marino, Simms, Fouts and someone named Billy Volek. Cassell is likely to end up closer to one than three of those guys. When defending Cassel, please keep in mind he’s got the same o-line and WRs that Tom Brady had. Do Cassel’s recent passing exploits make anyone else think that maybe the system is so good that it doesn’t matter who you plug in there, after a couple months, anybody could put up monster stats?

8. Only the winless Lions could turn a 17-0 first quarter lead into a 35-17 third quarter deficit. Steve Spurrier and everyone else listed here should unplug the phone this week.

9. Yes, we’re aware Brady Quinn struggled mightily against a woeful Titans defense that hasn’t lived up to expectations this year, and was previously picked apart by rookie Joe Flacco and Minnesota’s Gus Frerotte. But his finger was broken, and that’s why we loved his quote following the loss: “I didn’t have any idea that I was on such a short leash.” We’d get all Donald Trump and say to Romeo, “you’re fired,” but it’s unnecessary because Cleveland’s losing four of its final five anyway. No need to make a bad season any worse on the guy.