An intriguing game this evening, as the suddenly fearsome Titans travel to Houston to take on the wild-card seeking Texans. The Texans need it to keep pace with the Jaguars in the wild-card race. The Titans need it ... well, for self-esteem purposes, I guess.

Catch Vince Young(notes) 2.0 in action here tonight, as we'll be here all night with running commentary on the game, observations, insights, polls, blatant lies and a high level of interactivity with you, the reader. We'd love it if you joined us. Kickoff is set for 8:30. We'll be here a few minutes prior.

Andre Caldwell(notes), Kick Returner, Cincinnati Bengals. Andre Caldwell has made some big catches for the Bengals this season, but I'm afraid that yesterday's boner trumps them all. Raiders special-teamer Brandon Myers(notes) poked the ball away from him and recovered it. Sebastian Janikowski(notes) came on, buried the winning field goal, and that was that. Of course, if you're the Bengals, there's no reason you should be in a close game with the Raiders to begin with, but being good is new to the Bengals, too. They'll get the hang of it.

Hank Poteat(notes), Cornerback, Cleveland Browns. When Matthew Stafford(notes) scrambled out of the pocket before his desperation heave into the endzone yesterday, Hank Poteat thought, "Hey, I better not let Calvin Johnson(notes) catch this." That part was good. But Hank Poteat also thought, "If the quarterback leaves the pocket, it's okay for me to run around and indiscriminately tackle wide receivers at my own whim. Wheee!" Unfortunately, this rule exists only in Hank Poteat's head. He shoved Calvin Johnson out of the back of the endzone, got flagged for it, and Stafford made the Browns pay.

Chris Simms(notes), Quarterback, Denver Broncos. Kyle Orton's(notes) ankle wasn't healthy enough for football activity yesterday, so the Broncos started Chris Simms. By halftime, Josh McDaniels decided that a one-legged Kyle Orton was a better option than Chris Simms. The Broncos still got pounded, but Simms was bad enough for McDaniels to decide that it was worth risking the long-term health of his starting quarterback. I never understood why McDaniels didn't go back to Simms when it was clear that the game was decided, though.

Mark Sanchez(notes), Quarterback, New York Jets. The up-and-down season continues for the rookie quarterback, with yesterday being his second worst game of the season. Sanchez completely Jamarcus'd out against the Patriots, going 8-of-21, with four interceptions and just one touchdown. When it was all said and done, his quarterback rating in the game was 64 points lower than it was in his first outing against the Patriots.

Brandon Gibson(notes), WR, St. Louis Rams. Gibson dropped a pass in the endzone that would've given the Rams a chance to tie the Cardinals and force overtime. Here's a related stat for you: Tied for the lead this week in times targeted were Wes Welker(notes) and Brandon Gibson, both with 17. Welker had 15 catches. Gibson had five. I'm sure Marc Bulger(notes) shares a lot of the blame on that, but it's still an awful, awful percentage.

Yesterday was a big day for Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens. He had his best game as a Bill, by far, with nine receptions for 197 yards and a touchdown. He also learned that there's still at least one Terrell Owens(notes) fan in the world.

Mike Sims-Walker(notes), the Jacksonville Jaguars receiver who had a nice game of his own (eight receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown), celebrated his score by stretching his arms out to make the shape of a "T", and then putting them above his head for an "O", in tribute to Owens.

After the game, Sims-Walker even asked Owens for his jersey.

“When you speak of Terrell Owens, you speak of greatness,” Sims-Walker said. “He’s been doing it for 10 or 11 years. I place him up there with the Torry Holts, the Jerry Rices, those great guys – the Randy Mosses. He’s one of the best in the league.”

Owens took Sims-Walker’s request for his jersey as a compliment.

“Everyone wants my jersey after every game,” Owens said. “I take it as a compliment that I can still play this game.’’

Either that, or Mike Sims-Walker has a lucrative second career as an eBay power seller of game-worn sports memoribilia. One of the two.

I kid, I kid. Sims-Walker is right when he refers to Owens as one of the greats of all time, and he collects the jerseys of great players. It's nice to see a relationship where a young receiver has so much respect for a veteran.

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Matthew Stafford(notes), Quarterback, Detroit Lions. Is there any better scenario for a rookie quarterback? In just one play, he labels himself as tough, clutch, poised, a gamer and possessor of any other vague, non-quantifiable quality a quarterback can have. At the very least, that play earns him a pass from the media for the rest of the year. He can go totally JaMarcus over the next six games, completing 19 percent of his passes, throwing zero touchdowns and 27 interceptions, and everyone will still say, "Yeah, but did you see that Cleveland game? This kid is destined for greatness."

Nnamdi Asomugha(notes), Cornerback, Oakland Raiders. Someone from Oakland deserves to be in here. I could go with Bruce Gradkowski(notes), but I figure JaMarcus Russell(notes) doesn't need another swift kick to the self-esteem right now. I'll take Nnamdi, who shut down Chad Ochocinco(notes) yesterday. Chad had four catches on the day, with only one of them coming against Asomugha. It was a fantastic day all around for the Oakland defense, as Carson Palmer(notes) was held easily in check, and the Raiders got more pressure on the quarterback than they usually do.

Eli Manning(notes), Quarterback, New York Giants. Welcome back, young man. Instead of a big explanation, here's a handy graph illustrating Eli's quarterback performance by game this season:

Graphs are fun and educational.

Andy Studebaker(notes), Linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs. Studebaker's two interceptions of Ben Roethlisberger(notes) yesterday were the biggest factors in the Chiefs' shocking upset of the Steelers. The second-year man out of Wheaton College made the first start of his NFL career yesterday, and I'm predicting that he'll keep his two-interceptions-per-game pace up for the next ten years or so. I don't think that's unreasonable to expect at all.

Leigh Bodden(notes), Cornerback, New England Patriots. His last name might be as fun to say as Studebaker's, but Bodden actually topped him with three interceptions yesterday against the Jets. As a sidenote, how insane was yesterday? This was probably the most talked about game through the week, and we had so much other crazy stuff go down yesterday that no one's even talking about the Patriots' spanking of the Jets.

NFL history is littered with nauseating injuries. Joe Theismann. Napoleon McCallum. Ed McCaffrey. Don't click any of those. They're all just nasty (and yet, perfectly preserved on YouTube forever).

Today, another such injury was added to the list. Eric Wood(notes), a promising rookie lineman for the Buffalo Bills, suffered an injury just as sickening as any of those listed above.

CBS, during the game, refused to show a replay of the injury. The internet being what it is, though, it is available for easy viewing online (unless the video gets pulled, which wouldn't shock me). It is, as promised, gross. You can click the play button, or you can not click the play button. Your eyeballs, your call.

Told you.

I do want to add, too, that I'm philosophically opposed to CBS refusing to replay an injury because they've deemed it too graphic for me. We're all watching football, we're all aware that it's a violent sport and we're all aware that things like this can happen. I'm not saying anyone wants to see it happen, but we know it's a possibility.

The fact of the matter is that an injury to Eric Wood is a major part of the game. Networks are supposed to show major parts of the game. They don't have to show it 50 times, and they don't have to celebrate it, but they should give people a warning that it's graphic and they should show it. It's newsworthy. It's as relevant to the game as any touchdown, field goal or interception.

Wood's leg, as you may have guessed, was broken, and he'll have surgery in Jacksonville. He's done for the season. We all wish him the speediest and quickest recovery.

Gracias, SN's The Trenches.

"Cry, Whine and Moan" is a weekly Sunday evening feature where fans of victory-challenged teams can gather to commiserate. Feel free to vent your frustration with your team's players, coaches or management in the comments below. And please, fans of teams who aren't on the list: Leave those less fortunate alone. This post is a taunting-free zone. The losers deserve that much.

Washington Redskins. It wouldn't feel right to make fun of the Redskins this week, because the guys on the defensive side of the ball all did their jobs, and then some. As for the offense and the coaching staff ...

The following quotes are passed along from Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog, your online home for postgame quotes that somehow find a way to further humiliate the Redskins. The Redskins needlessly burned two timeouts in the second half. Here's Jim Zorn explaining the first one:

"Well, shoot," he said. "Yeah. We got caught on a clock, and I really don't know how it happened, because I felt like we got the play in, I felt like we were out of the huddle, and we were down to :01 [on the clock] before we knew it. Absolutely have no idea how that happened. Because we were moving in and out of the huddle pretty well then.

And here's Jim Zorn explaining the second one.

"And then on the second timeout, that use of timeout, that was just so frustrating to me. We hurt Jason on that play. I hurt him, because I didn't have the needed call, and we got caught on time again, where we had a shift and a motion and I had to call timeout because it wasn't gonna be [snapped in time]. It was just totally mine, totally on me. I screwed us out of that timeout. I did everything I could just to maintain my composure, and then it absolutely had an issue at the end of this football game, so it's just on me."

I think we're about two Redskins losses away from Jim Zorn sitting in front of the mic at postgame press conferences, pulling out an acoustic guitar and singing a song he wrote called, "If You Had Any Shred of Mercy in Your Soul, You'd Fire Me Right Now."

Cleveland Browns. You've got absolutely nothing to be ashamed about this week, Browns. Any bad team can be boring. But you and the Lions went out there and made a hell of a football game out of something that should've only drained our collective will to live. That is a contribution. I'm absolutely serious about that. Thank you, Cleveland Browns, for what you did today.

Buffalo Bills. I have no Bills or Jaguars on my fantasy team, I had nothing else riding on the game, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even have noticed if CBS decided not to send a camera crew down to Jacksonville for this one. I realize that that's unfair since the Jags are 6-4 and a playoff contender, but I think on a subconscious level I see that no one in Jacksonville even cares, so that makes me not care myself.

Seattle Seahawks. Brett Favre(notes) completed 22-of-25 passes for an 89% completion rate to go with his four touchdowns. Is that it, Seattle? You're going to let him leave town with just that? What about his hot oil rubdown, or the personal one-on-one concert from Sir Mix-a-Lot?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Josh Freeman(notes) is playing, learning, making mistakes and hopefully learning from these mistakes. That's the good news, slight as it may be.

St. Louis Rams. Way to hang around in the second half and threaten to make a comeback, Rams. Late in that game, you didn't like look like a 1-9 team to me. Somewhere around 3-7, maybe.

Denver Broncos. That makes four losses in a row, and if Kyle Orton's(notes) ankle doesn't get healthy soon, I feel pretty confident that it'll become five on Thanksgiving night. Chris Simms(notes) is a loooooong way away from his 2005 "prime," which wasn't that great to begin with. Orton wasn't himself, either, with the bum ankle. If that doesn't get fixed, a 6-0 start is going to be wasted.

Pittsburgh Steelers. I think Mike Tomlin called Marvin Lewis after last week's game and said, "Listen, that game was tough on both of us. We can keep fighting it out for the division after Thanksgiving, but what do you say we both just take this weekend off?" An agreement was made, and there was joy in Kansas City and Oakland.

Cincinnati Bengals. Honest question: When Bruce Gradkowski(notes) stepped in and won his first game as a starter, do you think JaMarcus Russell(notes) said to himself, "Wow, I've really got a lot to learn" or, "If it had been me in there, we'd have won by 30"?

If you happen to be a Packers fan who is sick and tired of hearing about Brett Favre(notes), and you're thinking of joining the National Guard and going overseas to get away from it all, stop. It's not going to work. The detainees in Baghdad are going to be just as vicious as the Vikings fans you know.

A Wisconsin National Guard unit charged with keeping watch over detainees in Baghdad decided to put up Packers colors and logos all around the camp. The prisoners noticed, started asking questions and suddenly, Favre became an unwitting ally.

From 620WTMJ's Jay Sorgi (subbing in for the injured Waylon Manning):

"They know Favre by name," said First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, who is from New Richmond, Wis.

"One of the big words they know now is shenanigan.  They'll constantly talk about 'Favre shenanigans,' 'He's so good for the Vikings,' and 'The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.'  "

[...] "They obviously then started up the conversations, and started talking about Brett Favre. They soon learned about Favre going to the Vikings, and things just started going downhill from there."

In retaliation, I think our troops should make the detainees watch ESPN's Week 4 Monday Night Football contest between the Vikings and Packers, including pre- and post-game shows. They'll never want to mention Favre again.

If you're lucky enough to spend some time on Thanksgiving watching football, you might catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama tossing around the pigskin. Obama lent his time and athletic prowess to the NFL's Play 60 campaign today for a commercial shoot with some NFL stars.

[DeMarcus] Ware and fellow NFL players Drew Brees(notes) and Troy Polamalu(notes) filmed a public service announcement with Obama in October that will air during the league’s Thanksgiving games.

The 90-second spot shows Obama and the NFL stars playing touch football with local children on the White House lawn. The PSA promotes the league’s Play 60 campaign, which encourages physical activity to combat childhood obesity, and the president’s community service initiative United We Serve.

Obama wore a Chicago Bears jacket in the commercial (it would be nice if you could make that less embarrassing for him, Jay Cutler), and Ware said that the President displayed a solid knowledge of football when talking to the players.

Obama's known for being more of a basketball guy, but there's no need to worry about him humiliating himself on the football field. The Lions and Raiders play on Thanksgiving Day, ensuring that Obama won't be anywhere near the worst football player on television next Thursday.

UPDATE: Here's the video. Excellent technique from the president on that catch. Polamalu, you look a little slow in coverage.

A man who threw two interceptions in just nine pass attempts against the Chiefs on Sunday has just been named the starter for the Oakland Raiders, and that only begins to tell the story of how bad JaMarcus Russell(notes) has been this year. And yet, it still took until Week 11 for Russell to finally get the hook.

So why now? Who knows? At this point, the season is already lost. Other non-competitive teams are now in the mode where they're switching to their younger quarterbacks so they can evaluate them for the future. The Raiders are doing the opposite. Bruce Gradkowski(notes) is the older, more experienced guy and clearly is not the future of the franchise, while Russell, some believe, still might be.

It made sense to make the move in Week 4 or 5, when there might have been a season to salvage. It makes less sense now, but still, I guess there's never a bad time to bench the worst starting quarterback in the league.

My theory on the timing is that owner Al Davis calls most of the shots in Oakland, he's in love with Russell's size, strong arm and athleticism, and it took this long for him to finally say, "Okay, maybe we should try something else." I do not believe that Tom Cable -- or any other NFL head coach who is allowed to make decisions for himself -- would've stuck with Russell for this long, had it been his call.

Cable says that's not the case, and it's been up to him all along. I don't buy it. I think he's a better coach than that. I also think that he sees it as part of his job to cover for the owner in public. It's the only scenario that makes sense. No quarterback with Russell's numbers survives as a starter for that long unless it's someone other than a coach making the decision.

What does it mean for the long-term future of JaMarcus Russell? There's some speculation that it means the Raiders are done with Russell, and are finally ready to give up on him. I doubt that's the case. All along, he's been Al Davis' pet project, and really, there's no reason for that to change now. Russell is still young and still gifted. Guys like that seem to have an endless string of second chances.

It might mean, though, that his days of being handed playing time are over. From now on, he's going to have to earn it by being the better quarterback, and that should have been the case a long, long time ago.

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This week's edition of the podcast takes a closer look at the resurgence in Tennessee and how Vince Young(notes) is making it happen. To help us out, Jimmy Morris of Titans blog Music City Miracles was nice enough to stop by and shed some light on Tennessee's situation.

The most fascinating thing about it is Vince Young, of course, and how on earth he managed to compile a 3-0 record as starter since taking over. Jimmy tells us what VY does for the offense that Kerry Collins(notes) couldn't do, as well as what else has been clicking for the Titans. We talk about Bud Adams and his mischievous fingers, the disappearance of LenDale White(notes) and why Chris Johnson is the best running back in the NFL.

This edition's Abusive E-mail of the Week again insults my wife, who was able to take the insult in stride, mainly because she doesn't exist. The Hot Routes touch on JaMarcus Russell(notes), Ronnie Brown(notes), Pat White(notes) and Mike Shanahan's chances of being the next coach in Buffalo. Here are the games we call for the Picks Segment, where Danks went 5-0 against the spread last week (home teams in CAPS).

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS -3 vs. Chicago Bears
PITTSBURGH STEELERS -7 vs. Cincinnati Bengals
MINNESOTA VIKINGS -16½ vs. Detroit Lions
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS -2 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS -3 vs. New England Patriots

You can listen right here.

Or download the MP3 right here. MP3, 37:25, 17.5 MB.