7. Thanksgiving football. No disrespect to the Pilgrims and Native Americans who sat down back in the day to share roasted turnips, but let's not kid ourselves: For all practical purposes, modern-day Thanksgiving is more about professional football than it is any symbolic gesture of shared face-stuffing. The NFL has claimed Thanksgiving as its own.

What this means, NFL fans, is that not only is Super Bowl Sunday a holiday in itself, but we've also pretty much taken over Thanksgiving, so we've got two major national holidays where we are actually expected to watch football. Yeah. Be jealous, fans of any other sport in the world.

6. " The League" on FX. From what I understand, "The League" is being drubbed in the ratings by infomercials for giant cupcake makers, and that's a shame. It's a funny show. It's not re-writing television history or anything, but it's funny, it's filthy and it revolves around fantasy football. What more could you ask for in a TV show?

Do me a favor, and go watch an episode or two for free on Hulu. At the very least, check out this 79-second clip (a naughty language warning applies for either link) demonstrating how a child's birthday party can actually be useful for fantasy football purposes.

5. Twitter. I know a lot of you hate Twitter. You think it's part of the dumbing down of America. You think it's for 13-year-old girls telling each other that they just saw Zac Efron in a magazine with his shirt off. You are wrong, and you are missing out.

Open up a Twitter account, and you can get updates from NFL writers, bloggers, reporters, rumor guys, beat reporters, players, official team websites, NFL employees and John Stamos. If you're ignoring it as a possible supplement to your NFL information stream, you're cheating only yourself.

4. Movin' the Chains. The entire SIRIUS NFL Radio channel is awesome, but this show in particular, every weekday from 3 pm - 7 pm EST, raises the bar for sports radio. I don't know if other guys just don't know as much, or they aren't willing to share as much, but Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan bring the X's and O's like no one else. Listen to one show -- even one hour of one show -- and I promise you that when you're done, you'll know more about the game and the players who play it than you did before you started.

3. The quarterback play in '09. Good quarterback play is what makes the difference between okay games and great games, and the quarterback position right now is better and deeper today than it's ever been in NFL history. There's no doubt in my mind about that.

There are five guys right now with QB ratings over 100, and if that holds, it would be an NFL record. There are seven other guys with ratings over 90. Let's take a look at how that's progressed over the last 30 years. Ten years ago, we had one guy over 100 (Kurt Warner(notes)), and four others at 90 or better (Steve Beuerlein, Jeff George(notes), Peyton Manning(notes) and Brad Johnson(notes)). Twenty years ago, we had one guy over 100 (Joe Montana) and just two others over 90 (Boomer Esiason and Jim Everett). Thirty years ago, we had just one guy over 90 (Roger Staubach) and no one close to 100. Forty years ago, no one got out of the 80s.

We are witnessing the golden age of quarterbacking, right now. Breathe it in. It's the best time in history to be an NFL fan.

2. Rich Eisen and the NFL crew. The gold standard in sports is still Ernie Johnson and the TNT NBA crew, but if there's one group that comes close, it's Rich Eisen and the NFL Network gang. That's the best way I know how to compliment them.

They've got strong personalities in Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders and Warren Sapp(notes), and Eisen just knows how to pull it all together. He knows when to step into the background, when to reign in a conversation, and how to make the set feel like a group of knowledgeable cats just sitting around and talking about something they love. Of all the studio shows, the NFL Network's has the least ego, mugging for the cameras and artificial laughter. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the rest.

1. Today's mobile phone technology. I don't want to pimp for any particular phone company, and obviously, a lot of the phones today do a lot of the same things. But this is my first NFL season with an iPhone, and I'm finding it to be magical. I can do things from my phone that I wouldn't have thought possible even four or five years ago. It's truly baffling, and I'm not sure it's something that we, as a society, even deserve.

I can do all of the following: get constant live updates on my fantasy team, make last-minute line-up changes if I'm already at the bar and Chris Mortensen has some last-minute news, wager small amounts of candy on the outcomes of games, get any stat at any time, listen to radio broadcasts of games, actually watch games at a very acceptable level of quality with the DirecTV app, play Madden, and read the Twitter updates of dozens and dozens of NFL people I like and respect.

I made that list without even thinking about it. There has to be a dozen other useful NFL-related things you can do, too, many I probably don't even know about. I find it incredibly useful when I'm at a bar and sitting in front of eight televisions. Should I happen to get stranded away from televisions on some Sunday, I can't even imagine how useful I'd find it.

Owner Ralph Wilson is looking for someone to coach his Buffalo Bills, and he's not being shy about the fact that he's willing to pay someone a lot of money. NFL.com's Vic Carucci passes along this tidbit about the huge price tag that might be attached to Mike Shanahan, who may be the top target at this point.

"You're probably talking about $50 million over five years and maybe even a piece of the team," said a source close to Shanahan. "And by all indications, Wilson is ready to have that conversation."

I like Mike Shanahan and all, but $50 million? Yeah, he won two Super Bowls, but that wasn't yesterday. That was back when Eddie George, Jamal Anderson, Ricky Watters and Garrison Hearst were among the league's best running backs. That was back when Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck saved the world by drilling into a moving meteor. That was back when R. Kelly was just some guy who made enjoyable records.

The point is that the '97 and '98 Shanahan magic might not be there anymore. In fact, in the ten years he coached since then, he's won in the playoffs just once. Now, I'm not one of those people who believe Shanahan only won because he had John Elway under center, but I do happen to believe that the ten years since then matter, too.

When we last left Mike Shanahan, he'd lost half of his last 48 games, and missed the playoffs three straight years. He had made some brutal personnel decisions, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. He had even lost his magical ability to make a 1,000-yard runner out of anyone with two legs.

The Broncos replaced Shanahan as a head coach and as a personnel man, downgraded significantly at quarterback, and then they rattled off six wins in a row.

I'm not saying any of this makes Mike Shanahan a bad coach. A clean break may have been exactly what the Broncos needed, and exactly what he needed. I am saying, though, that if I were in Ralph Wilson's shoes, I'd be extremely, extremely nervous about handing over $50 million in guaranteed money, as well as a piece of the franchise, to a guy who had, over the last ten years, won one more playoff game than Brian Boitano.

A couple of boys in the Pittsburgh area were involved in a friendly game of backyard football when the pigskin got away from them. It rolled down near a wooded area, and when one lad went to retrieve it, some grumpy, child-hating deer attacked him in a Joey Porter(notes)-like fit of rage.

Here's the news report from KDKA in Pittsburgh.

The kid only suffered a little bruising, and, as the video notes, he's fine now. In fact, I'd argue that he's even better than he was before, because now he knows he's got a friend that has his back.

Seriously, a nine-year-old boy picks up a stick and starts clubbing a crazed deer? That kid is awesome. He can be on my team any day. Bring the stick, young man. We've got a defensive line to get through.

Gracias, Second-String Fullback.

Other unusual stories on the Yahoo! Network:
• Notre Dame's star QB 'sucker punched' by angry fan
• Aging Santa gets $100,000 facelift for Christmas
• Good idea: Judge blocks law allowing guns in bars

"House" is one of the shows in my weekly DVR rotation, and I usually try to watch it after the Monday night game. Last night, as soon as the Titans and Texans were done playing their thriller, I hit play on "House" and just like that, I'm hit with a well-executed "Mike Tomlin looks like Omar Epps" joke.

Well done, "House" writers. The Tomlin/Epps resemblance was something I first noticed on about, oh, I don't know ... January 20th, 2007 at 3:30 p.m. It had sort of faded from memory recently. They say comedy is all about the timing.

Gracias, Morning Freak Show, via With Leather.

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.

Other popular football stories on Yahoo! Sports:
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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"?