As The Ball Bounces: Week 11

Bob George

Nov 25, 2004 at 5:00am ET

They'll always be the Cleveland Browns to this writer. Just because some birdbrained owner couldn't do what Al Lerner did shouldn't strip the Baltimore Ravens of their real heritage. Matt Stover is the current Raven kicker, but he is the last of the real Cleveland Browns to still be on their roster. Stover broke in with the real Browns in 1991, and has kicked for them ever since. He's 36 years old, and can carry the Dawg Pound torch for a few more years yet. Throw him a bone, and watch him blast the kickoff out of the end zone -- and into the arms of the most loyal fans on the planet.

Good news: I got to see Nicollette Sheridan naked.

Bad news: So did my 11-year-old daughter. Where we live, Monday Night Football starts at six in the evening. Daddy had a lot of explaining to do. The NFL needs to get off this "sex sells" mentality, and pronto.

You want sex? Go check out The Sunday Night Sex Show on the Oxygen Channel. Sue Johansen will make you forget about Dr. Ruth instantly. Just keep it away from football. There's a time and place for everything.

Seattle is darned lucky that Miami wasn't good enough to seal the deal on the road.

You look at Trent Dilfer and how lousy he did, and then you remember that he is the worst Super Bowl winning quarterback in the history of the league.

Good to see Drew Bledsoe get back on the beam.

Ben Roethlisberger was sacked seven times by the Bengals. Lucky he's so mobile, else he would have been sacked about fourteen times.

The Patriots needed both Ohio teams to win. Both merely showed that they just don't have the material to win against tough teams at home.

Although Kelly Holcomb, he of playoff pedigree, should have done better than he did.

Geek of the week: Boston's own Jeffrey Lurie, who should be spanked for allowing that slop of an opening to be filmed inside the Eagles' locker room.

If Peyton Manning played all sixteen games against the Patriots, nobody would ever mention him as an MVP candidate.

It also shows how many crummy defenses there are out there in the league.

It took three years after his debut, but Tom Brady's co-starter for Michigan, Drew Henson, finally got his feet wet in the NFL.

If Tampa Bay can score 35 on San Francisco, the 49ers are worse than we thought.

Especially when you consider that the highlight of the day for the 49ers was an 81-yard punt.

I never thought I'd say this. The NFL would be better off without Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs.

Only in the present tense, mind you.

Welcome back, Deion Branch.

Butch Davis will be fired as Browns head coach when they suffer their next loss. Rest well, Butch.

Of course, they can always run the table.

First Priest Holmes, now Jamal Lewis. Maybe in the AFC playoffs, both Edgerrin James and Duce Staley will be scratches also. Keep them top shelf backs on the shelf.

Offensive coordinators are either stupid or blind. If I see Earthwind Moreland covering my guy, I throw at him until he shows that he can stop it, and I don't let up until my side has at least 49 points.

Back to school: Ohio State won the game, but Michigan won the war. California, here we come.

The Patriots actually do need to pay a little bit of attention to Kyle Boller.

You expect Dick Vermeil to cry after a game. But not Tony Gonzalez.

Same old same old. If the Patriots happen to stop a top-flight receiver or offense, it must be holding.

Good to see Antowain Smith plow one in from the two on Sunday.

But we'll keep Corey Dillon, thank you very much.

It's time for John Madden to retire that stupid turducken of his. That's that clone of a turkey, duck and chicken. We're still having to deal with that horse trailer.

We appreciate Thanksgiving traditions. It's just too bad that Detroit has been generally a mediocre to bad team over all these years. This year, they get to try and stop Peyton Manning. Hope all of southeastern Michigan has some good tasting food on their tables, because the football may not be as delicious.

The Lions may get creamed, but it may be a more interesting game than Chicago and Dallas.

Ray Lewis is coming to Foxborough. The toughest of all visiting tough customers.

When you get benched as Cardinal quarterback in favor of Shaun King, it may be time for Josh McCown to find out if his college diploma is any good.

Believe it or not, Randy Cross never played a down for the Miami Dolphins. But he should be shipped off to WQAM in Miami to work alongside former Celtic announcer Howard David. You'd agree with this if you ever heard him call a Dolphin game on CBS.

Remember him: Running in the shadows of the great Jim Brown is tough. But Leroy Kelly was a truly great running back in his own right. He played in Cleveland from 1964 to 1973, rushed for 7,274 yards, gained 12,329 all-purpose yards, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He was there as a rookie when the Browns won their last NFL title. He was a complete back, one of the very best in league history. You might call this the football equivalent of Carl Yastrzemski following Ted Williams.

So, what are you thankful for this year?

Good health, we hope.

Lots of family around you, we also hope.

The World Champion Red Sox.

The World Champion Patriots.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.