The Post Mortem

The big story on this NFL Sunday was the performance of a grizzly, graying veteran who put his team on his back in a gusty comeback.

Of course, that is Kurt Warner.

The Kurt Warner Machine, facing unbelievable odds, nearly rallied the Birds back against Raven only to fall just short on Matt Stover�s field goal as time expired. There are no moral victories in the NFL. And it�s certain that Matt Leinart will be the Birds starting, but the old man can still wing it.

FAVRE BREAKS RECORD
And it wasn�t the interception record, yet. Brett Favre tossed three touchdown passes against the hapless Chargers secondary as the Packers inched San Diego closer to oblivion. Talk about an old man who can wing it, Favre should sign up for another couple of years. That was Favre�s second consecutive game where Favre has thrown three touchdown passes.

The most impressive thing about Favre, is that Troy Aikman and Steve Young seem barely lucid during an NFL broadcast -- especially when Troy is defending Norv Turner on PTI -- but Favre is not only still playing, but playing at a very high level. That's somewhat unbelievable. Favre was a rookie when Deion Sanders was rocking MC Hammer in the Falcons locker room.

Plus he is perfect for a franchise like Green Bay, a team that only needs to win a championship, oh, once every 30 years to be considered successful. An ideal fit for a guy who hasn't won a meaningful playoff game since 1997.

LT NOT HAPPY
Speaking of teams that haven't won a championship in 40 years ... with the way LT and Philip Rivers were arguing on the sideline, you would have thought that the young quarterback was mocking Shawne Merriman�s sack celebration. The frustration for Tomlinson has to be at an all-time high, probably even worse than 2005 when the Chargers just kind of felt their way through a 9-7 season, despite being a trendy pick for the Super Bowl. At least Rivers was able to get something going, and actually looked pretty sharp. But how can you ignore LT like that?

As Lil� Hater pointed out, Norv Turner finds a way to ignore his best players. And it should be noted that LT�s worst statistical season was under Turner�s watch as offensive coordinator. LT should probably just make like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack and fake an injury in an effort to save one year on his career that he is going to flush down the toilet this season.

• Happy birthday to Marty Schottenheimer. Probably the luckiest guy in the world. Missing coordinators, Cam Cameron and Wade Phillips, the Chargers probably wouldn�t have been as good this season. But, because he was unceremoniously fired after going 14-2, now looks like a martyr.

• If the NFL really wanted to feature NFL Hispanic Heritage month, why not have a prime time game featuring the Cowboys and Raiders?

• Congratulations St. Louis Football Team, you are the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention. The banged up offensive line suffered another injury against Tampa Bay. And before any of you morons believe that this team would be better off under Mike Martz, keep dreaming. Martz gets quarterbacks killed behind healthy lines, what would he do with a line like St. Louis has now?

• The most pressing question, can St. Louis go a perfect 0-16? We haven't been that good.

• The undefeated Lions era was too short. But going back to Martz, have you noticed that Martz is at his best when he has a Christian quarterback like Warner or Jon Kitna? But Martz, with his blockign schemes, seems determined to getting Warner and Kitna killed, proving that Martz is in fact, the devil.

• Credit Mike Shanahan for the Raiders first win of the season.

• Keep the Eagles in the throwbacks.

• Journeyman premieres Monday on NBC. Sorry, liked the show better when it was called Quantum Leap.

• The Chargers victory over the Bears looks even less impressive after the way the Cowboys rolled through Soldier Field. The Chargers play host to Kansas City and Oakland, sandwiched around a trip to Denver. Best case scenario, the Chargers go 2-1. But don�t count on it. This team will quit soon.

• Wade Phillips looks like a guy who deserved a third chance, not Norv. Don't give the Cowboys the NFC championship just yet, but they look pretty good so far. But if the season plays out like it's current direction, Favre and the Cowboys could hook up again, just like old times. Only this time, there is no Mike Holmgren to wilt in front of the Cowboys. Not to say that Holmgren was outclassed by the Cowboys, but his team once started a fight with the Cowboys kicker on Monday Night Football.
  

• Amazing interview with Eli Messiah following the Giants victory over the Racial Slurs. They asked Eli how he was able to engineer that comeback. Really, engineer? Because it looked to everybody else that the Messiah through slip screen to Plaxico Burress who took it 32-yards for a touchdown. The Messiah is a horrible quarterback, but imagine how bad he would be without Burress.
  
  Oh yeah, he�d be Rex Grossman. And does anybody else notice the similarity between Grossman�s and Donovan McNabb�s careers? A couple of oft-injured quarterbacks who rode their defense to a Super Bowl. Sound like a couple of peas in a pod.

• Mike Shanahan is going to be ripped for going for it on fourth-and-five from his own 9-yard line, but he made the right choice. There was no way the Broncos were going to stop the Jaguars running attack. And at least Shanny took a chance unlike 90 percent of NFL coaches out there.

• So much for the Patriots having a hangover from pounding the Chargers. You figured New England would win, but did you think it would be that easy? The Bills might be the worst team in the NFL. And the AFC East, sans New England, is just awful. Although, thanks to the Jets, there is a second team from the division who has a victory.

• UNLV clobbered Utah, who was coming off a stunning upset of UCLA. That could only mean one thing. UNLV is better than UCLA. And not just on the latest season of EA Sports College Football 08.

• Arizona State finally made its way to the Top 25. But how and the hell is Kentucky all the way up to No. 14? That so-called huge victory over Louisville is all for not, seeing that Syracuse beat them�at home. Honestly, is there anybody who believes that Kentucky would even be able to stay close to Arizona State if they played head-to-head? Come on, don�t be so na�ve.

AND FINALLY
The NFL has enacted a ban on cheerleaders from performing stretches and other, um, activities in front of an opposing team's bench for fear that they will distract the team. What other plot points do they want to ban from the movie, The Replacements? The next thing you know, the NFL will ban kickers from Wales chain-smoking on the sidelines.

Does the NFL really need a rule for this? Maybe the league should spend more time stopping dudes from taking HGH rather than banning cheerleaders from doing what the do. Seriously, if cheerleaders are banned from distracting the opposing team's players, what exactly are they doing out there? Good lord, sometimes we really do miss the XFL.

And one question, how does this ban affect the Panthers cheerleader's bathroom habits?