Cowboys, Panthers, Ravens storm back to the top

Ladies and gentlemen, for your Thanksgiving pre-dining pleasure, may we present the Joey Harrington Redemption Bowl. Here's what you'll see with the CBS crew Thursday, I'm guessing: Lots of between-play shots of a chagrined Matt Millen, looking like he just ate some bad cranberry sauce.

The Cowboys take over first in the NFC East with this win. Amazing. A week and a half ago, on the morning of Nov. 12, the Giants (6-2) had a two-game lead in the division over the 4-4 Cowboys. In the span of 11 days, Dallas not only caught up but also passed its nemesis.

Mike Shanahan will have 10 days after this Thanksgiving-night game to get Jay Cutler ready to make his NFL debut on the Dec. 3 Sunday night game against Seattle.

It's 11:56 p.m. Midnight draws night for the '06 Cinderellas. The Saints have allowed 35, 38 and 31 points in losing three of the last four. And no team is more desperate than these Birds this weekend.

How do you not feel for the Browns? They lead the league in close-but-no-cigars.

You haven't heard much out of Norv Turner since he started running the 49ers offense, but he's gotten Alex Smith to be a 62-percent passer, and he's designed a run game that's averaged 4.8 yards per carry. This team is better than any of us had any idea they'd be.

I'll tell you this. I would have bet you a lot of money when the Ravens were 4-2 and losers of two straight that they would never go on a five-game winning streak. But if they handle the Men of Steel, they'd be 5-0 since Brian Billick whacked Jim Fassel.

I just can't believe Joe Gibbs is 20-24 in his reincarnation.

Fifth straight absolutely non-compelling, brutally uninteresting game for the Cards.

The Texans walk out of Giants Stadium for the second time this month thinking: "We're better than both the Giants and Jets, yet we've lost to both of them in ridiculous ways."

Tough one to call. I'm sold by J.P. Losman's recent resurgence, by the short week for Jacksonville and by the Jags going into the late-November freezer of western New York.

I feel the tap on my shoulder midway through the first quarter, after LaDainian Tomlinson runs for his 23rd touchdown of the year, and my NBC boss, David Neal, in the viewing room at Rockefeller Center, says to me: "Peter, get LaDainian on the phone after the game. Ask him how it feels to be inhuman."

Here's the discouraging thing for the Giants: They've been slaughtered by injuries, but almost all on the defensive side of the ball. The offense still has its quarterback (Eli Manning), its deep threat (Plaxico Burress), its all-world running back (Tiki Barber), its lightning-rod tight end (Jeremy Shockey), and four-fifths of its starting offensive line. "I'm shocked our running game can be this unproductive," Barber said this week. The passing game is worse. Manning's problems are approaching crisis mode. He's a 49.4 percent passer in his last five games.

A trifecta on the Eastern Seaboard (Giants, Jets, Pats) would have been too much to expect for the Bears, particularly now that Chicago has, in essence, a 3.5-game lead on the NFC field for homefield advantage in the conference for the playoffs. They're 9-1. The Cowboys, Giants, Seahawks, Panthers and Saints are 6-4. Chicago has the tiebreaker over every one of them. I know the Bears have pride, but human nature says you don't play as hard if you don't have some desperation inside you.

I'd play A.J. Feeley over Jeff Garcia if I were Andy Reid, trying to recapture the greatness of late 2002, when Donovan McNabb went out in November with an ankle injury and Feeley had to start five December games. He won four -- and would have gone 5-0 if David Akers had made a semi-chippy field goal against the Giants.

Brett Favre will play, to be sure. It'll be his 252nd straight start, a record that will hold until Peyton Manning breaks it six years from now -- or seven, if Favre plays next year. The problem for Green Bay: Matt Hasselbeck will play too.