The Cowboys' Tony Romo ranks second in the NFL with 33 touchdowns this season. John Biever/SI

MAILBAG Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

5. I think the only quarterbacks, long-term, I'd take over Romo right now are Brady and Peyton Manning. Romo doesn't have the deep arm of Carson Palmer or Roethlisberger, but he has the improvisational ability equal to, or better than, anyone beyond the top two.

6. I think this is what I liked about Week 13:

a. LaDainian Tomlinson is looking a lot like LaDainian Tomlinson again.

b. Jared Allen (11.5 sacks) reminds me of Michael Strahan five years ago -- great rush moves, plus the strength to bull-rush when necessary.

c. Joey Porter, in the span of six days, is looking like the Joey Porter he was in Pittsburgh. Active, opportunistic, fierce.

d. Tarvaris Jackson spent his second straight game looking like a first-string quarterback.

e. Buffalo defensive tackle Larry Tripplett made one of the prettiest diving interceptions of the year at Washington ... and he weighs 308 pounds.

f. When I watch the Bills, I feel like I'm watching a bunch of guys who would play football for free.

g. Joey Galloway is the best player in the league this season that no one's talking about. Seven more catches for 159 yards in New Orleans. His 18.2-yards-per-catch average is almost three yards more than Randy Moss' average, his 891 receiving yards is more than T.J. Houshmandzadeh's, and his six TDs are as many as Chad Johnson has.

h. I wouldn't have been shocked if Scott Linehan got whacked this week had the Rams had blown a 21-0 lead at home in the last 25 minutes of their game.

i. Where did Roddy White come from? Ten more catches yesterday in St. Louis. Nice player.

j. And what got into Will Demps? He's a new man since the Texans picked him up off the NFL street to build better safety depth. He had 12 more tackles Sunday in Tennessee.

7. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 13:

a. In case D'Brickashaw Ferguson didn't get the number of that truck that steamrolled him Sunday for an embarrassing, drive-ending sack in Miami, the number is 99. Jason Taylor. And D'Brick, you might want to learn leverage as part of your blocking bag of tricks.

b. This is the man the Jets picked No. 4 overall last year. The jury is, at best, still out on Ferguson. But he's been as leaky as dominant in his first year and three-quarters.

c. Damon Huard threw a bad ball into double-coverage for Antonio Cromartie's seventh interception of the year. I blame Huard far more than credit Cromartie.

d. What on God's green earth was that stupid shovel pass from Reggie Bush on a reverse with 3:36 left in a game the Saints led 23-20 over Tampa Bay, and why would Bush toss it when he saw the wideout was too far away to have a chance to catch it?

e. There is no defense of the indefensible Detroit running game. Sixteen of the first 17 playcalls in the lopsided loss to Minnesota were pass plays. That is one weird offense.

f. The Bengals, Broncos, Chiefs and Saints signed their playoff death warrants Sunday. Yes, the same Saints I picked to play in the Super Bowl.

g. The chants of "Joe must go,'' was shouted by some Redskins fans after the horrible loss to Buffalo. Not now, people. Not the time or place to whack a coach, or to talk about whacking a coach.

8. I think Aaron Rodgers is making Packer Nation sleep a little better in the wake of the drubbing Green Bay took in Dallas. I spoke to Rodgers two or three weeks ago on another matter and asked him how he was doing. He made an interesting point. He said as much as he didn't like sitting on the bench for most of three years, sitting and soaking in knowledge from Brett Favre and a good offensive staff like Mike McCarthy's has helped him smooth out the rough edges in his game. He now has total confidence running the system there.

"Now,'' he said, "when Donald Driver looks at me, he knows he can have confidence in me. That wouldn't have been the case in my rookie year. I'm just so much more comfortable.'' It showed Thursday night in Dallas.

Plus, the Rodgers-Favre relationship has improved dramatically -- to the point where now Rodgers has gone to Favre's house for dinner. Remember two seasons ago, when the relationship was chilly? "Chilly is the wrong word, I'd say,'' Rodgers told me. "Third wheel is better. Our relationship has gone from strictly business the first year to a little bit of a buddy role my second year to being really close friends now.''

9. I think if Tennessee catches the Browns for the sixth playoff spot, the Clevelanders will look back at the game in Arizona as the one that cost them the postseason. No question about it. I don't buy that it was clearly a bad official's call on the Kellen Winslow out-of-bounds catch on the last play of the game. To me, it was too close to call. I do buy that Derek Anderson gave the Cards too many freebies they didn't deserve.

10. I think these are my non-NFL thoughts of the week:

a. The officiating crew in the Pittsburgh-West Virginia game robbed Pitt, and very nearly caused the wrong team to win the game. Absolutely robbed Pitt. That crew shouldn't sleep for a long, long time. The two fourth-quarter holding calls on Pitt were the biggest phantom calls I've seen in such a big spot in a long time.

b. Things worked out for the BCS. Ohio State-LSU is the game I want to see for the marbles.

c. Best BCS game of all: Hawaii and Georgia. Now we see what Colt Brennan's made of. What, you thought I was going to say USC and Ron Zook?

d. And unless you're going to scrap the bowl system, don't talk to me about a playoff for college football. I don't want one. It's silly to ask 19-year-old kids who, supposedly, are college students to have longer seasons than NFL players -- to start practice Aug. 1, playing 'til Jan. 15, and start spring practice on March 1. It's not NFL-like. It's a longer regimen than NFL teams have for their players.

e. Coffeenerdness: My daughter Mary Beth informs me that The Barge, the campus coffeehouse at Colgate University and her employer, has shipped out two pounds of Colgate Blend to a South Dakota man, based on my review of the black gold in a recent column. You won't regret it, sir. That's a strong, delicious cup of Green Mountain coffee.

f. Saw No Country For Old Men and liked it a lot. The ending is unexpected, and I won't be the spoiler, but there's a great lesson in it. Which -- how can I say this -- is that real-life endings are sometimes more interesting than movie endings. Love Tommy Lee Jones in this movie. Brilliant. As was the killer, played by Javier Bardem, who is the most cold-blooded murderer I've seen in a movie in a while. By the way, that's a terrific name for a movie. Perfectly apt.

g. Ever have a "Stubbs?'' No? Your life is not complete. Had one for lunch on Wednesday in Texas. It's a bacon, sausage and egg sandwich, on thick Texas toast, from the Coppell Deli, named after the former Dallas Cowboy Dan Stubbs. Well worth the $4.95, because once you've eaten this monster, you won't be hungry for three days.

h. Great example of how to do a blog: Jason LaCanfora of the Washington Post, in his Redskins Insider, consistently updating the Sean Taylor story with the timeliness of a good newsman and the sensitivity needed to cover a death from the front lines.

Who I Like Tonight, and I Mean Tony Kornheiser

Baltimore's best ally tonight is the crowd. That M&T Bank faithful can be venomous, as I heard last January when the Colts came to town. There isn't the same reason for vengeance tonight, but the Ravens have to create a first-quarter turnover and let the defense be offensive to have a chance. Bill Belichick made a good point about the Baltimore defense and the impact of its defensive tackles, Kelly Gregg and Haloti Ngata, the other day when he said, "How many tackles does [Ray] Lewis have? He must have 150 tackles. You can give a lot of those, an assist or whatever you want to give, to Gregg.''

Still, these are the games -- hostile environment, the world watching, defensive pressure for four quarters -- that good quarterbacks love to play. Joe Montana loved to face the Reggie White/Jerome Brown Eagles. Johnny Unitas loved to play the Giants and their changeup pass-rush. Tom Brady loves games where everything is done on the silent snap-count, which might happen tonight. Just another challenge. New England 31, Baltimore 16.