CBSSports.com Senior Writer Pete Prisco grades each team's performance every week.
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Postseason: Wild Card
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The NFL's longest weekend, which opens with the early game on Thanksgiving, this year otherwise known as the Detroit Disaster, comes to a conclusion Monday night. If the first 15 games are any indication, bet the ranch on Jacksonville at Houston.
Just when it appears we have a handle on this season, heading into December when the picture usually begins to clear up as to who the real contenders might be, we have a week like this one.
We had 11 of the 15 road teams win games over the Thanksgiving weekend. Of the 11 road teams that won, six were underdogs. On Sunday, we had two home teams win and 10 lose, tying a record for one day. If the Jaguars beat the Texans on Monday night, it will tie the league record for road winners in a weekend.
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Chris Johnson and the Titans got the big road-team weekend started with a blowout in Detroit. (US Presswire) |
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No division was hit more by the madness than the AFC East.
One week after the New York Jets staked a possible claim of being the AFC's best team by knocking off Tennessee on the road, they returned home and lost to a Denver Broncos team that lost at home last week to the Oakland Raiders.
The New England Patriots, a week off their impressive road victory at Miami in which Matt Cassel went for 400 yards in a second consecutive game, were blown out at home by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cassel came back to reality with a two-interception game.
And then there's the Buffalo Bills, the real disaster of the AFC East's lost weekend. They scored three points in a 10-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers -- at home.
The only team in the division to win was the Miami Dolphins, who won an ugly 16-12 game against the Rams in St. Louis.
Despite Miami's victory, I'm still giving the AFC East a collective F for the weekend in my grading. Hey, Miami needed a late-game interception to hold off a Rams team that had been struggling to stop anybody.
As it is now, we still have questions about the Jets, the talk that Cassel is the next Tom Brady will subside, the Bills are falling apart after an impressive start to the season and the Dolphins are back in the race.
With December upon us, I dare you to go ahead and try and figure out anything other than that the New York Giants are the best team.
The road warriors from this weekend showed us again how unpredictable the NFL can be each and every week.
So it's on you, Jacksonville. The Road Team Club wants you.
| Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008 |
| Tennessee Titans 47, Detroit Lions 10 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B+ |
| Titans: They ran it right at the Lions, which everyone expected. Chris Johnson had a big day. The defense was suffocating and only a turnover allowed the Lions to get a touchdown. | | C- |
| 3.13 |
 | F |
| Lions: That was terrible. They can't do anything on offense and the defense is a sieve. They are one of the worst teams I've ever seen. | | D |
| 1.09 |
| Dallas Cowboys 34, Seattle Seahawks 9 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | A |
| Cowboys: Tony Romo had all day to throw it and he carved up the Seattle secondary. It almost wasn't fair. The defense was all over Matt Hasselbeck, with DeMarcus Ware getting three of the team's seven sacks. | | B+ |
| 2.72 |
 | F |
| Seahawks: They couldn't protect the quarterback and they couldn't rush the passer. That's a bad combination. You won't win many games that way. | | C- |
| 1.54 |
| Philadelphia Eagles 48, Arizona Cardinals 20 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | A |
| Eagles: Donovan McNabb turned the benching into a big game, throwing four touchdown passes. Brian Westbrook had a big day, too. The defense had a good day with three takeaways. | | D |
| 2.48 |
 | F |
| Cardinals: They didn't run the ball at all -- again -- and it led to three Kurt Warner turnovers. The defense was terrible. This is a playoff team? | | C+ |
| 2.63 |
| Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 |
| NY Giants 23, Washington Redskins 7 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | A |
| Giants: Eli Manning had a nice day throwing the football when the Giants running game wasn't as good as it's been. He had his first 300-yard game of the season. The defense shut down the Redskins running game, which was the key. | | B |
| 3.25 |
 | C- |
| Redskins: When they can't get Clinton Portis going, they're a different team. He was held to 22 yards on 11 carries. What happened to the pass defense against Manning? | | B |
| 2.46 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23, New Orleans Saints 20 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B |
| Buccaneers: Give this one to the defense. They had three second-half interceptions of Drew Brees to win it. The last one iced it. The offense didn't need to do too much, but it didn't have to. It was efficient. | | B |
| 2.81 |
 | C |
| Saints: Drew Brees was sharp to start, but then cooled in the second half. They had no running game at all. The defense played a pretty good game, limiting Tampa Bay to 254 yards of offense. | | B+ |
| 2.48 |
| Miami Dolphins 16, St. Louis Rams 12 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B- |
| Dolphins: The defense came up big with three picks of Marc Bulger, the last to seal it with 35 seconds left. They kept the Rams out of the end zone. That's a good thing. Their offense didn't do too much. | | C- |
| 2.51 |
 | C |
| Rams: You can't turn it over three times and expect to win. They didn't do enough in the passing game. The defense did play better than it had in recent weeks. | | F |
| 1.22 |
| Carolina Panthers 35, Green Bay Packers 31 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B+ |
| Panthers: They should feel fortunate to get this one. The Packers had almost double the yards. But the Panthers took advantage of their red zone chances, scoring five times, four coming from DeAngelo Williams. The defense made a big fourth-quarter stop on the goal line to force a field goal. | | C- |
| 2.80 |
 | C- |
| Packers: They had more yards and controlled the ball, but this one got away. Settling for a field goal late was a killer. The two fumbles in the first half really hurt. Letting up the 54-yard pass to Steve Smith was the big play. | | D |
| 2.40 |
| Indianapolis Colts 10, Cleveland Browns 6 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | C |
| Colts: It was all about defense in this one. They limited the Browns to 193 yards and scored the game's only touchdown on a fumble recovery by Robert Mathis that he returned 37 yards. Mathis also had two sacks. Peyton Manning had a rough go of it with two picks and a fumble. | | B |
| 2.39 |
 | C- |
| Browns: They just didn't get anything going on offense. Derek Anderson didn't make any plays down the field. A good defensive effort went to waste. | | D |
| 1.95 |
| Baltimore Ravens 34, Cincinnati Bengals 3 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | A |
| Ravens: Joe Flacco had a good day through the air, throwing for 280 and two scores. Mark Clayton was his go-to guy catching it and threw a touchdown pass. The defense was dominant, limiting the Bengals to six first downs. | | A |
| 2.77 |
 | F |
| Bengals: That was awful. Dreadful. Disgusting. They couldn't do a thing on offense and Flacco killed them on defense. That's the Bengals we saw in the first nine losses. | | C- |
| 1.57 |
| San Francisco 49ers 10, Buffalo Bills 3 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B+ |
| 49ers: The defense bent, but made big plays when it needed them. They had an opening drive that was impressive, but the offense did little after that. It's a nice victory, the first for a West Coast team in the East time zone. | | C |
| 2.23 |
 | F |
| Bills: This was pathetic. There's no excuse for losing at home to the 49ers with a playoff chance still in the balance. The offense moved the ball, but blew chances. Rian Lindell had a rough go kicking it, missing two. | | B+ |
| 2.22 |
| Atlanta Falcons 22, San Diego Chargers 16 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B+ |
| Falcons: The defense held the Chargers to one offensive touchdown. They limited San Diego to 201 yards. Matt Ryan (two touchdown passes) and Michael Turner (120 yards) had big days for the offense. | | B+ |
| 3.07 |
 | D |
| Chargers: In a game they had to have, they were handled from the start. The offense did nothing. Philip Rivers couldn't get anything going. The defense was pushed around. The only positive was the fumble return for a touchdown by Eric Weddle. | | C- |
| 2.07 |
| Kansas City Chiefs 20, Oakland Raiders 13 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B |
| Chiefs: The defense had a good day, limiting the Raiders to 271 yards and forcing a big fumble late. Tyler Thigpen was efficient at quarterback and made some big runs. | | D |
| 1.76 |
 | C- |
| Raiders: They just don't do enough in the passing game. JaMarcus Russell struggled again. The defense was OK, but it had a tough time on third down. | | A |
| 1.62 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers 33, New England Patriots 10 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | A |
| Steelers: They dominated the New England offense with five takeaways. After an early interception, Ben Roethlisberger was sharp. This is an impressive victory for the Steelers. | | B |
| 2.92 |
 | F |
| Patriots: You can't turn it over five times and expect to win. Was that Matt Cassel's balloon being popped? He was picked twice and didn't make many throws down the field. | | B |
| 2.37 |
| Denver Broncos 34, NY Jets 17 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | B+ |
| Broncos: Jay Cutler had a really good day throwing it. He had 357 yards and two touchdowns. The fumble return for a touchdown to open the game was huge. The defense had some rough moments, but did score and set up another one with a Dre' Bly interception. | | F |
| 2.25 |
 | F |
| Jets: The defense was a disaster. The secondary got carved up. Thomas Jones had another good game running the football, going for 159 total yards, but he got little help. Brett Favre failed to throw a touchdown pass. | | A+ |
| 2.52 |
| Minnesota Vikings 34, Chicago Bears 14 | Prev. Grade | GPA |
 | A |
| Vikings: They looked like they were in trouble, but a goal-line stand and a 99-yard touchdown pass from Gus Frerotte to Bernard Berrian turned the game around. They also had three picks of Kyle Orton to secure the victory. Adrian Peterson ran for 131 yards. | | B+ |
| 2.56 |
 | C |
| Bears: After the goal-line flop, they did little the rest of the day. The turnovers were killers. The defense was put in a lot of bad spots, but giving up a 99-yard touchdown pass is inexcusable. | |
