Aren't we supposed to be nice during the holiday season, especially this week? That's what they say, but not if you're the football Grinch.

That would be me. I'm a bigger pain in the butt than a hard piece of fruit in granny's fruitcake.

So I'm going to give it to a few teams and players here in the weekly grades, despite the holiday cheer in the air.

Junior Seau and the Pats catch a break with one team's choke. (Getty Images)

I'll start with the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. How can those three teams have playoff-type games and blow them this weekend, the Cowboys and Bucs both losing at home?

The Eagles scored a grand total of three points in losing 10-3 to the Washington Redskins. The Cowboys were run over in the fourth quarter of their loss to the Baltimore Ravens and the Bucs lost at home to the San Diego Chargers, a loss that could cost them a playoff spot.

All three losses are inexcusable. The way they lost makes them worse.

The Denver Broncos deserve ripping as well. They lost at home to the Buffalo Bills with a chance to clinch the division title. They did so after leading 13-0 against a team playing for nothing.

Nice going, guys.

Then there are the New York Jets. They go to Seattle and face a team that is playing for nothing and they score three points in losing 13-3, a loss that severely damages their playoff hopes. The Jets are still alive, but they need to beat the Dolphins next week and hope the New England Patriots lose.

They controlled their own destiny before Sunday.

Blame Brett Favre. I was right about him last August. The move to get him was a mistake.

The only way it would prove to be worthwhile was if the Jets made the playoffs. They probably won't make it.

Favre hasn't been very good the past month. In the past four games, he has one touchdown pass and six interceptions. He threw for 187 yards and two interceptions in the loss to the Seahawks.

OK, it was snowing. But isn't that Favre weather? That's just it. I don't know if there's any Favre weather any more.

He might be done. Maybe the comforts of the farm in Mississippi are where he needs to be.

How dare I say that, especially at this time of the year?

Hey, I'm the football Grinch. Remember?

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008
Indianapolis Colts 31, Jacksonville Jaguars 24		Prev. Grade	GPA
B-	Colts: Peyton Manning was on fire. He showed off his MVP skills. The defense didn't play well. They had little pressure on David Garrard. It did make the big play when Keiwan Ratliff picked off Garrard for a touchdown to win it.	C+	2.47
C	Jaguars: David Garrard played well, but he made a terrible throw into coverage to let Ratliff get the winning score. The pass defense had a rough go of it.	B	1.81
Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008
Baltimore Ravens 33, Dallas Cowboys 24		Prev. Grade	GPA
A	Ravens: This one goes to the running game. They had two long touchdown runs to win it. This was a tough-guy win. The pass defense was outstanding and Ed Reed had two big picks.	B-	2.87
F	Cowboys: Tony Romo was awful. He had a tough go of it. What was he doing on those two Reed picks? The run defense was gashed. What a bad night.	B+	2.53
Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008
San Diego Chargers 41, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24		Prev. Grade	GPA
B+	Chargers: Philip Rivers had a good day throwing it with four touchdown passes and the defense made a huge play at the end when Antoine Cason picked off Jeff Garcia and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown. They have life.	B	2.31
D	Buccaneers: Hard to imagine their defense playing this poorly with so much on the line. Rivers carved them up. Garcia made some plays, but the two picks hurt. This is a bad loss.	C	2.56
Tennessee Titans 31, Pittsburgh Steelers 14		Prev. Grade	GPA
A	Titans: The defense, without its two top linemen, put on a heck of a show. They forced four turnovers and harassed Ben Roethlsiberger all day long. The defense also scored. The offense went over 300 yards against a Steelers defense that hadn't allowed a team to do that in all season. Impressive.	C-	3.11
B-	Steelers: You can't turn the ball over against good teams on the road and expect to win. They seemed to wear down in the fourth quarter. Tennessee was just better on this day. The defense wasn't as good as it has been.	B+	2.91
San Francisco 49ers 17, St. Louis Rams 16		Prev. Grade	GPA
C+	49ers: It's hard to believe they found a way to win this one. They did nothing on offense for most of the game, but rallied with 10 points in the final five minutes. Shaun Hill came alive after a terrible time for much of the day.	C-	2.31
C-	Rams: What a disaster in the final five minutes for this team. It's almost expected now. They played well for most of the game and appeared ready to win when they fell apart. A pretty good defensive day went to waste.	C-	1.27
New England Patriots 47, Arizona Cardinals 7		Prev. Grade	GPA
A	Patriots: They were playing for something and played like it. They did whatever they wanted. The defense was dominant in bad conditions. Matt Cassel had a good day in the bad conditions, throwing three touchdown passes.	A	2.61
F	Cardinals: Why did they even bother making the trip? They didn't want to play. They were down 31-0 at the half and had 62 yards of offense. How embarrassing can it get?	F	2.33
Miami Dolphins 38, Kansas City Chiefs 31		Prev. Grade	GPA
C	Dolphins: Chad Pennington won this one with three touchdown passes. They needed it with the defense having a rough go of it. They couldn't stop the Chiefs all day long.	C+	2.51
C-	Chiefs: They played well here, but the defense had problems. Tyler Thigpen had a pretty good day with 320 yards and two touchdown passes. His two picks hurt. They battled, which is a good sign.	B-	1.83
New Orleans Saints 42, Detroit Lions 7		Prev. Grade	GPA
B+	Saints: Drew Brees lit up a bad Detroit defense. They made it look easy. The New Orleans defense played well. Then again, it was the Lions.	C	2.53
F	Lions: They didn't do anything on offense and they couldn't stop the Saints. That was dreadful. Dan Orlovsky came back to reality.	C	1.12
Cincinnati Bengals 14, Cleveland Browns 0		Prev. Grade	GPA
B+	Bengals: Cedric Benson ran wild and the Bengals defense dominated a bad Cleveland offense. Benson went for 171 yards. When you win with your quarterback throwing for 55 yards, you know it's a good day on the ground.	A	1.81
F	Browns: How bad can it get? This was as sickening. Ken Dorsey was just awful, getting picked three times. The run defense wasn't very good either.	D	1.69
Seattle Seahawks 13, NY Jets 3		Prev. Grade	GPA
B+	Seahawks: Give their maligned defense credit. They came up big on a snowy day. They limited the Jets all day long. Maurice Morris was big running it.	C	1.72
C-	Jets: That offense was terrible. Brett Favre refuses to throw it down field. The snow mattered, but he doesn't throw it deep on dry days either. The defense bent but made stops when it needed to do so.	C	2.24
Oakland Raiders 27, Houston Texans 16		Prev. Grade	GPA
A	Raiders: JaMarcus Russell showed life in throwing two touchdown passes, but the big play was an 80-yard punt return by Johnnie Lee Higgins. The defense did a nice job slowing that Texans passing attack.	D	1.63
D	Texans: Poof. That's their bubble bursting. They were on a roll heading into this one, and just didn't play well. Russell carved them up and they didn't do enough on offense.	A	2.20
Buffalo Bills 30, Denver Broncos 23		Prev. Grade	GPA
B+	Bills: Give them credit for not quitting when they fell down 13-0. They didn't do a lot on offense, but they made plays in the second half when they needed. The defense gave up a lot of yards, but they made some key stops.	C-	2.17
D	Broncos: They had 532 yards and still lost. Ouch. Jay Cutler threw for 359 yards, but his late interception at the Buffalo 1 was a killer. They blew a 13-0 lead to a team that was playing for nothing. Ouch.	D	2.11
Washington Redskins 10, Philadelphia Eagles 3		Prev. Grade	GPA
B-	Redskins: The defense had a good afternoon and made the key stop inches short of the end zone on the final play to preserve the victory. Jason Taylor made the big play with a forced fumble that set up the only touchdown. They didn't do much on offense.	D	2.33
C+	Eagles: It's a choke when you don't score a touchdown in a game you had to have for playoff reasons. The offense didn't get it going all afternoon long. The running game struggled. The defense actually played good football, but it went to waste.	B+	2.63
Atlanta Falcons 24, Minnesota Vikings 17		Prev. Grade	GPA
B	Falcons: The defense had four takeaways, which was the difference in the game. They didn't do much on offense after the opening drive. They won with just 222 yards of offense. But they didn't turn it over.	B	3.04
C-	Vikings: You can't turn it over four times and expect to win. They didn't do enough on offense. The defense actually played pretty well. But it's hard to overcome four turnovers. Tarvaris Jackson wasn't good enough at quarterback.	A	2.58
NY Giants 34, Carolina Panthers 28		Prev. Grade	GPA
B+	Giants: They ran it for 301 yards. That's called domination. Derrick Ward had a huge day with 215 yards. The defense didn't play that well, but did make a big stop in overtime. They earned this one.	C	2.95
B	Panthers: It's hard to believe they gave up that many yards on the ground. They missed starting tackle Ma'ke Kemoeatu in the middle of their defense. Their running game was pretty good with DeAngelo Williams getting four rushing touchdowns.	A	2.91
Monday, Dec. 22, 2008
Chicago Bears 20, Green Bay Packers 17		Prev. Grade	GPA
B-	Bears: They didn't play well for most of the game, but found a way to come alive in the fourth quarter. The offense had two nice drives to end the game, one in regulation to tie it and one to win it with a field goal in overtime. They should feel fortunate to still be alive in the playoff race.	B-	2.57
C+	Packers: I think they surprised a lot of people with the way they played. They were feisty. Their defense, which has struggled this season, played a solid game. Aaron Rodgers threw the ball well in bad conditions.	C-	2.30