I hope you all had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving this year. One thing I’m sure we were all thankful for this week was football. In the past, the football games on Thanksgiving had been mediocre, but this year each game turned out to be hard-fought contests between (for the most part) playoff bound teams.

It’s taken me almost a week to write this weeks post because I’ve been so stuffed from all of the Thanksgiving food, but I hope you enjoy reading it as much as you too enjoyed stuffing your face this past week.

Photos Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

1. Ndamukong Suh needs anger management. The Lions defensive tackle was ejected in the third quarter of Thursday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. Suh was seen shoving the helmet of Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith into the turf, before getting to his feet and stomping Dietrich-Smith. He was immediately ejected from the game, and the Lions went on to lose 27-15. Suh will face a two-game suspension without pay, a fair deal I think considering former Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth faced a five-game suspension for a similar incident, although he viciously stomped on the face of Andre Gurode, who needed to get thirty stiches. If Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler ever create a sequel to the 2003 comedy “Anger Management”, Suh will likely be a guy on their radar for a lead role, although I can’t imagine Suh singing “I Feel Pretty” any time soon.

2. Where did Laurent Robinson come from? Keep in mind folks, the “t” at the end of his name is silent, but Robinson has been anything but silent over the last five weeks. Robinson was cut by the San Diego Chargers at the end of training camp, signed by the Cowboys on September 7, released six days later due to a hamstring injury and resigned once again by the Cowboys on September 20.

The receiver saw his first significant action as a Cowboy in a Week 8 contest against the Philadelphia Eagles, where he hauled in five receptions for 103 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter. Since then, Robinson has seen a significant role increasing, starting four of the last five games in place of the injured Miles Austin. In those five games, Robinson has scored seven touchdowns while averaging nearly 65 yards per contest.

3. Black Friday came a day early for the San Francisco 49ers. The 9-1 San Francisco 49ers took on the 7-3 Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night in a matchup between two very similar teams; both have excelled on the defensive side on the ball, but have at times struggled to put up points. This game normally would have been a fairly significant one based solely on the teams records, but it was made a tad more interesting because of the two teams head coaches, brothers Jim and Jon Harbaugh, who became first duo of brothers to coach in an NFL game against each other (as Head Coaches), and their teams definitely did not disappoint on Thursday night.

The Ravens, who donned their black uni’s, were victorious in the game, holding the Niners offensive to 170 total net yards while sacking quarterback Alex Smith nine times, including three from All-Pro linebacker Terrell Suggs, or T-sizzle as he is commonly referred to as. Both teams looked impressive on defense as per usual, and showed the league that they both belong in the upper echelon of teams in their respective conferences.

4. Peyton Manning has a legitimate case for league MVP. I can’t remember the last time we’ve seen a team fall from grace as much as the Colts have this season with the loss of star quarterback Peyton Manning. I know Tom Brady’s injury in 2008 was a fairly significant blow, but the Patriots still finished 11-5 under replacement Matt Cassel, coming off a 16-0 record the year before. Granted, Cassel has proven to be a much better quarterback than Manning’s replacement, Curtis Painter, and the Patriots may have had an overall better team than the Colts do now, but it cannot be denied how much of an impact Peyton had on this Colts team in all facets of the game.

Coming off a 10-6 season in 2010, which by Indianapolis fans standards is an off-year considering it was the first time in seven years where they had less than 12 wins in a season, the Colts have fallen to an 0-11 record, the most recent blow being dealt by Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.

The Colts have never been a defensive powerhouse and are not designed to come from behind in games. They are built to get big leads quick, pound the rock with a running back-by-committee approach, and sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch the Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis devour opposing quarterbacks show. All of these scenarios are built around Peyton effectively leading the offense downfield on long drives, but without him under center, this team is just a chicken with no head. Peyton manning IS the most valuable player in the NFL.

5. Josh Freeman continues to struggle. In 2010, Freeman threw as many interceptions as games that his team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost, six. In 2011, Freeman has already thrown 16 interceptions, and the Bucs have lost seven games. Last season he finished with a passer rating of 95.9, surpassing a rating of 100 a total of seven times. This season, Freeman has a 74.6 passer rating over 11 games, going over 100 only once. The team lives and dies with the play of Freeman, and the fact that in 37 career games in the NFL he’s only thrown for more than two touchdowns twice is a bit concerning.

6. Things just got a whole lot worse in Houston. After losing Matt Schaub for the leason in Week 10, the then 7-3 Texans turned to former USC Trojan and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart. Leinart was impressive throughout the first half of Sunday’s game in Jacksonville, completing 10 of 13 passes and throwing a touchdown pass to tight end Joel Dreessen. Unfortunately, Leinart broke his collarbone after being brought to the ground late in the second quarter and was later reported to be out for the remainder of the season. Rookie out of North Carolina T.J. Yates came in for the injured Leinart and successfully managed the game well enough, going 8-for-15 with 70 yards through the air as the Texans won 20-13. The Texans brought in former Jets starter Kellen Clemens after the injury to Schaub, and have recently signed former Panthers and Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme. Gary Kubiak has said that Yates will start Sunday’s game against Atlanta.

7. Things are going Well for Beanie and the Cards. Not much needs to be said about the day Beanie had on Sunday against the Rams; 27 carries for a franchise record 228 yards and a touchdown. This was the Beanie we thought we were going to see coming out of Ohio State three years ago. This was the Beanie that we saw after the first three games of the season when he rushed for a total of 321 yards and four touchdowns. This was the Beanie that fantasy owners, as well as the Cardinals team, will hope decides remainder of the 2011 campaign, and will stay for the remainder of his career.

8. Stevie Johnson is a clown. After scoring a touchdown late in the second quarter of Sunday’s matchup against the New York Jets Johnson decided to celebrate by doing what mocked the gunshot incident of Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress. As if that wasn’t enough, Johnson followed that asinine celebration by mimicking the Jets other star receiver Santonio Holmes’ usual touchdown dance by doing the Jet wings, and crashing to the ground. I’m over what Johnson did, he got his $10,000 fine and apologized to Plax, but I’m just glad Plaxico didn’t try to mock Johnson by dropping a touchdown pass in a similar fashion to what Johnson did last year in overtime against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now that would have been a shame.

9. I take back what I said about never starting Seahawks players in fantasy back in Week 7. Marshawn Lynch was part of the reason I initially came up with that rule, but now he has become the only exception to it. Since Week 7, where Lynch did not play after sustaining a back injury during pre-game warm-ups, Lynch has channeled his inner beast-mode. In the five game span since, Lynch has run the ball a total of 122 times for 467 yards and four touchdowns. So I apologize to anyone who listened to me, although I highly doubt anybody took fantasy advice from the guy who drafted Peyton Manning in the third round of his draft this year (granted, our draft was in July and the extent of his injury was still unknown).

10. Sebastian Janikowski did what? Rarely do we talk about kickers in terms of fantasy relevance, but in this instance we have that opportunity. Raiders kicker and former first round pick of the late Al Davis kicked six field goals against the Chicago Bears on Sunday and one extra point. That’s 19 total points, or 21 points in my leagues fantasy numbers. What’s most impressive about this feat is that four of those field goals were greater than 40 yards, so they weren’t just chip shots. Everyone always rips on kickers saying that they’re not “real” football players, but to those people I pose this question; how many fake football players have scored 19 points themselves in a single NFL game?

11. We can officially stop talking about the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011. After flying out to a 10-0 lead against the New England Patriots in the first quarter of Sunday’s game, the Eagles successful ended their hopes of running the table and potentially making the playoffs at 10-6. The Patriots went on a 38-10 run to finish the game led by none other than, you guessed it, Tom Brady. The Eagles now sit at 4-7 with a plethora of disgruntled stars, and injured quarterback, and a coach who is being called on to be tarred and feathered. So much for the “Dream Team”.

12. Nick Novak relieved himself, but couldn’t relieve the Chargers of their woes. Chargers kicker Nick Novak was caught on camera urinating with a minute and a half remaining and the score tied 13-13. The game went to overtime, where Novak missed a 53-yard game winning field goal. The Broncos recovered the ball and kicker Matt Prater went on to kick a 37 yarder to win the game, marking the Chargers sixth straight defeat after starting the year off 4-1.

13. The New Orleans Saints might be the only team who can go punch for punch with the Green Bay Packers. Both teams follow the same mantra; outscore your opponent with a heavy dose of passing, and rely on your defense to make stops and force turnovers to ice the game. They both have a five headed monster group of receivers and tight ends, both teams running backs can’t run their way out of an invisible box, and lastly, they both have Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. These two teams met in Week 1, with the Packers coming out ahead 42-34, and I expect them to meet again in the similar matchup for the NFC championship.