Posted by Josh Katzowitz

I’ve always wondered how effective a player who’s brought in a few days before the team from which he just got released plays the team which just signed him can be for his new squad.

In the span of a few days, can he really inform his new coaches about how his old coaches operate, and in turn, can his new coaches then relay that newly-acquired information to the rest of the locker room?

Considering teams pick up newly-released players all the time if they happen to be facing his old squad that same week, I imagine the coaches can glean at least some kind of information.

But what if the team has an entire few weeks to pick the brain of one of its newest players? Like, say, Minnesota WR Randy Moss and his old team, the Patriots, who happen to be facing the Vikings this week.

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

But there would be no surprise if Moss exploits his old team, the Patriots, once or twice on Sunday in Gillette Stadium. Moss will be motivated, and he also knows the Patriots' defensive tendencies. In fact, Moss helped the Vikings gameplan Tuesday.

"He's very articulate," coach Brad Childress said. "He spent time with our coaches yesterday and did a great job with both our offense and defensive coaches."

When asked if Moss is savvy enough to give up more scheming tendencies of opponents than most players, Childress said "he is."

"You never know what you're going to get and how they have to play him," Childress said. "He at least had some insightfulness on both sides."

Moss has performed fairly well in Minnesota, though certainly not spectacularly (12 catches, 166 yards and two TDs). But if he helps the Vikings get past the Patriots, that might make him more invaluable than Minnesota originally thought.

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Dey Took Er Jobs takes a look at the various job controversies around the league. If you don't get the title, you don't watch enough South Park . 

Week 7 might see an unusual number of coaches actually doing 'what's best for their team' (Brad Childress' words) when it comes to quarterback decisions.

Or perhaps not -- many an external factor can change a coach's choice on who to start.

Let's begin in Minnesota, or, technically, in New England -- where the Vikings will take on the Patriots in a game that's got a storyline or two.

There's Randy Moss' return to New England after being traded from the Pats earlier this season, a monumental factor that's being even more monumentally overshadowed by the fact that every single bone in Brett Favre's foot has been reduced to little tiny pieces in the past week or so.

OK, that's a stretch, but we do know it's a pretty severe injury. Or, at least some of us do.

"You're talking to the wrong guy to rate severity," Childress said. "I just know how they were advertised to me, and I didn't use any [medical definitions] that weren't said to me."

Chilling words (pun intended) from a coach who seems to be more passive-aggressive than anything when it comes to making a decision about who'll start for him under center.

The pervasive understanding sure seems to be that Childress, if he had his druthers or any, ahem, "juevos rancheros" at all, would start Tavaris Jackson at quarterback for the Vikings. This would require Childress being in charge, though, and his description of Favre's injury ("an evolving situation") is pretty indicative that he's not.

Favre doesn't call the shots, of course, but it's pretty clear that if he wants to play, he's going to play, despite what he says; and yeah, the same thing applies to his streak of 291 consecutive games.

"I don't want to go out there for one play, I don't want to go out there for three plays," Favre said. "If I'm able to play, I want to play the whole game and give us the best chance to win."

That's utter baloney, regardless of how nice it sounds coming from Favre. He prides himself on his iron man status as much as anything, and it's pretty obvious that if he can get that next start, he's going to get that next start, even if it's at the expense of Minnesota's success.

The only thing that could stop him is Childress stepping in, telling everyone involved that Favre is going to take a week off, get rested and thereby putting the burden on Adrian Peterson to control the game and Tavaris Jackson to make one or two big throws without any huge mistakes.

It's a plausible proposition, but probably one that won't come to fruition. But only because Favre wants to keep his streak intact grit out a win just too damn much.

****


The Titans might offer up the spiciest of all job situations, because Jeff Fisher's shown in the past he doesn't give a flip who throws the ball for his team, as long as they help Tennessee win.

Kenny Britt's emergence as a potential true No. 1 wideout -- even if he's facing future discipline -- under Kerry Collins might make the decision easier.

Clearly Vince Young has potential and whatnot, but he's remarkably inconsistent, and Collins has had tremendous success with Fisher, most notably in stealing V.Y.'s starting spot two years ago and last week against the Eagles, when he lead a measty comeback in Nashville that featured Britt catching three touchdowns for 225 yards.

As long as Tennessee has Chris Johnson, it'll obviously be dangerous, and with a bye week coming after the Titans tangle with the Chargers in San Diego Sunday, it makes a whole lotta sense for Fisher to give V.Y.'s a quite convenient extra week of rest on his injured leg.

Will ownership want that no? Probably not. Will Vince? Definitely not. Does Fisher care? Absolutely not -- a win in San Diego gives Tennessee establishes the Titans as a legitimate threat to win the AFC (if that wasn't clear already), and "CSI:Nashville" knows that keeping Collins under center for now gives them the best chance to win.

At least until he does his best "Kerry Collins in the first of 2009" impersonation -- but that's what Vince Young's sitting there for!

****
The Eagles finally make their way to the bottom of this piece (or at least the middle anyway), and with good reason -- Kevin Kolb showed Sunday why Michael Vick should be the starter.

(Ironically, yes, that was while Collins showed he should start over Young, but that's neither here nor there.)

Look, we've said it plenty of times, but Kolb's plenty good and will play plenty of snaps for the Eagles at some point; he's just a different animal than Vick.

Last week we talked about how Kolb, even when posting monster numbers against Atlanta, still looked a little weak-armed. This won't change. Ever.

And Vick is, when healthy, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL -- he'll start until he forgets how fragile his ribcage is and takes off on an ill-advised run down the middle of the field towards the goal line. Again.

****


Perhaps the best decision by any coach -- and it's an odd choice if only because of who the coach is -- will happen in London, where Mike Singletary decided to plug in Troy Smith as the starter while Alex Smith is out.

There's no telling if Troy will start for the entire two-to-three week duration that Alex is supposed to miss, but it doesn't really matter: Frank Gore would be a better option than David Carr.

Plenty of people probably weren't watching the stinker of a game he gave up in Charlotte, but believe me, he has no business taking snaps as a starter in the NFL ever again. It's like drafting Michael Clayton in fantasy -- just because he's a top pick and has tons of talent doesn't mean he has to succeed eventually.

Cut him and move on. (Oh wait, that happened in real life too. Ha.)

****
Los Pantalones Fuegos (We're talking about jobs so we might as well mentions who's seat is hot, no?)

- Mike Singletary: Right now he's getting a few too many votes of confidence. A blowout overseas at the hands of a Denver team that got torched by the Raiders last week could push him to the brink.

- Brad Childress: Weird how so many of the guys with quarterback situations are mentioned here right? 2-6 to start the season could make it worth Minnesota's while to see what Leslie Frazier can do as a head coach.

- John Fox: It's hot all season, but a win against the Rams would go a long way towards keeping him in town through 2010.

- Josh McDaniels: It wasn't the losses piling up, but the way in which they piled up (read: giving up nearly 60 points to division rival Oakland).

- Wade Phillips: Tony Romo's injury almost guaranteed that he won't be fired until the end of the season, if that's any consolation.

- Jack Del Rio: Losing to a Jon Kitna-led Cowboys team just before the bye could seal his fate. Kitna will do that to you.

- Lovie Smith: He's only slightly less delusional than Singletary. And he has four wins, so that helps.

****
Quickly …

- Needless to say, giving the job to Colt McCoy was the right call for Eric Mangini. Kid's kind of hard to root against.

- Max Hall's the starter for Arizona if he's healthy and that makes the most sense given that the only other option is still Derek Anderson. It's simple science, really.

- Apparently Washingtonians want Rex Grossman to get a shot over Donovan McNabb. Please go monitor a midterm, folks -- there's more value in that.

- Darren McFadden probably has his starting job back now, I think.

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Posted by Will Brinson

The pretty much out-of-nowhere deal that sent Randy Moss from the Patriots to the Vikings caught almost everyone by surprise (you could make a case that Jay Glazer and Bill Simmons saw it coming). That includes his teammates, apparently.

Wes Welker, for instance, said that he was caught off guard by the deal, per Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

"I was a little bit surprised," Welker on Wednesday's conference call with reporters. "Obviously Randy is such a great player and such a great guy and everything like that. It is hard to go out there and play without a guy who had been here for such a long time. But at the same time you trust in coach [Bill] Belichick and the decisions he makes and you roll with them and move on."

Although maybe only having a "little bit" of surprise is more indicative that Welker saw it coming -- there were some quotes following the deal from the Pats top receiver that indicate he might not have been that shocked to see Moss get shipped out.

Right now, though, no one's going to say anything to add any more gas to the likely simmering fire of Moss wanting to show his old team they made a mistake.

“I’m lucky I don’t have to defend him," Tom Brady said, via Mike Reiss. "I’m sure he’ll want to come out & have a great game against us."

That's all but guaranteed -- Moss has a pretty good history of showing up against teams that spurned him (see: his stats against the Dallas Cowboys for passing on him in the draft). Although if he's trying to catch Tavaris Jackson's lame ducks on Sunday, he might be so upset with his move back to Minnesota that he'll forget how New England shipped him out of town.

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Posted by Andy Benoit

Yet another story lost in the Favre hoopla Sunday night: the Vikings finished with 196 yards rushing that game.

Randy Moss had just three catches Sunday, which was three more than Donald Driver. Driver’s streak of 133-straight games with a reception is over. (For what it’s worth, Drive was playing with a bum quad.)

Carson Palmer lost Sunday, but we’re guessing that his fantasy owners won. Palmer’s final numbers: 36/50 for 412 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Jordan Shipley, in his first game back since suffering a concussion after T.J. Ward’s vicious and dirty hit, caught six passes for 131 yards and a touchdown.

John Abraham caused some problems for the Bengals. It wasn’t an utterly dominant performance, but Abraham recorded two sacks Sunday and consistently pushed the pocket.

The Bears were just 2/10 on third down against the Redskins. That means they had three times as many turnovers as third down conversions.

Ryan Torain ripped off 125 yards on 21 carries. The Bears were playing without injured outside linebacker Lance Briggs (ankle).

Bears guard Chris Williams finally got off the snide, catching his first pass of the season for a gain of four yards. (Without seeing the play, the guess here is that the ball was either tipped, or Cutler was remarkably errant on an attempted smoke screen to DeAngelo Hall.)

Albert Haynesworth was a menace for most of the afternoon. He finished with a sack and two tackles for a loss.

The Titans won despite getting just 66 yards out of Chris Johnson’s 24 rushing attempts.

Jeremy Maclin was targeted 14 times but finished with just five catches for 42 yards.

The Chiefs gashed the Jaguars for 236 yards on the ground. At one point, Thomas Jones ripped off a 70-yard run and Jamaal Charles came in and punched in the goal-line score.

Dwayne Bowe scored two touchdowns for a second week in a row.

For the Jaguars, some guy named Courtney Greene started at safety and led the team with 12 tackles. (Because Greene started at safety, we’ll assume this means he’s about to be cut.)

It took Big Ben all of two games to get back into 300-yard passing form. Roethlisberger threw for 302 yards against the Dolphins.

The Steelers held Ronnie Brown to 14 yards on nine carries.

The official box score lists the Steelers have having four fumbles, with two lost and one recovered. That leaves one fumble unaccounted for. Does anyone, by chance, know what happened there?

Colt McCoy won his second start as a pro, but he contributed only 74 yards through the air in doing so.

Peyton Hillis rushed for 69 yards, which was enough by one yards to beat out punter Reggie Hodges to be the Browns’ leading rusher Sunday.

Saints safety Darren Sharper had two tackles in his first action of the season.

Scott Fujita returned to New Orleans and posted 11 tackles, a sack, two tackles for a loss, an interception and a pass deflection.

The Rams scored 17 points in the second quarter at Tampa but zero in the other three quarters.

LeGarrette Blount headlined the Bucs backfield with 11 carries for 72 yards. Cadillac Williams, who caught Josh Freeman’s winning touchdown pass, had just 12 yards on four carries.

Matt Moore was 28/41 for 308 yards, two touchdowns and an interception (which, granted, was an ugly one returned by Ray McDonald for six points). All in all, that’s a mountain-moving quarterbacking performance for the Panthers.

Steve Smith had four catches for 50 yards in his first game back from an ankle injury (which he tweaked in the third quarter, by the way), but it was David Gettis who wore the receiver hat for the Panthers. The sixth-round rookie had eight receptions, 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Joe Flacco was just 16/31 against the Bills, but he did throw three touchdowns and no interceptions. None of those TD’s went to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The former Pro Bowler was targeted just twice and finished with no catches.

Steve Johnson and Lee Evans both went over 100 yards for the Bills.

Ray Lewis: 15 tackles, one sack, one huge fumble force and recovery.

Max Hall and Derek Anderson combined for 12/33 passing

The Cardinals lost four fumbles at Seattle.

The Raiders pretty much embarrassed the Broncos in every statistical way imaginable.

Four the Patriots 15 first downs Sunday were a result of a Chargers penalty.

San Diego rushed for a measly 38 yards on 19 attempts.

Journeyman Antwan Barnes posted two tackles for a loss and two sacks for the Chargers.


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Posted by Andy Benoit

Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens became just the fifth player in NFL history to score 150 touchdowns Sunday when, with Cincinnati using a no-huddle offense, he caught a 19-yard TD pass from Carson Palmer.

We’ll assume this means Owens holds the unofficial all-time record with 150 touchdown celebrations, as it's unlikely that the four players ahead of him – Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson and Randy Moss – turned each of their scores into theatrical performance.

When all is said and done, Owens will be either the second or third most prolific wide receiver in NFL history. He is fifth all-time in receptions and needs less than 100 more to pass Marvin Harrison for second all-time. He’s already third in yards and should catch Isaac Bruce for second place sometime around Thanksgiving.

For the record, he's caught 147 career TDs and rushed for three scores.

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Posted by Andy Benoit


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David Garrard (concussion) was not at the team facilities again on Thursday. It’s highly unlikely he’ll play against the Chiefs.

Chris Cooley took part in a few light drills on Wednesday. Cooley suffered a concussion Sunday night against the Colts.


Randy Moss’ appearance at Lambeau Field Sunday night will be his first since the 2005 mooning celebration.


Titans cornerback Jason McCourty has been cleared for contact after rehabbing the fractured forearm suffered September 28. It could still take a little time for McCourty to return to game action, though. And when he does he may no longer have his starting job, considering how well rookie Alterraun Verner has played.


Gerald McCoy has fellow rookie Sam Bradford in his sights.


Alex Smith wouldn’t mind being left alone on the sideline a little more during games.


Kris Brown will fill in as the Chargers kicker for at least one week while Nate Kaeding nurses a groin injury.


The Cardinals are getting healthy (including at wide receiver, with Steve Breaston and Early Doucet).


Terrell Suggs keeps firing shots at Tom Brady.


We’ll keep one eye open on Kyle Boller and the Raiders quarterback situation. If healthy, Jason Campbell is expected to start. But will he finish?


The 49ers are delaying the opening of their new stadium until 2015, due to financing and labor issues. The team originally expected to open in 2014.


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Posted by Will Brinson

Got a link for the Hot Routes? Hit us up on Twitter (@CBSSportsNFL).

• Vince Young thought his season was over when he left the field on Monday night. That's understandable, especially considering how close Young appeared to being seriously injured when he fumbled a snap, recovered the snap and then tried to get up and run with the ball even after his knee hit the ground. Instincts and athleticism and whatever aside, there's only one option at that point in time for any NFL quarterback: fall on the freaking ball and lay there, praying you don't get smushed.

• Randy Moss' daughter has a scholarship offer from Florida to play basketball. How on Earth she doesn't have an offer from every school in the country (donations, fame of alumni, sheer athleticism upside) is beyond me.

• Arian Foster has signed with Boombah, according to Darren Rovell. Here's a link to what happens when you Google "Boombah," just to save you some time. Kidding -- it's awesome that a great guy like Foster is having a big season and making some more money.

• Sean Payton was apparently running his mouth against the Buccaneers on Sunday. That seems karmically foolish for the same reasons as pointing and laughing at your seven-year-old cousin when you block his basketball shots is mean. Or something. 

• The Bears dropped defensive end Charles Grant and added Barry Turner. Based on the length of time Grant and Mark Anderson stayed in Chicago, Turner probably shouldn't buy a condo or anything.

• Mike Tomlin is "all in favor of player safety" but thinks that James Harrison got a raw deal on his $75,000 fine.

• This may come as a surprise, but Jacksonville Jaguars fans are about as happy with Jack Del Rio as anyone who played against Chris Johnson in fantasy this week.

• Davone Bess is now the highest-paid slot receiver in the NFL -- because, you see, Wes Welker is no longer a "slot" receiver with Randy Moss gone. No word on whether or not the Dolphins will eventually ship Bess to New England for next to nothing.

• The Packers are experimenting with grass, man. And lights, brah. But not in the way that will get you a heat-check fly-by from the Feds. They just want less Frozen Tundra.

• Turns out Mlles Austin leapfrogging Roy Williams didn't incur any penalty. It was Sam Hurd and Roy flashing the "hook 'em horns" sign after the score. Really? You'd think the league had bigger fish to fry. Like helmet-to ... er, nevermind.

Photo courtesy of CBS

Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Randy Moss is gone from New England, but not forgotten. That’s because he can’t be forgotten, at least for today.

In the pre-printed season tickets distributed for today’s game vs. Baltimore, Moss was the Patriots player to be featured on the tickets (he’s shown running with the football after, presumably, making a catch).

My question: who is on the ticket for the next New England home game? Here’s hoping it’s not LB Marques Murrell (cut by the team in the middle of September).

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