Our society is an interesting one. It’s one that likes to forgive people despite atrocities that they may or may not have committed. Ray Lewis might have killed someone at the Cobalt Lounge years back. Now, we see Ray Lewis as an inspirational leader and an incredible football player. Rams defensive end Leonard Little killed someone when he got into a car accident and blew a 0.19 BAC at the scene. Yet, after serving his time and doing his community service, Little is seen as more of a problem for offensive coordinators to contain than as a reckless individual in society.

This brings us to Mike Vick. We all know what Vick did, I’m not going to retread the story over and over. Yesterday, Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison, a hefty sentence that will clearly give him some time to think.

Fast forward two years. Mike Vick has just been released from prison and is applying for reinstatement into the NFL. Obviously there will be mixed feelings about this process and surely there will be a bunch of people who call for him never to see the field again. That’s our opinion and we are entitled to it.

While I’m not asking for everyone to suddenly forgive Vick (that’s something that will simply not happen), I ask that you take into account our judicial system and the way it works. Vick will serve his time. The purpose of that time is to rehabilitate him as a functioning member of society and it should be understood that after he serves his 23 months he should be given the same opportunity to redeem and prove himself once again. I’m not saying we should be enamored with the guy once he comes out, but I think we should give him a shot. He committed a horrific crime and now he’ll serve a good amount of time for it. It’s as important for us to set aside our personal vendettas and give him a shot as it is for him to bring himself back to respectability and repair his image.

Hows this for a guarantee? 13-0. I’d be willing to bet there are few times when safety Anthony Smith has felt as bastardized as he did on Sunday. After guaranteeing the Steelers would beat the undefeated Patriots, Smith got torched on three touchdowns and the Patriots blew out the Steelers 34-13 in a game where Tom Brady and Randy Moss re-established the proficiency of the Patriots offense that we had grown accustomed to through the first 10 weeks.

How ’bout dem Cowboys? Sunday’s shootout between the Cowboys and Lions was a game that the Lions had zero business losing. Up 27-7 at one point, the Lions completely self destructed and Tony Romo capped an amazing comeback with a touchdown to Jason Witten with just seconds remaining. God’s team? Not so much…until further notice they’re still the Lions.

AP A…..Nope. The Vikings star rookie running back was held to just three yards on 14 carries in Sunday’s game versus the 49ers. 3 yards. But it was all a mute point because Chester Taylor racked up 101 yards on 8 carries including an 84 yard touchdown scamper. It’s hardly a bold claim that the Vikings have the best offensive line in football. As for the 49ers, well, there’s not much to say.

Three weeks!! Three weeks left!!1 The Buffalo Bills absolutely handled business Sunday, routing the hapless and winless Miami Dolphins 38-17 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. In case you didn’t know, the Buffalo Bills are 7-6 despite all the injuries they’ve had. I know, I was a little surprised too.

LT in OT. The Chargers proved why they’re the underachieving annoyance that everyone has been wondering about for three quarters on Sunday but with the flick of a switch the offense turned on and the Chargers overcame a 17-3 deficit to beat the Titans in overtime 23-17. I’m not going to make anything of the small tantrum that occured between Rivers and Tomlinson on the sideline because the media is making it out to be more than it was. Remember what I said a few weeks ago about people needing to question Vince Young’s ability as a quarterback in this league? 13 of 21 for 121 yards and 2 interceptions.

Standings
Sonny: 85-87-12
Rich: 84-89-12
Ryan: 79-93-12
Kevin: 73-85-12 (No picks last week)

Ryan: Jaguars -10.5 over Panthers: There’s a couple reasons why this Jags team is so much better than they have been in the last couple years. Aside from stable quarterback play, the Jags are winning the games they should. That didn’t happen last year. Carolina is nowhere close to Jacksonville’s level but this year, the Jags won’t play down to them.
Kevin: Jaguars -10.5 over Panthers
Sonny: Jaguars -10.5 over Panthers
Rich: Jaguars -10.5 over Panthers

Ry: Cowboys -10.5 over God’s Team: After a surprising start, Jon Kitna and the Lions are back to their old ways, losing their last four games. Even with Terrance Newman running his mouth, I can’t see the Lions doing enough to stay in this game.
K: Lions +10.5 over Cowboys
S: Cowboys -10.5 over Lions
Ri: Cowboys -10.5 over Lions

Ry: Bills -7 over LOLphins: I’m not picking a winless team.
K: High School Teams -7 over Dolphins
S: Bills -7 over Dolphins
Ri: Bills -7 over LOLphins

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There’s no denying the fact that Lebron James carried a mediocre Cavaliers team all the way to the NBA Finals last year. When the offseason came and went without any sort of acquisition, the message was clear: This is Lebron’s team and with him, the sky is the limit. But the last week has proved that without King James, the Cavs are a mess. A complete, total mess.

With James on the mend because of a sprained finger, the Cavs have had to make do without their star for the last three games. The result? Three straight losses with a scoring average of about 75 points. Is there another team in the league that reliant on a single player? Hell, I’d take my chances with the Lakers minus Kobe Bryant over the Lebron’less Cavs.

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, who rarely jumps on his team publicly, expressed disgust with its performance.

“I want to see them fight,” Brown said. “I didn’t see any tough or any grit as a team out there.”

Without Lebron, this team is hopeless. And to add to the Cavs’ misery, free-agent bust Larry Hughes is also out for the next few weeks. Is it ironic that LeBron’s MVP hopes are growing more because of injury than his stellar on-court play? Without his gaudy numbers, the Cavs are proving each and every night that they’re one of the worst teams in the NBA without #23 on the court.

I thought about writing about last night’s comeback win by the Patriots on Monday Night Football. But really, haven’t you already read about it? I could also talk about Tony Kornheiser’s weekly evolution from “entertaining co-host of PTI” to “bald, annoying football announcer.” But really, hasn’t that been taking place since week one of last year’s season?

Instead, I’d like to focus on Brian Billick, the offensive genius douchebag himself. Somewhere before Bart Scott shotputted the referee’s penalty flag, Billick was seen on camera blowing a couple kisses to Patriots safety Rodney Harrison.

I’ve never liked Brian Billick, partly because he’s still clinging to the title of “offensive genius,” something that he hasn’t exhibited since creating a genius gameplan during the Vikings’ 1998 season: Lob the ball to Randy Moss. It’s good to see him fail and it’s also good that this embarrassing moment got caught by the ESPN cameras.

The Patriots aren’t that invincible. For the second week in a row, a sub-par team made the Patriots look beatable. We said it in our podcast; Monday night games in Baltimore when the Ravens wear the black jerseys is a nightmare for opponents. Lets see if Pittsburgh can build on the success of the Ravens and Eagles and actually beat the unbeatable.

Gibbs had Taylor on his mind. In a very emotional game in D.C., the Bills pulled out at 17-16 win over the rattled Redskins after Joe Gibbs called two timeouts in a row, resulting in a 15 yard penalty and moving the Bills in position to kick the game winning field goal. Potentially the moment of the season happened on the first play when the Redskins only put out 10 defensive players in honor of Taylor.

Eli continues to piss Giants fans off. Yes, the Giants won in heroic fashion after Manning led a game winning drive to beat the hated Bears in Chicago. Despite that, Eli was still awful for most of the game. Questions, questions, questions.

LOLphins. That is all. Can it get any worse in South Beach right now? The Heat are irrelevant, the Marlins are shipping off their prized talent, and the Dolphins can’t and won’t win a game this year. I’m sure getting hammered 40-13 by the Jets isn’t what Cam Cameron had in mind.

Indy reigns supreme. The battle of the two top teams in the AFC South provided us with a good look at why we still can’t move the Colts out of that top seed in the division. Give credit where credit is due, however. The Jaguars proved that they can hang.