Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight

 5:25 Richard Griffin, Toronto Star
5:42 Jack Armstrong
6:06 Mike Boone of the Gazette & Neil Smith, former NHL GM
6:30 San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera
6:45 Ed Tait, Winnipeg Free Press

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Bill Hayes fills in as co-host for Greg Brady
- Darcy Regier, general manager of the Sabres
- Dave Poulin, VP of hockey operations of the Maple Leafs
- Bob “The Bear” Cowan with his Monday NFL pick
- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Sabres game
- Hockey insiders Darren Dreger and Ray Ferraro at 6:10
- Sow ends at 6:30 to make way for the Leafs pre-game show

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight

4:10 Dave Perkins, Toronto Star
4:25 Damien Cox, TSN & The Star
5:25 Eddie Olczyk, NBC & Versus
5:45 Wayne Parrish, CEO Of Basketball Canada
6:05 Fred Gaudelli, Sunday Night Football Producer
6:30 Brendan Shanahan, NHL’s VP Of Hockey Business & Developpment
6:45 Michael McKinley, Hockey Historian

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star on the baseball winter meetings
- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Islanders game
- Hockey insider Scott Morrison at 6:10

Show ends at 6:30 to make way for the Leafs pre-game show.

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight

5:22 Richard Griffin, Toronto Star
5:42 Jack Armstrong, Raptors Analyst
6:06 Mike Boone of the Gazette & Al Morganti
6:30 Colin Campbell, NHL’s Sheriff
6:45 Michael McKinley, Hockey Historian

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman
- Bob “The Bear” Cowan with his Monday NFL pick
- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Thrashers game
- Hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Ray Ferraro at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight

5:20 Tom Anselmi, MLSE COO in studio

5:40 David Shoalts, Globe & Mail

6:06 Rob Becker, Legal Analyst

6:30 Brian Cooper, Head of Sports & Entertainment in studio

6:45 Should be Jim Popp but we’ll see!!

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Brian Burke, general manager of the Leafs

- Bob “The Bear” Cowan with his Monday NFL pick

- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Sabres game

- Hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Ray Ferraro at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

John Shannon Co Hosts….

5:20 Brian Cooper, President & CEO Of Sports & Entertaiment in studio

5:40 Joe Womack, Green Riders Director Of Player Personnel

6:06 Keith Law & Jeff Blair

6:30 Wayne Parrish CEO Of Canada Basketball in studio

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- An interview with a member of the Maple Leafs’ front office

- Bob “The Bear” Cowan with his Monday NFL pick

- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Islanders game

- Hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Ray Ferraro at 6:10

We’re entering Week Eight in the National Football League, and already there have been seven teams that have sent more than one quarterback under centre. Buffalo, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, and St. Louis have needed to make changes due to injury. In Miami, the shoulder injury suffered by Chad Pennington just brought the Chad Henne era to a start sooner than anticipated. Philadelphia, and St. Louis have gone back to their original starters, while Detroit will send Matt Stafford back out as soon as possible. Buffalo has an interesting decision to make with Trent Edwards when he recovers from a concussion, seeing as Ryan Fitzpatrick is 2-0. But it’s more interesting to look at the teams that have changed starters in hopes to turn their seasons around.

In Cleveland, Brady Quinn was given only two weeks by head coach Eric Mangini before he was pulled in favour of Derek Anderson. Anderson’s been far from capable of handling the job – two touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 43.8 completion percentage. How is he still the starter? Well, I’ve been critical of Eric Mangini in the past, and I see no other person to blame for this move. There’s the conspiracy theory that owner Randy Lerner doesn’t want to pay the $11 million bonus due to Quinn if he plays 70% of the snaps, but winning has to take prescendence in the NFL. Quinn should be the starter, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be given another chance in Cleveland.

The Tennessee Titans announced today that Vince Young will take over for Kerry Collins, giving him a second tenure as a starting quarterback. With the Titans’ season pretty much over at 0-6, why not see if Young has anything left in the tank? Plus, it gives owner Bud Adams an opportunity to watch Young and find out whether or not he can lead this team in the future. His rookie contract carries a $7.5 million base salary in 2010, so if Young’s not the guy, then you can expect him to be given his walking papers next year.

And then there’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the 2008 draft, they drafted Josh Johnson in the fifth round as a developmental quarterback. Onto the 2009 draft, and the Bucs decided to take Kansas State’s Josh Freeman with the 17th pick. And then they signed Byron Leftwich in the offseason to compete with Luke McCown as starting quarterback. McCown was released, Leftwich was benched after three games for Johnson, and now he’s been given the hook for Freeman. Normally, I’m all for teams seeing what they have in first round quarterbacks, but in this case, it’s way too early. Johnson is only 23 himself, and by allowing him to start for the rest of the season they could have increased his trade value, or opened up a competition between he and Freeman next offseason. Freeman is going to struggle on this terrible team, and his confidence will take a huge beating with the complete lack of offensive weapons in Tampa. Johnson was the way to go for the remainder of the year in Tampa, and rookie coach Raheem Morris is making a big mistake by giving up on a 23 year old quarterback already.

Of course there’s still the teams that should make a switch but haven’t (hello Oakland and Carolina), but that just opens up an entirely different can of worms.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- the Chicago Bears owe a big thanks to the people who made their schedule. There’s no better remedy for a struggling defence than facing the Cleveland Browns (well, maybe facing JaMarcus Russell)

- Rex Ryan stopped the Wildcat last season when he was with Baltimore, but good luck to him stopping it this weekend. The Jets are currently the league’s 22nd rush defence, and are without their best run player in nose tackle in Kris Jenkins. Recipe for disaster

This week wasn’t so much about teams that proved their worth to me, more about teams that fell far below my expectations. If Cincinnati wants to be taken seriously in the AFC North, they need to beat Houston at home. The New York Jets cannot lose to the Buffalo Bills at home, it’s simply inexcusable for a team that knocked off the New England Patriots just a few weeks ago. And then there’s Philadelphia and Washington….

But there were some solid performances to speak of as well, so that’s where we’ll start.

THE GOOD

The New Orleans Saints are looking like quite the NFC powerhouse right now. I did not expect them to beat the Giants, let alone embarrass them.  Drew Brees shredded the G-Men’s secondary for 369 yards and four touchdowns, and Marques Colston caught eight passes for 161 yards and a score. Even with Minnesota remaining undefeated, the Saints are a far better team due to the way they’re winning games. That’s two undefeated New York teams in three weeks to travel into the Superdome, and two New York teams humiliated.

The Arizona Cardinals went a long way to proving they weren’t just a one year wonder by thoroughly handling the Seattle Seahawks. In a key NFC West matchup, in the harsh atmosphere of Qwest, scored an early touchdown, and never looked back. Kurt Warner completed 32 of 41 passes for just under three hundred yards and a pair of scores before Matt Leinart (remember him) came in for mop-up duty. But the key figure of the game that stood out to me – Arizona allowed only 14 rushing yards. I know the Seahawks aren’t big-time running team anymore, but that is one impressive number.

THE BAD

I knew Tennessee was bad this year. I didn’t know they were that bad. I gave them a very small chance to go winless based on the talent that still remains on their roster, but yesterday was just plain wrong. Was Tom Brady playing against a scout team? Jeff Fisher should make the switch and go with Vince Young for the rest of the season. Who knows, maybe he can get them a win or two.

Sticking with the same game: when your quarterback has just set an NFL record with five touchdown passes in a quarter and you lead 45-0 at half, you do not send said quarterback out to start the second half. It’s called sportsmanship Mr. Belichick.

Neither the Atlanta Falcons nor Chicago Bears looked like serious threats Sunday night. Costly interceptions, fumbles from the goal line, and stupid penalties (way to cost your team a chance to win Orlando Pace) occurred far too often in the game, and each team needs to: a) get their running games back on track, and b) stop having their defences give up long scoring drives

THE UGLY

What can I possibly say about the Washington Redskins? They beat the St. Louis Rams by two points. They become the first team to lose to the Detroit Lions in almost two years. They defeat Tampa Bay by a measly field goal. And then they lose to the Kansas City Chiefs. The combined record of their last four opponents is 2-22. Jim Zorn should pull a Bobby Petrino and quit midseason to bolt for college. Oh wait – I don’t think there’s a college program that would be interested.

The Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders. There’s no need to go deeper into that one.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- the New York Jets suffered another huge loss today, literally. 360 pound nose tackle Kris Jenkins will be out for the season according to the NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi. The Jets should call the Browns immediately about Shaun Rogers. Eric Mangini has already given his former team Mark Sanchez and Braylon Edwards, maybe he’d be willing to do another favour

- the trade deadline’s tomorrow, and it’s the one time of year I wish the NFL was more like the other North American professional sports leagues. Nothing would make me happier than somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 trades with at least four star players changing teams. It won’t happen, but I can dream

No, I’m not referring to the terrible 2007 Jim Carrey movie. 23 is the number of passing yards Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson amassed on Sunday afternoon against the Buffalo Bills. 23 passing yards in a 60 minute game. Tony Romo had almost three times that amount on one play in overtime. Cleveland managed a grand total of six points on the afternoon. Pathetic. But, the Cleveland Browns picked up their first win of the season, a 6-3 decision over the Buffalo. This game was completely beyond my football understanding. Being away from TV for the Thanksgiving holiday and having to rely on a faint internet signal and the FAN 590 for my football coverage, I was almost sick upon hearing the stats of the Cleveland/Buffalo game. Derek Anderson completed two of 17 passes on the afternoon. The Browns rushing game torched the Bills for 171 yards, but they were unable to muster even a single touchdown.

The Bills, on the other hand, had 152 yards passing and 145 yards on the ground – and still no touchdowns. How can two teams be so incredibly inept? I wrote Friday night that Cleveland had only a 25% chance to go winless on the season, with the fact that they were playing the Buffalo Bills largely on my mind. But a 6-3 win? There is no excuse for that, for either team. Both of these teams have serious talent issues surrounding them, but they’ve crossed a line. I’ve never the rain of ‘boo’ last as long as Sunday afternoon at Orchard Park.

I’m done with the Denver Broncos for a while. Each week I examine how they’ll probably lose a game or crumble when their schedule gets tougher, only to see them triumph over my football beliefs. With back-to-back wins over Dallas and New England, I’m more than willing to give them a tip of my hat. But looking at their roster, I still don’t understand how they win games. So for the time being, I’m going to use some ancient wisdom I was once told: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

And so much for my game of the week. Atlanta completely demolished San Fransisco 45-10, with 329 passing yards from Matt Ryan and 210 receiving yards from Roddy White.  Monday November 2nd is a game I’m really looking forward to right now: Atlanta at New Orleans, with the NFC South lead potentially on the line.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- I guess Matt Hasselbeck really does make a difference in Seattle

- even without having television: turkey/potatoes + NFL = bliss. Why does this only happen twice a year?

After the Detroit Lions set the bar with a winless season, one logical question comes up – can it happen again? After four weeks of football there are five winless teams, but are any of them bad enough to keep playing at such a low level that they’d be forever linked to the 2008 Lions? Well, let’s have a look.

TENNESSEE TITANS

Of the five winless teams, they’re easily the best. They’re one year removed from being the best team in the league, but their stout defence from a year ago has apparently decided not to show up this season. Sure they’re missing defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz (now head coach of the Lions), and All-Pro defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth (signed with Washington), but giving up 37 points to Jacksonville? Ouch. However, the Titans are too good to go winless. They play the Bills at home in Week 10, and get another winless team, the St. Louis Rams, at home in Week 14.

Chance to go winless: 1%

CLEVELAND BROWNS

Here’s a defence that sits last in the league allowing over 400 yards a game. And Eric Mangini was a defensive coordinator. How this man is allowed to run two teams into the ground in a two year span is beyond me. I’ll give the Browns credit, they gave Cincinnati a scare last week. And they get Buffalo this weekend, as well as Detroit, Kansas City and Oakland later in their schedule. The Dawg Pound should get a win this season, no matter how ugly it is.

Chance to go winless: 25%

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Scott Pioli certainly looks like a genius now, doesn’t he? The well respected former Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel has assembled quite the roster in Kansas City. Matt Cassell for $63 million? A 3-4 defensive end (Tyson Jackson) with the third overall pick? Bringing in Todd Haley as head coach, who looked like a genius in Arizona as offensive coordinator because of the weapons he had there, is not looking like a strong move either. The Chiefs almost had the Raiders in Week 2, only to let JaMarcus Russell beat them. JaMarcus Russell beat the Chiefs (let that one sink in for a minute). They’re lucky however, they get to play Buffalo and Cleveland back-to-back at Arrowhead in December. There’s no way they can lose both of those…. can they?

Chance to go winless: 55%

ST. LOUIS RAMS

From the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’, to this in just a decade. They currently have the 30th ranked offence, and there’s not too many things to look forward to in the Gateway to the Midwest. When Kyle Boller is taking snaps for your team, maybe it’s time to look at next year’s crop of quarterbacks. However, they have one saving grace that may prevent them from going undefeated – the Detroit Lions. Week 8, at Ford Field, these two juggernauts will go head to head. For the Rams, that may be their only shot at victory this year.

Chance to go winless: 75%

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Now this is a team that worries me. After three weeks, they switched quarterbacks. They have a 32 year old head coach who was in charge of their defensive backs last season. What they don’t have, is a lot of talent. Their offense currently sits 27th in the league, and their defence is 31st, allowing just under 400 yards a game. I don’t see any easy wins on their schedule, but they do have the struggling Panthers coming to Raymond James Stadium next weekend.

Chance to go winless: 85%

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- if you’re trading a 26 year old former Pro Bowl receiver, and the second listed item coming back to you is a “key special teams player”, how do you still run a franchise? I’d love for Eric Mangini and George Kokinis to justify that one to me. Braylon Edwards was a plague on the Browns, but you’ve got to get back more than that

- most people are saying the game of the week is New England at Denver. I beg to differ. Give me Atlanta at San Fransisco any day. Two up-and-coming teams with fiery, defensive minded coaches – should make for a great game

Now that the season is a quarter over (for all but four teams), you can start making reasonable assumptions on what could (and should) happen the rest of the way. For example, the Tennessee Titans are 0-4 and welcome Peyton Manning & Co. to LP Field next weekend. My football insight tells me the Titans will be 0-5, wondering again what happened to last years’ defence, and focusing on 2010. Who knows, we may even see Vince Young.

Still with the Titans, Jeff Fisher is topping many writers’ lists of head coaches on the ‘hot seat’. He’s been with the team since 1994, and seen them through some great times, and some terrible ones as well. If Fisher is let go by the Titans, he will be unemployed for less than two weeks if he wants to be.

Other coaches clearly under fire around the league are; Jim Zorn in Washington, because anyone who loses to Detroit should be fired on the spot; Dick Jauron in Buffalo, although not entirely his fault, he has Trent Edwards at quarterback; and Tom Cable in Oakland, because he has a better punch than his offence.

What happened to the NFL’s premier pass rushers from last season? DeMarcus Ware racked up 20, Joey Porter notched 17.5, and Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison had 16. Fast forward to this year, and Ware has no sacks for the Cowboys. LeMarr Woodley had 11.5 sacks last year for Pittsburgh, and has none thus far in 2009. Porter? Two.  Harrison? Three. 

Offensive coordinators are clearly preparing differently for these players, and it’s up to the respective defensive coordinators to utilize their pass rushers in a different fashion. Mike Nolan is getting the most out of the five-foot-eleven Elvis Dumervil, he’s got eight sacks. So to does Antwan Odom in Cincinnati. Pass rushers are paid a premium amount in the NFL, but maybe it’s time for teams to reconsider that game plan with sack totals fluctuating so rapidly.

Finally, there are currently four quarterbacks on pace for over 4,500 yards passing in Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady. A fifth, Joe Flacco, isn’t far off the pace. What ever happened to the run-based NFL? Here’s your answer – the quarterbacks in the league right now are incredible. Manning is on pace to shatter Dan Marino’s single season passing record of 5,084 yards (projected for 5,344). Quarterbacks generally receive all the spotlight, and with these guys in the league, it’s for good reason.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- I don’t think I can watch the next Monday Night Football with the Minnesota Vikings. If I have to hear Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski salivate into their microphones over Brett Favre one more time, my ears will start bleeding. Unfortunately for me – Week 16, Vikings @ Bears

- the San Fransisco 49ers are going to re-open negotiations with first round malcontent Michael Crabtree. I hope he signs, then gets humbled by being benched for five weeks by Head Coach Mike Singletary because he has to learn the playbook and get in game shape