The Rod Marinelli League

I posed this question to W.F. Skinner on Thursday night:

Who is the second-best coach in the NFL? (Obviously Belichick is first.)

He was stumped. Jeff Fisher? Yawn. Tom Coughlin? He's alright. Andy Reid? Somehow I don't think Johnny K. Woo would think so. Mike Tomlin? His team has lost five straight, including the last two to the Raiders and Browns.

At this point, Sean Payton would probably be the popular choice.

My choice for the second-best coach...Tony Sparano...and I ripped him earlier this year. He's mentally challenged regarding two-point conversions. But at least I can say for sure he knows how to get the most out of his talent.

I'm not suggesting that Herm Edwards should be getting his resume updated, but my god, the current crop of NFL coaches are just absolutely awful.

They go by the names Zorn, Phillips, Cable and Mangini. And the list goes on.

Cowher, Shanahan, Gruden, Holmgren...HURRY BACK! The NFL needs you.

And of course, this legend is still out there...don't think he isn't thinking about it. Early prediction, he'll be leading the Texans to the Super Bowl next season.

Rips from around the league

Sunday evening means we go ripping around the NFL.

Dallas 7, Washington 6:: The Redskins are worthless. They had a chance to do something great for humanity by beating Dallas today, and they blew it by letting the Cowboys get a late score.

Detroit 38, Cleveland 37: Only an Eric Mangini-led team could commit pass interference on a Hail Mary in the end zone with no time left, then give up a touchdown to lose on the next play. Wow.

Green Bay 30, San Francisco 24: That's five losses out of six games for the Niners. How long will Mike Singletary's pants stay on?

Minnesota 35, Seattle 9: This has to stop. There's no way I'm going to be able to deal with ESPN if Brett Favre gets to the Super Bowl.

Kansas City 27, Pittsburgh 24: Starting to look more and more like the Steelers just aren't that good.

New Orleans 38, Tampa Bay 7: The league should have stepped in here and made the Saints play 9 on 11. They still would have won, but it might have been competitive.

NY Giants 34, Atlanta 31: Terrible secondary defense by both teams, but after a rough start Eli plays one of the best games of his career.

Indianapolis 17, Baltimore 15: Keep pulling Ray Rice out of the game in favor of Willis McGahee on the goal line, Baltimore. Worked well today.

Jacksonville 18, Buffalo 15: Rare appearance by T.O. in this game, but not enough to get the Bills a win.

San Diego 32, Denver 3: The Broncos started the season 6-0. Since then they've lost four straight, getting outscored 117-37.

Arizona 21, St. Louis 13: The Rams blew some great chances and could have actually won this game. But they didn't, and that's why they're 1-9.

New England 31, NY Jets 14: Bill Belichick is a weird dude. The Pats threw a bomb to Randy Moss with 25 seconds left in the game in what I can only assume was an attempt to run up the score. Bill, no need to try to embarrass the Jets, Mark Sanchez is doing a fine job of that himself.

Oakland 20, Cincinnati 17: An early Christmas present for Raiders fans, courtesy of the Bengals' Andre Caldwell. Just when I started to believe in the Bengals for real, they pull a stunt like this. Same old, same old.