By Ed Morrone

There truly is nothing like a couple of Michael Vick middle fingers to his home crowd to embody the Thanksgiving holiday weekend…real classy guy. Now you must know why I’m such a big fan of him. Anyway, the Eagles started the post-Donovan McNabb era with a bang in Indianapolis-only problem is the bang was Joseph Addai shooting himself into the end zone all night. Keeping that in mind, here’s the five things I learned from Week 12:

1) After that game against the Eagles, Addai made everybody forget about Edgerrin James. Granted, he was facing Philly’s paper-mache thin run defense, but check out the stats: 789 yards, a 5.1 yards per carry clip and seven touchdowns compared to James’ 695, 3.1 and three. How’s Arizona treating you, Edge?2) Bill Parcells owes Jerry Jones a very big “I told you so.” Benching Drew Bledsoe in favor of Tony Romo is turning out to be a genius move, and Romo’s five-touchdown performance against the Bucs on Thanksgiving is further evidence of that fact. With the Giants self-destructing by the minute, it looks like Dallas is the team to beat in the NFC East (not that that’s saying much).3) Speaking of the Giants, I can only offer one word after that unprecedented fourth quarter collapse against the Titans: wow. Eli Manning freezes up and makes terrible decisions whenever the game’s on the line, Plaxico Burress kills you much more than he hurts you, Jeremy Shockey doesn’t get enough catches, everybody is injured, Tom Coughlin is a terrible coach…the list goes on and on. Sorry New York, but this team is in trouble, especially if it can’t beat Dallas on Sunday.4) With Peyton Manning doing his usual Peyton Manning impression for Indy and LaDainian Tomlinson scoring touchdowns every which way for the Chargers (he’s thrown two this year people!), the best team nobody is talking about in the AFC? That’s right, the Baltimore Ravens. They finally have a quarterback that can make the offense work in addition to that always vaunted defense. Look out for this team.5) Chicago should put its Super Bowl plans on hold as long as Rex Grossman is the quarterback. The guy kills you with poor throws and stupid mistakes. Onto the games…

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Baltimore (9-2) +3 at Cincinnati (6-5): Cincinnati is one of the hardest teams to figure out because you never know which Bengal team is going to show up. But you do know what you’re getting out of Baltimore, and they should all but wrap up the AFC North with this one. Pick: Ravens

Dallas (7-4) -3.5 at N.Y. Giants (6-5): As bad as the Giants have played and as good as Romo has been for Dallas, the Cowboy QB is going to slip up sooner or later, and it wouldn’t be any fun if a team had a two-game lead in the NFC East. Pick: Giants

Seattle (7-4) +3 at Denver (7-4): Denver fans are getting their wish: Jake Plummer is out, Jay Cutler is in. The rookie should get enough support from his defense to win his debut at home. Pick: Broncos

THE REST

Arizona (2-9) +6.5 at St. Louis (5-6): St. Louis needs this one to stay in the playoff hunt. Lucky for them, they’re playing the Cardinals. Pick: Rams

Atlanta (5-6) +1 at Washington (4-7): If Vick flipped the birds last week, what will he do if his team loses to Washington? I don’t want to know and thankfully, I don’t think we’ll find out.

Detroit (2-9) +13.5 at New England (8-3): Yeeeeeah, about that…Pick: Patriots

Indianapolis (10-1) -7.5 at Tennessee (4-7): Great win for the Titans over the G-Men, but the honeymoon ends against Peyton’s gang. Pick: Colts

Kansas City (7-4) -5 at Cleveland (3-8): Is this the point in the season where Herm screws up or has he turned the Chiefs back into a legitimate contender? I’m going with the latter. Pick: Chiefs

Minnesota (5-6) +9.5 at Chicago (9-2): The Bears actually hung in there with New England, but I can’t see them beating anyone by more than 10 right now. Pick: Vikings

N.Y. Jets (6-5) -1 at Green Bay (4-7): This will be a huge test for the Jets, and I just don’t see them passing it at Lambeau. The Packers are better than their 4-7 record indicates. Pick: Packers

San Diego (9-2) -6 at Buffalo (5-6): It’s a safe bet that San Diego will buck the coming from behind trend and just lead the whole way in this one. Pick: Chargers

San Francisco (5-6) +7 at New Orleans (7-4): I’m thinking the Niners fans were a little too hasty with all of that playoff talk. Pick: Saints

Jacksonville (6-5) +1 at Miami (5-6): Joey Harrington, meet the Jaguars defense. Pick: Jaguars

Houston (3-8) +3 at Oakland (2-9): It’s the best 3-8 team of all time vs. the worst 2-9 team. What excitement! Pick: Texans

Tampa Bay (3-8) +7.5 at Pittsburgh (4-7): If the object of football was to throw to the guys not on your team, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers would be unstoppable. Pick: Steelers

Carolina (6-5) -3 at Philadelphia (5-6): Get it over with, Steve Smith, just officially end my team’s season. I can’t wait. Pick: Panthers

First place is up for grabs on Sunday when Barber and the Giants face the Cowboys.