This just in: New England Patriots head football coach Bill Belichick was seen smiling during his news conference following the Patriots' utter dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday afternoon. Even more disconcerting, during the same, aforementioned news conference, Belichick was heard laughing and joking with a member of the media. The Earth resumed spinning moments later when Belichik assured anyone who cared to know that, yeah, the Patriots had played against LOTS of safeties better than Anthony Smith, the poor second-year Steeler who was burned throughout the game for touchdowns and long gains and who had apparently pricked the Patriots thin skin by boasting that his team would be the first to knock them off this season. Crikey, it's got to get you riled up when opposing players have actual confidence and belief in the ability of their team. Sooooooo disrespectful.

This past Saturday Tim Tebow became the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy in the award's 73-year history. The Florida quarterback led his Gators to a 9-3 record in a brutally difficult SEC this year, compiling gaudy statistics at a dizzying pace and setting aflutter the hearts of Gators fans everywhere when he said he had no intention of leaving school early to pursue an NFL career. With Tebow at the helm for the next two years, watch for Florida to make strong cases for the national Championship in each of them. I wonder what the ol' ball coach would give to be back coaching his alma mater right about now…

The Redskins, still reeling from the tragic loss of Sean Taylor, took a must-win game from the Bears last Thursday. Whether it was the emotion of Taylor's loss, the short week of practice between Sunday and Thursday games, the loss of Jason Campbell early in the first half, or some combination thereof, the 'Skins really seemed to come together against the once mighty Bears, hanging their first real complete game performance on an opponent since early in the season. Todd Collins performed well enough in replacing Campbell for the rest of the game, going 15 for 20 and throwing two touchdowns, that he seems to be Washington's starting QB for the rest of the season. Now Collins gets to show us all what a quarterback who knows Al Saunders' vaunted offensive system as well as the man who invented it should be able to do. And Mark Brunell is now just one play away from returning to his role as a starter.

Over in Nats-land, mad-scientists Stan Kasten and Jim Bowden traded for Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes over the past couple of weeks, giving up Ryan Church and Brian Schneider for Milledge and minor league pitcher Glenn Gibson for Dukes. Losing Church and Gibson amounts to a drop in the bucket; Church's shine had worn off noticeably with management over the last couple seasons and minor league pitchers are a dime a dozen. Losing Schneider is a little bit more painful, particularly given he'd played his entire career with the Expos/Nationals and served as a real leader in the clubhouse. While his offensive production had dipped recently, his defense behind the plate and ability to settle a pretty ragtag pitching staff will definitely be missed. In Milledge and Dukes, who knows what the Nationals are getting. The ceiling on both these guys is sky-high; just a year ago, Milledge was considered an untouchable, five-tool talent in the New York Mets' farm system. If everything plays out just right, they could find themselves at the heart of one of the premier outfields in Major League Baseball. The flip side of the coin isn't quite so pretty, though. Both Milledge and Dukes have had scrapes with the law, Dukes most recently when he supposedly violated a restraining order and threatened one of the four mothers of one of his five children. Milledge has had off the field trouble of his own, but his attitude is what proved to be the final straw with his veteran teammates in New York. However the moves turn out, though, you've got to give credit where credit is due; Kasten and Bowden are trying to make things happen, and they're not mortgaging the future of the franchise to try shooting the moon.

Not quite sure what to make of the football team to the north, the hapless Ravens. One week after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in their heartbreaking loss to the Patriots and whining and moaning and pointing fingers for days afterward, the Birds laid a monster of an egg against the Colts this passed Sunday. With his team comfortably ahead 37-7 in the first half, Indy QB Peyton Manning didn't even finish the third quarter. It was gross.

And lastly, Michael Vick, once the highest paid player in the NFL, has just been sentenced to 23 months in prison for his role in the Bad Newz Kennels dog-fighting scandal that came to light this summer. That means that, with possible time off for good behavior, the earliest Vick can be released is summer of 2009. The whole thing, from the animals that were abused, tortured and murdered, to Vick's friends that rolled on him, to Vick's life, once so full of mind-blowing potential and now so thoroughly derailed, is just a tragedy. What a waste.