Is the Pope Jewish? There is simply no way Baltimore brass should allow Billick to stay on as coach of this team. Billick was brought to Crabville supposedly because he knew how to put points on the board. After all, that was his background, as OC with a record-setting Minnesota Vikings unit in the mid-to-late ’90s. And in his second season, the Ravens won a Super Bowl. But they did it with a record-setting defense, and a very ordinary offense. And in the years since that title, the Baltimore offense has not gotten any better.

Things could have worked out for Billick and the Ravens. They started out by winning four of their first six games this season. But driving for the winning touchdown in Buffalo in Week 7, with a second-and-one around midfield, Billick called three pass plays in a row while Willis McGahee never touched the ball. Three incompletions later, the game was lost, and Billick should have been canned on the flight home. Instead, they’ve dragged this thing out; Baltimore has lost nine games in a row, and Billick has lost control of this team.

The capper came when this team lost to the 0-13 Dolphins when Billick showed no balls at all and went for the tie on fourth down at the one-foot line in the waning seconds, when a TD wins the game. Gutless.

Although Brett Favre set the all-time record for INTs earlier this season, finally topping ol’ George Blanda’s mark of 277 to the relief of Packer fans everywhere, No. 4 probably won’t lead the league in INTs this season. He did throw a couple of picks Sunday against the Bears, to raise his season total to 15. But the Packers are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and although he’ll keep his starting streak alive this weekend against the Lions, Favre should not play enough to throw five interceptions.

The league leaders in this dubious category heading into the final week of play are Eli Manning and Carson Palmer, both with 19 INTs this season, and Derek Anderson, Jon Kitna and Tony Romo with 18. And we can’t rule out Vince Young, who’s thrown 17 INTs this season. The Giants are locked into the No. 5 spot in the NFC, so Manning shouldn’t have to do too much against New England Saturday night. Cincinnati is out of contention, and we’re not sure just how much Palmer will play Sunday at Miami. Cleveland is in the unusual situation in that they have no control over their playoff fate; if Tennessee wins, the Browns are out, and if the Titans lose, the Brownies are in. So it’s hard to say what might happen with Anderson when Cleveland hosts San Francisco.

Detroit plays a meaningless game at Green Bay and Dallas visits Washington with nothing on the line for them, so again, it’s difficult to discern what Kitna and Romo might do. But we’ll go with Palmer to win this dubious race, although we wouldn’t put much more than a dollar on it.

Frankly, who gives a crap?  Sacks are easily one of the most overrated football statistics ever invented. So a guy makes a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. So what? Did he do it all by himself? How often do you see a nosetackle tie up two offensive linemen, allowing some overpaid DE to make a play on the quarterback? And how often is a sack simply the result of good coverage downfield?

But just for the sake of discussion, Seattle’s Patrick Kearney led the league heading into Week 16 with 14 1/2 sacks, followed by Houston’s Mario Williams – who’s making the Texans look good in taking him over the overrated Reggie Bush and Vince Young in last year’s draft – with 14 sacks, and K.C.’s Jared Allen with 13 1/2. So if you’re going to make me put a dollar on someone in this meaningless race, I’ll go with Williams, because I’m glad to see him doing so well after catching so much flak during his rookie season.

College football’s bowl season is a prime betting opportunity, as teams from different conferences get mixed and matched. The greater the disparity in talent between the conferences, the bigger the opportunity.

Consider the Hawaii Warriors. They built most of their 12-0 record in the WAC. How does that compare to the 10-2 Georgia Bulldogs coming out of the SEC? According to stathead Brian Fremeau, not so good. He has the Warriors ranked No. 42 in the nation in efficiency, Georgia ninth. Yet the Warriors are getting just eight points at the Fiesta Bowl.

On the flip side, the little guys can sometimes be even better than the public thinks, especially when matched up against a mediocre major-conference opponent. These are the traditional bowl underdogs sharps load up on (remember last year’s Navy-Boston College tilt?), but the pickings are slim this time around – perhaps Ball State (+10) against underachieving Rutgers at the International Bowl.

In the much publicized case against disgraced Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick, US District Judge Henry Hudson Monday is expected to sentence Vick up to five years in prison. Vick’s co-defendants, Purnell Peace and Quanice Phillips, have already been sentenced to 18 and 21 months respectively for their roles in this brutal case of animal cruelty. But because Vick provided the money to stage the dog fight, many are saying that he could receive the maximum penalty.

If he receives less than the maximum and is instead sentenced to 18 months, that would give Vick enough time to suit up for the 2009 NFL training camps. However, considering the once beloved QB owes the Falcons $19.97 million in signing bonuses it’s not likely that he will be given another chance to play with the organization unless he coughs up the cash. And even then, his reputation has been so severely damaged that his presence will only hinder rather than help the club.

Without Vick, the Falcons are 3-9 heading into Monday night’s game against New Orleans.

Full credit to the Ravens for putting the boots to the Patriots Monday night. Their reward: another game staring at big chalk, this time against the Indianapolis Colts.

Baltimore managed to run for big yards against the Patriots. Run defense happens to be the one area where New England isn’t world-class, sitting at No. 11 in efficiency. The Colts are even worse in this department at No. 21, and they won’t be getting any better without injured Dwight Freeney on the defensive line.

But are the Ravens in any mood to beat the Colts? Losing to New England the way they did was a punch in the gut. Players are questioning coaches, blaming officials, and otherwise gazing at their navels after losing what analysts were calling “their Super Bowl.” Beating the 10-2 Colts just won’t have the same motivational zest to it, even as a revenge game from last year’s playoffs.