The weekend began with three Thanksgiving games. Tennessee moved to 11-1, the best record in the league, with a 47-10 rout of winless Detroit (0-12). Dallas improved to 8-4 with a 34-9 romp past Seattle (2-10). Philadelphia prevented Arizona (7-5) from clinching the NFC West with a 48-20 win in which Brian Westbrook scored four touchdowns for the Eagles (6-5-1).

In other Sunday games, Miami is at St. Louis; Carolina at Green Bay; the New York Giants at Washington; San Francisco at Buffalo; Baltimore at Cincinnati; Indianapolis at Cleveland; New Orleans at Tampa Bay; Atlanta at San Diego; Denver at the New York Jets; Kansas City at Oakland; and Chicago at Minnesota.

Jacksonville is at Houston on Monday night.

New York Giants (10-1) at Washington (7-4)

With Tennessee's loss, the Giants have ascended in the NFL's version of the BCS to the spot they really should have been in long ago: No. 1 in the rankings. Which means nothing, because in the NFL it's what you do on the field that counts, not what you do in the "polls." New York is fine on the field, demonstrating its depth by beating the Cardinals without Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress last week. Jacobs should be back, Burress is more iffy.

This game is more important to Washington, which lost in the Meadowlands 16-7 on opening night. The Skins are in an NFC wild-card race that probably will come down to the final weekend. Clinton Portis, who played through knee and hip injuries to help the Redskins escape Seattle, is a question mark for this game, and his backup, Ladell Betts, also has been banged up.

Denver (6-5) at New York Jets (8-3)

The New York tabloids are doing matchups and predictions this week for a Jets-Giants Super Bowl, an event that might turn off the rest of the nation. Premature to say the least, although the Jets' win over the previously unbeaten Titans certainly established them as a legitimate contender.

How can the Broncos win in Atlanta and then lose at home to Oakland? One reason was an awful defense against which JaMarcus Russell went 10-of-11 for 152 yards and had Denver fans leaving the stadium long before the end of a truly shocking 31-10 defeat.

Chicago (6-5) at Minnesota (6-5)

For the lead in the NFC North, a division that's unlikely to produce a wild-card team in a conference where no one in the East and South is under .500.

Minnesota has been living by others' mistakes, jumping to a 14-0 lead in the first two minutes on Jaguars errors in Jacksonville last week, even with Adrian Peterson sitting early for being late to a meeting. But to be a factor in the playoffs, or even get there, the Vikings need to liven up their offense.