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DENVER -- There are no surprises on Denver’s inactive list for Saturday’s AFC divisional playoff game against Baltimore.

Here are Denver’s inactives: Tracy Porter, Andre Caldwell, C.J. Davis, Chris Gronkowski, Caleb Hanie, Sealver Siliga and Julius Thomas. Porter is the most important injured player of the group. He has a concussion. Denver is remarkably healthy going into this game.

Here are Baltimore’s inactive: Deonte Thompson, David Reed, Ramon Harewood, Chris Johnson, Bryan Hall, Omar Brown and Adrian Hamilton.

As expected, it is quite chilly here. But the skies are clearing up, and it is not as gloomy as it was a couple of hours ago when it was snowing lightly. The field is in good condition.

I think here is a chance the game will be played in dry conditions, although there are reports that the wind-chill factor might be near zero late in the game.

The moment they knew they’d be without Peyton Manning for all or most of the season, the Indianapolis Colts should have shifted gears on offense.

No, they were not built to be a power running attack. But it’s easier to be run-heavy than pass-heavy when you’re lacking offensive talent. And with two bad quarterbacks in Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky, it was crazy not to attempt a more dramatic shift than the one the Colts have made.

The Colts' lack of any big alteration is the biggest negative attached to Jim Caldwell for me as the team prepares to finish a 2-14 or 3-13 season.

Indianapolis has run the ball more often -- on 42.2 percent of its snaps vs. 36.7 in 2010 with Manning playing. The Colts, who have not been a fullback team throughout most of the Manning era, have used a fullback on 11.2 percent of their offensive snaps.

“We actually made an adjustment early on (regarding the fullback spot) and a matter of fact one of the guys got hurt after about four or five plays during the course of one game and so we had to adjust a little bit,” Caldwell told Jacksonville media on a conference call Wednesday. “But it was something we tried to focus in on once we realized exactly what was going to happen in terms of our overall offense, that we had to make an adjustment to run the ball a little bit more and so we went out to find a few guys to help us at that position.”

That injury was to Chris Gronkowski. He was claimed off waivers from Dallas on Sept. 4, and then used sparingly in seven games before landing on IR after getting hurt against New Orleans on Oct. 23. He landed on IR and the Colts added fullback Ryan Mahaffey on Nov. 16 and fullback Jerome Felton (who started at New England) on Nov. 28.

Over the past five weeks, according to John McTigue of ESPN Stats & Info, Mahaffey or Felton has been on the field for the Colts on 25.1 percent of their snaps.

“We have made some adjustments in that area,” Caldwell said. “We typically didn’t carry a fullback very often and now we obviously have two on our roster and they’ve been able to help us. We’ve been using a little bit more two-back stuff of late, kind of mixing it in with some of the one-back stuff that we do. Both guys have done a nice job for us so they’ve helped us I think in the running game and that’s one of the areas I think we’ve been fairly consistent, but we’re trying to get better all the time.”

Said running back Joseph Addai: "You get different looks. Are you asking me do I like it? Yeah, I like it. It's really my first time playing with a fullback in my career. At LSU we kind of did what we did here, a tight end played fullback or whatever. I think it will be a good look for us."

But a fullback alone hasn’t been sufficient to make a difference in the run game. Indianapolis’ average run this season has been 4.6 yards without a fullback and 3.7 yards with one.

Finding the right recipe to run most effectively -- with a fullback, with an H-back or with the field spread with three wides -- may sound easier than it is. But it should have been priority one for the Colts as soon as Manning wasn’t at quarterback.

To be a better football team than they've been, they needed to be better than the league’s 24th-ranked run offense.

Click here for a complete list of the Dallas Cowboys' roster moves.

Biggest surprise: I guess that they released four fullbacks, including Chris Gronkowski, meaning they kept none. They're obviously deep at tailback with Felix Jones, Tashard Choice, DeMarco Murray and Phillip Tanner and at tight end as well, so they either didn't see the need to use a fullback this season or are content with the idea of picking one off the scrap heap within the next couple of weeks. Other than that, I didn't find any of the cuts especially surprising. Igor Olshansky started 28 of their 32 games the past two seasons, so he's the biggest name among the cuts. But we'd seen this one coming for a while. It was clear that new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan preferred Kenyon Coleman at defensive end, and that the Cowboys weren't going to be afraid to cut ties with established veterans.

No-brainers: Kickers Shayne Graham and Dave Rayner had their chances to win jobs but couldn't, so they're gone and the Cowboys will go with David Buehler for kickoffs and Dan Bailey for field goals. Lonyae Miller showed promise early but was passed by Tanner for the lone spot in the crowded running back field. Akwasi Owusu-Ansah clearly wasn't panning out at safety in spite of being the team's fourth-round draft pick in 2010.

What's next: With only five wide receivers on the roster, the Cowboys could theoretically hunt around for veteran help there. But they believe the receiving ability of their tight ends and running backs minimizes the importance of adding there. They will surely continue looking for a kicker, because
they're obviously not satisfied with what they have, and they may be on the lookout for added depth in the secondary. They kept 10 offensive linemen, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to see them bringing someone in from the outside if they can find a reliable veteran backup for some of their young starters.

AMHERST, N.Y. -- Diane Gronkowski put the finishing touches on a Christmas Eve prime-rib dinner for her family. They were going to sit down for a pleasant meal and then go to church.

Her five young sons, jacked up on yuletide excitement, burned off some energy with one of their favorite basement games. They crouched over mini hockey sticks, scampered about and thwacked at a spongy ball -- and the occasional body part.

"I just remember opening the door and saying, 'Come on up for dinner!' " Diane recalled.

Glenn, the youngest and 4 years old at the time, was the first to greet his mother atop the stairs with what she described as "this hole in his chin."

"I got woozy," said Gordy Gronkowski, the father. "It was split pretty good. You could see right into it."

Instead of piling into the car for Christmas mass at St. Gregory the Great, the Gronkowskis diverted their evening through Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.

The bloody scene wasn't typical for Christmas, but it was a relatively routine day at the Gronkowski house in Buffalo's northern outskirts.

"So we didn't have dinner. We didn't go to church," Diane said. "What are you going to do? I couldn't get wound up about those things, or I wouldn't have been able to handle them. I would have had to stop with one."

As you can tell by checking out NFL rosters, Gordy and Diane Gronkowski didn't stop with one child. They had five, all of them boys, all of them successful athletes who saved their parents about $800,000 in college tuition, room and board.

Three sons -- Rob, Chris and Dan -- are in the NFL this year. The oldest, Gordie, has been playing professional baseball the past five seasons. The kid with the three-inch scar on his chin, Glenn, already has a full-ride football scholarship waiting for him.

"It's a great family story, one of the great family stories ever in sports," Glenn Gronkowski said. "To have five brothers be successful in sports is awesome."

Because it's difficult to follow the Gronkowskis without a scorecard, here's a handy lineup you can use for reference throughout the remainder of this story:

• Gordy (with a y): Dad is a former Syracuse football player.
• Diane: Mom isn't difficult to identify. She's the one who's always outnumbered.
• Gordie (with an ie): The firstborn son is a 27-year-old pro baseball player. The former Angels draft pick plays first base in the Frontier League.
• Dan: The injured Denver Broncos tight end will turn 26 next month and is in his second NFL season. He attended Maryland, where he was a Rhodes scholar nominee.
• Chris: The Dallas Cowboys rookie fullback will turn 24 on Christmas. He has played every game and started six. He attended Maryland before transferring to Arizona.
• Rob: The New England Patriots rookie tight end is 21 years old. He left Arizona a year early to enter the draft. He's tied for the team lead with seven receiving touchdowns.
• Glenn : The youngest Gronkowski is a senior at Williamsville North High and will play football at Kansas State next year.

What a name, Gronkowski. It's no Smith or Jones or Thompson.

By itself, though, Gronkowski won't command anyone's attention aside from being tough to spell.

But the guys who wear it on the backs of their jerseys play like you imagine a Gronkowski would.

When you watch them buzz around an 80,000-seat stadium, they're the same fun-loving, roughneck hellions who lumped up each other in whatever new game their imaginations could concoct. As they got older, they spent more time in the basement pumping iron on equipment that puts your gym to shame. Gordy Gronkowski is the founder of G&G Fitness, one of the country's biggest fitness equipment retailers.

"The Gronkowski name brings so much notice," said Kansas State co-offensive coordinator Dana Dimel, who recruited Glenn and coached Rob and Chris at Arizona. "It's already starting to catch on. It means having a joy and a passion for the game and being a good, quality kid.

"They love playing the game. They bring a great work ethic to the table. They have an inbred toughness to them that's genetically there and coaches just love."

With the way the Gronkowskis approach the game, they're not only building careers, but also a brand that's popular among fans. It was inevitable they would team up for their own website, GronkNation.com.

Three brothers playing in the NFL simultaneously is a rarity.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has documented 24 sets of three or more brothers in NFL history. Seven times have three brothers played in the NFL at the same time, but the Gronkowskis are just the fourth trio since the 1920s.

Four Browner brothers -- Ross, Jim, Joey and Keith -- made it to the NFL, with three of them simultaneously on rosters in the mid-1980s.

But even if Glenn Gronkowski joins his brothers in the NFL, they won't match the Nesser clan. Al Nesser played for the Akron Pros in 1921, while brothers Frank, Fred, John, Phil and Ted played for the Columbus Panhandles. Ted also was the Panhandles coach, perhaps explaining the high Nesser ratio.

The longer Chris Gronkowski experiences life in the NFL, the more he realizes how special it is that at least three brothers have made it.

"I've seen about 40 guys come and go since I've been here," Chris said of his season with the Cowboys. "You don't realize how many guys are coming through until you're in it. It's just incredible. Everyone can play. You have to do something special. You've got to stick out. Sometimes it takes an injury to get your chance."

The Gronkowskis obviously possess robust genes, but Dimel noted their success is as much nurture as nature.

"Gordy and Diane are a great combination," Dimel said. "Gordy is so fun-loving, but tough and hard-nosed. Diane's just solid as a rock, stable and organized and intellectual. When you coach the boys you see both of those traits really showing up."

Gordy and Diane certainly demanded their boys handle their pursuits properly, but neither forced their boys into sports as much as they committed their time and resources. The Gronkowski boys simply couldn't compete often enough. They were three-sport stars through high school: football, basketball or hockey and baseball.

"Hockey started at 4:50 a.m.," Diane said wearily, remembering how tough it was for youth teams to get ice time at reasonable hours. "I would wear my clothes to bed and put them to bed with their clothes on so we could sleep those extra five minutes and get up at 4:20. And hockey was all day, every day in the winter. That's just what you did."

While Gordy's bloodlines are more sporting -- his grandfather, Ignatius Gronkowski, was a U.S. bicyclist at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris -- Diane confessed she knew little about athletics until her boys initiated her one activity at a time.

When she took Gordie to his first hockey practice, they showed up with a bag full of equipment and "no clue what to do with any of it," she said. Diane asked the father of a teammate to dress his son one pad at a time so she could observe and dress her son identically.

"I don't know how she did it," Chris Gronkowski said. "We were five boys, fighting every day. It was more than a job for her to take care of us, cooking, cleaning, taking us to practice, making sure we did our homework.

"It was tough on her, and there were points I felt bad for her. We had to stop going to church and doing a lot of family events because she couldn't control us. It's a blessing what she did for us. It was incredible what she did for us."

Aside from the cross-country travel, Diane enjoys games a lot more these days. She doesn't have to chauffeur anybody to Gillette Stadium or Invesco Field at Mile High. Equipment managers tend to her boys, making sure they have clean uniforms and the right pads.

She can laugh about it now when she sees Rob's jersey hanging alongside Tom Brady's in the Patriots' gift shop.

"There are 80,000 people in this stadium clapping because my son did something they liked," Diane said. "It's a lot of years, a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to that point. I mean, how proud can you be?"

The holidays, however, can be a melancholy time for Gordy and Diane Gronkowski, who have been divorced for a couple of years.

Their sons are in a line of work that's not conducive for family gatherings. For the past few years, bowl games prevented them from getting together. Now the NFL regular season is taking precedence.

"Every time a holiday comes around you think about how great it would be to see your family," Rob Gronkowski said. "Being with the family, running downstairs and opening presents, it was always fun with my brothers.

"But we're living our dreams and doing what we always wanted to do. That definitely helps us deal with not being together. That's one of the sacrifices."

By luck of the schedule, Rob actually will be home for Christmas this year. The Patriots will play the Buffalo Bills in Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday. But neither Chris nor Dan can make it. Chris will be playing in Glendale, Ariz., on Christmas night.

"Christmas is lonelier more than anything because they're all moving on in life," Gordy said. "I hope someday, 10 years from now, we can meet somewhere and get together. But on Christmas day I can sit there and turn on the TV at 8 o'clock and watch my son play. So it's not all that sad.

"That joy is something you have to experience to understand the feeling I have watching my sons play on TV, to go 'Holy crap. My kid is on TV right now, playing in the National Football League!' And then it's not just one, not just two, but three of them.

"It makes you realize how unbelievably lucky we are as a family."

The New England Patriots and Detroit Lions will play at 12:30 p.m. for your Thanksgiving enjoyment.

Here are five questions to consider for the Patriots:

Can the Patriots win three games in 11 days? The Cleveland Browns, of all teams, pummeled the Patriots in Week 9, creating plenty of concern about the defending AFC East champs. Since then, however, the Patriots merely knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts -- the past two AFC champions and the only other two teams in the conversation when discussing the greatest team of the past decade. Now the Patriots face the lowly Detroit Lions. Should be a piece of pumpkin pie, right? In many ways, this will be the toughest of the three games. The Patriots are on the road with four days to prepare for a tradition the Lions consider their Super Bowl. It will be a test. Legitimate contenders close these games out.

Can the Patriots put together a 60-minute defensive performance? The Patriots' defense had its moments Sunday versus the Colts. They intercepted Peyton Manning three times, including the game-clinching pick snagged by safety James Sanders with 31 seconds left. But the Patriots were clinging to a three-point lead because they'd been dominated by Manning for much of the second half. The Patriots rank 30th in total defense, 17th in run defense and 31st in pass defense.

How do the Patriots cover Calvin Johnson? With injuries hampering the Lions backfield, they'll need to rely heavily on their superstar receiver. The Patriots have struggled in defending the pass, but they have done well against specific receivers, namely Randy Moss in Week 8 (one catch for 8 yards). Johnson presents a more multidimensional problem. New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis held Johnson to one catch for 13 yards in Week 9. But the Patriots don't have a Revis, and that's the only game "Megatron" hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 3.

Will DanJarvus Green-Woodhead control the game again? This could be another big day for New England's effective backfield combo of BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead. The Patriots have been successful on the ground against 4-3 defenses, including Sunday's victory over the Colts. The Lions feature a rugged defensive line that's anchored by rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and right end Kyle Vanden Bosch. Even so, the Lions rank 26th in run defense and 28th in average allowed per carry.

Which Patriots rookie tight end will have honors this week? Tom Brady has been alternating back and forth between Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez almost by the week. Hernandez had two touchdown receptions against Cleveland. Gronkowski had three against Pittsburgh. Hernandez had one against Indianapolis. Thanksgiving was supposed to be a big day for the Gronkowskis, but the Lions traded brother Dan Gronkowski to the Denver Broncos in September. Dallas Cowboys fullback Chris Gronkowski will play the New Orleans Saints at 4:15 p.m.

» NFC Stock Watch: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

FALLING

1. Wade Phillips, Dallas Cowboys head coach: I didn't have room to mention every player on defense, so their coordinator will have to do. The Cowboys had a 20-7 lead over the New York Giants after quarterback Tony Romo left the game. Phillips basically needed his highly ranked defense to win the game for him. What followed over the next two quarters was an embarrassing performance. Phillips tried to blame it on all those three-and-outs from Jon Kitna and the offense, but we all know better. The Cowboys' defense disappeared at the worst possible moment.

2. Ellis Hobbs, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback: Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt burned Hobbs and rookie safety Nate Allen throughout the second half. Hobbs was still backpedaling when Britt was racing past him for big plays. We'll never know why defensive coordinator Sean McDermott didn't do more to help Hobbs in this game. But hey, Asante Samuel and Quintin Mikell shut down Nate Washington on the other side. The sight of those two players bracketing Washington in the fourth quarter was quite ridiculous based on what was actually going on at the time. I still haven't heard a reasonable explanation from McDermott for his approach to stopping Britt.

3. Chris Gronkowski, Dallas Cowboys fullback: When you blow a blocking assignment that leads to your star quarterback being knocked out for a couple months, you deserve some recognition. Gronkowski was apparently so anxious to catch a pass that he forgot to check for incoming linebackers such as Michael Boley, who had a clean shot at Romo.

RISING

1. DeAngelo Hall, Washington Redskins cornerback: Earlier in the week, Hall and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett reportedly had a dispute while watching film of a loss against the Colts. Maybe they should try that more often. Hall was brilliant against Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears with four interceptions, one of which he returned 92 yards for a touchdown.

2. Albert Haynesworth, Washington Redskins defensive tackle: Obviously it was his best performance of the season against the Bears. His one-man goal-line stand against Cutler completely changed the game. And Haynesworth also picked up a sack. He was the most dominant defensive player in that game Sunday. Haslett's done a nice job of getting him in situations that remind him of his Titans days.

3. Hakeem Nicks and Steve Smith, New York Giants wide receivers: Nicks and Smith overwhelmed the Cowboys' defensive backs. I've been saying this might be the best trio of wide receivers (Mario Manningham's the third) in the league, and they certainly lived up to that type of billing Monday. Smith's acrobatic catch across the middle in the first half set the tone for the rest of the game. And Nicks has become one of the most dangerous receivers in the league after the catch. Now, if they could both stop tipping balls ...

ARLINGTON, Texas -- As he ran off the field following the extra point that put the Cowboys up 20-7, New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck was actually laughing. The Giants had already turned the ball over three times and allowed a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown and Tuck wondered what else could go wrong.

"Honest to God, I was laughing like crazy," Tuck told me following the Giants' 41-35 win over the Cowboys on Monday night. "I knew if we could survive that start, [the Cowboys] would have no shot. I mean, what else could happen to us at that point?"

The Giants absorbed the Cowboys' best blow and then ran off 31 unanswered points to put the Cowboys out of their misery -- at least for the 2010 season. The biggest blow came with 12:20 left in the second quarter. Dallas quarterback Tony Romo delivered a pass to Miles Austin just before being blasted by Giants linebacker Michael Boley. Replays showed Cowboys fullback Chris Gronkowski abandoning his post in favor of a short pass route, allowing Boley a clear path to the quarterback.

The Cowboys were winning 10-7 at the time, but the sound of silence from 90,000-plus fans told the story. Romo has a broken left clavicle and owner Jerry Jones said he's likely out 6-8 weeks, which is long enough to rule out any late-season heroics for this team. It was a clean hit by Boley, and Romo became the fifth quarterback the Giants have knocked out of a game this season.

"When he hit the ground, I heard a little scream," Boley said of Romo. "So I knew something was up. But I didn't think he was going to lay down. I thought it was just a normal hit. After I got up and started running, I looked back after the play was over and he was still down."

The only team to make the playoffs after a 1-5 start was the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals. And with Jon Kitna now at the helm in Dallas, something tells me those Bengals can break out the champagne -- if they're into that sort of thing.

We'll never know whether the Giants (5-2) would've won with Romo in the lineup for four quarters, but they're not interested in looking back. They'll enter the bye with a four-game winning streak and a one-game lead in the NFC East over both the Redskins and Eagles. In the watered-down NFC, this is what passes for an elite team. Even coach Tom Coughlin took a moment to crow about his team's performance.

"As I said to our team, tonight there were times where we were as good as there is in the NFL, in both phases," said Coughlin.

Asked if he recalled winning a game in which his team had five turnovers and allowed a 93-yard return, Coughlin deadpanned, "I don't think so. I can't remember. Thank God I don't remember many 93-yard returns."

Quarterback Eli Manning had two of his first three passes intercepted by a Cowboys team that entered the game with only two on the season. Both of the interceptions were tipped by Giants receivers, so it's not like the quarterback was awful. After Dez Bryant's punt return put the Cowboys up 20-7, Manning went to work.

Cowboys cornerbacks Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins were both nicked up in the first half, so Orlando Scandrick was forced to play more than usual. Manning showed him no mercy on short touchdown passes to Hakeem Nicks and Steve Smith. On Smith's 14-yard touchdown in the second quarter, he simply exploded off the line and raced past Scandrick for an easy touchdown. Both Smith and Nicks surpassed 100 yards receiving in the game, combining for three touchdowns.

"We certainly were aware of it," said Coughlin when asked about the injured Cowboys corners. "When we're running the ball, we can get a guy blocking the safety, the corner has to make the play. Brandon Jacobs on a corner is a matchup in our favor."

The Cowboys' defense has a way of reviving careers, and that's what it did for Jacobs in allowing him to bounce outside for a 30-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to stake the Giants to an insurmountable 38-20 lead. Don't be fooled by the final outcome of the game, because those Cowboys points in the fourth quarter were nothing more than window dressing.

Despite their shaky start, the Giants were the best team on the field. It's a credit to their players that a 20-7 deficit never appeared to faze them. And though it's still early, at least one player was daydreaming about a return to Cowboys Stadium.

"I'd like to play here again in February," Tuck told me.

And that would be a reference to Super Bowl XLV. Let's just call it the Jerry Jones doomsday scenario.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- No huge surprises with the inactives for Cowboys-Titans this afternoon. Here's the list:

Dallas Cowboys: Emergency QB Stephen McGee, S Michael Hamlin, FB Chris Gronkowski, LB Brandon Williams, C Phil Costa, T Sam Young, T Robert Brewster, DE Sean Lissemore

Tennessee Titans: QB Rusty Smith, WR Justin Gage, CB Jason McCourty, S Robert Johnson, LB Rennie Curran, G/C Leroy Harris, T Mike Otto, DT Sen'Derrick Marks

Kenny Britt will take over for Gage in the Titans' starting lineup. Britt had more targets last week, so it shouldn't be a huge adjustment for him. In fact, I think Britt might be the Titans' most dangerous receiver today. We'll keep you posted.

Lot of folks at Cowboys Stadium keeping one eye on the Texas Rangers, who are playing the Rays down the street. The Rangers are trailing 5-1 as we speak. Still have no clue why Ron Washington removed Darren O'Day after facing one hitter last night.

But I'll save that anger for the radio.