Like Richard Nixon, who would never turn off a bad movie because it might get better—it's Halloween, and Nixon is the scariest thing TMQ can think of—Tuesday Morning Quarterback is never discouraged by "insurmountable" leads because they just create opportunities for memorable comebacks! The Jets showed this to the Dolphins last Monday night when they came back from a 20-0 deficit. Miami showed it to Green Bay on Sunday, coming back from 17-0.

What most huge comebacks share in common is that they occur when a team takes its "insurmountable" position in the first half, then promptly nods off as if the game is already over—although if you've taken a big lead before intermission, that means there is as much time left for your opponent to overcome the cushion as you consumed in building it.

In the greatest-ever NFL comeback, Buffalo recovering from 35-3 to beat Houston (Release 1.0) in the 1992 playoffs, the Oilers hit the 35-point mark on the first play from scrimmage of the second half, then switched to a soft-zone defense and began admiring themselves in the mirror; yet half the clock remained. All-time comeback No. 2, San Francisco rallying from 35-7 against New Orleans in 1980, followed the same script: The Saints achieved that margin just before halftime, and New Orleans players began composing their boasts of victory. In the recent Jets-Miami tilt, the Dolphins went to sleep when they got so far ahead so rapidly but should have remembered that a rapid big lead is much more vulnerable than a slowly built big lead. Just last season the Marine Mammals themselves fell behind New England 14-0 after the game's third series and came back to win (on the road no less) as the P-Men began to act like it was over with three-quarters of the clock left to run. Big early leads just set the stage for comebacks.

Tactics note: The Jets posted their incredible 30-point fourth quarter against Miami partly by letting Vinny Testaverde call his own plays. This was done to save time so that plays need not be signaled in, but will any of the NFL's control-freak coaches take heed of how well the tactic worked?

When the QB is a veteran who makes smart decisions, letting him call his own game helps offensive rhythm, inspires teammates—pros go harder when they know they, not coaches, are fully determining the outcome—and, not inconsequentially, gives offensive personnel an extra moment in which to prep mentally for the upcoming play since an on-field call goes out into the huddle faster than a signaled-in call. Yet Jim Kelly, who retired in 1996, was the last NFL starter to call his own plays. Modern coaches want to believe only they could possibly understand the incredibly subtle details of a game plan. Yet when handed the car keys, Testaverde did not make impatient or crazy calls—he just kept advancing the chains with rhythm plays that worked.

Elsewhere, one of the sweetest traditions in sports lore involves the 1972 Dolphins, who finished 17-0, the only perfect season in NFL history. Each year at the moment when the last remaining unbeaten NFL team honks a game, every surviving member of the 1972 Dolphins uncorks a bottle of champagne that he set aside to cool on opening day. And it's genuine Champagne champagne, not Chilean sparkling French-type-style mango-chutney white zinfandel/Gewürztraminer blend. As the Vikes, last undefeated of 2000, left the field in Tampa mumbling "#@&**%#$@!" to each other, corks popped. Gentlemen of 1972, TMQ hopes you enjoyed your Sunday afternoon draught. You earned it and are likely to savor these bubbles annually until the day when the football gods summon you to Asgard for song and feasting.

Best Plays of the Week: Best No. 1. Honoring a TMQ law of football (Fake Kick = Victory), the Dolphins pulled off one of the classiest trick punts in years. Midway through the third quarter, Green Bay leading 17-14, Miami lined up to boom away from its 45. Punter Matt Turk convincingly leapt into the air as if he was trying to snag a bad snap, drawing the Packers' attention as the ball was actually direct-hiked to LB Larry Izzo, who lumbered for a 39-yard gain that set up the go-ahead TD. (Note: The burgundy gentleman's failed punt run on Monday night, followed by a loss, does not invalidate this rule because the play was a botched snap rather than a called fake. Bad Snap ? Victory.)

Best No. 2. Trailing 13-7, the Indigenous Persons had the ball on the Tennessee 34 with 10 seconds left and were looking for that one quick pass to improve field-goal position. That one quick pass went directly to Flaming T's CB Samari Rolle, who staged one of the best return plays ever, staying on his feet for a seemingly endless 81-yard touchdown return. Rolle had marvelous awareness of the fact that it was score or nothing—the clock ticked to double zeros as he crossed midfield. Rolle's teammates had marvelous awareness of the clock situation, sprinting from all over the field to block for him mightily. The extremely highly paid Indigenous Persons, the NFL's most expensive team, had scant awareness of the situation, almost ignoring Rolle. Though all that was required for this play to become harmless was for any burgundy-clad individual to push Rolle out of bounds, many Persons just stood around watching, as if it were somehow insulting to them, as extremely high-paid types, to bother with this reversal of fortune.

Best No. 3. Late in the third, trailing 24-17, the Rams lined up on the San Francisco 19. The sal-cap-depleted Niners start five rookies on defense. St. Louis shifted from a standard set to an "empty backfield" with RB Marshall Faulk as the slot receiver left, and this fairly standard shift so befuddled Niners rookies that no one lined up to cover Faulk, who ran uncontested to the end zone to catch for six. The play was a testament to why people watch game film. A week ago against Carolina, a fairly standard Panthers shift so befuddled Niners rookies that when the ball was snapped, Carolina had six gentlemen to the right of the center and San Francisco had but three; no one covered RB Tim Biakabutuka, who ran uncontested to the end zone to catch for six.