It's Monday, the day after Sunday, which in America means a surprisingly large number of Americans are talking trash about their fantasy football teams. (Good hustle Ben, but the Cleveland Steamers are on a roll.) So forgive us for the gridiron gab, as we reset the play clock on health reform.

As you know, the passage of H.R. 3962 in the House two Saturdays ago pushed health reform into the red zone and brought us closer to the goal line than we've ever been before. The problem, as the Senate prepares to take the field, is that the goal posts keep getting pushed back. A slow handoff between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the CBO has delayed the bill's release, but Reid seems determined to keep the ball moving. Roll Call's Emily Pierce lays out the potential Democratic gameplan going forward:

The key vote, which Reid plans to call after he receives the CBO score, would be on a motion to limit debate -- or invoke cloture -- on a motion to proceed to the bill. The leadership aide said Reid is working under the presumption that he will have a CBO score "sooner rather than later" this week and that the Senate will be in a position to kick off debate before Members go home for Thanksgiving.

Reid wants to get the cloture vote on the motion to proceed over with before the holiday because he would like to spend all three weeks before Christmas amending and debating the health care bill. If he has to wait until after Thanksgiving to take the vote, the time-consuming procedural hoops he has to jump through could delay the start of the amendment process until the second week of December.

It's an ambitious schedule, one that will require the Nevada-native to channel another Rocky Mountain icon to engineer the final drive on health reform (a drive we're confident the people of Cleveland will actually like). Even without a shortened clock, these kind of things are never easy.

The Reid-option for a state opt-out on the public health insurance plan has some moderates worried, and the Democrats will have trouble keeping all of their members onside when tackling issues of abortion and immigration. Finally, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been calling for a delay of game.

Like most armchair announcers, we're not a big fan of this kind of prevent defense, because the only thing it's intended to do is prevent Democrats from winning. But this game is about more than politics, and health reform is one issue our leaders can no longer afford to punt on. There may be a lot of close downs in the coming weeks, but we stand by our predictions: come Super Bowl XLIV, the Chamber of Commerce will have to look for something else to spend its money on.