It’s lucky week thirteen, and we are lucky to have some potentially good matchups.
Thursday
Bills at Patriots (+3.5, 43.5)
Sunday Early Games
Steelers at Falcons (+1, 42)
Broncos at Ravens (-8, 38.5)
Packers at Bears (+4.5, 43.5)
Jaguars at Lions (+1, 51.5)
Browns at Texans (+7, 47)
Jets at Vikings (-3, 44.5)
Commanders at Giants (+2.5, 40.5)
Titans at Eagles (-5, 44.5)
Late Games
Seahawks at Rams (+7.5, 41)
Dolphins at 49ers (-4, 46.5)
Chiefs at Bengals (+2, 52.5)
Chargers at Raiders (+1.5, 50.5)
Sunday Night Football
Colts at Cowboys (-11, 43.5)
Monday Night Football
Saints at Buccaneers (-3.5, 40.5)
Niners/Dolphins should be good with Miami looking tough lately. The Commanders/Giants has big playoff implications in the tough NFC East. The Buccs/Saints battle of two losing teams is apparently important because someone somehow has to win that division.
And then somehow, the Sunday night game looks to be the most lopsided of the weekend. Wasn’t the schedule flexing intended to avoid stinkers like this? Does the NFL think everyone still loves the Cowboys? Does Jerry Jones still have everyone in his pocket?
Do the oddsmakers still think Brady plays for the Pats? The Bills have owned the Patriots lately (they have literally not had to punt the ball the last two times they played). Patriots +3.5 seems insane to me, but then again I don’t bet on sports. I expect a Bills win by at least 10, probably 14.
The Bills are sort of banged up. Von Miller is out as is Dion Dawkins, so that’s two starters. Several others have practiced but there’s a lot of them who aren’t 100%, including Josh Allen. Worse, they lost to both the Dolphins and the Jets on the road so far this season, even without that.
The odds seem less a sign of confidence in NE and more a sign people think Buffalo may have to contend with a bit of adversity, especially playing a division game in Foxborough in front of a hostile crowd on short rest.
So, who knows? Could be close or either team could run away with it. Games in division get really weird, even in the best of times.
Also, the Pats aren’t that bad. Not great but not that bad. The AFC East is the only AFC division where all 4 teams are over .500 and the only division across the NFL where all 4 teams have a positive point differential.
They lost twice in a row to the Jets and Vikings, then were losing to the Browns pretty badly early on and had to claw their way back to win, then went against the Lions and only won with a field goal with 2 seconds left in the game.
They’re far from invincible. They are losing to decent teams and barely beating lousy ones of late. I wouldn’t call a win against the Patriots an automatic thing at all.
Jaguars/Lions to be a good game between two up and coming teams that both need a ton of help on the defensive front. I want to root for both of these franchises to recover from their horrible decision-making in the past. It is also so nice to be reminded, once again, that not only is Urban Meyer a horrible person and walking pile of hypocritical feces, but that he is a horrible coach NFL coach too.
In his first NFL snap in almost 2 years, Deshaun Watson tears his Achilles to shreds, never playing another snap of football. Right before disappearing into obscurity, he is intimidated by giant, physically imposing, famous, powerful men into giving them handies against his will. Jimmy Haslam then fucks off into obscurity with Watson. Antonio Brown then joins them.
I think I like Mike McDaniel alot. He seems like a genuine guy, who is very good at his job, and he’s not afraid to crack a joke or two. While I will shudder every time I’m forced to hear/see about their “perfect season”, I may be forced to root for the Dolphins.
It will be Mahomes or Allen, but, like last years’ Cooper Kupp, I really want the NFL MVP to be a non-QB for the first time in 10 years. Tyreek Hill has helped transform Tua. Justin Jefferson is a game changer. Hell, give me Travis Kelce, a one-man wrecking ball too. I’m rooting for those guys.
Sure, a bit of hyperbole. But it’s his kind of intimidation (being rich, famous, 6’2", 215 pounds) that is exactly the reason why he paid off over 20 female masseuses to keep his job. If he, even just once, admitted even the possibility he was in the wrong, that’d be another story. But unless he experiences something like those women experienced, he will never, ever understand, and will continue to insist he never did anything wrong.
Oh that’s right, a lot of teams played Thursday last week, including the Giants.
My memory of the Jim Fassel and Tom Coughlin eras is that the Giants couldn’t win coming out of a bye week to save their life. But under Brian Daboll, the Giants won their game after the bye this season, against the Texans. Having a Thursday game is essentially a mini-bye, so here’s hoping the Daboll magic continues.
In any case, even if it’s not mathematically true, it feels like if the Giants lose to the Commanders, their season is over.
Aaron Rodgers returned to practice with the Packers today, after his rib injury on Sunday night, and is saying that he plans to play against the Bears this weekend.
On the Bears’ side of things, Justin Fields also returned to practice today, as he recovers from the dislocated left shoulder which kept him out of last week’s game; the Bears seem to be cautiously optimistic that he could play on Sunday.
Fins/Niners would have been perfect. Two teams in the hunt, an up-and-coming player in Tua, two big media markets, and in the Pacific time zone so it’s not a late start locally.
I agree, they are solidly mediocre. Their record right now is a bit of a mirage, though, as they have feasted on terrible teams and lost to all of the good teams they have faced (and a couple of bad ones). The rest of their schedule is pretty brutal and they’ll be lucky to get 2 wins the rest of the way, I think. Tonight will not be one of them (unless Allen gets lost on the way to Gillette Stadium).
