So Myles Garrett has been suspended “indefinitely” for trying to inflict serious brain damage on Mason Rudolph (appeal pending), Larry Ogunjobi was suspended one game (upheld, fine rescinded), and Maurkice Pouncey gets suspended 3 games (appeal pending). Mason Rudolph, the original instigator, will likely be fined, as will some of the players who left the bench to engage in the scrum. Seems pretty fair all around. Certainly the Browns will suffer the most, losing their best defensive player, and, in addition to the loss of their safety to IR, may have a rough go the rest of the season. Luckily, they get the Dolphins this weekend. Along with the debacle that was the Kaepernick workout, I’m glad to get back to some football.
Here’s your games:
Thursday, November 21
8:20 p.m. Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (NFLN/FOX) HOU -4 45
Sunday, November 24
1 p.m. Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns (FOX) CLE -10.5 45
1 p.m. Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills (CBS) BUF -4 37
1 p.m. Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals (CBS) PIT -6.5 39
1 p.m. New York Giants at Chicago Bears (FOX) CHI -6 41
1 p.m. Oakland Raiders at New York Jets (CBS) OAK -3 47
1 p.m. Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints (CBS) NO -9.5 47
1 p.m. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons (FOX) ATL -4.5 52
1 p.m. Detroit Lions at Washington Redskins (FOX) DET -3.5 42
1 p.m. Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles (FOX) PHI -1.5 48
4:05 p.m. Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans (CBS) TEN -3 42
4:25 p.m. Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots (FOX) NE -6.5 46
8:20 p.m. Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers (NBC) SF -3.5 45
Monday, November 25
8:15 p.m. Baltimore Ravens at Los Angeles Rams (ESPN) BAL -3 47
A super interesting slate of games this week, with some actual playoff implications thrown in to boot.
Two winning teams battling for first place in their division on the Thursday night game. Much better than a couple of crap teams playing games they don’t want to on a day they don’t want to. I was suprised how little Deshaun Watson impressed me last week, but everyone has off games. The Colts defense and their offensive lines (both problems for a long time in Indy) are playing pretty well so far, so I expect a pretty good game tonight. The injury to Marlon Mack (fuck you fantasy football) will make things much more difficult for the Colts, but I expect them to win tonight.
The Seahawks/Eagles game has to be the marquee of the early games. Seattle sits at 8-2, but with only a 21 point differential, so I remain skeptical of just how good they are. But the 5-5 Eagles aren’t any great shakes either. Russell Wilson is having a fantastic season, but what is up with Carson Wentz? Anyone? I was told he was primed to be the next young, elite QB, but he’s having a relatively pedestrian season so far this year. A good chunk of it is his receiving corp has dropped a ton of passes, but I’ll be interested to see how he does Sunday. Still, he’s better than average, and has a really soft schedule after the Seahawks, so he’ll get a chance to prove his worth.
The rest of the early games seem like a bunch of bad, but I’ll probably check out the Raiders/Jets, mostly because I’m a bit surprised to see Oakland at 6-4 (-25 point differential, the only team with a winning record and a negative point differential). I only saw them when they played the Packers, and outside of Josh Jacobs who is having a great rookie year, they were not that impressive. So I’ll check them out against … ugh … the Jets.
Only two late games, but both should be a good watch. I’m starting to come around on Dak Prescott. This year, he’s certainly gotten to pad his stats against some really bad defensive teams, but he impressed me playing the Vikings. It will be interesting to see if what he can do against good defenses in the next 3 games (Pats, Bills, Bears). I still tend to lump him in with the “can play very good for short period of time and is efficient when he needs to be”, but a good game against the Pats this week or the Bills and Bears, will make things much more interesting.
Sunday night’s game is the one I’ve been looking forward to all year. I’m glad it got flexed to Sunday night, so I’m sure I can see it live. Aaron Rodgers said this week: “The way I look at it, we’ve got to beat them once at their place at some point. It would be nice to do it now.” With the Niners in the catbird seat for playoff seeding, a win Sunday night would be huge for the Packers. But even putting aside the long term implications, it should be a fun game to watch. The Packers coaches really need to help the O line, because David Bakhtiari has not been his usual great self, and that Niners pass rush is just brutal. On the other side of the ball, the Packers defense is, so far, taking full advantage of turnovers, but also are hyper aggressive and can be beat by big plays and a strong running game. And while the Niners’ running game has slowed down recently, it’s still their bread and butter. A fascinating matchup of two very good teams. What more could you want?
And Monday night is the next in the Lamar Jackson show. He’s a special talent, and fun as hell to watch, but I keep worrying that that much running by him will shorten his game playing career. It will be fun to see what adjustments the Rams make to try and contain him. Meanwhile, the Rams have been a rough watch this year, with the shine coming off McVay and Goff. Maybe they have something up their sleeve, but how the mighty have fallen…
There we are. Should be a good week.