Wow, NFL interest has dropped. However, it is the first snow game for the Bears and the 49ers have brought back Blaine Gabbert since Kaepernick has sucked and his act is getting old. Bears up 24-6 in a snowy, messy game at Soldier Field.
One thing which struck me casually examining the standings a moment ago was, 12 weeks in, how few teams were more than +/- 60 points in their points differential. On the plus side of things, the Patriots wave to the Cowboys-and that’s it, neither of which has cleared +100. There are a few more truly lousy teams, yes…
In comparison, I counted 9 such teams last year, 7 of which were above +100. Prorate things out to 16 games, and maybe a couple more teams will (barely) get to +60.
Any theories?
Packers were at least decent
Brian
The Rams reward Jeff Fisher with a contract extension for …reasons that apparently only the teams’ front office understands.
Holy crap, thanks to the Texans’ loss today, the Titans are tied for first in their division (but would lose the tiebreakers).
They are REALLY bad on defense, but luckily their schedule is such that they play teams that are even worse on offense. If you saw the game last week against Chicago, you know what I mean – the Titans couldn’t cover anybody, but the Bears receivers kept dropping passes, so the Titans managed to win anyway.
They have the last two Heisman winners, Mariota and Henry, and both are playing well, especially Mariota. But there are only a handful of other players who look like they belong in the NFL.
So even if they do make the playoffs, they will likely get blown out in the divisional round, but at least I have something to make up for the awful season Oregon had.
“Hey Jeff, awesome moustache! By the way, here’s stacks of cash for brilliantly stashing Jared Goff on the bench until we were able to secure a top 5 pick. Nice work! The owner has a private jet waiting to fly you to LaGuardia for dinner at Nobu to celebrate”
I love a good snow game (Packers/Houston). Could have used more - you could still see the lines on the field. 
Second time this season that a conversion attempt has resulted in the other team scoring the winning 2 points. First one was about a month ago in New Orleans, when Denver blocked a PAT and ran it back for 2, which was the margin. This time, the Chiefs were down a point when the Falcons tried a 2-pter which was intercepted and run back for 2, giving KC the lead and the win.
For all the other boringness of the NFL of late, at least they got this part right.
Maybe he meant to extend Arsene Wenger but got his teams confused. That’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of.
The Browns manage to not lose this week!
And the Seahawks are now at +70 with their thrashing of the Panthers.
I don’t even know what happened to give them a week 13 bye. The byes generally stop at week 12. So they seem to have made a special effort to give them an abnormally late bye. An early bye could’ve at least let them catch their breath a little bit - with a new staff and a ton of new players a bye this late is practically useless.
I think the late buys were due to week 12 being Thanksgiving week. With 3 Thursday games, as well as the usual Sunday and Monday night games, the NFL wanted to have every other team in action for Sunday afternoon.
Cam Newton was apparently benched for the first series of the Panthers/Seahawks game because he didn’t wear a tie on the team flight. Cam Newton benched for Panthers' opening series vs. Seahawks for 'dress-code violation'
They wanted to see if anyone could tell the difference between that, and a regular Browns game.
One away from a perfect season! :fingers crossed:
Regards,
Shodan
The week 13 bye is total BS. Notice the only two teams off this week were Cleveland and Tennessee, both of whom I’m sure the NFL figured will not be factoring into the playoff picture so who cares.
I barely watched any football. Was interested in the night game, but it was clear early on that Seattle was going to run away with that one.
I got coaching-evaluation whiplash from that story, as it unfolded.
[watching the beginning of the game]What, benching Cam Newton when he’s not injured? What kind of idiot coaching is that?
[first reports this morning]Oh, it’s because he violated a team rule? Well, good job, then, showing that even stars need to show discipline.
[later more detailed report]Wait, the team rule violation was not wearing a tie? You bench people for that? Do you have any team rules that actually contribute to winning, or are they all pointless and annoying rules that exist merely for the sake of rules and petty authority-mongering by the head coach? It’s a stirring leadership statement, no doubt, to tell your players that they should be more concerned with what they wear for travelling than, say, studying film of opponents, learning the team’s game plan, getting adequate training and rest, or keeping emotions in check on the field. [Plus, there’s the bonus of doing that one extra thing to keep players from being comfortable on a flight; who needs rest when you’re an elite athlete, after all?]
Some random thoughts on the season so far:
How the fuck does Jeff Fisher still have a job? Pictures of the owner in compromising positions? He’s falling up. And the Rams are, once again, top 5 in penalties, including unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer penalties.
It’s fun to see teams finding success without having to sell the farm to chase the dream of finding and paying an elite QB. Poor Texans and that Brock Osweiler. The Jags still chasing the Bortles dream. Meanwhile the Broncos are 8-4 with mediocre Trevor Sieman, the Raiders may have a gem in second round draft pick Derek Carr, 4th rounder Dak Prescott is impressing, and 4th rounder Kirk Cousins hasn’t sucked too bad.
Meanwhile, Pro Football focus has Eli Manning as their 34th rated QB out of 35, beating out only Brock Osweiler. And Joe Flacco is sitting at 28. Heh.
The Packers are trying to get their shit together, but it may be too late. Detroit, especially Stafford, are looking good. Thank God the Bears are still the Bears.
I feel bad for enjoying the patheticness of the 49ers. Not a whole lot of bicep kissing going on with Kaepernick. And the NFL seems to have adjusted to Chip Kelly’s “system”. Say hello to Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, Greg Schiano, and Bobby Petrino for me Chip.
I feel better though watching what Reggie McKenzie has done in Oakland. He inherited a dismal team in salary cap hell, and has turned them into playoff contenders in just a few years. While I still have distaste for the Raiders and their fans, I do love to watch Khalil Mack play football.
I predicted a heavy regression for Cam Newton. So far, it seems I was right. It’s odd how not feasting on bad teams and not having a defense that leads the NFL in turnover ratio makes a difference.
Watched the end of the falcon game and wondered something. The Chief who picked off the ball and ran the extra point back to give the Chiefs a 1 point win, what if he had been run down, tackled on the 1 yard line, fumbled into the end zone, and had the ball been recovered by the Falcons for what would usually have been a safety for the Chiefs, Would the Chiefs still have gotten 2 points for a safety?
You never have that problem with the Bills. They can always figure out a way to lose. A fifteen point lead in the third quarter? They can not only throw it away but go on to lose by two touchdowns.
Nothing makes me happier than Rex Ryan losing, except maybe Rex Ryan losing by blowing a huge lead. 