Sunday, December 11, 2016

Rumor Control Central Jockeys For The Playoffs

The "newest" player in the NFL's 2016 season has arrived and it's Rumor Control Central as the playoff jockeying is here.




The 49ers failed yet again after a report circulated that GM Trent Baalke, under fire for the collapse of the team the last three years, will be fired; the sub-rumor is Mike Shanahan may come back into the league, this time with the Niners, where he'd been an assistant coach in the mid-1990s. For the NY Jets it was an important game for rookie Bryce Petty as he pulled off the win.




The other big pregame rumor is that Rex Ryan will be fired from the Bills, and before the end of the season; Mike Florio explains that the Bills want assistant coach Anthony Lynn to take over and don't want anyone else to have a shot at hiring him.   The sub-rumor is Tyrod Taylor is done and Cardale Jones will finish the season.





The AFC West race got curiouser, and so did the AFC South.  First the Chiefs finished a sweep of the Raiders - Andy Reid's seventh win in eight meetings as Chiefs coach - and the Titans pulled off the win over the Broncos, who are now 8-5..........



......and out of the AFC playoffs as Miami shot down the faltering Cardinals; it proved a costly win as Ryan Tannehill was injured.   




The Colts meanwhile hit uncharted territory as the Houston Texans beat them again - their first season sweep of the Colts since they started.   With the tiebreaker the Texans lead the Titans for the AFC South - in this, the 20th anniversary of the final season of the Houston Oilers as a Houston team.





The other big rumor is that Bill Polian, former GM of the Colts in the Peyton Manning era and the Bills in the K-Gun era, will be hired by the Bears.   Having been out of the game for awhile one wonders how effective it would be to sign him.  




The irrelevance of the Saints continues and the resurgence of the Buccaneers also continues. 





It was that kind of game for the Cowboys as they took the lead and did nothing the rest of the night.   One also has to ask - when was the last clutch play made by Dez Bryant?   Dakota Prescott and Zeke Elliott look vulnerable now; the Cowboys looked one-dimensional in this game with basically no one other than Elliott doing anything.





Only the Browns - they decided it was a good idea to start Robert Griffin III, and the result shows why they're 0 for the season.




The first coaching casualty has hit the league with Jeff Fisher fired a week after word came out he'd signed an extention; John Fassel will serve as interim coach.   Fisher's firing comes as Jared Goff, the quarterback the Rams drafted to be the future, is clearly history with five INTs and his own teammates seemingly turning against him as the incident shown here with Todd Gurley suggests. 


And so it goes with the Patriots and Ravens beckoning.

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