No Forfeits Allowed In Week Nine

The Texans game at the Seahawks became Game Of The Week, and it started as such for all the wrong reasons.   An ESPN piece quoted team owner Bob McNair during a league meeting saying, "We can't have the inmates running the prison."   There is literally nothing in his statement that is an attack on anyone, yet media coverage enflamed idiotic player fury to where forty players kneeled for the Anthem to protest McNair's statement.   That players took offense at McNair's statement did nothing but prove him correct.   The players' protest was an incredibly petulant hissy-fit, the kind of mob rule he is speaking against - making it worse is players wanted to tear off the team logo from their helmets until someone got through to these dimbulb divas that it would thus forfeit the game - and further disproves the legitimacy of the whole Anthem protest movement.  

What followed in the actual game then showcased football at its best.   Deshaun Watson overcame three INTs and getting sacked five times to reach 402 yards and four touchdowns in shredding the increasingly-overrated Seahawks defense, which got torched by the Titans for 420 yards of offense and 33 points.   Russell Wilson erupted to a Seahawks-record 452-plus yards and whipped the winning score in the final thirty seconds.   The 41-38 win keeps the Seahawks in the NFC West race and makes Houston's AFC South chances all the harder  - especially when Houston failed to record a first down in the final two minutes - with Tennessee still leading the division despite being on their bye week. 

And then NFL trade deadline week turned upside down with the first volley rifled from a team on their bye - the New England Patriots.   They traded Jimmy Garoppolo, always believed to be the heir-apparent to (longtime Niners fan) Tom Brady, to the Niners for a second-round pick.  

With all that we delve into Week Nine's affairs -

Bills over NY Jets  - More and more the Bills look for real.   Though subpar in overall offense (just 15th in scoring) they began to change that in their win over the Raiders while their defense (fourth in points) embarrassed the Raiders.   They take on a Jets team in the bottom half on both sides of the ball and coming off a loss to the slumping Falcons.   


Eagles over Broncos - The 7-1 Eagles meanwhile are making an ever-stronger case for themselves and they get a Broncos team that clearly has has fallen to 3-4.   Carson Wentz is showing the growth needed to reach another level as a quarterback while it is obvious from another irrelevant performance in Kansas City (lowlighted by checkdown throws on the final possession) that Trevor Siemian's NFL career is becoming a failure.


Texans over Colts - Remember when the Colts owned the Houston Texans?  Forget it.   Even with good play by Jacoby Brissett the Colts simply are no longer a playoff team and may not even reach six wins.   The Texans meanwhile have a quarterback who already looks better than Andrew Luck was and after scoring 38 against the Seahawks taking on the Colts should be relative child's play.  The caveat, though, is some questionable playcalling by Bill O'Brien in the Seattle loss.   


Rams over NY Giants  - The turnaround of the Rams remains one of the stories of the season as they lead the league in scoring and are tenth in points allowed, and the biggest irony is the Rams are just 1-2 at home and 4-0 on the road.   They hit the road again off their bye at MetLife Stadium, where the Giants are 0-3 and just 30th in scoring.  


Titans over Ravens -  This is one of the tightest rivalries in the NFL.   The Ravens lead the series 10-9, two of the wins playoff wins, and the last six games have been a 3-3 split by a combined score of 107-94 Tennessee.   The Ravens defense is sixth in points though is giving up the same yards per pass (5.4) as is being delivered by Joe Flacco while the run defense is giving up 4.2 yards per carry.   They have to deal with a Titans run game generating 4.4 YPC and Tennessee's run defense is limiting teams to 3.6 YPC.   Tennessee's 27th in points allowed (24 and change per game) is a little inflated by the 57-point beatdown they got in the first game with Houston; 19 points allowed in their other six games is the Titans' allowance on defense.   Turnover differential - 0 - is likewise skewed by the Houston game, as Tennessee has plus-5 in turnover differential the rest of the season, the same as Baltimore's all season with seven takeaways the last five games and no giveaways the last two.   Where the Titans appear to have the edge is in Marcus Mariota's 7.4 yards per pass to the above-mentioned 5.4 of Flacco.

Panthers over Falcons -  Both teams look more like walking wounded than playoff contenders, but both are coming off needed wins.   Cam Newton's postgame petulance has become an issue while the Falcons' disastrous encounters with AFC East teams haunted them going into MetLife Stadium against the Jets.   The Falcons have won the last three meetings with the Panthers and have beaten all their NFC foes to date, but the Panthers appear to have regained more momentum right now.


Jaguars over Bengals -  The Bengals defeated the Colts, but the Colts now have become what the Jaguars have been for over five years before this.   Jacksonville's defense has become legit and the inconsistency of the offense has nonetheless been enough to put the Jaguars in the AFC South race.   One simply doesn't have the confidence that Andy Dalton can improve anymore to become what the Bengals need, while the ballyhooed rookie running back race is being won by Leonard Fournette over Joe Mixon.


Saints over Buccaneers -  We weren't expecting this.   The Saints have rallied from being a perennial 7-9 team to genuine NFC South contender while the Bucs have faltered to 2-4 and despite leading the league in passing yards per game Jameis Winston hasn't yet taken another step forward.   Hurting the Bucs' chances more is being 0-3 on the road to date.


49ers over Cardinals -  Trading for Garoppolo makes all the sense in the world because 0-8 is a dubious "achievement" for the 49ers and their competitiveness took back-to-back blows in ugly losses to NFC East teams.   Here though they host a Cardinals team whose quarterback, Carson Palmer, is on IR until Christmas Eve.   Right now we think Garoppolo may start this game; he gets a Niners run game at 4.3 YPC, which isn't bad, though stuck in the bottom third in the league.   Arizona's run game is now led by a resurgent Adrian Peterson, and right now that may be what they need to depend on.


Seahawks over Redskins -  The Seahawks continue to hold serve at home and despite Houston's imitation of Seahawks radio analyst Warren Moon, the Seahawks still lead the league in points allowed.   The 38 points given up to Houston, though, should encourage teams that Seattle's defense is vulnerable.   The Redskins, however, don't appear to be a team that can exploit weaknesses.


Chiefs over Cowboys -  The Boys got back in town against the Skins but Andy Reid has still shown magic against his former division and regained momentum with Monday Night's beating of the faltering Broncos.


Raiders over Dolphins  -  The Dolphins took a massive blow in getting obliterated 40-0, a game so bad Adam Gase said in so many words "we stink."   The Raiders come in needing to regain momentum after five losses in their last six games, and Derek Carr is all too obviously the better of the dueling quarterbacks. 

Packers over Lions -  The Lions will not make the playoffs.  Period.   They face a quality opponent and they lose, having done so again against the Steelers.   We're not sure the Packers are a quality foe right now but they're at home and they face a Lions team demoralized by four losses in their last five games. 



So it goes as we await more trade deadline surprises.

NFL Puts The Division In Divisional Round

The NFL's 2016 season hit the divisional round of the playoffs and once again an off-field story has usurped attention from the on-field competition.  

San Diego's 43-35 shootout over the Tennessee Titans was in a sense the last hurrah for the San Diego Chargers

The rumor of a move of the San Diego Chargers to Los Angeles had died down in recent weeks, even to circulating speculation the Chargers, seeing less than promising response to the presence of the Rams in LA in 2016, would postpone a decision until after 2017.   But that blew up when Dean Spanos announced the Chargers are moving to Carson, CA and will play there in 2017 until Stan Kroenke's new Rams stadium is built around 2019. 

The rumor had swelled after San Diego voters rejected a hotel tax to fund a new stadium in San Diego, and they were stunned when Dean Spanos made the announcement of the move and the rebranding of the team after the wildcard round of the NFL's playoffs.   The anger of Chargers fans caught more than a few in the media by surprise, and the universal indifference of reaction in Los Angeles was also telling.

The rationalization of the move was strikingly muted in the media; indeed what was most striking was national media condemnation of Spanos for moving the Chargers and also mocking of Roger Goodell's claim that "It is not a viable option" for the team owners and the league to spend its own money on stadiums - of course this was exposed as yet another Goodell lie (though the attitude predates Goodell) by the roughly $600 million relocation fee the Chargers have to pay, as if they could not have refurbished Qualcomm Stadium with Spanos' own money the way Stephen Ross has done to Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami; Kroenke's new LA stadium is being built with his own money, which catches one by surprise with Minnesota and Atlanta getting new publically-financed stadiums.  

The assertion that staying in San Diego (a market by all accounts the NFL wants because it is a football town) retards the long-range value of the Chargers - with repeated citation of the purchase price of the LA Clippers in the $2 billon range - is laughable given LA's miserable record as a sports town with little fan support, sponsor support that does not stand out compared to other markets, and the faltering of fan support of the Rams almost as soon as they played their first home games.    It is striking how universal the view is that moving the Chargers to LA makes zero sense - of course it indeed makes zero sense.

After this travesty came the laughable follow-up - the Oakland Raiders filed paperwork to move to Las Vegas, yet another con of a sports market.

The relocation story cast a shadow over Saturday's wildcard games. The New England Patriots were overwhelming favorites over the ineffective Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans.   The game itself was a wire-to-wire Patriots win by 18 points, but the Patriots struggled strikingly badly on offense with no rhythm, two INTs by Brady, a Dion Lewis fumble on a kick return, and a disturbingly limited number of pass-catching targets in Chris Hogan - sidelined in the third with a thigh issue - and Julian Edelman.   Lack of pass-catching depth has plagued the Patriots' playoff runs of late and this time it is doubly striking given the depth the Patriots seemed to have going in.

Brock Osweiler's growing incompetence as a quarterback was exposed yet again as he threw a bad pick that set up Dion Lewis' touchdown.   

The Seahawks' road woes of 2016 reached their nadir at the Georgia Dome - they finish 3-5-1 in road games in 2016 - as Matt Ryan grabbed only his second career playoff win - both of them against the Seahawks.   This season marked the end of the Legion Of Boom and the Seahawks face a period where they will stay contenders with Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll but are not a championship-caliber outfit - and Wilson's poor play made this point even more.  

NFL's Top 50 Catches Of 2016

The top fifty catches of the 2016 NFL season.

Yes Jim Mora There Is A Playoffs

The NFL season has reached -

Yes Jim Mora, there is a playoffs.  

We'll start with the Houston Texans, AFC South champs.   Their quarterback situation has been iffy at best this season and lately has gotten downright ugly.    Tom Savage struggled in the game against the Titans and was lost with a concussion, so Brock Osweiler came off the bench and finished the game, a 24-17 Titans win.   For the Titans it's something to build on for 2017 once Marcus Mariota heals up having taken a major step forward as a quarterback.

For the Texans it's a quarterback issue when they least need one.

But the Texans host their wildcard round game against a team with even bigger quarterback issues in the Oakland Raiders.   Matt McGloin had to start with Derek Carr out until next season, and McGloin struggled before getting knocked out at Denver.   As a result rookie Connor Cook took over and it wasn't in the least bit pretty, though Cook acquitted himself reasonably well given his rawness.    It salvaged a winning season for the Broncos as coach Gary Kubiak is reported on his way to retirement, leaving more questions for the lame duck champs.


My prediction for this wildcard game - Texans win.

The bad news in the AFC West is the San Diego Chargers ended the season - and perhaps their life in San Diego - in disgrace with two more interceptions by Philip Rivers and a 37-27 Kansas City Chiefs win.   With just 48 wins and one playoff win this decade so far the Chargers have been perhaps the most aggravating un-achiever in the AFC given the talent on this squad, and the disgrace of their refusal to renovate Qualcomm Stadium - their true home - and presumptive move to the pit that is Los Angeles makes it all the worse.

For the Chiefs 2016 continues at 12-4 and the second seed in the AFC; they thus await the winners of the wildcard round.   It's been a stunning surge from starting 2015 at 1-5 - and winning 23 of their next 28 games to date.

The Steelers rested starters and got a game out of the 1-15 Browns and Robert Griffin III, who shockingly looked like an actual quarterback.   The Browns took the lead in overtime and the Steelers clawed down, even chancing a 4th and 2 conversion, before spearing the Browns for the win yet again.    They are thus AFC North champs and the three seed.

The Dolphins made a game of it at the end of the first half but the Patriots then escalated the firepower and won 35-14, this after a lot of pregame verbiage about losing three straight at Miami.    The Dolphins had secured the six seed in the AFC and had an outside shot at the five seed.   An interesting point was made by ESPN - should the Dolphins win their wildcard game they would go to Foxboro for the divisional round no matter what else happened, so there's nothing to gain by showing everything in this Week 17 game.   Whether one buys it or not depends on taste.


In any event the Dolphins head to Pittsburgh for the divisional round.

The last time the Steelers played the Dolphins the result was a turning point for the Dolphins season and a reality check for the Steelers.

My prediction - Dolphins win.

Yes Matt Moore is now the quarterback and one is iffy about him in a playoff game.   But the Steelers have been overrated the last five seasons with just one playoff win in that span plus the Dolphins are well ahead of all expectations under first-year coach Adam Gase.   Jay Ajayi is the primary weapon for the Dolphins and the Steelers didn't slow him down a whole lot earlier this year, plus their overall run defense has allowed 4.1 Yards Per Carry - not that encouraging.  

The game meant nothing since the Cowboys were top seed in the NFC, but it was fun seeing Mark Sanchez prove anew his ineptitude as a quarterback.  

With the Cowboys already the NFC's top seed the Falcons won the race with the Seahawks for the conference's #2 seed and continued the erosion of the Saints that has been ongoing for several years now, an erosion that makes Drew Brees' 5,208 yards this season irrelevant even as a trivia bit.   The Falcons thus await the wildcard round results.

The Seahawks surprisingly struggled to put away the hapless 49ers, continuing a noticeable slide since the Superbowl loss, the slide becoming more noticeable this past season with a strikingly mediocre offense and reversion to the Holmgren-era bugaboo where the Seahawks would win all their home games  (though not literally in 2016) and then blow it on the road every week (specifically they were 2-5-1 on the road in 2016).         

The Giants had already secured the NFC's five seed so the Redskins had the chance to make it in as the six - the odds were long, though, and in the end the Skins proved they're not close to being primetime caliber. 


The Sunday Night game meanwhile showed anew two things - the Packers can frontrun to victory and the Lions have NO ability to handle ANY kind of quality opponent. Quinton Collins' very serious neck injury put the damper on the game and thus brought the regular season to a strikingly forgettable halt. Thus the Packers will host the New York Giants in the wildcard round.


My prediction - Giants win.

Everyone is gaga about Aaron Rodgers' athleticism and arm strength and also that he fulfilled his run the table prediction.    The Packers also beat the Giants 23-16 earlier this season.    Since then though the Giants won nine of their next eleven games - and had more wins (four) over teams with .500 or better records than the Packers (three) in their six-game win streak - while the Packers slumped to 4-6 before their late-season rally after losing five straight games (this during a six-game stretch) to teams that finished at least .500. The Packers' secondary hasn't acquitted itself all that well and for all his erraticism Eli Manning is a lot more trustworthy than a Packers team he beat three straight times before 2016's toe-stub in October.


As for Lions at Seahawks, it's a slam-dunk win for the Seahawks.    Matthew Stafford is useless against any good opponent and for all the Seahawks' struggles Russell Wilson long ago proved himself in the crucible great quarterbacks have to master - a crucible that is too much for Stafford, Jim Caldwell, and the Lions.  


So we await playoff Week One.

NFL Says Merry Christmas

Every touchdown from Week 15

Now we're down to two games to go, and remember when thirteen teams were 1-3?  Well entering Week 16 seventeen teams (nine AFC and eight NFC) have winning records while the Bills, Colts, and Vikings are all at .500 - far deeper competitively than I suspect anyone thought would transpire way back after Week Four.   None of this of course does anything for the winless Browns or the hopeless NY Jets or for that matter the Jaguars, Rams, 49ers, or Bears.

So it goes for this weekend - an NFL Merry Christmas cavalcade of picks -


Eagles over NY Giants - The Giants are all but in the playoffs but their longtime stuggle against the Eagles is still a factor, especially after stunning the Eagles earlier this season. Philly lost a heartbreaker last week and being spoiler to the Giants is appealing for the Eagles.


Bears over Redskins - The Redskins had their destiny in their hands and failed, and now they face a Bears team showing more fight with Matt Barkley of late.


Dolphins over Bills  - The Dolphins have the playoffs in their sight and made a statement with their backup quarterback, and they face a Bills team that's lost five of its last eight games with lameduck coach Rex Ryan and perhaps lameduck starter Tyrod Taylor,


Vikings over Packers - The Packers squandered a big lead at Chicago last week and managed to grab the win, and they face a Vikings team that's lost seven of its last nine games, but has a two-game streak over the Packers heading to Lambeau.  


Titans over Jaguars - Doug Marrone takes over as Jaguars coach and has a respectful resume from his two seasons coaching the Bills; he faces a Titans team that is on the march and has won five games against teams with winning records so far this year, so it's doubtful Marrone can author the turnaround now.


Patriots over NY Jets - The Jets packed it in last week against Miami - which doesn't mean a thing given everyone goes all in to beat the Patriots.  New England though is clicking all around despite only sixteen points scored at Denver.  


Chargers over Browns - The Browns have been hopeless for a long time even with a collapsing Chargers team that blew it last week yet again.


Panthers over Falcons - The Panthers ground out an important win last week and the Falcons have the Buccaneers hard on their heels despite the loss at Dallas Sunday night.  The Falcons hammered two hapless NFC West teams - no doubt remembering all the abuse they took as a member of the NFC West - but face a sterner foe in the Panthers, plus the Falcons have been a little spotty with a 3-2 record the last five games.


Raiders over Colts  - The Colts got back on track at Minnesota to the surprise of a lot of people, but the Raiders ground out a needed win last week and are far tougher than the Colts.


Seahawks over Cardinals - It simply wasn't meant to be for the Cardinals this season and a successor to Carson Palmer now needs to become a matter of exploration.


Buccaneers over Saints - The Bucs ground out a 16-11 win over the Saints the first time around and the inconsistency of Drew Brees in general and against Jameis Winston in particular continues - Winston has won two of his first three meetings with the Saints while the Saints were one of those thirteen 1-3 teams, except they haven't responded, going only 5-5 since then.


Rams over 49ers - Both are dismal; one is worse (the Niners) so interim coach John Fassel can get his first win here.   The longer term headache remains Jared Goff, woefully incapable of handling the NFL game.


Texans over Bengals - Tom Savage is now starter and not too soon with the Titans breathing down Houston's neck.   The big question for the Bengals is not whether Marvis Lewis should be fired - it's why has AJ McCarron not replaced Andy Dalton?  Dalton has not shown evidence he can get better; McCarron has already proven he can handle playoff football.


Ravens over Steelers - A lot of people are fooling themselves into thinking the Steelers are a Superbowl-caliber squad; the reality is they've been owned by the Ravens since the 2010 season (the Ravens have won nine of the last twelve meetings), are only 9-5 with four of their losses coming against winning teams, and haven't reached 30 points scored since the loss to the Cowboys.   The Steelers haven't been a Superbowl-caliber team since they last went to the AFC-NFL Title Game and have only one playoff win since the 2010 AFC Championship Game.  


Chiefs over Broncos - The Broncos' collapse continued with the loss to the Patriots and an argument between Aqib Talib and Russell Okung after that game, to go with pathetic trash-talking from Emauel Sanders about Malcolm Butler even though Butler contained Sanders more effectively than anyone else so far.   The Chiefs are now in must-win mode while the Broncos have lost all momentum.


Lions over Cowboys - It didn't look it against the Giants as Matthew Stafford once again failed on the road against a quality opponent, but the Lions still have momentum for their first division title in nearly three decades and the Cowboys got back into the win column but are still vulnerable.   Overall Stafford's play has improved to where winning road games against quality opponents isn't necessarily impossible anymore, though he has to actually start doing it, and now.


Merry Christmas from the NFL - which means Not For Long, Jerry Glanville.

NFL's Thanksgiving Feast

The struggles of Brock Osweiler against the Raiders testified to his weakness as a quarterback and is a bad sign for the Texans going forward.


The NFL now hits Thanksgiving week and the smorgasboard becomes more appetizing as the final run to the playoffs kicks off on Thursday.  


*****


Lions over Vikings - The Lions now lead the NFC North and would host the Redskins in the playoffs as of right now.   The Lions' run from a 1-3 start has been strong and the Vikings continue to look shaky as Sam Bradford's effectiveness may have already peaked.


Cowboys over Redskins - The Cowboys are officially back, 9-1 and hosting the 6-3-1 Redskins after Week Two's close loss at FedEx Field.   Right now the only thing stopping the Cowboys would seem to be the question of whether they can win in the playoffs.  


Steelers over Colts -  Neither team is looking strong enough to take control of their scenarios, both at 5-5 and shaky as such.   Pittsburgh, though, has won four of the last five meetings and Andrew Luck may not even play after being beaten up in the Titans game.


Texans over Chargers - The Chargers season looks now to be over, despite reportage from Bert Breer than they will in fact give San Diego one more season to try and get a new stadium there - though again it begs why the Chargers can't simply refurbish Qualcomm the way the Dolphins redid Joe Robbie Stadium.   The Chargers have gagged up twenty-two turnovers and Philip Rivers has not been clutch for several years now, going against a Houston team that's unbeaten at home despite Brock Osweiler's struggle.  


Dolphins over 49ers - Total mismatch.   Colin Kaepernick has quit on winning; Ryan Tannehill appears now to be getting a new lease on life under Adam Gase.  One wonders if the Niners front office kicks out Chip Kelly after one year; certainly Kaepernick has to go.


Saints over Rams  - Remember the old NFC West and how the Saints were division foes with the Rams?  The Saints would like to resurrect memories of Los Angeles, as thirteen of New Orleans' 31 wins against the Rams came in the 1987-94 period when they were still in LA.  The Rams' poor performance against the Dolphins showcased why Jared Goff was kept on the bench until now, as he did nothing indicative of a quarterback of the future.   The Saints' much-mocked defense has improved the last five games despite a 2-3 record in that span.

Bills over Jaguars - What has happened to Blake Bortles?  It doesn't get any easier against a Bills team that is in the top-12 in points on both sides of the ball and has only gagged up six turnovers where Bortles now has thirteen INTs.  


Titans over Bears - Another bitterly close loss to the Colts; one of these days, Morton, wunna these days, POW! RIGHT IN THE KISSER!  That has to be the Titans attitude toward the Colts as they travel to face the moribund Bears, 2-8 and stuck with Jay Cutler.   Marcus Mariota's quarterbacking keeps getting better and this should begin a late-season turnaround for a Titans squad whose improvement by now is obvious.


Bengals over Ravens -  The Bengals are out of the playoffs, but the Ravens have not shown they belong in them, and the recent history has been all Bengals in this rivalry.   The big question mark is whether Andy Dalton can make other receivers into weapons with AJ Green presumably on the shelf.


Falcons over Cardinals - The Falcons have lost three of their last five but get a Cardinals team that has not shown it can take advantage of it.   Carson Palmer's effectiveness may be at an end.  


NY Giants over Browns - It's a case of no hope for the Browns this year - and maybe a long time down the road.   Nothing has been done right by the Browns almost since their rebirth, and the Giants, with the playoffs there for the taking in the tough NFC East, are in no mood for sympathy.  


Buccaneers over Seahawks - The Seahawks are clearly back to playoff muscle, but their past as road non-warriors has curiously crept back into the fore, with both losses plus the tie at Arizona being road games.   They travel to a Bucs team that's been putting up points the last five games and has won three of them, with Jameis Winston now at twenty touchdowns.  


Patriots over NY Jets - Never an easy matchup for the Patriots, the Jets benched Bryce Petty because of a poor performance against the Rams and are restarting Ryan Fitzpatrick.   The Patriots have come under fire for defensive struggles but the benching or trading of several players has hidden that there was some improvement in discipline on defense after the loss to the Seahawks - a game where the defense improved in the game's second half.   Injuries on offense should be more worrisome to the Patriots with Rob Gronkowski possibly out for awhile due to a lung injury.


Raiders over Panthers - It's not the same Panthers of 2015, and it's definitely not the same Raiders, who are now the AFC's top seed.   The rebirth of the Raiders has been one of the stories of the season - to where the conspiracy buffs have come out of the woodworks regarding officiating in the Raiders' favor.


Broncos over Chiefs - The Broncos are not as good as often hyped to be, but the Chiefs after a tough loss to the Bucs aren't in better shape, though they lead the league in turnover differential (plus-thirteen) and are fifth in points allowed compared to Denver's ninth.    This could be a lot closer than it looks.


Eagles over Packers - The Packers are now in freefall and staring at falling to nine losses with this game plus upcoming tilts with the Vikings, Lions, and Seahawks beckoning.   Aaron Rodgers is not a winning quarterback now as his weaknesses as a quarterback have become more prevalent - lack of reads, insistence on freelancing - against an Eagles team still fourth in points allowed despite losing five of their last seven games.  



So Happy Thanksgiving

NFL Says Holy Jacoby

The third week of the NFL season warrants takeaways, and not just the ones off fumbles.

The most striking parts of the Patriots-Texans game was the cowardice of the Texans overall and the rawness of Jacoby Brissett, who led four scoring drives but overall showed how raw he is as a true rookie. The Texans almost from the beginning were playing scared; Brock Osweiler showed mediocre command of the offense and never delivered drives worthy of a quarterback being paid over $15 million per season; the Texans also were terrible at ball security with two ugly fumbles on returns.

The first fraud of the year comes from the Steelers, a decent but ultimately mediocre squad crushed by an ascending Eagles team whose rookie quarterback isn't making mistakes.

The Bills got a shocker of a win as they humiliated Carson Palmer, himself less than what he's accomplished of late

Despite superb effort by ex-Raiders quarterback Terrell Pryor, the Browns are still the Browns as they botched it against a weak Miami Dolphins team. 

The Chargers appear already to be finished after blowing another one, this after the other teams in the AFC West all won. 

The Browns aren't the only pathetic resident of the NFL as the NY Jets became the NY Jets again with six picks, one of them a pick six.

There was the usual plethora of scoring as the Seahawks rolled over the Niners and the Redskins exposed the NY Giants, among other games.

Zeke Elliott's game was part of the Cowboys' surge past the always-nondescript Bears.