The-Somewhat-Too-Early NFL Mock Draft 1.0

I might as well start numbering them now since I am sure I will do at least three of these suckers.  Don’t worry, I won’t be like some experts who do a mock draft every other day from Wild Card weekend until the day of the draft.  The reasons for this are:

1. I am not an expert
2. There can’t be THAT many changes from day-to-day
3. I’m too lazy to make that many posts related to the draft

Now you know.  And knowing’s half the battle.

Alright let’s get right to my picks followed by some semi-quick analysis:

1	Cleveland	Myles Garrett, DE (Texas A&M)
2	San Francisco	Mitch Trubisky, QB (North Carolina)
3	Chicago	DeShone Kizer, QB (Notre Dame)
4	Jacksonville	Jonathan Allen, DE (Alabama)
5	Tennessee	Marshon Lattimore, CB (Ohio State)
6	NY Jets	Reuben Foster, LB (Alabama)
7	LA Chargers	Jamal Adams, SS (LSU)
8	Carolina	Solomon Thomas, DE (Stanford)
9	Cincinnati	Derek Barnett, DE (Tennessee)
10	Buffalo	Malik Hooker, FS (Ohio State)
11	New Orleans	Teez Tabor, CB (Florida)
12	Cleveland	Deshaun Watson, QB (Clemson)
13	Arizona	Marlon Humphrey, CB (Alabama)
14	Indianapolis	Leonard Fournette, RB (LSU)
15	Philadelphia	Mike Williams, WR (Clemson)
16	Baltimore	Malik McDowell, DT (Michigan State)
17	Washington	Tim Williams, DE (Alabama)
18	Tennessee	Corey Davis, WR (Western Michigan)
19	Tampa Bay	John Ross, WR (Washington)
20	Denver	Ryan Ramczyk, T (Wisconsin)
21	Detroit	Taco Charlton, DE (Michigan)
22	Miami	O.J. Howard, TE (Alabama)
23	NY Giants	Dalvin Cook, RB (Florida State)
24	Oakland	Zach Cunningham, LB (Vanderbilt)
25	Houston	Jabrill Peppers, LB (Michigan)
26	Seattle	Sidney Jones, CB (Washington)
27	Kansas City	Jarrad Davis, MLB (Florida)
28	Dallas	Carl Lawson, DE (Auburn)
29	Green Bay	Takkarist McKinley, DE (UCLA)
30	Pittsburgh	David Njoku, TE (Miami)
31	Atlanta	Charles Harris, DE (Missouri)
32	New England	Cam Robinson, T (Alabama)

Semi-quick Analysis

• Despite the fact the Browns need a quarterback in a desperate way, I can’t see them passing on a talent like Myles Garrett. I kind of feel sorry for poor Myles…poor in the psychological sense, not the financial one.
• San Francisco, on the other hand, won’t pass on a quarterback and I am sure they will take Mitch Trubisky who has rocketed up the draft boards since mid-season.
• Oh wait, I forgot. I have Cleveland getting their quarterback with their second pick of the first round.  Poor Deshaun Watson.
• I don’t see Jabrill Peppers, despite his talent, being any higher than a lower first round pick. There are a few other defensive players that I would definitely choose above him (Jonathan Allen, Derek Barnett, and even his Michigan teammate Taco Charlton).  I will say that whoever selects him (I have Houston at this point) should be very happy with his versatility.
• I think I may be the only person, at this point, to not have New England selecting Christian McCaffrey in the first round. I say at this point because I have a feeling I might end up putting him in a future mock draft as going to the Patriots.  The thing is, the Pats don’t need a running back.  They have a good duo in Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount so why would they take McCaffrey as well?

So that was short and sweet.  Nothing much to report on at this point since it’s my first stab at this.  I know there will be changes and on draft day I will get most of it wrong but isn’t that the fun of this exercise?

This Saturday is the Senior Bowl on the NFL Network.  It starts at 2:30 and we should see at least a few of the players I have mentioned up above.  It’s the last bit of college football for seven months so cherish it.  I know I will.

Also, news from CTV that Super Bowl (Chun) LI on February 5^th will be broadcast on CTV, CTV Two, and all TSN channels (except TSN2).  This is the first time ever something like this has happened.  I will be very interested to see how this is received by the public.  Really, for most people, you are either definitely watching the Super Bowl or avoiding it like the plague.  Very few people might or might not watch it.  I sincerely hope that this game is a good once since the playoffs as a whole have been terrible….like last year’s New Year’s Six terrible.

Anyway, enjoy the game this weekend (if you wish to watch it).  I mean it’s either that or the Pro Bowl.  Ugh.

It’s time for the Conference Championships

After Dallas’s defeat last week at the hands of the Packers (in the only game I missed all weekend), many basically anointed the Patriots as Super Bowl champs.  I can see why they would be heavy favourites now.   I won’t count out the other three teams but New England has to be considered the favourite.  So what’s the biggest story (other than Antonio Brown being an attention whore) going into this weekend?  Roger Goodell won’t go to Foxboro this Sunday, opting instead to go back to Atlanta for the NFC Championship.  Not shocking at all.  Problem is for Commissioner Gingersnaps, if the Patriots win and then win the Super Bowl in two weeks, someone has to hand Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady the Vince Lombardi Trophy.  And the only reason that I (and many others) would want the Patriots to win is to see that very thing happen.  My hope is that if it happened, someone says something untoward about the Rog or someone shoves him or something.  Anything.  People would talk about it all the way to the draft.  Publicity for the NFL, what’s wrong with that?

OK, here is your schedule for this Sunday along with a few notes on that any other things that come to my mind:

3:00	Green Bay at Atlanta	FOX/CTV
6:30	Pittsburgh at New England	CBS/CTV

Some notes

• So THIS will be the final game in the Georgia Dome (promise this time). They should tell everyone they have set the timer for the explosives for tearing down the building for 7:30 that night and see how everyone responds.  Even if the Packers were leading I am sure most fans would just beg for running plays so the clock keeps moving.  AND STAY INBOUNDS!
• I believe we are headed for a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl. That’s my prediction.  The thirteen-and-a-half day pre-game show will be insufferable but a whole lot better than if the Cowboys and Patriots had faced off in Super Bowl (Chun) LI.  I am sure they will spend hours talking about:
  • Ballghazi
  • Tom Brady’s wife
  • Potential Belichick hoodies for the big game
  • Who’s better, Brady or Rodgers?
  • A-a-ron not talking with his family
  • Olivia Munn being a possible bitch and/or sociopath
  • The injuries to both Rob Gronkowski and (possibly) Jordy Nelson
  • How an average coach like Mike McCarthy looks so much better because of the talented team he always seems to have
• Remember, the above is only part of the near-200 hours of coverage I am sure they will have. I mean what other use is there for the NFL Network?
• OK there is at least one reason for the NFL Network: college football all-star games. The East-West Shrine Game will go this Saturday at 3:00 and then one week later the Senior Bowl airs at 2:30.  There’s another one on FOX Sports One but who gives a shit about that.  These two are really the only two games to watch if you are going to watch these types of games.  And then there will be no college football for months!  And no, I don’t count spring games.
• Hey remember what I mentioned about the Chargers moving? Now the Raiders look like they will be heading to Las Vegas.  I don’t want to say it’s a done deal but it sure feels like that.  It means that for the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the Raiders would stay in Oakland.  As far as I can see, 2019 could be the first season we see the new Las Vegas Raiders.  Now I don’t truly believe in contraction but without promotion/relegation in North American sports, they almost need to do this with some franchises.  The NHL, NBA, and MLB could all benefit from this as the quality of play for at least a few teams every year is dreadful.  Even the mighty NFL saw that this season with half-a-dozen teams being terrible.  I know it won’t happen unless it’s extreme circumstances but it’s still something these leagues should think about.

We are getting close to the end of football for the season.  Soon enough I will have my first mock draft up and also I will look at how I did with my predictions, both at the college and NFL level (Spoiler alert: I did horrible).  Enjoy the games this weekend everyone!

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst

Before we begin, let me just put this here:

That franchise is a complete mess.  This is coming from someone who lives, technically, in the Buffalo Bills area and knows how shitty a franchise can get.  So let me get this straight…the Chargers are moving to the fucking StubHub Center to play the 2017 season?  It only has about 30,000 seats!  I would laugh (out loud even) if they had a game where they didn’t sell out.  Why don’t they move to a city that actually wants a team and MAY be able to support it with their current infrastructure?  There has to be some city that at least has something in place to do that.  Instead they go to Los Angeles, a city that wants the Raiders back and gets the lowly Rams instead and it showed with their pathetic attendance totals.  What a gongshow.    I am starting to wonder if the NFL has reached its peak and will now come back to Earth a bit and not be the mega-league that can do whatever the hell they feel like and get away with it.

OK back to college football.  The bowl games are now over.  They have come and gone.  And me, being a bit of an idiot, watched at least a part of every game except the Arizona Bowl.  I don’t get MyTV anymore (downgraded my package so to speak) and wasn’t around to watch it live online.  I feel like I didn’t miss much there.  For other games, I was glad I watched all or nearly all of the game since we had a few epic bowl games that will be remembered for a long time (at least by college football fans).  Let’s get to the rankings shall we?

1. National Championship (Clemson 35 Alabama 31) – What a game. You can argue whether this game or the 2006 Rose Bowl was the better national championship game and you wouldn’t be wrong on either side of the fence.  An absolute instant classic.  Deshaun Watson cemented his legacy in this one.  A great way to end a somewhat average year in college football.
2. Rose Bowl (USC 52 Penn State 49) – Another awesome game. I, along with many others, figured this would be the best game of the bowl season and the national championship would be a letdown.  Expect both of these teams to be College Football Playoff contenders next season.
3. Orange Bowl (Florida State 33 Michigan 32) – Yet another amazing game. The New Year’s Six this year was light years better than last year’s despite the fact the CFP semi-finals were pretty bad.  This had almost everything, including the Wolverines getting within one late with a returned extra point.  Almost anything Jim Harbaugh is involved in is worth watching and this was no exception.
4. Birmingham Bowl (USF 46 South Carolina 39 (OT)) – I am amazed how good this game was. And at one point it looked like the Bulls had this one in the bag.  A furious Gamecock comeback sent it to overtime where USF ended up winning it.  For such a crappy bowl in a crappy stadium it was a fun watch.
5. Armed Forces Bowl (Louisiana Tech 48 Navy 45) – This game came down to a walk-off field goal for the Bulldogs. I like option football to be honest (I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea) and Navy showed why they are the best in the biz at it (even over Georgia Tech).  But their defense was horrid which kept this game close much to the glee of, well, me (and a lot of other viewers).
6. Idaho Potato Bowl (Idaho 61 Colorado State 50) – This game was scoreless through the first quarter. So they put 111 points on the board between them in the last three quarters.  That has to be a record.  Add in that it was one of the coldest games on record and that the blue turf was basically a skating rink made it that much more exciting.  Cherry on top of the bowl game sundae?  Idaho wins in their second-last season in FBS before moving DOWN to FCS.  All the insanity of college football in one game.  WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
7. Sun Bowl (Stanford 25 North Carolina 23) – No McCaffrey? No problem.  CBS gets a gift with this amazing bowl game despite the fact it was missing a superstar and it was played in El Paso, a place no one seems to want to play.  This is all without an SEC team (for CBS’s sake) or a Big XII team (for El Paso’s local fans’ sake).  I still think the Browns are going to try their best to get their homegrown college star, Mitch Trubisky, to be the next QB for that god-awful franchise.
8. Foster Farms Bowl (Utah 26 Indiana 24) – It’s nice to see CBS and FOX getting good games considering the crap they have to put up with at bowl time. Then again, most people seem to just expect every bowl game is on ESPN so I wonder how many people watched this one.  Indiana did their Hoosier thing and played the annoying pest to Utah’s person trying to swat the mosquito away.  Great game and it was close and it had GUS JOHNSON!
9. Camellia Bowl (Appalachian State 31 Toledo 28) – A great game that was close from the opening gun. Also, two of the better Group of Five teams from the two conferences that tend to get left behind in the G-5 shuffle (Sun Belt and MAC).  This is the argument for keeping bowl games.
10. Poinsettia Bowl (BYU 24 Wyoming 21) – A good game in San Diego. You can insert your own joke here about how rare that is.  This was played in FOOTBAW WEATHER as all the rain that the San Diego area gets in a year fell during this one game (or at least it felt that way).  Also, BYU is usually a fun (albeit sometimes too rough) team to watch and Wyoming’s resurgence under Craig Bohl (Game) was a nice heartwarming story.
11. Cotton Bowl (Wisconsin 24 Western Michigan 16) – I think the lead-up to this game helped it a lot. It felt like we were just waiting for the Broncos to Row That Damn Boat and start their comeback.  When they finally did we felt the Broncos would then tie it up.  Alas, that didn’t happen but it showed that WMU was deserving of this spot and that Wisky will still be a tough out next season in the Big Ten.
12. Dollar General Bowl (Troy 28 Ohio 23) – How is it that a dollar store can sponsor a bowl game? If, let’s say, Value Village decided to sponsor any game of this magnitude, I would assume it would be played on a not-so-well-manicured high school field with wooden bleachers.  Anyway, this was a good game.  Not great, but worth watching.
13. Texas Bowl (Kansas State 33 Texas A&M 28) – To be honest, I really want to put this lower but I hear that it was a good game. Thanks to the colossal shitshow that occurred with TSN, Rogers, and Bell, none of us got to see this game.    Worst part is I still don’t know where to lay the majority of the blame but I am going with TSN at this point (which is surprising since, normally, TSN is really good with this).
14. Heart of Dallas Bowl (Army 38 North Texas 31 (OT)) – Option football. And this was a rematch.  It was setup for (most) fans to look away.  Instead it was a pretty good game with a lot of intrigue.  And now I honestly wouldn’t mind Army joining the AAC.  I mean why not?
15. Bahamas Bowl (Old Dominion 24 Eastern Michigan 20) – A team going to their first bowl game ever against a team going to their first bowl in 30 years. Great storylines for the media which turned into a fun game to watch.  Bobby Wilder alone pushes this game into the top 15.  He’s like the eastern seaboard P.J. Fleck.  Just like Fleck going to Minnesota will be good for college football, Wilder moving up the line will be good for college football as well (once it happens).
16. Belk Bowl (Virginia Tech 35 Arkansas 24) – The absolute meltdown of the Razorbacks in this one was hilarious and sad to watch all at once. No one should lose a 24-0 lead in a bowl game ever.  It’s happened twice now in the last two seasons (let’s remember Oregon last season).  Bret Bielema is now on a VERY hot seat in Fayetteville and wishing he never left the Badgers (and all the cheese he could eat) in the Big Ten.
17. Military Bowl (Wake Forest 34 Temple 26) – WAKEYLEAKS! It felt like it was brought up about a dozen separate times.  Honestly it was a pretty good game to watch with a near-Temple comeback.  It solidified that the Demon Deacons’ season wasn’t a fluke (and actually could have been better considering what occurred).
18. Quick Lane Bowl (Boston College 36 Maryland 30) – If Maryland had taken the lead late, this game would have moved way up the list considering the Terrapins’ comeback in this one. Oh well, there’s probably not much more we can expect in a game between Boston College and Maryland in Detroit during the afternoon between Christmas and New Year’s.
19. Pinstripe Bowl (Northwestern 31 Pittsburgh 24) – I remember a few years ago when they announced they would be playing a bowl game at Yankee Stadium. I thought it was a stupid idea at the time.  It has turned out to be one of the most consistently better bowl games in the past few years.  This year was no exception.
20. St. Petersburg Bowl (Mississippi State 17 Miami-OH 16) – I hate putting this game this high on the list. I really do.  It is such a shitty bowl.  But it was a close game the entire time and the game was decided on a blocked field goal, giving the Bulldogs the W.  I still think that bowl game and the field itself should cease to exist.
21. Liberty Bowl (Georgia 31 TCU 23) – It was close but never felt like that great a game. It was good because it was college football but not fantastic by any means.
22. Holiday Bowl (Minnesota 17 Washington State 12) – P.J. Fleck is the right man to right the ship (pun VERY intended) in Minneapolis. It was a shitshow and I am almost angry they won after what the players (and Tracy Claeys) did earlier that week.  Plus what the hell happened to the vaunted Mike Leach offense we saw all season?
23. New Mexico Bowl (New Mexico 23 UTSA 20) – The first bowl of the season (other than the wacky Celebration Bowl) was pretty good. I am surprised that they didn’t fill the stands for this one though.  Doesn’t make sense since the home team and a team from Texas were there.  It felt like there should have been more fans there.  A strike against the bowl system.
24. Sugar Bowl (Oklahoma 35 Auburn 19) – After the Rose Bowl I was almost worn out. Auburn scoring a touchdown on the final play was very Gus Malzahn-y. If Jim Harbaugh had been the other coach, it would have been a brawl afterwards.
25. Music City Bowl (Tennessee 38 Nebraska 24) – I sure hope this doesn’t spur the same reactions almost everyone had last year after Tennessee won their bowl game handily. Look, they will be good but don’t get a Sharpie and write them in as SEC East champs just yet.
26. Peach Bowl (Alabama 24 Washington 7) – The first semi-final felt close for a while. Bama didn’t play that great and neither did the Huskies and you thought that maybe Washington has a chance.  Then the pick-six happened and you knew it was pretty much over so let’s get to the next game quickly.
27. Boca Raton Bowl (Western Kentucky 51 Memphis 31) – I figured there would be more fight from the Tigers but the sheer amount of offense in this one makes up for it being a relatively boring game.
28. New Orleans Bowl (Southern Miss 28 UL-Lafayette 21) – It was close but it came after a few not-so-great bowl games so interest (at least on my end) was relatively low. The Ragin’ Cajuns have to be sick of this bowl by now despite the fact it still gets decent fan attendance.
29. Cactus Bowl (Baylor 31 Boise State 12) – Admittedly I didn’t watch much of this game once Baylor went up by a good margin. It felt weird to see the Bears win considering how the second half of their season went and how their program has been viewed in general.  It will take a few years for people to focus on the football aspect of things in Waco.
30. Hawaii Bowl (Hawaii 52 Middle Tennessee 35) – This defense-optional matchup was fine if you like arena football-like scores but other than that?   Also, the stands were basically empty.  Can we scrap this game please?  If the home team can’t even bring in fans I don’t know what will.
31. Citrus Bowl (LSU 29 Louisville 9) – Man that was rough to watch. Lamar Jackson looked terrible and the Tigers didn’t even blink an eye even with Leonard Fournette skipping this one.  So many fumbles by the Cardinals this season; it is actually surprising that they led the FBS in that category.  It truly shows how good Lamar Jackson was for most of the season to have to overcome that.
32. Russell Athletic Bowl (Miami 31 West Virginia 14) – Is The U back? It sure looks like it.  You have to feel good for Mark Richt.  He has already done a great job in Miami and it’s only his first season.  I expect them to contend for the division title next year and, perhaps, finally closing it out and making their first trip to the ACC Championship.  Also, watching Drunk Uncle Dana go apeshit on the sideline is kind of fun to watch.
33. TaxSlayer Bowl (Georgia Tech 33 Kentucky 18) – Kentucky has to consider this a successful season. Same with Georgia Tech.  Other than that, it was a game that was on while other bowl games were on as well.  Didn’t bode well for this one.
34. Las Vegas Bowl (San Diego State 34 Houston 10) – I think the media would put this higher considering the Tom Herman saga and Donnel Pumphrey breaking (kind of) the NCAA all-time rushing yards record. But really?  The game sucked.
35. Independence Bowl (NC State 41 Vanderbilt 17) – I am kind of a Vandy fan in a way. I always like to see them do well.  But they were awful here.  Not even Dancin’ Derek Mason could help the team out here.  And is NC State good?  Who knows.  Ask Wolfpack fans and you would get varying responses, all ending with “Fire Doeren.”
36. Fiesta Bowl (Clemson 31 Ohio State 0) – This may be worse than Alabama’s drubbing of Michigan State last season. It was brutal and I stopped watching early in the fourth quarter since the game was already in hand.
37. Arizona Bowl (Air Force 45 South Alabama 21) – I didn’t watch this game. Don’t get MyTV.  Wasn’t able to watch it live so watching it online wasn’t an option either.  However, saying all that, there were four games worse than one I didn’t even watch.  Yeah they were that bad and it’s an argument against more bowl games (or an argument for less bowl games than we have now).
38. Alamo Bowl (Oklahoma State 38 Colorado 8) – The only reason a lot of people (including myself) continued to watch was to see if the Buffs could break the goose egg. And they did.  And then I turned it off because it was awful.
39. Outback Bowl (Florida 30 Iowa 3) – I had rated this game lower than many online experts had. It gives me a small amount of satisfaction to say I was right.  This game sucked.  No surprise here.
40. Miami Beach Bowl (Tulsa 55 Central Michigan 10) – I think the thing people were waiting for was to see if Tulsa would put up a 60-burger. They did not.  I wish they would just scrap this game.  It’s on in the afternoon on a weekday before Christmas.  Who the fuck thinks this is a good idea?
41. Cure Bowl (Arkansas State 31 UCF 13) – All this game cured was people’s insomnia.

There you go.  We’re done.  And I am a bit sad.  But we still have some football.  Usually the best weekend of playoff football is upon us in the NFL with the Divisional Playoffs.  Enjoy the games everyone!

NFL Divisional Playoffs TV Schedule

Before I get into the NFL stuff, I just want to talk about the college football National Championship.  What a game.  An instant classic.  Other than the 2006 Rose Bowl, this is the best true national championship game of all-time.  I am not going to include any of the games from the poll n’ bowl era since it was rare to set up #1 vs. #2 at the end of the season (although some of those games were great as well).  Just the last five minutes alone is must-watch material for any college football fan.  Nice to see Dabo Swinney and Clemson win the title after coming so close last season.  Deshaun Watson put on a performance for the ages.  And we all know Alabama will be back next season looking to get to the top of the mountain again.  It was a spectacular end to what was, at times, a mediocre season.

Speaking of not-so-good seasons, let’s switch gears to the NFL.  The first half was terrible, let’s be honest.  The last six weeks were good although the final week left a lot to be desired.  This bled into Wild Card weekend which was one of the worst weekends of playoff football in NFL history.  Almost totally unwatchable crap.  Games that, for the most part, were decided by early in the third quarter.

As a bit of an aside at this point, I would like to talk about the lack of a recap this week.  I am going to cut back on the recaps a lot from now on.  I would say they are the worst part of this blog.  Most of them aren’t bad (I would even go far as to say some of them are pretty damn awesome!) but I would be lying if I said I didn’t mail it in once or twice this season just to get the post out in a relatively timely manner.  That’s when I ask myself what the point of doing that is.  Getting out the schedules on time is important and needs to be done in good time.  Otherwise the information is no good.  Recaps are different really.  I could have done the recap this Friday and it would have held the same gravitas as if I had done it Monday morning.  I would prefer to give you, the reader, better quality posts on the things that you come to this blog to see; which, during the season at least, is the TV schedules.  Alright where was I?

Oh yeah, back to the NFL playoffs.  Dreadful start. This weekend should be better.  Mostly because it can’t get worse.  Here is your schedule, followed by some notes:

Saturday

4:30	Seattle at Atlanta	FOX/CTV
8:00	Houston at New England	CBS/CTV

Sunday

8:30	Pittsburgh at Kansas City	NBC/CTV
4:30	Green Bay at Dallas	FOX/CTV

Notes

• UPDATE: The Pittsburgh-Kansas City game has been moved to 8:30 due to the impending ice storm in and around the Kansas City area.
• CTV gets the first three games on the full network. Then the Green Bay-Dallas game goes to the full CTV2 network.  I don’t know why this is happening.  Then again, last week I missed the Giants-Packers game being shown on CTV2 as well as TSN.  Didn’t think that would happen so never bothered to check.  My bad.  UPDATE #2: DAL-GB has been moved to the full CTV network. 
• Oddly enough, NBC does not get the Saturday night game. CBS does.  Instead, NBC will be showing the Pittsburgh-KC game early Sunday afternoon.  I am sure they will still call it Sunday Night Football.
• There is a possibility that three of these games will be close. Unless there is a freak snowstorm in Foxboro Saturday night, I don’t see a way that Houston keeps it close with the Patriots.  Then again, stranger things have happened.
• No offense to the other games but Green Bay-Dallas is the game of the week.   There is a very real possibility that the Packers could thwart Dallas’s chances of getting to the Super Bowl and sparing us from, perhaps, the worst run-up to a Super Bowl ever (I am talking about a Patriots-Cowboys Super Bowl here).
• I am positive not a single team will have a single player on a boat before this weekend’s games.

Alright, kind of short but oh well.  I believe there are a few college all-star games this coming weekend but I can’t, for the life of me, determine where these games will air or even if we will get them in Canada.  I am leaning towards no here.  I know the East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl are coming up soon and honestly, they are the only two college all-star games I watch.

Soon enough I will be starting my mock drafts.  Other than that, it will be quite a bit of radio silence for the next few months.  The dark period is almost upon us my friends.  Until then, enjoy the (professional football) games everyone!

NFL Wild Card Round TV schedule and College Football National Championship Info (and a few other items)

We have finally made it to the NFL Playoffs and the College Football National Championship.  It’s almost over for another season, folks!  I am shedding a tear just thinking about it.

First up, the College Football National Championship.  It will air on TSN1, 3, 4, and 5.  On TSN5, the coverage starts mid-afternoon.  College GameDay and a bunch of other shows will set you up for the game which starts at 8.  On TSN3, the game will be joined in progress after the Winnipeg Jets game ends.  That should be at about 10:30.  So at least TSN is going all in for this game after a rough patch with the bowl games as a whole.

I guess I should include a pick here.  I think Clemson will finally win their first championship in 35 years by beating Alabama in a close one.  Going with a 31-27 score in this one.  If this does happen I can see a LOT being made of the choice to send Lane Kiffin packing early and going with Steve Sarkisian for the final game of the season.

Then we have the NFL Wild Card Round.  Here is the schedule for the upcoming weekend:

Saturday
4:30	Oakland at Houston	ABC/CTV
8:00	Detroit at Seattle	NBC/CTV
Sunday
1:00	Miami at Pittsburgh	CBS/CTV
4:30	NY Giants at Green Bay	FOX/TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5

The Saturday game between Oakland and Houston will bring a loss of approximately $75 million to ESPN/ABC.  $75 MILLION!  The other three networks have their Wild Card games as part of their entire NFL package but that isn’t what happens for ESPN.  To be honest, they should consider dropping Monday Night Football.  I know they won’t but good lord MNF is not what it used to be and ESPN is paying a premium for it.  It’s a lose-lose all around.

I think the two NFC games will be light years better than the AFC games this time around.  Unless it’s close, the Raiders-Texans matchup will be one of the worst in recent playoff history.  It’s too bad because the Raiders with Derek Carr was a VERY dangerous team.  Connor Cook better come up with the month of his life because they will need it.

Finally, the FCS Championship between Youngstown State and James Madison will appear on TSN5 on Saturday at Noon along with the U.S. Army High School All-American Bowl on NBC.  I find it interesting that during every one of North Dakota State’s five championship runs, not one of the championship games was on a TSN channel.  Yet now we get it this year when NDSU is eliminated in the semi-finals.  I don’t get it either but hey, I won’t complain.

Enjoy the games everyone!

Now THAT’S the New Year’s Six we were hoping for (kind of)

We were into the fourth quarter of the first New Year’s Six game (the Orange Bowl) and it was already better than the entire New Year’s Six from the previous season.  That was awful last season.  This season, a fair amount better.  Two amazing games, one quite good game and then three that weren’t that great.  So they’re batting .500.  That’s an improvement, no?

Alright let’s get to the recap of all the rest of the bowl games:

Citrus Bowl – LSU 29 Louisville 9

Talk about ending your season with a thud.  The Cardinals looked lifeless in this one.  And as for Leonard Fournette (or more like his absence)?  No problem.  Derrius Guice was good enough in this one and Arden Key was huge on defense.  Also, Louisville’s turnover problems caught up with them again.  Amazing that a team as good as Louisville gave up that many turnovers (the most in the FBS this season).

TaxSlayer Bowl – Georgia Tech 33 Kentucky 18

The schools from the state of Kentucky did not have a good day.  Kentucky never seemed to be close with the Ramblin’ Wreck.  After that one really bad season last year, the Yellow Jackets are back where they seem to always be: a few games over .500 but never really in contention for the ACC title.

Peach Bowl (College Football Playoff Semi-Final) – Alabama 24 Washington 7

It felt like I was just waiting for Bama to pull away in this one and it never happened.  A couple of Husky mistakes gave the Tide some points but other than that Alabama did not look strong at all.  It has to be worrying.  And now with Lane Kiffin kicked to the curb before the National Championship I could see some issues with preparation.  Doesn’t sound so cool and calm in Tuscaloosa (like usual).

Fiesta Bowl (College Football Playoff Semi-Final) – Clemson 31 Ohio State 0

Now this was an ass whoopin’ on a grand scale.  Clemson was just way too good for the Buckeyes.  Cue the “Ohio State shouldn’t have even been in the College Football Playoff because they didn’t even win their division and they lost to the true Big Ten champ and yada yada yada.”  This type of talk is ridiculous.  We all know that conference championships are money grabs, plain and simple.  And now The Committee has made it clear that conference championships mean a lot, but not as much as strength of schedule.  They have put their stake in the ground (for the most part) and now we know.  I just wish they would make it clear to everyone, including fans.  It would alleviate a lot of these debates.

Outback Bowl – Florida 30 Iowa 3

More scoring than I thought…at least from Florida.  Looked like a boring game and I watched very little of it.  I feel like I didn’t miss much.

Cotton Bowl – Wisconsin 24 Western Michigan 16

The Broncos have nothing to be ashamed of after this loss.  They played well but it felt like after Wisky got that first touchdown that WMU would never be able to row the boat hard enough to get into the lead.  And that was exactly the case.  The Broncos also didn’t play as well as they did throughout the season so there is that.  It does show, though, that the G-5 is still quite a ways away from the P-5 in terms of quality of football programs.  It just is what it is unfortunately.

Rose Bowl – USC 52 Penn State 49

An absolute instant classic.  Between this game and the Orange Bowl you can’t say enough good things about college football (or at least the games on the field).  Penn State overcame three double-digit deficits to take a double-digit lead of their own.  Then USC comes back to tie it.  I feel bad for poor Trace McSorley.  He was near-perfect all game and then threw up kind of a wounded duck interception in the final minute which lead to the Trojans game-winning field goal with no time left.  If the National Championship ends up being a dud at least we can look at this game with some satisfaction.

Sugar Bowl – Oklahoma 35 Auburn 19

This game was never going to be in doubt.  It was just waiting for Mayfield and Westbrook and Mixon and Perine and the rest of the offense to wake up.   They finally did.  This team is going to be something next year with all the returning pieces.

All that is left now is the Natty.  I believe Clemson has a real shot here and I am going to go with a bit of an upset pick and say Clemson will win this.  I will even give a score.  It will contain numbers.  And one number will be more than the other………………OK fine twist my arm.  31-27 Tigers.  Happy?

It looks like the FCS Championship will be appearing on TSN5 according to the current schedule.  Like the weather, it has the opportunity to change nine thousand times before the day arrives.  So once it is confirmed I will let you know.  I will also have the NFL Wild Card round schedule up once the TSN and CTV broadcasts are sorted out (hell, even my guide doesn’t even have the American networks figured out when it comes to those games).  Hope everyone had a great New Year as we are almost coming to the close of the college football season.

So many bad teams this season– Week 17 NFL Recap (oh and a Playoff Preview)

There are so many bad teams.  Check the logos above.  These teams were awful this season.  Not just kind of bad.  Not below average.  Awful.  Period.  The funny thing is that at least one of these teams will draft a player that, by the end of the next season, they will know was the wrong move, continuing their streak of futility.  I can see quite a few trades (or at least potential trades) going into this coming draft so it might be one of the more exciting in recent history.  We shall see.  Either way, pray for these teams.  They need it.

Other things that happened

• Aw man couldn’t the Cowboys have left Tony Romo in for the rest of the game? Mark Sanchez is awful and it showed.  He is basically done (or should be).  I say this because if Dallas had won, then Tampa Bay would have gone into the afternoon still alive in the playoff race and it would have sent the media into a frenzy I’m sure because the only way for the Bucs to get in was so complex and absurd it would have been fun to watch it possibly go down.  Alas…
• If you were like me, you found this week to be kind of boring to be honest. Not a whole lot at stake really as Week 16 ended a lot of playoff-clinching storylines.  This is something the NFL hates.  I am positive of that.  I don’t remember the year (two or three years ago) but there were so many different scenarios that it became must-watch TV because a team taking the lead late in the fourth could change so many things.  Oh well at least the playoffs are finally here so we can take solace in the fact that at least all these games mean something going forward.
• Why did Anthony Lynn accept the Bills head coaching job? I mean good for him because he is obviously quite the offensive genius to take this crew to the heights they enjoyed, at least on offense.  But the Bills are such a shitty organization and the whole Tyrod Taylor fiasco would have left a bad taste in my mouth I know that.  I hope Lynn gets a lot of control here and can hire the guys he wants and get the players he needs.  It’s already rumoured that Gus Bradley will be the team’s new defensive coordinator.  That’s a good start.
• So my two Super Bowl picks, Arizona and Cincinnati, won their final games this past weekend and won them easily. These are the teams I thought would go far in the playoffs.  Not the underperforming heaps of crap that they were the other fifteen games.
• So the Los Angeles Rams experiment isn’t off to a rousing start. So now what?  Let’s move the Chargers there as well!  Yeah this won’t go poorly at all right?  I get that the NFL wants to be in Los Angeles but the LA area is such a fickle sports town.  Other than the Lakers, no other team in this city can draw fans even when they lose (and I even have my doubts about the Lakers).  So having two NFL teams here will divide the fanbase and unless one of the teams gets really good really fast this could become a nightmare in the second-largest city in the US.
• Even against the Steelers’ backups the Browns couldn’t win. I sure hope they make the right pick in the draft because they have a lot of holes to fill (yeah like most of them).

Alright enough of the week that wasn’t (really), let’s look ahead to the playoffs.  Here are my rankings of the teams left to play for a chance at the Super Bowl, starting at the top and making my way down:

1. New England – I hate putting them here and it’s not because they are the best team right now. They are still the most complete team and they seem to get the most out of players who can’t seem to stick with other teams.  Look what Michael Floyd did this past week for example.  As long as Brady is the starting quarterback you have to consider this team one of the favourites.
2. Dallas – Normally when you have two teams this far in front of the others, one of them blows a gasket and we miss out on a true best-on-best Super Bowl. There is less of a chance of that happening this year.  I think the Patriots and Cowboys are so much better this season than any other team and it would take either of these teams to play VERY poorly to not make it.  I do worry about the lead up to the game if this happens though.  The media will go bananas.  More so than usual.  America’s Team against America’s Team.  Fans of every other team will hate it.
3. Green Bay – The hottest team in the league (sorry Dallas and New England fans) is looking to continue that hot streak in the playoffs. This team is extremely dangerous if A-a-ron and company are playing their best.  Plus playing at Lambeau has to be horrific in the playoffs.
4. Pittsburgh – Here’s another team that always seems to be in the playoffs and is always a threat. The Killer Bees (Ben, Brown, and Bell) make this offense, arguably, the best in the league.  Their defense is a little suspect compared to almost every other year the Steelers have been a contender but I am sure head cheerleader coach Mike Tomlin will have them ready to play with his ice cold gaze and…actually that’s really all he seems to do with his face.
5. Atlanta – Matty Ice is back, bitches. Another team with a shit-ton of offensive weapons but not as good a defense.  Good enough to win the majority of games I guess.  It will be interesting to see what the Falcons can do against a top-notch defense though.
6. Kansas City – Until Alex Smith can take this team to the promised land, he will never be known for being more than a “game manager.” This seems to be the worst tag you can put on a quarterback but honestly it’s not a bad thing.  He does well.  He’s efficient.  I don’t see a problem with that.  Also, let’s pray that there are no end-of-the-game clock situations for the Chiefs since they do have Andy Reid as their coach and he’s not known for his time management skills.
7. NY Giants – This team is a bit of a Wild Card, no pun intended.   Yes I know they’re a Wild Card team and…you know what, never mind.  Ben McAdoo has done a great job in the Big Apple (technically in New Jersey) and could cause a lot of frustration for some of the better teams like Dallas and Atlanta.
8. Detroit – Now we get to the teams that I think do not have a hope of making the Super Bowl. Detroit is a nice story this season.  This team has gutted its way to multiple victories.  They are kind of the Cardiac Kids of this season.  I can’t see that happening especially with their first game in Seattle.  However…
9. Seattle – Other than the home crowd what does this team possess? They aren’t the Seahawks that won the Super Bowl or the ones that had a horrible play call at the end of that other Super Bowl.  Not nearly as good and without a home game after the Wild Card round I think the Hawks’ chances are almost nil.
10. Oakland – Let’s be honest: everyone would have the Raiders higher if Derek Carr was healthy. And now they don’t even have Matt McGloin possibly.  They will have rely on their ground game and their defense to have any hope of getting past even the first round.  But at least their first game is in…
11. Houston – Macho Man Tom Savage (oooooooooooooh yeah) may or may not be the starter. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrock Osweiler may or may not be the starter.  Either way, who cares.  Defense carries this team and J.J. Watt and his boys need to come up with the playoff run of their life because this team’s fortunes rest on their shoulders.
12. Miami – I hate to say I would rate them a bit higher with Ryan Tannehill as the starting quarterback but I would have. Maybe I would have them #11.  This team is probably the worst playoff team this season.  Not a slight against them since they got farther than many thought they would.  Jay Ajayi has been a revelation in the backfield and he will have to imagine that he is playing the Bills the entire postseason if he is to help the Dolphins move past the Wild Card round.

There you go.  Since my original picks were HORRIBLE, this is my new set of playoff predictions:

Wild Card Round

Houston over Oakland

Detroit over Seattle

Pittsburgh over Miami

Green Bay over NY Giants

Divisional Playoffs

New England over Houston

Pittsburgh over Kansas City

Dallas over Detroit (again)

Green Bay over Atlanta

Conference Championships

New England over Pittsburgh

Dallas over Green Bay

Super Bowl LI

Dallas over New England

I think the conference championship games and the Super Bowl will be close ones, providing the entertainment that was sorely missing in the first nine weeks or so of the NFL season.

Alright today there are four bowl games with three of them being part of the fabled New Year’s Six and the other a game that I will watch very little of in Florida against Iowa.  Enjoy the games everyone!