It’s the Final Mock Draft!

…..the final Mock Draft!

Yep, not kidding. This is it. I’m not going to do like four in a matter of six days or something ridiculous like that. I have a job and a life (sort of) outside of this blog. I also know things may change on the day of the draft (or more like opening day of the draft). Nothing I can do about that. Let the experts deal with it. Between ESPN and the NFL Network there has to be about 70 mock drafts ready to go in the half hour before the draft begins. So without further adieu, let’s get to l’ébauche finale:

First Round

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
8	Atlanta	J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
9	Chicago	Laiatu Latu, EDGE (UCLA)
10	NY Jets	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11	Minnesota	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
12	Denver	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
13	Las Vegas	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
14	New Orleans	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
15	Indianapolis	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
16	Seattle	Troy Fautanu, G (Washington)
17	Jacksonville	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
18	Cincinnati	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
19	LA Rams	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
20	Pittsburgh	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
21	Miami	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Minnesota	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24	Dallas	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
27	Arizona	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
28	Buffalo	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
29	Detroit	Jackson Powers-Johnson, G (Oregon)
30	Baltimore	Graham Barton, G (Duke)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
34	New England	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
35	Arizona	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
36	Washington	Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
37	LA Chargers	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
38	Tennessee	Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
39	Carolina	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
40	Washington	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
41	Green Bay	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
42	Houston	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
43	Atlanta	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
44	Las Vegas	Christian Haynes, G (UConn)
45	New Orleans	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
46	Indianapolis	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
47	NY Giants	Cooper Beebe, G (Kansas State)
48	Jacksonville	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
49	Cincinnati	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
50	Philadelphia	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
51	Pittsburgh	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52	LA Rams	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
53	Philadelphia	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
54	Cleveland	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
55	Miami	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
56	Dallas	Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57	Tampa Bay	Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
58	Green Bay	Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
59	Houston	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
60	Buffalo	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
61	Detroit	Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
62	Baltimore	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63	San Francisco	Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
64	Kansas City	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)

Third Round

65	Carolina	Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66	Arizona	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
67	Washington	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
68	New England	Jonathan Brooks, RB (Texas)
69	LA Chargers	Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
70	NY Giants	Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
71	Arizona	Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72	NY Jets	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
73	Detroit	Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
74	Atlanta	Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
75	Chicago	Christian Mahogany, G (Boston College)
76	Denver	DeWayne Carter, DT (Duke)
77	Las Vegas	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
78	Washington	Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
79	Atlanta	Justin Egoigbe, DT (Alabama)
80	Cincinnati	Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
81	Seattle	Tommy Eichenberg, LB (Ohio State)
82	Indianapolis	Calen Bullock, S (USC)
83	LA Rams	Spencer Rattler, QB (South Carolina)
84	Pittsburgh	Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85	Cleveland	Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
86	Houston	Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
87	Dallas	Jermaine Burton, WR (Alabama)
88	Green Bay	Blake Fisher, OT (Notre Dame)
89	Tampa Bay	Cole Bishop, S (Utah)
90	Arizona	Zak Zinter, G (Michigan)
91	Green Bay	Nehemiah Pritchett, CB (Auburn)
92	Tampa Bay	Javion Cohen, G (Miami)
93	Baltimore	Jaylen Wright, RB (Tennessee)
94	Kansas City	Blake Corum, RB (Michigan)
95	San Francisco	Elijah Jones, CB (Boston College)
96	Jacksonville	Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
97	Cincinnati	Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
98	Pittsburgh	Jonah Ellliss, LB (Utah)
99	LA Rams	Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
100	Washington	Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)

There are some strong opinions out there about this draft (like every draft) so let’s go through a few of them:

• The Vikings are going to trade up. This is a likely option but I don’t put trades in my mock drafts because I think dreaming up the trade packages would be insane. Saying that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they traded up to #4 or #5 to get J.J. McCarthy.
• The Cardinals are fielding a lot of trade offers. The top three picks are mostly set even though Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels seem to flip-flop in the second and third spots. The Cards are probably fielding a few offers but not as many as some might think. It will take a lot for them to trade down as they know they would get, arguably, the best overall player of the draft at a position they need.
• The Giants might be the toughest to figure out in the Top 10. Absolutely. They have all sorts of needs so there are probably 10-12 players on their board that they could conceivably take. I still like Dallas Turner at that spot but Terrion Arnold, Laiatu Latu, Brock Bowers, Quinyon Marshall and, hell, even Bo Nix could be picked at #6 by the Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Men (done in extreme Chris Berman voice).
• If Brock Bowers isn’t picked Top 10 he will fall…FAR. I don’t think so. The Broncos, Colts, Bengals and Dolphins might all take a gander at the big man if he is still sitting in the back room after the tenth pick (which I think he will be).

Other than that there are questions that mostly don’t have answers at this point. Like will the Bills make a surprising leap up the draft now that Stefon Diggs has been dealt? Is Michael Penix Jr. poised to have the biggest leap up the draft boards in the past couple months? Will there be actual players involved in any of the trades over the next few days? It’s a crapshoot and not my expertise so I will steer clear of most of those questions (possibly, possibly and probably are my answers).

Reminder that the draft starts tonight at 8:00 and is emanating from Detroit. Moving the draft around has been fun so let’s see what it’s like in the Motor City. As per usual, ESPN and NFL Network will be doing the entire draft…all seven rounds. I have the ESPN draft pick is in ringtone on my phone but I am still debating which network to watch, at least for night one. I have leaned NFL Network in the past but I have done both over the past decade. It’s a game-time decision.

Finally, on the Twitter Machine (fuck you, Elon) I will be live-tweeting at least the first round and am hoping to do ALL SEVEN this year. Can I do it? Who the fuck knows. Around halfway through round five is where things usually go off the rails and I might struggle to keep going at that point. I mean I will but who knows if I will be posting tweets at that point or semi-conscious, staring at the bag of pretzels on my desk and wondering about important questions in life like “Would Nathan Peterman be successful in the CFL?”

Anyway, enjoy the draft, however much you watch of it.

Time for the Superest of Bowls (in theory)

Let’s be honest: this is not the Super Bowl matchup that most wanted. Most wanted the darlings of the NFL, the hapless Detroit Lions, to finally ascend the big game for the first time in franchise history. Who did many want as their opponent? Not the Kansas City Chiefs. It wouldn’t have mattered who the Chiefs were up against, most would have wanted the other team to win. Alas, neither thing happened

The Ravens decided to play their worst game of the season at the most inopportune time, abandoning their running game in rainy weather because…well I don’t know why. Some say the Chiefs had the Ravens number but Baltimore ran the ball only sixteen times. Idiots. The Lions, on the other hand, allowed a pretty damn big comeback from the Niners to lose their shot at glory. Now, we can all debate whether Dan Campbell’s penchant for being uber-aggressive and going for it on fourth down twice was the right call (I lean to the second time, at least, being a spot where you try the field goal, if not both but that’s just me). In the end, however, they missed on both of those plays, the Niners took advantage and Mr. Irrelevant gets a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Which isn’t a bad backup feelgood story, no?

Anyway, last year I did a bit of a Super Bowl preview post. Then again, I was off work at the time so I had plenty of time to do so. But…..let’s just do another one, for old time’s sake. (Short) Breakdown of the game:

Offense – Very close. Both teams have arguably the best offenses in the league. They can be fun to watch and tough to defend. I think the Chiefs have the slight edge with the better offensive line but this is almost a push.

Defense – Not quite as close but maybe closer than you think. The Niners have the better defense but the Chiefs looked awfully good against the Ravens a couple weeks back.

Special Teams – Tough call here. Harrison Butker is one of the best kickers in the league but the Niners have a great return game. Call it a wash once again.

Coaching – It’s Andy Reid, folks. Despite his sometimes questionable clock management skills, he is still one of the best coaches of all-time. Kyle Shanahan is good too but has already lost once to Reid and everyone remembers the Falcons debacle back at Super Bowl LI.

So what did we learn? Absolutely nothing. This should be a close one. The Bossman’s prediction…

*drum roll please*

Niners 30 Chiefs 28.

Now watch it be a blowout. Anyway, where can you watch the game? It’s on CBS this year so you get some “Hello, Friends” along with a lot of “I DON’T KNOW JIM!” from our pals Nantz and Romo. For people who are just itching to see what Tim Horton’s has done for the next mediocre commercial, the game is on all CTV affiliates and all the TSNs (including TSN+) except the ugly duckling, TSN2.

Then…that’s it. No more football. Well, that’s not true. The new UFL starts late next month and then the CFL starts in early June. I’m sure there’s some arena football in there too and I see there’s even a European League of Football that we probably can’t get here (legally). So we won’t be totally starved of football but it is a long six-and-a-half months until the start of the college football season. So savour this one final game of the year, even if it does end up sucking. For the final time this season, enjoy the game everyone.

It’s Conference Championship Time!

I would have put more exclamation marks in the title but I can’t be as excited as I would have been thanks to Wide Right II – Pro Edition.

Let’s just get right to this Bills-less conference championship weekend schedule, shall we?

Sunday

Kansas City at Baltimore	3:00, CBS, CTV, TSN 1/3/5/+
Detroit at San Francisco	6:30, FOX, CTV, TSN 1/3*/5/+

Quick Notes!

• (The now) classic 3 and 6:30 start times for the games. Having the late game end between 9:30 and 10:00 is honestly pretty fucking awesome I have to say.
• TSN3 will be getting to the NFC Championship game late. After the AFC Championship, the Raptors face the Hawks. That game should end around 8:30 or so meaning TSN3 should join in progress around the start of the fourth quarter. Now I have no clue who only has one TSN (along with TSN2 which has always been the “alternate” TSN) in this country anymore but for the ones out there that only get TSN3, there you go.
• There’s a chance it will be a completely sloppy NFL Sunday. Baltimore will be hosting yet another super wet playoff game (do they think they are Seattle or something?) and there is a decent probability for rain in Santa Clara as well. I want to say rain and other non-sunny weather evens the playing field but I am not sure anymore (and chances are there are analytics that refute that notion).
• My prediction for the Super Bowl…Ravens-Lions.

Look, all we can hope for is at least one good game this weekend, right? If we get two? Very nice.

Since I won’t be doing a blog post between this one and the Super Bowl, might as well clue you in on the few college football all-star games there will be coming up. Thursday night will be the East-West Shrine Bowl, now taking place in Frisco at The Star which is where I believe they also do the Conference USA basketball tournament on two separate courts with games going on at the same time. Leave it to C-USA to do something wacky like that. Then next Saturday it is the Senior Bowl. The Shrine Bowl begins at 8:00 on Thursday and the Senior Bowl kicks off at 1:00. Both games have slightly altered rules but it is kind of fun to see some players who are getting draft-ready. Both games will be on the NFL Network.

Alright, have a great weekend and hopefully things dry up a bit. It’s one thing to just have snow on the ground; another to have slush and water. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

And now we have the Divisional Playoffs Schedule

So how about Super Wild Card Weekend? Yeah, it was a dud. I mean I was happy the Bills won and the Rams-Lions game was great but other than that? Meh. Not so super. Let’s hope the divisional playoffs are better (could they be worse…wait, don’t answer that). Here’s the schedule:

Saturday

Houston at Baltimore	4:30, ABC, CTV, TSN 3/5/+
Green Bay at San Francisco	8:00, FOX, CTV, TSN 3/5/+

Sunday

Tampa Bay at Detroit	3:00, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/+
Kansas City at Buffalo	6:30, CBS, CTV, TSN 3/4/+

A few Non-Super (I guess) Divisional Round Notes

• It is kind of nice to see all four networks share the divisional round. It should be like this forever. It won’t be because I am sure Amazon is itching to get playoff games on Prime and the NFL will definitely do it for the right amount of money.
• Not gonna lie: I watched a decent portion of Monday’s games on CTV. But I muted things when commercials came on. I don’t care what shitty shows CTV is highlighting for the next few months. I will watch none of them. No, I don’t care that Tim Horton’s has something new to sell because I rarely go there. Commercials, for the most part, suck now. They have an even worse track record than stand-up comedians (only 25% at any one time are funny) and podcasts (maybe 15% of them are worth listening to). It’s frightening that there is so little creativity in advertising these days. Maybe all the good ideas have been taken? Seems to have happened with movies.
• Can Patrick Mahomes win on the road in the playoffs? This will, if you can believe it, his first ever true road playoff game. For it to be in the not-so-friendly confines of the Ralph in Buffalo is a tough way to get his road playoff game cherry popped.
• Shades of the NFC Central: the Bucs and Lions playing in a playoff game? Almost every year in the history of either of these franchises you could never say that with a straight face. Add the Packers in the other NFC game and you have the makings of a great division, albeit one that doesn’t exist anymore.

Not going to say much about Wild Card weekend that I didn’t say above. The situation in Orchard Park was ridiculous but what can you do, right? Except put all the Wild Card games on the weekend. Can’t do that, though, because ESPN paid a lot of money to get a Monday Night Football Wild Card game. And this may become a more common thing if the NFL buys a part of ESPN. Yes, this could happen. And it would be ridiculous and most likely not good for the game but who cares because MONEY!

OK everyone, no more college football except for the wacky all-star games that remain. I guess it’s better than nothing. Then it’s no college ball until August. Brings a tear to my eye. In the meantime, let’s hope the NFL can entertain us more than it did during SUPER Wild Card Weekend. Enjoy the games everyone!

It’s time for another SUPER Wild Card Weekend

Playoff time is here! And what a last week it was in the regular season. Fun times! And for what feels like the first time in a long time, there really isn’t a true Super Bowl favourite. The #1 seeds, San Francisco and Baltimore, have their issues and have been exposed already this season. Plus, until Lamar Jackson can do his normal Lamar Jackson things in the playoffs, it’s tough to trust the Ravens. Even the other division champs have their wrinkles. The Bills, Cowboys, Chiefs and Lions have all looked bad at times this season. So who knows? Maybe we get the worst division champ coming out of it all smelling like roses. Maybe we see the first ever seventh seed Wild Card win. It’s all up in the air. So let’s get down to what could truly end up being a SUPER Wild Card Weekend.

Saturday

Cleveland at Houston	4:30, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/+
Miami at Kansas City	8:15, CTV, TSN 1/3/+

Sunday

Pittsburgh at Buffalo	1:00, CBS, CTV, TSN 4/5/+
Green Bay at Dallas	4:30, FOX, CTV, TSN 4/5/+
LA Rams at Detroit	8:00, NBC, CTV, TSN 4/5/+

Monday

Pittsburgh at Buffalo	4:30, CBS, CTV, TSN 3/5/+
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay	8:00, ABC, CTV, TSN 3/5/+

Juuuuuuuuuuuuust a Few Wild Card Notes

• I don’t know how many years I have been saying this but I will keep saying it: division winners should not be guaranteed a home playoff game. Period. End of story. It’s like saying it’s Philadelphia’s fault for being in a division with Dallas. How dare they. See how stupid that sounds? Well that’s what the NFL says.
• It is going to be one of the coldest NFL games on record on Saturday night in KC. Tickets are now going for $33 which is completely fucking insane for an NFL playoff game. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to some crazy weather games, including the 1996 Grey Cup, better known as the Snow Bowl. I don’t think I’ve ever been to one that, as of right now, looks like it could dip to a windchill of -34 Celsius by the end of the game. That’s too cold for even my blood.
• Other weather issues will come about in Buffalo. Right now, as I type this, the snow has just started here in the Guelph area and I can’t see across the street. I can just imagine what Buffalo might look like by Sunday morning. The issue shouldn’t be the snow that has already fallen as they are getting people to start shovelling now. It’s the fact that there is supposed to be a good amount of snow just before and during the game. That’s when the chaos happens. This is great fodder for the “Buffalo should build a dome for their next stadium” people.
• The ManningCast will be back for the Monday night playoff game…but only if you have TSN+ (or another way of getting it that may or may not be illegal).
• Back to the Dolphins-Chiefs game, you will notice it is the only one without an American network listed. That’s because it will air on Peacock. And yes, it is pissing off a lot of Americans. Lucky for us we have a few different options to watch but down there? Nope. I hear Peacock is a pretty decent streaming service but still, to have to subscribe to it to get this one game is insane. Then again, Amazon Prime has their own night of the week for pro football so we can’t be too surprised at this point.

UPDATE: Due to the snowfall that has hit the Buffalo area and the snow still to come, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a State of Emergency for the area to go throughout the weekend. This means that the Steelers-Bills game will now be played at 4:30 on Monday (think of the ratings!) on CBS, CTV and a couple of TSNs. You know, they could have avoided this by, oh I don’t know, HAVING ALL THE GAMES ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! This way you could have used Monday night but oh no, can’t do that. Money over brains. Every time.

Like last year am I going to add my updated predictions. Actually, my original prediction of Niners-Chiefs in the Superb Owl could still hold up. The biggest disappointment from my original playoff picks? Jacksonville. What a fucking collapse in a relatively easy division. Alright so let’s get to the updated Bossman Playoff Picks of Passion and Probable Disappointment.

Wild Card Round

Cleveland def. Houston

Kansas City def. Miami

Buffalo def. Pittsburgh

Green Bay def. Dallas (yes, a big upset)

Detroit def. LA Rams

Philadelphia def. Tampa Bay

Divisional Playoffs

Baltimore def. Cleveland

Buffalo def. Kansas City

San Francisco def. Green Bay

Detroit def. Philadelphia

Conference Championships

Baltimore def. Buffalo

San Francisco def. Detroit

Super Bowl LVIII

San Francisco def. Baltimore

Would I love to see the Bills win? Absolutely. It would make my year already. Even with the chaos that this year’s playoffs is bringing, I don’t think they quite have the team to do it. I still believe the Niners will win it all but the Chiefs I just don’t have as much faith in as I did at the beginning of the season. Lamar Jackson finally looks good in the playoffs even with a Super Bowl loss and gets a lot of people off his back about his poor playoff performances of the past.

So….it looks like pretty much all of Canada is going to be either snowy or cold or somehow both. So why not stay inside and watch some football? Enjoy the games everyone!

Alright, Let’s Do This! The Week 18 NFL TV Schedule

Last year around this time we were discussing the final week of the regular season, sure. However, we were also kind of recovering from what happened to Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest. It was one of the craziest times in NFL history and I hope we never have to deal with something like that again.

This year, let’s look at the positive. All the playoff races that are left. And there are plenty. Let’s get to that schedule and then we will do my typical final NFL regular season week analysis. Here we go!

American Networks

Atlanta at New Orleans	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
Cleveland at Cincinnati	1:00	Cleveland
Jacksonville at Tennessee	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Minnesota at Detroit	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at New England	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Chicago at Green Bay	4:25	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland
Philadelphia at NY Giants	4:25	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Seattle at Arizona	4:25		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Dallas at Washington	4:25		Minneapolis, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Rams at San Francisco	4:25		Detroit

Canadian Networks

Jacksonville at Tennessee	1:00	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
Atlanta at New Orleans	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
Minnesota at Detroit	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	All affiliates (except Vancouver Island & Alberta)
Chicago at Green Bay	4:25	Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Ottawa		TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
Philadelphia at NY Giants	4:25	Montreal, Atlantic
Dallas at Washington	4:25	Kitchener, Toronto
Seattle at Arizona	4:25	Vancouver

Saturday Games and Sunday Night Game

Pittsburgh at Baltimore	Saturday, 4:30, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5
Houston at Indianapolis	Saturday, 8:15, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5
Buffalo at Miami	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3*/4*/5/+

Some Super Special Last Regular Season Weekend Notes

• As per usual, it’s all divisional matchups for the final week of the season. And there are a lot of playoff races as I will discuss later on.
• You see the asterisks for the Bills-Dolphins game for TSN3 and TSN4. Well, the game will start airing on TSN3 after the Jets-Coyotes game and, for some unknown and stupid reason, Sportscentre. So it will start around 10:00: a little into the third quarter. As for TSN4, they have the Raptors and Warriors so they won’t get to the game until about 11:00. The football game should be well into the fourth quarter at that point. So really, stick to TSN1 or 5 (or + if you like the “enhanced” game feed).
• The three national games were pretty easy choices, for the most part. Bills-Dolphins felt like a lock for the Sunday nighter once Miami was blown away by Baltimore. Texans-Colts was also pretty much a lock for a standalone game considering it’s win-or-go-home. The other choice was interesting for sure. A lot of possibilities. Steelers-Ravens makes sense just because a win by the Steelers makes the Buffalo-Miami game all the more important for the Bills. It becomes a much bigger risk-reward game for the Bills as they almost assuredly out with a loss in this case.
• Games not being shown here unless you have the Sunday Ticket or RedZone magic potion:
  • Kansas City at LA Chargers
  • Tampa Bay at Carolina
  • Denver at Las Vegas
• No surprise really with the first and third games on that list not being available up here. The second one is a bit interesting since the Bucs win the NFC South with a win, no matter what happens with the Saints and Falcons. I think the issue north of the border was where would this be shown that would take the place of the other two games on in this timeslot on FOX. It probably could have replaced the Jets-Patriots game to be honest but I have a feeling that FOX figured the AFC East, even with a meaningless game, would be more watched than an NFC South matchup in the Northeastern United States and most of Eastern Canada. And they are probably right.
• Hey thankfully I don’t have to go over the strangest set of scenarios ever like last season. Let’s hope that never happens again…more for Damar Hamlin’s case than anything.

So this is it. We have made it. The final playoff picture of the season:

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (13-3) (clinched home-field advantage)	#1 San Francisco (12-4) (clinched home-field advantage)
#2 Miami (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)	#2 Dallas (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#3 Kansas City (10-6) (clinched AFC West)	#3 Detroit (11-5) (clinched NFC North)
#4 Jacksonville (9-7)	#4 Tampa Bay (8-8)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)	#5 Philadelphia (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#6 Buffalo (10-6)	#6 LA Rams (9-7) (clinched playoff berth)
#7 Indianapolis (9-7)	#7 Green Bay (8-8)

Alright so what do we have left to determine? Four divisions still up for grabs as the AFC East, AFC South, NFC East and NFC South still hasn’t determined their champion. Also, one Wild Card spot in the NFC and two in the AFC with still a few teams in the mix there. A lot can happen during this weekend so let’s get right to the scenarios.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore

• Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot under the following scenarios:
  • A win AND either a Buffalo loss OR a Jacksonville loss/tie
  • A win AND an Indianapolis tie
  • A tie AND two of Indianapolis, Jacksonville, or Houston lose
  • Jacksonville loses AND Denver wins AND either Indianapolis or Houston lose
• Pittsburgh is eliminated under the following scenarios:
  • A Jacksonville win AND a Buffalo win/tie AND either an Indianapolis OR Houston win
  • A loss/tie AND either a Jacksonville win/tie OR an Indianapolis tie
  • A loss AND a Denver loss/tie

Houston at Indianapolis

• Indianapolis clinches the AFC South with (a win AND a Jacksonville loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville loss)
• Houston clinches the AFC South with a win AND a Jacksonville loss/tie
• Indianapolis clinches a playoff spot with a win OR (a tie AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie)
• Houston clinches a playoff spot wth a win OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie)
• Houston is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND either a Jacksonville win/tie OR a Pittsburgh win)
• Indianapolis is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville win/tie AND a Pittsburgh win)

Jacksonville at Tennessee

• Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win OR (a tie and an Indianapolis tie)
• Jacksonville clinches a playoff spot with (a tie AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Denver loss/tie AND either Houston OR Indianapolis loses)
• Jacksonville is eliminated with (a tie AND a Pittsburgh win AND either a Houston or Indianapolis win) OR (a loss AND either a Pittsburgh win/tie OR a Denver win OR an Indianapolis tie)

Atlanta at New Orleans

• Atlanta clinches the NFC South with a win AND a Tampa Bay loss
• New Orleans clinches the NFC South with (a win AND a Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Tampa Bay loss)
• New Orleans clinches a playoff spot with (a win AND a Green Bay loss/tie AND a Seattle loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Green Bay loss AND a Seattle loss)
• Atlanta is eliminated with a loss/tie OR a Tampa Bay win/tie
• New Orleans is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a Tampa Bay win/tie AND either a Green Bay or Seattle win/tie) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND either a Green Bay or Seattle win)

Minnesota at Detroit

• Minnesota clinches a playoff spot with a win AND a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss AND either a Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss
• Minnesota is eliminated with a loss/tie OR a Seattle win/tie OR a Green Bay win/tie OR Tampa Bay and New Orleans both winning or tying

Tampa Bay at Carolina

• Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win OR (a tie and a New Orleans loss/tie)
• Tampa Bay clinches a playoff spot with a tie AND a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss/tie
• Tampa Bay is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a New Orleans win AND either a Seattle win/tie or a Green Bay win)

Chicago at Green Bay

• Green Bay clinches a playoff spot with a win OR:
  • a tie AND (a Seattle loss/tie AND a New Orleans loss/tie) OR (a Seattle tie AND a Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Tampa Bay loss)
  • a loss AND a Seattle loss AND a Minnesota loss/tie AND either a Tampa Bay or New Orleans loss
• Green Bay is eliminated with (a loss AND either (a Minnesota win or a Seattle win/tie or (a Tampa Bay win/tie and a New Orleans win/tie)) OR a tie AND either (a Seattle win or (a Tampa Bay win and a New Orleans win) or (a Seattle loss AND a New Orleans win AND a Tampa Bay tie)

Philadelphia at NY Giants

• Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with (a win AND a Dallas loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Dallas loss)

Dallas at Washington

• Dallas clinches the NFC East with a win OR (a tie and a Philadelphia tie) OR a Philadelphia loss

Seattle at Arizona

• Seattle clinches a playoff spot with a win AND a Green Bay loss AND either a New Orleans or Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a win AND a Green Bay loss/tie)
• Seattle is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a New Orleans win AND a Tampa Bay win) OR (a tie AND a Green Bay tie) OR a Green Bay win

Buffalo at Miami

• Buffalo clinches the AFC East with a win
• Miami clinches the AFC East with a win OR a tie
• Buffalo clinches a playoff spot with a tie OR a Pittsburgh loss/tie OR a Jacksonville loss/tie OR an Indianapolis tie
• Buffalo is eliminated with a loss AND one of the following three scenarios:
  • a Jacksonville win AND a Houston win AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie
  • a Jacksonville win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie
  • a Pittsubrgh win AND an Indianapolis tie
  • a Jacksonville loss/tie AND a Pittsburgh win

If there is a tie….in almost any game….this is going to become a mess. Although it does become super interesting if that is the case and I do love chaos.

I was going to do tables to show where teams could land based on the scenarios above (obviously leaving ties out) but the NFC one alone would be insane. Viewing it on a cell phone would be impossible. Hell, viewing it on a wide-screen TV might be difficult. So I will not bother with that. Instead, I will do a seeding breakdown like I did last year. I will not include ties here. Here are the seeding scenarios.

AFC

#1 seed

• Baltimore locked in

#2 seed

• Miami – win
• Buffalo – win

#3 seed

• Kansas City locked in

#4 seed

• Jacksonville – win
• Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville loss
• Houston – win AND Jacksonville loss

#5 seed

• Cleveland locked in

#6 seed

• Miami – loss
• Buffalo – loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Jacksonville loss
• Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo loss
• Houston – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo loss
• Pittsburgh – win AND Jacksonville loss AND Buffalo loss

#7 seed

• Buffalo – loss AND (Jacksonville win AND Pittsburgh loss AND either Houston or Indianapolis loss) OR (Jacksonville loss AND Pittsburgh win)
• Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo win
• Pittsburgh – dog’s breakfast (win AND Buffalo win AND Jacksonville loss) OR (win AND Buffalo loss AND Jacksonville win AND either Houston OR Indianapolis win) OR (loss AND Jacksonville loss AND Denver win AND either Houston OR Indianapolis win)
• Jacksonville – loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Denver loss AND either Houston OR Indianapolis loss
• Houston – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo win

NFC

#1 seed

• San Francisco locked in

#2 seed

• Dallas – win OR (loss AND Philadelphia loss AND Detroit loss)
• Philadelphia – win AND Dallas loss
• Detroit – win AND Dallas loss AND Philadelphia loss

#3 seed

• Dallas – loss AND Philadelphia loss AND Detroit win
• Detroit – loss OR Dallas win OR Philadelphia win

#4 seed

• Tampa Bay – win
• New Orleans – win AND Tampa Bay loss
• Atlanta – win AND Tampa Bay loss

#5 seed

• Philadelphia – loss OR Dallas win
• Dallas – loss AND Philadelphia win

#6 seed

• Green Bay – win AND LA Rams loss
• LA Rams – win OR Green Bay loss

#7 seed

• Green Bay – (win AND LA Rams win) OR (loss AND Seattle loss AND Minnesota loss AND either Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss)
• Minnesota – win AND Seattle loss AND Green Bay loss AND either Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss
• New Orleans – win AND Tampa Bay win AND Green Bay loss AND Seattle loss
• LA Rams – loss AND Green Bay win
• Seattle – win AND Green Bay loss

Holy shit we are in for one hell of a weekend of American Professional Football. I really don’t need to say this but enjoy the games everyone!

Remember when this used to be the end? The Week 17 NFL TV Schedule

It wasn’t long ago that Week 17 was the ultimate week. So much on the line. Playoff spots gained or lost. First round byes on the line. Entire seasons on the brink. Fantastic stuff.

Now, Week 17 is the penultimate week of the regular season. With the seventeenth game added to the regular season, it meant that Week 18 had to be added. My guess is Week 19 will be added soon enough to give each team two byes during the season and push the Super Bowl to around Valentine’s Day.

But just because this isn’t the final week doesn’t mean this isn’t a huge week! So let’s get to the schedule!

American Networks

Miami at Baltimore	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland
New England at Buffalo	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Rams at NY Giants	1:00		Rochester, Watertown, Burlington
Pittsburgh at Seattle	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Presque Isle
Cincinnati at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

New England at Buffalo	1:00	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
Miami at Baltimore	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	All affiliates (except Vancouver Island & Alberta)
San Francisco at Washington	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
New Orleans at Tampa Bay	1:00			TSN+
Pittsburgh at Seattle	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta		TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
Cincinnati at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates (except Vancouver & Alberta)

Primetime Games

NY Jets at Cleveland	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, ABC Cleveland, CTV2, TSN 1/4/+
Detroit at Dallas	Saturday, 8:15, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/5
Green Bay at Minnesota	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/+

New Year’s Notes and Thoughts

• There are games upcoming that you will not be able to see if you do not have Sunday Ticket and/or RedZone. They are as follows:
  • Las Vegas at Indianapolis
  • Carolina at Jacksonville
  • Atlanta at Chicago
  • Arizona at Philadelphia
  • Tennessee at Houston
  • LA Chargers at Denver
• Now this is some horseshit right here. Six games? SIX? That’s insane. And that’s after TSN decides to put a different game on TSN+ for some variety. I don’t get it. Not saying many of these games are worth watching but if you are trying to push people to order Sunday Ticket or RedZone, you may be succeeding. Or you may be pushing them to go the route I took that I will never come back from, IPTV. Either one, congratulations assholes.
• No Monday Night Football this week as that would go up against the College Football Playoff semi-finals and even the NFL knows when to take a step back. What does that mean? We have the game essentially being moved to Saturday night. And it is a massive one. Lions-Cowboys in what could be an NFC Championship preview.
• I don’t know how many people can even get ABC out of Cleveland so I listed it here. UPDATE: No one can but there are some who can get it out of Toledo. How about that? You learn something new every day.

Things are getting very interesting. It’s the second-last playoff picture of the season:

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (12-3) (clinched playoff spot)	#1 San Francisco (11-4) (clinched NFC West)
#2 Miami (11-4) (clinched playoff spot)	#2 Philadelphia (11-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#3 Kansas City (9-6)	#3 Detroit (11-4) (clinched NFC North)
#4 Jacksonville (8-7)	#4 Tampa Bay (8-7)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (10-5)	#5 Dallas (10-5) (clinched playoff spot)
#6 Buffalo (9-6)	#6 LA Rams (8-7)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Pittsburgh/Cincinnati (8-7)	#7 Seattle (8-7)

Look at the ridiculous logjam in the AFC. So many teams for, well, still quite a few spots. The Wild Card race is going to be insane and will require some logic puzzle-style explanations. The NFC is not much different even though it doesn’t look like it. There are 4 teams just a game back of the Bucs, Rams and Seahawks. Hell, even the Bears are technically still in it. Yeah it’s this crazy.

Before we get to the clinching scenarios, here is your updated list of eliminated teams (in order of draft position):

• Carolina
• Arizona
• Washington
• New England
• NY Giants
• LA Chargers
• Tennessee
• NY Jets

Just a reminder that the Bears have the Panthers pick because the Panthers’ front office are idiots.

Now it’s time for the clinching scenarios and, as per usual, I will not include ties until the final weekend of the regular season.

First Round Bye and Home Field Advantage

• San Francisco clinches with a win AND a Philadelphia loss AND a Detroit loss
• Baltimore clinches with a win

Division Title

• Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win AND a Dallas loss
• Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win
• Baltimore clinches the AFC North with a win OR a Cleveland loss
• Miami clinches the AFC East with a win OR a Buffalo loss
• Kansas City clinches the AFC West with a win OR (a Denver loss AND a Las Vegas loss)
• Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss

Playoff Berth

• LA Rams clinch a playoff berth with a win AND a Seattle loss
• Cleveland clinches a playoff berth with a win OR a Pittsburgh loss OR a Buffalo loss OR a Jacksonville loss OR (a Houston loss AND an Indianapolis loss)
• Buffalo clinches with a win AND (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Cincinnati loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss) OR (a Cincinnati loss AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Cincinnati loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss)

Elimination

• Minnesota is eliminated with a loss AND a Seattle win AND an LA Rams win
• Green Bay is eliminated with a loss AND (a Seattle win OR an LA Rams win OR (a New Orleans win AND an Atlanta win AND an Arizona win AND a Dallas win AND a Washington win AND a Cincinnati win AND a Cleveland win AND an Indianapolis win AND an Jacksonville win AND a Denver win))
• Chicago is eliminated with a loss OR (a Seattle win AND an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND a Green Bay win) OR (a Seattle win AND a Minnesota win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Green Bay win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Minnesota win)
• New Orleans is eliminated with a loss
• Atlanta is eliminated with a Tampa Bay win AND (a loss) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Seattle win)
• Pittsburgh is eliminated with a loss AND a Buffalo win AND an Indianapolis win AND (a Houston win AND a Denver loss) OR (a Houston win AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Kansas City win) OR (a Jacksonville win AND a Denver loss)
• Cincinnati is eliminated with a win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Buffalo win
• Houston is eliminated with a loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville win AND (a Buffalo win) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Pittsburgh loss AND a Denver loss)
• Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss
• Denver is eliminated with a loss OR (a Kansas City win AND a Buffalo win AND a Pittsburgh win) OR (a Kansas City win AND a Buffalo win AND a Houston win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Kansas City win AND a Houston win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Pittsburgh loss)

Alright, should be a fun few days of football. Chances are this will be my final post of the season so I hope each and every one of you have a happy New Year! See you all in 2024 and, as always, enjoy the games!

What a dreadful existence – Week 16 NFL TV Schedule

This was the scene at Bank of America Stadium this past weekend in Charlotte for the Falcons-Panthers game. And if you think that’s just maybe part of the upper deck, think again. The entire stadium looked like this. Don’t believe me?

That is during the game as you can see a play going on in this picture. How sad is this? How dreadful must it be to be a Carolina Panthers fan right now? Not only does your team suck-diddly-uck but you don’t even get the chance at the number one draft choice. Why? Well, the Panthers wanted Bryce Young so badly that they exchanged first round picks with the Bears last year. The Panthers had to sweeten the deal so sent a 2025 second rounder, D.J. Moore and…..their first round pick in the upcoming draft. Yeesh. There is a good chance that will be the #1 pick and Bears fans are salivating at the thought. Marvin Harrison Jr.? Caleb Williams? Drake Maye? Maybe another position of need since they aren’t very good either? The possibilities are endless.

For Panthers fans, though, the possibilities aren’t. They won’t pick first overall, they very well might finish last in the league and unless some of their young players (and 2024 draftees) step up in a hurry, this is not a playoff team next season. Nowhere close. Frustrating for sure.

Not frustrating? Getting to watch NFL football on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!! Let’s fucking go! Here’s the schedule to get you all amped up!

American Networks

Seattle at Tennessee	1:00	Seattle, Spokane
Cleveland at Houston	1:00	Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Detroit at Minnesota	1:00		All affiliates
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay	4:05	Minneapolis, Detroit
Dallas at Miami	4:25		All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Seattle at Tennessee	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Cleveland at Houston	1:00		All affiliates (except Vancouver Island & Alberta)
Detroit at Minnesota	1:00	All affiliates
Indianapolis at Atlanta	1:00			TSN+
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay	4:05			TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Dallas at Miami	4:25	All affiliates

Primetime & Saturday & Monday (Christmas Day!) Games

New Orleans at LA Rams	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/+
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	Saturday, 4:30, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/4
Buffalo at LA Chargers	Saturday, 8:00, NBC Buffalo, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5
New England at Denver	Sunday, 8:00, NFL Network, ABC Boston, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
Las Vegas at Kansas City	Monday, 1:00, CBS, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
NY Giants at Philadelphia	Monday, 4:30, FOX, CTV, TSN 1/3
Baltimore at San Francisco	Monday, 8:15, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5

Christmas-y Type Notes

• There are some games on this week that, somehow, are not being shown here in Canada without the assistance of a Sunday Ticket or a RedZone:
  • Washington at NY Jets
  • Green Bay at Carolina
  • Arizona at Chicago
• How in the blue hell can three games not be shown at all here with how spread out the games are this week? The power of scheduling. Maybe they do need to go to Matt Zemek’s idea of three Sunday timeslots.
• Look at all the national and almost-national telecasts. It is, I believe, an NFL record for the most national broadcasts in one week with seven. Then there’s two on Sunday that might as well be national broadcasts as well.
• Just so you know, the Bills-Chargers game will be joined in progress on TSN3 and TSN5 at about 10:30 after the World Juniors pre-competition game between Canada and the U.S. (on TSN3) or the Lakers-Thunder game (on TSN5). Man, TSN loves the World Juniors.
• As I said before, a lot of nationwide broadcasts. If you love watching football on CTV, then I hope you love one of four teams because those are the only ones appearing on Sunday afternoon. Lions-Vikings followed by Cowboys-Dolphins across the entire network. At least they should be two really good games.
• Finally, the Nickolodeon game is back. This year’s “Nickmas” game will be the early Christmas Day affair between the Raiders and the Chiefs. It’s only on TSN+ up here but if you have it and have younger kids who may be interested it’s….kinda fun, not gonna lie.

OK we are getting close to the end of the season. Three games remain. Here’s what the playoff picture looks like at this point:

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (11-3) (clinched playoff spot)	#1 San Francisco (11-3) (clinched NFC West)
#2 Miami (10-4)	#2 Dallas (10-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#3 Kansas City (9-5)	#3 Detroit (10-4)
#4 Jacksonville (8-6)	#4 Tampa Bay (7-7)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (9-5)	#5 Philadelphia (10-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#6 Cincinnati (8-6)	#6 Minnesota (7-7)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Buffalo (8-6)	#7 LA Rams/Seattle/New Orleans (7-7)

As I’ve said before, this Wild Card race may be the wildest in years, no pun intended. Oh and my dream of a 7-10 NFC South champion has gone up in flames as the Bucs and Saints face each other next week so the division champion can have no fewer than eight wins. Damn.

And behold, your list of eliminated teams:

• Carolina
• New England
• Arizona
• Washington
• NY Jets
• Tennessee

Only six. And only maybe three or four will join the list after this week. Good to see a lot of teams still in the mix instead of a few of the seasons in the recent past where half the league was pretty much done with a couple weeks to go.

Now some clinching scenarios. That’s what we are looking at these days anyways and wait until you see some of the scenarios. Fucking ridiculous:

First-Round Bye and Home-Field Advantage

• San Francisco clinches with a win AND a Dallas loss AND a Philadelphia loss AND a Detroit loss

Division Title

• Detroit clinches the NFC North with a win
• Baltimore clinches the AFC North with a win AND a Cleveland loss
• Kansas City clinches the AFC West with a win
• Miami clinches the AFC East with a win AND a Buffalo loss

Playoff Berth

• Detroit clinches with an LA Rams loss OR a Seattle loss
• Miami clinches with a win
• Cleveland clinches with a win AND (a Denver loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Buffalo loss AND a Miami win) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND (a Denver loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Denver loss AND a Miami win and one of Buffalo/Indianapolis/Jacksonville losing) OR (a Buffalo loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss AND (a Miami win OR a Kansas City win)))

Elimination

• Chicago is eliminated with loss AND (an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND one of Minnesota/Green Bay/Tampa Bay winning) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND one of Minnesota/Green Bay/NY Giants winning)
• NY Giants are eliminated with a loss AND (an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND (one of Minnesota/Green Bay/Tampa Bay winning) OR (an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND (one of Minnesota/Green Bay winning) OR (an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)) OR (a Minnesota win AND a Green Bay win AND an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win) OR (a Green Bay win AND a Chicago win AND an Atlanta win)
• Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss
• LA Chargers are eliminated with a loss OR a Jacksonville win OR (a Cincinnati win AND an Indianapolis win AND (a Houston win OR a Denver win OR two of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Houston win AND (a Denver win OR three of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Denver win AND (a Las Vegas win OR one of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND four of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Houston win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Houston win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Green Bay/New Orleans/Arizona/Baltimore/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Denver win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Cleveland win AND one of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Houston win AND two of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND a New Orleans win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Green Bay/Arizona/LA Rams/Baltimore/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND an LA Rams win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND three of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)

For fuck’s sake that is crazy. But if you are a betting man (or woman) you could make a boatload of money if one of these stupid Chargers scenarios hits.

So there you go. Enjoy the NFL football over the holidays and have a Merry Christmas!

Brazil? – The Week 15 NFL TV Schedule

Yep, the NFL is heading to Brazil next year! Not Rio, which is pictured here but Sao Paulo. The plan is to have a game at Corinthians Arena and it will be the fifth country outside the U.S. to host a regular season game after Canada, England, Mexico and Germany.

So how do I feel about this? Eh, I’m fine with it. It won’t be played in the morning which makes me happy and I’m sure the NFLers that get to go there will be happy to enjoy some Brazilian culture like walking down the beach and things that occur on LiveLeak.

I think the bigger story was after this when it was announced that there would be EIGHT international games in 2025. My guess is, at some point, every team in the league will play one international game a season until the NFL eventually expands there because that’s what Commissioner Goodell wants, dammit!

Until then we are stuck with 32 teams and schedules that still aren’t too large. So let’s get to that not-too-big schedule followed by a few musings:

American Networks

Tampa Bay at Green Bay	1:00	Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at Miami	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Presque Isle
Kansas City at New England	1:00		All affiliates (except Rochester & Watertown)
NY Giants at New Orleans	1:00		Rochester, Watertown
San Francisco at Arizona	4:05	Seattle, Spokane, Cleveland, Boston
Dallas at Buffalo	4:25		All affiliates

Canadian Networks

NY Jets at Miami	1:00		All affiliates
Tampa Bay at Green Bay	1:00			TSN1, TSN4
Kansas City at New England	1:00	All affiliates
Chicago at Cleveland	1:00			TSN+
San Francisco at Arizona	4:05			TSN1, TSN4
Dallas at Buffalo	4:25	All affiliates

Primetime and Saturday Games!

LA Chargers at Las Vegas	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/+
Minnesota at Cincinnati	Saturday, 1:00, NFL Network, CBS Minneapolis, TSN 1/3
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis	Saturday, 4:30, NFL Network, TSN 1/3
Denver at Detroit	Saturday, 8:15, NFL Network, FOX Detroit, TSN 1/3
Baltimore at Jacksonville	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/+
Philadelphia at Seattle	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/+

Non-Brazilian Musings

• Are you ready? Are you ready for some football? A, uh, Saturday afternoon and evening partayyyyyyyyy? Yep, it’s that time of year where the NFL says fuck it, we are taking over more days and if we were allowed we’d have games every day of the damn week. Problem for me is that it’s the start of Bowl Season. Will I watch some of these games? Sure but my focus is almost always on college football (sorry pro football enthusiasts/college football haters).
• Games not being shown in the region of Canada without the use of Sunday Ticket or RedZone:
  • Houston at Tennessee
  • Atlanta at Carolina
  • Washington at LA Rams
• Quite the mixed bag for all the non-Sunday afternoon games. For every Ravens-Jags there’s a Chargers-Raiders. Can’t win em all with six games in those timeslots. Hey, at least we get Kevin Fucking Harlan on the call for the Saturday nighter which is a Mount Everest-sized step up from the earlier play-by-play guys, Chris Rose and Rich Eisen.
• For the first time in a long time, we have an Absolute National Game. The Cowboys and Bills are on every FOX station in the U.S. meaning the same thing in Canada. Not surprising with so many games not on Sunday but in previous years the Niners and Cardinals would have been shown on televisions in about 53 combined city blocks in the cities of San Francisco and Phoenix. Why I’m so glad the true AFC on CBS/NFC on FOX thing has ended. Progress. Should have done it years ago.

Hey let’s get an updated playoff picture since there’s a team ACTUALLY ALREADY IN THE PLAYOFFS (it’s the Niners):

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (10-3)	#1 San Francisco (10-3) (clinched playoff spot)
#2 Miami (9-4)	#2 Dallas (10-3)
#3 Kansas City (8-5)	#3 Detroit (9-4)
#4 Jacksonville (8-5)	#4 Tampa Bay (6-7)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (8-4)	#5 Philadelphia (10-3)
#6 Pittsburgh (7-6)	#6 Minnesota (7-6)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Denver/Cincinnati/Buffalo (7-6)	#7 Green Bay/LA Rams/Seattle/Atlanta/New Orleans (6-7)

Holy shit. What an absolute clusterfuck at the bottom of the Wild Card list. In each conference, five teams are tied for the final spot with the first team in each list (the Colts and Packers) holding what I assume are insane tiebreakers over the other four teams. This could end up being one of the best final months of a season in a long time.

And now on to the teams that have been officially eliminated:

• Carolina
• New England

That’s it. Two. With three games to go. Yeah this is nuts. This week that number should go up but maybe by only a couple as you will see in all the clinching scenarios:

Division Title

• San Francisco clinches the NFC West with a win OR an LA Rams loss

Playoff Berth

• Philadelphia clinches with a win OR (a Minnesota loss AND an Atlanta loss AND (an LA Rams loss OR (a San Francisco win AND a Detroit win))) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Tampa Bay win AND (an LA Rams loss OR (a San Francisco win AND a Detroit win))) OR (a Green Bay loss AND an Atlanta loss AND (an LA Rams loss OR (a San Francisco win AND a Detroit win)))
• Dallas clinches with a win OR (a Tampa Bay loss AND (a Detroit win AND a San Francisco win) OR (a Detroit win AND an LA Rams loss) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Detroit win) OR (a Minnesota loss AND an LA Rams loss) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Seattle loss)) OR (an Atlanta loss AND a Green Bay loss AND (a Detroit win OR an LA Rams loss OR a Seattle loss)) OR (a Seattle loss AND (an LA Rams loss) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a NY Giants win AND a New England win AND a Cleveland win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Tennessee win AND an LA Chargers win))
• Detroit clinches with a win AND (a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Minnesota loss) OR (a Seattle win AND a LA Rams loss) OR (an LA Rams loss AND an Atlanta loss AND a Minnesota loss) OR (an LA Rams loss AND a Tampa Bay loss AND a Minnesota loss) OR (an LA Rams loss AND a Green Bay loss AND an Atlanta loss)
• Baltimore clinches with a win AND (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Buffalo loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss and a Denver loss) OR a (Buffalo loss and a Denver loss) OR (a Cleveland loss AND a a Buffalo loss) OR (a Cleveland loss AND a Denver loss) OR (a Houston loss AND a Buffalo loss) OR (a Houston loss AND a Denver loss)

Elimination

• Arizona is eliminated with a loss OR (an LA Rams win AND a Minnesota win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Green Bay win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a New Orleans win AND a Chicago win AND an Atlanta win) OR (a Minnesota win AND a Green Bay win AND a New Orleans win AND an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)
• Washington is eliminated with a loss
• Tennessee is eliminated with a loss AND (a Pittsburgh win) OR (an Indianapolis win) OR (a Cincinnati win) OR (a Denver win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Denver win AND a LA Chargers win)
• NY Jets are eliminated with a loss AND (a Buffalo win AND an Indianapolis win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Pittsburgh win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Houston win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Cincinnati win) OR (an Indianapolis win AND a Cincinnati win AND a Houston win) OR (a Cleveland win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Cincinnati win) OR (a Cleveland win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Houston win)

For fuck’s sake that is ridiculous. And it’s only Week 15. Can you imagine that last Dallas scenario hitting? It would be the ultimate parlay win. A $10 bet would probably make you a millionaire. OK enjoy the games everyone and remember there are Saturday games this week (although the NFL will never, EVER let you forget).

What a Mess (and the Week 14 NFL TV schedule)

OK where do I begin here with the MILF Hunter? So The Athletic (I won’t say much about that website other than they believe much more highly of themselves than they probably should) reports that Zach Wilson does not want to start for the Jets. Would I blame him? No. The Jets O-line is basically papier-mache. Saying that, he’s a professional athlete and it is EXTREMELY rare to find the one that does not want to compete. And Wilson isn’t that guy.

So after seeing Tim Boyle (TIM FUCKING BOYLE) start and Trevor Siemian pass Wilson as the backup, Jets head coach Robert Saleh has finally seen the light (kind of) and put Wilson back under centre as the starting quarterback. Boyle has been released (and shouldn’t have got a shot in the first place) and Siemian can be the experienced backup. If…IF the Jets can somehow win their next three games, don’t be surprised if a certain recurring guest on the Pat McAfee Show makes his long-awaited return. That’s also if the Jets aren’t mathematically eliminated at that point as well which is a dicey proposition in the AFC as you will see later in this post. Look, the Jets do have a somewhat bright future if they can get some O-line help and have Rodgers for a full season. Barring that, it’s more agony for fans of the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.

Huh, that’s two Jets introductions in a row. Must be a record. OK now let’s get to the schedule which does include the Jets and a very weird occurrence that’s never happened before.

American Networks

Jacksonville at Cleveland	1:00	All affiliates (except Burlington)
Houston at NY Jets	1:00	Burlington
Detroit at Chicago	1:00		Detroit
LA Rams at Baltimore	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Seattle at San Francisco	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Minnesota at Las Vegas	4:05		Minneapolis
Buffalo at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Jacksonville at Cleveland	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Ottawa	Windsor, London, Toronto, Atlantic
Houston at NY Jets	1:00		Ottawa
LA Rams at Baltimore	1:00	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Montreal, Atlantic	Vancouver Island, Alberta
Detroit at Chicago	1:00			TSN1, TSN4
Indianapolis at Cincinnati	1:00			TSN+
Seattle at San Francisco	4:05		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
Minnesota at Las Vegas	4:05	Winnipeg
Buffalo at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates (except Winnipeg)

Primetime Games

New England at Pittsburgh	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, FOX Boston, CTV2, TSN 1/+
Philadelphia at Dallas	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/4/5/+
Green Bay at NY Giants	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 3/+
Tennessee at Miami	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/+

Just a Bunch of Schedule Notes

• The games that will not appear on Canadian television networks (or American ones you can view) unless you have Sunday Ticket or RedZone:
  • Tampa Bay at Atlanta
  • Denver at LA Chargers
  • Carolina at New Orleans
• Oh, the NFC South. The worst division in football. And all four teams are not being shown here. Sounds like justice to me.
• So you notice something about Monday night? Yeah, two games going on at the same time. The only thread between them? The ManningCast which is on TSN+. Get that, you can watch Peyton and Eli and whatever stupid guests they have try to watch and analyze two games at once. Interesting idea and again it’s a lookahead towards when the NFL expands (and they will expand, make no mistake about it).
• The Thursday Nighter. My god. The schedule maker must have thought this was hilarious. Then again, I don’t think he could have even envisioned two offenses so woeful. At least the Steelers got rid of Matt Canada and are opening up somewhat on the offensive side of the ball. The Pats? They might as well tank at this point and get that long snapper quarterback of the future since Mac Jones ain’t it.
• The Bills and the Chiefs get a national audience this week which is nice to see (only one really…Jags-Browns are close but no cigar). Now while the two teams are only two games apart in the standings, it feels like they are miles apart on how good they really are. The Chiefs are doing OK by recent KC standards but the Bills have been terrible at times. Just don’t have the Chiefs needing to score with 13 seconds to go since it might send the Bills (and their fans) over the edge.

Updated playoff picture time bitches!

AFC	NFC
#1 Miami (9-3)	#1 Philadelphia (10-2)
#2 Baltimore (9-3)	#2 San Francisco (9-3)
#3 Kansas City (8-4)	#3 Detroit (9-3)
#4 Jacksonville (8-4)	#4 Atlanta (6-6)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Pittsburgh (7-5)	#5 Dallas (9-3)
#6 Cleveland (7-5)	#6 Minnesota (6-6)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston (7-5)	#7 Green Bay/LA Rams/Seattle (6-6)

Not quite three-quarters of the way through the season but with 17 games there is no way to do fractions nicely so let’s just say we are in the home stretch. It’s December. Close enough. No one has clinched yet but there will be opportunities as I will state below. The NFC South is a complete fucking mess and I hate to say this but I hope the, ugh, Cowboys mop the fucking floor with whoever wins that sorry division. Pains me to even type that but I believe it.

Might as well get right to clinching scenarios. As you know, I do not include ties until the final week of the regular season and even then, only if I absolutely have to since otherwise the amount of scenarios goes through the roof. Let us begin.

Playoff Berth

• Philadelphia clinches with a win AND (an LA Rams loss OR a Seattle loss OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Green Bay loss) OR (a Green Bay loss AND a Detroit loss))
• Dallas clinches with a win AND a Detroit win AND a Tampa Bay loss AND a Seattle loss AND (an LA Rams loss OR a New Orleans loss) AND a Green Bay loss AND a Minnesota loss
• San Francisco clinches with a win AND (a Minnesota loss OR a Green Bay loss)

Elimination

• Arizona is eliminated with an LA Rams win AND a Green Bay win
• New England is eliminated with a loss OR a Houston win OR a Cincinnati win OR (a Las Vegas win AND a Buffalo win)

OK that Dallas scenario is insane. Would be fun if it happened!

Everyone have a great rest of the week and enjoy the games…even tonight’s affair.

Seriously? The Week 13 NFL TV Schedule

Yes, that’s Aaron Rodgers. That was Aaron Rodgers THIS WEEK. And yes, he was tossing the pigskin. Not only was he tossing the pigskin, he was moving around like he was in the pocket.

A-A-Ron suffered that torn Achilles a little less than three months ago. Most athletes would take about six months to recover at best. There are rumours that Rodgers, who seems like Superman now, might be back in late January, meaning he would have been out a little less than four months. That is completely ridiculous. I get that he’s a high level athlete but even for an athlete of this calibre, this is remarkable. Now, will he actually end up coming back? I have a feeling the Jets will have to be in playoff contention for him to do so otherwise what’s the point? And if the Jets have a shot at the playoffs? The Jets could become a VERY dangerous team all of a sudden.

Alright enough of Rodgers (for now) and get to what you are here for…that’s right, Frank Stallone television schedules.

American Networks

Denver at Houston	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown
Arizona at Pittsburgh	1:00	Cleveland
LA Chargers at New England	1:00	Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Detroit at New Orleans	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
Miami at Washington	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Carolina at Tampa Bay	4:05	Detroit
San Francisco at Philadelphia	4:25		All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Denver at Houston	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	Windsor, London, Toronto, Ottawa
LA Chargers at New England	1:00	Montreal, Atlantic
Miami at Washington	1:00	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa	Atlantic
Detroit at New Orleans	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN3
Arizona at Pittsburgh	1:00			TSN+
Carolina at Tampa Bay	4:05			TSN1, TSN3
San Francisco at Philadelphia	4:25	All affiliates

Primetime Games

Seattle at Dallas	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, FOX Seattle, CTV2, TSN 1/5/+
Kansas City at Green Bay	8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
Cincinnati at Jacksonville	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/+

NFL Schedule Points for this week (and this week only!)

• You want to see these games? Better get Sunday Ticket or RedZone:
  • Indianapolis at Tennessee
  • Atlanta at NY Jets
  • Cleveland at LA Rams
• I guess the Browns-Rams game could have some interest since the Browns are still in the thick of things but the rest? Meh.
• No surprise that the 49ers-Eagles game is national for us. Both teams are looking to build their already fairly sizable division leads (although the Eagles have those pesky Cowboys to deal with in their division). I’m kind of surprised the Broncos and Texans didn’t get the same treatment in the early window but I am guessing that’s mostly because of the Texans. They are playing well but they do not have a national following. Somewhat similar to the Broncos to be honest.
• The TSN+ broadcast for Monday Night Football is the Manningcast just so you know. I can confirm that is the plan going forward is to keep this on TSN+ and make you pay whatever per month. I think it’s more than ESPN+ which is fucking preposterous considering how much live sports you get with ESPN+ compared to TSN+.
• Yes, for people out west (or people with satellite) who get FOX out of Seattle, you can avoid going onto Prime to get your Thursday night football fix.

Alright, time for the updated playoff picture as of right fucking now!

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (9-3)	#1 Philadelphia (10-1)
#2 Kansas City (8-3)	#2 San Francisco (8-3)
#3 Jacksonville (8-3)	#3 Detroit (8-3)
#4 Miami (8-3)	#4 Atlanta (5-6)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Pittsburgh (7-4)	#5 Dallas (8-3)
#6 Cleveland (7-4)	#6 Seattle (6-5)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Denver (6-5)	#7 Minnesota (6-6)

I’ve decided to switch to showing teams’ records since if you don’t know which teams are leading which divisions…well, I don’t know what to tell you. Three-way tie for the final Wild Card spot in the AFC with the Colts, Texans and resurgent Broncos at 6-5. And there are SIX other teams within two games of them. The only team truly out of it in the AFC is the Patriots. Imagine saying that any time in the past, oh, quarter-century. The Cowboys look like they will end up clinching at least a Wild Card spot unless they have a monster collapse so it’s down to two spots, really. Sure, the Seahawks and Vikings are in those spots right now but haven’t exactly looked like world-beaters over the past little while. Plus, we have the NFC South and their band of misfits. God damn it, I hate the fact that the team that wins that division will host a playoff game. Fucking stupid. That should have been changed as soon as they put a seventh team in the playoffs in each conference. Almost feels like beating a dead horse at this point with how much I have mentioned it but it still irks me.

Anyway, everyone have a great weekend and enjoy the games!