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

Posted on January 6, 2024 by guelphbossman

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

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

Posted on December 28, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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!

It’s Turkey Day Time (South of the border) – Week 12 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on November 22, 2023 by guelphbossman

Let’s start with a ranked list since this blog totally needs to be Buzzfeeded…I am sure someone over the age of 70 would not understand most of that sentence. The definitive ranking of Thanksgiving foods! And I am going to include some American delicacies that I may or may not like. Here we go:

Mashed potatoes. Easy choice at #1.
Stuffing. Another easy choice at #2.
Gravy. Yeah you need a good gravy.
Turkey. Sure, some people are ham people and I respect that but turkey is just the quintessential Thanksgiving meat.
Ham. I like ham too! Especially those spiral hams. God damn delicious!
Apple pie. Oh man, apple pie is the perfect dessert.
Corn. Got to have at least one good Thanksgiving veggie.
Rolls. Again, rolls are made for holiday dinners.
Peas. Peas are fine but corn is the better veggie in this case.
Glazed carrots. Don’t see it too often but carrots (and parsnips) done in butter and brown sugar is quite tasty.
Mac and cheese. I would put it higher but it’s just not something we serve up here at Thanksgiving.
Cornbread. I actually like cornbread but it feels not Thanksgiving-y? Maybe I’m wrong.
Candied yams or sweet potato casserole. Not really a fan of either but will have a bite or two.
Brussels sprouts. Now, I’ve heard they are good cooked with bacon. Maybe I should try that.
Pumpkin pie. Not a fan and hate the pumpkin spice craze that still goes on.
Salad. No one wants a fucking salad at Thanksgiving.
Cranberry sauce. I hate cranberries in general for a few reasons that I won’t get into here.
Rotten garbage.
Green bean casserole. The dirt fucking worst. Green beans? Tasty. But when you add all sorts of stuff to it it turns into shit for some reason.

There, the definitive list. I’m sure I missed something here but I think I got most of the Thanksgiving staples. Don’t @ me, as the kids say.

Schedule time!

American Networks


Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	1:00	All affiliates
New Orleans at Atlanta	1:00		Minneapolis
New England at NY Giants	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Cleveland at Denver	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit
Kansas City at Las Vegas	4:25	Seattle, Spokane
Buffalo at Philadelphia	4:25	All affiliates (except Seattle & Spokane)

Canadian Networks

Primetime, American Thanksgiving & Black Friday Games

Green Bay at Detroit	Thursday, 12:30, FOX, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5
Washington at Dallas	Thursday, 4:30, CBS, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5
San Francisco at Seattle	Thursday, 8:00, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
Miami at NY Jets	Friday, 3:00, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/5
Baltimore at LA Chargers	8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/4/+
Chicago at Minnesota	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/5

Some Turkey-Related Comments (with Gravy, of course)

The following games will not be shown in relatively turkey-less Canada unless you have a subscription to Sunday Ticket or RedZone (or both):
- Tampa Bay at Indianapolis
- Carolina at Tennessee
- LA Rams at Arizona
With the games as spread out as they are, we somehow still have three games not being shown up here on regular cable. It’s going to be very interested when the NFL expands, even if it’s just by two teams since that will just mean more games not available on cable.
Do you think there will still be people that struggle to realize that the Thursday afternoon game will be on CBS and not FOX? I’m sure those people still exist.
Now that they CFL season is over, TSN will step up and show NFL on damn near every one of their channels. You know, unlike college football where they barely make one or two available.
The Thanksgiving sked is not bad although I could easily see blowouts in the first two games. The night game has become very interesting as the NFC West is now a bit of a tighter race with San Fran having their struggles and the Rams getting back into the thick of things.
Yes, you read it right. The NFL is putting a game on Black Friday. “Wait, Bossman, I thought the NFL couldn’t air games on Fridays.” That’s kind of correct. The NFL cannot overlap high school football games and many of those leagues are deep into the playoffs now. But those games are always evening games, obviously. This game should be done by around 6:00 (unless there’s overtime) so they are able to skirt around this rule. Also, Amazon is trying to get more eyeballs on Prime so they asked the NFL to move the game to Friday. Amazingly enough, Amazon trails the bigger shopping outlets like Walmart and Target by a very wide margin when it comes to Black Friday shopping. So of course they want to close the gap and they believe this will help. Yes, money is always involved in these decisions even if it isn’t the main reason.

Playoff picture time! Has the gap between the haves and have-nots widened in the NFC?

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (AFC North)	#1 Philadelphia (NFC East)
#2 Kansas City (AFC West)	#2 Detroit (NFC North)
#3 Jacksonville (AFC South)	#3 San Francisco (NFC West)
#4 Miami (AFC East)	#4 New Orleans (NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland	#5 Dallas
#6 Houston	#6 Seattle
#7 Pittsburgh	#7 Minnesota

It hasn’t widened but the teams on the outside haven’t gained any ground. I am sure more than half the teams that are in playoff spots going into Thanksgiving probably end up making the playoffs, if not close to two-thirds. So this weekend becomes a big deal for some teams hanging around the bubble. In the AFC, the Bills, Colts, Broncos and Bengals are just out of a playoff spot so it’s not going to be easy for the current playoff teams to hold them all off. Interesting point here: the Panthers, at 1-10, cannot be eliminated from playoff contention this weekend. That is how bad the NFC South is this season. No teams can be eliminated this week although several can lose their chance at the #1 seed, not surprisingly, with losses. The Patriots-Giants game is basically a Loser-Can’t-Be-Top-Seed game.

Savour this, people. So much football. And, if you decide to, make a big meal. Enjoy yourselves. And enjoy the games.

What is happening in Buffalo? And the Week 11 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on November 16, 2023 by guelphbossman

As you probably know, Ken Dorsey was fired as offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills earlier this week. Was it a surprise? A bit of one, sure.

Despite the stats that say the Bills have one of the best offenses in football, you can also honestly say they are wildly inconsistent. Josh Allen has one of the best completion percentages in the league yet the throws that aren’t complete are what take centre stage. Overthrows by 10 yards, throws into double and triple coverage constantly, leading the league in interceptions. He has become one of the biggest risk-reward quarterbacks in recent memory. He either does amazing things or does stupidly shitty things and there seems to be very little in-between.

Also, the Bills running attack has been non-existent for years. And when it did show up it was usually Allen running the ball, almost daring to get injured. This past Monday night, they showed they can run the ball when they need to…with their running backs. They aren’t great but they can be good enough when needed.

So putting this all together, Dorsey has to be responsible for some of this. His playcalling is not good. Period. The results may a lot of times end up being great but it’s not because of him. The talent on the field is there. Saying that, he does feel like a bit of a scapegoat. He was promoted when Brian Daboll left to become head coach of the New York Football Giants and who knows if he was truly ready for the job. He has no say in the personnel he has to work with and who knows how much influence Sean McDermott has over the offense. McDermott has to take some of the blame, as does general manager Brandon Beane, for all of this. It’s a bit of a mess right now as a team that was supposed to contend once again is failing to do so.

Will firing Dorsey help? It remains to be seen. Sometimes change for the sake of change can be a good thing. Either way, something has to be done. This is a franchise that feels like it has been broken twice in the past two seasons. The unbeliveable loss to the Chiefs in the playoffs in 2021, followed by Damar Hamlin’s on-field heart attack last season seem to have partially destroyed this team. They aren’t excuses: it just feels like the franchise isn’t what they were or what some thought they would become. As a fan of the team, I hope they can turn it around but at least for this season, it doesn’t look promising for them.

OK that’s enough Bills talk. Let’s go to this week’s schedule which…OK it does have the Bills on it but they aren’t the feature this week, make no mistake about that. Well, that’s not entirely true either. A lot of the country will be…let’s just get to the damn schedule.

American Networks


Pittsburgh at Cleveland	1:00	All affiliates
Dallas at Carolina	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Chargers at Green Bay	1:00		Minneapolis
Chicago at Detroit	1:00		Detroit
NY Giants at Washington	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington
Tampa Bay at San Francisco	4:05		Spokane
NY Jets at Buffalo	4:25	All affiliates (except Seattle & Spokane)
Seattle at LA Rams	4:25	Seattle, Spokane

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games

Cincinnati at Baltimore	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/+
Minnesota at Denver	8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN2
Philadelphia at Kansas City	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/+

Potentially Important Notes and Things And Trash and Such

What did people do to deserve the Giants-Commanders game? Upstate New York always seems to get stuck with these shitty games but it’s rare for western New York to get them as well. Hopefully who gets their FOX affiliate from that area has Sunday Ticket or RedZone. Otherwise, ugh.
Speaking of Sunday Ticket and RedZone, here are the games not being shown in Canada if you don’t have one of the two, at least:
- Tennessee at Jacksonville
- Arizona at Houston
Finally done with the morning games. Thank god. I sincerely hate them. As you can tell, I am not a morning person. At all.
The Grey Cup is this Sunday. This is why only TSN2 is being used for the NFL. After this weekend, though, it should open up quite nicely the rest of the way.
So yeah the Bills are in a prominent spot since most of the country will get their game with the Jets. And, fair enough, it is an important game in the AFC East since the loser is going to have a very tough time making the playoffs.
Finally, look at the primetime slate. Now that’s what I’m talking about. The worst team of the bunch, by far, is Denver and they have started to turn things around. This is always what the NFL was looking for when primetime football started decades ago and, unfortunately, they have gotten away from that. I understand that it’s nice to see your team in a primetime, standalone game. But it also means you have to shut your trap when we are stuck with the Panthers and the Bears. Can’t have it both ways.

Alright now let’s get to the playoff picture which is still pretty AFC North-heavy:

AFC	NFC
#1 Kansas City (AFC West)	#1 Philadelphia (NFC East)
#2 Baltimore (AFC North)	#2 Detroit (NFC North)
#3 Jacksonville (AFC South)	#3 San Francisco (NFC West)
#4 Miami (AFC East)	#4 New Orleans (NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Pittsburgh	#5 Seattle
#6 Cleveland	#6 Dallas
#7 Houston/Cincinnati	#7 Minnesota

You have three teams half-a-game out of the final Wild Card spot in the AFC and three more teams only one game out. Realistically, the Patriots are the only team truly out of it in the conference. Imagine typing that any time this century. As for the NFC, there seems to be a gap between the top teams and the teams either trying to claw their way into the playoff picture or coming close to tanking to get a better draft pick. That’s why it already sucks when two teams who have combined for a 6-14 record so far this season is the game in your area.

A reminder that next week is one of America’s football celebrations: Thanksgiving (south of the border)! So if you want to partake as well, go ahead and make a 40-pound turkey for four people, enough mashed potatoes to drown a rhino and that fucking disgusting green bean casserole that could be used as a weapon in ground warfare. I will try my best to get the blog post out next week in time for you to have all the information you need. As for this week, just enjoy the games everyone! And if you want to make a turkey this weekend as well, have at it.

DOBBS! – The Week 10 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on November 9, 2023 by guelphbossman

I’m a Bills fan as you know. And yes, Damar Hamlin returning to Cincinnati for the first time since last year’s horrific incident was a big story. But I have to admit there was an even bigger story coming out of the NFL this past weekend.

How about Josh Dobbs? He went from playing in Cleveland to being traded to the Cardinals to replace injured starter Kyler Murray to being traded yet again to the Vikings to replace another injured quarterback, this time Kirk Cousins who is out for the season. He joined the Vikings after he was acquired last Tuesday at the trade deadline. He had almost no time to prepare but no big deal, right? He was the backup to Jaren Hall. Well, Hall ends up getting a concussion in the first quarter so in comes Dobbs. He had to go over cadences with the offensive line since he hadn’t done that before and the O-line hadn’t heard him do it. Hell, he barely even knew most of their names yet.

So this ended up in disaster for the Vikings, right? Nope. The Vikings ended up scoring 31 on the Falcons, including the game-winning touchdown with 22 seconds left on a drive engineered by Dobbs. That win put the Vikings back not only in the playoff race, but back in the NFC North race which no one expected to happen. It would be something if they could make the playoffs and its not out of the realm of possibility if Dobbs develops a great chemistry with his teammates.

OK let’s get to the schedule, which does include the Vikings and Dobbs!

American Networks


Green Bay at Pittsburgh	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
San Francisco at Jacksonville	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
New Orleans at Minnesota	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
Cleveland at Baltimore	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester
Detroit at LA Chargers	4:05	Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland
Washington at Seattle	4:25		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
NY Giants at Dallas	4:25		Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games (und das morgendliche Spiel)

Carolina at Chicago	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/4/+
Indianapolis vs. New England (in Frankfurt)	9:30 AM, NFL Network, ABC Boston, TSN4
NY Jets at Las Vegas	8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/+
Denver at Buffalo	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/+

A Little Random Notes and Shit

Hey, no one gets stuck with a shitty game while you know the rest of the country can enjoy a good football matchup (at least on paper). Unless you count the potential blowout with the Cowboys and Giants.
Games not being shown up here in now suddenly cold Canada (at least where I’m from) unless you have the Reddest of Zones:
- Tennessee at Tampa Bay
- Atlanta at Arizona
Only two games not appearing on Canadian television this Sunday and let’s be honest: I doubt many people give a shit about any of those four teams right now unless you are gamblers or fantasy football players. Hmmm…I guess that actually means a lot of people would care about those games. Well, get Sunday Ticket or RedZone or stop complaining then.
With the CFL moving the first two rounds of their playoffs to Saturdays, it frees up more TSNs to show the NFL. That’s why you will see three (count em, THREE) TSN stations showing games on Sunday. This will change next week with the Grey Cup so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Oh, is this the worst Thursday Night Football matchup ever? It very well could be.

Hey, let’s look at what the updated playoff picture looks like:

AFC	NFC
#1 Kansas City (AFC West)	#1 Philadelphia (NFC East)
#2 Baltimore (AFC North)	#2 Detroit (NFC North)
#3 Jacksonville (AFC South)	#3 San Francisco (NFC West)
#4 Miami (AFC East)	#4 New Orleans (NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Pittsburgh	#5 Seattle
#6 Cleveland	#6 Dallas
#7 Cincinnati	#7 Minnesota

How about the AFC North? I know we are only going into Week 10 but holy shit to have all four teams in playoff spots is pretty damn amazing. The Eagles already have a one-and-a-half game lead on the field in the NFC and looks like they may waltz to that number one seed in the conference. The AFC is a hell of a lot tighter as all seven current playoff teams are one-and-a-half games apart. Yes, the same amount that the Eagles lead the #2 seed Lions. Impressive. By the way, the Cardinals can already lose their shot at the #1 seed this weekend. I know…I’m shocked as well.

Wow, we had shitty weather yesterday in my neck of the woods. And I know many parts of Canada have had either freezing rain or snow already and we are still in early November. So good thing we have FOOTBALL to keep us company inside while the weather sucks outside. Enjoy the games everyone!

Can we all agree on one thing (other than the Week 9 NFL TV schedule)?

Posted on November 2, 2023 by guelphbossman

That Josh McDaniels should never get another head coaching opportunity?

Look, it becomes painfully obvious when a coordinator gets more than one shot at being the big cheese and can’t cut the mustard (and other food puns). Some coordinators were never meant to be head coaches. It’s the Wade Phillips Paradox. And McDaniels may have rocketed to near the top of this list of guys who have “Coordinator Ceilings.”

He wasn’t considered a great hire when the Raiders hired him and he has proven almost everyone right. He should go back to being a position coach somewhere. Kind of start over. He will get another offensive coordinator job and rightfully so. I just hope another team doesn’t make the same mistake since it would reek of desperation.

Also, let’s see what will happen if the Raiders go on a heater and are in playoff contention in the final couple weeks. Will they reward the interim coach by basically telling him to fuck off? I give it better than a 50/50 chance.

OK I’ve said enough about that. On to the schedule!

American Networks


Seattle at Baltimore	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Presque Isle
Arizona at Cleveland	1:00	Cleveland
LA Rams at Green Bay	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit
Minnesota at Atlanta	1:00		Minneapolis
Washington at New England	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Indianapolis at Carolina	4:05	Minneapolis, Boston
Dallas at Philadelphia	4:25		All affiliates (except Watertown & Burlington)
NY Giants at Las Vegas	4:25		Watertown, Burlington

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games (and Morning Game)

Tennessee at Pittsburgh	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/4/+
Miami vs. Kansas City (in Frankfurt)	9:30 AM, NFL Network, TSN4
Buffalo at Cincinnati	8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 4/5/+
LA Chargers at NY Jets	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/+

Some Non-McDaniels Notes

Might as well start with the games not being shown up here in America’s Hat unless you have RedZone:
- Tampa Bay at Houston
- Chicago at New Orleans
Just two? Impressive. Plus they aren’t foisting the Chicago Bears on Canadians. That’s very nice of them.
What did the people of upstate New York and northern Vermont do to deserve this? They get the Giants and the Raiders? Ugh. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s a part of the U.S. that has a LOT of Sunday Ticket and RedZone subscribers.
The ManningCast will be seen on TSN+ only and it looks like that’s the way it will be now. That sucks for people who enjoy it and like the alternative to Joe and Troy on the main feed and haven’t figured out how to get TSN+.
Lustig, wie das beste Spiel der Woche an einem Sonntagmorgen in Frankfurt ausgetragen wird. I will say that for all that the NFL is trying to do in England, Germany should have had games way before last year. They are NUTS about football, American-style. Kind of wish we could see the European League here although that just shows me that I am insane and need to take a break from football from time to time.

Let’s look at the relatively hilariously early playoff picture in the NFL:

AFC	NFC
#1 Kansas City (AFC West)	#1 Philadelphia (NFC East)
#2 Miami (AFC East)	#2 Detroit (NFC North)
#3 Jacksonville (AFC South)	#3 Seattle (NFC West)
#4 Baltimore (AFC North)	#4 Atlanta (NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Buffalo	#5 Dallas
#6 Pittsburgh	#6 San Francisco
#7 Cleveland/NY Jets/Cincinnati	#7 Minnesota/New Orleans

Good lord what the hell is this? The Wild Cards in the AFC are ridiculous. Are any of those teams playing really well? You could say the Jets have done better than advertised and the Browns have a great defense but other than that, meh. Shocking to see the Niners in the #6 spot. All it takes is a couple of weeks and you go from #1 to just inside the playoff picture. But….it’s early. No one has been mathematically eliminated just yet.

Let’s hope we don’t get snow like we saw during the MAC games a couple nights ago anytime soon. Don’t feel like getting my snow tires on just yet. Enjoy the games everyone!

I kind of hate myself for this (the 2023 NFL preview)

Posted on August 14, 2023 by guelphbossman

Ugh. I’ll be honest: I am not an Aaron Rodgers fan. Never really have been. I don’t hate the guy. I respect what he’s done on the football field. I just think he’s fucking weird and can be a complete crybaby pussy when things don’t go his way. Then again, I guess I could say that last part for many pro athletes.

OK Bossman, then why did you put his picture up to start this blog post? Well, as much as I dislike A-A-Ron, he’s still a top tier quarterback. And his move to the New York Jets after what seemed like a bunch of seasons being pissed off with Green Bay management (and rightfully so at times, I will admit) is the biggest offseason move in my opinion. It also makes it so he will be facing my favourite team, the Buffalo Bills, twice every season (and three if they meet in the playoffs). That’s a big deal. There is a shift in the AFC East and the AFC in general that’s a little more than your normal “Team A has improved and should fight for a playoff spot after not making it last year.” This is “Team A has acquired a gamechanger and could compete for the division title if the chips fall in their favour.”

It seems like every season I take a quick look at how I did the previous year with some of my predictions. So why not do that again right now? Because I don’t want to? Too fucking bad, it’s tradition. This is making me sound a bit schizophrenic.

I had Buffalo beating the Rams in the Super Bowl. Good fucking God. I mean yeah the Rams had injuries but what was I thinking?
Had the Chargers losing the AFC title game. Hey, they made the playoffs but lost in an epic collpase against Jacksonville.
In the other conference championship I figured Tampa Bay would make it there and then lose. Actually I had them with the second-best record in the league. They were good…but not that good. Even with Tom Brady.
I also had the Colts and Titans to make the playoffs. Woof.
I did have Houston near the bottom to get the top pick of the NFL Draft. I had the Falcons actually “winning” that pick and they weren’t too far off. Having the Jags, Giants and Seahawks that low though? Damn.

Alright enough of that memory shit. I think I’ll do better this time, no….I WILL do better this time. I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt. Let’s go with the projected standings where a funny little asterisk beside a team means they get to be a Wild Card team this season (I think):

AFC East		NFC East
Buffalo	13-4	Philadelphia	13-4
NY Jets*	10-7	Dallas*	10-7
Miami*	9-8	NY Giants	8-9
New England	7-10	Washington	7-10
AFC North		NFC North
Cincinnati	12-5	Detroit	10-7
Baltimore*	12-5	Minnesota*	9-8
Pittsburgh	9-8	Green Bay	7-10
Cleveland	8-9	Chicago	6-11
AFC South		NFC South
Jacksonville	10-7	New Orleans	9-8
Tennessee	7-10	Atlanta	8-9
Houston	6-11	Carolina	6-11
Indianapolis	4-13	Tampa Bay	5-12
AFC West		NFC West
Kansas City	13-4	San Francisco	13-4
LA Chargers	9-8	Seattle*	9-8
Denver	8-9	LA Rams	7-10
Las Vegas	5-12	Arizona	3-14

Notes on all this fun and crazy crap

I figured there would be a lot of parity last year. It didn’t quite work out that way with a few teams running away to the top of the league. I can’t see a 14-win team this season but you never know. I have the Bills, Chiefs, 49ers and Eagles all getting to the 13-win mark.
The best race in the AFC will definitely be in the AFC North. Cincinnati and Baltimore look like they should be neck-and-neck to win the division and you can’t totally count out the Steelers either there although they will have to show out and garner a couple of upsets to make it a three-way race.
In the NFC, the North is going to be closest divisional race there too. The Lions might finally be the class of the division although the Vikings are lurking and have been at the top many times over the last decade.
The NFC South should also be a good race but for many of the wrong reasons. I do have the Saints getting over .500 but I could see the division winner having eight wins which I cannot stand.
As for the Wild Card race in the NFC, it’ll be…alright. There’s going to be some eight-win teams in the mix late in December and into January and perhaps even a team like the Packers still alive going into the final week. Yeah, it might be that dire.
In the AFC it won’t be quite the same. The Dolphins, Steelers and Chargers I have fighting down to the wire for that final Wild Card spot with the Broncos and Browns maybe, just maybe, being in the mix as well.
It just feels like the Cardinals are already starting their race to the bottom of the league. Sure I have the Colts, Bucs and Raiders also not doing very well but Arizona…man, I wonder if three wins is too much for them. They could be that bad…even with Kyler Murray as their quarterback.
I thought Josh Allen would win the MVP last season. He had a good year but nothing compared to Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts, who battled it out for the award with Mahomes winning it. This year…I believe Joe Burrow channels his inner “final year at LSU” and goes off for a monster season to lead the Bengals to the AFC North title.
Should I pick a Rookie of the Year? Hey, I did well with my Aidan Hutchinson choice since I think he won one of the various rookie awards (although Sauce Gardner was the real revelation last season). This year I will go with Bijan Robinson on the offensive side of the ball and Jalen Carter on defense.
I should have went with Dan Campbell last year as Coach of the Year. Trust your gut, Bossman! This year my gut says Robert Saleh of the Jets will win it but don’t count out Sean Payton or Dan Campbell yet again.

Playoffpredictionslet’sjustfuckinggo!

Wild Card Round

Buffalo (2) def. Miami (7)

NY Jets (6) def. Cincinnati (3)

Jacksonville (4) def. Baltimore (5)

San Francisco (2) def. Minnesota (7)

Detroit (3) def. Seattle (6)

Dallas (5) def. New Orleans (4)

Divisional Playoffs

Kansas City (1) def. NY Jets (6)

Jacksonville (4) def. Buffalo (2)

Philadelphia (1) def. Dallas (5)

San Francisco (2) def. Detroit (3)

Conference Championships

Kansas City (1) def. Jacksonville (4)

San Francisco (2) def. Philadelphia (1)

Super Bowl LVIII

San Francisco (2) def. Kansas City (1)

Yes the Chiefs will get back to the Super Bowl yet again. It’ll help that I have the Bengals getting upset in the Wild Card Round by the Jets. The Niners will finally get the Super Bowl that has eluded them for almost three decades and they get revenge for the Chiefs beating them four years prior. Jacksonville will get close by getting to the AFC Championship and the Lions will win their first playoff game since 1991. I can feel it. I think.

We are getting closer. That’s right, the first college football schedule of the season is right around the corner. Sure it’s Week Zero but still…it’s WEEK ZERO! As is the norm, I am so looking forward to this season. Hell, I will be on the edge of my seat watching New Mexico State hosting UMass in less than two weeks! That’s how much I am looking forward to college football returning. You all have a great upcoming week!

Sure, let’s do a bit of a draft recap

Posted on May 10, 2023 by guelphbossman

I will get to this man a bit later since he went through quite the night.

As usual, the draft was a fun time…well, the first night was fun then it got steadily less fun until the final rounds when other than NFL Network’s Stump The Truck, almost nothing was really all that fun. But I watched most of it. What can I say, I am way into football. Probably too much but soon enough I will be on my own a lot more so football may be the only thing that keeps me company. God, that’s sad. Let’s move on.

First of all, I will take a look at my mock draft and compare it to the actual draft results and…yep, I got basically nothing right. I couldn’t even get the first two picks right. I had C.J. Stroud going first followed by Bryce Young. I think Carolina made the right pick out of the two but I was sure they had their sights set on Stroud. Funny enough, though, I got two picks exactly right: Zay Flowers to the Ravens at #22 and Wanya Morris to the Chiefs at #92. That really doesn’t make any sense but it’s the truth. Other than that, everything else wrong and some were REALLY wrong.

Reaches

It’s always too soon to look at this but there seem to be picks that were universally thought of as reaches: as in a team picked a player way earlier than they probably would have gone. I know some teams absolutely want a specific player and worry about not getting them that much that they either take them too soon or trade up to get them when they didn’t need to. Still doesn’t mean it wasn’t a stretch for that player. Let’s look at a few that felt obvious.

Darnell Wright (#10 overall to Chicago) – I, along with most others, had Wright pegged as a late-1st round/early-2nd round pick at best. The fact that the Bears also passed on Peter Skoronski, from Northwestern (supposedly Chicago’s Big Ten school) is the real headscratcher here.

Jahmyr Gibbs (#12 to Detroit) – Speaking of headscratchers, it’s like Detroit brought back Matt Millen and his new focus wasn’t wide receivers but running backs. Detroit did not need help at running back but took Gibbs at this point anyway. I had figured he’d end up on the Bills which didn’t thrill me but Gibbs is better than what they have at this point. Anyway, Detroit ended up trading D’Andre Swift to the Eagles because of this pick. I don’t get it.

Deonte Banks (#24 to NY Giants) – Did the Giants need a cornerback? Absolutely. Was Joey Porter Jr. still on the board? Absolutely. Was Kelee Ringo still on the board? Absolutely. Was Cam Smith still on the board? Absolutely. I could go on and on but Banks wasn’t a first rounder and I’d be shocked if he plays like one.

Derick Hall (#37 to Seattle) – The Seahawks didn’t exactly need a defensive end but they decided to pick one anyway. OK, that’s fine. To pick Hall when there were a few other guys on the board who were rated way higher made no sense. Hall was barely a second rounder in most mock drafts.

Steals

On the other hand, we have our draft steals. Every draft has their steals and yes I know Tom Brady was a “steal.” Actually, no, at the time, no one thought he was a steal of a pick. No one. At all. If you say you did, you’re a dirty fucking liar. Again, this is way too early so by the time the next draft occurred, yes, Brady was considered a massive steal. Hell, he would have been a steal as a late second rounder.

Christian Gonzalez (#17 to New England) – The biggest steal of the draft in my opinion. I had him going third overall and many mock drafts had him in the top seven picks. Did the Pats need any help in the secondary? No, but how do you pass on a guy that has dropped approximately 10 spots or so in the first round when you don’t have a huge need? Once again, Bill Belichick is playing 4-D Parcheesi while everyone else is playing Snakes and Ladders.

Dalton Kincaid (#25 to Buffalo) – I was not happy when Bijan Robinson was off the board super early. Man did he go from not even a first rounder like a month ago to Top 10 pick. Anyway, the Bills did the next best thing (that they needed) by getting the best tight end in the draft in Kincaid. Josh Allen could make the guy…well, not a star but a very dependable receiver.

Joey Porter Jr. (#32 to Pittsburgh) – How did the last into the second round? There were easily six different teams that should have taken him and passed. Yeah I’m looking at you New York Football Giants (or GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-Men in honour of Chris Berman). He may make a couple of teams pay for passing on him this coming season.

Jalin Hyatt (#73 to NY Giants) – So the Giants make one of the worst picks of the early part of the draft and then somehow snag Hyatt in the third round. Hey, whatever works. I could have also put Hyatt’s Tennessee Volunteer teammate Cedric Tillman here as he went one spot later to the Browns.

Alright let’s get down to the Will Levis situation. ESPN did this man (and his family) dirty. Well, most of them. I think the girlfriend loved the attention. Still though, to spend four-plus hours in that room and not get your name called has to suck. And ESPN loved it. You know they did. Most people had him going in the #7-#13 range. I had him going to Washington at #16. Then someone on Reddit (I think) tweeted that the Panthers were considering him for the top pick. All of a sudden, people became a lot more interested in him. It also meant that every draft pick that wasn’t him would make him look worse. And yes I know there are others that suffer the same plight but he is, by far, the most hyped of anyone who has had that happen. Also, why didn’t Tennessee move up into the first round to get him? Now they lose a potential option year if he ends up being good. Poor management by the Titans there.

Best Draft

Again, this is way too early but you can kind of tell when a team probably had a good draft (unless one of their top picks is a flop). Here is my list of the top three teams from draft day.

Philadelphia – It feels almost unanimous among experts (which I am not one of) that the Eagles had the best draft. Not only did they continue their Georgia Bulldog-riffic defense picking Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, but they also drafted Bama’s Tyler Steen who could potentially anchor the offensive line soon enough and somehow had Kelee Ringo (another Bulldog) fall into their lap in the fourth round. Finally, Detroit’s stupidity made it so the Eagles got D’Andre Swift in a trade with the Lions. An all-around great few days for possibly the NFC favourites.

Indianapolis – No, this isn’t all about the Anthony Richardson pick although that is what much of the Colts’ draft will hinge on. They had a great draft otherwise, though, with a huge value pick in the fourth round, nabbing Adetomiwa Adeboware. Really, it’s Richardson and Adeboware for the Colts. If they both hit then this will end up being the number one draft crop in hindsight. Otherwise….yikes. Huge risk-reward for a team that feels the time is right to make huge moves.

Pittsburgh – The Eagles’ cross-state rival also had quite the good, if not underrated, draft, looking like the smartest team coming out of the draft. They filled pretty much all their needs in the first three rounds and then got some great value late. Porter is a steal and teams may regret not picking him.

Worst Draft

Very rarely does a team get selected having the worst draft and then it ends up that everyone was wrong in hindsight. So yeah, this is not a good group to be in.

Jacksonville – Third worst on our list is the Jags with a bit of a perplexing draft. Things were looking great for a team that looked like it may run away with the AFC South over the next few years. That may not be the case anymore, and this draft didn’t help matters any. Unfortunately, the Cam Robinson situation forced them to pick O-line early but Anton Harrison may not have been the guy. Tank Bigsby was a pretty bad pick and could have been got two rounds later. And for a team that needed a tight end as another weapon for Trevor Lawrence, getting Brenton Strange isn’t it with other guys on the board. Just weird all around.

Minnesota – Look, they did pretty well with the Jordan Addison pick. Beyond that? Woof. Every other pick was a reach and they really didn’t do anything to help Kirk Cousins beyond getting Addison to hopefully pair with Justin Jefferson. Cousins is in the last year of his contract and this felt like the year the Vikings really had to try and go for it or start building for the future and they did neither.

San Francisco – Just like Philly, it’s a pretty unanimous vote on the other end of the draft grades. The ass end, if you will. The 49ers did a deplorable job this time around. Lucky for them, as long as Brock Purdy and/or Trey Lance are ready to go, this team is ready to battle for the NFC title at the very least. But holy shit, you’d think you would draft one guy that would help the team this coming season. Especially on the offensive line, where they needed help and drafted nobody. But hey, they drafted a kicker. Before the 100th pick. For fuck’s sakes what a joke.

Finally, a quick look at the two networks showing the draft. Most people seemed to be watching ESPN, as per usual. The NFL Network picked up the rest of the viewers. Problem was, the amount of complaints I heard about ESPN were staggering. Yet, these same people obviously outright refused to just, oh I don’t know, turn to the other network with draft coverage. I get that hearing the old NFL Primetime music is great (it really is) but if the coverage sucks then change the channel. My opinion, as you may know, is that the NFL Network has always had better coverage since they started showing the draft. I mean, that’s their whole thing: the NFL. ESPN suffers from trying to put in as many horrific stories about the draftees and too many people involved in the production. At least a quarter of the people involved could have been axed because they sucked at their job on this night.

I think that’s the first draft recap I have done in a long time. I don’t feel like looking. I’m not really a recap kind of guy but I figured what the hell. We are now 107 days away from the college football season and the posts will start coming along more frequently once again. We are getting close to true football season, folks! Not that I’m minding the XFL since it has been pretty good. The USFL, on the other hand, ugh. Have a great rest of the week everyone.

A Week Unlike Any Other – Week 18 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on January 7, 2023 by guelphbossman

This has been a very difficult couple of days for everyone involved with the NFL and the fans. Damar Hamlin’s on-field heart attack stunned everyone and really made everyone pause and take account of what really mattered. Football became secondary and it still is.

Hamlin is now showing signs of recovery. This is awesome. And now that it looks like he might just be out of the woods in terms of eventually recovering from this, the NFL went ahead and decided what will be done going forward. And yeah, to say that Twitter has had something to say about it would be an understatement.

Alright, here is the schedule for Week 18 and the points afterwards…well they may be the craziest in the history of this blog:

American Networks


New England at Buffalo	1:00	All affiliates (except Cleveland)
Cleveland at Pittsburgh	1:00	Cleveland
Minnesota at Chicago	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at Miami	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
NY Giants at Philadelphia	4:25	All affiliates
LA Rams at Seattle	4:25		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit
Arizona at San Francisco	4:25		Minneapolis
Dallas at Washington	4:25		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle

Canadian Networks

Primetime & Saturday Games

Kansas City at Las Vegas	Saturday, 4:30, ABC, CTV, TSN1/3/4/5
Tennessee at Jacksonville	Saturday, 8:00, ABC, CTV, TSN1/3/4
Detroit at Green Bay	8:15, NBC, CTV2, TSN1/3

Special Last Week of the Regular Season Notes

For the sixth straight year, the NFL has put a lot of thought into what the final week of the regular season will look like. Unfortunately, this has caused a lot of issues and, frankly, it feels like the NFL didn’t do exactly the greatest job here.
The only obvious game to put in its own timeslot is the Titans-Jaguars game. The winner wins the AFC South. Technically, there is a way for the Jags to get the final Wild Card spot and I will explain that later on. So they put Tennessee and Jacksonville Saturday night. So far so good.
The league put the Chiefs-Raiders game on Saturday afternoon. A bit of an odd choice and considering what happened this past Monday, takes on a whole new level of importance. Still, not a bad choice so this is fine.
The Sunday nighter. Ho boy. The NFL obviously went for ratings. Basically they said “Fuck the Seattle Seahawks, we want a money matchup in our final spot.” And they got it. Lions-Packers is not a win-and-you’re-in/lose-and-your out scenario. The Lions have to hope that the Seahawks also lose their game which was slotted on Sunday afternoon. Will the Lions play tough regardless of where they stand? Dan Campbell won’t allow them not to. But that isn’t the point. The point is the NFL decided that instead of putting these games on at the same time, they willingly put two teams over another one for what amounts to cash. Not surprising but kind not the best idea.
As you know by now, the Bills-Bengals game from Monday night was cancelled. It’s been ruled a no contest. Not a tie. It’s like it never happened. This means both teams will finish a 16-game schedule rather than a 17-game schedule. Ramifications for this? Oh you bet there are some.
First of all, there is an interesting situation involving Baltimore and Cincinnati. Cincinnati has now clinched the AFC North. No matter what happens in their game, the Bengals will have a higher winning percentage. This is the main reason why this game wasn’t put on Sunday night (although I have a feeling the NFL was leaning Lions-Packers anyway). Here’s the issue with all this. If the Ravens win this Sunday’s game, and the Wild Card round has the same two teams facing off, there will be a coin toss to determine who the home team is. So the Bengals could become the first division champion to not host a Wild Card game since the league went to seven (and even six) teams in the playoffs per conference.
That’s not all! The AFC Championship is now possibly going to be a neutral site game. This would also be a first-ever. The reason for this is that going into last Monday’s game, Buffalo controlled their own destiny. Win out and they get the only first round bye in the AFC. Now that the game was cancelled, they lose that. So the NFL had to figure out a way to make it so the Bills didn’t completely lose out because of what happened. This is what they came up with: if there is a chance that the Bills (or even the Bengals in one case) could have been the #1 seed after this Sunday’s games, the AFC Championship will be at a neutral site. This will only happen if the AFC title game involves two of the Chiefs, Bills or Bengals. So here are the AFC Championship Neutral Site scenarios:
- If the Chiefs and Bills lose and the Bengals win, then a KC-Buffalo OR a KC-Cincinnati AFC Championship will be at a neutral site.
- If all three teams lose, only a KC-Buffalo AFCCG would be at a neutral site.
- If the Chiefs lose and the Bills win, a KC-Buffalo AFCCG would be in Buffalo and a KC-Cincinnati AFCCG would be in Kansas City.
- If the Chiefs win and the Bills lose, KC would host the AFC Championship if they made it there, no matter who they play.
- If the Chiefs and Bills win, a KC-Buffalo AFCCG would be at a neutral site and a KC-Cincinnati AFCCG would be in Kansas City.
- If only one of these three teams makes it to the AFC Championship, they would host. Got all that?
- Was this the best way of doing things? No, however the NFL adamantly refused to drop the gap between the conference championships and the Super Bowl down to one week. So this is arguably one of the better ways to do this. Is it the best? Who knows. This is all a shitshow. And it’s unprecedented. Remember that. If this happened two months ago, the game would have been somehow rescheduled.

So now let’s look at the final playoff picture, which, obviously, in the AFC is a mess:

AFC	NFC
#1 Kansas City (clinched AFC West)	#1 Philadelphia (clinched playoff berth, leads NFC East)
#2 Buffalo (clinched AFC East)	#2 San Francisco (clinched NFC West)
#3 Cincinnati (clinched AFC North)	#3 Minnesota (clinched NFC North)
#4 Jacksonville (leads AFC South)	#4 Tampa Bay (clinched NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 LA Chargers (clinched playoff berth)	#5 Dallas (clinched playoff berth)
#6 Baltimore (clinched playoff berth)	#6 NY Giants (clinched playoff berth)
#7 New England/Miami/Pittsburgh	#7 Seattle/Detroit/Green Bay

For the Wild Cards it comes down to the Patriots, Dolphins, Steelers and Jags in the AFC and the Seahawks, Lions and Packers in the NFC. The Patriots and Packers control their own destiny so wins will put them in. If that doesn’t happen, an absolute boatload of possibilities come into play. So let’s go game-by-game and see what we’ve got before us this weekend in terms of clinching scenarios. By the way, I am not including ties here. I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

Kansas City at Las Vegas

Kansas City clinches a first round bye with a win OR a Buffalo loss
Kansas City clinches a first round bye and home field advantage with a win AND a Buffalo loss

Tennessee at Jacksonville

Tennessee clinches the AFC South with a win
Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win
Jacksonville clinches a playoff berth with a Miami loss AND a New England loss AND a Pittsburgh loss

New England at Buffalo

Buffalo clinches a first round bye and home field advantage with a win AND a Kansas City loss
New England clinches a playoff berth with a win OR (a Miami loss AND a Pittsburgh loss AND a Jacksonville win)

Cleveland at Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh clinches a playoff berth with a win AND a Miami loss AND a New England loss

NY Jets at Miami

Miami clinches a playoff berth with a win AND a New England loss

NY Giants at Philadelphia

Philadelphia clinches a first round bye with a win OR (a Dallas loss AND a San Francisco loss)
Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win OR a Dallas loss

Dallas at Washington

Dallas clinches a first round bye with a win AND a Philadelphia loss AND a San Francisco loss
Dallas clinches the NFC East with a win AND a Philadelphia loss

LA Rams at Seattle

Seattle clinches a playoff berth with a win AND a Green Bay loss

Arizona at San Francisco

San Francisco clinches a first round bye with a win AND a Philadelphia loss

Detroit at Green Bay

Green Bay clinches a playoff berth with a win
Detroit clinches a playoff berth with a win AND a Seattle loss

As for seeding, things get a bit more difficult. Only two seeds out of 14 are locked in. For something new this season and to make this already-long blog post even longer, here are the seeding scenarios.

NFC

#1 seed

Philadelphia – win
San Francisco – win AND Eagles loss
Dallas – win AND Eagles loss AND 49ers loss

#2 seed

San Francisco – (win AND Eagles win) OR (loss AND Vikings loss)
Philadelphia – loss AND Cowboys loss AND 49ers win
Minnesota – win AND 49ers loss
Dallas – win AND Eagles loss AND 49ers win

#3 seed

Minnesota – loss OR 49ers win
San Francisco – loss AND Vikings win

#4 seed

Tampa Bay locked in

#5 seed

Dallas – loss OR Eagles win
Philadelphia – loss AND Cowboys win

#6 seed

NY Giants locked in

#7 seed

Seattle – win AND Packers loss
Detroit – win AND Seahawks loss
Green Bay – win

AFC

#1 seed

Kansas City – win OR Bills loss
Buffalo – win AND Chiefs loss

#2 seed

Buffalo – (loss AND Bengals win) OR (win AND Chiefs win)
Kansas City – loss AND Bills win
Cincinnati – win AND Bills loss

#3 seed

Cincinnati – loss OR Bills win
Buffalo – loss AND Bengals win

#4 seed

Jacksonville – win
Tennessee – win

#5 seed

LA Chargers – win OR Ravens loss
Baltimore – win AND Chargers loss

#6 seed

Baltimore – loss OR Chargers win
LA Chargers – loss AND Ravens win

#7 seed

New England – win OR (Dolphins loss AND Steelers loss AND Jaguars win)
Miami – win AND Patriots loss
Pittsburgh – win AND Dolphins loss AND Patriots loss
Jacksonville – loss AND Dolphins loss AND Patriots loss AND Steelers loss

Finally, the Texans clinch the #1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft with a loss or a Bears loss. If the Texans win and the Bears lose, Chicago will be on the clock. The Texans are almost assuredly going to take Bryce Young. If the Bears get the #1 pick, who knows what they will do since they won’t be taking a quarterback.

OK, now college football. I usually don’t do previews but I won’t be doing a whole post for the two national championships. The FCS National Championship is on Sunday at 2:00 on ABC. As for the College Football Playoff National Championship, it is at 8:00 Monday night as TCU faces Georgia. The game will appear on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5. These are all the regular broadcast. You can check out the Field Pass, Command Center, SkyCast and All-22 broadcasts on TSN.ca. No Coaches Film Room and no Coaches Film Room with Open Bar this season which makes me sad. As for a prediction, I would love to say the Horned Frogs will pull this out. I would love to say Sonny Dykes finishes one of the most improbable seasons in college football history with a victory and a national title. Instead I think Georgia will repeat. It will be close but I see the Dawgs winning 38-34.

UPDATE: Well, not an update but more of an oversight on my part. The game begins at 7:30, not 8:00. Interesting choice considering it’s in Los Angeles.

Alright, if you read all this, you are prepared for the insanity that is coming up in the NFL. Have fun watching the games everyone!

It Actually Happened (the Week 17 NFL TV Schedule)

Posted on December 29, 2022 by guelphbossman

I kind of joked earlier in the year that I think Nathaniel Hackett should have been fired during the season. I think quite a few people said it as well. The thing is, that happens rarely in the NFL. This isn’t college football where there are coaching changes all the time.

But guess what? It happened! It actually happened! The Denver Broncos pulled the trigger and shitcanned Hackett. I am actually surprised since I figured they would let him finish out the season and then fire him on Black Monday. Problem is, the Broncos looked so horrifically bad in their loss to the Rams this past weekend (where I am surprised Nickolodeon didn’t run out of slime despite the fact it’s all animated) that I think they had no choice but to axe him. It’s a smart move. No head coach has looked as inept at his job than Hackett did (although Jeff Saturday is trying his best to change that mindset). He was not ready and to be honest, I don’t think he will ever be ready to be a head coach. Good offensive coordinator, bad head coach. It’s the Wade Phillips corollary (paradox? equation?). Not every coordinator can run a team. And Hackett can’t…..hack it.

Let’s get to the schedule, which will not contain Nathaniel Hackett. It’s the second-last week of the season so a lot can happen and I’m not just talking about the standings. Here we go.

American Networks


Indianapolis at NY GIants	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown
Miami at New England	1:00	Minneapolis, Cleveland, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Chicago at Detroit	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at Seattle	4:05		All affiliates (except Minneapolis & Detroit)
Minnesota at Green Bay	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games

Dallas at Tennessee	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN1
Pittsburgh at Baltimore	8:15, NBC, CTV2, TSN1/3/4
Buffalo at Cincinnati	8:30, ABC, CTV, TSN3

Non-Nathaniel Things

I get that Jeff Saturday is an interim head coach and not the full-time guy but still, he’s terrible. And shouldn’t be back next year in any capacity.
If all you can get is games from the American networks (I don’t know why that would be the case) then this may be the worst week ever. Five games over the entire afternoon? That’s the kind of schedule you would get in 1992, not 2022.
Canadians have it a bit better obviously but they are still missing games: Jaguars/Texans, Rams/Chargers, Saints/Eagles, Browns/Commanders, Cardinals/Falcons, 49ers/Raiders. Six. That’s not good either.
I am sure at least a few people are pissed off that the NFL is on New Year’s Day and the Rose Bowl isn’t. Too fucking bad. They decided to move last week’s games to Christmas Eve and they damn well weren’t going to do that this weekend. Put the games on New Year’s Eve when you don’t have to? Ratings suicide. And this is coming from a huge college football fan who still thinks ESPN is leaving viewers on the table by having the College Football Playoff semi-finals on New Year’s Eve.

UPDATE: I forgot about the small tweak to the smart time of the Monday night game. It will start at 8:30 and not 8:15. The Rose Bowl is on immediately before it so don’t be surprised if we don’t get to actually start watching the Bills-Bengals game until close to 9:00.

Almost there! This week and next week and it’s playoff time. Here’s what the playoff picture looks like at this point:

AFC	NFC
#1 Buffalo (clinched AFC East)	#1 Philadelphia (clinched playoff berth, leads NFC East)
#2 Kansas City (clinched AFC West)	#2 Minnesota (clinched NFC North)
#3 Cincinnati (clinched playoff berth, leads AFC North)	#3 San Francisco (clinched NFC West)
#4 Jacksonville (leads AFC South)	#4 Tampa Bay (leads NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Baltimore (clinched playoff berth)	#5 Dallas (clinched playoff berth)
#6 LA Chargers (clinched playoff berth)	#6 NY Giants
#7 Miami	#7 Washington

And here is your list of eliminated teams (whether you like it or not):

Houston
Chicago
Denver
Arizona
Indianapolis
Atlanta
LA Rams
Cleveland

That’s it? Yep. This is what happens when you have two atrocious divisions. I don’t think that’s ever happened before and I hope this makes it so the NFL changes their ridiculously dumb playoff structure. Division winners should only be guaranteed a playoff spot. Maybe a top 5. But not a home playoff game. That’s dumb. It’s why I hope both the AFC South and NFC South champs have losing records. To shed light on stupidity.

Anyway, when it comes to the draft, the Texans can clinch with a loss and a Bears win. It feels like a guarantee that Bryce Young is going to be Houston’s new quarterback but stranger things have happened.

Now for the clinching scenarios list which is getting much longer (and what’s most of us are watching these games for anyway):

First Round Bye

Philadelphia clinches with a win OR (a Dallas loss AND a San Francisco loss AND a Minnesota loss)
Buffalo clinches with a win AND a Kansas City loss

Division Title

Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win OR a Dallas loss
Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win
Cincinnati clinches the AFC North with a win AND a Baltimore loss

Playoff Berth

NY Giants clinch with a win OR (a Washington loss AND a Detroit loss AND a Green Bay loss) OR (a Washington loss AND a Seattle loss) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Detroit loss AND a Green Bay loss)
Washington clinches with a win AND a Seattle loss AND a Detroit loss AND a Green Bay loss
Miami clinches with a win AND a NY Jets loss

Elimination

New Orleans is eliminated with a loss OR (a Tampa Bay win AND a Washington win) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND a Detroit win AND a Green Bay win)
Carolina is eliminated with a loss
Washington is eliminated with a loss AND a Detroit win AND a Green Bay win
Detroit is eliminated with a loss AND a Washington win
Green Bay is eliminated with a loss AND (a Detroit win OR a Washington win)
Seattle is eliminated with (a loss AND a Washington win) OR (a loss AND a Detroit win AND a Green Bay win)
New England is eliminated with a loss
NY Jets are eliminated with a loss
Pittsburgh is eliminated with a loss OR a Miami win
Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss OR a Miami win OR a NY Jets win

Washington is in an interesting and relatively rare spot. It’s the penultimate week of the season yet they have both playoff clinching and elimination scenarios and both of them involve the same two teams, the Lions and Packers. You don’t see that very often. Also, there aren’t that many clinching scenarios to be honest. Yet, look at the sheer list of teams that could be eliminated this week. Ten. That’s a lot. Won’t happen but it’s still a lot.

As for the final week, the schedule will have, as far as I know, two Saturday games, one Sunday night game, and the rest of the games on Sunday afternoon with the more important ones falling in the 4:25 timeslot. What could we see? Here is what I think will probably happen:

It is a foregone conclusion that the Tennessee-Jacksonville game will be either the Saturday night or Sunday night game. I am going out on a limb and saying they will be the Saturday nighter.
Baltimore-Cincinnati is the favorite to be the Sunday nighter. I can’t see NBC picking Baltimore twice in a row. It’s their fault for picking them this week to begin with (I believe the pick this week is baffling). So no Ravens-Bengals Sunday nighter and they can’t be on Saturday because the Bengals are playing Monday night this week. So as long as the Bengals don’t clinch the AFC North this week, it will be a Sunday late game.
If New England and the NY Jets win this week, I see the Pats-Bills game being the Sunday nighter. The Pats would be in a win-and-in situation. The Bills could also be in a situation where they would need to win to get the first round bye. So a lot would be on the line.
If New England loses but the Jets win, then we could see the Jets-Dolphins game slot into the Sunday night spot.
Alright I will have to make a concession: if the Pats and Jets both lose this week then I do have a feeling NBC might just pick the Ravens-Bengals game (as long as the Bengals haven’t clinched the division).
Now…..ugh…if all three situations above don’t occur then the next game up would somehow be Lions-Packers but a bit has to happen for this game to get this slot (and we might be in a situation where the final game of the season means nothing because of what could happen earlier in the day).
If the Bucs don’t clinch the NFC South this week then the Saturday afternoon will probably be Panthers-Saints, especially if the Saints also win this week. It would be for the NFC South title I believe (I would have to check the tiebreakers but I think the Bucs would have the lowest percentage chance to win the division if both Carolina and New Orleans win this weekend).

So there you go. A lot of possibilities for next week’s single-game timeslots and we should find out late in the afternoon Sunday as to what we will see. It’s the time of season where there is a shit-ton of football on, both college and the NFL. So enjoy it because you know it doesn’t last. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

That was some kind of week wasn’t it – the Week 16 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on December 22, 2022 by guelphbossman

This picture might be from the craziest part of one of the crazier weekends in NFL history. Let’s take a quick stroll down (relatively recent) memory lane:

It started with the greatest comeback in NFL history. Minnesota was down 33-0 at halftime to the woeful Indianapolis Colts. This felt like one of the bigger upsets of the season. The Vikings would claw all the way back and beat the Colts in overtime to erase the Buffalo Bills’ Wild Card comeback against the Houston Oilers back in 1993 from the record books. Poor Frank Reich. His comeback record is gone thanks to the team that fired him earlier this season for a guy who had never coached at the pro level. He is not having a good last half of 2022.
The Bills Mafia was getting a bit rowdy during Saturday night’s game between the Bills and the Dolphins. The referee had to stop the game to warn fans not to throw snowballs as if one hit a Dolphins player it would have been a 15-yard penalty. The snow picked up in the second half, the snowballs thrown decreased and the Bills beat the Dolphins in a great affair that clinched them a playoff spot.
Every game in the early Sunday window was a one-possession game. I don’t remember that ever happening. It also provided us with two near-upsets as the Bears and Texans almost pulled off the near-impossible against the Eagles and Chiefs, respectively. We did end up seeing an actual upset as the Jaguars keep their playoff hopes alive by outlasting the Cowboys in a wild shootout. Finally, more clock management buffoonery, this time by Robert Saleh as his not using timeouts in a timely manner probably cost the Jets at least a chance to go to overtime with the Lions.
Tom Brady had been 89-0 when leading by at least 17 points at home. Eighty-nine and oh. Crazy. Now it’s 89-1, though, after Joe Burrow and the Bengals outscored the Bucs 34-6 the rest of the way in yet another come-from-behind victory.
And finally, let’s get to the pic at the start and the worst lateral (if not worst bonehead play) in NFL history. I still don’t quite get what Jakobi Meyers was doing there. When Rhamondre Stevenson lateraled the ball to Meyers, Meyers was a few yards away. Meyers had to heave the ball back to (he hoped) Mac Jones and it didn’t even make it there. Just completely perplexing and an absolute stroke-of-luck at the gong of midnight for the Raiders.

So yeah it was a whole heap of fun to watch it all. I almost needed a smoke afterwards. Now let’s get to the schedule for this week and yeah it looks different than normal thanks to this thing called Christmas. Let’s go!

American Networks


New Orleans at Cleveland	1:00	Cleveland
Buffalo at Chicago	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown
Cincinnati at New England	1:00	Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Seattle at Kansas City	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Boston
NY Giants at Minnesota	1:00		Minneapolis, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Presque Isle
Detroit at Carolina	1:00		Detroit
Washington at San Francisco	4:05	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
Philadelphia at Dallas	4:25		All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Primetime & Christmas Games!

Jacksonville at NY Jets	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN1/4
Las Vegas at Pittsburgh	Saturday, 8:15, NFL Network, CTV2, TSN1/4
Green Bay at Miami	Sunday, 1:00, FOX, CTV, TSN1/3
Denver at LA Rams	Sunday, 4:30, CBS, CTV, TSN1
Tampa Bay at Arizona	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN1/3/4/5
LA Chargers at Indianapolis	Monday, 8:15, TSN3

Non Eggnog Stuff

Fuck, I hate eggnog.
So since I can’t seem to figure out the way to indent things properly yet (and I don’t feel like fiddling around with it anymore out of frustration), I will just mention that the games we can’t get in Canada (unless you have the almighty RedZone) are the Texans-Titans and Falcons-Ravens. Unless you are clamoring to see if the Texans can pretty much wrap up the top pick in the draft, or you like bird teams, it doesn’t matter to you.
Christmas being on a Sunday has really messed with the schedule this week. A reminder to you that all the games in the two main sections are on SATURDAY, not Sunday. So don’t get pissed off if you are eating the cookies left out for Santa (you pig) and see that there are highlights of all the games that you missed because you didn’t read this. I’ve warned you.
The NFL is going to mop the damn floor with the NBA on Christmas Day. Guaranteed.
For once, most people actually want to see an Eagles-Cowboys game. Not all, because some people still can’t stand either team or their fanbase and that’s fair. Too bad for them though because damn near everyone gets that game in the late window.
The 4:30 Sunday game is also the Nickolodeon regular season game. It’s going to suck for all the kids watching when there’s no slime because neither team scores a touchdown.

We are getting close to the end of the season. Three weeks to go! Let’s look at what the playoff picture is looking like:

AFC	NFC
#1 Buffalo (leads AFC East/clinched playoff berth)	#1 Philadelphia (leads NFC East/clinched playoff berth)
#2 Kansas City (clinched AFC West)	#2 Minnesota (clinched NFC North)
#3 Cincinnati (leads AFC North)	#3 San Francisco (clinched NFC West)
#4 Tennessee (leads AFC South)	#4 Tampa Bay (leads NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Baltimore	#5 Dallas (clinched playoff berth)
#6 LA Chargers	#6 NY Giants
#7 Miami	#7 Washington

And here is your list of eliminated teams starting with the, uh, most eliminated I guess:

Houston
Chicago
Denver
LA Rams
Arizona

The Texans can actually already clinch the #1 pick if the lose and the Bears win their game. Not likely but you never know. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, here are the clinching scenarios:

First Round Bye

Philadelphia clinches with a win

Division Title

Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win
Buffalo clinches the AFC East with a win OR a Miami loss

Playoff Berth

NY Giants clinch with (a win AND a Washington loss AND a Detroit loss) OR (a win AND a Washington loss AND a Seattle loss) OR (a win AND a Detroit loss AND a Seattle loss)
Cincinnati clinches with a win OR a NY Jets loss
Baltimore clinches with (a win AND a New England loss AND a NY Jets loss) OR (a win AND a New England loss AND a Miami loss) OR (a win AND a NY Jets loss AND a Miami loss) OR (a NY Jets loss AND a New England loss AND a Cleveland loss AND a Las Vegas loss AND a LA Chargers win AND a Tennessee loss)
LA Chargers clinch with a win AND a Las Vegas loss AND a NY Jets loss AND a New England loss

Elimination

New Orleans is eliminated with a loss AND a Tampa Bay win
Atlanta is eliminated with (a loss AND a Tampa Bay win) OR (a loss AND a Carolina win AND a New Orleans win)
Green Bay is eliminated with a loss AND a Washington win
Indianapolis is eliminated with a loss OR a Tennessee win OR a Jacksonville win
NY Jets are eliminated with a loss AND a LA Chargers win AND a Miami win AND a New England win AND (a Baltimore win OR a Cleveland loss)
Pittsburgh is eliminated with a loss OR (a LA Chargers win AND a Miami win) OR (a LA Chargers win AND a New England win AND a NY Jets win)
Cleveland is eliminated with a loss OR (a Baltimore win AND a LA Chargers win AND a Miami win) OR (a Baltimore win AND a LA Chargers win AND a New England win AND a NY Jets win)
Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss AND a LA Chargers win AND (a Miami win OR a NY Jets win OR a New England win)

So a lot of things can happen over the next few days but there’s still a lot of intrigue that will be left for the final two weeks no matter what. One thing that might not happen: a team in the NFC South having a winning record.

Alright, there you go. Enjoy the games (both NFL and bowl) everyone!


Indianapolis at NY Giants	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	London, Toronto
Miami at New England	1:00	Montreal, Atlantic	Ottawa	TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Denver at Kansas City	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta
Chicago at Detroit	1:00	Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa
Carolina at Tampa Bay	1:00	Northern Ontario	Atlantic
NY Jets at Seattle	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta		TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
Minnesota at Green Bay	4:25	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic