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.
The A stands for April. Or Awesome. Or Asshole. Whatever.
Mock draft time! And it’s three glorious rounds of (probably) incorrect picks. Lovin’ it! Let’s go!
First Round
1
Chicago
Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2
Washington
Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3
New England
Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4
Arizona
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5
LA Chargers
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
6
NY Giants
Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7
Tennessee
Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
8
Atlanta
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9
Chicago
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10
NY Jets
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11
Minnesota
Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12
Denver
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
13
Las Vegas
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
14
New Orleans
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
15
Indianapolis
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
16
Seattle
J.J. McCarthy, QB (LSU)
17
Jacksonville
Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
18
Cincinnati
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19
LA Rams
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
20
Pittsburgh
Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21
Miami
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
22
Philadelphia
Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
23
Minnesota
Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24
Dallas
Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
25
Green Bay
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
26
Tampa Bay
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
27
Arizona
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
28
Buffalo
Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
29
Detroit
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
30
Baltimore
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
31
San Francisco
Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
32
Kansas City
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
Second Round
33
Carolina
Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
34
New England
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
35
Arizona
Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
36
Washington
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37
LA Chargers
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
38
Tennessee
T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
39
Carolina
Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
40
Washington
Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
41
Green Bay
Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
42
Houston
Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
43
Atlanta
Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
44
Las Vegas
Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
45
New Orleans
Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
46
Indianapolis
Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47
NY Giants
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
48
Jacksonville
Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
49
Cincinnati
Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
50
Philadelphia
Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
51
Pittsburgh
T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
52
LA Rams
Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53
Philadelphia
Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
54
Cleveland
Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
55
Miami
Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
56
Dallas
Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57
Tampa Bay
Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
58
Green Bay
Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
59
Houston
Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
60
Buffalo
Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
61
Detroit
Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62
Baltimore
Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63
San Francisco
Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
64
Kansas City
Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)
Third Round
65
Carolina
Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66
Arizona
Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
67
Washington
Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
68
New England
Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
69
LA Chargers
Ben Sinnott, TE (Kansas State)
70
NY Giants
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
71
Arizona
Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72
NY Jets
Devontez Walker, WR (North Carolina)
73
Detroit
Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
74
Atlanta
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
75
Chicago
Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
76
Denver
Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
77
Las Vegas
Jonathon Brooks, RB (Texas)
78
Washington
Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
79
Atlanta
Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
80
Cincinnati
Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
81
Seattle
Christian Mahogany, OG (Boston College)
82
Indianapolis
Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
83
LA Rams
D.J. James, CB (Auburn)
84
Pittsburgh
Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85
Cleveland
Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
86
Houston
Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
87
Dallas
Renardo Green, CB (Florida State)
88
Green Bay
Khyree Jackson, CB (Oregon)
89
Tampa Bay
Beau Brade, S (Maryland)
90
Arizona
Andru Phillips, CB (Kentucky)
91
Green Bay
Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
92
Tampa Bay
Dominick Puni, OG (Kansas)
93
Baltimore
McKinnley Jackson, DT (Texas A&M)
94
Kansas City
Braelon Allen, RB (Wisconsin)
95
San Francisco
Kalen King, CB (Penn State)
96
Jacksonville
Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
97
Cincinnati
Josh Newton, CB (TCU)
98
Pittsburgh
Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB (Clemson)
99
LA Rams
Calen Bullock, S (USC)
100
Washington
James Williams, S (Miami)
The top few picks seem set in stone. Maybe on in that specific order but those top four will, most likely, be the top four come draft night. As for some of the other picks, man there were some huge drops. Like Kris Jenkins. Only a few weeks ago, a fair amount of mocks had him in the first round. I don’t think he’s even being considered as a first rounder anymore. Almost the same with Byron Murphy II. I had him going fifth to the Chargers which may have been a bit high in retrospect. But for him to drop to almost completely out of the first round is an alarming drop. Sometimes it’s fairly easy to find out what has happened to lower a potential draftee’s stock and sometimes…well, sometimes who the hell knows. It just happens.
Potential Draft Day Trades
OK so these would include trades coming up toward the draft as well, not just the ones on draft opening night. And no, I can’t see the Bears or the Commanders trading their picks so let’s start with the #3 pick.
New England (#3) – Chances of the Patriots trading this pick are slim but considering the haul that some teams have received for a top 3 pick in NFL history, the right package might come along to entice them to trade down. I have a feeling it would take at least two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and at least one other pick.
NY Giants (#6) – Probably the highest pick with true potential to be dealt is the Giants at #6. The Giants desperately need help on both lines but there are a few options available meaning they could trade down a few spots and still get one of the guys they covet. A first-round pick swap would have to happen and the team trading with the G-Men couldn’t be far below the #16 spot for this to work. Other picks would come the Giants way as well.
Tennessee (#7) – This becomes a possibility if the Patriots trade down. The reason is, one of Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels would be available and there are a few teams that would love to trade up to get one of the two. That includes the Falcons, Vikings, Broncos and Raiders. Knowing that, the Titans could get a larger pick haul than the Giants even though the pick would be later.
NY Jets (#10) – The Jets are hoping that Aaron Rodgers will be healthy this year. And to help with that, they want an offensive lineman desperately. The hope is that one of Olu Fashanu or Joe Alt fall to them. If neither of them are available, I would fully expect the Jets to shop the pick and they could drop a fair way if they wanted to.
The Vikings feel like the most likely pick to move up since, for some reason, many are saying they really want J.J. McCarthy. I think it would be crazy to trade up because I think McCarthy, at least at this point, would be available to the Vikings at #11. Maybe I’m wrong with that. They would most likely just trade picks but they have one bargaining chip that some teams might not be able to ignore: Justin Jefferson. If the Vikings can’t extend Double J, then they might include him in a trade to see what they could get. Arizona would be a trading partner if (and only if) this was a possibility.
In non-draft news, the UFL has commenced their season. Not exactly a ton of fans for a couple of these games but some wacky shit happened. Jake Bates hit a 64-yard field goal to help his Michigan Stags beat St. Louis. Funny enough, it was on the same uprights that Justin Tucker kicked his NFL-record 67-yarder to beat the Lions a couple years ago. Then you had San Antonio punter Brad Wing throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 11 to the team’s centre Alex Mollette. So at least it’s entertaining, you have to give it that. And it’s football. A tiny appetizer before the CFL, then college football, then NFL season starts. So embrace it. Or don’t. I don’t care. I realize March Madness was on this past weekend so I can see why people might not watch.
OK I will do one more mock draft closer to actual draft day (which starts April 25th). And even then, most of my picks will be wrong. At least I can take solace in the fact that I will have close to the same record as the so-called experts have.
The college schedule is coming into form. It’s kind of tough with the changes coming up this season so for good parts of the schedule I have nothing to compare it to. So we shall see how that goes when I start doing my most important game posts. Anyway, I hope you all had a great Easter long weekend and have a great first week of April.
That intro sounds like when The (Big Money!) Match Game 1976 would air on Game Show Network. Why did they need to put the year in? When people were watching it live, were they so fucking stoned that they had to be reminded what year it was?
Anyway, I am starting this post a couple days after Selection Sunday. Now I am not an avid college basketball watcher but I know they screwed some of these picks up. And remember, when a conference gets a team in, they get more money. That’s important. The ACC got five teams in and Virginia was one of them and they may be one of the worst at-large choices ever. A few teams that were left out, most notably Oklahoma and Indiana State, were, by most metrics, better choices. But the ACC is THE big basketball brand and only having four teams in would look disastrous. Fully deserved, mind you. But still disastrous. Luckily, I don’t care as much as I do with college football but these tournament committees are fucking terrible in every sport.
Let’s get to the root of this post: the next mock draft. I know…two mock drafts before the end of March? Haven’t done that in quite a while. And, of course, quite a bit changed thanks to the Kreepy Kombine and scouts changing their minds as much as they change their underwear (so about once every four days). Here’s the newest mock draft, now expanded to two rounds for your pleasure.
First Round
1
Chicago
Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2
Washington
Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3
New England
Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4
Arizona
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5
LA Chargers
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
6
NY Giants
Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7
Tennessee
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8
Atlanta
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9
Chicago
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10
NY Jets
Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11
Minnesota
Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12
Denver
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
13
Las Vegas
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
14
New Orleans
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
15
Indianapolis
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16
Seattle
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
17
Jacksonville
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
18
Cincinnati
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19
LA Rams
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
20
Pittsburgh
Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21
Miami
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
22
Philadelphia
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
23
Houston
Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
24
Dallas
Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
25
Green Bay
Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
26
Tampa Bay
J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
27
Arizona
Zach Frazier, OG (West Virginia)
28
Buffalo
Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
29
Detroit
Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
30
Baltimore
Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
31
San Francisco
Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
32
Kansas City
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
Second Round
33
Carolina
Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
34
New England
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
35
Arizona
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
36
Washington
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37
LA Chargers
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
38
Tennessee
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
39
NY Giants
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
40
Washington
Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
41
Green Bay
Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
42
Minnesota
Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
43
Atlanta
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
44
Las Vegas
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
45
New Orleans
Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
46
Indianapolis
Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47
NY Giants
T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
48
Jacksonville
Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
49
Cincinnati
Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
50
Philadelphia
Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
51
Pittsburgh
Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52
LA Rams
Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53
Philadelphia
Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
54
Cleveland
Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
55
Miami
Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
56
Dallas
Paul Patrick, OT (Houston)
57
Tampa Bay
Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
58
Green Bay
Javon Bullard, S (Georgia)
59
Houston
Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
60
Buffalo
T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
61
Detroit
Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62
Baltimore
Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
63
San Francisco
Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
64
Kansas City
Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
Are there some changes? Absolutely? Are they Earth-shattering? Not really. Although you can expect at least one of these current second-rounders to rocket up draft boards for reasons that are sometimes, well, unknown or make no sense. By this point teams should know what they see in a player. So unless that player does something negative, they shouldn’t go from a consensus low-second rounder to a mid-first round pick in a matter of a little over a month. But hey, what do I know.
Also, what is with the sudden J.J. McCarthy hype? It has that feel of some people wanting McCarthy to go higher so they are basically willing it to happen. Any team that would consider drafting McCarthy in the Top 10 is obviously fine with extreme risk. Not saying McCarthy won’t end up being good but his college career has shown nothing that says he will be a top-end starter.
OK so years ago (nine to be exact), I used part of a mock draft post to talk about sites I enjoy. And it was definitely also about helping my blog in a way since I was still pretty green at the time (two years in). Let’s look back and see if I still feel the same way about these sites.
Matt’s College Sports Media Blog – Along with Matt’s College Sports on TV is still the premier site for college football and college basketball TV scheduling news and notes. I think he still likes Formula One racing which is great if you like that. He’s also a Bills fan which is pretty damn awesome.
Phil Steele – Still the best college football preview magazine. There are other good ones out there but nothing comes close. And his site fills in the gaps. I am assuming many hardcore college football fans subscribe to his site to get a lot of great stats and gambling info. I tried it for a couple of years and it was almost overwhelming. Still…worth it just to peruse all the free stuff he does put up, which is a lot.
A Rouge Point – This site does not exist anymore. Actually, it ceased to exist not even a year after I published this original post. It’s too bad since it was a great look at sports media coverage in Canada and posted NFL and NHL schedules for Canadian viewers.
Deadspin – Speaking of sites that are no longer around, this site might as well be. At one point it was one of the great sports sites on the net. It wasn’t long after I made the original post that things started to go downhill. A site that used to be brash and willing to take on all comers became a bunch of writers who thought they were the moral compass of a good portion of the Internet (especially sports fans). Even their best writers became insufferable. Then they all got fired/walked out in late 2019 when a company told them to stick to sports which made the site even worse. Now, it looks like they have been bought out, the staff was fired (again) and they look to be getting into the sports gambling industry. Ugh.
Awful Announcing – A site that used to absolutely skewer announcers (and sometimes athletes and sports organizations in general) has gone away from their bread and butter. They still throw up the occasional great article but aren’t as good as they were in their heyday.
LSUfootball.net – The first site I came upon when figuring out the sheer amount of games available for college football viewing…in the United States. Still a very informative site.
Alright another mock draft and post in the books. I assume most of you have March Madness brackets going. Chances of me going perfect ended at the end of the first game and I’ve already lost one of my Final Four picks. Good times. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!
Do I have time to do this? No. So why am I doing it? I honestly don’t know. I think I just feel I should put a bit more into the offseason portion of my blog. I mean it is half the year and there have been times I have gone dark for like a month. What will people read? The newspaper? Get the fuck outta here.
Honestly, I feel that even though this blog will turn 11 in a few months, I haven’t tried enough to take it to the next level, so to speak. Maybe not more posts but better posts. More informative stuff. It almost feels like this may be a make-or-break twelve months for me. With all the shit I have to do to get my career to the next step, it means there will be less and less time to do stuff I enjoy, like this blog. I always have to remind myself why I started this in the first place: to organize my own college football viewing. It allowed me to watch more college football than ever before and be efficient with it as well, while still making time for my kids. Then again, I ended up separated four months after the blog started so…..yeah.
So let’s just get on with the first mock draft of who knows how many leading up to the draft and hey how about that, look who’s going first overall.
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
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
6
NY Giants
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
7
Tennessee
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8
Atlanta
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9
Chicago
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10
NY Jets
Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11
Minnesota
Dallas Turner, OLB (Alabama)
12
Denver
Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
13
Las Vegas
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
14
New Orleans
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
15
Indianapolis
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16
Seattle
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
17
Jacksonville
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
18
Cincinnati
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
19
LA Rams
Kamren Kitchens, S (Miami)
20
Pittsburgh
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
21
Miami
Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
22
Philadelphia
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23
Houston
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
24
Dallas
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
25
Green Bay
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26
Tampa Bay
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
27
Arizona
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
28
Buffalo
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
29
Detroit
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
30
Baltimore
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
31
San Francisco
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32
Kansas City
Tallies Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
I am firmly in the camp that says that the Bears will trade Justin Fields. Whether it’s before the draft, during the draft, or after the draft, I don’t know. I just can’t see them passing up on Williams when they could get him AND a really good receiver for their first two picks. On top of that, they could get more picks that will help them later in the draft or in the following year’s event. Not quite a win-win but damn near close. The Commanders and Patriots also need quarterbacks desperately so they will be watching what the Bears do very closely…and possibly even calling them to inquire about how much it would take to trade for that top pick of theirs. Other interesting notes from this first kick at the can:
The first team that doesn’t need a quarterback is the Cardinals and they are very much hoping the Bears take Caleb Williams since it will mean that Marvin Harrison Jr. will fall into their lap. Pairing him with Kyler Murray could be quite something for a moribund Cards’ offense.
The Chargers need almost everything that isn’t the quarterback position. If I am them, I nab Bowers, pick another receiver up later on, and bulk up the offense. Win games in true Big XII fashion this coming season. It may be their only hope at getting close to a playoff spot.
Any potential steals here? Not really but the Saints nabbing Latham at #14 would be good value as would the Eagles picking up Jared Verse at #22.
Will I do more mock drafts? Of course. When? I have no clue.
Now let’s look at the changes coming to conferences and broadcast networks in the Fall. There really is only one major change but it does have a domino effect. The SEC is now fully on ABC/ESPN/SEC Network/ESPN2/ESPNU (if they absolutely have to be) and ESPN+ because they are contractually obligated to be once a season (at least that’s the way the previous SEC contract played out). With the SEC on ABC, they will easily get the majority of the Saturday night games. Not all, but with 14 weeks worth of games, the SEC will get no less than ten of those.
So that domino effect…SEC had every evening ESPN game last year. I can’t see that being the case since that would compete directly with the game on ABC. So they should get a lot less of those and they should get filled with the ACC and Big XII. The American might end up actually getting more games on ESPN with this new arrangement which seems crazy but with the ACC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII getting hurt by this from a Disney/ESPN perspective, the American Conference is ready to pick up a few pieces here and there.
The Big XII won’t cry about this though. For everything they will end up losing from ESPN/ABC, they will gain more than that quite possibly from the FOX side of things. Sure, the Big Ten will get many of the Big Noon Kickoff games. But beyond that? Remember, the Big Ten has a game a week on CBS, a game a week on NBC and eight games on Peacock. Also, you might see a couple of late night Big Ten affairs on the Big Ten Network. So there will be plenty of spots on FOX and FOX Sports One for the Big XII to fill in since there is no more Pac-12. The other conference that wins here? The Mountain West. They should get a lot more FS1 games with how things are shaking out.
So even though the SEC and Big Ten will start to dominate the landscape of college football, we might get more chances than ever to watch other conferences. Now if they can just figure out how to get FS1 games up here legally and Canadians won’t have any reason to complain about access to CFB games in the future ever again (other than the one Notre Dame game a season on Peacock and weird stuff like the Hawaii Tests).
Alright more posts to come but no football for over a month. The UFL starts in late March and I’m…honestly not that excited about it but it’s football so I am sure will watch some at some point since it’s football and I love football. Better than watching the news, right? Have a good weekend everyone!
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!
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:
#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!
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!
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:
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!
The bowl games have commenced. I did horrible with my first day picks. Haven’t done a whole lot better since then. But never mind that because it’s time for me the fix the postseason….well, the current version at least.
The current postseason setup is plagued with issues but the idea that players can hop into the transfer portal BEFORE the bowl games are over is absurd. Honestly, same with coaches. There are almost needs to be a moratorium on moves that starts the day after conference championship weekend ends and finishes the day after the national championship. Otherwise it becomes the quasi-shitshow we have now.
This is now the ninth time I have done this exercise. Nine. I am not linking the previous eight but they shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Like the fact that I am sure most of these posts were done sometime in December. Should make your search a bit easier.
We begin with the opening ceremonies, so to speak: the axing of bowl games. That’s right, some bowl games just cannot exist in my version of Bowl Season. ESPN Events can fuck off if they have a problem with this. So the following bowl games will cease to exist:
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Bahamas Bowl
Cure Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl
Frisco Bowl
Boca Raton Bowl
Gasparilla Bowl
Camellia Bowl
Arizona Bowl
I’m sure some will bristle at the Cure Bowl because it’s a charity endeavour. Want a solution? Make more bowls like this. Have a portion of ticket revenue go to a charity of their choice. See how easy that was? Do I have to come up with all the answers? It sure feels like it.
Also, with the restrictions I have on who qualifies for the bowl games in my scenario, these bowls had to go. I get it: less football usually sucks. But the idea is to give as many of these games a full national audience as much as possible. That’s the whole point. Some of these teams just don’t get these kinds of audiences and bowl season is their one shot to do so. So let’s give it to them!
Another thing: pre-Christmas daytime starts. Those are gone. They are stupid. So don’t do them. There’s no reason for them. I think the only game that had to be played during the day was the Bahamas Bowl and, well, go back and look at the list.
Let’s bring back more games on over-the-air networks. So I am planning, as per usual, to take games off of ESPN and disperse them to ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. No I am not putting any on the CW although I was tempted to move the Hawaii Bowl to 11:59 PM and put it on Spectrum Sports and have a bowl season Hawaii Test.
The amount of bowl tie-ins drops for an obvious reason. I am looking forward with this so I figured I might as well not include the Pac-12 and put teams in the conferences they will be in next season. So there are plenty of at-large spots available. The other incentive I always use is back: each Group of Five champion gets to face a Power Five team in a bowl game. There is a bit of a change this year. With the Pac-12 no longer in this exercise, the Mountain West doesn’t have a partner in this, so to speak. So they aren’t slotted in for one of these games. Because of this, if the Mountain West champion is the top Group of Five team, they will just take their spot in the playoffs and that’s that. If they aren’t, then that team will replace the conference that did have the top Group of Five team in their bowl game. So, in essence, each G-5 champ still has their shot against a P-5 team, with a twist.
How do you qualify for the Bossman Bowl System? 7 wins. Those teams that qualify will be placed first and then, AND ONLY THEN, will any 6-win teams be put into bowl slots.
And finally let’s look at Selection Sunday: an abomination that I am sure ESPN is proud of but they shouldn’t be because it’s a fucking garbage show with their garbage takes. Complete crap. Let’s spice it up, shall we?
Noon-12:05 – Introduction of hosts and panel
12:05-12:30 – CFP byes announced with analysis
12:25-1:15 – First round playoff matchups announced with analysis
1:15-2:00 – Tie-ins filled with short analysis
2:00-3:30 – It’s selection time! The bowl games are selected in random order (draw would have been determined in the morning if not late the night before). At-large selections are shown every few minutes. Analysis follows every pick and new bowl game matchup is shown if both bowl slots are filled.
3:30-4:00 – Final analysis and thoughts
Much better. Hell, even do the live look-ins like they do at March Madness. They did it this year and there was some interesting reaction shots. Florida State’s was heartbreaking, Liberty’s was nice to see and Michigan’s was hilarious. Drama. ESPN is starting to get it but the stuff they manufacture is mostly crap. If it wasn’t for Booger McFarland squaring off with Joey Galloway that entire show would have been unwatchable.
Next year, we get the 12-team playoff. It took years but everyone realized four wasn’t the answer. Probably should have gone right to six or stayed at two. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20. The top four will be the conference champions so I have taken some leeway by taking the top ranked team in what the conferences will look like next year. The Group of Five gets their top team in and that team will usually end up being the #12 seed although there have been times where they wouldn’t have been like when Cincinnati made the 4-team playoff a few years back. So here is what the Top 12 would look like, with the upcoming criteria and teams in their new conferences:
Michigan (Big Ten champ)
Texas (SEC champ)
Florida State (ACC champ)
Arizona (Big XII champ)
Washington (Big Ten)
Alabama (SEC)
Georgia (SEC)
Ohio State (Big Ten)
Oregon (Big Ten)
Missouri (SEC)
Penn State (Big Ten)
Liberty (Conference USA)
See how much things change? Florida State AND Arizona get byes. Arizona. A team that didn’t even make the New Year’s Six this time around. It also means Ole Miss gets booted from a possible national championship spot. I’m already not liking the new system. I’m sure with the new conference alignment, we won’t see this kind of disparity from the Big Ten/SEC and the ACC/Big XII. But for this time around, this is what we’ve got.
Scheduling! It’s what I show on here. So this has to work or otherwise what have I learned the past decade? I am using this year’s dates but the setup will work in other years as well. The main thing is to use Saturdays as your playoff days. Or if that fails, New Year’s Day for one. This is how this will work. Here is what I see with this:
First Round Games – Saturday December 23rd (all times EST)
Missouri at Georgia (Noon, ESPN)
Penn State at Alabama (3:30, CBS)
Oregon at Ohio State (7:00, FOX)
Liberty at Washington (10:30, ESPN)
I’m sure Chris Petersen might be a bit miffed at the start time for the final game but using the entire Saturday is the right play here. No other bowl games will be on this day either so these four games will have full national attention until the NFL puts their games on this day because they couldn’t give two shits about anything else on TV.
Quarter-Finals – Saturday December 30th
Since college football wants to change so much then let’s change it. The New Year’s Day traditional games? That’s no more. Hey, college football started it, I’m just continuing with it. The top four teams would be slotted in to these bowl games at the start of Selection Sunday and The Committee would try their best (after eating copious amounts of Chinese food and drinking 290 coolers between the 13 of them) to put the teams in spots that are advantageous to them, not only in their location, but the home cities of the teams they may face.
Peach Bowl (Noon, FOX) – Michigan vs. Oregon/Ohio St. winner
Cotton Bowl (3:30, ABC) – Texas vs. Mizzou/UGA winner
Orange Bowl (7:00, NBC) – Florida State vs. Penn St./Bama winner
Fiesta Bowl (10:30, ESPN) – Arizona vs. Liberty/Washington winner
Again, the former Pac-12 teams seem stuck in the late night spot and this is fine by me and better damn well be fine with the powers that be.
Semi-Finals – Saturday January 6th
Again, stick to Saturdays.
Rose Bowl (5:00, ABC) – Peach Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner
I get that it’s almost a guarantee a West Coast team would come out of the Fiesta Bowl but if Michigan or Ohio State gets in, their fans travel well and to go to the Rose Bowl? They will fill their side of the stands no problem.
CFP National Championship – Saturday January 13th
We move the national championship back six days. This may mess with the NFL playoffs but that’s something that can be figured out. Hell, move the game to the 20th for all I care. Just keep it on Saturday night. And it will be, starting at 8:00 on ESPN.
Now on to the next part of our show, the tie-in portion. There are now nine less bowls as you remember. Very little overlap. Things look good. Now the teams need to be filled in. This is what the rest of the bowls will look like after all the tie-ins are dealt with and they will be dealt with. Not having official tie-ins and never even bothering with them. That shit bugs me.
DATE
TIME
BOWL
TIE-IN #1
TIE-IN #2
January 1st
7:00
Gator
SEC
ACC
January 1st
3:30
Citrus
SEC
Big Ten
January 1st
Noon
ReliaQuest
SEC
Big Ten
December 29th
8:30
Alamo
Big XII
at-large
December 29th
5:00
Music City
SEC
Big Ten
December 29th
2:30
Sun
Big XII
at-large
December 29th
Noon
Pop Tarts
ACC
at-large
December 28th
8:45
Texas
Big XII
at-large
December 28th
5:30
Duke’s Mayo
ACC
at-large
December 28th
2:15
Pinstripe
Big Ten
ACC
December 28th
11:00 AM
Fenway
AAC
at-large
December 27th
8:00
Holiday
at-large
at-large
December 27th
4:30
First Responder
Big XII
C-USA
December 27th
1:00
Military
ACC
AAC
December 26th
9:00
Guaranteed Rate
at-large
at-large
December 26th
5:30
Liberty
SEC
Sun Belt
December 26th
2:00
Independence
Sun Belt
at-large
December 24th
10:30
Hawaii
MWC
at-large
December 22nd
8:30
Idaho Potato
MWC
MAC
December 20th
8:30
Armed Forces
AAC
at-large
December 19th
8:00
Birmingham
C-USA
at-large
December 16th
10:30
Las Vegas
at-large
at-large
December 16th
8:00
LA
at-large
at-large
December 16th
5:30
New Mexico
at-large
at-large
December 16th
2:15
New Orleans
Sun Belt
at-large
December 16th
11:00 AM
Quick Lane
Big Ten
MAC
Yeah that’s a lot of at-large bids. Good. This is what makes this way of doing things that much more interesting. OK, let’s fill in those tie-ins. Remember, all teams in their new conferences (I hope I am not so confused with this next year).
DATE
TIME
NETWORK
BOWL
TEAM #1
TEAM #2
January 1st
7:00
CBS
Gator
Ole Miss
Louisville
January 1st
3:30
ABC
Citrus
Oklahoma
Iowa
January 1st
Noon
ABC
ReliaQuest
LSU
USC
December 29th
8:30
FOX
Alamo
Oklahoma State
at-large
December 29th
5:00
ESPN
Music City
Tennessee
UCLA
December 29th
2:30
CBS
Sun
Kansas State
at-large
December 29th
Noon
ESPN
Pop Tarts
NC State
at-large
December 28th
8:45
ESPN
Texas
Utah
at-large
December 28th
5:30
ESPN
Duke’s Mayo
Clemson
at-large
December 28th
2:15
ESPN
Pinstripe
Maryland
North Carolina
December 28th
11:00 AM
ESPN
Fenway
Tulane
at-large
December 27th
8:00
FOX
Holiday
at-large
at-large
December 27th
4:30
ESPN
First Responder
Kansas
Boise State
December 27th
1:00
ESPN
Military
Miami
SMU
December 26th
9:00
ESPN
Guaranteed Rate
at-large
at-large
December 26th
5:30
ESPN
Liberty
Kentucky
Troy
December 26th
2:00
ESPN
Independence
James Madison
at-large
December 24th
10:30
ESPN
Hawaii
UNLV
at-large
December 22nd
8:30
ESPN
Idaho Potato
Air Force
Toledo
December 20th
8:30
ESPN
Armed Forces
Memphis
at-large
December 19th
8:00
ESPN
Birmingham
New Mexico State
at-large
December 16th
10:30
ESPN
Las Vegas
at-large
at-large
December 16th
8:00
ABC
LA
at-large
at-large
December 16th
5:30
ESPN
New Mexico
at-large
at-large
December 16th
2:15
ESPN
New Orleans
Appalachian State
at-large
December 16th
11:00 AM
NBC
Quick Lane
Wisconsin
Miami-OH
It’s a bit confusing with the new Big Ten and SEC teams but we have to get used to it soon anyway. Might as well do it now.
The G-5 conference champions get the opportunities they deserve:
SMU (the AAC champ) goes to the Military Bowl to face Miami
Troy (Sun Belt champ) plays Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl, a step-up from the champ usually going to the New Orleans or Camellia Bowls
The Quick Lane Bowl gets MAC champ Miami-OH and they end up paired up with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Finally, with Liberty in the playoff, Boise State, the Mountain West champ, replaces them in the First Responder Bowl.
I think setting the qualification at 7 wins works well. There are 17 at-large teams remaining. This number includes Notre Dame. I don’t care about their current setup with the ACC bowl tie-ins. It’s dumb. They are an Independent. They can act like one. Same with Oregon State now. Interestingly, we have 21 at-large spots. So four more teams will get in. Four teams who had six wins during the season. Under my regime, the bowls can pick ANY six win team once the seven-win teams are all slotted. Makes things way more interesting and keeps many teams with their eyes glued to the television to see if they get in or not. So let’s start the random draw. I did this and it was random and this is how it turned out:
Duke’s Mayo – Notre Dame
Holiday – Oregon State
Pop Tarts – Coastal Carolina
Independence – West Virginia
Texas – Texas A&M
New Mexico – UTSA
Hawaii – Iowa State
Sun – Texas State
Las Vegas – Fresno State
Fenway – Duke
Alamo – Jacksonville State
LA – San Jose State
Armed Forces – Wyoming
Las Vegas – Northwestern
LA – Ohio
New Orleans – WKU
Holiday – Bowling Green
Man, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl got fucked here. Or did they? They get two selections from the six-win pool while the Birmingham and New Mexico Bowls get one each. Who will they choose?????
Birmingham – Auburn
Guaranteed Rate – Texas Tech
New Mexico – California
Guaranteed Rate – Virginia Tech
OK well at least the Guaranteed Rate Bowl gets two fanbases who will travel. So after the fun-time selection process, this is what the new bowl schedule will look like (other than the playoffs):
DATE
TIME
NETWORK
BOWL
TEAM #1
TEAM #2
January 1st
7:00
CBS
Gator
Ole Miss
Louisville
January 1st
3:30
ABC
Citrus
Oklahoma
Iowa
January 1st
Noon
ABC
ReliaQuest
LSU
USC
December 29th
8:30
FOX
Alamo
Oklahoma State
Jacksonville State
December 29th
5:00
ESPN
Music City
Tennessee
UCLA
December 29th
2:30
CBS
Sun
Kansas State
Texas State
December 29th
Noon
ESPN
Pop Tarts
NC State
Coastal Carolina
December 28th
8:45
ESPN
Texas
Utah
Texas A&M
December 28th
5:30
ESPN
Duke’s Mayo
Clemson
Notre Dame
December 28th
2:15
ESPN
Pinstripe
Maryland
North Carolina
December 28th
11:00 AM
ESPN
Fenway
Tulane
Duke
December 27th
8:00
FOX
Holiday
Oregon State
Bowling Green
December 27th
4:30
ESPN
First Responder
Kansas
Boise State
December 27th
1:00
ESPN
Military
Miami
SMU
December 26th
9:00
ESPN
Guaranteed Rate
Texas Tech
Virginia Tech
December 26th
5:30
ESPN
Liberty
Kentucky
Troy
December 26th
2:00
ESPN
Independence
James Madison
West Virginia
December 24th
10:30
ESPN
Hawaii
UNLV
Iowa State
December 22nd
8:30
ESPN
Idaho Potato
Air Force
Toledo
December 20th
8:30
ESPN
Armed Forces
Memphis
Wyoming
December 19th
8:00
ESPN
Birmingham
New Mexico State
Auburn
December 16th
10:30
ESPN
Las Vegas
Fresno State
Northwestern
December 16th
8:00
ABC
LA
San Jose State
Ohio
December 16th
5:30
ESPN
New Mexico
UTSA
California
December 16th
2:15
ESPN
New Orleans
Appalachian State
WKU
December 16th
11:00 AM
NBC
Quick Lane
Wisconsin
Miami-OH
A few notes here:
Auburn has to wonder why the college football Gods hate them. Another game with New Mexico State?
Taking Notre Dame out of the ACC group when it comes to tie-ins means they can now face an ACC team in a bowl game. ND-Clemson? Yes, please.
A few more P5 vs. G5 matches materialize because of the way the bowls are selected. James Madison gets to play West Virginia while RichRod’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks face off against Captain Mullet himself, Mike Gundy and his Oklahoma State squad.
OK look are all the matchups better here? No. That’s not really the point though. The point is to create interesting matchups that people might want to watch and to reward teams for their seasons. The hope here is that maybe a few more players will choose to play these games rather than opt out and get ready for the draft. I don’t blame them but it would be nice to see full rosters face off against each other. I think the bigger picutre has to be that the transfer portal shouldn’t open until after the bowl games are over but that’s a different conversation.
Alright, that was….well, fun may be a stretch but it was interesting to do as usual. I hope you enjoyed reading it and have a great weekend and a Merry Christmas!
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!
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!
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:
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):
#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).
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.
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.
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.
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!