It’s the Final Mock Draft!

Posted on April 25, 2024 by guelphbossman

…..the final Mock Draft!

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

First Round

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

Second Round

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

Third Round

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s time for another SUPER Wild Card Weekend

Posted on January 12, 2024 by guelphbossman

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

Saturday

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

Sunday

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

Monday

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

Juuuuuuuuuuuuust a Few Wild Card Notes

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

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

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

Wild Card Round

Cleveland def. Houston

Kansas City def. Miami

Buffalo def. Pittsburgh

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

Detroit def. LA Rams

Philadelphia def. Tampa Bay

Divisional Playoffs

Baltimore def. Cleveland

Buffalo def. Kansas City

San Francisco def. Green Bay

Detroit def. Philadelphia

Conference Championships

Baltimore def. Buffalo

San Francisco def. Detroit

Super Bowl LVIII

San Francisco def. Baltimore

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

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

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

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!

What a dreadful existence – Week 16 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on December 21, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

American Networks


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

Canadian Networks

Primetime & Saturday & Monday (Christmas Day!) Games

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

Christmas-y Type Notes

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

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

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

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

And behold, your list of eliminated teams:

Carolina
New England
Arizona
Washington
NY Jets
Tennessee

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

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

First-Round Bye and Home-Field Advantage

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

Division Title

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

Playoff Berth

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

Elimination

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

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

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

The Super Bowl where? And the Week 7 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on October 19, 2023 by guelphbossman

What are we looking at here? Why, it’s Wembley Stadium, one of two London-area stadiums that the NFL uses for their games over there, the other being Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Why am I showing you a picture of this stadium (which really does look like a very nice stadium to tell you the truth)? It’s because the Commish, Roger Goodell (who recently signed an extension through 2027 which I am sure people cheered and had parties for) stated that at some point in the future he thinks the Super Bowl might come to London.

Excuse me? London? As in England? He was totally serious, by the way. He fucking loves London. Wants a team there desperately and I will find a way to do so before he is done his time as commissioner.

Look, do I really care where the Super Bowl is? Not really. I will never be able to afford to go to it. Ever. Hell, it’s tough enough to go to a single game. So I always watch at home or at a friend’s house or once at a bar which honestly kind of sucked. The thing is though, the Super Bowl, for the past God-knows how many years (OK it’s 32), has started between 6:25 and 6:40 every year. If the game is in London, that would be a no go. It would start no later than 3:30 in the afternoon on the East Coast. Can you imagine West Coast fans starting their Super Bowl parties at just after Noon? That to me would be the one thing I wouldn’t like about it. And I can’t see many people in North America liking it either.

What does this all mean? Goodell will probably eventually get his wish but he may not be around to see it. He’s got regular season games in London and Germany now. I am sure one or two more countries will be added shortly. Once half the weeks have a Europe game, talks will start about expansion there. It will happen, folks. Just a matter of time. THEN, I see the Super Bowl in London talks to heat up and not before there are expansion teams there (although that may just be my opinion).

Alright, enough of that gobshite, let’s get to what you came for, the NFL schedule (pronounced shed-jew-ull) for the week.

American Networks


Buffalo at New England	1:00	All affiliates (except Cleveland)
Cleveland at Indianapolis	1:00	Cleveland
Detroit at Baltimore	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
Arizona at Seattle	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Pittsburgh at LA Rams	4:05		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Chargers at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates (except Minneapolis)
Green Bay at Denver	4:25	Minneapolis

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games

Jacksonville at New Orleans	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/5
Miami at Philadelphia	8;15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
San Francisco at Minnesota	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/5/+

A set of American-Style Football Notes

No games in jolly old England this weekend. Those are done for the season. Such a shame (not really).
Games not being shown on the telly in Canada unless you receive that lovely fellow Scott Hanson’s rousing football highlights show:
- Las Vegas at Chicago
- Atlanta at Tampa Bay
After last week’s mind-blowingly disgusting matchup between the New York Football Giants and the Bills of Buffalo, we are gifted a welcome matchup. Two of the best teams in the land will face off as the Eagles host the Dolphins in what should be a smashing match.
The Monday Night Football game, on the other hand, might not be a particularly close affair. Even with the 49ers loss to the Cleveland Browns last week, they still should be heavy favourites when they travel to Minneapolis to tangle with the Vikings. Now watch it be a great game to end the football week.
Is it just me or has CBS done quite a few games where over 90% of the affiliates are showing one game over the other(s)?

By the way, can NFL Twitter/X stop talking about that one crazy Chargers fan from the Monday night game? Like who gives a shit? People calling her a plant and a fake. Many are taking this all way too seriously. The fact that the Chargers even have a fan that is that intense should have been the main story since I don’t think they’ve had a true home field advantage since they left San Diego.

Alright, there you go. Hopefully it’s better than this past week’s games since they were mostly awful. Might have been one of the worst weeks of NFL football I have seen in a long time. Enjoy the games everyone!

What in the fuck is wrong with the Chicago Bears? The Week 5 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on October 5, 2023 by guelphbossman

Good lord, the Chicago Bears are awful. I would have said the Denver Broncos, they of the 70-20 boatracing at the hands of the Dolphins, would be worse but the Broncos just came back to beat the Bears this past Sunday. So yeah, the Bears are it.

What’s wrong in Chicago? Well, Matt Eberflus is already proving to be a bit of a disaster of a head coach. Not Nathaniel Hackett bad but pretty bad. Their offensive line is awful and their defensive line may be worse. Justin Fields might not be the guy but who knows because he gets beaten up damn near every game. Trading Roquan Smith last year is looking worse and worse every week. I don’t think there’s a position on the team that might rate higher than middle of the league.

And to top it off, the Bears are hell-bent on building a new stadium outside the city. It already feels like they are alienating fans with this decision and, of course, their poor performance on the field. Nothing is going right for this team.

However, if the season ended right now, the Bears would have the #1 pick and the #2 pick in the NFL Draft thanks to the trade this past draft that allowed the Panthers to draft Bryce Young in the first overall spot. So, maybe there are good things on the horizon? Probably not. It is the Bears after all.

OK let’s get to this week’s NFL schedule that starts off with…ugh….the Bears.

American Networks


Baltimore at Pittsburgh	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Rochester
New Orleans at New England	1:00	Buffalo, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Carolina at Detroit	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Giants at Miami	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Presque Isle
Philadelphia at LA Rams	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Boston
Kansas City at Minnesota	4:25	All affiliates (except Burlington)
NY Jets at Denver	4:25	Burlington

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games (and Morning Game)

Chicago at Washington	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/+
Jacksonville vs. Buffalo (in London)	9:30 AM, NFL Network, FOX Buffalo, TSN4
Dallas at San Francisco	8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN+
Green Bay at Las Vegas	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/5/+

Notes on this there Sked

Games not being shown here in Canada (unless you have the Scott Hanson Channel):
- Houston at Atlanta
- Cincinnati at Arizona
Only two games! This is very good. It should be like this every week. Now there are four teams on byes this week so that certainly helps but still, the networks can figure this out (the Canadian ones at least).
With the CFL having Saturday playoff games this year, it looks like the NFL could go all-in with TSN starting quite soon. Again, there will always be other things TSN must show but I could see three, if not four, TSN channels showing games in November and December. Hell, maybe they go crazy and put on two different games, plus another game on TSN+! Nah, they’ll never do that.
So it looks like I have to wake up Sunday morning to watch the Bills. That’s just great.
Compare the Sunday nighter which should get bonkers ratings to the Thursday and Monday nighters. Ugh. I know it’s a bit of a crapshoot with the TNF and MNF schedules but man, lately they’ve struck out more than they’ve hit on the games chosen.
The ManningCast is on TSN+ on Monday night, not any of the regular TSN channels. Which I’m sure won’t piss off anyone. Nope. No way.

UPDATE: The London game has been moved from TSN1 to TSN4.

And that’s it. As is usual, the NFL has had their mix of great and not-so-great games. And sometimes those change depending on if you are a die-hard fan of one team. If you are a die-hard fan of more than one team…look, I’m not going to judge but that’s fucking weird and reeks of FOMO. Anyway, 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!

Your 2022-23 NFL SUPER Wild-Card Weekend Schedule and some updated predictions from yours truly

Posted on January 14, 2023 by guelphbossman

Time for the second season! I see we have some new blood here as we always do come playoff time. So let’s welcome the Dolphins, Ravens, Jaguars, Chargers, Giants, Vikings and Seahawks back to the adult table. That’s a 50% turnover. Can’t say the NFL doesn’t have a bit of parity in their ranks. Let’s get to the schedule!

Saturday

Seattle at San Francisco	4:30	FOX, CTV, TSN1/3
LA Chargers at Jacksonville	8:15	NBC, CTV, TSN1/3

Sunday

Miami at Buffalo	1:00	CBS, CTV, TSN4/5
NY Giants at Minnesota	4:30	FOX, CTV, TSN4
Baltimore at Cincinnati	8:00	NBC, CTV, TSN4

Monday

Dallas at Tampa Bay

8:00

ABC, CTV, TSN2/4

Some Wild (Card) Notes

The Monday Night matchup will have the ManningCast! It will air on TSN2.
I am honestly surprised at how the games were given out for the weekend. Usually, the marquee matchups would end up on Saturday and Sunday night. I have a feeling that ABC/ESPN was given a make-good for what happened during the final Monday Night broadcast. There is also the possibility that this is part of their contract that they get first choice of Wild-Card games but I can’t find anywhere that says that (nor do I believe that the NFL would put their potential highest-rated matchup on Monday night).
CTV gets all six games, just like last year. I think that’s the way it will be going forward. TSN has every game and they are on various stations based on availability.

I don’t even want to look at my original playoff predictions. I had Buffalo winning it all. I also had them beating the Rams in the Super Bowl. Woof. Anyway, I have updated them so let’s see how I do this time around:

Wild-Card Round

Buffalo def. Miami

Cincinnati def. Baltimore

LA Chargers def. Jacksonville

San Francisco def. Seattle

Minnesota def. NY Giants

Dallas def. Tampa Bay

Divisional Playoffs

Kansas City def. LA Chargers

Buffalo def. Cincinnati

Philadelphia def. Dallas

Minnesota def. San Francisco

Conference Championships

Buffalo def. Kansas City

Philadelphia def. Minnesota

Super Bowl LVII

Buffalo def. Philadelphia

OK so I still think the Bills will win the title. The Eagles are really good but I have a feeling they are going to be winning a couple of close games just to get to the dance. Oh, and that Bills-Chiefs game, if it happens, will be in Atlanta, the NFL has confirmed. That could be….interesting.

Anyway, stay inside, out of the cold weather, and enjoy some NFL football.

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!

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!

Welp, he’s back (and the Week 13 NFL TV Schedule)

Posted on December 1, 2022 by guelphbossman

Deshaun Watson will play his first game of the season after serving an eleven-game suspension for violating the NFL’s vague personal conduct policy. He committed sexual assault on a LOT of massage therapists. Like a lot. He truly believes every massage leads to a happy ending. I’m sure if he had a male masseuse, he might grab the guy’s junk.

His first game back? In Houston against the Texans. Yeah, that wasn’t set up. Sure. My eyes are rolling while I’m saying that just so you know.

I can’t see him playing well for most of the rest of the season. I think he will have his flashes of brilliance but he has been off for so long that it’ll be a lot of rust to shake off. So any Browns fans out there (I actually know one!) who think they will run the table the rest of the way, think again. The playoffs are pretty much entirely out of your reach.

Alright time for the sked for this week.

American Networks


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

Canadian Networks

Primetime Games

Buffalo at New England	Thursday, 8:20, Amazon Prime, ABC Buffalo, FOX Boston, CTV2, TSN1/4/5
Indianapolis at Dallas	8:15, NBC, CTV2, TSN1/3/5
New Orleans at Tampa Bay	Monday, 8:15, TSN1/3

Notes and things and information and shit

Rumour has it that there will be quite a bit of flexing of games late this season. More than there ever has been in the past. We already see one for next weekend. The Chiefs-Broncos game has been flexed out of the Sunday Night Football spot in favour of Dolphins-Chargers. Good choice. Could they not have done that this week? Colts-Cowboys? Woof.
The CBS schedule is rather easy to figure out this week. Unless you get your affiliate out of Cleveland (which is the case for, I believe, like 15,000 people at most), you get the following doubleheader: the Jets traveling to Minnesota to face the Vikings followed by the Chiefs and the Bengals in an AFC Championship rematch. Two very good games. I’m still happy I have RedZone though because I am a sucker for watching a close game, even if it’s between two terrible teams. And speaking of RedZone…
Games not being shown in Canada (unless you have the almighty RedZone):
- Denver at Baltimore
- Pittsburgh at Atlanta
- Green Bay at Chicago
- LA Chargers at Las Vegas
That feels like a lot of games but it’s actually about on par with what we used to see all the time just a few years ago. It’s rare nowadays to see more than three games not being shown anywhere in Canada whereas, say five years ago, you’d see upwards of six in a week not being shown. And this was before I had RedZone or Sunday Ticket. I don’t know how I did it.
Also, when is the last time a Packers-Bears game hasn’t been shown anywhere in this country?
One note about the Monday nighter: it says TSN 1 and 3. TSN1 is the normal MNF broadcast and TSN3 has the return of the ManningCast.

Time for the updated playoff picture:

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

Look at the NFC East. That is incredible. Philly holds on to the #1 spot by a two-game margin over the Vikings. Meanwhile, the division’s other three teams are in the conference’s Wild Card spots. Will it stay this way the rest of the season? Doubtful, especially with a few games inside the division left for them. It’s still impressive that at this point of the season, all four teams are in playoff spots. And the AFC East is almost at that point with New England just a game behind Cincinnati and the Jets for the final Wild Card spot.

On the other end of the spectrum is the woeful NFC South. Tampa Bay leads at 5-6, a half-game ahead of the Falcons. I think they end up taking the division and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Bucs get to 10 wins. But as of right now it looks like a division wholly undeserving of any playoff spot, let alone a home date in the playoffs (I won’t get into that since I have said it countless times before and I don’t feel like getting into a rant about it).

I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the games!


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