Week 17 NFL Recap – Sponsored by Black Monday coming early

Wasn’t that fun seeing all those coaches and GMs fired this past week? And it isn’t even Black Monday (which is today) so we could be seeing more.  Let’s see what happened so far this season with coaches who are no longer with us:

• Joe Philbin and then perhaps Dan Campbell (Miami) – The Miami Dolphins have been an absolute mess this season. I thought they had the talent to overtake the Patriots in the AFC East. To be honest, they actually do except for one important position: Ryan Tannehill has been exposed as a mediocre quarterback which spells death to most teams that don’t have the early-2000’s Baltimore Ravens defense (looking at you Trent Dilfer). So they fired Philbin who had no control over the team, promoted Campbell who did only a little bit better and may end up being “relieved of his duties” as well. I love that term. Would be better if they used “shitcanned” instead but I understand the nature of not using that term.
• Mike Pettine (Cleveland) – Now who didn’t see this coming? If you think the Fins are a mess, I don’t know how to describe the Browns. They have been an awful franchise pretty much since they came back into the league. Their owner is an idiot. Their GMs have been brutal (and all been fired). And now another head coach comes through northern Ohio and can’t do anything to turn this team around. Until Jimmy Haslam is done with the team, I don’t think anyone can do anything of substance here.
• Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis) – This isn’t confirmed but it seems to be a foregone conclusion. The problem is it’s tough to know how good this team could have been had they not had their QB problems. We will never know but I am sure Pagano will get another NFL job sooner rather than later.
• Ken Whisenhunt (Tennessee) – This happened a couple months ago. Not that Whizz isn’t a good coach but he’s not the type of guy who can really elevate a team. Mike Mularkey will probably stay on only because the NFL is suing the Titans for something to do with the Titans’ ownership structure. This could become the story of the spring.
• Mike McCoy (San Diego) – This also isn’t confirmed and may not be. San Diego was so bad this season after being pretty good the season before. There have been an equal amount of stories out there saying he will be fired as there were that he will be retained.
• Chip Kelly (Philadelphia) – I don’t think the Eagles ever liked their hire of Chip. Which is insane. He did quite well considering some of the personnel he had. And that’s where the problem lie. Chip the GM was awful. Chip the coach was quite good. But Chip wants the dual role for some stupid reason. This is what may keep him out of the NFL for a while.
• Tom Coughlin (NY Giants) – OK old man just resign or retire or something. He has a full-blown case of Tortorella Syndrome. For you that don’t know what I am speaking of, it is has to do with John Tortorella. He coached the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup with a juggernaut of a lineup. Other than that one season he has been a mediocre coach at best. But he will continue to get jobs (or stay on a job longer than he should) because of that one championship. A championship allows you to write your own ticket. Coughlin has done well but it is clear he is not the guy to move forward with the Giants. Hell, their team is a mess as they have no depth and probably can’t even compete in the NFC East next season (how sad). Time for someone new to inject some life into the team.  UPDATE: Coughlin has just resigned.
• Jim Caldwell (Detroit) – I don’t believe Caldwell will be fired considering how the Lions finished their season 6-2 down the stretch. This is the Lions we are talking about though. So anything could happen.
• Sean Payton (New Orleans) – Payton is rumoured to be interested in the Giants head coaching job. So Coughlin would have to resign/retire and then Payton would have to either resign or already have been fired. So much to think about. There is a strong sense that Payton will be out as Saints coach but it will have to wait on a meeting he is planning to have today with Saints executives.
• Jeff Fisher (St. Louis) – Fisher was rumoured for a few college jobs but there never was real interest from Fisher. His time in St. Louis may be timed to the potential move to Los Angeles (kind of along the same lines as what Mike McCoy may experience with the Chargers).
• Jim Tomsula (San Francisco) – Tomsula was unceremoniously dumped just after the Niners win on Sunday. One of the worst coaching hires in recent memory is now just that: a memory. Even Jim Harbaugh threw some shade on the whole situation with his tweet that stated “Do not be deceived. You will reap what you sew.” Nice work Jim (the Harbaugh one not the Tomsula one). Jimmy T can now update his resume to get a job somewhere doing something…I don’t know what. Cleaning service perhaps?

Wow that was a long list. Isn’t it fun to poke fun at situations where people’s livelihoods are at stake?  The answer is yes.  Yes it is.

Now for the recap:

Rex Ryan’s Bills cost his former team, the Jets, a playoff spot. I do feel bad for Brandon Marshall and Ryan Fitzpatrick as both of them have never been to a playoff game.  Saying that, the Jets played awful.  They wouldn’t have been a threat in the playoffs anyway with that kind of play.  This opened the door for…

Pittsburgh’s win over the Browns puts them in the #6 spot and a game against Cincinnati. This is probably not what Cincy wanted although they would never say so.  The Steelers aren’t overly dangerous but this is the Bengals and the playoffs we are talking about.  They aren’t known for their playoff resume.

Denver somehow ended up at the top seed. Their defense is amazing and is carrying these team.  Old Man(ning) Peyton has got his starting job back (we think) filling for the relatively unlucky Brock Osweiler.

The Patriots had the top seed in hand and shit the bed against Miami. They are arguably the coldest playoff team going into the second season.

Luckily for us, Houston won their game and the AFC South. If they had lost we would have had to have delved into the wild world of insane tiebreakers.  Almost all the other things the Colts needed to have happen happened so it would have been some kind of wild if everything happened in their favour.

The Vikings capped off a great season by beating the Packers and clinching the NFC North. Their prize?  A home date with the Seahawks.  Luckily for them the Seahawks have been awful on the road in the playoffs.  The Packers loss sends them to Washington to face the surprisingly hot Redskins.  That could be a very interesting matchup.

The Titans loss to Indy has clinched the #1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft for Tennessee so they are now on the clock. And no, they won’t be picking a quarterback.

Alright here is the schedule for the Wild Card round of the playoffs:

Saturday
4:30	Kansas City at Houston	ABC/CTV
8:00	Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	CBS/CTV
Sunday
1:00	Seattle at Minnesota	NBC/CTV
4:30	Green Bay at Washington	FOX/TSN1/TSN4/TSN5

Interesting that NBC did not get the Saturday night game. So it will be Sunday Night Football on Sunday afternoon.  Alright then.  I will go over the games in more detail later in the week.

Week 14 NFL Schedule – Sponsored by Mike Pettine’s obvious brain damage

That’s Corporal Brain Damage to you!

OK what in the blue hell is wrong with Mike Pettine. Before this season he seemed like a rather smart man who had a wealth of football knowledge. It looked like he was a head coach just waiting for an opportunity to be a head coach. So now he gets that opportunity and if he hasn’t flushed it down the drain already, he is damn close. What a fucking shitshow it is in Cleveland. So he is telling everyone he didn’t realize how bad Johnny Bottle Service’s alcohol problem was? Is he fucking kidding? Or is he just stupid? Either way, I don’t get Pettine’s mindset here. First of all, he hates Manziel’s guts. Despite him downplaying it, it is pretty obvious. McCown? Davis? Seriously? Why not bring Bernie Kosar out of retirement while you’re at it? Secondly, he is wildly entertaining. Just give him a playbook (for the most part) that allows him to perform. Let’s not mistake him for Tim Tebow. Tebow was fun to watch but still hot garbage. Saw him play in person once and knew from that one performance that he was fairly lucky to have that one good season. Then again, Denver had no idea how to use him properly anyway. Finally, Johnny Last Call is a poor man’s Rob Gronkowski. Gronk is great because he parties but, for the most part, knows where to draw the line. He’s the NFL’s head frat boy. John Quarterback doesn’t know that a line exists and makes a fool out of himself on a near-weekly basis. So for the Browns organization, either help the guy out, set him up for success and see what you got or cut the guy. What they are doing is so Browns-like it is the epitome of Cleveland Browns thought processes.

Phew! That was a long rant………..after all that I am sure Cleveland will draft Paxton Lynch and destroy that kid too.

Here’s the schedule for this coming week:

Thursday
8:25	Minnesota at Arizona	NFL Network/SNP/SNW/SNO/SNE
Sunday
1:00	Washington at Chicago	FOX (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, Northern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, GTA, Peterborough, Kingston, Belleville)
1:00	Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	CBS (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, Eastern Canada)/TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5
1:00	San Francisco at Cleveland	No TV
1:00	Indianapolis at Jacksonville	No TV
1:00	Tennessee at NY Jets	CBS (Cornwall, Quebec)
1:00	Buffalo at Philadelphia	CBS (Golden Horseshoe, GTA, Peterborough, Kingston, Belleville)/CTV (all of Ontario)
1:00	Detroit at St. Louis	FOX (Western Ontario, K/W-Cambridge, Guelph, Ottawa-Gatineau)
1:00	New Orleans at Tampa Bay	No TV
1:00	San Diego at Kansas City	No TV
1:00	Atlanta at Carolina	FOX (Cornwall, Quebec, Eastern Canada)/CTV (Montreal, Atlantic)
1:00	Seattle at Baltimore	FOX (BC, Alberta)/CTV (Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg)
4:05	Oakland at Denver	CBS (BC, Alberta, Northern Ontario, Western Ontario, K/W-Cambridge, Guelph, Ottawa-Gatineau)/TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5
4:25	Dallas at Green Bay	FOX (all of Canada)/CTV (Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal)/CTV2 (Atlantic)
8:30	New England at Houston	NBC/TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5
Monday
8:30	NY Giants at Miami	TSN1/TSN3/TSN4

• OK I am kind of getting tired of the amount of games on in the early afternoon slot. 11 games on early this Sunday? That is so dumb. I hope that the two measly late games are basically over by halftime since the NFL STILL hasn’t learned their lesson from that happening multiple times earlier this season.
• Hey only four games not available in Canada (except for the exceptions…you know who you are). That’s not bad at all. It’s too bad though since San Francisco at Cleveland could be a trainwreck of epic proportions.
• Lesean McCoy won’t shake Chip Kelly’s hand? That’s nice. I guess you have to inject some drama into a game that many people would normally avoid. Problem is here the Bills are in the thick of the Wild-Card race and the Eagles are in the thick of the NFC East race. Yes, the NFL’s mid-card is completely insane this season.
• I hear that now there are all sorts of bidders for the Thursday Night football package. Just fabulous. I don’t care what they do. I still will only watch it in a half-ass manner, much like I do with Monday Night Football. They can put their top announce team on and I wouldn’t care.
• No crazy crossflex scheduling to confuse the masses. To be honest, most people don’t really notice. It’s not like they will look at the schedule and say “Wait…Cincinnati at Cleveland is on FOX? THAT’S TWO AFC TEAMS ON THE HOME OF THE NFC! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” and then they overdose on fried chicken. That doesn’t happen. As long as they can see their favourite team play (or just be able to watch football in general) then they’re fine. Which is why what I have said for months now should happen. Scrap the AFC-NFC Berlin Wall-like thing between CBS and FOX. It’s over. In ten years, most of those games will be on the Ocho anyway.

Some picks for this week

Haven’t done this in a while so might as well get back to it. I am wondering if I should get back into fantasy football next year. Maybe that’s just stemming from the fact I am re-watching previous seasons of The League right now. Anyway, here are some picks:

Chicago over Washington – Once you see all my picks, you will understand where I am going with this.

Cincinnati over Pittsburgh – The Bengals, Patriots, and Broncos are going to run away with the top three spots. So at least the Wild-Card battle will be exciting.

Buffalo over Philadelphia – Shady’s gonna go off on the Eagles…yet the Bills will still win by only a point or two.

Carolina over Atlanta – So now I think Carolina is going to do what I figured New England was going to do (before they lost two in a row)…get to 15-0 and then inexplicably lose to a fairly mediocre Tampa Bay team on the final day of the season. And Mercury Morris will basically jizz all over himself.

Green Bay huge over Dallas – I think the Packers have had enough with looking below-average.

Miami over NY Giants – Can’t they just fire Tom Coughlin in the middle of the third quarter?

All this would leave the NFC East like this:

Washington 5-8

Philadelphia 5-8

NY Giants 5-8

Dallas 4-9

Bahahahahahaha. What an awful division. God I hope this happens. It would make my weekend just to see that.

Playoff Picture

At this point, only one team has clinched anything and that’s the Carolina Panthers who have clinched the NFC South in easy fashion. Now the Week 14 clinching scenarios:

First-round bye

Carolina clinches a first-round bye with a win OR Minnesota and Green Bay losses.

Division title

Cincinnati clinches the AFC North with a win.

Denver clinches the AFC West with a win and a Kansas City loss.

New England clinches the AFC East with a win and a NY Jets loss (there are other issues with strength of victory and shit like that but this is the only important scenario to remember).

Arizona clinches the NFC West with a win and a Seattle loss.

Playoff berth

Cincinnati clinches a playoff berth with a NY Jets loss OR a Kansas City loss.

Denver clinches a playoff berth with a win and a NY Jets loss OR a win and a Pittsburgh loss.

New England clinches a playoff berth with a win OR a NY Jets loss OR a Pittsburgh loss.

Arizona clinches a playoff berth with a win OR a Tampa Bay loss and an Atlanta loss OR a Tampa Bay loss and a Green Bay win.

So five of the eight divisions could be clinched by Sunday night. I don’t know if the NFL would like this or not.

Alright tonight we have a pretty good Thursday night game unopposed. No college football and let’s be honest, NHL and NBA regular season games aren’t touching the ratings of the NFL game. Tomorrow night, there’s FCS action on the specialty pack. Saturday, more FCS and the Army-Navy game (and the Heisman trophy ceremony). And then all this fun NFL on Sunday. Enjoy!

Week 12 Short NFL Recap – Sponsored by the Cleveland Browns: Finding New Ways of Losing since 1999

I don’t include the original Cleveland Browns since they were an average team that, every so often, did quite well. Not these Cleveland Browns though. Oh no. They find new ways to lose. Take last night’s game for example. Last play of the game. Browns line up for a 51-yard field goal attempt in a tie game. It’s a long field goal so if they miss it, at least they have overtime. Nope, not the Fighting Pettines. The field goal is blocked and returned for a touchdown for a Ravens win. Unreal. How can you be a Browns fan in this day and age? You’d have to drink a lot of alcohol to drown your sorrows week after week after week after week…

Alright some of the rest of the goings on from Week 12 of the NFL season of 2015:

Awwwwww, the Denver Broncos? Yes the Denver Broncos spoiled New England’s perfect season. Was it a well officiated game? Well…..you could debate that. In the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn’t matter since the Patriots, almost assuredly, will win the AFC East and get a first-round bye in the playoffs. Losing Gronk may be an issue but it sounds like it’s not as serious as what was originally thought. Also, it may be the end of Peyton Manning in Denver since Brock Osweiler has done quite well in his place.

Now that’s the Falcons we all know and love. I think some of us were fooled by the early season playing of the Atlanta Falcons. They stormed out of the gate. Many more thought “Hmmm, maybe they are a playoff contender.” Now we know that’s all crap. This team is no different than they were the past few years. Not very good. It doesn’t help that Carolina has been nothing short of awesome this year but still, the Falcons are coming back down to the Earth with a harder thud than has been seen in the NFL in a long time.

Wait a minute…there are TWO above-.500 teams in the AFC South? Well, well, well. Indianapolis and Houston have got out of their early-season funk and are playing some of the hottest football in the league. Now I have to amend my statement from earlier weeks saying we would have a 6-10 AFC South champ. Thanks guys. It still may end up at 8-8 though. Don’t count that possibility out.

Wait a minute…the Washington F’n Redskins are leading the NFC East? Yes, those Washington Redskins coached by the founder of the RGIII Hate Club, Jay Gruden. Somehow, Kirk Cousins has become a good QB. Somehow the rest of the offense has woke up. Somehow the defense has been pretty stout all year. Also, there’s the fact the rest of the NFC East is hot garbage but hey…I would love to see the Redskins in the playoffs since it goes against EVERYONE’s pre-season picks.

Wait a minute…the Chiefs won AGAIN? It is really starting to look like the Chiefs could be the team that waltzes into one of the AFC Wild Card spots. They are the only non-division leading team playing well in the AFC for the most part. Let’s look at the teams just below them:

• First of all, we have Pittsburgh, N.Y. Jets, and Houston all tied with KC for the wild-card spots. All three of those teams have been inconsistent although the Texans are coming on strong right now. Still think KC can beat at least two of those three.
• Just on the outside looking in we have Oakland, Baltimore, Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Miami. I cannot see any of these teams being in the playoffs. If so, it might be a travesty.

Back for another look at the playoff predictions. Here we go:

AFC		NFC
Division Champs		Division Champs
1	New England (East)	1	Carolina (South)
2	Cincinnati (North)	2	Arizona (West)
3	Denver (West)	3	Minnesota (North)
4	Indianapolis (South)	4	Washington (East)
Wild-Card Spots		Wild-Card Spots
5	Kansas City	5	Green Bay
6	Pittsburgh	6	Seattle

 

Only one change in division leaders. Washington seems to be heading towards an NFC East title. That may change by next Sunday night. As for the Wild-Card spots, KC and Seattle have worked their way into those spots. I already went over the gongshow that is the AFC Wild-Card race. The NFC race is a little clearer even with five weeks to go. The teams chasing the Packers and Seahawks (Atlanta, N.Y. Giants, Chicago, Tampa Bay) honestly aren’t on the same level as Green Bay and Seattle. So unless something big happens (injury to important player, big loss in a game that should have been won), those two teams should end up in. But it is the NFL so you never know. Wait, of course we do. For all the talk of parity, there are still about a dozen teams that have done sweet fuck all over the past decade.

For once, there is no football Tuesday and Wednesday. I am somewhat sad on that. Then again, I have a feeling I may find my house to be a bit cleaner over the next month and errands actually done since I basically ignored almost everything this past month. But it was football so it was good.

Next game will be Thursday night as the Packers try to rebound against the Lions.

Week 11 NFL TV Schedule – Sponsored by Mike Pettine Caving in to the pressure

This picture can probably be recycled throughout the rest of the Browns’ season.

He finally did it. He caved in to pressure from damn near everyone around him and named Johnny Manziel the starting QB for the rest of the season. I think this is a good idea. It comes down to the fact that you need to give the guy a string of games to see if he can hack it or not as a true starting quarterback. The only problem is that the Cleveland Browns suck so who knows if Johnny Football will get a true chance. It reminds me of when I saw Tim Tebow live. Everyone said just give him a chance. The problem was he was such a streaky quarterback. The game in Buffalo he played awful. I said he doesn’t even deserve to be a backup with that performance. Yet a few weeks later he played fairly well and threw that memorable overtime touchdown pass against Pittsburgh to win the Wild-Card game. Still, it’s probably for the best he is on the SEC Network and not playing Sundays.

Alright, on to the schedule:

Sunday
1:00	Indianapolis at Atlanta	No TV
1:00	St. Louis at Baltimore	No TV
1:00	Washington at Carolina	FOX (all of Canada)/CTV (Ontario, Montreal, Atlantic)
1:00	Denver at Chicago	CBS (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, Eastern Canada)/CTV (Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg)
1:00	Oakland at Detroit	CBS (Northern Ontario, Western Ontario, K/W-Cambridge, Guelph, Ottawa-Gatineau)
1:00	NY Jets at Houston	CBS (Golden Horseshoe, GTA, Peterborough, Belleville, Kingston, Cornwall, Quebec)/CTV2 (all of Canada)
1:00	Dallas at Miami	No TV
1:00	Tampa Bay at Philadelphia	No TV
4:05	Kansas City at San Diego	CTV (Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Ontario, Montreal, Atlantic)
4:25	Green Bay at Minnesota	FOX (all of Canada (except BC & Alberta))/CTV2 (all of Canada)
4:25	San Francisco at Seattle	FOX (BC, Alberta)/CTV (Vancouver, Alberta)
8:30	Cincinnati at Arizona	NBC/TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5*
Monday
8:30	Buffalo at New England	TSN1/TSN5

* – The Cincinnati-Arizona game will be joined in progress on TSN5 after the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS Playoff game concludes…so somewhere around halftime.

Um, is that the Dallas Cowboys not appearing on Canadian television for a second straight week? Again, I have nothing really against the Cowboys themselves (although the Greg Hardy thing rubs me the wrong way). It’s the football media’s infatuation with them. They have two fucking wins this season. They are awful. If they don’t win at least two more games the rest of the way, they may find themselves looking at a #1 overall pick at the next NFL Draft. So finally I am glad they are toning down putting the Cowboys on TV everywhere when they are terrible. Good teams should always show up more than bad teams. That’s why the Patriots, Packers, Broncos, Steelers…teams like that should be shown often because for the past few years they have been the best teams. Putting the Cowboys on all the time is akin to making sure the Rams are on Sunday Night Football…it makes no sense.

Other notes:

• 4 games won’t appear here in Canada unless you have Sunday Ticket or RedZone. Out of 11 that isn’t too bad but not that great. I usually only complain if they are not showing half of the games or more or if an important game between two relatively decent teams isn’t showing here. Otherwise that’s fine by me.
• More games than usual spanning almost the entire country this week. Washington-Carolina, Jets-Houston, and Green Bay-Minnesota all have some sort of nationwide range on one network (if not more). I am perplexed by CTV2 going all-in with the Jets and the Texans but what do I know.
• What I hate about FOX having the doubleheader is that we get Joe Buck telling us about 47 times a game that this is AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK! Fuck off Joe. We get that it’s an important game. But the Sunday Night Football game is usually pretty clearly the game of the week. You don’t see Jim Nantz doing that with CBS. Then again, Jim has to contend with Phil Simms (which is awful enough) and shitty Thursday Night Football games between two teams that are pretty bad where one has arguably the worst uniforms in football history.
• Be prepared. It’s going to be Carson Palmer, Carson Palmer, and more Carson Palmer with NBC’s lead-in to the Sunday Night game between Cincinnati and Arizona. I get that he was traded from Cincy to Arizona and it’s a relatively big deal but there has to be other stories as well.

If I had some money

Who am I kidding I would definitely gamble shitloads of money on football if I had shitloads of money to spend. I don’t so I can’t. Life’s not fair. Get used to it. Anyway, here are some picks for the week:

Minnesota over Green Bay – I think the Pack lose their fourth in a row here against the team who should end up winning the NFC North. Green Bay should end up with the Wild-Card but that might not appease their fans. Supposedly this is all Olivia Munn’s fault. Sure it is. A-a-ron getting pussy that most of us could only dream of is the real reason the ENTIRE FUCKING TEAM is playing poorly. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like if the Patriots lose three in a row.

New England over Buffalo – I do think the Bills will put a scare into the Pats but the Pats will prevail again. I am still sticking with New England going 15-0, heading to Miami for the last game of the year, and getting slaughtered by a 6-9 Dolphins team.

Seattle over San Francisco – Future factory worker Jim Tomsula continues to coach the sorriest team in the NFL…kind of. There’s always competition there this year from the likes of the Cowboys, Browns, and Lions (to name a few).

Oakland over Detroit – The Raiders are going to be in a dogfight for that last Wild-Card spot this season. The Steelers, unless they shit the bed, have almost guaranteed themselves the first spot. Oakland has to win games like this. Otherwise they are basically a west coast version of the Buffalo Bills.

Alright, tonight there are two college games and then Saturday and Sunday will be chock full of football (that I may or may not miss a lot of). Enjoy the games!

Week 9 NFL TV Schedule – Sponsored by CORPORAL MIKE PETTINE TEN-HUT!!!!

He looks like he belongs in camo. I was waiting for him to start barking at some of his players. “GILBERT YOU PIECE OF TRASH. HOW COULD YOU DROP THAT PASS? DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME FIFTY MAGGOT!” I envision him doing that in Sgt. Slaughter voice.

Speaking of the Browns, they really do seem to want to give the Lions a run for their money for worst team of the year. That’s their Super Bowl really. Getting the #1 overall pick. Not like they’ve had a lot of success in the past with that but still. It’s all about the journey, not about the result, or something like that. Hey if you want a team to move to London…

Alright here is the NFL schedule for this coming Sunday (and Monday night):

Sunday
1:00	Miami at Buffalo	CBS (Golden Horseshoe, GTA, Peterborough, Kingston, Belleville)/CTV (Kitchener, Toronto)
1:00	Green Bay at Carolina	FOX (BC, Alberta, Western Ontario, K/W-Cambridge, Guelph)/CTV (Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario, Ottawa)
1:00	St. Louis at Minnesota	FOX (Saskatchewan, Manitoba)/CTV (Winnipeg)
1:00	Washington at New England	FOX (Cornwall, Quebec, Eastern Canada)/CTV (Montreal, Atlantic)
1:00	Tennessee at New Orleans	No TV
1:00	Jacksonville at NY Jets	CBS (Cornwall, Quebec)
1:00	Oakland at Pittsburgh	CBS (BC, Alberta, Northern Ontario, Western Ontario, K/W-Cambridge, Guelph, Ottawa-Gatineau)/CTV2 (Vancouver Island, Alberta, Ontario, Atlantic)
4:05	Atlanta at San Francisco	No TV
4:05	NY Giants at Tampa Bay	FOX (Northern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, GTA, Peterborough, Kingston, Belleville)/TSN4
4:25	Denver at Indianapolis	CBS (all of Canada)/CTV (all of Canada (except Atlantic))/CTV2 (Atlantic)
8:30	Philadelphia at Dallas	NBC/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5
Monday
8:30	Chicago at San Diego	TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5

Hey, only two games aren’t airing in Canada. That’s pretty sweet. I like the fact the games are spread out. Even with the late game, it could have been easy to put Denver-Indy on every damn channel but some areas get the Giants-Bucs game. Yeah it may not be the best game but it gives people options. I have always said that about college football and the same goes with the NFL (albeit on a much smaller scale). Giving people options of games to watch without having to buy Sunday Ticket or RedZone will expand the NFL’s fanbase better than anything else. That’s where the NFL makes their money…television. They could play games in an empty stadium and they’d still make boatloads of money. Quite impressive if you ask me.

Gambling picks for you degenerates out there

I used to be one of those degenerates. It’s funny. You could get 13 Lotto Max and forty scratch tickets and no one bats an eye. You ask for the ProLine pools sheet for the week and people look at you like you have a problem. Makes no sense. Gambling is gambling is gambling. No matter how you do it, it’s the same damn thing. Stop making it so people feel bad about doing it (unless they’re addicted but that’s really a different story altogether). Here are a few picks for this week:

• Buffalo over Miami.  It’s too bad this game wasn’t in December.  That’s when the Bills truly have their home-field advantage.  The Ralph is ridiculous in the cold and snow.  Then again, in the last 7 December meetings between these two teams, the Bills are 4-3.  Maybe that lends more to the Bills’ mediocrity than anything.
• Green Bay over Carolina.  And then there were three.  Undefeated teams.  And they’ll all be in the AFC.  The Panthers shouldn’t worry over this though.  As long as they don’t screw things up royally they should be able to sew up the NFC South by the end of November.
• Oakland over Pittsburgh.  I wouldn’t call the Raiders the real deal.  But Derek Carr certainly is.  That kid can chuck the ball.  WAY better than his brother that is for sure.  Poor Houston fans.
• Philadelphia over Dallas.  This is more out of spite.  I am sick of the Cowboys playing so many Sunday night games.  They have sucked this year without Romo.  People talk about the Cowboy fanbase but guess what?  If the media didn’t push the Cowboys as “America’s Team” then maybe we would see other teams in primetime.  If they’re good fine, but SNF should NEVER have a 3-4 team facing a 2-5 team.  EVER.  That’s insane.  It just goes to show that Jerry Jones pretty much does run the league and gets what he wants.

Alright. A lot of college football tomorrow and a lot of NFL on Sunday. Should be a good weekend. My PVR is going to hate me.