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

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

Baltimore at Pittsburgh	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Ottawa
New Orleans at New England	1:00	Montreal	Atlantic
NY Giants at Miami	1:00	Kitchener, Toronto, Atlantic		TSN1, TSN4
Carolina at Detroit	1:00		All affiliates (except Atlantic)
Tennessee at Indianapolis	1:00			TSN+
Philadelphia at LA Rams	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan		TSN1, TSN4
Kansas City at Minnesota	4:25	Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic

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!

Even Success Won’t Save You (the NFL Week 14 TV Schedule)

Do you know who this is? Some will. If you don’t, it’s Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson. Sorry…FORMER Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson. I get that you might not recognize him because most NFL general managers are unrecognizable other than Dallas’ GM.

It’s very interesting timing for this shitcanning since the Titans are doing relatively well and should win the AFC South in a cakewalk. But that isn’t enough for this franchise and a few of his past moves looked terrible and one in particular came back to haunt him. His draft day trade of AJ Brown to Philadelphia looked bad at the time and looks like one of the worst trades of the last decade now, especially after Brown torched the Titans for two touchdowns in the Eagles’ destruction of Tennessee this past week. That’s not the only reason for him being let go but I’m sure it was the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak.

So there you go: if you are a GM you better do well and continue to do well and not have any moves seriously backfire like that. If you’re a coach, no problem. You’ll get second and even third chances depending on the circumstances (i.e. Did you coach under Bill Belichick? Hot damn, here’s a big contract despite the fact you are an abject disaster as a head coach.). OK, schedule time.

American Networks

NY Jets at Buffalo	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Cleveland at Cincinnati	1:00	Cleveland
Philadelphia at NY Giants	1:00		All affiliates (except Minneapolis & Detroit)
Minnesota at Detroit	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
Kansas City at Denver	4:05	Minneapolis, Detroit
Carolina at Seattle	4:25	Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Tampa Bay at San Francisco	4:25		Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle

Canadian Networks

NY Jets at Buffalo	1:00	All affiliates (except Montreal)
Cleveland at Cincinnati	1:00		Ottawa
Minnesota at Detroit	1:00			TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
Philadelphia at NY Giants	1:00	Montreal	All affiliates (except Ottawa)
Kansas City at Denver	4:05			TSN1, TSN4
Tampa Bay at San Francisco	4:25	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic
Carolina at Seattle	4:25	Vancouver, Alberta

Primetime Games

Las Vegas at LA Rams	Thursday, 8:20, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN1
Miami at LA Chargers	8:15, NBC, CTV2, TSN1/4/5
New England at Arizona	Monday, 8:15, CBS Boston, TSN1/3/4

The Briefing

• Let’s start with the game that was flexed into the Sunday Night Football spot. This game is massive for playoff seeding and what will happen going forward in the AFC East and AFC West. The Chargers are being flexed into SNF for the second time this season so, despite their record, the NFL thinks they are a good team. This was a great idea since the original SNF matchup, the Chiefs and the Broncos, would probably have been awful.
• You will notice that the MNF matchup also allows people who get their CBS affiliate out of Boston to watch this game.
• The NFL has to hope that the Thursday nighter is close because this looks awful on paper. The dysfucntional Raiders against a team who has lost a ton of players to injuries in the Rams. I’ll watch it because nothing else is on but man, that’s rough (and reminiscent of Thursday Night Football back around the time it started).
• The Jets and Bills were the other possibility to be flexed to become the Sunday nighter. Instead they are the big early game and are being shown damn near everywhere. Which is impressive since the early schedule is not a bad one in the least.
• Unfortunately, the late schedule is a different story. Again the majority of the country is getting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A mediocre team playing in a shitty division that the networks fucking slobber over. Well, they slobber over Tom Brady but you get the idea.

Alright let’s take a quick look at the playoff picture.

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

We finally have two teams eliminated from playoff contention in the Texans and Bears. Along with the Broncos and Rams (uh, I mean Lions), they will all be competing, in essence, for the #1 pick in next year’s draft. Houston currently has a 1.5 game lead over Chicago with four weeks to go. Three more teams could be officially eliminated but having only five teams eliminated with four weeks to go seems like a low amount to me.

At the opposite end, you have a few teams who could punch tickets this weekend. The Chiefs clinch the AFC West with a win and a Chargers loss. This is shocking since I, along with many others, thought the AFC West would be one of the most competitive divisions in the league. Doesn’t help that the Raiders have a terrible head coach, the Broncos let Russ cook (fish in the microwave) and the Chargers are just, well, average. In the NFC, the Eagles and Vikings clinch playoff berths with wins. That will be the big storyline going down to the end, at least at the top of the NFC, is who will get that singular first round bye.

Ugh, I have to put up the Christmas tree. I hate doing it. Let’s just say there’s history from a long time ago that makes me hate the process. December just brings a lot of stress into many of our lives, mine included, so watching football is a great escape. I just have to make sure I use the rest of my time in a constructive manner. Have a great rest of the week and enjoy the games everyone!

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

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

NY Jets at Minnesota	1:00	All affiliates (except Northern Ontario & Montreal)
Cleveland at Houston	1:00	Northern Ontario
Washington at NY Giants	1:00	Montreal	Atlantic	TSN1
Tennessee at Philadelphia	1:00		All affiliates (except Atlantic)
Seattle at LA Rams	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta
Miami at San Francisco	4:05			TSN1
Kansas City at Cincinnati	4:25	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic

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!

Now what? (and the Week 2 NFL TV schedule)

The Cowboys, in my mind, felt like a pretty clear favorite to win the NFC East. I didn’t think they’d make hay in the playoffs at all but they would get there yet again. But now, there is no Dak Prescott for the next month-and-a-half at least. So we shouldn’t expect to see him before November. What does this do to the Cowboys? What does this do to the NFC East? Well, for that last question, this opens the door for an Eagles team that looked like a borderline playoff contender this year, and even may open the door for the Football Team Commanders and Giants to make a move in a season where both teams didn’t exactly look like playoff possibilities. The Cowboys are not planning on signing a quarterback (so keep your Kaepernick-to-the-Cowboys fantasies to yourself) and going with Cooper Rush until Dak returns. This could end up being a loooooooong season in the Metroplex.

OK let’s get down to business. Last week was a great set of games. Let’s see if we can make it two-for-two. The week two schedule followed by some notes tastier than brisket (man, they must be pretty tasty then):

American Networks

New England at Pittsburgh	1:00	All affiliates (except Cleveland)
NY Jets at Cleveland	1:00	Cleveland
Tampa Bay at New Orleans	1:00		Minneapolis
Washington at Detroit	1:00		Detroit
Carolina at NY Giants	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington
Seattle at San Francisco	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Atlanta at LA Rams	4:05		Boston
Cincinnati at Dallas	4:25	All affiliates (except Seattle)
Houston at Denver	4:25	Seattle

Canadian Networks

New England at Pittsburgh	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Atlantic
Miami at Baltimore	1:00	Northern Ontario	Vancouver Island, Alberta
Washington at Detroit	1:00	Kitchener, Ottawa
Carolina at NY Giants	1:00		London, Toronto, Ottawa, Atlantic
Tampa Bay at New Orleans	1:00			TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
Seattle at San Francisco	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan
Atlanta at LA Rams	4:05			TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
Cincinnati at Dallas	4:25	Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic

Primetime Games

LA Chargers at Kansas City	Thursday, 8:20, CTV2, TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Chicago at Green Bay	8:20, NBC, CTV2, TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Tennessee at Buffalo	Monday, 7:15, TSN1, TSN4
Minnesota at Philadelphia	Monday, 8:30, ABC, TSN3, TSN5

Tastier than Brisket Notes

• Cincinnati-Dallas will capture the most eyeballs in the late window on both the American and Canadian networks. With the aforementioned Prescott injury this isn’t as spicy a matchup now but the alternatives are Cards-Raiders (OK not bad) or Texans-Broncos (oof). So consider yourself lucky…except for you west coast people who don’t get this game.
• Games not being shown here in Canada (unless you have RedZone):
  • Indianapolis at Jacksonville
  • Arizona at Las Vegas
• In the early slate, it’s no surprise the Patriots-Steelers game gets the most play. Two of the biggest fan bases among Canadian NFL fans. Plus it spares many people from witnessing the Commanders and the Lions (sorry to the people who get CTV out of Kitchener or Ottawa or CBS out of Detroit).
• Yes there are two Monday Night Football games this week. I hate this. It makes no sense. This is ABC/ESPN’s way of getting that two-game MNF matchup without having to have the second game start at 10:30. Still stupid.
• Speaking of Monday night, the Titans-Bills game will also be on NBC if you get your NBC affiliate out of Buffalo.

There’s your schedule. I hope it turns out to be as good as last week’s set of games. Enjoy the games everyone!

Guess what’s rearing it’s ugly head again – Week 14 NFL TV Schedule

Ah, I thought we were mostly done with this.  I get that it’s not going away but to see the word outbreak again is not a good sign.  Right now, the Chargers have quite a few COVID cases among their players.  With Keenan Allen and now Mike Williams out, their wide receiver corps is decimated for this weekend’s game against the Giants.  They also have at least four other players out and there could be more.  Not a good sign for them or other teams.

The Saints now have a few players out and I am sure we will hear about other teams over the coming weeks.  I hope this is just an aberration but I am pretty sure it’s not.  This new variant has crept up and caused a bit more havoc and it doesn’t help that it’s happening during the Winter and cold/flu season.  I am sure the NFL is watching this closely and praying it doesn’t become a problem during the playoffs.  That’s the last thing they’d want.

Anyway, enough about COVID, and more about the upcoming football schedule:

Thursday

Pittsburgh at Minnesota

8:20, FOX, TSN1/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Las Vegas at Kansas City	All affiliates (except Cleveland)		Alberta, Northern Ontario, Ottawa, Montreal		All affiliates (except Ottawa & Alberta)
Baltimore at Cleveland	Cleveland
New Orleans at NY Jets
Jacksonville at Tennessee
Atlanta at Carolina
Dallas at Washington		Minneapolis, Buffalo, Rochester,  Boston	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Kitchener, Toronto, Atlantic		Ottawa
Seattle at Houston		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane	Vancouver	TSN2	Alberta

Sunday Late

San Francisco at Cincinnati	Seattle, Cleveland		Vancouver, Alberta
Buffalo at Tampa Bay	All affiliates (except Seattle & Cleveland)		Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal		Atlantic
Detroit at Denver		Detroit
NY Giants at LA Chargers		Burlington		TSN2

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Chicago at Green Bay	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN2, CTV Two
LA Rams at Arizona	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN1/3

Just Football Schedule Notes

• Only three games not being shown in Canada this Sunday.  Any of them big?  No, not even close.  But, as I harp on all the time, this is why RedZone is so great.  It will show very little of these games but will show what needs to be shown, especially for, ahem, fantasy football purposes.
• HUGE matchup on Monday Night Football as for the second week in a row they get a great game…well, on paper.  Last week’s MNF game was a shitshow thanks to the wind.  I can be pretty sure Glendale isn’t known for wind (or cold) like that.
• You will also notice that ABC is showing the Monday nighter.  I do remember this happening since Monday Night Football went to ESPN but I can’t remember the circumstances (and I won’t include the weird instances that happened with the pandemic last year).  At least this way, if need be, you don’t have to remember which TSN channel it’s on this week (1 & 3 as a reminder).

Let’s quickly get to the updated playoff picture!

#1 – New England	#1 – Arizona
#2 – Tennessee	#2 – Green Bay
#3 – Baltimore	#3 – Tampa Bay
#4 – Kansas City	#4 – Dallas
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – LA Chargers	#5 – LA Rams
#6 – Cincinnati	#6 – Washington
#7 – Buffalo	#7 – San Francisco

We have hit the three-quarter mark of the season.  It’s Week 14 and no team has clinched a playoff spot yet.  And only one team has been eliminated: the woeful Texans (not even the Lions are eliminated!).  We have that supposedly all important parity in the NFL that the NFL seems to always want.  I’m just glad this season we don’t have to deal with that one horrible division that seems to pop up from time to time.  Like the NFC East last season.  All eight division leaders are good teams and have to be considered contenders for the Super Bowl.  Throw in the Rams and you have a wide open season which should lead to an amazing final week of the season.  Now watch me jinx it and there are very few races to decide that Sunday.

Elimination List?  There’s no reason for it yet with only one team officially out of the playoff fun.  The teams that could join the list this coming week include the Jaguars, Jets and Lions.  Next week I will debut it for the first time this season.

Everyone have a great upcoming weekend and enjoy the games!

So what is Russell Wilson’s future? Week 7 NFL TV Schedule

Have you watched the last two weeks of Seattle Seahawks football?  If so, and you’re a Seahawks fan, I feel bad for you.

If you haven’t watched any of it, I got two words for you: Geno Smith.  Honestly, Smith hasn’t been terrible.  But he’s Geno Smith and not made to be a starter in the NFL.  The Seahawks, and their fans, are used to Russell Wilson at quarterback and having Smith behind centre means the offense won’t be nearly as good.  And it isn’t.  What this has done is open up questions about Wilson’s future in Seattle.  He has two years left on his deal and I can see Seattle possibly moving him.  The reason is that this team has a lot of holes in the lineup that they haven’t been able to fill and part of the reason they couldn’t fill them is because of the contract Wilson has.  Poor money management really on the Seahawks’ part.  Trading Wilson and then drafting a quarterback in the next draft or getting another quarterback who might not be enamored with his current team (*COUGH*Aaron Rodgers*COUGH*) is probably the direction they will take.  It’s probably the best for the Seahawks and Wilson because this may allow Seattle to finally put together a roster to compete, once again, for the Super Bowl.  And Wilson can go somewhere else to try and keep his career going, hopefully with less injuries.

Alright, let’s gets to the point of this post and that’s the NFL schedule for the week (which does include the aforementioned Seahawks):

Thursday

Denver at Cleveland

8:20, FOX, TSN1, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Kansas City at Tennessee	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit		Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario, Ottawa		London, Toronto
NY Jets at New England	Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Montreal, Atlantic
Cincinnati at Baltimore	Cleveland, Buffalo		Kitchener, Toronto	TSN3	Atlantic
Washington at Green Bay		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis	Winnipeg		Vancouver Island, Alberta
Carolina at NY Giants		Rochester, Burlington			Ottawa
Atlanta at Miami

Sunday Late

Chicago at Tampa Bay	All affiliates		All affiliates (except Atlantic)		Atlantic
Houston at Arizona
Detroit at LA Rams		Detroit
Philadelphia at Las Vegas		Buffalo, Boston		TSN3

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Indianapolis at San Francisco	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/4, CTV Two
New Orleans at Seattle	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/2/3

Notes and Things That Have Nothing to do with Russell Wilson

• Thank god for no early morning London game this week.  And any other week for the rest of the season.  There were only two this season; however, it seems like there will be at least one more next season with the possibility of another game being played in Germany (obviously on a different week).  Man, it’s getting to the point where Sundays are an all-day affair.  I don’t know if I can handle that.
• It’s CROSS-FLEX TIME BAYBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!  CBS is getting the Bears-Bucs game in the late window this week and that’s the only CBS game we will get up here in that window.  FOX will get another game in a future week that normally would have been on CBS.  I think we’ve finally got to the point where very few people care about this which is a good thing.  Now we should go to everything getting scrambled up and networks basically doing a draft to pick their games.  Give them an open bar while they do it.  Who says no?
• Only two games you can’t get here, one in each window.  I’m a bit surprised TSN didn’t pick up these two games so that we could see every game up here.  Saying that, do you really want to see the Falcons and Dolphins play?  Exactly.
• Has there ever been a bye week with six teams off at the same time?  Maybe that’s normal but it feels like there are less games than usual this week.
• Both primetime games not looking exactly appealing.  We’ve got a mediocre Colts team facing an overrated Niners team (that many in the media seem to really want to be good).  Then you have the Saints who obviously miss Drew Brees against the Seahawks, who I discussed above.  But, at least this week with the Monday nighter, TSN2 will be showing the ManningCast!  I didn’t think I’d miss it that much but I did.  It’s a fun watch with those two.  Not saying the regular broadcast is bad.  It’s helped that most of the MNF games have been good this year which is a rarity since SNF became a thing on NBC.

There you go.  Here’s hoping it’s another good week of NFL football as the weather starts getting cooler outside (or in some areas of Canada, snow appears).  Have a great rest of the week everyone!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT’S……TIME…… for the Week 2 NFL TV Schedule

Did you watch that Monday Night Football game between the Ravens and the Raiders?  Man, what an absolutely crazy game!  Fun to watch, which is starting to become somewhat of a staple of MNF again.  You can count on at least a few great games for a game that started to become not really important and filled with normally crappy teams.  It did help that you had the first NFL game at Allegiant Stadium with fans.  That place was noisy from the time Bruce Buffer pumped the fans up to the final touchdown in overtime that (finally) ended the game after a close call and some supremely Raider-esque football that almost cost them.

For the most part it was a good start to the season, even for some of the teams that lost.  The Lions almost completed a crazy comeback which they really shouldn’t had to do in the first place.  The Dolphins beat the Pats but really the Pats played poorly enough to cost themselves at the end with a turnover.  I was hoping for a good start for the Bills but they played three quarters of decent football and one quarter of poor football, really.  Joe Burrow’s return sparked a victory on the final play of overtime over the Vikings even though many were probably hoping for a tie at that point.  Overall, though, good.  Nice to see the NFL back.  We missed you.  I missed you…..let’s just get to the schedule before I have to wipe the tears away.

Thursday

NY Giants at Washington

8:20, NFL Network, TSN1/3/4/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Houston at Cleveland	Cleveland
Denver at Jacksonville
New England at NY Jets	Buffalo, Boston		Montreal, Atlantic		London, Toronto
Las Vegas at Pittsburgh	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Rochester		Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Ottawa
New Orleans at Carolina
Buffalo at Miami		Buffalo, Rochester	Kitchener, Toronto		Atlantic
LA Rams at Indianapolis		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit		TSN1, TSN3, TSN4	Vancouver Island, Alberta, Ottawa
Cincinnati at Chicago
San Francisco at Philadelphia

Sunday Late

Tennessee at Seattle	Seattle, Spokane		Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg
Dallas at LA Chargers	All affiliates (except Seattle & Spokane)		Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal		Atlantic
Minnesota at Arizona		Minneapolis
Atlanta at Tampa Bay		Burlington, Boston		TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5*

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Kansas City at Baltimore	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, TSN 1*/3/4/5, CTV Two
Detroit at Green Bay	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4/5

Some Notes

• You will notice asterisks on the schedule this week.  Yes, these are new.  Yes, I will explain them.  Two different games have asterisks beside a TSN schedule.  For the Falcons-Bucs game, the game will start to appear on TSN5 after horse racing from Woodbine is done, so sometime around 6:00.  As for the Sunday nighter, the Chiefs-Ravens game will be joined in progress on TSN1 at about 11:00…when it’s almost done.  They have to wait for the MLS game to be completed first.  Why the hell don’t they just go to Sportscentre at that point?
• Very interesting that Raiders-Steelers gets the most viewers early on.  Oh wait, looking at the CBS early schedule it makes perfect sense.
• CROSS-FLEX!  Cross-flex haters will be pretty pissed off at this week since it’s a bit insane and honestly, I’m good with it.  Two AFC games have gone to FOX with one NFC game going back to CBS.  This should mean that another NFC game will move to CBS at some point later in the season.  I mean it all has to even out in the end, right?  Anyway, the Bills and Dolphins are on FOX together for the first time ever I believe.  I can hear the complaints now as Bills Mafia members put other Bills Mafia members through tables possibly in anger this time at this.
• The early audience misses four games.  And, really, other than the Saints and Panthers which could be quite interesting, we’re not missing much.  I will say I can understand why people get RedZone as I also get it now.  I love flipping channels all day on Saturdays for college football and would gladly do it on Sunday as well.  RedZone does it for me which I am sure my remote control is thankful for.
• For Monday Night Football there will, again, be two different broadcasts.  One is the normal broadcast that ESPN does.  The other one is the ManningCast.  Peyton and Eli Manning (and sometimes a guest) analyze the game as it is going on.  Honestly, for the Week 1 game, I liked it.  I always find it very interesting to hear these old pros pick apart games that normally don’t (and probably can’t) happen during a normal broadcast.  It’s kind of like the Coaches Room they did a few times for high profile college football games.  Hearing them analyze a game was fantastic and educational as well.  You learn about things you didn’t even know about.  I can understand why some may not like it because they sometimes talk over a play if they are continuing analysis or a story but for the most part, I think it flows quite well.  Anyway, you can see this version on TSN3.

Week 2 schedule complete.  Compared to college football, there has been a whole lot less drama in the NFL so far.  This seems to be becoming a trend.  But it also means that later on in the season something will happen that will boggle the mind and you’ll think (or openly say) “Only in the NFL.”  Anyway, enjoy all the games!

Murican Turkey Day Football Funtime just got a little less fun – Week 12 NFL TV Schedule

So for decades, American Thanksgiving has always had a Detroit Lions home game and a Dallas Cowboys home game.  For the last little while, there has been a third game added at night.  A lot of times this has been the best game of the three.  This year there was no doubt that the night game, the Ravens-Steelers game, was going to be the best of the Thanksgiving games this season.  So what happens?  Because of issues surrounding COVID-19, the game has been moved to Sunday.  When on Sunday?  Oh you’ll see below and it is messed.  Anyway, we are now back to a classic Thanksgiving NFL day and both games are kind of meh (although one is for the lead of the NFC East, hilariously).

Alright let’s get to the schedule…you know, the games.  The reason we watch football?

Thursday

Houston at Detroit	12:30, CBS, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Washington at Dallas	4:30, FOX, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Baltimore at Pittsburgh (1:15, NBC)
Tennessee at Indianapolis	Minneapolis, Detroit		Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario, Ottawa	TSN3, TSN5	London, Toronto
Las Vegas at Atlanta	Seattle, Spokane		Vancouver, Alberta
LA Chargers at Buffalo	Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Kitchener, Toronto		Ottawa, Atlantic
Miami at NY Jets
Cleveland at Jacksonville	Cleveland
Arizona at New England		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit, Burlington, Boston	Montreal, Atlantic		Vancouver Island, Alberta
NY Giants at Cincinnati		Rochester
Carolina at Minnesota		Minneapolis	Winnipeg

Sunday Late

Kansas City at Tampa Bay	All affiliates		All affiliates (except Atlantic)		Atlantic
New Orleans at Denver		Buffalo		TSN3, TSN5
San Francisco at LA Rams

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Chicago at Green Bay	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/5, CTV Two
Seattle at Philadelphia	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4

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• Every CBS network is showing Chiefs-Buccaneers for the late game on Sunday.  Not surprised at this at all.  Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady.  Jim Nantz is going to be in his glory.  Plus it is a WAY better game than either the SNF or MNF game.
• How about we discuss the Thanksgiving games…my god.  Two really crappy games.  This is where I would be fine if TSN decided to show something else like Major League Poker or Darts.
• And did you notice the start time for the Ravens-Steelers game?  Who the fuck thought that made sense?  If they had been smart they would have offset the game a bit more.  Have it start at 2:00.  Then it would end around 5:00 and get a national audience watching just the game (for the most part).  Instead, they will share the audience and I am sure some will forget there is even a game on NBC in the afternoon.
• In the early window, the games are very well spread out in terms of broadcasting.  Seven of the eight games being shown somewhere in Canada.  Unfortunately, the unlucky people getting their FOX game out of Rochester have to watch the Giants-Bengals game.  What did they do to deserve this?
• Two games, one early and one late, not showing in Canada.  I would say neither of the games are must-see but that’s not quite true.  Watching the Jets lose another game might be fun.
• UPDATE: The Ravens-Steelers game has been moved to Tuesday.  Broadcast info, I am sure, will be released by the end of Friday.
• UPDATE #2: Maybe I should have just waited a bit.  Ravens-Steelers will be Tuesday night at 8:00 on NBC.
• UPDATE #3: Good lord this is ridiculous.  Ravens-Steelers has been moved AGAIN.  This time to Wednesday afternoon at 3:40 on NBC.  Why 3:40 you ask?  Because the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center starts at 8:00 and NBC (and the people organizing the event) refuse to move it.  Yeah, that’s not a joke.

Alright now the playoff picture going into Murican Stuff Your Face Day:

#1 – Pittsburgh	#1 – New Orleans
#2 – Kansas City	#2 – LA Rams
#3 – Buffalo	#3 – Green Bay
#4 – Indianapolis	#4 – Philadelphia
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Tennessee	#5 – Seattle
#6 – Cleveland	#6 – Tampa Bay
#7 – Las Vegas/Baltimore/Miami	#7 – Arizona

Arizona, despite their loss last week, sits in the #7 spot.  They are a game  ahead of the Bears.  If they win four of their last six, they are pretty much guaranteed to be in.  Considering it’s the Bears in pursuit (with three other teams a game back of them), the NFC is almost set in terms of the playoff teams.  The AFC?  A totally different story.  The Wild Card race is going to be a ton of fun.  Five teams within a game of each other battling for three spots.  There is still six games left for all of them so a lot can happen.  And there is a slim possibility a team not in the picture at this point could sneak in.  Only the Jets are eliminated at this point but the Jaguars are out with a loss.

Alright, enjoy the games everyone!  Soon I will have to replace the 14+ hours of college football on Saturdays with the 10 or so hours of NFL football on Sundays (not to mention Thursday Night Football and, ugh, Monday Night Football).  I’m surprised anything gets done around my house.  Have a great weekend!

Can’t say we didn’t see this coming – Week 9 College Football TV Schedule

OK we all know the facts here.  COVID-19 is a virus that has wreaked havoc in some areas of the world and has changed the way we live, possibly for a long time.  Also, sports have come back but with the amount of contact involved, some sports are more vulnerable than others to this pandemic.  Which brings me to Wisconsin.  Graham Mertz had a great game this past weekend.  Almost perfect passing the ball.  Wisconsin already looks good despite the fact they only played Illinois.

So now we find out that Mertz tested positive for COVID.  So he’s out for this coming week’s game.  Backup Jack Coan is dealing with a foot injury so he won’t play.  And now we find out that third stringer Chase Wolf has also tested positive for the Coronavirus.  So the Badgers are down to their fourth-string quarterback.  Wow.  So that means Danny Vanden Boom (great name by the way) gets the start on Saturday.  Luckily it’s Nebraska that’s the opponent.  But if Wisky loses to the Huskers, they can flush any College Football Playoff hopes down the drain no matter how much The Committee will give them some slack for what happened.  This will happen again this season.  Guaranteed.  Wisky is just the highest profile team so far.  What if it happens to a unit for Alabama or Clemson?  Shit will hit the fan then for sure.

UPDATE: So after that amazing intro, it was all for naught.  Wisconsin-Nebraska has been cancelled after more positive COVID-19 tests.

Alright, enough about the Wisky Covid situation.  Sounds like something the military would say in a battle.  Anyway, the schedule!

Thursday​

		US	Canada
South Alabama at Georgia Southern	7:30 PM
Colorado State at Fresno State	10:00 PM

We are getting close to football every day but we aren’t quite there.  Saying that, I am getting a bit more excited for weeknight football, especially weeknight football that lasts past midnight.  It’s not like these are huge games because they aren’t but it’s football so I will watch.  I mean what else are you going to watch?  Baseball is over.  I will let you know about the Thursday nighter later on this post but it’s not exactly a barnburner itself.  So instead you can sit down, watch the Sun Belt and then the Mountain West, and be happy.

Friday

		US	Canada
Minnesota at Maryland	7:30 PM

Hey remember when Maryland had two amazing games to start last season and everyone was heralding Mike Locksley as a great hire?  Since then, the Terps have been nothing short of awful and, surprisingly, a guy who could barely win a game at New Mexico has struggled at Maryland.  And by surprisingly, I mean not surprisingly.  At all.

Saturday Early​​

		US	Canada
Boston College at #1 Clemson	Noon
#20 Coastal Carolina at Georgia State	Noon
Purdue at Illinois	Noon
Memphis at #7 Cincinnati	Noon
#16 Kansas State at West Virginia	Noon
Michigan State at #13 Michigan	Noon
#5 Georgia at Kentucky	Noon

This feels like a lot of games where a ranked team is facing an unranked team where the ranked team should slaughter the unranked team.  Not exactly a stellar Noon schedule but I digress.

Memphis-Cincy could be the most interesting game since that is your best shot at an upset in this timeslot.  MSU-UM is a lot less important than it was before the Spartans’ upset loss to Rutgers.  The Sun Belt game isn’t huge but it will be interesting to see how long Coastal can keep this up.  I hope they make it so at least The Committee becomes a bit uncomfortable with the Group of Five selection for the New Year’s Six.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#4 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech	3:30 PM
#17 Indiana at Rutgers	3:30 PM
LSU at Auburn	3:30 PM
Northwestern at Iowa	3:30 PM
TCU at Baylor	3:30 PM
Texas at #6 Oklahoma State	4:00 PM
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt	4:00 PM

What was thought to be a huge CBS game is now no longer nearly as big.  We shall see whether LSU has found their new quarterback and if Bo Nix can get back into the good graces of Auburn fans.  It could be a God-send for Brad and Gary though since this might end up being a pretty close game, something the SEC on CBS isn’t exactly known for these days.

One good thing about 2020 is it might have (MIGHT HAVE) killed reverse mirrors for good.  There is really no reason for them anymore in this day and age.  It’s really just a headache for all involved.  Most Americans get both ABC and ESPN2 in some form or fashion so it has become a moot point to use reverse mirrors.  Without specialty packs (as far as I know), this wouldn’t affect Canadians but man was it ever a crock of shit to deal with a reverse mirror that isn’t figured out properly and you got the same game on two different channels.

Saturday Primetime​​

		US	Canada
#25 Boise State at Air Force	6:00 PM
Mississippi State at #2 Alabama	7:00 PM
#3 Ohio State at #18 Penn State	7:30 PM
Navy at #22 SMU	7:30 PM
#24 Oklahoma at Texas Tech	8:00 PM

Ohio State-Penn State.  What else do we need to say?  How about that this matchup lost a LOT of its luster after last week’s crazy loss by PSU to Indiana.  ABC was hoping for a Top 10 matchup and won’t quite get it.  They should still dominate the timeslot though.

This feels a bit better than the afternoon timeslot.  But it’s close.  I am hoping there could get be some good games here and it looks like there might be some gems.  Alabama has to show they are still CFP-worthy and not fall to a Mike Leach speedbump, SMU has a test hosting Navy and could Air Force pull the upset and really cripple the Mountain West’s NY6 chances in its second week?

Saturday Late Night​​

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Utah State	9:30 PM
Western Kentucky at #11 BYU	10:15 PM

Pac-12 After Dark finally returns next week.  For now we get a Mountain West matchup and BYU’s march to….something.  BYU has ascended to #11 but they have to keep beating teams and beating them badly to keep in the Top 12 and have a legitimate shot at the New Year’s Six.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Ohio State at Penn State (7:30, ABC/TSN1) – No one should sleep on the Nittany Lions despite their crushing loss to Indiana.  James Franklin is still one of the better coaches in college football right now.  They have Sean Clifford at quarterback who is fairly underrated.  They have a team that could still sneak into the College Football Playoff (although the chances are slim now).  We know what can happen here.  PSU is still looking up at tOSU in the Big Ten East but the Nittany Lions hold their fate in their hands.  Win out and it’s off to Indianapolis.  Ohio State, on the other hand, is sneaking up on nobody despite the late start to the Big Ten season.  Justin Fields is still awesome and it looks like even with the loss of Chase Young to the pros, they have reloaded with another amazing defense.  This could end up being a Game of the Year candidate if Penn State leaves it all out on the field.

Memphis at Cincinnati (Noon, ESPN) – Another huge American Conference game.  You can expect one pretty much every week from now on from the conference who considers themselves part of the Power 6.  The Bearcats are definitely in the driver’s seat after their win over SMU last week.  But they can’t look ahead to, well, anything when a team like Memphis comes to town.  The Tigers have only lost once and have been a good team the past few years.  This is ripe for an upset.

Texas at Oklahoma State (4:00, FOX) – I would be surprised if even Cowboy fans thought that Oklahoma State would be this high up in the rankings at this point.  The Big XII has had a rough year and the Pokes are the only bright spot at this point.  Anyway, Tom Herman’s Longhorns could pretty much destroy the Big XII’s season on Halloween with an upset here.

Kansas State at West Virginia (Noon, TSN4) – OK it severely drops off a cliff after the first three games.  Somehow, WVU is 3-2 at this point of the season.  Neal Brown is doing a hell of a job in Morgantown.  And Chris Klieman may be doing even better in Manhattan.  One of these teams will actually have a legitimate shot at the Big XII Championship with a win here.  I do have to remember, however, that the regular season goes into mid-December now.  So I can’t be making too many crazy predictions when there is still a month-and-a-half left to go.

Indiana at Rutgers (3:30, BTN) – Fuck it, let’s go crazy here.  Undefeated (yes, UNDEFEATED) Rutgers hosts undefeated (yes, UNDEFEATED) Indiana.  Rutgers has never been in the games of the week section and I figured this was as good a time as any.  One of these teams will most likely be tied with Ohio State and Michigan at the top of the Big Ten East.  Going into November.  No that is not a misprint.

Honourable mention: Boston College at Clemson (Noon, ABC/TSN1); UCF at Houston (2:00, ESPN+); Arkansas at Texas A&M (7:30, SEC Network)

Some gambling fun and games

OK I got none of my upset picks correct.  For a bit, I thought SMU and Georgia Southern would pull it off but no.  As for the rest of my picks I was almost perfect so let’s see if we can keep that ball rolling this week.

Oklahoma State over Texas

Clemson over Boston College

Cincinnati over Memphis

West Virginia over Kansas State (big upset!)

UCF over Houston

Texas A&M over Arkansas

Indiana over Rutgers

Ohio State over Penn State

BYU over Western Kentucky

Utah State over San Diego State (let’s call it a mild upset)

Georgia State over Coastal Carolina (massive upset)

We are oh so close to football every day for like four weeks.  I can feel it!

Thursday Night Football again!  We get Atlanta heading to Carolina.  Not the greatest game but they can’t all be.  I have heard a few people marvel at the games that TNF gets.  I have to say that once FOX paired up with the NFL Network the quality of games improved a bit.  This is good.  It really has replaced Monday Night Football as the second-best night game of the week.  I’ve said this before and it may sound like blasphemy but I know MNF is an institution but to be honest, I could do without it.  I think most teams would agree as well now with the advent of TNF.  And in this COVID world, making things easier on the teams should be an idea worth looking into.

Will I watch like 26 hours of football this weekend?  No.  But I will do my best to watch as much as I can.  I’m sure I will have other plans at some point but it’s mostly a free weekend.  Not making excuses.  Just saying that some of my recaps might make it seem like I barely watched the game.  And that might be true.  Enjoy the games everyone!

So…many…injuries – Week 3 NFL TV Schedule

 

So if you haven’t heard, there have been a fair amount of injuries so far this season.  Nothing new.  What is new is the severity of many of these injuries.  Let’s take a look at just a few of them:

• Tavon Young (Baltimore) – torn ACL – out for the season
• Drew Lock (Denver) – shoulder injury – out 3-6 weeks
• Leon Jacobs (Jacksonville) – knee injury – was carted off last night and could be done for the season
• Nick Bosa (San Francisco) – torn ACL – out for the season
• Solomon Thomas (San Francisco) – torn ACL – out for the season
• Saquon Barkley (NY Giants) – torn ACL – out for the season
• Malik Hooker (Indianapolis) – torn Achilles tendon – out for the season
• Christian McCaffrey (Carolina) – high-ankle sprain – out 4-6 weeks
• Anthony Barr (Minnesota) – torn pectoral muscle – out for the season
• Courtland Sutton (Denver) – torn ACL – out for the season
• Bruce Irvin (Seattle) – torn ACL – out for the season

Unreal.  Just look at the sheer amount of ACL injuries.  The 49ers themselves have lost two of their best players and have a litany of injuries on top of that.  They blamed the turf at MetLife Stadium.  Officials have said that is not the case and that the turf at MetLife is fine.  But there has to be something to this.  So many knee and leg injuries so early in the season.  Something will come out to explain it I’m sure.  I mean it’s not concussions so the NFL will probably be fine releasing this information.

Alright here we now go with the NFL schedule for Week 3 that will not include quite a few players for various ailments:

Sunday Early

Tennessee at Minnesota	Minneapolis, Detroit		Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Ottawa
Las Vegas at New England	Seattle, Spokane, Burlington, Boston		Vancouver, Alberta, Montreal, Atlantic		London, Toronto
Houston at Pittsburgh	Rochester
Cincinnati at Philadelphia
San Francisco at NY Giants		Burlington
Washington at Cleveland
LA Rams at Buffalo		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester, Boston	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto		Vancouver Island, Alberta, Ottawa, Atlantic
Chicago at Atlanta		Minneapolis, Detroit		TSN3, TSN5

Sunday Late

NY Jets at Indianapolis	Cleveland, Buffalo
Carolina at LA Chargers
Tampa Bay at Denver		Boston		TSN3, TSN5
Dallas at Seattle		All affiliates (except Detroit & Boston)	All affiliates (except Atlantic)		Atlantic
Detroit at Arizona		Detroit

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Green Bay at New Orleans	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN 3/5, CTV Two
Kansas City at Baltimore	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4/5

Notes that may be injured by the end of this post

• Three games not being shown in Canada unless you have DAZN or Rogers (who has Sunday Ticket but no college football games…OK Bossman, calm down).  None of the games look like must-see ones so I doubt your missing much.
• Back to having a bunch of late afternoon games.  It’s interesting when there are a ton of late window games since, other than Week 17, you almost never see this.  This became a thing, it seems, this past season and is continuing this year.  This week has five late afternoon games.  I like the fact it’s spread out a bit…as much as they can when all the games are in a six-and-a-half hour window.
• Packers-Saints for Sunday Night Football is going to be a Michaels-Collinsworth Boner Special that would only be exceeded by a Tom Brady and the Buccaneers appearance.  It should be fun one with two quarterbacks that are close to my age.  It makes me feel equal parts proud and sad: proud because older guys still play at a high level in the NFL and sad because I am not even close to being in as good shape as Brees and Rodgers.
• 80s pornstar Gardner Minshew finally did not play well in a game this season.  So of course, who decides to take him off the bench and put him in the starting lineup?  This fucking idiot.  Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with fantasy football.
• For people who hate the Buffalo Bills, be ready, since I can see this team being shown A LOT up here for most of the season.  With the Bills being the slight favourite to win the AFC East and a team built to at least get into the divisional playoffs, all of Ontario for sure will get their games every week and other areas of the country will as well depending on what else is on.  And for that, the Bills Mafia doused someone in ketchup and mustard and put them through a table.
• Not that we probably would have got this game up here but no Christian McCaffrey means there is no way that a Panthers game will get shown up here now.  The NFC South really is the one division that almost never gets play up here.  I get that it’s based on geography but with the Bucs and Saints being good teams you would think we would see more of them but alas, that is still not to be unless they are on MNF or SNF.

Look readers, I hate advertising anything.  I am loyal to almost no product.  Why?  Because they aren’t loyal to me so why reciprocate?  They’re companies.  They sell shit.  We buy shit.  That’s the transaction.  Anyway, as I said, I don’t advertise usually but with what is happening up here in Canada in terms of football (mostly college but yes, the NFL as well), we are going backwards.  Less football being shown than the previous year.  To me, this is unacceptable.  It’s 2020.  A crazy year but still, it’s not 2000.  We should have the ability to pretty much watch almost any football game we want to (within reason).  I, myself, have IPTV.  I run it through my Android box but you can run it through AppleTV as well (plus other methods I’m sure).  It is great.  I can find pretty much everything I want when it comes to football.  Yes, sometimes you are a bit delayed (like up to a minute behind the actual action) but still, it’s a way for me to get all the games I want to see.  And with the cable companies caring less and less, there is no reason to stay loyal to them.  There are alternatives.  So if you are getting frustrated, it may be time to look at those alternatives.

Anyway, I should be on the Twitter machine this weekend (@TheBauceman).  I know, you’re not excited.  I can’t be on all day both days because I do have a life outside of this, even with me being unemployed (surprising I know).  But I try to be on it as much as I can.  I find it fun if you can wade through the bullshit or just basically avoid it.  Have a great weekend everyone!

So far so good – Week 2 NFL TV Schedule

Alright the first set of COVID-19 tests are back and everyone tested negative from the Texans-Chiefs game.  Here’s a question though: why the hell did it take so long?  If it takes a week to get results I have a feeling this could end up biting the NFL on the ass down the line when a team plays Sunday and then Thursday and they find a positive test or two.  Then instead of two teams, you have issues with four.  Not good.

But saying that it’s a good start.  Many are seemingly waiting for something to happen with the NFL.  I am the opposite.  I am hoping they get through the entire season unscathed by the Coronavirus.  I wish them well because I wouldn’t want to see the players or coaches affected by it.  Maybe we should all feel this way.  Be optimistic.  Problem is, some in sports media can’t help but be pessimistic and I assume this is mostly to get attention.  If I was more popular I assume I would get a deluge of comments from the sports media defending their industry.  And that’s their right.  But like almost every employment sector you have to employ the 90/10 rule: 10% of the people employed in that sector shouldn’t be because they are terrible at their job and/or dangerous to their co-workers and the other 90% sometimes suffer because of that.  Very, VERY few jobs aren’t like this (and in some cases that last number is larger).

OK enough of that.  Schedule time!  Here we go:

Thursday

Cincinnati at Cleveland

8:20, NFL Network, TSN1/3/4/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Buffalo at Miami	Buffalo, Rochester		Kitchener, Toronto		Ottawa
Denver at Pittsburgh	Seattle, Cleveland, Boston		Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario		Vancouver Island, Alberta, Atlantic
Jacksonville at Tennessee	Spokane
NY Giants at Chicago	Minneapolis, Detroit, Burlington
Carolina at Tampa Bay		Burlington, Boston	Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic		London, Toronto
Detroit at Green Bay		Detroit
LA Rams at Philadelphia
Atlanta at Dallas
Minnesota at Indianapolis		Minneapolis	Winnipeg	TSN5
San Francisco at NY Jets		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Rochester	Vancouver, Alberta

Sunday Late

Baltimore at Houston	Cleveland				All affiliates
Kansas City at LA Chargers	All affiliates (except Cleveland)		All affiliates
Washington at Arizona		Buffalo

Sunday/Monday Primetime

New England at Seattle	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
New Orleans at Las Vegas	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/5

Notes on the Canuck-Specific Schedule

• OK it’s only two games that no one can get up here without Sunday Ticket/DAZN/RedZone/going to certain bars/illegal streaming/whatever.  And both of them are in the early timeslot so that is good for this early in the season.
• Chiefs-Chargers get pretty much all the viewers for the late timeslot.  Ravens-Texans at least get CTV Two all to themselves so that’s something.
• CROSS-FLEX!  I’m waiting to see how many people get upset over this.  I mean unless you are a Giants or Bears fan and don’t get the game in your area this makes no sense.  They really do need to do away with the conferences being almost entirely on one network, at least in the regular season.  Playoffs it makes sense but in the regular season, who cares.  Get RedZone.  It will cure all your NFL ails.
• The early audience is spread around quite nicely.  Four different games get fairly decent Canadian audiences.  Have to admit that so far it has been good for the NFL fan in Canada where it comes to coverage of different games.
• You will notice ABC is doing Monday Night Football.  That’s right, the original network of MNF will be showing the first game ever in the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.  Should be good.  Also, ESPN is doing a Megacast and one part of the Megacast may be available on TSN2 meaning for the first time ever, an NFL game will be on all five TSN stations at once.  Good stuff.  The rest of the Megacast will be available on TSN Direct.

There you go.  Schedule complete.  So far there honestly hasn’t been much drama to start the season.  Kind of feels like we are in the eye of the storm though.  I mean what’s an NFL season without drama?  None of us know because it has never really happened.  So it’s just a matter of when and how ridiculous the soap opera atmosphere is.  Anyway, enjoy the games and enjoy your weekend.