2017 Week 16 Fine Blotter

• Houston Texans:  DeAndre Hopkins:  $6,016 for throwing a ball into the stands.  He does not understand the safety ramifications involved.
• Houston Texans:  JaDeavon Clowney and
• Houston Texans:  Julian Davenport:  Both $9,115, both for face masks.
• Houston becomes the twelfth team to be fined $50,000 for reaching the first threshold.
• Los Angeles Chargers:  Joey Bosa:  $18,231 for roughing the passer.
• Los Angeles Chargers:  Rayshawn Jenkins:  $9,115 for unnecessary roughness.
• Dallas Cowboys:  Geoff Swaim:  $9,115 for a crackback block.
• Atlanta Falcons:  Desmond Trufant:  $12,154 for a punch.
• New Orleans Saints:  This one confuses me, with the new rules:  Alvin Kamara was fined $6,079 for illegal cleats, but they were holiday-themed cleats.  On Christmas Week.  Yeah.
• Another hypocrisy of the top end:  Jameis Winston was not fined by the NFL for his outburst at the officials, including shoving a sideline personnel member.  One can only hope this meant the team fined him at least the relevant amount.  Not only because Winston should've been fined, but that fine would've cost the Bucs $50,000 for reaching the first threshold too.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Yannick Ngakoue:  $30,387 for contact with an official.  It makes Ngakoue a TWO-TIME LOSER.

More to come.

What is this? The FOURTH Patriot rig-job? As Deadspin commenters called it: Patriots get Harrison.

The first thing a lot of the people on Deadspin said when the Steelers released James Harrison was that he's going to be a New England Patriot.

James Harrison was signed by the Patriots today.

No one's hiding it any more, are they?  The Gronk suspension being only one week, the two Calvin Johnson Rule calls, this...  That's FOUR major rig-jobs for the Patriots in 2 weeks.

I guess that's one of the reasons the Super Bowl odds, last I saw, were down to 2-1.

2017 Week 16 Score Report, where it IS all about Vegas, it seems...

... or at least one story, about the Christmas night Monday nighter.

Vegas installed Philadelphia as a 10-point favorite last night over Oakland, and got a Cliffhanger when Philly scored a late field goal with 22 seconds left to take the lead and win the game.

Then, on the last play, Oakland fumbles the ball and Philly scoops and scores for a nine-point lead.

They go for TWO for some reason...  *points above*

And a KNEEL DOWN!!!!  So Philly fails to cover the ten, and the reaction was not kind...

So here's the Week 16 Score Report, and no idea why that just posted...

• Well, the score report might as well have disappeared, because if that wasn't the lowest scoring week of NFL play since I started doing it, it's in the Top 3.  Only 37.75 points per game for the week -- and that puts the 15 week average at only 43.72
• Home teams were 12-4.  All four of the home losers were out of the playoffs.  132-103 for the year.
• Over was 3-13.  107-125-8 for the year.
• 8-7-1 against the spread, 13-3 straight up.  124-107-8 ATS, 170-69 SU for the year.
• Team with more penalties was 5-10, 95-127 for the year.
• SEVEN non-competitive games this week.  82 of them for the year.
• Five more games were within eight points at some point in the fourth quarter, but didn't finish there.
• That meant only FOUR games finished within eight points.  Gee, you think some of these teams have given up by now???
• Three Cliffhangers and Two Last Chance Misses.
• And now only NINE relevant games Week 17 (the Pittsburgh win made the Jacksonville game irrelevant, and the Philadelphia win made their game irrelevant and the Viking game barely so!).

Storyline Update: Goodell must be hating life right now.

NFC first.  We're down to seven teams for six spots, after Dallas and Detroit lost to be eliminated.

1. Philadelphia (12-2, plays tomorrow night at home against Oakland in the MNF finale).  Bye clinched.  Clinches homefield throughout and the #1 seed with one win or a Minnesota loss.
2. Minnesota (12-3):  Has clinched nothing but the NFC North.  Still needs a win or Carolina not to win the NFC South at 12-4.  To get the #1, Philly must lose twice and Minnesota defeat Chicago.
3. Los Angeles Rams (11-4):  Won the NFC West.  Can do no better than here, though, with the head-to-heads all against them above.
4. New Orleans (11-4):  Has clinched only a playoff berth.  Can do no better than the #3 anyway, and, if Carolina beats Atlanta and they lose to Tampa, Carolina vaults everybody unless Minnesota wins.  A win or a Carolina loss gets the NFC South.
5. Carolina (11-4):  See the New Orleans thing for the situation.  A win and a New Orleans loss means they can jump all the way to the #2 if Minnesota also loses.  A win and a New Orleans loss alone probably gets them the #3.
6. Atlanta (9-6):  Must either beat Carolina or have Seattle lose to get the #6, can do no better.

Only other team in it is Seattle at 9-6, needs a win over Arizona AND an Atlanta loss.

AFC is quite a bit more confusing, but it's all at the wildcards:

1. New England (12-3):  Wins the #1 with a win or one Pittsburgh loss.  Bye clinched.
2. Pittsburgh (11-3, plays Houston in the Christmas Bonus game with the NFL Network tomorrow):  Needs two wins and a New England loss to the Jets for the #1.  However, needs one win to avoid Jacksonville cropping up.  They do get a bye week next week with the Browns.
3. Jacksonville (10-5):  Unless Pittsburgh loses twice, nothing more to do.  Division clinched.
4. Kansas City (9-6):  Nothing more to do.  Division clinched.
5. Baltimore (9-6):  At least has the outright position, so a win in Week 17 gets them the #5 and Kansas City.
6. Tennessee (8-7, conference tiebreaker over the Bills and Chargers):  Win and in, lose and they need the other two to lose as well.
7.  Buffalo (8-7):  Needs a win and either Tennessee or Baltimore to lose.
8.  Los Angeles Chargers (8-7):  Needs a win and both Buffalo and Tennessee to lose.

And that's the entire playoff picture.  15 teams for 12 spots, and NO GAME worthy of the final game -- so the NFL has announced there won't be one.

For the first time since the flex scheduling and the like, there will be NO LATE GAME.  NBC gets no game for the last of the season, because there's no game worthy of it.  Late word had the Carolina-Atlanta game being flexed, and that probably was the closest call.

There are already five irrelevant games next week.  If Philadelphia wins Monday, their Week 17 game goes irrelevant. Minnesota kicks early (so does Philly), Carolina/Atlanta kicks late (so doNew Orleans and Seattle (and the Rams, but that game is irrelevant)).

So that's five or six games relevant in the NFC, and a lot of that is schedule manipulation.

New England and Pittsburgh kick early.  (The Pittsburgh game is relevant either way -- for the #1 if they win Monday, for the #3 if they lose Monday.)  Jacksonville/Tennessee kicks late, relevant for Tennessee at minimum.  Baltimore, Buffalo and the Chargers also kick late, so that whole wild-card situation goes in the 4 PM slot.

Six relevant games, again, ALL schedule manipulation.

So they had to manipulate the schedule, moving three CBS games in that wild-card mess in the AFC to the 4 PM slot.

Roger Goodell must be hating life.

Can this league lay off the damn New England shit? SERIOUSLY!!

Another Calvin Johnson thingie this week...

Kelvin Benjamin had a touchdown overturned this afternoon against the Patriots at Foxboro, and here's the official who called the reversal, from ESPN...

"Here is the NFL's official announcement from Senior VP of Officiating Al Riveron about why he overturned Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin's touchdown catch late in the first half of Sunday's game at New England: "When Kelvin Benjamin gains control, his left foot is off the ground. The receiver only has one foot down in bounds with control. Therefore, it is an incomplete pass. -AL""

Buffalo had to settle for a field goal, game is 16-all late in the third.


Let's see how long the NFL allows that video to stand, because that is a perfect video of the play.

ARE THEY EVEN HIDING IT? He dragged the other foot after bringing the ball into his body. It's RIGHT THERE IN THE FUCKING REPLAY!

EDIT TO ADD:  Oh, and before the video, it's clear the guy is getting damn well MUGGED in the end zone.

Bunch of Odds and Sods

• We may be about to see the theoretical end of the Green Bay Packers.

Seriously.  The team they're trotting out barely beat the Cleveland Browns, and the egg they laid last week indicates they're in big trouble without an organizational house-cleaning.

There are NFL teams that want that to include Aaron Rodgers, and they have some case.

After the Packers were eliminated from the playoffs, the Packers put Aaron Rodgers back on IR after bringing him back for one week.  Now, there's no real question Rodgers was hurt against Carolina.

But the NFL injury rules state that, to put a player back on IR, there needs to be a new injury.  And a number of teams believe (I'm not clear on the penalty.) that the penalty for that is release of the player.

• How bad are the Green Bay Packers right now?  For their franchise, historically bad.

If there's a more obvious one-person team out there right now, I'd like to see it.  (OBJ has at least Eli...  Maybe Watt in Houston?)

But the Packers got shut out by the Vikings in Lambeau last night.  It's the second time since the Rodgers injury that the Packers have been shut out at home.  The last time a team was shut out twice at home in the NFL was 2006 -- both the Packers and Raiders have done it.

The Packers had never, at least since 1940, been shut out twice at home, and only five times have been shut out twice at home in that span.

Brett Hundley has the NFL record for home pass attempts without a touchdown.

• An ex-worker for the Green Bay Packer concessions department had an incident where the bomb squad had to be called to Lambeau Field on Friday.

Not a good week for the Packers.

• The Pittsburgh Steelers released James Harrison.

He played in about three snaps a game this year, and they needed the spot.  Word is, the parting was amicable -- but it does leave a lot of people thinking he may play in New England for the playoffs.  And CBS Sports says they are interested!

• How bad are the Cleveland Browns?

First off, as of writing this at 12:04 PM Pacific, they are playing the 4-10 Chicago Bears -- and losing 20-3.

Second, a little research from Pro Football Reference into the last three seasons, entering today...

0-14 this season, 1-29 the last two, 4-42 the last three seasons.

12 losses the last two seasons in which they never got within 8 points in the fourth quarter, only 10 in which it ended within 8 points.

• The owners of the Ravens believes the #NFLBoycott is working -- in that people are not attending games because of it.

Well, is it costing anybody money yet?  (I could see major cuts in ad revenue forthcoming, but will that be enough to force the issue??)  Otherwise, it may be up to Vince McMahon to determine if the #NFLBoycott (which we all know is REAL) is actually WORKING....

Two reasons the NFL Fan of Today is just too damn stupid to get it...

Tolerance level:  About ZERO this holiday season.  Bah humbug.

So I have two things to show you that indicate how the NFL fanatic of today is just too stupid and gullible to get much of anything.

First, you know how much people talk about how much the NFL wants the last week to matter?  It's a centerpiece of a lot of what Brian Tuohy intelligently talks about every year.

Well, this year, it appears as if the NFL has thrown in the towel completely.

Thirteen teams, at this point, are absolutely eliminated from the playoffs, ENTERING WEEK SIXTEEN.  Green Bay (by Atlanta winning), Washington, Arizona, Tampa, San Francisco, Chicago, and the Giants in the NFC.   The Jets, Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, and Cleveland in the AFC.

Meaning that gets us down to nineteen teams with relevant football to play.

Now, I go to a FiveThirtyEight post from earlier this week, and show that even that is not very good.

The first problem, for the three remaining teams on the outside looking in in the NFC, is that there are 5 teams 10-4 and better (the three teams in question are 8-6:  Dallas, Detroit, and Seattle). The sixth is 9-5 and cannot lose the conference tiebreaker to any of those three teams - the best they can do is tie with four conference losses.

This means that, for each of the three teams, they must win twice and:

Dallas:  Must get one other result:  Detroit must lose to Green Bay.

Seattle:  Must get at least two other results.  Atlanta and Detroit must lose.

Detroit:  Must get at least two other results.  Atlanta to lose to Carolina, the winner of Seattle and Dallas loses Week 17.

So the only relevant games in the NFC (and the only seeding I will be concerned with is #1 and #2 and the last:

MIN / GB Seeding
DAL/SEA Elimination
DET/CIN Elimination
ATL/NO Seeding/Elimination
OAK/PHI Seeding (and maybe still elimination for Oakland by Monday night)
LA Rams/TEN Seeding for both (path to elimination for Tennessee)

In the AFC, there are five remaining teams.

Tennessee is listed above.  Both of their games will be relevant.

Buffalo is also in decent shape, same scenario, except they have New England here in Week 16

The Chargers must win both and have KC lose both for the division or get seven other different results.


Miami needs two wins and five other different results. 

Oakland needs two wins and SEVEN other different results.

So here we are, relevant for Week 16...

BUF/NE Seeding and elimination
LA Chargers/NYJ, but only if KC loses , or the sum of Buffalo wins, Indianapolis wins, and the Rams win.
IND/BAL for seeding and perhaps to eliminate Miami, Oakland, and any wildcard shot for the Chargers...
PIT/HOU Seeding.

I count ten relevant games this week, and that number can shrink.

Will look into that more next week.

So what's the second one?

Well, I took to Reddit.  I know, big mistake.

I basically took another look at the Jesse James catch rule fiasco.  I've drawn a conclusion that should disturb any NFL fan:  The NFL has now gone beyond "going to ground" to maintain control, but now must "survive the ground".

This, to me, is a very important distinction, because it changes the rule and removes the sideline exemption.  If you don't believe me, remember that the rule speaks of "after initial contact with the ground".  James is already making initial contact with the ground long before the ball slips out.  In fact, he does turn up field to lunge for the goal line...

So it would now appear that there is a significant (small, but significant) time between "initial contact with the ground" and "catch".  Would this not mean the following are now both incomplete passes?

1) James, if he were downed with possession of the ball before he satisfies "catch"

and 2) Any player who falls out of bounds before satisfying "catch", because it would be the same animal as if he didn't get the two feet in in the first place.

This was the result.  Your NFL fandom, people!!

SEC Filing: Vince McMahon dumps $100 million of his WWE stock -- he's going to fund the White Right Football League

Oh dear Lord, HE IS DOING IT!

Insider-required paperwork from the Securities and Exchange Commission confirm our worst fears:  Vince McMahon sold $100 million of his WWE stock to fund an Alpha Entertainment project -- probably the URFL...

Why not call it what it is, Vince?  It's the WHITE RIGHT FOOTBALL LEAGUE, the WRFL...

Week 15 2017 Fine Blotter

Will be updated during the weekend as more information hits...

• The Thomas Davis suspension has been halved.  He'll still sit this week for his Davante Adams hit. 
• To no one's shock, the Seattle Seahawks are the first team to sufficiently violate the NFL Concussion Protocol -- they've been fined $100,000 for it.
• And those weren't the only fines for the Seahawks this week (and all of the Seahawk fines are doubled with team fines, as they are also beyond the final number):  Delano Hill and the Seahawks fined $12,154 for his ejection foul.  Threw two punches in a third-quarter incident to become the third Seahawk to be tossed in two weeks.
• Los Angeles Rams:  Robert Quinn:  $12,154 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
• Los Angeles Rams:  Nickell Robey-Coleman:  $9,115 for unnecessary roughness.
• Oakland Raiders:  And I'm surprised this fine was not Repeat Offender and doubled (again) as a result:  Marshawn Lynch, a TWO-TIME LOSER, both for Conduct -- $24,309 for ranting the officials after the David Carr fumble...  Lynch had to be restrained after the play.  (And the Raiders are also fined that amount, dollar for dollar, for their accumulated total -- now almost $350,000 in total.)
• Houston Texans:  Johnathan Joseph:  $18,231 for a horse-collar tackle.
• New York Jets:  David Bass:  $9,115 for a facemask.
• And that fine makes the rest of the season dollar for dollar, as the Jets become the fifth NFL team to surpass the final fine threshold.
• New York Giants:  Sterling Shepherd:  $12,154 for flaming a referee after a similar call to Lynch's.
• Arizona Cardinals:  Alex Boone:  $18,231 for a horse collar.

There are a number of others Spotrac apparently found, but I have no verification of any of them.

Second NFL Network Exec Gone

Amid increasing reports that the only way you got through NFL Network was to shut up and take the harassment and abuse, now David Eaton has been forced to resign.

Another vice president and executive editor of NFL Media has been #MeToo'd ...

You fuckers are not going to have a network left when this is over -- you do realize that...

Several Updates, including two from New England

• One of many questions people have about the Political Champion, Tom Brady, is how many PED's he's being allowed to get away with, especially at age 40.  The New England Patriots, today, announced that his doctor, Alex Guerrero, has been banned from all Patriots planes and sideline work.  It apparently is a beef between Guerrero and Bill Belichick.  (Deadspin)
• Speaking of Belichick, in a move admitting the rigging of the Pittsburgh game and in recognition of the current state of the Rig The Games Calvin Johnson Rule (and the rule also talking about fumbling out of the endzone being a touchback), Bill Belichick will bench any player who, in the process of attempting to score, reaches for the pylon or attempts to make the football move Jesse James did.  (SB Nation)
• In a "Water is Wet" Deadspin moment, it has basically been inferred that Vince McMahon IS, in fact, creating the UFL to force players to stand for their country.  Wrestling podcaster David Bixenspan went into some detail as to the timeline.  Vince McMahon is creating a new business venture outside of the WWE:  Calling it "Alpha Entertainment", it was incorporated September 6 and made into VKM Ventures somewhere in the third week of September this year.  Trademarks for the UFL were created about this same time period.
• What this has done, however, is raised the spectre of the possiblity that Vince McMahon could, and very soon!, sell World Wrestling Entertainment and use the proceeds to bankroll the UFL.  Stay tuned.
• A frightening Tweet from Ryan Thibadoux, who tracks the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots (hat-tip to Deadspin for the reporting of this).  As of Monday:

With 61 ballots revealed/~14.7% of the vote known:
Thome - 98%
Chipper - 97%
Vlad - 90%
Edgar 84%
Hoffman - 79%
-----
Clemens - 72%
Mussina - 71%
Bonds - 71%
Schilling - 69%
Walker - 36%
Vizquel - 36%
Manny - 31%
McGriff - 16%
Rolen - 16%
Tracker: https://t.co/EHQYbIMnWo

— Ryan Thibodaux (@NotMrTibbs) December 18, 2017

His website has updated this to 72 ballots received and known.  As of this total, Barry Bonds is 3 votes short of 75% (51) and Roger Clemens is 2 votes short (52).  Trevor Hoffman, as of at least this report, is right on the number at 54.  2 votes against locks Thome and Chipper, 6 votes against Vlad Guerrero, a similar lock.  Mike Mussina is 4 votes short, as is Curt Schilling.

Something people notice:  The 72 ballots reported in have an average of over 9 names on the ballot -- the maximum is 10.

Anatomy of Two Fixes, including the THIRD NFL game probably fixed from Week 15...

When Roger Goodell goes big, he goes BIG.

Brian Tuohy, in his NFL season page, has just related a third probable game from Week 15 of this year - important to the remaining storylines - that well probably was fixed:

Packers-Panthers.

And he does it with this GIF -- and I hope he doesn't mind I yoink it:

Successful strip by the Packer, and there's no way he's in bounds when he lands.

Just like the CBS crew with the Pittsburgh game, no one in the FOX booth thought the refs would have the balls to be so blatant about it.

This was either the touchdown that made the game 24-14 or the one which made it 31-17 (Byrd was credited with both.).  The fact is that this ended the Packers' season -- and, as a result, Aaron Rodgers was returned to Injured Reserve, almost dooming it to 7-9 and the team finally having to ask some real questions (hint:  you're soft and teams can cheap-shot the shit out of you -- change that culture first or more of your boys are going to get hurt bad).

But I posited:  Why, especially after the investigation of the Panthers owner about sexual harassment, would the Panthers win a game, especially a rigged one?

Well, Tuohy answers that:  If the NFL knew he was going to have to sell the team, then Cam Newton and the Panthers in the playoffs might merit a few more million on the purchase price.  Problem solved.

Now, I haven't had any comments on the one in Pittsburgh, but I want to show people why this was such a blatant rig-job here...

It's about as clear as it gets.  James has the ball, and, once he makes it to the ground, then makes the football move to extend the ball over the goal line because he has not been touched down, breaks the plane of the goal line, and then appears to have the ball slip just as it hits the ground.

He is on the ground -- save being touched, he is down.

But the call and the cockamanie explanation is that he now must "SURVIVE the ground".  Meaning that, under the shit rule, he must not only go to ground but actually surpass going to the ground -- he must actually still have the ball AFTER he hits the ground, not just as he hits the ground (which was the former understanding of the rule).

And then watch how closely to the ground Jesse James actually "loses control".  You cannot, in any way, tell me that is not an intentional act of someone attempting to invoke the Calvin Johnson Rule, throwing the most important regular-season NFL game of the year to the preferred Patriots, unless you wish to tell me the ruling was bullshit.

SOMEONE rigged that game, and did so under orders from Roger Goodell.

I mean, the two plays have left me with two inescapable conclusions:

1) If a player cannot complete the catch before he is out of bounds, the official must rule the catch incomplete, as he, once he completes the catch, is not a legal receiver -- now, two feet and going and surviving ground are no longer sufficient.

2) If a player is touched down with the ball but before he can complete the catch, the pass must be ruled incomplete because he might have possession of the ball, but no catch when he is downed.

And the hits just keep on coming for ESPN: John Skipper OUT, and it's not good...

Even the spin is not good for ESPN and Disney, especially now with Disney acquiring the FOX regional sports networks, among other properties.

John Skipper resigned abruptly from ESPN on Monday, citing drugs.

Eventually, with the losses at Disney and multiple major runs of firings at the network, Skipper was out anyway.

But that he claims drug abuse is one thing bad enough.

He had literally signed a three-year extension about a month ago.

A cursory look at affairs thinks it's more than drugs -- #MeToo has probably just claimed nearly it's highest victim.

Deadspin reported last week that The Boston Globe had looked into gender relations at the Worldwide Leader, and the results were not pretty.

Wednesday, the day before the Globe's article, Skipper met with much of the talent on the network and told them sexual harassment was no issue at the network.

Thursday, The Boston Globe called him a liar.

Monday, he's out.

If they enforce the right of women not to be harassed equally, this country is going to have to confront a question:  Is anything going to be left when the examination is over?

My guess?  No.

After All That, The Score Report For Week 15 of the 2017 Season

You know it's bad when even Vegas admits it:

In the 4 pm games alone #NFL officials directly influenced the outcome of #LARvsSEA total and #PITvsNE side & total. Fortunately, a kick will decide #TENvsSF
OVER 44.5 is in

— VegasInsider.com (@TwitVI) December 18, 2017

In another ending decided by the #NFL rule book, after ALL of that...60 minutes, etc. - we end up with a push at most shops for #Cowboys (-3) and #Raiders. Dallas survives 20-17. Books survive, too. #SNF

— VegasInsider.com (@TwitVI) December 18, 2017

•  44.625 points per game this week.  43,625 last year.
• 15 week average:  44.14  Last year:  44.46
• Home teams were 9-7 last week, but it took 1-4 in the last 5 and all three regular national games going to the road side (TNF, SNF, and MNF) to get there.  120-99 for the season.  (.548)  Last year was 7-9 for the week, .575 for the season.
• Two of the mentioned games in the VegasInsider tweets pushed (SF did as well with the winning kick).  A first for the season:  Seattle and the Rams kicked a pick.  So favorites were 9-4-2 ATS and 14-1 SU.  8-8 ATS and 12-4 SU last year.
• Season totals:  116-100-7 ATS (just about enough to make money if you consistently picked favorites equally) and 157-66 SU.  107-99-7 ATS and 138-74-1 SU last year.
• Over was 6-9-1 this week for 104-112-8 for the year.  Last year:  7-9 and one game under .500
• Team with more penalties was 5-10 this week -- 90-117 for the year.  Last year:  8-7 and 80-109.
• Six non-competitive games, two games within 8 at some point in the fourth and not at the end, 8 games finished within 8, 3 Cliffhangers (NE, DAL, SF).  Still only about 48% of the games ended within 8 points this year so far, 30% of the games are blowouts that never get within 8.
• Big news of the week?  SEVEN Last Chance Misses, including two of the three Cliffhangers -- the third would've been had SF missed their field goal at the gun that won it.
• Both this year and last have had 43 Cliffhangers in 15 weeks.  The big difference?  This year has had 109 games finish within 8 points.  Last year had 120!

NFC Update, as I did the AFC last night to completion.

• You pretty much have your six playoff teams in the NFC:  PHI, MIN, Rams, NO, CAR, and ATL.  The only way that breaks is if one of the 10-4s (or Atlanta, who beats all the tiebreakers at 10-6, and they're 9-5 now) loses their last two and one of the three 8-6s wins their last 2 and the setup is right.

Ratings:

• Basically about what you'd expect for the last relevant regular-season game:  Steelers-Pats window went huge for CBS (+8%).
• CBS Regional Window:  -39%!!  Lowest window of the season.
• FOX Single was down marginally.  "Down a tick"
• Sunday night was down 20%. 

Week 15 Supplemental Discipline: ANOTHER dirty-hit suspension

Another illegal hit on Green Bay's Davante Adams, and, for the second time this year, the hitter is suspended...

And he's a repeat offender, so:

• Carolina Panthers:  Thomas Davis is suspended the final two games (on appeal:  one game) of the season for a flagrant blindside defenseless player hit.

Memo to the Packers:  You're soft, and you're seen as a team that teams can take cheap shots on.

That's at least the FOURTH suspension-level or near-suspension-level hit you've taken this season.

Suspension costs him $243,051, so that would be a $50,000 Club Remittance penalty.

Adams becomes the ninth player (Iloka's was appealed down to a fine) suspended by the NFL this season for on the field stuff. Five of them have been assessed since Thanksgiving.

Davis is a TWO-TIME LOSER and TWO BIG TIMES this year -- he was already Repeat Offender when he got nailed in Week 8, so that fine was already doubled to $48,620 -- so he's responsible for $98,620 of the over $150,000 Carolina is responsible for...

Meaning he's about 3/4 of the reason Carolina has two $50,000 checks to cut -- one for the responsible part of his lost salary, the other for accumulated fines to the first threshold.  Carolina now becomes the ELEVENTH NFL team this year to reach at least one threshold.  And there's still three Fine Fridays left.

Several more NFL thoughts...

• #MeToo has claimed it's first NFL owner.  The Carolina Panthers are for sale because of sexual and racial misconduct committed by principal owner Jerry Richardson.  Just days after an investigation was announced, it became quickly clear there was enough to oust Richardson as owner, and, Sunday (when they inexplicably won, when a loss would've opened up a number of NFL options), it was announced the team would go up for sale.

Hmmm...  Racist, misogynistic, North Carolina???  Why, he'd fit in perfectly!

This is almost certainly coming from above -- and, if I had to guess, he won't be the only NFL owner out this year.

• Well, profitable day in Vegas for me -- 4-0 for the week, and that now makes 3 of the 4 cashable and the fourth is now gone from pretty much out to pretty much in.  The Packers (under 10.5) is already cashable, and they're 7-7 and now eliminated.  Detroit (over 7.5) is 8-6 with the win Saturday, that's cashable.  Seattle (under 10.5) got destroyed by the Rams for 8-6 and that's cashable.  New England (over 12.5), you know how that went, and that makes them 11-3 with the Bills and Jets at home and probably needing both to win home field.
• Here's the current storylines.  AFC First:

1. New England, 11-3 and the "win" over Pittsburgh.  Clinched AFC East.
2. Pittsburgh, 11-3, clinched AFC North
3. Jacksonville, 10-4 and has clinched a playoff berth.  A win/tie or a Tennessee loss/tie in the next two weeks wins the AFC South.  Jacksonville has a win over the Steelers, so another game flip in that in the last two weeks will give them the 2 seed.  They did not play New England.
4. Kansas City at 8-6, a game clear, and a sweep over the Chargers
5. Tennessee has one more conference win than Buffalo and Baltimore, but all three have the same number of losses (4) in the AFC, with all three teams 8-6.  So Tennessee is the 5.
6. And the Buffalo/Baltimore tiebreak is still Strength of Victory, solidly in the Bills camp, so Buffalo is the 6.

Wildcard weekend would be Buffalo at Jacksonville, Tennessee at Kansas City.

NFC:

1. Philadelphia:  12-2 and can do no worse than the #2.  Won NFC East and a bye.  Philadelphia must lose to the Cowboys in Week 17 at minimum, or Minnesota can't catch them because Philly has only one conference loss and Minnesota has two.
2. Minnesota:  11-3 and won NFC North.  Clinches at least the #2 unless they lose to both the Bears and Packers.
3. THREE teams are 10-4.  The Rams, the Saints, and the Panthers.  You have to break the NFC South tie first  -- the Saints swept the Panthers in both games, so two wins wins them the NFC South under all conditions.  The Rams, however, beat the Saints, so the Rams are the 3
4. The Saints are the 4
5. And the Panthers are the 5  (And, for the record, NONE OF THE 10-4S have clinched anything yet!)
6. Monday night, Atlanta plays at Tampa Bay.  Atlanta is now the only team in the NFC with five losses.  A win or tie makes them the outright #6 after 14 weeks.     According to the ESPN Playoff Machine, they are the #6 anyway at this point.

A loss to Tampa makes things really messy.   Because, at that point, Atlanta, Seattle, Detroit, and Dallas would all be 8-6 for one spot.

No divisional tie to break -- it's one team from each division.

No head-to-head, all did not play all.  The NFC North played the NFC South for their division, so that meant that Dallas and Seattle all playing Green Bay meant they could not play Detroit, so the head-to-head goes away.

Next tiebreaker is conference:  In this scenario:  Atlanta is 7-3, Detroit 7-4, Seattle and Dallas 6-4.  There's your tiebreak directly, win or lose.

Atlanta at the Rams, Panthers at the Saints.

AFC ELIMINATED:  Jets, Bengals, Broncos, Texans, Colts, and Browns. 

Miami and/or Oakland would need two wins and two losses by at least two, if not all three, of Tennessee, Buffalo, and Kansas City.  (OAK would need two wins and two losses by BUF and KC.)

NFC ELIMINATED:  Giants, Bears, 49ers, Buccaneers, Cardinals, and Washington.

The 8-6s make it real sticky.  Packers are about to join this list, and might as well already.

So 12 teams out, 3 more about to go.  So it's 17 teams for 12 spots with two weeks to go.  Not a Goodell-like scenario.

BROWNS WATCH:  1-29 in their last two seasons, a loss or tie or a Giants win or tie clinches the #1 draft pick.  They have a second high pick from Houston, which, as of right now means they would pick 1 and 5.  At the Bears and Steelers to finish it.  They've got one chance left.

Did we have TWO OF THEM this week?

Not 100% certain on this one...

But boy, given the Steelers-Pats one, you do have to wonder...

17-17, Cowboys with the ball about 4 minutes to go.  A 4th and 1, and the ball is spotted after a sneak pile-up guess.

They can't figure out whether it's a first down, so out comes...

A PIECE OF PAPER!

We’re getting REAL precise here people. First down by the width of a sheet of paper? #CowboysNation #DALvsOAK @fishsports @therealmarklane pic.twitter.com/dQaMRHNNmW

— Matthew Postins (@PostinsPostcard) December 18, 2017

And I'm NOT SURE he actually got it. It looked like, without moving the ball, the referee got the piece of paper in between the pole for the first down and the football. Not nearly as blatant as the other one, but it did lead to the winning field goal with 1:44 left.

The call on David Carr at the goal line was correct.  He was not down, the ball was out half a yard before the goal line, and immediately landed out of bounds past the pylon.  Touchback.

EDIT TO ADD:  As of 11:53 PM PDT -- if you type the hashtag #Rigged into a Twitter search, the NFL Twitter account comes up as the recommended Twitter account.  ROTFLMAO!

SECOND EDIT TO ADD:  HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

On the play Carr went for the pylon and missed, something else was planned?

Carr said Raiders had a play drawn up for Crabtree going the other way on that final play, but refs sent him off to get evaluated for a concussion.

— Scott Bair (@BairNBCS) December 18, 2017

And now, nothing short of a Tom Brady injury is going to stop Number Six...

Because the NFL just rigged the biggest (and last relevant) game of the regular season.

Patriots beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh 27-24 to seize the #1 seed in the AFC, and it was ANOTHER FUCKING CATCH RULE situation.

And you know what that means:  A catch is whatever suits the NFL's agenda the best.

CBS' Tony Romo and Jim Nantz were wondering why it took so long for the replay call to come down.

Easy -- it was to convince themselves to call THIS in favor of the Patriots!!

1st and goal, just inside the 10 for Pittsburgh, and this happens (and the NFL is finally allowing embedding):


Roethlesberger back to pass, throws the ball to Jesse James (#81 of the Steelers) over the middle, falls into the end zone, call on the field is a touchdown.

But you know what that means:  He has to have control all the way to the ground...

And, as a scoring play, it is automatically reviewed...

And, because James is spinning the ball in his hands as he takes it across the end zone WITH HIS KNEE ALREADY DOWN -- meaning, if he's touched at that point, the play is over, so he has already gone to the ground with respect to that part of being DOWN...

The call is REVERSED, and the Steelers get NOTHING out of it and lose 27-24.

...

Does ANYBODY...

ANYBODY...

Want to still try to be convinced these games aren't rigged and that the Patriots, barring a deliberate injury to Tom Brady, have just won Super Bowl #6 for their franchise and Brady and Belichick?

Again, James gets the ball, and his entire leg and his elbow are on the ground, complete control of the ball!

His leg is on the ground, his elbow is on the ground, the ball has broken the plane of the line.

He "loses control" right at the end, and the referees claim that's enough.

If that's the case, and I'm not joking here, James himself intentionally did it to cause the play to be overturned for the league's agenda.  That call is SO BULLSHIT, there's no other way to come down with it.  He has no reason to even think of flipping that ball in that manner -- he's already "gone to ground", as, if he's touched, he's down at the 1.

So the only reason he could even think of doing that with the ball was an intentional act of "losing control" to get the play overturned.  It's easy (and even my default position) that the refs fucked this up for the Patriots...

But what if this was the actual correct ruling?  The only conclusion one could, then, draw is that James intentionally "lost control" of the ball to create that situation, deliberately rendering the pass incomplete under the Calvin Johnson Rule.

And I don't know which is worse -- it's clear the league rigged this win for the Patriots to give them inside track to Minneapolis (and, IMODO, open up all options in the NFC, including the Home Team Super Bowl or even the Rams!!!) and Super Bowl LII(E).

Wow.  And how many million people cheer this garbage on?

Something to keep an eye on the next 18 months or so. And not to completely laugh about it...

At first glance, this would appear to be the stuff of folly and complete tomfoolery, and should get the people reporting it laughed off the Net or whatever.

Found this first on the wrestling side of things (obvious, because of the party involved), but it has picked up mainstream attention.

There is RUMOR -- and nothing more -- that Vince McMahon is going to relaunch the XFL.  One source is saying an announcement is coming in about six weeks.

If you choose to laugh at it, I can't blame you and won't stop you.  But listen closely once you're done laughing.

This may not be just about a minor football league.

Vince McMahon is HARDCORE White Right.

Vince McMahon is also about seizing opportunities by the throat.

We may be a year or so from finding out if the #NFLBoycott is real (as I do believe it is) or fake (as a lot of people I've talked to believe it might be).  For everything the #NFLBoycott is, there is one truth:  To this point, it is NOT WORKING.

Roger Goodell has been surprisingly forthright and supportive of the players' right to protest, and has been willing to listen and take their concerns seriously -- this in increasing criticism from a massive White Right protest, demanding absolute respect for the troops and everything else the National Anthem stands for...

Everything Vince McMahon tries to promote -- the flag, the Anthem...  He just did his annual "Tribute to the Troops" event in San Diego this year.

Vince McMahon forcing absolute fealty for the flag, Anthem, and troops would be a perfect centerpiece for a football league to serve the White Right.

And that opportunity is no greater than it is now.

And for the one major concern (the fact that the football game quality was shit in the XFL the first time), how many NFL fans and ex-fans now see the NFL in this light?

So keep an eye on this one.  And a cursory scan of #NFLBoycott supporters on Twitter indicates Vince may well get some support on this one.

EDIT TO ADD Monday morning:  Word is that the new trademarks being sought might have it called the "United Football League", with "For the Love of Football" being the catch-phrase.

The NFL is going to KILL SOMEBODY in the next eight weeks -- it's that out of control.

Has anyone really figured it out yet?

I've been leaving scraps and the like of clues and hints about it the last several weeks of the season, especially after doing the weekly Fine Blotters.

And I'll be open and blunt about it, I think the fines are under-reported, and, at least two weeks I can recall, significantly so.

That said, one thing is clear...

And this was as of November 10th.

Richard Sherman
Deshaun Watson
Andrew Luck
Aaron Rodgers
Odell Beckham Jr.
Brandon Marshall
Zach Miller
Jason Peters
Joe Thomas
Marshall Yanda
JJ Watt
Whitney Mercilus
Eric Berry
Dalvin Cook
David Johnson
Darren Sproles
Ryan Tannehill
Julian Edelman
Allen Robinson

Way too many.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2017

That is a pretty good portion of your star power in this league.  At least three players who are the full extent of the franchises involved (Watt, Rodgers, OBJ), and the fact is that cheap shots or marginal shots have played a large role in much of this.  Beckham was an aggravation of an injury suffered when he was cheap-shotted in the pre-season.  The shot that put Rodgers on the shelf most of the year was marginal at best.

But the facts are in and clear:  Injure your opponent to win.

Well, somebody's gonna die in the next several weeks, and there have been several FRIGHTENING close calls in the recent past:

• About a week before that Tweet, Bears tight end Zach Miller nearly had his left leg AMPUTATED due to a knee injury, it was that bad.
• Ryan Shazier is STILL in a Pittsburgh hospital, ten days after the Monday Night Football debacle with Cincinnati left Shazier with spinal stenosis.
• Another helmet-to-helmet last night on the Thursday game, Brandon Williams, with pre-existing spinal stenosis, adds a concussion and an overnight stay in an Indianapolis hospital...

Somebody's going to die this year, and this nation will cheer when he does. It is clear that Roger Goodell has openly allowed and encouraged dirty and injurious defensive play to rule the roost.  It's one of the reasons two things are no surprise in this year's NFL:

First, scoring is still down -- now about four-tenths of a point per game, but it was more than a field goal at one point.

Second:

• #1 fined team:  Steelers:  Over $455,000 in Club Remittance fines, including $86,000+ of dollar-for-dollar by the team.  No accident:  They're 11-2 and can clinch the favorite for the Super Bowl with a win over the Patriots Sunday night.
• #2:  Vikings.   Over $321,000, with no fines from this week by them reported yet.  10-3, current #2 in the NFC, and with the Wentz injury, perhaps it's new favorite?
• #3:  Seattle:  Now over $300,000 themselves.  8-5, and could win the NFC West, or take a large step that direction, with a win over the Rams this weekend.
• #6:  Saints (#4 is the Raiders, #5 the Jets):  NFC South leaders.

It is no accident here.  The teams that are getting fined are winning with that dirty play.

And, one more to keep an eye on this weekend:  Green Bay is at Carolina.  Carolina is at 9-4, and a win over Green Bay eliminates them, as well as probably Dallas as well.

That would've been enough to keep an eye on -- but, just in the last few hours, the prinicpal owner of the Carolina Panthers is now under investigation...  Let's not fool ourselves:  It's another sexual harassment situation.

Why am I smelling Green Bay winning, especially if it's true that Aaron Rodgers will start and play?

 

What should be (barring the league underreporting again) a very interesting Week 14 Fine Blotter...

For the big incident in Jacksonville:

• In another signal the NFL wants a riot, Michael Bennett got NO FINE for his involvement in the first incident between Seattle and Jacksonville.
• Seattle Seahawks:  Coach Pete Carroll was fined $10,000 for illegally entering the field of play.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars were also fined $20,000 for two assistant coaches doing the same.
• Seattle Seahawks:  Both Quinton Jefferson
• Seattle Seahawks:  And Sheldon Richardson, $9,115 each for their ejection roughness penalties.  Richardson is a TWO-TIME LOSER as a result
• Seattle Seahawks:  Germain Ifedi:  $24,309 for verbal abuse of a referee (unsportsmanlike conduct).
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Leonard Fournette:  $12,154 for his involvement

So that's $85,000 or so.

But I have to agree with a number of the Twitter responses already:  This league is scared of the Legion of Boom.  They may write them off in favor of another option, but it is clear the league fears the reality.  Bennett should've been suspended.  Richardson should've been banned the season and then some.  And the league should've fined the Jaguars for their fan conduct too.

To no one's surprise:  Seattle becomes the fourth team this year to reach dollar-for-dollar status.  $50,000 team fine for the privilege, plus another $13,039 for the team for past the threshold.  The Seahawks are now $300,000 for the year -- just on reported fines.

• New Orleans Saints:  Sean Payton, from a previous incident, also $10,000 for illegal entering of the field of play.
• New Orleans Saints:  Vonn Bell:  $9,115 for a face mask.
• Houston Texans:  Benardrick McKinney:  $18,231 for roughing the passer.
• San Francisco 49ers:  Garrett Celek:  $18,231 for a horse-collar tackle.
• New York Giants:  Olivier Vernon:  $18,231 for roughing the passer. 
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Sean Davis (and the team, already dollar for dollar):  $18,231 for unsportsmanlike conduct.  Davis is now also a TWO-TIME LOSER.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Artie Burns (and the team, already dollar for dollar):  $12,154 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
• That's now over $450,000 for the Steelers this year under the Club Remittance Policy, including over $186,000 for the team, meaning the team is now over $86,000 over the final threshold.
• Los Angeles Rams:  Trumaine Jackson:  $9,115 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Some more from Spotrac:

• Cincinnati Bengals:  Chris Smith:  $18,231 for roughing the passer
• Carolina Panthers:  Matt Kalil:  $9,115 for a face mask
• Los Angeles Chargers:  Korey Toomer:  $9,115 for a face mask

Two Updates, Both of the "Next Domino Falls" variety...

• Another of Manfred's "Big Four" has benefitted from the gutting of the Marlins, as Derek Jeter sold off Marcell Osuna to the Cardinals.  The Marlins ostensibly get prospects.

I don't know about you, but if there's a major-league player left on the Marlins come next April, I'd like to know who it is.  For the record, Ichiro Suzuki has also had his option declined by the Marlins.  Dee Gordon has already been traded to the Mariners.

It's so bad that Scott Boras has actually called the Marlins a pawn shop.

• And the next NFL Network person to be fired or suspended will be...  David Eaton, who effectively oversees it as Vice President and Executive Editor for NFL Media.

Why?

Hookers and porn stars all over his Twitter account.  (Deadspin)

Football Man gotta Football Man...

The Anti-Constitutionalist White Right Takes Another Swipe At The NFL

*sigh*

The more things change, the more I get sick of the White Right, especially in the American South.

The New Orleans Saints have been SUED by a season-ticket holding #NFLBoycott devotee, businessman Lee Dragna of Morgan City, Louisiana.

He's suing for the $8,000 cost of a Saints season ticket!  Yahoo! is reporting tonight.

SO WHEN IS THIS TRUMP-HUMPING BITCH GOING TO WANT IT ILLEGAL NOT TO SWEAR FEALTY TO A NATION THAT DIDN'T FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM???

When are people going to get the idea that it's going on all over the place?

Last 24 hours:

• Revealed today that Auburn's head softball coach was forced to resign earlier this year because his son was trying to gain romantic relationships with members of the team.  The assistant coach has been completely banned from the campus permanently -- a sanction not lightly taken!  The Title IX finding stops short of "hostile environment" findings, but is pretty close.
• Five former NFL players have been suspended by ESPN and NFL Network for wrongful termination through sexual harassment complaints.  A former NFL Network female staffer filed a lawsuit against at least those five and the NFL Network for sexual harassment -- so, pending investigation, ESPN benches Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis.  NFL Network has suspended Marshall Faulk, Heath Evans, and Ike Taylor.  Warren Sapp is also implicated.

When are people going to get it?

None of this is going to change until every sacred cow in this country is slaughtered.  Schools, sports, entertainment, politics, everything...

2017 Week 14 Score Report

Starting with the ratings report from Sunday:

• FOX National (mainly Eagles-Rams):  Up 2% to a 16.0 overnight.  Sports Media Watch notes a 16.0 didn't mean that much in 2013-15, but means a lot now, as it's the biggest overnight since Week 2.  The #NFLBoycott is real, people.  Whether it's working or not -- that's another question.
• The national window has only improved five times this season -- the other four were all with the Cowboys.
• Speaking of the Cowboys:  The FOX regional window was up 11%, and featured the Cowboys.  Jerry Jones' "respect the flag OR ELSE" mantra is resonating.
• CBS single window:  Down 24%.
• Sunday night was down 30%, but last year's was Cowboys-Giants with both teams heading to the playoffs.

Vegas update:  2-1 for the week, and they were all big...

• Detroit won (bet is over 7.5) for 7-6.  So I need one of the last three:  Home to Chicago, at Cincy, home to Green Bay.  I could easily see Detroit winning all three of those.
• Seattle lost (bet is under 10.5) for 8-5.  So I need them to lose one of the last three:  Home to the Rams, at the Cowboys, home to Arizona.  Probably have two realistic shots at that, both decent.
• New England just shit the bed, and now they must win all three to go over 12.5.  (At Pittsburgh, home to Buffalo and the Jets)

Current storylines, starting AFC:

1. Pittsburgh at  11-2, won the AFC North this week.  A win over New England next week gets them home-field and makes them Super Bowl favorite.
2. New England at 10-3.  Can retake the #1 with a win over Pittsburgh, but that makes the last two probably must-win as well.
3. Jacksonville at 9-4.
4. Kansas City at 7-6, tiebreaker over Los Angeles with the one win against them, but they play this Saturday night.
5. Tennessee at 8-5.
6. And then a mess at 7-6.  Los Angeles, Buffalo and Baltimore.  Los Angeles loses to both Buffalo and Baltimore on conference record (4-5 vs. 5-4), but breaking tie between the remaining two goes all the way to strength of victory (.407 vs. .378)!  The current #6 is the Buffalo Bills.

NFC:

1. A lot of people talking the Wentz injury, because Philly has the NFC East wrapped up at 11-2.
2. The Vikings falling to Carolina makes them 10-3.
3. Los Angeles is 9-4, tied with Carolina and New Orleans.
4. Break the divisional tie first, and New Orleans has it by sweeping Carolina (9-4).  LA then gets the #3 by the win over New Orleans.
5. Carolina at 9-4.
6. Atlanta at 8-5, Seattle out because Atlanta beat them. 

Five NFC teams 9-4 or better.  Two more 8-5.  This means league heavyweights like Dallas and Green Bay are probably out.

Score report:

• 43.6875 points per game this week.  Last year was actually under 40 for the week:  39.812.
• For the season:  44.106 PPG.  Last year:  44.524
• Home teams continued a good run:  10-6 -- 9-7 last year.
• Record for home teams now 111-92 (.547)  Last year:  119-84-1 (.586)
• Home teams are 31-17 since the byes ended.
• Over was 5-10-1 this year, 6-9-1 last year.  98-103-7 for this season, 103-102-2 last year.
• Favorites, both this year and last, were 10-6 against the number and 11-5 straight up.
• For this season:  107-96-5 ATS, 143-65 SU.  99-91-7 ATS, 126-70-1 SU.  I don't think we've had a pick 'em game yet this year -- we had quite a number last year.
• Team with more penalties was 9-5.  Last year, 4-11.
• Team with more penalties this year is now 85-107 vs. 72-102 last year.
• FIVE Cliffhangers this week, including two doubles.  (Green Bay needed 20 unanswered and a Double Cliffhanger to escape the BROWNS.  Buffalo scored 10 of it's 13 points in Cliffhanger mode for the double and the overtime blizzard win over Indianapolis.)  Last year had 3.
• Total of 40 Cliffhangers this year -- same number as last year.
• TEN games finished within one score this week.  Most since Week 5.  Last year had 10 as well.
• Total number of games finishing within one score this season so far is only 101.  Last year:  115.  So one game a week less than last year finishing within one score.
• Two games were within a score at one point of the fourth (38 for the year, last year had 39).
• Four non-competitive contests, last year had 5.

Two other VERY UGLY developments today...

First, Manfred approved the trade -- Stanton's a Yankee for nothing in return.  (Sorry, Starlin Castro, you aren't of THAT ILK...)

Excuse me one second, I need to do something symbolic:

Just made sure I cancelled MLB.TV on the annual plan.  Thanks for nothing, Manfred.  It's clear if you aren't a fan of the Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs, or MAYBE Cardinals, forget it, kid...

And Stanton glad to leave, as he said in the press conference -- where he was presented #27.

And the Balls are back in the news -- it sounds like they aren't even going to bother with pretense on the third meal-ticket either, as both LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball signed today with a professional Lithuanian also-ran team -- Prienu Vytautas.

I knew it the moment he yanked the one from UCLA and they said no chance at the NBA -- he was going to Europe.  And now it sounds like his brother is going with him.

*Facepalm*

The NFL Officially Wants a Riot: No Suspensions for Seattle or Jacksonville

Message sent.  It's on!

The NFL will suspend no players for the incident yesterday.

Three weeks to go, Pittsburgh-New England next week in Pittsburgh.  Oh boy...

Week 14, and at least the THIRD consecutive week of Supplemental Discipline

And, as egregious as this one is, it shouldn't all fall on the shoulders of that one Seahag.

Seahawks-Jaguars, in a huge one in Jacksonville.  Late in the game, Jacksonville about to win.

Michael Bennett was in the left side there, throwing someone to the ground, several other exchanges, every flag on the field and all sorts of offsetting.  The game announcer (Not the NFL Red Zone person you heard over the top there) was talking this was the chippiness going all day.  Leonard Fournette was also a major player.

It's clear that the Hags were trying to cheap-shot the Jacksonville QB in the victory formation, and that will cost both teams rather significantly.

That said, that wasn't the worst of it.  Not close.

Two Seahawks were thrown out of the game.  Fournette and Bennett only got offsetting roughness penalties.  Sheldon Richardson was thrown out for the refs catching a punch.  (The cameras and announcers caught Fournette jacking a Seahawk in the face mask.)

But it was a DQ from the next kneel-down that got things going worse.  Quinton Jefferson was tossed for a role in a second melee. 


First off, the game should've been terminated.  It was clear this was a powderkeg going off, and The Show Must Go On...

But then the Jacksonville faithful got stupid, and, for whatever penalties Jefferson gets, the Jaguars organization needs to be fined to Hell and back.

Same video, linking at a new point:


At this point, Jefferson is leaving the field, as he should and per procedure. Then, some JACKASS throws a cup of beer at Jefferson from the left of the screen. Jefferson stops, and begins to confront the situation. As Jefferson jaws with several Jaguar fans, another cup is thrown and missed. And then something lands on Jefferson, and he tries to get into the stands, he takes another cup of beer...

Jefferson may have played his last game this year for that. But, for whatever penalty he gets, Jacksonville should be fined six figures BIG TIME. There were at least four things thrown at Jefferson as he was trying to leave.

The war is on...

Rob Manfred Has Declared Open Season on the Dodgers, and everyone else not in the elite caste...

Gioncarlo Stanton, pending a physical (and technical league approval) is a New York Yankee.

All Hail The New Bronx Bombers.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrigged...

A lot of Dodgers fans have feared, for many moons now, that they are basically being told to shut the fuck up and that the Guggenheims need to accept the Dodgers are not in the top tier of the caste system of baseball (Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Cubs, maybe Cardinals).

You want a good indication of how fucked up this is?

The trade is supposed to be Stanton for Starlin Castro and two low-end prospects.

Let that process.

And this is clear collusion between Derek Jeter and his former club, and Rob Manfred is about to sign off on it (making him part of the collusion).

And you know who this is aimed at:  The Dodgers, the most-UNfavored nation in baseball.

Wow.  Manfred, you ain't even trying to hide it, are you?

I got arrested for less than this, but it's the new normal in the social media NFL of the mid-2010's

Checking for Fine Friday on Pro Football Talk -- a surprisingly good source for fines when they are publicized, since it's NBC -- I find this little ditty that shows There Is No Law.

Geno Smith was made the starter last week over Eli Manning with the Giants. That move resulted in the firing of head coach Ben McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese this week, their replacements immediately reinstalling Manning as quarterback.

According to Geno's father Geno Jr. (which would probably make this Geno The Third...), it also resulted in a death threat against father and son...

“I was just at work,” Geno Smith Jr. told Duggan. “I answered and he was like, ‘Geno?’ So I just listened and he was like, ‘Is this Geno?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘Your son better not start or we’re going to kill you.’ I kind of just laughed and then he hung up.”

NFL Security nor the Giants were notified.  Why?  Dad says it best:

“If someone was going to kill me, they ain’t going to call me and tell me,” he said.

Sean Payton's going to get fined for that -- he may just also have sunk the Saints...

... or, at the very least, exposed that they probably have been sunk.

It appears, if you listen to New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton last night, that the NFL rigged the Atlanta Falcons the victory over the Saints last night.

Payton has been blasting anyone in his path since the game (including today) about numerous errors he believes the officiating crew made in the contest.  He is being investigated by the league for his conduct, and may be fined quite a bit for his continued tirades.

The last one was the Last Chance Miss -- as, if you believe the league narrative, he lost the game by losing the plot, garnering an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by running onto the field to call a time out with about one minute left.  It appears that Peyton is claiming the official badgered him into the penalty.

Now, there are false alarms about this kind of thing (Seahawks-Patriots last year reeked a Seahags rig-job to push them, and we all saw what happened), but there has to be some belief that the NFL, for whatever reason (Seattle and LA probably the top two candidates), may be about to de-push the surprising Saints and a defense, moribund for years, that has surprised - with a ton of fines attached.

As of right now, this might be the final gasps for the Saints as a Super Bowl contender, which would leave Philadelphia, Minnesota, and whoever wins the NFC West between the Rams and Seahawks as the main candidates on that side of the ledger.

To me, I think everything revolves around that game next week in Pittsburgh between the Patriots and Steelers -- if the Steelers win, think Philly.  If the Patriots win, the rest of that group comes into play in various respects.

2017 Week 13 Fine Blotter

It's (almost) Fine Friday -- start with a big story first:

• Cincinnati Bengals:  Reduce the number of NFL suspensions for on-the-field for the season to eight.  George Iloka won his appeal to play this week, and was then immediately fined $35,464 for the hit.
• Kansas City Chiefs:  The one-game team suspension didn't count against the number, but the $24,309 fine for Marcus Peters did.  Unsportsmanlike conduct was the ruling.  That makes Peters a THREE-TIME LOSER with the league - meaning there's a better chance the suspension was quite justified.
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Daniel Sorensen:  $18,231 for roughing the passer. And that's THREE-TIME LOSER for Sorensen as well.
• ... and, to no one's surprise, that's a $50,000 fine to the Chiefs.  They just hit the first threshold.  And Peters and Sorensen alone are two-thirds of that amount.
• Indianapolis Colts:  Darius Butler:  $18,231 for a horse-collar tackle.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Myles Jack:  $9,115 for a face mask.
• Cleveland Browns:  Shon Coleman should've been ejected from last week's game.  He was fined $30,387 for pushing an official to the ground.  Personally, I think the fine is stupid:  It happened while the ball was loose. 
• And I wouldn't believe it if I didn't check it.  The Cleveland Browns have won no games this year.  And they still have made the first fine threshold -- $50,000 from them.
• The Browns become the TENTH TEAM to receive a team fine for excessive dirty play on the field.  We still have four weeks to go.

And another for the Personal Conduct Suspension Blotter"

• New Orleans Saints:  David Parry suspended the final four games of the year (more that he forfeits the game checks -- he's been on IR for some time) for an arrest while with the Colts on a variety of charges from robbery and auto theft to DUI.

More to come, unless this week was like Week 4 and last week, where the league probably swept a number of things under the rug.

Trump to orchestrate USA PyeongChang boycott because of dual attacks on him and Russia??

I was wondering if we might see this, but there is now word that the USOC is going to be pressured by Donald Trump to reconsider American participation in the Olympics 10 weeks from now.

Varying sources of varying credibility are placing discussions three ways:

• Donald Trump is prepared to boycott the Games for the United States unilaterally, given criticisms levied against him by the likes of Lindsey Vonn and others on the team.
• UN ambassador Haley states that the United States cannot go to the Games until the situation in Korea is stable enough to ensure their participation.
• And then the probability that Trump will boycott the Games in support of Vladimir Putin and the Russian state-sponsored doping scheme which fixed the Homophobe-lympics four years ago.

Oh boy...  The USOC has had no discussions, the official word from the White House is that they look forward to going, but...

Congratulations, headshot lovers of the NFL...

Ryan Shazier had spinal surgery today, career probably OVER.

All for your little fake headshot-fest.

EDIT TO ADD:  6:40 PM PDT:  Helmet to helmet hit in the first drive of the Thursday nighter between New Orleans and Atlanta -- and standout New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara suffered a concussion.

Keep believing...

And the Ratings for Week 13 of the NFL

Forgot that in all the haste.

From Sports Media Watch:

• FOX National Window:  Down 18% ratings, 20% viewers.  And the worst-rated and least-watched national window of the six FOX national windows this year.
• FOX Regional Window:  Down 7% ratings, 9% viewers.
• CBS Single:  Down 16% ratings, 18% viewers.
• Thursday night:  Down 10% in both measures.
• But the two national week-enders did quite well!  Sunday night with Philadelphia and Seattle was up 11% in both measures.
• And that Monday night debacle of blood with Cincy and Pittsburgh?  Up 34% ratings and up 30% in viewers.

Wonder how much of that Monday number came after the first of the dirty hits?

But one thing is certain -- it's one or the other:

Either the ratings are lying, or the White Right has spoken.

Daily Wire now reports the two-year hit for NFL ratings (basically since Kaepernick started the protests) is now 15%.

Two Important NFL Developments Today, and both will probably piss off the White Right...

Two important developments that will not strike well with the #NFLBoycott movement:

• Jerry Jones has lost.  Roger Goodell will be the Commissioner of the NFL for the next five years, with a contract that could get him $200,000,000 over that period (though only about $30,000,000 is actually guaranteed, in true NFL style!).

One of the major calls from the White Right to force players to stand for their troops or leave is the firing of Roger Goodell.  And, as little use as he's been on every other subject, the White Right has wanted Goodell fired, and has tanked the ratings of the league the last two years -- the first real endangerment of the sport as the #1 in this country.

Well, he got his contract, Jones notwithstanding.  The question, now, is whether Goodell will grow a spine, look at the record of the Cowboys with league discipline, and attempt to prosecute Jones out of the league for conduct detrimental anyway...

But this might piss off the Manly Men even more:

• The NFL has finally buckled (probably as a result of the criticism from two nights ago being the last straw) and will put on consideration for next year's rules some form of the NCAA targeting rule.

Oh, if this doesn't get the "YOU'RE TURNING OUR SPORT INTO FLAG FOOTBALL!!!  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"...

You fuckers want to see people killed out there.  Stop fucking denying it.

You damn near got your wish Monday night.  Ryan Shazier is still in the hospital after his illegal head-shot caught a rib cage and gave him a spinal contusion!

Someone almost died for you fuckers Monday night, and the bitching and kvetching and bitching...

And bitching...  (hat-tip CM Punk)

makes me think you guys want someone gone and murdered out there for your entertainment.

The NFL should've invoked that rule when college did.  Reason they didn't (and they will only enforce it selectively if they do):  Five ejections a game?  More???

And I see the #HoustonStrong sports propaganda got SI too...

Sportsmen of the year:  JJ Watt for his fundraising, Jose Altuve for leading the Astros to the scripted championship.

Mr. Watt, you deserve it.  Instead of just being propaganda about it, like so many other people (including T-Mobile ramming it down our throats during the playoffs), you walked the walked instead of just talked the talk.  You got on social media and raised $37,000,000 to help Houston.

So please take my congratulations, and excuse yourself from the rest of this post.

But this crap with the #HoustonStrong championship (in the mold of the 9/11 Patriots, Boston after the bombing, and, yes, the Golden Knights are nearly undefeated at home.  17-9-1, 2nd in the Pacific, 11-2 at home)...

And it was so obvious, and it may well have seriously damaged a franchise that, frankly, some fans now believe may never see the light of another championship in this Corporate Era of sports.

That said, it's becoming clear that propaganda and tragedy win.

MORE Week 13 Suspension Blotter

This is a team suspension, and, hence, does not apply to the Club Remittance Policy or any numbers I list as to NFL suspensions for on the field conduct.  However, it is a suspension the NFL should have levied, so I will at least mention it.

• Kansas City Chiefs:  Marcus Peters, suspended one game by the team for ejection-level unsportsmanlike conduct.

Peters, enraged at an official's call in last week's game, took the flag and threw it into the stands.

That should've gotten him tossed from the game, a la Kansas City's Travis Kelce last year.

This is also not the first incident the team has had with Peters this year -- Peters was caught directing an expletive toward the fans at Arrowhead Stadium.

And this is no meaningless game he's gone for -- it's the rematch with Oakland!

It does, however, bring up an interesting point about all the league suspensions for on the field:

• Trevathan:  Bears vs. Packers
• Lynch:  The first game between the Raiders and Chiefs
• Sendejo:  Vikings vs. Ravens
• Evans:  Buccaneers vs. Chiefs
• Talib and Crabtree:  Raiders vs. Broncos
• Gronkowski:  Patriots vs. Bills
• Iloka and Simon-Schuster:  Bengals vs. Steelers

Eight of the nine suspensions have occurred in divisional contests.

And, with the league's scheduling the last several years, it's backloaded with divisional games to increase the tension!

2017 Week 13 Score Report

• 42.31 points per game this week, season-long is now 44.14.
• Home teams had a good week this week:  11-5.  21-11 the last two weeks has finally normalized the home record a bit to 101-86. (.540)
• The over was 6-8-2 this week (yes, TWO pushes) to get the season to exactly .500.
• After several good weeks against the number, Vegas got some back this week, as favorites went only 7-9 against the spread and 10-6 straight up.  For the year:  97-90-5 against the spread and 132-60 straight up.
• In a week where dirty cheap shots made headlines, the team with more penalties drew even this week at 8-8.  Still 76-102 for the year.
• SEVEN non-competitive games this week.  Of the 192 games so far this year, 65, over one-third, have been outside of eight points all of the fourth quarter.
• Three Cliffhangers, including that bloodbath Monday night.   35 for the year.
• Two Last Chance Misses, 34 for the year.
• Only six of the sixteen contests finished within eight points, for only 91 so far in 13 weeks.  That gets us back down to the 48 or so percent it was the last year before I started tracking and that number exploded.

Vegas updates on my totals bets:

• 1-2 this week.  Patriots won for 10-2 (over 12.5).  Lions lost to Baltimore, not a great surprise (6-6, over 7.5).
• The big one that hurt was the Sunday nighter that Seattle won for 8-4 over Philadelphia (under 10.5).  There's still a chance, but that one took a hit.

Playoff storylines:

AFC:

• Pittsburgh over New England at 10-2 on common games, won't matter in two weeks as they play.
• Tennessee is the 3 at 8-4 (and Jacksonville the 5) because of Tennessee beating Jacksonville earlier.
• The AFC West is now a 6-6 clusterfuck.  The Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers are 6-6.  The Chiefs have the 4 seed right now on division record.
• Baltimore is the 6 with an untiebreaker 7-5.  Meaning every AFC team over .500 is in the playoffs, and one of the 6-6s.
• There are four AFC teams that are 6-6, three more that are 5-7.

NFC:

• Minnesota now has the 1 seed over Philly at 10-2 after Philly's loss Sunday night -- common games is the tiebreaker.
• The Rams have the 3 seed and New Orleans the 4 at 9-3 because the Rams beat the Saints.
• Seattle and Carolina are the two wild-cards at 8-4, Seattle has the 5 on conference record.
• Seattle and Carolina do not play, nor do Minnesota and Philadelphia.

2017 Suspension Watch Week 13: Two for the week, eight for the year

That didn't take long.

It's clear the message from the media got to the NFL and got Goodell's attention.

There will now be THREE two players suspended this week

Joining Rob Gronkowski in appeal hearings this week:

• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Ju Ju Smith-Schuster:  One game for the helmet-to-helmet crackback block shown in the post below against Vontaze Burfict.
• He may be additionally fined for taunting Burfict after the hit.
• And then one I missed in the post above:  Cincinnati Bengals:  George Iloka will sit next week's game for this hit on Antonio Brown as Brown scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
• ... was fined $35,464 (put in blotter) for this hit on Antonio Brown as Brown scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter.  IMODO, the suspension should've stood.

Only hope I can keep that one, because the NFL highlights is the only one I can find the hit (best to watch the replay at about 4:10)-- but that was a full helmet-to-helmet tee-off on Brown, and certainly draws the suspension.

There are many additional ramifications to this.

I would have to think the Bengals, once the rest of this is figured in, are going to pass at least the first threshold for a team fine.

The Steelers are in far more serious trouble.  The Steelers are already dollar-for-dollar, so they will be fined, as a TEAM, TWO of Smith-Schuster's game checks.  Fortunately, he's only making $465,000 this year.  So he loses $27,353 in salary, meaning the Steelers are additionally fined (and this is just the suspension!) $54,706.

There are some additional facts on this rivalry that ESPN noted in the discussion on the immediacy of the suspensions, on top of the fact that it's clear it was in response to last night's criticism:

The 173 yards in penalties the Bengals had last night was a franchise record.
The last seven meetings, including a playoff matchup, in the last three years, have garnered over 1,000 penalty yards.
There have been 32 unsportsmanlike or roughness penalties (what the league calls "major penalties") in those games -- no other matchup is close, as it's almost double the number of penalties in any other matchup in the NFL over the last three seasons.

Goodell, your players are out of control, and not as the White Right want you to believe.

The Juice is Loose: Russia DISQUALIFIED, Individual Russians Deemed Clean Will Compete Independently

(BLOGGER'S NOTE:  I had actually written a preparatory story first -- the decision was actually publicized while I wrote that post, so I appended it.)

We're back to this story again.

The International Olympic Committee will announce sanctions today after a three-year investigation into the state-sponsored doping and Games-fixing that the Russians did to pad their medal count in the Homophobe-lympics in Sochi in 2014.  It is widely believed that disqualification is on the table.

A second McLaren report in 2016 (post-Rio) has alleged that over 1,000 Russian Olympic entities conspired to create a new Eastern Bloc-ish state drug policy to pad medal counts.  It took a whistleblower to get key access to Russian lab records from Sochi-era events.

Options appear to include:

• A fine
• Returning the process back to the individual sport federations, like Rio -- including direct pressure on the most-involved sports.
• The complete and final disqualification of Russia from all Olympic competition until the state-sponsored doping is deemed cleared.
• The last stop short of it:  Having to declare individual athletes, case-by-case, clean -- and then they don't compete under the Russian flag and anthem.  (They would end up "Independent Olympic Athletes".)

I mean, let's be blunt:  If there is a difference between the USA and Russia in this regard, the USA basically punts it's drugs to the individual-athlete level, and winks and nods at it.

This, if it's true, is another level entirely -- and, since the government, etc., is involved, complete disqualification is the only solution.

----------

EDIT TO ADD THE DECISION:

As I was typing this, the decision was announced:

They went with the "last stop short of it":  The Russian Olympic Committee has officially been suspended and thrown out of the Olympic movement.  No Russians will be accredited to attend the PyeongChang Games.

Individual athletes from Russia can apply with a special Olympic panel to compete in PyeongChang (and I would assume Tokyo and onward, unless the sporting community blackballs Russia completely), and, if found clean, will compete as "Olympic Athletes From Russia" (Olympic Code: OAR), under the Olympic flag and anthem.

I don't think it's enough.  I would've, at minimum, gone "Independent Olympic Athletes" to remove all reference to Russia.

But this is significant:  It's the first time a nation has been tossed, and this is permanent until compliance, for a drug situation.

I anticipate this will not be the last word on this matter.

The NFL got what it wanted, needed, and deserved Monday night: A bloodbath, and criticism for it...

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati had a prolonged fight last night, disguised as a purported Monday Night Football contest.

The NFL has got some real questions to answer this Tuesday morning about a number of incidents and near-misses of getting a player killed last night -- and this, barely 24 hours after the Rob Gronkowski elbow-drop in Buffalo...

The first thing people need to understand is that the 2017 NFL season has been one of dirty cheap shots, defense, and the most-fined teams being up near the top of the standings -- and if you don't think that didn't register, as of last week, New England was the bottom team before Gronkowski's suspension.

Ryan Shazier nearly died on this hit.  He suffered a spinal contusion and remains in the hospital as of this morning.


Self-inflicted, unnecessary, head down, and got the ball-carrier in the ribs and almost killed himself as a result.

We usually speak of Vontaze Burfict in terms of HIS dirty hits. And I can't say, for the life of me, that there isn't some degree of "he got this one because of his reputation". This one's gonna leave a mark, though:


That's not a "peel-back block". That was a helmet-to-helmet hit, designed to end someone's career. Ask Kurt Warner.

And you have some of the "First Take" talking heads doing their best to paper over it.

Why?

Because the NFL community, starting with ESPN's Jon Gruden, took great issue with last night's game.

Here's the facts:

If the White Right protesters really wanted to make their mark, they'd accuse Goodell of letting the game, the entire sport, and the players they do hate get completely out of control.  This has been probably the worst year yet, and the most obvious one, for dirty hits, cheap shots, and the messages not getting received with Fine Friday and all that shit.

THE PLAYERS ARE OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL.

Consider:  Two weeks, Pittsburgh plays New England to basically set the rest of the narrative for the NFL.  (And then, New England plays Buffalo in a rematch where Gronkowski is going to get cheap-shotted.)

I agree with anyone, now, who says the game cannot be saved -- that is correct.  But this is extra layers on top of it.  Someone, last night, went out there to end someone's career, if not life.

American basketball is rapidly having enough of LaVar Ball

Two stories about basketball's biggest idiot:

• Second son/meal ticket LiAngelo Ball will never play a game for UCLA.  LaVar has just pulled him out of the school.  This, to me, almost ensures a couple years in Europe (if Adam Silver and other commissioners don't get smart and have some real consideration of throwing LaVar and at least LiAngelo out of the league.  (Word is he was not going to be drafted this year.)
• Which see what the LA Lakers did today:  The media will no longer be allowed in an area where family and associates of players congregate after games.  This is to shut LaVar Ball up.

Somebody's going to have to find a way to separate LaVar from at least two of these kids and throw the former out of any kind of contact with basketball.  If not, they may to throw them all out!

He's out of control, and it's clear it's getting worse.  Get a handle on it before you have a real mess.

Week 13 Suspension Blotter

• New England Patriots:  Rob Gronkowski, 1 game for elbow-dropping Tre'Davious White of Buffalo when he was already down.

BULL FUCKING SHIT!!!

Goodell, and this is even if the one game sticks, you're a fool!!!

Watch the clip.  That was a full Dwayne Johnson job and injured the guy -- you could well have suspended Gronskowski the rest of the season defensibly!!!

But he has to be back for the only remaining regular-season game that matters, right?  The one remaining regular-season game that might dictate the entire NFL narrative until February...

Gronkowski now becomes the seventh NFL player to be suspended this season on the field.

Goodell, you got a fucking problem.

More Week 12 Blotter, and a look ahead to Week 13...

First, the look ahead:

• It's at the "sources say" level, but Baltimore Ravens:  Jimmy Smith:  Suspended the final four games of the season for PED's.  Not that it would matter, he tore his Achilles yesterday.
• But the next one might be big.  Several months ago, a Wikipedia vandalism actually proposed that New England's Rob Gronkowski was going to be suspended for drugs.  It sounds like he might finally hit the suspension blotter, but, instead, for this CHEAP SHOT...

This is one of the dirtiest, most disgusting acts I’ve ever seen on a football field. I’ve lost all respect for Rob Gronkowski. He shouldn’t play another snap this season.pic.twitter.com/zHZD3awI4L

— Rob Lowder (@Rob_Lowder) December 4, 2017

That's MULTIPLE GAMES right there. (He'll get one at most -- the league needs him for the Pittsburgh showdown in two weeks.)

That's a blatant WWE job right there, and sent the Buffalo player to the concussion protocol.  (Surprised it didn't send him straight to the hospital.)

As of today, it IS in the Supplemental Discipline discussion, probably meaning we hear about a suspension by the end of the day today or tomorrow.

But it appears as if the league has kept a lid on anything further for last week.

2017 Week 12 Fine/Suspension Blotter: Penalties for Broncos-Raiders exceed $1.2 million

• Green Bay Packers: Richard Rodgers: $24,309 for a targeting block – a block in which the helmet is used to battering-ram.
• That's the Packers now over the first threshold for another $50,000 fine.

From the big fight in Oakland:

• Oakland Raiders: The “contact with an official ejection will cost Gabe Jackson $30,387.
• And that's both thresholds in one week for the Raiders. That's $100,000, both fines for both thresholds, and they're dollar-for-dollar starting with some of Jackson's fine.
• The only other fine from the brawl: Denver Broncos: Shane Ray: $12,154 for involving himself with three different players in the fight from Oakland.
• Denver Broncos: Later in that same game, Darian Stewart: $24,308 for a helmet shot.

Pro Football Talk has the total from the incident at a huge number, and that's not even close to right.

$570,934 for Talib's suspension

$407,897 for Crabtree's

$30,387 for Jackson

$24,309 for Stewart

$12,154 for Ray

Those are right.

But then you also have to add the Club Remittance penalties:

$50,000 for the Broncos for making the first threshold.

$50,000 for the Raiders for making the first threshold.

$50,000 MORE for the Raiders for making the dollar-for-dollar threshold.

$8807 for the Raiders in dollar-for-dollar fines.

So, in total, that game got a team fine for the Broncos of $50,000 and a team fine for the Raiders of $108,807, for a grand total of just over ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.

• Cleveland Browns: Bryce Treggs: $12,154 for taunting.
• Cleveland Browns: Jabrill Peppers: $24,308 for another one of those lean-in helmet headbutt jobs that most football masturbators are calling a “football play”.
• Los Angeles Rams: Blake Countess: $24,308 for a defenseless receiver hit that concussed the other player.
• And on the drugs front: Carolina Panthers: Charles Johnson: Suspended 4 games for PEDs.

More to come. LOTS MORE.

The Uncivil Race War: The NFL tries a different tack to end the #NFLBoycott

I think it a basic certainty that the #NFLBoycott by the White Right is having significant impact on the current state of the game and the companies which sponsor it.

But the NFL is trying not to bend to the "SHOOT ALL THE ---------- WHO DISRESPECT OUR TROOPS!" motif (which is what they're really asking for in Trump-murka.  Instead, the NFL has proposed a seven-year, nearly $100,000,000 coalition with a player's group for social justice reforms in the United States -- which is what Colin Kaepernick and others were protesting in the first goddamned place!

And one player has already said that's sufficient -- Malcolm Jenkins of Philadelphia will end his protests.  We'll see where this goes.

You can take your own case study into how the NFL rigs games...

ESPN today has posted a rules quiz by Kevin Seifert into the obscure NFL rules in the NFL rulebook.

Given the "Calvin Johnson Rule" and the like, you can take this as a primer into some of the non-intuitive stuff that the NFL uses to determine outcomes and predicate storylines.

The first question is actually a fair lay-up to anyone who has watched enough NFL football to chuckle when the rule in question leads to a ridiculous scoring attempt.  (I'm trying to keep the actual answers out of this as much as possible, unless something egregious occurs.)

The second one is an extension of an infamous NFL play that caused an immediate rule change about 40 or so years ago.

The third one is the most obscure score in American football -- and probably the first time it's ever been noted that it IS, in fact, the same rule in the NFL now as it has been in college!

The fourth one is actually a changed rule from when a Green Bay Packer actually abused the old rule on it to gain significant advantage for his team.  (And I got it wrong -- the abuse STILL EXISTS.  I thought the Packer -- Randall Cobb -- actually had caused the rule to be changed!)

The fifth one is a rare penalty, but a correctly identified one if it's identified.

The sixth one I also got wrong, because it is a weird situation that you wouldn't THINK would take place -- but could lead to abject chaos in the wrong hands.  It would appear that the play would be the right thing for the relevant team to do, but it does raise the chance of something else happening that could change everything.

Try the quiz yourself at the link (except for the one I pretty much gave you -- #4), and you'll get an idea as to some of the ways the officials can maneuver for certain outcomes.