Two Thoughts on NFL Irrelevant Weekend Day One

One Versus All begins next week, but the NFL had to go through with some of the rest of the formalities, and a couple thoughts came to mind after the road teams, both touchdown underdogs, upset Kansas City and Los Angeles:

• That resounding THUD you heard tonight is the present state of the NFL's Los Angeles situation.  After rigging both teams hard this year, the Rams couldn't get more than 74,300 in LA Memorial Coliseum...  

And, wouldn't you know it?  Wham, bam, thank you ma'am:  Rams one and done.

The LA experiment is a categorical failure in every sense of the word.  The only way to save it might be to market LA by forcing celebs into the crowds to try to pump up interest, because LA ain't buying it.

• Another year, another probably-rigged playoff game.

I have friends of mine who are sick of the "It's All About the Quarterback" meme.

But when you obviously have a league who's trying to rig Marcus Mariota forward (or give the Patriots an easier matchup in Week One of One Versus All), the biggest story of the Chiefs' loss to Mariota's Tennessee Titans?  SHIT OFFICIATING!!

Nowhere more evident than a touchdown in the third quarter from Mariota...  to HIMSELF!

Yep, one of those.  And the explanation was complete bullshit:  The ref tried to state that, because Mariota was in the shotgun, he was an eligible receiver.

BULLSHIT.  And once a ball is touched by someone else, there is no such thing as an ineligible receiver in the first damn place!

But watch the play closely (you'll probably have to click through to YouTube because of NFL restrictions):


He's over the line with the foot that's in the air.

TD makes it 21-9, eventually all the way back from 21-3 down to win 22-21.

Mike Periera blasted the officiating left, right, and up the center -- probably indicating the league wanted to put over the young blood Mariota and doesn't see much stock in an Alex Smith who's getting a bad reputation (earned or otherwise) of not getting it done.