2022 AFC Week 8 AFC Political and Kayfabe Rankings

Kayfabe:

AFC East:  Buffalo (6-1)  1 1/2 up on the Jets (5-3, they play next week) and the Dolphins (5-3, Jets beat the Dolphins in Week 5)

AFC North:  Baltimore (5-3), Cincinnati is 4-4

AFC South:  Tennessee (5-2)

AFC West:  Kansas City (5-2), LA Chargers (4-3)

Wildcards:  Jets, Dolphins, Chargers, only the division tiebreaker with the Jets and Dolphins at 5-3

TEN/KC:  They play next week too.  TEN 4-1 in the AFC, KC 2-2

1. BUF (6-1, AFC East Leader, 1 1/2 up on the Jets and Dolphins)
2. TEN (5-2, AFC South Leader, Conference Record Tiebreaker over KC)
3. KC (5-2, AFC West Leader, loses Conference Record Tiebreaker to TEN)
4. BAL (5-3)
5. NYJ (5-3, HTH tiebreaker over MIA)
6. MIA (5-3, loses HTH tiebreaker with the Jets)
7. LAC (4-3)

Political:

1) Buffalo

Free win, not much else to say, biggie with the Jets next week.

2) Miami

Team's 5-0 in games Tua starts.  You cannot undersell that possibility at this point.

3) Baltimore

4) New York Jets

5) Tennessee

6) LA Chargers

DUD OF THE WEEK:

Well, there's a clear winner...

THE LAS VEGAS RAIDERS:  Just.  Freaking.  WOW.

You think the NFL is now regretting the whole Las Vegas thing at this point?

A year and a half with fans, and it's clear the Raiders aren't worth shit.

2022 NFL Week 8 After Further Review, Part One: DJ Moore

It's the one everybody's talking about, so let's get the elephant in the room taken care of.

DJ Moore catches a 62 yard touchdown pass with less than 20 seconds left to tie the game with Atlanta.

He removes his helmet on the end line and throws it to the ground in celebration -- no Falcon player is in the area, so no direct taunting.

Moore is called for a 15 yard penalty for the removal of the helmet, but the NBC crew says that their rules analyst, Terry McAulay, says the penalty should not have been called.

So we consult the NFL rulebook...

Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1, letter h:

"Removal of his helmet by a player in the field of play or the end zone during a celebration or demonstration, or during a confrontation with a game official or any other player."

So now, the question:  Does the end zone extend to the end line?

The answer is NO.

Rule 3, Section 12, Article 4, then Article 3:

Article 4 is Field of Play:

"The Field of Play is the rectangle formed by the Goal Lines and the Sidelines. It does not include the End Zone."

Since the rule does include the End Zone, Article 3:

The End Zone is the rectangle formed by the Goal Line, the End Line, and the Sidelines. The Goal Line and the pylons are in the End Zone. 

He is on the End Line, which would appear to indicate that the flag is correctly thrown.  Many Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty clauses in the Rule Book indicate they can be enforced anywhere in the officials' jurisdiction (this handles sideline fights, for example).

This is NOT one of them.

PJ WALKER JUST DID THAT. HAIL MARY TO DJ MOORE. pic.twitter.com/dDYwoZhaGG

— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2022

He is absolutely off the field of play and end zone before removing the helmet.  The Goal Line IS part of the End Zone, the End Line is NOT.

So, did the NFL want to save itself the embarrassment of a 3-5 team (three of them, in fact) leading the NFC South by Carolina winning the game?

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....

October 31, 2022 News and Notes

• The good news:  Four Michigan State Spartans have been suspended for their role in the locker room jumping.
• The bad news:  It appears that there is video somewhere that indicates the number of players involved is in the double digits.  At least one person is claiming a 10-on-1 at some point.
• Brenton Cox of Florida has been dismissed from the team -- a punch during Saturday's loss to Georgia being the final straw.
• Bryan Harsin has been fired from Auburn -- he lasted less than two seasons.  Deion Sanders is on the menu as a replacement.
• In a more humorous stint, the student who has served as the Stanford mascot, The "Stanford Tree", has been suspended from the stint for at least the rest of the football season because of a stunt in which he unfurled a protest sign that "Stanford Hates Fun".  If you think that's true NOW, just wait a month or two...
• The Packers are in complete disarray at this point.  During the loss last night, one defensive player was benched for disciplinary reasons -- another got tossed for an altercation on the Buffalo sideline.
• It appears Mike McCarthy's days in Las Vegas appear quite numbered with the team at 2-5.  The last two losses have spurred lengthy meetings with team ownership.
• Terry McAulay, a 20-year NFL referee who works as the NBC "The NFL is rigged, and here's our head man to tell you how!" shill, says DJ Moore should not have been penalized for the removal of the helmet after his touchdown.  See special "After Further Review" post...  he's right!
• At least one K-Pop singer, Lee Jihan, has been identified as one of the fatal victims of the Seoul crowd crush.  Korea is in five days of official mourning over the event.
• It appears Elon Musk is going to add subscriptions and microtransactions to Twitter.  One of the ways that he is going to deal with bots *cough* monetize the purchase unto himself *cough* is that he's given a project seven days to implement a $20/month fee for the verified blue checkmark or be fired.  It must be in force by November 7 -- current checkmarks would have 90 days to get ready for the fee.  A per-Tweet fee is coming.  Mark those words down.   

2022 Week 8 NFC Kayfabe and Political Rankings

Yeah, I know the game is in progress while I start this, but no sane person is actually thinking Green Bay is going to beat Buffalo (27-10 12:30 in the 4th as I start this -- Danger Will Robinson on the BUF -10.5, though!).

So we can get on with this...

Kayfabe:

NFC East:  Philadelphia 7-0, still the last perfect team.

@HOU, WAS, @IND, GB, TEN...  Yeah, I'd say 12-0 before the December 11th first meeting with the Giants in East Rutherford.

Dallas has the HTH tiebreaker over the Giants at 6-2 with the Giants losing today to Seattle.  There's a common thread in both New York teams losing -- I'll remark it with the Giants' place in the Politicals when I get to it.

NFC North:  I think we can ALMOST crown the Vikings (6-1 and a three-game plus tiebreaker lead over the Packers and Bears) the NFC North champion and save ourselves the time.  Much further will probably require a Cincinnati-style situation, but it's not as implausible as one might first think!

NFC South:  Fairly serious refball and a possible open throwing of the game by a Carolina Panthers player aided Atlanta to actually get to 4-4 -- which is enough to lead, outright, the NFC South.

NFC West:  Seattle, at 5-3, is now the #3 seed in the NFC.  One game up on San Francisco.

Wild cards:  Dallas with the tiebreak over the Giants for the first two at 6-2.

And then...

Hoo boy...

Washington vs. San Francisco for the third.

They don't play.  (Interestingly, Washington actually plays consecutive games against the Giants.  At East Rutherford Dec. 4, then home Dec. 18 after the bye week.)

Conference:  WAS 2-3, SF 4-2.

1. PHI (7-0, NFC East Leader by a game and a half and tiebreakers)
2. MIN (6-1, NFC North Leader by a mile)
3. SEA (5-3, NFC West Leader by a game over SF, but loses the tiebreaker if it gets there)
4. ATL (4-4, NFC South Leader by a game over TB and NO)
5. DAL (6-2, wins divisional tiebreaker over NYG for the spot with the Week 3 win over them)
6. NYG (6-2, loses tiebreaker to DAL HTH)
7. SF (4-4, wins tiebreaker for the final spot by conference record over Washington)

And now the Politicals:

1) Philadelphia

At this point, it's keeping the ship afloat and in the right directions as things go.  They are getting about as dominant in the AFC as Buffalo is in the NFC.  Philadelphia vs. Buffalo does, at this point, appear to be Plans A and B.  That said, there's still about 3 1/2 months to Super Bowl Sunday.

2) Dallas

Now the #2 is over Minnesota for all the reasons Dallas gives.  (Ratings, reputation, merchandising, etc. and so forth and so on)  Same principle, different #3...

3) Minnesota

I could consider putting the Giants over them, and probably should, on a pure political end, but the fact that the Giants are, now, in fact the third best team in the NFC East (and saying that, they ARE 6-2!!!), but Minnesota pretty much can pen in a home playoff game in January, at the rate things are going.

4) NY Giants

As I said above, there is a common thread here, in that both New York teams lost.

The Jets lose when Tua goes 5-0 as a starter, so the NFL's Tua bandwagon, probably one of the most blatant rigs of a rig-filled season, so are the Jets getting out of the way?

And the Giants, the same principle, except we're talking Dallas here.

5) Seattle

What would YOU do, as an NFL fan, for a championship?

6) Washington

And let's put these guys on the list too.  For one malevolent reason:  If, after ALL THIS, the NFL goes against type and actually puts Washington in the playoffs, would this not be 1,000% proof that Dan Snyder DOES have enough dirt on the league to torpedo it?

Just asking for a friend.  Even if she's blocked me on Twitter.

NFC DUD OF THE WEEK AWARD:

Nominees:

Whatever approximated the officiating in the Atlanta-Carolina game, EXCEPT for the winner of this award this week:  How do you miss, with less than 15 seconds to go, that blatant of a defensive pass interference call which could well have given Atlanta a chance to win with a field goal?  As such, I'm making a rare exception to my Last Chance Miss rule and I'm actually adding that -- which makes the game a FIVE-BAGGER.

More on that when I get to the winner.

The LA Rams:  Proving, week by week, more and more, that was a fraud championship and every sane person knows it!

But this week's winner:

CAROLINA'S DJ MOORE, WHO OPENLY THREW NOT ONLY HIS HELMET, BUT THE GAME!

Moore, seconds after an incredible 62 yard touchdown reception to tie the game in Atlanta at 34, removed his helmet over the end line and threw it on the ground.

Whoops.  That's a 15 yard penalty -- on the extra point (as opted!).  The extra point was missed and Carolina had to go to overtime (probably because of further refball -- see above), missing a 33 yard field goal after a pick in overtime, and losing when they get driven on for a Falcon field goal.

THE NFL, TRYING TO SAVE ITSELF FROM EMBARRASSMENT WHEN AN ENTIRE DIVISION GOES TO SHIT

Gotta change it, after further review.  (And that's quite literal -- see the post I just made on that play.)

The NFL had to save it's own ass yesterday, and it definitely went beyond the rulebook to do it.  See the post I made (linked above) for more.  And semi-apologies to Mr. Moore, except that you can't give the officials in a rigged sport the opportunity to rig against you unless you're part fo the rig.

Jake, I got your winner this week.  Let's see if you come to the same conclusion I did.  (Find out in my weekly Further Review post.)

You fuckers do realize you are playing right into their goddamned hands.

I've had it.

I think I can make it official.  I've officially had it, and have had all of it.

This particular situation (which may have a role in the cryptic post I made about 3 1/2 weeks ago now!) surrounds a rise in, actually, BLACK Nationalism which could well be the final (and permanent!) nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party of the United States of America.

My exposure to this really began with Keith Olbermann's new iHeart Radio version of "Countdown", when Olbermann, in raising a number of points against the what now appears to be true Red Tsunami, began to talk about the Republican Party's Useful Idiots.

Like Kanye West.

Kanye West has gone on several anti-Semitic rants (at least one in which, in eschewing a family Hanukkah for Kwanzaa, actually tries to tie some sort of sick economic rant to that decision I can't even remotely wrap my brain around) in the last several weeks.  He has become the poster child of the likes of Tucker Carlson -- who may have aired the first one of them some time ago, except West was so unhinged, even Fox News saw it as unairable and people had to find out from other sources.

In support of this, even in deep-blue California, at least half a dozen neo-Nazi fucks stood on a bridge overlooking the 405 Freeway in the Los Angeles metropolitan area with supportive anti-Semitic signs and giving Nazi salutes.

And now, this weekend, a scant week and a half before this country takes either the final or second-to-last lurch to the Right in the midterm elections (the only determination is whether the next President's name is Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Ron DeSantis or whoever...), it's really gone off...

• The latest wave started with the NBA's "favorite" Black MAGAt, Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving.  The flat-Earther liked and supported at least one Twitter post on Thursday regarding and in support of an anti-Semitic film.  The film actually mirrors many of the same anti-Semitic tropes about Blacks being the 12 Tribes of Israel which Kanye has been spewing over the course of the last three weeks or so.
• The Cubs' Marcus Stroman has also joined suit.
• As has at least one unidentified party or group who projected supportive messages for Kanye on the walls of TIAA Stadium on Saturday, after a high-profile college football game between Georgia and Florida.  Both schools have condemned the move.

Make no mistake.  Kanye West is a Black Republican Nationalist.  On top of that, I don't think he really cares about anyone getting killed by rampant racist/anti-Semitic/bigoted Nationalism through the rise of the American Right, as long as he's not the one killed.

Like Donald Trump, Kanye West looks out for number 1, middle finger extended.

As far as Irving goes, latest word from the New York Post indicates that no one, team or league, is prepared to discipline Irving.  And there's little secret why:  How much of the NBA is Black is probably the only reason he doesn't get the same speculation Donald Sterling got within hours of his racism becoming evident.

But my anonymous friend does bring up one very prescient point:  Given the nature of the owners of the NBA...  How many of THEM are actually Jewish?

We know Irving is anti-vaxx, flat-Earth, supports at least this anti-Semitism though he denies being anti-Semitic himself.

Would this possibly make Irving one of the "Good Black Men" that Trump and his kind are going to need to finish the job?  Even Olbermann himself has now said, for a couple of weeks, that the likes of Kanye (and Irving) would serve as "We can't be racist, even the REAL Blacks agree with us!" brand of useful idiot (and there's another term for it for at least these two I DARE NOT USE, but it DOES apply!!!) that will openly finish off any real opposition in this country over the next 24 months.

A lot of the right-wing conspiracy people believe one of the main reasons there was rampant voter fraud in the election is that African-Americans actually voted for Trump in far larger numbers than the polling and results appeared to admit.

The highest-profile African-American on the ballot is an illiterate, CTE-laced football IDIOT who doesn't read, does whatever the fuck he wants without consequence...

... and that piece of shit Herschel Walker is about to become a Senator from the state of Georgia.

And don't get me started on what's going to happen when Dr. Oz wins in Pennsylvania -- to wit the question may now no longer be if he wins, but if the win is getting 6 or more points...

The latest indications are at least a six-seat majority in the Senate.  And Sinema isn't up til 2024, and Manchin isn't up til 2028.  So that could be as much as a majority of TEN at the rate things are going, which would leave the Senate 12 votes from being able to remove Biden outright.

And the House... Oh brother...  Latest indications are at least an 80% chance of a Republican take, and the question, at that point, may be margin.

I hope a lot of you Black Nationalists realize you are playing right into the same hands that are going to kill you as are going to kill most of what I hold dear in this nation.

And I hope, as I have said before, you motherfuckers are satisfied.

Because there will be nothing left to lose, once things really start hitting the table, to going to prison.

.... incarceration being the one place I've ever belonged.

October 30, 2022 News and Notes

• If this is true, this needs to be the end of Michigan State's football season, if not their entire program.  Several Michigan State players are under investigation, after a 29-7 loss to Michigan, for ambushing at least two Wolverines in the tunnel after the game -- not unakin to that Georgia football riot a number of years back.
• The Portland Thorns have won what might well be the final NWSL Championship, beating Kansas City in the final.
• Katie Ledecky, in her first competitive meet of the year in Toronto, has just broken the world record at 1500 meters by 10 seconds.
• She won the race by 40.
• World Series is 1-1 as Manfred gets out of the way of the NFL.  Game 3 Monday.
• It appears that Kanye's message is taking.  Both the Universities of Florida and Georgia condemned an anti-Semitic, pro-Kanye message projected on the exterior of TIAA Field in Jacksonville yesterday after the two schools played a high-profile SEC encounter Georgia won convincingly.
• And ANOTHER ONE to the list!  Marcus Stroman of the Cubs posts a pro-Kanye anti-Semitic rant on his Twitter this morning, according to Deadspin.  Thank you to my anonymous friend, who found that for me this afternoon!
• And this is what makes people like us who are actually trying to show what's going on look bad.  It started as this:

Be conscious of the world and who is controlling the narrative.

— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) October 30, 2022

• Which is accurate, as any reader of this blog would tell you.
• It's what this was in response to that becomes the huge problem...  Stroman's been caught liking at least some Tweets supporting Kanye's stands, as well as at least one anti-Italian slur against a sportswriter.
• And Stroman was completely unwilling to address it directly in any form.  This is probably gonna get a full blog post once I get some time.
• It also appears, ancillary to this discussion, Jason Whitlock may be falling into the same trap.
• According to the umpire grading system, the plate umpire for Game 2 of the World Series, Pat Hoberg, called a perfect game last night.  No pitches, according to the grading system, which were not within the margin of error to be called strikes were not called strikes, and the opposite was true as well.
• Tundra ESports, the winners' bracket champion, swept repechage winner Team Secret of Europe to win eight and a half million dollars in the finals of the 2022 version of DOTA2's The International.  After winning Group B, Tundra dropped only one game in the entire tournament bracket to win E-Sports' Largest Prize.
• The 49ers' Christian McCaffrey has become the first player since LaDamian Tomlinson in 2005 to complete a rare trifecta -- only performed four times since the 1970 merger:  Throw for a touchdown, run for a touchdown, receives a touchdown.
• With Tennessee tying Ohio State at the AP #2, next week's game between the Volunteers and Georgia will be a 1 vs. 2 game.  It will be the first time in 11 years the two top AP teams will face off in a game not for a conference or national championship.

2022 NFL Week 7 Fine Blotter

NFL.com Saturday roundup post to start.  Spotrac may have some more:

• Chicago Bears:  Mike Pennel was only fined $6,222 for that blindside block.  Seeing a video of it, he should've been suspended a game.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Foye Oluokun:  $15,914 for Roughing The Passer.
• And if you want evidence that the Cowboys may be getting the skids greased, this was neither flagged nor fined:

Cowboys rookie DE Sam Williams was not fined by NFL for his body slam-type tackle of Lions RB Justin Jackson last Sunday, person familiar with decision said. Williams could have driven Jackson with greater force into ground. He didn't. No penalty. No fine. pic.twitter.com/His8iMgsna

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) October 29, 2022

 

October 29, 2022 News and Notes

• Kyrie Irving appears to be a liar and a Black Supremacist anti-Semite, and how he's allowed to remain on the Brooklyn Nets or the NBA is quite a mystery at this point.  Irving promoted a movie and book full of anti-Semite Black Supremacist tropes (not unlike the stands Kanye West is promoting as well) on his social media.
• They include the belief that the 12 Tribes of Israel were, in fact, Black tribes.
• The franchise has condemned the move, but Irving remains with the team.
• It seems awfully convenient, does it not, that the Houston Astros are 0-6 in games Justin Verlander has started in the World Series.  On top of that, it comes with an ERA over 6 for Verlander.  Yet no one wants to make the same crowing about him that many take great pleasure in doing with Clayton Kershaw.
• Why is this?  Simple...  Success is an absolute in our country, and, often, "at all costs"...  They care not about it's legitimacy or legality.
• The 2023 Open Championship will allow the LIV Tour golfers in it.  I expect that to last about as long until the first swing is taken -- and I'm not talking with a golf club!   
• Vince Dooley, the legendary coach at the University of Georgia, has passed away at 90.
• At least 140 have been killed in a crush event at a Halloween outing in South Korea.
• Yesterday, the NBA world was shocked with the shock release of 2021 lottery pick Josh Primo.  Now reports indicate why:  He may be a serial sex predator -- and that was why the Spurs fired him.  Reports have surfaced that the 19 year-old has exposed himself a number of times to at least one female Spurs employee, who is suing all involved and has retained the same lawyer the DeShaun Watson accusers have gotten.
• Faker, the Greatest Of All Time in League of Legends, is back in the World Championship Grand Final for the first time in five years, to be held next Saturday in San Francisco.
• It will be an all-Korean league final in San Francisco, as Korea took three of the four semifinal spots and Faker's T1 team defeated JD Gaming of China, the last non-Korean team, three games to one.  Two Korean teams will contest the second semifinal in Atlanta tomorrow.
• This will be Faker's fifth Grand Final, but first since 2017.  He has World Championships in 2013, 2015, and 2016.
• In the 12 years of professional League of Legends, this will be Korea's seventh championship.  China has 3, Taiwan has 1, Europe has 1. 
• North America's league has never even been to the championship match, or in the Final Four since Cloud 9 in 2018 (and then, before that, the first season all the way back in 2011).
• Over in DOTA2, The International (the almost $20,000,000 grand final tournament of the year) is in Championship Sunday in Singapore.  London's Tundra ESports has the advantage, by winning undefeated in the bracket, in resting while America's Team Liquid faces Europe's Team Secret for the right to face them for the championship...
• The champion team will walk away with a current estimate of about $8.4 million.  Second place:  $2.4 million.  Third place:  About $1.7 million.  So that final is a SIX MILLION DOLLAR MATCH -- the biggest match in e-sports.
• Even so, the $18,000,000 prize pool is far below expectations, and the first time the tournament has failed to reach the amount it got last year.  (The tournament's pool is largely crowd-funded, so economy.) 
• Ty Gibbs wrecked Brandon Jones on the final lap of the XFinity last-chance playoff in Martinsville today, Gibbs replacing Jones in the final four for the secondary title -- and adding another intentional-wreck win to the checkered history of NECKCAR.
• Gibbs and Jones are supposedly teammates.

It appears as if another right-winger has found his balls...

Someone broke into the Pelosi home this morning, nearly (and maybe still -- he's in brain surgery) killing Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul and wanting to kill the Speaker of the House of Representatives just 11 days before the midterm election.

SFPD is reported, through Sadie Gurman of the Wall Street Journal, to have arrested and have in custody 42 year old David DePape, who was apparently living out of a Berkeley storage unit.

However, in a far more disturbing development you don't put out (either as the SFPD or the WSJ, especially 11 days before the midterms) unless you are certain it's right:

The suspected attacker has espoused extreme right wing views on social media, including conspiracy theories about Covid-19, according to one of the law enforcement officials. W/ ⁦@nataliewsj⁩ ⁦@ZushaElinson⁩ https://t.co/xmd6ryr3rQ

— Sadie Gurman (@sgurman) October 28, 2022

------------------

Let's get one thing straight:  Whatever was going on, it's clear this was someone who lost everything and had nothing left to lose.  

The question (and I'm only 70-30 that this is a rightie whose found the balls to do what they've said they're gonna do) is whether this claim of "extreme right-wing views" is accurate.

It is clear that Pelosi, as the #2 in the succession line behind Kamala Harris, is a target for elimination.  (She was apparently in DC and under protection already, so there was at least some warning to this.)

I've said to the Republicans in repeated forums:  If you're froggy, JUMP.  You're not getting this country back with it's current political, social, or economic demographics otherwise.

But the fact that this was apparently a homeless person, living out of a Berkeley storage unit, makes this an awfully tenuous claim.  But you better be right in saying it.

October 28, 2022 News and Notes

• It's FINAL.  Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen are DONE.  They have announced their divorce.
• Now, you have to wonder:  Does this mean Brady actually plays NEXT YEAR?  And perhaps even the year after THAT?
• Even though it's becoming apparent that even the Bucs don't want him anymore...  I saw at least three meaningful plays in last night's loss which indicate to me that the Bucs are throwing games now to get rid of Tom Brady.
• And then, on the flip side of the argument -- does anyone now get the power of being Foobaw Man?
• And now there's word that if Tom Brady does not make the Super Bowl, FOX wants him in the booth for THAT game.
• It appears we are headed for another NBA work stoppage.  In negotiations racing toward a December 15 opt-out date for the current CBA, the NBA, realizing teams are willing to pay a significant luxury tax to exceed the salary cap, now wants to make that cap absolute and hard.  The NBPA, obviously, is balking.
• Want an example why?  The Warriors, Clippers, and Nets are going to pay over $400,000,000 to exceed the salary cap.
• There is an increasing demand on the part of NFL players and coaches that all NFL games be played on grass fields, due to injury problems similar to those suffered at the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
• And I see it's not just the NSAC.  After comments that Anderson Silva had been knocked out at least twice by his sparring partners, Silva (who has a history of being knocked out in MMA) was cleared by the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission for the latest Jake Paul scam-fest.  Silva is also 47 years old.
• World Series Prediction:  I believe the Astros will sweep the Phillies and complete the perfect post-season, as America seethes and ratings tank.
• It appears the AEW All Out investigation is over -- latest word is that CM Punk will be bought out of his contract (and possibly return to WWE!!!) and that The Elite are about to return, and, apparently, Kenny and the Bucks were at AEW Dynamite this week.
• A controversial rock and roll legend has died.  Jerry Lee Lewis has passed away at 87.
• And that means we have hit a dark day in the history of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Every member of the inaugural class has now passed away.

1. Chuck Berry (2017)
2. James Brown (2006)
3. Ray Charles (2004)
4. Sam Cooke (1964 at the age of 33)
   
5. Fats Domino (2017)
6. The Everly Brothers (Don in 2021, Phil in 2014)
7. Buddy Holly (The Day The Music Died, he was only 22 when the plane crashed in 1959)
8. Little Richard (2020)
9. Elvis Presley (1977, at age 42)
10. Jerry Lee Lewis (2022)

...  all gone.

• The Beatles didn't even get in until 1988, the third induction class!!  However, all four Beatles are in both as the group and as solo acts.  (Lennon in 1994, McCartney in 1999, Harrison in 2004, Starr in 2015)
• Smokey Robinson, at 82, is now the only living member of either of the first two induction classes.

2022 NFL Week 7 Ratings Report

Sports Media Watch, as usual.

• Thursday (Amazon:  Saints-Cardinals):  Uninspiring.  7.82 million viewers, indicating the slough-off matchups may not be working so hot for Amazon and Twitch.
• Sunday National (FOX:  Chiefs-49ers):  Not good for the year.  11.6 rating, 22.29 million viewers, lowest solo national numbers of the year.  (Only Week 1 was lower, but both networks did doubleheaders that week.)  
• Stellar year-over-year:  A Bears-Bucs led window on FOX last year was beaten this year by 25% ratings, 23% viewers.
• Sunday Night (NBC:  Steelers-Dolphins):  The Tua Death Watch got an 8.5 rating and 15.53 million viewers.  About 6% down ratings, 4% down viewers)
• Sunday Single (CBS:  Lions-Cowboys):  7.8 rating, 14.56 million viewers, off 5% even with the Cowboys flexed to CBS.
• Sunday Regional (FOX:  Packers-Commanders, I'm sorry...):  7.3 rating, 13.36 million viewers, down 13% year over year and a multi-year low (but SMW didn't say since when) for the Week 7 bracket.  It's time to put the Packers out to pasture on the top end of viewership, FOX.  
• Monday Night (ESPN with a 2 Manningcast:  Bears-Patriots):  6.5 rating, 11.83 million viewers.  Having the Manningcast didn't help this week:  About a 10% loss in each metric.

October 27, 2022 News and Notes

• The 2K Gaming League has lost it's Portland team.  Three Blazer5 players banned for gambling on league games, the coach fired for not reporting it.  Three other players in the league have also been similarly banned.
• Fortunately, if the last year's schedule has any indication, they have about 4-5 months to find a replacement franchise.
• Pablo Mari, of Arsenal but loaned to an Italian side, was one of five people stabbed at a shopping mall in Italy.  He, luckily, did not suffer life-threatening injuries, but at least one other victim has already died.
• Anti-Semite MAGA Pig Kanye West has been getting cut by everybody since more of his anti-Semitic rants have come out -- now his school has had to shut down as a result.
• On the other side of the coin, at least six White Supremacists were seen supporting Kanye in banners and Nazi salutes over the 405 Freeway near Los Angeles this week!
• MLB has bowed to Rob Manfred's preferred sport of football.  Game 1 of the Asterisks' coronation over the Phillies has been moved to tomorrow, so the World Series does not have to compete with the NFL.
  
• A Beverly Hills real estate mogul has opted to commit suicide rather than be sentenced and serve the sentence for his role in the college admissions scandal.  If this doesn't tell you the stakes rich parents have to ensure their kids maintain the lineage, I don't know what to tell you.   
• Tom Brady with another NFL record, one the likes of which Gisele is about to divorce him over:  John Houston of the Ravens, with about a minute to go in the first half, recorded the 555th sack of Tom Brady, a new NFL record.  Captain Fatfuck, Leader of Men held the record at 554.
• Another Tom Brady NFL record ended tonight.  302 games started without a 3-game losing stream.  That's almost 20 years.  Montana was second with about half that.

October 26, 2022 News and Notes

• Rob Manfred wins again!!!  MAGABall has another victory today, as Keith Olbermann and other media outlets have reported that, for the first time since 1950, the World Series will have two rosters full of players other than African-Americans.  No Blacks in the playing rosters of the World Series.  Olbermann does note that the manager and one of the coaches of the Asterisks are both Black, however.   
• Jackie Robinson integrated MLB in 1947, meaning that, at the most (and it's probably fewer than this!), this represents only the fifth time that the World Series has been non-Black since the integration of the game.
• Last night, Phil Kessel had one Hell of a night:  He not only scored his 400th NHL goal, but he broke the Iron Man record in the NHL, playing in his 990th consecutive game.
• Barcelona will not make it out of the group stage of the 2022-23 UEFA Champions' League. The sanctions are working.   
• Atletico Madrid is as well.  Needing three points to have a chance in the final match, they were drawn, but given a VAR penalty after full time -- which was missed.
• The only thing probably keeping Jumbo Fisher at Texas A&M:  $86,000,000 buyout if he is fired.
• It appears as if A&M isn't the only SEC team to have problems with recruiting.  Auburn's 2021 class has turned into such a bust that the coach is basically demanding all the players on the team who want redshirts will be refused.  They will have two options:  Quit or enter the transfer portal.
• Sports Illustrated reports half of the 18 signees for 2021 are not with the program a season and a half later.  Only two have apparently not found new schools.  It's time to throw players off the team you don't need.  Period.   
• Maybe it's also becoming apparent that losing teams are shedding recruits???   
• There is serious talk that Aaron Judge is leaving the Yankees in free agency -- and early talk the Dodgers might be the front-runners has the Giants basically saying they'll pay whatever it takes!

2022 NFL Week 7 After Further Review

Starting with Jake the Asshole again, may try to find some more...

#10:  Giants-Jaguars.  First drive of the 3rd quarter, Jaguars with the ball down 13-10, 2nd and 10 at the Giant 24.  The Continuing Misadventures of Roughing The Passer in the NFL.  Dexter Lawrence of the Giants is called for Roughing The Passer as he pulls down Trevor Lawrence lightly, but it is late.  Yeah, that's bad.  And it led to a go-ahead touchdown.  Lawrence was actually called for RTP twice in the game.  We'll see if the league upholds both calls on Saturday.  

But you'd figure, if they made that call that obvious, they'd be rigging for the Jaguars to...  ya know...  WIN?

#9:  Cardinals-Saints Thursday night.  Second and 11 for New Orleans at their own 47, first drive of the game.  Jake asks us to note for a "stretchy piece of fabric"...  Rashid Shaheed scores a 53 yard TD with a Cardinal defender being dragged because he's grabbed the back of Shaheed's jersey.

Shaheed's untucked jersey.  Time to check the NFL rulebook on this one -- Jake's talking about the one defender tripping the other and all that silliness.  I'm not sure that's legal under the rules...

Yep, it's illegal.  Rule 5, Section 4, Article 3, Item 2.  

"Jersey must cover all pads and other protective equipment worn on the torso and upper arms, and must be appropriately tailored to remain tucked into the uniform pants throughout the game."

He should never have been allowed on the field, and should be removed and forced to comply.  That's an illegal jersey.

#8:  Same game.  New Orleans ball, 3rd and 10 at their own 44.  20-14 Arizona, about 45 seconds to go in the half.  

The second pick six of back to back drives for pick-six touchdowns for the Cards late in the first half -- and there appeared to be NO ONE CLOSE for New Orleans to where that ball was going...

And then miles of slop on the "tackling" of the second pick-six return.  Gee, you think some of you who think this is legitimate need to look more at the effort (more, lack of same) players are making to either rig results or at least script Fantastic Finishes (reg tm)???

#7:  Bucs-Panthers, and The Drop of the Week, as the Asshole puts it.  Brady goes back, appears to have a cinch long TD pass to his receiver, and Mike Evans, at least 10 yards clear, decides he doesn't want to catch that ball for some odd and strange reason!!  Right in his hands, and he brings it in so forcefully it pops out...

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM......

#6:  Packers-Commanders, Washington Field Goal Attempt...  47 yards out, 2:48 to go in the half, Packers up 14-10, and it's a double-kink doink.  Thing is, the kick was never good in the first place.  The only reason it doinked was because of a second kink, which probably WAS due to magnets.

#5:  Same game.  1st quarter, 5 to go, Green Bay up 7-3, Washington punting.  Packer returner has an eon to get ready to catch it and...  muffs it.  You.  Had.  One.  Job.  Results in a field goal.

#4:  Colts-Titans.  3-0 Titans, about 9 1/2 minutes to go in the first half.  Colts with the ball, 2nd and 12 at the Titan 28.  Jake makes it clear his theme is intentional pick-sixes -- and there's another one in the top three.

This one?  Receiver completely has his back turned AND the route is jumped --> six the other way.

Har har...  So easy, the Titan interceptor has the ball triumphantly aloft at the Colt 35 yard line.

Jake also points out the Colts quarterback is staring down right where he wants to go...

#3:  49ers-Chiefs.  3rd and 3, inside the 5 for the 49ers.  14-13 Kansas City, 90ish seconds to go in the half.

Line can't block water, Garoppolo off his back foot, you know what's coming...

Long quick drive by Mahomes, but the field goal attempt misses.

#2:  Texans-Raiders, and another pick-six Jake sees as scripted.  31-20 Raiders, 3:30 to go in the game, Texans with the ball at the Raider 40.

The interception itself is a good play -- Jake sees all slop from there.  QB flops, one of the linemen is caught on-screen giving up on the play.  Another lineman (#78, who eventually DOES have the angle!!!) completely mistimes his dive and eats turf, touchdown Raiders and that's the game, boys.

#1:  Jets-Broncos, and Jake selects a Broncos FG attempt as the #1 Rigged Play of the Week.

11 1/2 minutes to go in the first half, Jets up 7-6, McManus is going to try from 56 to give the Broncos the lead...

There is a wind to the kicker's left which swirls a little bit, but the ball starts out to the left anyway, so it should go that route, correct?

About halfway through, with the flags indicating that the wind is still blowing to the left, the ball takes a right turn and ends up from straight down the middle to wide right, even though the wind is right to left!!!

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....

---------

OK...  So he did a pretty good job this week.

I'll add at least one more before I head to Twitter.  And it's a third play from Packers-Commanders.

Down 20-14, 4th and 1 for Green Bay at the Washington 37, 11 minutes to go in the game.

So you line up shotgun, giving the tell it's a pass, incomplete.

That's a botch on the call and the execution -- unless it's clear that the Packers are jobbing themselves out (see #5).

---------

Proof that NFL officials only call Roughing the Passer when they want to:
pic.twitter.com/L6bk3seMJP

— Michael Balko (@MichaelBalkoJr) October 25, 2022

October 25, 2022 News and Notes

• The appeal of Britney Griner's nine-year death prison sentence in Russia has been denied.
• Three true freshmen on the Texas A&M team, two for the second time this season, have been suspended indefinitely from the team for a locker room incident.  Ranked #6 in the preseason and declared the #1 recruiting class of the 2022 season, five players (and two of them twice) from the freshman class have been suspended this season for breaking team rules.  I sense at least two scholarships are about to be vacated.   
• It appears, from at least Twitter, that the incident is that the three players smoked marijuana post-game in the locker room.  If this is true -- CUT...  THEM...  ALL!!!  And fire the head of scouting.  
• To little surprise, Jumbo Fisher is having serious problems this year:  The team is 3-4 and the offense is sputtering.
• The NFL has concluded it's investigation of Sunday's Bucs game officiating crew and determined they had not sought Mike Evans' autograph.  Given the circumstances, they had to check, but there didn't seem to be anything to it.  I mean, to have that bias, you'd have to do better than 21-3 losing to Carolina!   

2022 NFL Week 8 Suspension Report

And that, I think, is going to do it for the Chiefs.

• Kansas City Chiefs:  Frank Clark:  Two games, personal conduct.  Possession of an assault weapon misdemeanor in March of 2021.

That pretty much should do it.  Third suspension for the Chiefs this year, second for personal conduct.  Fine check to the league will be $100,000, the maximum allowed at that tier.  Lost salary for Clark is over $400,000, and that puts any fourth suspension check at the maximum $250,000.

Yep, that pretty much should scrub the Chiefs (again -- and it's all misconduct).  Next team up.

• David Andrews of the Patriots is in the concussion protocol after the cheap blindside headshot Mike Pennel of the Bears was tossed for last night.  No word yet -- probably meaning no suspension -- on Supplemental Discipline for Pennel.

2022 Week 7 AFC Political and Kayfabe Rankings

(Updated after the Suspension Blotter to eliminate Kansas City with three off-field suspensions for the year.)

Did the NFC earlier.  Chicago's win means they join the other 3-4s, but no change in the Politicals or the playoff seedings.

AFC Politicals:

1) Buffalo

Free win over the Packers coming next week.  Bills are a home 11-point favorite (and, if it holds, it will be the first time in Aaron Rodgers' NFL career that he will go into a game a double-digit underdog!)  and I think that's easy money.  This is easily the worst Packer team in a decade in kayfabe, and maybe this is finally the breaking point.

As for Politicals, Buffalo has such a margin on the rest of the AFC, I do have very real question as to how it could go sideways.  It would probably take a second major (or covered-up) criminal action to change this.

2) Kansas City

Probably for lack of another feasible choice.

2) Miami

Don't forget:  They're 4-0 with Tua.  And especially with what they risk every time he takes the field...  I mean, for Tom Brady, there is a certain degree of unimportance -- it's a marriage, not getting the guy killed with another major head injury...

3) New York Jets

Can't discount a deep-in-the-pocket Jets-Giants scenario...  Miami is only over the Jets at this point because of the obvious nature of the Tua situation.

4) Tennessee

Don't look now -- they've won four in a row...

AFC DUD OF THE WEEK:

Nominees:

The Patriots:  Oof.  The Bears Still Suck -- You Suck Worse.  When is Belichick gonna break the record?

WINNER:

RUSSELL WILSON AND A MOVE HE MIGHT WELL REGRET.  Wilson is now seen as the most disappointing player in the NFL (I can think of two worse at his position!), and the move to Denver, especially only getting nine points against the Jets, is not looking positive nor good.

Kayfabe:

AFC East:  Buffalo (5-1), half up on the Jets (5-2) and one more to the Dolphins (4-3).

AFC North:  Baltimore tiebreaker (HTH Wk 5) on the Bengals (4-3)

AFC South:  Tennessee (4-2), next is Indianapolis at 3-3-1

AFC West:  Kansas City (5-2), then LA Chargers (4-3)

Wildcards:  Jets at 5-2, and then the Dolphins, Bengals, and Chargers for two spots at 4-3.

No head-to-head sweep from the three teams.

Conference tiebreak:  MIA 4-2, CIN 2-2, LAC 4-2  CIN is out.

MIA vs. LAC:  Play December 11th.  Conference record is even, not enough common games.

So we have to invoke the computers for Strength of Victory:  MIA .519 - LAC .288

Seeds:

1. BUF (5-1)
2. KC (5-2)
3. TEN (4-2)
4. BAL (4-3, divisional HTH Wk 5 tiebreak over CIN)
5. NYJ (5-2)
6. MIA (4-3, conference record tiebreaker eliminates CIN, Strength of Victory tiebreak beats LAC)
7. LAC (4-3, conference record tiebreaker eliminates CIN, loses Strength of Victory tiebreak to MIA)

We have a 3-4 (TB) and a 3-3 (LAR) team in the playoffs in the NFC, but a 4-3 team in the AFC (CIN) is out.

And Tampa plays Baltimore and Atlanta plays Carolina.  Non-zero chance 3-5 might lead the NFC South too...

2022 NFL Week 7 Score Report

That was a strange week, and you'll see it throughout this report.

• 44.36 points per game this week.  (Last year:  42.77)
• Season average for the seven weeks:  43.41.  (Last year:  47.29 -- and it was over 50 the last two years before that.
• Home teams were 9-5.  58-47-1 for the year.  (Last year:  9-4 for 51-53)
• Interesting Wk 7 2022 Stat #1:  Home teams got through the first seven games to finish with victories.  Only the Jets and Giants won as road teams in the early block.  5 of the 7 road teams in the second half of games to finish (Jets, Giants, late block, Sunday night, Monday night) won.
• Over was 7-7 this week for 44-63-1.  (Last year:  5-8 for 47-59-1)
• ATS:  7-7 for the week, 44-59-3 for the year.  (Last year:  7-6 for 50-57.)
• Straight up:  Favorites were 9-5 for the week, 63-42-1 for the year.  (Last year:  9-4 for 67-40)
• Team with more penalties was 5-6 for the week, 41-54-1 for the year.  (Last year:  5-7 for 45-50)
• 167 penalties for the week, almost 12 a game.  (Last year:  144 in 13 games, just over 11)
• Season total:  1,305 in 108 games, just over 12 a game.  (Last year:  1320 in 107)
• Interesting Wk 7 2022 Stat #2:  NO Cliffhangers at all.  Last time that happened:  Last year Week 10.  (Two for 27 for last year.  22 total for this year.)
• Six games finished within one score.  63 for the year.  (Last year had only five for 50.)
• Only three non-competitive games for 24 for the season.  (Last year had EIGHT for 41 total.)
• Interesting Wk 7 2022 Stat #3:  ALL SIX GAMES which finished within one score had at least one Last Chance Miss:

1. Thursday night had a last minute onside attempt by New Orleans.
2. Cleveland had a tying 60-yard field goal attempt blocked after a penalty at the two minute warning.
3. The Packers tried to Stanford-Cal their way home and almost got there!
4. The Giants beat Jacksonville by about a half yard as the final pass was downed in bounds inside the Giant 1, Jacksonville down six.
5. The Broncos got a Double Last Chance Miss:  First one was a flagrant refball on a missed horsecollar-pass interference to fail one drive at 1:55.  Then a miss in the end zone with a half-minute left on fourth down.
6. Sunday nighter, the second of two Pittsburgh late interceptions was a toe-tap job down six in the endzone for Miami at :25. 

• 41 for the year.  (Last year:  None for 24.)
• Interesting Wk 7 2022 Stat #4:  To give an indication of how crappy this week was, including some of the upsets:  Of the 14 games to be played this week, fully SEVEN finished within three hours.  Five of the seven early Sunday games finished under 180 minutes -- the Raider game with 58 points finished in only two hours and 50 minutes.  And the Monday nighter finished in 2:58.  I'd love to get an idea of how rare a week like that is in the last few NFL years.  Old-school, you used to have your starting times at 1 and 4 Eastern.  Now, the games usually get so long, some of the late starts are staggered to 4:05 -- others to 4:25!!!   

October 24, 2022 News and Notes

• Rishi Sunak is Great Britain's third Prime Minister in just over seven weeks.
• The top club in the Ukranian league has asked for Iran to be expelled from the World Cup due to their support of the Russian invasion.  Iran, Wales, and England are in the group the United States is in.
• Houston furniture store magnate Mattress Mack has $6,000,000 on the Astros winning the title across three different sportsbooks, and when they do, he pockets $45,000,000 -- a sum that basically indicates he is about the only real liability from which the sportsbooks lose when the inevitable happens.  The only difference is that HE is the vacuum which sucks up the suckers' money and hopes when America is Made Angry Again by the Asterisks.  
• ESPN and Caesar's Sportsbook reported a customer who laid over $1.4 million on ten college and pro football results.  After winning $60,000 on seven bets (4 110K bets which won, and 2 110K bets and a 120K bet which lost) on college, the bettor then bet $192,500 on the Chargers -5 (they lost outright), $220,000 on Tennessee -2.5 (they won by 9), and $220,000 on the Jets -1 (and they won by a touchdown).  Net profit:  $267,500, assuming all winning games kicked at -110 at those margins.
• ESPN and PointsBet noted a $300,000 money line bet on the Cardinals.  It won at -145, meaning a take of just over $200,000.  The $300,000 is the largest bet (with one other of the same amount) in the NFL this season.
• The Packers were one of the biggest winners for books this weekend -- and that's because people are stupid.  If I had money to gamble, I'd have laid it on the Commanders to win this weekend and pocketed well.
• Last week, Kevin Nash lost his son Tristan at age 26.  It appears as if Tristan fell to a seizure due to alcohol withdrawal -- and it appears the same befell Scott Hall when he passed away as well.
• Actor Leslie Jordan, 67, killed in a car accident today.
• In a moment which would've made more sense had the Bucs won:  The NFL is looking into game officials who asked Tampa Bay WR Mike Evans for his autograph!
• Tim Michels (Fascist Pig-WI), the Republican candidate for governor actually notes that Ron DeSantis and Tom Brady are texting buddies.  Oh gee, whoda fucking thought???  Gisele, in the immortal words of "Dear Joan", "DUMP THAT TURKEY!!!"   
• Natalya Antyukh is the latest Russian to be stripped of an Olympic medal -- the gold in the 2012 400m women's hurdles.  If the medals are reallocated, the USA's Lashinda Demus will win gold.  I wonder what happens, vis-a-vis the National Anthems, etc., in cases like that...   
• It's a second previous offense due to database data.  Antyukh's career ended after being named in the 2016 McLaren Report on Russian doping.
• Possible Supplementary Discipline hearing tomorrow.  Mike Pennel of the Bears was tossed for a flagrant blindside block on an interception return -- and, judging by the video, that one could be suspendable.

2022 NFC Week 7 Kayfabe and Political Rankings

Yes, with Chicago being the only NFC team left playing this week, I think I can safely do these and it's going to take some doing to get Dud of the Week off the Packers again.

Politicals:

1)  Philadelphia

On their bye this week, gets to host Pittsburgh next week, goes to Houston, hosts Washington, then to Indy, home to the Packers, then Tennessee...  12-0 IS looking more and more likely, isn't it, by the time they face the Giants

2) Dallas

3) NY Giants

With only the existential reality of the Cowboys' TV ratings to separate them.  It's clear both teams are getting pushed MAJORLY this year.

4) Minnesota

They also had their bye this week, and the same thing I said before applies now:  It's not that we don't believe 5-1, but you have to be pretty deep past Cincinnati-level in the pockets of the NFL as a backup plan.

5) Seattle

Don't look now, they're 4-3!  And they lead the NFC West!!

Kayfabe:

NFC East:  Philly is 6-0, Giants are 6-1, Dallas is 5-2.

NFC North:  Minnesota is 5-1, next team in the division is 3-4.

NFC South:  Tampa with the tiebreaker over Atlanta...  at 3-4.  Carolina and New Orleans are 2-5.

NFC West:  Seattle is 4-3, Rams are 3-3, Arizona and San Fran are 3-4.

Wildcards:  Giants, Dallas, LA Rams, in that order, no tiebreakers.

Seeds:

1. PHI (6-0)
2. MIN (5-1)
3. SEA (4-3)
4. TB (3-4)
5. NYG (6-1)
6. DAL (5-2)
7. LAR (3-3)

At 3-4:  Washington, Green Bay, Arizona, San Francisco (and Chicago, if they beat New England Monday night).

DUD OF THE WEEK:

Nominees:

Detroit Lions:  Yep, they've quit.  They gave it pretty much all they had for about a season and a half, and I think it just ran out the last couple weeks.

Runner-up:

That vaunted 49er defense:  3-2 with Atlanta coming up, then you give up 28 to Atlanta and 44 to Kansas City after you gave up 61 points in the first five games.  Yeah...

JOINT WINNERS:

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS, AARON RODGERS, THE TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS, AND TOM BRADY.

At least the first two of you are done beyond done.  The other two are a rig-job and a fight from being 1-6.

Rodgers, get out.  Brady, retire.

October 23, 2022 News and Notes

• Another SEC field-storming fine after another top-10 SEC team goes down.  LSU upset then #7 Ole Miss.  And that's LSU's third...  TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.
• That's now $350,000 donated to the conference's post-graduate scholarship funds in just eight days, and my guess (with 7 SEC teams in the Top 25), they're not done yet.  This isn't stopping until someone gets killed in the trample and someone sues, or games are forfeited as a result.
• To give you a warning about how Week 7 is going:  Five of the seven games in the 10 AM Pacific window finished in less than 3 hours.
• There were no Cliffhangers in the early window and the last three of those games to finish all had Last Chance Misses.
• Only one game beat 50 points in that early window.
• Only one road team won (the Giants), and they won by literally half a yard.
• Joe Burrow of Cincinnati has already broken a major NFL record in three years.  With a 481-yard game today, he has become the first NFL quarterback to have five 400+ yard games in the first three years of his career.
• Time to give it up, Brady and COVIDIOT-12.  Both of you need to go -- NOW.  
• San Diego, now having served it's purpose, bows to the Phillies.  Philadelphia, the #6 seed at 12 games above .500, wins the National League and goes to the World Series.
• And they will face the Assholes, as they are Making America Angry Again (as a sign during the Houston games of the LCS trumpeted!), sweeping the Yankees.  I don't think they're losing one game.   
• Yes, Tua Tavailoga survived the game tonight.  Two interceptions got a 16-10 win for the Dolphins.

Adam Silver finally admits the extent of the NBA tanking problem...

Last night, in Phoenix, Commissioner Adam Silver effectively had to bend the knee to about the entire remaining staff of the Phoenix Suns, admitting the league fell far short of it's responsibilities of dealing with it's now-outgoing owner.

Also in the meeting, however -- which took over an hour -- Adam Silver basically made reference to the elephant in the room, 7' 4" French player Victor Wembanyama, who will (barring injury or the like) be the #1 player in the next NBA Draft and will probably transform his franchise not unlike Patrick Ewing in 1985.

In short, Silver was forced, again, to confront the NBA's tanking problem.  The real news here is the word he used as one (probably inconceivable and unworkable) option -- but that he used it at all is a function of just how bad the tanking problem is.

He actually used the word RELEGATION as a real discussion (even after dismissing it completely as something which literally destabilize the league to the point of probably blowing it up) as an ultimate solution to deal with tanking issues.

I think part of the present problem is the concept that relegation would also come with promotion from the G-League -- as he discussed in Phoenix.  That IS a rather ridiculous concept (and the for the reasons, on both ends, Silver talked about -- financial situation on the relegated team, talent level and ability on the promoted team), but the fact of the matter is some form of a relegation concept IS the only way to deal with tanking, or you have no incentive (as Mark Cuban has even, in the past, conceived that even a number of the playoff teams do not...) not to tank your season, especially if someone who might well blow up in the NBA, like Wembanyama, is available in the next Draft.

I think relegation without promotion would work.  At this point, I think the seasons are too long in all of the major sports, and there are too many teams literally stealing money by calling themselves "professional" outfits, when, in many cases, they are (and that's if they are!) little better than the top college squads.  And many have been this for year after year after year...

Would this probably mean the relegating franchises die?  Yes, AND THEY DAMN WELL SHOULD!  I will have no dispute with anyone who is saying that professional sports are a literal mint to print money, especially in the NFL (and what lesser extent exists in the other three can easily vary).  But it is still bad business to lose year after year after year, just like it is not educational to simply field a team just to satisfy the law and watch your student-athletes get decimated by unsportsmanlike scores.

Franchises unfit to compete on the top professional level should not be there.  The problem is implementing this in a situation where it is clear that the secondary leagues are either a full level below (college football) or affiliated with the top-level teams (the other three major sports).

Don't fool yourself:  Relegation is not coming.  The Players Associations would never permit a relegation scenario, as such that it would be a contraction scenario rather than a promotion one.

That said, that Adam Silver is now actually at least putting the word into play indicates he's out of ammunition to deal with the tanking problem.

Except for one other possibility which was partially raised in the Phoenix meeting:  What was discussed in Phoenix was the situation regarding expansion.  Silver admits that, though there are cities who would line up for a new NBA team, dilution of talent becomes a real issue.

How about this, Commissioner Silver?  You relegate and contract unfit franchises, and you immediately (the same off-season) bring expansion cities into the league.  The PA loses no jobs (and any players who would be out would probably be considered not worthy of the NBA in the first place!), and you might get rid of some of these front-offices who've been skating for far too long.

2022 NFL Week 6 Fine Blotter

Again, from NFL.com. etc.

• Dallas Cowboys:  Micah Parsons:  $10,609 for taunting.
• Dallas Cowboys:  Trevon Diggs:  $9,577 for unsportsmanlike conduct for removing his helmet.  If you watch the incident, it's a CLEAR "Blame The Culture" foul.  Diggs removed his helmet in abject disgust and disappointment after the Eagles scored a touchdown in the game.  It is a 15 yard penalty and a fine, but because of what usually happens in those kinds of events, not in the kind of "disgust and disappointment" situation this was.  The call IS correct, but... 
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Willie Gay's four-game suspension has ended.
• Los Angeles Rams:  Jalen Ramsay:  $15,914 for roughing the passer helmet-to-helmet.  No flag on that play.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  #1 draft pick Travon Walker, same fine, same offense.  The league is not doing enough on these cheapies against the sliding quarterbacks.
• Minnesota Vikings:  Dalvin Cook:  $7,426 $5,941 for throwing the game-winning touchdown ball into the stands.  People need to be reminded:  The fine is for the random throwing of the ball, since that usually starts altercations between fans in the stands.  If the ball is specifically handed to someone in the front or the like, there is no fine.

Week 5 additional from Spotrac:

• Pittsburgh Steelers:  James Daniels:  $10,609 for a late hit.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Kevin Dotson:  $5,887 for unnecessary roughness.  The third fine from the Buffalo game.

October 21, 2022 News and Notes

• Simona Halep appears to be getting drummed out of the sport -- provisional four-year ban for a positive test for Roxadustat.  Tested positive at the US Open, there is therapeutic use for the drug, and Halep has been having problems breathing as of late.
• The Vancouver Canucks have not had a good start to the season.  They've led in all five games so far, and lost them all.  They have two points in those five games for two overtime losses.

October 20, 2022 News and Notes

• The head of the Hearst Media Group for television is effectively predicting that if NBC abandons the 10-11 Eastern/Pacific hour for prime time, the remaining two national networks which still use it will follow suit.  Makes me wonder when we might get the end of one or more of at least the three majors.   
• Another piece of evidence Kevin McCarthy will not be Speaker of the House if the Republicans win the House in three weeks:  Bloomberg reports McCarthy does not, at this point, believe there is a case to impeach President Biden...
• It appears as if the first casualty of the CM Punk/Elite brawl from All Out is now known:  Reports have it that Punk's trainer Ace Steel has been fired.
• There is apparently significant litigation in the event as well, however -- litigation which might end all four relevant wrestling careers (Punk, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks).
• The winner of a 50/50 raffle drawing for $14,000 with the Washington Commanders at their season opener is claiming the check bounced.  And my surprise is...  non-existent.   
• Tense moments at the NFL Owners Meetings between Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones...
• ... after which Jones was the only dissenting vote against Roger Goodell's new pay package for being Der Kommissar...
• In the first win for Houston in the ALCS, they struck out 17 Yankees.  Only two Astros struck out.  Largest discrepancy in postseason history.
• This week is the first week of the Jeopardy! Second Chance Tournament.  A winner of a two-game total-score match tomorrow and Friday will meet the winner of a similar match on October 27 and 28 in the first round of the 2022 Tournament of Champions, which will begin October 31.
• The semifinals, with Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider, and Mattea Roach, begin on Election Night (or will they move that to the night after?), November 8...
• Three shows after that will begin the Finals, in which the three survivors will face each other until someone wins three shows for the $250,000 grand prize.
• Liz Truss resigns as British Prime Minister, and it appears Trump-like Boris Johnson will return to the post.  A party election is scheduled for Monday.
• Cristiano Ronaldo was suspended from Manchester United for Saturday's Premier League fixture for leaving the bench early against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night.  It's clear he's gone, probably in the January transfer window.
• With Game 2 of the ALCS today, Thursday Night Football, and first-week regular-season games in the NHL and NBA, it is only the 27th time that all four major sports go on simultaneously.
• With the 3-0 win by Korea's JD Gaming over Europe's Rogue -- every non-Korean/Chinese team has been eliminated from the League of Legends World Championships -- to the tune of a 16-3 record for the Koreans and Chinese over everyone else.  One Chinese team got eliminated in Groups, and they even went 2-2 against the others, and Fanatic got one game off of T1.  Just get rid of the rest of the world -- this a two-country e-sport.   

2022 NFL Week 6 Ratings Report

• Thursday Night (Amazon:  Bears-Commanders...  zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....):  4.3 rating, not quite 8.8 million viewers.  None of that should be a surprise whatsoever!!
• 7.6 million Amazon viewers should get their money back for a month of Prime, claiming torture.
• Sunday National (Bills-Chiefs Game of the Year, CBS):  On the other end of the spectrum, basically matching up the two main Super Bowl AFC contenders gets about three times that many viewers:  13.2 rating, 25.41 million viewers.  Largest Week 6 NFL audience since Dallas vs. Green Bay at 28 million in 2016.  And the largest CBS Week 6 audience since since over 29 million watched Cowboys-Patriots in 2007!  Up about 6-7% year over year in both measures.
• Third most-watched game of the year so far, all in the National (Late) window.
• Sunday Night Football (NBC:  Cowboys-Eagles):  11.0 rating, 20.79 million on television and another million and a half streaming.
• Highest TV audience for Week 6 for NBC since 2018 -- add the streaming numbers, and you have to go back to 2015.
• 60%, give or take a tick, of all TV sets on in both the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and the Philadelphia metro area had the game on.
• Eighth most-watched game of the year.
• Sunday Single (FOX:  Jets-Packers in about half the country (I'm sorry!)):  8.6 rating, 16.37 million viewers.
• Sunday Early (CBS:  Mostly Ravens-Giants):  7.25 rating, 13.45 million.
• Both early windows scored modest gains, probably on interest of the New York teams doing so well to start the season.

(All numbers courtesy Sports Media Watch.)

2022 NFL Week 6 After Further Review

Jake the Asshole is back with his Top 10.

Let's see what he has, and I may add a few more later...

#10:  Cardinals-Seahawks, and it looks to be a 4th and 2 for the Cards at the Seattle 24.  Already one problem:  They're in the shotgun.  19-9 down, ten minutes to go.

Not only the playcall, but the line collapsing for a 12-yard sack.  The only disagreement I have is shaving points:  Arizona was a 2.5 point favorite, and the total was 50.5.  Other than that, shit playcall and shit execution, unless...

Go "throwing the game" if you want.  It wasn't point-shaving, though.

#9:  The game-losing punt-muff in overtime of the Monday nighter, Chargers-Broncos.

First off, you could have "interference with the ability to catch the punt" while Asshole does his worst Axl Rose!

The gunner basically takes his blocker right into the returner, knocks him over, he muffs the punt, LA recovers and wins at the end of the series.

I think that one, though I'd have to check the NFL rulebook, may actually be more on the referee than it was on the returner.  Jake's premise is usually correct, but there's something else here.

Yep:  This one is on the refs.  Rule 10, Article 1, Item 1, 2022 NFL Rulebook:

"It is interference if a player of the kicking team contacts the receiver, or causes a passive player of either team to contact the receiver, before or simultaneous to the receiver touching the ball."

And the note does say that a blocking player cannot cause that foul, except the gunner then shoves the blocking player into the receiver.  That's a foul.

#8:  J-E-T-S SUCK SUCK SUCK/Packers, who suck worse.  1st and 10 at the Packer 20 for the Jets.  End around, no one's home, easy touchdown for the Jets in the 27-10 win.  Gee, you think the Packers might just be jobbing out NOW?   

#7:  Return of the Doink, Giants/Ravens -- 56 yard field goal attempt for the Ravens late 1st quarter scoreless.  DOINK off the upright.  Jake does make a very good point here that there seem to be far more balls off the uprights than there "should be"....  Kicker did almost seem to aim it at that upright, however.

#6:  Another muffed punt, Commanders/Bears Thursday night.  8 minutes to go in the 4th -- and why are you even trying to field that punt up 7-6????  Result:  The only touchdown of the game for the Commanders and the game-winning score.

And there will be at least a third muffed punt in this video, apparently.

#5:  Giants/Ravens, with a Lamar Jackson "throwing the game" charge.  3rd and 6 at the Baltimore 40, fumbles first, picks up the ball, then tries to throw it, picked off, leads to the game-winning touchdown.

#4:  Patriots/Browns, and the third muffed punt of the week in his video.  4 1/2 to go in the 4th -- unlike the other two, this didn't provide the result, but it sealed it on the next play to turn 31-15 into the 38-15 final.  And he's got a point on this one too.  Anyone ever heard of a fair catch?

#3:  Dolphins/Vikings slop play fumble.  16-10 Minnesota, Miami 2nd and 14 at the Minnesota 42.

Pass is complete over the middle and then fumbled.  Two plays later, sealing TD for the Vikes.

I think the one thing I would say is that many ball-handlers DO NOT CARE about ball protection anymore.  One of the biggest hair-rippers for coaches out there.

#2:  Chiefs-Bills, 3rd and 10 at the Buffalo 42 for the Chiefs.   No effort on the Juju Schuster-Smith touchdown to make the game 7-3 in the second quarter.

Additionally, though, Jake calls out the celebration being scripted.  Now, anyone who's known about the relaxing of the rules regarding celebrations in many cases (though not all) knows these celebrations are planned and scripted.  So why almost two minutes of the video on something we all know to be fact?  (Especially in the National Game of the Week?)

#1:  Bengals-Saints, ball on the Cincinnati 40 for the Bengals, 1st and 10.  He's calling slop play.  If anything, that's two defensive backs who need not to be in the NFL anymore!  One gets spun out, the other completely passed and whiffed.

That was the game-winner and the Cliffhanger in a 30-26 win.

October 19, 2022 News and Notes

• Bubba Wallace has been banned for all NASCAR activities in the next race.
• Kyle Busch will be without his crew chief and two crew members through the 2023 Daytona 500.  Loose wheel penalties are not cheap anymore.
• Dustin Hopkins of the Chargers kicked the game-winner in overtime with a torn hamstring.  He's out 2-4 weeks.
• Bitch slapping will become an official sport in the state of Nevada.  The UFC kingpin Dana White has put together a professional slap-fighting league, and has gotten the corrupt NSAC to sanction it!
• Michael Davies actually said, on the official podcast of Jeopardy!, that there was discussion to award a cash amount to any contestant who ran a category.  Now, not only has that idea been nixed, but so has any mention of a contestant getting all six questions correct in a category.  Thaaaaaaaaaaaanks, purists...   
• There is now a discussion that at least two NFL owners, including the one of the Colts, believe they have the 24 votes to oust Dan Snyder.  Then..........  DO IT!!!  Force the cards on the table.   
• At least one of the two concussions Tua suffered was a full knockout job -- Grade 3.  Even two Grade 2's, by many doctors' situations, would've cost Tua, at minimum, the rest of the season.   
• Mississippi State freshman Sam Westmoreland passed away today, two days short of turning 19.  Suddenly.  CTE/head/concussions or COVID?  Which one??   

October 18, 2022 News and Notes

• It appears that there will be one constant going forward with the Dodgers my anonymous Dodger-fan friend will approve:  It appears, from reports, that all demands Dave Roberts be fired will go on deaf ears, and he will return next year.
• They'll try Game 5 of the ALDS with the Yankees and Guardians again today in New York.  Winner goes to Houston tomorrow to start the ALCS.  Tonight, Game 1 of the NLCS in San Diego with the Phillies.
• It appears as if District of Columbia officials are going to further sanction Dan Snyder, the Washington Commanders organization, and maybe even the NFL for continuing misdeeds by Snyder.
• Mitch Trubisky may be on his way out of Pittsburgh -- he also has had a confrontation which has led to a benching suspension of almost 2 1/2 games, now, as the starting quarterback.  He had a violent confrontation with one of his wide receivers at halftime against the Jets, and only saw the field again when Kenny Pickett, the rookie, got a concussion this week.  As a result of the concussion, Trubisky is, apparently, supposed to start the Tua Death Watch game next Sunday night.
• And if you've got a problem with me calling it that under these circumstances, FUCK OFF.   
• Cam Akers is done with the Rams.
• Latest reports on the Davante Adams situation make it feasible that Adams may be punished under the Personal Conduct Policy, and only after the assault charge against him for shoving the NFL cameraman is resolved.
• Alabama's #6 ranking snaps 40 consecutive weeks, over three-plus seasons of constant top-five rankings for the Crimson Tide.
• According to Adam Schefter, the Robbie Anderson trade nets the Carolina Panthers a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 seventh-round pick.  Oof.  All that and a $20,000,000 cap hit for that.  OY!   

2022 AFC Week 6 Political Rankings

1)  Buffalo

The win over Kansas City basically puts Buffalo head and shoulders above the rest of the AFC.  And, given the apparent weakness of most of the other contenders, the question really comes down to whether the NFL will consummate them, and whether Buffalo or anyone (else?) on the team now fucks it up for them.  There is still the Matt Araiza fallout, even though the Bills fired him -- but, right now, that is about the only thing keeping kayfabe and political from meeting completely and Buffalo being prepared to lap the AFC.

From there, it's kinda 2A, B, and C with the three 4-2 teams:  The Jets, Chiefs, and Chargers.

The Jets and Chargers both have the market and the Chargers have the new stadium.  The Jets are finally relevant (and those receipts are being cashed, thank you very much, Coach Saleh) for the first time in basically forever.  The Chiefs will always be around with Patrick Mahomes, but there are definite holes.

It's really "three on a match" with all three of those teams -- not much to separate them, and they're all a significant distance behind the Bills.

AFC DUD OF THE WEEK:

Runner-up:

Cleveland Browns Male Fans:  How's waiting for DeRapist Rapist working out for ya, scum?  2-4 and not much to say about it, as New England schooled your ass in your own building.

But the winner:

EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CURRENT TIMELINE IN MIAMI:  The Tua Tagovailoa Death Watch (and I'm not exaggerating as I say this) appears on full-speed for the game against the Steelers in WEEK SEVEN.

It's no real surprise:  I told you, back in Week 3, that the only reason that team was 3-0 was Tua, and, when he got banged up again, they've lost to the Bengals, Jets, and Vikings.

THEY'RE GOING TO KILL THIS GUY -- AND IT MIGHT HAPPEN ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!  The game is the Sunday nighter!

There's real question he should ever be on the football field AGAIN, much less this season, MUCH LESS THREE WEEKS AFTER AGGRAVATING HIS INJURY!

2022 NFL Week 5 Ratings Report

Yep, forgot it again, so here are the ratings numbers from Sports Media Watch.  There should be some interesting gems in here.

• So how many people subjected themselves to that disaster between the Colts and Broncos?  9.7 million, the least of the first four Amazon airings.
• Giants-Packers in London:  To what probably is little surprise, NFL Network scored the highest International Series single game in the history of the series.  3.0 rating, 5.22 million viewers.
• Sunday Single (CBS:  Steelers-Bills):  7.6 rating, 14.7 million viewers.
• Sunday Regional (FOX:  Bucs-Falcons):  6.9 rating, 12.77 million viewers.  The early window was a bad one for both networks -- double-digit losses year over year.
• Sunday National:  (FOX:  Cowboys-Rams):  Quite the opposite...  A 12 rating and 24.25 million viewers.  Up 6% ratings, 7 % viewers year over year, fourth-largest audience of the season.
• And of the five most-watched games of the year, the Cowboys have played in four of them.  This is why I say that only getting the team out of the doghouse will prevent them from being in the Super Bowl rigging discussion, especially if Mr. Gisele continues to crap the bed.
• Sunday Night (NBC:  Bengals-Ravens):  A season low.  8.6 rating, 15.88 million -- worst Week 5 Sunday Nighter in 14 years.
• Monday Night (ESPN ONLY:  Raiders-Chiefs):  Best Week 5 since 2011.  8.7 rating and 15.79 million viewers.  The underlined is the key there -- there was no simulcast nor Manningcast.  The game actually outrated the Sunday nighter.

2022 NFL Week 6 Score Report

• Only 41 points a game this week.  Only one game beat 60.  (Last year:  49 -- a full eight point decrease).
• Season average:  43.27.  (Last year:  47.91.  Two years ago:  50.78)
• Home teams were 8-6 for the week for 49-42-1 for the year.  (Last year:  4-9 for 42-49)
• The Over was only 4-10, 37-56-1 for the year.  Meaning that the average NFL week is about 6-10 for the Over.  (Last year:  5-8-1 for 42-51-1, the same total as two years ago)
• Favorites were 7-7 against the number and 8-6 straight up.  The Chargers, however, were the only favorite to win but not cover -- the other six all lost.  (Last year:  8-6 ATS, 9-5 SU)
• Season:  37-52-3 ATS, 54-37-1 SU.  (Last year:  43-51 ATS, 58-36 SU)
• Team with more penalties was 6-5 for the week, 36-48-1 for the year.  (Last year:  5-8 for 40-43)
• 175 penalties for the week, up a smidge over the 170 from last year.  Season total for the 94 games:  1,138 this year, 1,176 last year.
• 3 Cliffhangers this week, including the Game of the Week and the Monday Nighter.  22 for the year.  (Last year:  4 for 25)
• 8 of the 14 games finished within 8 points.  57 of the first 94 games this year have finished within one score.  (Last year:  6 for only 45 -- meaning we have had 12 more games this year finish within one score.  That's almost two weeks' worth of close games, and we're only six weeks into the season, a full two games a week increase.)
• Only 2 non-competitive games this week.  Both were upsets (Atlanta and New England).  21 such games this year.  (Last year:  SEVEN for 33, meaning we have had 12 FEWER non-competitive games this year than last.  Two a week, again.)
• And 4 Last Chance Misses this week, for 35 for the year.  (Last year:  3 for 24 -- meaning almost the same difference.  11 in this case.)

October 17, 2022 News and Notes

• Josh Gordon has been cut from his second practice squad of the year.  Tennessee has cut him after Kansas City did so earlier in the season.
• The Titans also apparently are sourced to have a new domed stadium plan in place.
• Jack Easterby is out in Houston with the Texans -- wonder how much of that is DeRapist Rapist related.
• Todd Bowles, the head coach of the Buccaneers, has officially put the team on blast vis-a-vis their motivation.  Which stands to reason, when you think of it...  They are figuring they can ride the rigging all the way to the Super Bowl.  Given what Tom Brady is putting on the table for this season, it's not surprising, but you DO have to make it "look good"!
• For the first time in eight months, the classic The Price is Right:  The Barker Era channel on at least Pluto and XUMO is going to air new episodes from Season 13.  Unlike previous drops, however, the Pluto/XUMO channel will air new episodes two at a time instead of in a block over five weeks.  There is a possibility that IMdB/Freevee/Roku might air the new episodes in a block on November 1 or so.
• K-pop group BTS has disbanded, much to the dismay of millions of fans around the world.
• Well, kinda and temporarily:  There is a two-year period of mandatory military service in South Korea, and the members of the K-pop supergroup are not exempted.  You'd NEVER see that in the United States, even under a military conscription draft!   
• The first member will begin the process at the end of the month, after a solo release.  The others will do so on their individual schedules.
• One of the booth coaches at Fresno State University may be looking for a job -- he injured several fans at Saturday's game by punching the window of the press box he was in completely out!  Makes throwing the visual tablet far more tame in comparison!   
• He has now officially been placed on leave.
• Bubba Wallace is probably in some trouble with NASCAR for intentionally crashing out Kyle Larson, fighting him afterward, and taking out one of the eight playoff contenders in the crossfire.
• Robbie Anderson and the Carolina Panthers have parted ways.  About 1 PM Eastern, he was traded to Arizona.  The trade is for a draft pick or picks, but no one is saying what.
• Today was the 15th anniversary show for Drew Carey hosting "The Price Is Right".  Good God, I feel ancient...  One of the bonuses they gave for the event is that anyone spinning 15 cents on the wheel, in any legal-spin iteration, won $15,000, regardless of any other situation they ran into on the showdown.  One older lady did in the first half, and the wheel was set so tightly, she almost did it twice!
• One of the pricing games was for a trip to Seattle -- and anyone who knows of Drew knows he is a part-owner of the Sounders, so a Sounders package was thrown in!

2022 NFC Week 6 Political Rankings

Well, that was another week of chaos.

If you don't believe me, look at the post below this one and all the fun at 3-3 or so.

That said, it's time for the NFC Political Rankings.

And these aren't going to be easy this week.  Tampa Bay loses, and they are a bad football team right now.

The problem is, at 3-3, they are the #3 seed in the NFC because most everyone else outside the NFC East and Minnesota in this conference sucks.

No, excuse me, I break out the Xavier Woods of the New Day here:  They SUUUUUUUUUUUU-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

So, even though the road would most certainly go through Philly or something like that, it becomes an interesting exercise to place Tampa Bay here.

Anyway:

1)  Philadelphia

And it looked, late third quarter, as Dallas got a 20-3 halftime lead down to 20-17, that the refs were appearing to line up for the Cowboys.  That is, until multiple unsportsmanlike conduct flags pretty much put that to bed, after it appeared the Cowboys, in the two-touchdown comeback, had gotten away with both Roughing The Passer and a pick/block in the back.

2)  NY Giants

The three NFC East teams are 1-2-3, in my book, simply because they can't even prop up Brady enough to beat Pickett and the Steelers.  And there's a very good chance, though not 100% (the 5-1 Vikings are going to want a word), these two teams may play 3 times in 8 weeks (Weeks 14 and 18, and then the NFC title game if these are the two remaining teams.

3)  Dallas

Too much more doghousery, and there are at least two other candidates who could pass you.  Get the house in order, Jones and McCarthy!

4)  Tampa Bay

By a sliver over Minnesota, and only because of the same thing I've said every week since Week 1 on this team.  And the more the struggles mount, the more Tom Brady is going to be screaming, especially with every week, the word mounting he has lost his marriage to Gisele by playing this season!

5)  Minnesota

More because of the fact of "What do you bring to the table?"  That's a very good team in Minnesota, but there's so much in front of them in the rigged NFL sphere...

NFC DUD OF THE WEEK:

Nominees:

Fourth place:

The San Francisco 49ers:  Where the fuck was that #1 defense?  And after coming back from one 14-point deficit, Atlanta actually holds to finish the job with them this time.  That's one that's going to bite you square in the tookus come January, either for the division or for getting in the playoffs at all!

The Bronze Medal:

Tom Brady and the Tom Bradys:  Good grief.  After needing a blatant rig-job to get past the Atlanta Falcons, you stink up the joint even WORSE and lose to PITTSBURGH???  In such a manner than even the Yinzer UrinatingTree can't figure out how?  AND NEITHER CAN I!

If not for the fight in New Orleans and the stray rigged flag, they might have one win on the season, and THAT is against the Cowboys!!!!

The runner-up:

The Carolina Panthers in general, and soon-to-be-former Panther WR Robbie Anderson in particular:  The new coach has got a lot to deal with, and Steve Wilks is probably going to have to cut Anderson after tossing him off the field during the game after two arguments with his position coach!

Anderson is almost-certainly only on the team because he played for former coach Matt Rhule, so I can't see that going on any longer.  The only reason he probably already hasn't been traded is a $20,000,000 two-year cap hit.  They ARE considering trading him.  With the situation with some teams (including our clear winner of the week, which I'll get to in a second!), there's no chance, in my mind, that Anderson will see another snap for Wilks.  He'll either be traded or cut, THIS WEEK.

Normally, that would be the winner.  The Panthers, at 1-5, have the #1 draft pick right now and may damn well need it for the housecleaning they may have to do.

That said, you weren't Super Bowl contender ideas:

The winner:

A GREEN BAY PACKER TEAM WHICH HAS PROBABLY SHUT OUT THE QUARTERBACK.

Normally, in a situation like this (yes, I know the Jets are 4-2 and the like, but you've now lost back-to-back home games for the first time in years and back-to-back games for the first time under this coach), it'd be the coach losing the team.

But let's be blunt here:  Aaron Rodgers is above this team and has been for years.  And now I think HE has lost the team.  He came within probably three inches, start of the game, of a "HE DID WHAT???" pick-six for the Jets...

About the only way this season gets righted, IMODO, is if the Red Tsunami hits AND the NFL then pivots to Rodgers, somehow, and he navigates his way through the Wild Card round and somehow beats Philly in the NFC title game or something.

7-10 appears to be their ceiling, and that's a high ceiling.  This is the worst Packer team in AT LEAST A DECADE, and, too much more of this, and there will be plenty of good seats available as season-ticket holders dump this team and attempt to recoup some cash on the secondary market.

But any illusions this team is going to even see the NFC Championship Game can be cleanly done away with, for the moment.

2022 NFL Week 6 Kayfabe Rankings

I think we can have this discussion now.

Because, in kayfabe, just six weeks in, I think it's clear we have a kayfabe Super Bowl:  Philadelphia Eagles vs. Buffalo Bills.

Each is the best team in their conference, and, barring rigging, it does not appear that it is particularly close.

Scott Hanson made a very interesting point in starting Week 6:  All eight divisions, through 5 full weeks of play, had outright leaders.  Only three won:  The Bills, Eagles, and Vikings.  The Ravens, Chiefs, Bucs and 49ers all lost.

So let's take a look, knowing that we have a clear #1 in each conference, at the current chaos:

AFC East:  Buffalo (5-1) is a game up on the Jets (4-2), gets it's bye week next week then a free win over the Packers in two weeks before getting the first meeting with the Jets.

AFC North:  Baltimore and Cincinnati are 3-3 (Baltimore 1-0 with the North, Cincy 0-2 for that tiebreaker).

AFC South:  Titans are 3-2 with their bye week this week.  Indianapolis is 3-2-1.

AFC West:  Kansas City is 4-2, which the Chargers can join, but KC won the first meeting in Week 2.

So the division seeds are also outright:  Buffalo, Kansas City, Tennessee, and Baltimore in that order.

Wild Cards:  Jets are 4-2, Colts are 3-2-1, and then Monday night determines whether the Chargers join the Jets, in which case the Chargers would become Wild Card #1, the Jets #2, and the Colts #3.  Otherwise, the Jets are #1, the Colts #2, and a 3-3 mess ensues.

In that case:  The tie would be between the Dolphins, Patriots, Bengals, and Chargers.  The Dolphins would win the tiebreak with the Patriots, to be done first, because of head-to-head win in meeting #1.  The Dolphins have beaten the Bengals and will play the Chargers eventually.

Conference record:  MIA 3-2, CIN 2-2, LAC with a loss Monday night 3-3, Miami would have the #3 Wild Card.

So the AFC:

1. BUF (5-1)
2. KC (4-2)
3. TEN (3-2)
4. BAL (3-3, Divisional tiebreaker over CIN)

If LAC wins tomorrow night:

     5.  LAC (4-2, Conference record tiebreaker over NYJ)

     6.  NYJ (4-2, loses Conference record tiebreaker to LAC)

     7.  IND (3-2-1)

If LAC loses tomorrow night:

    5.  NYJ  (4-2)

    6.  IND (3-2-1)

    7.  MIA (3-3, see above for multi-tiered tiebreaker)

NFC:

NFC East:  Philadelphia (6-0) has a one-game lead over the Giants (5-1) and won't play them until mid-December, and they play twice in the last five weeks.

NFC North:  Minnesota (5-1) is 2 1/2 clear of a rapidly-fading Packer (3-3) team.

NFC South:  Tampa Bay and Atlanta are 3-3, and that Roughing The Passer rig-job has Tampa in front in the division.

NFC West:  San Francisco, Seattle, and the Rams are all 3-3.  San Francisco has beaten both of the other two already in their first meetings, so they lead the division.

Philadelphia is the #1, Minnesota the 2, Tampa and San Francisco have to break their tie.  They will play December 11.  So the conference records:  Tampa 3-1 vs. SF 3-2, so Tampa, at 3-3, is the current #3 seed in the conference, even though two NFC East teams are still better than them in the records.

Wild Cards:  #1 is the Giants at 5-1.  #2 is the Cowboys at 4-2.

#3 is a 3-3 mess.  You have Green Bay, Atlanta, Seattle and the Rams.  Break the Seattle/LA tie first.  They will play twice in the last seven weeks.  Both teams are 1-1 in the division (any divisional tiebreaker, even a wildcard tiebreak, is done under division rules), common games gives LA the nod).

So it's Green Bay, Atlanta, and LA Rams.  The Rams win that tiebreaker by conference record (LAR 3-2, GB 2-2, ATL 2-3).

So the NFC is:

1. PHI (6-0)
2. MIN (5-1)
3. TB (3-3, Conference record over SF)
4. SF (3-3, loses Conference record tiebreak with TB)
5. NYG (5-1)
6. DAL (4-2)
7. LAR (3-3, see above for multi-tiered tiebreaker)