2025 Week 3 Discipline Blotter

No, I haven't worked as hard at this as I used to.  There are many factors contributing.  Some of them I could mention, some of them I definitely cannot.

So here's a brief look at the NFL's Week 3 Gameday Accountability Report.  Remember to go down to Week 3 if you see this later.

• Brian Branch is a three-time loser for Detroit.  A low block docks him another almost 12 grand.
• Quinnen Williams should probably have been ejected -- for two fineable personal fouls.  He's about $29,000 lighter for a first-quarter facemask and a third-quarter hip drop tackle.
• Biggest ones are three $23,000+ fines.  Two for use of the helmet to butt your way forward, a third a hit on a defenseless player. 

Week 3 Political Rankings

As we head to Ireland for an NFL game for the first time (much to the chagrin of COVIDIOT-8), a look at where we are:

NFC:

1) A reluctant Philadelphia, mainly due to lack of other options.

2) Tampa Bay

I can't see them going San Francisco, on true politics.  Green Bay takes a huge drop with LaFleur throwing the game last week (and don't be surprised if Dallas wins the Sunday nighter).

On the other side:  Will someone in the NFL look into the New York Giants sometime soon?

AFC:

1) Buffalo, now the Super Bowl favorite by a stiff margin.

2) Don't undersell Indianapolis as a Plan B.

On the other side:  Retire, Tua, please.  The Jets still suck.  And so does the AFC South, outside Indy. 

Care to tell us anything, ACC?

This play got Virginia the win over Florida State in overtime last night.

See if you see something the officials did and I did not...

He clearly bobbles the ball, but appears to have it well-gathered by the time he gets to the back of the end zone.

According to Virginia officials, 15 people were injured in the fan storm that ensued after Virginia won. 

Speaking of having our answers, the one we all expected....

The NFL is a very fortunate place this season.

If you recall (and this was during the blog's hiatus), a lone gunman entered the building which houses the main NFL offices in New York on July 28 and opened fire.

Fortunately for the NFL, the elevator which the man took was to floors nowhere near the NFL offices.

Unfortunately for the destination of that elevator, Shane Tamura took four lives before ending his own.

He had grievances against the league and the sport, believing he was suffering from CTE.

Today, we find out he was right. 

Low-grade CTE was found in Tamura's brain. 

And I think we have our answer, Mr. LaFleur?

Was wondering why the team only put up ten points against the Cleveland Browns and then so spectacularly collapsed...

You threw the game to shut the team up, didn't you?

You came out today, as coach of the Packers, and publicly stated you were sick of the team squawking about being undefeated.

Well, knowing how the NFL works, I guess I now have to conclude the coaches threw the game to shut the team up.

We'll see how all that goes over next Sunday night in Dallas. 

A rare bit of awesome in this madness...

I used to remember this as a kid.

11 am, coming home from church, and I hear Brent Musberger telling us "YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE!" at several of the different stadiums where CBS was covering games that day.

Well, in a moment of being fair, Sunday, September 21, was the 50th anniversary of the first edition of "The NFL Today".

And CBS pulled out all the stops.  Throwback outfits, hairdos, the graphics package (slightly updated for the occasion, but it's otherwise accurate), the closest they could come up with to the old-school CBS Sports Control where the show emanated for so many years...

And speaking of "so many years"...  One more time, at EIGHTY-SIX YEARS YOUNG, Brent Musberger came on with the classic line.

 

And there goes that #1 ranking in about five minutes of the fourth quarter.

What happened?

Up 10-0 in Cleveland, after holding them with a penalty to a field goal from 1st and goal at the 1.

Turnover for a TD to 10-10.

One good play, then it all goes backwards for Green Bay, blocked field goal, cliffhanger at the gun and Packer fans are left scratching their head. 

2025 Week Two Political Rankings

NFC:

1) Green Bay

I do believe, end of the day, that Herr Trump is going to have a voice, if not the final word, as to who wins the Super Bowl this year.  About the only reason, after the first two weeks, I am not even more sure on Green Bay (for the same reason I have NOT believed the Packers a relevant player in the past -- the rural nature of the fanbase) is the Black quarterback.  I do believe a movement toward the White Right is a major player in all of this, and Jordan Love would be, frankly, a bit inconvenient.

I don't really have a #2 in the NFC at this point, but it's not because I think Green Bay is THAT FAR ahead of the matter.

Philadelphia is having major discipline problems this year, already fined over $300,000 for on-field offenses in the first two weeks, the team having to pay all fines backward and forward under the policy.

Tampa Bay would work with Baker Mayfield, but would the league want to go there?  I could see it, but the NFC South is so weak, who knows how good they could actually pass off Tampa Bay to be?

San Francisco?  Nuff said.

Los Angeles?  Nuff said.

Arizona has the same problems they always have -- a fairly complete lack of a fanbase to market as Super Bowl champs.

Could easily see the NFC West getting the same rub the NFC North had last year, and the same result...  3 teams that high up, no playoff wins.

AFC:

1) Buffalo (already 3-0, so they'll have this spot for Week 3 as well)

They have the one thing Green Bay doesn't, a White quarterback.  Hence, my current Super Bowl favorite.

Only the Bengals, Colts, and Chargers are 2-0.  The Chargers are LA and have no fans, so they're down.  Could easily see the Bengals and Colts getting a bit of a shove for the same reason I kinda like Green Bay and Buffalo right now.  So maybe the Bengals and Colts a 2 and a 2A at this point.

 ---------------------

On the other side of the equation, some 0-2's to discuss:

Kansas City is really at the top of this list, and, though it is the Chargers and Philly (two teams which might have some relish this year), I think a large part of it is, in fact, the league knows it got caught and can't push Kansas City, even if it would otherwise want to.

I think the only other one to discuss is 0-3 Miami.  The Tua situation is over, people.  Retire him before he gets hurt. 

2025 Week Two Discipline Blotter

The Gameday Accountability post for the week is out from the NFL:

• Saquon Barkley got the biggest one of the week, and with all fines already doubled to the Eagles from just Week 1, that was nearly 100 grand between Barkley $46,371 and the team having to match it.
• Of the 19 fines this week, seven were for various forms of unsportsmanlike conduct.  The fines don't work there, people.  There's going to have to be ramifications on the scoreboard, just like in college.
• CeeDee Lamb should've been tossed from last week's game, as he got dinged twice.  Taunting in the second quarter, and a violent gesture in the fourth.  
• So should've George Pickens, who got two fines from the same play, and it was the same play of the violent gesture of Lamb's.  Those fines totalled about $55,000, but should've resulted in suspension for both Pickens and Lamb, because both should've been tossed.
• Lamb was flagged for the second-quarter foul, part of a play in which FOUR penalties were called on the same play.  The Giants had too many on the field and committed roughing the passer (unfined) AND defensive pass interference against Lamb's taunting foul.
• None of the three fines from the fourth quarter were penalized.  Lamb WOULD have been tossed, Pickens should have been.
• A fifth fine for a leg-whip brought the week's total for the Cowboys over $60,000.  That puts Dallas about $10,000 from matching everything already.  That's seven fines for the Cowboys in two weeks.
• Mr. Taylor Swift, in another evidence the league may finally be done with the Chiefs, got about $14,500 himself for "obscene gestures".  Unflagged after a long completion.
• The league's just gotta decide to allow New York to get involved in unflagged fouls, under the guise of "clear and present error".  That's just becoming evident. 

Statistic of the Week, from Jake the... AWAKE???

(OK, you're probably still an asshole, but...)

One of Jake's Points of Emphasis is the old song he likes to do, "Return of the Doink", a personal remake of the old hit "Return of the Mack" to highlight the number of balls that hit uprights, especially when it happens inexplicably.

The statistic?  We have had EIGHT upright shots in the first two weeks.

Let.  That.  Process. 

2025 Week One Discipline Blotter, Part The Rest

Sorry, been a Hell of a week, and this is a week where I am probably not allowed an opinion on the very central subject of the week (non-sports).

You may eventually get it anyway, but we'll see.

As for the rest of the blotter, there's no need to continue to list it as the NFL does so on a week-to-week basis themselves now.  (Scroll to Week 1 if you see this in a later week.)

But there are some points to be made:

• Counting the suspension incident, which was not in Saturday's announcement, there were 17 total fineable offenses in the NFL for Week 1.
• True to the NFL's Point of Emphasis on Taunting fouls, six of them were for Unsportsmanlike Conduct fouls.
• Counting the suspension incident, there were six fineable offenses in that Thursday night opener.  Four for Philly, two for Dallas.
• Including the biggest other fine of the week, a hip-drop tackle which cost Philadelphia's Jakorian Bennett over $23,000 and the Eagles over $110,000 as a team, as well as dollar-for-dollar for all fines going forward this season under the new policy.
• Brian Branch probably should've been ejected against the Packers, as he was fined for two separate incidents on the same play (a facemask and a taunting) less than five minutes into the game.
• Is the NFL looking harder at the national games?  Six incidents in the Thursday nighter, one Friday night, four in the National Game of the Week in Green Bay, two in the Monday nighter -- that's 13 of the 17 incidents.

2025 Week One Discipline Blotter, Part One

• Philadelphia Eagles:  Jalen Carter IS suspended one game.

Kind of.

He will lose the Week 1 paycheck, rendering a $57,222 mark against the team for the new remittance policy.  (All fines are paid also by the team at $94,500, including the first $94,500 -- with a maximum of $75,000 per incident.)

Announced today by the NFL, the suspension is deemed served because of the timing of the incident, being that he never played.

It is unknown, at this point, whether Carter will play Week 2's Super Bowl rematch with Kansas City -- but that will be a team issue and handled in-house, per the Eagles head coach. 

And then a classic which all but eliminates Baltimore Week 1...

Sixteen unanswered including a field goal at the gun, and Buffalo all but ensures any rematch with Baltimore is in Buffalo, 41-40.

Well, the Lamar Jackson pick took a nice dive right there.

ESPNBet still has them at the top two for the Super Bowl futures (+550 for Buffalo, +650 for Baltimore, +700 for Philly, +800 for Green Bay, +1000 for Kansas City), so how would I look at a Week 1 Political Rankings with Chicago vs. Minnesota tonight?

NFC:

1) Washington

2) Green Bay

and they play on Thursday.  But there is an important play here.

He is trying to position himself, him being the Pigfucker, as the center of American culture and sport.  He held another audience yesterday, this at the US Open Men's Final.

The biggest problem I have with both of these picks is the same problem I have with Baltimore now:  If Donald Trump is the play, the quarterback almost certainly has to be White.  That's Jayden Daniels out, that's Jordan Love out, that's Lamar Jackson out, that's Patrick Mahomes out.

The reason, however, these two still top my NFC Political Rankings is the military power desired to be asserted in Washington and the rural power (which overwhelmingly votes Trump) in Packer Nation.

3) and a distant 3rd at that, Philadelphia

They play Kansas City this week at Arrowhead.  But that's not the problem.  If the NFL wishes to take it's sportsmanship initiative seriously, you will see Jalen Carter pay, and pay huge, for that incident before the opening play.

Current word is that Carter still may be suspended as of posting this.

Once you get beyond Philly, it gets rather tentative on political ends:  San Fran is too liberal, LA is probably facing a full martial law scenario after the Super Bowl through the World Cup, Arizona is just a flat no, and Tampa is just meh.

Biggest drop:  Detroit.  For the same reason that the Buffalo win reshapes the AFC, Detroit (until they got punched in the mouth by Green Bay, a hungry Green Bay at that, in one of the more convincing wins of the week) now probably has an uphill battle.

AFC:

1) Queasy, but Buffalo.

Same concept as Green Bay, White quarterback, you probably get most of the marks checked off with this.

2) Pittsburgh

Pleasedon'ttelltheYinzer... Pleasedon'ttelltheYinzer... Pleasedon'ttelltheYinzer... Pleasedon'ttelltheYinzer...

But that's one mark on the Aaron Rodgers situation.

They're, more, #2 in the AFC, at least for Week 1, because they check all the marks.  Right-wing White quarterback, less urban of a following than their Philadelphia counterparts.

Biggest drop:  Baltimore and Kansas City took pretty significant drops, but I think you have to go Miami here.  Probably the flattest performance of Week 1 in a 33-8 loss to Indianapolis. 

Seven hours, forget the commercial-free... It's Week 1... Let's see how long it takes for things to go caca today...

• I wasn't going to pay to begin with on the old NFL situation.  How do they expect me to want to pay $40 a month because they now own 10% of ESPN?
• Jalen Carter of the Eagles is almost-certain to be suspended, but I am surprised they are waiting til Monday, especially with the mention of the sportsmanship Point of Emphasis this year in this morning's discussion on the wait for the Eagles star.
• Ten of the first fourteen games finished within one score...
• ... including COVIDIOT-8's coming out party against the Jets. 
• Only three Cliffhangers though.
• Through fourteen games, the average total is about 38.5. 
• Home teams are only 7-6. 

Upon Further Review (Week 1, Part 1): With one exception on the "On The Float" "Anybody's Year" theory...

It sounds like that Dallas-Philly situation just got substantially more complicated, and the fact that the NFL hasn't immediately levied a three-game or so initial suspension on Eagles star defender Jalen Carter shows there may be more to this story than first meets the eye.

Including:  Did Dak spit on Carter first?  About the only reason one might not think that is that New York had jurisdiction to eject Dak Prescott on the play, once "non-football acts" were involved.

It appears that Dak Prescott may have been interpreted as to spit on Carter's feet, which obviously got the inappropo (and still a multiple-game suspension-worthy foul!) response from Carter.

That might explain, even with such an act, why the NFL decided to have the Eagles win anyway, when there was no case for them to do so otherwise.  To literally have an incident like that before Play One is usually an indicator (at least to me) that something fishy is going on...

I still think the Eagles are gonna pay for that big-time, however.  They'll just wait. 

Edit to add Tuesday afternoon:  Carter gets the game he never played in, and loses the paycheck.  Probably some mitigation by Prescott's actions -- and that could be actionable on Saturday as well. 

 

Well, if this ain't interesting...

Meet your NFL Kickoff ad for the opening weekend of the season and ask yourself if you see something odd:

An NFL ad that basically says it could be anyone's year -- after the league effectively had to change course for the Super Bowl because they got caught...

And then, the Chargers beat the Chiefs in Brazil last night to "back it up".

Is this going to basically be the play here?  The Return Of "Any Given Sunday"? 

There are no coincidences, Part I, II and III...

Brian Tuohy always puts that tagline (or at least used to) on the end of many of his commentaries on his website.

Yesterday and today, we got three good examples as to why...

Either the opening day of the NFL or the opening day of the $40/month ESPN/NFL+ package (which was yesterday), two men were arrested in Egypt yesterday and efforts made to close down the world's largest sports-piracy site, StreamEast. 

Also, ESPN shill Pat McAfee trying to shill for his new owners, as the fact that the seven hours of football where Every Touchdown Will Be Aired will no longer be commercial-free as of this season.  (NFL RedZone, and, trust me, fans are not happy. 

But then we get to the opening kickoff of tonight's first game, with the champion Eagles hosting the Cowboys, and not only have the Eagles lost Jalen Carter for probably Week 1 and 2 (disqualified from the game for spitting on Dak Prescott), but have lost Ben vanSumeren for the season due to a torn ACL on the play.

As of when I hit send, it's 17-14 Cowboys, the Eagles are driving, and no punts have been had for the entire first half. 

ETA:  Whoops.  Make that 21-17 Eagles with less than a minute to go in the first half.  The difference being the Cowboys were held to a field goal. 

Does Major League Baseball want to just leave Florida to Spring Training??

Sure sounds like it, if incidents like this are any indication.

Redditor attends what probably is going to be his last Tampa Bay Rays game.

He somehow comes into possession of the 40th home run of the season by Rays slugger Junior Camineros.

Security at the ballpark physically accosts the fan, demanding that the ball is now the property of MLB and the Rays (and I would not be surprised if that is the "answer" for all the big-money balls of the roid freaks of the 2000's) -- the fan isn't entitled to anything for it.

It finally escalates to the point that the next time the fan might be allowed in the ballpark is going to be some point next season.  Not only is the ball taken from him, he's banned six months after Florida Man Security physically attacks him.

No word on whether that clock actually stops in the offseason, but I think it's clear they might as well not bother letting him back in the stadium at all.

Well, we know the phraseology to that:  FUCK ROB MANFRED!!! 

And more evidence this ESPN deal is bad for football...

"Seven hours of commercial-free football..." is no longer commercial-free.

Pat McAfee announced today that part of the NFL-ownership of ESPN is going to be that the RedZone channel will now have full commercials.

One can only hope that the commercials will be spaced out (early in games, not during the classic "Witching Hour"), but that has to be doubtful.

Wonder what my former "friends" at the pirate site I used to drive up the wall about the games being rigged -- that is, until I found out that the main person behind Baked (as in 420'd) was a Trump supporter... -- are going to think about full ads in the RedZone coverage. 

More evidence the games are rigged...

So Belichick goes to UNC with a hot girlfriend and a new team.

Pretty much all new, and he's primetime on ABC at home against TCU.

I think we have an answer as to who made who here:  TCU ROFLStomped them 48-14.