It's Week 13 Fine Friday

Note:  The numbers I have on fines are the ones I've found -- there may be more.  The NFL, after a couple of years of huge numbers of fines making the league look bad, has covered up most fine reports, so I've had to resort to places like Twitter to find them.

• New York Giants:  Odell Beckham, Jr.:  $12,154 for verbal abuse of an official, saying Stevie Wonder could've seen him getting fouled.  (Except it wasn't for those post-game comments -- it was for similar comments during the game -- the post-game comments could draw another fine.)  That's his FOURTH NFL fine of the year, and his ninth in his third NFL season.  No suspension -- yet.  
• New York Giants:  Eric Pinkins:  $24,309 for a special teams cheap shot.
• New York Giants:  Largely, but not exclusively, due to Beckham, the Giants will now be fined as a team dollar-for-dollar for every fine for the rest of the year.  They have reached the final penalty plateau, and you can add another $50,000 to that.  By latest math, the Giants have been fined nearly $300,000 for game misconduct.
• New York Jets:  Sheldon Richardson,
• New York Jets:  Buster Skrine, 
• New York Jets:  and Breno Giacomini:  $9,115 each for personal fouls in the same game.
• New York Jets:  And that makes them the fourth NFL team to reach the first $50,000 penalty level, $121,540 on the nose.
• Philadelphia Eagles:  Dorial Green-Beckham forgot last week's immunity was only for charity causes.  Since his cleats were simply pimping Kanye West, he DID get fined $6,076.

More probably coming.

Playing fair a moment: Copa Sudamerica, Posthumous Edition

I've been remiss in not mentioning this.

Chapecoense football club was travelling to the Copa Sudamerica (the club championship of South America) final, the first of a two-legged final with Atletico National, when their plane went down and 71 died, including 19 members of the team.

Obviously, the matches were never played.  And, at the request of a continent's worth of soccer teams, players, and officials (led by Atletico National, who were recognized by COMNEBOL for their Fair Play). Chapecoense were awarded the Copa Sudamerica on Monday.

A worldwide soccer effort has been launched to get the franchise back on it's feet, including Barcelona, who, today, announced inviting what team Chapecoense can get together for a friendly next August.

Another body, laid on the altar of football...

Rashaad Salaam.

Running back, former Heisman winner.

Dead at 42, reports say suicide.

Anyone else thinking CTE?

Week 13 2016 Score Report

• Week 13 score average:  43.533 PPG
• With all teams now having played 12 games, the season average:  44.917 PPG
• Home teams were 9-6 for the week, 109-77-1 for the year (.586)
• The over was 6-8-1 this week - the first real push of the year:  Tampa Bay and San Diego went off at a 49 total, and it finished 28-21.  100-93-1 for the over for the year, slight nod to Vegas.
• Favorites:  9-5 against the number (the Monday nighter went off a Pick), 10-4 straight up.  For the year, 89-85-7 against the number, 115-65-1 straight up.
• Team with more penalties was 5-6 last week, 68-91 for the year.
• SEVEN non-competitive games this week.  NO Cliffhangers.
• Three Last Chance Misses.
• Only five games finished within one score, after this find from Brian Tuohy through the Wall Street Journal:

Through the first 12 weeks of the season, 60.2% of NFL games have been decided by eight points or fewer https://t.co/1Ah66FQ7OV

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 29, 2016

• 37 Cliffhangers for the year out of 192 games played.  (19.27%)
• Percentage of games decided by eight or fewer is down to 58.33% (112/192)
• Only 49 non-competitive games out of 192 (74.47% of games competitive)

Storyline Watch:

• Getting serious in Oakland this week:  They are the #1 seed again on common opponents to New England.  (The victory over the Bills was an opponent New England lost to, New England plays neither Atlanta or Kansas City.)  That said, Oakland has to go to Kansas City in a game that, if KC wins, gives KC the tiebreak over Oakland at the end of the year.  Oakland wins, they're up two with three to play for the division.
• Baltimore and Pittsburgh are both now 7-5 -- Baltimore beat the Steelers in the first meeting, they meet again on Christmas Day.  Baltimore is #3.
• Houston, Indianapolis, and Tennessee are all 6-6 -- Tiebreaker for the one division spot for the #4 goes to Houston because they've swept the other two in their first meetings.
• #5 is Kansas City at 9-3 -- see above with Oakland Thursday night.
• #6 is Denver at 8-4.  One up on Miami and Pittsburgh, two up on Indy, Tennessee, and Buffalo.
• Denver at Baltimore, Kansas City at Houston.

NFC:

• Congratulations to the Dallas Cowboys, the first team to clinch a playoff spot -- four weeks to go. Still the #1 at 11-1 after the (rigged) win over Minnesota.
• Seattle is the #2 at 8-3-1 -- Dallas is 2 1/2 up with four to play.  A win and a Seattle loss and Dallas clinches home field throughout with three weeks to go.
• Detroit is 8-4 for the #3 -- two clear of both the Vikes and the Packers.
• Atlanta is 7-5 for the #4.  Breaks the tie with Tampa Bay on division record, Tampa is the #6 at 7-5.  (Tampa is half a game up on Washington, one full up on the Vikings and Packers.)
• New York Giants are #5 at 8-4.
• Tampa at Detroit, Giants at Atlanta.

I'm still not sold on Oakland.  I really am not.  Even if I thought they were pushing Oakland, I think it's more to raise the value of a Las Vegas Raiders team rather than keeping them in Oakland, too dark of a city (on any number of points) for the corporate NFL these days.

The NFL Gives Thanks For These Contributions: Fine Blotter

• Dallas Cowboys:  Rolando McClain has been thrown out of the league for his FOURTH drug offense in a year and a half.  He's probably now, if he ever plays again (and the Cowboys do not expect this), looking at 2019 before he can play again, and that's if he stays straight.
• Buffalo Bills:  Seantrel Henderson is done until mid-next-season, as he's also gotten his second strike of the season for drugs and will sit 10 games.
• At least five players have received multiple drug strikes since the Super Bowl.

And now to the regular weekly bullshitfest:

• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Antonio Brown, for at least the THIRD TIME THIS SEASON (and FOURTH in about a year), fined for a touchdown celebration.  $24,309 for him..  He is now a FOUR-TIME LOSER (just this season) with almost $64,000 in fines this year (at least as of current count, $15,000 or so more than the rest of the team combined and more than half the number necessary to get the team fined another $50,000 for accumulation).
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  And $12,154 for Le'Veon Bell for the same event. 
• Green Bay Packers:  Julius Peppers:  $9,115 for a facemask.
• And the Green Bay Packers become the third team to be fined $50,000 under the Club Remittance Policy for over $121,000 in accumulated fines.  They hit the number of $121,540 exactly with the Peppers fine.  That is the seventh game the Packers have had at least one fine.
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Eric Berry:  $24,309 for a helmet hit.
• Houston Texans:  Kareem Jackson:  Same fine, same offense.
• Carolina Panthers:  Derek Anderson:  $12,154 for unsportsmanlike conduct on the sideline.  He was the backup quarterback and may have been ejected for disrespect of an official.
• Carolina Panthers:  A.J. Klein:  $9,115 for a facemask.
• Cleveland Browns:  Corey Coleman:  $9,115 for an offensive facemask.

Black Ex-NFL Player Dies In Deliberate Road-Rage Attack, White Attacker Will Not Be Charged

You read that right.

It appears the big lede here is being buried in the death of former New York Jet Joe McKnight.

This is Deadspin, from NOLA.com:

A witness, who declined to give her name, said she was leaving a store in the area when she saw a man at the intersection yelling at another man, who was trying to apologize. The man who was yelling shot the other man more than once, she said.

She said the shooter shot the man, stood over him and said “I told you don’t you f—- with me.” Then he fired again, she said.

And now, today, word from numerous media sources:  The shooter, a 55 year-old White business owner named Robert Gasser, will not be charged.

Joe McKnight was unarmed.

Look, I sometimes have cross words for NFL players and the like, but this likely was a racially-motivated attack...

Trump won Louisiana by 20 points, just saying.  Just saying....

You STILL Want To Believe These Games Are Not Fixed?

That's Sam Bradford taking a shot to the head (AND a hand in the face mask) on the two-point conversion play that, when missed and the ensuing onside kick was not recovered, allowed Dallas to go to 11-1 and the front of the line of Super Bowl favorites with a 17-15 escape of now-6-6 Minnesota.

The referee actually told Bradford, it was revealed this morning, that he was not hit in the facemask.

The photo shows otherwise.

Your sport is RIGGED, Football Nation America.  Wake the fuck up....

(Photo from Deadspin, no word on where they got it.)