2017 Week 1 Score Report: Are They Throwing In The Towel On Ratings This Year?

I'm going to do the ratings as a separate post.

That said, this was a VERY un-Goodell-esque Week 1 on a number of different fronts.  Makes me wonder if Goodell IS, in fact, doing a full rewrite on the season as we speak (as I posit after New England went from probable 19-0 to actual 0-1 -- and looked quite bad, vulnerable, and exposed in so doing!!!), a rewrite which could take several weeks to crystallize...

So here's the Score Report for Week 1:

• The average game for Week 1 this year scored a total of 41.067 points.  This is a field goal or more down from the last three years (44.875 2016, 45.25 2015, 44.75 2014).

This, after a 69 point opener and a 58 pointer with Detroit and Arizona.

By late in the goings, though, your three late-game totals were 55 (Rams putting 46 on Indy), and two games at 26 (CAR-SF and GB-SEA).  The Sunday nighter was the second-lowest-scoring game of the week at 22 (DAL-NYG).  There was even a game at 20 (BAL-CIN).

• Home teams were 7-8 Week 1.  (7-9 to start last year, 10-6 two years ago)

Here's the kicker:  In the late games and prime-time ending games, the home team was 5-1 to get the total to that 7-8.  From the Thursday opener and the early games, home teams were 2-7!!!

• Not surprisingly, only 5 games went Over the total this week.  (9 last year, 8 the year before)
• Favorites were 8-7 against the spread this week, 10-5 straight-up.

The problem with this:  They needed six consecutive covers and seven consecutive straight-up wins to get there.  At only point this week, the favorites were 2-7 against the number and 3-5 straight-up.

• Another bizarre reality that might signal something here:  It took two of the late games in the afternoon (Carolina beating San Francisco while San Francisco had more penalties) before we had the first game this weekend where a team with more penalties actually lost the game.
• The team with more penalties won the first nine such games on the schedule this week.  The team with fewer penalties won the last four.  (There were two with the same number -- so 9-4-2 overall.) (8-8 last year, 6-9-1 two years ago)
• Also, the number of penalties called is interesting:  207, meaning about 14 a game.

And then we get to the real meat and potatoes of this:  The Cliffhanger Index.

• There were ZERO games decided by a lead-changing or tiebreaking score in the last two minutes.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  And, in fact, it appears only one game (ATL-CHI) was even that remotely CLOSE to having one.  (5 opened the season last year, 2 the year before)
• Only two games (the aforementioned ATL-CHI and the Chargers falling just short against Denver Monday night) ended with a Last Chance Miss (a reasoned opportunity at a Cliffhanger result).  (4 last year)
• Only FOUR of the fifteen games this week ended with margins within or at eight points.  (Last year had ELEVEN, the year before had nine!)
• Last year had only two non-competitive games (to that point, the least in a full 16-game schedule the last three years).  This year, with one fewer game, they had SIX. 

And there's the real question as to whether the league is going to largely throw in the towel, accept the hit the boycotts are going to make, and move on:  No effort was made this week to make games dramatic.  There may have been some efforts in shaping a larger narrative (there was controversy to give Philadelphia a win over Washington, and Brian Tuohy has pointed out potential bullshit in Green Bay's win over Seattle!), but no real effort to glue you to the edge of your seat this week.

Tuohy, on his NFL season page, has called to attention the called-back pick-six in the first half in Green Bay-Seattle, including a phantom ejection that will probably see Friday's Fine Blotter, as well as a missed Packer facemask (which might've led to the ejection!) and a later missed pass-interference call.  Maybe the Seahawks should've shut their traps vs. the NFL this offseason?

And the result could be seen in at least two Western US stadiums this week.

A lot of people made hay as to the Rams' attendance:  60,128 in the LA Memorial Coliseum that could seat over 100,000!  Not to mention the Rams barely resembled a college football team last year (especially in the second half), and the Colts may be one of the larger tank jobs in the league this year.

From DirtySports podcaster Andy Ruther through Tuohy's page, what kickoff looked like in Los Angeles:

This is just embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/wmCNDJIyvL

— Andy Ruther (@AndyRuther) September 10, 2017

But nothing could compare to the supposed sellout in Santa Clara for the 49ers.

Partially due to the team sucking and partially due to that the stadium just cannot deal with sunny days (I know this from my visit for Wrestlemania 31), Levi's Stadium might've had 5-10 thousand people in it for the start of both halves.

Don't believe me?  Again (though I had seen it before) through Tuohy's page, from Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Second half kickoff pic.twitter.com/sEQgbtfJIq

— Ann Killion (@annkillion) September 10, 2017

2017 Super Fraud NFL Preview Part V: An Angry Ex-Football Fan's Lament

(DISCLAIMER:  This will almost assuredly, to some readers, be the most offensive post I have ever put on this blog.  I understand that, but the too-perfect concoction of what today is, the current state of the NFL, and the egregious error ESPN has committed inspired someone I trust greatly to put together an admittedly-drunken parody that sums up all the things wrong with the MAGA Football League.

If anyone NOT on the alt-right is offended, I apologize.  Anyone who IS on the alt-right who is offended, that's the intent!)

Today is September 11th, 16 years since the NFL, in propaganda style, has gone from National Obsession to National Religion.

We are all supposed to fall into the party line and remember what we are supposed to remember.  (Never minding how much of this doesn't add up and all that crap...)

But, given where we are now as the NFL is the MAGA Fifth Branch of the Military (complete with partnerships to the various branches of the military...

Given where we are with the protests continuing into the regular season (including BOTH Bennett brothers in the Seattle-Green Bay match)...

Given where we are with the amount of MAGA White Republican fans demanding the protests stop, at most any and all price...

And given ESPN's absolute stupidity in bringing back Hank Honky Williams Jr. for Monday Night Football and especially tonight's doubleheader...

Somebody I trust sent me this.  It is an admittedly drunken rant, but I think it sums up the current state of the NFL political landscape, the league's fandom, and ESPN's idiocy rather perfectly...

So, with the disclaimer in mind, and to the approximate tune of the full version of "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here For Monday Night":

All My Honky Friends Are Coming Over Tonight

Well it's Nazi night
The fourth reich has begun
I turn on the Fox News
For some fascist fun
I see the KKK rising here on ESPN!

The biggest lynching is our specialty
I gotta get fascist, make it all alt-right
Cause all my honky friends are coming over tonight

Are you ready?!
You fucking ready?!
The alt-right's ready!

Are you ready for some lynching?!
A KKK party!
Hey, this is alt-right honky Hank!
Ready to gas the fucking Kenyans
We got our guns locked and loaded
And we're rolling hard right
All my honky friends are back for the fourth reich!

Now everyone watches this fascist show
We'll make Murka great, you know
We love to watch you get gassed again
Grab those cheerleaders in their pussies
Cause you bitches ain't nothin' but propata...
Hillary voters are fucking "commie pussies"
Everybody is gonna goose step tonight

Everyone's fascist
Hey. this is the Nazi thing, man
We got Don and Mike and Duke
Kaepernick makes us puke
All our fascist friends are coming over tonight

The MAGA Football League: The Boycott Appears On...

The first numbers are in from last night's opener on the ratings, and it appears as if the threats I've seen looking up NFL fines are coming to pass -- again!

In what appears to be mostly fueled by White America's demands that the National Anthem be respected by fiat or force, last night's game (even with Most Favored (to date) New England) only got 21.8 million viewers last night, the first time in five years the opener failed to reach 25 million and down at least 13% from last year.

Marcus Peters of the Chiefs was at least one player, last night, who was reported to be protesting during the National Anthem.

North Dallas Thugboys/Suspension Blotter: No real surprises here...

• The good news for the Dallas Cowboys is that Ezekiel Elliot probably plays all of this season -- to no one's surprise, he won the injunction today to get his suspension held up in the courts, probably at least this season.  It's what happens next (on the field and off) he now has to worry about.
• And Josh Brown gets six more games onto his suspension.  The former Giants kicker, now a free agent, has not played since his domestic violence suspension last year, and got six more games added today, based on supposed new information.

2017 Super Fraud NFL Preview Part IV: It's all up for grabs now.

There goes 19-0, and, I do believe, there go the Patriots.

Wow.  42-27.  21 in the fourth quarter for the Chiefs, and the whole narrative for the season just went BLAMMO.

In one fell shot.

I'm leaving it up.  I made my call, I missed it, and now I think the NFL has no Plan B in place.  They may just let the season twist for a bit.

That is a gigantic costly loss for the Pats, because now any tiebreak involving the Chiefs, they lose.

Also, that was Ring Night, national television audience, home game, and now the 19-0 is off the table.

2017 Super Fraud NFL Preview Part III: There Will Be Blood, and some of it not football-related.

It would be easy for me to state about the crowd fights and the like that happen (and ARE getting worse every year...

It would be even easier for me to state about the home domestic violence which rises when the guy's team loses, so the cunt feels he has to take it out on his woman that the team he identifies with for his life and sacred honor is defeated (doubly so if the game is close and/or a screwjob)...

It would be even still easier to add in and state about the damage to property that has become YouTube meme all over the place when a team loses (Dallas and numerous television sets, Alabama and "You ain't shit, you ain't shit, you ain't never been shit...")...

This, though, is far more ominous, and is inspired by recent reports, including continuing reports today, indicating a rising showdown between NFL Colin Kaepernick supporters and the police across the country.

There is going to be violence against NFL players who support Colin Kaepernick this season.  Mark those words down.

I have already taken into some account in the back-of-napkin math I did to make the numbers work that the NFL will punish them on the field.

Many MAGA Republican fans want the NFL to start fining, suspending, firing these players -- so much so that it has become essentially impossible to actually use Twitter to find any fines, as discussions by anti-Kaepernick sympathizers have swamped any possible reporting of fines.

I think it's going to go far beyond that, and it now appears as if the police are striking back.

It started in Cleveland, as the policemen's union didn't take too kindly to the protests the Browns made in a preseason game, as over 10 players kneeled and several supported them in their Kaepernick protest -- including Kenny Britt and Jabrill Peppers, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.  They and their paramedic counterparts will not take part in the traditional gigantic USA flag ceremony many NFL teams have to start their season.

And that, to me, is the right way to go about it, if the police choose to counter-protest.  They have the right to protest, the cops and the like have the right to counter that protest with one of their own.

What we had on the night of the Money Farce, however, in Las Vegas, is something completely different and portends an ominous and violent outcome.

Michael Bennett of the Seahawks has been very public on his stand pro-Kaepernick, and is one of the people who has said that Kaepernick is being blackballed.

He may very well have nearly paid for that opinion with his life, the night of the fight.

As would be completely expected with a situation like Mayweather-McGregor, Vegas was more than a little......  interesting that night.

Bennett was one of numerous celebrities in Las Vegas for the Money Farce, and a group of people near the hotel to which Bennett was returning were scampering for cover when they (and Bennett) thought they had heard gunshots.

Two Hispanic (racial identification from the LVPD) officers quickly cornered Bennett, one forcing him to the ground and demanding he stay still or he gets his head blown off (his gun was at Bennett's temple).  A second one jammed his knee into Bennett's back.

The LVPD contends that, given information they had, they thought Bennett, who had taken cover behind a gaming machine, was involved in the shooting!

There was no body camera footage (how convenient!!!), and he was detained for 10 minutes.

Now the LVPD wants an NFL investigation, thinking Bennett was lying -- and probably thinking Bennett was, in fact, involved in whatever it was (no shooter was found) that went on that night.

Roger Goodell has put out platitudes with respect to Bennett (a little surprising given Bennett's position on Kaepernick, but...).

Someone is going to get put out by either an enraged MAGA fan or a police officer for supporting Kaepernick.

I've always believed that the best place many White middle-class football fanatics have for Kaepernick is the nearest tree at halftime of tonight's first bloodfeast.

It's on, and going to get ugly.  Be ready.

2017 Super Fraud NFL Preview Part II: The AFC, or: New England and Everybody Else.

And now, the AFC:

AFC West:

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (5-12, -2.704): Massive Pythagorean thought of improvement here, and they still have some pieces. But this team is playing in a soccer stadium in Carson which seats THIRTY THOUSAND. Will the last two or three Charger fans please turn off the lights on this debacle? That's the thing: The NFL is a BUSINESS. There are not enough Charger fans to justify the continuance of this team, especially if it flounders in the new stadium in two years.

But to effectively be relegated to a 30,000-seat soccer stadium (probably filled with mostly fans of the other team!) should tell you about the relevance of the Chargers.

As a result, anyone thinking the Chargers are a dark horse: Stop it. Now. Please.

DENVER (9-7, -0.078): You know the mighty have fallen when they get Brock Ostweiler back. I hope they enjoyed the Peyton Manning Retirement Tour, because they still aren't going to have much else positive to deal with. They'll keep teams honest and probably 9-7 again, but no real consideration beyond that.

KANSAS CITY (12-4, +1.927): And if you think that Pythagorean is generous, just wait til you see Oakland's. The biggest beneficiaries to Derek Carr's late-season injury, and one of the most rabid home fan bases. That said, especially given the realities of the AFC (and especially of the aforementioned Raiders, which I will get to next), I do find it hard to believe that Kansas City would get any more than the division, almost because someone has to win it.

OAKLAND (12-4, +3.268): The largest Pythagorean, and not close, of the last three years. Would normally indicate a regression to about 8-8 or so, but I do want people to consider one thing: If Oakland goes up before the stadium outside Mandalay Bay completes in two years, the Raiders might not even be a relevant consideration for Las Vegas when they get there in 2019-2020. The political backdrop that this season is going to go with in the background is going to be insane, and might well be as relevant as the on-the-field stuff going on. If Oakland goes up before the Raiders get out to Vegas (and all the factors are there for it to happen), it could get ugly and fast.

DIVISIONALS: AFC East, NFC East. Not many favors here, you get New England and a bunch of teams that could do something...

PREDICTION

Oakland 12-4 (but Derek Carr better stay healthy)

Kansas City 11-5

Denver 8-8

LA Chargers 5-11

AFC North:

CLEVELAND (1-15, -2.496): As I've said on a number of occasions, this team has failed and needs to be folded. I think Bottlegate basically ended relevant professional football in Cleveland, and the fact of the matter is that I do think Ohio State would beat these guys on a consistent basis. There are at least a half a dozen candidates for 2-14 or worse this year. This is one of them, Pythagorean aside.

BALTIMORE (8-8, -0.627): Still probably living off a degree of past laurels and coasting a bit.

CINCINNATI (6-9-1, -1.796): Big down year for Cincinnati, and some people believe there'll be another. Especially those who believe that Pittsburgh is going to get a push, but that would require New England switching out or down. And Vontaze Burfict is suspended again.

PITTSBURGH (11-5, +1.147): If anything, probably the best chance to beat New England (the last game of three-game road trip, Sunday nighter as well). That said, though, unless their conduct issues can be brought down a step or two, I don't see them getting past New England, at least when it counts.

DIVISIONALS: NFC North, AFC South. Some definite hay to be made there (Chicago, Jacksonville, none of the teams in the South are THAT strong)...

PREDICTION

Pittsburgh 11-5

Cincinnati 10-6

Baltimore 7-9

Cleveland 4-12

AFC South

JACKSONVILLE (3-13, -2.877): Another team that really just needs to go away. Football has never really worked in Jacksonville, and the eleven wins out of the last 48 tell you all you need to know about that.

TENNESSEE (9-7, +0.925): Five wins the two previous seasons made last year a surprise, and are leading some to believe that the Titans may make some noise. Why? Marcus Mariota??? About all I could see on marketing that, but this is not a strong division and there's no real reason to believe it's going to strengthen...

INDIANAPOLIS (8-8, -0.448): … especially with Andrew Luck still on the shelf.

HOUSTON (9-7, +2.515): Pretty much got handed the division, even with Watt out most of the year. The offense, pretty much non-existant (the 279 points only worsened by three teams – and, as bad as the Jets are going to be this year, they got 264 last year!!). I mean, yes, the defense “putts for dough”, but, especially in a sports-entertainment environment like the NFL, you do need to “drive for show” to get there.

DIVISIONALS: AFC North, NFC West. Ergh... A lot of shit football to be played between a lot of teams without really much going for them (Jacksonville, the Niners, the Rams, and Cleveland abjectly stink – while Indy, Houston, Arizona, Tennessee, Baltimore, and maybe Cincinnati are on that tier of “bleh”).

PREDICTION

Houston 10-6

Tennessee 9-7

Indianapolis 5-11

Jacksonville 4-12

AFC East

NEW YORK JETS (5-11, +0.508): …

Good God.

That offense may not even be a high-school level offense this year. They are going to be one of the youngest teams in the league.

They may have a ways to go to reach the levels of the 1992 Seahawks, with 140 points. But there is serious consideration they may not win a game at all this year. There is actually thought the team is actively attempting to 0-16 this season.

As in 0-16, even getting to play the Jaguars and Browns.

BUFFALO BILLS (7-9, -1.880): Suggests improvement, but, at some point, you need someone that the league can put on those advertisements, encouraging people to want to watch the next week's game and wonder exactly who this sports-entertainment league is going to sell you with the Buffalo Bills.

MIAMI DOLPHINS (10-6, +2.433): Who now have two much larger concerns than Ryan Tannehill's injury on their minds. Irma, and no bye week.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (14-2, +1.307): There's a reason I put money down on the over 12 ½, the Super Bowl, and the undefeated season.

First, you have to consider the question I began asking myself after the Draft. Why would Tom Brady and Bill Belichick come back for another year, now that both have accomplished everything the NFL has to offer them except finishing off the 19-0 this time?

Second, consider any other options you might have, even down to the level of who wins the Super Bowl. There's a reason, and not just the betting public, that the bookies put an absurd 12 ½ on New England this year, two full games ahead of ANY other NFL team.

Third, consider several angles the league actually can use with these guys. They dispatch Atlanta again on a big early-season run (They are NOT losing to New Orleans, FOX Sports. Stop it.), run through Oakland, and basically get to that last road game against Pittsburgh. And then consider what happens if the Giants are healthy and disciplined enough.

Fourth, Donald Fucking Oompa-Loompa Trump. “We are all Patriots.”

DIVISIONALS; AFC West, NFC South Lots of beef to deal with (Atlanta, Oakland, Kansas City, anyone who has to go to Denver here).

PREDICTION

New England 16-0 (This league really is New England with no Plan B. Brady goes down, the season goes chaotic.)

Buffalo 9-7

Miami 7-9

New York Jets 0-16

NEW ENGLAND wins the Super Bowl.

Oakland is the #2 seed, Pittsburgh the 3, Houston the 4.

Kansas City and Cincinnati are the wildcards.