It's Happened, Part Two: They Finally Did It!

(Required:  All "deep research" statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference.)

NFL history was made yesterday, and it is about the least surprising bit of history one can think of when you think of the NFL of the last....  about 15 years.

The Raiders were so bad in one respect that, had they not been so bad, David Carr would actually have broken the long-standing major NFL record for passing yards in a single game.  He had 514 yards against Tampa Bay yesterday, but another 71 was called back due to this statistic.  The NFL record, Norm van Brocklin with 554.

But the Raiders still broke another record, and it's the one that most NFL fans would think the Raiders had broken about four times by now:

They committed 23 penalties in the win over Tampa, for 200 yards.

The 23 penalties is an NFL record, eclipsing the old mark of 22, set three times -- twice in 1944, once in 1998.

The 200 yards is not a record, though.  It is third on the NFL list.  Tennessee had 212 yards vs. Baltimore on October 10, 1999.  Cleveland had 209 yards vs. Chicago on November 25, 1951.

Here's the oddest statistic of that lot:  As of today, teams that have had 200 or more yards of accepted penalties assessed against them are 3-0!!!

On the tying drive for Tampa Bay, the Raiders had 12 men on the field -- twice!

On an extra point, they had nine at some point.

At least one player should've been ejected for a punch.

I think it's clear that Fine Friday is going to be an active day around Oakland.

It's Happened, Part One: Hell Has Frozen Over

The NFL's ratings woes just took another hit.

Sunday night was Game 5 of the World Series.  It was also one of the marquee matchups in the NFL:  Dallas vs. Philadelphia -- with America's Team continuing it's march to Houston, it appears...

(Gee, Week 8 and there appear to be THREE relevant teams.)

Anyway:

• World Series:  15.3
• NFL:  11.6

The NFL just got beat by THIRTY PERCENT in the overnight ratings.

It is the third time since the NFL Sunday package debuted that the World Series won (they also won in 2011 and 2013, but by far lesser margins, according to Sports Media Watch).

This is one reason the New York Daily News now believes FOX wants the Cubs to lose, knowing they will dominate the National League for some time and can come back next year.

I don't think so for two reasons:  They so obviously slanted the NLCS that no other team was basically playing.

And do you really want to risk televising a mass Cub-fan suicide?  (And I don't entirely mean that in a humorous manner!)

And here we go with another week of big hits and little fines for them...

Starting with one so bad that Sports Illustrated's Greg Bedard was left scratching his head as to why he wasn't suspended...

From FOX Sports and former NFL head of officiating Mike Periera, on a crackback block defenseless hit with the shot to the head:

... who spends the entire video saying that, since it was a "football act", no ejection, no suspension.

Not to mention it would be an ejection in every other professional sport and college and high school football...

So...

• Miami Dolphins:  Jarvis Landry:  $24,309 for that hit.

Small price to pay to put somebody in the hospital, right Jarvis?  Hell, he might have ended Aaron Williams' career with that hit!

Also last week:

• Green Bay Packers:  Clay Matthews:  $18,231 for breaking Brian Hoyer's arm.
• New York Giants:  Owa Odighizuwa:  $12,154 for an illegal pick-six touchdown celebration.  He "took a picture" of his teammates.

That's it.  We know where this is going!  Next year, it WILL BE 15 to do anything but hand the ball to the ref and go back to the sideline.

• Buffalo Bills:  He's BACK!!!  Richie Incognito:  $9,115 for his role in a scuffle and throwing a helmet -- and proud of every penny he spent of it.
• Miami Dolphins:  Andre Branch:  $12,154 for putting Incognito on his ass just beforehand.
• Detroit Lions:  Anquan Boldin:  $6,076 for providing an illegal souvenir.  (Football into stands)
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Malik Jackson:  $24,309 for being ejected under the unsportsmanlike conduct rule.  Jackson, last year with the Broncos, was one of a number of players fined for a Super Bowl scuffle that led to the first-ever Super Bowl ejection.

That's all I can find for the moment.  The Giants, however, pass the first threshold for accumulated fines, and if the system is the same as it has been, can send another $50,000 across town to the league offices any time now.

Week 7 Score Report, or: Waiting While The NFL Figures Out What The Fuck It's Doing...

First off, one of the few relevant stats of the year so far:

Nevada sportsbooks won $41.0 million in September, including $36.9 million on football.

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) October 27, 2016

Oh gee, what a shock.

And you wonder why?  Weeks like this one:

• Last year, Start of Week 8:  Five undefeated teams.  This year:  ZERO!
• Week 7 average:  42.267 PPG.  (Last year:  46.43  Two years ago:  43.67)
• 7 week per game average:  45.36  (Last year:  46.60  Two years ago:  46.273)

Would stand about to reason with the new emphases on defense and the cracking down on personality on the offensive players.  Makes the Seattle kicker shank in overtime even more shocking/laughable.

• Home teams were 9-4-1 this week.  (8-5 last year, 12-3 the year before)
• Home teams are now 61-42-1 for the year.  (.591)  (Last year:  .592  Two years ago:  .624)
• How'd we get this equalization?  Easy!  Home teams are 21-7-1 the last two weeks.

I do get quite the sense of "retrenching" in the NFL right now (and am beginning to wonder, if the Legion of Boom does not get another run, whether we are headed for (Be Good Wittle) Patriots vs. (America's Team) Cowboys).

• Over was 6-9 for the week.  (Last year:  7-7  Two years ago:  6-8)
• Over for the season:   56-50, or about an even proposition once you take off the juice.  (Last year about the same, two years ago was quite a losing proposition for the over.)

Slightly surprising given the downtick in scoring, but maybe Vegas saw this coming.

• Favorites:  6-8-1 against the spread, 7-7-1 straight up.  (Last year:  6-7-1 ATS.)
• For the year, favorites:   44-51-5 ATS, 56-43-1 straight up.  (Last year:  44-53-8 ATS.)

And here's where Vegas is raking it in.  If you bet one unit on every favorite against the number so far this year, you'd be -11 units for the year, almost a unit and a half to the bad every week.

• Team with more penalties was 4-8 this week (with three games with equal penalties).  38-56 now for the year.

Sending a message, NFL?

• Got the triple Cliffhanger with the stupidity in Arizona Sunday night, and a double Last Chance Miss to boot! 
• Double Cliffhanger in San Diego -- tying field goal near the gun, San Diego wins it with one in OT.
• Four Cliffhangers this week.  (Last year's Week 7 had one.)
• For the season:  22/106 are Cliffhangers.  (20.75%)  (Last year:  23/105 (21.9%)  Two years ago:  20/105 (18.87%))

I didn't realize until just now that I didn't do the Week 6 this time around.  I've been sick for a while, so it's not surprising.  That said, the normalization probably has come with the fact that we've had four Cliffhangers each of the last two weeks!)

• With the combination in Arizona, 4 Last Chance Misses last week, 33 for the year.  

That means, rough back of napkin, about half the games this year in the NFL have either featured a lead change in the final two minutes or overtime or a reasoned chance that that happens.

• Only one other game finished within one score for eight total.  67 for the year (63.2% -- almost 2/3 of all the games this year are finishing with a margin <= 8 points.)   (Last year:  55 for 52.38%.  Two years ago:  44 for 41.9%)
• 5 non-competitive games this week (almost 6).  79/106 for the year within one score at some point in the fourth quarter (74.52%) (Last year had 72 such games, two years ago had 68.)

And the continuing ratings slump, from Sports Media Watch:

• Monday night down 14% ratings, 8% viewers (all percentages vs. 2015).  Represents the fifth of the eight MNF games to fail to reach a 7.0 rating, more than the 2013, 2014, and 2015 seasons put together (which had a total of four).
• FOX has fallen victim to the slump after an uncharacteristic strong start.  Double-digit percent down (13% ratings, 12% viewers) this week for their single game.  Fifth of the last six slots after a good start.
• CBS had the doubleheader, and it wasn't good.  Regional first half was down 11% ratings, 9% viewers.  National second half was down 13% and 11% respectively.
• Thursday night is a mess.  Packers-Bears didn't draw well at all.  Down 17% in ratings, and 19th out of the 22 NFL Network/CBS Thursday night simulcasts.
• The wacko game Sunday night was the one outlier, at least in raw numbers.  Though down 16% ratings and 14% viewers year over year, it did become the first SNF game in three weeks to break a 10 rating.

And it sounds like the narrative is now working for the Cubs...

• I did say that when Eric Karros said on FS1 that the Cubs were good for ratings, it was untrue.  Then, it was.
• Every game since has been gangbusters for FOX.  Games 1 and 2 of the World Series have been bonanzas for the main network because of all the Cub-fan masturbation:  Best World Series ratings since 2009.  Game 1 up 26% ratings, 30% viewers year over year.  Game 2 overnights are up 22% in ratings.
• Same was true for Game 5 and 6 of the NLCS. 
• Prepare to puke, and prepare for Wrigley to burn.

Murka and Fucked-Up Heads, Fuck Yeah!!!

A poll released today just confirmed some of the worst fears for some of us who actually still believe in this archaic philosophy of what is called "Rights".

Colin Kaepernick and his ilk are about to be literally drummed out of this league.  It now appears that there is confirmation that his national anthem/Black Lives Matter protests are at least SOME of the reason that the league is suffering anywhere from a 10 to 25 percent reduction in ratings this season...

Seton Hall Sports, one of the few university-based sports polling franchises out there, has been following the Colin Kaepernick story for some time.  On September 28, 2016, though a 2-1 majority (largely skewing older) disapprove of his protests, a 4-1 majority do believe he has the right to do so.

Well, given the reality of what the courts have ruled with respect to rights and employability by private organizations, I would assume today's released results will put a kibosh on these protests good and proper:

• 56% believe the ratings drop has at least some basis in the Kaepernick protests.
• This was the highest of five such proposed reasons.  The election was a 50-50 split on that regard.
• 44% actually believe there are too many games spread over too many nights now.
• 39%, surprisingly, put the blame on postseason baseball.  I'd like to know what they are smoking.
• Fully one-third actually believe some of the ratings decline may be due to a decline in the level of play plus head injuries.

The poll was taken this week from 841 people.

So, How Long Before Goodell Gets Univision to Shut Down Deadspin?

Brett Favre's Vikings Had a "Bounty" Program Too

Evidence from Brett Favre's book indicates the Vikings, like the Saints in their infamous Super Bowl season, had a bounty program to eliminate opposing players too.

The article then goes into how Favre was effectively eliminated from the league for good by the New Orleans Saints in one of the largest-scale cheapshot-fests in NFL history.

If you ever want evidence as to why the league does not care for the health of the players, watch this video -- repeatedly, if need be.

So, the NFL is safe as ever, eh???

Then please explain Arian Foster's sudden retirement, yet another in a growing list of people recognizing their bodies cannot take this game and are leaving it...