Final 2018 NFL Score Report -- will do comparatives at a later date...

Well, the NFL did it -- by FIVE POINTS.

It took a rushing touchdown with two minutes and 20 seconds to go in the final NFL contest of the year to do it, but with the final game totaling 50 and they needing 45, the NFL broke the all-time scoring record with 46.727 points per game -- a total of 11,962 points, breaking the record of 11,957 (46.707 PPG) scored in 2013.

• Home teams were 8-8 this week for a final tally of 150-99-2 (.602)
• The over also went 8-8 for the week, final tally 117-133-6 (an average of one loss against the over per week).
• The 8-8 home record was the third-worst week for home teams.  The 8-8 for the over was it's best since Week 11.
• 8-8 is a popular trend this week.  Not only was it the home team record and the record of the Over, it was also the record of favorites against the spread!    Season total:  112-135-4.
• Another 12-4 for favorites straight up -- that puts the season at 165-88.
• Best week for the favorites ATS since Week 12 (9-5).  Only four times this season did the favorite do at least .500 against the number, and only twice would you have made money by betting the rack of favorites at one unit per -- the other two were .500 weeks.
• Team with more penalties was 6-7 this week, 100-119 for the year.
• Only 184 penalties (11.5 per game) for the week.  3434 accepted penalties this year, average of 13.4 per game.
• Biggest anomaly of the week, with everything on the line in many games, only FIVE finished within eight points at all -- four were Cliffhangers, the fifth was the one Last Chance Miss of the week.
• Total of 56 Cliffhangers for the year (21.875%)
• Total of 134 games decided eight points or within.  (Only 52.34%)
• Eight non-competitive games, including the first FIVE to finish.  Total of 83 games which never were eight points or within in the fourth quarter (32.42%)
• Total of 63 Last Chance Misses.  (Just short of 1/4)

Side note: An NFL race you don't know about that no one wants to win...

Kinda got snookered, earlier in the day, on this one, and decided to look into the summer edition of Hard Knocks...

Remember, there are three criteria by which you become exempt...

1) Playoffs, last two years...

That eliminates 18 teams, with a 19th possible.

2) Have appeared last 10 years on the show

That eliminates Cleveland, the Jets, Miami, and Cleveland

3) First-year coaches

That will take care of Green Bay and Tampa Bay definitely, and it appears Denver as well.

That would leave the following list (EDIT:  As of Sunday):

• Indianapolis, if and only if they do not win tonight
• Detroit
• Washington
• New York Giants
• Arizona
• San Francisco
• the Raiders
• and Denver

My guess?  Between the Raiders and Giants, for maximum chaos.

EDIT FOR BLACK MONDAY:

Ouch.

Remove Indy because they "won".

And add to Green Bay and Tampa Bay, according to Deadspin:

Miami, Denver, Arizona, Cincinnati and the Jets

That means the apparent final list is now down to:

• Detroit
• Washington
• New York Giants
• San Francisco
• and the Raiders

And the end of the day of one of the ugliest Week 17's in history...

• WTAQ's Mark Daniels through WNFL's Twitter:  

Mercifully, the 2018 season is over for the Green Bay Packers.

Mark Daniels says, "The Packers may have been the first NFL team ever to quit on not just on one, but two head coaches."

See the game story at:... https://t.co/zqZziNzFMS

— 1440 & 101.9 WNFL (@WNFL) December 30, 2018

• Looks like the Vikings, even with destiny in their own hands, did the same with the Bears.  Philly's going to the playoffs as the AFC #6.
• KC is the #1 in the AFC, the Chargers are the #5.
• Of the 8 late games, only 3 are going to finish within a score -- meaning only 5 of the first 15 did.
• Four of the five were Cliffhangers, the fifth is below (a Last Chance Miss).
• Big catch call coming up as Cleveland driving -- appears to have the hand under the ball for Cleveland near FG range to win it, and this is in or out of the playoffs for Baltimore (if they win) and Pittsburgh (if Cleveland pulls it out)!!!  Called a catch, and correctly, IMODO!  Hand between ball and ground.
• Three jailbreak blitzes lead to a 56 yard field goal attempt (probably would've been better to try that!) -- and there's still about 1:05 left!
• Pick wins it for Baltimore, Pittsburgh eliminated!
• Aw crap, I forgot!! If Tennessee and Indy go to a tie (below will presume they won't), then Pittsburgh eliminates them both and goes to Houston!
• With just the Sunday nighter to go, the NFL's scoring average for the year is 46.7137.  
• The record for scoring in an NFL season was 2013, when the games averaged 46.707, for 11,957 points.
• Entering the Winner Take All for the #6 in the AFC, we're at 11,912.  So we need 45.  And that, pretty much, is the exact average of the first 15.

So here are the final playoff seedings (with one exception, but we know where that is and it is a direct in-out):

AFC:

1.  Kansas City

2.  New England

3.  Houston

4.  Baltimore

5.  LA Chargers

6.  Tennessee-Indianapolis winner

Next week:

TEN-IND at HOU

LA Chargers at BAL

NFC:

1.  New Orleans

2.  LA Rams

3.  Chicago

4.  Dallas

5.  Seattle

6.  Philadelphia

Next week:

PHI at CHI

SEA at DAL

Week 17 mid-day report...

Christ alive...  Just cancel these irrelevant games or the games in which some teams don't want to show up...

• The Packers literally laid down to the Lions in the third-worst shutout defeat in home history -- 31-0.  (Pro Football Reference with the info -- the Lions had the worst defeat at 40 in 1976, New England at 35 in 2006 was #2).
• The first five games to complete were all non-competitive, average margin over 25!
• At least the Giants had some pride, and Atlanta and Tampa Bay put on a good show for two Cliffhangers.
• New England has the one first-round bye by dispatching the Jets.  Houston is the AFC #3 with the win over Jacksonville.  The Sunday Night winner is the #6 and plays in Houston next week.
• New England now wins the #1 if both Kansas City and the Chargers lose.

Well, here we go to the relevant!

College football is going to die unless some major changes are made...

Oy.

We have about two major days of bowls left, plus the inevitable Only Meaningful Game of the Year:  Alabama-Clemson IV...

But this has been the most disappointing bowl season ever, and, frankly, between the purported semifinals and that Washington State-Iowa State mess the night before...

• In less than a half of the WSU-ISU game, I saw four unsportsmanlike conduct fouls on Washington State (a sack dance, the reversed-TD pick-six, and after both of Washington State's first two touchdowns), and at least four players (three from Iowa State -- two were!) who should've been ejected for targeting or spearing.
• Anyone who watched the second half of Notre Dame-Clemson knows the referees (and eventually Clemson themselves!) had to rig the game to keep it from going 30-3 to somewhere 51-3 or north of there!
• And then Alabama...  28-0 to start, and they clearly had to take the foot off the gas to prevent...  I don't know where that ends up...  Sixty?  SEVENTY????

No wonder the semifinals were the lowest-rated since 2015.  There was zero competition, zero doubt, and, on the other side of the ball, very little talent.

One has to start wondering if we have reached the point that there is so little real football talent (which would explain the NFL too!!) that college(-pro, thank you Keith Olbermann) is no longer going to make it...

2018 NFL Week 16 Fine Blotter: SHIT... Why is Edelman not suspended???

• New England Patriots:  Julian Edelman

Wow.  First off, I think the refs should be fined for this one.  

I've heard a lot of talk about fining the refs for "bad calls", and wanting to tell these Twitter trolls the concept of how bad the NFL rigs games.

This is something different.

First question is why Julian Edelman was not ejected from this contest.

Second question is why Julian Edelman is going to play in Week 17 or the Patriots' first playoff game...

Reason?

He got fined for blocking after calling a fair catch.  That got him $10,026, and he's a repeat offender from September for that.

He also got fined for two additional crack-back blocks for $26,739 each.

So, and every dollar on the Patriots number, Edelman was fined $63,504.

And the Patriots get fined $50,000, as that big number puts them well over the Level 1 threshold.

But why the fuck is Edelman not suspended one game, or even TWO?

FOUR-TIME LOSER, double repeat-offender.  Should've been fined well over $100,000...  The $63K was probably because of what he makes, because the true fine he should've gotten from the NFL fine schedule is north of $130,000!!!

$53,478 twice over, and $26,739 -- that, by my match, is over $133,000, which would've meant $126,000 on the Pats number, $75,000 in fines for the team, and an additional about $3,000 in dollar for dollar.

But you could be the New York Jets here.  And this should've gotten the coach suspended for the finale at minimum...

• New York Jets:  Head Coach Todd Bowles:  $25,000 for criticism of officials
• Bowles will be fired after Sunday's game.
• New York Jets:  Leonard Williams:  TWO-TIME LOSER same game:  $43,449 for an unnecessary roughness and an unsportsmanlike conduct.
• New York Jets:  Trent Cannon:  $26,739 for unnecessary roughness
• New York Jets:  Darryl Roberts:  $26,739 for unnecessary roughness as well.

That's ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS.

Every penny of which counts against the Jets number.

That shoots them not only into Level 2 ($25,000), but an additional $91,137 past the Level 2 -- so that's dollar-for dollar.

Meaning, when we are all done, the Jets alone have been fined, individually and as a team, just for the game against the Packers:

TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT THOUSAND AND SIXTY-FOUR DOLLARS.

And no one is suspended.

Your system doesn't work, shithead Goodell.  I just outlined about $350,000 in fines just this week and just to four players, a coach, and their teams...

And that's not all!!

• Cleveland Browns:  Baker Mayfield:  $10,026 for the crotch chop to his offensive coordinator.

He's lucky he's playing this week!

Another repeat offender fine, and the person involved is no surprise:

• Houston Texans:  Jadaevon Clowney:  $40,110 for repeat offender horse-collar (ruled as roughing the passer) on Philly QB Nick Foles.  Back to back weeks for roughing the passer fines.  THREE-TIME LOSER

Houston has four fines, by current count.  Clowney has three of them.

And a brawl in the 49er-Bear game...

• Chicago Bears:  Josh Bellamy (a TWO-TIME LOSER as a wide receiver!!)
• Chicago Bears:  Anthony Miller
• Chicago Bears:  Marcell Harris
• San Francisco 49ers:  and Richard Sherman, all $10,026 for unnecessary roughness.

Bellamy, Miller, and Sherman were all tossed for the fight.  Harris was fined for the hit that started it, another ejection-level cheapie free shot on the quarterback.

And the Sherman fine puts the 49ers over the number (for now with the Exum appeal):  $50,000 fine for that accumulation.

A name we (thankfully) haven't heard from in a while...

• Dallas Cowboys:  Randy Gregory:  $20,054 for roughing the passer.

And that's another team over the Level 1 threshold.  $50,000 fine for the 'Boys.

Another multiple-time loser:

• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Telvin Smith:  $10.026 for taunting. 

And that fine is also a team fine, as Jacksonville is over the limit.

And, rounding out the NFL.com list -- a couple names we've been hearing a LOT about over the years:

• Washington Redskins:  Josh Norman, versus
• Tennessee Titans:  Taylor Lewan:  $10,026 each for a verbal spat.  That's TWO-TIME LOSER for Lewan.

And one more for now...

• New Orleans Saints:  Josh Hill:  $20,054 for a horse collar.

So that's:

Base fines:  $345,857
Patriots L1:  $50,000
Jets L2:       $116,137 -- meaning the Jets were fined nearly a quarter-million this week
Cowboys L1:  $50,000
SF L1:            $50,000

And there may be more, but that's a total of SIX HUNDRED ELEVEN THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR DOLLARS.

Your system doesn't work, Goodell.  Ejections, suspensions, docking wins, NOW!

And if you want more evidence this Jones "fight" is bullshit...

Latest from the William Hill...

Number of tickets on the fight is 8-1 for the now +240 underdog Gustafson.

Jones has the money bet edge by a factor of almost 5-1.

Oh wait...  One more thing I forgot:  I tagged both of these with the Worldwide Leader tag because December 31st is the start of ESPN's relationship with the UFC.