Day 616

• In a completely unsurprising story, sadly:  Mexican ultras sent death threats to at least one wife of a Mexican national team player after the Dos a Cero loss to the United States.  Chaka Rodriguez made the report today.  Guys, if they're not going to stop the homophobic chants, what makes you think some drug lord isn't gonna cause grief?  Get some protection, NOW!   
• Duke has serious DWI problems.  Coach K's grandson is on his final team, and he got arrested for DWI -- a star freshman is also in trouble for aiding and abetting in it.
• No need for a separate CFP post this week -- top 7, including Cincinnati not in the tournament, unchanged.  Notre Dame to #8, Oklahoma State to 9, Wake Forest to 10.

2021 NFL Week 10 Political Rankings/Gauging The Rewrite

Hoo-kee, NFL...

So let's see, in the last two weeks:

• Kansas City is back on top in the AFC West after getting two very political-compromised teams the last two weeks...
• Las Vegas has now been laid down to the Giants and Chiefs
• Baltimore needed a lot of help in the Minnesota game not to be in a three-game losing streak.
• Dallas laid an egg, then got Atlanta to lay one for them...
• Arizona may finally have come back down to Earth.
  
• We have no clue, week to week, as to who's gonna show up for New Orleans...
• Aaron Rodgers is a lying idiot...

Gee, you wanna make these Political Rankings posts easy, don'tcha, Goddell??  :)

Well, let's try to get a read of it:

AFC:

1)  Tennessee

I really have no choice here.  As much as I'd LIKE to choose somebody else, it's apparent that, even with the Henry injury, there is a clear front-runner in the AFC.

And as much as I don't want to pick Tennessee for the same reason I don't like to rank Arizona that highly, there are major problems with several of the other major contenders:

• KC has Mahomes, but the defense is suspect and the Britt Reid trial is upcoming.
• Buffalo is really inconsistent, and there's not much of a market behind them to push.
• Pittsburgh has Captain Fatfuck, and loves to play down to competition, needing massive Refball on occasion..
• New England COULD, but could the other half of the Brady vs. Belichick pair be flagging?

2) Kansas City

Largely because

3) New England

The problem with New England is, especially with the rookie, it IS a package deal.  There's no shoot/rigged point in pushing New England without pushing Tampa with them.

4) Baltimore

Where the Hell have you guys gone the last three weeks?

DUD OF THE WEEK NOMINEES:

LAS VEGAS -- are you understanding, after yet another failing season in the NFL doghouse, why it is not in good business interest to go pissing off the National Football League as one of it's franchises???

BALTIMORE -- they were trying to hand you that damn game on a silver platter and you REFUSED IT?  That's a good way to see you on a losing streak, and you're one good push away from it already reaching three!!!

CLEVELAND -- Just when it looks like you want to have a chance, THAT HAPPENS.

NEW YORK JETS -- Are you going to maybe ascertain as to...  TRY one of these weeks???

DENVER -- That margin, to Philadelphia????  REALLY????

DUD OF THE WEEK "WINNER" FOR THE AFC:  THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS.

Another example of, even though it pisses off readers of the blog, that, in the rigged NFL, it is All About The Quarterback.  Captain Fatfuck coughs it up with COVID -- his team follows suit in tying fucking DETROIT!!!  That's like tying the Michigan Wolverines...

... or the Central Michigan Chippewas.

NFC:

1) Dallas

At least I have a clear Political #1 in the NFC.  Dallas, right now, on a rig-level, has to be Super Bowl favorite.  There are some issues (CeeDee Lamb, and they always seem to be one breath from a drug suspension), but they are one of the few ratings draws the league has, and, if they wake up, they can get it done.

2) Tampa Bay, really by default more than anything else...

But...

DUD OF THE WEEK NOMINEES:

TAMPA BAY -- To the IZZIES?  Really??  FUCKING REALLY????  (Yes, because of that girl and her family from Florida, the Football Team will always be The Izzies to me.)

SEATTLE, DK METCALF IN PARTICULAR:  Loss of focus, composure, and points.  In a game you really could have politically been rigged to win and probably should have.

ATLANTA:  See Cleveland...  Just when it looks like people want to give you a chance...

LA RAMS:  See Las Vegas.  Stan Kroenke, pay your own fucking legal bills and SHUT THE FUCK UP if you know what is good for your NFL team.  (Hence, you probably won't...)

ARIZONA:  Oh good Lord...  I get a lot of heat for the "It's All About The Quarterback" stuff.  Games like this are why the NFL loves to rig things in that direction!

DUD OF THE WEEK "WINNER" FOR THE NFC:  THE NFL ITSELF FOR IT'S COMPLETE MISHANDLING OF THE AARON RODGERS FIASCO.

That is all.

2021 NFL Week 10 Kayfabe Report

Here are the standings through 10 weeks:

AFC:

East:  Buffalo (6-3), 1/2 game in front of New England

North:  Baltimore (6-3), 1/2 game of a different kind over Pittsburgh

South:  Tennessee (8-2) three in front of Indianapolis

West:  Kansas City (6-4), 1/2 in front of the Chargers and Raiders.

BAL-BUF tiebreaker for #2:  Conference record:  BUF 5-3, BAL 4-3

LAC-LV tiebreaker for #7:  Chargers won Week 4

So:

1. TEN
2. BUF
3. BAL
4. KC
5. PIT
6. NE
7. LAC

LAC @ BUF, NE @ BAL, PIT @ KC  TEN gets the bye and is now a game and a half clear on it.

NFC:

East:  Dallas (7-2), 3 1/2 ahead of Philadelphia

North:  Green Bay (8-2), 3 1/2 ahead of Minnesota

South:  Tampa Bay (6-3), 1 ahead of New Orleans

West:  Arizona (8-2), 1 ahead of the LA Rams

GB-ARI tiebreaker for #1:  GB won three weeks ago.

So:

1. GB
2. ARI
3. DAL
4. TB
5. LAR
6. NO
7. CAR

CAR @ ARI, NO@DAL, LAR@TB, GB gets the bye.

2021 Week 10 NFL Score Report

Yep.  We are officially in a rewrite.

The NFL has stepped in on a number of fronts.  Just not all that we expected, as you will see in this and the next two posts above it...

In no uncertain terms, if you were watching Monday Night Football, it was clear that the LA Rams threw the game tonight.

I mean, I'm writing this with the game still in progress -- but 4th and goal from the 11 and you're down 24...  And you throw a ball Kareem couldn't get to, Mr. Stafford.

But we'll address "Shut the fuck up, Kroenke" and "Get your house in order, Davis" soon enough.

Just the numbers on this post:

• The biggest number of the week -- zero.  Not only were there no games decided in the last minute of regulation and overtime, there were no Cliffhangers, period.  So it appears that the record that, three short weeks ago, the NFL was papering over some shit football with is finally getting further and further into the rear-view mirror.  (35 Cliffhangers for the season (30 within the last minute and overtime), last year had 2 in week 10 for 26 overall)
• Record Watch, such as it is:  2015 (which has 34 last-minute/OT lead changes/wins) Week 11 had 3, meaning 37 through 11 weeks.

So what do we get instead?

• Cleveland, one week after everyone thought they might be better without Odell laying a 45-7 egg to New England.
• Atlanta, which entered the week the 7 seed in the NFC, getting demolished 43-3 at Dallas.
• 8-1 Arizona hosting Carolina...  and losing 34-10 because, to the NFL, It's All About The Quarterback and No Kyler = No Dice.
• Marquee matchup of two returning big name QBs at Lambeau?  Seattle can't get anything started and loses 17-0.
• A Sunday nighter which, until you realize how much the Raiders organization is in the NFL doghouse, SHOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD:  41-14 to Mahomes and Kansas City.
• And a Monday nighter with the 7-2 LA Rams...  Conceding to kick the field goal and down 31-10 with less than 4 minutes to go and 3-6 San Francisco has the ball!
• (And due to the whole COVID thing, it's the first win for San Francisco at Levi's Stadium in over 13 months!!)
• Oh, and I forgot:  Again, in the NFL, All About The Quarterback...  So, No Captain Fatfuck???  You won't even beat the worst team in the NFL!!  Don't worry, the Lions won't win either.  Steelers and Lions draw at 16!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, after a very unGoodell week:

• Gonna have to look over the numbers, but it's one of the lowest scoring weeks since I started charting it.   43.07 for the week. For the 150 games of the season, the season average is now 46.49.
• Week 7 was lower, but the next one lower than that, as I said then, Week 12 of 2019.
• In the last five years, with Week 2 of 2019 and Week 15 of 2018 both in the 38s, there have been only five lower average-scoring weeks in the NFL.
• Last time season per-game scoring was this low was the 2019 season -- basically all of it.
• Through ten weeks, with three fewer games last year, the NFL has scored 404 fewer points this season, over four a game less.
• Home teams were 7-5-1 this week for 72-74-1.  (Last year:  11-3 for 76-70-1)
• Over was 5-9 this week for 65-83-2. (Last year:  5-9 for 76-67-4)
• And Vegas laughed all the way to the bank with the suckers' money again:  Favorites 5-8 against the number with one game kicking a pick.  7-5-1 straight up.  For the season:  62-85-1 against the number, 87-60-1 straight up.  (Last year:  ATS:  8-5-1 for 62-80-2  SU:  12-2 for 96-47-1)
• The last three weeks against the number:  Favorites are 12-28-1!!!!  (And only .500 straight up!!)
• Two stats that tell the story this week?  Of the 14 games, only four finished within one score.  69 for the year.  (46%)  (Last year:  8 for 77 total (52.4%))
• The other:  Half the 14 games ended non-competitive, including the Sunday nighter and the Monday nighter -- and the late Game of the Week would've if the Packers had deigned to score more than a field goal in the first 45 minutes.  57 of the 150 games so far have ended with the game, at no point, one score within at some point in the final 15 minutes.  (Last year:  4 for 45)
• 3 Last Chance Misses for 33 for the season.  (Last year:  2 for 47)
• And the team with more penalties was a flat 6-6 for the week, 62-69 for the season.  (Last year:  4-7 for 52-72)
• And 189 penalties for 13.5 a game this week.  Season:  1,888, or about 12.6 per game.  (Last year:  Week had 166 (11.8), year had 1,670 in 147 games (11.36))
• So about a penalty and a quarter more a game -- and it appears, from previous research, it's offensive holding and it being enforced this year.

Did the NFL give one to the Packers yesterday -- and, especially after the 10 days previous: If so, WHY????

Pete Carroll believes yesterday's game was ref-rigged for the Packers.  I'd have to think about the opposite is true -- that was about the best scenario you were going to get for winning in Lambeau, Coach 12th Man...   

Carroll is pointing to four plays (with links -- again, the NFL does not allow direct embedding and would force you to click through to YouTube):

1. A second-quarter fumble by Rodgers at midfield.  Darrell Taylor emerged with the ball, but the Packers had already been ruled recovering the fumble.  Carroll claims Taylor was laying on the ball and Rodgers was reaching underneath.  There's one problem with that -- and we've seen it several times in the last three weeks:  You must actually have hand-possession of the ball, and full hand-possession of the ball, to be deemed to have gained/retained possession. There have been a couple of fumble calls and a couple of catch calls in the last three or so weeks in this regard.  There is no more "trap the ball between your legs/the opposing player's back/the referee..." possession in the NFL -- and I'm also beginning to wonder if it happens that way in college too.  If Taylor had actually hand-possessed the ball, rather than just laying on it, it's probably Seattle's ball.  (Conspiracy side-point:  There is an increasing movement in the NFL-conspiracy circles that the "super-athletic catches" are as a result of the receivers using magnetic-field "grip gloves", where small magnetic fields can be created between the gloves and magnets in the ball...  Could THAT have something to do with this as well?)   
2. A first-quarter scramble by Russell Wilson and they didn't like the spot.  Carroll didn't like that, during an injury time-out, the effective sky judge came in and changed it to not a first down.  There's a problem with that too -- in a similar vein to the "slide rule", the NFL has become very short on spotting the ball when a quarterback ends a run like that.  It actually cost a team a key touchdown (and the game!) a couple weeks back -- I don't recall the game off the top of my head.   I checked both YouTube and Twitter, as well as the official NFL highlight video of the game -- I can't find this play.
3. A second-quarter holding call which put the Seahawks out of field-goal range on Damien Lewis.  Refs called several offensive holding calls in the game -- at least two on the Packers, one of the least-penalized teams in all of the National Football League.  Carroll's got one here -- this is the classic case of "There's no holding, the player was just overpowered", and that was a HUGE call.  It would've been a 52-yard FG try, but...
4. Kevin King intercepted Russell Wilson in the third quarter in the end zone.  Replays appeared to show the ball coming out and that King should not have been ruled surviving the ground.  Really wish I could find a better one there...  Hoo, that's CLOSE if it's not Carroll with another good point there...  It's an automatic review on the turnover, unlike the fumble in #1, which was a lost challenge -- so this survived the booth review.  Unlike some of these, it looks like the ball is in possession, he hits the ground, THEN the ball comes out a beat afterward, not the ball hitting the ground at the same time as the player and immediately squirting free...  If that's not an interception, it's close...   

Here's the fumble in #1:

Can someone explain to me how this isn’t a clear recovery by Darrell Taylor? pic.twitter.com/ksCsgxxzyc

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 14, 2021

Yeah, it looks like Rodgers has, at the very least, created the illusion of "joint possession" by the time the refs get there.  Remember, there's often many unspeakable acts in much larger fumble piles than this, because it's not who recovered the ball in actuality, it's who the refs eventually see has the ball recovered when they unpile everyone.   

--------------------

But here's the other question I have on all of this:

If the NFL actually did fuck the Seahawks in this game -- WHY?

You'd THINK the NFL would have a lot of bad blood against the Packer organization and Rodgers in particular for subverting and flaunting COVID protocols...

Just keep that in mind...

Day 615

• The sideline incident (and the flagging program) have cost University of Washington head coach Jimmy Lake his job.  The AD made clear it wasn't just any one factor.
• If you think that game Sunday night was an ounce of an accident, you are not paying attention.  I will be surprised if the Raiders go better than 8-9 this year.  That would mean just three more wins, at best.
• And don't look now:  With wins over the Giants, Packers, and Raiders, Mahomes and the Chiefs are back on top in the AFC West at 6-4.
• Spain, Croatia, and Serbia all punched tickets on the first day of the last round of Qatar 2022 qualifiers for the European zone.  Ten groups, group winners advance.  Group seconds and two best non-top-two group winners from the four-level UEFA Nations League are drawn into three four-nation pods for knockout tournaments for the final three spots.  Germany and Belgium have already qualified -- England is basically there.
• Cam being Cam:  He was able to get in the game in the first quarter against Arizona (it would turn into a rout in favor of Cam's new/old team, the Panthers, over the Cardinals!!), run in a touchdown in his first play.  At that point, he took off his helmet near the camera in the end zone and yelled "I'M BACK!!!!"
• He also got a 15-yard penalty for the helmet removal.
• DK Metcalf went berserk near the end of the 17-0 loss at Lambeau for his Seahawks.  He got tossed for going after several Packers players in a fracas, and then tried to re-enter the game -- an all-but-forfeiture offense!  Suspension???   
• Probable outbreak on the Steelers now, as UrinatingTree coughs:  Minkah Fitzpatrick has tested positive today for COVID.
• COVID outbreak on the Ottawa Senators -- next three games have been called off.  Ten players and an assistant coach are positive in the last ten days.  Next attempt at a game, November 22nd.
• Congratulations to Switzerland and England for direct qualification on day two of the final round of qualifiers.  Nine of the ten direct qualifiers have been determined, only one remains, and that's tomorrow.
• As of right now, this means Portugal, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and Sweden are all in the playoff -- and only three spots remain for the 12 teams headed there.

For all the COVIDidiots like Aaron Rodgers and the like, I have a two-pronged question:

If the vaccine mandates for the COVID-19 vaccine are that unconstitutional:

a) does this then mean that all vaccine mandates are similarly unconstitutional, including those long-standing ones requiring children to be vaccinated against all manner of childhood disease before being allowed in school?

and

b) would this not mean that you are asserting the right to infect the rest of us with a lethal virus, hoping to kill off those you consider undesirable and unfit?

(And I don't believe 750,000 gone to this virus for a second.  I'm starting the current bidding somewhere north of 3 million, if not 4 or 5...)