GKJ
Global Moderator
- Feb 27, 2002
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The NFL finally has the stage to itself for the most part, which asks the question why scheduling games next week on Saturday was such a huge stick up there ass with the new Expanded College Football Playoff going, as if they would give a shit themselves about going up against Army/Navy. Instead of doing that, they're going to give us two Monday Night Football Games, with kickoffs a half hour apart with awful matchups. Also, it's a double-double header. Both CBS and Fox nationally in both windows, and that is good for those who don't bother with Red Zone, because both networks will be airing plausible Super Bowl Previews.
Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime:
LAR @ SF - Both teams here are fighting for their lives within the NFC West. A 49ers win would put both teams at 7-7, and they not only have the revenge factor on their side, they have the home field. The Rams are coming off that huge effort, a 44-42 win against Buffalo. That's a major win, but their defense has been shredded against top offenses. Isaac Guerendo was limited in practice. Fun Fact: the 49ers point differential on the season is zero.
MAPS
KC @ CLE - The Chiefs, again, got away with one. One of these days they have to lose. The Browns are capable of big efforts, but the Jameis Winston Experience can be a wild ride. The Chiefs are playing a regional early slot for only the third time this season, but they have 1pm starts on short weeks the next two weeks.
MIA @ HOU - The Texans are basically the Chiefs without the aura, a team that seems poised to break because they never win by more than they should. However, playing a hot Dolphins team that comes off an OT win vs. the Jets may be more trouble. Or the Texans -3 line is telling us something. The Dolphins still need more help to climb into the playoffs, they are two games behind the Chargers and Broncos and play neither, while having a loss to the Colts.
BAL @ NYG - The Ravens are coming off their late bye, and look like they're getting a layup with the short trip to the Meadowlands. They'll need it because they have Pittsburgh and Houston coming up on short weeks.
WSH @ NO - Washington Football Team looked much more like the team we saw earlier this season after a 42-19 whipping of the Titans two weeks ago. They also have a late bye, and their reward is the New Orleans Saints, who won 14-11 last week at the Giants, but lost Derek Carr, and are trying to convince themselves to start Spencer Rattler again despite Jake Haener clearly being the better quarterback. WFT is 7 point favorites on the road, someone will have to tell us last time they were that kind of road favorite. They have a look ahead revenge game against the Eagles next week.
DAL @ CAR - Most of Fox affiliates picking this game even though they're not even getting the #2 broadcast crew. Dallas managed to out-lose to the Bengals last week, aided by a hilarious special teams miscue on a blocked punt. The Panthers are actually, or finally, favored here as they've continued to battle.
CIN @ TEN - The Titans managed to lose at home to the Mac Jones-led Jaguars last week. Come on, man. Unless Joe Burrow is too distracted by having his house broken into, they should be able to pick their number.
NYJ @ JAX - Yikes
BUF @ DET - The NFL Today on CBS crew is again on-site, this time in Detroit, for what could be a Super Bowl preview between the Bills and Lions, which sounds absolutely insane to say to a football fan who lived with the sport any time between 1996-2022. Which is like, everyone. The Lions have won 11 consecutive games for the first time ever. The Bills saw Josh Allen put up 6 touchdowns and lose, and now they're actual underdogs. And both teams gotta keep winning as they're both fighting to keep their conference's road to the Super Bowl coming through their towns. Bills have won 6 of 7 in the series dating back to 1994. We've got the two highest scoring teams in the league in this game, so, we should expect a lot of points, right?
IND @ DEN - This is also a huge game in the AFC. Despite the Colts being two games behind the Broncos, they are 7th and 8th in the AFC, though you'd be hard-pressed to find people think the Broncos aren't much the better team, especially recently. The Broncos had the week off to prepare for this one
NE @ ARZ - The Cardinals have lost three in a row since seizing control of the NFC West. They're not 6-7 and lost to the Seahawks twice in three weeks, and have a lot of tie breakers against them. The Patriots no longer have to worry about Bill Belichick finding a new home in the NFL and trying to stick it to Robert Kraft, but they're also not going to get that primetime revenge game spot
PIT @ PHI - Another big interconference game between 2 10+ win teams., and also need to keep winning games as home field scenarios still exist. The Steelers have not won in Philadelphia since October 24, 1965, which is two stadiums ago. And they only had 8 first downs in that game, so they're shouldn't have won that one either. The only team the Steelers have a worse winning percentage against is the Bears, although the Eagles are still the team they've played the third most games against all-time. Last week the Steelers avenged their snow globe loss to the Browns, which means Russell Wilson has beaten every team he's played against since taking over as starting QB. The Eagles have been in something of a turmoil this week as AJ Brown has been making his opinions of the Eagles passing game known after the Eagles lost by -6 points to the Panthers last week, 22-16.
TB @ LAC - Another strong interconference game as the Buccaneers and Chargers fight for playoff positioning. The Bucs are one game out of the 3 seed as they now lead the NFC South, as they have won 3 in a row while the Falcons have lost 4. The Chargers are the latest team to manage to let a game against the Chiefs get away, and they've down done that twice, despite giving up under 20 points to them in both games. It's a tough spot for the Chargers despite being at home, as they have that flexed TNF game against the Broncos coming up, that's much more important anyways.
Sunday Night Football, NBC
GB @ SEA - This is the first time these two teams will play on a Sunday in the regular season since 2008, which is also the last time the Packers won in Seattle. It's actually only the 9th time the Packers are visiting the Pacific Northwest. The Seahawks are back in control in the NFC west, and are currently the 3 seed. This could actually be a playoff preview, as if the playoffs started this week, this is the game that would be played. We last saw the Packers make a big 2nd half rally come up short in Detroit last Thursday, and the Lions thought of the Packers enough that they didn't want to so much as have to kickoff to them after kicking a game-winner field goal after going for it on a 4th down in field goal range before kicking it, which I'm not sure I've ever seen before.
Monday Night Football:
CHI @ MIN on ABC: The Bears didn't really show us anything we haven't seen under interim head coach Thomas Brown, it was a pathetic first half against the 49ers, and a much better second half. Maybe they know something Peyton Manning doesn't about making half time adjustments. They also have not won since their trip to London 2 months ago. The Vikings are fighting to keep pace, 1 game behind the Lions with a Week 18 game to play. However, they also play the Seahawks and Packers, which are tough games. Been waiting to see if either of those games get flexed into national windows, because NBC has bad games the next two weeks.
ATL @ LV on ESPN: What brilliant minds of tomorrow running the NFL scheduling matrix thought this would be a good game to air as a second MNF game in Week 15? Or any week? Or ever?
Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime:
LAR @ SF - Both teams here are fighting for their lives within the NFC West. A 49ers win would put both teams at 7-7, and they not only have the revenge factor on their side, they have the home field. The Rams are coming off that huge effort, a 44-42 win against Buffalo. That's a major win, but their defense has been shredded against top offenses. Isaac Guerendo was limited in practice. Fun Fact: the 49ers point differential on the season is zero.
MAPS
KC @ CLE - The Chiefs, again, got away with one. One of these days they have to lose. The Browns are capable of big efforts, but the Jameis Winston Experience can be a wild ride. The Chiefs are playing a regional early slot for only the third time this season, but they have 1pm starts on short weeks the next two weeks.
MIA @ HOU - The Texans are basically the Chiefs without the aura, a team that seems poised to break because they never win by more than they should. However, playing a hot Dolphins team that comes off an OT win vs. the Jets may be more trouble. Or the Texans -3 line is telling us something. The Dolphins still need more help to climb into the playoffs, they are two games behind the Chargers and Broncos and play neither, while having a loss to the Colts.
BAL @ NYG - The Ravens are coming off their late bye, and look like they're getting a layup with the short trip to the Meadowlands. They'll need it because they have Pittsburgh and Houston coming up on short weeks.
WSH @ NO - Washington Football Team looked much more like the team we saw earlier this season after a 42-19 whipping of the Titans two weeks ago. They also have a late bye, and their reward is the New Orleans Saints, who won 14-11 last week at the Giants, but lost Derek Carr, and are trying to convince themselves to start Spencer Rattler again despite Jake Haener clearly being the better quarterback. WFT is 7 point favorites on the road, someone will have to tell us last time they were that kind of road favorite. They have a look ahead revenge game against the Eagles next week.
DAL @ CAR - Most of Fox affiliates picking this game even though they're not even getting the #2 broadcast crew. Dallas managed to out-lose to the Bengals last week, aided by a hilarious special teams miscue on a blocked punt. The Panthers are actually, or finally, favored here as they've continued to battle.
CIN @ TEN - The Titans managed to lose at home to the Mac Jones-led Jaguars last week. Come on, man. Unless Joe Burrow is too distracted by having his house broken into, they should be able to pick their number.
NYJ @ JAX - Yikes
BUF @ DET - The NFL Today on CBS crew is again on-site, this time in Detroit, for what could be a Super Bowl preview between the Bills and Lions, which sounds absolutely insane to say to a football fan who lived with the sport any time between 1996-2022. Which is like, everyone. The Lions have won 11 consecutive games for the first time ever. The Bills saw Josh Allen put up 6 touchdowns and lose, and now they're actual underdogs. And both teams gotta keep winning as they're both fighting to keep their conference's road to the Super Bowl coming through their towns. Bills have won 6 of 7 in the series dating back to 1994. We've got the two highest scoring teams in the league in this game, so, we should expect a lot of points, right?
IND @ DEN - This is also a huge game in the AFC. Despite the Colts being two games behind the Broncos, they are 7th and 8th in the AFC, though you'd be hard-pressed to find people think the Broncos aren't much the better team, especially recently. The Broncos had the week off to prepare for this one
NE @ ARZ - The Cardinals have lost three in a row since seizing control of the NFC West. They're not 6-7 and lost to the Seahawks twice in three weeks, and have a lot of tie breakers against them. The Patriots no longer have to worry about Bill Belichick finding a new home in the NFL and trying to stick it to Robert Kraft, but they're also not going to get that primetime revenge game spot
PIT @ PHI - Another big interconference game between 2 10+ win teams., and also need to keep winning games as home field scenarios still exist. The Steelers have not won in Philadelphia since October 24, 1965, which is two stadiums ago. And they only had 8 first downs in that game, so they're shouldn't have won that one either. The only team the Steelers have a worse winning percentage against is the Bears, although the Eagles are still the team they've played the third most games against all-time. Last week the Steelers avenged their snow globe loss to the Browns, which means Russell Wilson has beaten every team he's played against since taking over as starting QB. The Eagles have been in something of a turmoil this week as AJ Brown has been making his opinions of the Eagles passing game known after the Eagles lost by -6 points to the Panthers last week, 22-16.
TB @ LAC - Another strong interconference game as the Buccaneers and Chargers fight for playoff positioning. The Bucs are one game out of the 3 seed as they now lead the NFC South, as they have won 3 in a row while the Falcons have lost 4. The Chargers are the latest team to manage to let a game against the Chiefs get away, and they've down done that twice, despite giving up under 20 points to them in both games. It's a tough spot for the Chargers despite being at home, as they have that flexed TNF game against the Broncos coming up, that's much more important anyways.
Sunday Night Football, NBC
GB @ SEA - This is the first time these two teams will play on a Sunday in the regular season since 2008, which is also the last time the Packers won in Seattle. It's actually only the 9th time the Packers are visiting the Pacific Northwest. The Seahawks are back in control in the NFC west, and are currently the 3 seed. This could actually be a playoff preview, as if the playoffs started this week, this is the game that would be played. We last saw the Packers make a big 2nd half rally come up short in Detroit last Thursday, and the Lions thought of the Packers enough that they didn't want to so much as have to kickoff to them after kicking a game-winner field goal after going for it on a 4th down in field goal range before kicking it, which I'm not sure I've ever seen before.
Monday Night Football:
CHI @ MIN on ABC: The Bears didn't really show us anything we haven't seen under interim head coach Thomas Brown, it was a pathetic first half against the 49ers, and a much better second half. Maybe they know something Peyton Manning doesn't about making half time adjustments. They also have not won since their trip to London 2 months ago. The Vikings are fighting to keep pace, 1 game behind the Lions with a Week 18 game to play. However, they also play the Seahawks and Packers, which are tough games. Been waiting to see if either of those games get flexed into national windows, because NBC has bad games the next two weeks.
ATL @ LV on ESPN: What brilliant minds of tomorrow running the NFL scheduling matrix thought this would be a good game to air as a second MNF game in Week 15? Or any week? Or ever?
