Fifth Down

I had all the intentions of writing this yesterday but ran out of time during the day. Then I was going to write it last night after Savannah’s outstanding performance as the Nanny in 101 Dalmatians. But then we were trying to stream the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight and needed all the extra internet we could get for that and it still wasn’t enough. Apparently live streaming is not a strength of Netflix. It sounds like I didn’t miss much anyway as it turned out to just be a money grab which makes sense due to the fact that Tyson is almost 60. We did get it to work for a few minutes prior to the fight just in time to see Tyson’s bare butt so that was something. This is why I prefer boxing movies over real boxing or whatever that was last night. The final fight in a boxing movie never lets you down. But I am here to talk about football so let’s dive into the top 5 games to watch this weekend!

For the Love of the game: Packers @ Bears on Fox at 11 AM mountain time

This is the game that will be on our tv since my son is a huge Packers fan. You haven’t lived until you watch a Packers game with Walker. It’s an emotional roller coaster like no other. I have forbid him to say things like “we’re gonna lose!” or “We suck!” in the first quarter anymore. And besides Walker, you don’t suck. The Packers suck. He has actually gotten better which says a lot. If you ever want to question your own fandom and how you watch games, have a child who displays similar temperament towards sports as you do. Watching yourself as a younger version might just be the wake up call you need. Anyway, the Packers don’t actually suck they are just going through growing pains and some injuries. They paid Jordan Love a lot of money and he has gotten hurt twice and thrown a bunch of interceptions. But he also makes a ton of great plays too. Meanwhile on the other side Caleb Williams is what some might call a slump and others might call he’s not good. I know he is talented and the easy front end of their schedule made me think they could sneak into the playoffs as the 7 seed. But they are 4-5 after the easy part and have the hardest schedule in the NFL the rest of the way. I do not have a lot of faith in their head coach. And firing a coordinator always reeks of desperation. The Packers coming off a bye should be a little healthier and they are already the better team with the far better coach. So I’ll take the Packers in this one. And they better win because as a Packers fan, you must hate the Bears over all others and my son falls right in line with that. I don’t think our family Sunday can handle a loss here.

Packer 27 Bears 13

Let’s ride…to the factory: Ravens at Steelers on CBS @ 11 AM mountain time

Guess who’s back? Russ is back. Guess who’s back? Russ is back. Russ is back, Russ is back, Russ is back, Russ is back. He seems to have left his cheesy sayings and poor play back in Denver. He looks like Russ from 2020 Seattle. He’s not the best in the league but he is pretty good, he moves around and throws a great deep ball. That’s enough to make grumpy George Pickens happy and make Mike Tomlin look like a genius. Many people questioned benching Justin Fields since they were winning. Well never question Mike Tomlin. Sure, he might be carrying some spit or food in his beard but he knows football. I think the Steelers are actually good which I didn’t believe for weeks. But they are on a roll and in first place in the division. They have a half game lead on the Ravens who many think are the best team in the AFC even though they have lost to the Raiders and the Browns. This is a battle for first place between what used to be two physical and gritty defensive teams. Now it is a battle between one physical and gritty defensive team vs the Ravens. The Ravens can score but they can’t seem to stop anyone. This doesn’t bode well for them this week because for the most part the Steelers stop everyone. Give me the team with the fewer weaknesses in the hopes that after the game, Russ breaks and finally gives us a cheesy line after the game that you know he has been dying to use but has resisted until now. My money is on “we don’t steel victories we earn them” or “it is okay if you steel don’t believe in us, we believe in ourselves.” Steelers in a close one.

Steelers 27 Ravens 24

The Rebound: Falcons at Broncos on Fox @ 2:05 pm mountain time

Both of these teams suffered brutal losses last week. The Falcons lost to the woeful Saints in a game they had no business losing. Instead of expanding their grip in the NFC south they lost to another south opponent keeping the division championship in reach of the Bucs. A loss here would do real damage to their playoff hopes. The Broncos lost on a last second block field goal that I have named Bruno because in the Campbell house we don’t talk about it. A loss like that against an opponent you really want to beat can linger. The Falcons are the better team offensively and the Broncos are the better team defensively. So this should be a good match up. Both teams really need this win especially the Broncos who are currently holding on to the 7 seed and don’t want to fall below .500. With the Bucs on a bye the Falcons can distance themselves further in the lead for the division. This game is about who you trust. Do you trust Kirk Cousins on the road to lead his team to a bounce back win? Or do you trust Sean Payton to get his squad back on track at home after a heart breaking loss. Give me the veteran coach over the veteran quarterback in this one.

Broncos 24 Falcons 20

Never tell Pat the Odds: Chiefs at Bills on CBS at 2:25 PM @ 2:25 PM Mountain time

Despite being 9-0, the Chiefs are underdogs in this one. This will be the 15th time that Pat has been the underdog as a starter which is an insane stat to begin with. What’s even more insane is that Pat is 12-1-1 against the spread as an underdog and 11-3 straight up. Even odder is during their current 15 game win streak they have been underdogs 5 times. They are undefeated in those games, obviously. The Bills have been playing well but their two losses are against arguably the two best teams they have played in the Ravens and the Texans. Both those games were on the road and the Bills are tougher at home. Not only that, Josh Allen is 3-1 against the Chiefs in the regular season including winning 3 in a row. Lucky for Josh, this is not a playoff game where he is 0-3 against the Chiefs. He can even the overall score to 4-4 against Pat with a win on Sunday. I can tell you that Pat is fully aware of that and it will be just the motivation he needs because Pat is petty and things like this inspire him to play his best ball. The Chiefs can basically wrap up the 1 seed with a win and an undefeated season isn’t out of the question. After this one, they have they go to the Panthers and then host the Raiders and Chargers before their brutal stretch of 3 games in 10 days. The Bills must win this one to stay in the hunt for home field advantage. They have basically already won the division so that isn’t an issue. But I am sure they would rather be hosting teams than visiting them in January and a loss would make them 0-3 against all the other likely AFC division winners meaning they could easily end up the 4 seed. These games are always exciting and back and forth battles. This has Pat takes their heart in some heart breaking way written all over it. I don’t think the Chiefs go undefeated but I do think they get to 10-0 and of course giving Chiefs fans a heart attack along the way as usual.

Chiefs 28 Bills 27

Home Alone but He’s got Company on the road: Bengals at Chargers on NBC @ 6:20 PM Mountain Time

I feel like I have let you down by not making enough Macauley Culkin/ Joe Burrow comparisons this year and for that I apologize. I’ll try and make it up to you the rest of the way. While Joe really isn’t home alone he has made wins disappear as the Bengals only have one win at home against the awful Raiders. Meanwhile on the road they are a more respectable 3-2. This is why this game is hard to predict. While technically they will be playing on the road, it is against the Chargers who basically don’t have home games and there will likely be more Bengals fans at the game than Chargers. The Chargers are a solid team who have beaten all the bad teams they have played and lost to all the good teams they have played. Which leads us to the question…are the Bengals a good team? They certainly have a good receiver in Jamaar Chase who had like 800 yards receiving last week against the Ravens. The oddity is that it doesn’t matter how good Burrow and Chase are because their defense kind of sucks especially against the pass. But the Chargers are more of a run first team so I am interested to see how this plays out. Jim Harbaugh despite looking like he is 75 has got the Chargers playing solid ball. I think these teams are pretty even and the Bengals desperately need a win. But often games like this come down to who makes the most mistakes and that will for sure be the smack talking Bengals.

Chargers 30 Bengals 28

It’s time for top 10 Thursday. The NFC East has had a different division winner for 20 years. This will be true again this year as well because the Cowboys won the division last year and that isn’t happening this year. The winner of tonight’s game has the inside track to winning. The NFC East actually leads all divisions with championships. Due to the game tonight here are my top 10 memories of the NFC East in their Super Bowl wins.

10. Almost Perfect and then perfectly annoying

In one of the first super bowls I remember watching the Giants beat the Denver Broncos when Phil Simms completed 22 of 25 passes and won MVP. Phil later became the main and often annoying commentator for years on CBS. My Broncos loving in law family can often be heard saying “shut up Phil Simms!”

9. Larry Brown wins MVP after opposing QB throws the ball directly to him

Larry Brown was an average corner that played opposite Deion Sanders. Due to Neil O’Donnell avoiding Sanders, he also avoided throwing to his own players and instead threw the ball directly to Brown twice and so Brown landed the MVP and used that to get a lucrative deal with the idiot Raiders who apparently didn’t look at the rest of his resume. He barely played for them.

8. Wide Right

The Giants controlled to clock but the Bills still had a shot to win. And then poor Scott Norwood missed it wide right. 11 year old me thought it was ridiculous that he missed a 47 yarder because my brother made one from the same distance as a senior in high school earlier that year. 45 year old me understands that the significance of the kick probably added a little more pressure than my brother’s kick in a blow out win in the middle of nowhere America with a couple of hundred people watching.

7. The Redskins are real good

The following year the Bills made it back but the result was even worse. The Skins finished 14-2 and then won through the playoffs with their ridiculously good team led by Mark Rypien at Quarterback which was probably their weakest position. This game was not close as were most of their games that year.

6. Giants beat Brady…again

In 2007 the Patriots were 18-0 until the Super Bowl when the Giants shocked the Pats with their first loss. More on that in a little bit. A few years later they met again in a rematch. It was again a really close game that the Giants came up on top and Eli Manning seems to be the Brady killer.

5. Leon Lett is not faster than Don Beebe

The Cowboys were rolling in this one and Leon Lett was about to put the final touch on the game. But as he was celebrating on his way into the end zone he didn’t realize that Don Beebe and his double helmet came running down and knocked the ball out of his hands and out of the end zone for a touch back. The Cowboys won big but this was probably the most memorable play of the game.

4. Unknown guy still has all time Super Bowl rushing record

In 1987 The Skins switched to QB Doug Williams which everyone remembers. But what you probably don’t remember as they used little know Timmy Smith played running back in the big game. Overshadowed by Williams being the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, Smith ran for a record 212 yards that seems like a record that will hold for a long time. Ironically Smith only ran for like 300 yards total outside of that game.

3. Philly special

Not many thought that Nick Foles would out dual Tom Brady in the Super Bowl but that is exactly what happened. Along with that, he also caught a td on a trick play. It was a fun exclamation point on on a fun and surprising game.

2. All the Touchdown passes

The Broncos got off to an early 10-0 lead and then Doug Williams went off and threw for 4 touchdowns and along with a long td run from Timmy Smith. And all of the sudden it was 35-10.

1. Guy catches pass on helmet

The Patriots had dominated all year long to an amazing perfect record. Enter the Giants. Spags worked his magic to contain Brady and the potent offense. Then Eli Manning some how avoided getting sacked by like 3 different guys and launched a pass down the field to a random player named David Tyree who caught the ball on his helmet. The Giants went on to score the winning td and ruin the Pats attempt at a perfect season leaving the stupid 72 dolphins as the only undefeated team even though the Pats had already won 1 more game than they did.

It was another crazy week of the NFL with some teams ruining their chances of any hope of making the playoffs and other teams winning games they shouldn’t have to stay on top of the league. Let’s dive into where everyone ranks going into week 11.

Trying to get that number 1 pick and probably a new coach: Titans, Jags, Raiders, Giants and Browns

All these teams have 2 wins. The Jags are for sure getting a new coach. Titans guy is in year 1 but he is an offensive guy and the only thing good about the team is the defense. Raiders coach who once had the blue print to beat the chiefs apparently now doesn’t have the blue print to beat anybody. I actually think the Giants and Browns coaches are good coaches who have gotten a bad set up for success but 2 wins is still only 2 wins.

Not technically eliminated but pretty much eliminated: Panthers, Saints, Patriots

The whole league is pretty average this year so although typically a 3 win team usually has no shot at making the playoffs in week 11, these teams are still sort of in it. But I don’t think anyone believes they can make a run, not even them.

Eliminated but we still have to talk about them: Jets, Cowboys and Bears

These teams are complete dumpster fires but because they are in big markets and have some big names the media is going to keep talking about them like they are relevant. They are both awful. Rodgers and his philosophic BS is wearing thin and Cooper Rush just went 13-23 for 45 yards. 45 Yards! In an NFL game. They are both done. The Bears have Caleb Williams and so the media will keep talking about them too. But when you start firing coordinators in desperation you know the season is over.

A couple of these teams are going to make the AFC playoffs: Dolphins, Bengals, Broncos, Chargers, Colts

While the top of the AFC is very good and the bottom of the AFC is very bad the middle of the AFC is just eh. The Chargers have the best record and have done a nice job of beating the bad teams and losing to the good teams. Unfortunately for them they have a run of good teams coming up. Beating the Bengals this week on Sunday night football could help them separate from the pack. The Broncos are solid and if they beat the Falcons this week then I like their chances of getting in. At least one of the two are getting in. The Colts switch to Joe Flacco has not paid off for anyone besides fantasy football owners who have Colts receivers not named Michael Pittman Jr. But technically they are only a game and half behind the Chargers so I feel obligated to include them. The Bengals keep finding ways to lose but they are probably the most talented team of the bunch. The Dolphins are 3-6 but the middle of the AFC sucks and their schedule is easy so they still have somewhat of a shot. My money is on the Bengals if they win this week and whoever wins the Chargers vs Broncos game in week 16.

Someone is going to win the NFC South: Falcons and Bucs

The fact that the Bucs are still in this even though they are 2 games back and lost to the Falcons twice tells you everything you need to know about my confidence in the Falcons.

Someone is going to win the AFC South: Texans

The Texans are not good. In fact they seem to get worse every week. But the rest of the division is so bad that it doesn’t matter. They will be the 4 seed in the AFC.

Someone is going to win the NFC West: Rams, Seahawks, 49ers and Cardinals

I think the Cardinals might actually be good. They have won 4 in a row and have the best record of the bunch. But a game and half separates them from the Seahawks team in last place so who knows who is going to win this thing. I don’t think any of the teams are great but the 49ers or Rams could get hot and make some noise. But probably instead they will just have a bunch more injuries.

Legit NFC Playoff teams: Eagles, Commanders, Vikings, Packers

Either the Eagles or Commanders will win the East but the other one is getting into the playoffs. Both teams are solid. I think the Vikings are in trouble but they already have 7 wins and I think 10 gets you in so I think they are safe to lose in the first round. The Packers have some issues primarily some bad decision making by Jordan Love. But they are talented and well coached and will do enough to get in.

Legit threats to beat the Chiefs in the AFC: Steelers, Bills and Ravens

I have the least faith in the Ravens because their defense is bad and Lamar doesn’t play that great in the playoffs or against the Chiefs. The Bills are good and we will see what happens this week but in the playoffs they always find a way to choke away victory. I actually fear the Steelers the most at this point. I am finally going to give them credit as a good team and they can play the right strategy to beat the Chiefs. You have to play our game of methodical offense and great defense and then hope you end up with the ball last and the Steelers can do that. Sort of like the Broncos did before getting the game winning field goal blocked.

Duo of Destiny: Chiefs and Lions

I firmly believe these are the two best teams. Neither team deserved to win on Sunday but both did. It feels like these teams are destined to meet in the Super Bowl and the rest of the season is just details. The whole world minus Chiefs fans would be cheering for the Lions. No matter who wins, history will be made. Either a 3 peat or something good happening for the Lions.

Current Super Bowl Prediction: Chiefs over Lions

It’s time for Five for Friday where I give you 5 games to watch this weekend with a few thoughts and projections on each one.

The 80 years later punishment: Giants @ Panthers but actually in Munich, Germany on NFL Network at 7:30 AM mountain time.

80 some years ago, Germany tried to take over the world causing a war that pretty much everyone had to get involved in. This was Germany’s second such discretion in about 30 year period. Sure there were consequences then but you know us Americans like to hold grudges. Thus we are sending them the Giants and Panthers for their game this season. If you would like to suffer with the German people you can get up early and watch this dumpster fire. The Panthers finally beat the awful Saints last week for their second win in the season. The Giants have played several close games but always find a way to lose. Daniel Jones did finally throw a touchdown in his home stadium for the first time in like 3 years so that is good. The winner gets a 3rd victory and the loser is one step closer to the number 1 pick of the 2025 NFL draft. Meanwhile, we and especially all the people in Germany are the biggest losers for having to watch this crap show. And not like the biggest losers from the show the Biggest loser where the person who loses the most is actually the winner. Anyway, I think the Giants are slightly better and get the win.

Giants 20 Panthers 17

A House Divided: Broncos at Chiefs on CBS at 11 AM Mountain Time

It’s no secret that I am a huge Chiefs fan. What you may not know is that my wife is a huge Broncos fan. We knew this when we got married but the Chiefs were terrible then so my fandom was a little quieter. The Broncos weren’t great either and we were two kids in love so it didn’t matter. Well we were in our late 20’s but I felt like a kid compared to how I feel now considering I often pull muscles while sleeping. Anyway, as our marriage went on and our teams sucked less we realized that we were truly a house divided. Our family fantasy football league is named after this and our son became a Packers fan because there was no winning picking either the Chiefs or the Broncos. Some look at this as an issue but I look at this as real love. Sure twice a year we sit quietly on opposite ends of the couch and watch the game in silence. But the other 16 weeks of the NFL season we actually cheer for each other’s teams. Not because we like each other’s team but because we like each other and we know the rest of Sunday that person will be more fun if they win. I even cheered for the Broncos in the 2015 Super Bowl even though I didn’t want to. And Danielle even did the chop in 2019 when we finally won one. Sure I despise John Elway more than any athlete on any team ever. And sure she gets sick of my obsession with repeats and 3 peats. But hey love is love. She even drafts Patrick Mahomes on her fantasy teams so that she has a reason to cheer for the Chiefs. Even that hasn’t worked out that well for her this year as he has been pretty bad in fantasy despite not losing in real life. Anyway, there is a football game on Sunday. Kevin Harlan is announcing so even though neither of us will be allowed to get that excited, Harlan has it covered. All Chiefs games are close and I don’t foresee this one being any different. I actually think the Broncos are pretty good and have a good chance in this one. Our D is really good so no high power offense and bad defense is going to beat us. You need a stingy D of your own to win a slug fest of stops to get the job done. Pat has struggled some against the Denver D over the years. The only defense he does worse again is the Bengals. I was real close to picking the Broncos in this one. But the Chiefs have been so clutch when it matters most so I can’t quite pull the trigger. I’ll take the Chiefs in a close stressful game that will put a strain on my marriage for the rest of the day.

Chiefs 24 Broncos 20

Battle of the injured: 49ers @ Bucs on Fox at 11 AM mountain time

What’s left of these teams will battle it out with Tom Brady commentating. The 49ers are getting slightly healthier with McCaffrey and Jennings coming back they have almost the whole band together besides Aiyuk. But you and I both know that at least one key player will be injured by the time this game is over. The Bucs are playing without their two best offensive players in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. That doesn’t phase Baker when it comes to fantasy stats but it does hurt him when it comes to wins. He is 0-3 without his top two playmakers despite valiant efforts. And now he faces a desperate 49ers team that also really needs a win. I love Baker and will be cheering for him but I don’t like his odds in this one. The 49ers have more play makers and the Bucs D is not good. Baker will do what he can to keep it close but in the end, he just doesn’t have the fire power to get it done despite his receivers getting real excited when they occasionally make a catch.

49ers 31 Bucs 27

All in on losing: Eagles @ Cowboys on CBS at 2:25 Mountain time

Woof, the afternoon games are rough. Jerry Jones said the Cowboys were going all in during the offseason. Then he made no moves and waited forever to pay his current players. He is not good at his job. The Cowboys suck so bad that even Dak Prescott could be seen mouthing that they suck with an extra colorful word. The Cowboys are bad every week but especially bad at home. Now Dak is on IR and Cooper Rush is getting the start. This is all good news for the Eagles and my daughter who became an Eagles fan conveniently when they won the Super Bowl. This is also good news for her fantasy team since she has Hurts, Barkley, Smith, their defense and their kicker. She is all in on the Eagles and against this Cowboys D at their house this should be a good thing. I cannot see any way that this is a close game except if Nick Sirianni makes some of his usual dumb decisions. So it will probably be a close game. Usually when the Cowboys are at home, they give up a bunch of scores and then Dak racks up a bunch of passing stats coming from behind. But I don’t think Cooper Rush will do the same. Also, what the heck are they doing with Trey Lance? I mean wouldn’t this be the ideal time to see if he was any good? Also, why in the world did they trade a 4th round pick for Johnny Mingo a guy who couldn’t get playing time on the freaking panthers? Seriously, Jerry Jones is really bad at his job. I am going to have fun watching the Cowboys suck it up in this one. Not even Sirianni can screw this up. Eagles win big.

Eagles 38 Cowboys 17

Does the Lion get tamed or roar once again?: Lions @ Texans on NBC at 6:20 PM mountain time

The Lions look like the clear best team in the NFC and because they win more significantly, people want to say they are better than the Chiefs but last time I checked the Lions have a loss and the Chiefs don’t. Jared Goff has been playing very well which he tends to do when he doesn’t have to throw too much. The Texans D isn’t that great so it should be another good game for the Lions offense. The Lions added a pass rusher at the trade deadline and the defense seems to be getting better. You know what isn’t good? The Texans offensive line. They are beat up and weren’t that good to begin with. CJ Stroud is suffering the same problem as most quarterbacks, running out of people to throw to. But he isn’t handling it as well as others. I was hoping Nico Collins would be back this week but that seems to be up in the air and Diggs is out for the year. It will be up to Tank Dell and company to get open which is possible as the Lions secondary while getting better still gives up some open passing lanes. I think this one is a little bit back and forth early with the Lions pulling away late. Goff is playing better, has better weapons and probably the better defense. And definitely the better offensive line. Lions in a close one.

Lions 27 Texans 24

Since the Bengals and Ravens are playing I think this is good time to admit that the AFC North is my least favorite division in football. I don’t like any of these teams. Here are the top 10 things I hate about the AFC North.

10. Cleveland fans: Overall, I respect Browns fans. However, I don’t like Indians fans who are now Guardians fans. I went to an Indians vs Royals game with my son at Cleveland and the fans were jerks. But hey, they are probably jealous because the Royals have won a World Series in the last 100 years. Also a lot of Browns fans are fans of LeFlop who you know I am not a fan of.

9. The Steelers never have losing record: Often not good but never terrible and winning just enough of other team’s season. It’s annoying.

8. The Bengals Mayor: You remember when he said that his Burrow was Mahomes daddy? What a tool.

7. Ravens…the regular season champs: The Ravens are awesome during the regular season. Everyone talks about how awesome they are even when they lose. Even right now at 6-3 and currently losing to the Bengals, people are acting like they are better than the 8-0 Chiefs who they already lost to.

6. Mike Tomlin’s beard: There is always either food or spit stuck in it. It’s gross.

5. Deshaun Watson: I don’t know if Mr. Creepy did what he is accused of…but I’m guessing he did and he has basically screwed over the entire franchise by taking all their money and playing terrible.

4. The Bengals for some reason having the recipe to stop Mahomes: He seemed to figure it out in the AFC championship a couple of years ago but then this year he struggled again. Which is odd because their defense sucks against everyone else.

3. Ray Lewis being celebrated as a good guy. He’s was involved in a murder but who cares about that. He is a good example for all.

2. Joe Burrow being compared to Patrick Mahomes: Pat has 3 super bowls and Joe has one appearance. Joe is up 3-2 but it would be 3-3 if Joe could make it through back to back seasons without getting hurt. Plus he looks like a combination of Macaulay Culkin and Ellen DeGeneres.

1. Ja’Marr Chase: Sure he is good at football. But he talks a bunch of crap, is annoying in general and even though in his first game against the Chiefs he went off hasn’t really done much yet since then. And he is just a punk in general and my least favorite player in the NFL.

Wow, the season is half over already. It’s been a great year unless you are an NFL receiver because then you are probably on injured reserve. As you know, I love the NFL and am a little sad that the regular season is almost over. Since we are half way done, we rank the teams based upon their goals for the rest of the season.

Get the number 1 pick: Panthers, Saints, Titans, Raiders, and Giants

Everyone has at least 2 wins so pick #1 is wide open. All these teams are terrible so it is truly anyone’s game. All these teams have massive weaknesses and the occasional strength. They should all give up on the season and get pick #1.

Figure out how bad we are and how many changes are needed: Browns and Jags.

Both of these teams are too talented to lose enough to get the number 1 pick. So they got to figure out if they need to burn it down, fire coaches, etc or make minor tweaks.

Keep Tua alive: Dolphins

Every time they play I get nervous. If you lose a couple more they should shelf him for the rest of the season.

Do just enough to give the team a little bit of hope to not make major changes and disappoint their fan bases all over again next year: Jets and Cowboys

Both these teams are major disappointments. Both teams will probably have new coaches next year, but they overall will continue on the same disaster of a path they are on. Look for lots of hype in the offseason, followed by a few early wins to get the media real excited followed by a complete letdown.

Help their young QB get better: Bears and Colts

They are taking different strategies to get there but both these QBs have work to do. Bears probably need a new coach. Colts need their QB to learn basic things like don’t take yourself out on 3rd down because you are tired.

Fight until the end to get a playoff spot but probably come up short: Bucs, Broncos

I think these two teams are all pretty good but all have a major issue. The Bucs are too banged up. The Broncos QB is still learning and they need another weapon or two.

Make the playoffs just to spite me: Bengals

Someone has to get that 7th playoff spot in the AFC and something tells me it is going to be the stupid Bengals. If they get in, you never know they might make a run. But their defense is so bad, I don’t think they get out of the first round.

Win the NFC West: Cardinals, Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks

The Cards are currently in first place at 5-4. Everyone else is 4-4. The 49ers and Rams have gone through some serious injury issues and getting kind of healthy. My money is still on the Rams to come out on top.

Lose in the first round of the Playoffs: Steelers, Chargers, Vikings

I think all these teams get in. But the Steelers and Chargers aren’t good enough offensively. And the Vikings are well…the Vikings.

Win the division and then lose in the first round: Texans and Falcons

Both of them will win the South but the Texans have major offensive line issues still and the Falcons have Kirk Cousins so neither of them are making it very far.

Probably lose the division but make a run in the Playoffs: Eagles and Packers

These teams have issues but are both talented enough to make a deep run in the playoffs and even make it to the Super Bowl. Nick Siranni’s and Jordan Love’s decision making will probably keep them from doing so.

Win the division and a playoff game: Commanders

This is a good team that should be really happy with how things are going. Oddly enough no one has won the NFC East back to back since 2002-2003. If they win this year, they could be the team next year to break that streak. But they probably won’t.

Lose to the Chiefs in some heartbreaking way: Bills, Ravens, Lions

All these teams are doing all the right things to play the Chiefs at some point in the playoffs and play just well enough to barely lose in some crazy way.

Three Peat: Chiefs

They are the only undefeated team and still haven’t played that well offensively. But look out, we got D-Hop and he seems like a game changer and they will get a couple more offensive guys back as the season goes on. 17-0 isn’t off the table but I am doubtful. If they win the next two I’ll be more convinced of the possibility but even then they have to play 3 games in 10 days in weeks 15-17 which is a ridiculous thing the league is making them do. But the 3 Peat looks as a real possibility.

Other Highlights of the first half of the season:

• There was a plethora of injuries that hurt a lot of real teams and even more fantasy teams.
• Receiver definitely got hit the hardest. On my family fantasy football league my top 3 receivers were Rashee Rice, Nico Collins and Chris Godwin. Then they were Nico Collins and Chris Godwin. Then they were Chris Godwin. Then they were Khalil Shakir. Ironically Shakir missed a week or two as well.
• The refs rigged it for the Chiefs talk is at an all time high. If there is a missed call at any point in the Chiefs favor just assume the game was rigged and the league wants a team in a small market to win every week. Just ignore that the refs are humans and they make mistakes in every game every week. Just ask Sam Darnold and what’s left of his facemask.
• The Jets have too many games on primetime. Why must we suffer the first half of every year watching the Jets play awful just because the NFL wants them to be good.
• Aaron Rodgers is the worst teammate ever and I would not want to be his coach. He lost a guy his job and then rattled off like 5 straight losses. Then he threw his receiver under the bus. In good news for Mike Williams he is out of New Jersey and headed to stable Pittsburgh.
• Rookie Quarterbacks have played well overall…much better than last year’s bunch. Caleb has been good more than he has been bad. Jayden Daniels has been exceptional. Bo Nix before this week had gotten better each week. And Drake Maye doesn’t look terrible. Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson both got benched (Richardson once by himself because he was tired and once by his coach) and CJ Stroud does not look as good as he did yesterday.
• Jarod Goff is really, really good when he doesn’t have to throw the ball very much. Goff has been exceptional when he throws 20 or less times. If they keep running all over everybody they will be tough to beat.
• How long until the next 49er gets hurt? Everyone picked them to win the division but I had hunch the injury bug would get them again. McCaffrey is supposed to come back but this has reinjury in a couple of weeks written all over it.
• I have 4 fantasy teams which is a lot. I won’t say it is too many because it is a lot of fun. But my players on one team are always on the opposing team in another league. So it has proven impossible for my teams to win all in the same week. I’m in first place at 7-2 in two of the leagues, 4-5 in my wife’s work league and 3-6 in the ridiculous 16 team league. Injuries in that league are a fantasy death sentence.

Half way Playoff predictions:

AFC:

1. Chiefs
2. Bills
3. Ravens
4. Texans
5. Steelers
6. Chargers
7. Bengals

NFC:

1. Lions
2. Commanders
3. Falcons
4. Rams
5. Eagles
6. Packers
7. Vikings

Way to early Super Prediction: Sticking with Chiefs over Rams for now.

Tune into tomorrow for the return of Top 10 Thursday!

Last week there were a ton of games I was excited to watch. This week, not so much. But that won’t stop me from watching as many games as possible. Let’s dive in to the 5 games I’ll be watching the most closely.

Battle of the struggling coaches: Eagles @ Bengals on CBS at 11 AM Mountain time

Both these teams have been winning more lately but it hasn’t been pretty. They also have both beaten the Giants and the Browns lately so not exactly going up against the cream of the crop. The Eagles have been up and down but are significantly better when AJ Brown is playing. But it feels like they are winning in spite of Nick Sirianni instead of because of him. Sirianni has a tendency to do dumb things both with play calling and strategy and outside of coaching as well like talking crap to his own fan base after barely beating the Browns. Bringing your cute kid to the press conference can only save your job for so long so they really need to beat a team with a pulse. The Bengals are playing better again and this feels like a team that unfortunately might be able to make a run. But if they miss the playoffs, then you have to question Zach Taylor’s return. I mean how can this team start off so poorly every single year? Do they just not practice in the preseason and training camp? I don’t get it. Winning this would get them to .500 with the Raiders next week which means they could have a winning record heading into a tough stretch were they go to the Ravens, to the Chargers and then host the Steelers. The schedule is pretty easy after that but they need this win. Much is on the table for the Eagles as well so this is a pretty big game. Both teams have great weapons and this should be a high scoring affair. I will be cheering hard for the Eagles but this feels like yet another Bengals team that gets better as the year goes on and then makes some noise in the playoffs. Here’s hoping I am wrong.

Bengals 31 Eagles 27

Battle for the NFC South: Falcons @ what is left of the Bucs on Fox at 11 AM mountain time

The Saints have fallen apart and the Panthers were never good and still aren’t so it looks like these two teams are playing to win the division. They won’t play again after this one so it is a big game in determining who wins this thing. The Falcons lone good win was against the Bucs in an exciting overtime bout a few Thursday nights ago. Side note, you remember how bad Thursday night football was when they first moved it to Amazon? While I do miss Al Michaels snarky comments about the terrible games, I got to say overall Thursday night football has been great so far including this week’s game between the Rams and the Vikings that ended with a terrible missed call. Can we stop with the constant the refs are in to help the Chiefs and just admit that the officiating overall isn’t great? But I digress. The Falcons just got their butts kicked by the Seahawks. I am not sure what is wrong with the Falcons. On paper they should be good but on the field they are just okay. The Bucs offense looked awesome but now they are down their two best players including Chris Godwin who was on my family league fantasy team. I started the year with him, Nico Collins and Rashee Rice and it was awesome. That trio is no longer awesome because they are all on IR. But I’m not bitter. Baker has been great but will he still be good throwing to Sterling Shephard and Jalen McMillen? I’ll give you a few minutes to look up who those guys are. As much as I love Baker, I think their bigger issue is that Todd Bowles defense sucks. Kirk lights them up again and the birds take a significant lead in the division even though they will have the same record.

Falcons 41 Bucs 30

Kermit’s Revenge: Chiefs at Raiders on CBS at 2:25 PM Mountain time

I’m excited for this one. The Chiefs are 6-0 and the Raiders are terrible. For some reason because they won one game against the Chiefs last year without completing a pass in the second half, they think the own Pat and the Chiefs now. Their coach talked about how they have the recipe to beat him after the game and then during training camp the raiders players got caught on camera with a kermit the frog/Pat Mahomes dressed doll and made some not so nice comments. Pat will say none of this matters to him and he is just focused on winning the game and getting better. But you and I know that is not true. Pat is like Jordan, very, very petty. It’s part of what makes them great. They will use any dumb thing to help motivate them. To add to the drama, Pat has literally never lost in this stadium. The Chiefs own Vegas and I don’t expect much to change here. Hopkins is likely to play but even if he doesn’t, I think Pat lights them up. And to make everything even better, Kevin Harlan is announcing. I couldn’t be happier about that. Harlan is my favorite announcer in all of sports. My productivity would go through the roof if he announced my life. Anyway, the Raiders are terrible and the Chiefs aren’t so Chiefs by a lot.

Chiefs 31 Raiders 10

#1 vs #2: Bears @ Commanders on CBS at 2:25 PM mountain time

The number 1 draft pick will hopefully match up against the number 2 draft pick in this quarterback dual. Caleb Williams started off slow but he is playing much better now. Of course playing the Jags and Panthers in back to back weeks can help anyone look better. Jayden Daniels started off hot and has continued to play well until he got injured last week. He is listed as questionable and will be a game time decision. This game loses a lot of it’s intrigue if they role Marcus Mariota out there. Assuming Daniels play it should be an exciting one. The Bears defense is tough but that shouldn’t stop Daniels and their high powered offense. The Commanders defense is not good so that should help Caleb Williams and an inconsistent Bears offense. I think both these guys will be good in the long run but it will be fun to see who gets bragging rights assuming Daniels plays. Which I hope he does because in that same family league, scary Terry Mclaurin is my last good receiver I have left. I think this will be a back and forth shoot out and whoever has the ball last wins sort of game. Give me the commanders if Daniels plays.

Commanders with Daniels 30 Bears 27

or

Bears 27 Commanders without Daniels 20

Battle of 1995: Cowboys at 49ers on NBC at 6:20 PM Mountain time

These two proud franchises don’t have much to be proud of these days. Both teams have regularly made the playoffs since the 90s but neither has won it all since 1996. The Cowboys have only won a few playoff games and the 49ers after starting 5-0 in super bowls have lost 3 straight. This year the 49ers have once again been decimated by injuries which is pretty common for them in even numbered years. The Cowboys on the other hand just aren’t that good and are especially atrocious at home. Luckily for them this week they are on the road. That’s the good news. The bad news is last year they got absolutely destroyed on Sunday night at the 49ers. Maybe their luck will turn around this year. I think both these teams are on the struggle bus. I don’t trust either quarterback. The Cowboys have better receivers and the 49ers have better running backs. I don’t trust either coach that much either but Shanahan is pretty good if he isn’t playing the Chiefs or playing in a super bowl or both. And the 49ers defense is slightly healthier and better overall. I used to love to watch these two teams battle in the 90s. Now I will only be watching because it is the only game on. Give the 49ers in a somewhat close one.

49ers 24 Cowboys 20

The Presidential Election is less than two weeks away. Like you, I will miss all the cheery tv ads where they degrade their opponent. Each Presidential election I get less and less excited about placing my vote. But this year is an exception. Because the candidates are in my opinion epically bad, I decided to vote for someone who would be much better or at a minimum easily defeat either of them in a debate and that someone is me. I may not have the on paper qualifications of the current candidates but unlike Kamala I do have original thoughts and unlike Trump I can occasionally put my ego aside and keep my mouth shut. So before you go to the polls let me give you 10 reasons to vote for yours truly. These are of course all sports related.

10. Discontinue instant replay in Baseball. I have no idea why they even waste their time with this. They never change the calls even if it is obvious that they should.

9. Shorten the NHL season by 20 games. Why in the world are we playing hockey in June??? And it has already started so why do we need such a long season.

8. Shorten the NBA season by 20 games. Again, why do we need NBA basketball from October to almost July? Also, the players only play 60 games each now anyway because they are a bunch of pansies. So just give them what they want and shorten the season.

7. Get rid of the stupid NBA In Season tournament. This is the dumbest thing ever as they are just trying to make their sport relevant in a time when no one cares about it yet. I didn’t even know they did this until they brought up during the real playoffs.

6. Fire all NCAA Division 1 Basketball refs. These guys are the worst officials in all of sports and that says a lot because officiating is pretty awful everywhere. Hire some young up and comers and tell them two things, one call the game consistent and second call what actually happens instead of what you speculate is going to happen.

5. Realign College football so it makes sense again. I have no problem with the direction of college football overall. It is what it is. But what I do have a problem with is Miami playing Cal in a conference game. What the hell are we doing here? I’ll reorganize things geographically and it will all make sense again.

4. Once you become an adult you get 1 favorite team for each sport to cheer for and 1 college. Sure you can occasionally cheer for other teams. I watch every NFL game I can and I am always sort of cheering for one team or the other. But some adults out there are out of control. I have one buddy who is a Raiders fan but because they are obviously terrible he also cheers for the Bills, Packers and now the Lions. I mean, come on, the Lions and Packers are in the same division. I had a friend named Luke who used to say you couldn’t cheer for a team unless you became a fan of that team when you were a little kid or you lived near the team for a significant amount of time. That seems fair enough but I once had a boss who was a Georgia football fan, a Kentucky basketball fan and a Cardinals baseball fan. He was technically playing by the rules but come on, he is just picking winning teams. And you should be forced to pick one college to cheer for everything on. The same guy never cared about Kentucky football or Georgia basketball. So part of your registering to vote will be declaring your fandom.

3. I will have a staff member make a montage of bad calls that effect each game in the NFL each week and those of us who are Chiefs fans will have access to the montage in order to send it to people in response to all their dumb comments about the refs being for the Chiefs and the league being rigged.

2. There will be a salary cap in baseball. The Yankees are playing the Dodgers in the World Series. No one saw that coming. Sure a small market team can make the playoffs but certain teams have so much more capital it is ridiculous and impossible to stay competitive long term. The Yankees payroll was basically the same as the Royals, Tigers and Guardians combined. Why is the NFL great? Because a team goes from last to first in their division each season. Every game can be close because the talent gap is not dramatically wide between the worst and best team. This is one of the reasons it is the most watched sport in America. It’s time for Baseball to get on board.

1. Move the Super Bowl to the Sunday before President’s day. Literally no one is productive the day after the Super Bowl anyway. This way we can all eat and drink as much as we want and stay up as late as we want and then recover the next day. Does this diminish President’s day? Not anymore than our current candidates have. So hey, if we have to suffer through these idiots running our country, the least they can do is give us the day after the Super Bowl off.

There you go. When you go to place your vote my official name is Jeffrey David Campbell.

Tune in tomorrow for 5 for Friday.

Another week, another Chiefs win and a slew of injuries. If you are anything like me you are quickly running out of players on your fantasy teams. This week we rank these teams based upon fast food restaurants. Let’s dive in.

Captain D’s: Browns, Jags, Patriots, Titans and Panthers

There is something unsettling about fast food seafood. What’s worse than fast food seafood? The worst of the fast food seafood restaurants. These teams are awful, gross to watch play and you avoid them so much that you’d rather watch the rest of these bad teams instead.

Long John Silver’s: Dolphins, Giants, Saints

You cannot convince me that eating any fast food seafood is a good idea. But I did used to eat at Long John Silver’s once a year to remind myself why I don’t eat at Long John Silver’s. And they randomly have chicken as well. All of these teams are terrible but at some point this season they did look good for at least one game.

Taco Bell: Raiders

The Raiders are trash. Which is where that Taco Bell you just bought should go.

KFC: Rams, Jets, Cardinals

KFC should be good. It has a bunch of stuff in theory that I love. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, Mac and Cheese. This sounds like the perfect meal. Unfortunately when these things are made by KFC, they are not good. All these teams on paper looked good entering the season but turns out when put into action they are quite the opposite.

Burger King: Colts, Broncos, Chargers, Seahawks and Falcons

I don’t eat at Burger King much but occasionally I do and I think this is actually pretty good. And so I go back again but all of the sudden it isn’t good the second time. Sort of like how these teams are good one week and terrible the next.

Hardees/Carl Jr.: Steelers and Bengals

Hardees is actually pretty good but you feel sick immediately after eating it. It just feels gross in general. These teams being successful make me sick as well. And just like I don’t go to Hardees anymore, I refuse to cheer for these teams.

McDonalds: Cowboys and 49ers

McDonalds was awesome in the 80s and 90s just like these teams but they are all still living on what was and haven’t done anything great since then.

Subway: Eagles, Bears, Bucs, and Texans

Subway is never bad. It’s also never great. Sometimes it can be pretty good. Other times the bread is stale and the middle eastern man who was a lawyer in his old land, stares into your soul while he stingily places hardly any meat on your sandwich. These teams have shown to be really good at times and other times they are pretty average.

Arby’s: Packers, Bills and Commanders

Arby’s isn’t winning any awards but they seldom completely let you down. Maybe the curly fries are a little stale but the roast beef comes through. Maybe the Arby’s sandwich maker for whatever reason has a hard time slapping the roast beef evenly on the bun, but that time the Curly fries are hot and fresh. It’s never all bad at Arby’s. These teams don’t look like they are winning the Super Bowl but they seldom look terrible and always have some good moments each game.

Chick-Fil-A: Ravens, Lions and Vikings

Now we’re talking. Chick-Fil-A is the Mercedes Benz of fast food. They have good food, incredible service and a whole system in place that doesn’t always seem to make sense but always comes through clutch. These teams are the best of rest and are championship contenders. They are the clear kings of the league right now just like Chick-Fil-A is the king of fast food.

Joe’s KC BBQ: Chiefs

The problem for the rest of the league is the Chiefs are in their own league. They are basically in their own category. Joe’s BBQ is in their own category for me. Not only is it significantly better than fast food, it is the best BBQ out there. Sure it can be messy but even when it isn’t that good, it is still better than everything else. The Chiefs haven’t looked their best. Their games are messy and they haven’t played exceptionally well. But here they are 6-0 and the only undefeated team in the league. They are a class above the rest of the league.

Tune it tomorrow for Top 10 Thursday!

We dive into week 7 and this might be the best slate of games yet. It should be an exciting Sunday of games that I am going to miss some of because I am on a work trip. But hey you all can enjoy it. It is also coming to you late because I had a long day of work on Friday and yesterday I was busy waiting for Brady Cook to get back from the hospital so Mizzou could comeback and win. But better late than never. Here are the top 5 games to watch.

Battle of the Future of the league: Texans at Packers on CBS at 11 AM mountain time

Jordan Love and CJ Stroud are arguably the best two quarterbacks in the league. They both played lights out last year and are off to a great start this year. The Packers are the first team to be 4-2 after six games and last in their division. They are last in their division in point differential with a plus 41 score. To put that in perspective the second best division when it comes to point differential is the AFC West at plus 20. The Packers are just 2 games out of first and everything is on the table for them. That’s the good news. The bad news is everything is already on the table for everyone else in their division as well. So every game matters. On the flip side, the Texans are 5-1 and have basically already won their division. But they are competing with the Chiefs and others for home field advantage. Joe Mixon has returned and they play much better when he is on the field. They are still missing Nico Collins who despite missing a game and 3 quarters still leads the league in receiving. This should be a fun shootout sort of game although both defenses have shown up at times as well. This will be a close one, but give me the home team that needs to win a little bit more.

Packers 31 Texans 24

Battle of the Quarterbacks that no one wanted: Lions at Vikings on Fox at 11 AM Mountain time

Jared Goff was given second life when he was traded from the Rams a few years back. While the Lions said they wanted Jared Goff, we all know what they really wanted was all those draft picks and they put up with getting Goff too. But they started Goff out of necessity and he played pretty good. They drafted a lot of good players and then he got really good. The last two games he has been darn near perfect. Goff was literally perfect two games ago against the Seahawks and then he was very good against Dallas. To be fair playing the Cowboys in Dallas is sort of like playing a middle school team. Sam Darnold was drafted by the Jets which seems like forever ago. The 2018 draft looked like a bust for quarterbacks but both Darnold and Baker have been great after leaving their disastrous organizations that drafted them. They both also got dumped by the Panthers…another disastrous organization but now have landed in stable places with some track record of recent success. Darnold has looked like the guy everyone thought was drafted 6 years ago. He’s been great and of course throwing to Justin Jefferson doesn’t hurt. Kevin O’Connell is some sort of quarterback whisperer. This quarterback duo is also giving me a hard decision as I have both on one of my four fantasy teams and I have to decide who to start. I am rolling with Darnold over the hot hand because I think the Vikings defense is better than the Lions and will impact Goff more. Because I am doing that, I am sure Darnold will struggle and Goff will throw for 4 touchdowns.

Lions 35 Vikings 20

Rematch of the Super Bowl that was a rematch of a Super Bowl: Chiefs at 49ers on Fox at 2:25 PM Mountain Time

Due to a work dinner, I am going to miss part of this game so hopefully the Chiefs just come out and take care of business instead of making it close. I’ll wait for you to stop laughing because all the Chiefs games are close and the 49ers will be no different. The 49ers have been a solid team this year but have suffered their normal insane amount of injuries. It does appear that Jordan Mason will play but he is still technically their 3rd string running back with the first two injured, McCaffrey for who knows how long and Elijah Mitchell for the season. They are also amazingly on their 3rd string kicker. I am baffled how not 1 but 2 kickers got hurt. The 49ers are coming off a mini bye after beating the Seahawks on a Thursday night game. The Chiefs played only 3 days before that on Monday night. The ways the NFL made the Chiefs schedule unfair is a very long list. Perhaps there is a top 10 list in that idea. Anyway, the Chiefs are real good despite not being that good. Andy Reid is 21-4 off a bye. The Chiefs are the underdogs and Mahomes is 10-3 as an underdog straight up and 12-1 against the spread. Mahomes has never lost to the 49ers. He is a perfect 4-0 including two Super Bowl wins. The 49ers run game usually gives teams fits but the Chiefs are great against the run. Pat seems to play his best ball against these guys. That doesn’t mean I think we are going to score 40 or anything crazy but I think he plays well and we beat the 49ers once again.

Chiefs 27 49ers 20

Battle of old washed up Quarterbacks: Jets at Steelers on NBC at 6:20 PM mountain time

Welp, GM Aaron Rodgers is at it again bringing his old buddy Davante Adams to the team. This is what Rodgers always wanted…I mean not enough to take a pay cut in Green Bay but now that he is somewhere else, sure. Adams has suffered greatly to make more money by playing for the Raiders the last couple of years. This feels like these two jack legs have been talking about this for a couple of years and they were finally able to make it happen when Adams pretended to hurt his hamstring that magically healed as soon as he was traded, and Rodgers throwing his other receivers under the bus. When the Chiefs receivers are struggling, Mahomes always says I should throw it better, we have to keep working, I believe in our guys. Rodgers says “5 needs to get on the right page”, and “he didn’t go to the red line that’s why I threw an interception. That’s why Mahomes wins with Skyy Moore, JuJu and Justin Watson and Rodgers can’t win with Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams who are both significantly more talented than those guys. Also, Rodgers was always complaining about the lack of weapons in Green Bay and then went to the Jets and immediately got all his weapons from the Packers back. I’ve decided Rodgers is just pretty much a terrible person and teammate and now he isn’t that good of quarterback anymore. Adams is always open though and Rodgers always throws to him so that should be good if you have Adams in fantasy. On the other side, the Steelers are 4-2 and Justin Fields has played mistake free football. So what are they going to do…bench him of course. They are going to roll out Russ Wilson because they think he is back to his old form pre Broncos. How they know this, I don’t know. He missed most of the pre-season and the first 6 games because of a calf injury. You know who has two thumbs and doesn’t think Russ is back to his old form? This guy! This has disaster written all over it. Russ will lose a couple of games and then the Steelers will be embroiled in a quarterback controversy the rest of the year. Mike Tomlin is a smart coach who literally always has a winning record and I am sure he will find a way to get his team to limp to 9 or 10 wins but offensively he has a lot of bad ideas and this is one of them. The Jets will win and the story will be the Jets are back and the Steelers are a disaster all week long. But in reality neither one of them are very good.

Jets 24 Steelers 13

From beginning to end…of the 1st round of the 2018 draft: Ravens at Bucs on ESPN at 6:15 PM Mountain Time

Baker was the first pick in the first round of the 2018 draft and Lamar was the last pick. Baker has had mild success and Lamar has had a lot of success. But both are looking good right now. Lamar with Derrick Henry is a machine running the ball and it is easier to throw because everyone has to stop Henry. Baker has found new life in Tampa where he is playing exceptionally well and throwing to touchdowns to just about everyone. Both teams have had a couple of dud games but overall have played lights out. We expected this from Lamar. But I must admit, I thought last year might have been a fluke for Baker. Baker tends to overstay his welcome in places and I thought this might be another one of those scenarios but everyone seems to like him except maybe Tom Brady who doesn’t think football is supposed to be fun unless you win the Super Bowl. The Ravens are real good against the run but pretty terrible against the pass. The Bucs defense isn’t exceptionally good at anything. Lamar is something like 21-1 against the NFC which is insane. If he could ever make it to a Super Bowl he would probably win. But that is a big if. Anyway, this has shoot out written all over it. I want to pick the Bucs but I just don’t think the cannons will shoot quite enough to win.

Ravens 41 Bucs 35

Enjoy the games today!

It’s time for Top 10 Thursday! Last week I suffered through the Royals losing in the playoffs to the Yankees. Losing was bad enough but while doing so, I had to listen to Bob Costas. Watching a baseball game with Costas announcing is like watching a movie with the sound off and instead listening to the audio book while watching. Bob had a lot of facts and a lot of stories. Here are the top 10 things I learned while listening to Bob Costas.

10. Aaron Judge is the MVP. I know this isn’t official but it might as well be because Bob says so. But at least he also announced that Bobby Witt Jr. was the runner up.

9. The Royals lost 106 games last year. In case it wasn’t miserable enough to lose to the Yankees in the playoffs, Bob also liked to remind us often that last year was really, really awful.

8. Salvy Perez was the mvp of the World Series in 2015. Did you know that Salvy was the last player on the roster from the 2015 team? Did you know he was the MVP? Did you know that it was 9 years ago and so it isn’t that shocking that he is the only one left? Apparently Bob really wants you to know.

7. You should go to the Negro Baseball Museum. Did you guys know that is in Kansas City? If not, Bob will tell…every game…multiple times.

6. George Brett got in a fight with Craig Nettles. This story and video was shown multiple times. This bit of history is so old that I wasn’t even born yet when it happened. But in an attempt to conjure up this series as a rivalry they showed it many times. They also showed George Brett many times.

5. There is a red bench at the Negro Baseball Museum that Bob sat on and finally shut up. Some former player was with him and the player had so many great stories that Bob just listened. I fell asleep halfway through Bob’s story about this incident and I dreamed of the next time that Bob would shut up.

4. If you want to know how Gerrit Cole is doing, just watch Gerrit Cole. In case you didn’t know, Gerrit Cole shows his emotions on the field. When things go well, he gets excited. When things go poorly, he gets mad. When the same guy gets his 3rd hit he laughs. Bob made sure to tell us this over and over again, even though we could see for ourselves because you know…the game was on freaking tv.

3. Giancarlo Stanton is basically Babe Ruth. They are both very high in post season home runs. Bob mentioned this 47 times in 4 games. In fact, he was so excited about this fact that he became irritated when the graphic guys wouldn’t put up the graphic of the two of them for the 40th time. But don’t worry they were ready when he came up to bat the next time.

2. Ron Darling has a worse life than me. Sure he won a World Series and makes lots of money. But I had to listen to Bob for 4 games. Ron has to listen to him all season long. Brutal.

1. The Royals have a rich history that Bob described in the 8th inning of game 4 when he basically already gave the win to the Yankees. He said the Royals were good in the late 70s and early 80s and then again in 2014 and 2015. Wow, Bob…thanks. Now those Yankee fans totally respect us. And thanks for making me feel so much better. So since 1969 we were basically good for a decade and then terrible with the exception of two years. Awesome. Thanks for kicking us while we were down, Bob. But hey, I still feel like a winner because I don’t have to listen to Bob for at least another year…and based upon the Royals history maybe not for a lot of years.

Another week in the NFL has gone by. I hope everyone else’s week is off to a better start this week than Mike Williams who obviously should have ran to the red line and now is about to get dumped because the GM of the Jets also known as Aaron Rodgers, just traded for Davante Adams. We are a 3rd of the way through the season so with that in mind, this week we rank the teams based upon their chances of making the playoffs.

What is less than zero percent?: Jaguars and Browns

These teams are absolute garbage…on fire. They are a dumpster fire if the fire was filled with poop. The Jags can’t even win in London now. The Browns just traded away their one good offensive player.

Zero percent: Panthers, Patriots, Titans, Giants

These teams are all real bad but slightly better than a dumpster filled with poop on fire.

Raiders gonna Raider…also known as 1%:

The Raiders are slightly better than the rest of the teams already listed…I think.

If everyone heals up real, real fast they have an outside chance of making the playoffs or 5%: Dolphins and Rams

The Dolphins need their quarterback back. The Rams need everyone back. Neither is happening.

Gonna hang around for a little longer but have no real chance which is code for 10%: Cardinals, Saints, Broncos

Cardinals are fun, the Saints are more fun with Spencer Rattler and the Broncos are fun for about 8 minutes every game. Broncos have the best chance due to their schedule but still not looking good.

Could make it if they didn’t play any home games giving them a 25% chance: Cowboys

3-0 on the road and 0-3 at home. And not just 0-3 but just getting completely obliterated at home. It’s so fun.

Not good but somehow have a shot so 40-70%: Chargers, Steelers, Colts

The Steelers are 4 and 2 and so they are off to a good start. I said I thought whoever won the Chargers vs Broncos game would make the playoffs. The Chargers schedule is easier than the Broncos and they got the win. They sit at 3-2 and their next 4 games are the cardinals, saints, browns and titans. That looks like 7-2 to me. Then all they likely have to do is win 3-5 the second half of the season. The Colts would make the playoffs if they kept playing Shane Falco. But they won’t because they are idiots. But if Richardson gets hurt fast enough they still got a shot.

Not that good but better than the teams already listed so will probably make it 50%: Eagles, Seahawks

Both these teams at times seem like real contenders. Other times they are getting blown out by the 49ers or their coach is talking smack to their own fans after barely beating the Browns.

Will either make it to the AFC championship game or completely implode. either 3% or 80%: Bengals and Jets

These two teams are on track to make a run or be a complete disaster. I trust the Bengals more because of their schedule. They are just 2-4 but they have the browns, eagles and raiders next. Then the go to the ravens and the chargers but then finish with the Steelers twice, at the cowboys (we know that is a win), the browns again and then the titans and broncos. This has a team riding high into the playoffs written all over it. They could also finish 6-11. The Jets just got Davante Adams and he knows where the red line is so that should fix everything. Be sure to drop your stock in Wilson and Lazard because when Davante is on the field, Rodgers doesn’t throw to anyone else. This does usually lead to great regular season success though.

Will be in the hunt if they stay healthish. So they are probably out or 51%: 49ers

They don’t need all of their players to be healthy. But they do need some of them. So they are probably out. This is a team that may enter this week with their 4th string running back and their 3rd string kicker.

3 of these 4 teams are making it so 75% obviously: The NFC North

All 4 of these teams have 4 wins. They are all playing well. They also all have to play each other. Eventually something has to give. The Bears are the worst of the bunch but have the easiest schedule. I’m most confident in the Lions but any combination of 3 of these teams wouldn’t surprise me.

2 of these 2 teams are making it or 100% for at least one of them: Bucs and Falcons

One is going to win the division but the one that doesn’t still gets to play the Saints and the Panthers. They are both good teams and I think they both have a very high chance of making it.

Probably already won their divisions so 85%: Texans, Ravens, Bills, Commanders

Texans and Commanders get in by default because their divisions are a mess. Bills and Ravens don’t have a big lead but I haven’t seen anything to make me think they won’t make it.

Already hosting the AFC Championship 100%: Chiefs

The Chiefs are 5-0 and rolling despite playing that well. They have a tie breaker over the Ravens. I don’t see the Bills and Texans having as many wins as them even if they beat the Chiefs. Sounds like the return of the Arrowhead invitational to me.

My 33.333333333% of the way official playoff predictions:

NFC:

1. Lions

2. Bucs

3. Commanders

4. Seahawks

5. Vikings

6. Falcons

7. Packers

AFC:

1. Chiefs

2. Ravens

3. Bills

4. Texans

5. Chargers

6. Steelers

7. Bengals

Go ahead and head to Vegas to put your new bets down. Tune in on Thursday for a special top 10 Thursday you won’t want to miss.