Month: November 2024

–The NFL has a holiday feast for the fans this weekend with seven national TV games – the traditional three on Thanksgiving Day plus one on black Friday plus the doubleheader game Sunday afternoon and the usual Sunday andMonday night games. If you count the 1 p.m. Sunday games, a fan could watch eight games this weekend. 

–Unfortunately, most of the matchups aren’t compelling. Detroit hosts Chicago in the traditional first Thanksgiving Day game with the Lions heavily favored. The Cowboys host the second game against the Giants with neither team a contender. And Green Bay is favored to beat the Miami Dolphins in the Thanksgiving Day night game.

–The black Friday game has the Chiefs hosting the Raiders at 3 p.m. on Amazon. The Chiefs usually play close games but figure to win. The Sunday night game has Buffalo hosting San Francisco with the Bills favored to win and the Monday night game has Denver hosting the Browns with the Broncos favored.

–CBS has the doubleheader game with the Eagles hosting Baltimore in probably the best game of the weekend. CBS has no other late Sunday games so this one will be on national TV. CBS has four early games with the Steelers at the Bengals, the Chargers at Atlanta, the Titans at Washington and the Colts at New England.

–Fox has five games Sunday with the Falcons at the Vikings, the Seahawks at the Jets and the Texans at Jacksonville in the early games and the Bucs at Carolina and the Rams at New Orleans in the two late games.

—As the NFL season nears the three quarter pole and the teams head down the stretch, the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs are leading the pack with 10-1 records. The Lions easily beat the Colts 24-6 while the Chiefs had their usual late drive to edge the surprising Panthers, 30-27. Now the question is whether they will both get the top seeds and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

–In the NFC, the Eagles and the Vikings are both 9-2, a game behind the Lions and have the best shot at challenging them for the top seed. The Eagles look like the bigger threat to the Lions now that Saquan Barkley has become such a threat. He rushed for 255 yards and had 302 total yards in a 37-20 victory over the Rams. The Vikings barely beat the Bears, 30-27. They have already lost the first game to the Lions and meet them again in the season finale.

–In the NFC, the NFC South and West divisions are wide open but neither division is expected to produce a contender. The Seahawks beat the Cardinals, 16-6, and the two teams are tied for first at 6-5. Atlanta had a bye and remains in first place in the South at 6-5 while the Bucs, who routed the Giants, 30-7, are a game back at 5-6.

–In the AFC, the 9-2 Bills had a bye and remain a game behind the 10-1 Chiefs. Except for the 8-3 Steelers, who lost to Cleveland, 24-19, Thursday night, all the other AFC teams have lost at least four losses so it looks like a Chiefs-Bills battle for the top seed. The Bills beat the Chiefs so they have the tie-breaker.

–In the AFC South, the Texans at 7-5 have a two game lead over the 5-7 Colts. Both teams lost last week as the Texans lost to the Cowboys, 34-10, and Colts were beaten by the Lions. The winner f this division is likely to lose a first round home playoff game. The Texans started the year with high expectations but haven’t lived up to them. In the North the 8-3 Steelers have a one game lead in the loss column over the 8-4 Ravens, who stayed in the race with the 30-23 victory over the Chargers.

—The NFL has to hope that Cleveland’s 24-19 victory in a snowstorm over the Steelers Thursday night was a preview of what is to come this weekend. Going into the game it appeared to be a mismatch with the Steelers at 8-2 and the Browns at 2-8. But it turned out to be a spectacle in the snow and an exciting game as the Browns lost a 12 point lead and came back to win it on Nick Chubb’s two-yard run for a touchdown with 57 seconds left. The loss raised questions about whether the Steelers are a real contender because their offense is struggling. Meanwhile, the majority of the games this weekend appear to be mismatches so the NFL hopes there will be more upsets.

–In the Sunday night game, Philadelphia is at the Los Angeles Rams with the Eagles figured to win to boost their record to 9-2 to keep at least a two game lead over the Commanders. The Monday night game has the Ravens at the Chargers. This is a big game for both teams but the Chargers appear to have the edge because of Ravens defense is shaky. The Chargers are 7-3, two games behind the Chiefs. The Ravens are 7-4 and a game behind the Steelers in the loss column.

–The two best Sunday games are the Fox double header games – San Francisco at Green bay and Arizona at Seattle. Fox is giving the 49ers-Packers game national coverage with Kevin Burhardt and Tom Brady announcing. The Packers at 7-3 are two games behind the Lions and can’t afford a loss. Meanwhile the 49ers are 5-5 but just a game behind the 6-4 Cardinals, who lead the division.

–The three early Sunday Fox games are Dallas at Washington, Minnesota at Chicago and Detroit at Indianapolis with the Commanders, Vikings and Lions all favored.

–CBS has five Sunday games night, four at 1 p.m. and one late game and one team is a solid favored in all five. Kansas City win a rare Sunday early game at Carolina, Tampa Bay is at the Giants, New England is at Miami and Tennessee is at Houston in the early games. Denver is at Las Vegas in the afternoon game. You know the five favorites.  So Redzone will be showing seven early games and unless there is an upset or two, the games are easy to predict. The one thing is to watch is the return of Tommy DeVito as the Giants starter now that Daniel Jones has been benched and released. The Giants signing Jones to a $40 million a year contract and let Saquan Barkley walk in free agency was a personnel blunder for the ages. Barkley is spearheading the Eagle offense.

—The Buffalo Bills pushed the Kansas City Chiefs off their tightrope Sunday. The Chiefs came into the game as the league’s last unbeaten team at 9-0 but they were like walking a tightrope all season as they came from behind eight times. But this time Josh Allen made sure there was no Chiefs comeback with his touchdown scramble on 4^th and 2 late in the game that gave the Bills a 30-21 win. And Allen became the first quarterback to beat Patrick Mahomes four times and left the Bills only one game behind the Chiefs in the battle for the top seed. Nobody will be surprised if they meet in the AFC title game. Despite his 4-1 record against Mahomes in the regular season, Allen is 0-3 against Mahomes in the playoffs. The Chiefs loss also left the 1972 Dolphins as the only unbeaten team but they only had to win 17 games to have a perfect season. A team today would have to win 20 or 21 games to do it and that is unlikely to happen in free agency era.

–In the other feature Sunday game, the Steelers didn’t score a touchdown and gave up two touchdowns but still managed to beat the Ravens 18-16 on six field goals It was only the 11^th time in NFL history that a team has won without a touchdown while giving up two. Russell Wilson is now 4-0 as the starter despite failing to get a touchdown.  Lamar Jackson could only put 16 points on the scoreboard for the Ravens and it wasn’t enough. The victory left the surprising Steelers at 8-2 while the Ravens are 7-4. Both are likely to make the playoffs and both teams have to prove they can win in the playoffs 

–Detroit coach Dan Campbell has a good problem this year. He often has a problem deciding when to pull his starters in routs. He let Jerod Goff stay in until he led the Lions to touchdown drives on the Lions first seven possessions in a 52-6 rout of the Jaguars. The Lions are now favred to make the Super Bowl for the first time. They are in the lead in the battle for the top NFC seed at 9-1.The Jaguars are now 2-9 and both coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke are on the hot seat. 

–Jim Harbaugh is making a difference as the Chargers coach. The Chargers lost a 21 point lead to the Bengals but still came back to win 34-27 to boost their record to 7-3. They are just two games behind the Chiefs in the battle for the division lead and should at least make a wild card spot. The Bengals are a disappointing 4-7 and wasting a good season by quarterback Joe Burrow.

–The Colts-Jets game was a battle of a young and an old quarterback. Youth was served when Anthony Richardson was inserted into the starting lineup after a two game benching and led them to a 28-27 win over Aaron Rodgers. Richardson thrw for 272 yards and a touchwown and ran for two more. The Colts are 5-6 while the Jets are 3-8. After the game, owner Woody Johnson, who previously fired coach Robert Saleh, fired general manager Joe Douglas. The timing was puzzling since he could have waited until the end of the season. It also turns out Johnson wanted to bench Rodgers after four games but was talked out of it by the coaches. The Jets just continue to spin their wheels.

–The Kansas City Chiefs showed Sunday they are still so good at finding a way to win as they go for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era. They boosted their record to 9-0 and remained the only unbeaten team in the league with a 16-14 win over the Broncos. The Broncos had a chance to beat the Chiefs with a 35-yard field goal at the end of the game but the Chiefs blocked it. They now have a clear path to the top seed and a berth in the Super Bowl. The only AFC teams with fewer than three losses are the 8-2 Bills and 7-2 Steelers. The Chiefs play the Bills next week and Steelers on Christmas Day. 

–The Bills posted their fifth straight victory by beating the Colts 30-20 to go to 8-2 for the first time since 1993 when they were on their four Super Bowl run. They now have a tough stretch coming up with a home game against the Chiefs, a bye, a home game against 49ers and road games against the Rams and Lions. They have the division title and a playoff berth virtually locked up with a four game lead in the loss column over the Dolphins. But they must beat the Chiefs if they are to have a shot at the top seed.

–Russell Wilson threw three touchdown passes including a 32-yarder to Mike Williams in the final three minutes to give the Steelers the 28-27 victory over the Commanders. The Commanders had two shots to rally but a fourth and nine catch was ruled just short of the first down on a questionable spot. And when the Steelers had a 4^th and 1 they lined up to go for it but rookie defensive lineman Johnny Newton jumped offsides when he was fooled by Wilson’s hard count. The Steelers remain in first place in the AFC North with a 7-2 mark while the Ravens, who go to Pittsburgh Sunday, are 6-3.

– The Lions overcame five Jared Goff picks to edge the Texans, 26-23, while the Vikings overcame three Sam Darnold picks to beat the Jaguars 12-7. The 8-1 Lions have already beaten the 7-2 Vikings and they meet again in the final game of the season.  

–The Cowboys, Jets and Bears are three of the most disappointing teams in the league. All three lost Sunday as the Cowboys were beaten by the Eagles, 34-6, the Jets lost to the Cardinals, 31-6, and the Bears lost to the Patriots, 19-3. The Cowboys  are 3-6 and Jets at 3-7 and both are virtually out of the playoff race. The Jets thought Aaron Rodgers would be their answer at quarterback and gave him a lot of control on personnel decisions, but Rodgers is showing his age at 40 and the Jets likely will likely be in the market for a new quarterback next year. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are so out of sorts that their stadium caused a controversy. It has glass doors on both ends and if it isn’t overcast the sun shines in. CeeDee Lamb lost a touchdown pass in the sun and complained about the sun. Owner Jerry  Jones has rejected the idea of putting curtains up to blocck the sun and got annoyed when reporters brought it up. Of course, the Cowboys have many more problems besides the sun issue, namely the fact that Jones insists on being the general manager. The Bears haven’t recovered from their Hail Mary loss to Washington and have lost three in a row to drop to 4-5.

—As the NFL heads into its 10^th week of season, the issue of officiating is once again the main topic of conversation. The weekend started when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 35-34 in an exciting Thursday night game marred by bad officiating. The Bengals scored with 38 seconds left to cut the deficit to a point. The Bengals went for two, but Joe Burrow’s pass was incomplete.But the officials appear to miss two Ravens’ fouls on the play – defensive holding and a hit to Burrow’s helmet. Neither is reviewable so the Ravens won instead of the Bengals having a second shot at the two point conversion. The officials also missed a false start by the Ravens that should have nullified an 84-yard touchdown play by Tylan Wallace. The no calls showed the NFL either needs more review in the final two minutes or needs to approve the officiating. But the NFL has yet to show much interest in fixing the problems and loses some of its best officials to TV, which pays them better. So the controversies are likely to continue. 

–The feature Sunday night game this week is the Lions at Houston.The 7-1 Lions have won six in a row since losing their second game to Tampa Bay and are shooting for the top seed. They have a one game lead over the Vikings, who are playing at Jacksonville. The Texans have been somewhat disappointing but still have  5-3 record in the AFC South and a two game lead over the Colts. The Texans have lost two of last three including a surprising loss to the Jets last week. The Texans have already swept the Colts so that means they would win a tie-breaker against the  Colts.

–The other national games are Carolina vs. Giants in Munich on Sunday morning morning while the Rams are hosting Miami Monday night. The Giants and Carolina  are both 2-7 so the NFL once again has a game in Europe between two losing teams. But the NFL knows it can sell out the games in Europe regardless of the matchup. In the Monday night game, The Rams are 4-4 and a game behind the Cardinals while the Dolphins are struggling at 2-6   

–CBS has two feature early games – the Steelers and Commanders in the eastern half of the country and the undefeated Chiefs hosting Denver in the western half. The Buffalo at Indianapolis game also should be a good game but is basically being shown in the TV areas of the two teams. Tampa Bay is hosting San Francisco but the Bucs are blacking out their home game so it will be shown on the West Coast.

–The CBS feature game doubleheader game Sunday is Philadelpha at Dallas, which will be shown to most of the country. The 6-2 Eagles figure to win but the 3-5 Cowboys are an attraction even though they are a losing team and quarterback Dak Prescott is injured and willl be replaced by Cooper Rush..

—The feature game this weekend will be the Fox doubleheader game featuring the Lions at Green Bay which will be shown across the country except in parts of the West Coast where the Rams at Seattle game will be shown. The Lions have the best record in the conference and a victory would boost their record to 7-1 while a Green Bay loss would drop the Packers to 6-3. Packer quarterback Jordan Love suffered a groin injury against Jacksonville last week and it is uncertain if he will play.

–If the Lions win, Minnesota can remain a game behind them in the NFC North  and boost their record to 6-2 with a win over the Colts, who are 4-4 in the Sunday night game. It was flexed into the prime time spot when the Jaguar-Eagles game was moved to late afternoon. Joe Flacco will replace rookie Anthony Richardson as the Colts quarterback and the Colts can remain a game behind the 6-3 Texan in the AFC South with a win.

–The weekend started Thursday night with the Jets snapping a five game losing streak with a win over the Texans, who were expected to be a contender but haven’t played the way they did last year when C.J. Stroud led them to the division title as rookie. One problem is that the offensive line isn’t giving Stroud enough protection. He also said the Texans have to stop pointing fingers, which seemed to indicate they are doing just that.

–The NFL’s only unbeaten team, Kansas City, is favored to boost its record to 8-0 with a victory over Tampa Bay on Monday night. Except for the Bills and Steelers, who are both 6-2, the rest of the AFC teams have at least three losses so the Chiefs are in a good position to get the top seed and a bye as they go for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era.  The Bills host Miami while the Steelers have a bye.

–Besides the Miami-Buffalo game, CBS has three other early game – Denver at Baltimore, which will get the most coverage, the Chargers at Cleveland and New Orleans at Carolina. With the Broncos and Ravens both 5-3, it is a pivotal game for both teams in the two late CBS games, Chicago is at Arizona and Jacksonville is at Philadelphia.

–In the Fox early game, Dallas at Atlanta gets the most coverage while Washington  is at the Giants; Las Vegas is at Cincinnati and New England is at Tennessee in the other three games.