VITO'S VIEWS

–There will be seven national games this Christmas weekend on seven different platforms, but you will need NFL Network, Amazon and Peacock to see all seven. It will be interesting to see what ratings will be this weekend.

–The feature game will be on ABC Christmas night with Baltimore at the 49ers. This could be a Super Bowl review. The 49ers are almost a lock to make it through the NFC to get to the Super Bowl and the Ravens are top seed in AFC. The Ravens are the one team that could take the the 49ers down with Lamar Jackson’s ability to scramble for up to seven seconds before throwing a pass. And he can also run if he doesn’t find an open receiver. If the 49ers can contain Jackson, they will become the favorite to win the Super Bowl. They figure to beat the Commanders and Rams in their last two regular season games. The Ravens by contrast have another challenging game next week in Miami.

–The NBA has turned Christmas day into a holiday event so NFL has decided to climb on bandwagon with three national games. The Raiders at the Chiefs on CBS and the Giants at the Eagles on Fox will be on before the Baltimore at San Francisco feature game at night on ABC so all three broadcast partners get a Christmas game.

–The weekend starts with the Thursday nightgame on Prime featuring the Saints at Rams followed by a full slate of games on Christmas Eve. CBS has Cleveland at Houston, Seattle at Tennessee, Washington at the Jets plus Jacksonville at Tampa in the late game. Fox has Detroit at Miami, Indianapolis at Atlanta, and Green Bay at Carolina with Dallas at Miami and Arizona at Chicago in late games. New England is at Denver at night on the NFL Network.

–The Jaguars at Tampa Bay game may affect four other teams. A Jaguar victory means the Jaguars could beat out Texans and Colts for the division title by beating Panthers and Titans in last two games. A Tampa Bay win would keep them ahead of Saints in battle for division title even if Saints beat the Rams.

–Miami needs a victory over Dallas to keep a two game lead over the Bills in the AFC East and to show they can beat good teams especially since the Bills routed the Cowboys last weekend. The Cleveland at Houston game also has playoff implications for both AFC teams with Browns at 9-5 and the Texans at 8-6and both trying to get a wild card spot if they dont win their divisions.

–The 49ers seem to be on the fast track to the Super Bowl in the NFC. They routed the Cardinals 45-29 to go to 11-3 while the Cowboys lost to the Bills 31-10 and the Eagles lost their third straight to Seattle 20-17.  The Cowboys and Eagles are both 10-4 and both were routed by the 49ers. The 10-4 Lions are the only other team in the conference above .500 as they beat the Broncos, 42-17.

–By contrast, it is a wide open race for the top seed in the AFC. Baltimore stayed on top of the AFC at 11-3 with a 23-7 victory over the Jaguars, but have to play the 49ers and Miami the next two weeks and those two games will determine whether they keep the top spot.

–Miami routed the Jets 30-0 to go to 10-4 but they have to prove they can beat good teams. They finish with Dallas, Baltimore and Buffalo as they attempt to show they are a contender, not a pretender. The Chiefs still have receiver problems but stayed on top of the AFC West at 9-5 with a 27-17 victory over the Patriots. They have a two game lead over 7-7 Denver in AFC West. Denver lost to Lions.

–Buffalo and Cincinnati cant be counted out. The Bengals beat Vikings27-24 while Buffalo drilled the Cowboys 31-10, The Bills and Bengals are both 8-6.  Cleveland is 9-5 after beating the Bears, 20-17, but have to try to keep winning with veteran Joe Flacco at quarterback to get a wild card spot. They are two games behind the Ravens in the AFC North..

–Jacksonville’s loss to the Ravens was their third straight and dropped them into a tie with the Colts and Texans at 8-6 in the AFC South. The Jaguars have the tie-breaker over those two teams and will win the division if they sweep the Bucs, Panthers and Titans in their last three games. But the winner of this division is not likely to be a Super Bowl contender.

–There will be six national games this weekend, but, the most compelling game will be Dallas at Buffalo as the doubleheader game on Fox Sunday that will be televised nationally. It is Fox’s only late game.The Bills at 7-6 are trying to stay in the AFC playoff chase while Dallas is tied  with Eagles and San Francisco, which has clinched a division spot and has the edge in battle for top seed. All three are 10-3. The 49ers should have what is likely to be an easy game against Arizona. 

–The Thursday night game pitting the Chargers at Las Vegas has little at stake for either team. Both teams are 5-8 and Charger quarterback Justin Herbert has a broken finger.

–The NFL will have a tripleheader on Saturday with all three games on the NFL Network. The games are Minnesota at Cincinnati, Pittsburgh at Indianapolis and Denver at Detroit. All four teams in the first two games are 7-6 and fighting for wild card spots. The Lions are 9-4 with a two game lead in the NFC North while Denver is in the mix in the AFC at 7-6. Amazing that five of the six teams playing Saturday are 7-6.

–The Sunday night game of the week features two division leaders in the AFC – the 10-3 Ravens who currently have the top seed and the 8-5 Jaguars. The Jaguars beat the Ravens at home last year,but have lost two games in a row to backup quarterbacks and have to stop Lamar Jackson.

–The Philadelphia at Seattle game was flexed to Monday night and the Kansas City at New England was moved to 1 p.m. game Sunday on Fox. It showed how far the Patriots have fallen that even a game against Patrick Mahomes was flexed out of prime time. Seattle is 6-7 trying to stay in wild card chase while the Eagles are trying to rebound from losses to the 49ers and Cowboys that dropped them from first to fifth seed in NFC.

–The talk of the weekend was Kadarius Toney of the Chiefs lining up offsides and nullifying a touchdown play that would have given the Chiefs the lead over Buffalo with less than two minutes left. Toney was definitely lined up offsides but officials often don’t call it and Patrick Mahomes went ballistic after the game and coach Andy Reid said it was an embarrassment to the league. Mahomes said he regretted his loss of composure the next day. The bigger problem for Mahomes is that his receivers have dropped 33 passes and will likely cost him a shot at a repeat this year although Mahomes may still carry them to the playoffs..

–The Philadelphia Eagles were the big losers Sunday as a setback to the Cowboys  dropped them from first to fifth seed as a wild card. Meanwhile, the 49ers were the first team to clinch a playoff berth and took over the top seed in the NFC by beating Seattle. The road to the Super Bowl likely goes through San Francisco in the NFC.

–It is a different story in the AFC where three of the four division leaders lost and Baltimore remained the top seed by beating.the Rams with an overtime touchdown on a punt return. The three division leaders that lost, Miami, Chiefs and Jaguars, all remained in first place in their divisions despite the losses.  The 8-5 Chiefs now only have a one game lead over the 7-6 Broncos while the Jaguars have a one game lead and the tie break over the Colts and Texans and the 9-4 Dolphins have a twp game lead pver the Bills.

–The Bills and Bengals are two of the six AFC teams that are 7-6 and both won over the weekend to keep themselves in the playoff picture as they attempt to salvage what has been a disappointing season for both teams.

–The Panthers fell to 1-12 iwith the loss to the Saints and are now two games ahead of the 3-10 Cardinals and Patriots in the battle for the top pick. That is good news for the Bears, who own the Panthers’ top pick. The Bears are a longshot to grab a wild card spot at 5-8 despite an upset win over the Lions. The Cardinals had a bye while the Patriots hurt themselves in the battle for the top pick while beating the Steelers.

–There are four prime time games this weekend but only one is a compelling game. On Sunday night, Philadelphia goes to Dallas. An Eagles win would clinch the division title and leave them still with the top seed in the NFC. A Cowboy win would put them in a tie for first in NFC East. But since the 49ers, who host Seattle, scored 42 points against both the Eagles and Cowboys, it may not matter which team wins this one in Dallas. The Eagles won the first game.

–The other three prime times games are New England at Pittsburgh Thursday night and a doubleheader on Monday night with Green Bay at the Giants and Tennessee at Miami. The Steelers, Packers and Miami figure to win these three games.

–The feature Sunday game is the CBS doubleheader game with the Chiefs at the Bills. The Chiefs at 8-4 and are still in the running for the top seed while the 6-6 Bills need a win to stay in the wild card race.

–The game between the 8-4 Jaguars at the 7-5 Browns may be a low scoring affair between two teams that may have to start backup quarterbacks.  It will be the feature 1 p.m. game on CBS. The Jaguars lead the AFC South whlle Browns are in the wild card hunt.

–Miami currently has the top seed in the AFC at 9-3 and figures to stay in that position with a victory at Las Vegas while the Ravens still stay on their heels with a victory over the Rams. If they got win, both teams will be at 10-3 with the top two seeds with four games left..   

—The 49ers’ 42-19 rout of the Eagles boosted their record to 10-3 and put them only one game behind the 11-2 Eagles in the battle for the NFC’s top seed. But it doesn’t really matter whether the 40ers get the top seed. The only thing the 49ers have to worry about is avoiding injuries. They lost three in a row when they were hit by a rash of injuries and Brock Purdy was coming back from a concussion. Now that they are healthy, they are the team to beat in the NFC. They scored 42 points on the road against both the Eagles and Cowboys.

–In the AFC, the race for the top seed is wide open. The Jaguars could have moved into the top seed by beating Cincinnati but dropped to the fourth seed at 8-4 by losing to the Bengals in overtime. They also lost Trevor Lawrence, who suffered a high ankle sprain. Coach Doug Pederson said it wasn’t as bad as it looked and wouldn’t rule him out of Sunday’s game at Cleveland but it is unlikely he can return in five days..

–Miami moved into the top seed in the AFC at 9-3 by beating the hapless Commanders while Baltimore is the second seed at 9-3 after having a bye. Kansas City lost to Green Bay to fall to the third seed at 8-4. All three of the current wild card teams are 7-5 but all three teams – Steelers, Browns and Colts – are playing backup quarterbacks so they don’t have any easy road to the playoffs. Kenny Pickett of the Steelers rbecame the latest quarterback to go down with a high ankle sprain and will require surgery. Mitch Tribusky will step in for him.  Meanwhile, the 7-5 Texans and 6-6 Bengals, Bills and Broncos remain in the wild card race.

–The controversy over officiating continues to be a hot topic. In the Green Bay-Kansas City game, the Packers were penalized for a hit on Patrick Mahomes even though he was still in boundswhen he was hit.. Then the officials missed an obvious pass interference call on the Packers and the no call helped ruin the Chiefs bid for a tie to send the game into overtime. And in overtime in the Jaguars-Bengals game, the officials made a questionable holding call on the Jaguars that wiped out a long pass to the two-yard line. So the debate over officiating will contuie.

–Firing Frank Reich didn’t make much difference for the Panthers, who lost to the Bucs to fall to 1-10. The have a one-game lead in the battle for the top pick over the 2-9 Patriots but the Panthers have traded the pick to the Bears who may have two of the top five picks. The  Patriots were blanked in a 6-0 loss to the Chargers and the speculation continues that owner Bob Kraft may move on from Bill Belichick. 

–One of the best games of the season will be played Sunday, but it won’t be in prime time. The 49ers will go to Philadelphia for a  rematch of last year’s NFC title game.  It will be the doubleheader game on Fox, which means the network probably protected the game.  It is a virtual national game because the only other Fox game in that time slot  will be Cleveland at the Rams. Carolina plays at Tampa Bay at 4 pmbut it will be shown on CBS and the Bucs are blacking it out. With the Eagles at 10-1 and the 49ers at 8-3, there is a lot at stake. A loss would knock the 49ers out of the battle for the top seed. There is backstory too because the Eagles beat the 49es in the NFC title game last year after Brock Purdy was injured early and their backup, Josh Johnson, went out in third quarter with a concussion and Purdy had to finish the game and only handoff. The Eagles won in a rout, 31-7, but the 49ers felt they would have won if Purdy hadn’t gotten hurt. Now the Eagles want to prove they can beat them with Purdy healthy.

–There are 12 other games this weekend with six teams having byes but none of the games are must watch TV. The weekend starts with Seattle at Dallas Thursday night, which figures to be an easy win for the Cowboys. If they win and the Eagles lose to the 49ers, first place will be stake next week when the Cowboys host the Eagles next week.

–In the Sunday night game, the Chiefs go to Green Bay in a matchup of the two teams that played in the first Super Bowl. And while Jordan Love is showing good potential, he is no match for Patrick Mahomes so the Chiefs figure to win.

–In the Monday night game, Cincinnati is at Jacksonville, which would have been e a good game if Joe Burrow was healthy. Without him, the Jaguars figure to win easily.

–The rest of the games won’t get much attention. Miami and Detroit figure to beat Washington and the Saints to go to 9-3 and Pittsburgh is likely to go to 8-4 by beating the Cardinals so it remains to be seen if there are any major upsets.

–The Philadelphia Eagles keep surviving with their high wire act. For the fourth game in a row they overcame a halftime deficit and needed a 59-yard field goal at the end of regulation to send ithe Bills game to overtime. They then beat Buffalo  on a touchdown drive by Jalen Hurts after the Bills kicked a feld goal on their first possession.. The Eagles have the best record in the league at 10-1 and have a two game lead in the battle for the top seed in the NFC. They play two 8-3 teams – The 49ers and Cowboys the next two weeks – as they try to hold onto the top seed. The final four games against Seattle, Arizona and twice against the Giants should  be in their win column.Detroit lost to Green Bay on Thanksgiving Day to fall to 8-3, The Lions figure to win their division with a three game lead but are unlikely to get the top seed. 

–While the Eagles are in control in the NFC, the AFC is wide open as three different teams had the top seed Sunday. First, the Jaguars stepped into the first seed by beating Houston  and then Kansas City took over the top seed by beating the Raiders in a late afternoon game to go 8-3 and then Baltimore ended the day by beating the Chargers to go 9-3. So all three teams have a shot at the seed along with the Dolphns, who beat the Jets on Black Friday.  While the Dolphins have a three game lead in their division, the Jaguars and Chiefs have two game leads and the Ravens have a one game lead.

—Josh Dobbs’ storybook start in Minnesota replacing injured Kirk Cousins hit a roadblock when he threw four picks in a loss to the Bears. The Vikings are still the seventh seed but the odds may be against them making the playoffs. The Bengals, Browns and Jets, who were considered contenders at the start of the year, all lost with their starting quarterbacks out for the year and could misss the playoff although the Browns are currently the sixth seed.

–The Patriots dropped to 2-9, one game behind the 1-10 Panthers in the battle for the top pick although the Bears own the Panthers pick.. Rookie Chad Ryland missed a 35-yard field goal at the end in a 10-7 loss to the Giants. In the previous game, he missed a 35-yarder in a 10-6 loss to the Colts. It doesn’t help that coach Bill Belichick got rid of dependable Nick Folk to go with Ryland after he drafted him on the fourth round. There is more speculation owner Bob Kraft may be ready to move on from Belichick.

–The Panthers lost to the Titans, which led owner David Tepper, not noted for his patience, to fire coach Frank Reich 11 games into his first season. Reich has now been fired two years in a row and is the third coach in the last three years to be fired before his first season was over.

Tom Landry was winless in his first year in 1960 as head coach of the Cowboys and didn’t make the playoffs until 1966. When fans started to get restless about his slow start, owner Clint Murchison gave him a 10-year contract. He went on to win two Super Bowls.

Chuck Noll went 1-13 in his first year with the Steelers in 1969 and didn’t make and didn’t make the playoffs until 1972. He went on to win four Super Bowls.

Bill Walsh had a 2-14 record in his first year in San Francisco and went on to win three Super Bowls.

That was then. This is now. Few owners have that kind of patience these days.

For the third year in a row, a first-year head coach was fired before he finished the season. Urban Meyer of the Jaguars and Nathaniel Hackett of the Broncos were the first two, and it could be argued they were poorly suited for an NFL head coaching job.

But there were a lot of eyebrows raised when Carolina owner David Tepper after he fired Frank Reich for going 1-10 in his first season with a rookie quarterback. Reich took the Colts to the playoffs twice in four years before being fired last year. He was the first coach to be fired in back-to-back seasons since the merger.

Granted, the offense has been terrible and it didn’t improve when Reich took over the play calling duties from Thomas Brown, who will resume those duties. Tepper also fired running back coach Duce Staley and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown.

But it is hard to to see how this revolving door is going to lead to success. When Tepper bought the team in 2018 for $2.275 billion, he inherited Ron Rivera as his coach. He fired him with four games left in 2019. He then hired Matt Ruhle in 2020 and gave him a seven-year, $63 million contract. He fired him early in 2022 and handed the job to Steve Wilks, who went 6-6. But he didn’t retain Wilks and hired Reich.

So who knows where Tepper goes from here. He is the same owner who made a deal to build a practice facility and headquarters in Rock Hill, S.C., but then it fell through.

Until Tepper finds the right coach and sticks with him, he will find out that being a billionaire doesn’t translate to success on the field.

–There are no byes on Thanksgiving weekend with six national gameson tap – three on Thanksgiving and a black Friday game plus the usual Sunday and Monday night games. Unfortunately some of the matchups aren’t what the league had hoped they would be. For example, the Jets were supposed to have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback against Miami. Instead, journeymen Tim Boyle will start  for Zach Wilson, who was benched last week. The Jets defense may keep them in th game, but it figures to be an eeasy win for the Dolphins. And they expected Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow to start against the Steelers but he is out for the year after being injured last week and that should give the Steelers the edge. 

–The Lions and Cowboys will get the first two Thanksgiving Day slots as usual but the games aren’t tasty. The Lions figure to beat Green Bay and the Cowboys should rout the Commanders. The prime time game with San Francisco at Seattle could be interesting but the Forty-Niners should have the edge.The Lions-Packers-game is good for nostalgia. In 1962, the Lions crushed the Packers on Thanksgiving Day, costing them a perfect season. The Lions almost beat them twice, losing the first game 9-7, which was the focus of the classic book by W.C Heinz, “Run to Daylight.” The Lions went 11-3 and didn’t make the playoffs because there were no wild cards in those days so they didn’t get a third crack at the Packers. But Vince Lombardi decided he didn’t want to play in Detroit every year on Thanksgiving Day and pulled the Packers out of playing there every year starting in 1964. It is a coincidence the Packers will play in the game this year. This time, they are the underdogs.

–In a game that no one expected to be for first place in the AFC South, Houston will host the Jaguars. Houston won the first place and is 6-4 to the Jaguars 7-3. A Houston win would vault them into first place because they would have the tie break over the Jaguars. But the Jaguars have won six of their last seven and aren’t likely to overlook the Texans the way they probably did in the first meeting. It will be the second matchup of rookie C.J. Sroud and Trevor Laswrence. They could be dueling twice a year for the next decade.

–Will the Eagles and Chiefs be focused Sunday after their emotional Super Bowl rematch Monday night? The Eagles will host the Bills and the Chiefs will go to Las Vegas. The Eagles and Chiefs both figure to win but they could be drained. The Eagles are 9-1 but have won six games by seven points or less. And the Chiefs receivers have to show they can catch the ball. They lead the league in drops and two on the final drive in the fourth quarter against the Eagles cost them the game.

–The Sunday night game features Baltimore at the Chargers and is another matchup that looked much better when the season came out that it does now. The Chargers are one of the most disappointing teams in the league at 4-6 after last week’s loss to the Packers, 23-20. Brandon Staley figures to get fired at the end of the year because he can’t win with Justin Herbert at quarterback. But the Ravens can’t take it for granted because Herbert can keep the Chargers in games.