VITO'S VIEWS

A look back at Week 14 in the NFL:

1. The takeaway from Week 14 is that the Super Bowl race is now wide open. Just a week ago, Philadelphia was the NFC favorite, but the loss of CarsonWentz means the odds are against them. Pittsburgh and New England were the AFC favorites and one of them may make it, but the Steeler defense isn’t the same without Ryan Shazier. And the New England offense has been sluggish the last two weeks. The Patriots led Buffalo only 9-3 at halftime two weeks ago and lost to Miami last week as the Patriots went 0-11 on third down and Tom Brady threw two picks. Jacksonville, likely to be the third seed, has possibly the best defense in the league, but an inconsistent quarterback in Blake Bortles even though he has played well the last two weeks. San Diego, which started out 0-4 but is 7-2 the last nine games, could wind up the fourth seed. In the NFC, Philadelphia has the best record at 11-2, but Wentz injury opens the door for the 10-3 Vikings and the 9-4 Rams, Saints and Panthers and the 8-5 Falcons and Seahawks. Of those seven teams, one will be left out of the playoffs. In a year without a dominant team, it’s anybody’s guess which teams will wind up in the Super Bowl.

Continue reading “Taking a look back: NFL Week 14”

As if the NFL didn’t have enough problems, it now has a lame-duck commissioner.

In effect, Roger Goodell became a lame duck Wednesday in Dallas when NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart announced Goodell will leave the league when his five-year extension expires after the 2023 season.

And Lockhart said, according to Pro Football Talk, that Goodell will get no post-retirement payments after he leaves, and while he can continue to use the league’s plane service, Goodell will pay for the reduced rates as he does now for private travel.

Lockhart also said that Goodell’s new contract is performance-based and that “some owners will have some involvement in the oversight as we look at these things (like the CBA and TV deals) in the next seven years.’’

In effect, they’ve also clipped Goodell’s wings, with some owners (Jerry Jones?) having oversight.

Continue reading “Owners’ bizarre decision to make Goodell a seven-year lame duck is a mess”

A look ahead to Week 14 in the NFL:

1. The first two picks in the 2016 draft, the Los Angeles Rams’ Jared Goff and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Carson Wentz, meet for the first time Sunday to start what could be a classic rivalry over the next decade. And the stakes are high for both teams with the Eagles at 10-2 and the Rams at 9-3. This is the Eagles’ second game in a row on the West Coast, so they practiced in California after the loss in Seattle rather than fly back to Philadelphia. Wentz and the Eagles’ high-flying offense were held to 10 points in a 24-10 loss to Seattle. Wentz threw an interception and lost a fumble into the end zone in that game and will be looking to bounce back.

Continue reading “Taking a look ahead: NFL Week 14”

All it took was one game to get the Jimmy Garoppolo hype machine ignited.

San Francisco general manager John Lynch even said in a radio interview on KNBR that was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle that if he had Garoppolo as his quarterback in Tampa Bay, Lynch would have five Super Bowl rings instead of one.

The Chronicle reported that Lynch then laughed, and it was obvious hyperbole, but Lynch probably would have won more than one Super Bowl in Tampa Bay with a good quarterback.

In the 1999 NFC title game against St. Louis, the Tampa Bay defense held the Greatest Show on Turf to 11 points but lost 11-6 because they didn’t have a good quarterback or offense.

Still, even Lynch said that the game winning drive Garoppolo led against Chicago was just one game and they have to “pump the breaks’’ on the hype for the young QB.

Continue reading “Garoppolo trade already looking like a risky decision by Belichick”

A look back on Week 13 in the NFL:

1. The Steelers rallied from an early 17-0 deficit to beat Cincinnati 23-20 on a late field goal of 38 yards by Chris Boswell to remain tied with the New England Patriots at 9-2 for the best record in the AFC. The two teams meet a week from Sunday. But the victory was overshadowed by a spine injury suffered by Steeler linebacker Ryan Shazier in the first quarter. Shazier underwent surgery after returning to Pittsburgh and his season is apparently over and there are fears his career could end. The game also featured several illegal hits including one by JuJu Smith-Schuster on Vontaze Burfict that knocked him out of the game. Smith-Schuster was suspended for a game. The Bengals’ George Iloka also was originally suspended for a game but the suspension was overturned on appeal. The two teams have a history – Burfict knocked Antonio Brown of a playoff game last week and he was sidelined the following week when the Steelers were eliminated by the Patriots. Clearly, the rivalry needs to be toned down.

Continue reading “Taking a look back: NFL Week 13”

A look ahead to Week 13 in the NFL:

1. The focus is on the NFC this weekend with Philadelphia at Seattle in the prime time game Sunday night and Fox has a good doubleheader with Minnesota at Atlanta in the early game and Carolina at New Orleans in the late game. The Monday night game is the Steelers-Bengals, which doesn’t seem to be a good matchup but the Steelers have been playing down to the level of their competition all year so it could be closer than expected. And Steelers usually get good ratings. If the NFL ratings are going to rebound, the NFL needs a good showing this weekend. It’s December and the chilly weather up north tends to keep fans indoors. But maybe the lower ratings are the new normal for the NFL. And CBS has a tough Sunday with only one game featuring two teams with winning records: Pats-Bills. And does anybody think the Bills have a chance in this game?

Continue reading “Taking a look ahead: NFL Week 13”

It is unusual for a phrase to be remembered for almost a thousand years.

Yet King Henry VIII’s famous phrase in 1170, “Will no one get rid of this meddlesome priest?’’ hasn’t faded into the history books.

It was used by fired FBI director James Comey in hearings before Congress earlier this year.

Henry II was referring to Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, because they were having a dispute.

So four knights killed Becket even though Henry II later said he didn’t mean for him to be killed.

Continue reading “Giants’ Mara comes off as clueless in messy benching of Eli”

A look back on Week 12 in the NFL:

1. The Kansas City Chiefs continued their slide with their fifth loss in the last six games, a 16-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Chiefs still lead the AFC West with a 6-5 mark and have what looks like an easy schedule except for the game against the Chargers. But the way their offense is struggling, there may be no easy games and the Chiefs are in danger of missing the playoffs. The Chiefs got one first down in the first half against a Bills team that was giving up an average of 45 points a game the last three games. Coach Andy Reid is sticking with veteran Alex Smith and the offensive woes aren’t all on him. But if Smith doesn’t get on track, the Chiefs are likely to move to Patrick Mahomes next year and Smith will be looking for a job.

Continue reading “Taking a look back: NFL Week 12”

Jacksonville Jaguars fans aren’t going to believe this, but Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians says he would be “comfortable’’ with Blaine Gabbert starting in 2018 if Carson Palmer retires.

Arians wouldn’t rule it out happening at his press conference Monday, according to azcentral.com.

“Oh yeah,” the Cardinals coach said, “I think that’s a possibility.”

Gabbert, a first round bust with the Jaguars, led the Cardinals to a 27-24 victory over his former team Sunday.

“I’m really proud of him,” Arians said. “These things don’t happen. I mean, you hope they don’t happen very often when your top two guys go down. But we’re very blessed to have him and he has taken the bull by the horns and showing us, ‘I’m a player. I can play at this level and play at a very high level.’”

Continue reading “Arians’ belief in Gabbert still probably won’t end well for Cardinals”

The NFL can be thankful for the Pittsburgh Steelers-Green Bay Packers primetime matchup last Sunday night.

After all three Thanksgiving day games declined in the ratings – including a staggering 20.5 percent drop by the Dallas Cowboys-Los Angeles Chargers game over last season’s Dallas game – the Steelers-Packers game showed a three percent increase.

That is a modest bump but a positive one in a year of declining ratings for the NFL, even though it was a 10 percent drop from the previous week’s Sunday night game.

The Dallas drop was particularly alarming because the Cowboys are one of the league’s most popular teams, although they lost a lot of star power when commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Ezekiel Elliott for six games. Goodell’s long quest to suspend Elliott even though the league’s lead investigator said the alleged victim wasn’t credible may have cost the NFL in the ratings.

There were fears the Steelers-Packers game could drop because Aaron Rodgers was injured, but both the Steelers and the Packers are popular national teams and bring in a lot of eyeballs. And the game wound up closer than expected, with the Steelers winning 31-28 on a field goal as time expired.

Continue reading “Kudos to Steelers’ Tomlin for admitting he’s looking ahead to Patriots”