VITO'S VIEWS

Five observations on the final weekend of the NFL season:

1. The top two seeds in the NFC go into the playoffs with 13-3 records and backup quarterbacks, but that is the only thing the top seeded Eagles and second seeded Vikings have in common. The Eagles have to be worried if they can win with Nick Foles at quarterback. He only played a quarter in the team’s ugly 6-0 loss to Dallas and was only four of 11 for 39 yards and pick. Meanwhile Case Keenum played most of the season, going 11-3. The Vikings seem the better bet in the playoffs with Keenum than the Eagles are with Foles. The Vikings also could become the first team to play the Super Bowl in their own stadium.

Continue reading “Taking a look back: NFL Week 17”

Looking ahead to the final day of the NFL’s 2017 regular season:

1. New Year’s Eve won’t be Football Night in America The NFL won’t close the regular season with a prime time game on New Year’s Eve because it got unlucky this year. They try to schedule good matchups for the season finales. Like Dallas-Philadelphia and Carolina-Atlanta. But it turns out Dallas is out of the playoffs and Philadelphia has nailed down the top seed so nothing is at stake. And nothing may be stake when Carolina plays Atlanta if Seattle loses to Arizona and the Saints beat the Bucs. So the NFL decided to pass on Sunday night and flexed games so playoff contenders play at the same time.

Continue reading “Taking a look ahead: NFL Week 17”

Looking back on Week 16 in the NFL:

1. The 16^th week of the season brought the playoff picture into focus and left the NFL without a good enough matchup the final week for a prime time Sunday night game. So the regular season will end with the second games when the 12 playoff spots will be set. In the AFC, the four seeds are set with the Ravens and Titans needing victories in final week to clinch wild card spots. The Bills and Chargers need wins and help. In the NFC, only one final spot is open. Atlanta gets a spot with a victory over Carolina while the Seahawks sneak in if they beat Arizona at home and the Falcons lose.

Continue reading “Taking a look back: NFL Week 16”

Just three weeks ago, when the San Francisco 49ers were 1-10, their Christmas Eve matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars seemed likely to attract little intention.

But now it is suddenly an intriguing matchup between two young quarterbacks who’ve been on fire the last three weeks.

Jimmy Garoppolo has led the 49ers to three consecutive victories since taking over as quarterback and now is being hailed as the team’s franchise quarterback of the future.

But the victories were against the Bears, Texans and Titans. The Jaguars defense, the best in the league, will present him with his toughest challenge yet.

While Jimmy G is trying to establish his reputation, Blake Bortles of the Jaguars is trying to change his reputation.

Continue reading “Can the Jaguars’ “Trashman” continue to pick them up?”

1..   Going into the second to the last week, five teams have clinched playoff berths (Philadelphia, New England, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Jacksonville) and four (Eagles, Patriots, Steelers and Vikings) have clinched division titles and one (Eagles) has clinched a first round bye. Two more AFC teams (Jaguars and Chiefs) can clinch division titles with a win  Christmas Eve. The Eagles can clinch top seed in the NFC with a win while the Rams can clinch a division title and the Saints, Falcons and Panthers can clinch NFC playoff berths with wins. Baltimore’s win Saturday night means they can clinch a playoff berth with a victory over Cincinnati in its season finale. Minnesota’s victory over Green Bay Saturday night means they can clinch a bye Sunday if Carolina loses to Tampa Bay.

Continue reading “Taking a look ahead: NFL Week 16”

A look back at Week 15 in the NFL:

1. The highlight of the weekend was New England’s 27-24 victory over Pittsburgh in the best game of the season and the highest rated TV game of the year. It shows the fans are still attracted to a great matchup, but the NFL doesn’t have enough good matchups and good teams this year as overall ratings decline. Even the bad things about the game – Pittsburgh’s coaching mistakes and another controversial no catch ruling — created more talk and buzz after the game. The biggest consequence about the game is that the Patriots now will win the No. 1 seed and have home field advantage in the playoffs if they win their last two. If the Steelers and Patriots wind up in the AFC title game, it will be the most hyped game of the year.

Continue reading “Taking a look back: NFL Week 15”

Mike Tomlin and Todd Haley, c’mon down!

You are now members in good standings of the NFL coaches Game Mismanagement Club.

Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevell of Seattle and Dan Quinn and Kyle Shanahan, who was then in Atlanta, are among the members.

Carroll-Bevell and Quinn-Shanahan both lost Super Bowls because of their game management blunders.

We all remember Seattle being a yard from a second consecutive Super Bowl title before the Seahawks braintrust decided to have Russell Wilson throw from the one on second down instead of running Marshawn Lynch. We all know how that worked out.

Continue reading “Still hard to comprehend Steelers’ last-second bungling in Patriots loss”

A look ahead to Week 15 in the NFL:

1. This is a week to test if the NFL has a problem with over exposure. Starting with Denver’s win at Indianapolis Thursday night, the NFL has four prime time games in five nights. The Chargers at the Chiefs Saturday night, the Cowboys at the Raiders Sunday night, and the Falcons at the Bucs Monday night. The problem is that only one of these four games featured two teams with winning records. That’s the Chargers at the Chiefs. The best game is Sunday at 4:25 p.m. when New England goes to Pittsburgh, but CBS protected the game so it couldn’t be switched to Sunday night. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go.

Continue reading “Taking a look ahead: NFL Week 15”

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”