American Football

[Kevin]

I doubt the Vikings and Giants will be meeting in the playoffs again

[Kevin]

Let's see just how much worse things can get when we play the Commanders later. 0-5 potentially and with a mini-bye after this game, there could be changes already

I hope Roschon Johnson gets more touches and to show what he can do, he was Bijan Robinson's backup for the Longhorns and look how well he has started his career.

Yet another running back I'm hoping could turn out to be Walter Payton's regen.

[riise]

Commanders are looking ok-ish, certainly not the freebie wins I expected for the Giants - could be a sneaky good game tonight if the Bears do any defending.

[Dermotron]

BEAR DOWN

[Kevin]

Snap the 14 game losing streak with actually a great win but Bears legend Dick Butkus passes away the same day

[Dermotron]

Dick was a general legend


A win followed by trading Chase Claypool. The Bears are on the up

[Kevin]

Epitomised what a tough defensive player and defensive team built around that should be. The way he played and how the defensive side can intimidate on top of being great players paved the way for our legendary run and team in the mid 80's.

Fast forward to today and seemingly troublesome *offensive WR's, we've swapped a 7th round for their 6th the year after next too. There is a decent player in there somewhere but carry on the way he has and you're going to find yourself bouncing around teams and that being talked about rather than your production on the field.

*Offensive as in the offense, he's never offended me lol

[riise]

I went through every single game and picked a winner, without watching the bigger picture develop, so some of the records are a bit gaudy! But I think the positions reflect what I think of a lot of the teams... didn't know I liked the Steelers so much. And I don't hate the Raiders, just a brutal schedule.

AFC East
Buffalo Bills (16-1)
New York Jets (11-6)
Miami Dolphins (10-7)
New England Patriots (2-15)

AFC West
Kansas City Chiefs (14-3)
Los Angeles Chargers (12-5)
Denver Broncos (10-7)
Las Vegas Raiders (3-14)

AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers (15-2)
Cincinnati Bengals (14-3)
Baltimore Ravens (8-9)
Cleveland Browns (8-9)

AFC South
Jacksonville Jaguars (10-7)
Indianapolis Colts (6-11)
Tennessee Titans (5-12)
Houston Texans (2-15)

NFC East
Philadelphia Eagles (15-2)
Dallas Cowboys (11-6)
New York Giants (10-7)
Washington Commanders (2-15)

NFC West
San Francisco 49ers (15-2)
Seattle Seahawks (9-8)
Los Angeles Rams (4-13)
Arizona Cardinals (2-15)

NFC North
Detroit Lions (11-6)
Minnesota Vikings (9-8)
Chicago Bears (8-9)
Green Bay Packers (7-10)

NFC South
New Orleans Saints (11-6)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-8)
Atlanta Falcons (3-14)
Carolina Panthers (0-17)

About a quarter of the way through the season - let's see how wrong I was.

AFC East: Bills were never going to go 16-1 but losing to the Jets and the Jags is worrying when you've got scary-looking Dolphins in your division (even if they did beat them last week). Giving myself a pass on the Jets due to Rodgers' injury. Patriots actually a bit worse than I expected when predicting 2 wins for them.

AFC West: Chiefs will easily top the division, despite the offense looking... 'clunky'? Clearly I forgot that the Chargers are the Chargers but I guess they might still sneak a wild card. Put way too much faith in the Broncos, as they're as bad as the Raiders.

AFC North: what was I thinking with the Steelers? I blame preseason. I expect Bengals to rise to the top now that Burrow looks healthy, but the Browns and maybe the Ravens look better than I gave them credit for.

AFC South: I'm happy with my Jags record/placing, but it looks like every other team in this division is better than I expected, still ok with the order but wouldn't be surprised if Colts and Titans end up over .500. Was ready to say similar about the Texans but defeat to the Falcons has taken the air out of that balloon a bit.

NFC East: Eagles look like a juggernaut, going through the motions waiting for the postseason. Cowboys a lot more inconsistent than I expected so 11 wins looks ambitious. Massive homer shout for the Giants, expect them to finish below the Commanders now.

NFC West: 49ers also looking juggernautish as expected, should be a good NFC Championship game against the Eagles. I and the rest of the world were too low on the Rams, fair play to McVay and co... Seahawks record looks about right but will probably only be good enough for them to take third in the div. Cardinals friskier than anticipated but surely bottom.

NFC North: not much to say as it's playing out as expected - think I'm sticking to this order, though probably too many wins for Bears and Packers.

NFC South: 0-17 for Panthers is still alive! 11 wins for Saints was due to an easy schedule, can't see them hitting that number now because they're way too inconsistent. So no problem with the ordering here.

[Dermotron]

Similar reasons for Rams. Stafford has been great and their draft has been extraordinary even if you don't include Nukua. They have OLine and DLine rookies playing like prime veterans. Under rated the Buccs due to "Baker isn't very good". He's not elite but he's got some heart. Similar reason for the Texans. Amazing the same guys that knocked Herbert for accuracy issues made the same comments about Stroud. I'll draft whoever they mention has accuracy issues in fantasy next year.

We could probably have redone the whole lot once Rodgers got injured tbh.

Annoyed I didn't stick with originally making the Patriots woeful. Couldn't have foreseen Bengals bad start either. That AFC North is diabolical though so they may well make the play-offs. Unless you like turgid, gritty, aimless football that AFC North is most over rated division by some distance.

It's going to be interesting how some teams go from here.

Giants are done and things could get worse with Danny Dimes injury
Broncos getting beaten by Hackett/Zach should see Payton lose the dressing room
Bengals seem to have Burrow fully fit again
Colts with Taylor back but are arguably better with Minshew under centre
Patriots surely tank at this stage
Panthers must be eyeing a tank also. I know Young is raw but it's hard to see him becoming a top QB. He looks terrified
Bears could go on a heater with a bit of confidence. Hard to see them getting 8 or 9 wins though

[Kevin]

Think I might look at my predictions around the mid season mark, daren't look at the moment

Could pick one of many teams that are standing out for good or bad (mainly bad) atm, it could have been us but now it has to be the Patriots! Dear old Uncle Bill, how much longer can you put up with this?

[Dermotron]

That AFC North is diabolical though so they may well make the play-offs. Unless you like turgid, gritty, aimless football that AFC North is most over rated division by some distance.

Aging like milk on a windowsill in the summer sun

[Kevin]

That AFC North is diabolical though so they may well make the play-offs. Unless you like turgid, gritty, aimless football that AFC North is most over rated division by some distance.

Aging like milk on a windowsill in the summer sun

Will be interesting to see how many make the playoffs, could be all 4 of course but I doubt it (hope that doesn't age like the milk)

It is gritty I agree but they're also playing well, especially the Browns who are surprising me. At least the 49'ers bounced back to their true selves and put the upstart Jaguars firmly in their place.

[Dermotron]

Only 3 I'd say, Bengals look done with Burrow out for the rest of the year. Looks like Ravens will improve without Andrews as Lamar looks at someone else to pass to for the 1st time since week 2

[Kevin]

I don't think it would hurt the Bengals to use the rest of the season for things other than a playoff push now. I was watching the game and when Andrews went down it seemed so innocuous with the defenders tackle then he just seemed to start almost twitching and spasming so was obviously in pain.

We've managed to throw the game away after leading the Lions

Good news though tonight that College football is coming to Sky Sports! I've watched games sporadically over the years on ESPN by various means but I think there's going to be 3 games every Saturday?

So this week we have a Superbowl rematch on Monday night football, 3 games on Thursday with Thanksgiving tradition, a game on Black Friday, 3 college games on Saturday then back round to the Sunday slate of games

[Dermotron]

In theory next weekend should be a cracker but I think the players are so bulky now there is no hope of them recovering in 4 days, hence so many bad Thursday night games and so many injuries. Even the squads with depth are struggling to rotate guys in and when they do the games are just terrible.

WK01 - Lions 21-20 Chiefs
WK02 - Vikings 28-34 Eagles
WK03 - Giants 12-30 49ers
WK04 - Lions 34-20 Packers
WK05 - Bears 40-20 Commanders
WK06 - Broncos 8-19 Chiefs
WK07 - Jags 31-24 Saints
WK08 - Buccs 18-24 Bills
WK09 - Titans 16-20 Steelers
WK10 - Panthers 13-16 Bears
WK11 - Bengals 20-34 Ravens

2 good games (WK02, WK07) and 1 interesting game (WK01) out of 11. Yeah a few have been close but mostly from repeated bad play by tired players. I think an extra game in the late window of RedZone would be better than TNF any more.

[Dermotron]

The Jets before the half

[riise]

Ridiculous few minutes.

I could get used to this Friday 20:00 (GMT) timeslot though.

[Dermotron]

I could get used to this Friday 20:00 (GMT) timeslot though.

Yes, that and 2 Euro friendly games on Thanksgiving are nice. Even though the 2nd game ends after 00:30

[Dermotron]

The NFL would be better off cancelling Thursday and Monday games at this point

"10 hours of commerical free football"

[riise]

I guess those primetime slots are more loved by the Americans, but yeah I wouldn't miss 'em.

(though I'm sure you realise that the networks would never allow it!)

[Dermotron]

Oh for sure it'll never happen. Well, the Monday game for certain. The players might push for the Thursday game though. 4 days turn around is too short a window for most of them