Here is the latest top 10 from the AP's Pro 32 Poll:
1. Los Angeles: 7-1
2. Green Bay: 7-1
3. Arizona: 7-1
4. Dallas: 6-1
5. Tampa Bay: 6-2
6. Buffalo: 5-2
7. Tennessee: 6-2
8. New Orleans: 5-2
9. Oakland: 5-2
10. Baltimore: 5-2
On paper, the Game of the Week is on Sunday night, with the number-1 Rams hosting the number-7 Titans. However, Derrick Henry is out for the year, and it's hard to see the Titans going very far without him. We're still dealing with byes, and that's the only game this week featuring two top-10 teams.
Meanwhile, here's our record in Survivor Pool:
Week One: Los Angeles 34 - 14 Chicago (survived)
Week Two: Cleveland 31 - 21 Houston (survived)
Week Three: Denver 26 - 0 New York Jets (survived)
Week Four: Buffalo 40 - 0 Houston (survived)
Week Five: Tampa Bay 45 - 17 Miami (survived)
Week Six: Indianapolis 31 - 3 Houston (survived)
Week Seven: Arizona 31 - 5 Houston (survived)
Week Eight: Kansas City 20 - 17 New York Giants (survived)
This week I'm going with Dallas. The number-4 Cowboys are hosting the number-21 Denver Broncos on Sunday, as the Cowboys make a rare appearance in the noon Central time slot. I watched the Broncos beat the Football Team last week, and I think it will be a heavy lift for them to beat Dallas on the road.
The traditional Jets uniforms -- the ones they wore in Super Bowl III -- are one of the most striking and classic uniforms in American sports. Now they are wearing a horrific combination that involves shiny metallic green helmets, white jerseys with dark green numerals, and black pants. They look exactly like a team that should be playing in the Sun Belt.
ReplyDeleteI figure Mike White of WKU got to decide which uniforms they wore last night after his big game Sunday.
DeleteMeanwhile, the Colts still have one of the best uniforms in sports, but have decided to ruin their look by combining blue pants and blue jerseys. They look like Kentucky in the 1980's getting ready to lose at home to Tennessee. (These days, of course, Kentucky would roll out a shiny metal-looking helmet for that loss.)
ReplyDeleteBoooooooooo!
DeleteHey, look on the bright side: the Kentucky media can stop worrying that Mark Stoops will leave UK for another school.
DeleteActually, given that this game is on Thursday Night, it's pretty easy to pretend that it's not an NFL game at all. From the corner of my eye, it really looks like UK is playing Ohio University on ESPN 2.
ReplyDeleteSure, it doesn't make sense that UK would be playing Ohio U. in November -- that sounds more like a 1 PM game on the first Saturday in September. But for that matter, it doesn't make sense that the Jets would wear black pants.
ReplyDeleteActually, I just remembered that when I was about 12, I made up a whole football league of my own with 16 teams divided into four divisions of four teams each. I don't remember all the teams, but I remember that the New York team was the Monsters, and their uniforms were green and black -- because, you know, they were monsters. Now in 1978, I had never seen a team in green and black, and this was annoying because I had a hard time picturing the Monsters. And that was a problem because they were an important team in the league. But now, after all these years, I have a good idea of what their uniform looked like -- or at least what it looks like now.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, in the KHSAA 1A playoffs, Raceland (10-1) defeated Fairview (0-12) by a score of 57-0. That's why I don't follow the playoffs until they reach the quarter-finals.
ReplyDeleteThe Colts' all-time record is 537-478-7, for a winning percentage of .529. They rank 13th in League history in winning percentage. Their top performer by Approximate Value is Peyton Manning. According to Pro Football Reference, their top passer is Peyton Manning, their top runner is Edgerrin James, and their top receiver is Marvin Harrison. Their top coach is Tony Dungy.
ReplyDeleteRest in peace, Tom Matte (1939-Tuesday). I liked it that the NYT made "Emergency Quarterback" its leadoff identifier in the headline.
DeleteThe Jets' all-time record is 412-519-8, for a winning percentage of .443. They rank 27th in League history in winning percentage. Their top performer by Approximate Value is Don Maynard. According to Pro Football Reference, their top passer is Joe Namath, their top runner is Curtis Martin, and their top receiver is Don Maynard. Their top coach is Weeb Ewbank.
ReplyDeleteIf Keyshawn Johnson, Wesley Walker and Wayne Chrebet had played all of their games against the Dolphins, it feels like all three would've made the Hall of Fame. Curtis Martin is in the Hall of Fame, and, if he had played all of his games against the Dolphins (instead of just 60 percent of them), he would've made the Super Hall of Fame.
DeleteThe Colts' all-time record against the Jets is 42-29-0.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL is apparently not going to let me have any fun this year.
ReplyDeleteIt is Super Bowl weekend in the NFL. A lot of former Super Bowl matchups this week, including:
ReplyDeleteChiefs-Packers
Colts-Jets
Cowboys-Broncos
Panthers-Patriots
Rams-Titans
Broncos lead Dallas 13-0 with 12:13 left in the second quarter. Not looking good for me.
ReplyDeleteDenver is absolutely dominating Dallas. With only 3:41 left before halftime, the Broncos are up 16-0, and have outgained the Cowboys 202 yards to 101. This isn't about turnovers, because there haven't been any. Denver is simply pounding Dallas on both sides of the ball. I have no regrets for my pick; Dallas hasn't looked this bad all year, and Denver hasn't looked this good. But that's Survivor Pool.
ReplyDeleteI didn't necessarily think Dak Prescott would be all the way back -- and he's plainly not. But I thought Dallas's defense would do something, and they have been terrible.
ReplyDeleteCurrent scores:
ReplyDeleteBaltimore 3 - 14 Minnesota (2d)
Carolina 6 - 7 New England (2d)
Cincinnati 7 - 24 Cleveland (2d)
Dallas 0 - 16 Denver (2d)
Jacksonville 6 - 6 Buffalo (2d)
Miami 7 - 3 Houston (2d)
New Orleans 0 - 3 Atlanta (2d)
New York Giants 10 - 10 Oakland (2d)
The Cowboys are being annihilated, 27-0 with 11 minutes left in the 4th quarter, and I'm going to be eliminated from Survivor Pool. Denver has outgained Dallas 392 yards to 122, and Dallas does not have a first down in the second half. Just a complete and utter collapse by the Dallas offense, along with a very poor performance by the Dallas defense. All at home against a team that had lost four of its last five. Oh, well. That's life in the NFL.
ReplyDeleteCurrent scores:
ReplyDeleteBaltimore 24 - 24 Minnesota (4th)
Carolina 6 - 24 New England (4th)
Cincinnati 16 - 34 Cleveland (4th)
Dallas 0 - 27 Denver (4th)
Jacksonville 9 - 6 Buffalo (4th)
Miami 17 - 6 Houston (4th)
New Orleans 13 - 24 Atlanta (4th)
New York Giants 20 - 16 Oakland (4th)
Obviously, I should have gone with the Dolphins.
One in a row!
DeleteThis week will be a bloodbath in Survivor pools. Dallas lost to Denver, and Jacksonville just beat Buffalo. If you avoided both of those games, as well as last week's game between the Jets and the Bengals, you are in really good shape.
ReplyDeleteUpdate on scores:
ReplyDeleteBaltimore 31 - 31 Minnesota (OT)
Carolina 6 - 24 New England (F)
Cincinnati 16 - 41 Cleveland (F)
Dallas 16 - 30 Denver (F)
Jacksonville 9 - 6 Buffalo (F)
Miami 17 - 9 Houston (4th)
New Orleans 25 - 27 Atlanta (F)
New York Giants 23 - 16 Oakland (F)
Baltimore kicks a game-winning field goal at the end of OT, and the noon Central games are in the books:
ReplyDeleteBaltimore 34 - 31 Minnesota (F-OT)
Carolina 6 - 24 New England (F)
Cincinnati 16 - 41 Cleveland (F)
Dallas 16 - 30 Denver (F)
Jacksonville 9 - 6 Buffalo (F)
Miami 17 - 9 Houston (F)
New Orleans 25 - 27 Atlanta (F)
New York Giants 23 - 16 Oakland (F)
I thought 9-6 games were very rare these days, but I was wrong. The last 9-6 game in the NFL took place on September 23, 2018, when the Titans went to Jacksonville and beat the Jaguars by that score. There was also a 9-6 game in 2016 (Rams over Jets) and another in 2012 (Ravens over Chiefs).
ReplyDeleteScores from the 3 PM games:
ReplyDeletePhiladelphia 10 - 7 San Diego (Halftime)
Kansas City 7 - 0 Green Bay (2d)
San Francisco 0 - 14 Arizona (2d)
I may just start referring to Arizona as "St. Louis."
A lot of upsets today, with the 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th place teams in the AP poll having already lost.
ReplyDeleteCurrent scores from 3 PM games:
ReplyDeletePhiladelphia 17 - 24 San Diego (4th)
Kansas City 13 - 0 Green Bay (3d)
San Francisco 7 - 24 Arizona (3d)
Very strong performance by the Cardinals with Colt McCoy as the back-up QB.
Tony Kornheiser is the biggest Colt McCoy fan I know, so I'm even more excited than normal to hear his podcast today.
DeleteCurrent scores from 3 PM games:
ReplyDeletePhiladelphia 24 - 27 San Diego (F)
Kansas City 13 - 7 Green Bay (4th)
San Francisco 17 - 31 Arizona (F)
On 3d and 10 from his own territory with 1:42 left, Mahomes does one of those plays where he scrambles around and, just as he's about to be run out of bounds about 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage, he finds Tyreek Hill for the first down. Green Bay is out of timeouts, so that clinches the game for the Chiefs. They beat Green Bay (without Aaron Rogers) 13 to 7.
ReplyDeleteThis play was the first time all season that the Chiefs had looked to me like the Chiefs.
DeleteSo the 4-4 Broncos beat the 7-1 Cowboys, and the 4-4 Chiefs beat the 7-1 Packers. What a day.
ReplyDeleteChuck Todd of Meet the Press reported on Tony Kornheiser's podcast today that NFL underdogs over the last two weeks are above .500, straight up and not counting the spreads.
ReplyDelete