Football season is here!!!

[KarateKen]

Baltimore ran over the Browns 35-10 on Saturday locking up the AFC North and the number three seed, setting up the top four spots in the AFC as 1. Chiefs, 2. Bills, 3. Ravens, 4. Texans.  Steelers and Chargers are both wild cards and there is one spot up for grabs between the Broncos, Bengals, and Dolphins, with the Broncos having the best chance by far.  As of this post Denver has an 83% chance of making the playoffs.  A Broncos win against a resting Chiefs team on Sunday would put Denver into the postseason. 

In the NFC there is also one playoff spot left, the winner of the NFC South, either Tampa Bay or Atlanta. The Bucs currently have a 90% chance of making it, and if they win against the Saints on Sunday, they will be in.  The other TBD in the NFC is the winner of the North.  While both the Lions and Vikings are in the playoffs, they are fighting for the bye week and home field advantage. 

 

[KarateKen]

After the Patriots win against the Bills on Sunday, which could move them out of the #1 draft choice, they announced the firing of Jerad Mayo.  Let the firings begin!! Black Monday is only hours away. 

 

Edit: The Titans will get the #1 draft choice after their loss on Sunday. 

Edited yesterday at 12:49 AM by KarateKen

[KarateKen]

Broncos and Bucs both win on Sunday and will be in the playoffs.  Everything is set in the AFC, now we are just waiting on the Sunday night game. 

[KarateKen]

With the Lions win over the Vikings on Sunday we now know all the matchups, days and times of the opening round.  All times are eastern.

Saturday:

Chargers @ Texans - 3:30 on CBS and Paramount+

Steelers @ Ravens - 8:00 on Amazon Prime

Sunday:

Broncos @ Bills - 1:00 on CBS and Paramount+

Packers @ Eagles - 4:30 on FOX

Commanders @ Buccaneers - 8:00 on NBC

Monday:

Vikings @ Rams - 8:00 on ESPN and ABC

 

 

 

[KarateKen]

In order to keep his streak going, Bills QB Josh Allen started the game against the Patriots, took one snap, handed the ball off, then came out of the game.  Allen said it is important to him to play in every game.  His current streak of consecutive starts is 115, and 105 in the regular season.  It is the longest active streak of any QB, and second longest active streak behind Jake Matthews of the Falcons, who has started 174 games in a row.  

Allen is one of 11 QBs in history to start at least 100 consecutive regular season games.  Brett Favre holds the all-time record (for any position) with 297 (321 including the postseason).  Here is the full list:

QB Consecutive starts Seasons

Brett Favre 297 1992-2010

Philip Rivers 240 2006-20

Eli Manning 210 2004-17

Peyton Manning 208 1998-2010

Matt Ryan 154 2009-19

Russell Wilson 149 2012-21

Matthew Stafford 136 2011-19

Joe Flacco 122 2008-15

Ron Jaworski 116 1977-84

Tom Brady 112 2009-15

Tom Brady 111 2001-08

Tom Brady 110 2016-22

Joe Ferguson 107 1977-84

Josh Allen 105 2018-present

[sensei8]

After all’s been said and done, my Cowboys, in the upcoming NFL Draft have earned 12th pick. My wife’s Raiders have earned 6th pick!!

What pick has your team earned in the upcoming NFL Draft??

[sensei8]

Playoff brackets…

In the NFC:

Rams VS Vikings

Commanders VS Buccaneers 

Packers VS Eagles

Lions earned a Bye

In the AFC:

Chargers VS Texans

Steelers VS Ravens

Broncos VS Bills

Chiefs earned a Bye

 

Very interesting!!

[KarateKen]

As to the surprise of nobody the Jaguars have fired head coach Doug Peterson.  Peterson, who coached the Eagles to a Super Bowl title, lasted three seasons.  He was hired after the disastrous Urban Meyer experience which lasted less than one season.  While Peterson had the Jaguars in the playoffs his first year the team struggled down the stretch last season, missing the playoffs, and regressed further this season.  

That means the following teams are looking for a head coach: Jaguars, Jets, Patriots, Bears, and Saints.  The frontrunner could be former Titans coach Mike Vrabel who interviewed for the Jets position and is speculated to be interested in the Patriots job.  You are also going to hear a lot about Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson who passed on head coaching options last year to stay with the Lions.  It would be shocking if he did that again, expect him to be a head coach somewhere next season. 

[KarateKen]

Tyreek Hill wants out of Miami.  Must be frustrating for the Dolphins who gave up five draft picks to get Hill in a trade only to have him say he wants to be shipped out of town.  Maybe they can get some picks back if they trade Hill but clearly the Chiefs got the better of that deal.  Not only did KC load up on picks, but they won two Super Bowls without him anyway and have a chance to three peat.  Hill had a big season in 2023, lead the league in receiving yards and TD catches, but was down this year and had under 1000 yards.

It has been a long time since the Dolphins won a playoff game, you have to go back to December of 2000, when they defeated the Colts, the longest current streak in the NFL without a playoff win.   The team has not played winning football in cold weather either, so something needs to be fixed before the Dolphins can be true contenders.