NFL Week 15 -- Big Game Hunting

Lots of good stuff on the schedule this week. The late window on Sunday especially is appointment viewing.

Thursday night
L.A. Rams at San Francisco (-2.5/49.5), 815, PRIME

Sunday early
Washington (-7/43.5) at New Orleans, FOX
Kansas City (-4.5/44.5) at Cleveland, CBS
Cincinnati (-5/46.5) at Tennessee, FOX
Baltimore (-14.5/43.5) at N.Y. Giants, CBS
Dallas at Carolina (-2.5/43.5), FOX
N.Y. Jets (-3.5/40.5) at Jacksonville, FOX
Miami at Houston (-2.5/46.5), CBS

Sunday late
Indianapolis at Denver (-4/44.5), CBS
Buffalo at Detroit (-2.5/53.5), CBS
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia (-5/42.5), FOX
New England at Arizona (-6/45.5), CBS
Tampa Bay at L.A. Chargers (-3/45.5), FOX

Sunday night
Green Bay (-3/45.5) at Seattle, NBC/The Cock

Monday night
Chicago at Minnesota (-7/43.5), 8, ABC
Atlanta (-4.5/44.5) at Las Vegas, 830, ESPN

Playoff picture (z-clinched division, x-clinched playoffs)
AFC
#7 Denver at #2 z-Buffalo
#6 L.A. Chargers at #3 Pittsburgh
#5 Baltimore at #4 Houston
#1 z-Kansas City

NFC
#7 Washington at #2 x-Philadelphia
#6 Green Bay at #3 Seattle
#5 Minnesota at #4 Tampa Bay
#1 x-Detroit

Thoughts
* Are the Niners back, or did they just play the Bears? Huge game for the Rams, who have already won in Seattle and need to keep pace with the Seahawks.
* Most Commie fans expect the rug to be pulled out, as is tradition. But if Washington can't find a way to beat Jake Haener/Spencer Rattler, it deserves to miss the playoffs. Especially coming off the bye. Just take care of business.
* Weird to see a 12-1 team as only a 4.5-point fave against a 3-10 team, but until the Chiefs actually beat someone impressively...
* Seven home dogs this week.
* Denver can put Indy out of its misery this week. Broncos win coupled with a Dolphins loss probably ends Miami, too. Cincy kind of lurking there, trying to hang on until Week 17 when the Broncos come to town.
* Seriously, what a great slate of late games, save for Pats-Cards.
* We have to see Penix this week, right?
* MNF doubleheader is great in theory, but these games stink, and I'll likely be footballed out after what promises to be a pretty dang good Sunday.

 

I get Pats-Cards instead of Lions-Bills. Couldn't the former be flexed to like Friday afternoon?

 

Cowboys and Panthers are a combined 8-18, but that’s still good enough to bump the Titans off the air in Memphis. But hey, mayonnaise commercials!

 

According to ESPN 99.4 percent or so entries have been eliminated in their Eliminator game. Imagine lasting this long and having to go with New Orleans beating Washington.

 

Falcons-Raiders is the Desmond Ridder revenge game. Gardner Minshew is on IR, Aidan O'Connell hurt his knee last week and hasn't been ruled but doesn't seem likely to play, so it looks like Ridder will get the start for the Raiders.
Bet accordingly.

 

Oh yay, another athlete getting burgled while out of the house. Swell society we’ve got going here.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's home broken into Monday, the latest in a string of pro-athlete burglaries

 

Burglars used to read the society pages of the paper to see if/when rich big shots would be out of town. Now they can just check the league schedules.

 

Also, wasn't it in the news when he bought a piece of property in Kentucky? Not hard to find.

 

Did they steal the Batmobile?

 

Niners played the Bears with players teams haven’t properly schemed for.

That said, Shanahan usually has McVay’s number. We’ll see. Or maybe Deebo might pop off again

 

LOL. If I remember what Burrow said correctly, he hasn't actually taken possession of it yet.

 

The Colts and Dolphins may not be completely dead yet. They have relatively tough games this week, but the schedules for both are very easy after this week. And yes, I only paid attention because if they both lose this week, the Steelers clinch a playoff berth even with a loss to the Eagles.

The Steelers are in a weird place. They still have a slim shot at the No. 1 seed and a more realistic shot at No. 2. They could also lose every game they have left on the schedule. Sunday they play in Philadelphia, where they haven't won since 1965. They play the Ravens in Baltimore six days later, then at home against the Chiefs four days after that. I wouldn't be shocked to see them go into their final game at home against the Bengals needing a win to get into the playoffs. (The Colts or Dolphins would have to go 4-0 the rest of the way to make it happen, but my inner pessimist isn't ruling that out.)

The Steelers will be without George Pickens Sunday. They might be missing De Shon Elliott, too. The latter isn't as big a name, but he has been a huge addition on defense and he is a key part of their run defense. Facing the Eagles isn't a good time to be without a guy like that, but I doubt they will play him if hurting in the only non-conference game left on the schedule.