tBBP

Might not seem like it, but this is season five of their current set...

Speaking of Tennessee's helmets--well first, one thing all should know is that the league itself still holds final creative control over teams' helmets and logos. Second, check this from NFL creative director Shandon Melvin regarding the current helmets... I'll just leave that right there for y'all to chew on for now...

Hey um, in light of the recent raging over the Tie That Should Have Been But Didn't, how about we redirect blame where it should lie--not on Brandon Staley or the Raiders but on John Harbaugh and the rest of his Ravens, for taking their collective foot off the [paper] tiger's neck and letting them win in overtime. They take care of business, we're not sitting here fuming over the Big Ben Swan Song playing another week.

Now let's see if they actually do anything with it. Even with King Henry coming back, I just don't know how much faith I have in them, especially after yesterday--and considering, provided I read the bracket right, they play the winner between KC & Pittsburgh (ugh) in the second round, I don't know. The Snatit match up well with KC, but I don't know what it is with them against Pittsburgh; they just seem to fold up and roll over. (Actually, I think I do know what it is, but that's a separate post.) In other news...I don't know how many daw the Vikings game yesterday, but I'm pretty sure Mike Zimmer knew he was fired before the fourth quarter even began. His ultimate last act to the fans? Ignoring the boo-birds' demands for him to get Justin Jefferson that single-season record. The way dude walked off the field after the last whistle and waved to the crowd, he just looked like he knew his goose was cooked. And, in somewhat of a surprise, after leading his team to seven straight wins after being left for dead and pulling off a win against a division rival, Brian Flores just got axed by Miami. The early rumor is majority owner Stephen Ross 86'd Flores to go after--you ready for this, @infrared41?--Jim Harbaugh. ("Sources" cite Ross' ties to UM and the fact that he himself is a "Michigan Man"). This after the Dolphins actually finished with a winning record. (And people wonder how cultures become toxic...usually it's because of stuff like this, and it starts way up at the top.)

Yeah, that didn't age well after today's showing down outside of Khlowntown Jacksonville... So yeah, about that...like I had said, Miami done had NE's number for a while now. But what does today's showing say about the Patriots??

Hot take: I really don't care for those alternates...and never really have since they came out.

Not to be pedantic, but that's the '90 set; they made the switch in 1990, and really took off with it the following season. (Of course, around '96 or '97 they switched to red numbers and socks on the aways, but that's a minor gripe.) But yeah, between the '91 2L2Q squad and the '98 Dirty Birds, I agree THAT'S the look for Atlanta to throw back to.

Which serves as something of a full-circle moment for him considering earlier in the season neither he nor GB's kicker could make a FG to save their lives--or a victory. As am I. Having been to Cincy about eleventeen hundred times over the past decade and change, the city and its fans deserve this. I'll be pulling for them to make it in the playoffs (except of course, under one potential scenario...haha). AND, as I correctly opined, they beat the Chiefs to do it, which now means they sow up the division and a playoff spot. (AND, not to be lost in all this...the Snatit now hold the 1 seed! The Snatit now hold the 1 seed! Now all they have to do is to go not get beat by Houston at Houston next week and they keep the 1 seed and home field throughout.) Now someone go check on @Sport's pulse, please...I know he happier than a mug.

That's exactly what it is... Nashville's Civic logo.

Well unless the NFL plans to host the SB in Lima OH I don't think we'll have to concern ourselves with the first part of that. That said, we WILL now have to be subjected to endless amounts of Big Been slathering from like all the media talking heads, to include the no-doubt "surefire first-ballot HoF talk because SUPERB OWLZ!!!321" and all that...then pine over just how great a career he's had and all the hero worship that'll come with it. (To be sure, though, dude is like in the top 10 of just about every passing category there is...buy serious question: if he had played and accomplished all his individual stats in a place like, say, Cincinnati or Jacksonville, would people still be "convinced" he's a HoFer at all, let alone a "surefire first-ballot" HoFer? We all know that black and yellow carries a whole lotta weight in Canton.) It is at this point we cease all discussion and reference to the overly obvious Detroit Screwjob that was SBXL...nope, not gonna go there.

Watch that change inside of the next two years. (May not be a current major-pro team, but some team somewhere s going to. Maybe the new Vegas MLS squad when they [inevitably] get one...)

^And to that point, to quote Chris Berman: "THAT'S...why they play the games!" Meanwhile, down in Jacksonville, it has LITERALLY become a clownshow now...

As a counterpoint...the fact that they ran off eight straight at all is a massive accomplishment in itself...especially when everyone else left them for dead. Secondly, three of the teams on that list actually beat two of the current top three AFC playoff seeds--well, really, two of those teams; one did it twice, the Jets, beating both the Snatit and the Bengals, with Houston also beating, and pretty soundly, the Snatit. (And that right there is the very reason I give the Dolphins a chance in their next game...yes, Mike Vrabel has done some kinda job in keeping that team as competitive as it while losing dang near half the roster to injury over the course of the season, but at the same time, they just have this penchant for playing down and sometimes WAY down to teams they should blow out, and that's why I don't trust them just yet. It already happened twice this season, as previously mentioned.) Whatever the case, we'll see what happens come Sunday. Should be interesting...

I may have remarked on this a few weeks back when we were talking about potential dark horses--at the time, Miami had just ran off five straight. Wellp, here we are, and there they are, presently at 8-7. Now, next week will be pivotal in about a dozen different ways. For one, they get the Snatit in Nashville this coming Sunday, and given that the Snatit have established a penchant for not just wilting, but totally cooking the goose when it comes to pivotal games--especially on their own home field--Miami should feel pretty good about their chances. This may also be a matchup nightmare up front for the Snatit if they don't get that OL together...Miami's DLs can and just might tee off on Ryan Tannehill all day. Thankfully, the equalizer may actually be Tennessee's defensive backfield, which somehow despite rotating a brigade's worth of bodies back there and now trotting out some guy named Jackrabbit Jenkins, they're still one of the league's better cover units. All the analytical stuff to the side...this one's gonna be ruff as a fan. On the one hand, I'm pulling for Miami to make it to the postseason (and then become the second team no one wants to face, behind Indianapolis), but that would require them beating the Snatit in their house (which as recent history has shown is DEFINITELY doable), and then New England after that (but Miami has had NE's number for a couple years now, so that's probably doable as well)--and plus, im a fan of ol' Tuanigamanuolepola Tagovailoa, so I'd be happy for him. On the other hand, if Tennessee wins, they still hold the 2 spot and then hope that somehow KC loses one or both of their remaining games so that if they win out or end up with the same record as KC, they get the 1 seed. (That said, they'll actually need to do something with that top seed if they get it, and it remains to be seen if they can do it when it really counts.) If Cincinnati doesn't go full DERP mode, I believe they can beat KC. (Shoot, LA almost did...until they remembered that they were, in fact, the Chargers and just "played their position".) I just hope they don't get overanxious about the moment and play so tensed they get boatraced halfway through the first quarter.

Now I REALLY feel old...

I'm not sure how old you are, so you may or may not remember this, but the Chiefs were actually one of the AFC's better teams through most of the 90s--basically the Chargers of that decade, and like the Chargers of the 2000s, the Chiefs were also about the most one-and-donest team ever, dang near guaranteed to go 13-3 or 14-2 in the regular season, dang near guaranteed to get bounced in the first round. (Probably not much of a coincidence then that the two teams were coached by the same guy: Marty Schottenheimer.) Anyway, I say all that because even back then, the Chiefs were one of those teams that unless you lived in KC, you were completely indifferent about--nothing to write home about, but nothing to hate about them either; they were just "there". It's much the same way with the Colts these days...good luck finding a Colts fan outside Indiana unless they're either from there or have some tie to Indiana. Because of that, I actually grew to like both teams, once I spent enough time around both towns (one of which I lived in for four years). I say all that because I've seen the arc the Chiefs have taken over the past three decades (dang I'm getting old!): from regular season Champs and one-and-dones in the 90s to absolute butt in the 2000s and early 2010s to slowly picking up steam to drafting Mahomes to where they are now. I've also, unfortunately, seen how the fanbase has fluctuated--not the ones in and of KC, but all the recent frontrunner bandwagoners that have popped up in the past four years, acting like they've been Chiefs fans their whole lives. That right there will draw the ire and angst of many fans of the sport (like myself) more so than the team on the field sometimes. (I also observed this about the Saints and the bandwagon fans they gained shortly after Drew Brees and Sean Payton got there in '06...and from having grown up three hours east of NO I can GUARANTEE you not a single Saints fan existed outside of the New Orleans area prior to that unless they either had a tie to NO or was from there.

America can thank the Chargers for reverting back to the Charger-esque ways and Chargering away the game in a way only the Chargers can...or said another way, "Chargers gonna Charger." Speaking of KC, they get the Steelers next week in Arrowhead. Now this can go one of two ways: either the Steelers defensive line can decide they're great and beat the mess out of Patrick Mahomes--which they'll need to since apparently scoring first-half touchdowns is illegal in the Steelers organization--or the Chiefs can come out firing, open enough holes for their RBs to gash through, and if KC keeps their foot mashed to the gas, the Steelers will get boatraced all the way back to Pittsburgh. Look, I like Buffalo. But at this point, people need to quit picking them to win the big ones. They're not near as solid this season as last, and quite frankly I don't trust in their ability to break through when it matters--that is, unless they somehow meet and Buffalo copies the blueprint Indy just laid on the Patriots. Speaking of the Colts, could someone nominate...them?? (Especially if the Snatit go full Snatit the next two weeks...and with their next game coming against SF in Nashville, that's a very real possibility. Though, with all the injuries they've been ravaged with, they might get only the slightest bit of a pass. But not really.)

One other thing that came out of that game was this: because the Patriots lost, currently occupying the AFC 1 seed--at least for the next five hours--is the Snatit. Win today, and they go up 2 1/2 games on the Colts (though technically they can't clinch the division just yet), and because they swept the season on them and beat the Chiefs earlier this season, Tennessee would hold the tiebreaker advantage over them for the time being. And considering that #1 seed would come with a first round bye, that would be absolutely And games like today illustrate precisely why they are the Snatit. Now true, they are straight up DECIMATED by injuries at just about every position (and they just lost 6 more players for today's game), so by just about any qualitative measure no one should be too mad if they get pasted today in Pittsburgh. BUT...with as butt as Pittsburgh has looked all season long, if ever there were a game for Tennessee to actually prove itself as a truly top-tier team, today is the day. BUT...a/ Tennessee ain't beat Pittsburgh since 2013 (which some Steelerheads have taken to calling the "curse of stomping on the towel", which I ain't even finna get into); b/ the game is in Pittsburgh, c/ that aforementioned injury situation, and d/ the refs wear black and [throw] yellow, so...you know. EDIT: And as I type this, the cameras caught the Snatit gathering on the Steelers' midfield logo....that ain't gonna go over well. Did they not learn from when they did that in Baltimore? All that said, I'm gonna go ahead and call it: I don't trust Tennessee; they're gonna get pasted in Pittsburgh today. They're welcome to prove me wrong, but I don't see it happening.

What this thread's about to become...

Pump the praise brakes there for a minute--according to "sources" (because we all know folk can simply say "sources" in this business and get away with it), your boy Pederson has his eyes on another position in the NFC North...

I must be the one person on Earth who prefers the Robopenguin over the skating penguin... ...Don't @ me.

To circle back around to the list of college head coaches, there's a guy out in the desert that's doing pretty well too so far: Kliff Kingsbury. And as long as guys like that have some success, there will always be an eye out for the next hot successful college head coach. Oh, and then there's the ultimate story of a college coach jumping to the NFL--at first it was was total failure (but then look what he had to work with), yet four years later dude dang near found himself in the Super Bowl: John McKay. (And if ever there were an abrasive personality type, that guy was it.)

I'm catching some serious late '80s HBO vibes from this one... I do like it for its simplicity and straightforwardness though.

Just some random odd tidbits I noticed while [pretending to be] working yesterday... • Since being in Tampa, Tom Brady is 0-for against the Saints. We'll see what happens with that this coming week. • Somehow, the Snatit are currently the #2 seed in the AFC. They next play the other notorious up-and-down team that they can never beat: Pittsburgh. I have no reason not to believe they'll go into Pittsburgh and straight lay over on their side--but I challenge them to prove me wrong. (Fun fact: the last Tennessee QB to beat the Steelers was Jake Locker, back in 2013.) • Speaking of playoff seeds, currently sitting at the #7 (?!) spot in the NFC is Washington--at 6-7. The next two or three teams behind them are also at 6-7. GB and Tampa aside (and Arizona and LA, depending on how you view them), overall, the NFC is straight right now. • Don't look now, but the Miami Dolphins are currently riding a 5-game winning streak. Mathematically, they can still make the playoffs--but they have to win all their remaining games (the next one being against the Jets--which isn't exactly a gimme if you ask the Snatit and the Bengals) and hope for some help. Wouldn't it be something though if somehow they pull it off and actually do make it? (Upon further inspection, the Fins last made the 'offs in 2016.) • Something I've been curious about, but..how is it that somehow, Dak Prescott gets and has gotten the pass to continually be referred to by first name by all the media pundits (and fans in here)? Like, what is that really about? • I don't know that I need to mention anything further (right now) about the mess going on in Jacksonville, but many are thinking--and I for one am hoping--that Meyer is axed after this season. (Now that won't solve the whole problem, because Trent Baalke is still GM, as I'm sure you Bay area fans can relate to the ills of.) That said, now Jim Caldwell's name is coming up down there. I wouldn't have an issue with that one bit...the man experienced success both in Indy and in, of all places, Detroit. And oh by the way, any coach who can say he can leave Detroit with an overall winning record (not to mention he was there when the Lions last made the postseason in 2016) DEFINITELY merits consideration.

Everyone except Luigi Mario, apparently...and he is really the only reason Meyer is (for now at least) an NFL head coach. As others have said--and anyone with more than a mustard seed of common sense no doubt figured when the rumors even first began circulating--Khan pursuing Meyer was little more, if any more, than an effort to tap into and stir up the local fanbase, and for those who may not know, northeast Florida is Gatorhead Central. (True, some could say that the Tebow experiment was in the same vein, but there's an added layer: Tebow's from Jacksonville, born and raised.) But yeah, speaking just for me, I knew well from the get-go that there was no way in which this would end well. Wellp...four more weeks to go in the season and this is where we are: assistants at odds with him, players at odds with him--to include his star #1 overall pick of a quarterback--3/4 of the fanbase at odds with him, bad press from every angle imaginable--and oh yes, the continuing comedy of errors the Jaguars have been since losing that lead on on the Brady Bunch back in the 2017 postseason. (Seriously--go and look at all the many star and up-and-coming players Jacksonville had on that squad...and where they all are now.) Nice work, Luigi & Son.