2023-24 NFL (Week 15)

Games I watched (some of):

Cowboys 10-31 Bills

Just didn't pay much attention to football this week (sick cat, family stuff, you know how it is), but I did get to see this one--the only one I was dying to watch. Fortunately I am a Bills fan, not a Cowboy fan (like my brother, heh heh heh), and this all looked pretty good to me. The Bills took the opening drive down the field for a TD (good start) and then the Cowboys stated off driving pretty good, it felt like this game might be nothing but offense on offense. But then the Cowboys stalled and, well, that's what this game turned out to be: Bills running the ball effectively and getting stops on 3rd down. The Cowboys are great at home, but kinda crappy on the road and though the weather was pretty mild for December in Buffalo, the Cowboys just couldn't sustain anything all game long (their TD was pure garbage time stuff). The Bills are in win-or-die mode and they played it to the hilt on this day. Though no one expected a dominating win over a really good team with QB Josh Allen throwing for....less than 100 yards?!?!? (Seriously?) But the Bills running game was devastating and clearly the Cowboys just couldn't figure out how to re-tool the defense. Good W for the Bills, but not that big of a deal for the Cowboys, who are probably locked into 5th place in the NFC (for their annual trip to Tampa, not bad). The Bills need to keep winning and pray for some help and if the cookie crumbles just right, don't be shocked if they blast their way through the AFC in the post-season (and that ain't just Bills Mafia talk!).

The rest of the slate:

Chargers 21-63 Raiders

Head Coach Staley, we hardly knew ye (jk, I knew waaaaay more about this guy than I wanted to). I don't root for people to get fired, but I understand it is part of this sports team thing, and very rarely have I ever longed for a coach to get the boot more than this guy. Watching him make dumb choices over and over that basically suck the life out of his own team drove me nuts over the years and thank god those poor players have finally been liberated from their too-smart-for-the-room tormenter. And the Raiders look as frisky as they have in a few years, not sure what good it does them at this point, but nice W. 

Vikings 24-27 (OT) Bengals

Both teams came in with their 2nd string QBs, wasn't sure what we'd get. But both of these backups are pretty good and this looks like it was a fun game. Bengals came back to pull it out late, good win. 

Steelers 13-30 Colts

I've been watching the Steelers for several years now wondering how they win games (and make the playoffs) when their offense is so terrible. After years of pulling out wins they don't deserve, it feels like maybe they're starting to lose that mojo; feels like they may have to finally go get a QB to build around (hmmm....Justin Fields, anyone?). As for the Colts, well, their offense can run it up and they're fun to watch and they are obviously way better than the Steelers. This score looks right to me. 

Broncos 17-42 Lions

The Lions have been scuffling lately, the Broncos have been balling lately, felt like this was gonna be a tight one. Nope. Lions came to play, Broncos couldn't hang. So have the Lions been overachieving or are they for-real and ready to get back to winning? And what is up with the Broncos? Frankly, I think they have been overachieving and going to Detroit was too much of an ask for this squad. I think the Lions are actually pretty good and I think the Broncos will not be making the post-season (but they can still tell themselves they've had a nice season). 

Bears 17-20 Browns

The Browns have a great defense and an okay offense that has been racked by turmoil at the QB spot. But the AFC is fraudulent (I think) and therefore the Browns are still very much in the mix. The Bears don't have to worry about playing for draft position because they've already got the Panthers' #1 pick and winning is probably good for raising QB Fields trade value. That said, trying to win and coming up short is the best possible outcome for the Bears. Good W for the Browns, good L for the Bears.

Bucs 34-20 Packers

The ol' Bay of Pigs match. I saw none of this but the Bucs play well on the road and occasionally that offense is spicy (the poor man's Colts, if you will), so while Green Bay should be untouchable at Lambeau in December, it isn't surprising that the Bucs came to play. These are two mid-level teams and they look like it. 

Texans 19-16 (OT) Titans

The Texans steal a division W on the road without their QB. Good W. As the for the Titans, well, rookie QB Levis is already better than I thought he ever could be (just a morsel of crow for now, I'll let the full meal marinate for another year or two), so at least they're moving in the right direction. 

Jets 0-30 Dolphins

I thought the Jets pass defense would be up for the test, but they weren't gonna win anyway, so not a shock that they mailed it in. 

Chiefs 27-17 Patriots

The Pats probably could've won this game (but they'll never get Caleb Williams that way), so they pulled back and rolled over in the end. Mahomes is as good as ever but this Chiefs squad is not up to the recent dominance, they're gonna struggle to get wins in the post-season.

Giants 6-24 Saints

The Saints know how to beat bad teams. The Giants are a bad team. 

Falcons 7-9 Panthers

The Falcons offense is loaded with weapons but they got no QB to fling the ball around, so while they're much better than the Panthers, they just couldn't get anything going in the rain in Charlotte. Good W for the Panthers (now the Bears are in jeopardy of only having the #2 pick....jk the Panthers are too awful for that).

Commanders 20-28 Rams

The Rams are playing pretty good right now, under the radar, too, as they might be able to sneak their way into the playoffs. The Commanders are not good (and yet not awful enough to really get better).

Niners 45-29 Cards

The Niners are rolling. Clearly, easily, obviously the best team in the league (when healthy). The Cards....just don't matter.

Ravens 23-7 Jags

The Jags are not right. I'm not sure if they're hurt or losing focus or just not very good but they are not a winning team right now and this is a bad time to spin the ol' wheels. The Ravens are really good when QB Lamar Jackson gives full effort but if he fogs up, the team could quickly go sideways.

Eagles 17-20 Seahawks

The Eagles are scuffling lately, too. I still think they have the best chance of beating the Niners, but they would do well to get off whatever bad mojo has gripped them because the season is running out. The Seahawks could still make the playoffs but I just can't see them being dangerous if/when it comes to pass.

2023-24 NBA Bric-a-Brac (Week 7)

Waivings

John Butler Jr (Wizards), Ron Harper Jr (Raptors)

I don't know these guys (well, I remember Harper's father, a hard nosed PG that got it down in crunch time).  

2-way Contracts

Jules Bernard (Wizards), Johntay Porter (Raptors)

Don't know Bernard but Porter has been around a while. 

In-Season Tournament

Pacers 109-123 Lakers

I'd say a large part of the success of the inaugural in-season tournament (yeah, not even capitalized), is that Lebron bought in. Winning the 1st Cup is another feather in the cap for Lebron. I thought the potential for this Cup thing is that the mid-tier will have something to play for, while the top tier teams would slough it off as a distraction from the real prize. Well, I was half-right, as the Pacers behind the breakout season of Tyrese Halliburton, charged through the East, dispatching the Celtics and Bucks along the way; and, while it probably should've been the Pelicans in the West, turns out that Lebron (and, by extension, Anthony Davis) wanted a piece of that NBA legacy and they went for it. Good win for the Lakers in the final game, too, as AD balled out and Lebron guided them past the red hot Pacers. Halliburton is arguably the best player in the league right now and his gaudy in-season stats are impressive; but when he had two turnovers early in the 1st quarter, it was easy to see that the Lakers came to win and they used their length to keep the Pacer attack off-balance throughout. Lebron adds to his all-time great resume, but Halliburton has let everyone know that he is the new sheriff in town. Fun tourney, I expect regular tweaking to how it all works, but I gotta say it got off to a good start as the fans and talking heads alike buzzed about it all the way through.

2023-24 NFL (Week 14)

Games I saw (some of):

Bills 20-17 Chiefs

Good W for the Bills--they needed it! Tough L for the Chiefs--they needed it, too! The Bills kinda dominated the 1st half, mostly disappeared in the 2nd half but even in the face of KC's momentum, they managed to expertly (well, for the most part) kill the clock, get the FG and then ride out the Chief comeback (thanks to Kedarius Toney's big foot). But the Bills lost two more defenders (AJ Epenesa and Micah Hyde, though they did get a big play from Von Miller, who will be gone any day now), and QB Josh Allen's inability to get the ball downfield is still kinda worrying. As for the Chiefs, I dunno, man, Mahomes is as great as ever but none of the rest team is. 

Oh by the way, he was offside.

Titans 28-27 Dolphins

Fun game! I kinda thought these 2 Monday night games at the same time thing was a weird gambit that wasn't likely to pay off, but both of these games went down to the wire--and the undersogs were able to pull them both out! The Dolphins were up by 14 late, felt like they were gonna cover the spread and everything, then the Titans did everything right down the stretch, while the Dolphins chumped around thinking the game was already won. Good W for the Titans, but if the Dolphins had brought their full offense all the way through, they still should've won easily. Good win for the Titans.

Packers 22-24 Giants

The Packers just never really got going but they took the lead late but it wasn't enough. Good win for the Giants, I think we can officially call this Tommy Devito's team now. 

The rest of the slate:

Pats 21-18 Steelers

Missed all of this game and I got no regrets. The Steelers may have lost QB Pickett for the rest of the year, hate to sound like a dick but, I don't see how that makes a difference for this team.

Vikings 3-0 Raiders

FG at the buzzer, no less. Can't imagine what happened in this game and I kinda don't want to.

Seahawks 16-28 Niners

The Niners are rolling right now. The Seahawks are okay, could still make it to the post-season, but I just don't see them being dangerous.

Broncos 24-7 Chargers

The Chargers lost QB Herbert (for at least one more game, maybe more), their last chance at being meaningful. The Broncos have definitely turned it around, getting W's where they used to get L's, clearly a successful season even if they don't make the playoffs (they got a shot).

Bucs 29-25 Falcons

Division game shootout. The Bucs play well on the road, the Falcons have a Jekyll-Hyde offense, should've taken the road dog in this one.

Lions 13-28 Bears

The Lions are scuffling, so are they underachieving now or were they overachieving earlier? Are they gonna get their mojo back or did they peak too soon? And are the Bears gonna trade QB Fields or give him another shot next year? I kinda like Fields, can the Bears use their draft capital to build around him or to go get QB Caleb Williams? Are they good enough to be optimistic or bad enough to get back on the rebuild treadmill? Tough questions for Bears fans.

Colts 14-34 Bengals

The Colts just never got going. Meanwhile the left-for-dead Bengals have two straight W's with their backup QB.

Jags 27-31 Browns

Looks like a fun game. The Jags aren't as good as they look, the Browns aren't as bad. The AFC is a hopper full of random ping pong balls. 

Panthers 6-28 Saints

The Panthers are truly awful. The Saints know how to punish truly awful teams. 

Texans 6-30 Jets

Whoa! Who woke up the Jets? The Jets D apparently really put the zap on the Texan offense and scored a ton down the stretch. (This game was scoreless at halftime)

Rams 31-37 (OT) Ravens

When the Rams show up and play, they're not bad. I've been skeptical of the Ravens all season long, so should I be impressed that they hung with a bringing-it squad and got the OT win or should I wonder why they struggled with a mediocre team? I dunno, it's the NFL.

Eagles 13-33 Cowboys

Seems like the Cowboys jumped on them early and kept kicking. The Eagles have gotten stomped two weeks in a row (after a kinda lucky comeback against Buffalo), so are they coming back to earth or are they getting their bad mojo out of the way before playoff time? We'll see. The Cowboys win big/lose big, this week was a win big week--good for them.

2023-24 NBA Bric-a-Brac (Week 6)

Retired

Terrence Ross (Suns) officially retired (on his own podcast?)

I always kinda liked Ross, 10 years ago he'd still be cashing dem checks, but there's just too much young talent around these days. Tough final act, too: finally got out of Orlando right as they're getting good, couldn't catch a spot with Phoenix now that they're getting good. Oh well, nice career.

10-Day Contact

Jaylen Nowell (Grizzlies) re-signed to 10-day contract; (but not Shaq Harrison, who is a free agent)

Back-to-back 10-days must be a good feeling, not a lot of guys get those, especially at this point in the season. He is actually getting minutes, not sure if he sticks when Ja Morant comes back, but he might, seems like the Grizzlies need all the help they can get right now.

2023-24 NFL (Week 13)

Games I watched (some of):

Seahawks 35-41 Cowboys

The Seahawks show up some nights and look good (as they did in this game) and just as often, they mail it in and look weak. Not sure what inspired them on this night but they hung tight with the Cowboys until the 4th quarter, then the Cowboys made plays and the Seahawks couldn't keep pace. I thought the Cowboys would smoosh them, but this is probably exactly the kind of gut-check match the Cowboys need. The Cowboys are playing better right as the Eagles are starting to falter, could be just the time for the Cowboys to make their move. 

Chiefs 19-27 Packers

The Packers played well, looked confident and made the plays needed down the stretch. Meanwhile, the Chiefs increasingly look like Mahomes and a bunch of guys. The Packers (like the Cowboys) are cresting at the right time and it may well be enough to sneak them into the post-season. Are they ready to win? Well, probably not, but you never know. As for the Chiefs, I keep thinking all the AFC teams are fraudulent, which may well put the Chiefs back in the Super Bowl but I don't have much confidence in any of those teams. 

The rest of the slate

Colts 31-28 Titans

This looks like the fun game of the week. The Colts are the wild variance team, they've has nice moments and they've had moments where they looked utterly incompetent but if they can develop some consistency, this division can still be had. The Titans are slipping down the drain, but the rookie QB is looking okay.

Chargers 6-0 Patriots

Third straight week the Pats have given up less than 10 points AND lost. Yeah, that Patriots offense is been declared illegal or something. The Chargers struggled to move, won anyway. 

Lions 33-28 Saints

Lions went up 21-0 instantly and then kinda did nothing for the next 55 minutes. Saints lost QB Derek Carr, so its the Jameis Winston show for the rest of the season (not necessarily a bad thing for the Saints). The Lions needed a W and they got it, but it could've been more convincing. 

Falcons 13-8 Jets

Yeah, that looks about right: kinda good Falcons offense against a good Jets defense.

Cards 24-10 Steelers

Not a shocker--I'm telling you, man, the Steelers are terrible! Terrible! And now they're going to have Mitch Trubisky at QB for a while, stick a fork in them. As for the Cards, well, now that QB Kyler Murray is back, they look kinda half-dangerous, which is way better than they looked all season.

Dolphins 45-15 Commanders

Yeah, that's about right.

Broncos 17-22 Texans

The Broncos hot streak is snapped, the Texans back to their winning ways--can they make a run if the Jags are without Lawrence for an extended period?

Panthers 18-21 Bucs

The Bucs tried to give it away but the Panthers wouldn't take it. 

Browns 19-36 Rams

When the Rams show up, they're actually pretty good. Also kinda true of the Browns, who had their moments with new QB Joe Flacco. Non-conference games are always weird, not sure what to make of this.

Niners 42-19 Eagles

The Niners seemed to do anything they wanted on offense, the Eagles were powerless to stop them. If the Niners stay healthy, they are the best team in the league. Otherwise, I'm sticking with the Eagles, who manage to sneak wins out of nowhere (unless they get pummeled). 

Bengals 34-31 (OT) Jags

Trevor Lawrence went down with a gnarly looking ankle injury (think it may be not as bad as it looked, but, man it looked bad!), and that gave the Bengals the opening they needed to take control, send the game to OT and then to outlast the Jags. Good W for the Bengals, still don't believe in them without Burrow, but they did get a nice win without him; tough L for the Jags, hopefully Lawrence will be back soon.

2023-24 NCAA Football (Championship Week)

Conference USA Championship

New Mexico State 35-49 (24) Liberty

(Liberty and the over) Perfectly back and forth for 3 quarters, then Liberty took off in the 4th and New Mexico State couldn't keep up.  I watched none of this, seems like a fun game, though. Where does Liberty go from here? Undefeated conference champ, gonna barely scrape the top 20, I'd kinda love to see them against Iowa. 

Pac-12 Championship

(5) Oregon 31-34 (3) Washington

(Washington and the over) Washington dominated for most of the first half, moved the ball at will, bottled Oregon's attack for the most part. But Oregon scored right before halftime and then again on the opening drive of the 2nd, so even though UW had felt dominant, the score was only 20-17. Oregon got a stop and then another TD and suddenly it felt like the Ducks had their flow going. I had visions of the Tennessee @ Alabama where the Vols dominated the 1st half and then did nothing in the 2nd as the Tide got rolling--but that did not materialize as the Huskies found their offense again, hung 2 TD's on the Ducks and stopped them a coupla times. Then with about 2 minutes to go, Oregon's first play on that drive went for a long TD, but, man, the Washington defenders all just stood around watching as the WR went 70 yards on them (weird play, they're all just waiting for someone else to make the tackle). And just like that, it was a game again. But Oregon whiffed on the onside kick and the Huskies were able to put together enough offense to seal the victory. Good W for the Huskies, I think they've got an argument for the #1 seed. Curious to see if the Ducks mail in their bowl game or show up to win. 

Big 12 Championship

(18) Oklahoma State 21-49 (7) Texas

(Texas and the over) Two things were apparent within the first five minutes of this game: the refs were not interested in calling defensive penalties on Texas and the Oklahoma State defense was just not gonna stop the Longhorns. And....yeah....that's pretty much the game: you just knew that Texas was gonna score every time they touched the ball and the refs weren't going to do anything to even the playing field. Texas ran, passed and kicked like m'f'n champs and the Cowboys mostly just watched. On the one hand I clearly underestimated Texas; on the other, I overestimated the Big 12....which actually pulls Texas back down a bit, right? Good W but I don't see how Texas gets into the top 4 (well, a rematch with Alabama felt like the natural consolation prize, but that ain't happening).  

SEC Championship

(1) Georgia 24-27 (8) Alabama

(Alabama and the under) Great game! UGA went straight down the field and scored on their first drive, Bama sputtered on their first two, felt like maybe the Bulldogs were gonna roll the Tide. But, no, from that point on Georgia had trouble moving the ball and Bama looked ever more confident on their side. It became apparent pretty early, too, that this Georgia team wasn't quite as dominant as the previous two years and that Bama's early season stumbles were long in the past. Alabama got better throughout the season while UGA merely grew lazier. I get it: in college sports you've got to see it before you know its real, so UGA was still the fave, the one everyone expected to win. But this version of UGA just wasn't as dominant on the defensive line and the offense is nice but not infallible. Bama laid in wait all year long and timed up their opportunity nicely. Good win for Bama, they absolutely belong in the top 4. Tough L for UGA, in most seasons they'd still be top 4, too, but there's too many undefeated conference champs laying around for that to happen. 

American Athletic Championship

Southern Methodist 26-14 (22) Tulane

(SMU and the under) I only caught snippets of this game but I never caught Tulane doing anything at all. Even on their home field, it never seemed to me that Tulane ever had a chance. SMU came to play and they got it done convincingly. Good W for SMU. Tough break, Tulane, you annoyed me all year and now I'm officially done paying attention to you. 

Big 10 Championship

(2) Michigan 26-0 (16) Iowa

(Michigan and the under) Wow, what a staggeringly dull game and a rather pitiful performance from the team that will likely be anointed #1. Yeah, I get it: Iowa has a good defense but the Wolverines are supposed to be the #1 team in the land, for them to muster up 4 FG's, a punt return and a gift fumble recovery from the refs (dang, how many times did Iowa get gypped by the refs for no reason this year?) was more than a little disconcerting. They're gonna take down Alabama with this squad that got nothing done against Iowa? Huh...I don't see that happening. I kept trying to make the case for Iowa this year but, man, their offense is so bad, I just couldn't do it. The score looks like a drubbing but not really, Michigan only found the end zone by accident a coupla times, otherwise this game was pretty even....depressingly even for Wolverine fans. 

ACC Championship

(14) Louisville 6-16 (4) Florida State

(Florida State and the under) Jeez, another dull game. I get that FSU was on their 8th QB or whatever, but what happened to Louisville? Where was their unstoppable offense? Neither team could get anything going and on both sides it felt like zero offense was the main culprit. I like good defense as much as the next guy, but defenses are only good when they're forced to make stops against a good offense....and there was no good offense in this game. Pure slog from beginning to end. Louisville goes out with 2 bad L's and FSU inspired no confidence in their playoff resume.

My final top 12

(1) Washington 

Beat Oregon twice, went undefeated through a tough Pac 12, love their QB, I'm all in on Washington.

(2) Alabama

One tough L, rolled through a tough SEC, clearly bested the two-time champ, vastly improved their QB play throughout the season, they are rolling right now, why shouldn't they be ahead of Michigan?

(3) Georgia

One L to a really good team and, yes, they weren't as good as previous years, but, too, why shouldn't they be ahead of Michigan?

(4) Michigan

Strong W's over Penn State and Ohio State, good enough I guess against Iowa, didn't fall apart during off-field controversy, steady top tier squad all season long. Likely #1 seed going into the playoff (but I don't think they survive a match with Alabama).

(5) Ohio State

Couldn't get it done against Michigan but otherwise a spotless season. Are they better than Texas? Their competition was better than UT's competition, so....yeah.

(6) Texas

Better than I gave them credit for but....were they? Yeah, we get it, they won at Tuscaloosa, great W, I hope those guys get free beers for life for that feat, here's one more (and final) round of applause for your win at Alabama, best win of the year. But can we move on to the rest of the season or, namely, the rest of the Big 12, which was not that strong this year (as proven by the fact that Oklahoma State played in the title game). Texas is nice but outside of that really great W months ago, I just don't see it with this team. 

(7) Oregon

Good offense, but couldn't get by the Huskies. I know they're good but I can't help thinking their ridiculous margins of victory were too gaudy, too showy, maybe they ran it up on teams they knew were inferior. I dunno, Oregon had a good season and really had moments of looking like the best team in the country but they couldn't solve the Huskies.

(8) Florida State

Will the 1st string QB be back? If so, I give them a puncher's chance against a good opponent but if they've going with QB#3, then I'm out, that's not gonna get it done. The Seminoles won their games, I get that, but their wins seem awfully hollow--and, like Texas, their best victory (@LSU) was a long long time ago.

(9-12) Missouri, Penn State, Mississippi, Arizona