Huge game tonight with playoff implications.
Saints and Rams.
I think the Rams are one of those teams nobody in the NFC playoffs wants to see.
Should be a good one.
It’s the very last meaningful and entertaining Thursday night game, mercifully so, but at least they have a decent matchup now unlike in most of the previous weeks since October!
There is a dud of a game next week that involves the - Jets.
Al Michaels might find some extra wind for those tired sails too!
Kirk Herbstreit? Never mind he can walk the plank as far as I am concerned.
Saints QB sacked, punted away - Rams ball at their own 5 yd line
I am so really impressed that alot of football players have my last name being Williams. Skookum
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/Grabs Microphone, Mimics Michael or Bruce Buffer
“Ladies and Gentlemen…in the red corner…standing …Abendschan “Mean” Willlllllliams …”
I like it. It has a good ring to it.
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I got Jack Abendschan to sign his autograph for me in 1970 at Old Empire Stadium in Vancouver. I was so excited I ran all over the field back then. Us kids sat on the grass just behind the east side endzone. Anyways back to tonights NFL football game - 10-0 Rams lead
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Feels like it should be 35-0 Rams.
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And there is is. 10-7.
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Those things mean so much to kids.
When I was 8, I went to a taping of a late night movie/sketch comedy show in Cleveland called Big Chuck and Little John. They had two Browns players co-hosting with them. Doug Dieken and Dino Hall. I was in awe.
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Yeah Williams is up there with Johnson and Jones, but behind Smith and Jackson. Every team has a Jackson or two.
Your comment reminded me that about 30 years ago a buddy and I were listening to Country Honk on Let it Bleed after a football game. The game for some reason had a lot of players named Jackson in it which stuck with us. The opening line of the song is “sittin’ in a bar tipping a jar in Jackson”. It is imperative when spoken to draw out the word Jackson as Mick does.
From then on we instituted a rule that if we were watching a game together and we heard the name Jackson it meant drink. Even if we weren’t watching it together or were watching different games eventually a text also sufficed if one of us heard Jackson and a drink was in order.
So that is the story of why The Rolling Stones are important to football.
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Good timing tonight…flip from half time to the hockey game and the Oil go from one down to two up
Yeah they need to square it up and get it done here. Don’t let the Saints hang around, they are good enough to be trouble.
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Here’s what is at hand in one half of football for the Saints in the mediocre minus NFC South, in which basically it’s win the division or see you next season.
If the Saints lose this game as they are on course now, to have any life left at all, they would have to defeat the Bucs in Tampa next week.
Now of course the Bucs also have it on them to win this weekend or else also throw their future to chance, but if the Bucs win on Sunday, then that game against the Saints is likely going to be for the division for the Bucs.
The Saints’ last game is against Atlanta at home.
Unless the division title remains at stake after tonight and next week’s game in Tampa, the last game for the Saints will be heavily likely to be a meaningless game for a wildcard slot in the NFC.
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The brilliant NFL division system- where it’s mathematically possible for a 3-14 team to make the playoffs through a division championship.
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Crazy when you can win the division with a losing record like the Bucs did last year,
Looks like the Rams are starting to pull away here. That was too easy an interception, just follow Carr’s eyes…
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Side note for those curious on this one, as I have been critical of this matter much of my life as well, as to why this division situation and method of playoff seeding persist …
The matter has been discussed on many occasions in front of the owners in the off-season to move to a seeding system for the playoffs such that though the seeding system would still retain divisional champions, just because a team wins the division does not mean the team gets the first playoff game on its home field like now.
According to a retired NFL executive whose name I can’t remember, the proposal to change the seeding for the best four to simply have home field for the first game was shuttered every single time simply because most owners want the guaranteed prospect of a valuable home playoff game for winning the division.
In the NFC East for example, such a home playoff game for any one of those teams is amongst the most valuable prospects in the league. Zero of those owners would EVER go for it much like overwhelmingly most others.
It quite simply does not appear there is EVER going to be enough votes to change the status quo, with a minimum of 24 votes required for 75% approval for any such change.
And so here we end up with it seems at least one totally crap team in a crap division per season in the playoffs that also has home field.
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I don’t think it’s as bad as it appears and the NFL system is far superior to the CFL system and really doesn’t mess with competitive integrity. I say this largely because of the number of teams in the NFL which tends to insulate the anomalies. Last year Tampa got smoked at home in the first round by a superior Dallas team and it could happen again this year.
The age of the salary cap also means considerable parity and that pretty much seems to ensure that the quirks such as losing teams winning divisions are infrequent and also move around throughout the league. Those teams also never go anywhere in the playoffs but having them in means more money for everyone as I believe @Paolo_X alluded to. An immediate example of the constant shifting is the NFC East. By far the best division in the league last year and the first time in history that three teams from the same division won a playoff game. Now there are two good teams and two terrible teams in that division.
The biggest impact change to the playoff system in my opinion was made as a result of adding a 7th playoff team in each conference. That is cutting the first round byes in half from two to only one in each conference. In an extremely physical game like football those byes are gold and because of the number of teams in each conference they are always earned.
In the CFL those byes are even more valuable as teams receiving them only need to play two games to win at all and only one to get to the big show. I can’t think of another sport that provides such a valuable reward for finishing first in your conference (division). Unfortunately the CFL doesn’t have the number of teams this NFL like system needs to ensure competitive integrity. It worked fine this year and in 2019 when in fact the Argos and Tiger Cats respectively were deserving of their first round byes. But in the vast majority of years it doesn’t work when the top Eastern team (could be the Western team as well- it just hasn’t happened yet) gets the super valuable bye they haven’t earned as they haven’t finished in the top 2 in the league, such as the Argos in 2022. Maps, globes, compasses and sextants are no way to decide playoff seeding in a 9 team league. Rather it should be regular season record. A novel and crazy idea I have been told more than once, thankfully without any logic behind it.
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Yeah - seems like I said something about the Saints hanging around in games…
Saints fate is not their own now. Too little too late…
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Luke and Jay are talking about the game and praising the Rams as the 4th best team in the NFC which it looks like they are. The Saints were very disappointing tonight but I can’t tell if it was more them or more that the Rams are that much better.
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I hoped the move may help Carr but it’s sort of the same old same old. Same mistakes he has made his whole career. Followed by - ooohhh just missed the playoffs. So close…again.
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First game of the Saturday Double Header getting read to start.
Everyone talking about the Steelers getting fired up for this one. Hopefully we don’t see them go over the top with hitting and rough play like last week…
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