Week 16 GPR - Quoth The Ravens, "We're Number One!"

Going into last night's possible Super Bowl preview game, I was prepared to leave San Francisco in the Number One spot even if the Ravens managed to squeak out a narrow victory over the Niners.  However, the total decisiveness of Baltimore's 33-19 victory last night, left me with no choice other than to move them into the top spot after NFL Week 16.

That game also shifted the calculus in a big way for the League MVP Award away from Brock Purdy and towards Lamar Jackson.

1. Ravens 11-4 (Last Week: 2)
2. 49'ers 11-4 (1)
3. Lions 11-4 (3)
4. Dolphins 11-4 (5)
5. Eagles 11-4 (4)
6. Bills 9-6 (7)
7. Browns 10-5 (9)
8. Chiefs 9-6 (6)
9. Cowboys 10-5 (8)
10. Rams 8-7 (Unranked)

As you can see, the Dolphins, Bills, and Browns moved up in the standings, while the Eagles, Chiefs, and Cowboys each dropped.  The Bengals dropped out of the Top Ten and the Rams moved into it as they now become "the team you don't want to have to play in the first round of the Playoffs."

Speaking of the Bengals, how about that can of Whoop-ass opened upon them by the Steelers on Christmas Eve.  The Steelers are barely breathing when it comes to the possibility of making the Playoffs, but they are in fact still breathing because the Bengals reverted into being the Cincy Bungles, something that it seems you can always count on.

So in what has been a disappointing season, let's shine a little light on Sunday's hero, third string quarterback Mason Rudolph, who turned in the best performance by a Steelers QB this season.

And, of course, we also got to enjoy yet another visit from our old friend, The Crying Bengals Lady.

Steelers now 4-1 in the AFC North with the Baltimore game in Week 18 remaining.  Baltimore may well be the best team in the AFC, if not the entire NFL, at the moment, but anything can happen when the Steelers and Ravens match up.  We may not see a Steelers playoff game this year, but there would be some level of satisfaction in a 5-1 division record if it happens.
  

Current GPR.....49'ers Reign Supreme

It is time to reveal the latest Grandstander Power Rankings through NFL Week 15: 

1. 49'ers 11-3 (last week: 1)
2. Ravens 10-4 (3)
3. Lions 10-4 (6)
4. Eagles 10-4 (4)
5. Dolphins 10-4 (5)
6. Chiefs 9-5 (7)
7. Bills 8-6 (unranked)
8. Cowboys 10-4 (2)
9. Browns 9-5 (8)
10. Bengals 8-6 (10)

Comments:

• The Bills move from unranked to #7 because of their play in recent weeks and their absolute crushing of the Cowboys  on Sunday.  They currently sit outside of playoff qualification, and I don't believe that they control their own destiny even if they win out, but tell me, would you want YOUR favorite team facing Josh Allen and his Bills in the opening round of the Playoffs?
• The Cowboys drop from #2 to #8 because of, well, see the bullet point just above.  Do you trust the Cowboys at this point?
• Eagles remain in the Top Four, but thy are hanging on by their finger tips after last night's loss to Seattle.  They are still probably a better team than the #3 Lions, but not over these last three weeks they aren't.
• My nomination for Comeback Player of the Year:  Joe Flacco.  In just a few weeks, he has become the Browns greatest QB since they came back into the league in 1999, and he's only a few years younger than me.
• The Niners and the Ravens appear, at this point, to be the clear favorites to meet in the Super Bowl, and as it so happens, they play against each other at 8:15 on Monday night.  Make sure that all of your Christmas Day company is out of the house by kickoff time.
• Two 7-7 teams most likely to crack the Top Ten next week: the Rams and the Buccaneers.  For reasons that I can't explain, I find myself feeling pleased with the success that Baker Mayfield is finding for himself in Tampa Bay.

Grandstander Power Rankings - Week 9 - REVISED

I obviously experienced a major brain fart when compiling the Week 9  GPR earlier today.  Herewith is my revised and honest-to-God GPR for Week 9.

As tonight's Chargers-Jets game will have no impact on the Week 9 GPR, I thought I'd get these out early this week.  So, here we are If The NFL Used The Same Method As College Football.

1. Eagles
2. Ravens
3. Chiefs
4. Bengals

Knocking At The Door -  49'ers, Cowboys, Dolphins, Jaguars, Lions.

If you forced me to predict the Super Bowl participants right now, I'd go Eagles-Ravens.  Baltimore looking really, really strong.

Nine more weeks until the Playoffs begin.

The Return of the GPR!

 

With the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings this week, I thought that it would be a chance to bring back the Grandstander Power Rankings (GPR).  To refresh your memories, these are rankings If The NFL Used The Same Method As College Football.

Without further ado, I give you the first GPR of the 2023 season (through  NFL Week 8):

1. Eagles
2. Chiefs
3. Dolphins
4. Ravens

Knocking on the door in alphabetical order: 49ers, Cowboys, Jaguars, Lions.

Futbol and Football

The 2024 World Cup, oh, excuse me, the 2024 FIFA World Cup came to a thrilling conclusion yesterday when Argentina defeated France on penalty kicks (more on that in a bit) after the teams played to a 3-3 tie after 90 minutes regulation time, plus 30 minutes of overtime.  The backstories here were the final appearance on the World Cup stage by Argentina's Lionel Messi, 35, perhaps the world's best player who lacked only a World Cup championship on his resume, and his heir apparent, 24 year old Kylian Mbappe of France.

Both the match itself, and the two superstars lived up to all of the pre-match hype.  Messi scored twice, Mbappe three times.  France came back from a two goal deficit with less that 12 minutes to play in overtime.  Messi scored what looked to be the winning goal in overtime, only to see Mbappe, unbelievably, tie the game again in the final minutes of OT, which sent the game to penalty kick shootout, won by Argentina.  Not surprisingly, both Messi and Mbappe made their kicks in the shoot-out.

It has been called the greatest World Cup Final in history, and who am I to argue?  As one who finds the lack of shooting in world class soccer a detriment to the Beautiful Game, even I found this game tremendously exciting to watch.  The skill of the players is undeniable, and the efforts to score, the near misses, and the saves by both defenders and keepers were a marvel to behold.  It was as exciting a sporting event as you will see all year.  And all that said, what a shame that an athletic event so epic be decided on penalty kicks.  I get that Soccer demands a full thirty minute overtime, but why not make it sudden death instead, or sudden death after the traditional 30 minute OT period?  When the stakes are the very highest in the sport, it shouldn't end on a gimmicky outcome.  If that's me being an Ugly American, so be it.

I found myself watching more of the World Cup than I anticipated, certainly more than I ever have before, and enjoying it more than anticipated.  First, it was following the USA team, then the other elite national teams as they wended through the knockout rounds, and of course, the build up to the Messi-Mbappe confrontation made the whole thing must viewing.  Weekday games in the mornings and afternoons made for ideal viewing for this retiree, and being able to bet on the games via my FanDuel app only added to the interest levels.

Watching the tournament being staged in a nation such as Qatar, with its horrible human rights record and its blatant attempt to "sports wash" it all away, and knowing the overall corruption of FIFA did make one feel a little queasy at times.  The thrill of the competition and the skill of the athletes can make you forget all of that, but the overall stink of this backstory does stay with you.  This was best summarized by John Feinstein of the Washington Post in this column from today.

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Back here in the USA, the NFL concluded Week 15, so let's take a look at the GPR as it stands today. 

.

1. Eagles 13-1
2. Bills 11-3
3. Chiefs 11-3
4. Bengals 10-4

Knocking at the door (alphabetically)....49'ers 10-4, Cowboys 10-4, Dolphins 8-3, Jaguars 6-8, Lions 7-7, Vikings 11-3.

Yes, I have included a 6-8 and a 7-7 team in here.  Sounds crazy, but if your favorite team was in the playoffs, would YOU like to see them playing the Lions right now?  Or Trevor Lawrence?  

The final three weeks will be fun as these playoff scenarios play themselves out.

Steelers 24 - Colts 17 and the Updated Grandstander Power Rankings

 

Benny Snell Scores the go-ahead (and winning) TD

That the Steelers bumped their record to 4-7 by beating the crummy Indy Colts last night came as no surprise, but raise your hand if you had two of the stars of the game for Rooney U being Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland.  Didn't think so.

The biggest take-away for Steelers fans on this one, as it has been and will be for the remainder of the season, was the learning and development of Kenny Pickett as the team's quarterback of the future.  Pickett's stats were not flashy, and there were a couple of possessions where the Steelers settled for field goals instead of touchdowns, but the Pickett led offense did build up a 16-3 lead at halftime, a lead that was squandered thanks in large part to the special teams horrid coverage on kickoff and punt returns.  Then, Pickett achieved a significant career milestone:  he engineered his first fourth quarter comeback of his pro career, a 75 yard, 11 play drive, which included three third down conversions and culminated in a Snell TD and a gorgeous Pickett-to-George Pickens two point conversion.  More significantly, this was the third game in a row in which Pickett did not throw an interception.

The growth continues.

Oh, and a tip of the cap to Colts Head Coach Jeff Saturday for some bewildering clock (mis)management  in the final minutes of the game.  With possession and a chance to tie the game and all three time outs remaining, the Colts took none of them until it was way too late to do them any good.  Time expired and Saturday ended up with two time outs still in his pocket.  I can only imagine how he will be roasted on Indy sports talk radio all week.

Time now for what you have all been waiting....

Circumstances prevented me from watching any football on Sunday afternoon (yes, we DO have a social life!), but I did watch the Sunday night game and the Eagles 40-33 dismantling (score not indicative of Philly's dominance) of the Packers.  That is one damn good football team and Jalen Hurts has to be the lead candidate for MVP right now.

Through Week 12:

1. Eagles (10-1)
2. Chiefs (9-2)
3. Cowboys (8-3)
4. Vikings (9-2)

Knocking on the door: 49ers 7-4, Bills 8-3, Commanders 7-5, Dolphins 8-3, Ravens 7-4, and Titans 7-4.

Here Come the Patriots, and the Week 13 GPR

 

After a hiatus of several weeks, the Grandstander Power Rankings are back after Week 13 of the NFL season, but before we get to those, a word on this week's Monday Night Football game between the Patriots and the Bills, a 14-10 win for New England.

Cold temperatures and winds in the neighborhood of 30-40 MPH caused Bill Belichick to dig deep into the playbooks of Jurassic Era football and come up with a game plan that would not expose his rookie quarterback Mac Jones to the vagaries of those conditions.  As a result, Coach Bill had the Pats use running plays on all but three plays.  Yep, only three passes thrown by Jones in the entire game.  It was amazing to watch, as was the Pats defense that that held the Bills to only ten points with the Buffalo TD coming after New England muffed a punt and gave them the ball inside the twenty yard line.  Not sure if the Patriots are a Super Bowl team for this year, but in a season where there does not appear to be a singularly great team, would you sell short the possibility of Coach Bill making it to the Big Game in February?

Within the last three days, we were able to witness two of the greatest football coaches ever work their magic in big games, Nick Saban of Alabama against Georgia on Saturday and Belichick last night.  Never bet against those two.

Okay, now for the GPR:

1. Cardinals (10-2)
2. Packers (9-3)
3. Buccaneers (9-3)
4. Patriots (9-4)

The Cardinals remain at the top simply because they have the best record in the league and seem to be back on a roll with the return of the injured QB Kyler Murray.  The Patriots are at number 4 simply because of a rookie quarterback.  If you wanted to argue the placement of each of these four teams in the 1-2-3-4 order, I wouldn't argue strongly against it.

The 2021 Grandstander Power Rankings (GPR)

 

After allowing things to shake out a bit, The Grandstander is ready to release his first Grandstander Power Rankings for the 2021 NFL season.  The theory behind the GPR is to look at the NFL in the same way that College Football crowns its Champion: a four team playoff.  Yeah, yeah, I know, the NFL's system is much, MUCH better, but what the hell, this is kind of fun, it's easy on my cranium, and if it generates any interest or debate, so much the better.  From here on out, right through Week 18, you will get an updated GPR, and here is the first one:

1. Cardinals - Got to go with the only undefeated team remaining.
2. Bills - This team lost to the Steelers?
3. Cowboys - Yes, the Cowboys are always over-rated, so how long will this last?
4. Rams - The rematch with AZ later in the season should be fun.

Knocking on the door - Bucs, Chargers, Chiefs, Packers, Raiders, Ravens.

Fun Off the Field Story of the Week.  While his 0-4 team flies back to Jacksonville without him, HC Urban Meyer stays on in Ohio, yucks it up in his Columbus area restaurant, and gets caught on video sleazily acting out with women young enough to be his daughter.   Three questions: (1) Will Meyer finish out his rookie season in the NFL? (2) Will he now become toxic and unemployable? (3) Which NCAA D-I school will whore itself out and hire this jackass as their head coach for 2022?

The Final GPR, Shirt Pocket Notes, and an Absent Friend, Grant Jackson

We are a little over 72 hours away from the ultimate game*, so it's time for the final Grandstander Power Rankings of the season.

Short and sweet:

1. Chiefs
2. Bucs

It's hard to differentiate these two teams at this point, and it's hard to put any team ahead of another team that has Tom Brady at quarterback, but there you are.  I think that this is a terrific match-up and that it's going to be a terrific game.  At this point, I am leaning towards the Chiefs, but will reserve my official prediction until Saturday or maybe even Sunday morning.

Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady.  Couldn't get much better.

* I believe that it was Duane Thomas, the iconoclastic Dallas Cowboys running back of the 1970's, who said "If it's the ultimate game, why are they playing another one next year?"  I don't think that the powers-that-be in the NFL much appreciated that remark at the time.

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Now for some shirt pockets notes that have been accumulating over the last couple of weeks.....

The Jacksonville Jaguars made a huge off season splash by hiring Urban Meyer to be their new head coach.  It will be fascinating to watch Meyer, who was, and presumably still is, a total control freak as a college head coach, as a first time professional coach.  It has been reported that after completing seasons with records like 11-1 or 12-2 in college, not untypical for him, Meyer would spend the entire off season obsessing over the games that his teams lost. It would inevitably lead to "health issues" that would cause him to resign his coaching positions.  How is that mindset going to translate on the pro level with a team that will probably lose more games in 2021 that Meyer's college teams lost in any given five or six given seasons?  Meyer's worst season as a college coach was in 2010 at Florida, when the Gators went 8-5, a season which lead to Meyer's health issues and resignation.  In seven seasons at Ohio State, Meyer went 83-9, plus 5-2 in Bowl games.  Eleven losses in seven years.  That ain't gonna happen in Jacksonville, not anytime soon, anyway.

Also, Meyer will not be able to out-recruit the NFL as he was able to do in the Big Ten or SEC.  Plus, professional players making hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars are going to be more likely to tell him to pound sand with his my-way-or-the-highway approach to coaching than a bunch of scholarship student-athletes on college campuses.

Meyer can coach on the college level, no question about that, but he's never done it on the pro level, so  this is going to be an interesting lab experiment to watch over the next few seasons.  Not sure what the length of his Jax contract is, but I'm betting he won't serve the full term of it.

********

The Pittsburgh Pirates began making news starting on Christmas Eve when they traded current "Face of the Franchise" Josh Bell to the Washington Nationals.   There then followed January trades of Joe Musgrove to the Padres and Jameson Taillon to the Yankees.  These three trades netted ten  "prospects", some of them highly regarded, for the Pirates.  Throw in the 2020 trade of Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks for prospects, and it becomes obvious what GM Ben Cherrington is attempting to do: a complete teardown of any tangible assets the team may have in an effort to restock the farm system and then become serious contenders by 2023 or 2024.

It's a great idea, in theory, and I hope it works, but in the meantime, it is going to mean seeing some very bad baseball teams plying their trade at PNC Park over the next few years.  Also, it is sad to see guys like Bell and Taillon being sent packing, because once, THEY were the young stars of the future around whom the Pirates would be building championship caliber teams.  How did that work out?

All three of the players sent away by GMBC are going to teams that figure to be contenders this coming season, so they are no doubt thrilled with the opportunity to escape Bob Nutting's Ship of Fools.  Good for them.  For Pirates fans, 2021 just promises to be another Groundhog Day season where the team will struggle to avoid 100 losses.

********

Speaking of the 2021 baseball season, isn't it fun reading about how the owners and players are engaged in yet another pissing contest over the terms of the upcoming season in a nation that is still gripped in the clutches of a pandemic and public health crisis.  Just like the lead up to the shortened 2020 season.  And a preview to the Armageddon that is sure to ensue after the 2021 season when the CBA needs to be renegotiated.  It is almost as if the MLB Owners and the MLBPA actually want their sport to shrivel up and die.

I will normally always take the sides of the players in these sports labor-management dustups, but I am getting so tired of these annual dances that surround Major League Baseball.  They will get around to playing games in 2021, and I will no doubt be watching intently, as I always have, but the day is surely coming when we will be subjected to these unseemly discussions, the game will come back, and the people are going to say "You know what?  I just don't care,"  and they will choose to watch NBA Summer League games and MLS instead.  I think that day has already arrived for people under the age of forty or so.

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Finally, we bid good-bye to former Pirates pitcher Grant Jackson, who died this week of COVID related symptoms at the age of 78.  Jackson was a member of Pirates 1979 World Series Championship team, the winning pitcher in Game Seven, and for that alone he deserves recognition.  Another fact that I had forgotten was that Jackson also pitched in the 1971 World Series against the Pirates as a member of the Baltimore Orioles.  Jackson spoke of several occasions to the Pittsburgh SABR Chapter, and he was always an entertaining and lively speaker.  He was a part of a panel discussion on the '79 team at the SABR National Convention held in Pittsburgh in 2017.  After his career ended, Jackson remained in Pittsburgh and served as a vital member of the Pirates Alumni, the Pirates Fantasy Camp, and in Community Relations for the team.

Farewell, Buck Jackson, and RIP.

Football, Coaching Decisions, and the Final GPR

 This scene from earlier this season will 

be repeated on Super Bowl Sunday

The NFL's Conference Championship games served to produce a Super Bowl match-up made in Heaven, 43 year old Tom Brady against Young Gun Patrick Mahomes.  The greatest quarterback of all time against the greatest quarterback in the NFL today.  It was problematic from the outset that an NFL season would be completed in 2020, and that it will culminate in this head-to-head contest has to be beyond the wildest dreams of Roger Goodell and the Punjabs who run the NFL, not to mention those of us who watch and follow the game.

Simply put, there really are no words left to describe Tom Brady and his accomplishments, so I won't even try.  Simply remarkable.

Nor will I go into trying to summarize the two games yesterday.  If you follow the game, you already know.  However, I simply have to comment on the two pivotal coaching moments in the NFC game.

First, with :20 remaining in the first half, the Bucs are facing fourth and four at midfield and send out the punt team to end the half and head into the locker room up 14-10.  After a time out, Bruce Arians says "screw that", Brady hooks up on  short pass to get the first down, then, with :08 remaining, Brady hits a bomb down the sideline for a touchdown and a 21-10 lead.  On Facebook I commented, "I wonder if the Packers will ever be able to recover from that dagger that Brady just plunged into them."

Next, with 2:06 remaining, the Packers trailing by eight points, 31-23, it is fourth and goal on the Bucs' eight yard line.  With presumptive MVP Aaron Rodgers at QB, only eight yards away from a chance to tie the game and go into overtime, HC Matt LeFleur elects to kick a field goal. And we all thought that Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash made the dumbest coaching move of the year in Game Six of the World Series.  Granted, Green Bay had all three time outs remaining, plus the two minute warning, but they were also putting the ball back into the hands of Tom F. Brady.  Did anyone in the world possibly think that Brady wasn't going to be able to bleed the clock and end that game?  Congrats on losing by only five points instead of eight, Coach.

It's going to be a long, long time until LeFleur lives that one down.

This leads us to the final Grandstander Power Rankings of the season.

1. Chiefs
2. Buccaneers

These should probably be labeled 1 and 1a, only because Tom Brady is at the helm of the Bucs.  At this point, I lean towards the Chiefs over the Bucs in the Super Bowl, but in the end, when it's time to put actual coin of the realm on the line, will you be able to actually bring yourself to bet against Tom Brady? We shall see.

Grandstander Power Rankings - Playoff Bound!

Presenting for your consideration, the final GPR for the Playoffs Field of the National Football League:

1. Chiefs
2. Bills
3. Packers
4. Ravens
5. Titans
6. Saints
7. Steelers
8. Bucs
9. Seahawks
10. Colts
11. Browns
12. Rams
13. Bears
14. Washington Football Team

That's one man's opinion.  As the saying goes, we'll see how it all plays out beginning this Saturday.

(A new GPR will be sent out after each Playoff Round.)

Grandstander Power Rankings - Week 16

 

Here you go.  The highly anticipated GPR for NFL Week 16:

1. Chiefs
2. Packers
3. Bills
4. Ravens

Knocking on the door... Browns, Bucs, Colts, Dolphins, Saints, Steelers.

Yes, at this very moment, the Ravens are on the outside of the NFL playoffs, but since they have returned to full strength, they are looking as good as any team, and they need help from other teams to even make the playoffs...After a week out in the cold, the Steelers are one again knocking on the door on the basis of the performance of their defense and Ben Roethlisberger in that second half comeback against another very good team, the Colts....Speaking of the Colts, I notice that the change in cities has not changed Phillip Rivers too much: he still leads the league in whining and yapping at the officials....How about the Cleve Brownies losing to the Jets?  I know, they had no WR's due to COVID, but still, the Jets?....And how about the 0-13 Jets winning two in a row, and assuring themselves of NOT having the overall #1 draft pick, presumably, Trevor Lawrence....Do you think the NFL is happy that Lawrence, perhaps the brightest star to come put of an NFL draft class in years, will now be sentenced to an NFL backwater like Jacksonville?  He could have been the second coming of Joe Namath playing in the Big Apple, okay, in New Jersey, but now, Jacksonville. I wonder how Lawrence feels about the whole thing.

Throughout the season, the GPR has been presented as a Top Four, as in If The NFL Did It By Committee Like College Football Does, and I've presented anywhere from four to six teams, alphabetically, each week as knocking on the door to have a top ten of sorts.  Next week, the GPR will be presented as a straight 1 through 14, a ranking of all of the NFL Playoff teams.  I can't wait to see which team emerges from the NFC East to take slot #14.

Pre-Season GPR and College Football

One of the wildly popular features of this blog has been my weekly Grandstander Power Rankings for the NFL, wherein I rate the NFL as if it were college football - the Top Four teams only.  I usually begin issuing these after the sixth week of the NFL season in order to give the League (or as Booger McFarland would put it "our League") time to shake off early season kinks and let the dust settle, and that is what I shall do in 2020 as well, but what the hell, here's a pre-season look at the GPR.  Along about Week 6, I'll get serious with this, and we'll see how accurate I might have been.

1. Chiefs
2. Ravens
3. Saints
4. Titans

No real surprises there.

******

Now for college football.

Alabama to defeat Clemson for the National Championship in the CFP.  This comes after hours upon hours of reading voluminous scouting reports and analyzing hundreds of hours of game films of schools throughout the Power Five.  It was tough call, but I figured, BE BOLD in my predictions!

I'm not going to wade into the topics of the decision of the Big Ten and the PAC 12 to postpone their seasons.  That's been discussed and over-discussed, and we can always revisit it later, especially (a) if schools continue to cancel and postpone games, which has already happened with some frequency, and (b) if the Big Ten caves to financial and political pressures and backtracks on their decision not to play.

So the, let's just stick to the local scene and the Pitt Panthers.

Pre-pandemic, all signs pointed to 2020 being the year when all of Pat Narduzzi's building of a program would come to fruition.  The defense would be experienced and very good, and the offense would be led by senior QB Kenny Pickett.  The thought of a possible canceled season was quite frustrating to Pitt fans, because it would be yet another stroke of bad luck for Pitt.  You know, "THIS is the year we were really going to be good, and now we can't play."

Well, Pitt and the ACC are going to play, and it begins in three days against Austin Peay at Heinz Field.  There then follows a revamped ten game ACC schedule, which includes a games against Clemson and its sanctimonious coach and Notre Dame and its grumpy coach.  No divisions in the ACC this year, and the top two teams will meet for the Conference Championship in December.   However, as I alluded to a few paragraphs back, we are already seeing some college games being postponed or cancelled due to COVID concerns, so that while we are pretty sure that Pitt and the ACC and other conferences will begin their seasons, there is no guarantee that they will finish them.

Will Pitt be in the mix?  I have no idea, and the only prediction that I will make is that if Pitt turns in another 6-5 or even a 7-4 season, the heat on HCPN will be turned up considerably.

Sadly, there will be no one in attendance at Heinz Field to see the Panthers this year, at least at the beginning of the season, and even if fans are allowed to gather at some point, it will be without me and my fellow ticket holders in our group.  We have elected to roll our 2020 payment towards our tickets in 2021, hoping that circumstances will once again allow large gatherings in our society.

#H2P

Week 15 GPR and a Ruptured Duck

The Grandstander Power Rankings (GPR) if the NFL Did It Like College Football for Week 15:

1. Ravens
2. Saints
3. Chiefs
4. Seahawks

Knocking at the door.....49'ers, Bills, Packers, Patriots, Vikings.

A bad loss to the Falcons knock the Niners out of the Top Four this week.

There will be one more Top Four GPR following Week 16.  At the conclusion of week 17, the GPR will be replaced  by the GCR, Grandstander Confidence Rankings, wherein all NFL Playoff teams will be ranked from Most Confident, #1, through Least Confident, #12.  The GCR will then be updated following each Playoff round leading up to the Super Bowl.

Bet you can't wait for that, huh?

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Speaking of bad losses, the Steelers 17-10 loss to the Bills on Sunday night was as inevitable as it was disappointing.  Let's face it, the Steelers offense has been doing it with mirrors ever since Ben Roethlisberger (and James Connor and JuJu Smith-Shuster and have I left anyone else out?) have gone down to injuries.  The Devlin "Duck" Hodges story has been a fun one to watch over the last month, but, really, who didn't see that a game like that four interception disaster of Sunday night was due to happen sooner rather than later? There was reason that thirty-two NFL teams didn't draft Duck Hodges.

So now the Who-Should-Play-QB game rears it's head again.   93.7 The Fan is conducting a "Who Should Start Against The Jets, Mason or Duck" poll on Facebook.  Ain't that fun?

Speaking of the Buffalo Bills, they are no fluke.  They came to the attention of most people with that Thanksgiving Day win over Dallas, and that prime time win over the Steelers on Sunday proved that they are a team with whom to be reckoned.  Josh Allen is not a Top Tier quarterback, not yet, anyway, but he is good enough when playing on a team with a Top Tier defense, which the Bills have, to assure that whatever team draws Buffalo in the Playoffs is going to have its hands full.

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Regardless the eventual fate of the 2019 Steelers - and they can still make the Playoffs - one of the most fun things to watch about this year's Steelers has been the play of OLB T.J. Watt.  The Steelers have one of the best defenses in the entire league, and he has been its best player.  He has been a true force on defense, and he is in the discussion for Defensive Player of the Year in the entire NFL.  I can't imagine anyone else as the team's MVP for 2019.