Are You Ready For Some Football (Observations)?

It has been 23 days (I looked it up) since The Grandstander has made any serious commentary on football, so it's time to catch up.  Since I last checked in....

• The Steelers kicked the collective asses of the Cleveland Browns and took revenge upon their earlier defeat at the hands of the Ravens, by beating them in Baltimore.  The score of the Ravens game would indicate a close contest, but the Steelers pretty much had that one in control from start to finish.  They have now won four straight games and sit in first place in the AFC North at 5-2-1.  The second half of the schedule won't be easy as it includes games against the Panthers, Chargers, Patriots, Jags, Saints, and the rematch with the Bengals.
• James Conner has made people forget Le'Veon Bell, who has to fish or cut bait by, I believe, next Tuesday.  That is the subject of a whole 'nother post, which I will probably write up as soon as we know whatever the hell it is he decides to do.

• As it stands, though, if I were voting for Steelers MVP today, I would probably vote for Ben Roethlisberger, but James Conner would not be far behind.
• After that win over the Browns, we all know what happened.  The Brownies fired Had Coach Hue "Mr. 3-36-1" Jackson.  This marks the sixth consecutive Browns HC who has been handed the paper key following the second game of the season against the Steelers (all Browns losses, of course).  SIX TIMES this has happened.  In an ESPN interview a few days later, Jackson blamed the whole thing on Baker Mayfield!  The man is totally delusional.

"What, me worry?"

• A lot of people laughed at the beginning of the season when Head Coach Pat Narduzzi said that Pitt would be playing for the ACC Championship.  That thought was especially hilarious after Pitt got pasted by Penn State and Central Florida and lost to a bad North Carolina team.  Since then, though, Pitt almost beat Notre Dame, and have run off three straight ACC wins, sits at 4-1 and are in first place in the ACC Coastal Division.  Win out against Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and Miami, and guess what?  They will be playing in the ACC Championship Game.  At the beginning of October, I'd have given you long odds that they would be in this position with three games remaining in the season.
• Remember after the Pitt-Penn State game when I said that I would sure like to see James Franklin get dealt a big heaping helping dose of humility at some point.  Michigan 42 - Penn State 7.  Thank you, Jim Harbaugh, who, it must be said, could stand to be dealt some humility himself, but that's college football coaches for you.
• Were you like me and looking forward to watching the Alabama - LSU game last week, a game where all keen observers of the sport said that Alabama would be tested and might well lose to the third ranked Tigers?  29-0 Alabama, and the game wasn't as close as the score indicated.  Don't want to hear about LSU anymore.  Their coach Ed Orgeron, by the way, appears to be certifiably insane just from watching him on the sidelines.
• Back to the pros, throughout the season, I have been posting on Facebook a Top Four, College Football Playoff-Style, ranking for the NFL.  As of this week, it looks like this: 1. Chiefs 2. Saints 3. Patriots 4. Rams.  Other teams are knocking at the door (Steelers, Chargers, Texans, Panthers among others), but right now, those four teams have separated themselves from the rest of the NFL pack.  It will never end up that way, but for right now, does anyone disagree?
• On the Sunday Night Football game, the Packers won the coin toss and deferred, thus kicking off and giving the ball the Tom Brady and the Patriots to begin the game.  Did you watch that one?  If you did, you saw Brady and the Pats march down the field and score in ten plays and less than two and one-half minutes.  The Packer defenders were gassed and sucking wind on THE FIRST DRIVE OF THE GAME.  Why would a team choose to give the ball to Tom Brady to start a game?  You're just asking to have your heads handed to you on a platter when you do that.

• Speaking of the Patriots, did you notice Bill Belichick during that game?  On a Sunday when every coach and player in the league was wearing those olive drab military style sweatshirts and hoodies on the sidelines, Coach Bill was out there in his blue Patriots hoodie.  As much as everyone outside of New England is supposed to despise Coach Bill, there is something about his way of giving the NFL Suits on Park Avenue the middle finger every chance he gets that makes me admire him in a perverse sort of way.