A Football Cornucopia

Thanksgiving 2024 will not go down as one of the best holidays in our lives.  Early in the week, both Linda and I tested positive for Covid (it's still out there, folks), and spent much of the holiday week feeling, oh how should I put this, feeling like shit.  It caused us to cancel plans for a basketball game, a fancy Thanksgiving Dinner out in downtown Pittsburgh, the Michael Jackson musical at the Benedum, and plans for having friends over to watch the Steelers game on Sunday.  It was only yesterday that I felt that I was "over it", and Linda is finally starting to feel like herself today.  So, while this Thanksgiving wasn't a good one, it certainly was memorable.

Fortunately, we had, as I told family members, football, Netflix, and each other, and the football gods certainly served up a veritable cornucopia of delights for our viewing pleasure.  So much so, that I am only going to skim, over all of it.

The Thanksgiving Day games weren't so great, but were most notable for two things.  One, the Green Bay Packers have established themselves as one of the better teams in the League, but, unfortunately for them, they find themselves in the same division as the team that may well be the League's best, the Detroit Lions.  And two, the total end of game clock mismanagement by Bears HC Matt Eberflus that ended up getting him fired two days later.

On Friday, the Chiefs moved to 11-1 by winning a 19-17 squeaker over the awful Raiders who lost a chance for the upset on a botched snap from center that led to a recovered fumble by the Chiefs on the last play of the game as Vegas was driving towards a makable field goal attempt.  The Chiefs have won at least four games this season on such twists of fate, and one wonders if such good fortune will be sustainable over the course of a Playoff run.  Still, they do have that Mahomes guy playing quarterback, so it's hard to bet against them.  Oh, and this game was made memorable by me cashing in on two parlay bets, both of which involved the Chiefs winning and one of which involved the total points being under 42.5.  I was sweating out both of them, but was still able to cash two nice tickets.

Saturday was Rivalry Day in College Football, and it was highlighted by the 19.5 point favorite and second ranked Ohio State losing the Big Game to Michigan.  What now happens to OSU HC Ryan Day, who beats everyone else except Michigan, now seems to be Topic A amongst college football pundits.

The highlight of this game, though, came afterwards when a Michigan player attempted to "plant the Michigan flag" on the Ohio State logo at midfield, which led to an ugly, really, ugly scene of both teams brawling on the field and cops pepper spraying players and anyone else in the vicinity in an attempt to restore order.

I am not sure when "planting the flag", which leads to "disrespecting our logo" (both ideas are ridiculous) became a thing, but it is a stupid thing and should be stopped by any means possible.  I understand that both Michigan and Ohio State were fined $100,000 for these shenanigans, and that is certainly a good place to start.  Another place might be to fine the coaches of the teams involved and suspending players for such deeds.  

The whole scene was disgraceful.

Locally, Penn State laid a can of whoop-ass on Maryland and was leading 38-7 when with :04 remaining in the game, a Penn State fourth string QB threw a touchdown pass to a fourth string receiver to allow PSU to go up 44-7 on the last play of the game.   Maryland took exception and accused Penn State, and their HC James Franklin, of "running it up".  Franklin, of course, defended the whole thing by saying that the "3's and 4's on the team deserve to be able to 'play football' when they get a chance to play" especially when the other team still has their starters in the game.  Okay, I get that, but did the fourth string kid really have to throw a pass on that last play?

This isn't the first time crap like this has surrounded Franklin.  Remember this scene from several years back?  Penn State is playing Pitt at Heinz Field and is thoroughly thrashing the Panthers.  In the last minute of the game, which was also being played in a torrential downpour, Penn State fumbles and Pitt recovers.  With his team leading by a million points and the final seconds ticking away while a hurricane rages, Franklin challenges the ruling of a recovered fumble by Pitt.  I don't even remember the results of this challenge,  but I do remember this chickenshit act by Franklin.  He's  great coach (except agains Ohio State), but he's, well, chickenshit.  I never root for Penn State to lose, but I'm always delighted to see HCJF take one on the chin, which will probably happen when the Lions meet Oregon for the Big Ten championship on Saturday.

But, hey, at least Franklin didn't demand that the field at Beaver Stadium be cleared in order for Penn State attempt the extra point that would have made it 45-7.  What a sport.

The there was Pitt losing to Boston College.  Remember back in October, when Pitt was 7-0 and nationally ranked?  Seems a hundred years ago, because since that time, Pitt has lost five straight games to finish the season 7-5, and howls have gone up amongst the fanatics and the future of HC Pat Narduzzi is being questioned.  He is actually being compared to Derek Shelton!  Lots of reasons, mainly financial ones, that won't cause Pitt to can Narduzzi, but that seat has to be really, really hot under his behind, and rightfully so, as they head into 2025.  Hey, maybe Pitt can hire Ryan Day after he gets fired in Columbus!

Sunday arrived and the Steelers delivered unto us a 44-38 victory of the Cincy Bengals, thanks mainly to a 400+ yards performance by QB Russell Wilson, the first 400 yard game for a Steelers passer since 2018.

Wilson has the Steelers offense rolling in ways that haven't been seen since Big Ben was calling the signals.  Ten different players caught passed from Wilson on Sunday.  It was fun to watch.

Of course, glass-half-empty Steelers fans are bemoaning that the lowly Bengals scored 38 points against them, but to that I say, that was Joe Burrow going against them throwing to two all-world wideouts in Tee Higgins and Ja'Mar Chase.  Burrow's numbers are among the very best in the NFL, and they are being killed by an absolutely awful Cincy defense.  As a friend of mine noted, if Burrow, Higgins, and Chase got to play against their own defense, they'd score a hundred points a game.

Two very entertaining games followed on Sunday.  The Eagles handily beat the Ravens, 24-19, and the Bills completely buried the 49ers, 35-10, in a blizzard in Buffalo.

Both of those games raised the question in my mind of who should be the Most Valuable Player in the NFL this season.  Up until a week or so ago, this award was generally being conceded to Lamar Jackson of Baltimore, and not without merit.  However, recent weeks have dropped Jackson, in my mind at least, to no better that fourth in this particular horse race.  I think that the players who should be put ahead of him are Saquan Barkley of the Eagles, Josh Allen of the Bills, and Jared Goff of the Lions.

Just my.....

All of this talk should, of course, lead up to the release of an Updated Grandstander Power Rankings, but I've rambled enough for today.  Maybe tomorrow, folks.