One More Go At It...The 2023 NFL Season

A "Presentation" of The Fix Is In

Playoffs - Divisional & Conference Championship

I should have posted something in the week leading up to the Conference Championships, but really, what outcome was shocking? The Ravens beating the Texans? The Lions beating the Buccaneers? The 49ers beating the Packers (although, they almost did lose that game)? And the Chiefs (once again) beating the Bills?

I think the only game that was truly in question was the Chiefs v Bills. But was it, really?

Which leads us to the Chiefs v. Ravens game. Not that the Ravens didn't do very dumb things - like decide not to run the ball at all or commit some easily flagged personal fouls - but the refs were not on Baltimore's side Sunday.

This is just some of it.

But it led to this, which is all that matters now (from the NFL's own account, FYI).

As for the other game, well, the refs weren't exactly on the ball there, either. Five penalties were called all day - two on the Lions, three on the 49ers - for a total of 35 penalty yards. Holding wasn't a thing. Neither was pass interference. They "let them play."

Amazingly, the game was blown by the Lions and HC Dan Campbell. Up 14 with a chance at a FG to put them up three scores with less than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Campbell instead went for it on 4th down, didn't get it, and seven plays later, the 49ers cut the lead to one score. It was all downhill from there. Campbell, his "aggressiveness" and "analytics" cost the Lions their first Super Bowl appearance - ever.

But hey, he had no regrets afterwards. Good for him. I get paid that kind of money whether I lose or win, I might not care, either. But Tom Brady 2.0 in "Mr. Irrelevant" Brock Purdy is a great, feel-good story. And while the Lions wouldn't have been a terrible thing to hype, we all know no one cares about Jared Goff. And no one ever will. So, if they don't have a star QB, what's there to promote? The city of Detroit? Suuuure.

It's KC v SF. Who are you rooting for? Do you even care?

Playoffs - Wildcard Round

So, that was odd. I had written up, and I thought, posted a Week 18 review, but it's gone. Never had that happen before. At this point, there's no going back, so we'll just plow ahead.

What Week 18 came down to is a perfect series of events which led to four "revenge" match-ups:

Rams v Lions: the Stafford/Goff game

Packers v Cowboys: the Mike McCarthy game

Texans v Browns: the Deshaun Watson game

Dolphins v Chiefs: the Tyreek Hill game

Now, after all those games were played, guess what? The team that "lost"  - Lions lost Stafford, Packers lost McCarthy, Texans lost Watson, and Chiefs lost Hill - all won their respective playoff game. Weird, right?

As for the two other playoff games, the state of Pennsylvania lost. The Steelers were set as the sacrifice to the Bills (the NFL would rather have a mediocre Steelers team in than the up-and-coming Jaguars - but either were doomed vs Buffalo), and the Eagles, well, they were last year's story as anyone could see by the way the wheels fell off that team. Yikes.

Remarkably, none of the games in the Wildcard were indeed "wild." They were all snoozefests which isn't the typical NFL style. The closest game was the Rams v Lions, but watching it, you could tell there was no way the Lions were going to lose. And by the way the secondaries of the Cowboys, Steelers and Eagles all played, you could sense those three teams were done before the game started. As Deadpool likes to say, "Maximum effort." (Only, in this case, it's sarcastic).

And that's not even speaking about the officiating which, of course, was its usual poor showing. Though the playoffs have yet to have its "Oh my God! How can they call that!" moment to get #NFLrigged trending on X (it's coming, don't worry), there were plenty of "Hmm...." moments to be had. Here's a sampling of those:

Which leads to something like this from Steelers WR George Pickens:

Now in the Divisional Round, we'll really see where the NFL thinks its bread is buttered.

Week 17

Ah, the NFL. Where up is down, right is left, and penalties are made up out of thin air.

So, the "play of the week" was the Thic-Six tackle eligible two-point conversion by the Lions to beat the Cowboys that was, of course, flagged because said tackle didn't report as eligible...or so we were told...maybe...who knows?

Of course, this was just your average NFL mix-up. It's not like the officiating crew involved has any sort of history...oh, wait.

This call, as bad as it was, didn't really lose the game for the Lions. Head Coach Dan Campbell did that himself by deciding to go all "Tin Cup" on that two-point attempt rather than kick a (likely) game-tying extra point. But the refs did cost one team a win with a bad call: the Raiders.

But the last thing the NFL and its broadcast partners want is a bunch of meaningless games in Week 18, the last week of regular season football. So, certain teams had to lose for the benefit for all. For example:

--The Eagles had to lose to bump up the Cowboys and make both the Eagles and the Cowboys final game matter for seeding purposes.

--The Dolphins had to lose to the Ravens to make their final game of the season against the Bills matter for both teams (and if the Bills lose, they may be eliminated). New England had to lose to the Bills to also make sure the Week 18 MIA-BUF game had meaning.

--The Jaguars, Colts and Texans all needed to win versus bad teams (hence the "bad" call against the Raiders) so their final games matter, especially with Houston and Indy playing each other in Week 18.

--The Buccaneers had to lost to the Saints to keep both teams in the playoff race while managing to keep the Falcons slim hopes alive (oh, and the Saints play the Falcons in Week 18).

--The Seahawks had to lose to the Steelers to keep the Steelers playoff hopes alive while still keeping the Seahawks in the playoff picture.

--The Vikings had to lose to keep the Packers in the playoff hunt which is why the started a very green rookie at QB against a defense that made CJ Stroud look good the week before, rather than starting, oh, I don't know, Josh Dobbs (the QB they traded for mid-season) or Nick Mullins who threw for 300+ yards in back to back games before getting benched prior to the Week 17 matchup versus GB.

If the above games ended with the losing team winning, I believe, the Packers, Falcons and Steelers would've been eliminated, the Eagles and Buccaneers would've clinched the division, the Seahawks would've clinched a playoff berth, the Bills would've been on the verge of being eliminated, the Vikings would've been in a better playoff situation, and the Dolphins would've been the #1 seed in the AFC. This all would've made for a much less meaningful Week 18 as five games that matter Sunday would've lost any purpose to their outcomes. Just a coincidence, right?

One last thing. Panthers owner David Tepper lost his cool and threw a drink on a Jaguars fan. It took the NFL 48 hours to address the situation, and its solution was a $300,000 fine. That'll teach him. As this goes to show, there's a set of rules for players and a completely different set for the guys who actually own the game.

Weeks 15 & 16

This is just sad, America:

I mean, I know I'm getting old and cynical, but can't Americans just have Christmas anymore? Yes, I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but the NFL pulled in those kind of numbers on Christmas morning? What I'd like to know is how many people (a) just had the game on in the background, (b) were watching due to some sort of gambling involved, be it fantasy football or regular betting, and (c) just wanted to see Taylor Swift in her cute little Travis Kelce Santa hat (on sale now at the Chiefs Pro Shop, Swifties!)

And was this a real reaction, or staged for TV? Because, neither Taylor nor Mahomes wife looks that upset, but they do look right into the camera.

Elsewhere, let's talk about effort. Players wouldn't fix a game, I've been told time and again. "Too much at stake." "Too much of a work ethics." "Too much integrity." Riiiiiiight.

Here's the Steelers WRs giving it their all:

This is just the very, very tip of the iceberg when it comes to effort in the NFL. If you watch players away from the ball, you'll see all sorts of half-hearted (at best) attempts to play real football.

Speaking of half-hearted attempts at football, how're the refs doing at calling roughing the passer lately? Hmm....

Well, that one in the Rangers game might have been a penalty. But the refs are all over the place (again), and it has the players and even the ex-refs turned announcers confused.

But none of this is new. At least, not if you've been reading the website for any length of time.

So, who's going to win it all this season? Good question. Every team has been a rollercoaster thus far: The Chiefs are great! The Chiefs stink! The Jaguars are playoff bound! The Jags are out of it! The Eagles will be back in the Super Bowl! The Eagles lost three straight! The Cowboys & Lions are the best teams in the NFC! The Cowboys and Lions lost (again and again)! Brock Purdy is the MVP and the 49ers will win it all! Purdy threw 4 INTs and the 49ers suck!

Take your pick of team(s), and this has been the story this year. No team has stood out as unbeatable....which is exactly what the NFL wants. But has the league perhaps telegraphed which two teams will meet in the Super Bowl?

Stay tuned to find out!

Or don't. In fact, it's probably better you don't because who knows? Maybe the NFL will really run with the "Joe Flacco is a great QB" story and have the Browns actually make a run at it. And if you can believe that's reality, well.....

Weeks 13 & 14

I know, I know. I didn't post anything for Week 13 and now I'm combining two weeks together again. Sorry. I actually sat down to recap Week 13, got interrupted before I began, and never came back to it. Mentally, I had checked it off as if I completed it. Signs of old age? Perhaps. But here's the thing, these weekly recaps are just rehashs of things I've told fans time and again, especially when it comes to officiating. Case in point, the last two KC Chiefs games.

In Week 13, the Chiefs lost to the Packers, but not before three plays in the final moments made for some head scratching decisions on the refs' part:

The most interesting of these three is the non-call on the Hail Mary because I saw/heard from multiple "people who know football" say that the refs can't throw a flag on that play. That's it's a "let them play" moment. This is rather mindboggling because pundits are literally stating that on a least one play, the rules of the NFL don't matter and should not be enforced. This makes zero sense. But, this appears to be the case on nearly every Hail Mary play. Then, of the course, the question follows: if the rules shouldn't be followed on this play, what other plays have the same set of circumstances applied to them? And if the answer is, well, it's just this one, then the follow-up question is: why does the Hail Mary get a free pass?

In the Chiefs very next game against the Bills, their "game-winning score" was taken off the board due to a penalty on WR Toney who lined up offsides on the play. Of course, this isn't always 100% enforced as you can see:

The crazy part to all of this was both HC Andy Reid's and QB Patrick Mahomes' reaction to the (actually correct) call.

As I've said, if the NFL wanted to, it has billions of dollars in its coffers to repair its broken officiating system, but the league won't do it. The clear reason why is as I've warned fans: refs manipulate games for the league. The more oversight put into place to get a call "right," the more difficult it is to steer these outcomes and get better games and tighter playoff races. Look what's happened in the past two weeks: the Bengals won two games without "hero" QB Joe Burrow, the Giants won three games now with Tommy DeVito at QB (the Monday night win over the Packers looked very sus, especially from the Packers' side as they looked as if they tanked that game...much like the Dolphins appeared to do versus the Titans), the Texans suddenly nosedived as have the Eagles, and now the hunt for the playoffs and home field advantage is incredibly tight. Isn't it amazing how that works out for the NFL every year? As the season nears its end, playoff races heat up, become closer, and more and more games become "important."

Only two teams are officially eliminated from the playoffs, and 22 teams are legitimate playoff contenders - 5 of which are sub .500 at 6-7 and 7 of which are 7-6. Bad football, mediocre teams, but great television...right? Right?

Week 9

So I know this is going to be lame, but I didn't watch football this weekend. I recorded a couple of podcasts (see my interviews page). But looking at the scores, there was nothing out of the ordinary, NFL-wise, that took place. The only "controversial" game might have been the Cowboys v. Eagles game which the Eagles won despite a chance for the Cowboys to steal a victory on the very last play (which QB Dak Prescott short-armed and completed a pass on the 2-yard line with no time left on the clock. Why not try, I dunno, for the endzone at that point?) The Cowboys also appeared on the wrong end of a few of the refs calls, but as I've said a million times, the NFL just needs the Cowboys to be competitive. They don't need them winning the Super Bowl, and they won't until Jerry Jones starts ponying up the money he's not sharing with the other owners.

Elsewhere, the Dolphins went to Germany to play the Chiefs and forgot how to score points...even without Taylor Swift in the house. The Raiders, of course, won as soon as they dumped their idiot HC Josh McDaniels - and why they hired the guy after having zero success before as a HC despite trying to re-do Spygate in Denver is beyond me. Lastly, the Vikings won despite their starting (and second-string rookie) QB getting injured mid-game. They resorted to Josh Dobbs whom they had literally just traded for during the week. And much like when the Buccaneers brought in Baker Mayfield days before a game, Dobbs - despite not knowing the playbook - won the game for the Vikings. In theory, if we're to believe all the football egg-heads, this should be impossible. Yet, here we are.

The NFL: extremely complex...except when it's not.

Week 8

I don't put much thought into these weekly posts. I hope you all realize that. I bookmark a few Twitter (or X or whatever it's called now...are they even "tweets" anymore? Or are they "x's?") and recheck some final scores and then slap these things together. Sometimes they have a flow; other times they're a disjointed mess of random thoughts. This week's post will likely be more like the latter than the former, but let's see where this goes.

Let's start with a general "who cares?" game: the Jaguars v. the Steelers. The Steelers are bad. The Jaguars are so-so (but maybe QB Trevor Lawrence can be made a thing?). And yet, after the game, this happens:

I don't know why this happened because, as even Mike Florio himself pointed out, this set an odd precedent for the NFL to follow. When and where does the home office step in to correct the networks hired goons? Why do they bother? Where does it lead? And will they always disagree as they did in this instance? I don't know because I never expected this to occur, especially when the two were at odds with each other.

But as I've said time and again, officials can seriously alter games by throwing, or not throwing, flags. Major case in point, this year's version of the Green Bay Packers. With no Aaron Rodgers in town, this is what happens:

Week 7

This is how unreal the NFL is: on Sunday night, the Eagles beat the Dolphins 31-17 and did so without committing a penalty. Wait, strike that. They were never flagged for a penalty. Of course, some O-lineman committed holding, or a DB committed pass interference, or their D-line lined up in the neutral zone. But did the refs notice? Apparently not.

Yet this sort of absurdity goes unquestioned by fans. Do people see such a stat and really think, "Wow, are the Eagles a well-disciplined team. What great coaching!" Meanwhile, the Dolphins were flagged every time a player sneezed. So, is it really a surprise which team emerged from this prime-time matchup with a victory?

The 1-5 Patriots beat potential Super Bowl contenders the Bills to give Bill Belichick his 300th career win. This kind of made me wonder: Is Belichick really a coaching "genius?" Or was Tom Brady that good of a QB? I mean, no one called Belichick a genius when he was the Browns head coach and was mired in mediocrity. And now, without Brady, there's talk of him losing his job. Where's the "genius" really lie? Or was it all just a well-played lie by the NFL?

Andy Reid is now a "genius," too. Sure, he has Mahomes (and now Taylor Swift) in his corner, but how does a team with no even remotely threatening WRs and an average at best RB crew put up 30+ points a game? I understand Mahomes is a rare(ish) talent, but seriously, watch his #1 target Travis Kelce run. He's a slow TE. He's not outrunning anyone. Yet, time and again, he's wide - and I mean wide - open. How? How does no defense coordinator have him double covered consistently? What? Are they really afraid of what the likes of Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney are going to do?

But this league never makes any real sense. Both the 1-5 Bears and 1-5 Giants won...with their backup QBs running the show. The 49ers "vaunted" defense was ripped in two by the Vikings...without their top threat Justin Jefferson in the lineup. The Lions defense was also torn asunder by the Ravens...and made Lamar Jackson look like a legit QB in the process.

How can anyone predict this? How can anyone believe this?

Well, as PT Barnum himself wrote, even when the public learned his "tricks of the trade", they "appear disposed to be amused even when they are conscious of being deceived." Sounds about right.

Week 6

The Browns beat the 49ers! The Jets beat the Eagles! The Giants beat...oh, wait. The Bills won. These two calls seemed to help that happen:

Of course, the Browns-49ers game wasn't without it's fair share of, shall we say, interesting calls. Much like this one:

Week 4 & 5

Sorry there was no post last week - life happens, you know?

So, is it just me, or is 49ers QB Brock Purdy becoming the sequel to Tom Brady? He is "Mr. Irrelevant" (the very last draft pick in his draft - lower than Tom Brady), has that "aw shucks" humble Midwest feel about him (despite not actually being from the Midwest), and despite not having a powerful arm, he is accurate and confident, and let's be honest, a white boy. In fact, it's possible that he was supposed to be the story the NFL rode into the Super Bowl with, not Jalen Hurts. The problem was, Purdy was injured and unable to play - something that couldn't be faked away on the field.

This season, Purdy is healthy and the 49ers are rolling. Really rolling. And there is barely any competition in the NFC to stand in their way to get to the Super Bowl and raise Purdy up on that pedestal that makes only a handful of NFL players "special." Does anyone really want a repeat of the Eagles in the Super Bowl? The Cowboys just proved themselves to be inferior (and I'd still argue that until Jerry Jones shares revenue with the other owners, he and his team are the odd man out), the NFC South is junk,  and the Seahawks and Rams aren't real competition. That only leaves the NFC Central, which, without Rodgers on the Packers, means - and who thought this would be a reality -  the Lions are the second best team in the NFC. So, should injury derail the 49ers, the Lions are the most likely back-up plan.

Which team therefore meets the 49ers in the Super Bowl? Well, that's a bit more challenging to figure out. There's many more storylines in the AFC - the Dolphins & Tua's comeback from his multiple concussions, the "this is our year" Bills, "can Rodgers really return" Jets, the up-and-coming Jaguars and Chargers, and, of course, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. If Taylor Swift can keep faking her relationship with Travis Kelce for a few more months, then wouldn't it be great to see Purdy v Mahomes in the Super Bowl? The Chiefs are clearly protected, T. Swift is still in the picture, and Mahomes may well know how to "play ball" with the right people:

Elsewhere, the Bears - THE BEARS - won a game...on the night one of their few remaining "legendary" players, Dick Butkus, passed away...playing against a team whose head coach played on the last Bears team to win a Super Bowl. Coincidence? In other news, Bill Belichick is no longer a "genius." In fact, people are calling for/asking if it's time he be fired/resign. Is that what happens to geniuses? Or is it just that the Patriots, especially without Tom Brady, bring nothing to the table for the NFL, so no "help," no referee favors, and no chance?

Lastly, blowouts are now a thing again in the NFL. Even in prime-time games, which for the past few seasons have seemingly always been decided in the final few seconds, blowouts are making for boring television. Will this really continue for the remainder of the season? Can the NFL afford that? Is the league actually just letting games play out as they should? It'll be something to monitor moving forward because this - as wacky as it seems - is unusual NFL behavior.

Week 3

OMG! TAYLOR SWIFT WAS AT THE CHIEFS GAME!!! Why does it matter? Reasons:

Hmm. Seems the Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift "romance" means $$$ for the NFL. Probably for T. Swift as well because, let's be honest, this isn't a real romance, but a "Promance." Not that I care either way, but Swift being at the Chiefs game was the only reason people tuned into the resultant blowout as the Bears were demolished by the Chiefs 41-10.

Speaking of the Bears, they had perhaps the worst week in franchise history (which is saying something for the oldest team in the league). The biggest question mark of it all was the "resignation" of defensive coordinator Alan Williams who may or may not - depending on the source - had his home raided by the FBI. The FBI may or may not have also raided Bears HQ. No matter what actually occurred, Williams didn't resign because of "health issues" or to "be with his family." Something happened. And somehow, the Bears have managed to keep it under wraps because it's not over yet:

Elsewhere, there were bad calls (go figure):

The NFL is starting to make sure prime-time games are close to the final gun once again. The Raiders were kept in the Sunday night game thanks to the above call, and the Rams were allowed to keep the final Monday night game close against the Bengals as well - even though neither game was really in doubt.

There were a few odd upsets as well: the Colts beat the Ravens, the Texans (and their rookie QB CJ Stroud...future star/story?) beat the Jaguars, and the Cardinals knocked off the Cowboys. Wait. The Cowboys lost to the Cardinals? Yep. Maybe Jerry ain't punching that ticket to the Super Bowl so soon.

The only other interesting thing was the the Dolphins scoring 70 points on the Broncos and winning by 50. Now, the Bills beat the Commanders 37-3, but it's strange that more blowouts like the Dolphins destruction of the Broncos (along with the Chiefs and Bills big wins) should really happen more often. There are a real disparity between certain teams, and these blowouts should be more common. But it's not good TV (unless Taylor Swift is in attendance), and that's the name of this game: entertainment. So, as the season progresses, it'll be interesting to see if more lopsided games like these crop up, or of the refs will step in to keep games (like most prime-time affairs) closer than they really should be.

Week 2

Well, that was a little bit more NFL-y. All four prime-time games were one-score finales, just as the league desires. Was there some "bad calls" this week? Of course, including this one:

Though I don't have a replay for it, there was another bad "non-call" in the Monday night Browns v. Steelers game which led to Aikman and Buck discussing how good of a "non-call" the non-call was. But that conversation begged the question: how can you applaud a referee for not enforcing the rules? This is what Aikman and Buck were doing: cheering for non-enforcement of the rules. Seems like something that shouldn't be celebrated, but here we are.

Perhaps the most curious play call of the weekend was this move by the Rams:

Week 1

I've escaped from the bad place I was in, so I figured I'd give it another go this season. I can't guarantee I'll post here every week, but I'll give it the ol' college try.

At some point I need to address the, what was it? Ten?, NFL players suspended for various gambling violations prior to the season beginning, but now is not the time for it. Instead, we'll delve right into the Week 1 action...or inaction as it turned out to be. The Wall Street Journal noted how bad the NFL's opening weekend was which continued into Monday Night Football. Scoring was down, teams appeared sloppier than usual, and the Aaron Rodgers story died on his fourth play of the season.

That's a rough start, but strangely, it seemed as if the NFL was very "hands off" all weekend. This despite the NFL's new advertising campaign which "pokes fun" at the idea that its games are scripted. I'd embed the video here, but go figure, the NFL won't allow me to do so. So, follow the link to see it for yourself if you haven't already seen bits and pieces of it. This, of course, comes on the heels of "#NFLfixed" trending on Twitter (or is it X?) during the entire playoffs last year. The NFL realizes that people are catching on, and they don't like it. So, what better way to combat it than mock it and play it safe opening weekend?

I mean, Sunday Night Football was a snooze-fest as the Cowboys dismantled in the Giants 40-0. That's not a typical prime-time result. Normally, those games come down to the final two minutes, if not the final play. Instead, fans could've (should've) turned the game off at the end of the first quarter. There weren't many crazy results or plays/calls that really stood out. Yes, Tampa Bay without Brady beat the Vikings, Tua led the Dolphins back against the Chargers in the most "dramatic" game of the weekend, and the Patriots almost - almost - beat the Eagles, but otherwise...meh.

The only oddity may have been the Chiefs and Mahomes losing to the Lions on Opening Night. The Lions are suddenly a story, and that result amped up the hype around a team led by (gulp) Jared Goff. But there was some strangeness in the game, mainly on the part of the Chiefs: