3421

I can’t comment on the headshots, but regarding commercials, here’s what I do.

When the game starts, pause your DVR. Spend an hour doing something else. Make food, go on a beer run, play some video games, whatever. When you have a nice buffer built up, you can speed through all the ads and just watch football. The game lasts about 75 minutes when you watch it this way.

3422

What a crazy season. Who would have thought the Jags would lead the AFC South and the Bucs would be 7-3 at this point in the season? Insane I tell you!

3423

I’m happy that my optimism regarding Kansas City hasn’t bitten me in the ass too much, so I feel pretty good about my prediction there that KC would win the division. On the other hand, I was COMPLETELY wrong about Cleveland and Tampa Bay.

3424

I am not sure that the Skins will hit my 8-8 projection - tough finishing schedule to go 3-3 against, particularly if the Vikings pull Favre, and the Cowboys continue to perform for Garrett:

12 Vikings (3-7) Home Sun Nov 28, 1:00 pm
13 Giants (6-3) Away Sun Dec 5, 1:00 pm
14 Buccaneers (6-3) Home Sun Dec 12, 1:00 pm
15 Cowboys (3-7) Away Sun Dec 19, 1:00 pm
16 Jaguars (6-4) Away Sun Dec 26, 1:00 pm
17 Giants (6-3) Home Sun Jan 2, 1:00 pm

It really all hinges on how healthy the Skins are vs. the Giants - but hey, already one more win than last year!

3425

yep…

Vikings have fired Brad Childress and named Leslie Frazier interim coach.

3426

A much needed move for the Vikings, it sounded like Childress lost the locker room more then a few games ago. Now they need to sit Farve and see what they have in Jackson.

3427

I very much agree. They should be able to take the Vikings next week if some significant number of the walking dead come back halfway healthy. The Bucs look tough. The Jaguars are over-rated I think, but still on par with where the Skins have been playing.

It’s tough to see them winning a game against the Giants… except possibly the last home game if the Giants have nothing to lose and are holding back a couple starters for the playoff run. The Cowboys in Dallas? Tough one. Those two teams always play harder when in the other stadium. They could pull this off.

I still have hopes for a .500 season, but the Washington Post today is full of coy little lines about playoffs… no chance.

3428

Maybe Leslie Frazier, new coach of the Vikings, will discover Adrian Peterson. And yes, sit down Brett Favre.

3429

My own coy hopes for the Skins are centered on Rabach and Dockery remaining off the field.

And their replacements showing that they should have been benched a while ago. The tradeoff of McNabb tripping on his center’s feet once a game is well worth the throwing pocket that the interior linemen created this game the other offensive plays.

3430

VY “hasn’t played well?”

Since 2006, Jeff Fisher has a 14-18 record with anyone other than Young starting at QB. With Vince Young at the helm, Fisher and the Titans are 26-9.

Oh, but maybe those victories weren’t due to Vince?

Fast forward to this game. Young came out blazing, going 7-7 to start the game. He overthrew a double-covered Randy Moss in the end zone, and the crowd started booing him. Let me say that again. He went 7-7 on a drive…threw a ball over a double-covered Randy Moss’ head in the end zone…and the crowd started booing.

Yeah, maybe I’m a fanboy. But you have to be blind to claim that Vince has gotten anything remotely close to a fair shake in Tennesee from the fans…

He threw a 38 yard pass to Nate Washington, hitting his finger on a defender as he released it. Came over to the sideline, where, judging by the trainers, it looked like they were popping it back in place. He went to the locker room, then came back out shortly, and started throwing passes. He tried it with a glove, then he threw without one. Jeff Fisher never checked on him. The camera kept panning back to Young, who was standing on the sideline, helmet on, palming a football in his throwing hand. First he was standing in the back. Then he moved up to the sideline. Fisher never checked on him.

Now I will ask all of you. What kind of head coach does not check on their starting QB after they come back out of the locker room? You have your third string QB in there. You need this win. Your starter has a QB rating of 100 for the season. Why would you not walk over 15-20 feet to see if he can’t go? The camera kept zooming in on VY, and you could see he was pissed. Rusty was out there fucking up, and Fisher never came over to check on him. Even when they got a chance in OT.

…or the coaches. (quoted from here)

Fisher has shafted Vince any chance he’s had, has made outright false statements (e.g., the “throwing his uniform in the stands” nonsense that Fisher said yesterday, which is just the latest in a long line of attempts to sabotage – Adam Schefter has the right of it). He’s done it because he’s still mad that Adams made the Titans draft Young instead of Leinart or Cutler, because he wants to run his “run the ball every down and kick a FG” offense.

Now, does any of that excuse VY walking out on the team? No. But the way VY has been treated Tennessee has been totally unfair.

3431

Outside of various VY fanboy blogs, I’m not seeing much support for the “blame Fisher” angle from legitimate sports news sources. Perhaps that will surface at some point, but for now it’s hard to argue with Fisher’s actions. He said he didn’t think VY looked like he could effectively throw the ball, and if it turns out that VY does in fact have a torn tendon in his thumb, then Fisher will be completely justified in that decision. And nothing justifies VY, after five years in the league, acting like he apparently did in the locker room afterwards.

And this article on NFL.com contradicts the Schefter story, which is, after all, Schefter simply reporting what Vick told him.

Witnesses verified that police or stadium personnel had to retrieve Young’s gear from the stands.

And outside of disputing the uniform into the stands thing, VY admits in this Schefter piece on ESPN.com that he messed up.

So I don’t think anyone other then hardcore VY fans can spin this any other way.

3432

Poor Randy Moss. He shoulda kept his mouth shut and played in New England.

3433

Let’s go Buffalo!

That’s all I have to add. I was watching the ticker and it was 7-7, then 7-31. At that point I wrote the game off as a loss and stopped paying attention. Later, I see they won 49-31! Did anyone actually watch the game? I’m going to have to scrounge for highlights when I get home.

3434

Damn Rimbo. What would VY have to do for you to not support him? I know you are a Texas homer and all, but seriously.

3435

Every homer has the same excuses, which is that their star player was not given a fair shake when they were sent to some shitty team with a shitty coach or shitty surrounding personnel. And the beauty of football is that because it is a team sport, those are plausible excuses unless you go to a powerhouse. And even then, “The coach had it out for him” still gets thrown around.

3436

And I can see this in small ways with Tennessee, because it’s not like Vince Young had a world-beater at wide receiver. You’re not going to set the world on fire with Justin McCairens and Ben Troupe. But given arguably the league’s best run-blocking line and the terrifying ability of Chris Johnson, plus a hardy defense and the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach (unless I’m missing someone), Young got into a great situation. The reasons he’s failed are at least 80% on him. It’s not like he went to the Raiders or the Redskins!

Because let’s face it, as much as I love them, Washington is a nightmare.

Not that we in Washington are immune to homer problems. You saw someone up top extol the virtues of Dan Snyder (partially exaggerating), and I will go to my GRAVE saying that Jason Campbell is a good NFL quarterback and just never had a chance to succeed with Washington’s horrible management.

3437

Hakeem Nicks will reportedly miss three weeks due to injury. Huge blow to the Giants.

3438

Ouch. He’d really come on big this season. Isn’t Steve Smith still hobbled by something, too? Or am I wrong?

3439

Yes he is. He’s currently set to return “possibly” the week after next.

3440

I’m not. And I said that right from the beginning and repeatedly since then. I’m also saying that Fisher is full of shit, and that anyone who thinks that VY has been treated fairly in Tennessee by the coaches or the fans either has a hard-on to get on VY’s case or just hasn’t been paying attention.

I know, right? Hahahaha.