Carey

New York so far so good toward a 96-yard drive. Man, the Bills defense has been great, except when it counts. Matt Milano and someone else missing. While I'd still go with Buffalo, it's division football. With the AFC East tough this year, that might be a big factor to erase the Bills much-needed win at Arrowhead, where it was necessary to make sure Kansas City didn't backdoor back over the AFC East champions again in terms of the standings

Meanwhile, looks like it's possible that my FOX affiliate will move to a different game before the top of the hour. Anything but the current Bengals/Panthers

To be fair, Major League Baseball and Rob Manfred haven't really been on the positive end of anything within their sport. I think I'd be more upset with MLB than anyone else. As Danielg342 mentioned (actually something I thought of earlier this morning) everyone cheats. Similar to New England in the NFL, the Houston Astros were caught. While I'm on the same page as cleo in terms of my team not being involved, I'll never know how I would've felt if my team was involved. However, if I had to guess, I'd feel the same way former HOF Steelers HC Bill Cowher felt in the aftermath of Spygate. Each of the last 2 times Pittsburgh was the one seed, New England, as the 2 seed won at Heinz Field right before winning the NFL Title. Tough loss, and then Spygate became a thing. Not great, but Cowher said that the issue was on the team not on the Patriots. New England was good enough to win the game anyway. Was Houston disciplined? I'd say yes. Were they disciplined to the pleasure of those that hate the Astros? I'd say no. As mentioned, MLB usually gets things wrong, so I didn't expect anything off-script from them

If Greg Byrne boots Saban, then the guy will die an unemployed man. And going through 3 decades without work to end your Planet Earth run probably is not ideal. This is the first year in over a decade Alabama hasn't looked like Alabama. I know they lost twice in 2019, but even if they'd survive against Auburn, they weren't going to the SEC Title game or the playoff in 2019 anyway. It's a down year for the Tide, and I think they can have it. More than everyone else. Even Clemson & Ohio State had down years. Bama will be fine. If not, then the right thing will be done. Chances are things will be handles & addressed before 2023. They'll get LSU & Ole Miss at home, so any chance to avenge 2022 will be easier done than said. OTOH, LSU could be an actual threat regardless of what Bama does. BK can coach

Picks time! Week Nine: Atlanta, Washington, Cincinnati, Detroit, Vegas, New England, Buffalo, Washington, Arizona, Rams, Kansas City, Baltimore Big Games In Terms Of Odds & O/U Packers by 4 O/U 49.5 Lions win outright, under hits Bucs by 3 O/U 42.5 Rams cover, under hits Chiefs by 12.5 45.5 Titans & the points, over hits Ravens 1.5 47.5 Saints cover, over hits Green Bay should win, but I wouldn't be shocked if Detroit wins, only because it's at Ford Field. For the GOTW, similar to Rams games against San Francisco (until this year) AND Tampa games against New Orleans, I always seem to be wrong between Rams/Bucs games. Tampa Bay should win with extra rest, and LA sucks right now. So I guess I'll pick the loser again. Chiefs should win, period. Andy Reid has won nearly 87% of his games coming off of a bye. I don't know if they'll cover. The only win against Tennessee was their AFC Title win in the 2019 season. Might be a great game. Baltimore & New Orleans is a true toss IMO. Saints suck in terms of run defense, but their homefield is a great one. Especially at night I totally understand what meowmommy said about the game distribution. On the other hand I don't have a big problem with how the league handles it. I think they want to have everyone open with a boatload of games, and then save that late window for a featured, big game that would otherwise be on Sunday Night Football. Typically, the non Game of the Week features West Coast teams since an early start would be 10 AM PST. Naturally that's hypocritical since the NFL still has West Coast teams travelling East for a game that kicks off around 1:00 EST

Best. Day. Ever. Okay no it wasn't, but it was exciting full of exciting moments, big games, and great wins. Several upsets. From start to finish. The NFL might not live up to the standard on Sunday even though the numbers will show otherwise!

However you feel about the Astros, you have to feel good for Dusty. I have to be clear, I am not a Houston Astros fan. Philly hate is sports related. There is respect for most of their teams, and definitely the city. Great place. To be clear, my joy of this win was totally for Dusty Baker. Exclusively. That's it. If he's not there, I'm not happy for an Astros win. There's no reason to get excited

The Houston Astros are your 2022 Champions! First World Series win for Manager Dusty Baker!

TCU might go that high, but they should be no worse than 5. The good news is that Tennessee is back in the mix. If they win out they're in. I don't know or think LSU is beating Georgia if it gets to that point

Georgia still looks unstoppable anyway. At least I finally picked Bama to lose AND be right this time!

I guess I have to put a line through my posts going forward. The fact is Clemson isn't on their dominant level from 2015-2020. They have rebounded from last season to where they're likely to win the ACC Atlantic and the ACC outright. With the culture of the league, they're probably a playoff team with a conference win. Maybe not now, but who knows. Here's the joke: Notre Dame isn't elite, Clemson is a good team that usually doesn't lose to bad teams, but it happens. ND fell under their usual standards. However, if you take away the Ohio State game, they lost everything else by a combined score of 7 points. Looks like the criticism was overblown, but it is fair to say that the Tigers looked horrible and maybe Notre Dame prepared harder for this game to where they might have stumbled earlier. Not really the case since they're on a 2-game winning streak. Still most didn't expect a 28-point deficit, period

It was a joke. That was directed at some of the Philly fans. I'm aware about the Phillies success in other sports. To be honest, it's a disgrace that people in general are still upset about Houston as if they're still the 2017 cast. As if they're cheating. I'd bet that if and when the Astros succeed later on in the decade, people across the country and worldwide would bet on them cheating on the 2017 level

I think the people that thought they were back were the ones that needed to talk out loud & hear their own voice. This was around the time the turnover chain was done away with. To which I say, "Meh. The on-field results matter more than the fate of a turnover chain."

Well, whatever happens, Philadelphia will always have the flyers. All you need is the time-travel app to go back about a half century & you're cool!

The fact is Notre Dame spent nine weeks to prepare and look ahead to Clemson, That's why they're a pile of glorified crap

I don't know whether Bama or LSU wins, and while I respect those pissed at TCU's lack of respect, I think I'd laugh if Tennessee got dropped to No 6, and Oregon moved ahead of the Horned Frogs. If LSU wins, I don't know how I'd react if they were still ahead of TCU, but I wouldn't be pissed regardless

I'm trying to recall a key injury that happened to the Cowboys. Still, to get humiliated to this degree is surprising. If they'd just lost by a combined 7-14 points in their 2 games then you'd have an excuse

Well at least we have LSU hosting Alabama. It can be a competitive game or traditional. In traditional that means it'll be over faster than an IMG Academy Game

Probably because of DST ending. Yes, there's that extra hour of sleep, but it's still a longer day and later in the day especially people will feel that when the clock says 8pm but the body thinks it's 9pm and so forth. Not sure about that. In 2019 there were 4 games that started late. Then 3 last year. Maybe that could be the case, but IMO, a big reason is that there are six teams off this week

The weather may be a reason, but it was a game against a one win team not currently on an 8-game losing streak

Almost forgot about Baylor. They beat Oklahoma this afternoon The above is not a future prediction; it's just a prediction in the past. With the morning stuff wrapping up, time for the mid day, evening, and night picks: Georgia, Penn State, Oregon, UCF, Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, LSU, Kansas State, Clemson, Michigan, Utah, NC State, USC, UCLA. Tennessee covers, I think. LSU might cover in case they don't win outright. I don't care about the over/under in either game (over hits regardless of the total). I'd have picked ND over Clemson if Kelly was still there

I think I'll enjoy late night stuff a little more, starting mid-late next week & next weekend. I try not to get worn out over late night (West coast) stuff unless it's absolutely worth it. Maybe I fill the tank & empty it outright for all of football in 2023. Depends on a lot of things, but Oregon State & Washington was worth it. Early picks right now are basically just chalk. So from the games featuring Ohio State, Tulsa, UNC and TCU, expect some upsets. I'm torn between Tulane and Tulsa. Other than next week, I think Tulane can run the table. Maybe they lose next week, but if not, it's due to them preparing for Central Florida before the conclusion of their game at Tulsa

I'll be honest, if I were to make it to the next decade (at least: looking back), I wouldn't even have thought about it if you hadn't asked. More specifically, that includes the games played in Philadelphia

Here is the list (NFL Games Only) The NHL and NBA isn't so common but may have happened; those seasons usually get going right as MLB wraps up, I think sometimes after baseball is done. It's more possible that NBA Finals & Stanley Cup Finals matchups featured the same teams playing on a day MLB teams from the same areas had games in the spring. Especially when you factor in the nature of a multi-game series

Not off the top of my head. I think they've occurred within a week of each other, but I can't recall it happening on the same night. That's probably something people like Adam Schefter or Darren Rovell would know / keep track of. For what it's worth, the double Houston / Philadelphia thing wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. And I'm not talking about the new sixth seed and the latter's rally