Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 12th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.
“Coaching is nothing more than eliminating mistakes before you get fired” – Charlie Rose
Let me start by saying Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. The heart of the holiday is being positive and thankful for what you have. With that being said I am so thankful it is only Week 12 and there are still 5 weeks of regular season football left and a glorious 4 weeks of playoffs. Now that the positivity is over, lets get to what this weekend is really about, endless amounts of football.
My holiday power rankings are as follows:
1. Super Bowl Sunday (obviously).
2. New Years Eve/Day (week 17 of the NFL and College football playoff)
3. National Bacon day (duh)
4. Christmas eve/day (NFL week 16/ Christmas day games)
5. Thanksgiving.
Now it may seem like Thanksgiving is too low on my holiday power rankings but that’s just because unlike Skip Bayless I will not fall into the trap of recency bias. Please don’t get it twisted though, I love Thanksgiving. This day is one of my top 5 holidays of the year, bottom line. This is a day that revolves around football, a large meal, football, leftovers, adjusting your belt, and then more football. If you’re doing it right when all is said and done you should have watched over 12 hours of football (not counting pregame and postgame) and consumed over 3000 calories of food. The key to any successful Thanksgiving Day of football watching is pacing yourself. This is a marathon not a sprint. Some rookie at your Thanksgiving will eat 2 and a half helpings of food and then ask to take a nap before the second game starts. DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP. Pace yourself through games one and two. You do not want to fall into a turkey coma before Phillip Rivers and the Chargers find a way to embarrassingly blow a lead against Dallas in the afternoon game. By the time the night game starts go back for seconds and thirds, then by the time the second quarter hits, Eli Manning throws his second INT and the Giants secondary has stopped trying to tackle, then it is acceptable to slump into the turkey coma (not to be confused with the turkey hole.)
Speaking of the New York football Giants. If there is one downer on this Thanksgiving it’s that we have to watch this sorry excuse for a football team play to cap off the night. 4 months ago this would have looked like a great matchup to end Thanksgiving, most likely with playoff implications but now I’d rather watch a replay of the Giants balloon animals being led down the streets of New York. I understand they schedule these games months in advance but is there anyway we can flex the Giants out and put in a PPV boxing match between Donald Trump and Lavar Ball?
How did the Giants end up here? Last season they were 11-5, and had one of the best defenses in the league. Now 11 weeks into the season they look like a team that has folded and begun looking at who they can draft with a top 3 pick. Sports experts were picking the Giants to make it to the Super Bowl. I wrote in my preseason blog how I thought the Giants over 8.5 wins was one of the best bets on the board. How could everyone have been so wrong about a team that came into the year with so much talent? The answer is everyone underestimated how bad of a coach Ben McAdoo really is.
Before I continue I’d like to say for the record I think football coaches have the worst job security in the history of jobs. If a football coach loses two games in a row the majority of the fan base wants them fired regardless of the context of the situation. College is even worse than the NFL. If a college coach fails to win their conference the entire state is ready to riot (I’m looking at you Nebraska) unless the coach is relieved of his duties. The reality is being a football coach is 100x more difficult than the average fan understands. Getting a group of men to play as a team and executed 150+ plays every week and somehow not screw up over the course of 3 hours is a very difficult task. Coaches need time to build a culture whether its in the NFL or college or even a high school. Even if they are allowed time to build a culture and have players buy into their ideas they still need the talent of players if they want a chance to win titles. More teams and organizations should do things the way the Steelers do, who have had 3 coaches in the last 150 years. Hire a man and allow him to have the time to implement his culture and ideas into a franchise. With that being said….
Ben McAdoo should have been fired yesterday last weekafter week 4after last seasonnever been hired. The Giants are 2-8 after week 11 and besides Odell Beckham’s injury, there is no excuse for why the Giants have been so bad, that falls on McAdoo. A major reason why people thought the Giants were going to be so good was their defense is loaded with talent. Olivier Veron, JPP, Janoris Jenkins, Landon Collins. Every level of the Giants D has someone who should make the Pro Bowl. So far this season the Giants Defense is giving up 25 PPG, OBJ going down for the season isn’t allowing these points, it’s the defense, which starts with the head coach.
The offense hasn’t looked much better under McAdoo. The offense has an excuse that they are missing their best player in Odell Beckham, but that hasn’t stopped Eli Manning from looking like the dumb faced, less talented Manning he always has been. In the last 2 years Eli looks like he’s aged 15 years. He moves around in the pocket about as well as Cooper Manning would. If Eli’s last name was Jones he would have been out of the league by now. On the best day an Eli led, Beckhamless offense can score about 17 points. Last Sunday was the best game the Giants have played this season and they still only scored 12 points. If Ben McAdoo is going to help the Giants organization at all he should take Eli out the door with him as he’s getting fired.
Ben McAdoo doesn’t look like a head coach in the NFL. He looks like a used car salesmen who is going to trick you into getting a used car that will die after 2 weeks. I follow the NFL very closely and I have no idea where Ben McAdoo came from. Most coaches I know were assistants or coordinators in the league. Ben McAdoo looks like he was built in a lab of douchiness and dropped in New Jersey in ruin the Giants organization. Some NFL head coaches start as disciples of successful head coaches like Bill Parcells, Bill Belicheat, or Bill Walsh (also the coaching trees always start will a guy named Bill.) Ben McAdoo looks like he came from the coaching tree of Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. The goal of every coach no matter what sport is to build up a team, and get less talented players to play above their potential. Ben McAdoo in 11 short weeks have completely destroyed his team and got very talented players to look like they’ve completely given up.
Most of the time I would not care about how bad an organization is going to screw up but I don’t want the Giants to ruin my Thanksgiving. I would hate to see a glorious day of football get ruined by the boob known as Ben McAdoo giving America a turd of a primetime game to cap off a top 5 holiday, bottom line. What is frustrating is the Giants are such a talented team that almost anyone could coach them and be more successful. That’s why I purpose one of the Giant inflatable balloons from the Thanksgiving day parade step in this Thanksgiving and coach instead of Ben McAdoo. Giants football, Giants inflatable balloon, basically the same thing. Let Giant balloon stand there and pretend to coach and the result of the game will surely be better than Uncle Rico come to life, Ben McAdoo.
Week 11 Thanksgiving special NFL Picks
All Lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate supercontest
10 point teaser: Vikings +7 Chargers +10 R-Words +3
Rams -2
Jags -3.5
Niners +7.5
Thanksgiving special 10 point tease: Vikings +7 Chargers +10 R-Words +3
I know what you’re thinking, the 10 point tease is a suckers bet. Half of America had the Chiefs in a 10 point tease against the Giants last week and lost everything. When you bowl 3 straight strikes in a row in bowling its called a turkey, and when you’re a degenerate gambler and hit all 3 games in a 10 point tease on Thanksgiving its called a Turkey hole (thanks Gruden). Let’s go for it.
Start off your morning with some turkey, eggs, and the best team in the NFC +7. I was wrong about the Vikings last week as they dominated the Rams at home winning 24-7. I will no longer bet against the magic carpet Case Keenum is currently riding. The Lions are great at getting down by 2,3, or 4 TDs and somehow coming back to make things interesting. I expect the Lions to be down 21-3 and somehow come back to lose or win 24-21. Either way Vikings cover.
Let’s get to early afternoon with some more turkey, potatoes, stuffing and riding the wave of crap that is currently hitting the Dallas Cowboys organization. Ever since Zeke Elliot has been suspended the Cowboys have been blown out twice and Dak Prescott has looked very mortal. The biggest problem for the Cowboys has been the absence of starting tackle Tyron Smith and Middle Linebacker Sean Lee. The Chargers on the other hand have been masters of losing games by 3 points. No matter what the score is at any given point in the game, Phillip Rivers and the Chargers are capable of finding a way to lose by 3. I expect the Chargers to be up big in this game then somehow end up losing 27-24. Either way still cover the +10.
Finally we end the day with a Turkey sandwich, gravy and a bottle of Ben McAdoo. History has taught us that the Native Americans were very gracious to the white men who came to America to take their land on the first Thanksgiving. How do we repay those Native Americans? By naming a mediocre football team after a derogatory term used to insult them. This Thanksgiving the R-Words can give back to America by taking care of business and beating the Giants at home. The R-Words offense has been great all season with Captain Kirk Cousins lighting up defenses all season. The R-Words defense has been bi-polar. They have gone up to Seattle and beat the Seahawks, then blew a 15 point lead with 4 minutes left last Sunday in New Orleans. If the R-Words want any chance at the playoffs, or keeping their dignity, they will find a way to win at home against Ben McAdoo and the Giants.
NFL Sunday Picks
Rams -2
I can’t stay mad at the Rams forever I love them too much. Last Sunday they let me down in Minnesota, but I think that was more about the Vikings being good than the Rams being bad. This Sunday they are at home against the red hot Saints who have won 8 in a row. The Saints have to lose at some point, and this Sunday there streak comes to an end. The Saints could be without star rookie corner Marshon Lattimore. Who do you not want to play without your shut down corner? The Rams offense that’s who. The Saints defense gave up 31 points without Lattimore last week and it could be even worse this week in LA.
Jags -3.5
Jacksonville is home to the best defense in football. The Jags are by far my favorite team to watch this season mostly because no team is capable of putting up more than 17 points on this defense. The fun part comes when you see if Blake Bortles is capable of putting up 21 to cover the spread. This Sunday Bortles shouldn’t even need to score 21 as the Jags go to Arizona and play the Blaine Gabbert led Cardinals. If the Jags really are the third best team in the AFC (which they very well could be) I expect them to win this game by at least a TD.
Niners +7.5
Taking the 1-9 Niners over the mighty Seattle Seahawks? Is handsome Jimmy G going to finally make his debut? Is CJ Bethard playing? I have no idea but I know the Seahawks aren’t what they used to be. Seattle is banged up at every position besides QB. Russell Wilson is having to do it all for Seattle and that means even if they have a chance to win it won’t be by more than a TD. Seattle should be favored to win this game but there is no way they should win by more than a TD. The 1-9 Niners will keep this game close at home even if it’s in front of a crowd of 20 people.
Record to date: (0-0 on Thanksgiving)
Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy Week 12 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football.
Double COVERage 