NFL Open Thread

Update: Holy hell, the Broncos held on to a lead for once (kinda) and beat the Texans 38-24. Damn! They might actually have drafted an acceptable quarterback! Also, George Kittle is a friggin’ stud, the Bills kept it way closer than expected with the Ravens, and the Jets managed to beat the Dolphins.

Hasn’t it seemed like the last few weeks were just chock full of terrible football? Fortunately, there’s some really good games today.

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I’m a fan of a bad football team. The next paragraph is about them, so feel free to skip over it.

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How desperate are Broncos fans for good football to come back? Peter King happened to mention on a Boston sports radio talk show some possible landing spots for Tom Brady if he doesn’t stay in New England and pointed out that the Broncos would probably be interested. Our local station proceeded to fill the afternoon drive time slot talking about it for nearly the entire show. I’ll just say that... hell, we won one Super Bowl with a washed up QB, we could probably win another with an even better washed up QB. Anyway, the Broncos are in Houston to play the Texans. I don’t even know where to start with this one. There’s no logical way the Broncos should even have a chance here, especially since they’ve never been able to stop a QB that runs. They’ve never been able to stop QBs that CAN’T run. You don’t know what frustration is until you watch Tom Brady run for 10+ yards and a first down against your team. But who knows. Look out in the first half, Texans, because that’s the only part of the game where the Broncos are dangerous competent awake.

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It’s gonna be a good football day, tater. Here on CBS they insist on inflicting the Broncos-Texans game on us in the early slot, but we get Chiefs-Patriots afterward. I don’t really want the Chiefs to win, but more than that I don’t want the Pats to get the top seed. I want the Pats to have to play on the road in the playoffs. So I guess I’ll reluctantly pull for the Chiefs here. On Fox, opposite the Broncos we get the 49ers at Saints. I guess I’ll be flipping over to that game a bunch. I would love to see Drew Brees get to another Super Bowl given how fate and the refs have screwed the Saints over the last few years. I know the Niners are good, but I don’t think they’re quite there yet. I bet they get bounced out in the divisional round of the playoffs this year. I’ll take the Saints. SNF is Seahawks at Rams, and I just don’t see the Rams being able to stop Seattle right now. Monday night will be the Giants (Eli’s back!) losing to the Eagles.

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The rest:

Bengals at Browns - Uh, no.

Ravens at Bills - Can you imagine what would happen if the Bills were to upset the Ravens here? I can’t. I’m taking the Ravens.

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Panthers at Falcons - I’m still a bit stunned that the Panthers fired Ron Rivera. It all went down in such a weird way. I hope this new owner isn’t another Dan Snyder, but I don’t have a good feeling about it. Falcons might snag a win here.

Packers at Redskins - Fuck Dan Snyder.

Lions at Vikings - Have you seen that video of the old mangy lion surrounded by hyenas, trying to fight them off and then another lion rescues him? Yeah, there’s no one to come in and save the Lions this time.

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Dolphins at Jets - This is the Bad Football Game of the Week. By that I mean that it’s two crappy teams but it could at least be a interesting game. I’m leaning toward the Dolphins.

Colts at Buccaneers - I’m not sure. I’ll say Bucs since it’s in Tampa, but I genuinely have no idea how it’ll go.

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Chargers at Jags - Loser should have to move to London. Actually, so should the winner.

Steelers at Cardinals - I want the Cards to win, but I know the Steelers are the better team.

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Titans at Raiders - I know this is in Oakland, but the Titans are on a roll. If they had started Ryan Tannehill against the Broncos they probably would have won that game; they just ran out of time after benching Mariota.

I’m excited to actually have some good games to watch today. I hope they don’t turn out to be duds. Enjoy!