Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack
-- Alabama's strength coach makes $420K a year; only one head coach in the MAC makes more $$$ than that. Amazing.
-- Baseball won't re-instate Pete Rose, which is no big surprise; they can be in bed with Draft Kings, but they act high and mighty about gambling. Go figure.
-- CBS' referee analyst Mike Carey played college football at Santa Clara, where he was a teammate of former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini.
-- On NFL Network Sunday night, Deion Sanders went out of his way twice to rip Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons' OC. "QBs start to play worse when he is around."
-- SF Giants scooped up Johnny Cueto for six years, $132M; Cueto bags $12M more by turning down Arizona's $120M offer.
-- Giants 31, Dolphins 24-- As a result, the Giant-Viking game will be the Sunday night game in Week 16, replacing Pittsburgh-Baltimore game. Bad news for Viking fans, who will now be 7.5 hours colder with a December 27 night game. Oy.
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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Top 8, bottom 5 teams in NFL......
32) Ravens-- They move out of bottom five if Schaub comes back, but Clausen is just awful- he's started two games this year, with no touchdowns in 26-0/35-6 losses. 7 of nine Baltimore losses this season are by six or less points.
31) Falcons-- Lost seven of last eight games since a 5-0 start; they scored 36.8 ppg in first four games- they scored two TDs on last 29 drives and gave up almost 300 yards in first quarter at Carolina Sunday.
30) Titans-- They're 1-8 vs spread when they score less than 33 points; if you want to play a rookie QB, thats fine, he's going to be good, but how do you fire the coach if you know damn well you're going to struggle with a rookie QB playing?
29) Browns-- Their offseason will be fascinating; will they change coaches again- that would make six coaches in nine years in 2016? Will they keep Manziel? If they trade him, what do they get for him and then who plays QB? Interesting decisions loom.
28) Lions-- Good grief, I wish the Rams had Matthew Stafford; how can you be so bad with a QB like that? Detroit is 0-9 vs spread this year when they allow more than 16 points. Lions are on TV next Monday; think is my fourth time in row they've been on in primetime when I'm in Las Vegas, which I will be next week.
8) Vikings-- They move into a new domed stadium next year; Week 16 game with the Giants will be their last game in the Gophers' stadium. Need to win and right the ship this week by beating hard-to-figure Bears, who play lot of close games.
7) Bengals-- Giving them benefit of doubt in this spot, with Dalton hurt. McCarron makes first NFL start this week against 49ers, who play pretty good defense at home. If Bengals win one of remaining two AFC games, they clinch division, but can they get that valuable first round bye?
6) Chiefs-- On a freakin' roll with seven wins in row (6-0-1 vs spread); they're using WRs lot more this year, and had goal line stand at end of rainy win over Chargers last week. First team since '70 Bengals to win seven in row after losing five straight.
5) Packers-- Great fun to watch Rodgers play QB; never ceases to amaze me how he didn't get a college scholarship out of high school- he played a year of junior college ball in Boise. That said, Green Bay ran ball better in McCarthy's first game back as the playcaller for Green Bay.
4) Seahawks-- How great are the cameras they put in pylons? Give you great shots of close plays around the end zone. Whoever invented those deserves a raise. As for the Seahawks, they figure to be a very tough out in January, even if they're on the road.
3) Patriots-- Why does NFL make referees run to the stands and look at the replays himself? Why not have people in New York who look at these things and then decide what the right call is? Wouldn't this be a better, faster system? Was thinking other day whether or not Tom Brady will go on TV when he's done playing? Would be he good at it? You never know which ex-players will emerge as TV stars.
2) Cardinals-- Now-or-never for Arizona; they're going to win NFC West, have to win maybe one road game to get to Super Bowl. Carson Palmer's 36th birthday is in a couple weeks- this is their best shot to win a championship.
1) Panthers-- If Arizona has to win NFC title game on road, it'll be in Charlotte with the Panthers hosting. Carolina beat the Redbirds in the playoffs LY, but #3 QB Ryan Lindley was playing for Arizona and it was a lousy game. Palmer vs Newton for the NFC championship would be a tremendous game.
-- Alabama's strength coach makes $420K a year; only one head coach in the MAC makes more $$$ than that. Amazing.
-- Baseball won't re-instate Pete Rose, which is no big surprise; they can be in bed with Draft Kings, but they act high and mighty about gambling. Go figure.
-- CBS' referee analyst Mike Carey played college football at Santa Clara, where he was a teammate of former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini.
-- On NFL Network Sunday night, Deion Sanders went out of his way twice to rip Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons' OC. "QBs start to play worse when he is around."
-- SF Giants scooped up Johnny Cueto for six years, $132M; Cueto bags $12M more by turning down Arizona's $120M offer.
-- Giants 31, Dolphins 24-- As a result, the Giant-Viking game will be the Sunday night game in Week 16, replacing Pittsburgh-Baltimore game. Bad news for Viking fans, who will now be 7.5 hours colder with a December 27 night game. Oy.
**********
Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Top 8, bottom 5 teams in NFL......
32) Ravens-- They move out of bottom five if Schaub comes back, but Clausen is just awful- he's started two games this year, with no touchdowns in 26-0/35-6 losses. 7 of nine Baltimore losses this season are by six or less points.
31) Falcons-- Lost seven of last eight games since a 5-0 start; they scored 36.8 ppg in first four games- they scored two TDs on last 29 drives and gave up almost 300 yards in first quarter at Carolina Sunday.
30) Titans-- They're 1-8 vs spread when they score less than 33 points; if you want to play a rookie QB, thats fine, he's going to be good, but how do you fire the coach if you know damn well you're going to struggle with a rookie QB playing?
29) Browns-- Their offseason will be fascinating; will they change coaches again- that would make six coaches in nine years in 2016? Will they keep Manziel? If they trade him, what do they get for him and then who plays QB? Interesting decisions loom.
28) Lions-- Good grief, I wish the Rams had Matthew Stafford; how can you be so bad with a QB like that? Detroit is 0-9 vs spread this year when they allow more than 16 points. Lions are on TV next Monday; think is my fourth time in row they've been on in primetime when I'm in Las Vegas, which I will be next week.
8) Vikings-- They move into a new domed stadium next year; Week 16 game with the Giants will be their last game in the Gophers' stadium. Need to win and right the ship this week by beating hard-to-figure Bears, who play lot of close games.
7) Bengals-- Giving them benefit of doubt in this spot, with Dalton hurt. McCarron makes first NFL start this week against 49ers, who play pretty good defense at home. If Bengals win one of remaining two AFC games, they clinch division, but can they get that valuable first round bye?
6) Chiefs-- On a freakin' roll with seven wins in row (6-0-1 vs spread); they're using WRs lot more this year, and had goal line stand at end of rainy win over Chargers last week. First team since '70 Bengals to win seven in row after losing five straight.
5) Packers-- Great fun to watch Rodgers play QB; never ceases to amaze me how he didn't get a college scholarship out of high school- he played a year of junior college ball in Boise. That said, Green Bay ran ball better in McCarthy's first game back as the playcaller for Green Bay.
4) Seahawks-- How great are the cameras they put in pylons? Give you great shots of close plays around the end zone. Whoever invented those deserves a raise. As for the Seahawks, they figure to be a very tough out in January, even if they're on the road.
3) Patriots-- Why does NFL make referees run to the stands and look at the replays himself? Why not have people in New York who look at these things and then decide what the right call is? Wouldn't this be a better, faster system? Was thinking other day whether or not Tom Brady will go on TV when he's done playing? Would be he good at it? You never know which ex-players will emerge as TV stars.
2) Cardinals-- Now-or-never for Arizona; they're going to win NFC West, have to win maybe one road game to get to Super Bowl. Carson Palmer's 36th birthday is in a couple weeks- this is their best shot to win a championship.
1) Panthers-- If Arizona has to win NFC title game on road, it'll be in Charlotte with the Panthers hosting. Carolina beat the Redbirds in the playoffs LY, but #3 QB Ryan Lindley was playing for Arizona and it was a lousy game. Palmer vs Newton for the NFC championship would be a tremendous game.
