BigbadB

That Eagles game won't be easy. They have to scrap for every win they can get at this point.

Doug Williams calls Reuben Foster domestic violence arrest "small potatoes". It's getting to the point that between domestic violence attacks, football games are breaking out.

Obviously the personnel are better, but it's incredible how much of this is on the coaching staff. Nagy has practically taken this offense from the leather helmet era to being one of the 3-5 most progressive in the league. That gives me some hope that we'll be able to keep Vic Fangio on for next year. In a normal year, he'd be at or near the top of most prospective coach lists, and there's no way in hell we'd be able to retain him. But with the whole paradigm shift in the NFL right now, it may be tough to sell an owner on a 60 year old defensive coordinator, no matter how good. That is doubly so if you have a young QB or are going to need to draft one, which is basically all of the potential openings except the Packers and Lions. The Fangio getting a HC job thing has been going around again recently. And I've been pretty surprised by it, because yeah......I don't know how you hire a 60-year old defensive coach in this day and age. The last few years, you've had Nagy, McVay, Reich, Shanahan, Lynn, Pedersen and even McDermott hired on the offensive side and have some success. Shanahan's the only one that won't have a playoff appearance within 2 seasons of this group. 1 has a SB ring. Another is among the 2 favorites to get one this year. Defensively, you have Vance Joseph and Matt Patricia, who have been disasters so far. Vrabel has been mediocre and searching for an offense. Todd Bowles was hired 2015, but he's another D coach that's likely to get fired this offseason. Shanahan would most likely have been knocking on the door for a playoff spot this year if McKinnon and Garrapalo didn't get hurt and Reuben Foster didn't beat women and Solomon Thomas wasn't a first round bust. They looked really good last year after getting JG, and McKinnon was a nice add to that offense.

I'd be interested to know just how many holding calls have been made on pass protection when playing against the Bears. I'm not so sure they are even averaging 1 a game. If they aren't going to call it, guess what the pass protection will do even more?

I said this about 11 days ago, but the Lions trading Golden Tate really hurts their short game. I'd be more worried if Tate and Riddick were both quick game options, but Roquan and Trevathan will likely take turns mirroring Riddick or Zenner. Blount got 4 yards on 6 carries in the previous meeting. Stafford can't run all that well, so that's one less thing the defense has to worry about. Offensively, I'm sure Detroit is expecting a conservative game from Daniel. But, with Nagy and Daniel's experience with Nagy's system, I wouldn't be too quick to think it will be all about ground and pound. Work the opposite side of the field from Slay and let the speedsters do their usual magic after the catch.

The Bears went for 2 on the next score after he kicked the kickoff out of bounds. Was Nagy punishing Parkey there or did he really want an 11 point lead?

Florio isn't very good at predicting outcomes of football games. Isn't Kerryon Johnson and Marvin Jones sitting out this game, also? To me, Johnson and Jones sitting for the Lions is way worse than Daniel starting for the Lions. I get the home field advantage and all, and the slightly less rested Bears roster, but.....

I've got Chase Daniel selected as my waiver wire pick up this week. I have a 3 game lead in my division with 3 games left, so why the hell not? Mahomes is on bye and Trubisky is likely to sit out. Should add some excitement to tomorrow's game for me. And that's my fantasy brag for the day.

I like Daniel as the backup, and I doubt they could find a better backup since he's as familiar with the Nagy offense as anyone could be. I think they win against the Lions if Daniel plays, but I do hope Trubisky can go.

Even when Hicks was making tackles for loss, he was dragging guys who had their arms wrapped around him. Time and time again. Hicks was an unstoppable monster last night, and the officials hate calling holding on Bears offensive opponents.

That first pick that Trubisky threw looked like Jordan Howard was wide open in the flat. I've seen several instances where Trubisky has chosen a deeper throw over dumping down. It's a 5-7 yard gain even if Howard does't get any yardage after the catch. Maybe they will catch this on game films. I'm not expecting Trubisky to never throw an INT, and the best way to learn to stop throwing ill advised passes is to get some of them picked off, but with speedy guys like Gabriel and Miller running across the middle or going in motion to stack the defense to one side and confusing LB's, a toss over the line to Howard might be a big gainer.

Condoleeza Rice being considered for the Browns Head Coaching position for next year. She likes football.

Somebody told me they have a thin crust pizza now. I've never been huge fan of pan, thick or deep dish. Thin crust is where it's at. I might have $6 laying around to give it a try.

Why does the cameraman never pan over to Buckethead?

Everyone has to start somewhere........ Dammit!

Ask us again in 18 years when he announces his retirement with all kinds of bling on his fingers.

Before the second quarter started, I announced that it was Anthony Miller's turn to take over after Allen Robinson went crazy in the first, and my Lion's fan buddy got really quiet with me for the rest of the game after Miller exploded exactly as I declared. Fun game. Parkey even made it fun, and I had him starting on 2 fantasy teams.

Sad that Cam Meredith didn't fully recover from his injury. I thought he would be awesome this year with Brees as his QB and teams double teaming Michael Thomas. Turns out you can't double team Michael Thomas.

People are touting the Chargers as some kind of special this year and their 5 wins were against the 49ers, Raiders, Browns, Bills and a one point win at home over the Titans. Congrats on that 5-2 record there Chargers. The only team that would have made this a softer schedule for them so far is swapping out the Titans with the Giants.

I think I heard that Stafford got sacked 10 times this week. The return of a hungry Khalil Mack and the first real appearance of Leonard Floyd should give the exhausted Lions OLine plenty to worry about. I'm all about adding Bruce Irvin if they can work it out. They are sitting in first place in their division and each game they lost were actually winnable games. They've been in every game so far and this is an easy add that doesn't cost you any players or draft picks. Irvin was extremely respectful on the news of his release, but I can guarantee you he will want to make Gruden look even worse than he already does for trading Mack before the season even started. Irvin will be a man possessed.

And now the Raiders outright released Bruce Irvin only days after the trade deadline. How popular is the Gruden signing now? I'm pretty sure you could hire a baboon to dismantle a football team. I'm just not so sure the baboon could dismantle as quickly as Gruden has. Irvin's high road parting speech won't sit well with the rest of the locker room.

They'd be foolish to pass on San Diego's stadium if it's being offered. There are tons of Oakland fans here and they have a capacity over 60,000. UNLV has only 35,000 capacity.

They traded away 2 1st rounders. Net gain of 1 extra first round pick. Likelihood that any of the 3 first rounders are Khalil Mack good? Not likely. Picks in the top 10? Their own. Bears and Dallas picks will likely be no better than late teens. In 7 seasons with Tampa, Gruden drafted 61 players and only 3 ever made a pro bowl. 2 guards and Aqib Talib. Talib didn't become a pro-bowler until he got to NE. Which 1st round picks did the Raiders trade away? Mack was two firsts, a third and a sixth for Mack, a second and a fifth and they got a first for Cooper. And don’t get me wrong, the Raiders are a disaster and a joke. They traded the first rounders Cooper and Mack. Cooper was a 4th overall and Mack was a 5th overall. And while Cooper hasn't been elite at any time, Mack most certainly has. Their net return on trading two first rounders is 3 first rounders. I don't include the 2nd first rounder from the Bears next year because I believe the first rounder next year won't be much more than 10-15 picks apart from the 2nd rounder they are sending back to the Bears. Oakland is on a path to be bad for the next few years as it seems Carr will have his contract declined this offseason, and it's possible the Raiders take a QB with their first pick. Any free agent or trade QB Gruden picks up would likely be nothing more than a placeholder for the rookie if Gruden goes in that direction. Do they even know where they are playing their football games next year? Once Oakland is in Vegas, things should settle down for them a little bit. But, this and next season are going to be UGLY.

It’s cool. We’ve got 3 1st round picks in the draft next year and that’s basically the same as winning a Super Bowl. They traded away 2 1st rounders. Net gain of 1 extra first round pick. Likelihood that any of the 3 first rounders are Khalil Mack good? Not likely. Picks in the top 10? Their own. Bears and Dallas picks will likely be no better than late teens. In 7 seasons with Tampa, Gruden drafted 61 players and only 3 ever made a pro bowl. 2 guards and Aqib Talib. Talib didn't become a pro-bowler until he got to NE.

Cooper isn't even on a team in my 12 team fantasy league. Two other leagues people have attempted to trade me Amari Cooper for something of value. I declined the offers. I might scoop him up if he fits the Dallas offense better than Oakland, but Dallas giving up a first for him. WOW!