Well that was one ugly MNF blowout. In fact, I must say, that it was the ugliest Monday Night Football game since the 2009 Redskins last played on Monday Night Football.
Moving on, only 2 more weeks of football to go! There is a mass jumble in the AFC of 7-7 teams chasing 2 8-6 teams that is sure to come down to the wire, meanwhile, in the NFC, the Eagles have clinched and the battle for positioning has begun. For the longest time, it looked impossible that anyone would catch the Saints as the #1 seed and the Vikings as the #2 seed, and while the Vikings have little to no chance of catching the Saints, the Eagles are 1-game behind the Vikings and because of mathematic formulas and algorithms beyond my comprehension, the Eagles own the tie-breaker over Minnesota. Therefore 2 Eagles wins plus 1 Vikings loss (or 2 Vikings losses plus 1 or 2 Eagles wins) would result in the Philadelphia Eagles getting a first round bye. And that, my friends, would be huge for this Eagles team. (all times eastern)
Christmas Night Football
San Diego Chargers @ Tennessee Titans 8:20 (NFL Network - Bob Papa and Matt Millen)
Map of who gets what Fox game.
Carolina Panthers @ New York Giants 1:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New Orleans Saints 1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)
Seattle Seahawks @ Green Bay Packers 1:00 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)
St. Louis Rams @ Arizona Cardinals 4:05 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)
Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers 4:05 (Fox - Dick Stockton and Charles Davis)
Map of who gets what CBS early game.
Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers 1:00 (CBS - Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts)
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots 1:00 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)
Kansas City Chiefs @ Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)
Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins 1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon)
Buffalo Bills @ Atlanta Falcons 1:00 (CBS - Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein)
Oakland Raiders @ Cleveland Browns 1:00 (CBS - Don Criqui and Randy Cross)
Map of who gets what CBS late game
Denver Broncos @ Philadelphia Eagles 4:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts 4:15 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
Sunday Night Football
Dallas Cowboys @ Washington Redskins 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)
Monday Night Football
Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)
As hard as it is to believe, the Colts are 14-0 and have not once gotten Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on one of their games. And on their 2 appearances on Fox, they got Brennaman/Billick and Rosen/Ryan, respectively. The only time they got any lead team was when they were on Sunday Night Football 3 times and Monday Night Football once. Simply incredible that CBS continues to worship New England and Pittsburgh when one of the teams they cover regularly not named New England or Pittsburgh is currently going unbeaten. The counter to that argument, though, is who on earth have the Colts played? Their biggest match-ups, including the battle with New England have all been their primetime games, so I almost can't blame them, but at the same time, they went out of their way a lot in 2007 to make sure Nantz and Simms got Pats games and you know that Fox would go out of their way to send Buck and Aikman to any Fox game the Cowboys played if the Cowboys were unbeaten. I must say, though, that despite the playoff race, if the Colts have a chance to go for 16-0 next week, I don't see how Nantz and Simms don't get the job, even if it is a game against the Buffalo Bills.
if Steelers/Dolphins doesn't get flexed to SNF in week 17, that's where Nantz and Simms will end up.
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