NFL Week 10 Schedule

Odds that a team will actually try this on Sunday? I'll give it 1 in 5.



(all times ET; games I get are in bold)

Thursday Night Football

Baltimore Ravens vs. Atlanta Falcons 8:20 (NFL Network - Bob Papa, Matt Millen, and Joe Theismann)

Map of who gets what CBS game.

New York Jets vs. Cleveland Browns 1:00 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Indianapolis Colts 1:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
Tennessee Titans vs. Miami Dolphins 1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts)
Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars 1:00 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos 4:05 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)

Map of who gets what Fox early game.

Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears 1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)
Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 (Fox - Dick Stockton, Charles Davis, and Jim Mora, Jr.)
Detroit Lions vs. Buffalo Bills 1:00 (Fox - Ron Pitts and John Lynch)

Map of who gets America's Game Of The Week or the other Fox late games.

Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants 4:15 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals 4:15 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)
St. Louis Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers 4:15 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)

Sunday Night Football (a.k.a. America's (other) Game Of The Week)

New England Patriots vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)

Monday Night Football (a.k.a. Not an America's Game Of The Week)

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Redskins 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

Eagles Week 9 Recap: Eagles Win Game, Refs Win Money

• The Vegas point spread in the game was Eagles favored by 3.  The Eagles won by 2.  Carl Cheffers has to be absolutely giddy about that, for 2 of his ticky-tack calls wiped out 2 Colt turnovers in drives that would ultimately end with an Indianapolis touchdown.
• Michael Vick certainly adds a dynamic to the Eagles that Kevin Kolb does not.  I like Kolb, but at this point, Michael Vick is the man for the Eagles.  Andy Reid is going with a merit system, and based on that, he is right with going with Vick.  He is in win-now mode, and with the NFC as bad as it is, I can't say that I blame him.  Before, I did.  But this putrid NFC changes everything.  It also helps that Kolb did get to play in a few games after all because of Vick's injury.
• The question of the future now.  You can't keep both QBs next season, so do you work out a new contract with Vick and trade Kolb, or let Vick walk and keep Kolb?  At this point, I would say extend Vick and trade Kolb, but, that is something that could change multiple times as the season nears a conclusion.  
• Coming into this game, the Eagles were 11-0 in the game after the bye week under Andy Reid, while Peyton Manning was 3-0 all time against the Eagles, in games that were not even close.  The more impressive streak held up.  Eagles are now 12-0 after the bye week, the longest such streak in NFL history.
• Before this game, Peyton Manning had been sacked 7 times all season.  The Eagles got him twice tonight.
• Before this game, Peyton Manning threw 2 INTs all season.  The Eagles, more specifically, Asante Samuel, intercepted him twice tonight.
• The Eagles 1st 4 red zone possessions resulted in 1 TD and 3 FGs.  For all the talk about the refs that you will see below, if they lost that game, that would have been the reason.  When facing Peyton Manning, touchdowns are imperative in red zone situations.  The Eagles were seemingly the better team all night long, and it should not have been as close as it was.  After all, the Colts had over 40 seconds at the end of the game to drive into field goal range and kick a game-winning field goal.  Luckily, Manning overthrows and an Asante Samuel interception prevented that.
• Ellis Hobbs was injured this week and did not play.  2 weeks ago, he was the guy who got beat  time and time again by Kenny Britt.  In his plate this week was Dimitri Patterson who had a fantastic game against a fantastic opposition.  Patterson was not beaten for the big play at all, something Ellis Hobbs has not been able to boast.  If Andy Reid makes Patterson a regular starting CB alongside Asante Samuel, I would be quite happy.  From what I've seen, Dimitri Patterson is a better cornerback than Ellis Hobbs.  Sure Patterson allowed lots of underneath completions, but in comparison to the deep completions given up by Ellis Hobbs on an alarmingly consistent basis, I'll take it.
• There were positives and negatives for Sean McDermott tonight.  The positives:  He beat Peyton Manning, something that Jim Johnson never did.  Also, his defense held Manning and the Colts offense to 7 points in the 2nd half, very impressive.  The negatives:  After the Collie hit, Sean McDermott kept calling plays and blitzes that were not working, allowing the Colts 10 easy points in the final 2:23 of the first half. 
• DeSean Jackson played his first game in 3 weeks after suffering a severe concussion.  If he missed a step, it sure as hell did not look it.
• Michael Vick played his first game since the start of the Redskins game 5 weeks ago.  If he missed a step, it sure as hell did not look it.
  
• I will use the next 3 bullets to address 3 things of importance that need to be said.  First of all, what happened to Austin Collie was an extremely scary incident.  Thankfully, reports indicate that Austin Collie is all right.  You never want to hear that a player has a concussion, but in this case, that is sort of good news, as the worst was definitely feared, especially seeing what happened to that Rutgers player a few weeks ago.  However, that hit on Collie was called a penalty, and a penalty it was not.  Before you get up and arms about this, learn the NFL rules.  Because if you think I'm wrong, then you don't know the NFL rules.  Once a player catches and establishes possession of the ball, as Austin Collie clearly did, the receiver can no longer be declared "defenseless."  Here is a description of the play, per Matt Mosley "Eagles safety Quintin Mikell unloaded on Collie after he appeared to make a catch with 2:23 left in the first half. Mikell led with his shoulder and it appeared to be a clean hit as he made contact with Collie, who then pin-balled into Eagles rookie safety Kurt Coleman. After watching several replays, I'm not sure how Coleman could have avoided the helmet-to-helmet contact, which appeared to cause Collie's injury."  Here's the video.  The catch was made and Collie established possession.  The receiver was not defenseless.  Therefore, there is no hit on the defenseless receiver, even though they called the penalty on Mikell, and not Coleman, the guy who administered the concussion-causing blow.  In situations like that, the helmet-to-helmet is not a penalty.  Unfortunate things can happen on perfectly clean plays. This is one of those situations.  Like it or not, Mikell's hit and Coleman's hit were clean football plays.  What has been stated above are not opinions.  They are facts.
• This is the explanation Carl Cheffers gave of his call. "Well, if he is completing the catch, his second foot is not down yet or it's just down, we still give the defenseless receiver protection. So if it is a bang-bang type play, with his second foot coming down, he still gets protection on that play. The fact of the matter is, is that ball was incomplete. So, he has protection throughout that entire process on that play because we don't even have a completion -- at no time did he have possession and become a runner to where he would have transitioned out of being a defenseless receiver."  If the mumbling and the jibbersih seem familiar, well, it should.
• Now whether or not it should or should not be a suspension has no bearing on whether it will be suspended.  Knowing Goddell, it will be suspended.  Les Bowen said it best, "This is Mr. Goodell's NFL: Guy is hurt, so it must be a penalty."  Given all that has happening, Goodell will damn the rules of football straight to hell and fine and/or suspend Quintin Mikell and/or Kurt Coleman for no valid reason.  And that's a shame.
• And lastly, a big hullaballo is being made of Eagles fans booing while Collie was motionless.  Let's set one thing straight.  They were booing the OFFICIAL.  They were not booing Austin Collie.  They were booing one of the WORST CALLS OF THE SEASON.  They were not booing a motionless man.  They were booing an INCOMPETENT OFFICIATING JOB.  They were not booing a guy who needed to be stretchered off the field.  They were booing the fact THE REFEREE COST THE EAGLES A FUMBLE RECOVERY.  They were CHEERING when Austin Collie was being wheeled off the field.  Wait, what?  That doesn't follow the script!  I challenge you to find another crowd in the NFL that would not have reacted in the same way.  Donovan McNabb got a standing ovation 5 weeks ago when he returned to Philly for the first time.  Why is that being forgotten about now?
• And lastly, the win probability chart. (advancednflstats.com)

2010 NFL Season Week 9 Live Blog

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Keith Olbermann Suspended Indefinitley

To start the NFL season, Keith Olbermann was kicked off Football Night In America to focus on his political show on MSNBC. Now, he might be finding himself struggling for work. Per sources at Politico.com, Keith Olbermann committed a huge MSNBC sin this election season.........donating money to 3 political candidates, something that is a no-no at the company, even if the political candidates are Democrats. From MSNBC.com

Msnbc TV host Keith Olbermann was suspended indefinitely on Friday for making campaign donations to three Democratic congressional candidates, apparently in violation of NBC News ethics policy.

The announcement came in a one-sentence statement from msnbc TV President Phil Griffin: “I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.”

The donations were first reported by the Politico website earlier in the day.

Olbermann acknowledged the donations in a statement to Politico, saying he gave the maximum legal donation of $2,400 to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who waged an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate against Tea Party standard-bearer Rand Paul.

Like most news organizations, NBC News, parent of msnbc TV, prohibits political contributions by its journalists without prior approval of the president. (Msnbc.com, a joint venture of NBC News and Microsoft, also has a policy against its journalists contributing to political campaigns.)

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest,” it reads. “Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the president of NBC News or his designee."

Oy ve. The stupidity of some people. I mean seriously, did he actually think he could get away with violating company policy in such blatant, obvious form? While not a technical firing, per se, I can only imagine that Olbermann will be out for a long time and this will do even further harm to his already damaged image. He may return to MSNBC, but if this suspension turns into a firing or a "leave on peaceful terms and go on separate ways" type deal, then one really has to wonder where he would end up next. He would have burnt bridges with all 3 cable news stations, NBC as a whole (and now by default Comcast), and not to mention that ESPN never wants to associate with him ever again. Now as mentioned, Keith could be back on MSNBC in a month and everything could be dandy, but if not, what is he going to be reduced to? A full-time baseball blogger?

Update: Inside sources at TVNewser say Olbermann will not be returning to MSNBC, although the fill-in host for Countdown tonight, Thomas Roberts, seemed a little more optimistic that Olbermann will return.

Kevin Harlan's Pam Ward Moment

Don't worry, Kevin. Pam Ward has made the same mistake in the past.



I understand the score in basketball is very fluid and changes all the time, so forgetting a score or mis-calculating a score during the middle of a game can be an acceptable and forgivable error. But at the end of the game or at the end of the overtime period when a whole lot depends on the announcer knowing the score to communicate just what is happening on the court, you gotta know the score and the deficit. As Tom Jackson might say, "COME ON, MAN!"

(hat tip to @jose3030 on Twitter)

Google Maps Gives Very Strange Directions

Relevancy this post has to sports: Absolutely none. Amount of laughter this post could provide you on this Friday: Potentially endless. I'll just go ahead and present this without comment. (click to enlarge even more)

If this is how Google plans on getting you from Japan to China, then I think they may end up with quite a few lawsuits on their hands when people actually try this.  I'd type in directions from California to Tahiti to see how it gets you there, but honestly, I am scared of what I will discover.  Mapquest may get you lost from time to time, but at least it is not trying to kill you like Google Maps!  Jet ski 782 kilometers across the Pacific from Japan to China.  Brilliant.

If You SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL........What Jim Jackson.................Is Cookin'

I don't listen to Philadelphia radio up here so I might have some of the details on how this got started a little fuzzy, so bare with me here.  Apparently Flyers play-by-play announcer Jim Jackson was on Preston and Steve's morning show on 93.3 WMMR before Thursday night's Rangers-Flyers game.  How something like this got brought up I have no diea, but Preston and Steve asked Jim Jackson if he could throw in the word "jabroni" during the Rangers-Flyers game.  Jim Jackson duly obliged with the following awesomeness.



He took the dare and used it to call Sean Avery a jabroni. Now that's hilarious. Well done, Jim, well done. I am sure he will be receiving a call from Vince McMahon in no time.