NFL - NEWS & NOTES

A look ahead to Week 15...

 

There was no change to the six teams in playoff position in the NFC during Week 14, but there was a change to the way they stack up.

The 49ers are back in the top seed by virtue of beating the Saints while the Seahawks stumbled to a loss in Los Angeles. The Packers beat Washington, which bumped them past the Saints into the No. 2 spot as well.

Week 15 brings two games between NFC teams still in the playoff hunt. One sees the Rams visit Dallas to face the Cowboys in a game that both teams could really use with the regular season close to the end. The other has the Bears trying to muddle up the NFC North race against the Packers.

Here’s a look at the overall playoff picture in the NFC:

LEADERS
1. 49ers (11-2) They went 2-1 over a tough patch of the schedule and can clinch a playoff berth in Week 15, but the division may hang in the balance through Week 17’s game against the Seahawks.

2. Packers (10-3) Their win over Washington wasn’t pretty, but style points won’t help them get a first-round bye.

3. Saints (10-3) With the NFC South wrapped up, seeding is their top priority and the wild loss to the 49ers was a hit on that front.

4. Cowboys (6-7) They keep losing, but remain on top of the NFC East for at least one more week.

5. Seahawks (10-3) Winning out would get them the NFC West title and the quest starts in Carolina this Sunday.

6. Vikings (9-4) Their odds of moving up from the No. 6 slot aren’t great, so the Vikings can concentrate on nailing that down.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
7. Rams (8-5) They’ve looked a lot better the last two weeks, but did the switch flip too late?

8. Bears (7-6) If the Bears don’t beat the Packers, there won’t be any more playoff hope in Chicago.

9. Eagles (6-7) The Eagles showed resilience against the Giants on Monday night and will try to patch together a roster to keep it rolling against Washington.

ELIMINATED
10. Buccaneers (6-7) Sunday’s win was their third in a row, so the Bucs are at least going down swinging.

11. Panthers (5-8) Firing Ron Rivera didn’t halt their losing streak.

12. Falcons (4-9) They’ll have plenty of NFC teams rooting for them in Santa Clara this weekend.

13. Lions (3-9-1) Matt Patricia says the Lions are better than their record, which is likely to be an unpopular opinion.

14. Cardinals (3-9-1) A six-game losing streak has soured most of the early good feelings about the Cardinals.

15. Washington (3-10) Ten losses is too many to win even the 2019 NFC East.

16. Giants (2-11) Eli Manning‘s return sparked the Giants for 30 minutes, but they lost for the ninth straight time all the same.

source; PFT

 

Patriots admit video crew violated league policy, say it was unintentional

The Patriots have admitted that a video crew they sent to Sunday’s Bengals-Browns game violated league policy by filming the field from the press box. But the team says it was a mistake, not an attempt to cheat.

In a statement issued Monday night, the Patriots indicated the filming was done for content on the team’s website, independently of the team’s football operations, and that there was no intention of gaining a competitive advantage over the Bengals, the Patriots’ next opponent.

“On Sunday, Dec. 8, the content team sent a three-person video crew to the Bengals-Browns game at FirstEnergy Stadium in order to capture one part of a longer feature on the Patriots scouting department, in this case a Patriots pro personnel scout while he was working in the press box,” the statement from the team said. “While we sought and were granted credentialed access from the Cleveland Browns for the video crew, our failure to inform the Bengals and the League was an unintended oversight. In addition to filming the scout, the production crew — without specific knowledge of League rules — inappropriately filmed the field from the press box. The sole purpose of the filming twas to provide an illustration of an advance scout at work on the road. There was no intention of using the footage for any other purpose. We understand and acknowledge that our video crew, which included independent contractors who shot the video, unknowingly violated a league policy by filming the field and sideline from the press box.”

Because of their history, the Patriots may not get the benefit of the doubt. In 2007, the Patriots were docked a first-round draft pick after they were caught taping the Jets’ coaches’ signals. This violation could result in more league discipline.

 

Bills to on the road to PIT and then NE. Rough. Fortunately, the Bills clinch with one more W in their final 3. It may come down to the finale against the Jets - no gimme game for the Bills. Fortunately that game is at home.

 

Ya, but as I said they are looking pretty good because of the Texans vs Titans games.

 

Definitely unintentional. They were wearing Patriots gear, in the darn press box, surrounded by media, NFL and Bengals staffers AND made their presence there known to the Browns. They may get a fine but nothing major.

 

Probably was unintentional. But, given their history, not too smart. If all they wanted was film of a scout on the job in a press box, they could have picked one that wasn't in use during a game against their very next opponent.

 

It's not looking good for the Bears with a loss but they have 2 chances and one is very interesting.
1. If they lose to the Packers they need the Rams and Vikings to lose out.
2. If they beat the Packers but lose to the Chiefs then the Rams could win 1 game and the bears still make it as long as the Buccaneers win out, which isn't the craziest. Bears lose the H2H to the Rams but own the 3-way tiebreaker as long as they don't take another conference loss.

 

as Ugly and Fugly as it gets. Wow. Even an adopted red headed step child ain't that ugly.

 

Will - the ugly part was the massive amounts of struggling vs a terrible and pitiful Giants team with old ass Eli Manning coming off the bench to barely win! That's ugly. Wentz acting like McNabb and throwing balls in the dirt and at players feet is ugly. If Elliott makes the FG, they win in regulation and it's still ugly as he missed. Lane Johnson and Alshon Jeffrey suffered terrible injuries - ugly. They should've won easily, but losing Jeffrey in the first half dropped them down to 1 WR and 2 TEs. they had to use a backup QB as a WR. Not good. Wentz was running for his life. Not good.

If I'm the GM, I'm scouring the FA wire for any healthy WR! Christ, give me TO and Ocho Cinco! Anyone who can catch a football and can last 4 quarters!

 

Dan, you could lace them up for the Bills and beat the Jets! My money is on the Bills if needed in the finale! Circle the wagons!

 

I had to edit my last post thanks to an invisible quote... it was weird.

 

Actually, the quote was quite visible. The post, not so much.

 

Well, the Eagles arnt 'all that' right now and the weather sucked, so im not sure what people expected. In my opinion, it wasn't going to be a cake-walk by any stretch based on the weather and the way the Giants have played as of late. The game actually played out the way I thought it would... a bit sloppy at times, but to call a win ugly is something I cant wrap my head around.

 

I should have been more clear. I posted it and there was 1 set of quotes but then it automatically added another /quote to the end of my post when I posted so there was some invisible extra start of quote command somewhere I do not know which moved my post inside the quote.

So I just added that now visible [/Quote] at the end of the quote and somehow that worked. It was weird.

 

Take away their whole draft this time and fine them $1,000,000

 

That’s being more clear?

 

Darby was horrible last night. McLeod was bad too but Darby was unforgivable. Eagles dressed only 3 WRs and 7 or 8 CBs but refused to take Darby out even after he was continuously being beat.

 

Eli played like a HOF QB last night. Two SB MVPs, he's a HOFer

 

Throwing it at Darby lately makes anyone a hall of famer.

Seriously though Manning looked good for the first half and he will be in the HOF.


I get it though. He could have thrown 20 INTs and he still played like a HOFer since he'll be one.