Why?

If you're Johnny Manziel, and you're trying to get a job in the NFL, and the word on the street is you can't get your head out of your tail long enough to actually work at your job, why are you hanging out with someone like Josh Gordon, who just got picked up AGAIN for drugs and cannot ever APPEAL for reinstatement into the league for the rest of the year?

And why, if you're Von Miller, do you even consider letting Manziel room with you at this point?

And why do I care at this point? Is it the car crash theory - like Lindsay Lohan or Kim Kardashian or Mike Tyson, you just can't look away at some point of ludicrosity (a word I just made up)? When he gets a JOB, then I can justify it...

NFL Free Agency update

I actually posted this on our Facebook page quite a few days ago, and never brought it back to the house, so to speak... Here's a great piece on the current state of the NFL free agency madness, with some definitive winners (like the Raiders and Buccaneers) and losers (look'n at you, SF and Cleveland...). Denver's still up in the air - if they still have the time to get a qualified quarterback, they'll be fine. If...

UPS and DOWNS for AUGUST WEEK 4!

Things are looking UP if you're a fan of young quarterbacks!

This weekend saw some very positive performances from the two start 2015 draft picks, Marcus Mariota in Tennessee and Jamies Winston in Tampa Bay! Both started for their teams, both have had glowing reports for their performances and behavior in camp (when was the last negative Winston story you've heard?), and this weekend they each demonstrated their command of the new offenses they've been hired to run. Remember, these two teams were 2-14 last year, and there are STILL a ton of problems, but they look to have the possibility of strong leadership in the pocket for a while to come. (The caveat of the dangers of injury for a scampering quarterback come into play, Right, RG3?) More exciting for us was the strong performances of Johnny Manziel in Cleveland, who looks to actually be challenging for a starting position, as does EJ Manuel in Buffalo, although in his case it's to regain it. MOST exciting, if you really think about it, is the play of Teddy Bridgewater in Minnesota. He went 10-14 this weekend with a TD, and his leadership of that young Viking team is remarkable. Between him and the young coach Mike Zimmer, there are some truly amazing possibilities for a team that suddenly can combine a competent defense and a good passing game with the god-like running abilities of excoriated running back Adrian Peterson, back from suspension for child abuse. (Understand. please: I'm a teacher. I have five children myself. You do not whomp a child the way Mr. Peterson did. Having said that, he has served his punishment. Welcome him back, and let the man do the job he was trained to make a living at.)

Things are looking DOWN if you're a fan of COLLINGWOOD or ESSENDON.

There are so many good stories in the AFL - the one-two western punch of Freo and West Coast; the ascendance of the young GWS and St. Kilda clubs, the strength and stability of the traditionally erratic Richmond and North Melbourne teams, the possibility of a three-peat from the amazingly talented Hawthorn Hawks, and most excitingly, the run-and-gun style of play that's made the Western Bulldogs one of the scariest teams in the league.

But there are downsides, too, and they are mostly based in Melbourne. The Carlton Football club looks destined to have the first draft choice, so pathetic was their season. But they looked like they'd be down the ladder to begin with (Following Football had them forecast for three wins in February, and we're two weeks from being proven right). Melbourne was at the bottom of the ladder for the last several years, save for the newbie teams, and for them five wins is progress.

Collingwood and Essendon, however, should have been playing finals football this year, instead of losing games by one hundred points as a regular occurrence. For Essendon, the causes are straightforward: the drug scandal of 2012-13, where the medical staff injected players with steroids and other WADA-banned substances without the players' consent, continues to haunt the team. 34 players still do not know with certainty if they might face punitive action down the road, even if they had no part in the illegal actions for which the entire Essendon hierarchy has now lost their jobs. The other cause, frankly, is the now-fired (excuse me: "retired") head coach, James Hird, an Essendon legend as a player, who may or may not have been part of the drug plans but certainly threw gasoline on the fire over the last two years with his bizarre and inexplicable actions both on and off the field. The list of problems under his watch are far too numerous to list here, but the combination of apathy, hypocrisy, and arrogance made him a sadly comical figure by the time the end mercifully arrived Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, the Bombers played with more emotion this weekend, losing by just two points to an under manned Gold Coast team that they should've run into the ground, but who under Hird they probably would've lost to in the second quarter.

As for Collingwood, their problems are only beginning. 8-3 at the midpoint for the second season in a row, they hit a rough stretch of the season where they had to play Fremantle, Hawthorn, Port, and West Coast in a row. Not all that surprisingly, they lost all four, but were competitive in all of them...until the end of the Eagles game. Then came a game against Western, and despite being favored, they let the Bulldogs beat them. Finally, they got a break (at 8-8 and no longer in the top 8) and get to play lowly Melbourne...and lost to them by 37 points. Now it's hit the fan. They somehow manage to beat bottomfeeder Carlton, by just 18, and then give top four Sydney a run before losing 87-76 in Sydney. Great, we're back on track... until this weekend, when Richmond not only beats them, but utterly obliterates them, 147-56, and the Magpies looked like they didn't want to play. At all. Geelong is probably licking their chops right now, waiting for the Pies to show up in uniform only this weekend, uninterested in competing against the Cats. 

Both teams should lose this weekend, and then a fascinating game awaits for the last match of the season, on a Sunday afternoon on September 6th: Collingwood v Essendon, with absolutely nothing on the line - probably five or six wins apiece at that moment, so far out of finals that the game was relegated to that last time slot while all the teams who'll still be playing next week are home resting by then.

WEEKEND WESULTS - a day late!

Sometimes the first day of the school year slaps you in the face... and you don't get your Monday blog post out on time! (And sometimes you don't get it out on time and there's no good excuse at all!)

SO, here's your very-late-Monday recap of the weekend's action!

IN THE AFL this weekend, Friday night saw some unexpected clarity come to the top of the ladder when Hawthorn was upset by Port Adelaide 108-86, in Adelaide, in a game that's GOT to make the Power supporters wonder where THAT effort had been all season! Along with West Coast's fourth quarter annihilation of the gallant Western Bulldogs, which ended 162-85 but which was much closer until the last nine goals went the Eagles' way, the two top positions were solidified and Domain Stadium in Perth is going to get a LOT of use in September, hosting BOTH Fremantle and West Coast's games. The road to the first Saturday in October runs through Australia's southwest coast.

Of the other results, Fremantle's loss to the Kangaroos may be the most significant - combined with Adelaide's 131-44 rout of Brisbane, the final eight are fairly close to set. Sydney overran GWS 133-44 to re-take fourth spot, and with fairly easy games to finish the season should be able to maintain that lead over Western, Richmond (147-56 over pathetic Collingwood), and North Melbourne. Only Adelaide is still not quite secure, as a loss to West Coast next week could set up a winner take all game in the final round with Geelong, whose surprising draw with St. Kilda left them a game and a half out but in a position to climb past the Crows with two final wins.

To the Canadian Footballers, Toronto came back from the brink again to beat Ottawa 30-24; Calgary held off winless Saskatchewan 34-31; Montreal won over BC 23-13, and once again, Hamilton overwhelmed Edmonton 49-20. All nine teams have their first bye behind them now, so with eight games each across the board, the three teams who've managed six wins are Hamilton and Toronto in the East, and the defenders Calgary in the West, with Edmonton at 5-3 right behind them. Second-year Ottawa manages a 4-4 record, already doubling last year's win total even with two come-from ahead losses, while Montreal, Winnipeg, and the BC Lions sit in striking distance at 3-5. Saskatchewan, one of the favorites coming into the season, somehow is left still seeking win number one, at 0-8, six games back with ten to play.With two-thirds of the teams making the playoffs, they're only three games out of a playoff position, but still...there's a lot to do.

As for the NFL, there were some very educational games this weekend! We learned that the Redskins are in more trouble than we thought, if they keep getting RG3 hurt like they have. We learned that both Johnny Manziel and EJ Manuel have quarterbacking futures in Cleveland and Buffalo, respectively. We learned Ryan Tannehill may actually deserve the money Miami gave him. We learned Peyton Manning may have nerve issues in his fingertips that are going to continue to cause him cold/wet weather issues like (apparently) they did last winter in the playoffs for Denver. We learned that the Jets aren't as bad off as we'd feared, that the Chiefs have some hope, that the Seahawks are NOT going to show their cards any time soon, We learned that thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles, both Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow have second life in the NFL. We learned that the QB future of the league is bright, thanks to strong showings from youngsters like Jamies Winston in Tampa, Marcus Mariota in Tennessee, and most especially Teddy Bridgewater in Minnesota, who has erased the word "future" from his title. But most of all, we learned that what we love about football is watching when 303-pound Mike Purcell intercepts a pass for the 49ers and runs a third of the length of the field back for a fat guy touchdown! FAT GUY TD's ARE OUR RAISON d'EXISTENCE!

Here's an array of (American) football topics on the front burner this morning...

The big story, of course, is that New England's former star receiver Aaron Hernandez has been found GUILTY in the murder of his associate Odin Lloyd by a jury of twelve. 130 witnesses took the stand in one of the most well-assembled cases in high-profile history (as OJ Simpson followers would agree). The verdict carries an automatic life without parole sentence, which makes all the other charges, well, kinda moot.

In the world of normal football kind of stuff...Pete Thamel of SI.com has a great interview with Ohio State guru Urban Meyer on their QB situation and much more...The rumors about San Diego trading Philip Rivers for, essentially, Marcus Mariota are discussed by MMQB icon Peter King...The Detroit Lions' front seven keeps adjusting, as now they're sending George Johnson back to Tampa Bay....and finally, shocker-of-shockers, the Cleveland Browns players are saying yeah, they noticed that Johnny Football/Manziel didn't seem to be too focused on his actual profession last year, so rehab wasn't a huge surprise. How anyone can be surprised by Manziel's struggles on and off the field is what would shock me. The kid had trouble stamped all over him, and if it hadn't been that Cleveland desperately needed to take a chance in order to try hitting a home run, drafting would've made no sense at all. It was a risk - probably not worth a first round draft choice, but then, go big if you want to get big, I suppose. 

I wouldn't have done it.

Sunday, Dec 14th in the NFL...

So, a few thoughts as the day progresses...

So, Cleveland coach Mike Pettine...are you satisfied with your decision to start the rookie? 30-0? Interceptions galore?  Continual taunting from Bengals players with the stupid "money gesture" of Manziel's? No chance to win?

If you're going to win a game with your defense, as Buffalo was doing,  the best way to seal it is to have magical defensive end Mario Williams strip Aaron Rodgers, knock the ball into the end zone, and use the old anti-fumble-forward rule to put the ball dead in the end zone for a safety! 

We were wrong to think Washngton would be able to hang with Odell Beckham Jr.  and the New Jersey Giants - the Blue men won 24-13, closing our competition gap to Following Football 3, Vegas casinos, 2. 

Thanks to an early safety by Tennessee's defense, the scores in the Jets/Titans game were fun to watch scroll across the screen: 5-3...8-3...11-3...11-10...and then the Jets pulled out the win with the first 16-11 score in NFL HISTORY!...and thereby ruined their chances for the first draft pick! It's a strange world...

Dallas Cowboys, take a bow! Yes, you won; yes, you now control the division, etc. But here's the thing: when you went up 21-0, all cylinders firing, that's fine...you've done that. Then Philly came back to blow past you to 24-21, and every sportswriter in America was preparing their lede: "Cowboys blow another one", etc. But you didn't. You immediately put together the most important drive of Coach Garrett's career, threw the pass to the god-like Dez Bryant, and put the game back on cruise control. That was something we DO NOT EXPECT from you, 8-8 Cowboys! But now, at 10-4 and in control of your destiny, we can expect a top finish from you! Congratulations! 

Good. Mike Pettine is still playing to win with the Browns!

Thank you, coach! Mike Pettine announced today that he will stick with starting QB Brian Hoyer over Johnny "Football" Manziel as the Cleveland Browns continue to fight for a playoff spot in the crowded AFC North.

With a 7-5 record, the Browns are tied for the second wild card spot with 3/4 of their own division, plus three other teams, and are right there in the chase for the playoffs in this unexpectedly successful season. Sure, Hoyer's played poorly the last couple of weeks...sure, Manziel looked good in slightly more than garbage time last Sunday...but at 7-5, you stick with the guy who's most likely to help you win. Right now, that's still the veteran. Hoyer's not only earned the right to start, there's nothing yet in his back-up's body of NFL work to suggest that he's ready to out perform him at this stage of their careers. If they were their usual 3-9 right now, sure! Bring Johnny Football in! Let's see what he can do! Let's put some butts back in the seats! But now? No. Great decision, coach!

Here are our professional games forecast for Week 11 (and CFL playoff week one!)

NFL Week 11 games

            Having spread our 32 teams out into eight tiers now, tier 1 being championship material and tier 8 being first-pick-in-the-draft material, we can start using these tiers for setting point spreads as well, always remembering that nobody has a clue how to predict NFL games! Got that? All right, then – here we go!

Buffalo @ Miami (Thur 6:30 pm)

            5-4 tier 5 @ 5-4 tier 4. Miami by 5. Vegas says by 5 ½. Dolphins won 22-9.

Minnesota @ Chicago (Sun 11 am)

            4-5 tier 6 @ 3-6 tier 7. Bears by 1. Vegas says by 3 ½. Bears won 21-13.

Houston @ Cleveland (Sun 11 am)

            4-5 tier 6 @ 6-3 tier 3. Browns by 9. Vegas says 3 ½. Houston upset the Browns, 23-7. Vegas' point, 1-0.

Seattle @ Kansas City (Sun 11 am)

            6-3 tier 4 v. 6-3 tier 4. Chiefs by 3. Vegas says Seahawks by 1. Chiefs won, 24-20. Our point: 1-1!

Atlanta @ Carolina (Sun 11 am)

            3-6 tier 7 @ 3-5-1 tier 5. Panthers by 7. Vegas says by 3. Atlanta blocked a field goal to win the game, 19-17.

Cincinnati @ New Orleans (Sun 11 am)

            5-3-1 tier 3 @ 4-5 tier 5. Saints by 1. Vegas says by 7. The Bengals pull the upset IN New Orleans, 27-10, so we win this "bet". FF up 2-1.

Tampa Bay @ Washington (Sun 11 am)

            1-8 tier 8 @ 3-6 tier 6. Redskins by 7. Vegas agrees. And we were both wrong...27-7, Bucs.

Denver @ St. Louis (Sun 11 am)

            7-2 tier 1 @ 3-6 tier 7. Broncos by 9. Vegas says by 10 ½. When you've got Shaun Hill going 20-29 w no interceptions, and "Greg The Leg" Zeurlein kicking five FGs, plus three injured receivers for the Broncos, you get a 22-7 Rams victory.

San Francisco @ New Jersey Giants (Sun 11 am)

            5-4 tier 5 @ 3-6 tier 6. Giants by 1. Vegas says the 49ers by 4 ½. And the Niners won by six, 16-10. Point, Vegas, score is 2-2. So we call the contest a tie this week.

Oakland @ San Diego (Sun 2:05 pm)

            0-9 tier 8 @ 5-4 tier 4. Chargers by 11. Vegas says by 10. The Raiders said seven. They may have lost 16 in a row, but they seem to always play close games!

Philadelphia @ Green Bay (Sun 2:25 pm)

            6-2 tier 2 @ 6-3 tier 1. Packers by 4. Vegas says by 7. On the other hand, the Packers are on a ROLL. 53 points without seeming to try hard against a division leader - ridiculous.

Detroit @ Arizona (Sun 2:25 pm)

            7-2 tier 2 @ 8-1 tier 1. AZ lost its QB. Arizona by (less than) 5. Vegas says by 1, which given the circumstances makes more sense. Great game! A superb defensive struggle in which AZ put up two quick TDs and made them hold up for 50 more minutes against Stafford, Megatron, and the Lions, 14-6.

New England @ Indianapolis (6:30 pm)

            7-2 tier 1 @ 6-3 tier 2. Colts by 1. Vegas says by 2 ½. And the Pats made it clear who the best in the AFC is: New England 42, Indy 20.

Pittsburgh @ Tennessee (Mon 6:20 pm)

            6-4 tier 3 @ 2-7 tier 8. Steelers by 7. Vegas says by 5 ½.

The thing about those picks, to us, is that our instincts say that the Vegas line makes perfect sense: Houston could very well stay close to the Browns; Seattle "should" be able to beat KC, the Saints at home are a juggernaut; and the 49ers "should" be the favorite as well. But we'll stick with the tiers and see what happens! (There's no money riding on it, after all - this is all fun and games!)

And the CFL PLAYOFFS start this weekend!

BC Lions @ Montreal Alouettes (Sun 1 pm) – West semifinal

            Both 9-9 teams; both looked poor last week. Home field advantage will be important… Montreal by 3.

Saskatchewan Roughriders @ Edmonton Eskimos (Sun 4:30 pm) – East semifinal

            Eskimos finished 12-6, the Roughriders 10-8. MMQB “leans towards the Eskimos”, and we do too. Edmonton by 5.

Looking at the early games this week...

It's already Week 10, and with our usual November "MAC-tion" upon us during the week, we need to touch on the weeknight games now!

Tuesday: Starting this very moment are two Mid-American games, Bowling Green at Akron (unlike Vegas, we like the Falcons!) and Toledo at Kent St (hard to imagine Kent St winning tonight).

Wednesday: Two more MAC games, this time Buffalo at Ohio (the Bobcats get the three point home field advantage, which we think is about right) and Northern Illinois traveling to Ball St (the Huskies really should be favored by ten or more, not three. Take NIU).

Thursday: Two major games - one in the ACC, Clemson at Wake Forest (favored by 23, and we agree), and one on the NFL Network, with the Cleveland Browns visiting the Cincinnati Bengals (despite the balance in the division, we think Cincy's TD favorite's spread is at least right).

Friday: Four games to consider - two below the 49th parallel (Memphis at Temple, favored by a TD, and Utah St at Wyoming, also favored by a TD), and two above (Ottawa at Toronto, which should be a great fight for the REDBLACKS but a hard fought win by Toronto; and Calgary at BC, which will depend entirely on who the Stampeders choose to rest).

We should KNOW better...

..but we do it anyway. Here are our predictions for Week 9 of the NFL season and Week 17 of the CFL season...

CFL: We like Hamilton by a touchdown at Ottawa, who's playing well for a 2-14 team...Calgary will easily handle the sinking Winnipeg Bombers, who started the year 5-1 and have only won once since...As good as British Columbia has looked the last few weeks, the home field and value of the second place seeding will keep the Edmonton Eskimos from losing to the Lions Saturday...And in the game of the weekend, the second of the three-game round-robin pits Toronto at Montreal, and we like the Alouettes to win at home and send Toronto out of playoff contention.

NFL: This is one of those weeks where the oddsmakers have it right (insofar as they agree with US!). The only discrepancy we see is favoring the Saints on the road against a team from their own tier; we think the Carolina Panthers not only cover but win this game outright and definitively. 

Beyond that? Vegas has the Browns beating the Bucs by 6 1/2 (it should be more), the Cowboys over the Cardinals (have to, because they're in Dallas, but I'm not betting against Arizona!), the Eagles by just 2 over the Texans (we'd go higher), the Chiefs by ten over the Jets (we'd go higher IF we thought KC could score), the Bengals by twelve over the Jaguars (about right), Dolphins by one over the Chargers (in Miami, so that's how we'd play it, too), Vikings get the three point home field edge over the Skins (they're even teams, so that's right), the 49ers by ten over the Rams (yep), the Broncos by 3 1/2 over the Patriots (who cares? Just enjoy Manning v Brady!), Seahawks by fifteen over Oakland (we have no confidence in Seattle right now; take the points, except DON'T GAMBLE!), Steelers by 1 1/2 over the Ravens, in Pittsburgh (hmm...I don't know about that one...), and the Colts by just 3 1/2 over the Giants on Monday night (no way. Andrew Luck in prime time? At least a TD...)

So, to summarize the NFL "bets" (which we refuse to actually BET on), we'd go with the Panthers, the Browns, the Eagles, the Raiders, and the Colts. And only the Panthers v Saints actually fails to match the quintiles we've set up, so it's the lone prediction we give with confidence.

Highlights of the upcoming WEEK SEVEN!

There are some MASSIVE games in Week 7! We're in the middle of the college season, probably a third of the way through the NFL plate, and down to four weeks left in Canada before the Grey Cup playoffs begin, so there are a ton of important match-ups to look at:

CFL: The two games that should be close are on Saturday, when Montreal goes to Toronto for ownership of the East lead (depending on whether Hamilton holds serve Friday night when Ottawa comes to town), and the big game for second place in the West Sunday, when Edmonton visits Saskatchewan. The Eskimos are riding high and hold a one-game edge over the defending champs, but hosting the game should give the Rough-Riders an edge. Will it be enough to give them the win? They sure need it, because British Columbia is just a game behind them (and would be tied in the loss column with them if Edmonton wins Sunday)! 12-2 Calgary travels to 6-9 Winnipeg in the other game on Saturday. Predictions: Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton. Especially Edmonton.

NCAA: The beginning of our Tuesday night schedule is tonight, with Louisiana-Lafayette going to Texas State. (When the Wednesday games start in a few weeks, you can feast on football seven days a week! Bliss!)  Thursday has VaTech at Pitt and Utah at Oregon State, two potentially close games, and Friday sees Fresno on the blue at Boise, and Temple travelling to Houston. No calls on any of those games - the lines are too accurate to pick against. But Boise just lost their best receiver...

On Saturday, a plethora of games to choose from! Highlights include several Tier 1 teams in action, including the nightcap with two top tier teams, Notre Dame at Florida State. We think 11 1/2 points is too big a spread - take the Irish. Other top tier teams in action include Baylor at Tier 4 West Virginia (8 1/2 points is too close - the Bears will want to make a statement), Alabama hosting Tier 3 Texas A&M, TCU hosting Tier 2 Oklahoma State, Ole Miss hosting Tier 7 Tennessee, and Oregon hosting Tier 5 Washington (we want to say that Chris Petersen will keep it closer than 21 points, but in reality, three TDs is probably about right). Other top games will include Tier 3 Kansas State at Tier 2 Oklahoma (take the Sooners and the 8 points); Tier 5 Virginia at Tier 3 Duke (the Blue Devils deserve more than 2 1/2 points - take them); Tier 2 UCLA at their UC brethren Cal-Berkeley; Tier 5 Rutgers at Tier 3 Ohio State; Tier 3 Clemson at Tier 6 Boston College; Tier 2 Georgia at Tier 6 Arkansas (we really want to give the Bulldogs the edge, but...no. No prediction.); Tier 6 Missouri at Tier 4 Florida (Missouri isn't as bad as they were last week, and Florida isn't as good. Take the Tigers and the 6 points.); Utah State at Colorado State, both Tier 6; Tier 3 Nebraska at Tier 7 Northwestern; and Tier 4 Kentucky going into Tier 2 LSU (and winning outright! Take the points!). The late games include Nevada upsetting Tier 6 BYU at home (write it down!), and Tier 4 schools Stanford at Arizona State (no prediction, but we struggle with why the Sun Devils are the underdogs...).

FCS: Games of interest to us...Northern Colorado (whom we just posted about today) goes to the red turf of Eastern Washington; Southern Utah goes to Pocatello to play ISU; Cal Poly visits Sacramento State in a potential shootout (CSU Sacramento's games tend to be 59-55 affairs!), and our personal favorites, the Savannah State Tigers, host Bethune-Cookman, who is a 214-point favorite. (No. Not really. Odds don't post for FCS games. But Savannah will find a way to lose this one big and probably embarassingly. That's why we love them.)

NFL: Ignoring the yawner Thursday night (Patriots by more than ten over the Jets), Sunday's line-up includes Atlanta at Baltimore, Seattle at St. Louis (they'll beat the Rams by MORE than the seven points listed), Cleveland at Jacksonville (take the Browns), New Orleans at Detroit (the Saints road woes are real - take the Lions), Kansas City at the Chargers (a classic case of people not realizing how good San Diego is this year, and that KC 2014 is NOT KC 2013), Arizona at Oakland (doesn't matter if Tiger Woods is there again, the Raiders lose by more than four), and the big game, San Francisco at Denver. It's tempting to pick Denver here, just as it is to pick Dallas over the Giants and the spread, but we'll be conservative.

Week 6 NFL Quartiles...seen this before?

So, the changes in quartiles after Week 6 is moving the 3-2 Browns up another level this week, into the Second Quartile, and knocking the .500 Texans down to the Third. Otherwise, all 30 other teams remain status quo this week. So, next week, it's time to divvy up the pros a little more: quintiles? Or deeper? You decide! Comment on this or any other post and let us know what you think!

HERE ARE YOUR WEEK SIX NFL QUARTILES...

Top Quartile
Arizona, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego and Seattle.

Second Quartile
Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Cleveland, Detroit, Green Bay, New England and San Francisco.

Third Quartile
Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, New York Giants and Pittsburgh.

Bottom Quartile
Jacksonville,Minnesota, New York Jets, Oakland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Tennessee and Washington.

(As always - we remind you that listings are alphabetical, not a ranking; we feel it's pointless to RANK teams at this stage.)

Peter King should be on your regular reading list!

He's on ours. Monday Morning Quarterback regularly features the most in-depth and insightful review of the NFL weekend just finished. His notes in the Awards section today are particularly sentient:

Peter King - MMQB

Barring a Rams upset tonight...

...the only movement upwards in the NFL quartile tiers this week will be from the Cleveland Browns, who demolished the Steelers 31-10 (in a game that wasn't even that close) and gave management something else to worry about for the long term:

Brian Hoyer has continued to look like the franchise quarterback they were hoping they'd drafted Johnny Manziel to be while Hoyer held his place for him during his learning experience. Hoyer's a free agent at season's end: do they offer him a long-term contract (if they don't, someone else will!), or let him go and hope Manziel's at least as good? 

Our current position is keep what you know is good - but Manziel's box-office gold. Stay tuned for which one's more important to Browns management...

NFL WEEK 5 Tiers adjusted

So, unlike the college weekend from bedlam, the NFL fell true to form (within reason!). Using the Vegas odds as our guide for predictions (never for gambling purposes, please!), only two games were technically upsets, and you could've easily made a case for Buffalo (17-14 last-minute victors over Detroit) and the revved-for-blood Patriots (who obliterated the undefeated Cardinals by four TDs in front of a Roman Coliseum crowd!) as favorites!

So, the changes in quartiles after Week 5: Dallas and the Colts move up to the Top Quartile, while Detroit and the Ravens drop in parallel; Buffalo and New England move from the Third to the Second Quartiles, knocking Atlanta and the Chiefs down a peg; and finally Cleveland moves off the Bottom up to the Third, with the Vikings resuming their rightful place in the lower eight.

HERE ARE YOUR WEEK FIVE NFL QUARTILES...

Top Quartile
Arizona, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego and Seattle.

Second Quartile
Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, New England and San Francisco.

Third Quartile
Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, New York Giants and Pittsburgh.

Bottom Quartile
Jacksonville,Minnesota, New York Jets, Oakland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Tennessee and Washington.

(As always - we remind you that listings are alphabetical, not a ranking; it's far too early and pointless to RANK teams at this stage.)