Yes, it’s definitely a copycat league. Two years ago, the Rams hired a 30-year-old offensive mastermind to be their head coach. The Rams went from middling to playoff team, and the young, franchise QB went from average to elite. So now everyone wants to hire a 30-something offensive mind. The Bears (Matt Nagy) did it last year. The Packers (Matt LaFleur), Jets (Adam Gase) and Cardinals (Kliff Kingsbury) have done so this year. On the flip side, the last HC hirings of the Broncos (Vance Joseph), Jets (Todd Bowles) and Cards (Steve Wilks) and Bengals (Marvin Lewis) were defense-first guys that were all recently relieved of their duties. Additionally, the Bucs (Bruce Arians) hired an offensive mind, albeit an ancient one. Now word is the Bengals want to hire Zac Taylor from the Rams staff. This would be a disappointment to the large contingent of fans (me included) who view Cincy as a clown organization and hope they make a clown coaching hire (Hue Jackson). Good luck to the young offensive mind finding a way to fix that dreadful defense.
For this week’s games, I’ve seen a lot of talking heads pick all the road teams this week. I beg to differ.
Indianapolis at Kansas City – Indy is on such a roll that it’s hard to imagine them falling. But who did they play in this 10-1 run? The Jags twice, Titans twice, Texans twice, the Bills, Raiders, Fish, Cowboys and Little People. None of those teams except Dallas has an elite offense. None of them, including Dallas, has the Chiefs offense. It will be a good game, but there’s too much offense to overcome.
UPDATE: Saturday, 4 PM: To quote news anchor Kent Brockman of The Simpsons, “The National Weather Service has downgraded the weather from ‘winter wonderland’ to ‘Class 3 Kill Storm.’ Roads closed, pipes frozen, albinos virtually invisible.” It’s snowing to beat the band in KC. The over-under is dropping fast, and people are loading up on the Colts because of their excellent running game. They’re also a dome team that hasn’t played in bad weather all year. My pick is the same, just with a lower score. Chiefs 21, Colts 20
UPDATE: Saturday, 4 PM: To quote news anchor Kent Brockman of The Simpsons, “The National Weather Service has downgraded the weather from ‘winter wonderland’ to ‘Class 3 Kill Storm.’ Roads closed, pipes frozen, albinos virtually invisible.” It’s snowing to beat the band in KC. The over-under is dropping fast, and people are loading up on the Colts because of their excellent running game. They’re also a dome team that hasn’t played in bad weather all year. My pick is the same, just with a lower score. Chiefs 21, Colts 20
Dallas at LA Rams – There’s good reason to go with the upset here. After starting 11-1, the Rams lost to 2 playoff teams and then beat 2 bottom-feeders. Dallas has improved a lot since acquiring Amari Cooper. OK, here’s one game where I’ll go with the trend. Cowboys 27, Rams 24
LA Chargers at New England – OK, so I was wrong about this trendy pick bowing out in round one. They are good, especially defensively. But even though Brady is slowing down, he’s still better than most of the QBs in the league, and they still have the best playoff coach. I’m tired of this dynasty like everyone else outside of the New England states, but we’ll have to wait a little longer. Patriots 23, Clippers 20
Philadelphia at New Orleans – Something tells me we might have seen this matchup before. Oh yeah, we did. And it was a lynching. Why would the cosmos give me a moral victory? I’m certainly not expecting it. Aints 44, Eagles 10
Last week’s record: 2-2
Season: 159-101
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