V's Rabbit Hole

  Chiefs vs Bengals I didn't do the Bengals adequate justice in my review of last week's games. And that's okay. I probably won't end up talking about them as much as I think I will in this piece, either. I feel like I said everything that needed to be said during the season. (And who's reading these, anyway? I don't know.) Cincinnati's defense is going into this game somehow underrated. It's Kansas City and Melvin Ingram that're on people's tongues. And that's fine if you're part of whatever they call Bengals fans – Who Dey Nation is my guess. I don't know – I don't tend to get along with fan groups. Lol I don't know what more Lou Anaroumo needs to do, and I'm really not worried about it. I want Cincy and their coaching staff to stay together as long as they can. Which means the defense can stay as underrated as they like for as long as possible. Hell, all the way to and through Super Bowl LVII (What is that? *counts o...

  Saturday A Letter to the Losers (sort of) – Sorry, Fans of the Winners I'm still stunned the Packers lost. I feel like I watched the finale of that game – from the blocked punt touchdown until Robbie Gould's game-winning, there's-no-chance-he-misses-this fieldgoal – with the exact face of that meme of Aaron Rodgers with his helmet half knocked off . Yet again I'm stunned that the home field advantage – in this case the cold, the snow, the wind of Lambeau - of the premier team was a disadvantage for them. The Packers looked just as cold and uncomfortable and just as ready to get the fuck off that field and go home – win or loss no longer appeared to matter – as the 49ers by the end of that game. By the final drive, though, it was pretty clear to me that Deebo Samuel wanted to win more than anyone – more, certainly, than the combined efforts of anyone else on either team. And yet again I'm realizing that both of the home teams lost on Saturday of the...

  Wow. The NFL season really has a way of kicking you in the dick, doesn't it? I forwent writing about the Wild Card round because I didn't have a good feel about any of the Away teams. Really I didn't have a good feel about any of the teams. But if I'd said in print what I said all week, you'd know that five of the six teams I wanted to be in the Divisional round made it there. It's retrodiction, now – and really it stems from a place of cowardice, a hangover from the dramatic end to the Dolphins' season and my relationship therewith. But I did think that all of the Home teams were going to win. That's how it should be. That doesn't mean I didn't watch the Bengals/Raiders tilt through slits in my fingers as my hands shielded my eyes and that I didn't hope the Eagles would upset the Bucs. I blame the Cowboys. I stuck my neck out for them and said that they had a chance to be the best Dallas team since those dynastic squads of the 70s throu...

  By my count we've got 7 teams with head coaching vacancies: The Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and – technically – the Las Vegas Raiders. So let's do a top-7 list. Something like... The Paper Bag Rankings: The 7 Most Unattractive Available NFL Head Coaching Gigs #7 – The Las Vegas Raiders This one is easy to me. This job isn't unattractive at all. For starters, this might be the only team on this list with an actually reliable quarterback. Here's looking at you, Kirk Cousins. I start here on a technicality, though: I don't think Rich Bisch is going anywhere. The question vis-a-vis Rich Bisch and his tenure in The Desert for me is whether he can retain his staff. If he can get the band to stay together for another tour, I think the Raiders could really be something next year. Not that 10-7 and in the Playoffs isn't something . I expect the Bengals to quickly bounce them; but w...

  I woke up today prepared to attempt to digest my feelings about the 2021 NFL season. Then I read the news that Brian Flores had been fired. And my day has taken more than a little bit of a tailspin. But I've eaten and while I haven't exactly sorted my thoughts and my feelings out, I have come to one conclusion: I'm done with the Dolphins. That's not an easy thing for me to say. Nor something I say gladly. But this— Jay Glazer said on Sunday that it would be a shocker if Flores was fired. He said something to the effect of, “There are bigger problems in Miami than who the head coach is if they fire Flores.” And he was right. The scuttlebutt as I understand it is that Chris Grier won another internal political fight between himself and his head coach. Basically, Ross wanted to know why the team wasn't winning, and rather than Flores spending his time telling Ross that Grier has sold him down the river with no paddle – that is, no next to no blue chip talent...