NFL week 13 and a half: Ravens vs. Packers

I remember when Ruben Mateo snapped his femur stepping on first base in 2000. Sounded like a shotgun went off. Broken femurs don't usually happen in the normal course of a game.

+1 on the motorcycle thing. My brother was driving a cycle and was hit by someone pulling out of a Sonic. He was in a wheelchair for (I think) six weeks. That was more than 15 years ago. Before that a neighbor kid got in a cycle wreck and was in a body cast for at least that long. I think medicine has progressed beyond body casts, but I never want to find out.

 

The Chiefs and Raiders have shown they have a pulse. Give them credit. Hell, if both Pennsylvania teams miss the playoffs, the Raiders can say they had a lot to do with it.

 

No Ed Reed for the Ravens.

 

He has been dinged up. Except for getting run over once by Hines Ward, he was absolutely invisible last week.

 

Weird, weird year for the Raiders. 4-8, with wins against a division leader; a likely wild-card team and potential division leader; and the defending Super Bowl champs. Talk about playing the spoiler role to a T.
On the flip side, I'm really disappointed all of these shitty teams have gotten unshitty all of the sudden. KC, Oakland, Washington, Carolina, even Tampa to some extent, have all shown a pulse the last three or four weeks. Hell, even the Lions are somewhat competitive when they're healthy. The league was a lot easier to figure out when a quarter of the teams sucked.

 

I love that the Seymour pick has the potential to be a mid-first-rounder.

 

Clay Matthews is a speedy beast.

 

Basically there are 7 teams in the NFC with 6 playoff spots up for grabs.

x-New Orleans 12-0
x-Minnesota 11-1
xy-Arizona 8-4
xy-Dallas 8-4
y-Philadelphia 8-4
z-Green Bay 7-4
NY Giants 7-5
-----
Atlanta 6-6
Chicago 5-7
Carolina 5-7
San Fran. 5-7
Seattle 5-7

x-division leaders
y-Dallas owns the NFC East divisional tiebreaker but Arizona owns the conference tiebreaker at the moment
z-tonight's result pending

 

If this result holds up, the Dolphins would make the playoffs with a 4-0 finish and one more loss (or tie) by the Ravens.

 

The Pittsburgh game aside, KC's still pretty shitty

 

The Chiefs were shitty that day, too. The Steelers were just worse.

 

In my above posting, Dallas could easily be the odd team out. They lose head-to-head tiebreakers to both the Giants and Packers. They're looking at beating the Beagles in Week 17 again to make the tournament. We all know how that'll wind up. The next big post-Thanksgiving win the Cowboys have will be their first since Larry Brown's XXX-cellent performance.