Weekend winners
NFL underdogs, especially late Sunday. The last three games on Sunday’s NFL slate – as well the Thursday night game – featured painful and confusing upsets. The Chargers was somewhat explicable because, well, Philip Rivers is having one of those years. But who has any explanation for the Eagles getting 13.5 and winning out right at L.A.? Actually, here’s the reasoning: Football.
Competition in the Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success (Bowler optional). Gang, I believe we have 82 entries. If you believe you beat the Saturday deadline (it was last Saturday, Spy) and do not see your name, please let me know. 5-at-10, Mrs. 5-at-10, Lil 5-at-10, Gary M., LionScot, CommodoreScot, Alejandro (Where’s Alejandro Sr.?), Mark W., Dawg 747, Tom P., Bryan C., Spud, Spy, Andy O., Ellis M., Ernie H., Big Brained Listener Hal, Ted P., Weena, Gus Sucks, Jason G., Jason T., Chris B., Chris J., Brent R., Mike R., Thompson1, Thompson2, Thompson3, scole023, TrueBeliever, ThatIKnow, WarEagle22, Big Al, Mike C., Sheila, Greg B., Will C., Justin S., Josh P., Mark J., Dave L., Terry A., Skip S., Matt J., Bill T., Bo C., Richard J., Backup QB, Charles M., Cantbuyaburgerboohoo, Brandon E., DC22, TN Tuxedo, Tracy W., Runner-up-of-Life, Mike H., ChatSportsNut, Mark P., Fat Vader, Sportsfan, Chuck N., Steve M., Chuck H., HGLIII, Henry H., John M.,Gatortodd, Zach T., Travis H. Peter W., Michael P. RTR Tommy, Hudson H., Jackson J., Jordan T., Matt H., Peter the Picker, MJ15, Always Something, BravesBacker, Word Up, Chris P., Andy, W.
Nick Bleepin’ Foles people. OK, with the season on the line and Carson Wentz sidelined with an injury, it must be December, which means it must be Nick Foles time. (Side note: Did anyone else follow the Wentz story and how he went from questionable-to-doubtful-to-out in the course of three days? He has a broken back folks. Only in the NFL are you ‘questionable’ with a broken back. Hard to care about player safety when the players don’t care about player safety.) Anyhoo, Foles led the Eagles to 30 points in a must-have win for the defending Super Bowl champs. Quick history lesson: Last year, Wentz gets hurt, Foles starts week 15, the Eagles win that one, win the next week to get into the playoffs and Foles becomes a Super Bowl MVP and never has to buy his own Co-Cola in Philly ever again. Hmmmmmmmmm.
The AAF, to whatever it’s called. More than one person noted that the No. 1 overall pick in the AAF draft last month was one Josh Johnson. The same Josh Johnson who led the Redskins to a win over the staggeringly inept Jacksonville Jaguars, who 20 net passing yards Sunday. For any of these fringe football leagues – especially the AAF, which starts next February – all publicity is good publicity, especially if fringe players think one league is the better avenue to Sundays in the fall, you know?
Tennessee basketball. The Vols went to Memphis and handled the Tigers pretty easily. Yes, Penny’s Pack rallied – and for some reason Penny got bent out of shape and accused the Vols of wanting to fight afterward – but that game never felt in doubt. UT has two grown-A men in Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) sits on the turf after being sacked by the Tennessee Titans in the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)Weekend losers
New England. While we mentioned the underdogs earlier – and Vegas cashed some really nice checks on the Eagles over the Rams – the biggest head scratcher certainly was the Patriots. Not necessarily that the Steelers won per se, considering the Steelers were at home and were extremely desperate. No, the surprise here was how the Pats played. Tons of penalties, including seven presnap penalties that turned several manageable downs into second-and-9 or worse. New England is now the No. 4 seed in the AFC and will need help to get a first-round bye. Want to know the last time New England and Tom Brady had to play on the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs? Yes, it was the year Auburn won the national championship.
Tom Brady. Speaking of the Patriots surprising fold, well, for the second consecutive week, Brady was unusually bad in critical situations. Last week it was terrible clock management right before the half that cost the Pats a gimme field goal in a one-point loss. Sunday it was an awful throwaway that became a Joe Haden pick inside the Pittsburgh 5 in the fourth quarter. Those looked way more like Bortles plays than Brady plays. And now seems like a fair time to point out that Father Time is undefeated, which is an even better record than five Super Bowl victories.
John DeFilippo. Who? OK, to be more clear, he’s the OC the Vikings fired last week. In their first game without DeFilippo, the Vikings had their best offensive game of the season that included 220 rushing yards and 41 points in a much-needed win over Miami. DeFilippo was on the short list of hot assistant names for possible HC gigs, and the struggles in Minnesota were certainly not all his fault. But he and head coach Mike Zimmer got cross because the Vikings were not running the ball enough for Zimmer’s tastes and the appearances are assuredly not good for John.
The Miss Universe pageant. Yep, we had our first dude entry in the Miss Universe pageant. This coming on the heels of a survey in which more than 25 percent of those asked believe Santa Claus should be gender neutral. Buckets people, what are doing?
Braves fans wanting the team to make a move for Marlins all-star catcher J.T. Realmuto. Those talks appear to be dead.
Tom Arth watches UTC’s football game at Western Carolina on Oct. 13.Arth gone
It was confirmed Friday and Tom Arth is scheduled to be introduced today at Akron as the Zips next coach.
As Gene of Many Hats Henley wrote in his first in-print column that I can recall, many folks believed this to be inevitable. Arth was highly regarded in a lot of football circles.
As TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer wrote over the weekend, UTC AD Mark Wharton will have several qualified folks from which to choose.
The worst part of this for the Mocs is the timing. Signing starts Wednesday. That stinks but it’s part of the transaction.
I could understand UTC fans being angry at Arth. I could understand them feeling like Arth underachieved in some ways here, especially on the offensive side.
But, and this is an important disclaimer, Coach is a friend of mine. We exist in overlapping circles outside of work, which means for parents, our kids are frequently involved in similar activities.
Simply put, I will miss the entire Arth clan and my son will miss Tommy Arth.
But that’s BID-ness. And the BID-ness now is finding the next Mocs coach.
As Weeds wrote and we discussed a little on Press Row, Russ Huesman is an intriguing name for a lot of reasons.
There are others of course, and various UTC chat chambers have debated a few of them. Here’s another one, and Wells Guthrie tossed this puppy into the air late last week.
Paul Johnson is only 61, and if UTC could wrangle an Honors Course membership as part of the package, we bet Johnson would listen. Would he take it? Hard to know.
But he’d listen and he’d be an eventual grand slam.
As for Arth’s time here, I’d grade it more favorably than most considering the factors of the turnover of staff moves – before and after he got settled – and the suspensions, injuries and outside issues in general.
But again, I consider Coach a friend, but even for his harshest critics, the biggest question for a guy who was almost always viewed on his way to bigger and better, is did he leave UTC better than he found it?
To that I say yes.
This and that
– Not a terrible start to the bowl season for the picks as we opened 2-1-1 against the number. Yes, that miss was not close – dear Lord the 17-year college career for Brent Stockstill ended with a thud – but we’ll take it. The NFL picks? Well, the two late meltdowns from Seattle and New England put us at 2-2 and in Chuck Woolery territory. (Chuck Woolery territory is in reference to his catch phrase on Love Connection when he would look at the camera and offer, “Be back in 2-and-2” which meant two minutes and two seconds, which was the time of the break. Not current Chuck Woolery territory in which Chuck spends a fair amount of time on social media complaining about the Democrats and talking about socialism has replaced Christianity. Who had any idea Chuck was neck deep in the political tug of war?) College picks this year are now 55-39-3 (58.5 percent) and the NFL picks are 5-3 (62.5 percent) against the spread this season.
– The Atlanta Falcons are a confusing bunch, which makes Sunday’s confounding blowout win (and draft position loss) seem like par for the course. Think of the dichotomies: Falcons played great; Why has the offense not looked like the last six weeks. Falcons remembered to run the football and actually run block on the same weekend they stopped the run. The Cardinals moved to No. 1 on the draft board; the Falcons hurt their position with the win. In an offseason with a slew of questions, four players – Tevin Coleman, Vic Beasley, Bruce Irvin and Grady Jarrett – who will be central in the offseason decision making process as far as salary concerns and cap dealings had their best games of the season, if not their careers. Your Atlanta Falcons, as crystal clear as a mud bath.
– Speaking of clarity, well, how about those Titans. Shutouts – in each direction – one week, implosions vs. Indy the next, whipping there Patriots or the Cowboys, losses to the Bills and the Dolphins. And speaking of player decisions, some one must have mentioned to Derrick Henry that he’s about to enter a contract year because in the last three games – all wins as the Titans have improved to 8-6 and very much in the playoff picture – he has 60 carries for 448 yards and seven TDs. Next year is the final one on Henry’s rookie contract. Should the Titans extend him knowing they have Dion Lewis on a four-year deal? Hmmmmmmm. Clarity. Football.
– For those wondering, here, from CBSsports.com is the top 10 draft order as of right now: 1) Cardinals; 2) Raiders; 3) Jets; 4) 49ers; 5) Jags; 6) Falcons; 7) Lions; 8) Giants; 9) Bucs; 10) Bills.
– Yes, Mark Sanchez forever will be associated with the Butt Fumble. Well, Khalil Mack used his derriere to drop Aaron Rodgers in Sunday’s Bears win over the Packers and folks are calling it the Mack Back Sack.
– The Merriam-Webster word of the year is ‘Justice.’ OK. There are several forms of justice beyond the legal version and the term for those serving on the Supreme Court. Social Justice. Obstruction of Justice. The announcement comes after Oxford Dictionary announced ‘Toxic’ as its word of the year and dictionary.com picked ‘misinformation.’ The Merriam-Webster folks did note that searches for ‘Justice’ were up 74 percent in 2017 on their site. Wonder what old Braves outfielder David Justice thinks about this turn off events.
– The stories circling the interweb this weekend about Chuck Barkley and his friendship with an Asian man living in Iowa and attending his funeral were real and kind.
– LeBron turned in a stinker Sunday vs. Washington, getting 13 points and had more turnovers (4) than assists (3) for a minus-21 in a 128-110 loss to the Wizards. That came a night after a triple double against Charlotte. Go figure.
Today’s questions
There are a few in there.
Want to grade Coach Arth’s time in Chattanooga, feel free. Got a suggestion for the next HBC, as Shooter says, “Let her fly.”
Hey, happy 82nd birthday to Pope Francis. Wonder if anyone in the Vatican ever hits him with the “Lighten Up Francis” line from Stripes. Thoughts?
On this day, Dec. 17, in 1903, the Wright Brothers made their first sustained motorized flight.
On this day in 1969, 50 million watch Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky on “The Tonight Show.”
Wow, on this day in 1989 – my first freshman year at Auburn – “The Simpsons” debuted. Still rolling along 29 years later, which means in real life Bart Simpson would be 39. Homer would be 68.
Rushmore of Simpson characters not named Simpson. Discuss.