NFL power poll
The biggest NFL story from Tuesday was the announcement that the New York Giants will sit Eli Manning in favor of Geno Smith and potentially Davis Webb to see what the younger quarterbacks offer.
Manning was noticeably emotional when discussing the decision. He also handled arguably his worst day professional with a level of class and maturity that demands respect. Manning said the Giants offered him a chance to start the game to continue his streak of consecutive starts. He declined.
Then there was this Tweet from former Giants offensive lineman David Diehl late Tuesday afternoon after all the sound bites and hot takes had been tossed about: “@BobPapa_NFL & I just took a break from our radio show to grab a coffee to see only 2 @Giants players in the cafeteria. It was Eli Manning sitting next to Davis Webb mentoring him #Respect #Character #Selfless”
Wow, and we’ll add #class and #professional.
To the power poll.
1. Philadelphia. The Eagles have grabbed the top spot and refuse to let it go. At 10-1, the Eagles have a five-game lead with five games to play in the NFC East.
2. New England. As great as Philly has been, and it has been aces, Pats QB Tom Brady is not only the MVP, he’s putting together the greatest season ever for a 40-year-old quarterback.
3. Pittsburgh. Man, the Steelers do very little without a fair amount of stress – how they turned Brett Hundley into Brett Favre on Monday night – but they continue to win. Want to know something crazy? As talented as the Steelers offensive is, there’s an argument that Joe Haden, who has been out the last few weeks, may prove to be the most important Pittsburgh player come playoff time.
4. Minnesota. The Vikings are physical and complete. That’s impressive and hard to handle. Now just imagine what they would be doing if they were completely healthy with quarterback Sam Bradford and running back Dalvin Cook on the field?
5. Los Angeles Rams. OK, does anyone else think that Jeff Fisher has not spent a lot of time watching the NFL this year. The Rams were putrid in 2016, going 4-12 and had terrible quarterback play. That terrible quarterback was from Jared Goff and Case Keenum. Those cats started all 16 games for the Rams last year, completing less than 60 percent of their throws with 14 TDs and 18 interceptions. So far this season, Keenum is 7-2 as a starter with the Vikings, completing 66 percent of his throws with a 14-5 TD-to-INT number. As for Goff, well, he’s 8-3 with these Rams with a 61.8 completion percentage, almost 3,000 passing yards and an 18-to-5 ratio. Uh, Jeff, that’s kind of a you problem, right?
Powerless
28. Denver. Losers of seven straight and fighting about chains. You stay classy Denver.
29. Indianapolis. OK, what does losing do to an NFL head coach. It makes them crazy. Case in point, meet Chuck Pagano, the Colts coach who went all Groundhog Day this week while meeting with the media that may be the best news conference of the season. Enjoy. http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/chuck-pagano-groundhog-day-press-conference-nfl-colts-news/19kg9wm2wix7y1b28hzzis35dn
30. San Francisco. Staying the course, the 49ers are moneyballing it and positioning for the draft. It will be very interesting to see how Jimmy Garoppolo fares this week, because if the 49ers have what they believe to be the answer at QB, another good draft could mean a big leap for the organization in 2018.
31. Cleveland. Most consistent team in the league. Side note: Josh Gordon is back on the field this week after his checkered, suspension-filled past. Gordon has admitted to not being able to play – in the NFL mind you – previously without being high or having several cocktails. He also said this week he was making $10,000 a month dealing weed. Good times.
32. New York Giants. This is in protest, and in truth, we understand the thinking. In fact, we agree with it. The Giants have to know if Webb can handle the position going into next year’s draft. Doesn’t mean we have to like it, and this is more a show of solidarity with Eli. So it goes.
Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham completed 21 of 28 passes for 237 yards in last Saturday’s 26-14 win over Alabama.Playoff rankings
Wow, the committee loves them some Auburn, which jumped to No. 2 in the college football playoff rankings Tuesday night.
Clemson was 1, Oklahoma was 3 and Wisconsin was 4.
Alabama, Georgia, Miami, THE Ohio State, Penn State and USC round out the top 10. (Side note: This marks first time the Tide have been ranked outside the top four since Nov. 11, 2014. Ten SEC schools have changed head coaches since then – all but Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky & Vanderbilt).
So there’s that.
And the folks on the shows last night were debating a lot of different scenarios expecting craziness. We expect some craziness, too, especially if Kerryon Johnson is anything less than 100 percent in the SEC title game. Let’s explore:
ACC winner and SEC winner are in. Those are legit and true quarterfinal games and will occupy two spots. (So in a way, as David Paschall pointed out on Press Row on Tuesday as we talked to Heather Dinich, there really are six teams in this year’s playoff.)
There is some debate that the Big Ten title game between THE Ohio State and Wisconsin is a quarterfinal, but committee chairman Kirby Hocutt was pretty clear that if resumes are similar, then conference title would matter. (Hence, it’s fair to be deduce that a Big Ten title for THE Buckeyes could very well allow them to jump Alabama.)
So if we assume those three spots will be filled by conference winners, what happens to the fourth spot this weekend:
Oklahoma wins the Big 12 title game, it is in and that’s the four.
If Oklahoma loses to TCU, then there could be some craziness. An OU loss on Saturday will make the noon announcement of the four teams in the playoff a huge unknown.
If TCU wins and.
Miami beats Clemson and Auburn beats Georgia, Clemson is going to argue it’s resume is better than Alabama’s considering Clemson beat Auburn and has more top 25 wins.
Chalk holds, Alabama could very well find itself in the dance.
Also to be sure, the folks at TCU are going to wonder why they are not included – especially if THE Ohio State wins and gets in with an awful 31-point loss at Iowa earlier this month. Same goes with USC, but even if the Trojans crush Stanford in the Pac-12 title game, that win will not carry the weight that the other conference title games will.
Giddy-up.
Running UT Big Board
It was Stewwie’s idea, but we are going to keep this up until there is no longer a need.
We’ll start with what we believe has happened to this point and the ramifications:
1. Jon Gruden. Non-starter. We have always pertained that Gruden was a long shot, but we know too many people who we trust that know too people in the process to think this was a hoax. Was Gruden kicking tires (again) and did he lead UT on (again) in an effort to potentially get a commitment from ESPN or gauge NFL head coaching interest? That’s certainly possible. That said, do we know for sure if John Currie ever met face-to-face with Gruden? If he didn’t, well, add that to the list.
2. Chip Kelly. A hard and quick no. And that’s OK, because Currie absolutely had to ask the best name on the immediately eligible board.
3. Scott Frost. Also a quick no. Frost was THE name this offseason, and the finalists looked to be Florida and Nebraska, his alma mater. Nebraska is still in play, but if Frost ultimately decides to stay at UCF, well, Currie and Nebraska AD Shawn Eichorst can commiserate over a nice, cold Co-Cola about the mid-1990s.
4. Dan Mullen. Listened, but likely always wanted Florida. This will be the one that stings for the foreseeable future if Mullen does what a lot of us expect him to do in Gainesville. Would firing Butch Jones earlier had made a difference? Maybe with other candidates, but not with Mullen, who waited until after the Egg Bowl to go back to Florida.
5. Greg Schiano. Yeah, we know how that one turned out.
6 and 7. David Cutcliffe and Jason Witten. Quickly reported “I’m not interested” after their names were mentioned.
8. Mike Gundy. Thanks for thinking of me (again) but I’m going to say no (again). Gundy turned the Currie narrative, at least for one afternoon as there was the clear thought that if UT and Currie could land Gundy, all of the Schiano nightmare would be put to bed. Here’s TFP acesports columnist Mark Wiedmer’s take on the latest dude to pass on the Vols’ job.
Our big board we published Tuesday remains unchanged, and we do believe that some of the other openings will come calling sooner rather than later.
Our list from Tuesday was Leach, Kiffin, Mike Norvell, Jeff Brohm, Chad Morris. It’s also worth noting there are reports that Brohm has informed UT folks he’s not interested and Chad Morris said thanks but no thanks to an interview in Dallas earlier this week. Morris could be in play for the Texas A&M opening if Jimbo Fisher does not leave Tallahassee for College Station.
It’s also worth noting that if the reported numbers are true, and UT offered Mike Gundy a six-year deal at $7 million per, well, Sunday, Twitter Sunday really did cost the Vols millions in terms of what it will take to fill this job. Mike Gundy is good and all, but he ain’t $7 million per good, boss mullet or not.
And if the price is $7 million per over six years – and Currie likely could go higher – well,
So if Gundy, Brohm and Morris all backed out – publicly or privately, mind you – Tuesday, and it appears that Leach and Kiffin do not appear to rate as high on Currie’s list, where does that leave UT? (Kiffin told Clay Travis on Fox Radio this morning that no one from UT has approached him or his folks. So there’s that.)
The Tee Martin name is one of the last ones out there, and according to Chris Low, a long-time ESPN reporter who covered UT for the Tennessean before that, Martin has not even been contacted.
And we have had a couple of folks in the comment section and some folks on social media throwing out the name Brady Hoke. Sweet buckets of Peyton Manning’s used game tape, if Brady Hoke is the answer, God help us all.
This and that
– Speaking of coaching news, man Mississippi State looked, liked and leaped in two days to fill its head coaching job. Mississippi State announced Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead will be its next head coach. Moorhead was 38-13 in four years at his alma mater at Fordham before joining James Franklin’s staff at Penn State.
– ESN announced Wednesday that 150 employees were let go. Almost all of them are folks that work behind the camera rather than in front of it. Sad day all around.
– Speaking of sad news, NBC announced this morning that Matt Lauer, arguably the network’s most recognizable personality, was fired after an NBC employee claimed inappropriate sexual actions against Lauer. Savannah Guthrie made the announcement on the set of Today this morning. Here’s more.
– LeBron James was ejected on Tuesday. It was the first time in his NBA career, and in truth, it probably was a long-time coming. Yes, we have a Bro-mance with King James and stand truly awed by his talent and physical gifts, but his overreacting antics in terms of the referees have been tired for a while now.
Today’s questions
Let’s do a little one-word Wednesday.
Mike Gundy turning UT down was ___________.
The next candidate on Currie’s list will be ___________.
The college football playoff committee’s ranking was ____________.
As for today, well, personal fav Vin Scully is 90 today. Long live the King.
Howie Mandel is 62 today. Russell Wilson is 29 today. Anna Faris is 41. Lucas Black is 35.
Wow, talk about a game changer for a generation, the first successful video game – Pong – was released on this day in 1972.
Also, Mariano Rivera is 48.
Would Rivera’s cutter make the Rushmore of individual pitches? Whatcha got for Rushmore of pitchers’ signature pitches?