NFL Power Poll
We are going to be quick this week. Well as quick as we can be, anyway.
The league's playoff picture is quite clear. The only thing on the line in the AFC is positioning, and there are four teams - and that includes the Bucs, who are real longshots in this - wrestling for two spots in the NFC. The winner of the Lions-Packers next Sunday night is in. If the Redskins win, they are the final wildcard.
So there's that.
Powerful
New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount gets a lift from teammates including Joe Thuney, left, and Shaq Mason, right, to celebrate his touchdown run against the New York Jets during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) 1. New England (13-2). Clearly the most complete team in the league. And now remember that the Pats are without their most-impactful offensive player and traded Pro Bowl-level defensive players in the last 10 months because the organization did not like their preparation. They simply are a machine, with Tom Brady manning the controls and Bill Belichick doing his best Schnieder impression from "One Day at a Time" and making sure all the pieces work.
2. Dallas (13-2). That offensive line is so good it actually affects the opponent's offensive plan. You have to make the most of every chance because you know the Dallas front is going to create scoring chances against you. That's staggering. Now, if Tyron Smith's injury Mondaynight was more than folks are letting on, that changes everything, because that dude is a monster.
3. Atlanta Falcons (10-5). What? You are stunned right? Well take a step back and realize this: There are three teams in the NFL with a scoring margin greater than 70 points on the season. The Pats are plus-170. Dallas is plus-129. And your Atlanta Falcons are plus-128. That's right, this has to be the team that scares the Cowboys the most, especially if Julio Jones can get right. Yes, the record suggests other teams - but can we really say the 12-3 Raiders are powerful with Derek Carr on the shelf for at least six weeks - but these Falcons have a chance to make a legit run.
4. Pittsburgh (10-5). And yes, the Steelers are next in point-differential at plus-69, a number that would be much higher had the high-octane offense had all its pieces all year long.
5. Kansas City (11-4). The numbers suggest this is an average team that is riding the NFL desire of every one being 8-8 who is maximizing turnovers. Yes, that has merit. But so does this: Kansas City is opportunistic defensively and they now have two legitimate offensive mismatches in Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. With Andy Reid game-planning with those two, almost anything is possible.
Powerless
Los Angeles Rams backup quarterback Case Keenum passes under pressure from Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril (56) in the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) 28. St. Louis (4-11). Hey, Titans fans, it wasn't all bad news this weekend. The Rams lost to the hapless 49ers and could be in the mix for a top-five overall pick, which belongs to Tennessee because of the deal that sent Jared Goof, sorry, Goff to L.A. How's this learning curve: Mr. Goof, dang it, Goff has a stat line of 53.5 completion percentage, five TDs and 10 turnovers (seven picks and three fumbles) and is 0-5 as a starter. Oy vey.
29. New York Jets (4-11). Wow. Yes, the Pats are great, but 41-3 at any level of this game is staggering.
30. Jacksonville (3-12). Man, after firing coach Gus Bradley, the Jags turn in their best performance of the season. Who in a million years could have guessed that an NFL coach with a 14-48 record may have been in over his head?
31. San Francisco (2-13). Seriously, if you are a 49ers fan, what is your biggest area of need. There are so many that are so big, if the NFL is truly looking for every team to be somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7 with a few breaks and injuries being the difference, then the 49ers need two picks in every round next April to address all the holes.
32. Cleveland (1-14). Big week for the Browns. They landed their first win over the season and they still control the top overall pick. Good times. Well, relatively speaking.
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Weekend winners (Most of the NFL winners are listed above, so there's that)
Golden State Warriors' Kevin Durant, left, drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers' Richard Jefferson in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016, in Cleveland. The Cavaliers won 109-108. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) < The Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs won Christmas Day in the sporting sense with a dizzying comeback at home to topple the Golden State Warriors 109-108. Kyrie Irving hit the game-winner, and he and the Cavs guards were great defensively against Steph Curry.
< The entire TFP high school sports staff, led by sports editor Stephen Hargis, and the victorious - Baylor's girls and McCallie - in the annual Best of Preps tournament that ended Friday night. It's such a great tournament, and with the help of Jay Price at Chattanooga State - and the previous contributions from a lot of folks, especially Mark Dragoo at CSAS - it really is an event.
< The great Christmas stories of this time of year. Whether it's the military dad coming home to his son at the Panthers game or Matt Stafford's charity providing Christmas gifts for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty, those stories always make me laugh and cry and smile. If we could have one eternal Christmas wish it would be that more of us have the Christmas spirit in our heart in months other than December. What a glorious change that could create.
< "Rogue One" was awesome in its awesomeness. Excellent in fact, across the board. It was as good a movie we have seen in the theater in quite some time. And it's well on its to being the box office Force - thank you, thank you - the rest of its brethren were. That said, there were some real bombs in theaters this holiday season like "Passengers" and "Assasains Creed" each tanked at the ticket window.
< Frisky 4 picks. Another week, another 3-1 showing. We have been doing NFL picks for the last three weeks of the regular season, and we are 9-3 in that time. Now that's entertainment. (Of course our miss this week was the Titans, who were hammered as a road favorite over the Jags.) If you are wondering last Thursday's Fab 4 picks for the second round of bowl games has started 3-1. Round three will be this Thursday.
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Weekend losers
Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota leaves the field on a cart after he was injured during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) > Whatever. For the eighth year in a row the word 'whatever' was deemed to be the worst and most annoying word in the English language. When asked for a response, the awful 'Whatever' simply shrugged and said, "Whatever."
> Raiders and Titans. The Titans' awful loss against the awful Jags put an awful cap on a promising year. It was made worse by a nasty broken leg for second-year quarterback Marcus Mariota. The Raiders are in the playoffs, but how long they may stay in the postseason took a massive hit when quarterback Derek Carr broke his leg as well.
> NFL bottom-feeders. Yes, the bottom three teams in the NFL - the Browns, the 49ers and the Jags - each won their games on Christmas weekend. Figures. Each of those teams need to lose to better position themselves for the draft. Forget the "can't lose for winning" (which feels like a Yogi Berra saying) those teams actually lost by winning.
> Bowl start for the SEC. Mississippi State was completely out played by Miami (no the other one in Ohio) before grabbing a fortuitous 17-16 win because Miami missed an extra point and had a chip-shot game-winning field goal blocked. Vandy got waxed by NC State 35-17 in a game that was all NC State after the first quarter.
> The 5-at-10's hands. We hope all of you had as good a Christmas as we did. We are truly blessed. That said, well, when you are hosting the family for the extended Christmas weekend and your dishwasher goes kaput the Thursday before, well, let's just say (cue the imaginary violins) we've hand-washed more dishes in the last four days than we did in the previous four years. We know, it's definitely a first-world problem, but that's how good this weekend was.
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This and that
FILE- In this June 25, 2008, file photo, singer George Michael performs during his "Live Global Tour" concert in Inglewood, Calif. Michael, who rocketed to stardom with WHAM! and went on to enjoy a long and celebrated solo career lined with controversies, has died, his publicist said Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. He was 53. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File) - Man, 2016 continues to topple famous names. George Michael was found dead on Christmas Day. He was 53. Thought this tweet summed it up perfectly: "Just when you thought 2016 couldn't get any worse WHAM!"
- We love the draft. You know this. And to be fair, this CBSsports.com version of an NFL mock draft is way down the hierarchy of our most trusted. Not to mention, this is way, Way, WAY too early, but there are a couple of eye-popping items in it. First, and this is going to be a crazy story line of this draft, but UNC's Mitch Trubisky and Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer are pegged as the top two quarterbacks. The other thing is that Tribusky and Clemson wide out Mike Williams are the only two players not from the SEC in that mock draft's top 10. Overall, that mock draft has 14 SEC players going in the first 32 picks.
- Call it a throwback. Maybe call it an underhanded compliment. However you'd like to describe it, Houston rookie Chinanu Onuaku went with the Granny-style shot, made both charity tosses and somewhere Ollie and Rick Barry smiled.
- You had to figure this was coming, and in some ways this is a lesson - or at least a warning shot - for coaches of college football teams. A petition is being circulated calling for Minnesota coach Tracy Claeys to be fired after he supported his team's 48-hour boycott in response to the school suspending 10 players for their role in an alleged sexual assault earlier this year. At the opposite end of the spectrum, when Washington State coach Mike Leach - who will face Claeys and the Gophers in a bowl game this week - was asked on Press Row how he'd handle a boycott or protestors, he said simply, he'd cut them. Coaches are going to have to establish a firm policy and set position on these types of decisions because it is a real double-edged sword. Without a policy ilk Leach's, if you don't back your players you run the risk of losing the locker room. If you do back your players - like Claeys did, and then the players' stance softened after meeting with the administration and potentially getting more information - you run the risk of losing your boosters.
This image released by Lucasfilm Ltd. shows Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook in a scene from, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." (Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm Ltd. via AP) ---
Today's question
It's a true or false Tuesday that is definitely filled with mix signals.
It's a Tuesday that includes who won and lost the weekend. It's our first full 5-at-10 of the week and we have our penultimate NFL Power Poll.
Strange, right?
OK, let's hit several T or Fs to retain some Tuesday normalcy. (And feel free to offer up some counter T or Fs as the need applies.)
True or false, "Rogue One" is the best of the entire Star Wars franchise. (And if you take the romance and sentimentality out of the first two, we can make a hard argument in support of that statement.)
True or false, "Whatever' is the most annoying word in the English language. (If you answered false, we'd be interested in the one that surpasses it in your view.)
True or false, Matt Ryan deserves to be your 2016 NFL MVP. (We'd vote for Aaron Rodgers at this juncture, but we are open to the discussion.)
True or false, the SEC will finish with a winning-record overall in bowl games this year.
True or false, there is nothing - repeat NOTHING - that is guaranteed to make it heavily, eye-watering dusty wherever you are than those videos of soldiers coming home and surprising their kids, be it at school or an NFL game or any point in between.
If you need a Rushmore, go here: With yet another rock-solid blockbuster on its hands - "Rogue One" is well on its way to be the highest-grossing movie of 2016 - it's obvious that "Star Wars" is the best movie franchise of all-time. What other movie franchises - we think you need to have more than three - join it on the Rushmore?
Go and remember the mailbag. (Bowl contest updates will be in Wednesday's 5-at-10.)