Hi, hello & welcome to Week 17 of the National Football League. The sport is in mourning this week, as one of its biggest names passed away this week at the age of 85. Some are old enough to remember John Madden as a coach. People of my age remember him as a broadcaster. Kids these days know him as the name of the NFL’s annual video game. Madden was equally respected by each of these generations for his contributions in each of these fields.

There’s not much I can add to what’s already been said about Madden. I will say this: I don’t like to speak on behalf of the recently deceased, but I feel comfortable in saying this about John Madden…he would prefer that we all keep our focus on the football, since it’s what he loved more than pretty much anything else. So let’s do that in his honor. Your lines are subject to change & provided by Vegas Insider

Sunday, January 2

Las Vegas at Indianapolis (-7)

Raiders fans really believe the nfl and cdc came together to change Covid protocol because they’re playing the Colts 💀

— Brigette (@Brigette912) December 29, 2021

The franchise that Madden helped make famous gets an early start on Sunday, as the Raiders will be playing at 10 AM Pacific time. This means that most of their fans don’t even need to get out of bed before the game starts. Maybe roll out around halftime or so, depending on how the game’s going. Central peeps like to brag that their time zone is the most convenient for football, but this sounds even better to me.

We kinda have to pick the Raiders this week, right? The biggest shame here is that Philip Rivers wasn’t available to fill in for Carson Wentz.

NY Giants at Chicago (-6)

Bears playing coy about QBs before a Week 17 game vs. the Giants. Ok guys.

— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 30, 2021

The Bears actually did somehow win a game last week in Seattle. I would get some perverse enjoyment of Matt Nagy winning enough games to keep his gig another season, so let’s root for that! As everybody has surely noticed by now, the Giants are offensively-challenged, so the Bears really won’t have to do much to cover.

Tampa Bay (-13.5) at NY Jets

#Jets are 10-2 all-time against the Buccaneers and 7-0 at home.

Tom Brady is 30-8 vs. the Jets, including playoffs.

— Dennis Waszak Jr. (@DWAZ73) December 29, 2021

It was nice to see the Jets get a win last week. They won’t this week. I’m liking the Buccaneers by any number they want to put out there.

Atlanta at Buffalo (-14.5)

Asked #Falcons DC Dean Pees how to stop #Bills QB Josh Allen and he said, “Don’t let him off the bus.” pic.twitter.com/BkZlDnrnhA

— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) December 30, 2021

As I write this, the Bills are one of two teams with nobody on the covid list. Since it’s not Sunday yet, there’s still plenty of time to change that. Meanwhile, the Falcons have a good chunk of the team on the list. Again, since it’s not Sunday yet, there’s still plenty of time to change that. The Bills have the better team and should shut Atlanta down either way.

Philadelphia (-3.5) at Washington

Owner of the Dallas Cowboys –

Jerry Jones

Owner of the Washington Football Team –

Dak Prescott

— Josh Funneman (@funny_cowboys) December 27, 2021

The Washington Football Team ended the season of one of my fantasy teams. Went into Sunday night with a 50 point lead. My opponent had Dak Prescott & the Dallas defense. My season was over by halftime. The Eagles need to avenge me. I have nothing to add here because these teams don’t interest me in the slightest.

Kansas City (-5) at Cincinnati

Still the best gameday Program ever!

1970 #Bengals vs #Chiefs #BengasMemorabilia #CincinnatiFootballHistory pic.twitter.com/96DxFyC2Zh

— Bengal Jim’s BTR (@bengaljims_BTR) December 31, 2021

We’ve written before about how this Bengals’ season has been a bit of a rollercoaster. There have been some tremendous highs & some unspeakable lows. Right now, the Bengals are back at a high point after an impressive win over the Ravens helped vault them to the top of the AFC North and in charge of their own destiny. If they win this week, they will be Kings of the North.

The Chiefs still have a lot to play for even if they’ve already clinched their division title. They’ve got homefield advantage on their minds, and a bye in the first round. Oh, and they’ve won eight straight games and are the hottest team in the NFL. Yet I see a whole lot of media types falling in love with the young Bengals and proclaiming this to be their time. The Bengals’ time is coming. Ton of good young talent on that team. However, this is still Kansas City’s time. Patrick Mahomes ain’t ready to be put out to pasture just yet. The Chiefs are going to show these media folks ranking the Bengals’ players ahead of theirs just what the heck is going on here in the National Football League.

Jacksonville at New England (-16.5)

The Jaguars currently have 27 players on the COVID list.

They have 33 players on their 53-man roster.

They travel to play the Patriots on Sunday in New England.

— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) December 30, 2021

The obvious joke here: bringing in players off the street can only help the Jaguars’ chances. Patriots gonna roll no matter who’s playing.

Miami at Tennessee (-3.5)

Watching this Tennessee-Purdue game at Nissan Stadium — where the Titans play. Guys are slipping on every play. Looks pretty rough out there.

More rain expected in Nashville this weekend. Will be worth watching what shape that field is going to be in for Titans-Dolphins Sunday.

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) December 30, 2021

The Dolphins have the second-longest winning streak in the AFC going, and they head into Tennessee to face a Titans team that has had issues at home against good teams. They beat the 49ers by three last week. The Titans also have some inexplicable wins & losses, they’re tough to figure out. I’m going to take the Dolphins and the points here, especially if that wrong Titans team shows up.

LA Rams (-3.5) at Baltimore

Ravens DC Don Martindale said Rams WR Cooper Kupp "looks like he lives in the weight room and eats and breathes football."

"He does everything. Not only does he run great routes and catch the ball with great catch radius but he also blocks well and does all the dirty work."

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) December 30, 2021

I guess ol’ Wink learned not to sell his competition short after Joe Burrow put up 525 yards on his defense, huh? As the old saying goes: “don’t write a check with your mouth that your covid-ridden players can’t cash”. That is how the old saying goes, right? Pretty sure. Anywho, Lamar Jackson is still looking iffy for the Ravens and that’s bad news against a Rams team that’s won four straight and is looking to clinch that division title and at least one postseason home game.

Denver at LA Chargers (-6.5)

I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT ME, DREW LOCK IS WAY MORE FUN TO WATCH

— Lindsay Bebout (@lindsaybebout) December 26, 2021

Theoretically the Broncos are still in the hunt, but they’re in 13th place in the AFC right this second and need a ton of help. The Chargers are sitting right on the bubble and reeling after a loss to the Texans and a covid outbreak. The covid still seems to be an issue, but with lesser names on the team. I expect the Broncos to keep things close in a game I won’t be watching a second of.

Houston at San Francisco (-12.5)

If Texans QB Davis Mills can make this throw routinely during the game against the San Francisco 49ers this weekend, they have a strong chance of winning. #Texans #Sarge pic.twitter.com/q3bwTSOCWx

— BIG SARGE MEDIA LLC (@BigSargeSportz) December 30, 2021

Somehow, the Texans managed to defeat a covid-depleted Chargers squad last week. Can lightning strike another California playoff contending team? Depends on Trey Lance, it seems. 49ers fans tell me Trey Lance is the third coming (Montana, Young, his name is three, I think this makes sense but I’m spending way too much time explaining it), so I’ll take their word for it.

Arizona at Dallas (-6)

Kyler Murray on being 8-0 at AT&T Stadium: “Since high school, I just think I’ve been on pretty good teams. I’ve had the privilege to play with a lot of great players, a lot of great coaches. We’ve showed up whenever we’ve played there … I guess just good juju in that building.” pic.twitter.com/ig2a6Lz8SA

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 30, 2021

Will the good juju continue? Cardinals fans sure hope it does, as their team is heading downhill at the wrong time with a three game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have gone on a four game winning streak since their Thanksgiving loss had everybody wondering about their future. Looks like they’re doing all right. Since the NFL has been about parity ever since I can remember, the Cardinals should be able to keep this game close. Also, we’re still waiting for the wheels to fall off of that Cowboys bandwagon since it happens every year.

Carolina at New Orleans (-6.5)

Sean Payton with Ian Book at quarterback pic.twitter.com/foqEPNO3e4

— Alex Donno (@AlexDonno) December 28, 2021

So last week’s Saints pick was one of those picks that happened before I knew most of the team would be out due to covid. It was a little risky anyway, but the minute I heard that Ian Book would be the starting QB and pretty much everybody else would be backups too, I chalked that one up as an L. These things happen in 2021-22. Crazy thing: that Saints team probably still could have beat the Panthers. This Saints team should have more of their good players available this week, so I’ll roll with them.

Detroit at Seattle (-7)

The Seattle Seahawks vs Detroit Lions will be televised in the Idaho Falls area this Sunday instead of the very important Dallas Cowboys vs Arizona Cardinals. This is outrageous how ridiculous this is. Please retweet this to get this to someone who might be able to change this

— All Things Dallas (@AllDallas44) December 30, 2021

Jared Goff was out last week due to being on the covid list. He might miss this week due to a knee injury. Who knew covid caused knee injuries? Crazy times we live in, folks. I’m probably going to be horribly wrong here, but I’m gonna take the Lions making this game closer than expected. They won’t make it interesting enough for people to want to watch it, but it’ll be kinda sorta intriguing if you’re into that sort of thing.

Minnesota at Green Bay (-7)

Everyone losing their shit over two grown ass people choosing to bro hug after an interaction. https://t.co/aN92sEJDJj

— Greg DeMarco (@ChairshotGreg) December 27, 2021

Greg brought up an interesting topic that I didn’t personally see or hear much discussion of, but we tend to run in different circles. (He actually has friends.) I did find the post-interview hug kind of strange, but less for the covid/germ reasons than wondering if it was professional for an interviewer to hug an interviewee. Does Erin Andrews hug everybody she interviews? Maybe she became this generation’s answer to Richard Dawson, I haven’t really paid attention to these things. It does seem kind of odd.

People want to complain so much about the media these days, and one of the valid complaints one can have is that certain media folks are way too biased either in favor of or against people they cover. I’m of the school of thought that if you’re employed by the NFL or another sports league and not by the team, you’re supposed to be unbiased & treat everybody equally. Not so much if you’re a pundit, but if you’re a play by play/color guy or an interviewer on a game, you need to display some objectivity.

Maybe this is one of my old man hang-ups, as we now have faux “news” channels that don’t even try to hide their biases. So people probably aren’t as bothered by these things as I am. Also, based off how Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth were talking about Rodgers the last time they covered a Packers game, they’d like to do a lot more than give him a “bro hug”. They’ll be on the call here, and it’ll be unlistenable.

I usually go with the Vikings in these instances, but Kirk Cousins hit the covid list on Friday and their backup QB situation is even less desirable than most. Gotta go Packers now.

Monday, January 3

Cleveland (-3) at Pittsburgh

Ben Roethlisberger being introduced in his last ever home game next week: pic.twitter.com/DeecgblnMC

— Mario Crystal Ball (@RayDaTruth_) December 26, 2021

Listen, we all know what’s happening here, right? Every great player has that huge performance one last time in front of his home crowd. As much as I personally dislike Ben Roethlisberger, I realize that most football fans value him as a great player and he’ll have a bust in Canton in a few years or so. Potential last home game against a team he’s owned his entire career? Come on, we know where this is going.

Big Ben is 25-2-1 against the Browns in his career. He’s got a higher passer rating against them than any of his other AFC North rivals. Oh, and while we’re out here looking at splits, he’s 5-0 in January regular season games & 17-6 on Monday night. All this tells me that the Steelers are the team to pick this week, especially if Vegas is going to be silly and pick the Browns.

(I kinda hope Vegas is right.)

Week 16 Results: 6-10

Overall Results: 110-126-4