Author: Armadillo Sports

Steelers 26, Ravens 24
Ravens missed a 44-yard FG at the gun; Steelers win AFC North.
Steelers drove 65 yards, took lead for good on 26-yard TD pass with 0:55 left.
Baltimore lost four of its last six games, after a 5-0 streak. 
Ravens miss playoffs for only second time in last eight years.

Baltimore led this game 1o-3 at halftime.
Steelers in second half: 40 plays, 237 yards, 23 points.
Pittsburgh won three of its last four games.
Steelers host Houston in first round of playoffs next Monday. 

Falcons 19, Saints 17
Atlanta’s win made Carolina Panthers NFC South champs.
Panthers host the Rams Saturday in first round of the playoffs.
After the game, Falcons fired both their coach and GM.
Raheem Morris went 8-9/8-9 in his two years coaching Atlanta.

Last 2 years. Falcons were 12-10 when QB Cousins plays, 4-8 when didn’t
Atlanta’s first TD in this game came on a 5-yard drive, after a blocked punt.
New Orleans outgained the Falcons, 340-208.
Saints wound up 5-4 this year when rookie QB Shough started. 

Jaguars 41, Titans 7
Jacksonville clinches AFC South, their third playoff spot in last 18 years.
Jaguars won their last eight games, scoring 33.6 ppg 
Tennessee QB Ward hurt his shoulder early on, threw only three passes.
Jaguars host Buffalo in first round of the playoffs Sunday.

Titans are 9-19 ATS in last 28 games as an underdog.
Up 14-7, Jaguars broke game open with a 58-yard pick-6.
Jacksonville K Little booted a 67-yard FG at the halftime gun.
Liam Coen has an impressive 13-4 in his first year as Jaguars’ coach.

Broncos 19, Chargers 3
Denver clinches #1-seed in AFC and a bye next week.
Broncos won 13 of their last 14 games.
Chargers sat out #1 QB Herbert, who has broken left hand.
Chargers’ first five drives: 19 plays, 51 yards, 4 punts, one INT

Denver is in playoffs for second year in row, after an 8-year absence.
Broncos’ only TD of the day came on a 45-yard pick-6 in first quarter.
Chargers travel to Foxboro to play the Patriots Sunday night.
Jim Harbaugh is 72-34-1 as an NFL coach, 23-12 with the Bolts. 

Patriots 38, Dolphins 10
RB Stevenson had 9 touches for 153 yards, three TD’s
Patriots swept Miami for the first time since 2016.
New England hosts the Chargers Sunday night in Foxboro.
Patriots outgained Miami, 457-180.

Miami allowed 27+ points in all 10 of its losses this year.
Dolphins went 15-19 last two years; they were 20-16 McDaniel’s first two years.
Miami hasn’t won a playoff game since 2000.
Rookie QB Ewers was 16-23/137 in his first road start; he left late with an injury.

Rams 37, Cardinals 20
Arizona led this game 20-16 with 3:51 left in third quarter.
From that point on, Rams ran 24 plays for 217 yards, three TD’s.
QB Stafford threw for 259 yards, four TD’s.
Rams go to Carolina for a playoff game late Saturday afternoon.

Rams are 9-0 when they allow less than 26 points.
This was Sean McVay’s 100th win (100-62) as a head coach.
Rams have made the playoffs in seven of his nine years as coach.
Before McVay came to the Rams, they missed playoffs 12 years in a row. 

Raiders 14, Chiefs 12
Daniel Carlson kicked a 60-yard FG with 0:08 left for the win.
Chiefs had kicked FG’s with 3:33/1:01 left to grab a 21-11 lead.
Despite the win, Raiders own the first pick in April’s NFL Draft.
There were no TD’s in this game; both teams kicked four FG’s.

Chiefs ended a dismal season 6-11, losing their last six games.
#4 QB Buechele averaged 6.3 yards/pass attempt, was an improvement.
This was the Raiders’ first win since October 12 vs Tennessee.
Total yardage: Raiders 204, KC 168. Teams were combined 7-33 on 3rd down.

— Famous birthdays, January 5th:
Robert Duvall, 95
Rick Mount, 79
Jim Gantner, 73
Alex English, 72

Bob Dernier, 69
Steve Fuller, 69
Joe Cribbs, 68
Clancy Brown, 67

Danny Jackson, 63
Bradley Cooper, 51
Warrick Dunn, 51
Nori Aoki, 44

Texans 38, Colts 30
Houston kicked a 43-yard FG with 0:12 left for the win.
Texans scored TD on a fumble return on ensuing kickoff for final margin.
QB Stroud, other Houston starters, didn’t play most of second half.
Texans visit Pittsburgh in the playoffs next Monday night.

Rookie QB Leonard threw for 270 yards, two TD’s in his first NFL start.
WR Pierce caught four passes for 132 yards, two TD’s.
Colts are 8-3 ATS last 11 games as a road underdog.
Houston goes into the playoffs on a nine-game win streak. 

Commanders 24, Eagles 17
Washington outscored Philly 14-0 in fourth quarter.
Eagles rested QB Hurts, RB Barkley, several other starters.
Commanders led 10-7 at halftime after Moody kicked a 56-yard FG.
This was only second win in last 12 games for Washington.

Commanders led 10-7 at halftime after Moody kicked a 56-yard FG.
Washington was 6-for-11 on 3rd down behind 39-year old backup QB Johnson.
Philly was penalized nine times for 123 yards in this game.
Eagles host San Francisco in playoffs next week at 4:30 Sunday

Lions 19, Bears 16
Detroit kicked 42-yard FG at the gun to end their season 9-8.
Lions led 16-0 after the third quarter.
Detroit’s first three drives: 36 plays, 197 yards, 13 points.
Lions scored only one touchdown, were 4-5 kicking field goals.

Chicago kept the #2-seed, hosts Green Bay in playoffs Saturday night.
Bears lost 28-21 at Lambeau in Week 14, beat Packers 22-16 in Week 16.
Bears’ first five drives: 30 plays, 107 yards, no points.
Bears in fourth quarter: 22 plays, 158 yards, 16 points.

Giants 34, Cowboys 17
Giants win clinched the Raiders having the #1-pick in draft.
Giants won last two games, after a nine-game losing skid.
Giants were 8-14 on third down, Dallas 2-8.
Rookie QB Dart threw for 230 yards, finished his rookie season 4-8. 

Giants beat Cowboys for first time in last 10 meetings.
Giants led this game 16-10 at halftime. 
Dallas used backup QB Milton in second half.
Cowboys had consecutive losing seasons for first time since 2000-02.

Browns 20, Bengals 18
Cleveland kicked a 49-yard FG at the gun for the win.
Browns scored two defensive TD’s in first 16:00 of this game.
Bengals missed the PAT after their first two touchdowns.
Cincinnati outgained the Browns 364-200; turnovers were a killer.

Bengals were 1-8 when they scored less than 31 points.
QB Burrow threw for 236 yards, three TD’s.
Browns were 8-26 the last two years; will Watson play QB next year?
Bengals missed playoffs last three years, going 24-26.

Vikings 16, Packers 3
Green Bay kicked FG on last play to avoid being shut out.
#3 QB Tune is 0-2 as an NFL starter, losing 27-0/16-3.
Packers get QB Love back Saturday for a playoff game in Chicago.
Green Bay lost its last four games, after a 9-3-1 start.

Minnesota won its last five games to finish season 9-8
QB McCarthy got hurt (again), didn’t finish the game.
Vikings outgained Green Bay 363-121 in this game.
WR Jefferson caught eight passes for 101 yards. 

Bills 35, Jets 8
Game was 21-0 at half; not a spunky effort by the Jets.
Jets are 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS last five visits to Buffalo.
Buffalo won five of six, eight of their last eleven games overall.
Bills visit Jacksonville for a playoff game Sunday afternoon.

Jets are first team EVER not to intercept a pass all season.
Jets lost their last five games, giving up 34-48-29-42-35 points.
Jets were 0-12 when they score less than 27 points.  
Jets are 5-11-1 ATS last 17 games as a road underdog

— Buccaneers 16, Panthers 14
This game was played in a rainy quagmire in Tampa.
Both teams are now 8-9, tied for first in NFC South.
If Atlanta wins Sunday, it creates a 3-way tie; Carolina would advance
If New Orleans wins Sunday, Tampa Bay would advance.

Tampa Bay was 8-15 on third down, Carolina 1-8 (2-2 on 4th down)
Panthers ran the ball 14 times for only 19 yards.
Chase McLaughlin kicked field goals of 29-36-48 yards.
Just second win in last nine games for the Buccaneers.

— Seahawks 13, 49ers 3
Seattle wins NFC West, gets a first round bye in the playoffs.
Seahawks outgained San Francisco 361-173.
Seattle ran for 180 yards, didn’t score TD in three trips to red zone.
K Myers was only 2-4 on field goals; he had made 18 in a row coming in.

49ers will be #6-seed if Rams win Sunday, #5-seed if Arizona wins.
49ers’ first three drives: 12 plays, 39 yards, no points.
Seattle’s first four drives: 34 plays, 187 yards, 10 points.
Seahawks were 6-13 on third down, San Francisco 2-9.

— College Basketball Upsets of the Day:
Providence (+12) 77, St John’s 71
Mississippi State (+9.5) 101, Texas 98
Cal-Bakersfield (+9.5) 81, Cal-Davis 79
Georgia State (+8.5) 89, Coastal Carolina 71
James Madison (+8.5) 78, Arkansas State 74
Monmouth (+8.5) 62, Towson 48
Western Carolina (+8.5) 80, Furman 77 OT

There were 18 teams that won Saturday, after trailing by 10+ points. Lot of comebacks. 

— SEC basketball
Alabama 89, Kentucky 74
Crimson Tide led 50-34 at halftime.
Alabama shot 15-38 on the arc; Kentucky was 4-19.
Alabama is 11-3; they’ve played the toughest schedule in country so far.

Arkansas 86, Tennessee 75
Vols led by 5 with 12:29 left in the game.
Arkansas was 29-33 on foul line, Tennessee 12-23
Acuff had 29 points, 4 assists for the Razorbacks.

Georgia 104, Auburn 100 OT
Georgia shot 63.9% inside the arc.
Dawgs have won seven games in a row, are 13-1, vs schedule #321.
Georgia’s only loss was in OT to Clemson, on a neutral floor.

KenPom has four SEC teams ranked in the country’s top 30.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had SEC getting 9 teams in NCAA’s.

— Big X 
BYU 83, Kansas State 73
Freshman AJ Dybansas had 24 points, 8 rebounds, 7 turnovers.
K-State shot 3-21 on the arc.
BYU has won 10 in a row, is 13-1 against schedule #51.

Central Florida 81, Kansas 75
Knights have won 11 in a row, are a very quiet 12-1 team.
UCF is #5 team in country on the offensive boards.
Kansas star Peterson had 26 points in 23:00; only third game he’s played since November 11th.

Houston 67, Cincinnati 60
Bearcats led by 10 early in the second half.
Freshman G Flemings had 19 points, 6 assists, 5 steals.
Cougars have won seven in a row, are 13-1 vs schedule #106.

KenPom has five Big X teams ranked in the country’s top 20.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had Big X getting 8 teams in NCAA’s.

— Big East
Providence 77, St John’s 71
Red Storm led 15-2 early on, 39-32 at halftime.
6-9 senior Ejiofor was 14-23 on foul line. One guy; 23 foul shots.
First win for Providence in seven games vs top 100 teams.

Villanova 85, Butler 67
Villanova shot 67.6% inside the arc.
Butler is 1-3 in Big East games, giving up 90.8 ppg.
Villanova has won five in a row, is 12-2 vs schedule #49.

KenPom has only three Big East teams ranked in the country’s top 40.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had Big East getting 5 teams in NCAA’s.

— Big 18
Iowa 74, UCLA 61
Hawkeyes led 38-14 early in the game.
6-4 senior Stirtz scored 27 points, had 5 assists.
Iowa shot 66.7% inside the arc, scored 1.19 ppp.

KenPom has six Big 18 teams ranked in the country’s top 25.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had Big 18 getting 10 teams in NCAA’s.

— ACC
SMU 97, North Carolina 83
Game was 39-39 at halftime; SMU scored 58 points in 2nd half.
SMU shot 14-27 on the arc, scored 1.40 ppp.
Mustangs are 12-2 (5-2 vs top 100 teams) vs schedule #88.

Duke 91, Florida State 87
Duke was 23-25 on foul line, Seminoles 11-16.
Florida State shot 61% inside arc; they led by 4 points early in second half.
Duke is 13-1; their only loss was 82-81 to #20 Texas Tech.

KenPom has four ACC teams ranked in the country’s top 30.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had ACC getting 8 teams in NCAA’s.

— Famous birthdays, January 4th:
Dyan Cannon, 89
Charlie Manuel, 82
Dave Foley, 63
Ted Lilly, 50

Eric Weddle, 41
Scott Sizemore, 41
Kevin Pillar, 37
Kris Bryant, 34

Michael Lorenzen, 32
Reynaldo Lopez, 32
Derrick Henry, 32
Victor Wembanyama, 32

— Charlotte 104, Wichita State 100, 2OTs
Wichita led by 18 in 2nd half, by 5 with 0:19 left in regulation.
Charlotte was 29-38 on foul line, scored 1.39 ppp.
Charlotte is 7-8; their last two wins were in overtime.

— Ohio U 68, Eastern Michigan 67
Eagles led 35-15 early on, 32-15 at halftime.
Ohio U outscored them 53-35 in second half.
Bobcats have won 7 of last 8 games, after a 1-6 start.

— Bowling Green 101, UMass 100 OT
Falcons trailed by 7 with 0:54 left in regulation.
6-2 senior Campbell was 20-27 on the foul line, scored 47 points.
Bowling Green is 8-4 vs D-I teams (schedule #283).

— Toronto Blue Jays signed 3B Kazuma Okamoto to a 4-year, $60M contract; down the road, he is seen as more of a 1B than 3B, but with Vladimir Guerrero entrenched at 1B, seems like he’ll be a 3B or DH for now. 

— Word of the Day: Polarizing- Something/someone who divides people into sharply opposing factions. I bring this up now that Ole Miss is in the semi-finals of the college football playoff, after Lane Kiffin built a good program, then bolting on his team before the playoff, to go to SEC rival and make more money.

By the way, the two wins by Ole Miss in the playoffs have earned Kiffin another $500,000 in bonus money, which LSU is paying him.

— Here is Kiffin’s career timeline:
1994-96- was a backup QB at Fresno State.
1997-98- student assistant coach at Fresno State (his father wouldn’t let him quit playing, unless he became a student assistant coach).

1999- grad assistant at Colorado State
2000- defensive quality control coach, Jacksonville Jaguars

2001- tight ends coach, USC
2002-03- wide receivers coach, USC
2004- pass game coordinator, USC
2005-06- offensive coordinator, USC

2007-08- head coach, Oakland Raiders
2009- head coach, Tennessee Vols
2010-13- head coach, USC

2014-16- offensive coordinator, Alabama
2017-19- head coach, Florida Atlantic
2020-25- head coach, Ole Miss

Going to be very interesting to see how he does with LSU.

— Wake Forest 43, Mississippi State 29
Down 3-0 in first quarter, Wake ran kickoff back 100 yards for a TD.
Deacons scored on TD passes of 64-62 yards.
Wake Forest won four in row, seven of last eight games.
Miss State lost eight of its last nine games, after a 4-0 start.

— SMU 24, Arizona 19
Mustangs led 24-0 at halftime.
SMU survived three turnovers (minus-2), being outgained 441-392.
SMU won seven of its last nine games.

— Navy 35, Cincinnati 13
Navy ran the ball 51 times for 241 yards.
Navy won five of last six bowl games.
Cincinnati lost its last five games overall, giving up 37.8 ppg

— Texas State 41, Rice 10
Bobcats QB Jackson threw for 173 yards, 3 TDs, also ran for a TD.
Texas State’s lead was only 10-7 at halftime.
Bobcats outgained Rice, 436-195.

— Famous birthdays, January 3rd:
Victoria Principal, 76
Mel Gibson, 70
Jim Everett, 63
AJ Burnett, 48

David Tyree, 45
Eli Manning, 44
Doug McDermott, 33
Dallas Goedert, 30

— College conferences’ bowl records SU/ATS:
AAC- 5-4/4-5
ACC- 8-4/6-6
Big X- 5-3/5-3

Big 18- 9-4/8-5
Conference USA- 4-3/4-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 4-9/4-9
Sun Belt 4-6/5-5

— The four head coaches whose teams are all alive in the college football playoff? At one time or another, they were all an assistant coach under Nick Saban.

— Tennessee Vols’ punter Jackson Ross is a 26-year old Australian who used to play tennis, and then got paid to play Australian Rules Football.

— Friday, 3,753 college/minor league football players entered the transfer portal, roughly 27 players for every I-A team in the country.

— Last two years, Cincinnati Bengals have lost six games when they scored 34+ points; in the history of the NFL, only two other teams have ever lost three games like that in the same year- 1985 Chargers, 2002 Chiefs.

— Biggest upset in bowl game history? Back in 1998, Idaho (+17) upset Southern Mississippi 42-38 in the Humanitarian Bowl.

— Gonzaga 80, Seattle 72 OT
Seattle led by 13 with 12:30 left in the game.
Redhawks are 12-4, but 1-2 in their first year in the WCC.
Gonzaga is 15-1; their only loss was against Michigan, by 40. 

This is Gonzaga’s last year in the WCC; they’ll be in the Pac-12 next year.

— Nebraska 58, Michigan State 56
Cornhuskers are 14-0 for the first time ever, vs schedule #140.
Nebraska shot 13-37 on the arc, only 5-20 inside the arc.
Spartans shot 34% from the floor.

— Washington State 78, LMU 76
Lions led by 14 midway thru the first half.
Wazzu shot 56.2% inside the arc, 10-23 outside the arc.

— Manhattan 80, Quinnipiac 79
Jaspers trailed by 18 with 16:37 left in the game.
Manhattan is in bottom 5 in country on the defensive boards.
Both teams are 3-1 in the MAAC. 

— Handicapping Week 18 of the NFL is tougher than normal; some teams aren’t playing their starters because they’re in playoffs next week. Eagles are sitting Jalen Hurts and some of their other starters, Chargers are sitting Justin Herbert, Jordan Love is sitting out for Green Bay.

— Houston Astros made a splash in free agency Thursday, signing P Tatsuya Imai to a three-year contract worth $54M, plus some other incentives. He replaces free agent Framber Valdez, who won 57 games for the Astros the last four years.

— Ole Miss 39, Georgia 34
Georgia led this game 21-12 at halftime.
Ole Miss QB Chambliss threw for 362 yards, two TD’s.
Total yardage: Ole Miss 473, Georgia 343
Rebels move on to play Miami in the next round of the playoff.

Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss played for D-II Ferris State last year, leading them to a national title. How was somebody this good playing Division II ball?

— Indiana 38, Alabama 3
Hoosiers win their first bowl game since 1991.
Indiana outgained Alabama, 407-193.
Alabama ran the ball 17 times for only 23 yards.
Indiana moves on to play Oregon next; they beat the Ducks 30-20 in October.

Alabama was a 7,5-point underdog, the biggest underdog they’ve been since 2008. 

— Oregon 23, Texas Tech 0
Tech came into this game scoring 42.5 ppg.
Oregon led this game 6-0 at halftime.
Tech gained only 215 yards, had four turnovers.
Ducks move on to play Indiana in the next round.

— Miami Dolphins hired Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman as a consultant in their search for a new general manager, which is a little odd, seeing how Dan Marino already works for the team. He is an advisor; this isn’t a permanent job. 

Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000; ownership wanted a voice from the outside to provide a different perspective.

— Famous birthdays, January 2nd:
Calvin Hill, 79
Mike Newlin, 77
Jim Essian, 74
Edgar Martinez, 62

David Cone, 62
Christy Turlington, 57
Dax Shepard, 51
Kirk Hinrich, 46

Kate Bosworth, 43
Kyle Stowers, 27
Aaron Wiggins, 27
Fernando Tatis Jr, 26

— College conferences’ bowl records SU/ATS:
AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 6-4/4-6
Big X- 5-1/5-1

Big 18- 9-4/8-5
Conference USA- 4-3/4-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 4-8/4-8
Sun Belt 3-6/4-5

— NCAA Tournament is still a couple months away, but ESPN’s Bracketology has these teams as the #1-4 seeds, if the tournament were this week:
#1-seeds: Michigan, UConn, Arizona, Iowa State
#2-seeds: Vanderbilt, Duke, Gonzaga, Purdue
#3-seeds: Houston, Michigan State, Alabama, BYU
#4-seeds: Louisville, Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska

— Vanderbilt guard Frankie Collins torn a meniscus in his knee and is out indefinitely; he is a senior who is scoring 7.8 ppg and 4.7 assists/game.

— ESPN’s fantasy football posted the players who were on the highest %age of teams that won their league’s championship this year:

29.1%- Puka Nucua
25.2%- Jaxon Smith-Njigba
23.8%- Bijan Robinson
22.4%- Trey McBride
20.1%- Christian McCaffrey

— Before the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State practiced in an indoor practice facility at Highland Park High School, where Matthew Stafford/Clayton Kershaw went to school.

You read that right; a high school in Texas has an indoor practice facility for its football team.

— Last five years, number of pitchers who started 30+ games:
2021- 41
2022- 43
2023- 44
2024- 51
2025- 53

— New Orleans Saints have won four games in a row, for the first time since 2020.

Happy New Year!!! Thanks for reading; hope 2026 is fun for all of us.

The one thing I’d really like to see this year is for everyone to be nicer to each other; just because we may disagree on some stuff, let’s be civil about it. 

— Duke 42, Arizona State 39
Duke scored game-winning TD with 2:10 left.
QB Mensah threw for 327 yards, four TD’s.
Arizona State QB Sims threw for 375 yards, 3 TD’s.
ASU gained 619 yards, but was minus-2 in turnovers.

— Iowa 34, Vanderbilt 27
Hawkeyes led 14-3 at halftime.
Vandy QB Pavia threw for 347 yards, 2 TD’s.
Big 18 teams are 7-3 SU/6-4 ATS in bowl games.
SEC teams are 3-6 SU/ATS in bowl games.

— Texas 41, Michigan 27
Game was tied 17-17 at halftime.
Texas in second half: 26 plays, 224 yards, 24 points.
Longhorns ran ball 33 times for 235 yards (7.1 yards/carry)
QB Manning threw for 221 yards, ran for 155 more.

— Utah 44, Nebraska 22
QB Dampier threw for 310 yards, two TD’s.
Nebraska’s first two drives: 20 plays, 157 yards, 14 points.
Nebraska rest of game: 45 plays, 186 yards, 8 points.
Utah ran ball 45 times for 225 yards (5 yards/carry).

— Miami 24, Ohio State 14
Hurricanes were a 7.5-point underdog.
Up 7-0, Miami scored on a 72-yard pick-6 to break game open.
Ohio State ran ball 24 times for only 45 yards.
Miami plays the Ole Miss-Georgia winner in the next round of the playoff.  

— Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has had 94 players taken in the NFL Draft, the most of any current college head coach.

— Famous birthdays, January 1st:
Frank Langella, 88
Bob Brudzinski, 70
LaMarr Hoyt, 70
Fernando Tatis Sr, 50
Tiago Splitter, 40

Dallas Keuchel, 37
Jason Pierre-Paul, 36
Trumaine Johnson, 35
Tyler Higbee, 32
LaMonte Wade, 31

College conferences’ bowl records SU/ATS:
AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 6-4/4-6
Big X- 4-1/5-0

Big 18- 6-4/5-5
Conference USA- 4-3/4-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 3-6/3-6
Sun Belt 3-6/4-5

— Movie of the Day: 21 (2008)- Six MIT students form a card counting team and go to Las Vegas to win a lot of money. Kevin Spacey is the professor who trains the group; Laurence Fishburne is a casino employee who isn’t fond of card counters.

Jeffrey Ma, who the movie’s main character is based on, plays a blackjack dealer in some of the scenes. This movie was inspired by real people, real events.

— Virginia Tech 95, Virginia 85, 3OTs
Tech was 28-41 on the foul line, Virginia 11-15.
Ben Hammond scored 30 points for Tech; he didn’t start.
Cavaliers fall to 11-2; they were 10-45 on the arc.

— Villanova 71, DePaul 66
Villanova shot 28.6% inside arc, 10-23 outside arc.
Wildcats were 21-31 on foul line, Blue Demons 7-12.
DePaul is 0-3 in Big East, scoring 62 ppg.
Since 2007-08, DePaul is 56-276 in conference games.

— Clemson 64, Syracuse 61
Clemson shot 57.5% inside the arc.
Syracuse was 20-24 on foul line, Tigers 6-12.
Clemson is 11-3, 4-2 vs top 100 teams.

— Wichita State 75, UAB 70
Blazers led 40-24 late in the first half.
Shockers shot 9-20 on the arc, UAB 3-12.
Wichita is #14 team in country on offensive boards.

— VCU 89, St Bonaventure 82
Bonnies led by 7 with 8:10 left in the game.
Rams were 26-28 on foul line, St Bonaventure 14-15.
6-3 soph Hill scored 19 points in 26:00 off the bench.

— Creighton has a 6-4 guard, Austin Swartz, who is scoring 9.5 ppg in 18.4 minutes/game; what is unusual is that in his 239:00 on the floor, he’s only taken two foul shots. 29-74 on the arc, 18-33 inside the arc, 1-2 on the foul line. Very unusual. 

— Cincinnati Bengals are worth $5.5B, the least of any NFL team.

There are only four major league baseball teams worth more than the Bengals:

Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Bronx.

— Louisiana Tech 23, Coastal Carolina 14
Chanticleers led 14-3 at halftime.
Coastal in second half: 41 plays, 107 yards, 3 turnovers.
La Tech in second half: 34 plays, 175 yards, 3 turnovers, 20 points.

— Illinois 30, Tennessee 28
Illinois drove 65 yards, kicked game-winning FG at the gun.
Tennessee had taken lead on 94-yard kick return with 4:58 left.
Illini ran for 221 yards, outgained Tennessee 417-278.

— TCU 30, USC 27 OT
TCU scored 10 points in last 4:24 to force overtime.
TCU scored TD on 3rd-and-20 play to win game in OT.
Underdogs are 8-3 ATS in last eleven Alamo Bowls.

— Former Eagles-49ers-Oregon-UCLA head coach Chip Kelly is the new offensive coordinator at Northwestern. Kelly was OC for the Raiders this year, at Ohio State last year. Football coaches move around a lot.

— Clemson fired offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, making him the scapegoat for the Tigers’ 7-6 season. Clemson was 26-14 in Riley’s three years there; he is the brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley.

— Chargers’ QB Justin Herbert (left thumb) won’t play against Denver this week; Trey Lance (2-3 as an NFL starter) will get the nod.

— Famous birthdays, December 31:
Anthony Hopkins, 88
Ben Kingsley, 82
Tim Matheson, 78
Bebe Neuwirth, 67
Rick Aguilera, 64

Bryon Russell, 55
Esteban Loaiza, 54
Brent Barry, 54
Heath Shuler, 54
Jason Campbell, 44

— Movie of the Day: Hustle (2022)- A scout for the 76ers discovers a phenomenal streetball player while in Spain and sees the prospect as his opportunity to become an assistant coach. If you like basketball, this is an excellent movie.

Adam Sandler is the coach, Queen Latifah is his wife, Juancho Hernangomez is the player who gets discovered on a playground in Spain. There are a lot of NBA players/executives in this movie. The basketball workout scenes are well-done.

— Creighton 89, Butler 85
Bluejays shot 58.1% inside the arc, scored 1.23 ppp.
Butler had 21 offensive rebounds (#14 on offensive boards)
Creighton is 3-0 in the Big East, scoring 90.3 ppg.

— Oregon State 70, San Francisco 62
Good bounce back for Beavers (lost by 38 to Santa Clara Sunday)
San Francisco led 30-25 at halftime.
Oregon State was 11-23 on arc, Dons 4-21

— Seton Hall 79, Marquette 73
Marquette led by 6 with 2:50 left in the game.
Seton Hall out-rebounded Marquette, 51-33.
12-2 Pirates are #15 experience team; they’re forcing turnovers 23.1% of time (#8)

— Duquesne 89, Davidson 83, 2OT
Dukes shot 35.3% inside arc, 16-35 outside arc.
Duquesne out-rebounded Davidson, 53-39
6-2 senior Guinyard played 46:00, scored 24 points, had 6 assists.

Some baseball notes…….
— Last year, Houston Astros scored 4.23 runs/game, their worst mark since 2014; they missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016. Altuve-Alvarez were hampered by injuries last year; they need to be healthier and to score more runs this coming season.

— 2024 White Sox scored the fewest runs of any team since 1972; last year, they scored 140 more runs than they did the year before, and now they’ve added 1B Munetaka Murakami, so their offense figures to improve again.

Last three years, Chicago won 61-41-60 games, after going 81-81 in 2022.

— Last year, the 12 worst teams in on-base %age missed the playoffs; Rockies/Royals walked the fewest times in the major leagues. Adding Isaac Collins from Milwaukee figures to spruce up the Kansas City offense (his OBP% was .368).

— Orioles re-signed P Zach Eflin for one year, $10M; last year, Eflin was 6-5, 5.93 in 14 starts in a injury-hampered season. He had a 2.60 ERA in 2024, is 68-67, 4.28 in 188 career starts. 

I don’t care who wins individual awards; understood there are degenerates who bet on this stuff, but to me, it isn’t important. 

I don’t give a rat’s ass who wins MVP.
I don’t care who wins Coach of the Year. In any sport.

It. does. not. matter.

I care about who makes the playoffs.
I care about who wins the Super Bowl……you know, team stuff.

Down the road, Hall of Fame inductions should not rely on how many MVP’s you won; stats and the eye test should determine who gets in the Hall of Fame. MVP voting is subjective. 

— Falcons 27, Rams 24
Atlanta kicked a 51-yard FG with 0:21 left for the win.
Falcons had an early pick-6, led 21-0 at halftime.
Atlanta won its last three games, scoring 29-26-27 points.
Last two years, Falcons are 11-10 when Cousins is the QB, 4-8 when he isn’t.

Rams were minus-3 in turnovers, and lost a road game.
Week 13 at Carolina, Rams were minus-3 in turnovers, and lost a road game.
LA blocked a field goal for a TD and had a long kick return.
Bijan Robinson ran ball 22 times for 195 yards; he had 34 receiving yards.

— Georgia Southern 29, Appalachian State 10
Arnold carried ball 11 times for 152 yards.
Georgia Southern ran for 242 yards, outgained App State 413-379.
App State QB’s threw 4 INT’s, were minus-3 in turnovers.

— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):

AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 4-4/3-5
Big X- 2-0/2-0

Big 18- 5-0/4-1
Conference USA- 3-3/3-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 2-4/2-4
Sun Belt 3-5/4-4

— Do college football players enjoy going to bowl games in cold weather places?
Boise, Boston, New York City; I’m guessing Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas, New Orleans are much better options for bowls.

— Famous birthdays, December 30:
Sandy Koufax, 90
Tracey Ullman, 66
Kerry Collins, 53

AJ Pierzynski, 49
Grant Balfour, 48
Dominic Raiola, 47

LeBron James, 41
Carson Wentz, 33
Drew Waters, 27

— Indiana State 81, Belmont 80 OT
Belmont led by 11 late in the first half.
Sycamores won despite going 13-26 on foul line.
Tyler Lunblade was 7-14 on arc, scored 26 points; for the season, he is 51-120 (42.5%) on the arc, 16-29 inside the arc. He doesn’t come inside the arc much.

— Murray State 84, Southern Illinois 81
Racers shot 63.3% inside arc, led 47-34 at halftime.
Murray State led by 20 with 2:13 left in first half.
Racers start four seniors, are 11-3, 3-0 in MVC, vs schedule #258.

— Bradley 76, Evansville 68
Evansville led 35-31 at halftime.
Bradley is forcing turnovers 22% of time (#15)
Bradley has won seven in a row, is 10-4 vs schedule #297.

— Charleston 72, Drexel 63
Drexel led 17-3 at the second TV timeout.
Charleston shot 66.7% inside the arc.
Jlynn Counter was 11-14 from floor, scored 29 points.

— Michigan State 114, Cornell 97
Spartans led 55-53 at halftime.
83-possession game, very fast tempo.
Michigan State was 29-43 on foul line, Cornell 18-23.

— Alabama 102, Yale 78
Alabama shot 22-54 on the arc, 12-23 inside arc, scored 1.48 ppp.
Alabama also had 21 offensive rebounds.
Yale is good; they’re 11-2- this was their first game in 19 days.

— Washington 74, Utah 65
Utah led 37-36 at halftime.
Washington shot 63.2% inside the arc.
Huskies are most experienced team in country; they have #9 eFG% defense. 

49ers 42, Bears 38
Purdy threw a pick-6 on the first play of the game.
49ers scored a TD on four of their next five drives.
Bears’ last four drives: 46 plays, 286 yards, 17 points.
Chicago had ball on SF’s 2-yard line on last play, but didn’t score.

49ers outgained Chicago, 496-440.
First game in NFL this year that both teams had 2 TD’s in first quarter.
49ers are 10-1 ATS as a favorite this year. 
Seahawks @ 49ers next week is for the NFC West title. 

Seahawks 27, Panthers 10
Seahawks won ten of their last eleven games.
Seattle ran ball 36 times for 163 yards.
Seattle in second half: 35 plays, 167 yards, 24 points.
Seahawks will be #1 seed in NFC if they beat 49ers next week.

This game was 3-3 at halftime.
Carolina in second half: 25 plays, 71 yards, 2 turnovers, 7 points.
Panthers @ Tampa Bay next week will decide NFC South title.
Carolina is 3-7 when they score less than 27 points. 

Dolphins 20, Buccaneers 17
Rookie QB Ewers threw for 172 yards, two TD’s.
Miami was outgained 380-298; they were +3 in turnovers.
Dolphins are 7-0 when they allow less than 27 points.
Miami is 11-7 ATS last 18 games as a home underdog.

Tampa Bay lost four in row, seven of its last eight games.
Tampa Bay lost last four games by total of eleven points.
Bucs are 9-13 ATS last 22 games as a road favorite.
Panthers @ Tampa Bay next week, for NFC South title.

Browns 13, Steelers 6
Cleveland led 10-3 at halftime.
Steelers in 2nd half: 37 plays, 146 yards, no points.
Ravens-Steelers next week is for AFC North title.
Steelers have lost their last four visits to Cleveland.

Only TD of game was Sanders’ 28-yard pass to Fannin in 2nd quarter.
Pittsburgh averaged only 3.9 yards/pass attempt.
Browns are 12-7-1 ATS last 20 games as a home underdog.
Browns allowed 10-6-10-6 points in their four wins. 

Patriots 42, Jets 10
QB Maye threw for 256 yards and five TD’s.
Patriots are 12-1 SU/10-3 ATS in their last 13 games.
Last seven games, Patriots scored 30.9 points/game.
Over is 8-2 in their last ten games.

Patriots’ first six drives: 47 plays, 391 yards, six TD’s.
New England outgained Jets 440-307, led 35-3 at halftime.
Jets lost their last four games, giving up 34-48-29-42 points.
Jets are 0-11 when they score less than 27 points.   

Famous birthdays, December 29th:
Ted Danson, 78
Sean Payton, 62
Richie Sexson, 51
Jack Wilson, 48

Kate Moennig, 48
Laveranues Coles, 48
Clint Stoerner, 48
Julio Rodriguez, 25

Saints 34, Titans 26
Tennessee led this game 20-10 at halftime.
Saints in 2nd half: 28 plays, 334 yards, 24 points.
Saints are 5-2 in last seven games, after a 1-8 start.
26-year old rookie QB Shough is 5-3 as an NFL starter.

Titans are 9-18 ATS in last 27 games as an underdog.
Tennessee is 0-11 ATS last 11 games coming off a win.
Titans were 1-8 SU/4-5 ATS at home this season.
Over is 7-3 in Tennessee’s last ten games.

Jaguars 23, Colts 17
Jacksonville won its seventh game in a row.
Jaguars are 12-1 if they allow fewer than 31 points.
QB Lawrence threw for 263 yards, also ran for two TD’s.
Jaguars can clinch AFC South with win over Tennessee next week.

Colts are first team since 1995 to start a season 7-1, but miss the playoffs.
Colts led this game 10-7 at halftime.
Jaguars outgained Indianapolis 370-204.
Colts ran ball 22 times for only 69 yards. 

Bengals 37, Cardinals 14
Bengals’ first five drives: 40 plays, 231 yards, 24 points.
QB Burrow threw for 305 yards, two TD’s.
Bengals scored 31+ points in their last five wins.
WR Chase is first player ever with 80+ catches, 1,000+ RY and 7+ TD catches in each of his first five years in the NFL.

Bengals outgained Arizona, 429-233.
Cardinals lost eight in row (1-7 ATS) , 13 of last 14 games.
Cardinals are 0-10 when they allow more than 22 points.
Last four weeks, Cardinals allowed 37 points/game.

Giants 34, Raiders 10
Raiders lost their 10th game in row, will probably get #1 pick in ’26 draft.
QB Smith sprained his ankle late in this game.
Raiders are 13-19-2 ATS last 34 games as an underdog.
Las Vegas has nine losses by 11+ points this season.

Giants first two drives: 11 plays, 34 yards, two punts.
Giants rest of game: 51 plays, 311 yards, 27 points.
2nd year in row Giants won in Week 17 to lose first pick in draft.
WR Robinson caught 11 passes for 113 yards.

Eagles 13, Bills 12
Buffalo scored TD with 0:05 left, went for 2 points but failed
Down 12-0, Bills scored TD with 5:11 left, but missed PAT
Philadelphia is now 7-3 this year in one-score games.
Eagles’ only TD came on a 45-yard drive in first quarter. 

Philly is 15-7 ATS in last 22 games coming off a win.
Bills outgained the Eagles, 331-190.
Buffalo’s loss clinches AFC East for New England.
Right now, Buffalo is the #7-seed in the AFC.

— Northern Colorado 86, Colorado 81
Bears snapped a 13-game losing streak against Colorado.
Northern Colorado shot 11-21 on the arc.
Señor G Denker scored 33 points, had 8 rebounds, 8 assists.

— Saint Mary’s 78, Loyola Marymount 73
LMU led by a hoop with 4:43 left in the game.
Saint Mary’s shot 7-14 on arc, scored 1.31 ppp.
Gaels are 12-2, despite being experience team #333.

— San Francisco 67, Seattle 59
Seattle shot 32% inside arc, 4-17 outside arc.
USF has #38 eFG% defense ; they’ve won three games in row.
Seattle is 11-3, vs schedule #266.

— Charleston Southern 77, Richmond 72
Bad loss for Richmond, which is 10-3 vs schedule #345.
Spiders were 25-29 on foul line, Charleston Southern 15-23
Charleston Southern shot 10-37 on arc, 16-28 inside arc.

— Washington State 67, Portland 62
Portland led by 8 with 9:28 left in the game.
Portland shot 8-31 on the arc, 14-24 on foul line.
Wazzu won WCC opener, after going 4-8 in non-league games. 

I pay a decent amount of $$$ for the NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, so I can watch whatever game I want, but couldn’t watch the Baltimore-Green Bay Saturday night; it was only on the Peacock Network. This is BS. 

How greedy are these people? There are so many TV networks now, they’re going to wind up hurting their own product because of this. If someone buys the Sunday Ticket, they should get access to EVERY game.

— Texans 20, Chargers 16
Texans clinch playoff spot, third year in row they’re in playoffs.
Houston won its last eight games (6-2 ATS).
First two drives, Texans had TD passes of 75-43 yards.
Houston outgained the Chargers 362-275.

Chargers’ first four drives: 15 plays, 22 yards, four punts.
Houston led 14-3 at halftime.
Houston has won five of last six games against the Chargers.
Chargers are in the playoffs; they’ll have a road playoff game in two weeks.

— With Chargers’ loss, Denver clinches the AFC West

— Ravens 41, Packers 24
Henry ran the ball 36 times for 216 yards, four TD’s
With the win, Ravens keep their playoff hopes alive.
Baltimore needs the Steelers to lose in Cleveland Sunday.
Ravens are 16-5-1 ATS last 21 games as a road underdog.

Baltimore led 27-14 at halftime.
Green Bay lost its last three games, giving up 34-22-41 points.
Baltimore was 10-14 on third down, Packers 3-6
Packers averaged 10.5 yards/pass attempt, but were minus-2 in turnovers.

Green Bay’s loss makes Chicago the NFC North champ

— Last six Super Bowls, with conference seeds:
2019- #2 AFC 31 (-1.5), #1 NFC 20
2020- #5 NFC 31 (+3.5), #1 AFC 9
2021- #4 NFC 23 (-4.5), #4 AFC 20
2022- #1 AFC 38 (+1.5), #1 NFC 35
2023- #3 AFC 25 (+2), #1 NFC 22
2024- #2 NFC 40 (+1), #1 AFC 22

Underdogs covered the last five Super Bowls
A #1-seed has won only one of last six Super Bowls

— Cincinnati Reds added two outfielders Saturday:
JJ Bleday hit .215 in 404 games his first four years in the majors; he hit 20 homers, had a .762 OPS for the A’s in 2024.

Dane Myers has hit .245 with a .653 OPS in 172 games, over three years with the Marlins. He is a righty hitter, Bleday is lefty.

— Famous birthdays, December 28th:
Ray Knight, 73
Denzel Washington, 71
James Brooks, 67

Carl Willis, 65
Zane Smith, 65
Keith Lee, 63

Seth Meyers, 52
Dylan Cease, 30
Dillon Gabriel, 25

— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):

AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 4-4/3-5
Big X- 1-0/1-0

Big 18- 5-0/4-1
Conference USA- 3-3/3-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 2-3/2-3
Sun Belt 2-4/3-3

— East Carolina 23, Pittsburgh 17
Pitt led 7-3 at halftime.
ECU’s first five drives in 2nd half: 19 plays, 151 yards, 20 points.
ECU won despite being outgained 376-249; they were +4 in turnovers.

— Penn State 22, Clemson 10
QB Grunkenmeyer threw for 262 yards, 2 TD’s on a cold day in NYC.
Penn State was 11-19 on third down, Clemson 5-15.
Penn State outgained Clemson 397-236.
Both teams finished the season 7-6.

— BYU 25, Georgia Tech 21
Georgia Tech led 21-10 at halftime.
Tech in second half: 36 plays, 188 yards, 2 turnovers, one blocked FG
BYU finishes season 12-2, their most wins since 2001.

— Army 41, UConn 16
Army ran the ball 56 times for 368 yards.
Army was 8-12 on third down, UConn 1-9.
Army led 14-10 at halftime, on a cold day at Fenway Park.

— Fresno State 18, Miami OH 3
EJ Warner threw for 219 yards and a TD in his last college game.
Bulldogs outgained Miami, 396-192.
Miami kicked a FG on their first drive of the day, didn’t score again.

— North Texas 49, San Diego State 47
Mean Green led 28-20 at halftime.
Total yards: North Texas 618, San Diego State 532.
QB Mestermaker was 27-47/250 passing, with three TD’s.

— Virginia 13, Missouri 7
Missouri drove 75 yards for a TD on their first drive.
Missouri rest of game: 48 plays, 185 yards, no points.
Virginia was 13-23 on third down, Mizzou 3-12
Cavaliers finish their season 11-3. 

— Minnesota 20, New Mexico 17 OT
Golden Gophers won their 9th straight bowl game.
Down 14-7, New Mexico ran a kickoff back 100 yards for a TD.
This was New Mexico’s first bowl outside of Albuquerque since 2004.

— If you were wondering, the all-time record for most consecutive bowl wins is 11,  set by Bobby Bowden’s Florida State teams from 1985-95.

— Northwestern 34, Central Michigan 7
QB Stone threw for 226 yards, 3 TD’s.
Central Michigan lost three fumbles, committed four turnovers in all.
Wildcats have won six bowl games in a row.

— Texas-San Antonio 57, FIU 20
FIU actually led this game 14-0 in first quarter.
Roadrunners led 31-14 at halftime.
FIU went for it on 4th down 10 times, were 1-10.

— Michigan hired former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham as their new coach; Whittingham was 177-88 in 22 years at Utah, going 11-6 in bowls (they lost the last five). Utah is 10-2 this year; this is a big upgrade for the Wolverines.

— Green Bay Packers ruled out QB Jordan Love (concussion) for tonight’s game with the Ravens; Green Bay clinched a playoff spot when Detroit lost Thursday. Malik Willis will start for the Packers; he is 3-2 as an NFL starter, has thrown for 134 yards in three games this year.

— Famous birthdays, December 27th:
Tovah Feldshuh, 77
Craig Reynolds, 73
Mark Budaska, 73
Kent Benson, 71
Donald Igwebuike, 65

Eva LaRue, 59
Kevin Ollie, 53
Deuce McAllister, 47
Carson Palmer, 46
Cole Hamels, 42

Greg Zuerlein, 38
Rick Porcello, 37
Jordan Montgomery, 33
JJ Koski, 29
Brock Purdy, 26

— It was freakin’ freezing here in upstate New York Friday, and now it is snowing out; this is my annual “Why the hell don’t I live in Las Vegas?” night. Once a year, I curse myself out for living in a place where it occasionally gets very cold, and it costs me $40 to get my driveway plowed.

— They’re remodeling the grocery store I go to; its been taking a long time- they’re supposed to finish next month. It is funny going there; no one seems to know what aisle anything is in any more. Used to take me 10 minutes to do my shopping; takes a lot more now. I’m wondering how much it costs to do all that work.

— Thursday night in Denver, the Nuggets beat Minnesota 142-138 in OT; Nikola Jokic scored 56 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, had 15 assists— he scored 18 of his points in the 5:00 overtime, the most any player has ever scored in an overtime.

— College/minor league sports are off the rails; quarterbacks are transferring:
UNLV QB Anthony Colandrea is in the portal, after leading the Rebels to a 10-4 record. He played at Virginia in 2023-24.

(The last four Heisman Trophy winners have all been transfers)

Some other QB’s who are in the transfer portal:
Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
Drew Mestemaker, North Texas
Dylan Raiola, Nebraska
Josh Hoover, TCU

Rocco Becht, Iowa State
Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati
DJ Lagway, Florida
Byrum Brown, South Florida
Aaron Philo, Georgia Tech

— Since the weather sucks outside, here are some baseball tidbits to help us feel warmer; most of this info came from an article by David Schoenfield on ESPN.com

Pittsburgh Pirates hit 117 home runs last year, 31 fewer than any other team,. Which why they acquired Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn. Paul Skenes had a 1.97 ERA but was only 10-10, because the Pirates don’t score enough freakin’ runs.

Mets ranked 27th out of 30 teams in IP by starting pitchers, now they let their closer walk to the Dodgers. Mets are going to be very interesting to watch between now and the start of spring training- they need to add talent, both hitting and pitching.

St Louis Cardinals went 232-254 the last three years, their worst three-year stretch since 1988-90, which is why they’re cleaning house now. This year’s attendance was 991,084 fans lower than the Cardinals’ home attendance in 2023- the natives are restless.

Milwaukee Brewers hit .258 as a team last year, but they hit .279 with runners in scoring position, that doesn’t happen much. It probably isn’t sustainable either, so Milwaukee’s offense could suffer this coming season.

Orioles/Marlins both got only 62 RBI from their first basemen last year, tied for worst in the major leagues. That explains why the Orioles went after Pete Alonso.

Cincinnati Reds got only 51 home runs from outfielders; they play their home games in one of the best home run parks there is, which may explain why they moved Noelvi Marte to RF.

Arizona Diamondbacks got saves from 17 different pitchers last year, an all-time record (’21 Rays, ’24 Dodgers each got saves from 14 pitchers). 

— Cowboys 30, Commanders 23
Dallas led 21-3 with 7:00 left in first half.
Cowboys’ first four drives: 47 plays, 306 yards, 24 points.
Cowboys ran ball 44 times for 211 yards. 
Last eleven games, Dallas’ team total: over 7-3-1

Washington kicked 51-yard FG with 2:09 left for a backdoor cover.
Commanders are 1-10 SU/3-8 ATS in their last eleven games.
39-year old backup QB Johnson was 15-23/198 in his first start since 2021.
Dallas ran 87 plays for 480 yards; Washington 41 for 328 yards.

— Vikings 23, Lions 10
Loss eliminates Detroit from playoff contention.
Lions turned ball over six times on their 12 drives.
Detroit ran the ball 30 times for only 68 yards.
Lions are 1-7 when they score less than 34 points.

Minnesota won, despite having only 3 net yards passing.
Vikings ran ball 28 times for 158 yards (5.6 yards/carry)
Vikings last four games, scoring 31-34-16-23 points.
Vikings held five of last six opponents under 300 TY.

— Broncos 20, Chiefs 13
Denver drove 65 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:45 left.
Broncos have won 12 of their last 13 games.
Underdogs covered Denver’s last eight games.
Denver is 13-3 SU, but 0-5 ATS as a road favorite.

Kansas City has lost five in a row, seven of last eight games.
#3 QB Oladokun was 13-22/66 passing, in his first NFL start. 
Denver was 11-18 on third down, Kansas City 4-11
Broncos outgained the Chiefs, 303-139.

— Jacksonville State RB Cam Cook plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal; he has run ball for 1,659 yards this year, earned Conference USA MVP and All-America honors in his one year with the Gamecocks after transferring from TCU.

— Famous birthdays, December 26th:
Carlton Fisk, 78
Ozzie Smith, 71
Storm Davis, 64
Jeff King, 61

Tim Legler, 59
Omar Infante, 44
Trevor Siemian, 34
Hogan Harris, 29

— Great day to be an A’s fan: A’s signed OF Tyler Soderstrom to a 7-year, $86M contract extension; the deal buys out at least three free agent years, and keeps him under team control until his age 31 season.

Last year, Soderstrom hit 25 homers, had 93 RBI, had an .820 OPS.

— Our fantasy baseball draft starts in seven short weeks; it is a keeper league, so our draft is only two rounds, but how do you evaluate players coming here from Asia?

Two years ago, Shota Imanaga signed with the Cubs; I scoured the Internet, trying to find out about this guy. No one knew anything; in the last two years, he’s gone 24-11, 3.28 in 54 starts.

This year, there are three Asian players left to be signed; the deadline is January 4th to sign them. This year, pundits on YouTube podcasts all have lots of opinions on who is/isn’t good, so I’m curious to see where they get drafted in our league. 

— Chiefs’ QB Chris Oladokun was on the Chiefs’ practice squad for two of their Super Bowl wins, but Thursday night was his first NFL start. He’s had an interesting journey:

2016-18- South Florida
2019-20- Samford
2021- South Dakota State

He was the Steelers’ 7th round draft pick in 2022; he has two Super Bowl rings, but now he’s started an NFL game. Didn’t go that well, but it is a start.

— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):

AAC- 0-3/0-3
ACC- 3-1/2-2
Big X- 0-0

Big 18- 2-0/1-1
Conference USA- 3-2/3-2
MAC- 2-1/3-0

Mountain West- 1-3/1-3
SEC- 2-2/2-2
Sun Belt 2-4/3-3

— Movie of the Day: The Rewrite (2014)- An Oscar-winning writer in a slump leaves Hollywood to teach screenwriting at SUNY-Binghamton, where he falls for a single mom taking classes there. Hugh Grant is the teacher, Marisa Tomei the student. Allison Janney, JK Simmons are also in this movie.

Lot of the movie is filmed in Binghamton, including one scene at a merry-go-round that has helped Binghamton be known as the Carousel Capital of the World.

Anyway, this is a nice movie; our world needs more nice in it.

— Noah Eagle called the Dallas-Washington game on Netflix Thursday; the son of Ian Eagle, Noah Eagle is a network broadcaster at age 29. Pretty cool.

— Knicks 126, Cavaliers 124
Knicks were down 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Tyler Kolek had 16 points, 9 assists off the bench.

— Spurs 117, Thunder 102
De’Aaron Fox scored 29 points for San Antonio.
Oklahoma City is 0-3 against the Spurs this year, 26-2 vs everyone else.

— Warriors 126, Mavericks 116
Jimmy Butler scored 14 points, had 9 rebounds, 9 assists.
De’Anthony Melton scored 16 points in 24:00 off the bench.

— Rockets 119, Lakers 96
Houston had six players score in double figures.
Rockets shot 60.6% inside the arc. 

Hope everyone has an excellent Christmas; thanks for reading……

Wednesday was one of the worst TV nights of the year, but the one game that was on TV was one of the better games all season:

— Hawaii 35, California 31
Hawaii’s backup QB threw a 22-yard TD pass with 0:10 left for the win
California led 21-0 with 5:00 left in the first half.
Cal QB Sagapolutele threw for 343 yards and a TD.
Hawaii WR Ashlock caught 14 passes for 123 yards, two TD’s.

— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):
AAC- 0-3/0-3
ACC- 3-1/2-2
Big X- 0-0

Big 18- 2-0/1-1
Conference USA- 3-2/3-2
MAC- 2-1/3-0

Mountain West- 1-3/1-3
SEC- 2-2/2-2
Sun Belt 2-4/3-3

— Louisville 27, Toledo 22
Louisville led 21-3 early in the second quarter.
Toledo scored 19 points in 8:18 span of 4th quarter for the backdoor cover.
Cardinals ran ball 36 times for 180 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Toledo was penalized 14 times for 100 yards.

— Western Kentucky 27, Southern Miss 16
Southern Miss led 13-6 at halftime.
Backup QB McIvor was 12-19/199 passing, sparked the comeback win.
WKU’s last two drives: 18 plays, 149 yards, 14 points.
Hilltoppers have won five of their last seven bowl games.

— Ohio U 17, UNLV 10
Bobcats won their 7th bowl game in a row.
Ohio U outgained the Rebels, 350-281
Bobcats ran the ball 43 times for 207 yards.
First time in 36 games that UNLV scored fewer than 20 points.

— Famous birthdays, December 25th:
Gary Sandy, 80
Larry Csonka, 79
Sissy Spacek, 76

CCH Pounder, 73
William Andrews, 70
Jillie Mack, 68

Erik Hiljus, 43
Eric Gordon, 37
Garrett Cooper, 35

Thursday would’ve been Kenny Stabler’s 80th birthday, Rickey Henderson’s 67th.

— Bill Vinovich was the referee for the Bills-Browns game in Cleveland Sunday, then Monday night, he was one of the refs at the Northern Iowa-Saint Mary’s basketball game in Moraga, all the way across the country. He puts on a lot of miles every winter.

— Here is a 10-day stretch for referee Brian Dorsey, who has already worked 36 college hoop games this winter.

Dec 13- West Virginia-Ohio State, in Cleveland
Dec 14- Oakland City @ Cleveland State
Dec 16- Toledo @ Michigan State
Dec 17- Arizona State @ UCLA
Dec 20- St John’s vs Kentucky, in Atlanta
Dec 21- Charleston @ Northern Kentucky
Dec 22- Illinois vs Missouri, in St Louis

Seven games in ten nights; lot of running.

— Chicago White Sox signed lefty P Sean Newcomb, for one years/$4.5M. Newcomb had a 1.75 ERA in 36 games (51 IP) for the A’s last year, but Chicago is expected to give him a chance to be a starter. He has started 65 games in his career.

— Pittsburgh Pirates signed 1B/DH Ryan O’Hearn for two years, $29M; O’Hearn hit 17 homers for Orioles/Padres last year, with an .805 OPS.

— Miami Marlins signed P Pete Fairbanks for one year, $13M; he had 27 saves for the Rays last year, has 75 saves the last three seasons.

— Movie of the Day: Cousins (1989)— Two couples go to a mutual friend’s wedding and and up switching partners. Ted Danson/William Peterson are the guys, before their CSI days; Sean Young, Isabella Rossellini are the women. Lloyd Bridges provides some comic relief.

Should have this movie on yesterday’s list of 20; at the end of the movie, one of the couples is on a boat, and sails off into the sunset. Years later, when Gil Grissom/Sara Sidle left CSI, almost the exact same scene takes place, a couple sailing off into the sunset.

College basketball has become minor league basketball; some examples:

— Baylor adds 2023 NBA draft pick James Nnaji, who was drafted by the Pistons in 2023, played the last two years overseas, played for the Knicks in the NBA Summer League this past year. 7-foot tall Nnaji is eligible immediately.

— Spanish wing Lucas Langarita has enrolled at Utah and is expected to be in uniform with the Utes pretty soon; he played really well at last summer’s FIBA U20 Eurobasket.

— 23-year old Russian big man Kirill Elatontsev has one semester of eligibility left, is expected to sign on with Oklahoma and finish this season with the Sooners. He has previously played on the Russian National team.

— In the NBA, LA Lakers are the first NBA team since the 1991 Miami Heat whose first nine losses of a season were all by 10+ points. Right now, Lakers are 19-9; the ’91 Heat wound up 24-58, in their third year of existence. 

— Good news/bad news for the NFL’s Jets:
Good news: three of their first round draft picks made the Pro Bowl this year.

Bad news: none of those three guys play for the Jets anymore; two of them play for the Seahawks, one plays for Dallas. 

20) The Gambler (2014)— Remake of a James Caan movie from the mid-70’s. College professor (Mark Wahlberg) seems to have an excellent life, but he has a huge gambling problem which drags him down. John Goodman plays one of the people he owes money to; he is very good in this. Jessica Lange plays the gambler’s mother, Brie Larson is his student/girlfriend.

19) Moon Over Parador (1988)— Richard Dreyfuss is an actor who is hired to stand in for the dictator of a Latin American country who suddenly dies. Jonathan Winters is a weird CIA agent whose wife is Polly Holliday, who played Flo in the old TV series Alice.

Sonia Braga, Raul Julia, Sammy Davis Jr and Dana Delany are all in this movie.

18) The Verdict (1982)— Paul Newman is a ambulance-chasing lawyer who started drinking too much when his marriage ended; he is handed a winning case that should be lucrative, but winning it is easier said than done. His friend is played by Jack Warden, one of my all-time favorites.

James Mason, Bruce Willis are also in this movie, which is a little dated now; no cellphones. The lawyer plays a pinball machine in the bar he frequents, but it is a very good movie.

17) Double Jeopardy (1999)— Unjustly jailed for her husband’s murder, a woman does six years in jail, until she gets paroled and realizes that the husband isn’t dead, so she sets out to find him and her son, who it turns out have moved to New Orleans.

Ashley Judd is the woman, Tommy Lee Jones is her parole officer, Bruce Greenwood is the grifter husband, Roma Maffia is a woman in jail who advises the woman on the best way to get paroled. Movie is a little intense, but it is very good.

16) Autumn in New York (2000)— Mostly a sad movie about a terminally ill young woman who falls for an aging playboy who owns a restaurant; when he finds out she is very ill, the playboy tries everything he can do to find a doctor who can help her get better.

Winona Ryder is the young woman, Richard Gere is the playboy, JK Simmons is the surgeon. Anthony LaPaglia, Jill Hennessy, Sherry Stringfield, Vera Farmiga are also in the movie, which is very good, but you’ll need a handkerchief.

15) Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)— Joe Mantegna plays a sportswriter who realizes that his 7-year old son is a chess prodigy; no one knows how/why. The parents hire a chess teacher and he begins to win tournaments, but then expectations get very high, and the kid’s interest begins to die down.

Excellent cast: Mantegna, Joan Allen is the mom, Ben Kingsley is the chess coach, Laurence Fishburne is a guy who plays speed chess in the park and who also coaches the kid. William H Macy, David Paymer, Josh Mostel are also in the movie, which is very good.

14) Good Will Hunting (1997)— A janitor at MIT can do complicated math problems better than the professors can, but he also has a criminal record, and has to get counseling for that. Robin Williams is great as the counselor, Matt Damon is the smart guy.

Ben Affleck is one of the smart guy’s friends, Minnie Driver is the smart guy’s girlfriend, but the scenes with Wiliams/Damon are epic. One of Robin Williams’ finest roles.

13) Dave (1993)— Guy who looks just like the President runs a temp job service in Washington; when the real president has a stroke while screwing around with his mistress, the guy (Kevin Kline) is hired as the stand-in president. Sigourney Weaver is the First Lady.

Frank Langella/Kevin Dunn are in the President’s cabinet, Ving Rhames is a Secret Service agent who protects the President. Charles Grodin is great in his smaller role as a friend of the look-alike, who wins up help balancing the country’s budget.

12) Begin Again (2013)— Down-and-out music executive stumbles into a Manhattan bar and discovers a young singer who can resurrect his career.

Keira Knightley is the singer, Adam Levine is her boyfriend, a popular musician who screws around on her and gets the boot. Mark Ruffalo is the music executive, and James Corden kind of steals the show as the singer’s old friend from back in England.

Hailee Steinfeld (Mrs Josh Allen these days) plays Ruffalo’s daughter, Catherine Keener is his wife. Rob Morrow, CeeLo Green are also in this movie, mostly a nice movie. 

10) The Big Short (2015)— Group of investors bet against the US mortgage market in 2006-07 and are surprised to find out that the market is flawed/corrupt.

One investor is an eccentric ex-doctor who controls billions of dollars and basically risks it all to make even more money, but it it is going to take time, and the people whose money he works with are not terribly patient.

Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Marisa Tomei are all in this movie. Michael Lewis wrote the book, same guy who wrote Moneyball. 

9) Absence of Malice (1981)— Sally Field plays a reporter who investigates a liquor wholesaler who is suspected of a murder- his father had been a mobster. There is no evidence that the son is guilty, but the authorities want to pressure him into giving them information.

The wholesaler has an iron-clad excuse that guarantees his innocence, but he won’t use it because he’d have to tell the authorities that a female friend of his had an abortion and 45 years ago, that wasn’t something you wanted to be known.

The wholesaler turns the tables on the authorities and makes them look incompetent.

Paul Newman is the wholesaler; with Sally Field, Willard Brimley, an intense, very good movie. 

8) Leap of Faith (1992)— Steve Martin plays a traveling preacher whose bus breaks down, stranding his crew in a drought-stricken Kansas town. Miracles ensue. Liam Neeson, Debra Winger, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meat Loaf are all in this cast.

The preacher is a fraud, but people come out and give him a lot of money; the town where his bus breaks down is going through a drought— people want to know is he can make it rain. 

There is one great scene near the end of the movie where kid who had been crippled in a car accident wants the preacher to heal his legs. It makes the movie worth watching.

7) Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)— Two piano-playing brothers have an act that is struggling, so they hire a beautiful singer to join the show, and they suddenly become more popular.

Jeff/Beau Bridges are the brothers, Michelle Pfeiffer is the singer; when one brother and the singer start messing around, tensions run high, even though the group is doing very well on stage.

Very good movie, but then again, I’d watch a movie if it was Michelle Pfeiffer reading names out of the phone book. 

6) Molly’s Game (2017)— Young woman runs high stakes poker games for celebrities/rich guys, but when members of the Russian mob enter the game, things get complicated. This is a true story, and as we’re learning nowadays, real life is often stranger than fiction.

This movie comes after the book was written; Jessica Chastain plays Molly, Idris Elba is her lawyer, Kevin Costner has a smaller role as her demanding father. 

5) Lost In Translation (2003)— Bill Murray plays a washed-up actor who is in Tokyo getting paid $2M to do a whiskey commercial. He meets Scarlett Johansson in the hotel bar and they become friends.

Apparently every American visiting Tokyo stays in the same hotel; the actor/woman, whose husband is a photographer who largely ignores her, they become friends and go out to dinner and have probing conversations, all platonic.

It is a nice movie with a vague but I think happy ending. 

4) Rounders (1998)— Law student decides he’d rather play high stakes poker than finish law school. The scenes with Matt Damon and his law professor (Martin Landau) are excellent. Same guys who wrote this movie wrote the great Showtime series Billions.

Edward Norton is excellent as a grifter/degenerate gambler who often tries to cheat at cards; he gets himself and the law student beaten up. John Malkovich is a Russian who runs the poker room where a lot of the games are played. John Turturro plays Joey Knish, a veteran gambler who grinds out a living the hard way, but he does it.

This is a very good movie.  

3) The Bodyguard (1992)— Whitney Houston is a famous singer with a contract on her head; Kevin Costner is the ex-Secret Service hired to protect her.

Protecting a famous singer is a lot different than protecting a politician; there is tension between the singer/bodyguard, but when the singer’s young son almost gets murdered, she listens to the bodyguard and they wind up OK.

Lot of good music in this movie; when Whitney Houston passed way in real life, Kevin Costner spoked at her memorial service. 

2) Last Vegas (2013)— Four old friends get together in Las Vegas for the bachelor party of the one bachelor in group (Michael Douglas) who is marrying a woman 40 years younger than him. It is Douglas, Robert Deniro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline. Mary Steenburgen plays a singer in a Las Vegas bar who crosses paths with the friends.

Morgan Freeman’s character won $87,000 playing blackjack in this movie; in The Hangover, the one guy wins $85,000 playing blackjack, so on one of my trips to Las Vegas, I sat down at a table and suggested that blackjack must be an easy game, since so many people win a lot of money in the movies. I got a dirty look, a scowl and I shut up and was glad to break even.

1) A Few Good Men (1992)— Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson ate the stars; Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak, JT Walsh as supporting actors is pretty strong.

A military lawyer tries to prove that two Marines charged with murdering a fellow Marine were simply following their commander’s orders. The last scene, with Jack Nicholson on the witness stand, is tremendous.

— 49ers 48, Colts 27
49ers’ first four drives: 33 plays, 239 yards, 24 points.
San Francisco outgained the Colts, 440-312.
49ers won their last five games, all by 11+points.
TE Kittle caught seven passes for 115 yards and a TD.

Colts scored TDs on first two drives, but in between fumbled away a kickoff.
49ers were 7-11 on third down, Colts 5-1o.
Indy lost six of last seven games, after a 7-1 start.
44-year old QB Rivers threw for 277 yards, two TD’s.

— Steelers WR DK Metcalf got suspended two games for getting into a confrontation with a fan in Detroit Sunday; the suspension costs him $555,555 in salary.

— Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Missouri to Kansas; they’ll start playing in a new $3B domed stadium in 2031. The stadium is expected to seat 65,000 fans, about 10,000 less fans than Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs have played since 1972.

— Washington State 34, Utah State 21
QB Eckhaus threw for 334 yards, three TD’s.
Coogs outgained Utah State 628-254.
Wazzu ran ball 41 times for 255 yards.
Starting next year, these teams will be rivals in the Pac-12.

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
Non-divisional underdogs 13-10 ATS
Non-divisional favorites 9-8 ATS

AFC North
Non-divisional underdogs 10-15 ATS
Non-divisional favorites 8-11 ATS

AFC South
Non-divisional underdogs 17-10 ATS
Non-divisional favorites 7-6 ATS

AFC West
Non-divisional underdogs 10-6 ATS
Non-divisional road favorites 1-10 ATS

NFC East
Home teams 6-3 ATS divisional games
Non-divisional underdogs 8-13 ATS

NFC North
Non-divisional favorites 15-11 ATS
Non-divisional underdogs 5-8 ATS

NFC South
Underdogs 8-1 ATS divisional games
Non-divisional favorites 4-8 ATS

NFC West
Non-divisional favorites 20-8 ATS
Divisional home underdogs 0-4 ATS

— Famous birthdays, December 23rd:
Jerry Koosman, 83
Susan Lucci, 79
Jack Ham, 77
Joan Severance, 67

Paul Shirley, 48
Victor Martinez, 47
Hanley Ramirez, 42
Mitch Haniger, 35

— Boston Red Sox acquired 1B Willson Contreras from St Louis, in exchange for P Hunter Dobbins and two other pitching prospects. Contreras hit .257 with a .791 OPS last year; he figures to benefit from playing half his games in Fenway Park. 

— A’s acquired 2B Jeff McNeil from the Mets, in exchange for a very young pitching prospect. McNeil won a batting title in 2022, but has slacked off the last two years, while playing in more of a utility role. Hopefully playing every day will boost his production.

— Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami got a 2-year deal worth $34M from the White Sox; he is expected to mostly DH and also play some first base.

— P Paul Blackburn signed for one year, $2M with Bronx; he has some incentives if he pitches a lot of innings. He had knee/shoulder issues last year with the Mets. 

— USC/Notre Dame won’t be playing college football the next two years; Notre Dame is going to play BYU instead. USC didn’t want to play Notre Dame later in the year, so their agreement went up in smoke.

— There have been 30 coaching changes in I-A football so far this season, a little less than 25% of all the jobs there are.

— Of the 74 referees who have worked NBA games this season, 56 of them have also spent some time in their career working in the G-League. 

— Panthers 23, Buccaneers 20
Just 2nd win for Carolina in their last 12 games vs Tampa Bay. 
QB Young threw for 191 yards, two TD’s.
Panthers kicked a 48-yard FG with 2:20 left for the winning score.
Carolina now leads the NFC South by a game, with two weeks left.

Tampa Bay lost seven of its last nine games, after a 5-1 start.
Buccaneers lost their last three games by total of eight points.
Tampa Bay was 8-14 on third down, Carolina 6-12.
These teams play again in two weeks, in Tampa.

— Patriots 28, Ravens 24
New England has won 12 of last 13 games; they’re in playoffs.
Ravens led this game 24-13 in the fourth quarter.
QB Maye threw for 380 yards, two TD’s.
Patriots in 4th quarter: 22 plays, 181 yards, 14 points. 

QB Jackson hurt his back in the second quarter, didn’t return.
RB Henry ran for 128 yards, 2 TD’s, but only had 18 carries.
Patriots outgained Baltimore, 453-330.
Ravens need two wins and Steelers to lose to Cleveland to win AFC North. 

— Steelers 29, Lions 24
Detroit had two TD’s negated by offensive interference in last 0:30 of game.
Lions ran ball only 12 times, for 15 yards.
Steelers won their last three games, scoring 27-28-29 points.
Pittsburgh is 8-0 when it allows less than 25 points.

Steelers ran ball 27 times for 230 yards.
Game was 10-10 at half; Steelers got a safety in third quarter, led 12-10.
RB Warren carried ball 14 times for 143 yards, two TD’s.
Steelers WR Metcalf punched a fan in stands; he’ll hear from the league.

— Jaguars 34, Broncos 20
Jacksonville won their last six games, giving up 15.3 ppg.
Jaguars were 8-15 on third down, Denver 5-14.
QB Lawrence threw for 279 yards, 3 TD’s, also ran for a TD.
Right now, Jaguars are the #3-seed in the AFC.

Loss ends Denver’s 11-game winning streak.
QB Nix threw for 352 yards, but only one TD.
Broncos lead Chargers by a game in AFC West; they play in Week 18
Underdogs covered Denver’s last seven games.

— Titans 26, Chiefs 9
Backup QB Minshew tore his ACL, like Mahomes did last week.
#3 QB Oladokun was 11-16/111 passing, leading Chiefs to three FG’s.
Chiefs are 1-5 SU/ATS in last five road games.
Titans outgained Kansas City, 376-133.

Tennessee’s win snaps an 11-game home losing streak.
QB Ward threw for 228 yards and two TD’s.
Titans were 9-17 on third down, Kansas City 1-9.
Tennessee ran ball 40 times for 164 yards.

— Saints 29, Jets 6
Rookie QB Shough threw for 308 yards and a TD.
Saints are 4-2 in last six games, after a 1-8 start.
New Orleans outgained the Jets, 412-195.
Saints made 6 of 7 FG’s, scored two TD’s on 11 drives.

Jets first three drives: 18 plays, 88 yards, two FG’s.
Jets rest of game: 47 plays, 78 yards, two turnovers.
Jets lost their last three games, by 24-28-23 points.
Jets are 0-10 when they score less than 27 points.

— Famous birthdays, December 22nd:
Hector Elizondo, 89
Steve Carlton, 81
Dave Robisch, 76
Lonnie Smith, 70

Glenn Wilson, 67
Jason Lane, 49
Jacob Stallings, 36
Tyler Gilbert, 32

— Bills 23, Browns 20
Buffalo’s first three drives: 21 plays, 209 yards, 20 points.
Buffalo rest of the game: 30 plays, 48 yards, 3 points.
RB Cook ran for 117 yards, two TD’s.
Right now, Bills are the #6-seed in the AFC.

Cleveland turned ball over on three of its first six drives.
Cleveland was 8-14 on third down, Buffalo 2-8.
Cleveland lost four in row, 10 of its last 12 games.
Browns are 0-12 when they allow more than 10 points.

— Chargers 34, Cowboys 17
Chargers outgained Dallas 452-340, converted 7-11 on 3rd down.
QB Herbert threw for 300 yards, two TD’s.
Chargers won four in row, seven of their last eight games.
Chargers are 10-1 when they allow 21 or fewer points.

Dallas in first half: 32 plays, 216 yards, 17 points.
Dallas in second half: 25 plays, 131 yards, no points.
Cowboys lost their last three games, giving up 44-34-34 points.
Cowboys are 1-8 when they score less than 33 points. 

— Vikings 16, Giants 13
QB McCarthy hurt his right hand just before halftime, didn’t return.
Total yardage in an ugly game: Vikings 240, Giants 141
Minnesota won its last three games, giving up 13 ppg.
Vikings converted 7-12 on third down, Giants 141

Giants’ only TD was a defensive score 0:17 before halftime.
Giants had only 13 passing yards; their first 15 plays were runs.
Giants lost their last nine games (3-6 ATS)
Giants are 5-10 ATS last 15 games as a home underdog.

— Bengals 45, Dolphins 21
QB Burrow threw for 309 yards, four TD’s.
Cincinnati led 17-14 at halftime.
Bengals’ first 4 drives in second half: 21 plays, 174 yards, 28 points.
Cincinnati was 6-12 on third down, +3 in turnovers.

Miami turned ball over on 3 of first 4 drives in third quarter.
Rookie QB Ewers threw for 260 yards with two INTs in his first NFL start.
Dolphins are 0-9 when they allow 27+ points.
Miami is minus-16 in turnovers in losses, +11 in wins. 

— Falcons 26, Cardinals 19
RB Robinson ran ball for 76 yards, had 92 receiving yards.
Robinson is first Falcon since 1999 with 2,000+ yards from scrimmage,
Atlanta is 3-2 in last five games, after a 3-7 start.
QB Cousins is 87-80-2 as an NFL starter, 10-10 with Falcons.

Arizona led this game 10-0 late in first quarter.
Cardinals lost seven in row, 12 of last 13 games.
Arizona is 0-9 when they allow more than 22 points.
Cardinals are 1-4 ATS as a home underdog TY. 

— Texans 23, Raiders 21
Houston won its last seven games (5-2 ATS)
Texans are game behind Jacksonville in AFC South.
Right now, Texans are #7-seed in the AFC.
Houston is 9-0 when they score 20+ points.

First score of day was a 31-yard pick-6 by Texans 4:17 into game.
Raiders outgained Houston 315-270; they ran ball for 145 yards,
Raiders have lost nine games in a row, 13 of last 14.
RB Jeanty ran ball for 128 yards and a TD.