And then there were two. Unbeatens, that it – the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons. The Chiefs have really looked the part, winning their three games by 12 points per game. The Falcons look a little bit lucky, beating the Bears and Lions by a combined seven points. Granted, they looked more like their first-half-of-Super-Bowl-51 selves at home against the Packers in week two. (Is it weird that their first three opponents have all been from the NFC Central? That’s weird, right?)
Surprises thus far? Well, we’ve only had three games (Thursday night’s game notwithstanding), so it’s had to get a hold on things yet. But it’s hard to believe the Bengals are quite this bad, or that the Giants would be winless through three games. Individually, Alex Smith leading in Passer Rating would have to be a bit of a surprise. Yes, he’s always been a solid QB, but he has really shined in 2017.
Let’s see what’s on tap for Week 4:
AFC WEST
Washington @ Kansas City
Oakland @ Denver
Philadelphia @ LA Chargers
Good matchups this week. The Redskins are solid, but I don’t see them going into Arrowhead and winning. (By the way, while I’d prefer to avoid politics in football given the events of last week, shouldn’t the left be all over this game? Redskins versus Chiefs? UGH, problematic, they can’t even) The Chargers should get off the schneid at home, while Oakland picks up the in-division road win.
AFC NORTH
Pittsburgh @ Baltimore
Cincinnati @ Cleveland
Both games are divisional clashes this week. Ehhhhhxcellent. Besides the usual emotion that marks a Ravens-Steelers game, both teams are coming off of bad losses – the Ravens got hammered by the possibly-for-real Jaguars, while for the Steelers, losing to the Bears by any margin is an embarrassment. I’m not simply sucking up to Glibs management here; I like the Ravens at home. And Cleveland gets into the win column at the expense of the rapidly decaying Bengals.
AFC SOUTH
Jacksonville @ NY Jets
Indianapolis @ Seattle
Tennessee @ Houston
One big game and two very little ones. Let’s start with the big one down in Houston: since getting thoroughly outplayed in week one, the Houston Texans have been competitive in a win over Cincy and a loss to New England. Maybe it’s nothing more than the team getting refocused after getting thumped; on the other hand, maybe it’s just that neither the Bengals and Patriots are now lesser versions of them selves, and Houston would have lost to last year’s Bengals and blown out by last year’s Patriots. I think DeShawn Watson is going to use this season as a great learning experience for the future, but it won’t mean many wins now – particularly against the improved Titans. Seattle will take care of the Colts at home, and the Jags will go into New Jersey and defeat the New York Jets. (At least they’re not doing that Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-type name scheme)
AFC EAST
New Orleans @ Miami
Buffalo @ Atlanta
Carolina @ New England
Jacksonville @ NY Jets
This division lacks even more luster than usual. Out of sixteen AFC teams ranked by pro-football-reference.com’s SRS (Simple Rating System) AFC East teams occupy spots 6,7,8, and 10. I’m skeptical that the Patriots are going to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but I’ll go way out on a limb and say that they’re going to be one of the top-three ranked AFC teams when January rolls around. Furthermore, they’re going to be the latest team to remind the Panthers that 2015 was nothing more than lightning in a bottle. The Bills will come up short in Atlanta, and the Saints will win in Miami.
NFC WEST
San Francisco @ Arizona
Indianapolis @ Seattle
LA Rams @ Dallas
How has Carson Palmer not simply exploded at this point? He’ll be 38 at the end of the year, he’s blown up his knee twice, played through an elbow issue that had one doctor recommending Tommy John surgery for…and he’s throwing a league-leading 44 passes per game this season. If Palmer faces one more team with a top-notch pass rush, he may need to be helped off the field by the cleanup crew. Fortunately for Palmer, the 49ers have three sacks total through three games, which is four fewer than the Cowboys’ Demarcus Lawrence. Take Arizona in that one. Speaking of the Cowboys, they’re going to have a surprisingly tough time against the offensive-minded Rams, but will pull it out at home.
NFC NORTH
Chicago 14 @ Green Bay 35 (F – 9/28)
Detroit @ Minnesota
You guys aren’t going to believe this…Sam Bradford is going to miss this game due to injury. I know, I know…I’m stunned too. Lions win on the road.
Let me get a little racist here: generally speaking, white wideouts tend to be either the smallish guys who find seams in the zone (Steve Largent, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman) or extremely fast guys you send deep on fly routes (Don Beebe, Tim Dwight). The bigger white wide receivers simply become tight ends, like Brent Jones, Jason Whitten, or Rob Gronkowski. Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson, like the best black wideouts, can do it all: he’s big (6’3″, 215) and plenty fast, having posted a 4.51-40 yard time. (Compare those numbers to the Cowboys’ Dez Bryant: 6-2, 220, 4.52-40) I’m not the first person to notice this, and maybe Aaron Rodgers consistent success has something to do with having #87 around all these years. It’s hard to recall another white wide receiver who’s more than a “possession” receiver or Hail Mary specialist.
NFC SOUTH
Buffalo @ Atlanta
Carolina @ New England
NY Giants @ Tampa Bay
New Orleans @ Miami
Commentariat: give us your best NY Post headlines following the Giants’ upcoming 0-4 start. Here are my submissions:
GI-AINTS SINK IN TAMPA BAY
0-4 SHAME: GIANTS IN NFC BASEMENT
WHO’S MANNING THE STORE? GIANTS IN TROUBLE
HEADLESS GIANTS FOUND IN TOPLESS BAY
(I didn’t say I was any good at this, mind you)
NFC EAST
NY Giants @ Tampa Bay
Washington @ Kansas City
LA Rams @ Dallas
Philadelphia @ LA Chargers
By the time we get to the NFC East, we’ve discussed every matchup already. So a word about my picks: I’m not a gambler. I’m not a deep researcher. I’m just a fan trying to spark a little NFL talk. Sure I went 9-6 last week, but a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at an NFL schedule could have pulled that off. As David Letterman might have put it years ago, this is for entertainment purposes only so please – no wagering.
Sorry, no links this week – very busy time of the week for me.
I do look forward to the Oakland offensive line letting Carr get sacked on purpose again and intentionally fucking up snaps. NOT. Fuck foozball.
And FIRST, fuck foozball first.
If they do that in Denver, Carr will be broke in half. I haven’t followed that other than the link the other day. Has more came up about it?
Did you watch the game? Ok, every once in a while, the receivers go on a drop-a-thon. So that’s not too out of the ordinary for that to happen, although it typically happens when Oakland is having a mud bowl in the Oakland Coliseum and no one can stand up long enough to catch a pass. 3 fucking miscued and misplaced snaps? I have never seen that offensive line do that before. Carr is rarely ever pressured, let alone sacked. He was sacked 4 times and pressured all day long. Forget all of that, I watched the game. There was one play where the entire middle of the line just stood straight up and backed into Carr. WTF? In fact, I think that happened twice. I’m beyond pissed.
No I didn’t watch it.
Watch an indepth replay and let me know what you think.
If they were doing that on purpose, that is beyond fucked up.
They either did it intentionally or the entire offensive line were running on no sleep, or something. Never seen anything like it after watching football for 40 years. I’ve seen blowouts and a lot of fuckups, but nothing like this.
Did you perchance have a wager on this game? You sound like me after a loss
No. I’m being serious here. Sure I have bias, but something is really fucked up about this.
To be fair to Carr, the Redskins defense had an absolutely unbelievable game. They were firing on all cylinders, and when they’re on, they’re absolutely fantastic.
Carr and the o-line, I meant to say.
Let’s see them do that against the Squaws and I might be a little bit convinced. You had to have watched the game. It was… not right.
I watched it off and on during the second half. I didn’t notice anything particularly unusual, but I don’t follow the Raiders so I don’t really know what their line looks like typically. If you can have Jacksonville look like Superbowl contenders that morning you can certainly have a team that’s on fire have an off game. If you’re right, though, that’s like Black Sox level of shittery, and I mean that with all the legal action that implies.
I don’t follow the Raiders so I don’t really know what their line looks like typically
Me either. I only hate watch the Raiders like all good hearted people who aren’t future convicts and other degenerates.
I think the Skins have a chance, but it’s a narrow one. I’d take KC and lay the points.
Cousins takes a while to warm up, and he has a tendency to make bad decisions when under pressure, but the Skins D is playing at an extraordinarily high level. On the offensive side, Chris Thompson is a revelation, and with Reed back in the picture and Doctson actually playing now they’ve got a lot of options. The Chiefs are pretty scary, sure, but I think Alex Smith is not as good a QB as his numbers might suggest, not anymore at least. And I think that while Kareem Hunt is terrifying, I think Tyreek Hill is going to be taken out of the picture by Josh Norman, and Hunt can’t carry the team on his own.
I expect it’s going to be a close game and the Skins will lose it by a pick-six, or maybe a fumble. I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as the Chiefs offense having it all their own way.
“the Skins have a chance”
RAAAAAAAAAAAACIST!!!!11!!eleven!!1!
Not sure I want to watch any football until Bradford (or Bridgewater) is back.
Yeah, ’cause none of us wanted to bang Sarah Connor. Freakin’ idiot.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/29/entertainment/lynda-carter-james-cameron/index.html
I think he just wanted to get in a jab at his ex. Or maybe Hollywood has distorted his idea of what qualifies as a ‘pretty woman’.
Or both.
I mean, granted, Wonder Woman wasn’t a blue cat-person giantess, but they did what they could.
Not The Terminator Sarah Connor, that 80s hair is pretty brutal. Judgement Day Sarah Connor, definitely.
Kids
First of all, fuck foozball. Tonight I went looking for some Octoberfest and decided on this one.
Octoberfest for the night
But the Paulaner Octoberfest Heffe was very tempting. I think that one is next.
YES! That stuff is great. Best Oktoberfestbier I’ve had outside of the Wiesn.
Hacker-Pschorr is delicious.
Oktoberfest Heffe? That sounds… strange.
This one.
Paulaner Octoberfest Weisn
That’s not a Hefeweizen. That’s the Oktoberfestbier served in Paulaner tents. It’s good.
I too almost bought the Paulaner Octoberfest Heffe the other night, went with a Weihenstephaner instead. also is that composite decking and railing? lookit Mr. Moneybags over here.
I picked up a six of that myself, tonight, along with a six of Flying Dog Deadrise. I’m torn between seasons.
Did somebody say something?
Fuck you, Tulpa?
The front page has a picture of a lingerie football player, and there is nothing about lingerie football in this post! Bait and switch!
‘Bate and switch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hetaBX00wtI
We’re hoping, vainly, that the focus on anthem and kneeling shit will have faded by this weekend so that we can enjoy Steelers-Ravens, always the best and most brutal matchup in the NFL.
Maybe if they spent the week thinking about the game instead of social signaling, it might be fun.
I’m happy to report that the standing for the anthem at the sport bar thing that happened last years has yet to materialize, however at Menards the other day the cashier made a point of telling me how glad she was that she could look out the doors and see old glory flapping away. She wished more people would appreciate that, I wished she’d scan my galvanized carriage bolts, washers, and nuts and shut the fuck up.
You are now my favorite person.
scan my galvanized carriage bolts, washers, and nuts and shut the fuck up might be the best euphemism yet.
You don’t pay her for the sex, you pay her to leave.
3 fucking miscued and misplaced snaps? I have never seen that offensive line do that before. Carr is rarely ever pressured, let alone sacked. He was sacked 4 times and pressured all day long. Forget all of that, I watched the game.
No shit, that was payback for not towing the lion?
I thought they just sucked, that day. Especially the off count snaps. And the one that was so high and outside Carr just barely kept it from being a twenty yard loss. If I were the coach, I’d fine the shit out of everybody except the ball boys.
I’d like to think that wasn’t the case, and that it was just straightforward not having a good game and facing a team that was, but if it happens again like that it would definitely look suspicious as hell. I’d go so far as to say that if it’s proven that any player intentionally threw a game because of this anthem protest shit that should be considered a breach of contract and he should be out on his ass.
This weekend my little Montana town is having it annual Fall Fest. Music, brats, beer and funnel cakes.
And … the local Democrats.
SHOTGUN? That’s so triggering.
And if you still don’t want to give your money to the Democrats there’s these guys.
Monty Hall, 1921-2017
Hall also created the underrated game show Split Second in the early 1970s, and hosted it in the 1980s. (I haven’t watched the few shows from the 70s version that are on Youtube, but people who remember the show say it was even better than the 80s version.)
Huh, I don’t remember that one, and I was a game show junkie in my teens.
I was a game show junkie too which is why I remember it. All those summer mornings watching short-lived game shows.
Do you remember Blockbusters?
Yes, very well. I should add that GSN was my default background television noise until I became a soccer fan ca. 2010.
His name will live on in mathematics.
Joe Bertrand has a sad.
His name will live on as the music venue for WFMU http://www.ticketfly.com/venue/17157-monty-hall/
And in any role playing game conversation.
Yes!
One of my favorite problems.
Manspainler.
Sorry about this OT. I’m a Giants fan so I’m already preparing for the draft.
Anyway…I literally just got someone to say that communism would work if the right people were in charge, and that commies have good intentions so he respects them, so I thought of you guys.
It was a long conversation and I destroyed him with logic. Once he started callingredients me a racist I knew it was a landslide victory.
Callingredients???
Phone-glish?
Covfefe.
Exactly the thing a racist would say.
Oh when he said that commies are peaceful and the right wing are violent, I offered a wager where he would go to the next antifa gathering wearing Trump gear and I would go to any alt right gathering of his choice wearing a yarmulke and star of David.
I recently reread The Revolution Betrayed and it’s hilarious how so much of it can be used for taking down modern left-wingers.
My favourite is his discussion about the concept of ‘state capitalism’:
In its intermediary and regulating function, its concern to maintain social ranks, and its exploitation of the state apparatus for personal goals, the Soviet bureaucracy is similar to every other bureaucracy, especially the fascist. But it is also in a vast way different. In no other regime has a bureaucracy ever achieved such a degree of independence from the dominating class. In bourgeois society, the bureaucracy represents the interests of a possessing and educated class, which has at its disposal innumerable means of everyday control over its administration of affairs. The Soviet bureaucracy has risen above a class which is hardly emerging from destitution and darkness, and has no tradition of dominion or command. Whereas the fascists, when they find themselves in power, are united with the big bourgeoisie by bonds of common interest, friendship, marriage, etc., the Soviet bureaucracy takes on bourgeois customs without having beside it a national bourgeoisie. In this sense we cannot deny that it is something more than a bureaucracy. It is in the full sense of the word the sole privileged and commanding stratum in the Soviet society.
Another difference is no less important. The Soviet bureaucracy has expropriated the proletariat politically in order by methods of its own to defend the social conquests. But the very fact of its appropriation of political power in a country where the principal means of production are in the hands of the state, creates a new and hitherto unknown relation between the bureaucracy and the riches of the nation. The means of production belong to the state. But the state, so to speak, “belongs” to the bureaucracy. If these as yet wholly new relations should solidify, become the norm and be legalized, whether with or without resistance from the workers, they would, in the long run, lead to a complete liquidation of the social conquests of the proletarian revolution…
…The attempt to represent the Soviet bureaucracy as a class of “state capitalists” will obviously not withstand criticism. The bureaucracy has neither stocks nor bonds. It is recruited, supplemented and renewed in the manner of an administrative hierarchy, independently of any special property relations of its own. The individual bureaucrat cannot transmit to his heirs his rights in the exploitation of the state apparatus. The bureaucracy enjoys its privileges under the form of an abuse of power It conceals its income; it pretends that as a special social group it does not even exist. Its appropriation of a vast share of the national income has the character of social parasitism. All this makes the position of the commanding Soviet stratum in the highest degree contradictory, equivocal and undignified, notwithstanding the completeness of its power and the smoke screen of flattery that conceals it.
For most people, the world isn’t confusing or hard to understand–it’s impossible to understand so they don’t even try.
They believe things for the same reason they like a song–because they’ve heard it before and it sounds nice.
It seems amazing that such people can get through life without so much as a clue as to how the world is working around them, but it shouldn’t really.
Birds migrate north and south seasonally. They don’t know anything about climate, navigation, why seasons change, or the physics of aviation. They just thrive by doing what comes naturally.
If geese could talk, they’d say ridiculous things like, “communism would work if the right people were in charge”. They wouldn’t know why they said it either. It’s for the same reason they migrate. It feels right, and that’s what all the other birds are doing.
I said it was a long conversation, so another thing he said that led me down the rabbit hole was that communism would work if people had the right ethics and values.
What are these right ethics? Believing you’re entitled to other people’s stuff? That’s an ethic or value?
I’m still reeling from this conversation with an otherwise good guy.
The right ethics and values–is forced sacrifice for others and central planning by bureaucrats? Exactly! This is what they mean by the “right ethics”–ignoring other people’s rights?
Honestly, I think the most revolutionary idea we have is the invisible hand, but it’s become such a cliche in people’s minds, that it’s hard to talk about and get people to take it seriously.
I’ve had some success talking about how altruism arises as an aspect of evolution–which is actually the exact same thing as the invisible hand. When each of us are free to pursue our own best interests, we often find that it’s in our best interests to help other people. We often find that disrespecting the interests of other people is maladaptive.
I may have forgotten to close a tag there.
I’m just sayin’.
I wish there were an edit button.
He’s not talking about the takers he’s talking about the should-be givers, If you have more than you need,even if it’s just a little bit more and you might need it later, ethics demand that you give to those that don’t have what they need. As William Munny so eloquently stated – “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”
Still, somebody’s talking about violating someone’s rights, and to me, that’s the essence of ethics–respect for other people and their right to make choices for themselves.
Rights are choices. They arise naturally as an aspect of our agency. Comets have neither ethics nor rights–because they don’t choose to wipe out the dinosaurs. They’re just following the laws of physics–not making choices.
People aren’t like comets. Violate other people’s right to make choices for themselves–about their own property or whatever–that’s ethics.
I think people just don’t equate rights with choices or property with rights, but rights are choices–or they aren’t anything–and if “property” doesn’t mean being the one who gets to choose who uses it and how it’s used, then what does “property” mean?
Still, somebody’s talking about violating someone’s rights
Actually, No. to continue with the devils advocate bit, The complaint is that people don’t voluntarily give, Communism would work if everyone gave when they could and took only what they truly needed and did so freely. Yes, we glibs know that you can’t force people to be altruistic, that is why they (the commie apologist) resort to pipe dreams such as- if everyone did exactly what I think they should , and they did it, not because they were forced to but because they wanted to, everything would be tits and peaches. That way they get around they whole sticky ‘force’ issue and stand firmly in the ‘should’ realm.
I might add, once of the amazing things about markets is that the invisible hand makes stupid people behave as if they were smart.
Much like stupid insects and animals migrating their way around the changing seasons.
It’s even hard to talk about them doing things without attributing intelligence to them that they don’t possess.
Why do butterflies migrate. Well, they do it because this, that, and the other? No. They have no faculties for reason. They respond to stimuli.
Stupid people don’t roll back their use of fossil fuels in reaction to instability and unrest in Nigeria either. They just respond to price signals like they know everything about what’s going on in Nigeria, practically in real time.
I guess that’s what makes the academics hate markets so–markets always make academics look stupid in comparison to sub-average IQ people in a marketplace.
I don’t expect the Redskins to win either. I expected them to get slaughtered by the Raiders.
The last two times the Chiefs lost at home, it was to Tennessee and Tampa Bay.
The Redskins are a trap game for Kansas City.
Expect the unexpected.
MAXIMATOR!
The odds on the Colts – Seahawks are so bonkers I think I’ve got to put a little bit of money on the Colts to win. $10 gets you $65.
Yeah, I would’ve won an assload on 1) Brexit and 2) Trump being President. Not because I’m psychic, just because I could see the odds were way off on both games.