The Wildcard’s NFL Predictions - Week 12

Last Week: 10-4

Season: 95-64-2

Minnesota Vikings (6-4) at Detroit Lions (6-4)

There sure is plenty to be thankful for among regular Americans. We’re a couple weeks into a Trump presidency and there hasn’t been a single nuclear bomb let loose yet, plus there are three NFL games this Thursday (Friday down in NZ) to savour, which everybody knows is the centrepiece of any American Thanksgiving.

That’s about all I can think of but at least the footy games are quality. Led by this one, a game with some serious implications upon it. The Vikings stopped the skid with a win over the Cardinals while the Lions managed to just squeeze one out vs Los Jaguares. Neither will be especially happy with the performances but they’d be more than stoked with the results and we’re entering that time of the season when that’s all that matters.

Oh yeah and they’re in the same division so the winner here takes control of the NFC North.

This is my favourite of the Thanksgiving Day games. Possibly my favourite of the whole week. Still waiting for Stefon Diggs to have his monster game, also waiting on Ziggy Ansah’s first sack of the season. He’s been hurt but still, this dude had 14.5 in 2015. If he can get healthy enough to return to that kinda form, that could be exactly what the Lions need down the stretch. Theo Riddick’s gonna play a key role too. With the Vikings boasting one of the best secondaries in the league, and they were on top form last week too, then Staff’s ability to check down to his hybrid RB could be crucial. Hey, it’s a 6.30am kickoff in kiwi time. You’d better believe I’ll be up for it.

Wildcard’s Pick: Lions by 4

Washington R**skins (6-3-1) at Dallas Cowboys (9-1)

Eat, youngblood. Eat. That’s an MVP’s breakfast right there.

First off, a semi-apology to Kirk Cousins. He’s not gonna turn into anything super any time soon but he’s done more than enough to warrant a long term deal with the R**skins. Presumably they’ll give him way too much money now, as happened with Joe Flacco, as happened with Jay Cutler, as happened with Ryan Tannehill, though quarterbacks are a very scarce thing. Think about how many people are in America and there are, like, twenty of them that can play as a top shelf QB. The Skins have a dude in the 15-20 range, which is better than half the other teams so you’ve gotta lock that man up.

Comparing him to other dudes around his same age/experience:

  • KIRK COUSINS: 67.2% COMP | 3091 YDS | 17 TD | 7 INT | 98.8 RATE
  • ANDREW LUCK: 62.9% COMP | 2827 YDS | 19 TD | 8 INT | 93.9 RATE
  • RYAN TANNEHILL: 65.9% COMP | 2289 YDS | 12 TD | 8 INT | 91.1 RATE
  • SAM BRADFORD: 69.8% COMP | 2191 YDS | 12 TD | 2 INT | 99.8 RATE
  • CASE KEENUM: 61.0% COMP | 2169 YDS | 9 TD | 11 INT | 76.8 RATE

Haha, Keenum’s so useless. That’s a bit of a random list of fellows but the point is to show he deserves to be held in a higher class. He’s backing up last year to show he’s no longer a guy playing for the contract that ensures he has a full NFL career, instead he oughta be a guy trying to show that he deserves the career he’s gonna get and whether he gets to play that career out as he sees fit. Like Andy Luck will. And Case Keenum will not.

That’s the Washington GM, by the way.

Speaking of long careers, damn Dak Prescott was good last week, God he was good. The Cowboys are in a brilliant place, all I’m left trying to figure out is how they ruin this for me now. I wanna say Super Bowl. I wanna actually get to support a team there this time but literally every Cowboys season I’ve followed has ended with dramas one way or another. Remember Dez Bryant’s catch/no catch vs Green Bay? Tip of the iceberg, my friend. Tip of the iceberg.

Win this and the Cowboys ought to win the NFC East too. There’s one more game against the Giants that might change that but I reckon 10-1 and they won’t blow it from there. At the Vikings, at the Giants, home to Tampa Bay and Detroit and then away to Philly. They’ll be favoured in every one except maybe the Eagles game by which time they’ll surely have sealed the thing. The scary thing is that I don’t think the Cowboys are the most talented team out there… but I’m not really sure how to beat them. The only viable option I’ve got is ‘at their own game’ yet who else has an offensive line like that? Hell, make Tyron Smith the MVP.

And what’s Jason Garrett gotta do to get Coach of the Year? At a hunch, Jack Del Rio is probably edging him out for now. We’ll see how the season ends.

Wildcard’s Pick: Cowboys by 7

Pittsburgh Steelers (5-5) at Indianapolis Colts (5-5)

The final of our three Thanksgiving games. All that drama about NFL ratings? They’re about to go through the flippin’ roof this week because after the most divisive election in the history of the country (probably, I’m no expert though) the telly is gonna be the one sanctuary that keeps families from wanting to murder each other. What happens when Uncle Frank says he voted Trump because Hillary’s a crook and then your cousin tells him he’s a racist so Grandma tries to serve the meal to keep everyone quiet but then sitting around the table the conversation sparks up again and cousin Jim says he can look past the misogyny and racial threats because the country needs the economic stability to which your sister says yeah but not at the expense of our moral decency and that only sets dad off on a tangent about liberal outrage which in turn has Bobby raging on neo-conservative fascists, at which point Frank says something he heard on Fox News and that kicks it all up another level and before you know it the dog’s chipping in with his best Trump impersonation (it’s pretty accurate, to be honest) and the little kids are laughing about it all while the older kids just think it’s funny that the president said ‘pussy’ and the noise is everywhere and you want to fight someone if only to relieve the constant pressure of talk and talk and idiocy and argument and madness madness madness dragging you down and you can’t even think an honest thought through all the noise you want to shout but you can’t but you can’t sit still either so you get up without excusing yourself and you just leave, you walk on out the door and grab your jacket but as you’re searching the pockets for your keys you catch a sight of the television in the other room and remember the football’s on and there’s Uncle Jerry sitting there with a beer and there’s a spare few more in the fridge so you take one and you park your ass down and let the shameless violence of professional sport wash over you with relief like that wonderful moment when you can finally empty a bulging bladder and you just piss. All over the election, all over politics in general. Douse it in piss and then drink more beer so you can piss some more. It’s the only way to put out the flames. Piss all over it.

The fact that these two teams are both on even records is pretty mental. Then again, each having a top ten quarterback will do that for ya. Andrew Luck is a master at carrying his entire team, in fact Aaron Rodgers could pick up a few tips from how Lucky does it. But ah… he’s concussed and in doubt for this game with the quick turnaround so hmm.

Also, the Steelers really need this win. They have to start putting teams away now or else one of the scariest offences on paper that we’ve seen in years is gonna be wasted. This would be a nice time for Roethlisberger/Bell/Brown to do their thang. They owe it to the rest of us to get to see them in a playoff shootout.

Wildcard’s Pick: Steelers by 9

Los Angeles Rams (4-6) at New Orleans Saints (4-6)

Alrighty, so how did Jared Goff go in his first NFL appearance? The answer is: who cares. It doesn’t really matter at this stage, they benched him for three months so they could let Case Keenum run the offence so there’s clearly no reason to be good right away. So yeah, I’m not really interested in finding a reason to watch the worst offence in the NFL… although the last five minute of that Dolphins game were damn sure captivating!

But I’ll come back to that when I get to Miami. This matchup is one of those defence vs offence thingamajigs although I will allow myself to admit that the Saints defence is a little better this time out. Only a little bit though. The Browns and 49ers are the only teams who’ve conceded more points on defence and those teams don’t have a HoF quarterback on pace for over 5000 passing yards (again) so they’re unsurprisingly also taking the park for the most defensive snaps by a distance. Yeah, they’re awful. Two worst teams in the NFL. But usually New Orleans are up in that worst tier of defence, this season they’re only in the second worst tier. There’s light at the end of the tunnel someplace.

On the other hand, what the Rams have done on defence is superb. Aaron Donald and the lads, top ten in most of the key defensive areas and they’re doing it with the worst quarterback play in the league. The Jets are the only other team with more picks than touchdown passes and at least they’ve gotten to double figures for TDs. I’m gonna lean towards the home team with offence in a situation like this. That’s what I usually do so that’ll do here.

Wildcard’s Pick: Saints by 2

Tennessee Titans (5-6) at Chicago Bears (2-8)

Haha, no thanks. I’ll have mine to go please.

Quick sidenote though… Marcus Mariota’s last four games have seen him throw 1168 yards at 69% completion with 11 TDs and only 2 interceptions. He’s rushed for a touchdown in that time too. Promising. I won’t say more than that, but… promising.

Wildcard’s Pick: Titans by 7

Arizona Cardinals (4-5-1) at Atlanta Falcons (6-4)

It’s a long way back for the Cardinals now. The game against the Vikings was a duel between two sides each desperate for a win, each desperate for a run of them. It was either gonna come down to the Cardinals offensive superiority or the Vikings ability to take the ball away and Carson Palmer’s been dealing picks this season. No kidding, this is the list:

  1. Blake Bortles – 13 INTs
  2. Ryan Fitzpatrick – 13
  3. Philip Rivers – 11
  4. Case Keenum – 11
  5. Eli Manning – 10
  6. Carson Palmer – 10
  7. Jameis Winston – 10

That is not the company of the elite, with the exception of Manning and Rivers who have always been those types. Palmer too, to be fair, it’s just that there’s a difference when you’re also throwing touchdowns and Palmer’s 13-10 ratio is not pretty (Manning has 17, Rivers 20 and each has more yardage). Also, the Chargers have choked away games too. And another thing: Eli doesn’t even have the illusion of a run game while Rivers and Palmer do and yet he’s the 7-3 QB. He has to take more risks – it’s the only way they can win.

So yeah, the Cardinals lost and now they’re in big trouble of missing the playoffs altogether having been touted as a Super Bowl candidate by many experts out there… myself among them, waving my hand all over trying to get someone to notice me.

And they’re not the only ones. Trailing the Seahawks by three games, the division is slipping away quickly now and there are some strong teams ahead of them outside of their division leads. The entire NFC East for example. The Vikings that they just lost to. Even the friggin’ Buccs. The Vikings were also in the playoffs last season and they’re heavy in a battle to get back there. As for the Green Bay Packers, we maybe need to leave them out of things completely. The Carolina Panthers that won the NFC after 15 wins… they’re on the very brink. The R**skins are no safe bet either, they’re definitely not gonna retain that division title. And then the Steelers and Bengals might easily miss out themselves, with the Ravens in the lead there and three teams with 7+ wins in the AFC West.

Moral of the story being that of the 12 playoff teams we saw last season, there’s a good chance that only the Seattle Seahawks return from the NFC (shout outs to the Falcons, Cowboys & maybe the Lions) and then over in the AFC only the Patriots, Chiefs and Broncos are likely. At a guess… I’d say the Steelers and Texans also get in there.

Wildcard’s Pick: Falcons by 6

New York Giants (7-3) at Cleveland Browns (0-11)

The Browns are one of two teams yet to have their bye week. They and the Titans finally get a breather next time around, and for Cleveland it really couldn’t come at a better time. Soon to be sitting at 0-12, the bye will be the perfect opportunity to turn it all around with an extra bit of practice and find the spark that’ll take them to that late push at the playoffs. Oh nah, wait.

What’s there to say about any Browns game, the answer is nothing. There is nothing to say.

Wildcard’s Pick: Giants by 14

San Diego Chargers (4-6) at Houston Texans (6-4)

So… sack Bill O’Brien then?

It’s one thing going down to Derek Carr’s fourth quarter mastery which only Matt Stafford can match - since last season, each have eight game-winning drives in that time while the next best is only five. That’s one thing. Another is when you waste drives by challenging the wrong plays where you could have saved a victory otherwise. Naturally O’Brien deflected by blaming the refs and there was definitely something in that – just look at that DeAndre Hopkins overturned TD where his foot maybe scratched the sideline but also maybe didn’t but he couldn’t challenge coz the play had been whistled dead as the ref called him out – however there’s nobody else to blame when Billy isn’t challenging the spot on Lamar Miller’s third down run where he clearly got a bung placement and then he saves the red flag for the fourth down run where, to be honest, I also thought they’d gotten past the marker but at that stage wouldn’t you rather kick the field goal to go back in the lead?

Bill O’Brien: “I could have challenged both calls. I'm not going to stand here and get fined. I'm just a third-year coach. But with all these cameras and things we have and we can't get that right?”

Third and last year at this rate, lad. The only reason the front office have to stick with the bugger is that they cocked this up just as much when they threw themselves and their salary space at Brock Osweiler, who with a genuine gun receiver in Hopkins and a solid running game which ranks fourth in total yardage in the NFL (behind the big three of Dallas, Buffalo and Tennessee) is still completing at under 60% and barely averaging 200 yards a match. 12 TDs and 10 picks.

Anyway, they’ll probably win here. The Texans are still a powerful team despite the absence of J.J. Watt and the absence of ability from their Coach/QB. Playmakers on offence doing enough to carry them on the back of a really good defensive unit and they always win at home. 5-0 in Texas, 1-4 on the road. Which is funnily enough the same road record as the Chargers have, a team that are famous for finding a way to lose despite looking great for three quarters. Tying this thing in knots here, that’s exactly what the Texans just did too. Man, this could be a wild one come 4Q.

Wildcard’s Pick: Texans by 3

Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8) at Buffalo Bills (5-5)

The good news for the Jags is that they finally had a turnover on defence after five straight games without one. They had two, actually, recovering a couple of Lions fumbles in the loss. Problem was that Blake Bortles also went and threw a couple more picks so they still lost the overall turnover battle and you know what they say: win the turnover stats and win the game.

And now they play the Buffalo Bills, on the road, who lead the NFL in sacks with 31 in 10 games (which is tied with the Seahawks). Now, feel free to disagree with me here but I’m not sure that bodes too well for a mistake-heavy quarterback. It looks like Jacksonville will get to pick nice and early in the next draft and if there’s a decent one available I’d expect them to take another QB.

There’s a more than expected chance that LeSean McCoy doesn’t play this game. That’s okay, he shouldn’t be the difference. The Bills ground out a much-needed win in Cincinnati after losing three in a row. They’ve still a very good shot at getting to nine maybe even ten wins and taking this campaign into mid-January. Geez, she’s been an up and down season for Rex Ryan, ain’t she?

Wildcard’s Pick: Bills by 9

Cincinnati Bengals (3-6-1) at Baltimore Ravens (5-5)

Can we not complain about missed point afters, please? The whole reasoning for moving the kicks back was to make them interesting and now people are missing them and everyone complains. This was the point, people! They’re meant to miss kicks now and then, ya muppets, that’s why it’s exciting. It’s like complaining that the Colts don’t have a run game and then getting upset when Andrew Luck hands it off coz you’d rather he throws it.

A record 12 PATs were missed on the Sunday slate of games. Robbie Gould of the Bears Giants missed two and so did Mike Nugent, the Bengals kicker. The poor bastard hit both posts. The Bengals have defended him since but he’s also missed five field goals this season. The dude’s been there for ages, though he’s usually been pretty decent.

This week in Vontaze Burfict:

Haha, double middle fingers! He wasn’t the only one this week either (skip to Seattle-Tampa), but he was the only one who meant it. There was a report that a Bills fan threw beer over him which might make this an understandable response (unlike his many late/low/dirty hits on the field) but then that means that a Bills fan will have been in possession of beer that they didn’t then drink and frankly that’s not something I’m prepared to believe.

The Ravens are really solid. They messed the Cowboys up in the first half last week and eventually suffered coz they couldn’t move the ball on offence, giving Dallas too many opportunities to figure things out but against a Bengals team that for whatever reason doesn’t look like half the team they’ve been the last few (regular) seasons I’m backing ‘em. I feel like I’ve been ignoring the Ravens defence. I shall do so no longer. Look at this:

  • Third in total yards against (2951)
  • Seventh in opposition yards per play (5.0)
  • Fifth equal in takeaways (17)
  • First in average rush yards against (3.4)
  • First equal in rush touchdowns against (4)
  • First in rush yards against (760)
  • First by heaps in rushing first downs (30)

Still easily the best rushing defence in the business and they’ve just come off a game against the best rushing offence in the game. Plus Ray Lewis has apologised for saying that Joe Flacco lacks passion for the game, meaning everything is now right in the world. Although… it’s true, right? Flacco’s got about as much passion as a damp sponge.

Not you, mate. A real one.

Wildcard’s Pick: Ravens by 4

San Francisco 49ers (1-9) at Miami Dolphins (6-4)

Ignore the 49ers, they barely even counted as a team before and now Eric Reid is done for the season. They’re already talking about next season. Fair enough.

As for the Dolphins, somewhere along the way they turned it around and now they’re actually on a five game winning streak. Yeah, betcha you didn’t even notice. You can make it six after this one, the only teams with longer active win streaks are the Cowboys at nine games and… nah that’s it. Only the Cowboys, although the Giants are also at five in a row.

They had to do it the hard way against the Rams though. Down 10-0 with around five minutes to play, Ryan Tannehill suddenly woke up like the whole game ‘til then had been a frightening dream and he threw two touchdowns in the remaining time for the win. It’s pretty hilarious, take a look at their drive chart:

  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • INTERCEPTION
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • PUNT
  • TOUCHDOWN
  • TOUCHDOWN

152 of their 240 offensive yards came on their last two possessions. Riddle that one, aye?

Wildcard’s Pick: Dolphins by 14

Seattle Seahawks (7-2-1) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-5)

Haha, wow. Yet another thing that Russell Wilson does that he probably learned from Tom Brady. Picking up his first career touchdown reception after being on the throwing end of 117 of them in his career. It’s Wilson’s third reception as a pro, his second of this season. Interesting fact: Having run for at least 489 yards in each of his first four seasons at an average of 5.9 yards per carry (2430 total yards from 411 attempts)… he’s only run 36 times for 79 yards in 2016, with almost two third of the season played. 2.0 yards per carry. Clearly the ankle’s been a big factor in that – he ran a season-high eight times against Philly even if two of those were kneel downs. But he’s also apparently becoming less of a runner as he gets older. Look, he doesn’t have to be. He’s one of the league’s premier pocket passers.

Not so much Doug Baldwin although he does now have more touchdown passes than Jared Goff. He also has a career passer rating of 158.8 which is the greatest all-time in the history of the sport. So there ya go. But did he relish the chance to throw a touchdown on the trick play? Hell nah. Here he is flipping off the coach on the sideline:

Per ESPN: “We’re in the fucking red zone, and you want me to throw the ball?" Baldwin said afterward with a laugh. "Throw me the ball.”

The bloody Seahawks don’t play another team with a winning record (or they won’t until the playoffs) although the Buccs have been a much stronger proposition recently. They’re even at the moment but started off 1-3, don’t forget. That’s 4-2 since for those of you who only scribbled obscenities in your notebooks during maths class (yeah, me too).

That streak began with the win over the Panthers that took them into their bye. In their first four games, the Buccs turned the ball over 11 times with only 2 takeaways themselves. A -9 differential. In the Panthers game they uncharacteristically protected the ball really well Jameis fumbling once but it was recovered, while nicking the ball back 4 times themselves. Derek Anderson was picked twice (because Derek Anderson played) and both he and Ted Ginn lost fumbles too. Bit of a shambolic game for the defending NFC champs and it seems to have turned the Buccs fortunes around too because from the first kickoff of that one, they’ve only turned it over 5 times in 6 games while their defence has worked 15 themselves. A +10 differential. I mean, they say turnovers are so important and they really are but it’s not often it’s so blatant. What’s been Jameis Winston’s biggest weakness? Interceptions. He’s only thrown 2 in six weeks.

JAMEIS WINSTON’s PAST 6 GAMES:

125/201 @ 62.2% COMP | 1672 YDS | 12 TD | 2 INT | 102.2 RATE

Ah-well now. Okay. Keep all that in mind when you’re reading the snap judgements as he throws a couple to the Legion of Boom and the Seahawks ease their way to another win. After this Tampa plays in San Diego (could win), vs New Orleans (should win), at Dallas (shouldn’t win), at New Orleans (could win) and vs Carolina (could win). They’ll need to win four of them to sneak in but even if they don’t there’ll be plenty to work with going into next season. Throwing out an undercover hero, rookie CB Vernon Hargreaves is a talent. Probably his best game as a pro last week in the win over Kansas City.

Wildcard’s Pick: Seahawks by 6

New England Patriots (8-2) at New York Jets (3-7)

Argh I’m bored of talking up the Patriots every week. I guess for them the matter is whether they can get the top seed away from Oakland now, because if you recall they didn’t manage to do that last time and then went on to lose on the road to the Denver Broncos in the playoffs. And they lost 20-18, blowing a two-point conversion for the tie with 12 seconds left. Woulda been different in Foxborough, we all know that’s true. And why did they miss that top seed? Losing to Osweiler’s Broncs in OT in week 12 didn’t help. That was their first defeat of the season and they followed it losing at home to the Eagles but really it was when they were beaten in their final two games that they let it slide. The Pats, Broncos and Bengals all had 12-4 records. A single other win woulda done it. Instead they went down 20-10 to the Dolphins in their last game… and 26-20 in overtime away to the New York Jets in week 16. Huh, that’s the same fixture as they have this week. Funny that.

Wildcard’s Pick: Patriots by 6

Carolina Panthers (4-6) at Oakland Raiders (8-2)

This has been a long set of picks this week. Too many interesting games and this is one of the best of them except I’m running out of energy. The opposite of what Derek Carr does. The Raiders had 354 total yards of offence in Mexico City vs HOU and they bagged 219 of them in the fourth quarter. That’s a team that I enjoy watching right there. What happens if they play Stafford’s Lions, imagine the fourth quarter comebacks all cancelling each other out.

Okay, the Panthers kept themselves alive with a win over the Saints and with that they get a ten day rest while the Raiders are playing on a six day turnaround and flying back from a different country. Something about that doesn’t really encourage me, especially since the Raiders looked really flat in the first half against the Texans.

It’s not over yet for Carolina either, I can see them dragging this out another couple weeks. Also, the Raiders probably got better home support in Mexico than they’ll get back in Oakland. I for one am counting down the days until they’re playing in Vegas, although I dunno what kinda corrupting influence that might have on the clean-cut Derek Carr, the same QB who called out a reporter on twitter in preseason for incorrectly quoting him as saying that horrible swear word: ‘damn’ (he actually said: ‘dang’). There aren’t too many people out there like him, ya know. The league needs its Ned Flanders. But Vegas does weird things to people.

Goddamn I love Hunter S. Thompson. Gonzo for life.

Wildcard’s Pick: Panthers by 3

Kansas City Chiefs (7-3) at Denver Broncos (7-3)

This one is hard. This one I’ve gone either way on a couple times now. On the one hand, the Chiefs have a dominant defence but they also struggle to score points sometimes. On the other hand, the Broncos have a dominant defence but they also struggle to score points sometimes. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. They’ve identical records too and this is the first time (of two) they play each other. Given that the Raiders are a game up on both, splitting the two doesn’t really help either of them. Each plays Oakland again as well – KCC beat them in week 6 while the Broncos lost to the Raiders in week 9.

After this the Chiefs are away in Atlanta and they follow that with a three-game home stand vs Oakland, Tennessee and Denver before closing at San Diego. Jeezus, that’s not easy at all. Especially not for a team with a few key injuries at the mo’. Meanwhile the Broncos have trips to Jacksonville and Tennessee to follow so this could be the start of a three game boost that more or less books their place in the postseason. Although then it’s home to New England, away to Kansas City and home to Oakland so they finish on a tough stretch.

The difference in my eyes: that cheeky old bye week the Broncos are coming off. Always does wonders at this time of the year.

You know, Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas are obviously down in their numbers this season what with the new quarterback and a more careful offensive approach but each are still on target for 1000 yards this season. If you’re tossing to two 1k yard receivers then you’ve done alright in my book. Over on the Chiefs, Travis Kelce is the only one with a chance at that mark and he’s gotta pick things up if it’s gonna happen too. He’s the tight end and he’s almost 200 yards ahead of the next best receiver. It’s been a thing the whole time Andy Reid’s been there that the Chiefs don’t work well with their WRs but it’s still an abrasive set of stats.

Wildcard’s Pick: Broncos by 5

Green Bay Packers (4-6) at Philadelphia Eagles (5-5)

Oh damn, did you read that Bleacher Report thing on Aaron Rodgers? Tyler Dunne wrote a feature on the Packers QB and his leadership with a few different sources quoted. Interestingly the ones who are on his team all raved about him. Those that know him outside of football or those that are no longer on his team… not so much. Which is fine, clearly it’s all worked in the past for him. But a few details were a little worrying…

“One source, who was close to Rodgers for years but is among the many who have since been cut off by Rodgers entirely, said the quarterback has not spoken to his family since December 2014. Don't feel too bad, J-Mike. Immediate family members don't even have his cellphone number. When Mom and Dad sent Christmas presents to the quarterback and his girlfriend that year, the source said, those gifts were mailed back in February. He was set to be the groomsman in the wedding of one of his closest friends, the source said, and texted the day before he couldn't attend.

He didn't attend his grandfather's funeral—the same grandfather he once called before every game. He fired a business manager he's known since high school. The family was told they were no longer welcome in Green Bay. If Dad wants to attend a game now, he buys tickets on StubHub or goes through another player's family.”

Yikes, that’s not good. I don’t happen to think it’s all his fault, I’d suggest that when it comes to giving up 152 points in four straight losses you can’t really blame the quarterback for that – especially not 47 points to the Tennessee Titans. The Seahawks have only given up 173 points in ten total games all 2016. Reasons like that are why the Packers are shaping to miss the playoffs for the first time in Aaron Rodgers’ career as a starter. Which again is fine, it’ll give him more time off to focus on avoiding having to talk to his family.

The Eagles are a different team in Philly, as I seem to say every week. They’re also a better team than Green Bay in general. Therefore they will win and Green Bay will lose and that’s about all I have to say on that. I’m tired and it’s time to write something else. Here’s to you, Mr Rodgers:

Wildcard’s Pick: Eagles by 7

The Wildcard is a staff writer for The Niche Cache. Although he isn’t thankful for having to work on Thanksgiving, he’s very thankful that he gets to watch gridiron all day at that work. Sorry ‘bout it. 

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Written by Nick Robinson On Tagged ,