Your Christmas Eve NFL Football Open Thread

Hello fellow commenters and assorted lurkers (you really should say ‘hello’) we’ve got Saturday football up the ying yang along with plenty other sports offerings so let’s make the best of it. I’ve only got one social obligation (a get-together at SIL’s place this evening) and the Xmas dinner host is still up in the air 24 hours before it’s to take place. If we end up hosting I’m just going to make a ton of waffles because that’s what my in-laws do every frickin year.

To The Games!

Falcons/Ravens:

How bad is the Atlanta passing game? Well, I mean aside from the squandering of the talents of Pitts and London. Their rushing attack is third in the league but overall the offense ranks 28th. Both teams are coming off a loss and the Ravens only scored 3 points last week. This game looks like a slow slog.

Lions/Panthers:

One Detroit fan site is trying to tell me that Goff isn’t that bad on the road. Uh huh. You see, he has a 20/3 TD/INT split at home and a 3/4 number on the road. Okay, then. Still, them Lions are dragging themselves into relevance which is refreshing to see and good as far as viewing options are concerned.

Bills/Bears:

Buffalo is neck and neck with the Chiefs for the first seed and get an early Xmas present from the league in the form of the losers-of-seven-straight Chicago Bears. The weather is supposed to be around 10 degrees with lusty and gusty winds, pretty much assuring Fields runs around a lot on his way to that magical 1,000 yardo mark which only Lamar and Vick have reached.

Saints/Browns:

Get your gloves on! The weather here will be in the single digits and windchill will drop it down to -10. This one strikes me as a game of field position with both D’s stacking their respective boxes (how Christmasy is that!) giving Cleveland a slight advantage because Watson can run when he has to.

Seahawks/Chiefs:

There was talk earlier in the year of Loose Change Pete being considered as a Coach of the Year candidate. But then it all fell apart and Seattle has lost 4 of 5 and traction in the playoff race. The Chiefs need to keep pace with the Bills and hope that they slip up along the way because K.C. would lose the tiebreaker.

Giants/Vikes:

Kudos to Minny for doing that big comeback thing but no one is asking, “Why the hell were they down 33 to the toothless Colts in the first place?”. Oh right, your mother could put up 250 yards passing on them. Daboll’s Magical Mystery Tour (featuring smoke, mirrors, shadows and butcher twine) continues apace. Some Giants were in the Mall of America when a shooting took place in a Nordstrom’s-when will this avalanche of Swedish gang violence end?

Bengals/Pats:

New England is struggling and you just hate to see it. Mac Jones has coming crashing back down to earth and he didn’t need the assistance of a Raiders defender but it’s the thought (and shove) that counts. Perhaps his regression might have something to do with coach Patricia, a defensive dude, calling/helping script the plays. [shrugs shoulders]

Texans/Titans:

The banner for this game will be “King Henry Runs for 200 Yards Yet Again Vs Houston”.

Talk to me. Or others.