KempBolt

Using a sarcasm emoji ruins sarcasm.

It's outrageous that my Kathy Bates idea hasn't gained more traction.

Imma let someone else take that.

I predicted that the Bengals would miss out this season so I'll stick to my guns and say they get edged out by Cleveland. Why the heck have the Rams only been able to muster one sack all season?

Thursday: New York Jets @ New England 8:30 ET Sunday: Atlanta @ Baltimore 1:00 ET Tennessee @ Washington 1:00 ET Seattle @ St. Louis 1:00 ET Cleveland @ Jacksonville 1:00 ET Minnesota @ Buffalo 1:00 ET Miami @ Chicago 1:00 ET New Orleans @ Detroit 1:00 ET Carolina @ Green Bay 1:00 ET Kansas City @ San Diego 4:05 ET Arizona @ Oakland 4:30 ET New York Giants @ Dallas 4:30 ET Denver @ San Francisco 8:30 ET Monday: Houston @ Pittsburgh 8:30 ET Tiebreaker: How many points will be scored in the Monday Night game? 35

Praise: Phil & Co. are absolutely on fire. He's the MVP so far unless they decide to recognize Watt's brilliance. He's 3rd in total yards, 1st in YPA, 1st in completion %, 2nd in TD, 1st in passer rating, 3rd in INT, he has a 7.5% TD rate, and a 1% INT rate (compare to Luck's 6.5% and 2.7% respectively). His rushing support is 24th in yardage and 32nd in YPC. He's been missing his RG all season, and has played with 4 different centers. 11 different players have caught passes from him. The secondary is a bright sunshiny day compared to last year's dark night. Brandon Flowers has been one of the best corners in the league right out of the gate, and Verrett is in the DROY conversation. Shareece Wright is much improved, and fits way better as a 3rd corner than a #1. Eric Weddle continues to be his reliably awesome self. Their depth is solid. And as a group they mitigate weaknesses at the SS spot. The next man up mentality has really worked out for this team so far. Nick Hardwick, Jeromey Clary, Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead, Donald Brown, Melvin Ingram, Manti Te'o, Shareece Wright, and Brandon Flowers are all hurt at the moment. Several others have missed games this year and are now back. Several others are playing hurt. Guys like Rich Ohrnberger, Branden Oliver, Jerry Attaochu, Andrew Gachkar, Ricardo Mathews, Chris Davis, and Richard Marshall have really stepped up to keep this train going. Rippage: The offensive line has been just good enough, but has taken a step back in year two as a group. Injuries have exacerbated the issue but some starters have played poorly as well. Chad Rinehart has disappointed me at LG, and while Fluker has been good in pass pro his run blocking hasn't come along like I had hoped. He's undisciplined. Combined with injuries to our backs, they're really to blame for the terrible rushing efficiency. And Rivers has escaped/dealt with a ton of pressure this season to play as well as he has. Our front seven is still vulnerable to the run if we aren't playing with a lead. Kendall Reyes has disappointed after an exciting rookie season. Donald Butler has looked bad this year after a big pay day. And in general, we don't have a big presence to man the nose and clog things up if we need too. It rarely comes up, as we have had a lead for most of the season, but you could see it rearing its head in our close win over the Raiders on Sunday.

Defensive football in the NFL tends to be reactionary. Offenses employ new strategies, or new rules come in that make things more difficult on the defense, and we see stop units struggle across the board. But give coordinators and players a couple seasons to get used to the water, and you generally see them come up with good plans and approaches to stop whatever offenses are doing. I believe that's the point we're at now, with defenses having caught up to a certain degree. Also contributing is the fact that there aren't a ton of great QB's in great situations right now. Rivers, Manning, Luck, Rodgers, and maybe Wilson are the only guys who, IMO, are both in a good situation AND are playing great football. This is how I'd categorize the rest of the league: Playing well, bad situations: Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Tom Brady Good situation, not a very good player: Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, Kyle Orton, Ryan Tannehill Inconsistent: Colin Kaepernick, Eli Manning, Jay Cutler, Matt Stafford, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger Unhealthy (?): Carson Palmer, Tony Romo, Drew Brees Just a Guy: Alex Smith Too Young: Derek Carr, Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles, Austin Davis, Brian Hoyer, Mike Glennon, Kirk Cousins Sucks: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jake Locker, Geno Smith I just don't see the stars aligning in too many cases for dominant offense. Who is going to come out of the AFC North and who can we tab as the division's best team so far?

I know players play dirty in the NFL, but if guys do what Burfict did all the time why do we not hear about it? Is Olsen the only guy who will speak up? And is this somehow the first time it's happened to him? Hard for me to buy that. Also, I think the Falcons issues are more to do with Thomas Dimitroff than Mike Smith. Probably the most overrated GM in the NFL. He's built a really bad roster. Tough to blame the coach for not making lemonade out of this bunch. Not saying that Smith is awesome because I don't know, but he doesn't have many decent players.

Give Cam and Olsen each a sledgehammer, and let them go full Kathy Bates on Burfict's lower extremities. Badabing, badaboom.

I don't know why people balk when Wilson and Luck's respective roles and circumstances are considered. You don't have to agree, but it's not manipulative to point out that one guy does more for his offense than the other.

Justin Houston. Greg Robinson couldn't beat out Davin Joseph and just barely started his first game tonight.

I hate that so much. Screw that piece of shit.

So as it turns out, Burfict is a total piece of shit. Hope he pops both Achilles' tendons.

Luck. Wilson is one of my favorite non-Chargers, but I'd rather have Luck.

How many balls does Ron have?

So I did a little digging into Vick vs. Ryan to see what the actual winning % was of the two players in games they actually started (going by seasons doesn't actually work because Vick misses a lot of starts). So Vick, who was not the starter for 25 games (started 71 out of 96 possible) over his six seasons with the Falcons, led the Falcons to victory in 55% of the games that he started. So he did indeed win more games than he lost when he was able to go, but he also missed over a quarter of those games so you have to weigh that. Ryan, who has only missed two games as a starter over his six seasons with the Falcons (94 of out 96 possible), has led the Falcons to victory in 64% of the games that he's started. So he wins more often when he's the starter, and he has missed way fewer games than Vick. The % difference would mean 8 more wins for Ryan over a 96 game (6 season) sample. When you consider that he has started 24% more often than Vick, that higher win % has an even bigger impact-- twenty-one more victories for Ryan over a 6 season sample. I don't know if this is enough to combat the "Vick knew how to win games, period" argument, but it's my best shot.

I don't think we have enough of a sample size to make a really solid determination on the quality of TNF one way or another. But I hate it when my team has to play of short rest, especially on the road. Fewer players dealing with injuries are able to get back in time to play. There's less time to install a gamepan. And it wears a team out having to play three times in 11 days. And because I hate it for the Chargers, I don't wish it on anyone else's team. The Chargers just played a physical game with the Jets. A lot of players went down, and we were already banged up. Now we go to Oakland, where we always end up with a lot of injuries. Seven days later, we got the Chiefs coming off their bye. That's all fine... just how it goes. But 4 days after all that, we have to go to Denver and play the Broncos? That's BS.

Expect Ryan has a way better win %.

Matt Ryan is way better than Michael Vick ever was.

Cary Williams is quietly the most annoying toolbag in the NFL. That's a good call.

Ekpre-Olomu is one of the more overrated players in this class based on what I've seen.

Marshawn Lynch, RB, Lynch is one of a very small handful of backs in this league that I would say are truly special players (w/ Peterson, Charles, and McCoy). The way he runs is some of the most beautiful violence this league has to offer. His tenacity, power, purposeful hesitation, and determination are qualities that really set him apart from the rest of his position. The run blocking has improved this season for Seattle, but last year (and seasons prior) Lynch made a habit of gaining unblocked yards. He isn't the receiver that some other runners are, but he's a lot better in that regard than he gets credit for. And I personally find him to be hilarious off the field. Marshawn Lynch quotes are the best kind of quotes. Kyle Williams, DT, Buffalo is a market that lends itself to underrated players, so the fact that Williams is kind of a household name among real fans is a testament to just how good he really is. In a league filled with tough, strong dudes Williams stands out as being stronger and tougher. Regardless of where he's lined up over his time with the Bills (5, 3, 1, shade, or 0), he has consistently dominated his competition. What adds to the whole thing is that he wasn't a highly regarded prospect coming out of LSU. He has gotten where he is on merely adequate talent, and elite effort/toughness. Brent Grimes, CB, I think Grimes' career is starting to wind down, but for the better part of the past 4-5 seasons, I'd argue he's been a top 5 cornerback. The achilles injury that wiped out almost all of 2012 may have shortened his window of effectiveness, but while he's been right he's been elite. Grimes is small, and slow for a corner. And yet he's so good at the LOS and in short areas that he's been able to stick larger, faster receivers and often shut them down. No one thought it likely that a short, 4.57 guy from Shippensburg college was likely to be a star in the NFL but that's exactly what's happened. Marshal Yanda, G, Yanda was not his usual self in 2013, but he looks like he's back with a vengeance this year. When he's right, he's in the conversation for the best guard in this league. He possesses plus agility for an interior linemen, giving him the ability to pass protect with the best of them as well as pull around and lead block. And if you want him to straight up drive guys off the ball he can do that too. I really love line play, so a guy who can do everything you want at an elite level is a joy for me to watch. Plus he kind of looks Amish and I halfway expect him to show up to practice on a horse and buggy. Andre Johnson, WR, I'm in a minority that would consider Andre, not Calvin, to be the best wide receiver in the NFL over the last decade. He isn't quite the athlete, but he's the better wide receiver because of how incredible he's been in the other facets of the game. And this last offseason notwithstanding, he's been one of the most unselfish, non-diva wide receivers in the league on the balance of his career. Had he ever played with a good quarterback, I think he would have broken some league records, but as it is he's had a HOF caliber career with a bunch of stiffs throwing him the ball, headlined by Matt Schaub. Also, and most importantly, he threw Cortland Finnegan on the ground and punched him in the back of the head. Never forget.

I just watched Duke intently for the first time yesterday (meaning, not just casually taking in a Miami game). I really liked what I saw.

Stefen Wisniewski from the Raiduhz.

This is... strange. It's not like he's a product of a system or a great QB. He was the best receiver in CFB, and now he's in the conversation for best receiver in the league despite dragging Dalton along with him. I think it's time to wave the white flag on this one.