Tuesday, December 22 TV ratings comparison

 Tuesday, December 22 (first night of the NBA season)

GS@BK (at same time as East Coast airing of The Bachelorette Finale)

2.697 million viewers

LAC@LAL (at same time as West Coast airing of The Bachelorette Finale)

3.081 million viewers

The Bachelorette finale

5.515 million viewers

Also that night:

The Rachel Maddow Show

3.494 million viewers

Tucker Carlson Tonight

3.149 million viewers

Cuomo Prime Time

2.536 million viewers

Week 17 scenarios!

Note: Before getting started, just wanted to mention that three teams, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, have already clinched and technically have nothing to play for so they are not part of the main scenarios, but there are some reasons they may possibly choose to not rest their starters. I've discussed these in footnotes at the bottom.

Now, on to the main scenarios...

NFC

GREEN BAY (12-3)

The Packers have already clinched:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the NFC North division title

and can still clinch:

a first round bye

The Packers can clinch a first round bye with:

1) GB win/tie OR

2) SEA loss/tie

SEATTLE (11-4)

The Seahawks have already clinched:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the NFC West division title

and can still clinch:

a first round bye

The Seahawks can clinch a first round bye with:

1) SEA win + GB loss + NO loss/tie

NEW ORLEANS (11-4)

The Saints have already clinched:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the NFC South division title

and can still clinch:

a first round bye

The Saints can clinch a first round bye with:

1) NO win + GB loss + SEA win

TAMPA BAY (10-5)

The Buccaneers have already clinched a playoff spot and can clinch nothing more1.

LOS ANGELES (9-6)

The Rams have clinched nothing but can still clinch a playoff spot.

The Rams can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) LAR win/tie OR

2) CHI loss/tie

CHICAGO (8-7)

The Bears have clinched nothing but can still clinch a playoff spot.

The Bears can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) CHI win OR

2) CHI tie + ARZ tie OR

3) ARZ loss

ARIZONA (8-7)

The Cardinals have clinched nothing but can still clinch a playoff spot.

The Cardinals can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) ARZ win OR

2) ARZ tie + CHI loss

WASHINGTON (6-9)

The Football Team has clinched nothing but can still clinch:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the NFC East division title

The Football Team can clinch a playoff spot and the NFC East division title with:

1) WFT win OR

2) WFT tie + DAL loss/tie

DALLAS (6-9)

The Cowboys have clinched nothing but can still clinch:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the NFC East division title

The Cowboys can clinch a playoff spot and the NFC East division title with:

1) DAL win + WFT loss/tie OR

2) DAL tie + WFT loss

NEW YORK (5-10)

The Giants have clinched nothing but can still clinch:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the NFC East division title

The Giants can clinch a playoff spot and the NFC East division title with:

1) NYG win + WFT loss

AFC

KANSAS CITY (14-1)

The Chiefs have clinched everything:

a) a playoff spot,

b) the AFC West division title, and

c) a first round bye

PITTSBURGH (12-3)

The Steelers have already clinched:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the AFC North division title

and can clinch nothing more2.

BUFFALO (11-3)

The Bills have already clinched:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the AFC East division title

and can clinch nothing more².

TENNESSEE (10-5)

The Titans have clinched nothing but can still clinch:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the AFC South division title

The Titans can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) TEN tie + MIA tie OR

2) MIA loss OR

3) TEN tie + BAL tie OR

4) BAL loss OR

5) TEN tie + CLE loss

The Titans can clinch a playoff spot and the AFC South division title with:

1) TEN win OR

2) TEN tie + IND tie OR

3) IND loss

MIAMI (10-5)

The Dolphins have clinched nothing but can still clinch a playoff spot.

The Dolphins can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) MIA win OR

2) MIA tie + BAL tie OR

3) BAL loss OR

4) MIA tie + CLE tie OR

5) CLE loss OR

6) MIA tie + IND tie OR

7) IND loss OR

8) MIA tie + TEN loss

BALTIMORE (10-5)

The Ravens have clinched nothing but can still clinch a playoff spot.

The Ravens can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) BAL win OR

2) BAL tie + CLE tie OR

3) CLE loss OR

4) BAL tie + IND tie OR

5) IND loss OR

6) BAL tie + TEN loss OR

7) BAL tie + MIA loss

CLEVELAND (10-5)

The Browns have clinched nothing but can still clinch a playoff spot.

The Browns can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) CLE win OR

2) CLE tie + IND tie OR

3) IND loss OR

4) CLE tie + TEN loss OR

5) CLE tie + MIA loss OR

6) CLE tie + BAL loss OR

7) CLE tie + BAL win + MIA win + TEN tie OR

8) BAL win/tie + MIA win/tie + TEN loss

INDIANAPOLIS (10-5)

The Colts have clinched nothing but can still clinch:

a) a playoff spot and

b) the AFC South division title

The Colts can clinch a playoff spot with:

1) IND win + MIA loss/tie OR

2) IND tie + MIA loss OR

3) IND win + BAL loss/tie OR

4) IND tie + BAL loss OR

5) IND win + CLE loss/tie OR

6) IND tie + CLE loss

The Colts can clinch a playoff spot and the AFC South division title with:

1) IND win + TEN loss/tie OR

2) IND tie + TEN loss

-------

Footnotes:

1. Tampa Bay and Los Angeles are still competing for the 5 seed, the holder of which will get to play at the NFC East champion, the team with the worst record in the whole playoffs. Hence, Tampa may play their starters to try to win the 5 seed. If the teams finish tied, the Rams would get the spot because they beat the Bucs.

2. Pittsburgh and Buffalo are still competing for the 2 seed. The only thing this will really decide is where the game happens if the two teams happen to meet in the playoffs. Given the two cities' similar weather, geographic proximity (no long flight/jet lag required), and no fans in either stadium, there is barely a homefield advantage between the two if they play each other. Today, Governor Cuomo has said there *may* be around 6k fans in Buffalo for the playoffs, but I do not believe that will be enough to get the Steelers to play their starters next week, especially when the Steelers have other reasons they'll likely rest: their bye week was taken away by the league earlier this season due to the Titans COVID issues and earlier this month they played 3 games in 11 days due to the Ravens COVID issues. The Bills, if they were maybe thinking of resting next week, maybe now won't after hearing about the possibility of fans in the playoffs. They definitely can't rest tonight because if they lose twice, they can actually fall to the 4 seed because they lost to the Titans, and they definitely won't want to have to travel to Nashville, a stadium with more than enough fans to make a difference. It's also important to note that in most years, the other difference between the 2 and 3 seeds would be their first round opponent, since the 2 seed gets the 7 seed and the 3 seed gets the 6 seed. However, with any of 5 different teams who could end up in those wild card spots and no clarity on that whatsoever when the Steelers and Bills kick off on Sunday, that will not factor into the decision whatsoever. If the teams finish tied, the Bills would get the spot because they beat the Steelers.

Ranking Week 15 Sunday games

 Ranking today's games from least exciting to most exciting

Jacksonville at Baltimore

The Jags got safetied to start off the game, and it just went downhill from there

Detroit at Tennessee

The Titans scored the most points of any team today, but not the most of any team this week!

Cleveland at NY Giants

NBC and the NFL should have just kept the original SNF game, SF@DAL, as it was much better

New England at Miami

Patriots ELIMINATED

Seattle at Washington

The Seahawks have been struggling against NFC East teams that I just don’t think they should be struggling against if their record is a reflection of how good they are.

Kansas City at New Orleans

Was this a Super Bowl preview?

NY Jets at LA Rams

The Jets have completed the circle of parity 

Tampa Bay at Atlanta

Who would have imagined that Antonio Brown would be the one to complete the comeback?

San Francisco at Dallas

The Cowboys would have been the easiest of the 4 NFC East teams to be eliminated today, but they weren't, and all 4 are still alive. 

Houston at Indianapolis

Both Texans' losses to the Colts ended with a red zone fumble with under a minute left 

Philadelphia at Arizona

Jalen Hurts could not complete the comeback against his predecessor at Oklahoma: Kyler Murray

Chicago at Minnesota

While both teams are technically still alive, everyone knew coming in that both these teams really needed to win today to have any realistic shot, and the Bears stayed more alive than the Vikings with a Hail Mary INT

College Football Playoff analysis

 So here’s my analysis:

1. Bama

2. Clemson

3. Ohio State

The contenders for the 4 spot ranked by how likely I think it is the committee will pick them, along with a pro and a con:

Notre Dame

-they beat every team on their schedule

-their only win against Clemson came at home, against a backup QB, and in 2OT

Texas A&M

-their only loss was Alabama, and they’ve won 7 straight since then, their most since the 90s

-they started the day 3 spots behind ND, and did not even make it to their conference’s championship game

Cincinnati

-only undefeated team out of these 3

-no Group of 5 has ever made it 

Ranking Week 14 Sunday games

Ranking today's games, least exciting to most exciting

NY Jets at Seattle

The Jets could not do as well as their NY counterparts did last week in Seattle.. in fact, not even close 

Houston at Chicago

The Texans suck

Dallas at Cincinnati

Andy Dalton dominated in his return to Cincy

Tennessee at Jacksonville

Gardner Minshew II is better than Mike Glennon anyway 

Arizona at NY Giants

Why did the Giants start Jones when McCoy played so well last week?

Pittsburgh at Buffalo

The Steelers for all intents and purposes lost the first seed, and appear to be on track to lose the division to the Browns 

Indianapolis at Las Vegas

The Raiders kept it close till the fourth, but the dagger was Carr’s pick-six

Minnesota at Tampa Bay

The Vikings had 4 missed kicks worth 10 points, and lost by 12

Denver at Carolina

The Panthers actually made it interesting at the end, but this late in the season, when two teams who are both eliminated from the playoffs are playing, it’s just not enticing even when a game is close 

Kansas City at Miami

The Chiefs hung on and have effectively clinched the first seed (losing it would require losing to the Chargers specifically)

Washington at San Francisco

WFT now has a top-7 record in the whole NFC anyway, so people can't even complain they're only in playoff positioning due to a bad division

Green Bay at Detroit

New Orleans at Philadelphia

Both these games effectively ended simultaneously when both the Lions and Saints failed onside kicks. Both of these were bad news for the Saints as the Packers took over the first seed 

Atlanta at LA Chargers 

2 INT in the final two minutes!

Week 13 NFL ratings

Game	Timeslot	Viewers
NO@ATL	Sun 1 ET (Fox)	15.2M
CLE@TEN	Sun 1 ET (CBS)	14.5M
PHI@GB	Sun 4:25 ET	19.2M
DEN@KC	Sun 8:22 ET	17.0M
WFT@PIT	Mon 5:05 ET (only 45% of Fox affiliates)	7.8M
BUFvSF @ ARZ	Mon 8:15 ET	14.2M (ESPN: 7.8M; ABC: 6.4M)
DAL@BAL	Tue 8:05 ET	13.5M (Fox: 11.8M; NFLN: 1.7M)

Ranking Week 13 Sunday games

New England at LA Chargers

The Patriots are right back in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt 

Cincinnati at Miami

BCB!

LA Rams at Arizona

The end of the game had a lot of chaos with a muffed punt, a missed FG, and a pick-six that made up for the missed FG and iced the game 

Cleveland at Tennessee

The Browns made multiple unnecessary miscues in the 4th quarter and almost lost the game 

Philadelphia at Green Bay

The Eagles should start Hurts next week 

New Orleans at Atlanta

Taysom Hill threw his first TD since BYU!

Denver at Kansas City

The Chiefs stay on the Steelers’ heels

NY Giants at Seattle

This game came down to a couple of inches because the defender was barely out of bounds when he touched the ball, making it a safety instead of a touchdown, a five-point difference, the amount they lost by 

Indianapolis at Houston

The Texans fumbled away the ball, the game, and the season 

Detroit at Chicago

After starting 5-1, the Bears have now lost 6 in a row for the first time since 2002

Jacksonville at Minnesota

The Vikings are currently in a playoff spot!

Las Vegas at NY Jets

Anirudh Sailesh texted me “Destined to go 0-16” after the Hail Mary, which he called a Hail Mart 

Week 12 NFL ratings

Game	Timeslot	Viewers
HOU@DET	Thu 12:30 ET	23.39M
WFT@DAL	Thu 4:30 ET	30.33M
AZ@NE	Sun 1 ET (Fox)	15.17M
TEN@IND	Sun 1 ET (CBS)	13.47M
KC@TB	Sun 4:25 ET	23.12M
CHI@GB	Sun 8:22 ET	16.48M
SEA@PHI	Mon 8:16 ET	11.38M
BAL@PIT	Wed 3:40 ET	10.80M