I always view this time of year with mixed feelings.  On the one hand, there will never be a time where you will find more football being televised.  The playoff hunt is culminating in the NFL, and college football bowls, including the new playoff system, are being played this week.  However, it also means the football season is soon ending, and the long, painful withdrawal of football off season begins.  It's made worse knowing your team won't make the playoffs...again...in addition to the board being down last weekend.  I do apologize for not getting the post up last Wednesday, but as it turns out, the board was down, so not everyone would have gotten to post in it anyway.

 

It seems two coaches in the division-Gus Bradley and the Texans' Bill O' Brien-will survive the annual coaching purge.  Who will replace Pagano and Mularkey in Indy and Tennessee?  Early speculation has Indy possibly inquiring about Sean Payton, while Tennessee has been linked to the just fired former Eagles' coach Chip Kelly.   There are a few things about the supposed interest in Payton by Indy.  First, Payton recently said he intends to remain in New Orleans. Such proclamations typically are worthless.  Plenty of coaches have declared they weren't going anywhere, only to go elsewhere.  SOMETHING had to cause the Saints to announce earlier in the year they would allow Payton to explore opportunities elsewhere. http://www.thescore.com/news/866481 Secondly, since Payton is still technically under contract with the Saints, unless the Saints fired him (doubtful), the Colts would have to trade for him.  I would think the compensation would be heavy, with the standard being set by Oakland trading Gruden to Tampa Bay.  However, Luck is a gifted, still young QB who could be very productive under Payton.  It may come down to what Payton and Irsay think of Grigson.  I think Grigson is awful as a GM and I don't want him leaving Indy.  The Idea of Indy having a depleted amount of draft picks with Grigson running the drafts and free agency largely offsets the advantage of having a Luck and Payton combo.  But perhaps Payton knows he would be hamstrung by that and would try to dissuade the Colts from pursuing him without first getting a guarantee of control over personnel, or minimally firing Grigson.  Personally, I'd rather the Colts have a substandard coach and GM, rather than worry about what Payton could do with Luck.  As for the tacks' interest in Kelly, it is a natural fit because Kelly coached Mariota in college, and the tacks naturally want to put Mariota in the best position possible to succeed.  Mariota is the ideal fit for Kelly's offense.  However, if Kelly still wants personnel power, it might be a push as to whether that would be a good thing or not.  The tacks have a weak roster at the moment, which is why they have had back to back bad seasons.  However, Kelly was fired from Philly in part due to disastrous personnel decisions he made.  Similarly, I'd rather the tacks have a bad coach and GM combo.  Though Mariota has a lot of promise, I don't want him to succeed there.  Edit:  Per PFT, Kelly indicates he doesn't need control of personnel and will stay in the NFL.  That lets me think he is headed to tackland.  http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...l-control/

 

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Bradley was retained, though it isn't a total shock he was retained.  Though if the Jaguars lose Sunday, Bradley will have an 11-37 record after three seasons, the offense showed tremendous improvement from last year to this year, and Khan wants to maintain offensive continuity.  But Khan has also indicated Gus is on the hot seat going into 2016, saying "It’s also evident the considerable work that remains to be done to be where we expect to be at this time next season, which is well above where we stand today.  And Gus understands that." (Emphasis added)

 

I won't even bother going into who I would have picked last week.

 

On to this week's picks:

 

Jacksonville (5-10)
at Houston (8-7)
-Houston is on the verge of clinching the division.  If they win, they clinch the division and make the playoffs.  If they lose, they still win the division if they tie with Indy if all of 8 other things don't happen.  Jacksonville is banged up going into this game.  While Bortles has had a fantastic year and looks like a rising star in the league, I think Houston wins this 23-17.

 

Tennessee (3-12)
at Indy (7-8)
Both teams limping to the finish line.  Tennessee and Indy are both down to backup QBs.  In Indy's case, they are down to their 4th QB, Stephen Morris, recently signed...and formerly of the Jaguars practice squad.  Tennessee, meanwhile, has the first overall pick at stake.  Indy wins 14-10.

 

Last week:  woulda coulda shoulda

Overall:  27-20 (also woulda coulda shoulda)

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

I'll take the texans and colts.

 

Jaguars will have a lot of players out, nothing to play for, and be deflated to know that in spite of the failures of the team's leadership they'll still have to put up with the Gus bus for another season. The titans are just god awful and I'd love to see indy damage their draft position one last time.

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Texans and Colts for me as well.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

According to this from peter King, Kelly isn't a shoe in for Tennessee.

 

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/29/chip-...fl-mailbag

 

In relevant part...

 

 

1. Tennessee, with Marcus Mariota, was not in play for Kelly. I talked to someone with knowledge of the Titans’ thinking Tuesday night who said the team “absolutely” was not waiting for Kelly, and had not been actively discussing acquiring Kelly from the Eagles for a high draft choice. One reason: Marcus Mariota likes Kelly but is not dependent on him for NFL success. Now, that doesn't mean the Titans won't sniff around Kelly now that he is a free agent. But the Titans weren’t waiting for him to be free.

 

3. Lurie wanted to do this now, so he could be in play for some of the top coordinators who will be coaching candidates. Interesting what the source with Tennessee knowledge said to me: “If Lurie fires Chip now, obviously it means he wasn't going to be able to get something going with the Titans.” Right. And that's a big deal. Everyone will ask today, “Why didn't the Eagles try to get something from Tennessee if they knew they were dumping Kelly?” And they could have gotten something minor for Kelly—but would it have been worth the sideshow? No. With the Titans not in play for Kelly, Lurie simply had to do what he felt was best for his team, which started with firing Kelly and starting over with a full cadre of candidates for the job from around the NFL.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

28-19 overall.

 

I'll take Colts and Texans this week.

 

I'll be pulling for the Jags though...

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I'm pulling for the Colts this week!


Although with Grigson it doesn't matter where you draft in the first...

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28-19 Overall


This week's picks:

Texans

Colts

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1-2 for week 15


24-23 overall


 

Jaguars 30 Texans 24 (in OT)


Titans 10 Colts 20

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'02

Jacksonville @ Houston

Houston is looking to get into the playoffs and JJ Watt is going to use all of the hair gel and Under Armor Super Powers at his disposal to get the team hyped for the game. They do get Hoyer back from the concussion protocol and I think that's more important. Houston wins in a shootout.


Tennessee @ Indianapolis

No Mariota and Mularkey trying to provide motivation; sounds like a formula for success to me! That being said, who is Indy going to trot out on the field?!?! In a toss up, I'll take the home team; Indy wins a craptastic one.


Last week (15): 2 - 1

Overall: 26 - 21

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

According to this from peter King, Kelly isn't a shoe in for Tennessee.

 

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/29/chip-...fl-mailbag

 

In relevant part...

 

I wish the titans would hire that guy, once his gimmick was figured out he was done, plus he apparently creates personal problems with his players everywhere he goes. It would be great seeing another two or three years of implosion from the titans with him at the helm.

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I'd be surprised if the Jags or titans won this week.

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I'll take colts and Texans as well.


However, there's a part of me that wants the Texans to lose and the other 7 or so games to go the right way and colts go to playoffs. Just as a mean little joke since it's a division team. If colts were in houstons position I'd hope for the same and Texans go in.

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1 last ditch attempt, but goooo jags!




Oh and I'm also picking the errr colts.

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Hope the Jags put a whooping on the Texans and have them limping into the playoffs

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20-23 overall 

 

 

I'm takeing the Texans,and colts this week.

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snowwolf titans owner in madden.

note titans owner means im undeafted againest them. 

I'm pulling for the Colts this week!


Although with Grigson it doesn't matter where you draft in the first...

 

Why do you care who wins that game?

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Thought it was pretty self explanatory.

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Thought it was pretty self explanatory.

 

I am more concerned about who the Titans pick at #1 overall. The Colts are going to pick long after us.

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I've backed every scenario the Colts need to make the playoffs except the Colts winning (can't bring myself to do that) wish me luck will be worth 6k

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1-2 for week 15


24-23 overall


 

Jaguars 30 Texans 24 (in OT)


Titans 10 Colts 20

 Jags 02 do you not relieze the jags have quit playing football since they beat the colts in Jacksonville. they are obsviouesly happy with a 5-11 record. thats what it looks like to me. Maybe im just mad cause i was counting on 6-10 record. we could say still i missed it by one game.

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snowwolf titans owner in madden.

note titans owner means im undeafted againest them.