The Madden Experience, Chapter Four: House of Cards

Madden.

It might be the greatest video game series of all-time. That will always be a debate but man, it has done so much for the outreach of the sport. Some of my favorite football memories have nothing to do with the NFL. They’re from Madden and most from franchise mode, a universe with generated players only I will ever know: Tahrick Harvey, George Boenzi, Allan Frederick, Rafael Cheek, Jordan Bersin, Gant Rooks, Joey Wheeler, Isaiah Weaver, T.J. Weston and so, so many more.

Madden franchise mode allows for a unique football ecosystem, one where even the worst football organizations can find success away from micromanaging owners, braindead executives and roulettes of horrid NFL coaches. It affords us the opportunity we all want: to make our favorite teams champions.

The Madden Experience is my attempt to rebrand the worst franchise in each NFL division. I’ve recreated the Raiders in Chapter One: Just Win Baby, the Jaguars in Chapter Two: Jagwar and Chapter Two: Jagwar Part Deux and the Lions in Chapter Three: The Pride.

Jaguars Jon would return. He’d been a DC for 20 seasons, I an OC. Now, we would switch.

And we’d be taking on the Arizona Cardinals on Madden 25.

Not really much of a contest for who’s the worst team in the NFC West. The 49ers were the dynasty of the 80s and are one of the most accomplished and storied franchises. The Rams were one of the best of the 70s, had the Eric Dickerson years, the Greatest Show on Turf and now the McVay era. Seattle has hit their stride since the turn of the century.

The Cardinals have been incompetent for generations, a franchise with over 800 losses, 100 more than any team and 160+ more than the Bears, the only other team that’s been around since 1920. Only Tampa Bay has a worse all-time regular season win percentage than Arizona’s but they at least have two Lombardis to show off after all their struggle. What do the Cardinals have?

They have won five division titles in the Super Bowl era. As of this writing, Super Bowl LIX just concluded. Five division titles in 59 seasons. Yikes.

As of 2024, they have the longest North American sports championship drought at 77 seasons.

Only the Houston Texans, the league’s most recent expansion team, have fewer playoff wins than the Cardinals (7). Only Houston and Jacksonville, both expansion teams, have appeared in fewer playoff games than Arizona (17).

I think most football fans don’t know how inept Arizona is. They are so ignored, they’re not even the most popular Cardinals team; that would be the baseball club in St. Louis. The fan base, the Red Sea, seems resigned to meaninglessness.

The Cardinals have been the retirement home for the NFL since the early 2000s. Many big names have played their final chapters in the desert: Emmitt Smith, Edgerrin James, Adrian Peterson, J.J. Watt, A.J. Green, Chandler Jones, Boomer Esiason, Alan Faneca, Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer and I’m sure a few more. They are Has Been State.

No one other than Larry Fitzgerald ever wants to stay in Arizona. Many of the biggest names in franchise history were free agent acquisitions, not draft picks. They miss on their selections and the ones they hit on rarely want to stick around. They’re a mercenary team and they play like one: a unit with no cohesion or chemistry.

Like the franchises I’ve remade before, Arizona doesn’t just need a change on the field; it needs a new culture. The Arizona Cardinals are not gonna be afterthoughts anymore. We’re gonna be somebody.

To recreate identity, we need fresh energy and that’s what we’d target in our original draft. None of our first eight picks were over the age of 30.

I’m a big Aidan Hutchinson fan. He was a front runner for DPOY here in 2024, just his third season, before a broken leg. He has the potential to be a premier pass rusher and at 24, still has plenty of tread on the tires. He was our first draft choice.

Like with our Jags franchise back in the day, we would target the trenches:
DT Quinnen Williams
LT Christian Darrisaw
G Quenton Nelson
G Landon Dickerson
RT Trent Brown

Nick Bolton, the linebacker of the Chiefs dynasty, Christian Gonzalez, a young corner for New England, Jakobi Meyers, another former Patriot and old vet Harrison Smith would round out our top ten selections.

Jon originally wanted to go Saquon Barkley with his first offensive pick but I talked him out of it. Invest in the line, draft backs later and we did so. Brian Robinson Jr. and Chuba Hubbard should make a nice 1-2.

As with our Jags franchise, our receiving core was thin but Jon planned to play an even more conservative offense than I did, extremely run heavy. We would grab Hunter Henry, yet another Patriot, at tight end. We drafted eight former or current New Englanders.

On defense, we were thin at corner. It was Gonzalez, James Bradberry and whatever was left in the cupboard.

As is tradition for these franchises, we would have a shiny, silver trash can at quarterback.
With the Raiders, it was Colt McCoy and Blake Bortles.
With the Jaguars, Ryan Tannehill.
The Lions, Jameis Winston.

And now, it would be Trey Lance, the infamous draft bust.

Finally, we grabbed Hendon Hooker as a backup because sometimes, we all could use a hooker. (I could use one right now. My quarterback’s Trey Lance. Fuck. Is this what 49ers fans felt like?)

Inaugural Draft
QB Trey Lance, Hendon Hooker, Tyrod Taylor
RB Brian Robinson Jr., Chuba Hubbard, Ameer Abdullah, Samaje Perine
WR Jakobi Meyers, Josh Palmer, Adam Thielen, Quez Watkins, Scotty Miller
TE Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper, Chris Manhertz
LT Christian Darrisaw, Jackson Carman
LG Quenton Nelson, Anthony Bradford
C Brian Allen, Jake Andrews
RG Landon Dickerson, Netane Muti, Wes Martin
RT Trent Brown, George Fant

RE Aidan Hutchinson, Deatrich Wise Jr.
DT Quinnen Williams, Jordan Davis, Jonathan Hankins
LE Christian Barmore, Emmanuel Ogbah
LB Robert Spillane, Zach Cunningham, Zack Baun, Nik Bonitto
MLB Nick Bolton, Bobby Wagner, Micah McFadden
CB Christian Gonzalez, James Bradberry, Isaiah Rodgers, Jason Verrett, Kelvin Joseph, Javelin Guidry
FS Xavier Woods, Adrian Phillips
SS Harrison Smith, DeShon Elliott, Rodney McLeod Jr.

K Cam Little
P Brad Robbins

To coach this team, we would need someone otherworldly to fix this colossal mess. Turning the Cardinals into a true brand would require the hands of a magician.

Ryan Fitzmagic.

Mr. Fitzpatrick was one of the NFL’s most entertaining players. Like Jameis Winston, no one, including Fitzpatrick, could tell you what was gonna happen on Sunday. Fitzmagic could dump 400 and four TDs on you or spill 150 and three interceptions. He was always a high variance player and that’s what made him such a pleasure to watch.

As of this writing, Fitzmagic is the only player to start at QB for nine different teams. He set a record with three straight 400-yd passing games with the Bucs and has the record for career passing yards and passing touchdowns without a playoff appearance.

That magic beard dust of Ryan Fitzpatrick…we needed that to motivate our team and our fan base, make them believe again.

Jon preferred a vertical power run scheme to my zone run. I preferred 4-3 defense, he ran 3-4 for the Jags. It would be a different style of play.

To start, Jon would run Greg Roman’s playbook, famous for Lamar’s early career. I’d start with Steve Spagnuolo’s KC designs, as I had in Detroit.

1/Seduced By a Hooker

For the first time, we would start on All-Madden. In franchises past, I began the first three seasons on All-Pro and then moved the difficulty up. No more. We were the champs and we were gonna play at champ level.

Despite the black hole at quarterback, Madden said we had drafted an 88 overall team (89 offense, 87 defense). We would once again have the best offensive line and my side of the trench was no slouch either, with Hutchinson and Quinnen Williams our first two draft picks.

Our first preseason game was rough. Lance was 5/5 for 33 on our only TD drive of the evening. Tyrod Taylor was given a shot and was capital-H Horrible: 4/13 for 54 yards and three interceptions.

The second friendly was another loss but Lance showed scramble ability, had another smooth outing. Maybe Madden Trey Lance would be usable?

Hendon Hooker, a former SEC offensive player of the year at Tennessee, went 11/20 for 227, two scores and two picks, including a 57-yard bomb to receiver Quez Watkins. It was the most impressive throw of the preseason.

Hammered in each of our exhibitions, I was worried we might not win a game this season. I wanted to win this third practice bad.

At half, we were down 13-0. We had two failed fourth down attempts and Lance got decapitated on a goal line sneak, fumbling away seven points.

In the second half, Brian Robinson worked his ass off (18 carries for 116 yards and a score) but Hunter Henry would fail our third fourth down try. It seemed all but over until Zack Baun caught an interception on the goal line.

Hooker would run almost the whole fourth quarter off the clock with a 15-play, 93-yard drive. Jon ran QB sneak again after getting decked in the mouth earlier. Hooker scored but the balls, or rocks for brains, this guy had. Up 14-13 with 17 seconds left.

I gave up a field goal in 14 seconds. I was devastated. What a waste.

They kicked the ball out of the back on the kickoff, a curious choice. I started typing this archive as in the background, Hooker completes a prayer to Watkins for the game-winning score. We had won a football game.

Preseason
Adds
WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, DE Lawrence Guy, CB Troy Hill, CB Arthur Maulet
Cuts
WR Scotty Miller, CB Kelvin Joseph, CB Javelin Guidry, FS Rodney McLeod
MVP QB Hendon Hooker
Captains Brian Robinson Jr., Christian Darrisaw, Aidan Hutchinson, Quinnen Williams, Bobby Wagner
OC Nick Gregory (Greg Roman/LAC), DC Sammy Rios (Steve Spagnuolo/KC)

In all my years, I never gave my units nicknames. That was wrong. It’s fun and motivating for the players. Since we’re in the southwest, my squad would be known as the Sahara. Jon called his offense Drag Show because he loves drag and cross (dressers) routes.

Arizona’s first play of the Fitzpatrick era was on defense. We allowed a touchdown. It was gonna be a long season.

DeShon Elliott, who just had a fantastic season for the Steelers in real life, would steal a pick and return it to the one, where Brian Robinson scored the first points of the new generation.

The next possession, free safety Xavier Woods would strip Jayden Daniels on the goal line to force a touchback, an incredible effort but Lance would give those saved points right back, throwing a pick-six. He led a two-minute touchdown drive to tie it back up at 17 but we’d lose 31-23. The difference? The defense allowed two one-play touchdowns, that and Lance’s misstep.

Our first divisional was against the Rams, featuring Kyler Murray, Saquon Barkley and Tyreek Hill. Robert Spillane would hit stick Kyler and recover the fumble on the opening drive. Later in the game, Bobby Wagner would get a red zone sack on second down and on third, slot corner Isaiah Rodgers would strip sack Kyler for another Cardinals takeaway.

The Rams would score with 40 seconds left but we were still up three. Should be a cinch.

Instead, Josh Palmer, who’d already been demoted to WR4 after Quez Watkins’ brilliant preseason, muffed the onside kick. Tyreek would burn Bradberry for a one-play score. Cards lose. That felt like two games we could’ve won.

Couldn’t say that about our next one. Aaron Rodgers and the Lions came in, burned us to dust and then burned that dust. 63-7, the most points ever allowed by Arizona. Lance would throw back-to-back pick sixes and two more picks after that. It was historic failure at home, the worst loss I’d ever had on Madden. It was demoralizing and suffocating.

The following week, a fourth down stop in the red zone for the defense. Offense delivered two 90+ yard scoring drives and Lance threw for a season-high 261 in a 24-13 win, the first victory of Fitzpatrick’s coaching career.

But Lance would go back to shitting his diaper the next week, throwing a pick-six at the end of half. We’d lose to the 0-4 9ers and be 1-4 through five. It felt like the season was over and it was just time to evaluate how bad we really were.

In Lambeau, Nik Bonitto would strip a scrambling Justin Fields and a field goal from red bird kicker Cam Little would give us a 13-3 halftime lead. We’d win 16-13 behind Robinson’s third 100-yard game.

Robinson would miss the next with injury and Chuba Hubbard, who had been getting about 20 percent of the work thus far, would show off in prime time: 25 for 144 and a touchdown. The defense delivered a Sahara-worthy performance, allowing 153 total yards and only six points.

Robinson would return the following week after being cleared to play but immediately suffered a partial ACL tear, ending his season. Hubbard kept his spirits high, carrying 28 for 128 and two more scores in our third straight win. Healthy Robinson or not, Hubbard had earned more reps. He had been superb.

Corner James Bradberry improved after I switched him and Gonzalez in the alignment, snagging a pick in each of our last two games. I also started running a lot of quarter, leaving eight back and rushing three and thus far, it had been successful.

We had gone from 0-3 and 1-4 to 4-4. Our season was over. Now, it was very much alive.

Robert Spillane, who as an outside linebacker got limited reps, would register a sack on the first possession to knock the Bears out of field goal range. Next possession, he’d secure a TFL on the goal line and the defense would complete the stand but it was mostly downhill from there. Jon’s offense was horrid and the real issue, a struggle to pass more than eight yards past the line of scrimmage, continued. Harrison Smith got beat on two deep scores and by the middle of the third quarter, my defense was exhausted. The Bears dominated time of possession and Lance threw four picks in a 31-17 shellacking.

The following week, yet another Spillane sack and depth corner Troy Hill would block a field goal. The Sahara defense shutout those damn Jets until the final minute and the Drag Show offense ran for nearly 200 yards and three touchdowns, a 21-7 home win.

Another Troy Hill blocked field goal would start our first matchup with Seattle, a 2-8 team. Hubbard would run for 100 in the first half and a season-high 177 but fumble in the red zone. Seattle would take it the other way 95 yards the following drive for the score. A third Lance pick would seal the contest. He would throw for only 53 yards.

And that was the end of Trey Lance.

The worst inaugural QB performance I’d ever had in a franchise was Jameis Winston with my Lions franchise. He threw only nine scores and 21 INTs, a tad over 100 yards a game.

At his benching, Lance had seven touchdowns and 21 picks in just 11 games, though a slightly better 141 ypg. He had surpassed him in incompetence.

Hendon Hooker, the preseason MVP, would struggle in the first half against the 3-8 Vikings but would put together a 14-pt second, throwing for nearly 200 for the game. Alas, it was another defeat and it felt like the bottom was coming out.

In a must-win to try and keep our playoff hopes alive, our defense laid down like a carpet, allowing six straight touchdowns to that poor Seattle team. We had lost to a two, three and four-win team in back-to-back-to-back weeks and were 5-8, our second 1-4 stretch of the season.

Hutch would lead a players-only meeting, spurring the defense to two three-and-outs to start the following game but Hooker threw three more picks, making it four straight losses. We’d make it five a week later.

Hutch would end that streak in our rematch against Los Angeles. Finished with five tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. The Sahara awoke, holding the Rams under 200 yards and just 3/11 on third down. The pass rush totaled seven quarterback takedowns. On offense, Hubbard ran for 131 and a score in a 23-3 win, possibly our best game of the year.

But we’d lose our last game to the 9ers and finish last in our division at 6-11, swept by Seattle and San Fran.

Say what we did about Lance, we were 5-6 with him starting. After the QB switch, we went 1-5.

Hooker had seduced us (Not the first time that’s happened, right, gents). During the preseason, we were enamored with his deep ball, thought he had better pocket presence. We both wanted to go to him eventually. We believed the offense could be better with him.

We were very wrong. The offense got significantly worse when we made the change and Hooker quickly dethroned Lance for the worst Madden quarterback I’ve ever had. Did Jon have some bad reads? Sure but Hooker’s ball placement was not good. He was worse in every metric.

Lance nor Hooker could lead us to 20 points. Over the course of the season, we were 4-2 when we scored 20, 2-9 when we didn’t.

If we had to do it over, we should’ve ran a lot more RPO’s and weaponized Lance’s athleticism. It was poor asset management on our part. We failed the players.

Defensively, the sack numbers were very disappointing, especially considering the investment we had put into the trenches. Quinnen Williams had a sad season and Hutchinson, our first overall pick, didn’t start making an impact until December.

Harrison Smith was fucking awful. He tied for our team lead in tackles, he was a strong box safety, good in the run game but this dude could not cover anything. I’d need two hands to count the big-play touchdown passes he gave up. I should’ve glued him to the bench or moved him to outside backer but I spent our 10th pick on him and couldn’t fathom how one of the best safeties of his generation could be this bad on Madden. He would not be on the team next year.

The turnover gap we had was just stupid. We had 11 passing touchdowns and 37 combined interceptions. Those numbers would be among the worst in NFL history. In 1988, Tampa Bay’s Vinny Testaverde threw 13 touchdowns and a Super Bowl era record 35 interceptions.

If we had trusted in Trey Lance, I don’t think we’re that bad (What a wild sentence to put on paper). Despite some nightmare stats, we still won six games. I didn’t know if we’d win four in preseason. We were 5-5 at one point. Our season was in our hands and we straight dropped it. That’s better than saying you never had a chance.

We weren’t bad. We just played bad. I truly believed that.

S1 Stats
Lance 133/196 for 1554, 67%, 7 TDs, 21 INTs, 64.0 rating
Hooker 93/156 for 958, 59%, 4 TDs, 16 INTs, 46.3 rating
Hubbard 273 carries for 1375, 5.0 ypc, 11 TDs (Offensive MVP)
Robinson Jr. 117 for 519, 4.4 ypc, 4 TDs
Meyers 65 receptions for 807, 4 TDs
Henry 60 for 707, 4 TDs
Bolton 99 tackles, 15 TFL (Defensive MVP)
Hutchinson 39 tackles, 25 TFL, 8 sacks
Elliott 76 tackles, 11 TFL, 3.5 sacks, INT
Spillane 23 tackles, 8 TFL, 4 sacks
Little 20/22 for 90%, 27/27 XP for 100%
Team Stats
Offense 270 ypg (32nd), 137 pass (32nd), 133 rush (1st), 15.8 ppg (32nd)
Defense 279 ypg (2nd), 208 pass (6th) 71 rush (2nd), 24.2 pag (25th)
28 sacks (22nd), 6 fumbles, 8 INTs

Awards
Pro Bowl (2)
Hubbard, Nelson
Conference
Best RB: Hubbard/6th
Best OL: Allen/4th, Brown/7th
Best DL: Hutch/5th
Best K: Little/4th

Chuba Hubbard led the league in rushing despite starting only 11 games but was left entirely off the Offensive Player of the Year list. How are you the sixth-best in your own conference when you lead the league in rushing? I know we were awful but he was a helluva player for us this season.

The Patriots, led by Dak Prescott, beat Tampa Bay and Joe Burrow for their record-seventh Lombardi.

2/Night and Day

Our passing offense sucked ass. Outside of Meyers and Henry, fire everyone.

Our offensive coordinator, Nick Gregory, shot out of a cannon because when the quarterbacking is that bad, the coach gotta go. New man Jamie Rodriguez was a pocket passing specialist. Couldn’t be worse, right?

Trashed the playbook. We’d be running Ben Johnson’s Lions scripts. He had crafted one of the best offenses in football in Detroit, winning Assistant Coach of the Year in 2024. Hopefully, his designs and some Rodriguez tutelage would spur change.

Retirements
QB Tyrod Taylor, CB Jason Verrrett

After a 6-11 season, few of our free agents wanted to return. Christian Darrisaw was our first pick on offense. He was a 96 overall 25-year-old. We had to have him. We didn’t score points but our offensive line was the Ninth Wonder of the World, a wonder that created the league’s best rushing attack last season. He was a team captain and we brought out the Brinks truck: five years and $150 million, a $30 AAV. In 2025, that would make him the highest-paid tackle in the league. No regrets.

Christian Gonzalez also wanted out but it was my opinion, other than quarterback and receiver, corner was our weakest position. I actually lowballed because I wanted to test free agency as well, to see what his market might be.

Never came to that. Gonzalez agreed to what I believed was an extreme bargain: five years and $45, only $9 a year. That would put him at CB30 here in ‘25. Gonzalez was only 22.

Our last quandary was Brian Robinson Jr. Only seven teams in NFL history have had two 1000-yard rushers. I believed Hubbard and Robinson could do that. We would tag Robinson for $12 million. Next year, both players would be free agents and we could look at long-term deals then.

Re-signs
LT Christian Darrisaw 5yr/$150
CB Christian Gonzalez 5/45
RB Brian Robinson Jr 1/12 (tag)

FA losses
LB Zack Baun 3yr/$21.5 WAS
LB Nik Bonitto 2/6.5 PHI
RB Ameer Abdullah 1/1.29 WAS
K Cam Little 1/1.03 MIA

The free agent class was extremely weak. We grabbed linebacker depth and an upgrade at kicker in Jake Moody (97 kick power) but it was otherwise a wasteland of a spring. The draft better be plentiful.

FA adds
LB Tommy Eichenberg 2yr/$12
K Jake Moody 3/10.2
LB Alex Singleton 1/6
MLB Eric Kendricks 1/5
G Sidy Sow 1/4
QB Andy Dalton 1/3.5
CB Ahkello Witherspoon 1/3

We needed corner badly, so we flipped receiver Josh Palmer, who had been banished to the shadow realm, for CB Tyrique Stevenson, two sixth rounders and a seventh. In real life, Stevenson is famous for taunting the crowd while a Hail Mary was going on, then tipping the prayer to the Commanders Noah Brown for the game-winning score. It was one of the most boneheaded plays in recent sports history. We had forgotten about this when we traded for him and were not thrilled upon realizing it. No wonder we got such a great deal! We had to trust our pedigree, that we could coach him up and turn him into the player he could be.

We were selecting fourth overall, the highest I’d ever selected without a trade. It was a bountiful quarterback class, five projected in the top-ten.

We didn’t love any of them.

Quarterback-needy teams often reach for a passer they know is a work in progress. He’s not a slam dunk prospect but they need a QB so they roll the dice. We weren’t going to do that. If we didn’t believe in you, we weren’t gonna pretend we did.

We actually felt the top half of the first round was underwhelming and so we traded the pick, something I’m sure angered our fan base. You suck all season for that pick and then you trade it away?!

We moved to 12 and netted 3rd, 6th and 7th round picks. It was a terrible return that aged even worse but there truly wasn’t anyone we wanted. Our roster needed a lot of work. We just needed lottery tickets.

We flipped from 12 to 20, 20 to 25 and 25 to 30, trading down four times in the first round. In total, we offloaded Harrison Smith and the 4th overall pick for the 30th, 84th and a 7th in this draft and for next year, a 2, 3, 3, 5, 5 and 6 and a 3 and 7 in two years. Altogether, the 4th for 11 picks. We were laying the groundwork for a true construction project, bottom up, not only because our first season was an embarrassment but because it’s what this franchise needed. We didn’t get any additional firsts but we had the collateral to move up going forward or we could throw so many selections at the draft board, we were bound to hit on someone. We went 6-11. We were not a piece or two away and we weren’t going to make decisions like we were.

In past franchises, my first-ever picks became perennial stars. Defensive end Tahrick Harvey (where he went to school is lost to history) was a block-shedding bully in Oakland. Texas A&M pass rusher Rafael Cheek was a five-time Defensive Player of the Year, a 200-sack man and Hall of Famer for the Jags. Oklahoma tight end Joey Wheeler was a team leader, one of the best of his era in Detroit. Who would be the Cardinals first and would he deliver in the same way as his predecessors?

With the 30th pick, it was strong safety Matthew Harris out of Notre Dame, the Harrison Smith replacement. Curiously enough, Smith in real life was taken 29th overall out of…Notre Dame.

Harris was the top man on our board from the start and he’s why we kept dropping. Harris was 19th in true value, a hidden development and a 75 overall. Swish!

Two of those five passers fell into the second but despite a wealth of riches in the running back room, we took Chuck Knox. His athletic profile was off the charts, a speedster out of LSU and the 31st true value, a second first-round talent. He was a 74 and hidden dev.

Then, our first mishap. This draft had a deathly thin receiver crew and only one we truly loved, Ja’Mario Reese. Just as we were preparing to trade back into the second, division-rival Seattle nabbed him. I could feel my blood steam.

In the third, I prepared for Bobby Wagner’s retirement with Nathan Hunter. The Aggie was also a hidden dev. What a fantastic start.

In the fourth, we took the only quarterback who caught our eye: Earl Todd from BYU. PLEASE, don’t be related to Richard Todd!

S2 Draft
1/S Matthew Harris (Notre Dame)
2/RB Chuck Knox (LSU)
3/MLB Nathan Hunter (Texas A&M), DE Mark Frost (Iowa State)
4/QB Earl Todd (BYU)
6/CB Bruce Jeffers (Mississippi State), OT Eugene McDowell (Texas)
7/LB Kevin Saunders (Georgia Southern)

It’s true: one offensive player in the first three rounds after a disastrous offensive showing but we felt great about our draft. Harris, Knox, Hunter and Todd would all see regular playing time, instant contributors.

With our receiver cabinet all but empty, we moved corner James Bradberry and a sixth for wideout Xavier Legette, a 77 overall with three years left on his deal. In real life, Legette is a former first round pick of the Carolina Panthers.

From post-draft free agency, we added Jacoby Brissett and the best pass catchers on the market. Chuba Hubbard unlocked superstar development after leading the league in rushing.

While our defense struggled mightily in exhibitions, Emmanuel Ogbah recorded a couple sacks and free agent safety Ryan Neal was noticeable as well. However, the preseason most valuable player, far and away, was Earl Todd. Todd threw three scores in his first action and was an immediate upgrade to Lance and Hooker. Neither touched the field and both were preseason cuts.

Preseason
Adds
QB Jacoby Brissett, WR KaVontae Turpin, WR Ashton Dulin, C Nick Gates, CB Mike Hilton, S Ryan Neal, P Sam Saunders
Cuts
QB Trey Lance, QB Hendon Hooker
MVP QB Earl Todd
Captains Robinson Jr.(2), Darrisaw(2), Hutchinson(2), Quinnen(2), Wagner(2)
OC Jamie Rodriguez (Ben Johnson/DET), DC Sammy Rios (Spagnuolo/KC)

The start of our second chapter was against the Philadelphia Eagles, the worst team in the league last season and their first overall pick, quarterback Hayden Gray. First play, Harris pick-six. Yes, really. The defense would force a red zone field goal on their second turn and on the third, a Christian Barmore pressure would create another Harris interception.

Christian Gonzalez would get in on the fun with a pick-six of his own and Quinnen Williams would grab two sacks in a 30-6 smacking in our opener. The home win would give Fitzpatrick his first winning record. It was the most complete game we had played, a thorough ass-kicking.

Harris put up a demonic performance: two tackles, sack, pass deflection, two interceptions and a touchdown, earning Defensive Player of the Week in his first ever start. I imagine a lot of analysts and fans excoriated us all summer for skipping on a quarterback in the first round of the draft. Not so dumb now, huh?

But things would ramp up quickly with the reigning NFC champion Tampa Bay Bucs. It was Joe Burrow and an offensive line that rivaled ours: Andrew Thomas, Tyler Smith, Creed Humphrey, Wyatt Teller, Andrew Wylie, overalls 92/91/93/87/77.

The first notable play was by another rookie, middle linebacker Nathan Hunter, forcing a fumble on a punt return. Corner Mike Hilton, part of the league’s preseason cuts, made a quick imprint for Arizona, returning it for six. Gonzalez recovered a fumble, his second takeaway in as many weeks. Those stolen possessions might have been the difference because Burrow was fantastic: 20/24 for 232 and two scores.

Rookie passer Earl Todd threw for nearly 200 and a touchdown in his second career start, leading a field goal drive in the final minute to seal the win, a 27-24 walkoff by new kicker Jake Moody. It was only 2-0 but it felt like so much more than that.

Right after Burrow, another one of the big four quarterbacks, Josh Allen. We’d go up 17-0 and with the Colts on the 1, stuff three straight to force a field goal. The red zone defense had been phenomenal to start the season. Indy put together a furious rally but came up short, 20-17.

Sadly, it wasn’t all good news: Chuba Hubbard suffered a partial PCL tear, a 10-week injury in a contract year but we had not only the best offensive line in the league but the top running back room. Even without Hubbard, the Cards run continued. Both Robinson and Knox would go over 100 yards the following week in a 22-19 win.

Do not forget about the Sahara defense, finally living up to its name. Free safety Xavier Woods and Gonzalez snagged end zone interceptions and Robert Spillane, once again on a snap count, made 1.5 sacks. Robinson went over 100 with two scores for a second straight week in a 20-7 win over San Fran.

Next week, Harris adds an end zone pick of his own. In the second half, an 18-play, nine-minute drive demoralized Green Bay for our sixth straight win. Thus far, we had scored 20+ in all six and only allowed 20+ once.

Our key contributors from last season were mostly the same. Other than Harris, Knox, Hunter and Todd, our only other new starters were WR Xavier Legette and corner Tyrique Stevenson.

But it was night and day. Todd had only three touchdowns but just three interceptions. My defense stole a lot of possessions for us. Harris eliminated the one-play scores that belayed us last season. We weren’t sure if we were a true contender yet or simply a playoff team but everyone in the locker room was happy with our success.

Everyone except Jakobi Meyers. He had a sit-down with us and complained he wasn’t getting used enough. It was true. He had 65 catches for us last season and through six contests, had only 19 but we were winning. Wasn’t that the goal, good of the team? Meyers all but said, “Use me or trade me.”

Prior to him opening his mouth, we were prepared to overpay him, offer a $20 million a year deal when his contract was up. Now, it looked like he might be on his way out despite our success. Truly can’t please everyone.

A bye week didn’t stop the momentum. Jon’s offense scored three straight possessions to start the game against the 5-2 Titans, cementing a 7-0 start and our first ever shutout. The Sahara gave up a measly 55 yards while Todd passed for a career-high 205 and two scores to the malcontent Meyers.

We got Meyers the usage he asked for that week but he still complained afterwards, asking for 100 receptions by the end of the season. That was never gonna happen and we told him that. He requested a trade. What an asshole.

But Meyers’ poor attitude couldn’t ruin our spirits. Our rookies had unlocked their development traits. Safety Matthew Harris and linebacker Nathan Hunter were both stars and runner Chuck Knox was a superstar. We had absolutely smashed our first draft.

After a second straight shutout for the Sahara, a 28-0 win over the Rams, we escaped on another walkoff field goal, 23-20, to keep the win streak alive.

The 9-0 Cards vs the 9-1 Texans: Lamar Jackson, King Henry and Davante Adams, best scoring offense in the league. We were up 17-10 at half and the Texans got lost in the Sahara in the second. Our domination in the third quarter week after week was becoming a calling card. Knox had his first three-touchdown game in a runaway blockbuster win, 34-10.

The stretch ended in our rematch divisional with the Rams, a furious comeback just short but we’d set a Cardinals franchise record, a 10-win streak to start a season, the previous record being 7 in 1970.

The next week, Todd’s worst game of the season, a three-interception day and yet he led a game-winning, two-minute drive in a one-point escape. He had a strong bounceback days later, a two touchdown, 200-yard game and another deciding score in the final minute in a heist in Seattle. We absolutely could have gone 0-3 in our last trio. Earl Todd said no.

Yet, the rest of the season didn’t feel as dominant. We went 4-3 the rest of the way and got carbombed in Atlanta. Jon’s offense punted six times in a 20-14 loss, a score that didn’t reflect how thoroughly we were outplayed.

The finale went about as poorly as it could have. Meyers tore his rotator cuff, out for the season. Quinnen Williams dislocated his elbow, would miss a month. It took the wind out of our sails but thankfully, still won the Cardinals their first-ever one-seed with a 14-3 record.

Todd completed an NFL rookie-record 74% of his passes. His 2700 yards and 16/9 touchdown/interception split was nothing crazy but it was excellent compared to last season, far better than we had hoped for. He was the runaway Offensive MVP.

In my history of Madden franchises, only two players have ever won Defensive Rookie of the Year, both during our Jaguars dynasty: pass rushers Joe Fender and Maxey Poli-Dixon. Safety Matthew Harris, our first ever Cardinals draft pick, became the third. His addition, along with Tyrique Stevenson at CB2 and MLB Nathan Hunter, made our pass defense a lot stronger and it helped our pass rush. We improved by 16 sacks this season and allowed nearly 10 fewer points per contest.

Back Chuck Knox and Todd both finished on the OROY ballot, with the receiver we wanted in the draft, Seattle’s Ja’Mario Reese, getting the nod. Fitzpatrick, after a rocky intro, won Coach of the Year in his sequel season.

Brian Robinson finished third in rushing, making the Pro Bowl. Our offensive line (Darrisaw, Nelson, Dickerson, Brown) all made it except for center Brian Allen, who missed a month with injury. Our top-ranked defense only sent Harris. Gonzalez got snubbed. Still, with Moody, that gave us seven Pro Bowlers, a big leap from last year’s two.

But how were we gonna win a playoff game without WR1, DT1? Ashton Dulin is in the slot now? ASHTON DULIN?! Legette as the 1? We had come so far, had set a new Cardinals franchise record for wins in a season (14) and yet, if it didn’t end with a playoff win, it would feel like a failure.

S2 Stats
Todd 252/338 for 2732, 74% (rookie record), 16 TDs, 9 INTs, 102.5 rating (Offensive MVP)
Robinson 240 carries for 1282, 5.3 ypc, 14 TDs
Knox 149 for 722, 4.8 ypc, 7 TDs
Meyers 70 receptions for 802, 4 TDs
Legette 47 for 530, 4 TDs
Harris 77 tackles, 8 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 4 INTs, 4 PDs, TD (Defensive MVP)
Gonzalez 73 tackles, 7 TFL, 3 INTs, 7 PDs, FF, TD
Hutchinson 33 tackles, 16 TFL, 10.5 sacks
Ogbah 29 tackles, 13 TFL, 7.5 sacks
Moody 25/27 for 92%, 46/46 XP for 100%
Team Stats
Offense 290 ypg (28th), 152 pass (32nd), 139 rush (1st), 24.2 ppg (12th)
Last 270, 137, 133, 15.8
Defense 232 ypg (1st), 178 pass (1st), 54 rush (1st), 15.4 pag (1st)
Last 279, 208, 71, 24.2
44 sacks (7th), 3 fumbles, 11 INTs
Last 28, 6, 8

Awards
COY: Fitzpatrick
OROY: Knox/5th, Todd/8th
DROY: Harris, Hunter/7th
Pro Bowl (7)
Robinson, Darrisaw, Nelson(2), Dickerson, Brown, Harris, Moody
Conference
Best RB: Robinson/5th
Best OL: Dickerson/3rd, Nelson/5th
Best DL: Hutch/10th
Best DB: Harris/3rd
Best K: Moody

Our first playoff game would be a rematch against the Falcons. Rookie passer Russ Hewitt had diced me before but not today. Jordan Davis got a sack on the first play and Christian Barmore, filling in for the injured Quinnen Williams, took Hewitt down on third.

That first series set the tone. The Sahara forced four three-and-outs and allowed 63 total yards while registering five sacks. Our star offensive line battered the Falcons all afternoon and our trio of backs, who we had nicknamed King Ghirodah, ran a combined 36 times for 214 yards and three scores. Todd threw for only 85 yards in his first playoff performance but didn’t need to do much. The Drag Show was a bulldozer start to finish in the most dominant game of the Fitzpatrick era, a 28-0 slaughter.

It was the third conference championship in the Super Bowl era for the Cardinals and on the other sideline stood the fearsome Patrick Mahomes and the 13-4 Cowboys. We battled them for the top seed all season. They had the second-best scoring offense and defense and were fifth and second in yardage, respectively. Mahomes, Rhamondre Stevenson, Keaton Mitchell, Kyle Juszczyk, Diontae Johnson and Jauan Jennings on offense. On defense, the massive Vita Vea plugged the middle, Gregory Rousseau and Haason Reddick rushed the edge and Marlon Humphrey in the secondary. This team was scary.

It was 6-0 Cowboys into the second. Moody missed a 55-yarder on our first drive. A Trent Brown holding penalty nullified a score and gave us 3rd and 15 in the red zone. Earl Todd, who was far faster than we gave him credit for, scrambled and did the John Elway helicopter to reach for the first. That got us hyped, seeing how much he wanted it and it truly felt like the game turned on that play. Had he fumbled there, I think we lose. Instead, Hubbard scored on the next down and Mahomes had 55 seconds before half.

Tyrique Stevenson picked him off, the ball to the Cards with 25 seconds left. Moody redeemed himself, netting a kick as time expired for a 10-6 halftime lead.

Returner KaVontae Turpin took the second half kickoff to the house, the first kick return score for the Fitzpatrick Cards. What a time for it. Linebacker Nick Bolton would intercept Mahomes the next possession and the Cards would capitalize. Dallas Coach Mike McCarthy would punt on 4th and 1 down 18 points and Robinson would mail an 82-yard scamper to give us a 31-6 lead halfway through the third. It was over.

King Ghidorah netted 200 yards and another three scores. Jon’s offense was a tremendous 9/11 on third down.

A historic Cardinals season achieved yet another milestone: their second conference title and their second Lombardi test.

It was Dak Prescott’s Patriots, a wildcard team this year, looking for the repeat and trophy #8. Dak, Isiah Pacheco, Keenan Allen, Tee Higgins, Khalil Shakir, Travis Kelce, Terron Armstead, a fantasy team offensive unit. Trent McDuffie, Talanoa Hufanga, Bryce Hall on defense.

We got rocked on the first drive. New England pulled out a slow, slogging opening but Hutchinson, who had been mostly invisible this playoff run, sacked Dak on third and goal. All their work and they only came away with three. Jon’s offense scored seven and the Sahara started making things blurry, as the desert does, forcing a three-and-out.

We had a chance to knock them on the mat and it looked like we were going to until Todd threw a pick-six to Hufanga on the goal line, a 14-point swing. It could’ve been 14-3 Cards. Instead, it was 10-7 Boston Boys.

The following drive, Todd would run QB sneak on 4th and 1 in field goal range. Didn’t get it but the Sahara would bail him out with another Patriots three-and-out.

Hunter Henry tore his PCL, out for the game and Hayden Hurst, who we added midseason after an Austin Hooper injury, took a vertical 45 yards on a two-minute drill. Chubba Hubba Bubblegum would get it in and despite a sloppy offensive showing, we were up 14-10 at half.

Todd came out and threw another pick-six. The moment was absolutely getting to him. Three huge errors that cost us points. The Sahara had dominated the Patriots but Todd had gifted New England 14. It could’ve been 31-3, a carpet bombing. Instead, Moody would hit from 55 and it was tied at 17 going into the fourth.

Another stop for the #1 defense in football and Jon’s offense would get it to the two. Normally, we’d go for it but the attack had been too shaky tonight. Jon kicked the field goal. Hopefully, that decision wouldn’t haunt us forever.

The ensuing drive, slot corner Isaiah Rodgers got the user lurk on a seam ball to Kelce. Cards scored and that’s all she wrote, a 27-17 win, the first Super Bowl in red bird history.

In what would be the final performance for King Ghidorah, the three-headed monster ran 35 times for 188 and yet another three scores. Robinson, an impending free agent, won Super Bowl MVP: 23 carries for 153 and six points. He unlocked his superstar trait, making it official: King Ghidorah was three superstar running backs. God, we’d miss this.

I was stunned. We were 6-11 last year, some of the worst quarterbacking in the history of professional football. What just happened?!

3/West Coast Raid

The sad thing about success: it fades fast.

We had set franchise records for wins and win streak. Todd set an NFL rookie record for completion percentage. We had won the Cardinals first Super Bowl. We did it.

And then it was over, all in the past and the present came roaring to our desk.

Retirements
QB Jacoby Brissett, QB Andy Dalton

Offensive coordinator Jamie Rodriguez had recreated the offense in a season and now was the head coach of the division-rival San Francisco 49ers. Manager of the defense Sammy Rios put in two good years for us but left to lead Jacksonville. Fitzpatrick officially had a coaching tree but we would need to rebuild the staff in our quest to repeat.

Harry Greer would bring a power run influence to our offense while Jackson Pierce’s 3-4 background would hopefully lead to more sack production from our defensive line. The pass rush improved this season but not because of Hutch or Quinnen. I’m a big fan of both players in real life but neither had lived up to their reputation. Hutch hadn’t hit 11 sacks in either season. Emmanuel Ogbah was a 72 overall and nearly matched his production. Quinnen just ate double teams. We had achieved despite massively missing on our first two draft picks.

Mid-year, we re-signed slot corner Isaiah Rodgers but goofed the numbers. He asked for 2yr/$10. We wanted to offer 10.5 but instead gave 10.5 per year, more than Gonzalez (I had some whiskey shots that night, leave me alone). It was only two years so not the worst mistake to make but annoying. Rodgers ended up playing much better after the extension though and his game-sealing interception in the Super Bowl validated the deal.

We had key players hit free agency, the first the aforementioned Quinnen Williams, who asked for a ridiculous $37.5 AAV over three years. It is currently September 2025 and Chris Jones makes $31 per year in real life. Most of top of the market at defensive tackle makes $24.

Quinnen, who hadn’t put together five sacks either season or numbers even worth penning for this archive, asking for top passer rusher money was beyond absurd. Jon wanted to tag him a year but his request was so insulting, I told him to kick rocks. He was a 99 overall and I didn’t care. He didn’t play like one. I wasn’t paying a run stuffer the GDP of a small country.

Instead, we extended Jordan Davis, a very fine player in his own right, for less than half, $18 per over three. To Quinnen’s credit, he did get that $37.5 from the Chargers but fuck that.

BRob had a great year coming off a season-ending injury. If Madden had Comeback Player of the Year, he would’ve been a strong candidate. He had a playoff run, won a well-deserved Super Bowl MVP but we couldn’t keep him and Hubbard. Chuba wanted $8, Robinson wanted $11 and that’s what it came down to. We’d miss him dearly but see him twice a year in Seattle.

Pro Bowl right tackle Trent Brown only wanted a one year extension but we decided to draft a tackle fresh. Quinnen, Robinson and Brown were the top three players of the free agent market at 99/92/90 overall respectively.

Re-signs
DT Jordan Davis 3yr/$54
RB Chuba Hubbard 3/24
CB Isaiah Rodgers 2/21
WR Quez Watkins 1/4

FA losses
DT Quinnen Williams 3yr/$111.7 LAC
RB Brian Robinson Jr. 3/34 SEA
DE Christian Barmore 2/28.3 CIN
RT Trent Brown 1/24.7 NYG
CB Mike Hilton 1/3 WAS

We don’t usually do much in free agency and that would be the case in season three: two backup veterans on the offensive line and another new punter. Hopefully, Stout would be…stout.

FA adds
C Garrett Bradbury 1yr/$5.5
OT D.J. Humphries 1/5
P Jordan Stout 1/1.5

This ended up being one of the largest draft classes we ever had. We won the Super Bowl and had no interest in relinquishing the title.

But it didn’t start off well. I wanted CB Larry Starks. His grades were excellent, A’s across the board, our scouts loved him, his combine was stellar. He was going to be the best of the entire draft class, I knew it, yet he wasn’t projected to go in the top-ten. I was ready to move multiple firsts to go up and get him if he fell. We didn’t have many hitting free agency next year so we wouldn’t need the picks anyway yet Jon fought me the whole way on it. Well, Starks went fifth overall to the Raiders. After the draft, we saw he was an 81 overall with 97 speed, the best player as I said he’d be. My heart was indeed crushed. It was Aleon Pleasants from my Lions days all over again.

For the second straight year, we’d miss out on the top CBs and that hurt my soul. Despite our struggles in the pass rush department, this wasn’t a good class so we didn’t get any defensive ends either.

Other than that, phenomenal draft. We moved up in the first round for our next right tackle, using picks from our 4th overall haul the year before to make the climb.

I saw the difference great safety play can make with Matthew Harris. Corners are more valuable than safeties but the gap is not as large as I once believed. After d-line, I prioritized middle linebacker as the leader of the defense and always put corner third in the hierarchy with a sizable gap before safety. No longer. We took DaQuan Peters out of Utah as the new free safety, moving Xavier Woods for a second and fourth. Woods played every game for us over our first two seasons and was a valuable piece to a Super Bowl champion. I simply saw a starlet and wanted an upgrade to the secondary. Peters was the 34th rated player.

Outside of the first round, it was an onslaught of weapons for our now sophomore passer, Earl Todd. Second rounder Trevor Diggs was 10th in true talent, one of the best of the class and fellow wideout Kyle Kelly was 27th, giving Todd two first-round grade receivers. Tight end Clayton Logan and new head of the backfield monster, runner Jaden Mason, were both top-50 talents.

For the second time in our history, we drafted three players from the same school, all California boys: tight end Michael Powell, defensive tackle Marquee Crockett and the above-mentioned Kelly. The only other time I’d done that was during our Jags days (Michigan State’s LT Denton Condo, CB Henry Luke and QB Lawrence Hebert).

After the fourth round, it’s normally a crapshoot. We took swings at outside linebacker, mostly looking for depth and potential practice squad players. Yet another pass catcher, Jeremy Hopkins, was the steal of the later rounds.

It was a west coast raid, with 10 players coming from the west side. Altogether, seven of our selections were 72+ overalls and nine were hidden development (All of our 1st-4th round picks plus Hopkins), meaning we had real contributors in this crop.

Our team ratings would take a hit with the free agent losses but this group got us pumped for season three.

S3 Draft
1/OT Victor Armstead (North Carolina), S DaQuan Peters (Utah)
2/WR Trevor Diggs (USC), TE Michael Powell (California)
3/DT Marquee Crockett (California), WR Kyle Kelly (California)
4/RB Jaden Mason (Ohio State), TE Clayton Logan (Washington)
5/LB Tevyn Randle (USC), LB Tyrese Thompkins (Wyoming)
6/LB Cedric Caldwell (Ohio State), WR Jeremy Hopkins (Arizona State)
7/QB Frank Carder (Hawaii), OT Ross Graham (Auburn)

While I was still sad about not getting a rookie corner, last year’s sixth round choice, DB Bruce Jeffers, upped my spirits by unlocking star development. Reigning DROY Matthew Harris came into camp as a Superstar X Factor and while we had X Factors turned off, hard not to get hyped, knowing your first ever draft choice is a fucking rockstar.

Diggs, Kelly, Powell and Hopkins all had three catches in our first preseason game but the biggest takeaway from our scrimmage was how dominant the backup offensive line was with Bradbury and Humphries slotted in. Lanes for days and halfback Jaden Mason cruised: 18 carries for 163 and three touchdowns.

Mason would have a second three-score game during preseason, running away with Preseason MVP. All three receivers got touches, Powell showed some speed and Crockett was hungry, a defensive tackle who was covering screens with haste.

It was a new season and we’d have four new captains. Darrisaw would be the only holdover. Todd had changed the direction of the franchise on offense and Quenton Nelson had made back-to-back Pro Bowls. Christian Gonzalez and Matthew Harris were absolute ballhawks.

Hutchinson would lose his captaincy. How would he respond? Would he become who we knew he could be or become a trade piece?

Preseason
Adds
QB Derek Carr, DE Za’Darius Smith, DE Julian Okwara, DT David Onyemata, CB Adoree’ Jackson
Cuts
TE Austin Hooper
MVP RB Jaden Mason
Captains Earl Todd, Darrisaw(3), Quenton Nelson, Christian Gonzalez, Matthew Harris
OC Harry Greer (Johnson/DET), DC Jackson Pierce (Spagnuolo/KC)

A week before the start of the season, Jon was working the phones and came upon an incredible offer. Multiple teams had offered an insane trade package: three first round picks for receiver Jakobi Meyers.

Meyers had asked for a trade the previous season and Jon decided to do his due diligence but this was…I mean, it was lunacy, right?

Meyers had two 65+ catch, 800+ yard seasons for us. Was that really worth one first rounder, let alone three? Meyers was in the final year of his deal. This made no sense.

But to the wise go the spoils. We stunned the football world: a Super Bowl champion traded their WR1 for three first rounders a week before kickoff. Xavier Legette would slot in as WR1 while rookies Diggs and Kelly filled in at 2 and 3. Meyers would head to the New York Giants.

With Meyers gone, we lost three 90+ overall players on offense. We lost six overall points (we were a 91 rated attack; now we were 85) but we got younger with a lot of potential.

Our team did not see the trade as a doubt in their abilities. Quite the opposite. It was because we believed that we moved him. They responded.

In two games against our former offensive coordinator, Jamie Rodriguez and the San Fran 9ers, Todd went 15/16 for 143 and a TD and 16/17 for 164 and a score, two near perfect games. The latter was a 24-3 thrashing. The Sahara defense had 15 tackles for loss and six sacks.

Our lone loss through five was against the Chargers, a true contender. Todd threw a pick-six on the goal line to end half, a momentum killer. We rallied from 21-3 to within three with the ball at the end of the game but Todd threw a second pick-six. The Chargers won and Quinnen got his revenge, 28-18.

Our top-six draft selections all unlocked advanced development. Receiver Trevor Diggs (related to Stefon?), tight end Michael Powell, defensive tackle Marquee Crockett and safety DaQuan Peters all were stars. Our first selection, right tackle Victor Armstead, and our third Cali boy, WR Kyle Kelly, were superstars.

I decided to keep the good vibes going, extending middle backer Nick Bolton to a four-year, $60 million contract. Bolton and Hunter would man the middle for the foreseeable future.

Gonzalez would show off on Monday Night against Kansas City: Interception, forced fumble and recovery, tackle for loss, pass deflection and seven tackles en route to NFC Defensive Player of the Week. The Chiefs had a great roster but were no match. They were sieged 35-3. Todd had another efficient, two-touchdown performance while Knox went into bellcow mode: 25 carries for 161 and a score. Chuba added two 6’s and Hutch two sacks.

And the wins kept coming. In three games, the Sahara gave up six total points. Knox had another 100-yard game, something that would happen regularly this season and Hunter Henry had a career day: 7/120 and two end zone trips.

A divisional between 6-1 Arizona and 6-1 Seattle was close…for a little. Crockett would score a safety to give us a 16-10 lead, Bruce Jeffers would snag a pick-six and Chuba would rattle off his own 100-yard day in a 33-10 statement win.

It did not matter who we played. The cards kept flopping in the Cards favor.

We played the 8-2 Bills on Sunday Night, the number one passing offense. It was Jayden Daniels, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Brock Bowers, a talented unit. Didn’t matter, 31-13. Stevenson with a red zone pick (red zone picks were becoming a staple of the Sahara), another 173 and 2 from Todd and Harris, the reigning DROY, with a big day: 10 tackles, 3 TFL, 1.5 sacks, INT, PD.

Last season, Eagles passer Hayden Gray threw a pick-six on his first attempt to Harris on our first play of the season. This season, he threw an interception on his first attempt to Gonzalez. However, despite the bad start, Philly gave us our first real fight in a while, with the red narrowly escaping the green, 22-21.

A conference title rematch against Dallas and Mahomes was tight as well. Mahomes came in with a 29/2 split and the #1 scoring offense. They held a 24-14 halftime lead over us but the Sahara created a sandstorm for the second half and Todd led us back, securing the game-winning score with 18 seconds on the clock in a 28-24 win. It was a big play day for the offense, with Knox and Legette scoring from 50+ yards out. DeShon Elliott, Jordan Davis, Nathan Hunter and Gonzalez all registered two TFLs and Knox would win Offensive Player of the Week: 23 for 138, score and one six-yard receiving trip. The win streak was up to nine and we were 12-1.

Our last two games were as dominant as we ever were: Elliott pick-six, a Jaden Mason kickoff return touchdown and a 42-point outing. Chucky and Mason went over 100 and a score.

Mason continued his special teams highlights in our finale vs 12-4 Seattle with a 90-yard kickoff return to start the game, also ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns in a career-high 45-point outburst for the Fitzpatrick offense. Somehow didn’t win player of the week but unlocked superstar, giving us three rookie superstars and seven total on the team (Knox, Hubbard, Mason, Armstead, Kelly, Hutchinson, Harris). Davis had three sacks and Gonzo had three pass breakups in the 45-10 win.

Last season, Fitzmagic set a new Cardinals single-season record for wins with 14. This year, another new benchmark: 16-1.

We had lost a lot of star power and both coordinators this spring. We played a last place schedule in S2 but a first place docket this campaign and yet the engine roared all the louder. Todd had his first 3000-yard season (though a few more picks than we would’ve liked) while Knox led the league in rushing and set a Cardinals franchise record with 1667 yards. Despite this, Knox was left off the Offensive Player of the Year and MVP ballots. What’s a guy gotta do?

Hubbard saw a decrease in touches but became a surefire scorer, dumping a franchise-record 19 touchdowns in goal line work.

For the first time in our Madden history, through all the years Jon and I have played, we had three backs finish with over 500 yards. This is a feat few modern teams have achieved, the most recent I could find being the 2019 49ers when Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman all went over 500. Generally, that’s not a mark you want to set because it probably means you had injuries or a need for a true RB1. That was not the case for us. MechaGhidorah, our running back trio, was just that good.

Our new coordinators, Harry Greer and Jackson Pierce, deserved a lot of credit. Our offense averaged 300 yards and nearly 30 a game for the first time while the defense held teams to under 200 and led the league in sacks. The defense gave up 12.6 a game. In 19 seasons, Jon’s Jaguars only managed that four times. The S3 Sahara was special..

Two seasons ago, we were last in scoring. Now, we were second. For their efforts and the work of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Fitz won his second consecutive Coach of the Year award.

Knox became our first back to win best back in conference while Gonzalez won Best DB and Quenton Nelson, the leader of our offensive line, won best lineman. Many of our rookies found their way onto the ROY ballots, with receiver Kyle Kelly just missing the prize.

We’d once again send seven players to the Pro Bowl, though a year after Gonzalez got snubbed, it was Harris who now found himself off the chart. For the second straight season, we sent a rookie safety to the Pro Bowl: DaQuan Peters got the nod. While Hutchinson still wasn’t putting up the numbers I wanted, he continued to improve and was rewarded with his first Pro Bowl selection. Kicker Jake Moody had a perfect season, converting all of his 75 kicks and winning his second consecutive Best Kicker.

Our departed stars were noticeable this year, too. Meyers finished third for Offensive Player of the Year with a 1200, 13-touchdown season while former DC Sammy Rios came in third for Coach of the Year, leading Jacksonville to the 2-seed in the AFC. Robinson had an 1100-yard season for Seattle and Quinnen’s Chargers missed the playoffs. (Yes, I’m still bitter. The nerve of that guy!) Meyers, Robinson and former right tackle Trent Brown all made Pro Bowl.

Whether former or current, the Fitzpatrick Arizona Cardinals were no longer just a team that played on Sundays. We were a real brand.

S3 Stats
Todd 244/338 for 3037, 72%, 21 TDs, 16 INTs, 100.6 rating
Knox 317 carries for 1667, 5.3 ypc, 12 TDs (Offensive MVP)
Hubbard 123 for 514, 4.2 ypc, 19 TDs
Mason 94 for 573, 6.1 ypc, 6 TDs
Legette 63 receptions for 869, 7 TDs
Kelly 42 for 638, 5 TDs
Gonzalez 74 tackles, 6 TFL, sack, 5 INTs, 14 PDs, FF (Defensive MVP)
Harris 97 tackles, 11 TFL, 4 sacks, 2 INTs, 7 PDs
Hutchinson 35 tackles, 18 TFL, 10 sacks
Davis 43 tackles, 19 TFL, 8.5 sacks
Crockett 29 tackles, 17 TFL, 7 sacks
Moody 14/14 for 100%, 61/61 XP for 100%
Team Stats
Offense 337 ypg (7th), 173 pass (32nd), 164 rush (1st), 28.5 ppg (2nd)
Last: 290, 152, 139, 24.2
Defense 197 ypg (1st), 136 pass (1st), 61 rush (1st), 12.6 pag (1st)
53 sacks (1st), 4 fumbles, 17 INTs
Last: 232, 178, 54, 15.4
44, 3, 11

Awards
COY: Fitzpatrick(2)
OROY: Kelly/2nd, Diggs/4th, Mason/6th
DROY: Crockett/3rd, Peters/6th
Pro Bowl (7)
Knox, fullback James Mitchell, Darrisaw(2), Nelson(3), Hutchinson, Gonzalez, Peters
Conference
Best RB: Knox, Hubbard/8th
Best OL: Nelson, Dickerson/2nd, Armstead/3rd
Best DL: Hutch/7th, Davis/9th
Best DB: Gonzalez, Harris/9th
Best K: Moody(2)

Our first test en route to repeating was division-rival Seattle, who we had squashed twice already. Todd would throw a red zone pick but yet another Chubba Hubba goal line drive would put us up 10-3 at half. The turning point was the Seahawks going for it on 4th and 1 at the Arizona 40. They got stuffed and on the very next play, Knox galloped a long one in. An end zone INT by Gonzo sealed it: 20-3, Cardinals proving themselves the superior bird a third time.

Knox had 122 and a score but this game was about the defense. Defensive tackle Marquee Crockett, who nearly won Defensive Rookie of the Year, set a Cardinals franchise rookie record with three sacks in a game. As a team, the Sahara had 13 TFLs.

Now, it was daaaaa Bears. Chicago had Ja’Marr Chase and Drake London at receiver, Dexter Lawrence and Dre Greenlaw on defense. Carey Dobson, the second-year starter, played well: 12/16 for 179 and 2. Chicago scored three straight possessions to start the game and it was runner Elijah Mitchell doing the damage, putting up most of his 130 scrimmage yards in the first half.

With 28 seconds left, Jon got the ball to the Bear 36 and with just seven ticks, called an inside run, hoping to get five, call time and kick a field goal. Knox, the offensive line, the receivers, everyone, said fuck off. Knox escaped like a man running out of San Quentin and got us a 21-21 tie at half, one the defense did not deserve.

Jon, worried the Sahara wouldn’t hold, converted a 4th and 3 but failed a 4th and 2 on the ARI 44. Despite his doubts, the Sahara blew the Bears away, forcing two three-and-outs in the third quarter. The Drag Show offense waltzed its way down the field, a full quarter-burning drive, with Chuba pounding the ball across the line for the 28-21 win.

It was a runner’s paradise for MechaGhidorah. Knox had 26 touches for 166 and two scores, earning his X-factor. We have X-factors turned off but Knox had established himself as a monster. Hubbard and Jaden Mason each had 58 yards and a score.

Despite a strong Bears offensive showing, Chase went catchless and London had only two receptions for 27. Gonzalez and Stevenson were superb.

In our final test to retain our crown, it was the Jaguars, our old love and Sammy Rios, our former DC. Jags Land had gotten their first conference title without us. They were third in scoring and passing, eighth on the ground and ninth against it. David Montgomery, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rondale Moore, Evan Engram at the skill groups, T.J. Watt, Edgerrin Cooper, Nate Wiggins, Tyrann Mathieu on defense but the quarterback? 93 overall Anthony Richardson? Really?

The draft bust would run the offense down the field but Gonzalez made the play that decided the game: a pick-six in the red zone. It was the first drive but it was hard to see Florida’s finest coming back from that.

Arizona forced a three-and-out, Cards score. Repeat and just like that it was 21-0 Bird Gang.

Pretty much everything that could’ve gone right for Glendale did. Jon called a play action rollout screen that absolutely, positively should not have worked but as we have often said, the Earl of Todd is far faster than you expect. He somehow outran Watt and two defensive tackles, all of whom came through untouched, for a 26-yard touchdown.

It was an incineration, a 42-10 disintegration. In all our Super Bowl victories, we had never won a title that decisively, by 32 points.

While Gonzalez had the play of the game, Chuck Knox had the performance: 24 carries for 148 and two touchdowns, two catches for 38 and another, winning MVP.

We had gone 6-11 our first year. Our last two runs, including playoffs? 36-4.

4/Thanos Arc

Retirements
QB Derek Carr, DT David Onyemata, MLB Bobby Wagner

With another trophy came two more vacancies. Offense designer Harry Greer left for Cincinnati and D coach Jackson Pierce for New England. The Patriots won the Super Bowl in our first year and were defeated on the biggest stage by us in year two but this season were surprisingly one of the worst in the league. Pierce would try to get them back on track.

New OC Wade Bridges was a vertical zone run mind with talents for open field specialists, perfect for the Drag Show offense that heavily relied on yards after the catch. DC Jon Grant preferred a base 3-4 and I hoped his perspective would do what Pierce’s did: continue to elevate our front.

Stevenson had worked out nice here and while I seesawed back and forth because of how loaded the upcoming corner class was, I decided to pay him. Center Brian Allen would stay, though we would need a replacement soon.

Re-signs
MLB Nick Bolton 4yr/$60
CB Tyrique Stevenson 3/30
C Brian Allen 2/13

FA losses
LB Tommy Eichenberg 2yr/$12 WAS

We don’t usually make big moves in the offseason but I was bloodthirsty. I wanted the killshot. The Cardinals organization and fanbase had waited a century to be dominant and we were gonna give it to them.

BREAKING NEWS:
CHAMPS TRADE CHUBA, 2ND FOR PASS RUSHER WILL ANDERSON JR.

Chuba was a great player for us, an athlete who deserved more touches. We had intended to keep him throughout his deal when we signed him but Jaden Mason grew like a virus. When we selected him in the fourth round out of Ohio State, we thought we were drafting an RB3 who could become a two but Mason was so much more than that.

Hubbard had two more years at an $8 million cap hit, a very reasonable price for his talents but we had two superstar backs on rookie contracts. We had a surplus and we felt the trade was good for both parties. Chuba, like BRob before him, deserved a heavier workload, one we couldn’t give him. He met with us during the season, saying he was disappointed about his usage but he was a good sport about it. He never demanded a trade but said he wanted a bigger role and that wasn’t likely to happen.

We had been leaning heavily on Hutchinson to provide all of our production on the edge. Not anymore. The end class had been uninspiring the last two Aprils and it was this spring, too. It was time to buy. Anderson was an 88 overall on the last year of his deal but it was difficult to imagine a scenario where Will Anderson Jr. and Aidan Hutchinson didn’t slaughter everyone.

The league was fucked.

And I loved it. Imagine the chaos on social media.

Grabbed an additional end, two veteran linemen and Mike Evans to mentor our young catcher crop.

FA adds
DE Austin Booker 2yr/$12
G Aaron Banks 2/11
WR Mike Evans 1/4.5
OT Chukwuma Okorafor 1/4.2
LB K’Lavon Chaisson 1/4

We did not stop pulling the trigger for the draft either, moving Super Bowl hero Isaiah Rodgers and our 32nd for the fifth overall choice (that’s foreclosure pricing), selecting corner Deion Ferguson. We were 3/3 taking defensive backs in the first round and I gave no fucks. Deion was an 83 overall, the second-highest rated player. He was even better than Larry Starks from last year.

We took another corner in the second, Edward Webb, the seventh-best prospect and a 77 overall. With Gonzalez and Stevenson extended, these two studs and our two first-round safeties in Harris and Peters, our DB room was set for the next three runs. Jon is obsessed with pass rush but man, I love building a demon secondary.

10 corners went in the first round of this auction and 10 ended up a 77+. Never seen that many at one position go at the first turn and I’ve certainly never seen a group of prospects all rated that high.

Both of our elite guards, Nelson and Dickerson, were in a contract year. We had full intention of re-signing them but if, for some reason, they went full Quinnen Williams, guard Craig Loud looked starting caliber.

S4 Draft
1/CB Deion Ferguson (Florida), G Craig Loud (Auburn)
2/CB Edward Webb (USC)
3/TE Marc Fischer (South Carolina)
6/LB C.J. Woolfolk (West Virginia)

This was the most aggressive offseason I’d ever had and I loved it. The back-to-back Super Bowl champions added Will Anderson Jr. and two top-seven prospects. This was our Thanos arc. Our goal was to eliminate all bad football in the NFL. Ye been warned.

Oh and for giggles, Saquon Barkley was still available in free agency after the draft so we added him as our third string carrier. He had a 77 injury rating but he was still an 80 overall. At worst, we’d flip him at the deadline. Remember when Jon wanted to take him with our third overall choice and first offensive pick in our inaugural draft? Yeah, good thing we didn’t do that.

For the first preseason thus far, we didn’t have a clear and obvious MVP but we did have some noticeable showings. Free agent add Austin Booker had four TFLs and 1.5 sacks in his first action. Pass rusher Mark Frost, who had done little in his first two seasons, had two sacks in two games but for the first time in our Cardinal days, the preseason MVP would not be a draft pick. It was an FA.

We have seen Drew Lock play in real life. He’s not very good but he stood out the most in our Madden exhibitions, completing 10/10 for 97 yards and a score in our second contest and adding some more quality tape in our third scrimmage. He’d stolen Frank Carder’s spot as QB2.

Preseason
Adds
QB Drew Lock, RB Saquon Barkley, DT D.J. Reader, S Taylor Rapp, P Corey Bojorquez
Cuts
LB Kevin Saunders
MVP QB Drew Lock
Captains Todd(2), Darrisaw(4), Nelson(2), Gonzalez(2), Harris(2)
OC Wade Bridges (Johnson/DET), DC Jon Grant (Spagnuolo/KC)

We began our fourth tour of duty with a 90 overall squad, a 91 offense and 89 defense, our best ratings thus far.

We beat Seattle three times last season and this year’s opener was no different: 44-13, our sixth straight victory in the rivalry I had coined “Bird Wars”. Rookie Edward Webb got a pick-six on the game’s first throw, which is exactly what Harris did his rookie year on his first target. Was history repeating itself? Another DROY winner?

Our early schedule mirrored our playoff run from last season. It was Chicago in round two again and it was another tight contest. Michael Powell, now a superstar dev, was starting at tight end over an oft-injured Henry. Had eight catches for 102 and a score in a narrow 24-17 triumph.

We won each of our next seven. Knox ran over 120 in five of those contests and Todd threw for over 200 in four straight. Rookie Deion Ferguson had a nine tackle, sack, interception performance that won him Defensive Player of the Week and Gonzalez grabbed the award the following match with two INTs, nearly returning both for six.

Our lone close contest was the LA Rams, the only divisional team who gave us competitive games. A Todd pick-six before half was a killer but we escaped with another win, 31-26, with Gonzo getting the game-sealing snag.

We scored 30+ in eight of nine and surrendered 20 or less in seven. We had a month straight of road games and won all four. We were crushing teams and a large part of it was the evolution of Jon’s offense. It had become more aggressive and was stretching the field vertically. Our skill group had named themselves the Laundromat because they’re always open. Our squad was putting defenders in the spin cycle.

On defense, despite strong team performance, I was pissed. We were halfway through the year and Hutch had 12 tackles and two sacks. How is that even possible? He’s a 98 overall!

Jacksonville got a Super Bowl rematch with us and we seemed to make every mistake in the book. Knox fumbled twice and was benched. We failed on 4th and inches, Mason fumbled on the goal line and Todd threw a pick-six. Halfway through the second quarter, it was 20-7 Jax.

But Jacksonville kicked two field goals on 4th and 1 and punted on two 4th and 1s, which got us back in the game. We scored a touchdown late but failed to convert the two-point conversion, losing 36-34 but what a game this was. It was a scoring bonanza.

Our run game totaled just 71 yards on 24 carries so Earl Todd fired everything: 24/35 for a career-high 441 and three touchdowns but four interceptions did us in. Slot receiver Kyle Kelly missed eight weeks with a dislocated ankle so it was former sixth-rounder Jeremy Hopkins in the slot, who caught seven for 143 and two scores. Trevor Diggs added seven for 157 and one, our first game with two 100-yard receivers but it still wasn’t enough. This loss snapped a 25-game winning streak, a new league record. Our last defeat was week four of S3.

Team came out heated, none hotter than Knox: 21 for 161, his fourth game over 160 this season. Added three touchdowns. Hopkins had a Fitzpatrick-high 12 receptions for 127 and the Cards scored 52 points, a new height for us. Our next three games were 31-3, 28-7, 42-16.

And while my frustrations with Hutch continued, Mr. Anderson had a sack and tackles for loss week after week. His first season with us was more productive than any campaign Hutchinson had thus far.

In response, I usered Hutchinson all game against Baltimore: 8 tackles, 7 TFLs, 5 sacks, FF, winning player of the week. That’s why I was so frustrated with Hutch. We knew greatness was in there but it only ever seemed to come out in December.

Second-last game of the year was a potential conference championship preview: Carolina was 12-3, the second scoring offense and best run defense. Panthers opening kickoff six, first allowed in the Fitz era but a Nathan Hunter strip sack ended a scoring drive for the cats and a Carolina doink from 54 got us the narrow win, 20-17.

Final game of the year was 21-16 before a second-half blowout. Pick-6’s by Gonzo and DT Jordan Davis, Hutch had three sacks, Ferguson had two. Crockett tore his labrum in the finale but might return for the Super Bowl.

It was a second straight 16-1 season.

Just three seasons after our 6-11 failure and nightmare quarterback play, we had one of the best teams of our coaching careers. This squad was better than any of my Lions teams, all my Raiders squads and surpassed most of our Jaguars units. This offense was an all-timer. The Drag Show was must-see TV. It had evolved from a pea shooter into a blitzkrieg. Year after year, this offense had improved at a strong 45-degree angle in all facets.

Y’all don’t understand how shit Jon was at offense. He was HORRIBLE. That first season wasn’t an anomaly. That was his whole Madden career and yet, he had done tape study and extra practice reps, gotten every bit as good as me.

We won 16 Super Bowls in 19 full seasons with Jacksonville. I didn’t know if we’d win three in 20 years with Arizona. How he’d proven me, everyone, wrong. Golf clap.

The Earl of Todd set new career-highs in yardage, completion percentage, scores and passer rating with an increased depth of target. My Jags passing score record was 27, passer rating record was 116.2. Todd threw 26 with a 114.2.

And unlike any of our Jags QB wonders, Todd had not missed a game in three campaigns. No injuries. He was no longer just a good quarterback; he was very good and we didn’t have any reason to think greatness was a mountain too high. However, the league shrugged him off. He wasn’t voted a Pro Bowler or a top-10 passer in his own conference.

Despite nearly breaking the single-season rushing record and a franchise-high 25 scores, Knox was not an MVP candidate. He won Offensive Player of the Year but not even a consideration for MVP?!

The S4 Cards nearly broke the all-time scoring record, finishing a field goal short of the Manning Broncos 606 points.
In only three Jags seasons did I finish with 200 passing per game. This Cards team hit that.
All-time Jags rush record was 176 a game. S4 Cards? 173.
And for good measure, four targets finished over 500 yards, with Hopkins catching over 600 in just half a season of work subbing in for Kelly. Powell became the third tight end to ever lead us in receiving, joining our Jags Scott Chandler and Brent McQuaide.

On defense, Edward Webb repeated the Harris storyline, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year after a pick-six on his first ever snap. Third overall choice Deion Ferguson finished right behind him. The Will Anderson acquisition was a success, grabbing 10.5 sacks and the most dominant edge season in the Fitzpatrick era.

Hutch screamed in December, which was the norm but his season numbers were misleading, even with a new career-high 14.5 sacks and two defensive scores. However, he finished as a DPOY finalist, our first-ever for the Cardinals and got a second straight Pro Bowl nod.

Gonzalez put up another five picks and 14 pass deflections, another All-Pro level year while Harris had career-highs in tackles (109) and TFLs (14).

The Drag Show had scored 30+ in 13 games and the Sahara held adversaries to 20 or less 14 times. That was enough for Coach Fitzpatrick’s third consecutive Coach of the Year and eight Pro Bowlers, though the trend of either Gonzo or Harris getting slighted continued.

S4 Stats
Todd 266/353 for 3502, 75%, 26 TDs, 14 INTs, 114.2 rating
Knox 374 carries for 2059, 5.5 ypc, 25 TDs (Offensive MVP)
Mason 119 for 555, 4.7 ypc, 19 TDs
Powell 71 receptions for 865, 4 TDs
Diggs 52 for 731, 6 TDs
Hopkins 39 for 635, 5 TDs
Legette 51 for 590, 5 TDs
Webb 53 tackles, 8 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 4 INTs, 3 PDs, 2 TDs (Defensive MVP)
Gonzalez 66 tackles, 3 TFL, 6 INTs, 14 PDs, TD
Anderson Jr. 53 tackles, 23 TFL, 10.5 sacks, 3 FF
Harris 109 tackles, 14 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 2 INTs
Hutchinson 38 tackles, 22 TFL, 14.5 sacks, 3 FF, 2 TDs
Moody 17/19 for 89%, 72/72 XP for 100%
Team Stats
Offense 373 ypg (2nd), 200 pass (26th), 173 rush (1st), 35.5 ppg (1st)
Last: 337, 173, 164, 28.5
Defense 217 ypg (1st), 141 pass (1st), 76 rush (2nd), 14.7 pag (1st)
57 sacks (1st), 6 fumbles, 15 INTs
Last: 197, 136, 61, 12.6
53, 4, 17

Awards
COY: Fitzpatrick(3)
OPOY: Knox
DPOY: Hutch/5th
DROY: Webb, Ferguson/2nd
Pro Bowl (8)
Knox(2), fullback Clayton Logan, Darrisaw(3), Nelson(4), Dickerson(2), Armstead, Hutchinson(2), Harris(2)
Conference
Best RB: Knox(2)
Best OL: Dickerson, Darrisaw/2nd, Nelson/3rd
Best DL: Hutchinson/4th, Anderson/9th
Best DB: Gonzalez/3rd, Webb/4th
Best K: Moody/5th

Whenever we have a season as dominant as this one, I get a little nervous because historically, that hasn’t been a good omen for us.

Our second-ever Jags season, we went undefeated and lost our first playoff game (Damn you, Darrin Roper).

Our best offensive year, season nine, we lost the Super Bowl.

S13 was our third undefeated regular season. Lost the Super Bowl.

I was kinda glad when we lost a game so we didn’t have that invincibility feeling but when you put up the kinda numbers the Drag Show did this fall/winter, hard not to get overconfident. In the bag right? Well, if we didn’t win Lombardi’s metal, we’d be chokers. We were no longer the 6-11 Arizona aeronauts who made a magical playoff run. We weren’t even S3 Cards, who had one of the best defenses of our coaching careers. Now, we were the favorites. Had to finish.

2-seed Carolina lost their playoff to 7-seed Philly in overtime. For the Eagles, it was former first overall pick Hayden Gray, made famous by turning his first career pass attempt into a Harris pick-six. Gray had become one of the league’s best passers and rolled us on his possession. Todd impersonated Gray, throwing a pick on his first attempt and it was quickly 10-0 Green.

Drag Show got back on track, scoring on the rest of their drives while the Sahara made things fuzzy. With Arizona up 24-13 in the fourth, Gray tried to scramble for a score on 3rd and goal but D.J. Reader, our third defensive tackle who had played sparingly, fought through a double team to tackle him on the 4 and Philly foolishly kicked. A late score put it away, 31-16 Cards win. Kyle Kelly had 10 receptions for 122 while Anderson had three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Seahawks beat Bears to meet us for the conference ship. It was 21-14 red birds at half but Seattle once again got stuffed in a locker. Final score 35-14. Todd was near perfect: 15/16 for 183, TD.

The “Bird Wars” name was officially on break. This wasn’t a rivalry. This was a shift at the pet store. Feed the little Seahawks and put them in their cage.

SB vs 7-seed Miami. Jahmyr Gibbs, Jordan Addison, Romeo Doubs, George Kittle, Calijah Kancey, Joey Bosa, L’Jarius Sneed, quarterbacked by…J.J. McCarthy?? Are we just playing draft busts in the finale now??

Austin Booker sack stalled the Fins first drive, settling for three. A Cards touchdown followed by a Ferguson sack on a corner blitz, Miami FG. A returning Crockett sacked McCarthy on 3rd and 1 and another Miami kick, 10-9 Cardinals.

A 1-min drill touchdown followed by a touchdown out of half put the game away. We threw another seven on there for good measure, winning 31-9. Knox carried 19 for 119 and a score, winning game MVP.

In three Super Bowls, the Sahara was responsible for three, 10 and nine points against.

5/The Four Aces

Retirements
WR Mike Evans, TE Hunter Henry

Was surprised to see Henry call it. He was chronically injured but when healthy, could still play. We weren’t going to re-sign him but imagine he could’ve got a two-year, $12 on the market.

Our coordinators abandoned us, though after a season as dominant as that, wasn’t surprising. DC Jon Grant went to the Titans while Wade Bridges, caller of one of the best offenses of all-time, went to fix the hazmat zone in San Fran. They’d be selecting first overall this spring after our former coordinator, Jamie Rodriguez, shit the bed there, finishing 9-25 in two campaigns.

Despite how it went for him in California, we believed in Jamie as a coach. Guy reimagined our attack during that magical second season and so we welcomed him back to Arizona with open arms, coordinating our offense once again. On defense, Scott Anderson would look to add his touch to the famous desert.

During the season, re-signing Quenton Nelson and Landon Dickerson, our Pro Bowl guards, was our top priority. Nelson agreed to a three-year lease but Dickerson rejected offers at $17, $19 and $21 annually. In real life, Dickerson signed 4yr/$84, which was our final offer but Madden Dickerson wasn’t interested. For whatever reason, he wanted out.

But Will Anderson Jr. surprised us. When we initially traded for him, I wanted to tag him after this season, have him for two productions and see what happened. I offered him a discount 3/75 mid-year, which he smartly declined but after the SB run, he changed his mind. Winning matters to some people.

In real life, Anderson signed 3/150 with Houston. What a steal we got.

Re-signs
DE Will Anderson Jr. 3yr/$75
LG Quenton Nelson 3/57
RB Saquon Barkley 1/3.5
SS DeShon Elliott 1/2.2
K Jake Moody 1/2

Dickerson was the top-rated in free agency at 92 overall, was coming off NFC Best OL and yet the financials were identical to what we offered: $21 annually.

Wideout Xavier Legette was our other big loss. We had taken Diggs, Kelly and Hopkins in the same draft class and all had panned out. Jon’s attack only had regular playing time for three. Legette had been a strong player with us, a guy with exceptional contact balance who always seemed to make the first man miss. He was the third-highest player in FA and both he and Dickerson chose to sign with Houston, reuniting with back Chuba Hubbard. Chubs finished with 1500 scrimmage yards and 18 scores in his first year with the Texans, earning Pro Bowl.

Other notable departures were inaugural draftees Robert Spillane, who always shined despite a low snap count and Emmanuel Ogbah, who played well above his overall during his time with us.

FA losses
RG Landon Dickerson 3yr/$62.4 HOU
WR Xavier Legette 3/45.8 HOU
LB Robert Spillane
DE Emmanuel Ogbah

We had not drafted a defensive end since Mark Frost in S2 and yet again, no one on the board wowed. I had been leaning on free agents to provide pass rush and I would again, signing real-life Giants draftee Kayvon Thibodeaux to a three-year. Converting him from outside backer to end didn’t impact his overall.

FA adds
LB Kayvon Thibodeaux 3yr/$24
LB Arnold Ebiketie 1/4
OT Mike McGlinchey 1/4.5

The Jakobi Meyers trade delivered a bountiful feast this April: the second overall pick. Yup, Giants were the second-worst team and that’s why we moved him to New York Blue because in real life, that organization has been a mess for a decade.

You may remember: in season one, our offense was terrible, a turnover machine and so we fired the coordinator, Nick Gregory. Well, now three years since, Gregory found himself the head coach in NY. I had a lot of faith we’d get a top-10 pick from them next year, too.

We took top defensive tackle Dudley Potts, an interior rusher and combine warrior. Third in true talent, hidden development and already a 79 overall. What a gift.

We moved our 32nd, a third and a future 7 to get into the 15th spot and take center Paul Harper. 15th true talent, another hidden and a 76. We’d have two new starters on the offensive line this year, Harper and last year’s first round guard, Craig Loud.

Blocker Eddie Oden in the second and slot domino Lance Griffin were both elite grades as well, giving us four first-round talents.

S5 Draft
1/DT Dudley Potts (Texas), C Paul Harper (Boise State)
2/G Eddie Oden (Arkansas)
3/MLB Alex Jones (Utah), WR Lance Griffin (Boston College), TE Darrelle Choice (Ohio State)
4/S Alex Beasley (Oklahoma State), QB Erick Moreland (Bowling Green State)
5/TE Daniel Pope (Georgia)
7/P Jacob McKee (USC)

In preseason, backup quarterback Frank Carder had a chance to firmly establish himself QB2. He responded 1/5 for 4 yards and 3 INTs in the first quarter of our inaugural exhibition and committed another two turnovers the following contest. For the first time in decades of coaching, there’d be only two quarterbacks on our roster.

Griffin, Pope and 75 overall RB Deon Peterson from practice squad were highlights but end Austin Booker won Preseason MVP with 3.5 sacks and constant block sheds.

And it was a good thing because Hutchinson was on his way out. He was on his fifth-year option and refused to play on it.

I understood. If I was in his position, I wouldn’t want to play on it either but he’d never reached that next tier of play we had always hoped for. He had become what Quinnen Williams was: a 99 overall player who didn’t play like a superstar.

I was switching playbooks. In my opinion, Spags KC plans are the best but after four years, I wanted to infuse some new energy. Throughout his career, Bill Belichick has been known for a wide range of personnel schemes and sub packages. Many of those concepts remained after his departure so despite names Jerod Mayo and Demarcus Covington on the scripts, had a lot of faith in the play calls. Some fresh looks would boost Aidan’s production, I was sure of it.

But he didn’t want to hear it. He wanted out. We sent him to the Chargers to join Quinnen in what is surely the biggest preseason trade in NFL history: three firsts and 3-4 linebacker Vince Callaway, who Los Angeles had just drafted 10th overall this past April. So basically four 1s and LA would still have to pay Hutch. Callaway was a superstar dev, 76 overall and lost no points when we switched him to defensive end. By overall, he was already the 31st-best edge.

No one wanted it to work with Hutch more than me and I wish he had given us one more shot but if I’m being honest, he was never getting a top of the market deal, not based on the production he had delivered. At that price, you gotta be the best player on the field and elite at your position. Stats never showed that. In four years with us, he had 43 sacks and 81 TFLs, very good numbers but not top-three great. He was a valuable piece to the greatest era of Cardinals football and would always be remembered for that but it was time to go our separate ways.

Despite letting the megastar go, we lost no overall points on defense. We remained an 89 overall and now, after the Jakobi Meyers trade concluded next draft, we’d have extra picks from Hutch to play with. In the meantime, Will Anderson would get to prove he was the guy, Booker would start after his exhibition showing and Thibodeaux, Callaway and the oft forgot Mark Frost would battle for remaining reps.

Three weeks into the season, Hutch would sign a four-year tender for $144, 36 annually.

Preseason
Adds
WR Chris Godwin, CB Jamel Dean
Cuts
QB Frank Carder, RB Deon Peterson, OT Eugene McDowell, LB Cedric Caldwell
MVP DE Austin Booker
Captains Todd(3), Darrisaw(5), Nelson(3), Gonzalez(3), Harris(3)
OC Jamie Rodriguez (Johnson/DET), DC Scott Anderson (Demarcus Covington/NE)

We had played two tight games against Chicago but the S5 opener would not be the third. It was a 24-3 bear trap. In his first two contests, Todd went 15/20 for 172 and a score and in a Jets stomping, 12/14 for 186 and two TDs. The Jets game got gross quick. The Cards trio of Chuck Knox, Jaden Mason and Saquon Barkley combined for over 200 rushing and three end zone trips while the defense was a sack buffet, nabbing eight.

Contract negotiations were more important than they ever have been in Arizona. We didn’t know it at the time but the S2 Cards draft was the best we ever had, including our Jag tenure. It would go into the halls of NFL lore.

Notre Dame safety Matthew Harris rescued our back end, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year. LSU Tiger Chuck Knox, also known as Chucky and Fort Knox, was taken while we had Brian Robinson and Chuba Hubbard but he surpassed them in one season, leading the league in rushing his first two years starting and winning Offensive Player of the Year. MLB Nathan Hunter became our Robin in the middle to Nick Bolton’s Batman and Earl Todd, the Earl of Todd, took us from historically bad quarterback play to the best offense in football. They were our four aces.

Then, one of the weirdest things in sports history happened: Todd asked for a three-year extension for…$30 million total?

Todd had won three straight Super Bowls and played at a top-10 level last run but asked for a backup deal? Was his agent the dumbest man alive? A five-year, $300 should’ve been the floor and yet, this was the reality. I wanted to give Todd that $300 because making these experiences as real as possible is very important to me but Jon always plays the game by the rules it enforces. Earl Todd signed for five years and $75, surely the greatest bargain in NFL archives.

As the ink dried, Todd and Jon made a brain-melting mistake in the following game. With a minute to go and in range for the game-winning field goal against Seattle, Jon called a pass and Todd threw a pick-six. They’d try to redeem themselves, quickly driving us back down the field but Todd threw an end zone interception on the final play. Seattle finally got their revenge.

Our annual stomping over the 49ers followed, this a 49-17 win. Wideout Kyle Kelly caught nine passes for a Fitzpatrick-era record 160 yards receiving. Todd passed for over 300 but the interceptions continued. Hopefully, it was just a bump in the road.

Our next game, a potential Super Bowl match. As in real life, the Kansas City Chiefs were dominant: the best passing team in the league with a 99 overall Caleb Williams at the helm, Josh Jacobs in the backfield and Chris Olave and Dalton Kincaid at receiver and tight end. The offensive line was all 80+ overall. They were the third-best scoring team and the defense was just as good. They were fourth against the run and third in sacks thanks to a 99 Nick Bosa and a 99 DT, Melvin Gray. Young real-life Lions backer Jack Campbell and a 98 Jessie Bates at safety. A scary lineup.

Despite new starters on our offensive line at center and right guard (rookie Paul Harper, second-year Craig Loud), the Drag Show offense was still strutting on the tarmac and continued that in this game. Bosa, a defensive end, somehow covered Kelly, our slot receiver, in man coverage during our 2-min drill, causing an interception and giving KC a 21-14 lead. Jon tied it at half but kicked a field goal in the red zone on 4th and 6 to start the third quarter. I wanted him to go because Arizona had become an offensive powerhouse while the defense had taken a step back.

It wasn’t because of Hutchinson’s departure. Anderson showed up every game, something Hutch never did and the defense had a lot of sacks. We had no significant personnel changes otherwise but the Sahara wasn’t storming. Perhaps the playbook change was part of it but I didn’t think we could stop Caleb. The following drive was another Chiefs touchdown, Jon was forced to punt and a coverage bust by my defense’s best players, Christian Gonzalez and Matthew Harris, gave them another score. Jon added eight before the two-minute warning but the Sahara was a carpet. 35-32 Kansas City.

It was one of the worst defensive games I’d ever played. Caleb Williams finished 15/18 for 250 and four passing scores, added 50 yards rushing and a scramble score. Our kryptonite was tight ends and he exploited that. Kincaid went 7/115 and two 6’s.

Knox had 23 touches for 115 and three touchdowns, still the keystone of the offense but he turned down a 5yr/$100 offer after the game. His interest bar said he wanted out. Was this really happening? Were we really gonna lose the best back other than the Jaguars David Johnson I’d ever had?

The Bills on Sunday night, an offense third in yardage, seventh in passing and rushing and ninth in scoring. Some of the same faces from the last time we played them: passer Jayden Daniels, 99 Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, an 83 slot in former draftee Nick Rolle, 91 Brock Bowers and another 80s line. It was the best scoring defense in football, second in yardage and against the pass. Seventh against the ground game and opportunistic, fourth in takeaways. Trey Hendrickson, Leo Chenal, corner Greg Newsome and two 85 overall safeties. Lose this game and we’d be 3-3 and sinking.

Two Todd interceptions gave Buffalo extra chances and a 14-7 lead but the Drag Show returned to the spotlight, tying before half and getting the double up out of the locker room, 21-14. The red birds D shutout Buffalo in the final stages, an ARI win, 28-14 but I was displeased. Daniels completed 16/20 for 196 and two scores on us and Bowers caught five for 86. We used to hold offenses under 200 yards regularly. Now, we were leaking like a lawn sprinkler.

Knox continued to be the Chucky we had grown to love, another 100-yard, multi-score game but fumbled on the opening possession of our Seattle rematch, another SNF. Seahawks were 5-1. If they swept us, it could decide the division.

Before half, Knox tore his abdomen. Seeing him down on the field sapped our momentum and Arizona got stuffed on the goal line, leaving with no points. The Sahara got a Crockett strip sack and a Harris INT in the second half and the offense put up a 21-point 4th quarter to make the scoreboard misleading, 35-14. Todd had his best game in weeks, a quiet 9/10 for 120 and two end zone trips while Mason and Saquon carried the ground game.

Knox would miss the next month and another division rival in the Rams were up next. They were top-seven in all defensive metrics but the Drag Show continued to show out with their fourth straight 28+ performance. Jaden Mason’s first-ever start was impressive: 16 carries for 96 and four touchdowns.

The Sahara meanwhile struggled against an older Kyler Murray, who threw for 200 and three and ran for 70 and another. A failed onside kick got us the narrow win, 31-28 but the Sahara was more like a sandbox than a fearsome desert. We had gone 3-1 in a stretch where we absolutely could’ve gone 0-4 but we were champions now, a dynasty and we needed to have that mindset. 3-1 in one-score games wasn’t an achievement for me; it was a concern.

After a four-game juggernaut slate, we now had five straight road contests. We were getting put through the wringer.

It was New England and a rookie superstar QB, Calvin Chambers, coached by former Cards DC Jackson Pierce, who had delivered one of the Madden Experience’s best-ever defenses in S3.

The Sahara, fresh off a brutal week of practice and a tongue lashing from Fitz, stuffed the Patriots on 2nd and 3rd and 1 and Pierce foolishly punted on 4th and inches on his opening possession. Pack it up!

Cardinals scored twice, converting the second on 4th and goal, giving us a 14-0 lead. Todd would throw another turnover, this in the redzone and NE would grab some momentum, a field goal before half. Out of break, we fumbled the kickoff but the Sahara played their best game in a month, holding the red, white and blue to another field goal. By game’s end, Anderson had two sacks, Gonzalez had 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and an interception and the defense, with the contest in the balance, turned the Boston boys away at the goal line to save the offense in a 17-12 nailbiter.

Our SB rematch against Miami and J.J. McCarthy was brutal…for McCarthy. The Sahara remained on fire for another week, sacking J.J. nine times. He finished 6/13 for 38 yards and it was a good thing because Earl Todd had the worst game of his career, tossing three interceptions, including an inexcusable cross-field pick-six. Rookie Erick Moreland finished the match for us, a 28-10 win but man, Todd needed to get his shit together.

94 overall Russ Hewitt, who had carved me once before, led the Falcons and it became clear early there would be no defense in this one for either side. It was 14-14 after one before a Harris user hit stick fumble. Arizona capitalized and the Sahara forced a field goal but Todd surrendered the momentum with yet another red zone interception, a troubling new hobby. Another black bird kick made it 21-20, Todd would chuck another pick on an underthrow and Hewitt drove the Georgia squad down for another touchdown. Atlanta went for two to stretch the lead to seven but two-point tries are something the Sahara remained excellent at, turning them away with a 26-21 lead.

Todd scrambled for a score on a long third and goal and we capitalized on the two, now up 29-26 but my defense could not cover tight end Randy Gaffney, who had a just stupid 11 receptions for 128 and the go-ahead score, 33-29.

Now early in the fourth, Jon had had enough. A five-minute drive slowly leeched the blood out of Atlanta, with Jaden Mason crossing paydirt with six seconds left, a 36-33 blockbuster win.

It was a horrible day for defense but a fantasy player’s dream. Hewitt finished 22/28 for 309 and four scores, winning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Thankfully, this was Chuck Knox’s first game back and he reminded everyone who he was and why we had to pay him whatever he wanted: 28 carries for 189 and three touchdowns, becoming the Cardinals franchise leader in rushing scores. Neither team was sacked or punted and both were excellent on third down: Arizona was 10/11, Atlanta 5/6.

Following the thriller, middleman Nathan Hunter signed a five-year, $60 million extension. Another ace secured.

After so many thrillers, it was nice to just stomp on someone when we traveled to Washington. Gonzalez interception to set the tone and it snowballed from there. Todd with 250 and three and the Sahara with a rebound, holding the Commanders to under 200 yards and seven points in a 36-7 win.

After rehabbing and returning to more W’s, Knox had a change of heart, agreeing to five years and $115, a hefty $23 per year we were thankful for. If we’re being honest, Knox was far-and-away not only the best back but the best offensive weapon in pigskin. He could’ve asked for $30 and we would still be running to the bank.

The end of our five-game east coast road excursion was in Carolina. Bijan Robinson had a field day on me, rushing 20 times for 111. Panthers were a legit team but not enough for the red birds. A 28-16 win came with Saquon’s dog tags. He broke his collarbone and would miss the rest of the season.

Despite a royale of juggernauts, a bevy of Todd interceptions, a sandpaper defense and a month-long Knox absence, Arizona was 11-2, tested but unvanquished. Our bye week was an earned rest and deserved reprieve but I had the Sahara in full-pad practices. I needed them to know we weren’t done yet and we weren’t good enough. When you’re a dynasty, the standard is excellence and I felt my side of the ball was far from it.

34-17 V for victory over the Saints. Todd with another excellent showing, 13/15 for 169 and two, Knox with 160 and another. Right guard Craig Loud tore knee cartilage and second tight end Marc Fischer broke ribs. Both would miss the rest of the regular season.

But all the Cards injuries in the world wouldn’t help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the following week. It was Joe Burrow behind the same three elite linemen: left tackle Andrew Thomas, left guard Trey Smith and center Creed Humphrey, all 91+, with runner James Cook. First play of the game was a swing pass to Cook and strong safety Matthew Harris, now in the conversation for the greatest of The Madden Experience series, decapitated him, absolute assassination, forcing the user hit stick fumble and ending the game seconds into it.

After watching live murder, Tampa entered a gridiron torture chamber while the Cardinals treated them to an armageddon of sport. By game’s end, the yardage total was ARI-545, TB-108. Burrow threw for just 79 yards while Knox ran for 200 and a league-record seven touchdowns, winning Offensive Player of the Week in a 52-3 bludgeoning, our widest margin of victory yet.

Harris, our final unsigned ace, was a dictionary definition tone-setter. He was Brian Dawkins, ravenous for contact and Troy Polamalu, Herculean, a guy doing things you’re not supposed to be able to do. He was the heart of the Sahara. He had his fifth-year option next season but oh, the money he was gonna get.

After our usual win against San Fran, we gave the regular season a proper sendoff, stomping the Rams in their own building. It was 35-3 at half and a 62-15 final, another new points record for Fitzpatrick. Kelly had seven catches for 96 and two scores, Ferguson had three more TFLs and the team as a whole had eight sacks. Gonzo added two interceptions, clinching his third straight edition with 5+ picks as Arizona capped off a 15-2 campaign.

With three scores in the first half, Todd once again finished with a positive touchdown/interception split but this was his worst season. 17 picks was too many, though his touchdown total was always going to be misleading because of how much we ran the ball inside the 10. Still had a 3k season, a high completion percentage and nearly another 100 passer rating. Todd’s worst was by no means bad.

Knox finished a peg under 1700 rushing in 13 games and plunged 24 six-pointers, earning his second straight Offensive Player of the Year, third straight Conference Best RB and third straight Pro Bowl. He set a new personal record in yards per carry with 6.1.

Kyle Kelly established himself as the best Cardinals aerial threat, setting a new Fitzpatrick era receiving record but falling a pair shy of a 1k run. Kelly, fellow wide Trevor Diggs and tight end Michael Powell all finished with 70+ receptions.

While none played large roles, we had five finish on the Offensive Rookie of the Year ballot: Daniel Pope and Darrelle Choice, both tight ends; Lance Griffin, our special teams ace; 69 overall Stephen Fowler, the fill-in for Barkley; and Erick Moreland, who quarterbacked a few blowouts for us.

For the fourth straight season, the offense improved on last season’s splits in total yardage, passing and rushing, though this year lost a point in scoring (only 34 a game). Fitzpatrick won his unheard of fourth COY off the continued ascendance of the Drag Show.

A year after Edward Webb won Defensive Rookie of the Year for his slot antics in the Sahara, Deion Ferguson won team Defensive MVP patrolling the spot, leading the team in tackles while notching 15 TFLs and six sacks.

Will Anderson had 12 sacks in his first 13 games but went cold into the stretch. He performed better than the numbers suggested, however and became notorious for clutch plays, earning DPOY votes. On the other end was a cycle of Preseason MVP Austin Booker, who added 8.5 sacks and first-round acquisition Vince Callaway.

For the third straight season, the Sahara led the league in sacks and bested last year’s total. In S3, we had 53. In S4, 57. This season, without Hutchinson? 70. That’s production even Jon’s Hungry Man defense from our Jags days could be proud of. However, it was the most points the defense had allowed since our apocalyptic first season (16.6 pag), our run defense at times was a problem and we did not create a lot of takeaways this year. There were multiple games this season where the Sahara felt powerless. Wasn’t thrilled with DC Scott Anderson.

Darrisaw, Nelson and Armstead all returned to the Pro Bowl and newcomers Craig Loud and Paul Harper both finished as Best OL finalists. As long as our offensive line remained the Ninth Wonder of the World, we would be a contender.

S5 Stats
Todd 249/345 for 3193, 72%, 18 TDs, 17 INTs, 97.6 rating
Knox 278 carries for 1695, 6.1 ypc, 24 TDs (Offensive MVP)
Mason 156 for 835, 5.4 ypc, 21 TDs
Kelly 72 receptions for 998, 7 TDs
Diggs 70 for 822, 2 TDs
Powell 70 for 763, 3 TDs
Ferguson 87 tackles, 15 TFL, 6 sacks, 6 PDs, FF, FR (Defensive MVP)
Anderson 38 tackles, 22 TFL, 12 sacks
Harris 87 tackles, 6 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 2 INTs, 5 PDs, 3 FF, TD
Gonzalez 84 tackles, 7 TFL, .5 sack, 5 INTs, 6 PDs, 2 FR
Booker 29 tackles, 12 TFL, 8.5 sacks, FF
Moody 11/11 for 100%, 74/74 XP for 100%
Team Stats
Offense 381 ypg (1st), 206 pass (26th), 175 rush (1st) 34 ppg (1st)
Last: 373, 200, 173, 35.5
Defense 222 ypg (1st), 150 pass (1st), 73 rush (2nd), 16.6 pag (1st)
Last: 217, 141, 76, 14.7
70 sacks (1st), 5 fumbles, 9 INTs
Last: 57, 6, 15

Awards
COY: Fitzpatrick(4)
OPOY: Knox(2)
DPOY: Anderson/4th
OROY: Pope/2nd, Griffin/3rd, Choice/8th, Fowler/9th, Moreland/10th
DROY: Callaway/9th
Pro Bowl (7)
Knox(3), Logan(2), Darrisaw(4), Nelson(5), Armstead(2), Anderson, Harris(3)
Conference
Best RB: Knox(3), Mason/4th
Best OL: Nelson(2), Darrisaw/2nd, Loud/3rd, Harper/4th, Armstead/8th
Best DL: Anderson
Best DB: Gonzalez/2nd
Best K: Moody(3)

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Aidan Hutchinson thrived in his new home, scoring 63 tackles, 21 sacks and a Defensive Player of the Year award. Unlike with Quinnen, I had no bitterness towards Hutch. Just wasn’t working here. Good for him. The Chargers got bounced in the wild card round but if Hutch performed like that year after year, gotta imagine success was on the way.

Old friend Xavier Legette had a 1200-yard season in Houston catching passes from Lamar Jackson but the Texans oddly missed the playoffs, the only AFC South team not to make it.

Our first playoff would be against the Giants and former OC Nick Gregory. After blasting him during the draft, saying we’d likely have a top-10 pick from New York next year, too, Gregory responded, leading the Giants to the playoffs. New York had a 21-point fourth quarter in the wild card round to overtake Green Bay. Ironically led by Jordan Love, the Giants were fifth in yardage and scoring and second in passing. It was Love throwing to Zay Flowers, former pal Jakobi Meyers, Roman Ewing, a receiver we almost drafted years ago and tight end David Njoku. Our former right tackle Trent Brown was still in New York after contemplating retirement after our second season. Big Blue’s defense didn’t have superstars outside of 99 Sauce Gardner but was fifth against the run.

But whatever a team’s ranking against the run, that was how they ranked against the other 30 NFL teams. We were above that.

On the Giants opening drive, Will Anderson, who I mentioned had become known for key moments, sacked Love to force a red zone field goal. It was cruising from that point forward. Field general of the defense Nick Bolton had a user pick later in the game as the Sahara stormed, making Gregory’s Giants look like Gregory’s S1 Cardinals. New York managed 89 total yards while Jon’s Drag Show walked up and down the runway in a 34-3 bombing. Todd was a smooth 13/16 for 183 and a score, five for 85 and that score to Kelly while Fort Knox ran for 131 and three touchdowns.

The conference championship was a rematch against Tampa Bay. Weeks earlier, we had shelled them 52-3. If analysts expected them to come with a vengeance, they were mistaken. It was 31-7 Cardinals going into the fourth quarter. Knox ran for 208 and three scores.

And so it was yet another Super Bowl for the Bird Dynasty. Caleb Williams and Kansas City had choked earlier in the playoffs and so did Jayden Daniels and the Bills squad, a 14-3 1-seed, in the AFC title game. Instead, we would have a rematch against our former DC Sammy Rios, now a two-time AFC belt winner and the Jacksonville Jaguars, still quarterbacked by Anthony Richardson.

Two years ago in S3, we bombed them 42-10 in the biggest margin of victory in a Super Bowl in The Madden Experience series. Some of the same faces remained for the Jaguars: Evan Engram at tight end, Marvin Harrison Jr. at wideout. T.J. Watt still led the defense with backer Edgerrin Cooper and corner Nate Wiggins but the offensive line was new and improved with 85+ at all positions. Tutu Atwell at receiver and a versatile back in Shaydon McLaughlin, an 88 overall.

Richardson went a perfect 6/6, scoring on the opening drive. Our first swing, Todd threw a pick-six to Cooper. Now in a 14-0 hole, Jon’s Drag Show rebounded with seven while the Sahara floundered, allowing seven of their own. Jon responded again, making it 21-14 Jags. Before half, it looked like Jacksonville was going to score another sixer but corner Tyrique Stevenson of all people sacked Richardson on back-to-back plays, forcing a field goal. Still, it was Jags Land 24-14 at half.

Todd’s titans scored, 24-21 and then the Sahara held the Jags to a 57-yard field goal, which they missed. A 7 from the Cardinals gave us our first lead in the third, 28-24 but Anthony Richardson wasn’t taking no for an answer, responding with a haymaker of his own. It was 31-28 Jags at the 2-min warning but undeterred, the Drag Show drove the field one final time, converting two fourth downs before Jaden Mason crossed the goal line with eight seconds left for the 35-31 win.

In the best performance of his career and one that should have won him MVP of the game, Richardson went 22/23 for 238 and a score and also added 17 yards rushing and two more touchdowns. He was nearly perfect and the Sahara, outside of two Stevenson sacks and the forced field goal out of half, was helpless.

Unlike in S2 and S3, when defense was the hallmark in Arizona, S4 and S5 was all about the offense and it was this night. After the pick-six, Todd was near perfect, too: 14/15 for 138 and a score while Knox carried 23 for 119 and two scores, winning his third straight SBMVP. Mason added eight touches for 74 yards and the game-winning points.

The Red Sea fanbase had waited a long time for this. The first year of Ryan Fitzpatrick, a 6-11 season that netted the fourth overall pick, looked like more of the same but the Arizona Cardinals, the long kicked around and ignored Cardinals, the dismissed and mocked Cardinals, the don’t even own their own name Cardinals, were four-time Super Bowl champions, a true dynasty and finally, an icon.

And there’d be more to come.

Summary
Fitzpatrick
S1 6-11 regular season, 0-0 postseason, 2 Pro Bowlers, 88 overall/89 offense/87 defense
S2 14-3, 3-0, 7, 89/91/87 SB Cardinals 27-17 Patriots (COY)
S3 16-1, 3-0, 7, 85/85/87 SB Cardinals 42-10 Jaguars (COY)
S4 16-1, 3-0, 8, 90/91/89 SB Cardinals 31-9 Dolphins (COY)
S5 15-2, 3-0, 7, 90/91/89 SB Cardinals 35-31 Jaguars (COY)

Passing
S1 Lance 133/196 for 1554, 67%, 7 TDs, 21 INTs, 64.0 rating
S2 Todd 252/338 for 2732, 74%, 16 TDs, 9 INTs, 102.5 rating
S3 Todd 244/338 for 3037, 72%, 21 TDs, 16 INTs, 100.6 rating
S4 Todd 266/353 for 3502, 75%, 26 TDs, 14 INTs, 114.2 rating
S5 Todd 249/345 for 3193, 72%, 18 TDs, 17 INTs, 97.6 rating

Rushing
S1 Hubbard 273 for 1375, 5.0 ypc, 11 TDs (PB)
S2 Robinson 240 for 1282, 5.3 ypc, 14 TDs (PB)
S3 Knox 317 for 1667, 5.3 ypc, 12 TDs (Best RB, PB)
S4 Knox 374 for 2059, 5.5 ypc, 25 TDs (OPOY, Best RB, PB)
S5 Knox 278 for 1695, 6.1 ypc, 24 TDs (OPOY, Best RB, PB)

Receiving
S1 Meyers 65 for 807, 4 TDs
S2 Meyers 70 for 802, 4 TDs
S3 Legette 63 for 869, 7 TDs
S4 Powell 71 for 865, 4 TDs
S5 Kelly 72 for 998, 7 TDs

Defense
S1 Bolton 99 tackles, 15 TFL
S2 Harris 77 tackles, 8 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 4 INTs, 4 PDs, TD (DROY, PB)
S3 Gonzalez 74 tackles, 6 TFL, sack, 5 INTs, 14 PDs, FF (Best DB, PB)
S4 Webb 53 tackles, 8 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 4 INTs, 3 PDs, 2 TDs (DROY)
S5 Ferguson 87 tackles, 15 TFL, 6 sacks, 6 PDs, FF, FR

Offense
S1 270 ypg (32nd), 137 pass (32nd) 133 rush (1st), 15.8 ppg (32nd) Roman/LAC/Gregory
S2 290 ypg (28th), 152 pass (32nd), 139 rush (1st), 24.2 ppg (12th) Johnson/DET/Rodriguez
S3 337 ypg (7th), 173 pass (32nd), 164 rush (1st), 28.5 ppg (2nd) Johnson/DET/Greer
S4 373 ypg (2nd), 200 pass (26th), 173 rush (1st), 35.5 ppg (1st) Johnson/DET/Bridges
S5 381 ypg (1st), 206 pass (26th), 175 rush (1st) 34.0 ppg (1st) Johnson/DET/Rodriguez

Defense
S1 279 ypg (2nd), 208 pass (6th) 71 rush (2nd), 24.2 pag (25th) Spagnuolo/KC/Rios
28 sacks (22nd), 6 fumbles, 8 INTs
S2 232 ypg (1st), 178 pass (1st), 54 rush (1st), 15.4 pag (1st) Spagnuolo/KC/Rios
44 sacks (7th), 3 fumbles, 11 INTs
S3 197 ypg (1st), 136 pass (1st), 61 rush (1st), 12.6 pag (1st) Spagnuolo/KC/Pierce
53 sacks (1st), 4 fumbles, 17 INTs
S4 217 ypg (1st), 141 pass (1st), 76 rush (2nd), 14.7 pag (1st) Spagnuolo/KC/Grant
57 sacks (1st), 6 fumbles, 15 INTs
S5 222 ypg (1st), 150 pass (1st), 73 rush (2nd), 16.6 pag (1st) Covington/NE/Anderson
70 sacks (1st), 5 fumbles, 9 INTs

There’s more to the series!
Chapter One: Just Win Baby
Chapter Two: Jagwar
Chapter Two: Jagwar Part Deux
Chapter Three: The Pride

The 100: 2026 NFL Divisional

And then there were three.
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Wild Card

1. It’s been a few days and I’m still furious.
2. I usually try to write these posts chronologically, so my thoughts from the first quarter are written before second half comments, etc. but the ending of Bills-Broncos was an abomination.
3. And no, I’m not talking about the pass Josh Allen threw to Brandin Cooks that was ripped out by Ja’Quan McMillan for an interception. That was the correct call. Cooks does not survive the ground, the ball moves and McMillan rips it from him like the jaws of life.
4. No, I’m talking about the refs deciding to throw two HORRENDOUS flags for defensive pass interference on the final drive, delivering on bended knee a ticket to next week’s conference championship.
5. If you’re gonna throw a flag in overtime of a playoff game, there better be a decapitated head on the field. I mean, the replay better show something so egregious no mass, living or dead, could argue against it.
6. THAT is worth deciding the game?! Fuck off.
7. We’ve had two recent Super Bowls and now this game decided on ticky-tack refball and I’m sick of this shit.
8. Defensive pass interference and roughing the passer are the two worst things about football and it’s not close. The league needs to make these things a point of emphasis next season, to truly understand what these infractions are and when to throw the laundry.
9. Because if the NFL for some reason doesn’t know, no one who went to that game or dedicated four hours of their weekend to watch that contest came for the fucking refs. The guys wearing stripes NEVER seem to know that.
10. Games should be decided by the players on the field and that was stolen from all of us.
11. What we saw Saturday afternoon was a classic game getting waterboarded with truckloads of shit in the final five minutes.
12. With that off my chest, I never want to read or hear another human being argue Josh Allen is better than Patrick Mahomes ever fucking again. There have already been multiple analysts, including Damien Woody, Mike Greenberg and Rex Ryan this week, declaring Allen the best player to ever play the position and the greatest in the league after turning the ball over four times on national television.
13. The Josh Allen fan club is a cult. They are supreme gaslighters and one of many reasons I hate the Buffalo Bills.
14. Dallas Cowboys will always be my most hated football team and the Jets, Browns and Bears are neverending factories of sadness but the Bills are right there for squads I can’t fucking stand.
15. That fumble before half where he was holding the ball like a Halloween pillowcase had to have been the worst play of his career but hold on, just got word Allen turned it over again so there’s now another candidate.
16. And it’s maddening because last season, it really looked like he had put that behind him. It was the most efficient football of his career and he deserved the MVP.
17. But we saw him yet again return to his nature. He remains a high variance player.
18. He’s the best quarterback in fantasy.
19. He’s one of if not the best dual-threat passer in history. 500 rushing yards in seven of eight seasons.
20. He’s extremely durable, has amazing arm talent.
21. And yet with all of that, he’s still a player who can lose you two games to Zach Wilson and a playoff game to Bo Nix.
22. Allen’s wild card passer rating is 113.9. In other postseason rounds, it’s 91.8.
23. Only four franchises have won a playoff game in six consecutive seasons:
    ‘91-96 Cowboys, a dynasty
    ‘11-18 Patriots, a dynasty
    ‘18-24 Chiefs, a dynasty
    ‘20-25 Bills, winners of nothing
24. First team to lose by three or fewer in three consecutive playoff seasons.
25. Sean McDermott’s firing was justified. This year was a make-or-break campaign and it didn’t happen.
26. Promoting Brandon Beane is hilarious. This is the guy who thinks receivers are overrated in 2026. The peak of this era of Bills football was the 13-second game, a loss.
27. Do Beane and owner Terry Pegula know Keon Coleman is still on the team? That press conference was a mess.
28. Pegula said the interception should’ve been called a catch, which means he thinks McDermott did enough to win the game but still fired him.
29. The contrast between the Bills and Ravens press conferences… Baltimore owner Steve Bisciotti sounded like a guy with his eye on the ball. Pegula sounded like a guy who owns the Buffalo Sabres, a team who hasn’t made the postseason in 14 years.
30. The Bills are pathological losers. They have been since long before Allen became the quarterback. It’s the keystone to their identity and lately, an additional fulcrum to their personality is complaining about the rules every time they lose.
31. They lost to KC and wanted the overtime rules changed because they didn’t get the ball. They lost to Philly running their own tush pushes and wanted the rules changed to track the ball remotely. Now, they’ve lost to Denver and want the rules changed on what is a catch.
32. They’re not lovable losers. They’re just losers. They act like losers on and off the field and I’m long past sick of it. They’re psychologically soft.
33. I was one of the biggest Josh Allen haters on the planet long before it became popular. I’m right there with Nick Wright on that. Allen is King Turnover, that is who he is. He plays with reckless abandon and that’s not how to play professional, organized sports. He had one season where I thought he might have actually changed but nope, the roller coaster never stops and the Allen cult NEVER shuts up.
34. Until they shut up, I hope they never win a damn thing. Fuck that team and that cult.
35. That’s something that will never change on this platform. ALWAYS aggressively reject cults.
36. A week after Sean Payton accused a reporter of not knowing anything about stopping the run, Buffalo ran for 183.
37. ”Tim, why don’t you like Bo Nix?”
38. This season:
    Bo Nix 63.4% completion, 6.4 ypa, 25/11 TD/INT, 87.8 passer rating
    Bryce Young 63.6% completion, 6.3 ypa, 23/11 TD/INT, 87.8 passer rating
39. Jarrett Stidham will be the seventh passer to make his first start of a season in the playoffs. Only Frank Reich for 1992 Buffalo won.
40. Jordan Palmer: “If Drake and Stidham both play at their best, I don’t think it’s much different.” Alright, you don’t get to talk about football anymore.
41. Rashid Shaheed returned the opening kickoff for six for Seattle. San Fran failed a 4th and 1 on their first possession. Could’ve called it there.
42. Seahawks offense scored 34 points with under 300 yards.
43. Sam Darnold was 12/17 for 124. Hard to go pumpkin mode if you never have to throw.
44. ’25 Seahawks are one of five teams to have a top-two offense and defense in the last 30 years. Only the ‘96 Packers won the Super Bowl.
45. Wonder if the Ravens wish they kept Mike Macdonald. Thought the same thing when the Seahawks chose Pete Carroll over Dan Quinn a decade ago. Sometimes, you have a truly great coordinator you shouldn’t let go and you should fire the head coach who’s losing a step to keep them.
46. Think Bucs fans are feeling this regarding Dave Canales and Liam Coen.
47. I’m a bigger Dan Campbell fan than most but wonder if the Lions may have these thoughts regarding Ben Johnson in five years.
48. One of the reasons I stuck with my Texans pick was because I imagined it would be hard for C.J. Stroud to play worse than he did last week. I was wrong.
49. Stroud is the fourth passer to throw four picks in a playoff half since 2000.
50. DeMeco Ryans should have had Davis Mills start the second slice. You can’t turn it over four times and stay in, not for me.
51. Stroud went full pumpkin in two consecutive playoff games, ended this January with a passer rating of 51.7. After an Offensive Rookie of the Year intro, he’s now been a below average passer for two seasons. His trajectory has nosedived so severely, he’s no longer guaranteed a second contract with Houston. I’m hitting the panic button on him. Draft some offensive linemen and get a real offensive coordinator to turn this shit around.
52. Texans had 22 carries for 48 yards.
53. Despite all of that, Houston was down 21-16 in the fourth quarter. That defense has all-time potential.
54. Will Anderson Jr. stuffed Will Campbell in a locker.
55. Texans franchise is now 0-7 in the divisional round.
56. Patriots now tie Pittsburgh for most AFC title appearances (16).
57. Patriots have now beaten Chargers and Texans and now face the Broncos. All three were top-five defenses this season. No quarterback has ever beaten three in a single postseason.
58. If New England chokes this game to Stidham, all-time choke.
59. Josh McDaniels is one of the best play callers of the 21st century.
60. Four units have made SB after having four of fewer wins the previous season: ‘88 Bengals, the Greatest Show on Turf ‘99 Rams, ‘19 49ers, ‘21 Bengals. Only the all-time Rams team won it. Patriots trying to join that list.
61. Five teams have won three road games en route to the Super Bowl: ‘85 Patriots, ‘05 Steelers, ‘07 Giants, ‘10 Packers, ‘20 Bucs. All but the Pats won the big one. Rams trying to join that list.
62. Stafford has not played well in either playoff.
63. He’s the only passer since ‘70 to throw 40 times, complete under 50% and throw no touchdowns on the road but still win.
64. Second quarter, Bears had 3rd and 1 on the LAR 32, ran it twice and didn’t get it. You can’t get a yard on two plays, deserve to lose.
65. 4th quarter, Chicago failed on 4th and goal from the 2.
66. Caleb Williams running in the wrong direction 15 yards and then yeeting a ball 45 off his back foot for a touchdown summarizes the 2025 Chicago Bears pretty well.
67. Cobie Durant had two interceptions in this game but on that play either gets shoved in the back by Cole Kmet or completely misplays the ball. That more than the throw was responsible for the score. Shades of the Ravens Mile High Miracle, Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones.
68. First possession of overtime, Sean McVay called a pitch on 3rd and 1. What the fuck are you doing?
69. That Williams INT…gonna be thinking about that one for a long time.
70. In playoff history, four teams have had a game-tying end zone trip in the last 30 seconds. All four lost in overtime.
71. Rams/Seahawks will be the 21st pennant game between division rivals. Home team is 15-5.
72. McVay is 6-1 in playoff games decided by three or less points. All-time stat.
73. The Broncos, Seahawks, Rams and Patriots were the four teams that got the most pressures from their starting defensive tackle duo. Not a coincidence. League puts a lot of emphasis on edge rushers and we should but defensive tackles matter. Having a DT that can do more than stuff the run is super valuable in 2026.
74. That Fernando Mendoza touchdown dive on 4th down is an all-time photo.
75. The Raiders should look to move the pick, not draft Mendoza. Did you see that offensive line? No one can succeed behind that.
76. The Ravens fired John Harbaugh and now have hired Jesse Minter, who worked under John from 2017-2020 and under Jim Harbaugh from 2022 to now. If the idea was to get away from the Harbaugh way of doing things, hiring the guy who has been in a Harbaugh’s pocket for the last decade doesn’t make much sense.
77. But at least Minter is a young hire. Steelers hired a geriatric.
78. The Steelers way right now is get older at all costs and in every way. They reject the very concept of time.
79. As awful as the Mike McCarthy hire is, he’s still not Mike Tomlin so he’s by definition an improvement. He also will bring new coordinators so there’s still hope.
80. I’ve had to hear for decades how Tomlin would get a job in two seconds if he ever left. It has now been over a million seconds since his resignation. Y’all feel stupid yet?
81. Art Rooney is one of the worst owners in football.
82. I wonder how Titans leadership feels, watching what Mike Vrabel has done this season.
83. Intrigued by Jonathan Gannon becoming the Packers DC.
84. I understand everyone wants to be a head coach but if I’m Jeff Hafley, I’d rather coach Micah Parsons and the Packers defense than manage Tua and that mess in Miami. I’d rather have fun at my job.
85. Arthur Smith is out of the NFL, gone to Ohio State. Good riddance.
86. Is Brian Flores a world-class asshole? How has he not been hired yet? Does any of it have to do with the Rooney rule lawsuit he filed?
87. I like Kevin Stefanski with Atlanta, an offensive coach with an offensive culture.
88. Feel like Robert Saleh could have done better than Tennessee.
89. The Eagles coordinator jobs are more valuable than the head coach. My eyes are open for the Philly OC.
90. Mike McDaniels, Chargers offensive coordinator. Can’t wait to hear what new excuses the Herbert heretics will make when he fails again.
91. Philip Rivers trying to get another job he’s supremely unqualified for. Interviewed for the Bills head coach job.
92. Had to hear for years how racial minorities weren’t qualified.
93. Now, we live in a world where Philip Rivers can talk his way into starting quarterback jobs after five-year retirements and NFL head coach jobs he has no resume for.
94. Always, always remember: the accumulation of wealth is not a sign of superior intelligence. There are profoundly stupid people with large wallets, same as any other income bracket.
95. Raiders, Cardinals, Browns and Bills are the remaining openings. Who would want to deal with the first three?
96. There comes a point where cap space and draft capital are overshadowed by organizational dysfunction. The first three are in that bucket.
97. Cleveland’s roster is superior to the first two but as long as you’re dealing with that meddling owner, that Deshaun Watson contract and Shedeur Sanders, why would you want to go there?
98. If I’m Rams DC Chris Shula and these are the options, no thank you.
99. I’d like to see Cleveland hire within and promote Jim Schwartz.
100. Sticking to my original, Rams win the NFC pick. I’ll take New England and I would’ve taken Patriots even if Bo Nix was playing.

*Stats provided by Benjamin Solak, Dante Koplowitz-Fleming, ESPN, ESPN Insights, ESPN Research, First Things First, Josh Dubow, Kevin Clark, Next Gen Stats, OptaStats, Yours Truly

The 100: 2026 NFL Wild Card

How wild are ya?
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
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Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18

1. If you read Week 18, you know I picked all the wild card games correctly, a perfect 6-0.
2. Stafford won first-team All-Pro with 31 of 50 votes.
3. Titans returner Chimere Dike is the fourth rookie since 2020 to make All-Pro. Others are Brock Bowers, Ahmad Gardner and Micah Parsons.
4. Only six of the 31 first-team All-Pros were 30 or older.
5. Panthers went for it on 4th and 1 on their opening drive. Loved the decision but play action rollout??
6. Carolina’s run centric and the best strat was to lean on that. Going away from that to start the game?
7. Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle had 18 combined carries for 55 yards.
8. Panthers led the league with 27 4th down conversions.
9. Stafford and the Rams had their worst game of the season. In the box score, you see 300 yards, 3 TDs but I assure you, Stafford was awful. At one point, he completed 2/12.
10. For significant portions of the game, Bryce Young outplayed him.
11. Colby Parkinson with a helluva game-winning catch for LA.
12. Carolina defense played better than the numbers suggest, well enough to win.
13. Panthers were the fifth team all-time to make the postseason with a losing record.
14. 12 teams averaged less than 21.5 points per game this year. Carolina was the only one to make playoffs.
15. After Rams failed to cover, road favorites in the playoffs of 5+ points are not 0-5 against the spread since 2000.
16. Ben Johnson went for it on 4th and 5 on his own 32. That’s too aggressive, even for me. Didn’t get it. In the first half, Chicago had INT and turnover on downs twice in a row.
17. Green Bay had first and goal on the 1. These were the play calls:
    Shotgun, incomplete
    Shotgun, inside zone, no gain
    Singleback, HB dive, no gain
    Shotgun, TD
    Maddening play calling. Goal line, HB dive, over and over. This isn’t rocket science.
18. Ben Johnson iced Brandon McManus before half, 21-3 Green Bay. Chicago’s biggest halftime deficit ever in a home playoff game.
19. Third quarter, two Packer three-and-outs but Johnson calls play action on 4th and 1, interception.
20. This game felt like two coaches desperately trying to lose.
21. Bears scored 25 in the fourth quarter. 25.
22. Only 10 teams averaged 25 in an entire game this season.
23. McManus missed the extra point on the Green Bay end zone trip in the final frame.
24. It’s 27-24 GB, 2nd and 10 on the CHI 21, 3:07 in the 4th, Bears have one timeout left and LaFleur calls pass. Incomplete.
25. Calls timeout, they get delay of game out of the stoppage (how is this possible??) and call another pass, incomplete. That’s an extra 40 seconds and the Bears last timeout you could have burned off.
26. HORRID clock management. HORRID.
27. McManus misses the 44yd kick. You deserve that. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
28. More Bears bullshit to take the lead.
29. And because McManus missed the extra point and two field goals, Green Bay is down four instead of three and getting in field goal range means nothing. Cheeseheads lose.
30. A coach who blows an 18-point halftime lead in a playoff game against a division rival should not retain his job. That’s one of the biggest collapses in postseason history.
31. Bet Green Bay keeps him because of his rapport with Love but beyond inexcusable. He’s in the final year of his contract and should be given an ultimatum: playoff win next year or you’re gone.
32. Still don’t believe in the Bears, it’s an unsustainable way to play but this win means this probably isn’t a one-hit wonder and Chicago might finally be evolving into an actual enterprise.
33. That’s the first time the Bears beat the Packers in the playoffs since a week after Pearl Harbor.
34. Colston Loveland is the first rookie tight end with 100 receiving in a playoff since Keith Jackson in 1988.
35. Caleb Williams clearly has arm talent. He had a throw rolling left on 4th and 8 with a defender chasing. If he doesn’t make it, game’s likely over. Dude has a hard time completing passes though. 50% today.
36. Love had 323 and four scores. He’s the third player all-time to throw four scores, zero interceptions and lose. Others are Josh Allen and Alex Smith.
37. Romeo Doubs had eight catches for 124 and a score. A WR1 performance.
38. Outside of Davante Adams, the last Packers receiver to hit 1k was Jordy Nelson in 2016.
39. Trevor Lawrence had an interception and fell down on a 4th down try in the first half.
40. Buffalo’s league-best ground game was bottled by Jacksonville’s league-best run defense.
41. It’s hard to win football games when you’re losing in the trenches on both sides. Buffalo lost both sides of the line of scrimmage and won anyway.
42. You can criticize Josh Allen but not on his toughness. Dude takes a lot of hits and keeps getting back up.
43. Bills should’ve taken a knee on 1st and goal on the 1 and drained the clock to 20 seconds. Would’ve given them three plays to get a yard and a half. Instead, the Jags let them score and Trevor Lawrence got the ball back.
44. Thankfully, Tre’Davious White creates an INT. He also saved a touchdown on a seam route earlier.
45. Rams, Bears and Bills all secured the game-winning score after the two-minute warning.
46. Buffalo win their first road playoff game since 1991, ending an eight-game losing streak.
47. Look, guys! The Eagles offense was shit again! Shocking!
48. Jalen Hurts had 35 attempts for 167 yards. That’s 4.6 per attempt.
49. Brady Cook played five games for the Jets and averaged 4.8.
50. I believe Hurts is a very good quarterback and belongs in the top-10 but in 2025, he wasn’t just below average; he was horrible. The play calling and scheming has been awful but you’d like to see a quarterback of his abilities elevate above that from time to time.
51. Eagles had the highest three-and-out percentage in the league, 28.1%. Thank God, Kevin Patullo is gone.
52. It should never be this hard to throw a football to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
53. A run game with three All-Pro worthy linemen (Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Lane Johnson) and Saquon Barkley should never struggle this much.
54. Can’t imagine a lot of recent Super Bowl winners have failed to win a playoff game the following season.
55. During the regular season, the 49ers averaged 3.8 yards per run. The only teams worse were the Saints and Raiders.
56. I teased this earlier in the year but this is the least effective rushing attack of the Kyle Shanahan era. The last time San Francisco averaged less than 4.0 ypc was 2005.
57. Gutted for George Kittle. An Achilles tear this late in the year means he might miss all of next season.
58. Bills great Thurman Thomas has the record for consecutive playoff games with a touchdown. He has nine. Christian McCaffrey is now at eight.
59. Late on this but CMC’s 416.6 fantasy points in the regular season was the 12th-most in fantasy history.
60. First time four games were decided by four points or less in a single postseason round. Might have been the greatest wild card round in NFL history.
61. Teams with a -2 turnover differential in the playoffs were 9-152 in the Super Bowl era before the 9ers overcame that margin to beat Philly.
62. The 2025 NFC West is the fourth division since 1970 to have three teams reach the divisional round.
63. Jauan Jennings has as many playoff passing touchdowns as Justin Herbert.
64. At what point do the games matter with Herbert? Have the Herbert heretics decided when that will be? We’re six years in.
65. The only quarterback, minimum three starts, with a lower playoff passer rating than Herbert in the last 25 years is Andy Dalton. Herbert is at 64.7 through three.
66. First drive, Chargers had 4th and 2 on the NE 47. Purposefully took a delay and punted.
67. Next drive started at the NE 10 after an interception. Four plays, no touchdown.
68. Next possession, kick a field goal on the 3.
69. That’s three straight drives that just aren’t good enough.
70. That Drake Maye touchdown pass was maybe an inch over Derwin James’ hand.
71. Maye’s fumble in the fourth quarter could’ve been a scoop and score for LAC.
72. Pats/Chargers the sixth playoff game this century with less than 20 combined points.
73. Herbert and Maye led their teams in rushing.
74. Regardless of how good you think Herbert is, at the end of the day, he has the same amount of playoff wins as Tua Tagovailoa: zero.
75. Texans, like the 49ers, were one of five teams to average less than 4.0 ypc. Kinda crazy both these teams made the playoffs, given how one-dimensional the offenses are.
76. Abolish the flea flicker. It’s a dumb fucking play, always was.
77. C.J. Stroud couldn’t catch a fucking snap. Just fumbling all over the place. He finished the night with FIVE fumbles, lost two and had an interception. The worst game of Stroud’s career. He was a complete pumpkin Monday night. Never seen him that bad.
78. Texans still won 30-6.
79. Texans one of a handful of teams to have two defensive scores in a playoff.
80. DeMeco Ryans is the fourth coach to win a playoff in each of his first three years.
81. Pat Freiermuth had zero targets until Pittsburgh was down 17-6 in the fourth quarter. Arthur Smith, master of personnel usage.
82. Fantastic stat from Daniel Valente: Since 2019, 784 instances of a receiver or tight end garnering 50+ targets. Jonnu Smith this season was dead-last at 4.1 yards per target.
83. Steelers became the first team to lose five straight playoff games by double digits.
84. Mike Tomlin joined Marvin Lewis as the only coaches to lose seven consecutive postseason matches.
85. Only the Lions, Bengals and Chiefs have ever lost eight postseason games in a row.
86. Tomlin resigned on Tuesday. Good fucking riddance.
87. I have a long-running series called The Steelers Curse. I’ll have more about this game on there. Hope is to have two articles out by the end of next week.
88. Last week, Mike McDaniel was going to assist in the Dolphins general manager search. This week, he is unemployed. Miami is aimless.
89. Many analysts and sports talk people complained about how many teams went for it on 4th down this weekend. These people both don’t understand math and are cowards.
90. Seven points is more than two field goals. I don’t know how much more basic it can get.
91. What do these people think fans want to see? More punting? It’s not only a bad take for the math and evolution of the sport; they’re advocating for a worse viewing experience. Go to bed, grandpa.
92. Sean Payton this week was asked by a reporter about Dre Greenlaw’s ability to attack downfield in the run game and Payton dismissed him, said the reporter didn’t know what he was talking about.
93. Payton has always taken pride in being a self-righteous asshole.
94. Who does it serve to gatekeep football? How does this grow the game?
95. There are some people who are genuinely too stupid to understand football, they do exist but let’s not pretend football is as complicated as astrophysics.
96. It would be super funny if the Bills ran for 200 yards on Denver next week so that same reporter could ask, “Sean, what do you know about attacking downfield in the run game?”
97. My picks for this weekend remain the same: Texans, Bills, Seahawks, Rams.
98. The NFL coaching cycle should not begin until after the Super Bowl. Coaches on playoff teams should not be interviewing for other jobs when they should be focusing on upcoming matchups.
99. Push the draft back a month if that’s what it takes.
100. John Harbaugh to the Giants is a non-story for me. A bad coach being hired doesn’t raise my brows.

*Stats provided by Daniel Valente, Danny Parkins, Eric Karabell, ESPN, ESPN Fantasy, ESPN Insights, First Things First, Josh Dubow, NFL Researcher, NFL Throwback, OptaStats, UnderdogNFL, UrinatingTree, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 18

The final turn!
Week 3
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Week 16
Week 17

1. In their biggest game of the season, Carolina had 14 carries for 19 yards.
2. In Super Bowl 50, Cam Newton famously had a chance to jump on a fumble and didn’t. Bryce Young did the same thing in the fourth quarter while in field goal range. They lost by two. Do not pick up his fifth-year.
3. I believe Dave Canales and Liam Coen were more responsible for the Bucs success in recent years than Todd Bowles.
4. Shanahan’s offense had nine first downs and 173 yards. Might be the worst performance of his career.
5. The NFL officially shrunk the preseason from four games to three a few years ago but that’s not really true. They just pushed the last exhibition to week 18. Most of these games were meaningless and boring as fuck.
6. Dak Prescott had beaten the Giants 14 consecutive times before Sunday’s loss. He was pulled at halftime.
7. Cowboys and Lions both had two players finish top-ten in receiving this season.
8. Dallas finishes as the worst scoring defense, 30.1 a game, 511 total points. Matt Eberflus!
9. Why is Joe Schoen still employed?
10. Negative net passing yards in an NFL game should get you immediate termination papers.
11. Is Minnesota the most regretful team? Massive fumble letting Sam Darnold walk. Has blown up spectacularly.
12. Sports Illustrated Twitter posted this: “Have the Browns found their QB: Shedeur Sanders closes rookie season with back-to-back wins over Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow.”
13. Sanders was 11/22 for 111, fumbled and was sacked six times, giving him 82 net passing yards.
14. The media’s obsession with Shedeur is nauseating and I’m willing to bet Kevin Stefanski’s firing was a mutual decision. He was tired of the nonsense.
15. Stefanski won two Coach of the Year awards and led Cleveland to their first playoff win since the 90’s. He was the best manager they’ve had since their return. Think this is a mistake.
16. Bengals punted on 4th and 1 on the CLE 45.
17. Joe Burrow has never been an All-Pro. If he retired this spring, he wouldn’t be a Hall of Famer.
18. Cincinnati chose to keep Zac Taylor on Black Monday. He said there will be no changes to his staff. Burrow said he wanted to have fun and Taylor and ownership said, “Fuck off.”
19. If you can miss the playoffs three straight seasons with Burrow and field one of the worst defenses this decade, ANYONE can be coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
20. Black Monday is one of my favorite days of the year because it lets us know how delusional organizations are. Bengals belong in a psychiatric hospital.
21. The Jets are so insane, they shouldn’t be allowed to live.
22. New York lost their last five games by 24, 28, 23, 32 and 27 points. They stopped giving a shit a while ago.
23. Aaron Glenn’s defense had zero interceptions this season. That’s incredible, especially for a defense-first coach.
24. Glenn doesn’t have the locker room and he put up a stat that shouldn’t be possible, especially in the pass-happy league it is now. No rational being would continue to employ him but this is the Jets.
25. Retaining Glenn will push the timeline to competence back another five seasons. They will botch all of their draft picks, they’ll reach two decades without a playoff appearance and they’ll continue to be one of the worst franchises in sports.
26. Bengals and Jets sucked all year just to keep the same headmaster in place and change nothing. Those fan bases should be rabid.
27. Alec Pierce had over 1k on just 47 receptions, fewest since 2010’s DeSean Jackson.
28. Wow, Riley Leonard looked better than a guy who hadn’t thrown a football in five years? Shocking!
29. Colts started 7-1, went 1-8 the rest of the way and end the season with a losing record at 8-9. They went from a historically efficient offense with an MVP frontrunner at RB to a rusted toaster and a back who might not even make All-Pro now.
30. No one is fired after one of the biggest collapses in NFL history. Suck forever, Indy. I root against stupid people and you’ve proudly identified yourselves as one.
31. People forget but between Johnny Unitas and Peyton Manning, the Colts went from 1972-1994 without winning a playoff game, 23 seasons. Didn’t bother making the postseason for 19 of those.
32. Well, I hope Indy breaks that record now. Stupid teams deserve stupid prizes. They beat the life out of Andrew Luck and now don’t bother trying to develop quarterbacks at all.
33. Think there’s a lot of pressure on the Jags to win a playoff. Lawrence may revert to his usual self next fall and Jacksonville has never been a stable organization. The 2017 team had five All-Pros on defense, they made an AFC title game. Months later, never were the same.
34. Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot out in Atlanta. Let’s always remember them for investing $100 million guaranteed in Kirk Cousins, then drafting Michael Penix weeks later.
35. The Patriots had the easiest schedule by opponent win percentage since 2000. The Broncos had the third-easiest. I don’t believe in either team.
36. If Mike McDaniel is assisting in the Dolphins general manager search, his job must be safer than we thought.
37. Raiders called a toss on 4th and 1. Thank God, Pete Carroll is gone.
38. Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon. Arizona has never had a coach last more than six seasons.
39. Michael Wilson had 1k receiving. Marvin Harrison Jr. was outside the top-50. Why is he on the team?
40. Bears were playing to keep the two-seed. Lions had already been eliminated from the playoffs. If you knew nothing about football and watched the game, you would’ve thought it was the other way around. Detroit looked invested, Chicago disinterested.
41. Finishing last in your division at 9-8 is not a bad thing. Lions have a chance to be a “last to first” team next season.
42. Patriots, Broncos and Bears have all benefited from late-game heroics and/or easy schedules. Next season, they’ll all play first-place routines and regress.
43. John “Double-Digit” Harbaugh blew another 10-point lead. All-time choker, this guy.
44. If the Ravens had kept Harbaugh and I’m Derrick Henry, I’m publicly requesting a trade. Second time in three games Henry was on the bench for most of the fourth quarter.
45. The most important attribute for a coach, more than player relations, culture building, schematics and personnel management, is situational awareness and Harbaugh cannot figure out how to hand the ball to a Hall of Fame running back on crucial downs.
46. Ravens and Steelers are actually the same team: a franchise that has held onto a coach a decade past expiration and accomplished nothing because of it.
47. Black Monday also serves as an annual reminder of how comfortable people are in toxic relationships. It is better to leave early than stay years after it was broken.
48. When it comes to sports, many organizations seem to think if they abandon a coach early, he might become Vince Lombardi, which is why bad coaching is so prolific. The system supports bad eggs.
49. It’s also this system that continues to recycle the same coaches over and over rather than find new, inspiring minds. Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy are getting interviews. Matt Nagy has made a mess of the Kansas City offense. Raheem Morris has floundered in two stints.
50. Hours after Harbaugh’s firing, which is a great thing for the Ravens, multiple analysts said he was now the top coaching candidate. Why? Because he’s done the job a long time? What in his recent resume endears you?
51. NFL teams should give coaches the same leash they give players instead of handing them terms that rival a United States senator. NFL HC is not a job you’re supposed to have for 20 years unless you’re truly one of the legends of the sport, like Andy Reid.
52. DeMeco Ryans, Coen, Johnson, Mike Macdonald, Canales. All newer managers doing a great job.
53. Lamar Jackson was 5/10 for 66, TD/INT, through three quarters. That first half was as bad as I’ve ever seen him play.
54. Second player in NFL history to throw two go-ahead scores of 50+ in the fourth quarter. Other is 2010’s David Garrard.
55. Ravens and Bills fans should be asking themselves, “Is this it?” You have probable Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Their careers are half over and what do you have to show for it?
56. Aaron Rodgers finished last in average depth of target and air yards per completion. The Steelers are an extremely screen-heavy team.
57. Matt Stafford and Drake Maye should be the all-pros in that order.
58. If Stafford doesn’t win MVP, I don’t want to hear about him in the Hall of Fame ever again. The same people telling you over and over he belongs there also keep telling you with their vote over and over he’s not one of the best.
59. Stafford has never been an All-Pro. Not one time.
60. Bijan Robinson for first-team after setting the Falcons single-season scrimmage record and I put Christian McCaffrey for second. I understand his yards per carry is low but San Fran has made it this far because of him. I have a hard time skipping over a back with 100 receptions and nearly a 1k rushing/1k receiving season.
61. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown first-team, Ja’Marr Chase, George Pickens, Chris Olave.
62. I think Kyle Pitts is second-team tight end.
63. Because Stafford should win MVP, I think voters will skip over Puka, choose JSN for Offensive Player of the Year. It could go either way but I think JSN has been more valuable to his team.
64. Have CMC for Comeback. If Philip Rivers wins this, you’ll find me at the bottom of the river.
65. Seattle’s John Schneider wins best general manager. He looked at a team that finished 9-8 the last two seasons and said, “Not good enough.” Most teams are run by cowards, like the Steelers, who would settle for that.
66. I loved the approach, just didn’t think Sam Darnold was the right guy to go in on. Early returns, pretty great!
67. Most executives will never do what Schneider did because they care more about their jobs than the team. Same could be said for coaches. Your job is not to keep the job. Your job is to do it.
68. There are a lot of quality candidates for Coach of the Year and I had to find some way to narrow them down.
69. Sean Payton is out because the team has profited off of Tebow magic.
70. Same with the Chicago Bears and their record trailing under two minutes, plus we already knew Johnson was great, he just won assistant of the year.
71. Mike Vrabel is out for playing the softest schedule this century.
72. Love what Canales has done in Carolina, beating the Dallas offense, Packers and Rams, winning Panthers their first division title in a minute but the vibes aren’t as strong as they once were there.
73. Give Jim Harbaugh a lot of credit, too given the injuries but think they’re limping in as well.
74. Love the turnaround DeMeco Ryans has had, from 0-3 to playoffs but that offense is so stinky.
75. That leaves the final three: Coen, Kyle Shanahan, Mike Macdonald.
76. Similar to my OPOY logic, think it’s unlikely Seahawks win Coach of the Year and best exec so I put down Shanahan.
77. That Tyler Loop kick may alter the trajectories of the Steelers and Ravens for the next five years.
78. Baltimore, please hire Brian Flores.
79. Regardless of who they choose, fresh energy will revitalize the team while Pittsburgh continues to be a dredge. Ravens fans should be thanking Loop, not sending him death threats.
80. DraftKings has Rams as 10.5-point favorites in Carolina, which is a lot for a playoff game and yet, I don’t think it’s enough. They might win by 20.
81. If Carolina wins, I also don’t want to hear about Stafford in Canton ever again.
82. Packers getting points in Chicago is curious. How much of this is about the Bears legacy of failure and how much of it is about the current team?
83. Packers ended on a four-game skid and I’d wager teams that crawl in traditionally get bounced early.
84. I’m a bigger Jordan Love fan than most but he’s coming off a concussion, Josh Jacobs has been hurt for a while and the defense had stinkers against Denver and Derrick Henry.
85. I will say this: if Bears lose, season will feel like a failure, not because you didn’t win a playoff game but because you lost that playoff game to the rival cheeseheads.
86. Packers trade for Parsons, go all-in on the season and then go home without a playoff win? That would be a rough conclusion to what started out as a very promising campaign.
87. I know the 7-seed is here to stay but I hate it and it’s dumb. The team with a bye gets an unfair advantage and the seventh team often doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. The six-team, two-bye system was sound. It’s not a bad thing for a good team to miss the dance but it is bad for a clearly flawed team to waste all of our time in January.
88. I imagine it will eventually become an eight-team, two-bye format because everything is about money and then we’ll have some real ugly playoff games.
89. Denver is losing next week, heard it here first.
90. Bills -1.5 in Jacksonville. Buffalo needs a win this weekend more than anyone. Allen cannot go one-and-done with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar and Burrow out of the picture.
91. And it needs to be a statement win, least for me. Blow them out and establish yourselves. Turn Trevor Lawrence back into a pumpkin. Wouldn’t feel great as a Bills fan if they just eke one out. This is it, Buffalo. Final Curtain. Get it done.
92. Eagles -4.5 against the 49ers? I hate the 2025 Eagles offense and I hate Sirianni. Unless Philly plays Carolina or Pittsburgh, I’m betting against Philly the whole way.
93. An NFC West team will win the Super Bowl.
94. Pats have to win or it’s a failure, right? Detractors have been shitting on them for their weak schedule all season. It’s the weakest by win percentage this century and one of the thinnest of all-time. If you lose your first postseason bout? Incredibly damning.
95. It would be nice for Justin Herbert to show up in a big game for once.
96. The schedule makers put Steelers on Monday night on purpose. They haven’t lost home on Monday since 1991. Gives the game intrigue it wouldn’t have on another day because no intelligent person takes Pittsburgh seriously.
97. A Steelers victory is the worst thing that could happen to them. It will only prolong Mike Tomlin’s existence. They must lose, lose and lose until he is eradicated.
98. That leaves my divisional matchups as follows: BUF@DEN, HOU@NE, SF@SEA, LAR@CHI
99. I know I shouldn’t believe in the Bills, not with their history but I can’t believe in Tim Tebow. Can’t. Also would love to see the Houston defense carry this team to the conference final. Gimme Seattle and Los Angeles in the final bout to rule them all.
100. Buffalo and the Rams, with Stafford’s Elway arc complete.

*Stats provided by Adam Schefter, Ari Meirov, DraftKings, ESPN, First Things First, Jamison Hensley, PFF Fantasy, Pro Football Reference, Sports Illustrated, Wikipedia, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 17

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!
And a Happy New Year!
Week 3
Week 4
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Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
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Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16

1. I’m a sports-obsessed person. From the beginning of the NFL season in September until the end of the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals, I watch something sports nearly every day. My only “off time” is the 10ish weeks between those.
2. As a kid, Christmas was about family, reflection, dreams and hope, the most important things in life. I still see Christmas as a magical time of year, the best chapter and I like to spend my holiday that way, free of football, basketball and whatever else is on. I appreciate tradition but I assure you Christmas football and/or basketball will never be a tradition for me.
3. And it especially won’t be a ritual if the games are as terrible as they were this year.
4. Dallas ran 87 plays to Washington’s 41, more than double. Confident that’s the first time that’s happened this season because if it had, I would’ve wrote it down on The 100.
5. Boys are the fifth team to score 450 and allow 450 in a season. Others are ‘21 Chargers, ‘16 Saints, ‘12 Saints, ‘00 Rams.
6. Dallas has set yet another new franchise record for points allowed in a season. In fantasy, Cowboys had seven games with negative points.
7. Josh Johnson started for the Commanders and after the loss, said, “I was just trying to play clean and give us a chance to win the game.”
8. Players and coaches obsessed with playing turnover-free lose their teams more games than they win. If you want to win, you need to be good at risk management. Players and coaches like Johnson are risk-averse, so they’ll never accomplish anything that matters. No guts, no glory.
9. Every time a coach kicks a field goal on or inside the five-yard line, I want to kill myself. Dan Quinn was down 10 and kicked. He thinks it’s easier for Josh Johnson and his offense to go the length of the field again than it is for the Commanders to gain five yards on one play. This makes no fucking sense and is an affront to math and analytics.
10. Max Brosmer had negative net passing yards until the two-minute warning. He finished with three, as in one, two, three.
11. The Texans beat the Raiders 23-14 in 2006 with -5 passing yards.
12. If it wasn’t for a WR Reverse that Jordan Addison took 65 yards to the house, Minnesota would’ve finished with 96 yards of total offense.
13. So you might be thinking, “So Minnesota got blown out, right?” Nope, won 23-10. Jared Goff threw two picks, fumbled three times, including two botched snaps and Jahmyr Gibbs dropped it, too. It was the first time the Vikings had six takeaways without a turnover themselves since 1975.
14. Prior to the contest, Lions were averaging 30 points a game. Only the 1975 Bills and 2004 Chiefs scored 30 per and missed the playoffs.
15. Even after that armageddon, Lions are still averaging a turnover per game. The other 12 teams in history to average 30 per and one turnover per game have a winning percentage of 82.1%. Detroit is 8-8, a .500 record.
16. Four of the last five teams to win 15 games missed playoffs the following season.
17. The Lions got swept by Minnesota, which means they are now at the bottom of the division with one of the league’s best offenses. Vikings have started a carousel of guys who can’t play NFL QB and have won 8 games.
18. Someone hire Brian Flores.
19. Justin Jefferson finished as WR26 in fantasy. Probably the biggest bust of the season. Obviously, not his fault.
20. The Broncos at half were losing to Chris Oladokun.
21. This is why Sean Payton shouldn’t be a Coach of the Year candidate and why Vance Joseph should be Assistant of the Year. This offense is a tractor.
22. Payton is now one of two head coaches with five 13-win seasons. Other is Bill Belichick.
23. If the best third-string quarterbacks like Brosmer and Oladokun can do is three net passing yards and 13/22 for 66 and a TD, maybe the league shouldn’t have third-string quarterbacks and should instead become familiar with wildcat and option offenses.
24. Chris Jones for years was the best defensive tackle in football. He is the highest-paid and he’s the best player on the KC defense. He jumped offsides on a 4th down that all but sealed the game for Denver. Sums up the Chiefs season pretty well.
25. This is the first time the Texans have made the playoffs three consecutive years.
26. They were founded in 2002 and didn’t make the playoffs until their 10th try. That season, they set franchise records in points allowed (278) and point differential (+103).
27. Through 16 games, the 2025 Texans have 265 points allowed and +101 gap.
28. Dalton Schultz has 78 receptions, a Houston single-season record for a tight end.
29. Only seven teams in the Super Bowl era have started 0-3 and made the playoffs. Houston has done it twice in the last eight years.
30. Justin Herbert has had an admirable stand but I think his first three seasons were better than his last three.
31. For the third consecutive year, the Packers are the 7-seed. Under the old format, they would’ve missed playoffs the last three seasons. Matt LaFleur’s seat should be getting warm.
32. I know LaFleur is a great coach because of how he develops quarterbacks. I think the Packers organizational philosophies play a substantial role but LaFleur plays a part.
33. Malik Willis: 18/21 for 288, TD, nine carries for 60, 2 TDs, 31.52 fantasy
34. Green Bay has lost three games this schedule in which they did not punt.
35. One of the many reasons they lost this one: seven RB carries and half of them were at the end of the game. You’re not giving yourself a strong chance when you’re asking Willis to be the entire offense.
36. Packers spent a first-rounder on Matthew Golden. He has 28 catches.
37. Derrick Henry: career-high 36 for 216, 4 TDs, 45.6 fantasy led the week and that 216 is the most rushing by a visitor in Lambeau.
38. 25 career games with 100+ rushing and multiple scores: Jim Brown, LaDainian Tomlinson, Henry
39. Henry is now fourth all-time in rushing scores and 10th in rushing. He also has seven 200-yard games, most in history.
40. Henry was skipped over Pro Bowl for De’Von Achane, who has had a very good year himself but Achane cannot do what Henry just did. Henry said, “We’re gonna win tonight” and it wasn’t gonna matter what anyone tried, wasn’t gonna stop him. That’s what separates the very goods from the greats.
41. Henry has four seasons with 15+ total touchdowns. Those with more: Jerry Rice and LaDainian Tomlinson with six, Emmitt Smith and Shaun Alexander with five.
42. I didn’t expect Alexander on that list either but ‘01-‘05 Alexander had 1100 rushing and 14 rushing scores every season, including 1880 and 27 in 2005, winning MVP, OPOY and leading Seattle to their first conference title and Super Bowl appearance.
43. Alexander played that ‘05 campaign on the franchise tag, likely the greatest tagged season in NFL history. He signed an eight-year, $62 million contract and never did anything noteworthy again. Injuries got the best of him.
44. He’s one of 10 with 100 rushing touchdowns but has never been a Hall of Fame semi-finalist.
45. Tyler Warren did not lead rookie tight ends in fantasy points. That would be the Browns Harold Fannin Jr, who was TE5.
46. Cleveland linebacker Carson Schwesinger has 156 tackles, tied fourth-most ever by a rookie. He’s a strong favorite for DPOY via DraftKings at -700.
47. So while everyone coddles Shedeur Sanders and proclaims him the second coming of Christ after three interception games, remember he’s not the first or second-best player from his own team’s draft class.
48. Steelers are 1-6-1 in Cleveland since 2018. Fans used to be able to chalk up a Cleveland sweep. Now, in Cleveland is a guaranteed loss.
49. Pittsburgh is 0-4-1 in their last five against teams eight games below .500.
50. They are 27-27 in December/January since 2017. They play their best football at the start of every season and their worst at every conclusion.
51. Pittsburgh lost 13-6 and after the game, Mike Tomlin said, “I didn’t think we played poorly.”
52. What the fuck is a poor game, Mike? You’re losing games to 3-12 teams.
53. Aaron Rodgers obsessively tells us how smart he is but in this game, he slid short of a first down, causing a 4th and 1 and decided a 20-yard fade to Scotty Miller was the best option for a conversion.
54. He’s also the super genius who, three straight times, targeted Marquez Valdes-Scantling against Denzel Ward.
55. I talked about this multiple times in my Aaron Rodgers is Not a God series, an excellent biographical trilogy I put together. When the pressure is up, Rodgers stops reading defenses and force feeds his friends. He’s been doing it for years. This was no surprise.
56. The 2025 Colts are having one of the biggest collapses in NFL history and I’m loving every second of it. Only five teams have started 8-2 and missed the playoffs: ‘76 Cardinals, ‘76 Bengals, ‘87 Chargers, ’93 Dolphins, ‘95 Raiders. Now, that list is six, the first time in 30 years. Bravo!
57. I love watching stupid people lose. Now, their stupidity and incompetence is cemented. You went all-in on Ahmad Gardner at the trade deadline when you haven’t had a stable passer since Luck, putting all your chips on Daniel Jones.
58. You then started Jones with a leg fracture, which contributed to an Achilles tear and now he will miss most if not all of 2026 and may never perform at this level again.
59. Then, you called Philip Rivers, who has been retired for five years because you run from coaching and player development. Don’t want to start our draft pick, don’t want to find someone who has played quarterback in four years, nope, lets visit retirement homes for our quarterback like we’ve been doing for all of the 2020s: Rivers, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco and now we’re back to Rivers again.
60. Fire everyone. Ballard has to go. Cut Anthony Richardson. Dude was unavailable because he’s slapping himself with exercise bands like a cartoon character. I’m a Steichen fan but this is a fireable offense.
61. The Indianapolis Colts are an affront to sports and every member of management should be on the cutting floor.
62. Carlie Irsay-Gordon, you are the owner now. Cleanse this franchise and create your own legacy or continue to drown in the sewage your father left behind.
63. Trevor Lawrence finished the fantasy season QB4 and had the best fantasy playoff run in the history of the game.
64. The top-three runs in fantasy history have all happened in the last calendar year:
    ‘25 Lawrence 98.58
    ‘25 Purdy 94.02
    ’24 Goff 92.22
65. Travis Etienne, in a contract year, has 1100 yards rushing and was RB10 in fantasy.
66. Beginning of the season, Cardinals lost a lot of one-score games. Now, they’re not even bothering. Bengals are the worst defense and Arizona managed 233 yards and 14 points. Fire everyone.
67. 15 players finished with 300 fantasy points this season. Trey McBride was one of them. TE2 was Kyle Pitts at 199.
68. McBride has reset the single-season catch record for a tight end at 119 and has a chance to add to that Sunday.
69. There have been 14 1200-yard receiving seasons by a TE. McBride is at 1174 and can join that list.
70. Nine names who have reached that mark:
    Travis Kelce 4x (including three of the top-five campaigns all-time), George Kittle, Mark Andrews, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham 2x, Kellen Winslow, Tony Gonzalez 2x, Ted Christensen, Jackie Smith
71. Smith has the Cardinals TE record at 1205, which he did in just 14 games and on 56 catches in 1967. Got robbed of first-team All-Pro.
72. Franchises and the NFL as a whole should separate records into 14-game season, 16-game season and current day game-season records. For example, Michael Strahan still has the 16-game sack record, Calvin Johnson the 16-game receiving record, etc. Those marks should be immortalized, not erased because there’s more matches in a campaign now.
73. I took McBride third round in fantasy in multiple leagues and will always remember I had him during this historic run. One of my best ever fantasy picks.
74. Chase Brown’s first six games, he was non-existent but he’s looked himself since. Outside shot at 1k rushing and 500 receiving. He finished as fantasy RB8, just behind Henry.
75. Ja’Marr Chase is the first player with 80 receptions, 1k and seven scores in each of his first five seasons.
76. Seahawks/Panthers had 165 net passing yards combined. Gross.
77. Seahawks D had 173 fantasy, Texans had 162. No other defense had over 124.
78. Puka Nacua and Jaxson Smith-Njigba were the only receivers over 300 fantasy.
79. Quarterbacks with consecutive 13-win seasons: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Sam Darnold.
80. I’ve been a Darnold hater forever. Never believed he’d be great but cannot take this from him: Darnold is currently a very good, top-10 quarterback who has played at an elite level for two years. Do I expect it to last? No, he was bad for six seasons. I imagine this will end sooner rather than later but he has reached a pinnacle of play I did not think he could and I give him all the credit for that.
81. Bucs started 5-1. 2-8 since.
82. Drake Maye: 19/21 for 256, 5 TDs, 32.44 fantasy
83. New England finished an undefeated 8-0 on the road.
84. Jets are the first team to lose four straight by 23+ since the ‘72 Patriots. Fire Aaron Glenn.
85. Super Tank Bowl was super disappointing. Fire Pete Carroll.
86. Chris Olave finished as WR6 with career-highs in targets, receptions, yards and touchdowns. Juwan Johnson was TE9 and the Saints D was D10.
87. Titans Chimere Dike set the rookie record for scrimmage yards in a season, overtaking Tim Brown’s 1988 performance.
88. ‘25 Eagles are the first team since the ‘87 Patriots to win multiple games in which they didn’t complete a second-half pass. Philadelphia cannot play a full 60 minutes, haven’t been able to all season. Frauds coached by a frat boy. Can’t get ousted fast enough.
89. Christian McCaffrey averages 116.4 yards from scrimmage in his career. Only two players with 100+ games played have done more: Jim Brown, Barry Sanders.
90. Caleb Williams is allergic to D.J. Moore. As mentioned in a previous episode, Moore has a $28.5 cap hit each of the next three seasons.
91. 9ers/Bears was a joy to watch but I don’t think either of these teams can make the conference championship.
92. Unless Tampa wins the NFC South, Chicago will have the worst scoring defense of the playoff field and that’s with a league-high 32 takeaways and +22 turnover differential.
93. 49ers have 18 sacks total on the season. That would be the fewest since the 2022 Bears.
94. The top fantasy plays during fantasy championships, weeks 16 and 17:
    3 Brock Purdy 67.82
    2 Derrick Henry 68.4
    1 Bijan Robinson 69.7
95. I needed Kyren Williams to outscore Robinson by two points to win a fantasy championship. That did not happen.
96. Robinson is a top-five RB. In no particular order: Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, Jahmyr Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey. I’d take Bijan over everyone else.
97. Kyle Pitts has a career-high 82 receptions for 870 and five scores going into the final week, an impressive performance after three dud seasons but Drake London missed many of the games he excelled. He’s gonna gaslight somebody into paying him a lot of money, as I’ve said multiple times.
98. I’m confident no franchise is better after being eliminated than the Atlanta Falcons.
99. Stafford tied an NFL record by throwing his 32nd pick-six.
100. The Cotton Bowl between Ole Miss and Georgia was better than multiple NFL games this week.

*Stats provided by Adam Schefter, Associated Press, Benjamin Solak, Doug Clawson, ESPN, ESPN Fantasy, ESPN Insights, ESPN Research, givemesports.com, Josh Dubow, NFL Fantasy, NFL on CBS, NFL on Fox, Pro Football Reference, Scarpizio, SleeperBrowns, StatMuse, UnderdogNFL, Wikipedia, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 16

All I wanted for Christmas was Mike Tomlin fired. Maybe next year!
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15

1. Puka Nacua is a great football player but he might be a total piece of garbage. He’s hanging out with Adin Ross, an antisemetic Jewish guy, trying to give tours of the Rams facility like it’s an amusement park, making antisemitic gestures during touchdown celebrations and now he’s screaming on Twitter minutes after a game.
2. Nacua may join a list of famously talented people who squandered millions and millions of dollars by being a douchebag. It’s very weird, that so many super talented people can do the hard stuff, like being an NFL wide receiver but can’t do the easy stuff, like don’t be a hateful piece of shit with a blowhorn off the field.
3. Rams ran 88 plays for 581 yards of offense against the best defense in the NFC. LA had six red zone trips and a 16-point 4th quarter lead. They lost.
4. That Seahawks 2pt conversion was absolutely not a conversion. Hilarious refball. Probably in the top-50 worst calls in NFL history.
5. If you win the overtime coin toss, you should take the ball second and do what Seattle did: get in the end zone and go for two.
6. It seems the NFC conference title game will be the real Super Bowl this year. This sure felt like one.
7. Rams have had the 1-seed for like half the season. This is how they lost it? WOOF.
8. Packers were 0/5 in the red zone, muffed an onside kick to spoil a 10-point fourth quarter lead and Malik Willis fumbled an overtime snap on 4th and 1. That’ll do it.
9. Both teams had a failed 4th and 1 inside the opponent’s 10 on their opening drive.
10. Sacking the quarterback is not roughing the passer. Jordan Love got a concussion on the play but it wasn’t because of an infraction. Roughing the passer is a stupid fucking penalty and if they’re never going to enforce it correctly, it should be abolished.
11. One of the many reasons I know Matt LaFleur is a great coach: when a backup passer is in, the offense doesn’t look significantly hamstrung. They were awful in the red zone, obviously a big issue but they moved the ball.
12. The onside kick by Chicago was textbook. You need a dribbler and an odd hop. The ones where they just pooch it and try to decapitate the returner are dumb.
13. Bears have six wins when trailing past the two-minute warning, a new league record. Like the Broncos and Patriots, this formula is unsustainable and you should expect regression over the next year.
14. No team in the bottom-13 in defensive scoring is projected to make January. The worst scoring defense to make the postseason currently is the Bears at 23.6 per.
15. This is the 20th consecutive time a new head coach has made playoffs.
16. Eagles fumbled the opening kickoff and the Commanders kicked a field goal inside the five. You’re 4-10. What are you doing?
17. Maybe the reason the Philly offense keeps playing bad is because it’s bad.
18. I don’t care how talented the personnel is, it’s been a mud pit all fall and winter.
19. First time in 21 years a team has won the NFC East twice in a row.
20. James Cook has overtaken Jonathan Taylor for the rushing lead but Taylor remains my first-team selection, Christian McCaffrey my second. One of those players won’t get recognition and that sucks. All great seasons.
21. Buffalo won a playoff game in 1995. They didn’t win another one until 2020, a 25-year canyon.
22. They didn’t make the postseason at all from 2000-2016.
23. So, I understand the thought of, “Hey, at least we’re winning playoff games again” but that cannot be the standard. That mark ended six years ago.
24. Mike Tomlin’s an asshole who doesn’t even believe in his own sayings but he once said, “The standard is the standard” and that message is great.
25. Buffalo has seen their season end four times in five years to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. They are no longer on the docket.
26. Last year, I said, “This has to be their year. Allen has shed his King Turnover crown, he’s playing better than he ever has, he won MVP, the KC offense isn’t what it used to be. This has to be it.” And it wasn’t.
27. So, do I expect the Bills to win the AFC? No, they always let you down, it’s their brand but if Josh Allen and this squad cannot get it done against a field of Bo Nix, Drake Maye, Justin Herbert with a broken hand and no offensive tackles, Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud and the corpse of Aaron Rodgers, this will be their legacy.
28. The NFL Throwback YouTube channel is one of my favorites and a couple months ago they built an all-time team for each franchise (who would start at qb, etc.) and the channel chose Allen over Jim Kelly.
29. Allen is a more athletically gifted player, no doubt but Kelly was part of a dynasty. They were not the 70’s Steelers, 80’s 49ers, 90’s Cowboys but the 90’s Bills were absolutely one of the best teams in NFL history. It takes a special group to win four straight conference titles. They have a few pages in the ledger of the sport.
30. What does this Bills era have other than Josh Allen highlights and being branded Patrick Mahomes doormat?
31. Change the narrative or continue it. It’s up to Buffalo to choose.
32. Dolphins first five second half drives: fumble, interception, downs, interception, three-and-out
33. De’Von Achane leads the league with 5.8 ypc.
34. This game was pretty boring despite Cincinnati scoring 45 so I’ll say this again: Fire Zac Taylor. Probably the worst defense of the decade and they’ve missed January three in a row.
35. I wonder which franchise has the best record all-time when eliminated from postseason contention.
36. Nine of the top 10 scoring defenses are making the playoffs. The only one who won’t is Kansas City.
37. Oh, so KC already packed up for vacation? Straight quit. You’re getting blown out by the 2025 Titans.
38. Any Chief you got, sit him on the bench for fantasy. I’ve started Travis Kelce all campaign. Not this week. That looked like a team that was told, “Just get out of the game healthy.”
39. No opening day kicker has missed more attempts this season than Harrison Butker. Time to get in the kitchen, Harry!
40. Baker Mayfield has thrown for 200 yards or multiple TD passes once in his last six games.
41. Baker is playing injured, not worried about him going forward. Last year, when he threw for 4500 yards and 41 scores, that’s who Baker is.
42. Bucs are in a tailspin and the vibes are great in Carolina. Panthers gonna do it.
43. Unfortunately, the winner of the NFC South is almost guaranteed to get blown out by the #5 seed.
44. Chris Olave: 16 targets, 10 receptions for 148, 2 TDs, 36.8 fantasy. Only player with more points was Puka Nacua.
45. Jets haven’t had an interception in their first 15 games but the rumors are Aaron Glenn is gonna stay. Never change, Jets. Suck forever.
46. Vikings have not allowed a touchdown pass in six weeks. NFL record is seven.
47. J.J. McCarthy is bad and is injured constantly.
48. Jaxson Dart is bad and is injured constantly.
49. Dart had 13 net passing yards, as in 13 more than zero.
50. Neither of these players are franchise quarterbacks, neither are franchise starters, neither are starters. These are backup passers.
51. I’m super excited for Super Tank Bowl next week when the Raiders and Giants play for the #1 pick. It is only the fourth time the two worst teams have met in the final two weeks of a season.
52. Very odd that the Texans, the league’s best defense, struggled with Las Vegas, the league’s worst offense.
53. Bijan Robinson is the third player in Falcons history to post 2k scrimmage in a season. Others are Jamal Anderson and William Andrews.
54. Atlanta, fire Raheem Morris. This ain’t it.
55. So many teams need coaching changes. So many.
56. Can the Cardinals accidentally win a game?
57. Could they accidentally throw to Marvin Harrison Jr.? He hasn’t had a 100-yard game this season and he’s only had two in his career. This is almost the end of trial two.
58. Top of the second quarter, Cards kicked a field goal on 4th and 1. This is stupid regardless of situation but if you’re 3 and fucking 11 and you’re still afraid to go for it, what’s the situation where you would? So many coaches on really bad teams continue to play conservative, lose and then truly ask themselves, “Man, why do we keep losing?”
59. If you think it’s easier for Chad Ryland, a below-average kicker, to net a 50-yarder than it is for your offense to gain one yard, you lack situational awareness and an understanding of elementary mathematics.
60. If you want to be a dumb football coach and reject analytics, whatever but you gotta be able to do first grade math. Not optional.
61. Fire Jonathan Gannon, trade Trey McBride and hire an exterminator to rid the building of every living creature.
62. The Cardinals have won five division titles in 60 years and have the longest North American sports championship drought at 78 seasons. They have quite literally sucked for generations.
63. My whole life, up until Dan Campbell’s arrival, the Lions were a dumpster fire. All of the 2000s, garbage. Thanksgiving was an annual tradition of watching Calvin Johnson try to take on NFL teams by himself.
64. The Arizona Cardinals, outside of the Kurt Warner revival and Carson Palmer nearly winning MVP, are the same thing except for their entire history. I would like to live in a world where the team in Glendale doesn’t suck. I bet red birds fans would like that, too.
65. The 2025 Cowboys are going to be the worst scoring defense in franchise history. The runner-ups are 2020 and 2024.
66. Jerry Jones has made the three worst defenses in Dallas history in the last six years.
67. The star had zero sacks against arguably the worst offensive line in the league.
68. Who would have thought trading Micah Parsons for a tuna salad might not go well?
69. Who would have thought hiring the worst head coach of 2024 to be your defensive coordinator might not go well?
70. The only reason I haven’t spent every week of The100 trashing the Cowboys defense is because the 2025 Bengals exist.
71. That and because Jones’ sole goal as owner is publicity. He doesn’t care about winning, he cares about ratings and boosting the valuation of the franchise. I’d rather not give him what he wants. I’d rather ignore him and treat him like the useless, irrelevant thing he is.
72. The Pro Bowl lost its respect whenever they introduced fan voting. Now, it doesn’t really mean anything so I don’t care much about it. Now, All-Pro is all that matters.
73. Joe Alt played six games and made it. You should not be eligible for awards unless you’ve played half the season. Comeback Player of the Year should be the only exception.
74. Justin Herbert has shown grit but I would have had Trevor Lawrence as the third AFC QB.
75. I do not believe in Lawrence. His resume is too long to easily dismiss but he’s been one of the best passers for two months now. It’s the best football he’s ever played.
76. He’s QB1 during the fantasy playoffs.
77. I said I don’t believe in Trevor Lawrence but I believe in Lawrence more than Bo Nix. I’ve said it multiple times and I’ll keep saying it: he’s Tim Tebow.
78. Down 17 with 11 minutes to go, Sean Payton kicked a field goal on the three yard line.
79. Broncos are on pace to lead in sacks back-to-back years.
80. The Steelers led the league in sacks five consecutive seasons from 2017-2021.
81. T.J. Watt was drafted in 2017.
82. Pittsburgh did not win a playoff game during that stretch. They missed the postseason entirely two of those years.
83. I will continue to question the Kenneth Gainwell usage prioritization but that catch at the end of half is one of the league’s best this season. What a play.
84. You know your defense is bad when the 2025 Steelers are putting up nearly 500 yards.
85. Pittsburgh had 27 rushing attempts for 230. Lions had 12 carries for 15 yards.
86. Pittsburgh clinched their 22nd non-losing season, a new NFL record surpassing the 1965-1985 Cowboys.
87. Tomlin is the 11th coach to reach 200 career wins.
88. Despite their performance, I cannot take a team coached by Mike Tomlin and an offense led by Kenneth Gainwell seriously. I look forward to watching them get blown out in the wild card again and hearing everyone on television once again tell everyone Tomlin is not the problem for the ninth year in a row. Get some new material, maybe!
89. Pittsburgh traded George Pickens away because they wanted an adult in the receiving room but they traded for another George Pickens in D.K. Metcalf. His temper tantrums were well documented before they acquired him.
90. DK punched a fan and is suspended for the remainder of the regular season. Because of his suspension, he loses $45 million in guarantees the next two seasons. Even Floyd Mayweather didn’t get paid that much for one punch. Nice work, idiot.
91. It has been another calling card of Mike Tomlin for a long time: undisciplined basket case players, especially at the receiver position.
92. After failing to reach 15 fantasy points for 11 straight games, Zay Flowers has gone over 15 in each of his last three.
93. I drafted Flowers on one of my teams against my better judgment because my buddy swears by him. Flowers is a top-15 fantasy receiver but he scores between 11-14 points every week. He’s a high-floor, low-ceiling player and those are not the players you want to spend a sixth round choice on.
94. Flowers made the Pro Bowl with two touchdowns and three fumbles on the season.
95. I’d argue Flowers’ fantasy production has benefitted greatly from John Harbaugh and Todd Monken not knowing who Derrick Henry is. Henry sat almost the entire fourth quarter and that’s how the Ravens once again blew a double-digit lead.
96. John Harbaugh has lost 20 games with a double-digit second half lead, more than any coach since 1991. Baltimore has lost well over a season’s worth of games they should’ve won under him.
97. Often, the Ravens don’t lose games because they’re bad. They lose because they’re poorly coached.
98. Brock Purdy is the first 9ers quarterback to throw five touchdowns since Steve Young threw six in Super Bowl 29.
99. Christian McCaffrey has reached 100 first downs for the third time in his career. Others with three-plus seasons since 1991: Emmitt Smith, Terrell Davis, Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, Priest Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson, Le’Veon Bell.
100. If San Francisco wins one of their next two games, they’ll set the record for wins by a third-place team.

*Stats provided by Associated Press, ESPN, ESPN Fantasy, ESPN Insights, Josh Dubow, NFL, Sportsradar, Wikipedia, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 15

Bangarang!
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14

1. Kirk Cousins in three games as Atlanta’s quarterback vs Tampa Bay: averages 386 yards, 11 TDs to 1 INT, passer rating of 124.2.
2. Falcons overcame a 14-point 4th quarter deficit. Last time they did that was 1993.
3. Atlanta did this despite a franchise-record 19 penalties, most in a game since the Raiders set the record with 23 in 2016.
4. Kyle Pitts: 11 receptions for 166, 3 scores, 45.6 fantasy points. First tight end with 150 and 3 since Shannon Sharpe in 1996.
5. From Week 7: “Some dumb team is going to give Kyle Pitts a lot of money this spring.” Still stand by that.
6. TreVeyon Henderson is the second player with multiple 50+ yard rushing touchdowns in two games during the same season. Other is 2009 Chris Johnson.
7. Maye ran 50 yards downfield to make the block that gave Henderson his second score. Phenomenal effort. One of the best plays of the season.
8. When allowing 30 points this season, 31 teams in the NFL are a combined 10-98-2.
9. Buffalo is now 4-1 in such games.
10. Josh Allen is the best second half player in football. He is first in completion percentage (75%), total yards (2332), total touchdowns (24) and yards per attempt (9.0). Buffalo averages a league-high 17.3 points after the turn.
11. I hate to say it because Maye has had such a great evolution this fall but Allen is very close to stealing his All-Pro selection.
12. If the Bills cannot win the AFC with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow all out of the picture, it’s time for Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane to go. Allen’s career is half over and Buffalo has accomplished nothing.
13. They’ve won 10+ games in seven straight campaigns but the standard is different when you have a probable Hall of Fame QB. Ain’t nobody care about regular seasons. It’s about rings.
14. Top three players for the two weeks of Round 1 of the fantasy playoffs (points):
    3rd Josh Allen 62.36
    2nd Puka Nacua 63.6
    1st Trevor Lawrence 63.66
15. Lawrence: 20/32 for 330, 5 TDs, 5 carries for 51, TD, 44.3 fantasy points. First player with five passing scores, a rushing score and 50 yards on the ground in NFL history.
16. Before the bye, 34.7% of Lawrence’s passes went 10 yards downfield. After the bye, that number is 44.7%, highest in the league.
17. Travis Etienne’s finished with 15+ fantasy points in six of seven since the bye. Some idiot in my league dropped him during that bye week and I added him immediately. Etienne has been a key reason why I’ve made the final and he was a major contributor on my championship team during 2023.
18. The Jets are a waste of time. They have no quarterbacks, no running backs (Breece Hall ain’t coming back to this shitshow) and no receivers not named Garrett Wilson. Their defense is bad, their coaching is bad, their personnel is bad. Please fire Aaron Glenn, get a real coach and for the love of God, draft a good player.
19. Shedeur Sanders: 18/35 for 177, 3 INTs, 5 sacks
20. Myles Garrett is going to win Defensive Player of the Year for setting the sack record but should players on 3-11 teams even be considered? Part of the vote criteria should be how your performance contributed to your team’s success. Garrett has been the best defensive player so he’s going to win the award but how has he impacted the team? They’re 3-11.
21. Harold Fannin had a 45.2% target share, first time a tight end has been over 40% this season.
22. Trey McBride is the best tight end in football and it’s not close. He has 272 fantasy points on the season, nearly 100 more than second place Travis Kelce.
23. He’s 13th among all players in fantasy. Only four quarterbacks have more production than him. I drafted him in the third round in two leagues. My best draft pick.
24. He’s gone over 22 points in four of six and had a season-high 37.4 Sunday.
25. Arizona should fire Jonathon Gannon, get a new coach, draft a quarterback and trade McBride for a first. This team is not remotely close.
26. Nico Collins went over 20 fantasy points in one of his first seven contests but he’s heat up on the back nine. Has over 21 in four of six.
27. Whether Joe Mixon returns or not, Houston needs to draft a back. I’ve seen enough of Woody Marks. He’s a scat back.
28. If the Raiders fire Pete Carroll, and they should, it will be the fifth coach Las Vegas has fired in five years (Jon Gruden, Rich Bisaccia, Josh McDaniels, Antonio Pierce).
29. Kenny Pickett: 15/25 for 64 yards, INT, 4 sacks. He had 29 net passing.
30. Never forget super genius Mike Tomlin spent a first round pick on him. Never forget.
31. Last week, I said the 2025 Raiders were one of the worst offenses of all-time. (That was the best episode of The 100 I’ve done so far, click the link!)
32. Raiders this week: 8 drives, 42 plays, 75 total yards, 1.8 yards per play.
33. Yards before contact is a running back stat that’s actually an offensive line stat. I’ve discussed it before in this series. It shows how well an offensive line is blocking. Runners can influence this number by making people miss in space but for the most part, it’s about the big men in front.
34. League average is 2.5. Ashton Jeanty’s is 1.3, worst among qualifiers. This is why adding a RB before you have an offensive line is dumb.
35. Las Vegas, please trade Maxx Crosby. I promise you can win two games without him next year.
36. This is advice you’ll see me repeat often: if you are trending up, you buy. If you are stalling or trending down, sell. Very simple but so many teams don’t do it. Cleveland, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh had Garrett, Crosby and T.J. Watt asking for extensions. Browns and Raiders are atrocious, Steelers are stalling. That means you should sell. All three bought and here we are, same place as they all were last year.
37. Devonta Smith has finished with under 10 fantasy in eight of 14 games. Only three TDs.
38. Saquon Barkley has two 90-yard games this year. He’s gonna secure his fifth 1k season but hard to view it as anything but a disappointment.
39. Discussed this during The 100: Week 10: During his historic season in 2024, Barkley’s ybc was 3.8, leading the league.
40. Jahmyr Gibbs leads the league in ybc this year at…3.8.
41. Gibbs is on pace to set career-highs in receptions, receiving and total touchdowns.
42. Jared Goff is gonna break 4k for the fourth straight season and he’s already hit 29 touchdowns for a fourth consecutive campaign.
43. Amon-Ra St. Brown set the record for most receptions in first five seasons and will break 100 catches for the fourth year in a row.
44. Lions are top-five in yardage, passing, rushing and scoring.
45. The only thing Ben Johnson took with him is pass protection. This season, Goff’s pressure rate is 24.5%, sixth-worst.
46. The Lions defense, on the other hand, is a mess. They’re bottom-10 in passing and scoring. Said it before, unit needs a makeover. They have some players but it’s clearly not enough. Rams had 500 yards, 30 first downs and 41 points.
47. Detroit’s first three second half possessions were all three-and-out. That was the difference.
48. Matt Stafford has thrown multiple TDs in eight straight. He should lead the pack in MVP voting by a sizable margin, not only because he’s been the best QB but because he’s playing for the best team.
49. His odds: FanDuel -260, DraftKings -300. I think it should be closer to -450.
50. The Rams are SBOB (Super Bowl Or Bust). Unlikely Stafford plays at this level again; he could retire end of year or fall off a cliff in ‘26. Gotta get it done. The pressure is up on everyone this year because the best QBs are out. This is your best chance.
51. Tom Brady is a bad color commentator. I’ve said it on Twitter many times: he’s a good interview. He does regular segments with Colin Cowherd and Cowherd throws up questions for him to hit and he crushes them, gives a lot of insight and perspective in a three-minute or so response. He’d be great on a podcast or talk show where he can just discuss. He’s not a quip/reaction guy and I wish there was some way we could get him out of the booth and into a studio.
52. I had Green Bay winning the NFC before the Parsons trade. Micah was insurance. The cheeseheads were a great team before Parsons. They don’t suddenly suck because he’s not there anymore. They still have a great defense, they still have the deepest receiver room, Josh Jacobs is still bellcowing.
53. Quarterbacks I would take over Jordan Love in 2025: Matt Stafford, Josh Allen, Drake Maye, Dak Prescott. Love is my QB5. He is great and he always gets better later in the calendar. I drafted him on all three of my fantasy squads. I still believe.
54. According to Pro Football Reference, three players have 40 QB pressures: Parsons, Garrett and Denver’s Zach Allen.
55. Allen doesn’t get much media discussion but a damn good defensive end. Last season, he had 29 quarterback takedowns, 11 more than second place Aidan Hutchinson.
56. This season, he has 26, eight more than second place…Aidan Hutchinson.
57. Last year, Allen had 40 QB hits, joining Nick Bosa, Aaron Donald, J.J. Watt and T.J. Watt as the only players since 2006 to accomplish that.
58. Pro Football Reference says he reached 40 QB hits again this past weekend. He’s one of many great players on that defense and he should be an All-Pro again.
59. Vance Joseph would be my Assistant Coach of the Year. Bo Nix and the Broncos offense has been stale most of the calendar but the horses on Joseph’s unit have been on it all season.
60. The NFL scriptwriters have been reusing the same storyline for nearly every Denver game: offense is flat for 2+ quarters, defense remains stout, attack finds the on switch and wins from behind. This is not a sustainable way to play and as long as they continue to play like this, I will not believe in them.
61. Much of the national media is treating Philip Rivers coming out of a five-year retirement as a Disney movie when it’s actually really, really bad for the NFL.
62. If a 44-year-old on a five-year hiatus with one week of practice gives you a better chance to win than the players already on your roster, you’re a shit organization or a stupid organization. No other options available.
63. The Colts have officially become a clown show. Houston is now the only professional football franchise in the AFC South.
64. Rivers finished with 4.4 yards per attempt and one of the worst starts of the 2025 season, surprising no cognizant creature on this planet. He made it abundantly clear he can’t throw a football. He did not throw it so much as he pushed it. Steichen, the coaching staff and the executive branch should be embarrassed that they put that on an NFL field.
65. The gap between Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jonathan Taylor for Offensive Player of the Year has grown.
66. Last week, I talked about how valuable a great fantasy kicker is and used Jason Myers as an example. Myers hit a franchise-record six field goals and scored 24 fantasy points Sunday.
67. Tyrone Tracy out-snapped Devin Singletary 52-16 against Washington. There’s not much to add this late in the season on fantasy waivers.
68. Jaxson Dart concussion evaluations: 5
    Dart wins: 2
69. Only six passers have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl in the last 22 years. A new name will be added to the list with Kansas City’s elimination.
70. It’ll also be the first time since 1998 that Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes weren’t in the postseason.
71. Aren’t many seven-year stretches better than what the Chiefs just did.
72. Curious what they draft in the first round. Think it has to be pass rusher. They don’t get enough with four and it causes them to blitz more than they should.
73. Given he did his best to kill multiple people drag racing, it makes me smile to watch Rashee Rice get clocked on the field.
74. Lamar Jackson completed eight passes. I don’t know what injury he’s dealing with but he’s been awful for a month. Baltimore ran just 40 plays to Cincy’s 71. The purple won anyway 24-0.
75. From 2015-2022, John Harbaugh had one playoff victory.
76. Said it then: Baltimore winning a playoff game in 2023 and making the AFCCG was actually the worst thing for them because it extended his tenure.
77. Regarding Joe Burrow’s comments last week: he sounded like an emotionally defeated man.
78. Burrow’s situation is why I wish more great players tested free agency. Most teams in the league would’ve moved galaxies for that contract. This was Joe’s sixth season. Had he refused to sign a deal, this would’ve been his first franchise tag year. Perhaps two more seasons and he could’ve spent the second half of his career playing for a franchise that knows what football is.
79. Instead, he’s chained himself to a cheap owner and an organization that doesn’t know what they’re doing. I understand why players sign extensions, the safety and security of an extension is obviously very important, football is a violent game and you never know how long your body will hold out but man, if it’s me, I want to be happy at work and feel I’m put in a position to succeed. I’m sure the wealthy disagree but $210 million and $300 million are the same number to me. There’s not much more you can do with 300 than you can do with 210. I’m not motivated by greed so being with a business that knows what the fuck they’re doing is way more important to me. No wonder Burrow sounds so wrecked.
80. On the Bengals first possession, it was 3rd and 4 on the BAL 25. Burrow ran 15 yards backward trying to avoid a sack, got taken down. Knocked them out of field goal range. Poor situational awareness by a player who is usually one of the most aware in the league.
81. Kyle Van Noy interception, hands the ball to safety Alohi Gilman like a relay, Gilman takes it for six. Excellent.
82. Chuba Hubbard has had 10+ fantasy points in one of his last 10 games. He’s had eight or less carries in six of seven.
83. He’s not going to win it but Dave Canales is still my Coach of the Year vote.
84. However, if Carolina misses playoffs, it’ll be because they got swept by the Saints. Yuck.
85. Jauan Jennings has a touchdown in five of six.
86. It’s very impressive the 9ers have continued to win with the worst pass rush in the league but I don’t expect a deep playoff run from them.
87. Last week, I told you to bench Justin Jefferson for fantasy. He’s not getting any usage, the Vikings are avoiding him like the plague.
88. Minnesota played Dallas, one of the worst defenses of the 2020’s and still couldn’t get it to him. JJ had four points. He hasn’t had five in three weeks. I benched him on both teams I had him on and advanced in both. I won my conference final because the other guy started him. I told y’all.
89. Brandon Aubrey missed two field goals. Didn’t know he could do that.
90. Three running backs lead their team in receptions: Christian McCaffrey, De’Von Achane and Kenneth Gainwell.
91. Steelers have now won 23 consecutive Monday night home games, the longest streak in NFL history. Their last such loss was 1991.
92. Tomlin continues his NFL record, a now 64-game streak, without scoring 8 points in the first quarter. A true mastermind of gridiron incompetence.
93. First Steelers game with four consecutive touchdown drives since 2018. This is a comment about how stale Tomlin’s offensive philosophies are.
94. Miami had -20 yards in the third quarter.
95. According to Next Gen Stats, all of Tua Tagovailoa’s league-leading 15 interceptions are against zone coverage.
96. Tua slid early for no reason and the Dolphins punted on 4th and 1. The punt was 36 yards.
97. The playoffs are played in cold weather. Tua cannot play in cold weather. Therefore, Tua is not useful to a franchise that wants to win playoff games.
98. Tua’s cap hit next season is $56.4 and his dead cap hit is $99.2. It’s therefore guaranteed Miami will not win a playoff next year.
99. The Dolphins were down 28-3 in the fourth quarter and were eliminated with a loss. They did not go no huddle and the receivers always went down in bounds to keep the clock running. Just accepted defeat. Loser behavior. How do you think that makes Miami fans feel? When the fans care more about winning than the team does, you have serious, serious problems.
100. Mike McDaniel deserves fired for that 4th quarter management alone. It was inexcusably stupid and maliciously incompetent. #Dolphins

*Stats provided by Alex Rollins, Associated Press, Benjamin Solak, Danny Parkins, ESPN, ESPN Insights, First Things First, J.J. Zachariason, Jordan Raanan, Josh Dubow, Keith Cummings, Next Gen Stats, Pro Football Reference, Sports Illustrated, Spotrac, UnderdogNFL, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 14

Feel the vibrations!
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13

1. The 2025 Patriots are the first team since the 1999 Colts to have a 10-game win streak after a 13-loss season.
2. Jauan Jennings has 4+ receptions in seven straight games. Last 49er with a longer stretch was Anquan Boldin in 2014.
3. Jameson Williams had 7+ fantasy points twice in his first seven games. Since the bye, Williams has had 16+ in five of six.
4. Jahmyr Gibbs has now gone over 36 fantasy points four times this season.
5. Gibbs is one of four players with 4500 scrimmage yards and 45 scores through three tours: Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell.
6. Gibbs and David Montgomery have both scored a touchdown in 15 games, the most for a pair of RB teammates in NFL history.
7. The Lions have heavily featured Gibbs at the cost of Montgomery. He has gone under nine carries in five of his last eight games and under 60 yards rushing in six of eight.
8. Before Sunday, Alex Anzalone led all linebackers in completion percentage allowed, just 55.6.
9. Dak Prescott has finished with 18+ fantasy points in nine of 13 starts.
10. Brandon Aubrey is the first player to make 100 field goals in their first three seasons.
11. He kicked five field goals and three from 55+, first time that’s been done.
12. On their first drive of the game, Washington ran 15 plays for 83 yards and failed to convert a 4th and goal on the 2. Minnesota responded with a 19-play, 98-yard touchdown drive that wiped 12 minutes off the clock. Could’ve called the game there.
13. That was the longest drive by time in the NFL in four years and the longest on record for the Vikings since the turn of the century.
14. Jacory Croskey-Merritt has gone under 40 yards rushing in seven straight.
15. Justin Jefferson went over 70 receiving in six of his first seven contests but he hasn’t gone over 70 in any of his last six.
16. He has 63 yards total in his last three games.
17. Gabe Davis led all Bills WRs in yardage Sunday. He had 21.
18. Keon Coleman has under 11 fantasy points in nine of his last 10 games.
19. If Buffalo doesn’t make the Super Bowl, it will be because they haven’t improved the receiving core.
20. The 2025 Bengals are not just the worst defense in franchise history; they’re one of the worst of all-time.
21. Defenses this decade to average surrendering 250 passing, 150 rushing, 400 total yards and 30 points: 2025 Bengals, 2020 Jaguars. That’s the list.
22. Only four teams in the 2020s have done even three of these things: ‘24 Panthers, ‘20 Texans, ‘20 Lions.
23. Full rundown:
    21 teams have allowed 250 passing a game this decade.
    Only seven have allowed 150 rushing.
    Only four have allowed 400 total.
    Only four have allowed 30 points per over a full season.
24. The Cat offense also can’t run the ball. They are one of three teams averaging less than 90 on the ground. Their organizational philosophy is throw the ball to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and pray.
25. Chase is the fifth player to have 1,000 receiving in his first five seasons. Others are Justin Jefferson, Mike Evans, A.J. Green and Randy Moss.
26. In the last five years, Burrow is now 10-0 against the spread as an underdog of four points or more.
27. Dolphins have quietly won five of six but their last three were Saints, Commanders and Jets.
28. Tua Tagovailoa has gone under 11 fantasy points in each of his last five.
29. Jets lost back-to-back AFC Championships during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Since then, they’ve missed the playoffs for 15 straight years, longest streak in the four major American sports.
30. They’ve had one winning season during this streak: 10-6 in 2015.
31. Jets are a very bad football ensemble but they have great special teams. Lead the league in kick return average, top-10 in punt return average and they have three return scores, tied most with New England. Two of their wins this season resulted from special teams.
32. Shedeur Sanders: 23/42 for 364, 3 TDs, INT, three rushes for 29, TD
33. Kevin Stefanski had 4th and 3 on the TEN 44 but elected to take a delay of game and punt.
34. Browns were down 14, scored a TD and Stefanski went for two. Didn’t have to do that, failed snap, down eight. They score and have to go for two again and Stefanski calls a play that takes Sanders off the field. Lose by two extra points.
35. Colts haven’t won in Jacksonville since 2014. Easiest bet of the week.
36. Jonathan Taylor has averaged just 11.7 fantasy points per game in his last three.
37. Tyler Warren has failed to record 10 fantasy points in four of six.
38. Daniel Jones tore his Achilles playing with a leg fracture. Continuing to play was a poor decision by Jones and by the Colts. Jones is an impending free agent who now may miss all of next season and general manager Chris Ballard traded their next two first rounders for Ahmad Gardner.
39. Philip Rivers (yes, that Philip Rivers) has signed with the Colts. This is terrible for the NFL and if the Colts can’t find anyone on this planet of eight billion people to play quarterback other than a 44-year-old who hasn’t played in five years, they should delete the franchise. Gonna try and write a separate piece about this after Sunday.
40. Fire Chris Ballard. He’s butchered the QB room year after year and now they’re signing grandpas because they have no faith in their fourth overall pick QB (who’s injured again because of course he is) or last April’s draft pick. I’ve had enough of this shit. Hope the Colts lose every game rest of the season.
41. Jags have scored 25+ in six straight, longest streak since 2007.
42. Down 23-6 at the start of the fourth quarter, Raheem Morris elected to kick a field goal on 4th and 2 on the Seattle 9. Fire him.
43. Seahawks defense has allowed 24 or less in all but one game.
44. They’ve recorded 10+ fantasy points in nine of 13 games. They’ve gone over 20 in three of their last five.
45. Having a defense and kicker who can put up 10+ a week is a huge advantage in fantasy. You still shouldn’t draft either until the 13th round of a 16-round draft because you often don’t know what’s what until week four. Usually have to add those guns through free agency.
46. Seattle kicker Jason Myers has scored 13+ fantasy points in five straight.
47. He has now kicked 31 3’s for the Seahawks in three of the last four years. His career high is 35.
48. After a red-hot start that had him on MVP ballots, Baker Mayfield has scored less than 12 fantasy points in four of his last seven. He is playing injured.
49. After a red-hot start that had him running away with Offensive Rookie of the Year, Emeka Egbuka now has 110 targets but only 54 receptions, giving him a 49% catch rate.
50. He’s the only player with 100+ targets and a sub 50% catch rate.
51. Players with 40+ targets who catch less than half:
    Rome Odunze 44 receptions on 90 targets, 48.8%
    Elic Ayomanor 30 receptions on 67 targets, 44.8%
    Jerry Jeudy 38 receptions on 85 targets, 44.7%
    Adonai Mitchell 21 receptions on 47 targets, 44.7%
    Darnell Mooney 22 receptions on 54 targets, 40.7%
52. Bucs had 3rd and 1 at midfield, ran it twice and didn’t get one yard. They were 2/7 on 4th down.
53. After a 5-1 burst out of the gate, Tampa has lost five of seven. Four of those losses were against the better teams in the league (Detroit, New England, Buffalo, Los Angeles Rams).
54. Two of the Bay’s last four games are against Carolina. Those contests will decide the division title.
55. All four teams in the NFC South and AFC North have a negative point differential.
56. 12 of Aaron Rodgers’ 23 completions were behind the line of scrimmage.
57. Pittsburgh completed a 20-yard pass for the first time in over 40 days.
58. From 3:30 in the third quarter until the end of the game, Steelers were outgained 210-3.
59. Steelers defense gave up another 200 yards rushing to Baltimore. Including last year’s playoff blowout, Pittsburgh has given up 500 ground yards in their last two against the Ravens.
60. If it wasn’t for a Ravens touchdown being incorrectly overturned, Steelers lose this game.
61. Derrick Henry is the fourth player with 1,000 yards and 10 rushing scores in seven different seasons.
62. Henry will be 32 at the end of this season. He would need six more 1k seasons to catch Emmitt Smith for the all-time rushing record. That mark feels unbreakable.
63. Like the 2025 Bengals defense, the ‘25 Raiders offense is historically bad.
64. ’25 Raiders are the first team to go five straight games scoring 17 or less with 275 yards of offense or less since the 2018 Jags.
65. Offenses this decade to average 260 yards total, less than 185 passing, less than 75 rushing and under 16 points a game: ‘25 Raiders. That’s the list.
66. ‘25 Titans are the only team since 2020 to accomplish three of those things.
67. Raiders are last in rushing (on pace for worst of the decade) and have the most sacks allowed.
68. Teams since the merger to do both: 2012 Cardinals, 2007 Chiefs, 1997 Cardinals
69. Guess who the offensive line coach and run game coordinator is? Pete Carroll’s son.
70. Longest offensive play for the Broncos was an 18-yard fullback dive. Yes, really.
71. D.J. Moore has not had six catches or 75 yards in a game this season. He’s on pace for career lows.
72. Moore’s cap hit this season is $24.9. His cap hit for the next three years is $28.5.
73. Among quarterbacks to start 9+ games, Caleb Williams has the lowest completion percentage (57.8%).
74. Michael Wilson with Marvin Harrison Jr. gets no attention, averages 5.8 fantasy points.
75. Without MHJ, Wilson is the best receiver in football, averaging nearly 31 a game.
76. Wilson put up 100+ receiving in three games without Harrison.
77. Harrison has two 100-yard performances in his 27-game career.
78. Chiefs’ nine-year run as kings of the AFC West comes to an end. Only the Patriots dynasty had a longer run, winning 11 straight from 2009-2019.
79. Hard to believe but Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs have been to seven straight AFC Championships and before him, Tom Brady’s Patriots went to eight straight, which means the last AFC title game to not feature Mahomes or Brady was all the way back in January 2011, Ben Roethlisberger’s Steelers vs Mark Sanchez’ New York Jets.
80. Mahomes: 14/33 for 160, 3 INTs, 7 carries for 59. In a game Kansas City had to have, Mahomes had the worst game of his career.
81. A lot of people have criticized Andy Reid going for it on 4th and 1 on his own 31 when the score was tied and the Houston offense was struggling. I think a professional football team with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time should be able to get one yard on one play. The decision isn’t the issue. It’s that the Chiefs have not executed well on key plays all year.
82. For the second time this campaign, Travis Kelce dropped a pass that turned into an interception, all but sealing the game. You could argue two of KC’s losses are directly because of him.
83. Xavier Worthy has under 12 fantasy points in 10 of 11 starts. Said this last year and I stand by it: he’s a gadget player.
84. Hollywood Brown has under 11 fantasy points in each of his last seven.
85. The Chiefs have had a below average receiving room since Tyreek Hill left. It is Rashee Rice and Kelce, that’s it.
86. The Patriots missed the postseason in 2008 when Brady suffered a season-ending injury early in the season and they did not win a playoff in ‘09 or ‘10. After that, they made those eight straight AFC title games, made five Super Bowls and won three. Let’s calm down on calling the Chiefs dynasty dead.
87. Kansas City needs to rework their offense. They don’t have a running game, their offensive line and receiving core is below average. The defense needs pass rush help.
88. As I predicted in an earlier episode (The 100: 2025 NFL Week 6), Mahomes has set a new career-high for rushing yards.
89. Texans defense has allowed under 21 points in 11 of 13 games.
90. Before Sunday, Derek Stingley led the league in completion percentage allowed (40.4).
91. Some historically great defenses have carried poor offenses to Lombardis. I just don’t know if the Houston unit is great enough. The Texans might have the worst running back room in the league, they have a bottom-10 offensive line and their quarterback has been mediocre for almost two years.
92. Monday night was the worst game of the season. On one play, Hurts throws an interception to a defensive tackle, who then gets it punched out and it bounces back into Hurts’ hands, who then fumbles it and the Chargers recover. Three turnovers on one play. Has to be a first in NFL history.
93. There were five turnovers in 11 plays, 3:48 of clock. It was childishly bad and of course, it went to overtime so we could all suffer more.
94. Jalen Hurts: 21/40 for 240, 4 INTs, fumble. Worst game of his career and he actually threw a fifth interception that was correctly overturned on replay.
95. Two of those interceptions should have been attributed to his receivers. DeVonta Smith fell on a curl as the ball was thrown, leaving only a Charger defender there to catch it. A.J. Brown had a high pass hit him in the hands, deflect and end in an interception. The pass was high but a receiver of Brown’s caliber is expected to make that catch.
96. Justin Herbert: 12/26 for 139, TD, INT, 7 sacks, 10 carries for 66, fumble. Herbert has a broken left hand, which meant every time he scrambled away from his turnstile offensive line, he could only protect the ball with one hand, resulting in two fumbles, one lost.
97. Herbert was pressured 68.3% of the time, the sixth-highest rate in the last decade.
98. The Chargers are somehow 9-4 but they don’t play like a 9-4 team. The Eagles are 8-5 and could still choke the division away to Dallas, who has a very bad defense. Neither Philly or LAC are going anywhere but they’re both making playoffs, aren’t they? Yuck.
99. Zack Baun is fast as fuck. How does he catch running backs in a foot race? Not the first time he’s caught someone from behind.
100. I wish the Chargers were still in San Diego. Doesn’t feel like they have any diehard fans anymore. LA follows the Rams because they have a history. Feel like the Bolts have no home games or supporters. It’s sad.

*Stats provided by Ari Meirov, Associated Press, Benjamin Solak, Detroit Lions PR, ESPN, ESPN Fantasy, First Things First, FOX NFL, J.J. Zachariason, Josh Dubow, Josh Rowntree, Monday Night Football, Next Gen Stats, NFL Plus, Pro Football Reference, Sportsradar, Spotrac, UnderdogNFL, Wikipedia, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 13

Feel the rage!
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12

1. Thanksgiving football is a great holiday tradition and I hope it continues.
2. Micah Parsons is the first player in NFL history with 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons.
3. Surprised Matt LaFleur went for it on 4th and 3 at the end of the game but not upset.
4. One of Jordan Love’s best traits is he gets better as the season progresses. He always seems to play his best at the end of the year. He was great today.
5. Including the Packers, seven teams are surrendering less than 20 a game. If the postseason started today, two of them would miss it: Houston and Kansas City.
6. Nine teams are scoring 25+ a game. If the postseason started today, three of them would miss: Detroit, Dallas and Kansas City.
7. From Mina Kimes: when they blitz, Chiefs defense is 31st in yards per play, 28th in pressure rate and 31st in sack rate.
8. This was only the second game this season Steve Spagnuolo’s defense surrendered more than 28 points.
9. Kansas City is 1-5 on the road.
10. They have Texans, Chargers and Broncos left on the docket. They probably have to win all three to make playoffs. All three are at Arrowhead.
11. According to Pro Football Reference, Chris Jones has 14 pressures this season. That puts him outside the top 50. I’ve researched this on Saturday night so his ranking will drop even further after Sunday’s contests.
12. I still prefer Christian McCaffrey over Dak Prescott for Comeback Player of the Year. Both players have been the MVPs of their teams but there was speculation CMC’s heyday might be over last season, like it might be a career-altering injury. There wasn’t that discussion for Dak and that’s why I think CMC deserves the award. He would also get my second-team All-Pro nod.
13. You cannot lose to the 2025 Bengals, one of the worst defenses of the decade and expect me to respect you. The Ravens are cooked, Lamar is playing injured and the defense is playing far below their capabilities. Fire John Harbaugh.
14. Lamar Jackson has under 10 fantasy points in three straight games.
15. Bengals had 19 third-down attempts. Haven’t seen a number that high this season.
16. Cincy ran 80 plays and had the ball for 38 minutes.
17. You know what would help stop that, John? Giving the fucking ball to Derrick Henry. Dude had 10 carries.
18. Henry has had less than 18 carries in five different games this year. Baltimore can’t even do the basic shit right.
19. Mark Andrews is now the Ravens franchise leader in receptions (473) and receiving (5862).
20. Bengals were 1/6 in the red zone. They won 32-14 but they could’ve dropped 50.
21. The whole AFC North is ass. Can we just give their playoff spot to Houston?
22. After the Bears win over Philly, Coach Ben Johnson is getting a lot of noise for Coach of the Year. Here’s why he won’t get my vote.
23. I think Coach of the Year is about performance over expectation. Johnson was my favorite coaching prospect last year, he’s the reigning Assistant Coach of the Year. I expected Johnson to turn the Bears into a legitimate team. Did I expect them to win the division? No but I thought they could win 10 games this year and contend for a playoff spot.
24. I did not think the Colts or Panthers would be relevant. I thought Seattle would regress, not elevate, with Sam Darnold. I didn’t think Kyle Shanahan would will the 9ers through an injury-riddled year and I didn’t think Mike Vrabel would jump New England from worst to first so quickly. I think Shane Steichen, Dave Canales, Mike Macdonald, Shanahan and Vrabel are all more deserving of Coach of the Year for that reason.
25. D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai are the first Bears duo to each rush for 100 yards in 40 years.
26. Chicago clinches its second winning season in 13 years.
27. Bears haven’t had a 13-win year since 2006, when they lost their last Super Bowl.
28. They’ve played in just four playoff games since that Lombardi loss. Only one playoff win.
29. Bears ran 85 plays in this game. Eagles ran 51. Football is a game of attrition.
30. Nick Sirianni is a baseball manager. He is not a good coach.
31. Caleb Williams, 2025: 58.1% completion, 88.2 passer rating, 19.4% bad throw (fifth-worst), 61.3% on-target (third-worst)
32. Caleb Williams, 2024: 62.5% completion, 87.8 passer rating, 21.1% bad throw (third-worst), 72.4% on-target (seventh-worst)
33. Williams’ average depth of target and air yards per completion are up. He is pushing the ball down the field more but both on tape and numerically, his performance is not noticeably better.
34. Falcons muffed a punt on the goal line and gave up a Jets kick return to the ATL 15. That’s a 14-point swing.
35. I would hate, HATE, to be a Bijan Robinson fantasy owner. Tyler Allgeier has stolen eight touchdowns from him this season.
36. Atlanta’s 2026 first-round pick, currently in the top-10, belongs to the Los Angeles Rams.
37. This season, Cameron Jordan overtook Rickey Jackson for first in New Orleans Saints franchise history for sacks. At 128, he’s just outside the top-15 all-time.
38. The Saints haven’t had a scoring offense this bad since 2005, the year before Drew Brees’ arrival.
39. If their ranking holds (they’re 24th), the Miami Dolphins will have a below-average scoring offense for the 17th time in the last 23 years.
40. Doubt this is a surprise to anyone but this is the worst offense in Titans franchise history. They had 188 yards and three points today. Disgusting.
41. Tennessee tied a franchise record by losing their 11th straight home game.
42. Titans average 242 yards and 14 points a game. Only Las Vegas can compete with that.
43. Please don’t make me watch another year of Pete Carroll football, Raiders. This is awful. Black and Silver had 156 yards of offense.
44. Maybe don’t draft a RB in the top-10 if you don’t have an offensive line.
45. That Brock Bowers one-hander in the fourth quarter was filthy. Dude can play.
46. From 1999-2002, the Rich Gannon era, the Raiders had a top-10 scoring offense every year.
47. Since then, they’ve had a top-10 unit three times (‘10, ‘16, ‘20).
48. Since 2003, they’ve had an above-average scoring defense, meaning 16th or better, once (‘23).
49. So the Raiders don’t score at a high rate and they’re never even average defensively. Their team is a black hole. They need a culture change and culture changes are not spurred by 74-year-old white men.
50. Texans have the best defense. I want them in the playoffs. Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter are the best edge duo.
51. The Colts appear to be a marathon runner that sprinted. They’re fading.
52. Indy scored 29+ in seven of their first eight games, went 7-1. Since then, 20, 31, 20, 16. 1-3.
53. Alec Pierce leads the league in yards per reception (20.9).
54. 18 players have a yards before reception over 10. Pierce leads that group as well at 18.3.
55. Only Pierce and New England’s Kayshon Boutte have a ybr over 12.5.
56. Steichen is still Coach of the Year for me but Dave Canales is right there. Carolina has stayed strong.
57. Seattle didn’t score an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter. The Vikings have a great defense. They just don’t have an offense.
58. First time Minnesota has been shutout since 2007.
59. Max Brosmer is the first quarterback to throw four interceptions in his first career start since Nathan Peterman in 2017.
60. Choosing McCarthy over Darnold might be the worst personnel decision of 2025.
61. Christian McCaffrey now has five seasons with 80+ receptions, tied with Marshall Faulk for the most by a running back in NFL history.
62. Vikings and Browns are two of six teams averaging less than 20 points a game.
63. It’s very difficult to win consistently in the NFL scoring less than 20 but one team keeps winning: the Carolina Panthers.
64. The Rams had six red zone attempts in this game, scored TDs on four. Carolina had one and did not. Carolina won anyway. Bryce Young threw two long touchdowns on 4th down.
65. Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown deflected a pass in the red zone that resulted in an interception and at the end of the game, strip sacked Matt Stafford in field goal range, eliminating a Rams game-tying field goal try.
66. That Puka Nacua catch.
67. Stafford threw 28 consecutive touchdown passes before an interception, establishing a new NFL record.
68. If Stafford wins MVP, he’ll be the third-oldest player to win an MVP in the big four American sports (NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA). The only two older would be Willie Stargell for the Pirates in 1979 and Dennis Eckersley for the Athletics in 1992.
69. Davante Adams is now one of four players to catch 14 touchdowns in a single season at 32 or older: Jerry Rice, Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens.
70. Adams has only 52 catches this season and a touchdown rate of 26.9%. No player with 30+ catches has a rate remotely close to that.
71. Ready to fire Mike Tomlin yet, you dumb fucks?
72. Steelers have blown four halftime leads. Do it a fifth time, it’s a franchise record.
73. No team in the NFL possesses the ball less than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
74. In the third quarter, the Steelers ran the ball on 3rd and 9, punted on 4th and 1.
75. In the fourth quarter, in the red zone, on 4th and 2, Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith called inside zone from shotgun to backup RB Kenneth Gainwell.
76. No coach in NFL history loves giving the ball to players you will not remember in a decade more than Arthur Smith. MyCole Pruitt, KhaDarel Hodge, Olamide Zaccheaus, Jonnu Smith, Kenneth Gainwell, Darnell Washington, Van Jefferson, Scotty Miller. Arthur Smith is a terrible offensive coordinator because he doesn’t know how to utilize personnel.
77. Josh Allen now has more rushing touchdowns than any quarterback in NFL history.
78. Bills played without their two starting tackles, surrendered zero sacks and ran for 249 yards.
79. Arizona Cardinals are 0-7 in their last seven one-score games. They lost five one-score games in a row earlier this season.
80. Arizona missed a 43-yard field goal and called a toss on 4th and 1, which is the worst possible play call on 4th and 1. Those two plays decided the game.
81. Trey McBride is 12 receptions away from becoming the first TE with multiple 100-catch seasons.
82. He’s also 29 away from breaking the TE single season catch record (Zach Ertz, 116, 2018).
83. Emeka Egbuka started the season red hot. He went over 60 yards in four of his first five games with five touchdowns.
84. He’s gone over 60 once in his last seven. OROY is no longer a lock.
85. There are 202 instances of an NFL team trailing in each of its first 12 games. The 2025 Denver Broncos are the first team to ever win more than eight and only one team, the ‘78 Oilers, accomplished that.
86. This means the 2025 Denver Broncos are doing something unsustainable and should not be relied on.
87. The Broncos are the only undefeated team at home. The Titans are the only winless home team.
88. That Treylon Burks catch.
89. The Commanders are bad because they don’t have an RB1, Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin missed most of the season and their defense is really, really awful.
90. Rhamondre Stevenson continues to get his ass kicked every week and Mike Vrabel continues to give him the ball. Why, Mike, why?
91. Vrabel is the third coach since 1970 to have a 10-game win streak in his first season with a team.
92. Drake Maye leads the league in 10 air yard passes with 88.
93. The 2025 New England Patriots are the first team to score 23+ and allow 23 or less in 10 straight games.
94. Like the 2025 Broncos, this means the 2025 New England Patriots are doing something unsustainable and should not be relied on.
95. The Patriots are the only team undefeated on the road. The Giants are the only winless road team.
96. The Giants benched Jameis Winston after that amazing performance last week to turn Jaxson Dart into a piñata again. They are intent on giving this guy brain damage.
97. And so is Dart, who, after the game, said he’s not going to change the way he plays. Alright, tough guy, enjoy CTE.
98. That Younghoe Koo kick was watching a brain fart in real time.
99. Near the end of half, interim coach Mike Kafka punted on 4th and 1 on his own 40 down 27-7. You’re 2-10. What the fuck are you doing?
100. Every coach interview in the NFL should begin with that situation and if the coach says punt, tell him thank you for your time, we’re not interested. You should not be coaching at the NFL level, head, assistant or other, if your favorite play call on 4th and 1 is punt. There are billions of people on this planet, we’ll find someone smarter than you, thank you very much.

*Stats provided by Adam Schefter, Alex Kozora, Associated Press, Benjamin Solak, Dianna Russini, ESPN, ESPN Fantasy, ESPN Insights, Field Yates, J.J. Zachariason, Mark Dalton, Mina Kimes, Next Gen Stats, NFL, OptaStats, Pro Football Reference, Team Rankings, Tom Pelissero, UnderdogNFL, Wikipedia, Yours Truly

The 100: 2025 NFL Week 12

Feel the rage!
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11

1. Eight sacks is a lot on any QB but getting Josh Allen down eight times? Damn.
2. Will Anderson Jr. tied a Texans franchise record with a sack in six consecutive games.
3. Davis Mills has to have one of the longest necks in the world.
4. Houston is the only defense that has more interceptions than passing touchdowns allowed (12 picks to 10 scores).
5. They’ve allowed a league-low 72.2 passer rating this season.
6. Bills receiver Keon Coleman has been a healthy scratch the last two games for skipping team meetings.
7. Bills offensive line had a bad night. Thursday night football tells a lot of lies about teams. I think Buffalo is fine and will beat Pittsburgh by 10+ next week.
8. Bills lead the league in pass defense but I still worry about their pass rush.
9. During his MVP season, Josh Allen’s sack rate was a career-low 4.4%, just 14 on the year.
10. This year, career-high, by a lot: 14.8%. He’s at 28. His career-high is 38.
11. J.J. McCarthy: 12/19 for 87 yards, 2 INTs, 5 sacks
12. McCarthy has played six career games. I think it’s early to label him bust and chuck him in the trash but it hasn’t been good.
13. I thought a year off the field and rehabbing might afford him some time in the classroom. I think a large problem with quarterback development in the NFL is no one sits rookie quarterbacks anymore.
14. However, doesn’t seem like it did him any good. He looks like he just got there and he’s continued to deal with injuries. He’s destroyed the organization’s momentum from last year.
15. Darnold signed a 3yr/$100 with Seattle. I wonder if Minnesota ever considered giving Darnold that contract and nurturing McCarthy.
16. Vikings had four net yards in the second half, fewest in a Minnesota half since 1991.
17. Jordan Love has thrown for less than 190 in six of 11 games, including each of his last three.
18. RB Emanuel Wilson: career-high 107 yards, 2 TDs in first career start
19. Packers defense leads the league in yards per pass attempt at 5.9.
20. Micah Parsons secured his fifth 10-sack season to begin his career.
21. Myles Garrett has 14 sacks in his last five games, most in a five-game span since sacks were tracked in 1982.
22. Garrett has more sacks (18) than San Francisco, Cincinnati and Carolina.
23. Garrett seems a strong favorite for DPOY but I saw sports talk discussion about him winning MVP. Shut up.
24. Cleveland had 10 sacks as a team. Geno should buy his offensive line doormats for Christmas.
25. Can we just nuke the Raiders? Leave nothing alive.
26. Seahawks are 5-1 on the road.
27. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the first player to have 75+ yards receiving in 11 straight games.
28. He set the franchise’s single-season receiving record Sunday.
29. Zach Charbonnet has had double-digit carries in seven games but has gone over 50 yards rushing once all season.
30. Of the 34 backs with 100+ carries, Charbs is dead-last at 3.6 ypc.
31. 11 of the 34 are under 4.0: Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Quinshon Judkins, Josh Jacobs, Ashton Jeanty, Tony Pollard, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt, Woody Marks and Tyrone Tracy.
32. Seven of the 34 are at 5.0+ ypc: Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Rico Dowdle, Bijan Robinson, De’Von Achane, Jahmyr Gibbs and J.K. Dobbins.
33. 11 players have 25+ receptions and a yards per reception of 15.0+.
34. Titans kicked a field goal on the 5-yard-line. You’re 1-9. The time to kick field goals on the 5 ended months ago. Are you trying to lose?
35. Cam Ward has a chance at the all-time sack record. He’s at 45 taken.
36. Ravens were 1-5. Now, they’re 6-5.
37. Jets secured their 10th consecutive losing season. A decade of suckitude.
38. D.K. Metcalf has 112 yards in his last four games.
39. Oh wow, the Steelers failed to execute a 4th and 1 again. Shocking.
40. Pat Freiermuth is on a $48 million contract and isn’t the most used or productive tight end on his own team.
41. Maybe the reason the Steelers defense keeps giving up 30 points a game is because they’re bad.
42. The way the offense performed without Aaron Rodgers today demonstrates how little he actually does.
43. Pittsburgh traded away George Pickens and he might make the All-Pro team. Damning statement on the black and gold offensive philosophy.
44. T.J. Watt passed brother J.J. on the all-time sack list but I believe J.J. was the better player.
45. I do not believe in the Bears or Caleb Williams. Pretenders.
46. Something that was circling Twitter this week: Falcons could have drafted Ja’Marr Chase, the league’s best receiver; Penei Sewell, the league’s best tackle; Patrick Surtain, the league’s best corner; or Micah Parsons, the league’s best young edge rusher. They chose to draft Kyle Pitts fourth overall.
47. Pitts volleyed a Kirk Cousins pass into a pick-six for New Orleans.
48. Falcons are third in sacks so I guess Atlanta fans can hang their hat on that?
49. Taysom Hill has a $14.2 million cap hit this season. I know the Saints are bad at cap management but that’s a ton of money for a gadget player.
50. Saints could have won this game with a kicker and a red zone offense.
51. Trey McBride is the best tight end in football. He has as many catches as Jaxon Smith-Njigba and more receiving yards than Justin Jefferson.
52. The last time the All-Pro team didn’t feature Travis Kelce or George Kittle was 2015. The All-Pro tight ends that year were Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen.
53. Kelce and Tyler Warren currently have near identical numbers.
54. The Cardinals keep finding ways to lose games. Kicker Chad Ryland missed a 33-yarder before half that could’ve been the difference. I don’t think Gannon survives this.
55. WR Michael Wilson’s last two games:
    18 targets, 15 receptions for 185
    15 targets, 10 receptions for 118
56. Jaguars had six sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
57. Trevor Lawrence had four turnovers including an end zone INT and a fumble-six.
58. JAX had 4th and 1 on the ARI 19 up three, 1:44 to go. They went for it and called pass. Didn’t get it. I trust Travis Etienne more than Lawrence. Why don’t the Jags?
59. The Colts have been great this season but are now only one-game clear in the AFC South.
60. Steichen remains my Coach of the Year but his worst performance today. Punted on 4th and 1 on the IND 40 shortly after the 2-min and 4th and 4 on the KC 45. He stopped running the ball with Taylor. Blew an 11-point fourth quarter lead.
61. Chiefs ran 91 plays. Cannot recall a play total that high.
62. This is something coaches should consider when weighing fourth down decisions. It’s not just, “Can we get four yards here?” It’s “Can we afford to put the defense on the field again?” Football is a war of attrition and that 4th and 4 call in particular let KC grind them down.
63. It was 4:52 on the clock, 4th quarter. A first and a score might have sealed the game. Do you trust your explosive offensive and league-leading rusher more or your defense vs Patrick Mahomes?
64. Kareem Hunt became the first Chiefs 100-yard rusher this season. He had 30 carries.
65. Patriots are the only undefeated road team (6-0).
66. Drake Maye overthrew Hunter Henry, resulting in a pick-six and a 10-0 Cincy lead but New England overcame. This is what good teams do, respond to adversity.
67. New England had two tries from the 1 and didn’t get it. Turned it over on downs. Vrabel later kicked on a field on the 1 yard line. Just awful.
68. The MVP race is down to three names now but Drake Maye has still been excellent this year. Some more great throws in this one.
69. Flacco with an extremely poor pick-six of his own.
70. Chase Brown did not have 50 yards rushing or 100 yards from scrimmage in any of his first six games. He’s gone over 100 scrimmage in each of his last five, over 70 yards rushing in four of them.
71. I do not care what happens the rest of the season. Fire Zac Taylor.
72. Jahmyr Gibbs: 15 carries for 219 yards, 2 TDs, 11 receptions for 45, TD. His 55.4 fantasy points led the week.
73. The all-time record for touchdowns scored before turning age 24 is 47 by Barry Sanders. Gibbs is at 44 and doesn’t turn 24 until after the season.
74. This game had over 1000 yards of offense. No defense.
75. Said this a few weeks ago: Super Bowl contenders should not be playing barnstormers with the Giants.
76. Lions have surrendered 27+ in five contests.
77. New York kicked a 21-yard field goal at the end of the first quarter. Who do you think you are?
78. Why is Jameis Winston a third-string QB? His aggressive play style alone should guarantee a backup spot on an NFL team.
79. Winston had a receiving touchdown where he stuffed Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes in a locker.
80. Winston is one of the most entertaining athletes of my lifetime. Multiple plays this game, I was like, “Wtf? How did that happen?” You have no idea what you’re gonna get from him week to week and neither does he.
81. Up 3, Giants went for it on 4th and goal from the 6 with three minutes to go. Didn’t get it.
82. If you recall, Giants kicked a field goal from the 2 earlier. That’s why decisions like this are so frustrating. They should’ve went for it from the 2 and kicked this one. Instead, you feel like you have to go for it now because it’s the Lions offense, you don’t get it, you go to overtime and you lose your fifth fourth quarter lead of the season.
83. Jalen Hurts has a 17/1 TD/INT split, which is obviously fantastic but his lack of aggressiveness as a passer has hampered this offense all season.
84. A key part of coaching, especially for contenders, is keeping your team engaged. Philly has looked like the least engaged team in the league all season. Went up 21-0, put down the controller and went out for drinks.
85. I do not believe Nick Sirianni is a good coach. I understand he has two NFC titles and a Super Bowl ring. I do not believe.
86. Dak Prescott or Christian McCaffrey should win Comeback Player of the Year.
87. Prescott has replaced Tony Romo as the Cowboys all-time passing leader.
88. The Cowboys could be a contending team if their owner/general manager wasn’t a fucking idiot.
89. Brandon Aubrey missed a field goal. Didn’t know he could do that.
90. Some years, the All-Pro team has five or seven receivers on it but it traditionally has six. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, George Pickens, Puka Nacua, Ja’Marr Chase and Drake London should all make that list. Amon-Ra St. Brown would probably be the last name.
91. Davante Adams has a chance to become the first player to lead the league in receiving touchdowns for three different teams.
92. Matt Stafford, Smith-Njigba or Jonathan Taylor will win the Most Valuable Player award and one of those three will go home with no hardware.
93. Even with a first-team All-Pro, MVP and another potential ring, I do not believe Stafford is a Hall of Famer. I do not believe he is better than Brady, Peyton, Rodgers, Brees or Ben Roethlisberger, which would make him the sixth-best passer of his era. I don’t think sixth-best should be in Canton.
94. Are the Buccaneers really gonna surrender the NFC South to Bryce Young?
95. Brandon Aiyuk is a dickhead. Always was. Blew $25 million in guarantees because he wouldn’t go to team meetings. A brilliantly stupid person.
96. ESPN currently predicts Christian McCaffrey to finish the season with 422 touches. That would put him just outside the top-20 most used players in a single season.
97. The all-time single-season touch record is 492 by Tampa Bay’s James Wilder in 1984.
98. Wilder had a still NFL-record 407 carries that season and 85 receptions.
99. There have been 44 400-touch seasons in NFL history. The most recent? Christian McCaffrey for Carolina in 2019.
100. Panthers, do not pick up Bryce Young’s fifth-year option.

*Stats provided by Associated Press, Benjamin Solak, ESPN, ESPN Fantasy, Pro Football Reference, Spotrac, UnderdogNFL, Wikipedia, Yours Truly