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anniesocsandgeneralstore · 1 year

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@indynerdgirl requested: numbers 2, 10, and 72 from the random prompts list (so sorry this took me so long to get to love)

|| prompt list ||

prompts: "Wait a minute. Are you jealous?" + "I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice." + "You were put on this earth to give me a headache."

au: nfl

word count: 2183

warnings: drinking, jake being a little shit, some smooching and heavy petting, ronnie has a praise kink and that's just facts

In the 2020 season, the Indianapolis Colts didn’t make it past Wildcard Weekend. Which was disappointing, obviously; but it only added fuel to the fire to perform even better next season and make it all the way to that coveted title of Super Bowl Champion. For now, though, the team was packed into the quarterback's house in order to watch those two teams that did make it all the way duke it out on live TV.

The Rams versus the Bengals. Most of the Colts were rooting for that Cincinnati team. Something about AFC teams needing to stick together. At least it wasn’t the fucking Patriots again.

One of the party goers, and Bengals supporters, included new Tight Ends Coach Ronnie Bradshaw.

She had only been with the team the last few weeks of the season, but she fit in like she had always been there. A Hoosier born and raised, and the daughter of Nick Bradshaw, a famous NFL wide receiver himself, Ronnie had been around football her entire life. She not only knows the game inside and out, but even played it herself when she could. She brought something new and fresh to the team that hadn’t been there in a long time. Everyone could see it. The players, the other coaches, the sport’s greatest critics. Ronnie seemed made for the Colts’ offensive coaching staff — and maybe she was just the breath of fresh air they needed to get them that title they so craved.

“Gotta admit though, Joe Burrow is a little cutie,” Ronnie commented as she sipped on her White Claw.

The party was too big for everyone to be in one room, and she ended up on the main floor living room. Sitting cross legged on the couch with a few of the players’ girlfriends and wives. Two lucky guys got the armchairs, but most who decided to watch in that room were sitting on the floor, backs leaning against the couch.

Including tight end Jake Seresin. Who just so happened to be sitting right in front of his new coach.

He turned to look up at her with a smirk. “Is that a bit of a crush I hear, Coach?”

“Sure,” she laughed, a slight blush tinting her cheeks at the thought. “Cincy’s not too far. We could make it work.”

The WAG sitting next to her asked a question about Burrow’s career, and Ronnie provided the information with ease. But out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Seresin’s face sour. Clearly her answer wasn’t the one he was looking for. Though she was unsure what answer he would want from her.

Now that the season was over, her interactions with Seresin had been…off. She really couldn’t put a finger on it. He had always been flirty. And as player and coach there was a mutual respect lining the jokes and teasing they often shared. But lately, whenever she turned his flirty remarks into jokes at his expense, he didn’t give anything back. He didn’t laugh. He almost seemed…hurt by it. His smile less genuine and the yes…and-ing cut off abruptly.

The game went to commercial break, and Ronnie’s White Claw was empty. Taking the opportunity, she got up from the couch for a refill. She never really cared about the commercials anyway. They hadn’t been funny since she was a kid.

Throwing her empty can into the recycling, she got a plastic cup and began filling it with water from the fridge. She still had to drive home later, after all. She was thankful for the quiet in the kitchen. There was no one else in there, but distantly she could hear the muffled sounds of laughter and jeering. It made her smile. This team was closer than most she worked with, and so far there’d been no talk of trades or free agency. It was a dream team, they all knew it, they just had to find their spark. And Ronnie hoped she could help them.

“Thinkin’ about that Burrow kid again, Coach?” Seresin asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Ronnie jumped. Jesus, she didn’t even hear him coming. For such a big guy, he would be very stealthy.

She rolled her eyes, pulling her full cup from the fridge door. “And what if I was?”

“I’d have to call you a cougar, I think,” he replied as he picked through the snacks laid out on the kitchen island.

“Hilarious.” Ronnie leaned back against the counter beside him. “I’m not that much older than him. We could still make it work.”

“Whatever,” he grumbled before tossing a jalapeno popper into his mouth.

All she could do was stare up at his profile for a moment. At the bulging muscle in his jaw as he chewed with a bit more force than necessary and the unreadable look in his green eyes.

It came as no surprise to her when Jake Seresin was just as pretty as the photos and videos implied. Because that’s what he was: pretty. He had a face like something out of old Hollywood. It made no sense when paired with his perfect Tight End physique. It made him too good to be true in some ways. What was even worse was that he knew it too. Used it to his advantage in nearly every city they travelled to. But even his reputation and his smug awareness didn’t stop her from thinking about him from time to time. And definitely not in a way a coach should think about one of their players.

Seresin glanced down at her as he put another jalapeno popper in his mouth. And it clicked. Green wasn’t just the color in his eyes right now.

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” she questioned, teasing and quiet, as she smirked up at him.

“Of Joe Burrow? Absolutely not,” he answered just a little too quickly, hands coming to rest on the island.

“Oh, my God, you totally are,” she laughed.

He glared down at her. “Why would I be jealous?”

“‘Cause I said I think he’s cute and not you,” she explained, her smirk only growing as she watched his jaw tick to one side.

A sure sign he was getting frustrated and a sure sign she was right. A thrill went up her spine at the thought. That maybe there was something more going on besides the off season and him wanting to distance himself. Because that was the opposite of what she wanted, deep in some secret part of her heart that housed everything else she knew was wrong but desired anyway.

“Well do you?” he questioned suddenly, turning completely to face her with his hip against the counter.

It threw her off balance as she gazed up at him. “Do I what?”

“Think I’m cute.”

“You’re avoiding the question,” she said with a shake of her head, looking down at her socks as heat filled her cheeks.

“So are you.”

“I asked mine first.”

“Mine is more relevant.”

“Jesus Christ,” she groaned, rubbing at her temple. “Were you put on this earth to give me a headache?”

“New question — negates your previous one.” He grinned impishly at her and she huffed.

The chatter died down in the other parts of the house. The game must be back on. People would start to wonder where they were. Ronnie pushed away from the counter and away from Seresin.

“Fine. Don’t give me an answer. I can live without it,” she said, even though it wasn’t true.

She wanted to know. She wanted to know if he was jealous of some other football player just because she thought he was attractive. She wanted to know if he felt even an iota of what she felt whenever she was around him. Like electricity, like a forest fire — like something powerful but devastating. But it was clear from his teasing that he wasn’t actually jealous, he didn’t feel anything. And she was making a fool of herself. Them having a relationship, even a casual one, was probably off limits anyway. A good way for her to get fired before her career even really got the chance to begin.

With every intention of going back to the living room and finishing watching the third quarter, and trying to forget this disastrous conversation, Ronnie took a step away from Seresin.

But then she felt one big hand encompass her wrist, and in an instant she was spun back around to face him again. His expression was unreadable as he pulled her in close. And she went willingly, no fight and no resistance as she drifted into his orbit. About to crash. Eventually, she was nearly chest to chest with him, and her water was taken out of her hands. Set down on the counter behind him.

“So what if I’m jealous?” he asked quietly, voice rumbling in his chest as his fingers slid down to hold her hand instead.

“New question — negates your previous one,” Ronnie breathed back, overwhelmed but not feeling nearly enough.

He laughed with a shake of his head. “You drive me insane.”

She shrugged, trying to keep her cool in the face of his proximity and the feeling of his fingers playing with her own. “Feeling’s mutual.”

“But I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice,” he said, voice dropped an octave as he pulled her even closer, between his spread legs as he leaned back against the island.

“Like you haven’t looked at me the same way, Seresin,” she scoffed quietly.

“So the feeling’s mutual, then.” He smirked, his other hand coming up to cup her cheek.

He was so close now. She could feel his breath, jalapenos and beer, fanning her face. There was no buzz, no fogged brain. Her mind was clear. White Claws be damned. She knew the risks. Knew it was probably a mistake. But in that moment she couldn’t bring herself to care. All of her life she had done the right thing — and maybe she deserved an indulgence. He was there, this had been building for weeks, and a girl had needs. Needs that she very much wanted Jake Seresin to fill.

“Guess so,” she whispered, glancing down at his parted lips.

Seresin looked at her for a moment more, expression all heat and desire, before he muttered fuck it and dove into her. His kiss was insistent, hungry, rough. He instantly pried her lips open with his tongue and pushed his way inside. It felt like a claiming as he tilted her head just the way he wanted and licked into her mouth. It was the kind of kiss that made her dizzy, that made her want more and more. She kissed him back with just as much ferocity, hands fisting his crewneck as she twirled her tongue around his own.

When he finally drank his fill of her, he pulled away with his teeth sunk into her bottom lip. A soft moan slipped out of her at the sting. He released the swollen, pink flesh with a grin.

“You like when it hurts a little, Coach?” he questioned.

All she could do was groan in response as she wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him down into another kiss. Seresin chuckled against her lips, but it quickly dissolved into a grunt when she pressed her hips flush against his own. His hands grabbed, searched, explored. Up and down her back. Over her ass, her thighs. Into her long dark hair that was actually down for once. Ronnie’s heart raced at what this could mean. Where it could go. But underneath that she knew it was the thrill of doing something she shouldn’t for once in her life — and getting caught in the quarterback’s kitchen. Anyone could walk in. Anyone could see his tongue shoved down her throat and her fingers clawing into the back of his neck.

Jake pulled away first again, panting for breath as he leaned to whisper in her ear, “What do you say we finish watching the game…Then you and me head out early? Hmm? Go back to your place?”

She shouldn’t. She really shouldn’t. She was his coach, he was one of her players.

But an answer was coming out of her mouth before she could be more rational about it: “Yes…Please.”

“Good girl.”

Ronnie felt her breath hitch, her toes curl, at his praise. And from the smug smirk on his face, he knew that she liked it. Jake let her go with one last kiss and her water pressed back into her hand. Then she turned and went back to the living room, trying to get control of her shaking legs and the heat filling her cheeks.

Sitting back down on the couch, she noticed the game was on another commercial break.

“Jesus, Coach, where you been? You missed nearly the entire third quarter! Rams are up by three,” Garcia filled her in and she nodded, mind still reeling.

“You seen Jake?” Machado asked.

She shook her head. “No. Haven’t seen him.”

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#oc: ronnie bradshaw #fic: the red zone #fd: top gun #nfl au #football player jake #football player hangman #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #hangman #jake hangman seresin x oc #jake seresin x oc #hangman x oc #jake seresin x ronnie bradshaw #type: request

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pika-nachua · 8 months

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2023 NFL Season Predictions

Full Season Schedule,Final Standings, and Playoff Bracket available at

Adjusted 2024 First Round Draft Order (Includes trades to date)

1.Cardinals

2.Colts

3.Bears (via Panthers from Bryce Young/ DJ Moore trade)

4.Buccaneers

5.Raiders

6.Cardinals (via Texans from Will Anderson trade)

7.Rams

8.Bears

9.Giants

10.Commanders

11.Seahawks

12.Patriots

13.Falcons

14.Jaguars

15.Broncos

16.Jets

17.Steelers

18.Ravens

19.Saints

20.Titans

21.Vikings

22.Cowboys

23.Chargers

24.Chiefs

25.Dolphins

26.Packers

27.Lions

28.Bills

29.49ers

30.Texans (via Browns from Deshaun Watson trade)

31.Eagles

32.Bengals

Awards Picks (also receiving votes in parentheses)

Most Valuable Player: Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals (Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Deshaun Watson, Josh Allen)

Offensive Player of the Year: Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns (Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Brandon Aiyuk, Tony Pollard, Tyreek Hill, Christian Watson, Chris Olave)

Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland Browns (T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa, Gregory Rousseau)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons (Jahmyr Gibbs, Will Levis, De'Von Achane, Bryce Young, Quentin Johnson, Zay Flowers, Sam LaPorta)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Christian Gonzalez, CB, New England Patriots (Will Anderson, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, Emmanuel Forbes)

Comeback Player of the Year: Damar Hamlin, S, Buffalo Bills

Most Improved Player: Christian Watson, WR, Green Bay Packers (Skyy Moore, David Njoku, Brandon Aiyuk)

Head Coach of The Year: Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins (Dan Campbell, Zac Taylor, Kevin Stefanski, Mike Vrabel)

Offensive Assistant Coach of The Year: Ben Johnson, Offensive Coordinator, Detroit Lions (Eric Bieniemy, Pete Carmichael, Tim Kelly, Ken Dorsey, Kellen Moore)

Defensive Assistant Coach of the Year: Jim Schwartz, Defensive Coordinator, Cleveland Browns (Lou Anarumo, Aaron Glenn, Patrick Graham, Brian Flores, Vic Fangio)

Additional Speculation On Season Storylines (Listed by team) List does not include all NFL teams

Las Vegas Raiders

Raiders fire Josh McDaniels after starting 2-10 and losing to the Chiefs Week 12 in Las Vegas, and promote defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to be their interim head coach.

Patrick Graham will finish the season with a record of 2-3, leaving the Raiders with a final record of 4-13.

The Raiders will fire general Manager Dave Ziegler, interim coach Patrick Graham, and a majority of the rest of McDaniels' staff after the regular season is completed.

Tennessee Titans

Starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill gets injured early in the season, and the Titans allow scond-year QB Malik Willis and rookie Will Levis to struggle for the starting spot before Levis wins it outright after during Tennessee's bye week in Week 7.

Levis then manages to lead the Titans to an 8-3 record from the bye week on, putting up Rookie of the Year-worthy numbers... if he had started the full season.

The Titans still manage to fall in the Wildcard Round to a tough Browns team, but this year still cements Levis as the starting quarterback going into 2024, with Tannehill likely to be moved by the front office in the offseason.

Washington Commanders

Ron Rivera is fired after a Week 16 loss to the Jets, finishing his season in Washington with a record of 4-11. Assistant head coach and Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is promoted to be the interim head coach.

Bieniemy then coaches the Commanders to a 2-0 record in the final games, and after the season, his interim tag is dropped in order to make Eric Bieniemy the full-time head coach of the Washington Commanders in 2024.

Aside

Originally, I had afew wonkier predictions, namely the Cardinals and Colts trading their respective picks to quarterback-needy teams so those unnamed teams could select one of USC QB Caleb Williams or UNC QB Drake Maye.

My only reservation was that by the time October comes around, we're gonna have seen a much better sample size of football in 2023, so I'm certain I'll have opinions on it. I'd just like to save some for the wilder stuff for when there's a clearer picture to expand upon.

Ideally, I'd like to do one of these at the end of every month of the season, so we'll see how that goes.

End of the way, I wanted to put something out to reign in the new year, and I hope you're along for the ride.

Now who's ready for some mothafuckin football?

#nfl #new england patriots #carolina panthers #nfl football #national football league #national football conference #american football conference #joe burrow #josh allen #deshaun watson #jalen hurts #caleb williams #jamarr chase #ja'marr chase #philadelphia eagles #cleveland browns #san fransisco 49ers

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taylorrepdetective · 3 months

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Am I the only who thinks the Chiefs were put through the Superbowl? By the way they were playing, I thought the would've been eliminated on the wildcards. Nothing like the most popular artist dating an athlete and being there to attract views and interest, right? Or is it too much conspiracy theory?

I totally understand the temptation to believe this conspiracy theory. But as I mentioned before, I am not a believer in organized fixing of games (for the most part.) While I think it’s possible, I consider it as a last option rather than a first. As an avid football watcher for most of my life, what I saw with the Chiefs fits with how football works. Maybe that’s because it’s always fixed? Maybe it was done in an especially believable way? But most likely, the chiefs simply upped their level of playing for the playoffs, something they’ve done in the past, and the other teams choked, plus they had some luck and they do tend to know how to manipulate refs, whether that’s through fixing, or being good at convincing them like other top athletes are - see Lebron James, or Ronaldo, I’ll let you judge. But I think it’s the latter.

Once the weather report came out, everyone knew the dolphins had almost no chance. Then with the Bills, they had played very evenly in their previous game this season so really they were pretty even teams, but the Bills were favored because they had home field advantage. And it was a close game, but the chiefs outplayed just enough. And the ravens looked unbeatable because they were peaking at the right time and that’s often who wins, but in this case they were poorly coached and Lamar choked.

If the favored team always won, there would be no sport and Eli Manning wouldn’t have infinitely more Lombardi trophies (2) than Dan Marino (0).

On the other hand, it feels like a script because the Taylor stuff is just too much. Too perfect. But imagine taking Taylor out of it and it’s just the chiefs. Then it becomes 100x more believable, right?

I’m not just chalking it up to tayvoodoo, but also I believe that Taylor also helped make the Cheifs not play well mid-season, because I do think she was a distraction for Mahomes and Travis. And I think they figured that out and refocused at the end. They are truly great players who are highly motivated to not only play well, but succeed off the field. And I think they started falling for their own hype and got into their own heads for a bit there. And then they saw this incredible opportunity (couple of the decade at the Super Bowl, WAG squad fever for the Mahomes) starting to turn into Taylor as Yoko, “Travis is fat and distracted and going to retire to be a movie star”, Patrick is past his peak and doesn’t have enough weapons because Travis insisted on being the #1 guy, more negative attention on Brittany and Jackson rather than people outside KC not knowing about it, and the macho MAGA chads and brads types starting to gain too much screen time by pointing all this out. Finally the players figured it out and starting playing back to their potential (remember at the beginning of the season, the chiefs were undefeated) and the NFL media machine realized the criticism of Taylor and Travis by the likes of Aaron Rodgers was a PR disaster and got all the men under control by letting them know how important this is for future success, and they all saw that too, and by the end every one got their act together and focused. This is big business by people who are at the top of their professions. I think it took a couple of months for everyone to figure out what all this could be if people played their cards right.

Or maybe the refs were told to never call holding or pass interference on the Chiefs, and that was enough to get them to win. But if that was the plan, it was very fraught with danger because it still relies on things like Travis making that diving catch and Mahomes throwing perfect passes to the pylon or back corner of the end zone.

So that’s my theory.

#a couple more notes #this actually worked out even better than if the cheifs had dominated all season #added drama and to the legend of Travis and Mahomes #they were able to conquer adversity #everyone loves that #so the fixers would have had to add in their dynamic rather than just letting them win all season #the refs never would have called Toney offsides on that play earlier this season if it was fixed #there was a big no call for the ravens that kept them in the game (tripping in the end zone) that would have been called if it were fixed

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starry-hughes · 4 months

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I want to say they announce the rest of them on hockey night in Canada? During the Leafs game or like after the first period

i don’t understand why they are announcing all this on NFL wildcard saturday. it’s the worst day they could have chosen.

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the-football-chick · 1 year

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IG: nfl (1/16/23)

#nfl #tom brady #buccaneers #nfl wildcard game

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snowlessknitter · 7 months

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The Masked Singer: S10 E2 (NFL Night) Running Commentary

Group A returns tonight with a wildcard Mask joining the competition. As always I post before seeing any unmaskings, so don’t consider these spoilers. (I am watching and posting on a delay.)

Cow 🐮: Grew up in a house of all women, boxing gloves with a golden arrow pointing down, and three calves (meaning he has children). The bonus clue: a pair of tap shoes, he says he’s known for his “killer moves”, and then did a spin. The sound of his voice sounded a little more familiar this week, and with his dance moves, I’m kind of leaning towards Ne-Yo, but I am not yet sold on it.

Diver 🤿: A pair of red high heels 👠, and reiterated that he became famous because he was someone people loved to hate. The bonus clue: a “super fan” with a club ♣️ painted on his chest. He says he’s “well-suited for the club”. I’m still thinking Nick Viall from The Bachelor and its related shows, but a lot of people on social media were going with Ken Jeong’s guess, Tom Sandoval. (I’ve never watched Vanderpump Rules or much of anything related to the Real Housewives shows, so I’m not familiar with him.)

Gazelle 🦌: Was pressured to change her name when she was younger. A test with an “A” grade on it. A sign reading “Threat Level: 3” (as in a “Triple Threat” who can sing, dance, and act) and a surfboard (possibly a Teen Choice Award winner). The bonus clue: a football reading “Villain”. She has apparently played a villain in a project. “A” is the name of the primary antagonist in Pretty Little Liars. So I’m thinking this may be Lucy Hale, although the social media buzz seemed to suggest Janel Parrish, which would fit in with the Hawaii clues (as she’s originally from Hawaii).

S’more 🍫: A cauldron, a TV with a letter M. Got his chance at a big break while he was in high school. A game controller. The bonus clue: An orange (he’s tasted victory before, and it possibly references Florida). I’m still getting the vibe that this is a boy band alum. I don’t think it’s Lance Bass, the voice is too high in range. If it’s a Backstreet Boy, I would think that this would be Kevin Richardson. Three major boy bands got their start in Orlando, Florida: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and O-Town. We’ve had one Backstreet Boy (Nick Carter), two NSYNC members (Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick), and no members of O-Town (whose creation was documented on an MTV series called Making the Band). Vocally, I’d think if it was someone from O-Town, it’d either be Ashley Parker Angel or Dan Miller. But I’m also not ruling out Kevin Richardson, as a lot of the clues seem to point to him.

Pickle 🥒: Joker card, microphone, pictures of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and Martin Short. His teachers thought he wouldn’t amount to anything. He might be a comedian, and the microphone looked like something you’d see a podcaster use. Just from the sound of his voice I’m thinking Michael Rapaport. The bonus clue: a grill with an “On Air” sign in it. I’m sticking with Michael Rapaport, as he’s well known for being outspoken and opinionated in addition to his career as a comedian and actor.

#the masked singer #the masked singer season 10

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hummusxx · 8 months

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have you been to any nfl games ??!

yess. I’ve been too almost ever jaguar home game since i was 5, been to a couple steelers games up in pittsburgh, and went the 49ers v cowboys wildcard game. My friends family is friends with brock purdys family so they took me to that game with them.

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ajlovessports · 1 year

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12/29/2022 NFL Updates!

It is Week 17 of the NFL and tonight 12/29/2022 is the Thursday night game. There are 2 weeks until the playoffs and only 8 teams have been eliminated. These teams are the Texans, Bears, Cardinals, Broncos, Colts, Falcons, Rams & Browns. This means there are still plenty of teams in the hunt.

Now moving on to one of the games that I find personally interesting is the game between the 49ers vs the raiders, which is also called “battle of the bay”. Some of the other games are Bills vs Bengals & Packers vs Vikings. Being from the Bay Area and a huge 49ers fan, some big news for this week's game versus the Raiders is that Derek Carr will be benched. Some things that come to my head instantly are, “will the raiders lose their locker?” Meaning “are all of the players going to stop caring or trying?” One of the biggest concerns and questions is, “if the Raiders send Carr away does that mean Davante Adams will stay or leave? If so, where is he going?” This will be a huge offseason for the Raiders which will be even bigger than last offseason. Carr has been on the Raiders team since 2014, he has been the only somewhat stable player for the Raiders and since they are moving away from him you start to wonder what their next move will be. I do predict this game will be a blowout and the 49ers will send the Raiders home with a lot to think about. The 49ers on the other hand, if they win and some of their other games go in their favor they will either stay in 3rd place or move up in the NFC (National Football Conference). This week they were considered the NFL's number One Power Ranking Team, so let's see if they can live up to that hype.

Two games that will be even more interesting are the Bills vs Bengals & Packers vs Vikings. The Bills hold the #1 spot in the AFC (American Football Conference) while the Bengals hold the #3 spot. If the Bills do happen to lose this game it is likely they lose the #1 spot and the Chiefs take it. Whereas, If the Bills do win then there is a good chance that the Bengals lose there #3 spot and move into the Wildcard. This is a similar scenario for the Packers vs Vikings game but if Green Bay loses they no longer have a chance at the playoffs!

My predictions for this week’s games:

(Cowboys vs Titans) Cowboys

(49ers vs Raiders) 49ers

(Cardinals vs Falcons) Falcons

(Bears vs Lions) Lions

(Broncos vs Chiefs) Chiefs

(Dolphins vs Patriots) Dolphins

(Colts vs Giants) Giants

(Saints vs Eagles) Eagles

(Panthers vs Buccaneers) Panthers

(Browns vs Commanders) Browns

(Jaguares vs Texans) Jaguars

(Jets vs Seahawks) Jets

(Vikings vs Packers) Vikings

(Rams vs Chargers Chargers

(Steelers vs Ravens) Steelers

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turboturkey · 1 year

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A Cheesy Game on Christmas

The NFL Playoff Picture is winding down as the season comes to a close. A special Christmas day matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins proved to be a crucial game for both teams.

For the Dolphins, they started the season with an 8-3 record and looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders. At one point, they even led their tough division which included the likes of Super Bowl favorites Buffalo Bills. Unfortunately for Miami, they dropped their last 3 games in a row and have slid into the cusp of the Wildcard Playoff spot with an 8-6 record. Many did not criticize the Dolphins in their 3 game losing streak as they faced difficult opponents on the road such as the 49ers, Chargers, and Bills. However, the Dolphins were back at home and were favored to beat to 6-8 Packers.

For the Packers, they started the season with some dysfunctional offense as they lost key wide receiver Davante Adams in the offseason and struggled to find a wide receiver within the roster to replace Adams’ production. After a 3-1 start, the Packers would go on to lose 7 of their next 8 games. With a 4-8 record, the team looked ready to bow out the playoff race but a rejuvenated offense gave the team 2 consecutive wins to bring their record to 6-8. After their win on Monday Night Football against the Los Angeles Rams, the Packers gave the Cheesehead Fandom a reason to believe in a playoff spot. Although very difficult to go on the road and beat a team with a winning record, Cheesehead fans all through Wisconsin hoped for a Christmas miracle.

The Dolphins started the game red hot by scoring an 84 yard passing touchdown to Jaylen Waddle. A drive later, Tua Tagovailoa connected on a 52 yard pass to Tyreek Hill which set up a 1 yard rushing Touchdwon by Jeff Wilson Jr! Although the Packers trailed 17-10, the need to win oversaw the conservative approach as they would run a fake punt on 4th down which did not convert. The Dolphins were set up in excellent field position and tacked on 3 points with a field goal.

After another Packer drive stalled out, the Dolphins regained possession with momentum to score again. With a 20-10 lead, Packers defensive tackle stripped Miami Dolphins’ Raheem Mostert of the ball and was able to fall on top of it. A crucial play that led to a Packers field goal to end the half down 20-13.

A great opening drive in the second half saw Packers’ quarterback lace a beautiful 31 yard pass down the sideline to Marcedes Lewis. That play would set up a 1 yard rushing score for AJ Dillon which even up the game at 20-20.

The Dolphins would try to respond with a 48 yard field goal, but Jason Sanders would miss wide right which kept the score even through the third quarter.

The 4th quarter started with the Packers tossing an interception in the endzone. Just when the momentum had shifted to the Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa overthrew his receiver an interception brought the Packers into excellent position! Although the Cheeseheads could not score a touchdown, they managed to tack on a field goal which gave them the lead for the first time in the game at 23-20.

Tua Tagovailoa looked to redeem his error by leading a drive down the field. Unfortunately for the Phins, Tua threw a pass down the middle without ever seeing the Packers’ linebacker De’Vondre Campbell who swooped in the intercept the ball!

A long drive filled with excellent runs by the Packers led to another field goal, extending the lead to 6 with just 2 minutes to go. Even with things looking bleak for the Miami offense, Tagovailoa still had one final drive to try to salvage a win.

The home crowd encouraged and cheered for a final game winning drive, but it was the Packers defense that would come up with another interception on a badly underthrown ball to seal the game!

Many fans were critical of Tua Tagovailoa’s performance as he threw a whopping 3 interceptions in the 4th quarter. The brutal nickname, Tua Turndaballova was trending on Twitter as fans criticize the lack of ball security Tua possessed in the 4th quarter. Understandably so, fans should also consider the amazing first half of football Tua played before bashing the young 3rd year quarterback. He threw for over 200 yards and a touchdown in just the first half.

Now I’m not trying to excuse the 3 crucial interceptions he threw in the first half, I just believe that fans shouldn’t berate the quarterback that brought excitement to Miami for the first time since Dan Marino. Fans should remember that Tua suffered a major head trauma injury in which the team doctor unwisely allowed him to play in the next day. This caused an even more significant head trauma injury that fans were not sure if he would return to play for a couple of months.

With this road win, the Cheesehead Packers inch closer to a Wildcard spot as they improve to a 7-8 record. The Dolphins drop to 8-7 which would still be good enough for a Wildcard spot, but many teams are lurking for that spot like the Jets, Patriots, and Titans with a 7-8 record.

Luckily for the Dolphins their final two games will be against the Jets and Patriots so victories in those games would clinch a playoff spot. For the Packers, they will finish with two home games against tough opponents such as the Vikings and the Lions. Even with victories in these games, the Cheesehead fans will need some losses from the Commanders and Seahawks to get their team into the playoffs.

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