Welcome to our weekly column where we look at all things NFL from our regular NFL tipster and Rugby League raconteur Nick Tedeschi. He will look at the good, the bad and the ugly of the NFL, holding back no punches.
There is Nobody More Fun Than Jameis
Jameis Winston may have started the season as the third string quarterback and has generally been a disappointment since being drafted by the Bucs with the first overall pick in 2015. A decade into his career though that has seen him serve as a backup for the last five years with New Orleans, Cleveland and now the New York Giants and he is one of the most fun players in the game, the complete opposite of the moribund, selfish and weak teammate Russell Wilson. Winston carries himself with a verve and a joy that crosses over to his teammates and the coaching staff, nearly leading to the upset of the season when the Giants very nearly stunned the Lions and they did so with a host of Winston-led trick plays including a flea flicker and a touchdown as a receiver where he fended off a DB like a seasoned wideout.
Two Record Breakers To Admire
Cleveland sack machine Miles Garrett and Seattle catching extraordinaire Jaxon Smith-Njigba are quietly putting together two of the most ridiculous seasons you will ever see and need to be closely watched over the remainder of the season.
Garrett is chasing down the single season sack record of 22.5 held by TJ Watt and Michael Strahan with 18 through 11 games. Garrett has remarkably 13 in his last four games. Making it more remarkable is that he is doing it on a 3-8 team currently with its third quarterback. Only one sack leader since 2011 has come from a sub .500 team. Garrett now has 120.5 career sacks with double digit sacks in eight of his first nine seasons, good for 24th on the all-time list. Only the incomparable Reggie White has more sacks in their first nine seasons.
Smith-Njigba is doing extraordinary things in Seattle too with 1313 receiving yards through 11 games, good enough to claim the single-season Seahawks receiving record, surpassing the likes of Hall Of Famer Steve Largent, who retired with most major NFL receiving records. He has topped 120 yards six times. He is on pace to become the first player to catch for over 2000 yards.
The Fall and Fall of Chip Kelly
It was 13 years ago that Chip Kelly was the hottest prospect in coaching. Having done a stellar job at Oregon in his first head coaching gig, Kelly was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he lasted three years and lost a power battle with Howie Roseman when Kelly had all but eliminated him. Philly have gone on to win two Super Bowls since. Kelly then was sacked after one season at the 49ers and was out of the league, coaching basketball school UCLA before a season as an assistant at Ohio State. Pete Carroll made him the highest paid OC in the NFL. That ended this week when Kelly was fired with six of the last seven games seeing the Raiders kept to 16 or fewer. He will not get another gig in the NFL.
Ranking NFL Announcers
Few sports require their announcers to be great and quick as much as the NFL. Here are the Top 15 play-by-play television callers and colour analysts in 2025.
Play-By-Play
- Al Michaels
- Joe Buck
- Ian Eagle
- Kevin Harlan
- Kevin Burkhardt
- Joe Davis
- Rich Eisen
- Jim Nantz
- Mike Tirico
- Adam Amin
- Chris Myers
- Kenny Albert
- Andrew Catalon
- Noah Eagle
- Spero Dedes
Analyst
- Greg Olsen
- Troy Aikman
- Tony Romo
- Chris Collinsworth
- Kirk Herbstreit
- JJ Watt
- Jason McCourty
- Kurt Warner
- Charles Davis
- Louis Riddick
- Tom Brady
- Jonathan Vilma
- Ross Tucker
- Dan Orlovsky
- Adam Archuletta
Week 11 Bad Beat Power Rankings
No sport lends itself to cruel beats more than American football. Here are the worst for Week 12:
5. Arizona +2.5: The Cards sent the game to OT with little-known third string QB Kedon Slovis – 1/1 for -2 yards – but conceded a field goal in OT.
4. Over 49.5 TB-LAR: There were 38 points to the half but the game ground to a halt with very little happening in the second half.
3. Philadelphia -3: The Eagles led 21-0 over division rivals Dallas before capitulating to lose 24-21 in OT.
2. Seattle -11.5: Seattle led 30-10 against the worst team in the NFL near the end of the three quarters before giving up two touchdowns – the last with 43 seconds left – in a cover capitulation.
1. Baltimore -13.5: The Ravens got off to a slow start but managed to lead by 10 with the ball inside the Jets five in the last minute before settling for a field goal.
Punter Stat of the Week
The heaviest punter in NFL history is Australian Sav Rocca at 120kg.
Fun Fact #1
There is one scoring play that has never occurred in the NFL – the one-point safety – which occurs after a point after or two-point conversion attempt somehow get tackled in their own endzone.
Fun Fact #2
The last scoreless tie in the NFL occurred in 1943 – the 73rd scoreless tie in league history – was between the Lions and Giants.
Fun Fact #3
The most likely next scorigami – a score that has never occurred in the NFL – is 36-23 as per Nate Silver.
Read It
For the first three weeks of the NFL season, the league was forced to use replacement officials following a referees lockout. It was an unmitigated disaster that saw numerous incidents, officials pulled for supporting teams they were officiating and lower leagues disowning some officials. Elizabeth Merrill and Wayne Drehs wrote about life as a replacement ref. Read it here.
Watch It
Al Michaels is one of the most interesting figures in football, arguably the greatest play-by-play man in NFL history. He refuses to eat vegetables and he loves to gamble. Here he is on Letterman throwing shade and doing a great impersonation of Howard Cossell. Watch it here.