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.
We Didn’t Start The Fire
We have seen two coaches fired this season. More are coming, hello Raheem Morris. Some teams are more trigger happy than others. Here is the year each team last fired a coach:
2025: Tennessee (Brian Callahan), NY Giants (Brian Daboll)
2024: Las Vegas (Antonio Pierce), Jacksonville (Doug Pederson), New England (Jerod Mayo), Chicago (Matt Eberflus), New Orleans (Dennis Allen), NY Jets (Robert Saleh)
2023: Washington (Ron Rivera), Seattle (Pete Carroll), Atlanta (Arthur Smith), Carolina (Frank Reich), LA Chargers (Bradon Staley)
2022: Arizona (Kliff Kingsbury), Houston (Lovie Smith), Denver (Nathaniel Hackett), Indianapolis (Frank Reich)
2021: Miami (Brian Flores), Minnesota (Mike Zimmer)
2020: Philadelphia (Doug Pederson), Detroit (Matt Patricia)
2019: Cleveland (Freddie Kitchens), Dallas (Jason Garrett)
2018: Cincinnati (Marvin Lewis), Green Bay (Mike McCarthy), Tampa Bay (Dirk Koetter)
2016: San Francisco (Chip Kelly), Buffalo (Rex Ryan), LA Rams (Jeff Fisher)
2012: Kansas City (Romeo Crennel)
2007: Baltimore (Brian Billick)
1968: Pittsburgh (Bill Austin)
Pickens Embarrassed Himself
George Pickens was a second round draft pick but such was his flightiness and difficulty off the field, he was released by the Steelers after just three seasons. A reclamation product of the Dallas Cowboys, he has enjoyed a super season with 1179 yards and eight scores. His total lack of effort against the Lions though was embarrassing and the defence from his coach was just as bad. Lack of effort is the cardinal sin. It will be tough for Pickens to recover.
That Ertz
Tight end Zach Ertz has had a fantastic career but it may be over after a shocking injury from what can only be called a dirty hit. A Super Bowl champion and three-time Pro Bowler, Ertz looks to have done his ACL. He will be a big loss for the Commanders.
Award Time
With just a month left in the regular season, let’s look at the individual awards and see who is in the market and where the value lies.
MVP
This is now a race in two between Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye. Stafford has 35 touchdowns and just four picks and has the Rams as arguably the team to beat in the NFC. He is helped by Sean McVay clearly scheming to assist Stafford. It will be Stafford’s first MVP award.
Coach of the Year
Bears coach Ben Johnson started the season as the favourite in this market and given how he has turned the Bears around in a tough division he looks the standout selection.
Offensive Player of the Year
Betting has Jaxon Smith-Njigba just ahead of Jonathan Taylor. Taylor is a lay with his form tailing off and teams likely to stack the box with Daniel Jones out for the year. The value is with Lions weapon Jahmyr Gibbs at around the $10 quote. The Lions tailback has 1062 rush yards at 5.7 yards per carry while he has 58 catches for 474 yards. He has 16 touchdowns and looks a great bet.
Defensive Player of the Year
Myles Garrett has this award wrapped up as he chases down the single-season sack record.
Rookie of the Year
Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan is edging Jaxson Dart, Emeka Egbuka and Tyler Warren for favouritism. QBs have a poor record with just one winner since 2012. No tight end has won the award since Keith Jackson in 1988 so happy to lay Tyler Warren. Egbuka got off to a hot start and does have six scores for 791 yards, very similar numbers to McMillan.
Week 14 Bad Beat Power Rankings
No sport lends itself to cruel beats more than American football. Here are the worst for Week 14:
2. Cleveland -3.5: The Browns trailed all game against the lowly Titans all game but had a chance to send the game to OT when Kevin Stefanski took out QB Shedeur Sanders on the two-point try in a baffling decision.
1. Denver -8: It is hard to imagine a worse beat than having the Broncos -8. The Broncos led by 10 with less than a minute to go. Rather than kick a field goal or punt they turned the ball over in good field position. Even still, the minus was home when the Raiders caught the ball in-bounds with six seconds left and no time outs. Enter Brandon Jones, who gave away a delay of game penalty. The Raiders kicked a pointless field goal to lose by seven – but cover the start. It was labelled by Dave Portnoy as “the worst beat of all-time”.
Fun Fact #1
The last NFL team to fold was the Dallas Texans in 1952
Fun Fact #2
Six NFL franchises excluding the publicly owned Green Bay Packers are owned by the family of the original franchise owner: Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, New York Giants and Tennessee.
Fun Fact #3
Jerry Jones is the longest-serving current owner in the NFL, having owned the Cowboys for 36 seasons, taking the mantle from Virginia McCaskey when she passed in January this year.
Punter Fact of the Week
Not a single punt of the nearly 700 in Super Bowl history has been returned for a touchdown.
Read It
George Blanda was one of the most interesting characters to ever play in the NFL, a quarterback/kicker who debuted in 1949 just after World War II and played until 1975. He finished his career at the age of 48. Here is a wonderful piece looking at his miracle career. Read it here.
Watch It
It is hard to believe in these times of worrying about player health and showing major concern for player safety around the head that just two decades ago ESPN ran a segment called ‘Jacked Up’ celebrating massive hits on players, usually to the head. But it happened. Watch one segment here.