NFL 2024 Season - PS2
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Articles published multiple times per week, offering insights and picks on upcoming games.
 
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Divisional Playoffs
Challenge Accepted
Wild Card Weekend
Early Celebration
QB matchup
Starting and Ending Spots
Wild Card Trend
What to Like
Rookie Quarterbacks
Broken Fever
That's That
Week 18
Checking the Boxes
Needs and Wants
Four and Out
One or the Other
Point Spread Clouds
Fix It
Hollow Revenge
To Win or Not to Win
Week 17
All Knowing
Complicated Made Simple
Advanced Calculus
Glow Dimmed
Brink of Elimination
Game of Survival
Pleading for the Fifth
Need over Nothing
Christmas Grinch
Week 16
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers
Vintage 2018
Penix Debut
Dog Day
Playoff Position
Rest of the Story
Different Sundays
Run Some Tests
Without and With
Week 15
Two Tonight
Playoff Chances
Wild Card Challenge
Best of the Best
Next
Dire Straits
And It's Good
Bloated Lines
Week 14
Running up the Score
Challenge Me
Finding Reasons to Win
Crab Feed
Week Off
Good Enough
Buyers Regret
Pulled the Rug
Week 13
Mile High Hopes
Top and Bottom
Fourth Time the Charm
Bounce Back
Engage Spark
Line Up
Out in the Cold
Thanksgiving Visitors
Good Enough
Motivation on Steroids
Week 12
Second Best
Heavyweight Bout
QB's Ins and Outs
Everybody In
Too Easy
Walk the Plank
Hot to Trot
Try, Try, Try, Try, Try Again
Week 11
Mouse Trap
Must Game
Malfunction
Easy Does It
Old Foes
Falcons Fly into Mile High
Matter of Time
Improv
To the Brink
Week 10
Odd Man Out
Lions come Calling
Rookie versus Veteran
Call to Action
Full Reverse
When 8-0 is 4-4
Game of Contradictions
NFC West Bunch
Early Boarding
Week 9
Not Enough, Too Much
Real or Imposters
Groin Shot
Best Show
Saddle Up
Dull Edges
Telling Actions
Annihilation Formula
Week 8
No and No
Old Glory
Rookie Face Off
Adding it Up
Holding On
Jets Down
Unload and Reload
No Surprise
Career Paths
It Hurts
Week 7
Harbaugh Monday
Kids Camp
Barkley Back
Bird Battle
Mouse Time
Too Many?
Gone Shopping
Not Bad
40 for 3
Week 6
Try New
Night Vision
Trap Door
Looking Up
Wake Up Call
All Good Things
Bad Idea
Unexpected
Fire One
Week 5
Yes & Yes
Old Rivals
Rookie Sensation
So Close
Lunch in Seattle
Wake the Roosters
No Respect
Too Sweet
Turtle Flip
Week 4
Landmine
Bottoms Up
Winners and Losers
Call Me
Short Line
Reality Bites
Like Tonight
Uptick
Challenge Generates Performance
Week 3
Two Times
Reduced Value
Stars Down
The Other 21
Opportunity Knocks
Lots of Questions
Move Along People
Times Up
Week 2
Confidence Game
First and Second Picked QB's
Avoiding the Donut
Do or Die
One for the Road
Likewise
Adjustment Bureau
Down ... Not Out
Week 1
Time Marches On
Cashing the Trade
Start Here
Say What
Quick Up, Quick Down
Brazil Play Date
Top Two Open
Super Bowl Pick
Season Win Totals
Moving on Up
Breakout to Breakdown
Preseason 4
Preseason Wrap
Rookie Playoff Run
Preseason 3
Short Memory
Two In, One Up
Eagles Hunt
Winning Formula
Preseason 2
Quarterback Shuffle
One Two, or Two One
Starters Sit
Remote Control
Money be Damned
Preseason 1
One Season to the Next
Public Shift
Comets in the Night
Offseason
Mahomes Chasing History
All's Well that Ends Well
Ups and Downs
     
 
Day Off
by Dennis Ranahan

The National Football League continues their four days of football for this holiday weekend with a pair of contests today in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers host the Cincinnati Bengals, and Los Angeles, site of a matchup between the Chargers and Buffalo Bills. This is the second day of NFL play over the Christmas holiday, the action started on Thursday night with the Los Angeles Rams win over the New Orleans Saints. In addition to tomorrow's 10 NFL games, the league will stage three Monday contests on Christmas.

Both games played today will offer good football weather with only a slight chance of rain.

The early game in Pittsburgh, scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, features a pair of backup quarterbacks. The Starters of these two teams, Kenny Pickett of the Steelers and the Bengals Joe Burrow, are missing with injuries. Burrow is out for the season; Pickett has been sidelined for three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the Steelers last victory, gained in Cincinnati four weeks ago.

Burrow had an injury plagued season, first playing through a calf injury during the first month of the regular season and then having his campaign ended with a wrist injury that required surgery. His replacement, Jack Browning, lost his first start, that defeat suffered against the Steelers in Cincinnati, but has strung together three impressive wins over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings.

While the Bengals were winning the prior three weeks, the Steelers were not. Behind awful quarterback play by Mitch Trubisky, the Steelers have gone down to defeat against the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.

The Bengals may be better than all three of those teams, so what chance does Mike Tomlin and his men have for a win today? Not much with Trubisky behind center was a decision he made. So the Steelers head coach has gone back to the bench in Pittsburgh to designate Mason Rudolph today’s starter.

The problem with jumping on the Bengals today is they are in a horrible spot. They have overachieved when underrated and Browning behind center, but today, they jump to the role of a road favorite against a division opponent.

Not interested in that spot for the Bengals, or for the Steelers today with Rudolph, who this week is better known as a reindeer than a competent NFL quarterback.

In today’s late game, the Chargers are playing their first contest following the firing of Head Coach Brandon Staley. It took a long time, in my opinion too long, for the Chargers to pull the trigger on Staley’s dismissal. The Chargers have wasted talent on the field with his inept coaching both in preparation and game day decisions. Last week’s 63-21 thumping by a team with a losing record, the Las Vegas Raiders, was the final straw for Los Angeles ownership and they cleaned house.

The Chargers are the third team to fire their head coach during the 2023 season, and, like the Raiders, who dismissed Josh McDaniels in November, they sacked their general manager too. Las Vegas got a quick boost from interim head coach Antonio Pierce, who led them to a pair of victories in his first two games. On November 27th, the Carolina Panthers gave Frank Reich his walking papers and the Panthers have looked better in the three weeks Chris Tabor has led the team. That includes their second win of the season last Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Chargers, with interim head coach Giff Smith, would like to see a similar jump in performance. They are the most talented team that has fired their coach this year. But, the books and bettors aren't expecting a quick turnaround with the Chargers, they are double-digit home underdogs today.

Two games, no good plays from a wagering standpoint.