5) And I can\u2019t wait to see two 5-7 teams in bowl games out of necessity: Mississippi State and (gulp) Rice. Rice University in Houston is a scholarly school with a stadium that once hosted Super Bowl VIII. The late President Kennedy gave his \u201cWe will land a man on the moon and bring him back home safely by the end of the decade!\u201d speech at Rice. Commenting on doing hard things versus easy things, President Kennedy said \u201cWhy does Rice play Texas?\u201d As in the early 1960s as today, not much has changed. Except that we put men on the moon in 1969.<\/p>\n
6) Remember him: What do you think is the hardest hit in NFL history? Whatever you have seen, it cannot compare to the hit Chuck Bednarik of the Eagles laid on Frank Gifford of the Giants on November 20, 1960. The hardest hit in the AFL? That honor goes to Mike Stratton, a former Buffalo linebacker. In 1964, one year after demolishing the Patriots in the AFL title game, the San Diego Chargers took on the Bills at old War Memorial Stadium (the \u201cRockpile\u201d) for the 1964 championship. Keith Lincoln, the San Diego running back who bludgeoned the Pats in \u201863, opened the game with a 38-yard run.<\/p>\n
Near the end of the first period, Lincoln took a flat pass out of the backfield from Tobin Rote, and was immediately blasted by Stratton and fell on the floor. Lincoln had two broken ribs and would not return. That play, plus a Stratton pick late in the first half, powered Buffalo to a 20-7 victory and the first of two straight AFL titles for the Bills. Stratton played 11 years in both the AFL and NFL. He was a six-time AFL all-star and was the symbol of the powerful NFL-style defense the Bills became until the merger just ahead on the horizon.<\/p>\n
![\"Dec](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27768260_168390408_lowres-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
7) Denver won again, ten in a row now. They are back as the #1 seed. There are a wide variety of publications about why Denver wins the tiebreaker over the Patriots. It is NOT common games. It is NOT strength of victory. It is conference record. The Broncos have one more win than the Patriots. If the Patriots square that up before season\u2019s end, then common games come into play. Drat that opening week loss to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
8) This just in from ESPN: the Patriots-Ravens game in two weeks has been flexed to Sunday night on NBC. Hardly a surprise.<\/p>\n
9) I don\u2019t care if Kansas City was eliminated from winning the AFC West on Sunday, breaking a nine-year hold on that honor. Wake me up when the Chiefs are totally eliminated from the playoffs. If that happens. Low-seeded playoff teams sometimes win Super Bowls. Ask the Patriots if that ever happens.<\/p>\n
10) If you were enterprising enough, you perhaps watched both the Las Vegas-Denver game and the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game and said to yourself, \u201c(naughty word redacted)!!! How did the Patriots ever lose to Vegas and Pittsburgh?!\u201d<\/p>\n
11) It\u2019s too bad that Daniel Jones got hurt, and the Colts\u2019 season is on life support. But go back a few years and listen to former Colts radio voice Bob Lamey call a few Colts-Patriots games, and you\u2019ll remember why you probably still hate the Colts.<\/p>\n
12) Liberty High School. That\u2019s the secondary school in the city I reside in, where Jordan Love cut his football teeth. The Packer quarterback is creeping up on MVP watchdogs. Love joins Cody Kessler, Derek, and David Carr as notable NFL quarterbacks from right here where I\u2019m sitting.<\/p>\n
13) Tennessee loved their win over Cleveland, until they found out at year\u2019s end that they no longer hold the top pick in the 2026 draft.<\/p>\n
14) Need more time to figure out what exactly the Browns have in Shedeur Sanders.<\/p>\n
15) Attaboy, J.J. McCarthy. That\u2019s more like it.<\/p>\n
16) Geek of the Week: Did anyone catch JaMarr Chase\u2019s reaction to the two picks Joe Burrow threw in the 39-34 loss at Buffalo on Sunday? Seriously, I didn\u2019t see any, maybe you did. The Bengals waited all this time to get their franchise quarterback back, and he throws the game away in a matter of a few minutes. If you throw something to someone this week (a snowball?), make sure you throw it OVER anyone in front of them.<\/p>\n
17) For Jalen Hurts to play like he did Monday night, he looked like anything but a defending champ.<\/p>\n
18) Meanwhile, it\u2019s still hard to get Charger fans to games at SoFi Stadium. They are mostly still down in San Diego County. Monday night wasn\u2019t that bad. There were plenty of green shirts in the crowd, but a lot more powder blue shirts too, maybe half and half.<\/p>\n
19) Big game next week. Rematch of New England and Buffalo. This time it\u2019s in Foxborough.<\/p>\n
The game opened in Las Vegas with the Patriots a 1.5 point favorite.<\/p>\n
Twenty-four hours later, Buffalo is now a 1 point favorite.<\/p>\n
The general betting public still likes Josh Allen more than Drake Maye.<\/p>\n