Things That Caught My Eye

Last night the Toronto Argonauts pulled off a come-from-behind victory over the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League championship game, the Grey Cup. Down 17-8 by half time, Toronto mounted an immense second half and tied the game 24-24 on a two point conversion following a 109-yard fumble return with four minutes left to go, and a last minute field goal to seal the deal. I watched at least a dozen different football games over the past four days and honestly? Canada put us all to shame. [TSN]

For the 25 minutes when Luc Mbah a Moute was on the court last Wednesday in Houston’s 125-95 rout of Denver, the Rockets outscored the Nuggets by 57 points. That’s the highest plus-minus (net scoring when a given player is on the court) recorded in any game since November 8, 2001. [ESPN]

Congratulations to the several teams who are finally mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but specific congratulations are in order for Cleveland, an entirely defeated team that now enjoys a 71 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL draft. Their main competition is the 49ers, who have a 27 percent chance of getting the “prize.” [ESPN]

Alabama lost to Auburn in the extremely important Iron Bowl and has been dethroned from its perch at the top of the AP poll. Indeed, Alabama now is down to a 79 percent chance of finishing with a top four strength of record. Clemson sits on top of the AP top 25, and is now the favorite to win the title with a 21 percent chance of taking it. Alabama has a 48 percent chance of making the playoffs following their extremely ill timed loss. [ESPN, FiveThirtyEight]

The Los Angeles Rams will go at least 8-8 this year with a win over New Orleans Sunday, which is consequential for one reason: It’s their first non-losing season since 2006. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2004. Here’s something absurd: This year with Jared Goff behind center the Rams are ranked third when it comes to points scored. In the previous 10 years they had never ranked above 21st, and three times were straight up last place in points scored. [The Washington Post]

Tennessee reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with Greg Schiano to make him their head coach but backed out of it amid political and protest pressure over his alleged connections to Penn State’s Sandusky era. [ESPN]

Make sure to try your hand at our fun NFL can you beat the FiveThirtyEight predictions? game!

Big Number

Chicago had a truly awful game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Mitchell Trubisky posted the third worst single game total quarterback rating since 2006, with a 0.54. The Bears recorded six rushing yards. This is the second fewest in the recorded history of the Bears, who have existed since 1920. [ESPN, ESPN]

Leaks from Slack:

neil:

Bills finally came to their senses and will start Tyrod (for now)

gfoster:

I kinda feel bad for Peterman.

kyle:

i feel bad tyrod has to play for the bills more now

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