© Provided by CBS Sports I know Thanksgiving is over, but I have to say, I'm very thankful that I'm not an Eagles fan this year. I mean, I'm thankful about that every year, but especially this year.
The Eagles were a total disaster during their 23-17 loss to the Seahawks on Monday night. I'm not sure if it's time to bench Carson Wentz, but if you spend a second-round draft pick on a quarterback (Jalen Hurts) like the Eagles did, I think you have to give some serious thought to benching your starter, and if you do it now, that will give everyone in Philadelphia plenty of time to change their Christmas list if they have a Wentz jersey already on it.
Speaking of things that are changing, the NFL schedule underwent ANOTHER change this week. If they keep making changes, I'm probably going to have to ask CBS to hire me an assistant whose only job is to keep track of all the schedule changes, because I can't keep track anymore. The Ravens-Steelers game has thrown a wrench into everything.
Anyway, we've got a big newsletter today and we'll be covering the Eagles along with those schedule changes. As always, please tell everyone you know to subscribe to this newsletter (Click here to subscribe), and you know what, now that I'm thinking about it, you should also feel free to tell people you don't know. Telling random strangers about the newsletter is a great icebreaker.
Alright, let's get to the rundown.
1. Today's Show: Recapping Seahawks-Eagles
The only thing more painful than going to the dentist is being forced to watch Philadelphia's offense play. The Eagles had a chance to take over first place in the NFC East with a win over the Seahawks on Monday, but instead, they fell flat on their face and chipped their tooth, which means now they're going to know the pain of going to the dentist.
Here are three quick highlights from the game (or lowlights if you're an Eagles fan):
- Eagles got off to a cold start. The Eagles might want to blow things up and start over on offense, because they were a total disaster on Monday. On their first five possessions, you -- yes you -- had more yardage sitting at home than the Eagles had on those possessions. Not only did Philadelphia go three-and-out on each of its first five possessions, but it totaled negative-one yard. Yikes. It also only totaled 74 yards in the first half. This was more painful than watching the Broncos play without a quarterback.
- DK Metcalf was unstoppable. If we learned one thing about Metcalf on Monday, it's that you probably shouldn't trash-talk him before the start of a game. Apparently, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had some words with Metcalf and the Seahawks receiver took that personally by going off for 177 yards on 10 catches. Metcalf had several big receptions and none of them were bigger than a 52-yard catch he had on a third-and-13 in the first half that set up Seattle's first touchdown.
- Seahawks defense actually looks good. Through the first 10 weeks of the season, the Seahawks were literally on pace to give up the most yardage in NFL history, but all of the sudden, they seem to have turned things around. The defense sacked Carson Wentz six times, picked him off once and held Philly to just 250 yards of total offense. To put that in perspective, this was first time since December 2018 that Seattle held a team to 250 yards or less.
As for the podcast, we spent most of our time debating whether it's time to bench Carson Wentz while also discussing if it might be time for the Eagles to dump Doug Pederson. Oh, and because this is the NFC East we're talking about, we also spent another 10 minutes debating who's going to win the division, which is something we now seem to do every week. You're probably going to want to listen.
To listen to today's episode -- and subscribe to the podcast -- be sure to click here.
2. Eagles' tipped Hail Mary costs one gambler $500,000
If you think you had a rough Monday, I can almost guarantee that you didn't have it worse than the guy who lost $500,000 betting on the Seahawks last night.
According to BetMGM, someone decided to put $500,000 on Seattle to cover as a 6.5-point favorite against the Eagles, and I have to say, for the first 59 minutes and 45 seconds of the game, this looked like a brilliant bet that was going to pay off big.
With the Seahawks leading 23-9, the bet looked like it was in the bag, but then Carson Wentz threw a Hail Mary to Richard Rodgers for a touchdown and to add to the drama, the ball was TIPPED before Rodgers actually caught it. The crazy part is that even after the TD, the bet was still going to pay out because the Hail Mary only cut the lead to eight points. For the bet to lose, the Eagles ALSO had to hit the two-point conversion, and um, they hit the two-point conversion, which meant they covered the 6.5 points, which meant that our gambling friend lost his $500,000.
If I've learned one thing about 2020, it's that the easiest way to make money is to stock up on toilet paper and sell it on eBay, and also, never bet on the Eagles.
3. NFL schedule changes keep coming
The NFL has been making so many schedule changes over the past few days that it's almost impossible keep up with all of them. I mean, I cover this sport for a living and I still have no idea when some of these games are being played. However, I thought it would best if I found out so I could tell you guys and that's exactly what I did.
Let's start with Ravens-Steelers. This game was originally supposed to be played on Thanksgiving, but then it got rescheduled to Sunday, then it got re-rescheduled to Tuesday and now it's been re-re-rescheduled to Wednesday. If re-re-rescheduled isn't added to Webster's Dictionary this year, I'll be highly disappointed.
As of right now, here's the time and TV information for that Week 12 game:
Wednesday, Dec. 2: Ravens at Steelers, 3:40 p.m. ET (NBC)
If you're wondering why the game is starting at 3:40 p.m. on a weekday, there's an answer for that. NBC was already booked to air the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting on Wednesday night and they weren't about to change that for a game that's been rescheduled 19 times.
With Ravens-Steelers now moving, that also impacted both of their games for Week 13. The Ravens were originally supposed to play the Cowboys on Thursday while the Steelers were supposed to play Washington on Sunday, but both of those games have now been moved.
Here's the new Week 13 schedule for both teams:
- Monday, Dec. 7: Washington at Steelers, 5 p.m. ET (TBA)
- Tuesday, Dec. 8: Cowboys at Ravens, 8:05 p.m. ET (Fox)
Of course, there's a 50% chance that something will change before we actually get to these games, but for now, this is the updated schedule.
4. Breech's Week 12 NFL Picks
If it's Tuesday, that means it's time for my weekly picks. I made my picks this week while drinking wine and eating leftover turkey, so if I do really well, I guess that means I'll be drinking wine and eating leftover turkey every time I write my picks for the rest of the season, which isn't necessarily great news because I'm almost out of turkey.
Anyway, here are two of my main picks for the week.
- Cleveland at Tennessee (-5.5): I can't remember the last time the Browns played in a somewhat important game this late in the season. I'm not sure how they're going to handle the pressure, but if it goes anything like the last two times they played on the road against a team with a winning record (Steelers and Ravens), they're going to get destroyed. PICK: Titans win 34-20 and cover.
- L.A. Rams (-3) at Arizona:Kyler Murray keeps insisting that his shoulder is fine, but he hasn't looked like the same quarterback since injuring it in Week 11. If you're a QB with an injured shoulder, facing Aaron Donald is probably the last thing you want to do. Between the Murray "injury" and the fact that Rams coach Sean McVay has never lost to the Cardinals (6-0), I see no reason to pick against Los Angeles. PICK: Rams win 31-24 and cover.
I've given you guys two three-team parlays over the past two weeks and they've both hit, so I'm getting a little crazy this week by doing a four-team parlay.
My betting plan for the week is to parlay the Chiefs money line (-1000 vs. Broncos) with the Titans money line (-255 vs. Browns), the Dolphins money line (-550 vs. Bengals) and the Vikings money line (-440 vs. Jaguars), which will give me odds of +122 (Bet $100 to win $122). Last week, my +135 money line parlay of Browns-Giants-Packers hit, although I did get a little worried that the Browns and Giants were going to blow it against inferior teams, but when you bet on the Browns and Giants, those are the things that come with the territory.
To check out the rest of my picks for Week 13, be sure to click here.
5. Worst teams to ever make the playoffs
It's starting to become pretty clear that the winner of the NFC East is going to end up being one of the worst teams to make the playoffs in NFL history, which begs the questions: Will they actually be the worst team ever to make the playoffs?
Our resident history buff here at CBSSports.com, Bryan DeArdo, decided to take a look at some of the worst teams to ever make the postseason and let's just say, this year's NFC East is in a league of its own. The worst record a playoff team has ever had during a 16-game season is 7-9 and I'm starting to feel like the NFC East is going to smash that. If you look at the remaining schedule for all four teams, a 5-11 division winner isn't out of the question.
Anyway, let's take a look at the worst playoff teams this century.
- 2004 Vikings (8-8): This Vikings team actually won a playoff game by beating a Packers team that they had gone 0-2 against during the regular season. They ended up losing in the divisional round to an Eagles team that would get to the Super Bowl.
- 2004 Rams (8-8): Like the Vikings, the Rams also won a wild-card game at 8-8. This team did that by beating a Seahawks team they had beaten twice during the year. Including the playoffs, the Rams won nine games in 2004 with three of those coming against Seattle.
- 2006 Giants (8-8): The Giants snuck into the playoffs and ALMOST pulled off an upset in the wild-card round, but they lost to the Eagles 23-20 after Philadelphia hit a field goal on the final play.
- 2008 Chargers (8-8): After winning the AFC West in 2008, this team got to host a 12-4 Indianapolis team in the wild-card round and the home-field advantage paid off as they would shock Peyton Manning and the Colts. However, they would lose in the divisional round to the Steelers.
- 2010 Seahawks (7-9): Beast Quake anyone? The NFC West was the laughingstock of the 2010 season, but it got the last laugh after Seattle upset an 11-5 New Orleans team in the wild-card round on a win that was iced by Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard Beast Quake TD run.
- 2011 Broncos (8-8): After miraculously leading Denver to the playoffs, Tim Tebow miraculously led them to a wild-card win over the heavily favored Steelers when he threw an 80-yard TD pass in overtime. The Broncos would lose the following week to the Patriots.
- 2014 Panthers (7-8-1): The NFC South was viewed as the worst division in football, but it's a division that got a playoff win in 2014, because the Panthers upset the Cardinals 27-16.
I'm starting to notice a pattern here and that pattern is that maybe we shouldn't assume the NFC East team is going to lose in the wild-card round. The seven teams on this list, who were all perceived to be bad, went a combined 6-1 in the wild-card round.
For a look at every playoff team since 1985 that has finished with a record of 8-8, you can click here to check out DeArdo's story.
6. 2021 Mock Draft
There are currently two teams that have officially been eliminated from the playoffs (Jets and Jaguars) and one team that has zero hope of getting there (the Bengals) and even though those teams have don't have the postseason to look forward to, they can get excited about the draft, which is why we're giving you Ryan Wilson's mock draft today.
Since we want to make sure Jets, Jaguars and Bengals fans keep reading, here's a look at Wilson's projected top-five picks, which includes a pick from all three of those teams.
- 1. Jets: QB Trevor Lawrence (Clemson)
- 2. Jaguars: QB Justin Fields (Ohio State)
- 3. Bengals: OL Penei Sowell (Oregon)
- 4. Cowboys: CB Patrick Surtain II (Alabama)
- 5. Chargers: CB Caleb Farley (Virginia Tech)
Although I agree with 80% of Wilson's mock draft here, I'm going to have to have a stern talk with him about the fact that he included the Cowboys in his top five. The Cowboys are not getting a top-five pick because they're going to make the playoffs by winning the NFC East, Wilson.
You can check out Wilson's entire mock draft by clicking here.
7. The Kicker!
We're headed into Week 13 and somehow, there are still TWO kickers who have yet to miss a field goal this season (Chris Boswell and Jason Myers). That's a crazy number when you consider that only six kickers in NFL history have ever made 100% of their field goals in a season where they attempted 15 or more.
The Seahawks kept Myers busy on Monday by sending him out for THREE field goal attempts (33, 39, 44), and I have to admit, I held my breath on each one. I want a perfect season from a kicker. I mean, 2020 has been nothing but a horror show for all of us, the least it can do is give us one kicker who makes all his field goals, but preferably two.
Anyway, I have to get all my Christmas shopping done tomorrow, which means I won't be around to man the newsletter. Instead, you'll get Captain Christmas himself, Cody Benjamin. Please be gentle with him though, he's an Eagles fan and he's not taking things so well right now.