It’s appropriate Marcus Mariota wears green, because the Oregon quarterback is a money player. He will earn a lot of it in the NFL, where he could start for about 10 teams this weekend.
Matt Youmans
It was tough to take the Kansas City Chiefs too seriously last season, even when they kept devouring opponents as quickly as Andy Reid could make a stack of cheeseburgers disappear. But if Reid’s second season as coach has proven something, it’s that his team is a serious contender in the AFC.
Finally, the clumsy and dreadful version of the Dallas Cowboys we expected to see all along showed its ugly face. It was a Thanksgiving Day massacre.
On the rare occasions when the sun peeks through the clouds here, it never seems to shine on Eli Manning these days. The forecast for this weekend calls for cold temperatures with about a 60 percent chance of another New York Giants loss.
Winds of change could be gusting in Honolulu on Saturday night, when Bobby Hauck, a beleaguered football coach on the hot seat, guides UNLV into one of his biggest games of the season.
A passing of the torch might be occurring with the NFL’s elite quarterbacks as Tom Brady fades into the background and the New England Patriots become yesterday’s news. That was the story in late September, anyway.
What was built by Jim Harbaugh seemingly overnight is now crumbling almost as quickly. By all appearances, the San Francisco 49ers are falling apart, and Harbaugh is on the way out.
By now, Urban Meyer was supposed to be irrelevant, a forgotten coach left behind in the carnage of a crazy season. Ohio State was whipped on its home field, and that was that.
In a quarterback showdown that was debated and hyped all week, one guy walked away a blowout winner and the other was a no-show. The big winner, of course, was Carson Palmer of the red-hot Arizona Cardinals.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning personifies a Halloween party, because you never know what you might see next, a two-time Super Bowl winner or a hapless, shoulder-slumping loser?
Once again, it appeared Jameis Winston had created a mess he could not possibly escape. And once again, the quarterback turned into a magician, stunning the crowd with his sleight of hand.
As bad as it was, it’s not as if the Chicago Bears hit rock bottom. But, after another embarrassing performance, it’s obvious Jay Cutler is a quarterback who can lead them there.
Houston has holes — particularly quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. But the running of Arian Foster and a defense led by J.J. Watt should be enough to cover against a Titans team led by rookie Zach Mettenberger.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Peyton Manning turned a traffic jam into a drag race. A painfully slow game became another Manning passing clinic and a wide-open shootout.
A bad team used the element of surprise to stun the Seattle Seahawks, and it should not come as a shock to coach Pete Carroll. He had to know what he was up against this season, and it’s an almost unbeatable opponent.
Everything is flowing for Philip Rivers this season, and no defense is slowing him. The San Diego Chargers quarterback has such a hot hand, he should be shooting at a craps table.
A breaking news flash about Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston could come at any time. It might arrive today or Saturday morning, and it might not show up at all. But bettors and bookmakers are on the lookout around the clock.