We still have 90 minutes until the Cowboys and Eagles kick off and what have we learned?
That the NFL has another big problem to add to its labor issues. The early games, the Steelers and Dolphins aside, are meaningless and farces. The Giants should have forfeited. They would have performed better that way than their flesh-and-blood selves are right now.
The Colts are again refusing to play. The Saints are not showing up. Bill Polian can huff and putt all he wants about the value of these games, and the wisdom of keeping your starters healthy, but the last time I looked this was still professional football. Hundreds of thousands of fans are paying good money to watch these abominations and they're being ripped off. Two of the top four seeds are going into the playoffs having shut down in mid-December. At least the Vikings have some pride.
And this offers other sports opportunities. If the NHL had two functioning, connected synapses, it would start playing its mid-season outdoor classics on the evening of the last NFL Sunday. College football should also consider moving its championship to the final Sunday night.
If Texas were playing Alabama tonight, what would you watch? That, or the Bengals vs. Jets? The NFL doesn't want to know.
In 1986, game seven of the Mets-Red Sox World Series went head-to-head with an NFL night game, and crushed football in the Neilsen ratings.. If the NFL can't put a competitive product on the field every week, another sport will.
Or so we can hope. If the Cowboys and Eagles hold their A-games back, in anticipation of a re-match next week, this weekend will be one giant fraud.
Notes: If the Giants somehow find themselves with a coaching vacancy, expect New Jersey native Jason Garrett's name to pop up. You heard it here first.
This is an open thread.