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| Thursday, October 15, 2020 |
| Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Thursday newsletter, even though it doesn't even feel like Thursday because there's no NFL game on tonight. |
| The problem with no game being played is that I usually spend half my time in the Thursday newsletter previewing the Thursday game. However, since there's no game, I'm going to do something else this week: I'm going to preview other things that are on television tonight. |
| Actually, now that I'm looking at the TV schedule, maybe that's not the best idea. This isn't a newsletter about town halls. |
| Anyway, even though there's no game, you're still going to get a meaty newsletter, so let's get to the good stuff. Also, if you like the newsletter so far, be sure click here and send the link to every friend you have. |
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| 1. Today's Show: Daily fantasy picks and advice for Week 6 |
| Normally, we use the Thursday podcast to get you ready for the Thursday night game, but there's no Thursday night game this week, so instead, Will Brinson and I decided to spend four hours together talking about horses. Just kidding, we didn't do that. Today's podcast actually covered all your best daily fantasy options heading into Week 6. |
| Brinson was joined by fantasy football gurus Heath Cummings and Frank Stampfl, and they went over the best fantasy options in all 12 games that are being played on Sunday in Week 6. The three guys also spent the last five minutes of the show talking about my favorite topic -- beer -- so it's definitely worth a listen. |
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| 2. Le'Veon Bell landing spots |
| If you read Wednesday's newsletter, you may have noticed that we covered some potential landing spots for Le'Veon Bell. If you're wondering why we're covering this topic two days in a row, it's because Bell has apparently narrowed his options down. |
| According to ESPN.com, Bell is going to sign with one of three teams: Miami, Buffalo or Kansas City. There's also a chance that by the time you read this, Bell will have made his choice. The fact that Bell is deciding between the Dolphins, Bills and Chiefs is even funnier when you look at the next three games on the Jets schedule: |
Week 6: at Dolphins
Week 7: vs. Bills
Week 8: at Chiefs |
| I feel like Bell is being delightfully petty with his choices and I'm completely here for it. If Bell is looking for the most playing time, then going to Miami probably makes the most sense (Plus, he has a home there). However, if he's hoping to win a Super Bowl, then going to Kansas City would probably be the smarter move. On the other hand, if he's going full petty, he should sign with Buffalo, because then he'd get a revenge game against both the Jets and the Steelers. |
| 3. NFL decides to scrap the 2021 Pro Bowl |
| The NFL hasn't had to cancel any regular season games yet due to the pandemic, but the league has decided to scrap this event off the calendar: The 2021 Pro Bowl. I'm not a doctor, but flying in dozens of players from multiple cities to play in an exhibition football game during a worldwide pandemic doesn't seem like a great idea this year and the NFL clearly agrees. |
| Although the Pro Bowl won't be played, fans will still be allowed to vote on Pro Bowl players and a Pro Bowl team will still be named, which is kind of important for financial reasons. Some players have bonuses in their contracts that are tied to whether or not they make the Pro Bowl and if they get voted on to the team this year, they'll still receive their bonuses. |
| If you're a fan of the Pro Bowl, here's the good news in all of this: The game isn't being canceled forever. Not only does the NFL expect to bring the game back in January 2022, but the league has decided to move the event to Las Vegas, which means there's a 100% chance I will be volunteering to cover it (I volunteer to cover every event in Las Vegas). |
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| 4. 2024 Super Bowl being moved out of New Orleans |
| The city of New Orleans was supposed to host Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, but that will now be changing after the city kind of double-booked itself (I actually double-booked myself every weekend in college so I would seem cooler than I actually was, but I don't think that's what New Orleans is doing here). With the NFL schedule set to move to 17 regular season games as soon as the 2021 season, that means the date of the Super Bowl will be pushed back one week going forward and the problem there for New Orleans is that the new Super Bowl date was going to conflict with the start of Mardi Gras. |
| To fix the problem, the NFL decided to take Super Bowl LVIII away from the city and replace it with Super Bowl LIX, which means New Orleans will now host the game in February 2025. Of course, that leaves a gap in the Super Bowl hosting schedule, and right now, Las Vegas is hoping to get the 2024 game. If the game is moved to Vegas, there's a 100% chance I will be volunteering to cover it (I volunteer to cover every event in Las Vegas. Wait. I think I already told you guys that). |
| The next Super Bowl that New Orleans hosts will be its 11th, which is the second-most of all-time; only Miami has hosted more. The last Super Bowl played in New Orleans came in February 2013 when the lights went out during the third quarter of Baltimore's 34-31 win over the 49ers. |
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| 5. Should the Falcons have a fire sale? |
| The Atlanta Falcons are one of the worst teams in the NFL and with the trade deadline right around the corner, it won't be surprising at all if they decide to dump everyone in a fire sale. CBSports.com writer Cody Benjamin -- who you probably know better as the guy who writes the Wednesday newsletter -- decided to take a look at which Falcons players could be dealt this year if the team decides to clean house. |
| The most surprising name on this list is Julio Jones. |
| From Benjamin: |
| Besides Jones, Cody also thinks the Falcons should look to trade James Carpenter, Alex Mack and Ricardo Allen. If you want to know why those three guys made his list, be sure to check out his entire article by clicking here. |
| Speaking of the Falcons, the team had to shut down its facility on Thursday after an assistant coach tested positive for COVID-19. Right now, that's not going to have any impact their game this week, but if anyone else tests positive, there's a chance the NFL could make the decision to postpone Atlanta's game against the Vikings. |
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| 6. Week 6 NFL Best Bets from someone who's on a roll |
| Tom Fornelli is one of our college football writers here at CBS Sports and because of that, I assumed that he spent all his time watching college football. Apparently, I was mistaken though, because it seems that he also pays close attention to the NFL. A college football writer watching the NFL? What's next, the Easter Bunny delivering presents on Christmas?!? |
| Anyway, Fornelli has been on an absolute roll with his "Best bets." Over the past three weeks, he has gone 6-2-1 against the spread. For Week 6, Fornelli has three games he really likes, but I'm only going to tell you about one: Packers at Buccaneers. Here's his take on the game: |
Line: Packers -1.5
Pick: Packers 27-23 over Buccaneers |
| For a look at the rest of Fornelli's "Best Bets" for Week 6, be sure to click here. |
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| The Kicker! |
| This is part of the newsletter where I usually give a shoutout to a special teams play or player, and I have to say, I'm done a horrible job of spreading the special teams love. I've been doing this newsletter for nearly two weeks and I still have yet to mention a punter. PUNTERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. |
| As such, I'm going to end the drought this week by pointing out that Bill punter Corey Bojorquez had a monster kick during Tuesday's game that no one is going to remember because Buffalo lost. With just minutes to go before halftime, Bojorquez launched a 72-yard punt that traveled 80 YARDS IN THE AIR. It was the longest punt in the NFL this year and just the second punt that has gone 70 or more yards in 2020. To see the monster punt, please click here. |
| While you're watching that, I'll be getting tomorrow's newsletter together. See you guys then! |
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