Stripes

I just wanted one collapsed place to talk about the division moving forward. Week 7 games: Denver @ Cleveland, Thursday night Cincinnati @ Baltimore Pittsburgh is on their bye week. Tomorrow's game is a big one. Given their extreme injury report and Mayfield's shoulder, I think the Browns might just plain be screwed for 2021. We'll get a very good idea of that when they face Denver at home, a team that I would call plainly inferior on paper if everyone's healthy. If it goes as badly as I think it might, then I think they're toast and Pittsburgh will be a bigger threat in 2021. What a huge break it'd be for the Bengals if a premier division competitor fell off the map, both for their division and wild card prospects.

I know it's not the NFL, but they're partnered with them so close enough. Is anyone watching these games? I am having a ton of fun with the new league and its rule adaptations. There are no obvious rooting interests for people in the area of Cincinnati, though there are league affiliates in the AAF. Each of the 8 AAF teams has four NFL affiliates and one CFL affiliate. The Bengals are affiliated with the Memphis Express (who just got smashed 26-0 today).

Might as well talk about the game to come. What are your expectations? I foresee the most predictable outing wherein the Bengals hold the fort down for a half and then absolutely shit the bed in the 3rd/4th quarters. I'm not sure whether the embarrassment will come in the form of some spectacularly awful turnover, or an idiotic personal foul penalty in crunch time, or both. All I know for sure is that Marvin will be clapping encouragingly on the sidelines no matter what.