was about to curse Harbaugh for punting instead of letting Tucker try the FG, then they get the muffed punt. Hilarious.

Ravens finally let Tucker try a PAT (only after a penalty) and it's blocked

Rich Eisen doesn't have the cadence to be an in-game broadcaster. Al Michaels is a natural. Even Joe Buck is better than Eisen.

after last week's debacle in lineup setting, I'm not changing anything, barring a locker room murder-suicide

It's about time Justin Tucker got some field goal attempts

last week I was lazy and made stupid lineup decisions because I didn't want to do research and just listened to other people. Never again.

I went 3-2 on both sets of picks last week to put me at 10-15 in the “Normal” entries and 12-12-1 on the “Ugly” one. It’s nothing special, but it beats going 1-4 on the wrong side of blowouts. Here are my picks for this week: Normal 1 and 2 The Jaguars got off to a rocky start, but seem to have hit their stride. The Colts are okay, and Gardner Minshew is a competent backup, but this line is small enough to lay the wood at home. The Texans lost last week, but they were in the game, and they are playing with confidence on both sides of the ball. I like selling the Saints high after an easy blowout win. Maybe I’m missing something but the Bears and Vikings strike me as roughly equal teams, yet the Bears are getting three at home. The Bengals feel like a bit of a sucker play as the Seahawks usually show up, and Cincy’s been erratic. But as long as Burrow’s really healthy, I like them at home laying less than three. Finally, I’m buying the Team low to bounce back after a bad Thursday night game against the Bears. Ugly I’m taking the Titans plus four in London. No one is rougher and uglier than they are, and with both teams possibly being out of sorts after the long trip, give me the underdog. QB1 has played better of late, and the Jets play defense. What’s the point of having an “ugly” entry if you’re not going to use the Jets? The Bucs have been solid this year, and while the Lions are probably better, laying three on the road is a big ask. The Bucs are also coming off the bye. I doubled-down on the Texans because I didn’t want to get involved in the double-digit games, and there weren’t enough options left. I could have taken the Rams, but passed. The Raiders are bad, but the Patriots are worse, and the Belichick premium is a couple years out of date.

Thursday Night Observations I had Russell Wilson in at quarterback in a league that is *not yet* drawing dead, but as I was setting my lineup last night, I thought, “maybe I should check Erickson’s Value Meter, just in case I’m way off on this.” (FantasyPros is dead to me after last week.) But then I remembered my vow never to check anyone else’s rankings ever again and just to make my own mistakes. So I did what I did not want to do and that was bother to research the decision. I looked up the Chiefs defense which was seventh against QBs, and the Cardinals’ (facing my other QB, Matthew Stafford) which is 27th. I also figured out the Vegas implied totals which had the Broncos around 19 and the Rams around 27. Stafford has only five TD passes this year, while Wilson had 11 coming into this week, but the yardage was closer, and Cooper Kupp is back. So Stafford it was. (I also opted to sit C.J. Stroud home against the Saints.) While I was heading to sleep last night (Portugal time), I thought, “This was a mistake, I shouldn’t switch at the last minute.” But then I thought, “Well, in that case, it’s my mistake,” and fell asleep. . . . Wilson moved well, but he was herky-jerky, on the run, threw two bad picks and couldn’t get anything going down the field. Happy I didn’t start him, and you wonder how long he is for the job, ruinous contract notwithstanding. Jerry Jeudy caught a few short passes, but the tackle he made on one of Wilson’s interceptions was sadly the highlight of his game. It’s hard to produce when your quarterback has 95 passing yards, though Courtland Sutton salvaged his day with a TD. Javonte Williams looked healthy and ran well, but wasn’t involved as a receiver. Jaleel McLaughlin had nine touches to Williams’ 10. Samaje Perine caught both of his targets (one of which he fumbled to end the game), but didn’t see a carry. There’s room for two productive backs in an offense, not three. Patrick Mahomes showed some great moves when scrambling — unpredictable spins and fakes to buy time. His numbers have been modest this year, but the Chiefs haven’t lost since Opening Night. Rashee Rice is the only non Travis Kelce target to show a spark. He looks fast and explosive when he catches the ball. Kadarius Toney is a talented gadget guy who can’t stay healthy, and the rest are scrubs. Mr. Pfizer looked 100 percent healthy at least and had a nice game. Isiah Pacheco had 16 carries and six catches. He’s the workhorse now, with Clyde Edwards-Hilarious-The-Chiefs-Used-A-First-Round-Pick-On-Him and Jerick McKinnon both relegated to modest roles. The only painful thing about this game (other than Jeudy in my Primetime lineup) was seeing Harrison Butker kick a touchdown, a near touchdown and two other field goals in some opponents’ lineups. I won’t check until the third quarter of the first wave Sunday, but it’s just something else to dread.

Surviving Week 6 Last week was fairly uneventful unless you got crazy and used the Football Team or the Bills. Both the Lions and Dolphins won without much of a sweat. Let’s take a look at Week 6: I don’t see a pot-odds play here. It’s Bills or Dolphins for me, preferably Bills because the Giants are so decimated, and the 32 percent vs 25 percent doesn’t move the needle much. If Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley and miraculously Andrew Thomas play, maybe they’d put up a fight against a jet-lagged Bills team, but even then they could lose by double-digits. The Dolphins are a little more vulnerable if the Panthers defense shows up, but Bryce Young hasn’t shown he can play yet, and the Dolphins move up and down the field with ease. I wouldn’t use the Rams unless I had to — just not sure who they are yet — and the Cardinals have shown up more often than not. The Chiefs haven’t played that well of late and face a divisional rival that knows them, with a veteran QB that has some weapons. The Eagles are on the road, and QB1 hasn’t been terrible his last two games. The 49ers are good, but if Deshaun Watson is playing, this is a tough spot on the road against the Browns who are coming off a bye. If I had used the Dolphins and Bills, I’d go Chiefs, and if I had used all three, I’d probably go Rams.

bad enough Barkley is still iffy for Week 6, but even more annoying that the Giants don't play until Sunday night, so I won't know whether to start him.