The NFL Outhinks Itself

Last night's Patriots vs Bills game wasn't supposed to be the Sunday night game on NBC. It was supposed to be played in the afternoon. The Seahawks vs Bears was supposed to be the night game. Welcome to the world of "flexible scheduling". Nevermind the fact that the Patriots have blown out all but one of their opponents by a wide margin and nevermind the fact that the Patriots are playing next Sunday night against the Eagles (another likely blowout), but the NFL decision-makers thought it better to put them on prime-time than it was to air a game between the last two NFC Champions. No east-coast media bias, my ass.

Lucky for us, they got what they deserved.

The Seahawks vs Bears game was one of the more exciting games I've seen this year. The final score was 30 to 23 (Go Seahawks!), it was a game that featured lots of offense, some pretty good defense, and one hell of a tackle on Devin Hester by our kicker, Josh Brown, who actually ran him down from behind and almost knocked the ball loose. And even though the Bears were "bringing Rexy back" their quarterback, Sexy Rexy Grossman, played a pretty un-Grossmanlike game and definitely gave his team a chance to win. Fortunately the Bears had no answer for D.J. Hackett who was this close to having 200+ yards receiving, if only he hadn't dropped one or two of the dozen balls thrown his way.

But yeah, why would you want all of that on national television when you can promote another 56 to 10 beat-down by the New England Patriots? Why would you want to show a good game with 3 lead changes when you can show the equivalent of Ohio State versus Evergreen College? Why would you want to feature the last two NFC Champions in a game with playoff implications a division and wildcard when you can show an undefeated team beat the snot out of one that hasn't sniffed a Super Bowl appearance since losing 4 of them in the early 90's?

Why not spotlight a convicted cheater? Oh, that's right. They did.

But that's okay, I'm not bitter. After all, I did get to be home from the game in time for dinner. And the last time the NFL and ESPN and all the rest of the networks ignored the Seahawks, they went to the Super Bowl. Green Bay and Dallas look really good in the NFC, but it's only now that the Seahawks are healthy again (and without that albatross, Shaun Alexander) and should definitely not be overlooked. The media may be overlooking the Seahawks right now, but I bet the other teams won't be come January.

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