Daily Briefing

AROUND THE NFL ProFootballZebras.com had declared (with reason) that Ron Torbert was the likely referee of Super Bowl 53.  But it is John Parry instead.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:   The NFL has announced the referee for Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.   John Parry got the nod from the league to referee the game.…

AROUND THE NFL Peter King sets things up for Championship Game Weekend:   Then there were four. Both conference title games will be rematches of compelling midseason shootouts. You remember back to midseason, when defense was going the way of the Giant Panda, verging on endangered. One piece of evidence: Patriots 43, Chiefs 40, in…

AROUND THE NFL This from Ian Rapoport:   @RapSheet After impressing the #Jets in head-coach interviews, former #Bucs OC Todd Monken will interview with the #Browns for their vacant OC job this weekend, source said. He also spoke with #Jaguars about their vacant OC job.   This from Albert Breer:   @AlbertBreer The 💰 APY…

AROUND THE NFL Two more jobs are hired as Vic Fangio forms a veteran dream team with Gary Kubiak in Denver while the Browns stick with OC Freddie Kitchens (but Gregg Williams won’t be his defensive coordinator)   That leaves three, the Jets, Bengals and Dolphins with the Jets job looking like it will go…

AROUND THE NFL Three down and five to go as the Buccaneers go with the vast, perhaps too vast, experience of 66-year-old Bruce Arians and the Cardinals opt for Kliff Kingsbury who was 35-40 at Texas Tech   That leaves:   Denver – a more mature pairing of finalists than elsewhere (except for Tampa Bay)…

AROUND THE NFL Wild Card Weekend is over and we managed to go 0-for-4 with our picks.  3 of the 4 road teams won and the 4th covered the spread at the last minute.   Despite the Wild Card results, all 4 home teams are favored in the Divisional Playoffs.   Divisional Round lines, via…

AROUND THE NFL Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com ranks the desirability of the eight vacant coaching jobs.   The following list is mine and mine alone, not reflective of the feelings of any of the other PFT writers. So don’t blame them.   No. 8: The Bengals. The organization known for being extremely careful with money…

AROUND THE NFL A note from Scott Kacsmar:   @FO_ScottKacsmar Wow, just looked and this is the first time in the 16-game era where no NFL team finished 8-8.   The Vikings were 8-7-1, the Browns 7-8-1. – – – At the moment, there are eight coaching vacancies.  John Harbaugh’s situation puts Baltimore in play…

AROUND THE NFL We have an abbreviated Monday version, but we will be back Tuesday morning with a thorough review of the changing landscape of the NFL.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com posted this nice recap of the carnage and non-carnage.  The Harbaugh brothers show up a lot.   Here’s a one stop look at all…

AROUND THE NFL The coaching flavor of the year, Oklahoma’s 35-year-old wiz Lincoln Riley says he will not be coaching in the NFL in 2019.  Howie Kussoy in the New York Post:   The Jets can cross one name off their wish list.   Despite reported interest from multiple NFL teams, Oklahoma head coach Lincoln…

AROUND THE NFL What happens if the Vikings and Bears tie (or if you can imagine it, the Steelers and Bengals)?  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:   It’s been 45 years since any NFL team had multiple tie games in a season, so if you’ve never given any thought to what would happen in the…

AROUND THE NFL A source tells Peter King that the highest levels of the NFL are concerned with the officiating we are getting in 2018:   Some of the calls in Pittsburgh-New Orleans were just ghost calls. The early Joe Haden pass interference, a big call in a one-score game, was a phantom call, as…