Welp, this is what the media’s been ejaculating about all week. It’ll have to be a helluva game to be half as entertaining as Saints-49ers, but we can all hope for various things: broken legs, meteor strike, Brady Quinn playing, et cetera. Play along in the comments, and join us tomorrow for a double-header of live-blogs.

Today is your last chance to watch Cam Newton play for a while, but Michael Jordan’s mock turtles are here to stay.

It’s New Year’s Day and there isn’t a single bowl game being played. Weird. So if you were hoping to roll out of bed and watch a totally meaningless exhibition you’ll have to settle for the Redskins and Eagles. If it makes you feel better, just think of it as the Shitrus Bowl. Some of today’s games are worth a damn, however. Click here for all of the possible playoff scenarios, or just scroll down for our now exclusive THREE star rating system. Those Michelin frogs stole it from us.

Detroit at Green Bay ?
Tennessee at Houston ?
Indianapolis at Jacksonville ZERO DAMN STARS
New York Jets at Miami ?
Chicago at Minnesota ZERO DAMN STARS
Buffalo at New England ?
Carolina at New Orleans ??
Washington at Philadelphia ?
San Francisco at St. Louis ?

GET EXCITED, PEOPLE!

Watch as the NBC flunkies openly grouse that this game wasn’t flexed to Patriots-Broncos. “It could have been us showing viewers what Tebow would look like if he were right-handed! Who am I supposed to hype in this game? Ray Rice? SNL doesn’t devote sketches to him.”

Anyway, after sucking for the vast majority of the season, ruining your fantasy team and leading the NFL in interceptions (Josh Freeman derped his way to the top spot last week), Philip Rivers has gotten his float together the past two games, throwing six touchdowns and no interceptions. There was also a fumbled snap that the defense recovered for a touchdown, BUT THOSE AREN’T PASSING STATS! WHAT? HUH? WHAT? That said, those two performances were against the Jaguars and the Bills, so a granule of salt for reason, please. Ray Lewis returns for the Ravens, which will be a nice opportunity for announcers to ignore that Baltimore’s defense has been playing better with God’s Linebacker out of the lineup. Oh, and Terrell Suggs will probably continue to rep Ball So Hard University, the sketchy sister school of Ball State.

Time for your Cleveland-Pittsburgh open thread. How many ways can use you use that hat in a rape joke? I think we’re about to find out.

The Chargers, last seen squandering a half dozen chances to redeem themselves by stopping Tebowmania, have lost six straight. One would assume that to be sufficient ineptitude to get Norv Turner fired, but it’s sometimes difficult to gauge how beholden a franchise is to the sweet, sumptuous strains of losing.

By firing Jack Del Rio, the Jaguars proved more daring by being willing to cut ties with an inept coach. That’s because they had other, more critical ties to establish, like links to SOOPER SECRET PAKISTANI MOOSLIM TERRORISTS with new owner Shahid Khan. Besides amusingly whipping retards into xenophobic frenzy, KHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNN is notable for his conspicuous Iron Sheik mustache. Were the NFL scripted by 1980s Vince McMahon, Tebow would have indeed been drafted by his hometown Jaguars, only for Khan to purchase the team and bench Jesus Baron indefinitely, thus setting up a rivalry that ends with Tebow hulking out and pinning Khan at the base of The Statue of Liberty.

The Florida Times-Union today made printable Khan mustaches for Jags fans to wear to the game. A cute sentiment until a few dozen rednecks decide to pair them with turbans.

You too can be The Lorax.

Don’t forget to also take a glance at The New Yorker‘s latest foray into low culture in the form of this profile of Jon Gruden. The piece portrays Gruden as an obsessive student of the game who spends inordinate time poring over game tape only to shuck all that cumbersome insight off once he enters the booth to transform into a wild-eyed fluffer jackal.

Ensconced in his lair in Tampa, far from the “Monday Night Football” cameras, Gruden can sound shockingly negative. He is forever judging players who don’t or can’t excel—“slapdicks,” he calls them, or, more familiarly, “slappies.”

“THIS SLAPPIE SLAPDICK GABBERT, I CAN’T TELL IF HE WANTS TO SLAP THE DICK OR PLAYFULLY PAW AT IT. MY QUARTERBACK NEEDS TO EXHIBIT PEEN POKING INTENSITY!” Despite a few colorful anecdotes about Gruden, it’s Jaws who steals the show with this tragicomic outtake:

When it was Jaworski’s turn, he issued a stern proclamation. “Call me crazy, but I’m really excited for Tyler Palko tonight,” he said, and a roomful of skeptical sports producers erupted in laughter. Jaworski had given himself the thankless task of building up the Chiefs, praising them as much as he could without putting his own credibility at risk. Perhaps viewers would buy into the idea, however far-fetched, that Palko would emerge as the night’s underdog hero. Later that day, as Jaworski was making a cup of coffee in the ESPN bus, he tried the line again. “Call me crazy, but I’m excited about Tyler Palko,” he said. He exhaled. “I’ve got to sell this,” he said to himself.

Please remake Glengarry Glen Ross just for Jaws.

The quarterback-deficient Chiefs were able to claim Kyle Orton off waivers last Wednesday, but they’re probably wise to not play him against the Steelers defense on four days of preparation with a new offense. No need to rush since the AFC West champ will most likely be 7-9 anyway. So it falls to Tyler Palko to once again spend a primetime game not throwing passes further than five yards. What fun!

Anyway, be sure to take a look at the chart above (click to embiggen). The fallout of the Tom Brady injury in 2008 was as tragic as the crippling was beautiful. It gave rise to Josh McDaniels as a viable head coach and, worst of all, sowed the seeds of Tebowmania. It very nearly almost makes me start to maybe think of possibly not enjoying Bernard Pollard taking out Dreamboat quite as much. Except not at all. Nothing ever comes easy, so why should glorious Greatriot knee shredding be any different?

[via]

A Texans fan unironically (and therefore tragically) went to the trouble of creating a Hope poster of Matt Leinart and put it up on Twitter. That would be the saddest thing ever, but then I noticed that seeing how the real Matty Ice is going to fare against a ravaged Jaguars team might be the most compelling thing about the set of early games this Sunday. That’ll happen when you squander all your seemingly good match-ups on Thursday, then actually have an interesting Monday night game for once.

Oh, and let me go ahead and fix that poster.

PATENTED KSK SHERMOMETER OF STARS

Purple Jesus-less Vikings @ Falcons ?
Battle of Urban Meyerville ??
Panthers @ Fat Humps ?
Texans @ Jags ???
Fitzmagic/Nacho Bad Contract Showdown ??
Buzzsaw @ Rams ?
Buccaneers @ Titans ??
Five million inane discussions of how Ndamukong Suh is the greatest threat to modern civilization ZERO GODDAMN STARS

The late games today give you an excellent excuse to go outside and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. Marmalard and the Chargers bring their unexpected suckiness to Chicago, where an long lost sulkfaced nemesis awaits, in what is probably the most interesting matchup in the late slate, unless the revival of Chris Johnson continues for a second week in Atlanta.

San Diego @ Chicago ???
Tennessee @ Atlanta ???
Arizona @ San Francisco ??
Seattle @ St. Louis ?

Like I said, no one will think you’re a bad football fan if you just turn off the games and head outside.

Oh my! Will minor anguish forever mar the impossibly perfect life of Dreamboat! Let it not be true!

The Patriots have lost two straight largely because their defense blows and the offense has no one capable of stretching the field. Last week, Eli Manning essentially replicated the game-winning Super Bowl XLII drive (MINUS THE LUCKIEST PLAY IN RECORDED SPORTING HISTORY ACCORDING TO BILL SIMMONS) and now the Patriots must travel to the Quasi-Newish Meadowlands to face their biggest rivals.

“FACK THIS TEAM! THEY AHHHH NAWT WORTHY OF THE PROUD NAME OF THE GREATRIOTS! THEY AHHHH REDUCED TO PLAINTRIOTS WHO PRAWBABLY EAT FRIED CHICKEN AND DRINK BE-AH IN THE HUDDLE! OCHOSTINKO DOUBLE FISTS FAHHTIES AWN THE SIDELINE. I SAWR HIM! CUT HIM NOW OR-AH TRADE BILLY B. TO THE CUBBIES”

It’s worth nothing that New England already soundly beat the Jets in their first encounter, but that was before Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer arrived at the brilliant realization that perhaps the best course of winning for their team was entrusting as little responsibility to Mark Sanchez as possible. It’s called Tebow Tactics and it’s a proven godsend.

Thursday night football, everyone’s favorite late-season tradition that is only available to that percentage of the nation that gets NFL Network, returns with a classic AFC West turnover fest. Carson Palmer has thrown three interceptions in each of his two appearances since inspiring the Raiders to mortgage their future in a way that shouldn’t be allowed post-Wall Street bailouts. Meanwhile, current NFL interception leader Marmalard floated two pick-sixes to the Packers a week after his “worst day ever” Romo-esque fumble in a Monday night loss to the Chiefs. That should be sufficient to get you to ignore “Community”, “Parks & Rec” and “Always Sunny”, right?

The most glaring weakness of the Thursday night games, of course, had been the disastrous NFL Network announcing team of Joe Theismann, Matt Millen and Bob Papa, who were mercifully and gloriously dispatched in the off-season. Now we get Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock, who are respectable replacements. Even if sitting through Mayock pronouncing Philip Rivertttthhhhhhhhhh for three hours is likely to wear on the ears.