Game Day

Entering this week's games, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has gained more yards than 22 teams. I'm going to miss him today. The Vikings have their bye.

Orthopedic surgeon to the stars Dr. James Andrews did the reconstruction of Peterson's knee. He said that the running back's ligaments looked like those of an infant. This is remarkable considering the wear and tear that Peterson has put on that knee in all of his years of football. Andrews thought that he'd seen all there was to see inside of a human joint. He'd never seen anything like the ligaments of Adrian Peterson. It's another indication of the physical freak that is Peterson. He's not of this world.

With my football options open today, I'm most interested in the Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots games in the morning. From the slim pickings in the afternoon, I'll check out the San Diego Chargers-Denver Broncos game and then, of course, the Baltimore Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers game in the evening. Good stuff. Even if the Vikings are away.

Sometimes I wonder if the NFL fine judges even watch the plays in question. Vikings middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley was fined for a supposed helmet-to-helmet hit on Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson. It was obvious from every single angle that Johnson came down, due to gravity, on Brinkley's helmet. Basically, Brinkley was fined $21,000 for standing on the field. And wearing a helmet. When you're flagged and fined for not causing a helmet-to-helmet there's really a flaw in the system.

RIP NFL Films announcer Jeff Kaye. He started at NFL Films in 1985, shortly after the death of the legendary "Voice of God" John Facenda. If you didn't know Kaye's name you've certainly heard his voice.

Missed viewing the Cal game again because of Directv's idiot ways.

Perhaps Directv saved me some pain as Oregon St. completely dismantled Cal to the tune of 62-14. Nice end to a severely disappointing 3-9 season. Go Bears!

USC likely wants a mulligan on this season. They started in the top 5 but started falling almost immediately. Quarterback Matt Barkley was everyone's Heisman favorite and now he isn't even in the conversation. With Robert Woods and Marquis Lee at receiver, Barkley should be just about unstoppable. Crosstown rival UCLA chopped USC down yesterday. It's a real shame.

Speaking of easy to hate Pac-12 teams, it's sure fun to see Oregon stopped on 4th down. Cal did it last week. Stanford did it a couple of times last night. I love seeing that cocky offense stopped.

It was great to see Oregon fall to Stanford. So great to see.

Stanford beating Oregon was not as big an upset as the betting line made it seem. Oregon seems to get really frustrated if they're not rolling up points. I've seen it in the close games that Cal's had with them in recent years. If Oregon isn't blowing teams out they just want to take their ball and run home.

Now, it looks like Stanford and UCLA will play two games in a row. Next week they end their regular seasons. After that they could be playing in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

UCLA is an interesting team. I'm not sure what happened to them when Cal thrashed them. I think that was simply an example of Cal still being mostly healthy and UCLA just finding their way. Of all the coaching changes in the Pac-12 this past offseason, the Bruins hiring Jim Mora Jr. worried me the most. It was great for UCLA and bad for the rest of the conference. He's an excellent coach. I'm wonder how interested he is in getting back to the NFL.

Not only did #2 Oregon lose, so did #1 Kansas St. Notre Dame is certainly happy. Alabama might be happier.

Here's to a fantastic recruiting class for Cal.