Odds and ends

The Houston Texans have a player named Mercilus (Whitney). Now that's a pretty cool name for a linebacker. It probably wouldn't work so well with, say, a babysitter or a grade school teacher, but not bad at all in the NFL.

Line of the day. Former wide receiver turned announcer Cris Collinsworth. The situation ---
Indy Colts playing at above mentioned Texans on Sunday night football. Clinging to a narrow 13-9 lead at the time, the Colts have fourth and inches at the Texans' 5 yard line. Mysteriously, the Colts line up in the shotgun formation. QB Andrew Luck fields the snap, drops back -- and is sacked. No points.

The line --- "Somewhere Vince Lombardi is turning over in his grave". You betcha CC.

What's worse, the game wound up going into overtime, and the Colts lost. Had they booted that gimme field goal.....

This is the kind of thing that gets coaches fired. And Chuck Pagano was already rumored to be on the hot seat.

Interesting some of the pundits are picking Alabama (1), Clemson (2), Ohio State (3), and Washington (4) to make it to the college football playoff for the national championship. Are all worthy teams indeed. Yet there is one glaring omission. Michigan.

Then again, the Wolverines travel to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes in a few weeks. Somebody has to lose. Guess who they think that will be? And it's probably not a bad call. As good as UM is, it's hard to imagine them knocking off Urban Meyer's bunch in their own back yard. Those guys are most definitely the real deal. We'll see.

Afterthought. OSU was terrific last year, lost 11 players to the NFL draft and is even better this year? That's some kind of program Meyer's put together.

And don't look now, but his initials (UM) are pretty ironic. Um.....

You gotta give it up to the Minnesota Vikings. They lost their starting QB (Teddy Bridgewater) before the season started. Also superstar running back Adrian Petersen and their starting left tackle. Yet they're cruising along at 5-0, the only undefeated team remaining in the league. My friend Scott, who was killed (along with his wife) in a horrible motorcycle accident last year, was a lifelong Vikings fan. Wish he was around to see this....

Not to jinx them or anything, but are the Cleveland Indians ever going to lose a game in this postseason? Even the mighty Cubbies have dropped a couple.