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It was a quiet week across Notre Dame sports, but the rest of the sports world still gave us something to talk about.

First off, I just want to say I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. I hope you had a great time with your family and Santa brought everything you asked for.

Due to the holiday it was a quiet week across the Notre Dame sports spectrum, but luckily there was plenty of action in the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB to talk about. Now let’s get down to business and I’ll give you my thoughts on the week that was.

Kudos to Notre Dame on the Matt and Bo Farrell story

I had the opportunity to be at the game last Monday night and without a doubt Bo Farrell surprising his brother and Irish point guard Matt was the best part of the game. Notre Dame kind of slept walked it’s way through the game, so there really wasn’t any particular play or sequence to get worked up about. But Notre Dame setting this whole thing up is one of the best things they’ve done in quite some time. It will definitely give me, and many other fans, a reason to remember a mid-December game against Colgate.

Is there any team out there that we’d like to see Kizer go to?

Former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer is expected to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in April’s NFL Draft. The problem with that is he is most likely going to end up on a crummy team. Think of the teams that will be drafting high. Look at their current situation and also their history with quarterbacks. It is not a good picture.

First, look at the Cleveland Browns. Oh geez, I would hate to see Kizer go here. Not only are the Browns a terrible team with almost no future, they also have a putrid history with quarterbacks. Next please.

Next look at the Chicago Bears. Chicago has a little to look forward to. They have some nice offensive pieces with Jordan Howard, Alshon Jeffery, and Cameron Meredith, so Kizer would have a little bit to work if he wound up in Chicago. That being said, much like Cleveland, the Bears have also had a tough time developing quarterbacks.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Jets will also have a hole to fill at their quarterback position. Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte, and Darrelle Revis are only getting older and appear to be on the downside of their careers. The Jets don’t seem to have too much to be enthusiastic about going forward.

The San Francisco 49ers should move on from Colin Kaepernick, so maybe they would be willing to take a chance on Kizer. Chip Kelly’s offense wouldn’t be too much different than the one Kizer ran at Notre Dame. The problem with that would be Kizer would have arguably better weapons around him if he stayed at ND.

What I believe is the ideal scenario for Kizer would be for him to get drafted by a team with an already established, but older starter and sit behind him for a few years. Kind of what Aaron Rodgers did and what Jimmy Garoppolo is doing right now. This would give Kizer a few years to develop and learn. A team like the New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs or San Diego Chargers would all be ideal spots for Kizer.

Are the Cleveland Indians the team to beat in the AL now?

Last Thursday the Cleveland Indians struck a deal with masher Edwin Encarnacion. Over the last five seasons Encarnacion has been one of the best power hitters in baseball and will only bolster what was already a potent lineup. With all due respect to the Boston Red Sox, the Tribe very well could be the team to beat in the AL now.

When you think about it, this past season Cleveland went to the 10th inning of game seven of the World Series without their second and third best starters (Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar), as well as one of their best hitters (Michael Brantley). Everyone is coming back next season and add Encarnacion to that mix, I like the Tribe again in 2017.

Do the Patriots now have a cakewalk to Houston?

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The AFC playoff picture is set after this past weekend. The New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Miami Dolphins will all represent the AFC this postseason. The Pats were already the team to beat out of this group, but after some significant injuries and poor play over the last few weeks New England has become even more of a lock.

Raiders’ QB Derek Carr broke his fibula in a win over the Colts and will miss the rest of the season. The Raiders were a team many thought could challenge the Pats in the playoffs, but now with Matt McGloin starting in Carr’s place the Raiders might not get out of the divisional round.

The Dolphins starter, Ryan Tannehill, injured his MCL and ACL in Week 14 against the Arizona Cardinals and is now a huge question mark for the postseason.

The Texans spent $75 million on Brock Osweiler last offseason, but he was benched in favor of Tom Savage in Week 15 due to poor play.

Then you have the Steelers and Chiefs. Ben Roeslisberger is definitely capable of pulling an upset of the Pats, but do you really see Alex Smith going into Foxboro and beating Tom Brady and Co.? Yea...me neither.

If I was a betting man I’d put some money on the Patriots to get to Houston.

How about that touchdown play in the Chiefs/Broncos game?

The Chiefs put an exclamation point on dominating win over the Denver Broncos last night with one of the best plays you’ll see all season. The Chiefs had the ball inside Denver’s five-yard line and 346 lb. defensive tackle Dontari Poe lined up at quarterback. Poe faked like he was going to run it in himself, but at the last second did the Tebow jump throw and hit tight end Demetrius Harris for the touchdown. You’d never notice it in the trenches, but the big man Poe has some serious athletic ability.

That’s all for this week’s edition of my Monday thoughts. Feel free to give us your thoughts in the comment section below. Hope you have a nice week and Go Irish!

So... I thought Notre Dame had the best offensive line in college football?

The offensive line for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was touted as the BEST offensive line in college football back in July. We (and by “we” I mean every single Notre Dame fan) ate this up and pointed to the impressive offensive line recruiting hauls under Harry Hiestand and the NFL draft results of Ronnie Stanley, Nick Martin, and Zack Martin.

Somehow, Harry Hiestand, would be able to have this unit plowing fields for the proletariat, and Notre Dame wouldn’t miss the three starters from last year. Did you forget? Not only did Notre Dame lose Nick Martin and Ronnie Stanley to the NFL draft, they lost a would be senior that had started since his freshman year in Steve Elmer.

Notre Dame loses three starters on the offensive line and somehow they are better than teams like Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, and the rest of the college football elite.

Man we’re so damn naive. Take a look at last years rushing totals:

via ESPN.com

A few things stick out to me.

• The longest rush by two players is over 90 yards.
• 7.1 and 6.6 yard per rush average for Adams and Prosise.
• Your top 3 leading rushers are the QB and two RB’s.
• Looks fairly productive.

Now here are Notre Dame’s rushing statistics this year:

via ESPN.com

Now, there are four less games with these stats, but I think there are things that are pretty telling.

• DeShone Kizer is on pace to be somewhere around his totals from last year.
• Josh Adams needs over 250 yards in his next 3 (or 4 lol) games to best his 2015 total with a ton more carries.
• Folston is the 2nd leading rusher as a running back with just 215 yards.

What in Sam hell is happening here? I though this line was awesome sauce? Last year the top two running backs had 290 carries between them. This year, Notre Dame would need 121 carries in their final games to match that.

Notre Dame isn’t even trying to run the ball with their running backs, and when they do, it really isn’t that great either. Maybe there is a correlation here between trusting your running game or just using it as a placeholder for the next pass?

Last year, Notre Dame was 8-1 after 9 games and this year they are 3-6 after 9 games- and last years schedule was twice as hard as this years (probably harder).

Yes, Notre Dame’s defense was awful in the first half of the season, but their defense wasn’t all that good last year. The difference really is in how many times they run the ball and the people they are doing it with. The offensive line is a HUGE problem, and rests squarely at the feet of Kelly and Hiestand.

I got nothing else here for you. This is a “this crap sucks ass” post and I’ll just leave it at that.

Your pipes:

If you can stop gawping at Alaska's gorgeous scenery long enough, you can witness drone footage of a whole lot of salmon migrating upstream from Lake Iliamna¹ to spawn. (via digg)

1. Lake Iliamna is home to the supposed Iliamna Lake Monster, a beast "10-30 feet in length with a square-like head that is used to place blunt force unto things such as small boats". Where's the drone footage of that?!↩

Tags: Alaska   video