🏈 Bengals Muff-le Cowboys on MNF, Heisman Candidates Announced, NFL Rankings + More!

Good Morning Blitzers,

Did you know basketball is celebrating its 133rd anniversary this month? While teaching at Springfield College, James Naismith invented basketball to entertain students after their football season had ended. So if your favorite NFL or College football teams season is over (or eliminated from the playoffs), start thinking of some new inventions, it worked for James Naismith. Let’s get to Blitzing!

WTF Stat: In his last four games WR Ja’Marr Chase has posted 38 receptions, 602 yard, and 8 TDs!! To put this in perspective, the Patriots wide receivers have amassed 6 total touchdowns all season.

🏈 The Bengals defeated the Cowboys 27-20, thanks to a critical special teams error and a late touchdown pass from Joe Burrow to Ja'Marr Chase. With the game tied and just over two minutes left, the Cowboys botched a blocked punt, which was recovered by the Bengals at the 43-yard line. Three plays later, Burrow connected with Chase (14 receptions, 177 yards, 2 TDs) for a 40-yard touchdown, giving Cincinnati a touchdown lead and ultimately the win.

🏈 The Heisman Trophy finalists for 2024 were announced, featuring:

• Dillon Gabriel: The senior quarterback, transferred from Oklahoma to Oregon, led the unbeaten Ducks to a Big Ten championship and the No. 1 seed. Gabriel has thrown 28 touchdown passes with just six interceptions, and his 187 career touchdown passes are the most in NCAA history.

• Travis Hunter: A standout two-way player, Hunter earned All-Big 12 honors as both a receiver and defensive back. He leads the Big 12 in receptions (92), receiving touchdowns (14), and has made significant defensive contributions, including four interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

• Ashton Jeanty: The junior running back led Boise State to a first-round bye in the playoffs. He has rushed for 2,497 yards (the fourth-highest in FBS history) and led the nation with 192.1 rushing yards per game. He has rushed for over 200 yards in multiple games and shares the national lead with 29 rushing touchdowns.

• Cam Ward: The senior quarterback for Miami leads the nation with 36 passing touchdowns and 4,123 passing yards. He also ranks second in total yards and passing yards per game.

Tuesday’s NFL Power Rankings

This Week’s Theme: Holiday/Christmas Cookies

Tier 1 - Sugar Cookies + Frosting

It’s sugar cookie season. I love a well decorated sugar cookie. Who am I kidding, I don’t care about the decorations, but it is nice to grab one and admire it each time pretending like you’re only picking it up and eating it because you appreciate art. Or the classic move of having to try all the different “flavors” even though the frosting is usually the exactly the same for all of them. Tier 1 teams all have different decorations and each are elite in their own ways. The Bills suffered their third loss of the season, but they are still the top team in the AFC in my mind. Lions keep showing they can win any game. They can win close, they can blowout teams out, they can play well, they can play bad, they can be the best coached team and the worst coached team… and they still find ways to win.

1. Detroit Lions (12-1)

2. Philadelphia Eagles (11-2)

3. Buffalo Bills (10-3)

4. Kansas City Chiefs (12-1)

5. Minnesota Vikings (11-2)

6. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3)

7. Green Bay Packers (9-4)

8. Baltimore Ravens (8-5)

9. Denver Broncos (8-5)

Tier 2 - Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies are versatile. You can go the “healthy” route and throw a little jam in the middle of them, you can add some peanut butter to them, throw a Hershey kiss in the middle, go double chocolate, or get real luxurious and put caramel in the middle. Just endless possibilities and a great Holiday cookie. Marketing wise, not the greatest name. They may want to consider rebranding to “ID Cookies” or “Thumbs Up Cookies” or “Crime Cookies” (sticking with thumbprint theme). Or Jam/Chocolate/Caramel Lake Cookies. Just spit balling here. These Tier 2 teams are very good, but they still haven’t found a consistent identity. Like Thumbprint Cookies they’re looking to rebrand into an elite team and lock up a playoff spot.

10. Washington Commanders (8-5)

11. Seattle Seahawks (8-5)

12. Houston Texans (8-5)

13. Los Angeles Chargers (8-5)

14. Los Angeles Rams (7-6)

15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-6)

Tier 3 - Snickerdoodles

Soft snickerdoodle cookies are incredible. They’re also highly addictive. But like these tier 3 teams their shelf life is very limited. Once they start getting hard or lose that soft chewiness they go bad real quick. You catch these teams on the right day they’re great, problem is we’ve seen the worse version of them most of the season:

16. Miami Dolphins (6-7)

17. San Francisco 49ers (6-7)

18. Arizona Cardinals (6-7)

19. Cincinnati Bengals (5-8)

20. Atlanta Falcons (6-7)

21. Indianapolis Colts (6-7)

Tier 4 Candy Cane Cookies

I don’t really understand why candy canes are still a thing come Christmas time. Is this Big Toothpaste trying to convince us that a big mint cane is somehow a treat? It tastes like brushing your teeth, and when you're done, all you can think about is needing to actually brush your teeth. Jamming candy canes into cookies, is sacrilegious as far as I’m concerned. These teams have a ton of talent (maybe not the Panthers but they’ve shown a lot of fight as of late), but it’s like they have candy cane added to them, ruins everything else.

22. Dallas Cowboys (5-8)

23. New Orleans Saints (5-8)

24. Cleveland Browns (3-10)

25. Carolina Panthers (3-10)

26. New York Jets (3-10)

27. Chicago Bears (4-9)

Tier 5 - Gingerbread Cookies

Get gingerbread cookies all the way out of my face. Gingerbread is meant for building gingerbread houses, or maybe just regular houses too as it does taste like a combination of brick and wood. These teams' seasons are over, and their foundation is that of a gingerbread house, unfortunately without the candies to pull off either.

28. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-10)

29. Tennessee Titans (3-10)

30. Las Vegas Raiders (2-11)

31. New England Patriots (3-10)

32. New York Giants (2-11)

Top NBA Games

Knicks 113, Raptors 108: Karl-Anthony Towns returned from a one-game absence to lead the Knicks to a 113-108 win. Towns recorded 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson contributed 20 points and 11 assists. Towns broke a tie with a layup in the final 36 seconds and sealed the win with a 3-pointer shortly after.

See full NBA scoreboard here, and standings here. (Only 1 game last night)

Top NHL Games

Red Wings 6, Sabres 5: The Red Wings ended a five-game losing streak with a 6-5 shootout win over the Sabres. Andrew Copp scored twice, including a key goal that sparked Buffalo's comeback. The Sabres tied the game at 5-5, but Dylan Larkin scored the decisive shootout goal.

Blackhawks 2, Rangers 1: Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist, and Arvid Soderblom made 29 saves in the Blackhawks win. Tyler Bertuzzi scored the first goal of the game for Chicago, while Will Cuylle responded for the Rangers with a short-handed goal to tie it. The Rangers suffered their eighth loss in 10 games.

Canadiens 3,Ducks 2: The Canadiens defeated the Ducks 3-2 in a shootout. Patrik Laine scored in regulation and netted the shootout winner, while Kirby Dach ended a 20-game goal drought.

See full NHL scoreboard here, and standings here.

On this day in 1935, Philadelphia Athletics sell infielder Jimmie Foxx's contract to Boston Red Sox for $150,000 (about $3.5 million today). Foxx would play 7 years for Boston batting .320 and posting an OPS of 1.034.

Yesterday’s Trivia Time Answer

Which player has the second highest rushing yards in a season with 2,097?

D) Adrian Peterson - In 2012 Peterson finished with 2,097 yards, 12 TDs, 6.0 YPC, and the MVP award.

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's trivia question and more info!