No one could fathom re-signing Pagano and Grigson but it happened. No one thought Pagano could possibly be back once Grigson was fired but he's still on the sidelines. I will of course be pissed if we do keep him, but I won't be shocked.

And it's well understood that if Sagan, Harbaugh, or Gruden had been open to Jimmys back channels overtures Pags would have been out on his ass. The difference between those years and this year is that Irsay has bought into the notion that this is a longer term fix which will require patience. He's already shown that by bringing Ballard in.

God, I hope you're right.

The problem that Kravitz has reported is that Irsay is so unpredictable and so given to emotion that I (and I think I speak for several here) am terrified that he might let Pagano again snake oil salesmen him into believing that this year was all about injuries and that we had improvement in some areas and that Pagano is the right guy.

Because of that, none of us are willing to rest easy on this issue until Pagano is officially fired.

I hear ya and trust me I can't even listen to video of Pags anymore cause it makes my blood boil that he's still here after causing such destruction to the team I love.....but I have faith and if I'm wrong I will be the first on this board to admit the error in my judgement but at this moment I have zero doubt. As for Kravitz I think at this stage in his career he loves that he has become part of every story he covers so I just don't trust his reporting anymore.

We're gonna lose at least 11 games this year. You can bring a guy back after 8-8, even two years in a row. But you can't bring that same guy back if he follows those up with 5-11 or worse.

There's no way Clappy comes back.

If he does, I'll finally agree that Irsay is actually the problem.

Sadly, our schedule gets REALLY soft from here on out...

vs Tennessee. They just struggled like hell to beat the Bengals yesterday and they're coming off their Bye. And let's be honest, that game was closer than the 14 point margin indicates. And that was in Tennessee.

@ Jacksonville. Okay, that's a loss. Granted, Jacksonville did need to go to overtime to knock off the Chargers yesterday, but I'll concede we're not going into Jacksonville and win.

@ Buffalo. They remembered they're the Bills and they seem to be in the middle of their usual late season free fall. Again, we're probably not going into hostile territory in the elements and winning, but the Bills just got blown off their own field yesterday, so I'm not sure they're in any position to say they're guaranteed any wins, either.

vs. Broncos. Thursday Night Football, so everything is weird. The Broncos look like a team where they're demoralized after getting smoked by Philly/New England. Granted, our morale isn't great either, but this Broncos team, again, isn't a lock to beat anyone.

@ Baltimore. Probably a loss, though the Ravens are also capable of playing down to their competition.

vs. Houston. We just beat them in their own house. I would guess we'll sadly manage a win here. God, I hope another meaningless Week 17 win isn't enough for Pagano to save his job. Again.

Way, way too many potential wins there. 11 losses might be too much. 6-10 or 7-9 would be my guess.

So, we'll go 8-8 again. Sigh.

Not a chance

The only reason I was hoping for the Colts to get mudholed was that Irsay might do the right thing and fire him.

Oh Pagano and company will find a way to lead in about 5 of these games and once again blow it in the 4th quarter.