1. If you’re a regular reader, you know I’m not a fan of NFL rules analysts. I don’t think they bring anything to a broadcast and are nothing more than an intrusion. If the rules analysts were there strictly to interpret a rule that viewers might not know or understand, I could see how they could be valuable.

But most of the time, the rules analyst is just there to tell us what we just saw.

Last night was a perfect example of that. Everyone with working eyesight saw Baltimore’s Nnamdi Madubuike beat Joe Burrow’s facemask on a two-point conversion late in regulation. There was absolutely no need for the rules analyst to be brought in. Zero. None.

However, Kirk Herbstreit had to do the “Terry, what do you see here” thing and brought in Amazon rules analyst Terry McAuley.

HE SAW THE SAME THING WE ALL SAW! Every person watching the game knew that Madubuike should have awarded a 15 meter penalty. I don’t understand why we had to hear from McAuley there.

McAuley had no choice but to say the refs blew, but he did say it.

“That looks like heavy contact with the quarterback’s boss.”

Not. It doesn’t “look like” forced contact. It was a strong contact. There was literally no doubt.

I just want someone to explain to me what McAuley brought to the table here. “Tell me one thing,” he added.

Thank goodness Al Michaels was there to unload on the refs after McAuley’s pointless appearance.

“Too many games end like this,” Michaels said. “I just do. You miss calls. Everything. So frustrating for the fans. So frustrating.”

2. We had a financial interest in last Saturday’s Oregon-Michigan game where we needed the Ducks to cover a 14.5 point spread.

With the game in hand at 31–17 with 25 seconds left, Oregon decided not to run out the clock and scored a touchdown for a 38–17 victory, which allowed me to cash my ticket. Oregon coach Dan Lanning even called a timeout on second-and-goal with 1:11 left in the game instead of just running out the clock.

When this happened, I immediately thought of my interview with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum last month on SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcasts. During the conversation, I asked Finebaum if college football coaches cover spreads for boosters.

“Yes,” he said. “Every coach knows the spread and every coach tells you they don’t, but they know it because they use it as motivation. Everyone knows what the number is. This is the fastest way a trainer can have problems with their boosters is to lose the spread. Yes, you have to win games, but if you even cover, they’re not as upset as when you don’t because most fans like to bet on their own team.”

It turns out the unnecessary timeout Lanning called wasn’t about setting up an offensive play. Instead, Lanning called timeout so he could call his Oregon players and huddle as they watched the Michigan fans exit The Big House.

“Be ready to get everybody on me,” Lanning said into the headset as he called timeout. “I’m going to call timeout and we’re going to remind them.”

What Lanning wanted to remind his Ducks players was what he told them a few days earlier. During a team meeting, Lanning played a video of a speech former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski gave to his players:

“When you’re on the road, one of the best feelings is to silence the crowd. And by the way, your fans leave at the three minute mark. Remember those time-outs where you said, “What do you want coach?” I just wanted you to look in the stands. These (blank spaces) are going.”

After Lanning played the Krzyzewski clip, he told his Ducks players, “I want you guys to know, in this game, I’m going to come at you at some point. I’ll ask you to take a look. I’m going to ask you to look around. I want to see them leave that place because we did our job.”

Very cool move by Lanning. Even better that it covered the spread.

3. This was well done last night by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who generated tons of headlines last week after allegedly using an illegal streaming service to watch. Thursday night football on Amazon.

4. This is a very well done ad paying homage to various classic Christmas movies for Dick’s Sporting Goods and starring the Watt Brothers.

5. If you’re a WWE fan, you have to watch this clip of Cody Rhodes eating British food and snacks and comparing them to what we have in America.

6. A brand new one SI Media With Jimmy Traina The podcast went live on Thursday, and this week’s guest is SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

Radio Hall of Famer gives us the full story behind MLB Network canceling his daily show, High heatand what his future is with MLB Network.

Russo also shares his thoughts on Pat McAfee turning down interviews with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the Yankees hurting Fox and MLB with their five-game loss, Major League Baseball’s current health as a sport, the premiership program -time of the NFL, regardless of whether he really took a gum before doing a recent episode of First takeand his thoughts on becoming known for being the guy who loves gummies.

WFAN’s Sal Licata, who normally joins me every week for our Traina Thoughts segment on the podcast, co-hosted this episode, which led to the start of the show with Russo calling Sal out for owing him money from betting losses.

You can listen SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 58th birthday to one of my favorite TV personalities, Gordon Ramsay.

Make sure catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts and check Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy X and Instagram.