Happy Friday, friend! If I seem a little groggy this morning it's because I was one of those annoying people on your timeline late last night who stayed up Dylan Cozens Men Jersey to listen to the new Taylor Swift album. (Quick review after one listen: Evermore is fine-to-good ... it's slow out of the gate but finishes strong on the back half. The top three standout songs for me are "Ivy," "No Body, No Crime" and "Gold Rush." Overall, though, I think I'm going to prefer Folklore over this one.)I know you probably didn't come here for my music takes -- if you did, you can as I continue listening to new Taylor, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves and Kid Cudi over the weekend -- so we should probably stick to sports, huh? Luckily, we've got a Thursday Night Football game to go over and a weekend to preview, so let's jump right in. What you need to know1. dominate on Thursday Night FootballFor a while there it looked like the Patriots might be putting together a late-season run that sneaks them into the 's playoff picture. They had won four of their last five heading into last night's game against the Rams, and really needed to keep that run going if they were to hold onto hope for the postseason.Unfortunately for Patriots fans like myself, things are bleak this morning. That's because the Rams were dominant on Thursday Night Football, beating the Pats by a score of 24-3. The win for Los Angeles gives them sole po se sion of first place in the NFC ... for now. The lo s puts New England back below .500 and snaps their run of consecutive 10-win seasons at 17, all but squashing any playoff dreams. Let's get to :Why the Rams won: The Rams were dominant when it came to po se sing the ball. had a career night rushing the football, as the rookie carried 29 times for 171 yards. Los Angeles' defense also did a great job of containing the Patriots' weak offensive attack.Why the Patriots lost: New England's play calling was predictable and their execution was poor. couldn't move the ball through the air and was ultimately replaced by . The Patriots only had 211 yards, averaged 3.9 yards per play and went 0-for-4 in the red zone.There were a couple of ma sive backbreakers in this game for the Patriots. The first was a Newton pick-six Matt Tennyson Women Jersey in the second quarter that wasted tremendous field position after a interception and made the score 17-0. The second was an imposing 16-play, 10-plus minute drive from the Rams' offense in the second half. Los Angeles seemed in control the entire time, especially on defense.I knew the Patriots weren't going to be all that good this year but, I gotta say, this offense is still managing to drive me insane. Cam has continued to struggle through the air and it's clear that the coaching staff doesn't really trust him throwing the ball, and defenses know that by now. Watching this team try to put the ball in the end zone by relentle sly pounding the ball up the middle when the other side knows it's coming? Not a whole lot of fun, it turns out.But I know LOTS of NFL fans will be thrilled with a Patriots-free playoffs this year, so congratulations to all you haters Colin Miller Men Jersey out there. 2. The grueling road to the 2020 Army-Navy game Though we won't have Michigan-Ohio State this weekend, we will have plenty of other rivalry games in -- including the annual Army-Navy game. Of course, this year's game will look a little different due to the pandemic -- instead of being played in a packed NFL stadium, the game will be held at West Point for the first time since 1943 and will have a limited amount of spectators in attendance.Even with minimized fanfare, the game is still a big deal this year. There's pride and bragging rights on the line for the two branches of the military but, more importantly, the young men involved have endured a lot to get to this point, and this game means a whole lot to them. The COVID-19 prevention measures have been tough on all of us, including college athletes around the country, but our Dennis Dodd penned an outstanding column this week as they've battled isolation, depre sion and anxiety over the last several months:Dodd: For Navy, it's also been a particularly challenging season considering offensive lineman David Forney died in February due to cardiac arrest. Forney will be honored on Saturday and there's no doubt the are going to be feeling his absence a little extra. With the extra challenging road that led to Saturday's kickoff, it feels like the stakes in this game might be higher than ever. Whichever team wins will have the opportunity to look back on the season and feel like it was worth it, while the losing team will likely have a sour taste in its mouth for a long, long time. Either way, even getting to this point is proof that these young men are capable of handling and navigating expected adversity.3. NFL Week 14 picks Oh, Pete Prisco ... oh no. I swear I'm not rooting against Pete's weekly but he hasn't made it easy to gas him up over the past few weeks. After going 4-11-1 in Week 12, Pete followed that up with a tough 6-9 (not nice) record in Week 13 and now he comes into this week with an overall record of 90-98-3 against the spread. Woof!Of course, every new week brings a clean slate and I'm compelling Pete to channel his inner quarterback and approach this week with a short memory. He's got a great chance to bounce back and stop the skid in Week Kyle Okposo Women Jersey 14 -- and he already hit his Rams pick -- so : (+2) keep rolling against struggling : The Giants' defense has been outstanding and they'll have a chance to feast on an offense Chad Johnson Women Jersey that is struggling and has lost three straight. With likely back in the mix, Prisco is riding with the G-Men. The pick: Giants 24, Cardinals 20 (-2.5) secure big win against : In a game that could have major playoff implications, Prisco likes Indy. Las Vegas almost lost to the (the Jets!) last week and the Colts defense is capable of limiting Co. The pick: Colts 27, Raiders 23 (-2.5) drop second straight in : 's perfect season is gone and now they head into Buffalo after a short week. The ' defense can potentially give the Steelers problems, and is feeling himself right now. Prisco says the Steelers lose again. The pick: Bills 27, Steelers 23We've got a pretty good batch of games this weekend and now it's really getting to be make-or-break for a lot of teams on the playoff bubble, so Sunday should be fun. You can find the rest of Prisco's picks right . I'm praying I can be nicer to you next week, Pete. 4. Winners and losers from a slow Winter Meetings Hey, so the 2020 Winter Meetings have come to a close and, uh, if you forgot they were happening this week then I can't say I blame you. There was way le s hoopla around the event this year due to it being fully virtual because of the pandemic and, as it turns out, there wasn't much