"First of all, it never should have been offsetting penalties, in my opinion," Harbaugh said. "All in all, there's a lot of things going on in that stretch. The other one was the entire Packers bench cleared, practice squad players, coaches.Throughout the league, the number of empty seats is worse than the four blackouts indicate. This week alone, the Rams needed a 24hour extension from the league which normally imposes a blackout if a game isn't sold out 72 hours before kickoff to fill the Edward Jones Dome for Sunday's matchup with the Washington Redskins. The Jaguars, meanwhile, avoided a blackout for their home game against the Philadelphia Eagles despite roughly 7,000 unsold tickets from the Eagles' allotment.

THEY say that a week or two is a long time in politics, but I can assure you that is just as long in football. Two weeks ago, Manchester United would have fancied themselves to capture the Champions League and the Premiership title.I said that i