Although Shannon Eastin became the first woman to call a regular season game in 2012, Thomas will make history by becoming the first woman to officiate for a full season after being hired by the league on April 8. MORE: Deflategate game ball sells big | Top 25 NFL quarterbacks “I approach it just as an official, and I’ve been doing this,” Thomas told ESPN. “I know it may be [a novelty] for some, but I think being part of the developmental program and going that way — maybe they’ll see me just as an official....

MORE: Updated NFL playoff picture for Week 12 But there’s still plenty of football left to be played, with no teams on a bye this week. The highlight of the early afternoon slate will be an AFC divisional round rematch with the Bengals returning to Nashville to face the Titans as the two playoff hopefuls look to continue to set themselves up well for the second half of the season....

Sunday’s schedule begins with a pair of 3-1 teams meeting in London as the Giants take on the Packers at 9:30 a.m. ET. It will be Green Bay’s first time participating in the NFL’s International Series and the first London matchup featuring two teams with winning records. The early-afternoon slate on Sunday has a few intriguing matchups, including an AFC East clash between the Dolphins and Jets at 1 p....

Five of the eight divisions in 2017 were won by a team that finished in third or fourth place in the division the previous season. Since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990, at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the year before. With that promise as the backdrop, the harsh reality is the fact that half the league will exit Week 1 with a shot of disappointment....

MORE: NFL Week 4 scoreboard | Must-see photos | Video | Football in London NFL SCORES -- WEEK 4 MNF: Miami Dolphins at New Orleans Saints, 8:40 p.m. Preview | Video After getting the best of Andrew Luck and Matt Ryan the past two weeks, Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins are cautiously optimistic about their next -- and perhaps most difficult -- test of the early season against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints....

Buccaneers: UNDER 5.5 (+125) Regression to the mean is something we hear quite a bit about in wagering circles. The concept is simply explained as any statistic will tend to move toward the middle of the sample over the course of time. Of course, the theory is hard to dispute, but the key aspect people overlook is statistics tend to move to the mean. They sure as heck don’t always perform that way....

The league, which previously aggressively marketed fantasy football games to kids on its NFL Rush Fantasy website and app during the 2015-2016 season, agreed to the move after the groups — the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the National Council on Problem Gambling — sent letters (here and here) in February citing evidence that children who play fantasy sports for valuable prizes experienced a greater incidence of gambling-related problems later....

Clearly, the Saints are still stinging from that no-call against the Rams in the NFC championship. But also, the Buccaneers lacked discipline, the Panthers imploded in the middle of the season and the Falcons’ litany of injuries caused them to finish the season as average as a dry toast. However, it’s a new season and NFC South teams have the talent to get far in the playoffs. Drew Brees looks as healthy as ever at 40 and has a steady offense under him in New Orleans, while the Bucs have a new coach in Bruce Arians to freshen things up....

The average TV audience for NFL game telecasts fell to 15,026,000 through Week 6, according to Nielsen data. That’s down 8.2 percent from 16,252,000 vs. the comparable period last year. It’s also down a whopping 18.7 percent from 18,485,000 for the same period in 2015. As the league nears the midway point of what has been a turbulent 2017 season, warning signs are building up for the NFL and TV partners Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN....

The New England Patriots’ road loss to the Houston Texans saw them drop to 10-2, the same record of the Baltimore Ravens, which secured an eighth consecutive win as they defeated the San Francisco 49ers and are now in pole position to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. In miserable weather conditions, Baltimore became only the second team this season to beat the 49ers, as Justin Tucker kicked a 49-yard field goal as time expired to give the Ravens a 20-17 win....

Two playoffs spots remain up for grabs, one in each conference, after the penultimate week of the regular season delivered a series of surprise results that reshuffled the deck in the playoff race. The San Francisco 49ers regained control of the NFC West and of the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 34-31 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night, a result which eliminated the defending NFC champions from playoff contention....

As always, I used BetQL’s features to inform my bets. Here are my favorite picks of the week. Week 1 DFS Lineups:FD Cash | DK Cash | FD GPP | DK GPP | Y! GPP | Y! Cash NFL Week 1 Betting Picks: Spread pick of the week All data presented is as of Thursday evening. Ravens (-6.5) @ Dolphins The Ravens opened as 3.5-point road favorites, but after the Dolphins traded away their best players in a shocking and overt display of tanking, Baltimore’s line moved to -6....

“Danger!” are my overvalued players for this week and “Sleepers” of course are the more undervalued options in the Week 13 rankings, which you can peruse just below. SN WEEK 13 FANTASY RANKINGS: QB | RB | WR | TE | DEF | K Danger! QB Andrew Luck, Colts (Ranked No. 1 at position) vs. Redskins: Start Luck if you own him, but as the most expensive player at DraftKings he’s too rich for my blood this week....

Before we get into the Week 4 forecasts, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that if you have any questions about sports weather or how weather could impact play (and, potentially, your fantasy, DFS, and gambling decisions), don’t hesitate to reach out to Rotogrinders’ meteorologist Kevin Roth on Twitter (@KevinRothWx) or check out the hourly NFL weather forecasts on RotoGrinders. To take your game to the next level, subscribe to RotoGrinder’s exclusive WeatherEdge tool and see how different weather conditions have impacted historical scoring....

Green Bay (3-2) will try to avoid consecutive home losses for just the third time in 10 years when it hosts the Bears on Thursday (8:25 p.m. ET, CBS, NFL Network, Twitter). FANTASY RANKINGS: RB | WR | QB | TE | DST But the Bears (1-5) were one of the teams to beat the Packers in each of Green Bay’s two previous home skids. Chicago was a 17-13 winner at Lambeau last Thanksgiving and own a 93-91-6 advantage in the NFL’s oldest rivalry....

The league announced Tuesday at its fall meetings that it was expanding its international series. It will be the most games the league has played abroad in one year. This season, Minnesota beat Pittsburgh 34-27 in September, and Jacksonville will host San Francisco on Oct. 27 as part of it a four-year commitment to move a home game to Wembley. Dates and opponents for the games will be announced when the schedule is compiled next year....

The Panthers, for one, have looked to trade the pick. Whether or not they manage, there are a handful of players who could go first overall. Sporting News will have a running diary of the picks (and whatever else goes down) from the Wells Fargo Center floor. Things got started off about as well as they could, by the way. Philadelphia is the best . Panthers: Aaron Ekblad, D, Barrie (OHL) GM Dale Tallon tried to move the pick and didn’t....

New York did not disclose the terms of their deal with the 24-year-old Buchnevich, but CapFriendly reports it is for two years and an average annual value (AAV) of $3.25 million. Buchnevich tallied 38 points in his third season with the Rangers, including a career-high 21 goals, in 2018-19. He also had a career-best seven-game point streak from March 16-31. He finished with 43 points (14-29-43) in the 2017-18 season....

Police say Richards found in possession of the prescription painkiller Oxycodone on June 17 at Emerson port of entry in Manitoba. MORE: Worst crimes committed by athletes | Graphic guide to NHL offseason Richards was expected to make his first appearance in court Thursday, but instead attorney Hymie Weinstein appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom on his behalf. Richards, 30, is currently a free agent. Once a top-six forward, Richards had just 16 points in 53 games with the Kings last season and spent part of the season with the team’s AHL affiliate after going unclaimed on waivers....

We are halfway through the NHL regular season. As Jon Bon Jovi would say, some teams are living on a prayer while others are heading into 2018 feeling quite content with their position. Others (looking at you, Buffalo) can’t wait for the season to end — mercifully — as their first 40-some games have been nightmarish. THE OLYMPIAN: Greenway breaks 98-year-old USA Hockey color barrier Normally, we use this space on Mondays to look at the major storylines around the NHL....