Obviously, this is a football blog and a lot has happened in the last number of weeks, and especially this past weekend. Probably best to start with the NFL playoffs, huh?
Pittsburgh/Cincinnati game: First thing's first, that kind of loss by the Bengals is the kind of loss that sticks with a franchise forever and never goes away. They had the game WON. Up 16-15 with 1:36 to go and all they need is one first down to run out the clock.
And then, Jeremy Hill fumbled and all hell broke loose in the Steelers last drive down the field.
Before I go to the next part of this take, let me just point out that the Steelers are not innocent in this whole ordeal. Outside linebacker coach Joey Porter was on the field during Antonio Brown's injury when he should not have been and was fined $10,000 for it...as he should have been. Rules explicitly state that only attendants, trainers and substitute players can go on the field during injuries. There was also the leading of the helmet by Ryan Shazier on Giovanni Bernard that should have been flagged...but wasn't.
That said, The Vontaze Burfict hit...that was one of the most brutal hits I have seen in football in quite some time. That hit was a lot worse than anything Nate Gerry of the Huskers did in the Foster Farms Bowl (and he still shouldn't have been thrown out...Free Nate Gerry)...I'm surprised Antonio Brown knows where he is, today. Worse yet is the claim by Pacman Jones that Antonio Brown was faking or flopping on the play. Get a clue, Pacman. There is no possible way you can embellish on that sort of hit.
Former Bengals star Boomer Esiason went off on the current group in postgame and had every right to do so. That was a meltdown of massive proportions. Even though only one of the other three games was competitive and the Steelers and Bengals hate each other, that was an embarrassing display by BOTH teams.
Seattle/Vikings...To any Seahawks fans that come across this, you guys live a charmed life. How in the world can one team be on the correct side of so many pivotal outcomes? Fail Mary with the replacement refs in 2012, NFC Championship the very next season where they're up by six and they probably lose if Richard Sherman doesn't bat the ball away in the closing moments, and the NFC Championship the year after that where the Packers completely melted after being up 19-7 and in control. You cannot play a game any better than the Vikings played in those conditions without winning the game.
I guess if you ask Vikings fans though, this is just another day at the office for them. Cowboys beat the Vikings in a playoff game on a Drew Pearson pushoff, Gary Anderson misses his only field goal of an entire SEASON and the 1998 Vikings lose to Atlanta in OT a step from the Super Bowl, the 2010 NFC title game against the Saints, and then this.
As for the Texans...Wow, what an ugly scene. To say I'm embarrassed today as a fan would be an understatement. There is NOTHING good that came out of that game, NOTHING. JJ Watt got hurt in that game and had to have surgery Tuesday, Brian Hoyer morphs into the second coming of Turnover Tommy Armstrong and has the worst game of his life in the biggest game of his life, O'Brien doesn't even make a MOVE to put Weeden in and worst of all, was the red clad Chiefs fans chanting "just like baseball" at the end of the game after all the Texans fans had cleared out.
That of course, refers to last baseball season's Division Series where the now current world champion Royals shattered the hometown Astros' dreams into a million pieces. There were a lot of things that sucked about that game Saturday, but that one might have cut the deepest. You know what, Houston folk, it can actually get worse and here's why.
The Kansas Jayhawks have one of their better basketball teams this year (even by their standards) and will be favored to reach this year's Final Four...in Houston. What's significant about that is a large majority of Jayhawks fans are KC sports fans as well.
If they make it here, get ready to hear about how they own us for three days straight, potentially. Gulp. At least they can't beat us in pro basketball I guess.
Oh and if the Texans don't get a LEGIT QB in the draft or otherwise and come out with the same crap, I'm going to be driving the Fire O'Brien bandwagon from game 1 to game 16 next season. There is NO reason to come out with that garbage again.
As far as Packers/Redskins, the Packers are the hardest team to figure out in the league...even more so than the injury riddled Patriots, where we can't figure out who's in and who's out. Packers are so hot and cold it's absurd. Over the last two months of the season, they looked like anything but world beaters, then they show up in Washington and Rodgers and the Packers look like their old selves again.
Will that hold up in Arizona? The Cardinals better hope not.
Another bit of NFL news, Niners hired Chip Kelly yesterday. I'm honestly surprised Kelly didn't wait for a college job to open up because I feel he is better suited there. Him and Kaepernick should be most interesting...we know Chip Kelly can coach QBs. The talk is he is leaving the personnel decisions in the front office unlike what he did in Philly where he wanted total control.
My predictions for this weekend coming up shortly.
As far as the national championship game, let's get one thing out of the way first: You can hate Nick Saban all you want, heck I personally can't stand him. But he is, 100%, the best coach in the game right now and maybe only Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh are anywhere close.
This was his best coaching job since taking the Bama gig, point blank. They returned TWO offensive starters, TWO. They were a team in flux all season and lost to Ole Miss at home in a turnover filled game. Worse yet, they had to play all the top teams in the SEC: Georgia, Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida for the SEC title. And then had to play the nation's lone undefeated team in the playoff championship game.
Yet here they are, national champs once again, for the 16th time.
As far as the onside kick call, that was genius. It was absolute genius because it was the right call, at the right time. That was a matter of Alabama coaches knowing the significance of what was going on and paying attention to film study before the game. There's a great article on Deadspin talking about what Alabama coaches saw in Clemson's kick formations and how they could use that to their advantage.
It was a great timely call as well because Alabama knew they couldn't stop Clemson and their offense probably couldn't match Clemson score for score. The play stunned Clemson just enough to where Alabama seized control and never let go.
Do they repeat next year? I'm not sure, but I do know this: Nick Saban could probably take guys off the street and make them a top 10 team. As far as threats to the crown, a number of teams could threaten them but Tennessee comes to mind immediately. Tennessee was arguably the second best SEC team after the halfway point and destroyed Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. I'm not hugely crazy about Butch Jones as a coach but he's improved them year by year.
As far as the Huskers, great end to the season in the Foster Farms Bowl. That was a vintage Cornhusker win...75% running the ball. It was really fun to see them make UCLA's defense suck wind in the second half. I felt even better that the Huskers beat Jim Mora Jr. in the process...I'm still not a fan of the confrontation he had with Snyder after the Alamo Bowl. Coaches like Snyder deserve a lot more respect than that. I will say that Josh Rosen is a complete stud and he will be UCLA's best bet for success over the next two seasons (after which I presume he will enter the draft). He has all the trappings of a future #1 overall draft pick.
As far as 2016 goes, 9-3 or better should be the goal. They should win six of those games without even blinking: Wyoming, Fresno State, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana and Maryland should all be wins no question (especially with five of those six at home). If they lose to Oregon, Ohio State and any other game but Iowa but make the championship by beating Iowa, that would be a good season. That said, the defensive line defections are quite troubling.
Everyone else but Michigan is playing for second in the Big 10 in 2016 because Harbaugh and Michigan are going to wreck this conference. Michigan State will drop back to the pack without Cook and Ohio State loses a ton of talent.
Oh and if I haven't said it already, Free Nate Gerry.
Quick NBA take: Psst, don't tell anybody but there are actually TWO teams on pace for 70 wins in the NBA this year, not just the Warriors, but the Spurs as well who remained perfect at home by beating Lebron and Cleveland last night. Not only that, but the two teams have combined to go 42-0 at HOME. The Spurs and Warriors play in Oakland on the 25th of this month and I'm convinced that game might break social media.
From the world of college basketball, it seems that football isn't the only sport the University of Iowa is excelling at these days: their top 15 basketball team just beat Michigan State for the second time in as many weeks. Izzo will probably have MSU ready to play by the time March rolls around, it's who they are, but what an impressive showing by Iowa over the last couple of weeks. They really had ISU beat at Ames too but let that one slip.
As far as predictions for this weekend's NFL action
Chiefs-Pats: Hard to say what will happen with the reports of Patriots injuries, but I'm taking Kansas City in the upset. I'm betting on their defense over Brady, even in the playoffs. I think they get some turnovers off Brady and short fields, so I'll say the Chiefs take this one.
Pack-Cards: Hard game to pick here also since Green Bay is so hot and cold. I will say, the 30 point loss by the Pack to Arizona two weeks ago is probably a rallying cry for that team. I'm going to say the Cards, but with a bit of hesitation depending on what Green Bay team shows up.
Seahawks/Panthers: I admit I had the Panthers winning this round (before losing to Arizona), but then I had them playing the Redskins. Beating Seattle in January is a whole different challenge altogether, and it's a rematch scenario and Wilson has weapons...and it won't be bitter cold outside. I have the Seahawks winning and I won't be surprised if they win big.
Steelers/Broncos: With Brown out and Roethlisberger hurt, you can't set it up any better for Denver. You're asking Landry Jones to go into Denver without Antonio Brown and beat the Broncos and I just don't see that happening. I think Denver wins this fairly comfortably.
Until next time....
