Well, it’s been a while, my friends. Good afternoon
to you, wherever you may be. Here we are again, at Championship Sunday of the
NFL season. Hard to believe it’s gone by this fast.
Three games left of football this year. That’s all.
And no, I don’t count the knock down, drag out game that is the Pro Bowl. If I
never saw that game again, it would be too soon.
So then, let’s talk about the two championship
games.
First, let’s get into the game coming up in just
minutes. Green Bay at Atlanta. The red hot Aaron Rodgers vs Matt Ryan, who has
had a spectacular, MVP caliber season.
To begin with, I never bought the crap that the
Green Bay wide receivers who have been banged up (namely, Geronimo Allison,
Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams) were going to sit this game out. No way. This
is two games from a possible Super Bowl championship. If you can walk, you’re
going to play. That’s the bottom line.
They may not be 100 percent, but rest is for next
year. At this point, with a trip to Houston on the line, you give it what you
have.
They’ve still got a tough go of it though, because
Atlanta’s offense is going to score and it’s going to score a lot. An MVP
caliber quarterback. Weapons all over the field. Two very good running backs.
If you like defensive football, this isn’t the game
for you. Go find something else to do if that’s the case would be my
advisement. Quite frankly, that applies to both games, and I’ll get into the
second game in just a moment.
I’m looking around and I don’t see how both teams
are kept out of the 30s eventually. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both teams
break 40. That’s how dominant the offenses I think are going to be in this
game.
Atlanta will score and score at will, there’s no
question. But then on the other side, you have Rodgers who is doing things that
some of us have never seen before. Right now, the level he’s playing at is on
the level of the all-time greats: Brady, Montana, Elway, Staubach, etc.
I’m thinking that even if the Packers receivers were
out, that Aaron Rodgers is the only QB I know of that can spin straw into gold.
Or green and gold.
I think in the end it’s going to be decided by a
field goal, a three point game. It’s going to be a 38-35, 45-42 type game. It
could very well be that the last team with the ball is going to win the game.
One last thing about this game: No matter what
happens to the Packers in this game, or the Super Bowl if they get there, you
can just engrave their name on the NFC North title for 2017-2018 right now and
put them in the playoffs. Go ahead and do it.
The Vikings epically collapsed this year and may
very well lose Adrian Peterson, the Bears suck, and the Lions were a total
fraud. They got to the playoffs and Stafford had a good year but they didn’t
beat anyone that’s any good. As long as Green Bay has Rodgers, the North is
their territory for the foreseeable future.
Now to the second game: The Steelers and the
Patriots. A rivalry that honestly, if we’re looking at results, really isn’t
that much of a rivalry.
It really isn’t that much of a rivalry if we’re
being honest because the Steelers more often than not, lose to the Patriots in
the playoffs, in fact they’ve lost to them twice in conference championship
games in the last 15 some-odd years.
And I really don’t think that’s going to change
today either.
Let’s put aside Antonio Brown’s Facebook live antics
for just a moment. I’ll get to that in a second.
The worst thing that could have happened to the
Steelers was that the Patriots won ugly against Houston, which they did. Brady
threw two interceptions. He got hit a lot. He didn’t play very well and neither
did his offense.
Yet, they won the game 34-16 and in the process left
Belichick ways to keep his team in top form, fix their mistakes and be on point
for tonight’s game.
In layman’s terms? I think the Patriots will be at
the top of their game tonight. And I don’t think Pittsburgh’s best beats New
England’s best. Especially not in Patriotville.
The other factor to look at is that this isn’t a
typical championship caliber Steeler defense. Defense has always been the
Steelers identity. This year’s unit has a couple of big names (James Harrison,
Laurence Timmons, Ryan Shazier namely) but they just lack the consistency.
And their offense is good (especially
Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown), but it’s going to have to be a lot better than
it was last Sunday in Kansas City for there to be a Steeler upset. Namely, they’re
going to have to score touchdowns not field goals tonight. Field goals aren’t
gonna cut it tonight because the Patriots will score
And they’re going to score a lot.
On Antonio Brown’s Facebook live deal, I’m glad I
waited until I found out that Brown has a marketing deal with Facebook before I
posted this. In fact, for those who don’t know, it’s a six figure deal. A very
lucrative deal, which explains his actions Sunday in Kansas City where he
Facebook lived the Pittsburgh celebration. A celebration in which Steeler coach
Mike Tomlin called the Patriots “a-holes.”
That didn’t help either by the way. Brady and the
Patriots are already mad at the world because of Deflategate, and they don’t
need any more motivation. I get why Brown did what he did, he’s got deals, but
he did it on Steeler time and in the week of the biggest game of the year.
You better step up, Mr. Brown. You better step up
big-time or you’ll have to hear it all offseason.
The Steelers will score but it won’t be enough. My
forecast envisions Patriots 42-28.
Now to a couple of other items. First, I want to
back-track and talk about the national title game between Alabama and Clemson.
Alabama fans who read this, whatever you do, don’t
blame the refs for losing. You got beat by a better team on that night. In
fact, you had the refs in your pocket at times in that game.
Reuben Foster should have been kicked out for
targeting in the first quarter of that game, and on two occasions where Clemson
was trying to go hurry-up offense, officials stopped the game for a needless review
which helped Alabama.
Bottom line is, Clemson, and particularly Watson,
outplayed Alabama that night and deserved to win. I don’t think Clemson is the
greatest national champ I’ve ever seen, but when it mattered they beat everyone
in front of them.
Last thing, a story that just came in today from
baseball: Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura, with one of the best arms
in baseball, sadly, lost his life in a car accident this morning. He was 25.
It’s a reminder to all of us that life is very
short. Live every day like it’s your last because you never know when it’s
going to be your time.
Enjoy your NFL championship Sunday, wherever you may
be. Only minutes away now.
Until next time…..
