The NFL playoffs kicked off this weekend. This is usually the best part of the dog days of winter and the only thing to look for post holidays. This year's wild card matchups however were the most under-whelming I could think of in years. In a QB driven league, the AFC side of the bracket featured 3 backups or backup of backups. Yes, I count Brock Osweiler as a backup of his own backup! Derek Carr could have been a refreshing breath of fresh air in this year's playoffs, but his injury took all the intrigue out of the upstart Raiders. I like Connor Cook, but it was not fair to expect a rookie QB to win a playoff game on the road in his first ever NFL start.
The Raiders at Texans game got the earlier start time on Saturday and those teams are even lucky it was on live TV! The best part of this matchup was the post-game interview on ESPN when Houston's Jadeveon Clowney showed up and physically dwarfed the ex-players on the set including Randy Moss, who is no chopped liver himself at 6' 4". It's just amazing to see how big and strong pro athletes actually are. Houston did win as expected with Brock looking better than usual. Not sure if we should credit the Raiders D for that, but Brock will remain the starter next weekend at New England. He sure earned it Saturday, but I don't see it happening again for him or the Texans against the Patriots.
Neither the Saturday night matchup between the Lions and the Seahawks nor the early Sunday game between the Dolphins and the Steelers were any better in terms of excitement or intrigue going in. None of these 3 games surprised us as they all stayed true to expectation. The Lions pretended like they were close, but didn't do anything to take advantage of Seattle's weaknesses or the opportunities presented. The best part of the Pittsburgh game was as usual watching Le'Veon Bell, the slowest fast runner in the NFL. This guy's patience and how long he waits behind the line of scrimmage for holes to open up before hitting them at full speed is a sight to behold. I have never seem anything like that. His style is unique.
The best game of the weekend was as expected the Giants at Packers. The final score was a 38-13 blowout, but the game was real close well into the third quarter and the QB play in the form of Aaron Rodgers was well worth the price of admission. A-Rod was on fire starting with that Hail Mary at the end of the first half. The Packers D shut out Odell Beckham Jr. and now he has got all off season to shoot shirtless selfies on party boats in Miami. What a circus that Miami story was and these tools doubled down with a shirtless workout in the frozen tundra before the game. I don't know what these guys were thinking. But then again, they are not paid to think and are not the sharpest tool in the shed. OBJ is a piece of work and he needs to cleanup his act.
Thus ended the wild card weekend, which was more mild than wild making these playoffs more of a layoff so far before the real contests kickoff next weekend. The Patriots get another bye week with the Texans coming to town, but the other 3 games should be decent. In the meantime, we got the college football championship game tomorrow. This one should be a doozy as Clemson and Alabama hookup for the second year in a row. That rarely happens in College football and I expect it to be better than even last year when Alabama won 45-40. Vegas thinks Alabama will win easily, but I expect Deshaun Watson to step up and make it hard for Alabama. I am hoping and expecting a close, injury-free contest to cap off a good college season.
The Raiders at Texans game got the earlier start time on Saturday and those teams are even lucky it was on live TV! The best part of this matchup was the post-game interview on ESPN when Houston's Jadeveon Clowney showed up and physically dwarfed the ex-players on the set including Randy Moss, who is no chopped liver himself at 6' 4". It's just amazing to see how big and strong pro athletes actually are. Houston did win as expected with Brock looking better than usual. Not sure if we should credit the Raiders D for that, but Brock will remain the starter next weekend at New England. He sure earned it Saturday, but I don't see it happening again for him or the Texans against the Patriots.
Neither the Saturday night matchup between the Lions and the Seahawks nor the early Sunday game between the Dolphins and the Steelers were any better in terms of excitement or intrigue going in. None of these 3 games surprised us as they all stayed true to expectation. The Lions pretended like they were close, but didn't do anything to take advantage of Seattle's weaknesses or the opportunities presented. The best part of the Pittsburgh game was as usual watching Le'Veon Bell, the slowest fast runner in the NFL. This guy's patience and how long he waits behind the line of scrimmage for holes to open up before hitting them at full speed is a sight to behold. I have never seem anything like that. His style is unique.
The best game of the weekend was as expected the Giants at Packers. The final score was a 38-13 blowout, but the game was real close well into the third quarter and the QB play in the form of Aaron Rodgers was well worth the price of admission. A-Rod was on fire starting with that Hail Mary at the end of the first half. The Packers D shut out Odell Beckham Jr. and now he has got all off season to shoot shirtless selfies on party boats in Miami. What a circus that Miami story was and these tools doubled down with a shirtless workout in the frozen tundra before the game. I don't know what these guys were thinking. But then again, they are not paid to think and are not the sharpest tool in the shed. OBJ is a piece of work and he needs to cleanup his act.
Thus ended the wild card weekend, which was more mild than wild making these playoffs more of a layoff so far before the real contests kickoff next weekend. The Patriots get another bye week with the Texans coming to town, but the other 3 games should be decent. In the meantime, we got the college football championship game tomorrow. This one should be a doozy as Clemson and Alabama hookup for the second year in a row. That rarely happens in College football and I expect it to be better than even last year when Alabama won 45-40. Vegas thinks Alabama will win easily, but I expect Deshaun Watson to step up and make it hard for Alabama. I am hoping and expecting a close, injury-free contest to cap off a good college season.
1 comment:
Good call on the Clemson-Alabama game. It was indeed better than last year's game with a thrilling finish! It's hard to say which conference is the best but the The Big Ten was a major disappointment -- they had all the hype during the regular season (3-4 teams in the top 10) but fizzled out in the end.
It's such a shame that Derek Carr got hurt just as the Raiders were about to leap into good-team status. They still might get there but the opportunity to make some noise in the post-season was right there this season. I guess there's always next year... even with the move to Vegas hanging over them and their fans.
Wow, Aaron Rodgers is something else! Arguably the best QB in the league. Both the Packers and Steelers are peaking at the right time and could find themselves in a rematch of Super Bowl XLV!
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