Stretch Marks in the NFL.

Things are getting interesting in the NFL. Not sure if week 15 did much to clear the playoff lineup and eliminate pretenders, but it did give us two amazing endings. After all these years, one would think we have seen anything and everything in the NFL, but these two endings looked oddly crazy and unique to me. I am talking about the endings in the Steelers-Patriots game and the Cowboys-Raiders game. Both included a well-intended stretch and a not-so-obvious rule deciding the game. The Pats-Steelers game was better than expected and was clearly the game of the year given what was at stake. Antonio Brown's injury in the first half was unfortunate for the Steelers and Brady orchestrated a 2-minute drive that we all saw coming two quarters away. But one mistake Brady did was, he left too much time on the clock for the Steelers. I thought Ben had a shot at a tying field goal, but my man JuJu busted a long one to give Steelers a real shot at a TD and a possible win. Ben then hit his wide open TE esse James in the middle who lunged into the end zone for what we thought was a game clinching TD. 

Unfortunately for the Steelers, the ball hit the ground and slipped and shifted in James's hands. He had not been really touched or made a football move yet, whatever that means. So, it was ruled as an incomplete pass. This has happened before and probably will happen again, but you couldn't help but think that it absolutely looked like a catch through and through. Thats what makes this rule shaky and crazy. I see they are trying to make the concept of a catch fool-proof in the age of replays from 10 different angles, but they might have complicated this too much and taken intuition and common sense out of it. They have to fix this rule again and make it better. But then again, knowing the NFL, they may take a few years to admit and react to this. Ben still had 2 more plays to do something or at least take the field goal on 4th down and get to play an OT. Of course he throws an INT on third down and ball game Patriots! As always the breaks go the Pats way. But it does only because they make their own breaks. They are well-coached, practice hard, play smart, and are disciplined. 

Then on Sunday night, the Raiders were in a similar situation as the Steelers. They were deep in the red zone with the game clock winding down and trailing just by a field goal. A TD there would have ended the Cowboys season for all practical purposes. Instead, what happened pretty much ended the Raiders season, which you could argue was already on life support anyways. Carr drove the Raiders well in that final drive and got close to the finish line. He took off on a scramble and was so close to the pile on. Naturally, he dived and stretched to try and put the ball over it, but ended up fumbling the ball into the end zone as he was also hit by a defender just as he was stretching. A fumble into the end zone is a touch back and ball game Cowboys! Just like that, a touch down and a win became a touch back and a season ending turnover for the Raiders. This rule is actually well thought out and has many reasons for the way it stands, but it's still a little bit of a surprise to the casual fan every time it happens. Thats because the offense always get the ball when they fumble out of bounds, but not in the end zone. 

Now with Ezekiel Elliott coming back, there is a sliver of hope for the Cowboys, but it's still an uphill climb. We can't really blame Carr for the stretch because he saw pay dirt and was so close. How do you not lunge for the glory play? Sure, it's risky, but it would be hard to not make that attempt and play another down instead, though that is the smart, disciplined play. The funny part is, funny only if you are not a Jets fan that is, Austin Seferian-Jenkins has had 2 TDs taken away from him this season due to both these rules in 2 different games after what appeared like a solid catch on both occasion. I later heard that in New England, the players are not allowed to stretch the ball for yards. Thats amazing to me and thats why Hoodie is going to the hall of fame. This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes sure the breaks during the game always goes their way. Remember I said they make their own breaks! Their coaching and discipline make sure they don't make the mistakes and of course when the opponent does make those mistakes, the Pats are ready to pounce on it. It's not an accident. I am sure some Pats receivers still stretch for first down and touch downs and you could even argue you have to depending on the time, place, and situation. For example, on 4th downs if you are short. But I want to watch closely and see if this team rule is indeed followed closely by the Pats. I believe it.

Sequels Galore

Last week was one of the great football week over the last several months. First, the college football championship sequel was as good as I had expected it to be. Deshaun Watson and Clemson did what I was hoping as well as expecting from them. Alabama is as legit a team and as solid a program as they come in college football today. They brought everything they had and then some to the table, but I was expecting that the talent and experience of Watson would be the difference maker and would be able to handle it all. That’s what happened, though the Alabama D made it difficult for the kid. The game came down to the last seconds and Watson finished Bama off with a 2-minute drive like an elite NFL QB. I like him at the next level and would draft him high, but then again, we fall easily for great college QBs and some of them don’t translate to the next level. I would trust the GMs on this one instead of making my own call. I liked QBs like Michael Vick and Geno Smith coming into the NFL. Didn’t expect much from Cam Newton or Tim Tebow at the next level. As you can tell, I was right with Vick and Tebow and not so much with Geno or Cam. It’s a tough call and I am definitely not qualified to make it. But I will keep an eye on Watson on the projections of experts like Mel Kuiper, who should be out and about soon.

This college game came right after the start of the NFL playoffs, which had an underwhelming run over the wild-card weekend. Even the much-anticipated Giants-Packers game was a dud, though it’s never boring to watch a great QB like Aaron Rodgers play. He impressed us in the wild-card game and gave us a performance for the ages last weekend in the divisional round in what was one of the best football games I have watched in a long time! The word instant classic is often over-used in sports, especially in the 24-hour ESPN-classic era where they will repeat the so-called classic game just 4 hours after the final buzzer. But this one was a hyper-instant-super-classic. ARod is carving an amazing niche for himself and his career is shining brighter than ever. We all know that his talent has been on display for many moons now and we have seen him do amazing things on the field. He has also been one of those guys with immense confidence in himself and walks the cocky-v-confidence line expertly. Of course, it’s easier to act like the boss once you win a championship. That Super Bowl ring brings you all kinds of credibility that you can’t enjoy without it. And that’s true not just for star players like ARod or Curry or LeBron, but also GMs and coaches too. I always half-joke that the coaches get a free pass for 5 years after a championship and GMs, probably 10 years. Talented players get a pass anyways.

The thing that is really adding onto the legend of ARod is his cool and calm leadership. Few years back, he asked the media and fans to R-E-L-A-X after a bad start to a Packers’ season. And then the Packers had an amazing rest of the season as he had predicted. He had a similar moment this season as the Packers were looking mediocre and struggling in their division, but Rodgers then said they can run the table and save the season. Boy, was he prophetic! They have not lost since. Not only did they run the table, they did it primarily due to ARod’s amazing play. He spoke and then he delivered. That momentum continued well into this Dallas game and it looked like it was over at half-time with the Packers leading comfortably. The only blemish on ARod’s play in this game, probably his entire second half of this season, was an inopportune pick he threw in the third quarter right after Dak threw a horrible pick to give the Packers the ball. Packers could have put the game away in that drive, but instead, handed Dallas the ball back and gave them a lot of life. Dak played great from that point on and was actually the best part of this loss for Dallas. Their future with the new triplets – Dak, Zeke, and Dez, look great.

There were moments in the early parts of the game when I was telling myself, “I know Dak earned this and he has to go through this right of passage. This experience can only help them down the road. But this is the kind of game where Dallas probably needs Tony Romo to hang with Rodgers.”  Dak looked much more impressive later in the game and almost negated my Romo argument. Mind you, I was not saying that Dallas should have started Romo or even put him in mid-way through the game. I was just saying Romo would have played better in this game at this particular juncture of their respective careers. But Dak was not the problem as he tied this game, giving Dallas a chance to win. Dak kept pace with ARod. There were 3 game-tying or tie-breaking field goals in the last 2 minutes of the game. I can’t remember ever seeing something like that. After Dak drove the Boys down for a game-tying field goal, ARod worked his magic with just 35 seconds left while all of us were getting ready for overtime. The final play for the Packers, which led to the game winning field goal, was typical ARod! He scrambled left, danced around forever, and nailed a pass to a spot where only his TE Jared Cook could catch and barely stay inbounds. Cook made a great play to complement Rodgers’ genius.

The other hero for the Packers was Mason Crosby who nailed 3 pressure-packed, 50+ yard field goals in the final seconds, including one that was nullified by a Dallas timeout. That one was right down the middle while the next one that actually counted looked headed wide-left before sneaking in to deprive us of overtime. For a moment, when that ball looked headed wide-left, I thought this may be another heart-breaking OT loss for the Packers. They have had some rough go-arounds and hard luck in the playoffs since they won the Super Bowl 5 years back. They have had impressive seasons and ARod has been mostly great, but playoff dominance has still eluded them lately. That may be over this year as ARod is playing at an HNL (‘hole ‘nother level!) and they look every bit like the proverbial team of destiny. GB and Dallas played a great playoff game just 2 years back that GB won at home. That was the famous “Dez Bryant catch/no-catch” game and this year’s edition was even better. This game was another sequel that didn’t disappoint. The Atlanta-Seattle game was also a sequel from 4 years back, but Atlanta repeated the result this year with an impressive win that was not as close as the earlier one. Seattle was not great this year and they deserved to lose. Of course, both these NFC divisional match-ups and the NFC championship game next weekend are also re-matches from this regular season, which is also great.

Atlanta on the road next weekend is going to be tough for the Packers, though Dallas had the best record in the NFC. I can’t wait for that game! Good luck to the Packers and ARod as there is nothing in the NFL quite like watching a great QB play. Matt Ryan is probably the MVP of this season, but ARod is looking legendary right now. A Brady-ARod (much like the Peyton-ARod) Super Bowl has been eluding us and we need it this year. Brady and the Pats dispatched the Texans last weekend as expected and their real test only starts this weekend with the Steelers coming to town. Can Le'Veon Bell dance and find holes against a hoodie defense is a question I am eagerly awaiting to answer. Pats don’t have a great defense, but they have great coaches who seem to be able to scheme their way to success more than anybody else. What do the Pats do against the killer Bees is a great story for this week. The Steelers rode Bell to the AFC championship game with a win at Kansas City in another great game last Sunday. We finally got 2 great games on Sunday after a week and a half of playoff futility. The Steelers sneaked past the Chiefs in a game where the Chiefs scored all the TDs. Steelers moved the ball up and down and stalled every time, but scored enough field goals to win. Nonetheless, we got a good game and we also got a Steelers @ Pats game we want. Bring it on!

Another sequel that was hyped up was the Cavs at the Warriors game in the NBA on MLK jr day. The dubs took care of business at home and crushed the Cavs. Not much to say here except that we now wait for the finals. We hope these 2 teams make it and continue this rivalry and the sequels. LeBron doesn’t think this is a rivalry and I don’t know why he is so insecure about it. It is every bit a rivalry and the only one of any relevance in the NBA today. A third straight finals will cement it, but nothing is guaranteed in the brutal west. The great Warriors still have to get past the Spurs and/or the Rockets to get to the Finals. Along the way, they may run into the dreaded Westbrook too if the Thunder pull off an upset in the early rounds of the playoffs. All of this will make for an exciting playoffs, but I will trade it all for the Cavs-Warriors version 3. This time, hopefully no injuries and suspensions.  I wouldn’t mind a Spurs-Warriors western conference finals too along the way. That has been eluding us over the last 2 great dubs season as well. After the Packer-Cowboys game last weekend, I am shooting for the moon in the playoffs in all sports!

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