Sports

[gardenman]

We start out the playoffs on Saturday with the Raiders traveling to play the Bengals in a 4:30 PM ET game. The Raiders hung in there and barely survived the game against the Chargers, while the Bengals lost to the Browns. The Bengals come into the game rested while the Raiders have some emotion and momentum on their side. Who will win? I like the Bengals in this one.

Next up on Saturday is a rematch, yet again of the Patriots and Bills. The Patriots won the first game this year. The Bills won the second game. Both teams will focus on stopping the running game and try to force the opposing QB to beat them. Mac Jones and Josh Allen are at their best when they have a solid running game. It should be a fun game to watch. I'll give a slight edge to the Bills.

The one o'clock game on Sunday has the Eagles traveling down to Tampa to take on the Bucs. The two teams met up earlier this year with the Bucs winning 28-22. In that first matchup, Nick Sirianni was still passing all the time. Miles Sanders had one carry in the first half, much to the dismay of the Philly fans. Suffice to say the Eagles have changed offensive philosophies since then. We're now more like 60%-70% run and then pass. It's been a very successful change in philosophy. Expect to see Darius Slay matched up all game with Mike Evans. The Eagles' defense can't play passively against Brady. He'll just eat them alive if they try that. I would expect to see little Avonte Maddox and TJ Edwards doubling Gronkowski. Avonte has the speed and quickness to stay with Gronk while Edwards brings the size needed to bring him down. It should be a good game. I'm giving the slightest edge to the Eagles. They love being the underdog and they've gone from 6-point underdogs to nine-point underdogs so far this week.

Next up will be the Niners at the Cowboys. Which QB will be on his game this week? Both can be tough when they're sharp. Both can be very unsharp at times. There's probably more internal pressure on the Cowboys than the Niners as they try to snap the "one and done" tag they've carried for a while now. If the Eagles win, I'd prefer to see the Cowboys win so we could possibly have a matchup against them again down the road. My gut says the Niners get the win though. I'll take the Niners in this one.

And Sunday night we get the Steelers at the Chiefs. Not a great matchup for the Steelers. Still, you never know. It wouldn't be unreasonable for the Chiefs to come into this game a bit overconfident. They should win. They should win easily. Those games tend to be the ones that bite you. Still, I'll take the Chiefs in this one.

And Monday night we get the Cardinals at the Rams. The young gun in Kyler Murray against the old gunslinger in Matt Stafford. The Cards need to find a way to contain Cooper Kupp. You're not going to shut him down completely, but if you can contain him then the Cards have a good shot at winning. Kyler Murray will have to make some plays with his feet. The Rams are good but Stafford is the big question mark. He's not a QB that scares me. Kyler Murray scares me. I'll take the Cards in this one.

It should be a fun weekend of football. 

[teganslaw]

The Raiders have momentum going into Saturday, but one can't rule out Joe Burrow. That offense is scary good when they're playing at full strength.

Aaron Rodgers is leading the MVP race so far. Bruce Aryans said that it would be a "travesty" if Brady doesn't win MVP. It's good to back your players, but this is an exaggeration. It wouldn't be a "travesty", maybe just a disappointment.

Between the two, I would choose Rodgers. He has done a lot with less and has a higher passer rating than Brady if one counts that. 

Yesterday I thought about tossing my Wentz shirt, but will keep it, after all. That was an emotional response, and it's not always good to act on emotions.

[gardenman]

I wouldn't give up on Wentz too early. Every quarterback has bad games. Even the Tom Brady's and Aaron Rodgers' of the world. When Wentz has a bad game it's the end of the world and the Wentz haters swarm and insist he'll never win again. Is he perfect? No. Nobody is. Can you win with Wentz? Yeah.

If you rank QBs from best to worst he's in the middle of the pack of 32 right now and that's not so bad. When he's in a good situation, solid o-line, good running game, trusted receivers, he can be a top-five to top-ten guy. When things break down around him, things go badly. 

The key for the Colts this offseason is to build around Wentz. Solidify the o-line. Get him more receivers. Maybe sign Zach Ertz. Wentz can win games for the Colts. He had 27 TDs to just 7 Interceptions. He needs to focus more on ball security in the pocket to stop the fumbles. He's not as bad a QB as his haters would like you to think. Is he perfect? No. Is he good enough to win with? Yes. Can he make special plays? Yes.

ESPN in their QBR ratings for the 2021 season have him tied for tenth with Joe Burrow. That's not bad. Fans tend to judge Wentz more on his pay and the cost to get him (draft picks) but if you judge him solely as a QB without the baggage, he's pretty darn good. Would you prefer Mariota, Goff, Winston? They're the contemporary QBs from his era. Wentz is better than any of them. Dak Prescott is better than Wentz now, but a lot of Dak's success is because of the talent around him.

I've never really understood the Wentz hatred. From the day the Eagles drafted him people have just hated the kid. If he throws an incomplete pass they gloat. If he has success, they insist it won't last. Jeez! Cut the kid some slack. He can be a winning QB in this league and there aren't a lot of guys who can do that. Rally around him. Support him. Build around him. He'll take you far.

[teganslaw]

As I mentioned, it was an emotional reaction. I was a bit upset that the Colts couldn't do anything when it mattered, especially against the worst team in the NFL. They have always struggled in Jacksonville, though, so that shouldn't have come as a surprise. I liked the signing of Wentz, and he has had good games. He has also made mistakes, but not all losses were completely his fault. 

It's a disappointment not to make the playoffs after all the hype. I guess I expected more. 

[gardenman]

Dang! The Giants fired Joe Judge! Rats! He deserved to be fired, but it's bad news for the rest of the NFC East. Oh well. Such is life.

[gardenman]

The Giants are planning to hire a GM first then a head coach. By the time they get around to hiring a coach, lots of coaching prospects will likely already have jobs. It's an interesting job. They have a bad roster, little cap space, two first-round picks, an owner who loves their QB, despite his so-so play. A new GM will be needing to build his player personnel team. Free agency isn't far off. The Giants have twenty free agents they have to evaluate to determine whether to keep or not. In addition to all the normal GM duties, the new GM has to hire a new head coach and his whole staff. It all sounds easy enough. Sure. No problem. And you absolutely have to get the head coaching hire right. Yep. Easy-peasy.

[Spurt]

After that wild game between the Chargers/Raiders who knows what we will see in this WILD WILD WILD CARD WEEKEND.....

RAIDERS vs BENGALS---

Burrows has that swagger and attitude---and the Bengals are in "the jungle" at home..... The Raiders have that determination and their defense played well against Hebert stopping the Chargers except for those 4th down plays---I think the Raiders were just exhausted at that point and they still managed to win the game.....Women's intuition tells me to go with THE RAIDERS (this is a real coin toss game and it wouldn't surprise me if the Bengals ended up pulling out the win)

PATRIOTS vs BILLS----

Bill Belichick always has something special planned up his no sleeve sweatshirts.....but I'm going with the more experienced QB, Josh Allen, at home---and that frenzied Bills Mafia home crowd! BILLS WIN!

EAGLES vs BUCS---- The Eagles were embarrassed by the Cowboys, now they face Tom Brady and company with a healthier roster, no doubt the Eagles will rely on their running game, ....Even though Tom's offensive weapons have been depleted he and Gronk still make a formidable pairing, and they do have a banged up Mike Evans .....The matchup of Brady vs Hurts concerns me....Unless the Eagle's D can put the pressure on Brady I predict a BUCs WIN!

49ers vs COWBOYS----The players on both teams are too young to remember the intense rivalry between these 2 teams....and the 40th anniversary of "The Catch" is meaningless.....Looking at current rosters rather than history ya got two inconsistent QBs ...... and there's problems in the 49ers secondary....but the Cowboys have their own concerns and are still vunerable against the run which Shannahan will no doubt exploit which will eat the clock and keep Dak and company on the sidelines....which will really put the pressure on Dak to perform his best, but will he, can he?????  No surprise that I'm taking the 49ers to get the VICTORY!!.....

STEELERS vs CHIEFS----

How crazy is this season ----the Steelers wound up in the playoffs thanks to the Raiders.....So Big Ben has another game to play before retirement....  Despite their record the Chiefs have been a bit off this season and Mahomes is a tiny bit vunerable, and the Steelers have TJ Watt,  but the CHIEFS are the better team and should get the WIN and move on in the playoffs...

CARDINALS vs RAMS---

The Rams sacrificed their future for one shot at this year's Super Bowl by buying FA's and putting all their eggs in one basket for this season but NFL history shows this method is not successful....Despite the Ram's talent they've struggled and have not dazzled as the team expected........The Cardinals had a little slump of their own but that appears to have been corrected, it looks like JJ Watt will return to help the Cards defense....And I like Murray over Stafford and predict a CARDINALS WIN! 

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

Dang! The Giants fired Joe Judge! Rats! He deserved to be fired, but it's bad news for the rest of the NFC East. Oh well. Such is life.

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@gardenman 

DAGNABBIT!! SHOOT~!!! Those darn Giants you cant count on them to do anything right (right for the rest of the NFC East that is!!!) Why did they have to go and fire Joe Judge....🙄

[teganslaw]

@Spurt , what does your sister think about the firing? Is she glad that he and Gettleman are gone? 

Irsay had a long conversation with Reich, but no details were provided on what happened. Reich hasn't commented on the QB situation, has admitted that they have a lot to think about in the offseason. 

TE Jack Doyle isn't sure if he will play another season, is thinking about retiring. It sounds like some changes are coming. 

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

@Spurt , what does your sister think about the firing? Is she glad that he and Gettleman are gone? 

Irsay had a long conversation with Reich, but no details were provided on what happened. Reich hasn't commented on the QB situation, has admitted that they have a lot to think about in the offseason. 

TE Jack Doyle isn't sure if he will play another season, is thinking about retiring. It sounds like some changes are coming. 

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@teganslaw 

My sister the Giant fan says the MARAS should be fired they keep hiring bad GMs and Coaches, and making awful decisions on players ---she hates their QBs.....She said Eli should be the coach....LOL

I was shocked about Wentz's performance against the Jags but agree with you, not all his fault, and he had good games too this season. It seems that Reich has a case of buyer's remorse.......but who was out there as a FA QB that was better---not Foles, should they have gotten Goff, Mariota, Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, or Robert Griffin III (sarcasm)  ..Maybe they should have brought Rivers back????  The QB spot was what my WFT struggled with and we signed Fitz and look what happened and even some of the QBs from the 2021 draft didnt pan out or sat on the bench....Whats a team to do....