Sports

[gardenman]

@peggyhbsl 

Yeah, Stafford and Goff getting a chance for revenge against the teams that tossed them aside will be a fun storyline to watch. Whichever team wins that game will claim to have "won" the trade, but it worked out pretty well for both teams. 

There are lots of interesting matchups in round one. The Saturday games have the Browns versus the Texans. Instead of DeShaun "I'm hurt and need a massage," Watson facing his former team, the Browns have dusted off Joe Flacco. Neither team was viewed as a realistic playoff team in the preseason, but one will advance to round two next week. You could have made good money betting Joe Flacco would lead a team to the playoffs this year.

The second Saturday game could be one of the better games of the playoffs with the Dolphins and Chiefs clashing. The folks at Peacock are probably thrilled to get that game. It should be their biggest event ever. The Chiefs have all of the playoff experience possible, and Tyreek Hill will be hungry to show the Chiefs what they gave up in letting him go. Can Andy Reid coax a playoff win from what's left of Mahomes, Kelce, and company?

Sunday starts off with the Steelers at the Bills. This should be a down and dirty game with both teams fighting for survival. You can never count out the Steelers.

Then that's followed by the Cowboys trying to shake off the curse of Green Bay as Mike McCarthy goes against his former team. Cowboy fans are haunted with the memory of Dez Bryant's non-catch and Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary throws in the playoffs against the Packers. What magic will the Packers pull out this week?

And then Sunday wraps with the Lions and Rams, QB swap game.

A pretty neat lineup of games. Then along come the Eagles and Bucs on Monday night. Yeah. I'm not optimistic about that game. The Eagles have lowered the expectations for the fanbase to the lowest point I've ever seen them for a team entering the playoffs. It's become more, "Just don't embarrass us too much national TV." I'm not sure much of the fanbase is expecting the Eagles to get the win. Just don't look too bad as we bow out.

Then we'll be on to round two with whoever survives this weekend's slate of games.

[soonersis]

I’m looking forward to the Philly/Tampa game as it’s another matchup between former OU quarterbacks. Sorry @gardenman, but I have to pull for Tampa. Jalen had his last year, and I’d like to see Baker get his this year.

[teganslaw]

I won't be able to watch the Dolphins-Chiefs because I don't have Peacock. Not getting it just for one game. Fans are upset about it showing only on Peacock and are threatening to boycott. I hope ratings are low; it would serve the NFL right.

Gardenman, Tampa didn't exactly light things up Sunday. They shut out the Panthers, but they couldn't score much, either. Philly has to start fresh and not focus on the past weeks. Need to go with the idea that every team is 0-0.

Baker Mayfield could be hot or cold. He had a perfect QB rating against the Packers, yet had problems against the Saints and Panthers. If Baker is on a roll, the Eagles could have it tough.

The media is critical of Sirianni, saying that he should be fired. That's a bit harsh. Not all of it is on Sirianni IMO. It takes the whole team. 

As expected, the Falcons fired Arthur Smith. I haven't checked out who else is fired. 

[gardenman]

It was a relatively quiet Sunday in terms of coach firings with just Arthur Smith getting the boot. More should come today.  It's safe to say Ron Rivera will be unemployed. I suspect the Patriots will wait to free Belichick if they free Belichick. They may try to trade him first or do it on a separate day so he's not sharing the fired coaches' spotlight. The Saints might be ready to move on from Dennis Allen.

There are five or six guys who might be in danger besides the obvious ones. The NFL insiders keep hinting of a few surprises to come in terms of coach firings. If the Cowboys lose to the Packers on Sunday, Mike McCarthy could be gone. It's no secret that JJ loves Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn has said this is the year he expects to get a head coaching job again. JJ may not be able to bribe him to stay with the Cowboys unless he gives him the head coaching job. It's going to be an interesting offseason with coaches coming and going.

The Eagles could have Nick's job in jeopardy. They're a talented roster that hasn't played like a talented roster all season. It's safe to say the defensive coordinator position is open. Along with many of the defensive assistant coach positions. Barring a long playoff run (highly unlikely given the way they've been playing) the defensive side of the ball will undergo a major reshuffling.

One of the common comments from fans watching Mariota yesterday was how fast he looked. He is fast, but they've just gotten used to seeing Hurts at his current, injured speed. When fully healthy, they're both the same-ish speed. Mariota ran a 4.52 forty while Hurts ran a 4.59. You don't truly notice a seven-one-hundredths of a difference in speed. Hurts is just not up to full speed this year due to some lingering issue that's never been resolved. Knee? Groin? Ab? Something. I would expect to hear of offseason surgery of some sort for Hurts to fix whatever's wrong. He's not been up to full speed the whole year. He's been playing hurt in some manner that's never fixed itself.

The good news from yesterday is that it looks like AJ Brown might have avoided a serious injury to his knee. He was up and walking around with just a sleeve on the knee after the game and no crutches or brace. Not so good news for rookie safety Sydney Brown. He tore his ACL. He was on crutches with a giant ice bag on his knee post-game. He'll be likely to start next year on IR. It's a tough injury to get this late in the season.

The Eagles coaches, in keeping with their recent streak of misusing players, had Haason Reddick dropping into pass coverage on the first snap yesterday against the Giants. He then got caught in never-never-land when Tyrod Taylor fled the pocket and was right in front of him. Reddick decided to try and close the fifteen yards between them to get to Taylor and uncovered the receiver in his zone. Taylor made the throw to the guy Reddick had been covering for a big gain. I don't understand the logic of taking your best pass rusher and dropping him into coverage when it's not something he's good at. And they just keep doing it. Ugh!

Could the Eagles go on a roll in the playoffs and make the Super Bowl? It's possible. They have the talent. They're just not playing well. They're not being coached well. They're just a mess right now. You keep thinking, "They can fix this," but they never do.

Stop trying to outthink things and just let the players play. You've got pass rushers. Use them to rush the passers. You've got bullies on the o-line. Use them to bully the d-line. Just play smashmouth football.

[gardenman]

Ron Rivera is now officially gone. 

[gardenman]

The Panthers have fired their GM. Odd timing to fire a GM. That's typically done after the draft. I guess they want a new guy to hire the next head coach. Having to hire a GM first then interview and hire a head coach complicates the head coach replacement process. Guys you might want to hire as head coach will likely be hired by someone else before you get your new GM in place.

[Spurt]

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@peggyhbsl wrote:
As a Michigander, and Baltimorean my favorite game coming up is Stafford back at Detroit.
My Super Bowl true teams would be Ravens vs Rams.

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@peggyhbsl 

Hi, yes,thats an interesting matchup, Hollywood couldn't have come up with a better script-----Each QB returns to their respective "haunts"......I wonder what kind of a reception Stafford will receive in Detroit

And your Super Bowl picks are very doable.....GOOD LUCK!

[gardenman]

The Peacock deal will annoy a lot of people. I knew it was coming and when they had a Black Friday special, I signed up and got a year for $19.99. They also have the Summer Olympics this year, so I should get the $20 worth out of it. I probably won't renew unless they get more football or I get another good deal. At $20 a year, it's only $1.67 a month, so not too bad. I don't think it's worth the "normal" $5.99 a month.

[Spurt]

@gardenman @peggyhbsl @teganslaw @PARedbird , @grandma r @sunshine45 ,  @luvmyteddy4 @loveschocolate  @soonersis AND ALL NFL FANS!

The Eagle fanbase sounds like the Washington fan base....we wanted to lose (to get that coveted 2nd pick), but we wanted a competitive game, we didn't want to be embarrassed. And the other objective was to get fan favorite, Terry, his franchise record...and Terry's record almost didn't happen thanks to EB's play calling....SMH

So it looks like it will be a quick playoff run for the Eagles, would've liked to have seen y'all win the Division Crown rather than the Cowboys.....but as British singer Howard Jones once sang, "that's the way it goes"....and remember "things can always get better".....

For our game---It was a "satanic" type feeling with Washington fans cheering the Cowboys on in Tim's Sports Talk Chat..The Cowboys got lucky courtesy of Sam's 2 picks...And our overall team had backup backups and practice squad players in especially in the secondary, Jon Allen and many other starters didn't play either....Let me know if you've heard of Tackle Trent Scott from Grambling who filled in along our already horrible online!  Yet the national media made it sound like the Cowboys beat a contender, but Miami was accused of "always wetting the bed" (their words) because they win against weak teams, but can't win against tough opponents .....however, the Cowboys never get criticized although they win at home, but usually not on the road, and struggle against the strong teams.  

And what Washington fans want to know, when the game was firmly in hand for the Cowboys why did they risk injury by keeping their starters in the game---seems like they wanted to pad their stats!  A win was all they were looking for to secure the Division and spot in the playoffs  I hope Harris remembers this for motivation.....

MAY THE BEST TEAMS WIN IN THE PLAYOFFS!

GOOD LUCK!

[gardenman]

The Giants have flushed their special team coordinator and offensive line coach. That might buy another year for Evan Neal on the roster if they're blaming the o-line coach for his issues. (Hint: It's not the coaching. He's just not an athlete. He skipped the 
Combine and his pro day to try and hide it, but he can't hide it in the NFL.)