Sports

[teganslaw]

Breaking news: per NBC Sports and. also, Adam Schefter, Grigson has been fired. No news on what will happen to Pagano[s job. Irsay is suppose to have a news conference at 5:30 p.m. EST.He must have someone in mind to take Grigson's place, but haven't heard, will probably be revealed at the news conference.

Will post details later as they come.

[gardenman]

I'm guessing the news that Irsay tried to replace both Grigson and Pagano with Peyton Manning and Jon Gruden ticked off Grigson. Team owners/GM's have largely cut the legs off of several head coaches this year. The Saints did it to Sean Payton and the Colts with Pagano. Both teams have made it clear they don't believe in the coach and that's deadly for the coaches.

[teganslaw]

Jimmy Raye, VP of football operations in Indy, is interviewing for the GM job. I don't know much about him, but he is well respected within the organization.

Irsay has claimed that Pagano will keep his job throughout 2017. The new GM might have other ideas, but so far Pagano is staying. The media hasn't reported on either Pagno's or Grigson's thoughts about Manning or Gruden getting jobs with the Colts, so I don't know how they felt.

[gardenman]

So much of football is played between the ears that it's important for the players to believe the coach, GM and everyone in the organization is on the same page and working together to a common goal. It sounds like the players really hated Grigson and his attitude (at least those interviewed on the NFL Network) which has likely handicapped the Colts in recent years. 

Flushing Grigson is probably a win for the Colts. Players don't have to love the GM, but they have to know that everyone is working together. It sounds like that wasn't happening with the Colts. Irsay tried to smooth over the courting of Manning and Gruden, but the players may not believe what he said. If they play hard for Pagano then all could be good, but if they don't think the Colt management is behind Pagano, and that's how things appear right now, they could roll over and play dead.

A new GM might just court a guy like Josh McDaniels who's taken himself out of consideration for the  Niners' job but might be tempted by the potential of a team with Andrew Luck in place. Even a guy like Chip Kelly might be a decent option for the Colts. Chip's offense gets receivers open all over the field. His system tends to make even average quarterbacks (Mike Vick, Nick Foles, Sam Bradford) look great. Combine his offense with an Andrew Luck and Luck could put up some amazing numbers. 

We'll have to see what happens with the Colts. Pagano seems safe now and with the Colts looking interanlly for the GM, that's a good sign for him. His margin of error is just about at zero now however. If they get a new GM from outside the organization he could be gone.

[gardenman]

It's game day! Jordy Nelson will apparently suit up and play for the Packers today. They've got some kevlar padding for his broken (apparently cracked and not displaced) ribs. Those kinds of pads can absorb a big blow and disperse it nicely, so if he can breathe freely and still function, he could perform at a high level. Apparently his ribs are more cracked than displaced. Were they displaced he'd be looking at four to six weeks as opposed to two weeks. He's a hands catcher rather than a body catcher so the pads shouldn't impact him too much. His ribs will be a target for the Falcon DB's from the line of scrimmage on. Expect him to get jammed in the chest/ribs at the line of scrimmage on one of his first appearances to see how he responds. The DB's will be looking to see if he flinches or not, but they'll send a message to him early to try and get his head out of the game.

Neither of the two defenses is overly impressive in the NFC game. This may very well be one of those games where the last team with the ball ends up winning. Both teams also have excellent long range kickers, so there's no safe distance to punt the ball away late in the game. The Falcons have the best weapons, but the Packers have Aaron Rodgers. I still think the Packers will find a way to win. They're not the best team, but Aaron Rodgers is the great equalizer.

On the AFC side it'll be interesting to see how that Patriot defense reacts to playing against an NFL quarterback again. The only one they've seen in the last nine weeks or so was Joe Flacco, who while good, is not elite. Ben Roethlisberger is a different animal than what they've faced recently. Can they adjust to playing an elite quarterback in short order? Pittsburgh has some potential to get out to an early lead. A deep ball or two to Antonio Brown could get the Steelers off to an early lead and get the Pats defense on their heels a bit. Then there's LeVeon Bell coming out of the backfield. Will the Patriots have to sneak a safety up to stop Bell, or can their front seven handle Bell? If they sneak the safety up, they risk Antonio Brown getting deep.

The Steelers defense knows they have to get pressure on Brady up the middle of the field. If they can do that, then there's a good chance to slow down Brady and the Patriots. Brady, despite his greatness, doesn't handle pressur ein his face very well. Edge pressure doesn't bother him, but pressure from that "a" gap between the center and guards rattles him a bit.

These should be interesting games to watch today. All four teams have a ton of firepower and any of them could fall behind by two scores and fight back to win. It should be a fun day of football.

[LonestarBabs]

Will be interesting to see if flu has any effect on today's games -- Packers and Steelers have been hit with it.

Also wonder if Antonio Brown's social media shenanigans will have affected team morale and cohesion.

My next door neighbor has a full-size flagpole in his front yard, and I noticed he has recently hoisted a Patriots flag. UGH  This Chiefs fan says, "wait 'til next year" and I'll be looking around for some outdoor flags...

[gardenman]

The Eagles are trying an interesting experiment. Alejando Villanueva the Steelers' left offensive tackle tried out for the Eagles as a defensive end a few years ago. Seeing his success at converting to offense, they're now trying that with Taylor Hart a reserve defensive end who was an all state offensive tackle in high school. We've also got a big tight end we're trying to convert into an offensive lineman. I'm not sure how good either will be as offensive linemen, but both are big, strong, athletic, and smart, so it could work. It's an interesting concept and the Steelers pulled it off. We'll have to see what happens, but it's a chance for both guys to have an NFL career.

[Spurt]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

this is going to be an interesting sunday. i dont really mind who wins the NFC game, although maybe i am pulling just a little more for the falcons.

the afc game is a different story.......two teams that i really dont like at all. word on the street around here is that we should root for the steelers to beat the patriots and then hope that the NFC winner crushes the steelers. LOL that will take care of both teams.......

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@sunshine45

When the final AFC Championship game matchup was set I thought of you SUNSHINE  (lesser of your 2 evils for you for sure)  

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

Jimmy Raye, VP of football operations in Indy, is interviewing for the GM job. I don't know much about him, but he is well respected within the organization.

Irsay has claimed that Pagano will keep his job throughout 2017. The new GM might have other ideas, but so far Pagano is staying. The media hasn't reported on either Pagno's or Grigson's thoughts about Manning or Gruden getting jobs with the Colts, so I don't know how they felt.

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@teganslaw

I think firing your GM, but keeping Pagano was a good move.....the only problem is the Colts have is the same as my Redskins....it will have to be a GM that can work with a meddling owner....

[Spurt]

Well the Redskins promoted from within, promoting Greg Manusky from OLB coach to DC.....    @teganslaw  he was DC for your Colts for 4 yrs, Chargers for 1, 49ers for 4

I thought this was hilarious what Kirk Cousins posted on twitter---LOL!!!!:

KIRK COUSINS---

Not being in the playoffs means my January weekends involve sitting on mall benches, outside perfume stores, waiting on my wife