Category: NFL

Yesterday, the National Football League announced a wide-ranging series of rule changes designed to protect players and keep the game safe.  These include touchbacks at the 25-yard line, a “red card” rule that disqualifies a player who gets two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and an outright ban of chop blocks.

While these changes, especially the removal of blocks below the waist, seem like steps in the right direction for a game that has struggled with safety throughout its existence, these new rules also bring about a series of unintended consequences.  This post will be dedicated to those unintended consequences.

Touchbacks at the 25-Yard Line Means…. Fewer Touchbacks?

Think about this for a second: with kickoffs originating at the 35-yard line and touchbacks coming out to the other 25-yard line, why wouldn’t the kicking team try to pin the receiving team inside their 25?  It doesn’t make sense on the surface, as there were 1,469 kickoff touchbacks in 2015; there was also a rise in injuries in the kickoffs that were returned.

However, while the NFL is trying to incentivize touchbacks and a removal of the play altogether, what they’ve just done is actually make the play more dangerous.  The play is more dangerous now because teams will (probably) decide to opt for a higher, shorter kick to force the other team to make a return.  Stopping that return inside the 25-yard line would be considered a win for the kicking team, much like pinning a team inside the 20 is considered a minor victory now.

Kickoffs will now be high hangtime lofts to near the goal line. Returns will increase. Coverage will be closer.

— Michael Tanier (@MikeTanier) March 23, 2016

Kickoff returns just got a whole lot more like punt returns, without the fair catch option unless it’s in the end zone.

— Michael Tanier (@MikeTanier) March 23, 2016

So, if the NFL wanted to make the game safer, why would it move the touchback up by five yards?  The answer is simple: because it did the same thing to the kickoff before the 2011 season.  In theory, it would be only fair to move touchbacks up to the 25.  While it seems like the right thing to do, though, it may actually take the safety out of kickoff returns.

You can’t prioritize safety and incentivize teams to perform one of the most dangerous plays in the sport at the same time.  This is what the NFL is trying to do; it won’t work.

Code Red For Unsportsmanlike Conduct?

Recently, Richard Sherman gave an interview to ESPN’s Jim Trotter in which he said some inflammatory things about Roger Goodell.  This is just a sampling of his comments about a rule that would disqualify players who receive two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in one game:

I think it’s foolish, but it sounds like something somebody who’s never played the game would say, something that they would suggest, because he doesn’t understand. He’s just a face. He’s just a suit. He’s never stepped foot on the field and understood how you can get a personal foul.

With recent criticisms of the NFL being a “No Fun League”, Sherman has a point here.  But what the NFL is trying to eradicate is something like what occurred between Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman in Week 15 of last season, the type of foolishness that could injure someone and detract from the quality of the game.

While I understand what the NFL is trying to do here, I’d have to side with Sherman on this one.  How can we be sure that this rule won’t become the NFL’s equivalent of college football’s targeting rule, one in which players who don’t deserve to be ejected get the hook?  The referees already have the power to Dairy Queen a player if they feel his actions warrant such treatment; why can’t the league let the men in stripes decide ejections on the field?  If the referees keep a player in the game who should have been tossed previously (as was the case with Beckham-Norman), then the league can reflect this in their referee reviews.

And, frankly, if the referees can’t decide when to remove a player from a game and when to keep him in, should they be NFL referees in the first place?

Chopped: How the Game Will Change Without Chop Blocks

If you’ve ever played Madden, you’ve probably been the victim (or beneficiary) of a chop block penalty…. on many occasions.  It’s frustrating, debilitating, and glitchy to the point of making you want to throw your controller at your television (don’t do that).

But the chop block has real and serious effects on those who play the game in real life, and until this week, many forms of it were still legal. That changed, however, with the Competition Committee’s ruling banning most forms of the chop block and making this action result in a 15-yard penalty.  This is the one major rule change that I definitely side with the NFL on; the league is trying to protect the well-being of its players, and that includes their health below the waist.

Some players–offensive linemen in particular–are definitely going to be up in arms about this, saying that the new rule will disable them from being able to block effectively without getting penalized:

The best way to get a DT to not hold us on double teams, is a chop block. Now there’s nothing to stop them. Fun times.

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) March 22, 2016

But how can the league justify allowing this play to occur when the risk of injury from it is clearly present and clearly unnecessary?

Also, it isn’t like the league is getting rid of all chop blocks.  For example, cut blocks that occur in one-on-one blocking circumstances and are directed toward the field of play will remain legal.  This is necessary because these blocks were and are necessary for offensive linemen to put their defensive counterparts on the ground and create a hole for a runner or time for a quarterback.

What the NFL did was get rid of the unnecessary chop blocks; they should be applauded for doing so.

What do you think about the NFL’s rule changes?  Let me know in the comments section or tweet at me.

How will you remember Peyton Manning?

There are many answers to this question; that’s the point.  Will you remember him for his tenure with the Indianapolis Colts, one in which he shattered the record for touchdowns in a single season with 49 in 2004 and won Super Bowl XLI?  Will you remember Manning for his days with the Denver Broncos, the ones in which he broke the single-season touchdown record…. again, and won Super Bowl 50?

Will you remember Peyton for the commercials?  Yes, those commercials.  The ones for MasterCard, Gatorade, Papa John’s, Nationwide (Chicken Parm, you taste so good….), among others.  The ones that made us talk about Manning in a completely different light, not only as star quarterback but also as pitchman, funnyman, everyman.

But, as we speak about looking at Peyton in a different light, will you look at him differently because of a Title IX lawsuit against his alma mater, Tennessee, in which Manning is mentioned for improper behavior toward a trainer and then conducting a smear campaign against her and her family to impugn her name?  Would that change your opinion of him, if the allegations are true?

Will your remember Manning for his regular season successes or his playoff losses?  His broken records or ultimate January failures?  His nice-guy reputation or the allegations of sexual harassment and steroid use?

That’s the problem with Peyton Manning’s legacy; it’s complicated.  It isn’t clear-cut.  It leaves a lot of questions unanswered.  And because of this, the opinions of Manning and his career accomplishments run a very wide spectrum; one only has to look here and here to see that wide range of opinions.

If you’re of the belief that statistics and production are the two most important things for a quarterback, you would say that Peyton may be the best quarterback ever.  If you believe that playoff wins is the be-all, end-all of a starting quarterback’s career, then Peyton wouldn’t even be in your top five.  The general opinion of him, in some ways, is even more scattered than that of Tom Brady, and he may be one of the most polarizing athletes in sports.

And while he is polarizing, he did get to go out (mostly) on top with a win over the Panthers in Super Bowl 50.  While he played absolutely no part in the victory other than to not turn the ball over, he did win the game.  The defining moment of the postgame celebration, in the minds of many, was who Manning first greeted after the big win:

So, this is the summary of events on that night: Peyton wins a Super Bowl after many previous playoff disappointments, plays basically no part in the victory, then gives a celebratory hug and kiss to…. Papa John?  The entire sequence is the dream of both Manning haters and Manning lovers alike.  Why?  Because many fans and pundits value different qualities in quarterbacks.  While some reviewed that sequence of events and wondered why it was Papa John receiving the greeting instead of a teammate or family member, others saw that occur and thought of it as little to nothing; lots of players have endorsement deals, Peyton just has more than everyone else.

The pro-Peyton crowd would have just said that the haters are gonna hate and that in the moments after winning the Super Bowl, he could do whatever he wanted.

But, he isn’t going out on top like others in sports have.  When John Elway, Michael Jordan, Ray Bourque, and Ray Lewis went out with their championships, their names were clean of any allegations of cheating or misconduct.  Yes, Lewis almost went to jail for murder and had that whole deer antler spray thing before his final game, but public opinion of him at the end of his career was probably better than that of Peyton.

The allegations, both of sexual assault and HGH usage, put a damper on the retirement of one of the greats to play the game.  However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t give a great retirement speech.  That’s what he did today… for the most part.

While Manning’s farewell was rife with emotion, full of heart, raw, honest, and real, he did have to face questions after it was over.  Most, honestly, were of the softball variety (i.e.: tell us about that time you flipped off Gary Kubiak) until USA Today’s Lindsay Jones got her crack at the future Hall of Famer.  She asked him about the allegations, brought about by Dr. Jamie Naughright, the former Tennessee trainer, in the aforementioned Title IX lawsuit.  This was the end of his response:

Quoting Forrest Gump, which is appropriate at almost any other time in one’s life, was not appropriate at that particular time.  The allegations are serious, and while the reporting of New York Daily News justice reporter Shaun King is more than a little flawed and far too personal, Manning must answer to questions about the lawsuit with utmost seriousness and respect.

In any event, Jones tweeted out a brief explanation of why she asked Manning the question.  It’s more than justified:

Manning deserved a chance to respond to what everyone has been saying about him for the last month. I had to ask.

— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) March 7, 2016

She absolutely had to ask.  To be very frank, I’m happy she did.  In an event where reporters and VIP guests wanted to venerate Peyton, Jones decided to be the one person in the room who had the guts to ask one of the questions that should be on everyone’s mind.  While her Twitter mentions are exploding, and not in a good way (even she admits this), she did her job and should be applauded for that.

But, in getting back to Manning, his legacy, with the allegations, endorsements, wins, losses, and records, is incredibly complicated. Part of it is still unwritten, with verdicts forthcoming in the courts of justice and public opinion.  No matter what he does next with his life, though, we’ll still keep talking about him, for better or worse.

And maybe, just maybe, that is the ultimate legacy of Peyton Manning.

 

If you’ve been following football since the Super Bowl, you know that the NFL Combine took place last weekend.  If you’ve been following the NFL Combine, you definitely know who Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple is.

Apple is one of the best secondary prospects in this year’s draft and is likely to be a first-round pick.  At the Combine, however, teams like to speak with players one-on-one and gather information about them that goes beyond their physical talents.  So while Apple will probably be employed by an NFL team after the first night of the draft, teams would like to know a little bit more about him.

But what would teams ask about?  One would think that questions would be about a player’s family, experiences in his life outside of football, or other things about him that teams may not know.  One of the teams interviewing Apple in Indianapolis was the Atlanta Falcons.

And, needless to say, they took their questioning way too far.

Instead of asking Apple potentially pertinent questions in regard to his personal life, an unidentified team employee started out his inquiry with this line:

So do you like men?

That was the question: ‘Do you like men?’.  There have been bizarre lines of questioning at the Combine before, but never has there been an open and honest question so appallingly bigoted as this one.  The reason that this question is so offensive, though, is not only in the mere asking of it but also in the context in which it was asked.

Let’s be honest here: what in the world could the Atlanta Falcons be getting out of a potential employee of theirs by asking him about his sexual orientation?  While the team may be looking to expel distractions in the locker room, a crazy question like this makes you wonder if the NFL has really progressed in terms of their acceptance of homosexual players and employees.

All this being said, this is not the only ridiculous question that has been asked at the NFL Combine; not by a long shot.  In fact, here are just some of the absurd interrogations teams have performed at the combine, replete with 100% real questions:

“As a white running back, do you feel entitled or like a poster child to other white running backs?” – posed to Stanford running back Toby Gerhart

“What team do you play as in Madden and why?”

“Would you rather be a cat or a dog?”

“How many different things can you do with a paper clip?”

“Can you share your internet history with us?”

These are all certifiably crazy questions, and they aren’t the only crazy ones that have been asked.  However, with the latest incident, we need to not just talk about the NFL’s tolerance problem but also about whether the combine interviews are necessary at all.

This is why one could say the NFL Combine interview is unnecessary and meaningless: what are the teams actually getting out of it?  While each team employs a sports psychologist and the answers to these insane questions help the teams in their psychological evaluations of draft prospects, does it really matter if a prospect plays as the Packers in Madden instead of the Seahawks?  Is it really that important if a player would rather be a cat than a dog?

Let’s put it this way: if Cam Newton decided that he could only put papers in a paper clip, should that answer derail his career?  In no other sport are questions nearly this stupid asked of players, and even if they are, there is little to no importance placed on the answers unless the player says something offensive.

During the course of the Super Bowl, was anyone wondering if Von Miller wears boxers or briefs?  I don’t think so.  When we look back on the 2016 NFL Draft, we will very quickly forget what player x’s answer was to the inane questions of the Combine interview.  It won’t matter to anyone if a player can’t do anything with a paper clip other than put papers in it (Note: off the top of my head, I really can’t think of any way to use a paper clip besides the obvious one, so I wouldn’t judge a player if he’s stumped by this question, too).

On the other hand, if teams and talent evaluators really want to take these interviews seriously, they should ask more serious questions. The only people who can effect actual change to this process are the people who are asking the questions.  If the interrogation were much more serious and the inquiries much more professional, players would never be asked if they liked men or if they feel entitled because of their race.  These questions should never, ever be asked in the first place, but if the atmosphere surrounding the interview was much more professional, the thought of asking such dense and unintelligent questions would never come into the mind of those conducting the interviews.

When all of this is taken into account, though, let’s remember that this is a very serious matter.  An NFL player was asked a question about his sexual orientation as if there was a right or a wrong answer; there is no right or wrong answer to that question.  It is even more deplorable to think that if Apple gave the “wrong” answer to that question, his chances of being drafted into the league could decline.  (For the record, Apple answered “no”, but that shouldn’t matter here.

However, when we take the seriousness of this matter into account, it is only ironic that the anonymous Falcons employee who asked the question felt compelled to do so because of the relaxed, jokey atmosphere that surrounds the Combine.  The fact that an employee of an NFL team could ask a bigoted, hateful, useless (and, by the way, illegal) question of a potential employee should be a signal to the league that maybe the interviews need to be taken a little more seriously.  If they aren’t tightened up, we may see more incidents like this in the future, and while Apple seemed to take the question in stride, another prospect may not.

Which is why the NFL Combine interview may not be necessary at all.

Warning: article will touch on mature subject matter and violent themes that may be disturbing for some readers.

Johnny Manziel’s NFL career is in serious trouble.

This is not due to his on-field play; rather, it’s due to yet another off-field incident, one much more serious than all the others he’s amassed in his short college and NFL career.

News of this most recent incident was reported on by Dallas television station WFAA 8’s Rebecca Lopez.  These are the harrowing details:

The ex-girlfriend of NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel told police that the Heisman Trophy winner told her “shut up or I’ll kill us both” after forcing her into a car, hitting her, and dragging her by the hair.

On Thursday, News 8 learned harrowing details of last week’s alleged assault of Colleen Crowley by Manziel, who is currently on the Cleveland Browns roster, but is not expected to return next season.

This is easily the worst in the long line of Manziel incidents, ranging from fake ID to middle fingers to rehab to the first domestic dispute with his girlfriend and much, much more.  It’s obvious he has a lot of talent; he showed this throughout his college career and even in brief periods during the last two seasons in Cleveland.  However, his off-the-field exploits have always been his undoing, and anyone who knew about his problems in college could have foreseen a self-implosion at the professional level.

And the problem is, the people closest to him did.  This is what Johnny’s father, Paul, said in August 2013 in an ESPN article about how his son’s life could fall apart:

“Yeah,” Paul says one evening, driving in his car, “it could come unraveled. And when it does, it’s gonna be bad. Real bad.”

He imagines a late-night call, and the cable news ticker, and the next morning’s headlines.

“It’s one night away from the phone ringing,” he says, “and he’s in jail. And you know what he’s gonna say? ‘It’s better than all the pressure I’ve been under. This is better than that.'”

While one would hope that his statement would be proven untrue, Johnny came very close to fulfilling it last weekend.  And he’s not out of the woods yet: his ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, was granted a restraining order against him today.  Additionally, the Dallas Police Department announced Friday that it was opening a criminal investigation into the domestic violence and assault allegations.

So why have things gone so far off the rails for Manziel recently?

Well, the short answer to that question is that they always have been. Going back to his college days, there was a little bit of a wild side to him; this manifested itself in the way he played on Saturdays.  After missing the first half of Texas A&M’s 2013 home opener against Rice, he returned in the second half and did this:

While the Aggies won the game and eight more that season, the incident was firmly etched in the minds of many in the NFL and college football.  For some strange reason before then, however, he wanted to get out of College Station, sending (then deleting) this tweet from June 16, 2013:

Bulls— like tonight is a reason why I can’t wait to leave College Station… whenever it may be

In reality, though, this was probably one of his bigger mistakes.  Yes, he had gotten in trouble with the law and the NCAA, but football has always been the one constant in his life.  And quite frankly, let’s face it: Texas A&M enabled much of Manziel’s shenanigans since the time he arrived in College Station because they realized his talent.  For crying out loud, Manziel basically built them a new football stadium, made the university and athletic program a boatload of money and got almost nothing in return…. except a free pass on many of his transgressions.

That’s where this whole problem began.  If Texas A&M would have had more of a no-tolerance policy with Manziel, he may have realized the consequence of his actions a long time ago.  They could have suspended him for a full game or more for his NCAA violation in the summer of 2013.  They did not.  They could have suspended him in the wake of the fake ID incident the summer before that.  They did not.  They could have taken the opportunity to change Manziel for the better.  They did not.

Which is why the last thing he needs at the present moment is football.  His entire identity in life has been football; just look at his nickname.  Without the football, he’s just Johnny.  That is to say, he’s nothing.  I’m not saying this from the standpoint of actually knowing him personally, and I can’t pretend like I do.  However, I can say that Manziel needs some kind of wake-up call.  One that doesn’t involve football.

And at this point, it’s really a personal issue for him.  It was strictly a personal issue when he reported to rehab last winter to get himself clean; football was pushed to the backburner, as it should have been then and should be now.  His father says that he has turned down rehab twice in the past week.  He also says that “if they can’t get him help, he won’t live to see his 24th birthday.”  The problem with that comment, though, is that Paul Manziel is kinda sorta part of the problem here.

This is how I’ll put it: everyone has different parenting methods that work.  Parenting doesn’t seem to be a one-size-fits-all type of thing. But why on earth did Paul Manziel out his concerns through the press?  Has he even said these things to his own son’s face?  I understand that he is concerned about his son’s well-being, and he should be.  But if I was Johnny Manziel and my father said that for everyone to hear, I would not be happy.  At all.

Also, why does the elder Manziel talk about “they” when he talks about getting his son help?  Isn’t that responsibility on him and his family?  We’ve already established that the Browns are moving on from him; while they should help Manziel, they really have no professional obligation to do so, like they did last year.  And if none of his friends are going to intervene, then it’s up to Johnny Manziel’s family to help him.  It’s almost like his father doesn’t want to take any initiative in fixing his son’s problems.  While it should be up to Johnny to sober up, someone else in his life needs to help him realize this.  And at this point, it doesn’t look like that person is going to be Paul Manziel.

Obviously, Johnny Manziel needs a lot of help.  He needs to get his life turned around in the worst way.  If he doesn’t, it’s going to be bad. Real bad.

And maybe, just maybe, losing football will be the critical wake-up call he needs to get his life going in the positive direction.  Because his livelihood and well-being are what he needs more than the game or anything else right now.

The Pro Bowl may be the one exhibition game in professional sports that the players have no desire to participate in.

This has probably always been the case, but the players’ attitude toward this year’s game seems even more apathetic than in years past.

In actuality, think about the Pro Bowl as opposed to all other all-star games.  It’s the only one that takes place after the regular season, after sixteen games and seventeen weeks of the most grueling sport on the planet, one that causes most former players to have CTE, the disease that slowly but surely destroys the brain in those who sustain multiple concussions and sub-concussive impacts.  It also makes most players, especially those who made the playoffs, feel worn out and in need of a break from the game.  This was never more evident than in the amount of withdrawals from this year’s Pro Bowl.

This year, 133 players were invited to Hawaii to play in the game.  By my count, only 94 are actually making the trip, and the 133 invites set a new record for the amount of players who were asked to play.  The NFL has taken numerous measures to attempt to make the Pro Bowl more appealing to viewers, but it’s kind of hard to appeal to a viewing audience when you can’t even appeal to your own employees.

Among these measures is having Hall of Famers pick the teams for the game.  Instead of having an AFC vs. NFC format, the league decided to have legends such as Michael Irvin, Cris Carter, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders pick the teams.  This practice began in 2013, after years of Pro Bowl irrelevance.  Unsurprisingly, the presence of the former players changed approximately nothing in terms of the relevance of the contest.

What exactly is the problem with the game?  All you have to do is watch it for five minutes and you’ll see.  It just isn’t played like a regular game; it isn’t physical in the least and the players who are playing in the game really don’t give it much of an effort.  If you want one sequence to serve as a microcosm for what the game has become, you need to look no further than this play in the 2013 game, when referee Ed Hochuli set the record straight on how the game was being played:

“Yes, there are penalties in the Pro Bowl.”  Truer words have never been spoken.  I hate to say it, but the game has become soft, which is certainly a far cry from when the late great Sean Taylor temporarily ended the life of Bills punter Brian Moorman.

Football is the last sport in the world that can be described as soft, so watching the Pro Bowl is essentially not like watching real football. However, the MLB All-Star Game is not exactly like a real baseball game; the same is true with the NBA All-Star Game.  So why is the Pro Bowl so much more irrelevant than the exhibitions of other sports?

It’s simple; the players aren’t interested.  Eli Manning is starting the game for Team Rice, and while he is one of the best quarterbacks in football (don’t get me started on that one), he isn’t one of the two best available quarterbacks for the game.  The fact that players competing in the Super Bowl cannot play thins the talent pool some, but you can still find two quarterbacks better than Eli Manning.  This is a byproduct of the withdrawals of Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer and others.

The other reason why the Pro Bowl struggles is because the game just isn’t that fun.  While you can tell that LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant don’t care all that much about the NBA All-Star Game, they actually make the game more fun by attempting more entertaining plays, like some of these from last year’s contest:

The NBA players do not take the game seriously, but that is part of what makes it an enjoyable watch.  The other enjoyable part of the NBA and MLB All-Star proceedings has nothing to do with the games themselves; rather, the most enjoyable things about these games have to be the skills contests.  Baseball has the Home Run Derby, which is one of the best events on the sport’s calendar.  It gets all of the great players of the game in one place and creates another night of fun for fans of the sport during the All-Star break.  And, the NBA, of course, has Saturday Night of All-Star weekend all to itself.  The Three-Point Contest, Skills Contest and Slam Dunk Contest have the same effect as the Home Run Derby; they give the players a stage all to themselves to do things we wouldn’t see during games.  All-Star Saturday night is one of the great events in sports, and it’s something that the NFL could have… if the league wanted it.

The NFL could have the players engage in some type of skills contest before the game.  The idea of holding some type of punt, pass, and kick contest with professional players could be a good idea.  Moving the NFL Honors show, which presently occurs the night before the Super Bowl, to the night before the Pro Bowl, would make more players go to the game the next day; however, holding an awards show in Hawaii might be a challenge.

Or, the NFL could do what I think is the best idea of all, which would be to just get rid of the game altogether.  This is what Greg Bedard wrote for Sports Illustrated in a roundtable about improving the game:

Get rid of it. No one cares and it stinks. Look, football isn’t baseball, basketball or hockey, where you can have an all-star break in the middle of the season and the game might loosely resemble the real product. The injury risk is too high. Combine that with the fact that the true stars of the game never actually go, and exactly what are we trying to accomplish here? The lone possible alternative would be some sort of combination of Battle of the Network Stars, MTV’s The Challenge and a skills competition. All-star games are cool for one reason: All the best players are in the same place at the same time. I don’t care if it’s for a dinner party at midfield at Aloha Stadium—find something that can do that for NFL players.

He’s right.  The NFL needs to find a way to get all of its players together in the same place.  Until they do, we as fans will continue to be wholly disinterested in the Pro Bowl.

And we’ll be wondering why it even exists at all.

Four teams remain in the NFL playoffs after last week’s Divisional Round saw all four games decided by seven or fewer points.  The New England Patriots, synthetic weed, left behind K-Balls and all,  defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20, en route to their fifth-straight AFC title game.  In the other half of the conference, the Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-13, but in particularly ugly fashion, as this play shows:

Peyton goes down, Peyton gets up, Peyton completes pass. Does not appear to be touched on the 2nd view pic.twitter.com/6eVqjZS3PU

— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) January 18, 2016

Nonetheless, the Broncos won, setting up Brady-Manning XVII, likely the final meeting between the two Hall of Famers.

On the NFC side, the Arizona Cardinals struggled their way to a 20-13 lead over the Green Bay Packers, but due to horrid clock (mis)management, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense had one last chance to tie the game and send it into overtime.  What happened next is nothing short of indescribable:

Then, of course, there was the coin that didn’t flip, and the Cardinals got the ball first in overtime. That’s when Larry Fitzgerald got to work, in a big way, catching two passes, one for 75 yards and the winner from five yards out:

Game on the line? Presenting Larry Fitzgerald…FOR THE WIN! #GBvsAZ#BeRedSeeRedhttps://t.co/GZoknPvs52

— NFL (@NFL) January 17, 2016

In the other NFC game, the Carolina Panthers jumped out to a 31-0 halftime lead over the Seattle Seahawks.  Seattle would come back to bring the game within seven, but would not get any closer.  Was it an entertaining game? Sure, but nothing like the spectacle that was Packers-Cardinals.

In any event, here is a preview of the two conference title games.

AFC Championship: Patriots at Broncos

The clear undercard to the NFC Championship Game, this game still features intriguing storylines.  However, the biggest question in this one will be if Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense can keep pace with the high-flying, and now fully healthy, Patriots offense.  If the answer is, by some bizarre revelation, yes, then we are in for an outstanding game.  If this answer is the more likely solution, no, then things could get out of hand, and quickly.

Manning’s health and his steep decline have been well-documented, and the latter was fully on display against the Steelers.  His lack of arm strength and his inability to fit the ball into tight windows has been his, and the Broncos offense’s, downfall all season long, and at this point, the team should seriously consider turning to Brock Osweiler.  It’s a shame, but Denver’s offense is limited by Manning at this point.  The rest of the team is good enough to win a Super Bowl, but the most important position on the field is in flux.

On the other hand, the Patriots offense is far from being in flux.  With the greatest quarterback in the history of football and his full assemblage of weapons fully healthy, the team and the offensive unit are looking more and more dangerous as time goes on.

Also, the most important Patriot offensive player not named Brady or Gronkowski is back, too.  Julian Edelman, who missed seven games due to a foot injury suffered in November, announced his presence in a big way against the Chiefs, racking up 111 total yards and ten catches.  He’s Brady’s favorite target, too: he’s averaged over ten targets per game, more than any other New England receiver (including Gronk).

Here are some stats to show just why Edelman is the second-most important player in the Patriots offense:

	WITH EDELMAN	WITHOUT EDELMAN
PASS YARDS PER GAME	323.5	236.3
TOTAL YARDS PER GAME	410.8	317.6
POINTS PER GAME	33	23.1

(Statistics courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference)

It will be the task of the Broncos defense to stop the Patriots.  It’s something they were able to do in the first meeting of the teams in week 12, but in that game, the Patriots were missing Edelman and Danny Amendola; also, Gronkowski left the game in the fourth quarter with what looked to be a serious knee injury.  Luckily, it wasn’t.

And for the Patriots, they’ll have their full cast of offensive characters this Sunday.  Look out.

The Pick: Patriots 31, Broncos 13

NFC Championship: Cardinals at Panthers

I have been torn on this game since about Monday.  While both teams are as good as any in football, they both showed their flaws last weekend.  For example, the Panthers’ flaw has to be allowing teams back into games, while the Cardinals’ flaw is offensive inconsistency, especially when quarterback Carson Palmer struggles.  However, the one I’d have to be much more concerned with is that of Carolina.

Did you know that the Panthers have almost blown five fourth-quarter leads this season?  Granted, that’s out of fifteen wins, and the team still has the best point differential in the NFL (+192; the Cardinals are second at +176), this is staggering and very concerning, especially when you consider that Carolina nearly blew a 31-point halftime lead to the Seahawks a week ago.  The team has a tendency to start strong and then tail off, but that strategy isn’t going to cut it against Arizona this week.

Statistically, the Cardinals have the best offense in football, but the more impressive and important statistic is that their defense was the fifth-best in football during the regular season.  Just as importantly, their defense is top ten in both rushing and passing yards allowed, which is going to be very important as the team tries to defend dual-threat quarterback and soon-to-be-MVP Cam Newton.

However, the most important thing of all for the Cardinals will be to get running back David Johnson going.  Johnson has started every game at running back for the Cardinals since primary, lucky-to-be-alive running back Chris Johnson suffered a fractured tibia in week 12 against the 49ers.  The team has won every game in which David has accumulated over 100 all-purpose yards.  He hasn’t reached that mark since playing the Packers in week 16, and he was mostly held in check against the Packers in the Divisional Round.  If the Cardinals want to go to the Super Bowl, they’ll need their running back to have a big day.

Another thing to watch with this one is the weather.  While the actual weather for Sunday will be favorable, a storm is hitting the Carolinas Friday and Saturday.  The reason why I’m mentioning this is that the field for Sunday’s game may be glorified mud, which probably means advantage Panthers.

However, despite the weather and Newton, I’m going with the upset and taking the Cardinals.  This game will hopefully be a classic, and the gap between the teams really is not wide.  I’m most concerned about the Panthers’ fourth-quarter habit, but especially if they start slowly and don’t pull out to their usual lead.

This one really could go either way, but the Cardinals will win in a close one.

The Pick: Cardinals 23, Panthers 20

Enjoy the games, and for those on the east coast, stay safe in the upcoming blizzard.

Well, I hope you like it, anyway.  The NFL Playoffs are finally upon us, and that means two of the best weekends on the sports calendar are upon us as well.  Wild Card Weekend and Divisional Playoff Weekend are coming, and with those come eight NFL playoff games.  Those eight start with four this weekend, each providing unique intrigue and scintillating storylines.

This post will only examine the Wild Card games.  Other playoff game previews will be potentially saved for other entries.  So let’s get right to it.  Here are previews for each Wild Card Game.

Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans

The Kansas City Chiefs enter January as the NFL’s hottest team, having won their last nine games after a disappointing 1-5 start. Against what team did the only win in their first six games come?  The Houston Texans, the same team they have to play on Saturday.

Both teams, however, are far different than they were in that September 13 meeting, one that resulted in a 27-20 Chiefs victory. Different in the sense that they both lost their star running backs to season-ending injuries and both started their seasons in sub-par fashion before figuring things out toward a run to the second season.

While the Chiefs started 1-5 and looked done with ten games to play, the Texans started 2-6 and looked buried after a 44-26 loss to the Dolphins (Houston was down 41-0 at halftime).  Now, they’re unbelievably matching up in a playoff game.

The matchup to watch this time around would definitely have to be the Chiefs’ altered running game against the defensive line of the Texans.  Can some combination of Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware make strides against a Texan defense that ranked top 10 in the league in rushing yards allowed?  More importantly, can the Chiefs’ offensive line find a way to handle J.J. Watt and his disruptive ability to get to the quarterback?  And can Watt and the Houston defense make vastly underrated Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith look like a Red Ryder BB Gun?

While the Chiefs are on a ten-game winning streak and the Law of Averages says that this must end eventually, they’re still as hot as any team in the NFL.  The Texans used four quarterbacks over the course of the season, but they have theirs healthy.  However, Brian Hoyer doesn’t make the same impact on the game as Smith.  The Texans need a lot of different things to happen to win this game, too many to put faith in them to win it.

The Pick: Chiefs 24, Texans 14

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Speaking of quarterback problems, the Bengals have their own quasi-quarterback issue brought about by injury.  Andy Dalton went down with a broken thumb in the team’s December 13 game against- you guessed it- the Steelers.  In his place stepped notoriously arrogant but wildly efficient backup A.J. McCarron, and the team has won two games under his leadership, and a third in Denver went to overtime. McCarron still has yet to throw an interception in any of his starts, and his ability to protect the ball will be huge, especially considering the offensive firepower the Steelers possess.

Pittsburgh, however, comes into January decimated.  Arguably the team’s best player, running back Le’Veon Bell tore his MCL against the Bengals on November 1 (parallels, again).  Backup running back DeAngelo Williams has been effective in his stead but he suffered an ankle injury in last week’s game against the Browns.  He was ruled out for this game, and the Steelers will lean on the combination of Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman on Saturday night.  We all know about the greatness of Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger, but the task of stopping the Pittsburgh offense will undoubtedly be easier without Bell or Williams.

Sure, the Bengals are using a backup quarterback.  But the Steelers secondary is… not that good.  Ranking 30th in the league in pass defense, the Cincinnati offense can move the ball against it if they don’t commit turnovers and have a balanced attack.  The Pittsburgh rush defense is much better (5th in the league) but the story here will be the passing game. If McCarron can move the ball (and I think he will), it could spell death for the Steelers.

So while Pittsburgh boasts an amazing, albeit decimated, offense and a solid defense in areas, this will be the upset of Wild Card Weekend.

The Pick: Bengals 26, Steelers 21

This game might be the most interesting one of the weekend.  The Seattle Seahawks are coming off of their usual second-half run to end the regular season, while the Minnesota Vikings just won their first NFC North championship since 2009.  Oh, and its going to be really cold.  Like, zero degree cold.

In any event, task number one, two, three, four, and five for the Minnesota Viking defense will be stopping Russell Wilson.  The Seahawks’ quarterback is coming off the best season of his young career and was playing about as well as any quarterback in the league (even Cam Newton) to end the season.  The Vikings are going to have to contain his running and passing, a tall task for a defense that is middle of the road in both categories.

As for the Vikings’ offense, it’s going to have to run through Adrian Peterson.  Also, a good, mistake-free game from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater wouldn’t hurt, either.  But, they’ll be going against a Seahawks defense that ranked second in passing and first in rushing this year.  Good luck.

Even though there will be no Beast Mode for the Seahawks on Sunday, I still like them to win.

The Pick: Seahawks 20, Vikings 12

Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins

The Green Bay Packers are broken.  After a 6-0 start, the team finished 4-6 and lost out on a division crown last week in a frustrating loss to the Vikings.  Aaron Rodgers hasn’t had a 300-yard game since mid-November.  Since then, the team has had losses at home to the Bears, last week’s game and a road thrashing at the hands of the Cardinals in week 16.  They’re actually pretty good on the road, with an even record at home as on the road.

But they’re going to need to have a great game on Sunday to beat the Washington Redskins, and that team is going in the opposite direction.  Since an excruciating week 13 loss to the Cowboys, Washington has won four games in a row and come into the playoffs at 9-7 and hot.  Kirk Cousins has played exceptionally well since week 7.  That game against Tampa Bay is now known for this:

Since “You like that”, Cousins has thrown for 23 touchdowns and three interceptions.  He’s also made us forget about Robert Griffin III.

If the Packers are going to beat the Redskins on Sunday, they need more from Rodgers against a defense that can be had.  The Skins’ defense ranks 28th in yards this season, while the Packers are 15th.  If the Packers can move the ball consistently through the air, they can and probably will win this one.  If not, take the Redskins.  That’s what I’m doing, and I like that.

The Pick: Redskins 28, Packers 17

As always, enjoy the games and have a great Wild Card Weekend!

Rarely is this ever said about the NFL’s disciplinary decisions, but they actually got something right Monday.

Yes, they suspended a player, and, in a rare occurrence, they even got the length of time of the suspension exactly right (when has that happened in the last ten years?).  What they did was suspend star Giants’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. one game for his ridiculousness during the Giants’ 38-35 loss to the still-undefeated Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

This whole story started with the build-up to the much-anticipated matchup between Carolina Panthers’ cornerback Josh Norman and Beckham.  It would be a collision of arguably the two best players at their respective positions in the NFL right now, and you could probably gather that there would be some bad blood between the parties.  Of course, when there is such a highly-anticipated matchup, there is naturally going to be some ill-will, and indeed there was on Sunday.

It started seemingly from the get-go, and Norman was the one who actually instigated the initial scuffling.  His throwdown of the star receiver is what initially garnered the attention of the fans, referees, and even the FOX broadcast.  After that, it was only 99.9% Beckham’s fault.  You can watch an NFL-made highlight video of the matchup here; embedding the video from YouTube is not allowed by request of the maker of the video (the NFL).

Anyway, Beckham was the guilty party on just about every play.  It looked as if he was so rattled by Norman and the Panther defense that he was really more worried about getting his shots in against Norman and others when the play was over than running his route and trying to make a play during game action.  But that isn’t even the problem, here, actually, it’s far from it.

OBJ’s actions on the field Sunday weren’t just about a man simply losing his damn mind.  They were seriously dangerous, and Norman, Beckham or anyone else playing for either team could have been severely injured as a result of his actions.

You can see if you watch the video that Beckham threw multiple punches on Norman and even, on one play flew in like a missile, led with the crown of his helmet, and kinda sorta tried to decapitate the Panthers’ corner.  That play and two others led to 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalties against the Giants, but none of those plays or any of the other reckless and stupid ones led to ejection.

And that is the mistake of the officials working the game.  Terry McAulay and his crew missed several surefire penalties over the course of the afternoon, and if they had gotten control of the game and Beckham earlier, most of the shenanigans that occurred between the two probably would not have happened in the first place.  Once they did, however, there should have been no other course of action than to eject OBJ.  So how did this start, other than with the matchup and the crazy hype?

Supposedly, if you ask the Giants, it started with homophobic slurs directed at the wide receiver.  And according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, this isn’t just their best guess; they’re convinced and may even do something about it:

Giants reviewed pregame incidents b/n Panthers players and Beckham. Are convinced he was threatened physically and called homophobic slurs

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) December 21, 2015

If that is true, that is a truly abhorrent action on the part of the Panther players.  If it isn’t, it makes Beckham’s actions that much less understandable, as if they were at all in the first place; as Bob Seger would say, “He (Beckham) had lost all control.”

Another potential provocation for the Giants’ star came in an unexpected form: a baseball bat.  In a video posted to Instagram by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, Josh Norman is seen clearly wielding a black baseball bat.  Glazer also describes a threat made by a Panthers practice squad player directly to Beckham:

Video: One of reasons sources say OBJ went ballistic was threat from Panthers player in street clothes with a baseball bat on field. Player then gave bat to Josh Norman.

A video posted by @jayglazer on Dec 21, 2015 at 11:39am PST

If those are the real reasons why OBJ completely lost his mind on Sunday, well…. maybe you could justify his anger at the Panther players.  If he felt threatened in any way by anyone on the Panthers and felt the need at all times to defend himself, it’s possible to justify his actions.  But, according to injured cornerback Bene Benwikere, the team uses a baseball bat before every game as a symbol of home run plays and “laying the wood”, and not as a symbol of mass destruction:

Come on now my boys carry the bat with them as it symbolizes my presence still being with them at the game and the NFL has a problem???

— Bené Benwikere (@BigPlayBene) December 21, 2015

I carried the bat out the tunnel against Atlanta and my teammates held it during warm ups that game to pic.twitter.com/SQTcIy8mrF

— Bené Benwikere (@BigPlayBene) December 21, 2015

Basically, this has gotten to the point of being he said, he said.  If Benwikere’s side of the story is true, then Beckham got too caught up in the game, the matchup, or whatever and just lost his damn mind. If the Giants’ side of the story is correct, then there is some justification for what Beckham did, but even then, his actions put people in danger and that is unacceptable no matter what happened before or during the game.

All this being said, the NFL absolutely got it right here; Beckham needed to be suspended, and even though he is a marketable star player in the league’s biggest market, he had to be disciplined for what he did to the entire Panthers team, his own team, and even himself through his stupidity on Sunday.  The NFL’s discipline of Beckham in this scenario is absolutely necessary, whether he’s the best receiver in football or the fifth receiver on the league’s worst team.

So, for once, the NFL’s handling of a star player’s transgressions should be applauded.