Tag: sports

Aaron Rodgers’s heroics notwithstanding, I think the Pack’s run stops here. They were one strip sack from going out last week, and the Dallas rush didn’t put anywhere nearly as much pressure on him as the Falcons will. The Vikings showed the way to contain and control Rodgers, and the Falcons have the same sort of speed and power in their front seven that the Vikings do. And the Packers defense does not match up well with the powerful Falcons attack, so I don’t think it will be particularly close.

New England-Pittsburgh will be a good game, but I expect Brady to continue his dominance there. I expect Belichick to let Bell get his yards, but shut down the Steeler passing game.

My prediction for the Super Bowl remains what it was before the playoffs. New England-Atlanta, with Brady and Belichick claiming one more ring together.

Yesterday went as expected. Atlanta walked over Seattle and New England had no trouble with Houston. Today, I think Dallas will run over the Green Bay defense and keep the ball out of Aaron Rodgers’s lethal hands enough to win. No idea about Pittsburgh vs Kansas City, except that if it’s close late, Mike Tomlin will manage the clock better than Andy Reid.

UPDATE: Wow! Incredible play by Rodgers, both to not fumble the ball on the sack, then to hit Cook to set up the game-winning field goal. But the game was lost, not won, by the Dallas coaching staff. I couldn’t BELIEVE it when they downed the ball on 1-and-10, then didn’t run the ball twice when facing third-and-3.

If you don’t play to win in the playoffs, chances are you’re going to lose. And Jason Garrett did not play to win. What on EARTH was he thinking, to give the ball back to Aaron Rodgers with 35 seconds and two time outs in a tie game?

Seahawks-Falcons. Seattle has the pedigree, but Atlanta has been the quietly good team this year, their loss to the Vikings notwithstanding. I’d expect Atlanta to win without too much difficulty.

After watching parts of two nearly unwatchable wildcard games yesterday, I feel more strongly than ever that it is time to go back to the 14-game regular season and eight playoff teams.

I understand there is, for the time being, more money to be made from 16 games and 12 teams. But once something peaks, it either contracts sensibly in a cyclical manner or it collapses. The NFL should be thinking long term, as the demographic trends are against it, the quarterback-development breakdown in the NCAA is against it, and everything points to contraction eventually being the order of the day.

Not every move the Goodell-era NFL has been made is bad. The concussion protocol is sensible, the eight four-team divisions are great, and the emphasis on the divisional rivalries has helped maintain interest beyond the largely meaningless scramble for the last two playoff spots. Does it really matter who the two sacrificial lambs are when they only have a chance if the other team is starting its untested third-string quarterback?

If Goodell wants to really put his stamp on the game in a positive manner, he’ll focus on making the game stronger rather than mindlessly chasing dollars until the entire edifice collapses. The problem is that the NFL is still thinking in terms of expansion when the situation has changed and they should be thinking in terms of maintaining what they have.

This will serve as today’s wildcard-round post. One hopes the games will be better than yesterday’s.

A little late on this one. Houston is up over Oakland sans Carr.

This is the weekly NFL open thread

Remember when Ronda Rousey claimed she was good enough to not only fight Floyd Mayweather, but beat him? That was every bit as dumb as everyone who knows anything about women’s martial arts capabilities said it was at the time:

Ronda Rousey was once again pummeled by a striker and lost her second consecutive bout. The former women’s bantamweight champion was completely outclassed in the striking game by Amanda Nunes, who stopped Rousey at 48 seconds of the first round to retain her women’s bantamweight championship in the main event of UFC 207 at T-Mobile Arena.

Nunes landed a big right just seconds into the fight that clearly hurt Rousey, who was fighting for the first time since a stunning defeat at the hands of Holly Holm on Nov. 14, 2015.

Rousey tried to throw punches with Nunes, but she had nothing to offer. Nunes was blistering her with combinations, hitting her with virtually everything she threw.

As I said at the time, Rousey not only couldn’t last a round with Floyd, she couldn’t last a round with me. Even trained women are weaker than 13 year-old-boys, they’re much slower than 13-year-old boys, and they don’t take punches as well.

Remember that. Every time you talk about how the latest female fighter du jour can take on a champion boxer or whoever, you’re essentially claiming that a really tough 11-year-old can beat the man. It’s not merely wrong to do so, it’s stupid and dangerous.

And notice that Nunes landed 23 of 35 strikes on a largely defenseless Rousey, but still didn’t put her down.

Word is that AD is back. Frankly, I’d prefer he’d stay out for the rest of the season and get completely healthy, but as this might be his last one in purple, it will be nice to see him play.