
The Los Angeles Rams visit New Orleans to play the Saints for the NFC Championship and the George Halas Trophy at 3:05 p.m. EST. Then the New England Patriots head to Kansas City to face the Chiefs for the AFC Championship and the Lamar Hunt Trophy at 6:40 p.m. Winners meet in the Super Bowl two weeks later. Let's do this.
1 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I think the AFC game will be higher scoring than expected, while the NFC game will be lower scoring than expected.
AFC: Chiefs 35, Patriots 27
NFC: Saints 28, Rams 20
2 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Eams 40 Dsints 34
Pafes 27 Cgiefs 37
3 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Reams - 27, Aints - 24
Chefs - 34, Hatriots - 26
10 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Isn't the great hat riot of '26 something Grandpa Simpson remembers from time to time?
11 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
We were all wearing bagels on our heads -- which was the style at the time -- …
18 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
A lesser known forerunner of the zoot suit riot.
4 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Someone toss that whistler idiot out of the stadium before millions of people turn off the game.
5 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
If Aikman and Buck haven't made you shoot your TV in a rage, I don't know that a lone whistler will
6 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
We've had years of experience to inure us to Aikman and Buck, though. The whistler is new.
7 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Maybe the Saints can replicate their 18 play drive from last weekend, and keep the whistler quiet that way.
12 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
https://deadspin.com/the-fan-who-keeps-whistling-during-rams-saints-is-impre-1831910801
13 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Apparently it's a known fellow, who might not be alone: https://deadspin.com/the-fan-who-keeps-whistling-during-rams-saints-is-impre-1831910801
ETA: LOL
145 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I read that as “known felon”.
8 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Wow, the Saints dominated almost that entire half, but suddenly it's a three point game and LA gets the ball first after halftime.
9 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Rams, First 28 minutes: 85 yards
Final 2 minutes: 81 yards
14 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Weak. Should have gone for it
15 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I agree. Now they're forced to prevent NO from scoring any points.
I understand that if you fail you're in a bad situation, but probably you give your defense a lot more room to work with to get the ball back.
16 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
In the air I thought Joyner had a better chance to catch that than Ginn.
17 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
What? That's blatant DPI, but the refs ate their whistles and flags.
19 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
There was that earlier third down play where it seemed like the Rams could've been flagged too. New Orleans would've likely got a FG on that drive if the call goes the other way.
21 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I don’t know how it could have been more blatant. Whoever missed that call should be fired tonight.
22 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
They’ve been doing it all game.
Pretty egregious, though.
54 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
So the refs were using "Baltimore defenders" DPI rules. They could maul receivers all day and no flag was thrown.
20 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Letting players play is one thing. That should have been DPI, or, even 15 yards for helmet to helmet. That is surely the kind of thing, inside the final 2 minutes, that should be overturnable by league office replay officials.
24 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Yeah. I get that some things are judgment calls, and that certain penalties may be missed by an official who isn’t watching a particular player or doesn’t have the right angle, but that one...that’s the worst missed call I’ve ever seen. There needs to be a mechanism to correct something that egregious.
28 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Or an official who has money on the Rams.
I have no skin in this game, but that was WWE level stuff. That hit is probably a penalty under modern rules even if the WR had been carrying the ball. That no-call was SO bad that I have trouble ascribing it to stupidity, and am forced to seriously consider the possibility of malice.
32 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Don't think there's any need for that. The referees are incentivized to swallow their whistles in big moments because they don't want to be part of the story. Even in this game, you can see how it works. Yes, that blown call will be a big story, but a lot of the stuff that happened afterwards, such as that Brees pick, will be huge headlines. If they make a call and it's bad the other way (shouldn't have been called), they are the biggest headline.
40 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
There is no world in which any official would have received criticism for blowing the whistle on that DPI.
44 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I'm not talking about that individual call, I'm talking about the general tendency to swallow the whistles in high leverage situations. Obviously they didn't want to blamed for flipping the outcome, which is likely what will happen today. But this was an extreme case. Usually the call is more borderline and the tendency to swallow whistles works out just fine for the refs.
56 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Sometimes, there's terrible calls (or no-calls) because the refs had limited vision on the play, or they realize they botched it but replay isn't conclusive, or a bad rule is correctly enforced. These things happen.
Then sometimes there's committing four different penalties with one flying leap at a receiver, along the sidelines, and not getting a flag. That's genuine Tim Donaghy level stuff.
171 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
They could beef up the centralized HQ operation in the same way that soccer leagues do with VAR. Allow the retired official watching the replay feed to buzz for clear screw-ups that are obvious in real time. Only until the next play starts, so there's no room for micro analysis of frame by frame Zapruder film antics, but if anyone would overturn the call within five seconds, there should be that opportunity.
Of course, they'd have to beef up the payroll so that there is an authority watching the real time feeds rather than an intern.
23 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Now probably overtime. They are better than they used to be, but the OT rules are still pretty bad. You should never have an enormous swing in win percentage on a literal coin flip.
30 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Is it a big swing, though? Sure you lose the game if you allow a touchdown, but if you don't you now have the advantage of knowing what you need to win the game. Wouldn't shock me if that turned out to be a fair tradeoff...
I mean how often do teams score from their own 20?
35 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
No way, except in a very defensive game. Remember, if the two teams exchange FGs, the team that got the ball still has the same enormous advantage of getting the ball first needing only a score to win. More importantly, while teams do score on drives from their own 25 fairly often, that's not the point. Even a low chance is huge because the other team never gets a chance to respond.
42 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That said, a blind coaches auction is fair, fun and way more interesting.
59 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Its at like 53% win for the winner of the toss (when ties are removed) since they changed the rules. So definitely not a big swing. With ties in its something like 46-10-44
25 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I get not wanting to throw the flag that decides the championship game. But how about not wanting to NOT throw the flag that decides the championship game?
27 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
They're just setting it up so the blatant away team bias doesn't look so blatant for the pats next game
31 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That actually makes sense, which is just typical.
46 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I thought the Pats angle would be that this was a blatant effort by the refs so the Pats wouldn't have to face Brees in the Super Bowl.
26 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
This game should be over already.
Terrible job by the officials today. The no-call on the DPI was an extension of their policy all day to ignore penalties.
83 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Similar to the Giants- 49ers playoff game way back when.
Would be funny if McVay just went "Bummer" like Mariucci when he's asked about the call.
29 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
WTH, what a weird pick. In the air I didn't think there was any chance the defender would have it since he was on his back. The pass had to go to exactly the right place for him to have a chance.
33 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Rams didn't deserve to win that
111 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
They beat New Orleans in New Orleans.
That’s a house of horrors even for the Pats
And apparently without a healthy Gurley.
179 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
They won because of blatant non-calls of DPI.
34 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Holy cow - what a kick! That would've been good from 70 - easy!
37 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
And was even a bad snap
62 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Both kicks were high pressure and high degree of difficulty
74 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
True - the kicker may've led the team in WPA.
*insert joke about the line judge actually leading the Rams i WPA*
36 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Alright, well that was distinctly dissatisfying from a neutral perspective.
52 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Yeah. Doubly disappointing because it had been quite a fun game for the neutral until the referees really messed up. There were plenty of things that could have been called, but not sure any others that really must be called. Been watching this since the 80s and that would have been a pretty blatant DPI as long as I can remember.
38 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Imagine that. The referees decided the game. NFL is corrupt. Like everything else. Tom Brady GOAT.
39 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Alright rams win, maybe it comes with an asterik. Lets see who they play, pats or chiefs.
48 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Oh, it'll be made certain that they get to lose to NE.
64 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
It did feel like karmic retribution for the Saints-Vikings NFC champ game.
And I do so enjoy watching Payton get that stupid smug smirk wiped from his face.
41 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Wow.
To quote Al Gore: “ You win some, you lose some... and then there’s that little known third category...”
43 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
N.E.- 34 K.C. 27
45 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Totally forgot to put my LAR vs NO picks, please believe I called LAR 24 NO 21
47 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Wow. Saints got hosed biggly by the refs.
49 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
The CFL has had pass interference as a reviewable call for a number of years.
I've been expecting the NFL to follow suit for a while now. Wouldn't be surprised if after this game, it's introduced in the NFL in the next couple of years.
The PI - no PI calls are usually easier to assess on review than catch - no catch. Either the guy's early or he's not. Avoids both situations like today's game and phantom PI calls.
57 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Honestly, all judgment calls should be reviewable. Some coaches don't like this (Exhibit A: Mike Tomlin) because it would slow the pace of the game, but they would still have to throw a challenge flag, and they only have 2 challenges, with 3 if they get the 2 others right, so the pace of the game wouldn't be seriously affected. Hell, you can challenge if the ball got tipped at the line, which nullifies all PI calls.
63 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Frankly, I'm of the opinion that the Refs should be able to review any play they're not sure of, and coaches should be able to challenge whatever they want until they run out of timeouts, and then get hit with a delay of game penalty if they're wrong on a challenge when they're out of timeouts.
Screw pace of game - obviously wrong calls are a much bigger problem.
181 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That's a good suggestion.
Play's only really disrupted when the play is really close. In which case, why not try to get it right?
That Saints - Ram play wouldn't have taken 30 seconds to review and correct.
67 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
The NFL won't ever do that. It would make it too hard to fix games.
50 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
The NFL will release a statement tomorrow that says, "We didn't do anything wrong, and we won't do it again."
51 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
In this press conference Payton said that the league office already admitted to him the call was blown.
53 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Pats with a long td drive, taking up 8 minutes
55 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Who is announcing this KC-NE game? Is is Belichick's mother? One normally has to tune into the Hallmark channel to see devotionals this passionate.
60 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Jim Nantz is insufferable when calling Pats games.
58 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
About time the KC defense did something
61 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Nice job by the lineman there - terrible throw though - at least 5 feet short of where it should have been. Hopefully Brady gets that crap out of his system early.
65 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Brady with the Roethlisberger style endzone INT.
75 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Yes! Spooky how similar that play was.
66 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Well, guess my prediction was dead wrong. NE looks like a different team these last two weeks. KC defdnse looks terrible, and they're going to get tired quickly at this rate.
68 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Still just 7-0. Rams started down 13-0 and with a little zebra help, came all the way back.
69 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
When I look at any QB going backwards, I always HOPE that they get sacked for loss. This time, it happened, Mahomes knocked his team out of FG range, and just because a QB decided to run backwards and got sacked, I'm happy.
70 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Tom was pretty meh in that half. Apart from that, it felt like of the most complete halves of football I can recall from the Pats, and I've been watching since 1995 or so. Wow! Similar to the 2004 Divisional win over Indy, but that was at home...
71 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Total domination by the pats and only up 2 scores against the top offense of 2018. I think that gets erased pretty quickly in the second half.
72 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I might be proven 100% wrong in 2nd half but as stated (a # of times previously) I mentioned
this kid (said by media as the greatest) Mahomes would el-foldo & when I questioned
his abilities in a big game....well.... I was called every name in the book...even a racist.
I said he wouldn't be able to handle (or pre-read) the A and/or B gap blitzs & that would
show his inaccuracy, which, so far, it sure has.
We shall see in 2nd half but I stand by my previous statements (which are easily read in
past posts).....Mahomes handles a normal/prevent/even just a "usual" defense, but
once he has to make split second decisions, he'll overthrow/etc. & so far he's proven me
right.
(now here comes the haters)
73 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Yes, when you shit post nonsense you get replies pointing this out.
Those aren’t “haters” and you aren’t a master troll. You’re just making a fool of yourself.
194 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
funny tho ain't it...that (like Romo) I kinda was calling it right...( he never did
handle those blitz's-I said it'd happen & it did..Romo was calling plays ahead
of time on air)...but that becomes a "sjhtpost & nonsense"...even when right...btw,
while you are defending said QB.....the game is won if Mahomes had the sense to
NOT get sacked (3pt differential) in FG territory in first half...but hey, lets not start
wi/that...its raysist
also, 2nd half, they never did much, other than complete swing passes/screens and especially
*get penalties* in 2nd half...I stand by my posts and KC is doing the same....standing 'n
stayin home this SB because of this QB
In his defense he played hard & his OC *finally* gave him plays that were perfect
for A&B gap/zero blitz's (swing pass/screens) but he also didn't have the mental
dexterity to adjust/see it/pre-read most of the game, thus KC losing at home, when
it should've never lost...NE had a marginal defense at best
But all these *facts* don't matter to those who can't comprehend football 'n
just start stating things 'n playin the raysist card....never fails
76 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I called you a racist because you said that black QBs all have the same "character flaw." I even asked you to explain yourself better before doing so, because it's not like I enjoy insulting people.
193 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
but you failed to point out that I brought up caucasian qb's wi/same faults...thus reverse
racism perhaps?
78 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Bro that whole spiel did not age well in only 15 minutes.
81 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
“Mahomes is a fraud and big-game choker because he struggled early with double A-gap pressure!”
New York Giants seen chuckling to themselves.
147 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
In some cultures, a man who so dishonored himself in such a public fashion could only commit seppuku.
77 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
The heck, Hill?! Why you go backwards?! That, plus the flag means they are pinned way too close to the endzone.
79 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Mahomes really is exciting in a very unusual way. I guess this is what it must've felt like to watch young Brett Favre.
183 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Agreed.
He mostly seems meh on 1st and 2nd downs, at least at this stage in his career, and then you wait for the fireworks on 3rd down. It's well worth the wait.
80 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Ok, at least they are calling PIs in this game.
82 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
The Chiefs just can't get a guy on the RB coming out of the backfield.
84 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
So, they ignored their best extremely short yardage runner in Tom Brady with the QB Sneak and went with a base run. Neat.
85 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Edelman ... ignore the punted ball please. Those don't bounce how you want them. Never.
86 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
At least he didn’t touch it. But the refs already screwed up one game today. How about two?
Edit: hey, they got it right. Surprise.
88 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
It was RAZOR close, but they got it right for a change.
92 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I'm not sure I agree. There's no evidence that the ball didn't touch his thumb. Sure, it probably didn't, but there's no evidence of that. Overturning that seems wrong to me. Didn't matter though.
93 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
When you look at couple of different camera angles it's pretty clear he didn't touch it.
97 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
How is is clear? There's no angle that shows a space between the ball and his thumb. All you can see is a lack of evidence that it touched. That's not the same as evidence that it didn't touch.
106 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Because the front angle shows that his thumbs were outside the area of the football and it's only the side angle that shows his thumbs being close to the ball. I'm rooting against the pats but as much as I wanted that to stand at the time it looked to me pretty clear that there was space between the ball and his thumbs.
167 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Each angle showed it missing one hand, and possible touching the other. So between them it definitely missed both hands and only looked like it may have hit due to camera foreshortening.
I do think the patriots were pretty lucky to have the first challenged catch not overturned though. Not convinced the ground didn’t stop that one getting away as it pushed the ball more into the arm. But hard to overturn what was ruled on the field.
195 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
its 100% obvious...but to some (who don't like facts 'n ultra conclusive evidence) it will never be
89 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
And Edelman does it a moment later.
87 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Glad im not Clete Blakeman. No win spot.
100 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
If he gives the Hogan call to NE and the Pats win, he better hope the police still feel like giving him an escort out of town.
104 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
His life expectancy just dropped.
90 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Sorensen!! Goodness!
91 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That whole "Edelman touched it or not"? Doesn't matter. Edelman failed to catch that and it was picked off.
94 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Time for the refs to start giving the pats some help obviously.
95 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Ghost Roughing the Passer call. Like ... really.
96 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Roughing the passer aka touching Tom Brady’s shoulder.
Refs are doing their best for Mr Kraft
196 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
yah those push off's by KC TE's that were ignored, seemed to be
anti-Kraft....goes both ways
126 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Wow. Could they even at least try to not look like they are blatantly cheating for New England?
98 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Refs are really going overboard here for the Patriots.
99 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I think he got it.
101 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That goddamn roughing call. Absolute bogus.
102 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Thats a legit terrible roughing call. Like the ref couldnt wait to call it. Disgraceful.
103 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Another close call goes the Pats way! What a coincidence.
105 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Clete Blakeman saving the Pats in an AFC title game? Lazy rerun from last season.
107 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Romo scouted the Pats better than the Chiefs did
108 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Well, another drive, possibly a game winner, tainted by the presence (or lack of) penalties.
109 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Three conversions by the refs and a very generous spot, all on third downs.
110 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Pretty impressive of Romo to call the TD play right before the snap
112 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Nope, that's a drop, not a fumble. Doesn't matter due to defensive holding.
113 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Umpshow. Just horrible to watch.
115 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Yup. Its like they're almost random at this point.
117 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
What would difference in yardage have been if the roughing the passer was accepted? At least in this case there was also a real penalty on the play.
123 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I was thinking about that too. I'll look it up after the game, but ~10 yards?
169 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I wonder when they will decide to let personal fouls add onto other penalties. That was a pretty egregious roughing so seems unfortunate it got no actual penalty accrued through it.
114 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
All right, at least they are calling DPIs against NE. Also, Mahomes nearly gets Kimo'ed.
116 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Way too much time left
118 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That deep shot is such a terrible call. Even if you get it - big if - you're leaving Brady a lot of time.
Chiefs score quickly anyway, so pretty much moot.
119 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Wasn't there some talk last time KC and NE played that the Chiefs had scored a TD too quickly at the end of the game? While I think you always take a TD when you can get it, that might've just happened again.
121 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Yeah. Though it's not clear to me what they should have done, you kind of have to take the points when you can get them. I suppose they could have tried to go down at the 1 inch line on the 1st down run but it's tough.
124 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Agreed. They went deep into double coverage two plays earlier, though.
120 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
I have zero faith in the KC defense’s ability to hold this lead.
122 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
KC is gonna need a sack.
127 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
That or a drink.
125 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Here's a problem with a volcanic offense. At times, you are incapable of running a 4 minute offense the right way. You score too quickly for your own good.
128 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Gotta call something to save the Patriots.
129 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
God damn it Ford. Stupid penalty might have cost you the game
130 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Romo again all over the playcall.
131 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Ugh. That's probably the best outcome though, at this point.
132 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Offsides negates the possible end of game INT. And NE TD. Patrick Mahomes has a chance to be a legend here.
133 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Remember that NFC Playoff game ... can't remember the round, probably Divisional ... SF vs. NO, Brees and Smith had a firefight with about a million changes of possession in the final minutes. This game has shades of that.
136 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Completely disagree! That game was awesome, super quick action from end to end. The last to drives have taken an hour in real time. Flag after flag after flag.
Like, I dont even want overtime - get it over with already.
141 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Sadly, we get OT.
134 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
How fucking stupid is Dee Ford?
139 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
As stupid as NE’s defensive end.
135 Re: Championship Sunday Open Discussion
Face it, Patriots have the greatest refs of all time. The groat.
Comments
209 comments, Last at 22 Jan 2019, 5:38am