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.
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
Eams 40 Dsints 34
Pafes 27 Cgiefs 37
Reams - 27, Aints - 24
Chefs - 34, Hatriots - 26
Isn't the great hat riot of '26 something Grandpa Simpson remembers from time to time?
We were all wearing bagels on our heads -- which was the style at the time -- …
A lesser known forerunner of the zoot suit riot.
Someone toss that whistler idiot out of the stadium before millions of people turn off the game.
If Aikman and Buck haven't made you shoot your TV in a rage, I don't know that a lone whistler will
We've had years of experience to inure us to Aikman and Buck, though. The whistler is new.
Maybe the Saints can replicate their 18 play drive from last weekend, and keep the whistler quiet that way.
Apparently it's a known fellow, who might not be alone: https://deadspin.com/the-fan-who-keeps-whistling-during-rams-saints-is-i...
ETA: LOL
I read that as “known felon”.
Wow, the Saints dominated almost that entire half, but suddenly it's a three point game and LA gets the ball first after halftime.
Rams, First 28 minutes: 85 yards
Final 2 minutes: 81 yards
Weak. Should have gone for it
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.
In the air I thought Joyner had a better chance to catch that than Ginn.
What? That's blatant DPI, but the refs ate their whistles and flags.
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.
I don’t know how it could have been more blatant. Whoever missed that call should be fired tonight.
They’ve been doing it all game.
Pretty egregious, though.
So the refs were using "Baltimore defenders" DPI rules. They could maul receivers all day and no flag was thrown.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There is no world in which any official would have received criticism for blowing the whistle on that DPI.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
That said, a blind coaches auction is fair, fun and way more interesting.
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
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?
They're just setting it up so the blatant away team bias doesn't look so blatant for the pats next game
That actually makes sense, which is just typical.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rams didn't deserve to win that
They beat New Orleans in New Orleans.
That’s a house of horrors even for the Pats
And apparently without a healthy Gurley.
They won because of blatant non-calls of DPI.
Holy cow - what a kick! That would've been good from 70 - easy!
And was even a bad snap
Both kicks were high pressure and high degree of difficulty
True - the kicker may've led the team in WPA.
*insert joke about the line judge actually leading the Rams i WPA*
Alright, well that was distinctly dissatisfying from a neutral perspective.
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.
Imagine that. The referees decided the game. NFL is corrupt. Like everything else. Tom Brady GOAT.
Alright rams win, maybe it comes with an asterik. Lets see who they play, pats or chiefs.
Oh, it'll be made certain that they get to lose to NE.
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.
Wow.
To quote Al Gore: “ You win some, you lose some... and then there’s that little known third category...”
N.E.- 34 K.C. 27
Totally forgot to put my LAR vs NO picks, please believe I called LAR 24 NO 21
Wow. Saints got hosed biggly by the refs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The NFL won't ever do that. It would make it too hard to fix games.
The NFL will release a statement tomorrow that says, "We didn't do anything wrong, and we won't do it again."
In this press conference Payton said that the league office already admitted to him the call was blown.
Pats with a long td drive, taking up 8 minutes
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.
Jim Nantz is insufferable when calling Pats games.
About time the KC defense did something
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.
Brady with the Roethlisberger style endzone INT.
Yes! Spooky how similar that play was.
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.
Still just 7-0. Rams started down 13-0 and with a little zebra help, came all the way back.
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.
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...
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.
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)
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.
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
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.
but you failed to point out that I brought up caucasian qb's wi/same faults...thus reverse
racism perhaps?
Bro that whole spiel did not age well in only 15 minutes.
“Mahomes is a fraud and big-game choker because he struggled early with double A-gap pressure!”
New York Giants seen chuckling to themselves.
In some cultures, a man who so dishonored himself in such a public fashion could only commit seppuku.
The heck, Hill?! Why you go backwards?! That, plus the flag means they are pinned way too close to the endzone.
Mahomes really is exciting in a very unusual way. I guess this is what it must've felt like to watch young Brett Favre.
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.
Ok, at least they are calling PIs in this game.
The Chiefs just can't get a guy on the RB coming out of the backfield.
So, they ignored their best extremely short yardage runner in Tom Brady with the QB Sneak and went with a base run. Neat.
Edelman ... ignore the punted ball please. Those don't bounce how you want them. Never.
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.
It was RAZOR close, but they got it right for a change.
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.
When you look at couple of different camera angles it's pretty clear he didn't touch it.
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.
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.
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.
its 100% obvious...but to some (who don't like facts 'n ultra conclusive evidence) it will never be
And Edelman does it a moment later.
Glad im not Clete Blakeman. No win spot.
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.
His life expectancy just dropped.
Sorensen!! Goodness!
That whole "Edelman touched it or not"? Doesn't matter. Edelman failed to catch that and it was picked off.
Time for the refs to start giving the pats some help obviously.
Ghost Roughing the Passer call. Like ... really.
Roughing the passer aka touching Tom Brady’s shoulder.
Refs are doing their best for Mr Kraft
yah those push off's by KC TE's that were ignored, seemed to be
anti-Kraft....goes both ways
Wow. Could they even at least try to not look like they are blatantly cheating for New England?
Refs are really going overboard here for the Patriots.
I think he got it.
That goddamn roughing call. Absolute bogus.
Thats a legit terrible roughing call. Like the ref couldnt wait to call it. Disgraceful.
Another close call goes the Pats way! What a coincidence.
Clete Blakeman saving the Pats in an AFC title game? Lazy rerun from last season.
Romo scouted the Pats better than the Chiefs did
Well, another drive, possibly a game winner, tainted by the presence (or lack of) penalties.
Three conversions by the refs and a very generous spot, all on third downs.
Pretty impressive of Romo to call the TD play right before the snap
Nope, that's a drop, not a fumble. Doesn't matter due to defensive holding.
Umpshow. Just horrible to watch.
Yup. Its like they're almost random at this point.
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.
I was thinking about that too. I'll look it up after the game, but ~10 yards?
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.
All right, at least they are calling DPIs against NE. Also, Mahomes nearly gets Kimo'ed.
Way too much time left
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.
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.
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.
Agreed. They went deep into double coverage two plays earlier, though.
I have zero faith in the KC defense’s ability to hold this lead.
KC is gonna need a sack.
That or a drink.
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.
Gotta call something to save the Patriots.
God damn it Ford. Stupid penalty might have cost you the game
Romo again all over the playcall.
Ugh. That's probably the best outcome though, at this point.
Offsides negates the possible end of game INT. And NE TD. Patrick Mahomes has a chance to be a legend here.
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.
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.
Sadly, we get OT.
How fucking stupid is Dee Ford?
As stupid as NE’s defensive end.
Face it, Patriots have the greatest refs of all time. The groat.
Kind of BS that the Chiefs get a free timeout here...
The clock was already stopped because of the penalty so I don't think it's a big deal
Fair point.
What’s weird is I think Mahomes was right. It should have been 0:17.
The way these offenses are going the coin flip could be the play of the game.
Two OT conf champ games.
Neat.
Don't feel at all confident in the Chiefs getting a stop here.
I don't think either defense was likely to get a stop. Made that coin flip incredibly important.
Listening to him makes me both incredibly happy, and incredibly depressed.
(this is supposed to be a response to 149)
Romo is pitching a shutout. It's like he's listening to the Pats playcalls.
Petition to Replace Andy Reid with Tony Romo
The Chiefs need to stop Edelman if they want this.
Flea Flicker? Why?
I guess Patriots-Rams rematch ...
It's gotta be rough for Chiefs fans having Romo tell you how the Chiefs are going to give up 3rd and long after 3rd and long in real time.
I guess Patriots-Rams is the Super Bowl.
EDIT: Yeah, the Chiefs' D couldn't hold.
I think I'm not going to watch the super bowl this year
I would have skipped a Saints-Pats game.
That’s like watching chaotic evil play lawful evil for the title.
+1 except I'd have paid double to watch that match up!
Bob Sutton should be fired before he leaves the stadium tonight.
Do Clete Blakeman and Al Riveron get playoff checks from the Pats too? They deserve their share.
that shows a bit of bias.....I guess some of the folks on here just want things
their way or no way at all......kinda a millenial quality, probably still at home
wi/mom-dad in their 40's
WTF? I'm a football fan, buddy, what on earth do you expect?
Also, we're done here.
wow "I get the last word" play....impressive
Dee Ford should get the private Pyle treatment from his teammates. What an imbecile
Ok, so ... when the NFL decides to switch to the NCAA OT system? Maybe if the Chiefs get the coin toss AND win the game on the 1st possession, they would consider it.
Me neither. No interest in watching it. A gift touchdown for the Patriots was the difference. This might very well be the end of football watching for me entirely. I only saw three or four games this year. Too much else going on to waste time watching a sport with the same problems year after year.
Not looking forward to two weeks of Reichsführer Dour moping around
Fat Andy's a fool for not taking another shot at the EZ with 11 seconds left in regulation.
Ehh. The Pats weren't about to play a different defense there, I think the risk of a sack balances out the chance to take another shot pretty evenly
I disagree - they already lucked out on the offside penalty (where it's entirely possible they wouldn't get the kicking unit in place), it doesn't do to tempt fate to often, there are too many thing that can go wrong. (sack, int because the defense knows exactly what your doing, a bonehead mistake to catch it in bounds etc.... if you do anything I think the right play is a 10 yrd out to take the field goal to 30 yards which makes a meaningful difference in those conditions.
Gotta stay aggressive if you want to beat NE. Especially with the way KC's defense looked. Andy basically chose to let the OT coin flip decide the game.
Any word on Bob Sutton losing his job yet? If he doesn't then Andy should lose his.
Well, Wade Phillips’ defences have stopped Brady before.
And the Pats seem to delight in confusing and tormenting inexperienced QBs. C J Anderson though has done alright against them in big games.
Maybe after a record offensive year we get a defensive Super Bowl?
I doubt it, but who knows. Though I can guarantee it will be close. The Pats only play close games in the Superbowl.
Rams' defense is only slightly better than KC's despite the presence of Donald. New Orleans' O had them dead to rights until arguably the worst (non) call in league history happened.
Regardless of who won, the real winner was Tony Romo.
I don't remember the last time I watched a football game and paid as much attention to the announcers as I did this game. Maybe never. Even Nantz chimed in with smart thoughts once in a while.
Either they both were enjoying the game as much as I was, or they deserve an Emmy.
It was like watching the game with a superfan who knows more about football than you do, one who amazingly is 100% sober, isn't counting his fantasy points while the game is going on, and isn't convinced the refs care about who wins.
After the bogus officiating in these two games. I think I'll visit my local zoo (Toledo, OH has the best zoo in the US) instead of watching the Superbowl. The NFL has turned to garbage. If it weren't for my loyalty to this site, I'd be done with it for good. I hope enough other people feel the same way, or they'll never learn.
two worst officiated games I've ever seen (and they were back2back)-missed
calls all over (on both sides)...bogus QB hit to head...Kelce pushed off twice,
uncalled...first game had a high # of misses also....just our world now, we
accept mediocrity
You've only been watching the NFL for a year or two, but I can assure you that there have been many worse-officiated games in the not-so-distant past.
My guess is that DVOA will suggest the games weren't as close as the actual scores. Saints seemed to control the game up until the no-call on the pass interference. There defence also made a big stop in OT before Zuerlein made an impossible kick. A couple of big plays/calls seemed to go the Rams way but Saints were clearly the stronger side overall. Patriots-Chiefs game should be closer but the Pats seemed to outclass the Chiefs for most of the game and control the tempo so should come out ahead.
Not sure about the Chiefs/Pats game. DVOA is probably going to enjoy Mahomes' 9.5 YPA with 3 TDs and 0 turnovers. The Patriots, in turn, are going to get dinged for the turnovers (including the failed 4th down attempt). Opponent adjustments will clobber their rushing success.
Just looking at the box score, what really leaps out is the Patriots ran 94 plays to the Chiefs' 43. An absurd discrepancy! And eerily similar to the Falcons Super Bowl, with the same overtime outcome against an utterly gassed defense.
Is there any reasonable explanation for KC not calling a time out when NE had the ball on the 5 in OT? Does the KC defense need to fill out a form in triplicate to request a transfer of TOs from under the control of the offense?
Is there any reasonable explanation for Reid not calling timeout before the two third downs prior to that?
That wasn't an "impossible" kick in a dome stadium
No, I guess not. The league is just shy of 40% from 57 yards since 94. That goes up to 50% in a dome, maybe? That's a coinflip for all the marbles, though - clutch.
Still, the thing that made it so impressive was that it was down the middle and would've been good from, what, 75? 70 at least. He took a tough kick, and made it seem the easiest thing in the world.
So no, perhaps not impossible, but probably the most impressive kick I've ever seen (except maybe some extreme weather kicks).
Just as I expected, refs gift the Pats with a false roughing the passer penalty that kept them alive to score that 4th quarter touchdown. Scripted NE win over Rams is in the books.
That was undoubtedly a bad call, but the refs did somewhat even it out with a couple of borderline holding/PI calls on the Chiefs next drive. And that was having let everything go in the defensive secondary all game, which was mostly to the benefit of the Chiefs. There was no evidence of what could be perceived to be sustained refereeing bias to my eyes.
Never try to introduce evidence to a conspiracy theory. It never goes well.
I mentioned above after the Saints - Rams game that I expect the NFL to adopt in the next couple of years some flavour of the CFL's rule about allowing pass interference challenges.
I have to say after the Chiefs - Pats game that I really hope they take a look at the CFL's overtime rules, too.
I don't care whether the stats say the odds of winning aren't materially different based on who wins the coin toss. How you get to those stats matter.
Under CFL rules, coin toss just determines first possession. Second team always gets a chance to match or better what the first team did. If still tied, order of possession flips.
Watching Mahomes and Brady continue to go toe-to-toe until one of those defences got a stop would have been a much better experience than an opening TD drive wins that prevents Mahomes and the Chiefs offense ever getting back on the field.
I have long said that the NFL didn't go far enough when they tweaked the OT rules so that the team winning the toss couldn't win with just a quick field goal. At a minimum, each team should be guaranteed one possession. (I don't think that changes the outcome last night, because I think the Patriots could have scored TDs on ten consecutive offensive drives if they needed to because KC was completely and totally incapable of stopping them).
Guaranteeing one possession each gives a HUGE advantage to the team that goes second - they know whether they need 7 or 3. College football teams that go second win at a 60% rate, which is a much larger advantage than teams that receive the kickoff in the NFL (53% regular season, a bit higher including postseason).
Look, I was really hoping for the Chiefs to win, but could
we avoid the silliness of screaming "FIX!!!!" in a game where the Patriots had penalties called on dbs, some of them late, that would have gone uncalled, if there was a Patriots win script? It was a close game, which means if several single plays are changed, the outcome is changed, but the reality is that if a Chiefs edge rusher doesn't line up offsides (!) in the last two minutes of the game, the Chiefs win. If you sre going to be mad about the Patriots playing in February yet again, be mad at that idiot.
You'd think that an analytics site would be the one place where you could avoid the tinfoil hat brigade. Nope. I wonder if they've ever read the articles or if they simply stumbled this way after ESPN removed comments (as FO provides content there). It's a shame - I've learned a great deal about football from FO's discussions, and while I've been proven wrong on numerous occasions, having the knowledge base to consult more than makes up for my bruised ego.
What's needed is an online questionnaire that will be offered via link to after every Illuminati post. The questionnaire will ask pose about the nature and the extent of the conspiracy, who benefits, second gunman, grassy knoll, etc. Actually should be fascinating. I'll try to set it up for next season.
That first half might have been Darth's masterpiece (although he schemed a pretty brilliant game last week as well). I can't wait to read a breakdown of KC's adjustment in the second half.
My youngest was watching the game on DVR delay with me last night, sound muted, as is my habit, and she turned to me during the 2nd Patriots possession, and said "The Dark Lord is doing it again, isn't he?".
You really should have listened to the commentary this one time. Tony Romo was on fire this game, he's the true MVP.
To be fair, this thread is supposed to be about anything a poster feels like bringing up.
I just hope *my* conspiracy-related comments are over the top enough to be clear I was joking.
Alot of posts how NE got calls....but still, STILL a most-amazing
run we're living thru....not great athletes but ultra-smart & minimal
mental errors...they seem to know what to do/what to expect/where to
be 99% of the time, thats beyond good coaching of HC & his
underlings..a GOAT QB that, at freekin age 41 with a totally
marginal arm, can still execute, see things that most cannot &
change plays at the line of scrimmage that help his team win....
Haters hate, but true football fans appreciate. Congrats NE & LA.
NE wins on supurb mental acuity, and LA, with those years (and
years) of first rounders, gets back into the big game.
I think the difference is Wade (DC)....Rams by 10...
To me, biggest question mark for Rams is RB...thight/hammies are really
tough to get over, (especially when you've JUST come back off
ACL) but this 2 week stint should give him time
to truly heal. Gurley might break out in SB.
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209 comments, Last at 22 Jan 2019, 6:38am