NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy MLK Day… And I guess a happy Monday—okay, day. It’s a day to be happy, but whatever. I survived the three-day process to bury my brother, so today is a good day. With all that said, let’s get into today’s topics: NFL Playoffs, NFL Coaching Carousel, CAF Cup of Nations
NFL Playoffs
And then there were four.
Bills vs. Broncos:
Buffalo now has another reason to feel ripped off by life. This one wasn’t because of a catch thsts seemed complete but was ruled incomplete. I was confused because I thought ties went to the reciever. But the turning point to me was the midway point of the 4th quarter. Courtesy of a defense stop, the Bills were in offense and had a chance to go up by 8 as they were in the red zone but had to settle for a field goal and a four-point lead. Denver came back to score a touchdown and went up by 3 then Buffalo came back to score a field goal. Denver would go on to win with a field goal in overtime.
49ers vs. Seattle:
I’m not sure it was worth it for the 49ers to beat the Eagles last weekend. Considering they had to use practice squad guys and guys off the street to get that victory, it only looked good for head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. Now, on top of that, they lost All-Star TE George Kittle and had QB Brock Purdy banged up. It was ugly as Seattle, the #1 seed, dominated from start to finish, and the game was over early.
Texans vs. Patriots:
Being the road warriors was going to be tough for the Texans. They ran out of steam against a revamped Patriots team that had the fastest rebuild ever. The Pats’ defense held the Texans’ attack in check, and the offense scored when it needed to. Efficient, even if not entertaining.
Bears vs. Rams:
This was the Sunday game that delivered, with overtime needed to separate the two sides. The teams went into halftime with the game tied, and it was separated by a field goal heading into overtime. The offenses were clutch in the first half, then the defenses dominated, with each offense scoring only a touchdown late in the game. However, the Rams, leaning on their big-play guys, did just enough.
NFL Coaching Carousel
It seems that the first and most important shoe has dropped. The Giants inked the jewel of available coaches this offseason by signing John Harbaugh. Gotta respect that the Giants didn’t muck around. He took the tour with them, and he wasn’t allowed to leave until he was a yes. The deal is 5 years, $100 million, plus the Giants will pay the Rooney Rule fine. He is a great fit for them.
The coach considered to be the #2 available, Kevin Stefanski, has landed in Atlanta. Yes, things went bad for Stefanski in his final two years in Cleveland, but he did lead them to a playoff game—their only one in 20 years—the previous season.
Now we have 6 vacancies left, with rumors it might be 7, as the Bills may be done with Sean McDermott. Remaining vacancies are Cleveland, Arizona, Tennessee, Baltimore, Las Vegas, and Miami.
CAF Cup of Nations
The Cup of Nations is the World Cup for Africa. And it is often belittled because it comes in the middle of the European season, so a lot of European clubs lose their players for a month, to a month and a half. It also is often ridiculed because, to me, people just like to poke fun at Africa. Some of the malfunctions that have happened have also happened in the South American Copa América, as well as occasionally in UEFA, but it’s not as big a deal until it happens in Africa. Yesterday, we did have one of those moments.
A Senegal goal was called off by VAR because of a push-off against the defender, then 5 minutes later a penalty is called for Morocco as the defender for Senegal, Ibrahima, pulled the Moroccan attacker down. This was in the dying embers of extra time—when there’s only a minute given—so this was pretty much the game.
Senegal protested, led by their captain, Sadio Mané, going into the locker rooms before being talked back out onto the field, which caused a 20-minute delay. They came back out only to have the Moroccan player, who’s on pace to win the Golden Boot, attempt a trick shot. It’s called a panenka, where you kind of fake left or right with your eyes so the goalie dives one way, then you chip it down the middle. But you have to make sure the goalie believes you. The goalie did a half-dive to his right, but jumped back into the center to catch it. Now we get into overtime (or added extra time, as it’s called). A couple of minutes into that, Morocco scored a goal and hung on to win. Absolute madness.
Coming up tomorrow, is the one and only king of suburban adventures, Ben Whitney.
