Married to a Kansas boy, that game was so hard to watch. Cleveland plays dirty, and that concussion on Mahomes looked, well, intentional.
Rivers retires, ends 'childhood dream' NFL career Philip Rivers has announced his retirement from football, ending his 17-year career as the NFL's fifth-leading passer of all time. 1h MSA/Icon Sportswire BREAKING NEWS
Yeah. I am thinking that TB may be overvalued in betting markets. Green Bay put on one of the Worst Performances in NFL History, and Aaron Rodgers' Legacy WILL be defined by that game. The 1st QB (ever) to Lose in 4 Consecutive Champ Game Appearances. I couldn't imagine being a Packers fan right now. Awesome game for Brady. Unreal. The whole game turned on 67 Seconds of game time. The TD at the end of the 1st Half, with 1second left. No excuse for that. Ever. That can't happen. Then giving up another TD after a turnover. 66 seconds into the 3Q. 67 seconds, 14 Points. Unbelievable. And, going for the FG was inexcusable. Even if you don't make it, they are backed up, etc. It would be sad if Aaron Rodgers legacy (after winning the SB early in his career) was defined by all of those Championship game losses. Also, a horrible penalty on the final TB drive. Horrendous call by the Refs on that final drive, after letting so much obvious Def. Holding and Interference go uncalled. Bad time for the officials to start enforcing the rulebook. Aaron Rodgers thought that he had 4 plays. Obviously, on the 3rd Down, he would have run it (and dove for the pylon) or tried to get closer. Hard to imagine that the Head Coach didn't clue him in that he only had 3 downs. Once again, no excuse. That can't happen. Here is a really brutal editorial (aimed at Rodgers and the Packers). https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/news/recapping-the-nfc-championship-game
Perhaps that's because no one with a triple-digit IQ would have thought for a second that the Packers wouldn't go for it on fourth down. My question is why AR didn't run it on third down regardless.
Stafford being trade for Goff + 2 1st round picks & a 3rd Lions taking on that contract probably got them an extra first rounder
Both blunders were mind-boggling. A coach and a player who are supposed to be experienced enough, committing these blunders, for me results in not calling them worthy of a Super Bowl appearance anyway. And I was rooting for them, so this is not out of any animosity against the Packers or AR.
In Rodgers defense, his instincts are not to run, but to scramble to find an open WR. He has a split second to decide what to do. As for LaFleur - that was just dumb
Sure but he had a lot of room with no defenders any close to him. I think the whole population rooting for them were screaming "run, Rodgers, run!" and our collective jaws dropped when he threw the ball instead of just running into the end zone. Now, the field goal, that was extremely dumb. You give the ball back to Tom Brady with just a little time left, still behind and needing another score... expecting what??? Unbelievable. That might have been a valid strategy if both Brady and his back-up were injured and the Bucs were sputtering in offense with a third-string quarterback and could be easily stopped in a 3-and-out; and it would still be risky. But against Brady and his many weapons? Dumb, very dumb, and predictably, resulted in disaster. I wonder how these people are paid millions of dollars per year to literally make play-calling decisions, and still get it wrong. All of us common Joes knew what to do there... and LaFleur didn't??? Give me half of his salary and I'll make the correct decision in that situation.
I never wager and very seldom predict, but I'll be rooting for the Chiefs. They were a favorite team of my boyhood, going all the way back to their first year as the Dallas Texans.
Chiefs D is suspect right now. And they are missing a player to boot. Both teams have very little run game. It should be a pass heavy game. Will come down to which defense can stop the other offense. This will mirror the Pats/Eagles recent super bowl (not the first one they played). I'm guessing high scoring. The problem the chiefs face is their defense. They have a great secondary but let's not forget who they have to cover (Evans, Brown, Godwin, Gronk). The chiefs have great D right now and have to focus on only Hill and Kelce (which isn't easy, obviously). This will come down to whichever D steps up.
Chiefs D is going to hold Brady, Brown, Evans, Godwin, and Gronk to only 24 points with their weak defense? Bold prediction. Bucs have a good D and need to focus on only Kelce and Hill. I think this game will be a lot closer than you think.
Even with Brown out (which they say by the time the report is out, he will be able to suit up), the Chiefs D is going to have to handle Godwin, Gronk, and Evans. Very few options for a double team. Bucs can double team Hill and Kelce on third down. My opinion is they cover over but it'll be very close.
