NFL Divisional Championships

Ms. Katie's pumped up!

Bengals or Chiefs? On Twitter.

Trevor Lawrence Threw Four Interceptions — Then Led an Epic NFL Playoff Comeback

I was shocked, like everybody else, no doubt. I like Trevor Lawrence, but I like Justin Herbert too, and after Lawrence gave up four --- four! interceptions, by halftime it seemed impossible for Jacksonville to come back. But they did. Boy did they ever.

At WSJ, "The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback led his team past the Los Angeles Chargers on a game-winning field goal after trailing by 27 points":

The Jacksonville Jaguars trailed the Los Angeles Chargers 27-0 in the opening round of the NFL playoffs and just about everything that could go wrong had gone wrong.

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence had thrown four interceptions—in the first half. The Jags muffed a punt. They looked precisely like the sort of team that squeaked into the playoffs with a middling record simply because they played in a crummy division. And that’s because that’s how they reached the postseason.

Then came a comeback that was nothing short of epic. When the Jaguars beat the Chargers 31-30 on a field-goal as time expired, it marked a stunning turnaround for Lawrence; a massive choke by Los Angeles; and the brilliance of a game-changing call by Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson.

By erasing a 27-point deficit, the Jaguars completed the third-largest comeback ever during the NFL playoffs. It also comes just weeks after the Minnesota Vikings’ historic 33-point comeback against the Indianapolis Colts during the regular season. Lawrence became just the second quarterback ever to throw four touchdowns and four interceptions in a playoff game...

Keep reading.

 

AFC Wildcard: Sam Hubbard Fumble Recovery Seals It for Cincinatti (VIDEO)

I was dumbfounded like everybody else. The worse thing is for the life of me I couldn't see the actual fumble until the closeups of the replay. I was just, "What?!!"

At WCPO News 9 Cincinnati, "WATCH IT AGAIN: Cincinnati's own Sam Hubbard runs 98-yard fumble recovery for TD in Bengals-Ravens wild card,"and WGPH Fox 8, "Ravens’ John Harbaugh: QB Huntley Erred on Goal-Line Fumble: The Baltimore coach blamed improper execution on the play that ultimately decided the Ravens’ playoff fate."

Plus, "Bengals' Sam Hubbard on game-winning fumble return: 'You can't replicate a feeling like that in life'."

WATCH:

Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back Najee Harris Rips Microphone Out of Sideline Reporter Melissa Stark's Hands (VIDEO)

Heh.

Brazen.

The mofo is brazen.

At Total Pro Sports, "Steelers’ RB Najee Harris Snatches Microphone From Melissa Stark Following Win vs. Ravens on SNF (VIDEO)."

At 2:40 minutes below:

Christmas Eve Shopping

I want to wish my readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah. Thank you for shopping my Amazon links this year. I don't earn a lot, though enough for a book budget to keep me buried in the latest award-winning novels. 

Click for some Very Merry Deals.

And the rare holiday selfie from me. Have a good one!

Currently reading : 🤙📚🎄📕🤶 #BookTwitter #Reading #Books #Literature #LiteraryFiction #Novels #ChristmasCarol #ChristmasEve #MerryChristmas pic.twitter.com/2eDV36LUs2

— Donald Douglas 📘 (@AmPowerBlog) December 24, 2022

NFL Meeting Week 15 with Annie Agar

She's very good.

NFL meeting week 15 pic.twitter.com/2Rk3kZcLPs

— Annie Agar (@AnnieAgar) December 20, 2022

Fucking Idiot Tom Brady Announces Divorce from Smokin' Supermodel Gisele Bundchen

The man's a blazing idiot. Should've stayed retired. Now look at him, a laughingstock, with a 3-5 record in the NFC South. 

Brady announced the formal split on Instagram.

Ms. Gisele's announcement is here. 

At the Los Angeles Times, "It’s officially over: Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen confirm they’ve finalized divorce."

And at the New York Times, "Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen Say They Have Divorced":

Since they met, Brady, a star quarterback, and Bündchen, a supermodel, have been a high-profile couple, constantly under the public eye. By the time they had met, Brady had already won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and Bündchen was one of the most famous people in the world, a fixture on magazine covers and one of the top figures in the fashion industry. In 2016, she was reportedly the world’s highest paid (and richest) model.

In the time that they were together, Brady went on to win four more championships, including one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Bündchen often seen supporting him at games and during trophy celebrations...

Most men would practically die to have a woman like Gisele. Their divorce reminds of the that other fucking idiot Ben Affeck, who completely botched it by losing Jennifer Garner, one of the most beautiful women in the world.

I can't with these two. (Rolls eyes.)

 

Bengals Swag

On Ms. Paige on Twitter.

Angie Agar with Rob Gronkowski

They both look great, on Twitter.

Melissa Stark Hired to Replace Michele Tafoya on NBC's Sunday Night Football

I remember Ms. Melissa from back in the day, when she did sideline reporting for Monday Night Football on ABC, from 2000-2003.

An absolutely lovely and awesome replacement for her predecessor, (conservative) Michele Tafoya, who's now gone into politics.

At the New York Post, "Melissa Stark hired to replace Michele Tafoya in ‘Sunday Night Football’ surprise."

REPORT: Chicago Bears Set to Trade Khalil Mack to Los Angeles Chargers

At ABC News.

Dude be like:

pic.twitter.com/yCxYU29nnh

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) March 10, 2022

Sports Reporter Annie Agar Apologized for Old Racist Tweets

I posted this lady on Super Bowl Sunday. 

A blonde bombshell. 

Actually, they're not racist. They're funny, but she's a conservative and if you're conservative you can't say shit like that and keep your job. This country's fucked.

Here, "NFL Reporter Annie Agar Apologizes For Controversial Tweets."

And on Twitter:

I want to apologize for the insensitive tweets from my past. They were written when I was a teenager and do not reflect who I am today. I have the utmost respect for the athletes and teams I cover. I hope you can forgive teenage me and we can get back to laughing together again. 

More Than 100 Million Watched Super Bowl LVI

I'm not surprised. 

It's the entertainment event of the year, blowing out all the competition, time and again. 

According to Forbes, "The live broadcast, featuring the LA Rams’ first #SuperBowl championship as an L.A. team, averaged 99.18 million viewers on NBC and an additional 1.03 million on Telemundo for an over-the-air tally of 100.21 million viewers."

Well, whoa doggie! Hold your horses!

Actually, according to the Athletic, "Super Bowl LVI watched by 112.3 million viewers, up 14% from last year."

Damn!

Cincinnati, Detroit and Pittsburgh (!) lead the local market ratings (average viewers) for #SBLVI:

1️⃣ Cincinnati — 46.1
2️⃣ Detroit — 45.9
3️⃣ Pittsburgh — 45.6
4️⃣ Columbus — 45.4
5️⃣ Kansas City — 44.6

H/T @Bill_Shea19

More: https://t.co/tjhpPaV3ln

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 15, 2022

SBLVI Most Valuable Player Aaron Donald

This is to take nothing --- absolutely nothing! --- off Cooper Kupp. Damn though, I'm not alone when I say this man was the MVP of the night, of the Rams franchise all year, and the entire NFL 2021-2022 season. 

Have you ever seen a grown man cry, like this?!! Pure heart. 

My goodness I was right there with him feelin' it. God bless that man. All he said all season long is we have to win the Super Bowl, and he worked harder than anyone else to get there. 

Volume on people!

WE DID THIS, @AARONDONALD97!!

📺: #SBLVI on NBC pic.twitter.com/wEtNE5R7DU

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 14, 2022

GIVE AARON DONALD HIS RING. #SBLVI #RAMSHOUSE pic.twitter.com/pCBiKkq1L7

— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022

"Aaron Donald's gonna make a play."

Sean McVay knew this was 99's moment. Epic. (via @NFLFilms, @insidetheNFL) pic.twitter.com/a0E6vSpsFH

— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022

Annie Agar at Super Bowl LVI

On Twitter.

She's a nationwide NFL/CFB reporter at Bally Sports, and a beauty. 

Los Angeles Rams Win Super Bowl LVI

What a moment. I'll have more, but for me, 2021-22 was the best football season ever.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Rams come up big when it counts, come back to beat Bengals in Super Bowl LVI."

Paige Spirinac: Bengals or Rams?

She's an openly enthusiastic Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Her dad played football with the University of Pittsburgh's Panther football program, winning a national championship in 1976. But she's not a Californian --- grew up in Colorado, in fact, and lives in Arizona.

So who knows? Maybe later today we'll see her announcing her loyalties, but not yet, not yet. 

Paige's Playoff Pics

She's very good at this stuff. 

She’s good at this lol. 🤣#SanFrancisco49ers #LosAngelesRams #DivisionalChampionships #NFL https://t.co/HE6Lu7WUk6

— Donald Douglas 📘 (@AmPowerBlog) January 30, 2022

Two Wunderkind Coaches Get a Second Crack at the Super Bowl

This is very good.

At WSJ, "The Rams’ Sean McVay and the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan have established themselves as two of the NFL’s brightest young coaches. Now they both have a second chance to take their teams to the Super Bowl":

Five years ago, two teams in the same division made the same decision. The Rams and 49ers placed their futures in the hands of young, offensive-minded, first-time head coaches. Both had last names that had been familiar in football for decades.

Los Angeles tapped Sean McVay. San Francisco picked Kyle Shanahan. The hirings jump started a rivalry and years of success for both clubs, but they have never coached against each other with as much on the line as Sunday: a second chance at a Super Bowl for both of them.

One of them is guaranteed to coach in the final game of the NFL postseason because the other won’t. The 49ers and Rams will play in this year’s NFC Championship after both teams secured thrilling upsets, over the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, last weekend. Those victories, which ousted Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, were two more crowning achievements for coaches who have already spawned disciples across the league.

Yet they both still lack the same accomplishment: a Super Bowl win.

What’s uncanny about the similarity in profile between these two coaches is how far back it extends. Both came from football families, got their professional starts under the same coach and even coached together.

McVay’s grandfather, John McVay, was a coach of the New York Giants and longtime executive—coincidentally, for the 49ers. Shanahan’s father, Mike Shanahan, won back-to-back Super Bowls coaching the Denver Broncos. After Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan got their first NFL gigs at different times under Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay, they were on Mike Shanahan’s staff together in Washington.

They went on to establish reputations as offensive wizards. When Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in 2016, the team had one of the most productive offensive seasons in NFL history. McVay lasted just three seasons as Washington’s offensive coordinator, from 2014 to 2016, before he became a 30-year-old head coach. The Niners and the Rams hired them both within weeks of each other in 2017.

The Rams’ bet on a coach barely old enough to run for the U.S. Senate has paid off spectacularly and quickly. In McVay’s first season, he took an offense that had been the NFL’s worst and transformed it into the best in the league.

The success didn’t stop. The Rams have had a winning record every season under McVay. They have made the playoffs in four of those five seasons. They made it all the way to the Super Bowl in McVay’s second season, before losing to Brady and the Patriots.

McVay’s success sent ripples across football. He has gone from the youngest coach in modern NFL history when he was hired to an archetype. A number of his former assistants have gone on to be head coaches, including another still alive in these playoffs: Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor, who had been Los Angeles’s quarterbacks coach.

There is one coach, though, against whom McVay has struggled. That happens to be the coach who will be on the opposing sideline this weekend...

 

About Last Night's Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs AFC Divisional Playoff Game (VIDEO)

If you watched last night you'll know. Pat Mahomes engineered a 13 second drive --- 13 FUCKING SECONDS --- in overtime, to beat the Buffalo Bills. Some are saying was the best playoff game ever played. 

I was for the Bills --- I'm tired of Kansas City, they're so good --- so I'm not unbiased. But if you were on Twitter last night you'll know what I'm talking about. Just about EVERYBODY was calling to end the sudden-death overtime rule. Josh Allen played just as well as Mahomes, and he never got a chance to respond in OT. He never touched the ball.

It was a real shame. I'll bet Roger Goodell and his cronies in the NFL executive suites are mulling their options. These kind of things piss off fans, and at a time when football is more popular than ever, seems like you wouldn't want to slow down that momentum.

Allahpundit took up the topic this morning, at Hot Air, "Should the NFL ditch its sudden-death rule for overtime?"

Thirteen seconds. Watch: 

MAHOMES HAD 13 SECONDS! #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/68g4cJ0sqW

— NFL (@NFL) January 24, 2022