NFL Playoffs March on – New Year Mixed Results in the Week that was

NFL Playoffs march on.   The divisional round is in the books.   We had a mixed bag.   Some things wenst as expected.  Other things not so much.  NCAA Basketball starting to weed out the pretenders.   Interesting headlines on ESPN.   Strange the way headlines are written.  This is not unique to sports.  The Rockets have found their stride in the NBA the Lakers show they are really the Cavaliers.   Tennis loses a great personality.  NASCAR is coming up soon.  The NHL is looking more like one team and the rest.  All this and more in the week that was.

NFL Three duds and one Gem

The NFL playoffs were in the Divisional round.   With two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday.  The Saturday Games were pretty much both duds.   The Rams had no issues with the Cowboys.  The Chiefs had even fewer issues with the Colts than the Rams had wit the Cowboys.    The Cowboys made the game look close at the end by scoring a meaningless touchdown.   The Rams handled the Cowboys running game.  Keeping Elliott to under 50 yards rushing.   The Rams had a crazy great day rushing the ball.  Both Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson went over 100 yards and scored touchdowns.  In the Stat line Prescott out played Goff it really did not matter.   The Rams did not need their passing game to win this.

The Chiefs were even more dominante against the Colts.    The Colts had a nice run this year.  It ended here with a resounding – you are not ready.  The Chiefs have had a history of losing games in the playoffs that they should win.  Last year against the Titans they blew a lead to lose.  The year before they lost to the Steelers.    The Chiefs had lost their last 6 home playoff games.   Not a streak you want to be on.  It was easy to doubt that the Chiefs had what it takes to beat the Colts this year.   This Chiefs team is different though.  They have a different quarterback in Mahomes and a different attitude all around.   During the regular season Mahomes put up some crazy numbers.   In this game it was the running game that got it done.   Four different Chiefs scored a rushing touchdown.   The Colts had no answer for that.  The Colts were pretty much spectators in this game.

The Sunday Games

The first Sunday game with the Patriots and the Chargers was not any better.  I really thought that the Chargers were going to win this game.  I forgot to take into account the distance the Chargers have traveled over the last few weeks.  Having to travel across the country two weeks in a row.  That is not the only reason that the Chargers were destroyed by the Patriots but I am pretty sure that it did contribute.   The other reason that the Patriots won.   They were just better.  All the talks of the Patriots demise this year are wrong.  Tom Brady was sharp and ready to go.  Sony Michel scored three touchdowns and had over 100 yards rushing.  What a pick up he was in the Draft.  The Chargers are a really good team that just ran out of steam.   Losing their division to the Chiefs did the Chargers in.

In the Final game of the Divisional round.  The Eagles went into the Super Dome with  a mission.  In the first quarter it looked like that mission was going to work.  This is the one game that I had being a blow out.  In the end I picked the correct team to win.  But I was really wrong on how this game would go.  The Eagles looked like last years Eagles in the first quarter.  Unfortunately for them.  There was three more quarters to go.  This game really should have been a blowout.  The Saints were doing all they could to keep this game close.  In the go ahead drive in the third quarter they actually should have scored three touchdowns.  One called back by a holding penalty one a missed connection from Brees to Hill.  Brees missed a few long passes attempts that should have been completed.  One being his first pass of the game that was intercepted.   So even with the mistakes the Saints made they were able to over come them and boot the Eagles from the playoffs.

NBA the Harden Way

James Harden is on an amazing streak.   The kind of streak that we have not seen in the NBA since the 60’s.  Since I was born in 65 it is they type of streak I have never seen.  Harden has scored 30 or more points in 17 straight games.  The last person to do that was Wilt Chamberlain in 1964.  You would think with the great players that have come through the NBA in the years between 1964 and 2019 one of them would have had a streak like this.  James Harden is making a case to be up there as one of the greatest players ever.  He is putting the Rockets on his back and willing them to wins.  Early in the season the Rockets were being left for dead.  Harden has got it together and has them rolling now.  How long this can be sustained is difficult to tell.  I am fairly certain that it will not work in the playoffs.   Harden might be able to get them to the playoffs but it will take more than him to win in them

The Regular Season Means Nothing or at best very little

This is being demonstrated by several teams in the West.  The Lakers and the Warriors are the two that are showing this the best.   The Warriors are clearly coasting along through the season.  They turn it on when they want to.  Can’t really blame them conserving energy and just making sure that they qualify in the top half of the playoff seeds.  Last year they showed that home court really did not matter to them.   The Lakers are the Cavaliers West at best.  LaBron has been out with an injury.  Showing no signs of rushing back.   They know that with LaBron in the line up they are going to make the playoffs.  It is possible that they will even be in the top half of the playoffs.  The only thing that the Lakers want to make sure is that they do not face the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.  They have a whole half of a season to work that out.

NHL – The Song Remains the Same

I am sure you have heard the term – “the more things change the more they stay the same”  Maybe that was coined by some sports journalist since we tend to contradict ourselves a lot.  Kind of the nature of the beast.   In the NHL this year is it Nothing is changing and it is all staying the same.  The Lightning are still the team to beat.  They now have a 14 point lead of second place for the presidents trophy.   They are running away with this.  The Lightning have 35 games left to play in their regular season schedule.  I don’t see anything happening that is going to derail them from finishing with the best record in the regular season this year.  Stranger things have happened but I don’t see that happening here.

At the bottom we still have the Senators Kings and Flyers.   The Wings and Blackhawks are trying to get in on the action.  In any NHL draft there is usually about 5 – 6 really good players.  Every few years there is a team changing player.   This year teams will be going for the change to draft Jack Hughes.  As much as there is no sure thing.  Hughes looks to have a great shot at being one of those team changing players.    The thing that is for sure.  Who ever wins the draft lottery to pick first will take him

Television Fix – Addiction

We watched Bird Box.   At first I really did not like it much and was wondering what all the hype was about.  The end of the movie is what really made the movie for me.  I will not give any spoilers here and this is not what this post is about.   NETFLIX was genius in the way that they marketed this movie.  Almost all of the advertising.  At least initially to build interest in the movie.  Was done though Social Media networks.  They got the ball rolling and then people took over.  It worked like a charm.   NETFLIX paid almost nothing to get the word out.  Their viewers did it for them.

There is however a downside to doing things this way.  It has become pretty common that if there is a good thing out there.  People will find a way to make it dumb.  Everyone out there doing the Bird Box Challenge.  STOP IT.  You should not be driving, skating, biking, wrangling alligators, running with your child or anything else with a blind fold on.   Chances are high that you will hurt yourself or more importantly hurt or kill someone else.  You do know that this is a movie right?  They did not really do all of this completely blind folded.  I am sure that for some parts of it they did but there were people around making sure they did not get hurt.  So please find your brain and come to your senses.

That is is for this week.  There will be more next week.  There always is. The NFL Playoffs will continue Golf and NASCAR are getting ready to ramp up.   Tennis started its first grand slam of the season.  The problem is that it is in Australia and since ESPN airs the entire tournament it messes up the show I watch on ESPN on Sunday mornings.  I tried to watch tennis but just can’t get into it.    You can find last weeks post here.