Football is back again

[deanwebb]

Here's hoping the Bills don't get all lost in "WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS" euphoria and forget how to focus.

This is also where statistics gets really brutal. In the wild card games, the stats favor the teams with the best W-L record overall, so I'm picking those guys to win.

In the Divisional round, it's the home team that wins 3 out of 4 times. I believe that New England, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota will do the job. I think Philadelphia falters if the Rams beat the Falcons, and I think they will.

[icecream-guy]

Here's hoping the Bills don't get all lost in "WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS" euphoria and forget how to focus.

This is also where statistics gets really brutal. In the wild card games, the stats favor the teams with the best W-L record overall, so I'm picking those guys to win.

In the Divisional round, it's the home team that wins 3 out of 4 times. I believe that New England, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota will do the job. I think Philadelphia falters if the Rams beat the Falcons, and I think they will.

My ability to win this contest is no longer possible even if you picked every loser through the playoffs, I concede, good job dean. it was lots of fun though.

[deanwebb]

One thing I learned for sure: NEVER BET ON FOOTBALL.

Second thing I learned for sure: NEVER EVER BET ON PRE-SEASON GAMES OR WEEK 17 GAMES.

[deanwebb]

Anybody who thought, on January 2, that the Eagles would win the Super Bowl is a liar.

But what a finish to the season! I truly did not expect the Eagles to knock down the Falcons and the Vikings... and then to tear up the Patriots like they did.

Pats join the 600 club... teams that get over 600 yards of total offense and then *lose*. Wow.

And is it just me, or was the backup QB coaching a team that had a play in which a guy who was once a backup QB threw the ball to the current backup QB for a touchdown? Sweet, sweet play for the Eagles at the end of the second half.

Brady only had one sack in the game, but it was important and telling. Brady was mortal like everyone else after that.

Very glad to see that the referees did NOT call back any touchdowns. There was a review and guys in the announcer booth may have been going, "Mmmmmm... looks like it miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight get called back...", but unless there is clear, incontrovertible evidence to overturn, the play should not be overturned. Gene Steratore is my favorite referee, and that actually goes back to 2013, when Peter King followed him around for the MMQB column. It was a great series about officiating, and I started to watch that part of the game more after that series. Gene Steratore's the man, and I always feel good about the officiating when he's in charge of a game.

Philly played the game like Parcell's Giants: RUN THAT BALL. It's not the number of rushing yards, it's the number of *rushes*, according to Parcells. And that's why the Eagles were able to do what they did. They played some hard-fought football for a full 60 minutes. They didn't start celebrating until after that throw to Gronk was broken up and then everybody looked up and the game clock was at 0. And then... let's just say that I am very glad that, today, I do not work for any sanitation crew in Philadelphia.