I know Moss is doing a bit, but I'm legitimately happy that there is a female coach in the NFL. The other major men's sports have pretty prominent female equivalents at either the professional, collegiate, or international level. But the closest comps the NFL has are several very small independent American football leagues, women's rugby, and the Legends Football League which used to be the Lingerie League a.k.a. TITTIEBALL. But in a season that has already seen the first female official and training camp assistant coach, hiring Kathryn Smith is just the latest sign that the old boy's club mentality of the NFL is hopefully coming to an end.
But before that happens, we get an entire off-season of players who aren't even on the Bills talk shit about how they would never respect a female coach. But wait—you know who is on the Bills? Richie Incognito! I wonder what he thinks! Oh wait, we already know!
Can Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless break it down for me? This is what February through August is like in sports reporting! Fuck me! Anyway, enjoy two of the only three meaningful football games left for half a year.
Last week:
M/L: 4-0
ATS: 1-2-1
Overall:
M/L: 166-98
ATS: 133-122-9
SUNDAY, JANUARY 24TH
3:00pm EST, CBS
New England at Denver (+3) - BRADY VERSUS MANNING PART WHO CARES. The real story of New England's win over Kansas City last week was a healthy Julian Edelman, who racked up 111 yards from scrimmage, had a big punt return, and most importantly attracted the attention of KC's defense. This allowed Rob Gronkowski to get loose for 83 yards and two scores, his first touchdown since before Christmas against Tennessee. As for Denver, it was their defense that held Big Ben and Pittsburgh without a passing touchdown. Sure, Antonio Brown was busy pretending to have a concussion, but the defense held strong while Peyton Manning and his receivers struggled with drops and 3rd down conversions all day. This is a matchup of good-on-good (NE offense vs. DEN defense) and meh-on-meh (the rest) but I can already feel the dread of ManningBradyBowl XVII upon me. Honestly I like Denver here, not only because of their soul-crushing defense but because I think the jitters of having Manning back and his history of losing his team's first playoff game is behind them. Look for my boy Demaryius Thomas to have a monster game, before last week he scored a touchdown in his previous five playoff games, and the last time he faced New England he posted a 7-134-1 line. Denver in the upset, over 44.5.
6:40pm EST, FOX
Arizona at Carolina (-3) - When we get to the conference championships, we usually talk a lot about the quarterbacks still playing. This game will feature the first playoff matchup between former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks. Weird, right? I could've sworn we got an Eric Crouch vs. Chris Weinke Super Bowl at some point. Anyway, I watched some of the ARI/GB game on some guy's phone at a wedding reception, but apparently it was one for the ages. I did see Palmer's pick in the 4th, and figured they were cooked. Then lots of stuff happened! Palmer tipped TD to Floyd, Rodgers-to-Janis for 61 and then again for a Hail Mary TD, the worst coin flip in history, Palmer-to-Fitz for 75 and finally the shovel pass to Fitz to seal the win for the Cards. For Carolina, it was a tale of two halves as they pummeled the Seattle Seahawks to the tune of 31-0 by halftime, then almost shit the game away by gaining all of 75 yards in the 2nd half and giving up 24 unanswered points. But a win is a win, and the Panthers just #keeppounding. They had some success running the ball with Jonathan Stewart, so of course he's hurt again (but practiced today.) The thing that sticks in my mind is Arizona just didn't look sharp from what I saw and read. Palmer was missing throws and the defense gave up some chunk yardage to a Packers offense that was pretty thin at receiver. Can Cam Newton and company move the ball effectively here after being tossed around by Seattle's defense in the 2nd half last week? I think so. Panthers win and cover, under 48.