Sunday, January 22, 2023

NFL Update

I'm starting to think that the Bills are like the Saints from a few years ago -- they somehow always find a way to lose in the playoffs, no matter how good they look in the regular season.  Also, props to Philly for putting the Giants away early -- those guys are dangerous if you let them hang around.  And props to Patrick Mahomes for beating Jacksonville with only one leg.

Here are the scores so far in the quarter-finals:

National Football Conference:
Philadelphia 38 - 7 New York

American Football Conference:
Kansas City 27 - 20 Jacksonville
Buffalo 10 - 27 Cincinnati

That just leaves the Niners and the Cowboys, who are meeting in the playoffs for the ninth time.

59 comments:

  1. Here's the post-season history of the Niners and the Cowboys:

    San Francisco 10 - 17 Dallas (1970 NFC Title Game)
    Dallas 14 -3 San Francisco (1971 NFC Title Game)
    San Francisco 28 - 30 Dallas (1972 Divisional Round)
    San Francisco 28 - 27 Dallas (1981 NFC Title Game)
    San Francisco 20 - 30 Dallas (1992 NFC Title Game)
    Dallas 38 - 21 San Francisco (1993 NFC Title Game)
    San Francisco 38 - 28 Dallas (1994 NFC Title Game)
    Dallas 17 - 23 San Francisco (2021 Wild Card Round)

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  2. As you can see above, the Cowboys and the 49ers have played for the NFC Title on six different occasions. No other NFC title matchup has happened more than twice.

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  3. The most matchups between any two teams in the AFC Championship game is three. There are four different pairings that have happened three times: Raiders/Steelers, Broncos/Browns, Patriots/Steelers, and Colts/Patriots.

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    1. I'm so glad that you think to ask/answer these questions.

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  4. We just heard from the referee, so I'm happy to report that my radio is synced up with the TV.

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  5. Defensive struggle so far. The 49ers got an interception, but Dallas holds them to a field goal, and San Francisco leads 3-0 with 2:12 left in the first quarter.

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  6. Dallas storms back with a touchdown, but the extra point (which is very dramatic for Dallas these days) is BLOCKED. Cowboys lead 6-3 with 9:25 left in the second quarter.

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  7. In 1981, when I kept stats for the Heath Pirates, we went for two after every touchdown for the whole season.

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    1. I play a football game on my phone some called "Retro Bowl," and I'm the most dominant coach in the history of the NFL (by very, very, very far) in that world. The name of my first memoir in that world is Two Points Is More Than One, which is a famous quote of mine from a press conference where someone asked me why I always go for two after touchdowns.

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  8. San Francisco counters with a field goal, and the score is 6-6 with 3:43 left in the second.

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  9. Dallas has a 4th and 4 at the San Francisco 35. Will they try a field goal?

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  10. No. Dallas goes for it. Dak Prescott drops back, no one is open, so he just runs down to the 25. First down, Dallas.

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  11. With Dallas down to the SF 20, Prescott throws his second interception of the half. That's two interceptions and a blocked extra point for Dallas. Still 6-6 with 1:15 left before halftime.

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  12. On the last second of the half, SF boots a 50-yard field goal to take a 9-6 lead into the locker room.

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    1. I watched this game on mute, and it was really good.

      The earlier, Bengals-at-Bills game was one of the most beautiful NFL games since 1975, anyway.

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  13. This will be the first year that the AFC has seen a rematch in the title game since the 2012 season, when the Ravens met the Patriots for the second year in a row. Both games were in New England. The Patriots won 23-20 to capture the 2011 title, but Baltimore beat New England 28-13 the next year.

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  14. Dallas takes the opening kick, doesn't do much, and punts. The 49ers fumble the punt, and Dallas recovers at the SF 21. 12 minutes left in the third quarter.

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  15. This will be the sixth year that Philadelphia has hosted in the NFC Title game. Here's their record in the other five:

    1980: Philadelphia 20 - 7 Dallas
    2002: Philadelphia 10 - 27 Tampa Bay
    2003: Philadelphia 3 - 14 Carolina
    2004: Philadelphia 27 - 10 Atlanta
    2017: Philadelphia 38 - 7 Minnesota

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    1. Those three years in the early 2000's when the NFC was dominated by Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb, and random teams from the NFC South? Those were some long seasons.

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  16. Dallas gets to the 8, but stalls. Brett Maher comes out for a field goal, and he NAILS IT. Take that, cynics. We're tied a 9 with 9:08 left.

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    1. I was very, very happy for Brett Maher on this kick. By this point in the evening, I was in a fierce Dr. Mario duel with my wife on the big TV; I had the Cowboys and 49ers (on mute) on my phone. We paused the game for me to watch Brett Maher's attempt.

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  17. The Niners run the kickoff all the way back to the Dallas 47.

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  18. But the Niners go three and out, and they punt to the Dallas 9.

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  19. On first down, Prescott throws the bomb to CeeDee Lamb, who makes a great catch at the SF 46.

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  20. But the Niners hold. On 4th and 5 from the SF 40, they take a delay of game and then punt to the SF 9. Still 9-9 with 5:58 left in the 3d.

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  21. The 49ers finally get their offense in gear. With some help from a key defensive holding penalty, they go 91 yards in 10 plays. Christian McCaffrey blasts into the end zone from the two-yard line, and the Niners lead 16-9 with 14:58 left in the game.

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    1. Terrific drive. Looked like the best team in the NFL.

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  22. Dallas pushes back, and Brett Maher kicks another field goal to cut SF's lead to 16-12 with 11:03 left. ESPN gives San Francisco a 72.8 percent chance of winning.

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  23. San Francisco is matriculating the ball down the field. They have a 1st and 10 at the Dallas 28 with 6:16 left, and the Cowboys are in big trouble.

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  24. Two runs by Elijah Mitchell, and SF has a first down at the Dallas 17. Now there's only 4:47 left.

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  25. The rules of football reward teams that can run the ball. SF is using up the full play clock almost every time, and now there is only 3:49 left. But the Niners face a 3d and 10 at the Dallas 17.

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    1. My Retro Bowl Dolphins just absolutely squeeze the life out of an opponent with our robust running game in fourth quarters.

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  26. On third down, SF QB Brock Purdy runs for it, but Dallas hauls him down at the 10. The clock keeps running.

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  27. The Niners take the field goal, and they lead 19-12 with 3:04 left.

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    1. ESPN now gives the Niners an 88.4 percent chance of victory.

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  28. Dallas starts from its own 18.

    1/10, Dall 18: Prescott's pass is almost intercepted
    2/10, Dall 18: Prescott deep pass to Gallup is incomplete
    3/10, Dall 18: Prescott is tackled for no gain

    That was pathetic. Dallas never came close to doing anything.

    Dallas punts to the SF 26. 2:05 left.

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  29. Let's revisit that last possession. On first down, Dallas tried a short pass, and Prescott threw the ball right into the hands of a defender, who dropped it. On second down, Prescott threw a long pass that never had any chance of being completed. On third down, everyone was covered and Prescott was tackled for no gain.

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  30. There have been numerous years where Dallas was upset in the playoffs, but I don't think anyone could watch the last quarter of this game and think that the Cowboys are better than the Forty-Niners.

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  31. I see a lot of folks on Twitter complaining about the Paul Giamatti Twitter commercial. Those people should have synced up their radio.

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    1. The Office-Darrell Pizza Hut commercial introduced me to "Sheesh!" by Surfaces, which my community of Facebook friends identified for me last night. It's my favorite song of all time right now.

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    2. My favorite 10 songs of the seven days preceding today:

      1. Sheesh!, Surfaces
      2. Special, Garbage
      3. Nothing Without You, Vienna Teng
      4. Level Up, Vienna Teng
      5. Hands, Jewel
      6. Lonely Night (Angel Face), Captain and Tennille
      7. The Way That I Want to Touch You, Captain and Tennille
      8. Ray of Light, Madonna
      9. Free Ride, Tavares
      10. Why Should I Love You? Kate Bush

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  32. Dallas did get one more shot. They started from their own 5 with about 45 seconds to go. Now there are six seconds left and Dallas has advanced to its own 24.

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  33. On Dallas's last play of the year, Ezekiel Elliott snapped the football to Prescott (I have no idea why). The play did not work, and the Niners win 19-12.

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    1. Whatever San Francisco linebacker (immediately) tackled the Dallas receiver seemed to be offended for all of football by this play, and, speaking for the rest of football, I just want to thank the San Francisco linebacker for his work here.

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  34. Since 1995, Dallas has made it to the Divisional Round seven times. Here are the results:

    1996: Carolina 26 - 17 Dallas
    2007: Dallas 17 - 21 New York
    2009: Minnesota 34 - 3 Dallas
    2014: Green Bay 26 - 21 Dallas
    2016: Dallas 31 - 34 Green Bay
    2018: Los Angeles 30 - 22 Dallas
    2022: San Francisco 19 - 12 Dallas

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    1. From 1992 to 1995, Dallas reached the NFC Title Game four years in a row. They haven't been back since.

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    2. All sixteen teams in the NFC have reached the NFC title game at least once. The only teams that have not been to the NFC title game since 2010 are the Cowboys (1995), Washington (1991), and Detroit (1991).

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    3. The only NFC teams that haven't been to the Super Bowl since 2006 are the Cowboys (1995), the Vikings (1976), Washington (1991), and the Lions (never).

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    4. As a Dolphins fan, I just want to say that I've been totally impressed with the professionalism and success of the entire Cowboys operation since 1996.

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  35. Tony Pollard, perhaps Dallas's best running threat, was injured in the first half, and Dallas's offense really struggled after that.

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  36. Prescott: 23-37, 206 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT's, rating of 63.6
    Purdy: 19-29, 214 yards, 0 TD's, 0 INT's, rating of 87.4

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    1. I thought Joe Burrow would rock and Cincinnati would beat Buffalo, and I imagined that Brock Purdy would come back to Earth and Ezekiel Elliott would have a surprisingly big day against the 49ers and lead a Dallas upset here. Consequently, my Yahoo! Sports Daily Fantasy team Sunday finished 86,374th of 194,586 entries. That's a pretty good performance for me.

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  37. There are seasons in which we see a major underdog reach the Conference Championships. This is not one of those seasons. The Chiefs, Eagles, Niners, and Bengals are the four best teams, and they all deserve to be here.

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  38. Next week, the Eagles will host San Francisco, and the Chiefs will host the Bengals. The NFC Title Game will start at 2 PM Central, and the AFC game is scheduled for 5:30 PM Central.

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  39. The AFC has the same matchup, in the same location, as last year. The only change in the NFC is that last year San Francisco visited the Rams, and this year they are visiting Philadelphia.

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