2020 NFL Season

[Ccook]

The Chiefs put Demarcus Russell (WR) and Daniel Kilgore (C) on the COVID-19 list. Neither tested positive but they were in contact with others who did test positive.

[SeaBreeze341]

If all goes well, both Russell and Kilgore could be available in time for the Big Game.  Even if they aren't, it wouldn't be a big loss for Kansas City; I can see the Chiefs making one or both a healthy scratch

[SeaBreeze341]

Andy Reid son in trouble again.  Whatever happens, happens.  I really feel for the victims, especially a kid who's about to start on a 13-year journey toward adulthood.  That may not happen, and that is so not good.


It would suck if Kansas City didn't win over the distractions.  OTOH, people might discredit Tampa Bay winning due to those distractions.  Not being near RJS is an excuse.  The Chiefs have been at home everytime during the Patrick Mahomes Era, it's a bad thing, this tragedy.  It would've been nice if it didn't happen at all, but bad news and awful events could've taken place two or three weeks ago.  Just a bummer that it's Super Bowl Week.  Given the haircut thing, I wonder if they would've been distracted in Tampa more.  And that is surprising given the fact that they are still the champs.

Yeah, I’m going with Tampa for the win tomorrow.  I made my mind up to stick with the Buccaneers yesterday, well before the Reid stuff happened.  Actually, I really sided with the Bucs the evening of and morning after the Conference Title Games.  Much like the previous two games, I didn’t feel the need to go on the record.  There was 2 weeks for anything to happen.

Eric Fisher is missing in action.  Tampa’s D-Line would have been good enough to get home even with Fisher.  Kansas City’s defense is pretty good, but I don’t know if you can stop TB12 and company for 60 minutes.  The Chiefs are the defending champion, but there a guy who’s 30-40 hours away from holding more rings than every franchise in the sport.  Well, Super Bowl rings.  I don’t know for sure if Green Bay has 9 rings prior to Season 47.  Brady has championship experience and has the ability to spread that amongst his players.

Not sure if Mahomes is 100 percent;  if that toe injury is not a thing, then that may be a different story. 

I’m hoping for a good game, but I think Tampa Bay might need to try to win by 21 in order to survive against a team that can score in a hurry.  The Bucs defense is underrated though; while I think the Chiefs will lose, I just don’t know by how much.  It’ll be either 49-9 or 49-18. Just my opinion.


The next Hall of Fame class will be disclosed tonight, if not before.  Apart from Manning (and maybe Charles Woodson), who knows, but it was decided a couple weeks ago.  Meanwhile, the awards were done about a month ago, and that'll be disclosed too, throughout the day.  TJ Watt looked like the DPOY was his to lose, but over time I've actually leaned toward Aaron Donald getting his third title.  Speaking of Aaron Rodgers should get his third MVP

[JayC]

Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Calvin Johnson, and five others have been inducted into the 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30849436/2021-pro-football-hall-fame-inductees

Peyton and Charles Woodson obviously no surprise, but Calvin Johnson is a bit of a surprise given his fairly short career and other great wide receivers that had to wait over one year or are still waiting. Nice to see John Lynch get in, he's been waiting a long time and deserved it earlier. I thought Jared Allen would've been first-ballot also, surprised to see him get snubbed.

[88JRFAN]

Happy Super Bowl LV everyone! 

As we approach the big game, here are some little known facts and stats you may or may not know:

"The Date is Great"
February 7 marks the 3rd time a Super Bowl is played on this date (other 2 are XLIV in '10 ; 50 in '16). Coincidentally ALL 3 have aired on CBS.

"Playing on Feb. 7"
TB and KC are the 5th and 6th different teams playing the big game on Feb. 7, joining Saints, Colts, Panthers, and Broncos. So far, AFC and NFC are tied 1-1 (Saints winning XLIV and Broncos winning SB 50).

City of Tampa and "The Ray Jay"
This is the 3rd Super Bowl Raymond James has hosted (XXXV in '01 and XLIII in '09). AFC is 2-0 with wins by Ravens and Steelers.

6 different teams have participated in Super Bowls in the Ray Jay (Ravens, Giants, Steelers, Cards, Bucs, and Chiefs). Bucs, of course, had finally broken the dreaded 54-year-old Championship Game Host Stadium curse. This is also the 3rd time a Super Bowl in Tampa ends with a 5 (XXV being the other).

The Players & Teams

TAMPA
Bucs are playing in their 2nd ever Super Bowl game, first on CBS. Their first Super Bowl (XXXVII in '03) was televised on ABC.

Tom Brady, in his 10th Super Bowl appearance, playing for the 3rd time on CBS (other 2 being XXXVIII in '04 in Houston and LIII in '19 in Atlanta). Tom is currently 2-0 in Super Bowls on CBS and 4-0 in odd-numbered Super Bowls (wins in XXXIX in '05, XLIX in '15, LI in '17, and LIII in '19)

KC
The Chiefs make their 4th Super Bowl appearance and 2nd consecutive. 3 out of 4 of Chiefs' Super Bowls have been played on CBS (I in '67 (CBS+NBC) ; IV in '70, and today).

Patrick, ironically, is facing the QB who was the most recent winner of back-to-back Super Bowls

Network Stats
CBS is airing the Super Bowl in an NFC stadium for the 4th consecutive time (XLVII in '13 in New Orleans, 50 in '16 in Santa Clara, LIII in '19 in Atlanta, and LV today in Tampa). Prior to that, it was XXXVIII in Houston, and XLI+XLIV in Miami. CBS airing 2 Super Bowls in 3 years makes this a first since FOX aired Super Bowls XXXI in '97 and XXXIII in '99 (NBC chose to swap with CBS to avoid conflict with the 2022 winter Olympics, which airs on NBC)

That's all the stats for today. Enjoy the game, folks! 

[moneygamelover]

This should be a great game. I'll pick the Chiefs because  of the weapons and speed. Both quarterbacks are elite but the Chiefs have more weapons and speed with Kelce and Hill in particular.

I would've had the same HOF class. Manning, Woodson, and Megatron were clear 1st ballot locks and Flores, Nunn, Pearson were deserving members of their categories. I thought Faneca should've made it over Hutchinson last year.
. The inclusion of the long overdue Lynch clears the safety backlog though it's too bad Deron Cherry never got in. Next year's most notable 1st time eligible guy is DeMarcus Ware, who I think will get 1st ballot.

[SeaBreeze341]

You know, a lot of people in Pittsburgh are very (surprised and) upset over Aaron Donald winning the DPOY over TJ Watt.  I can see that, and if you'd ask me 6 weeks ago, I might have shared that sentiment.  However, as time passed prior to last night, I was leaning toward AD for the win.  Either player, TJ or Aaron, deserved it.  It sucks that Watt missed out again, but AD winning it was the correct call.

Rodgers, Derrick, Alex Smith, Herbert, are included in the other big awards in MVP, OPOY, CPOY, and ROY.

Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Calvin Johnson, and five others have been inducted into the 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30849436/2021-pro-football-hall-fame-inductees

Peyton and Charles Woodson obviously no surprise, but Calvin Johnson is a bit of a surprise given his fairly short career and other great wide receivers that had to wait over one year or are still waiting. Nice to see John Lynch get in, he's been waiting a long time and deserved it earlier. I thought Jared Allen would've been first-ballot also, surprised to see him get snubbed.

I see Jared Allen as falling short for the HOF against a ton of deserving candidates more than I saw it as a snub.  What I think cost Allen was that this year featured a class where shoe-ins Manning & Woodson took 40% of the spots.  Faneca & Lynch not being voted in prior to this year didn't help.  It was a toss between Megatron & Allen, mainly due to his short career.  Well, not a toss; figured Calvin would edge out Jared.

Speaking of Calvin Johnson, you know Tom Brady's legacy has been more than validated when he's made more super bowls than number of seasons a WR played in the NFL prior to being selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility!


Nice stats from 88JRFAN.  Another thing that might be worth mentioning is that Tampa Bay is the fifth team to reach the big game after having to win 3 road games, including games against the Top 2 teams in its conference.  They will be the fourth team to do so and then face the Top Team from the other conference (1985 Bears, 2005 Seahawks, 2007 Patriots; FYI: the 2010 Steelers were a 2 seed).  Those teams are 3-1 (Steelers, Giants, and Packers won, Patriots did not).  Tampa Bay breaks away from the Jets and Saints from being a team to win the big game in its only appearance to joining the Ravens in terms of teams that won more than once without a Super Bowl loss

[PatrickRox80]

Brady still gets help from the refs. What else is new?

[Archviler]

Brady still gets help from the refs. What else is new?

I was annoyed over the PI flag in Green Bay at the end of the game. With the way the game had been called that flag shouldn't have been thrown, but whatever, Green Bay laid an egg anyway. That was an irritating flag, but but it was just one bad call in context of how the game had been officiated. This is a whole other level, to the point I did something I don't think I've ever done: I turned off the Super Bowl. I don't want to watch what increasingly feels like the announcers and refs coronating Brady yet again.

All of that's just my opinion of course, but at least I can do something productive instead of watch the rest of that game.

[SeaBreeze341]

Here's some good news for Belichick as well as Buffalo: Both New England and the Bills will get their day against Tom Brady in 2021 (granted he doesn't retire or get hurt before the game).  Patriots host Tampa so who knows.  Meanwhile, the new and improve Bills, who got destroyed one win away from facing their nemesis, can get the last laugh against TB12.  That Bills/Bucs game will be at Raymond James Stadium so maybe not.


I have the day off tomorrow, but I had the thought of rescinding it (which would be fairly easy this year given the remote nature).  I will not as I need it for several things, not just the annual PTO day after the Super Bowl.  To be clear, I might actually pass out by 10 PM EST and get a lot of sleep for the first time from a Sunday to Monday in a long time (since Labor Day, I believe).  Probably could be up at 6-7, but 10-12 hours isn't far fetched.  There is always something good to come out of "something bad".


I take no pleasure in "predicting a blowout" but the reason why I even posted that was due to what the Buccaneers had coupled with what the Chiefs didn't have.  Injures are a valid reason, and it'll give Patrick his first loss in regulation.  However it is fair to say it's an excuse.  Brady's last several Super Bowl wins came against people that were hurt or not there.  However, he won four years ago without Gronk, and then Philadelphia managed to beat Tom and New England without their MVP candidate of a QB.

 
It sucks to not enjoy this for the most part, and I say for the most part because Kansas City still employs Hill.  There are some great people on that Tampa team, mainly the coaching staff.  That is so lost in the story of how great this Bucs team is.  TB12 definitely gets the credit and deserves it, but man, what an organization!

[bigblue999]

The Chiefs are the third team to not score a Super Bowl touchdown.

[UltraPrice]

Tampa Bay are Super Bowl champs for the first time in 18 years.  Brady continues to prove he is the GOAT.

[therealcu2010]

Yeah, that game was pretty boring and not what I expected. Congratulations to Tampa Bay for having another championship team!

The part I was most interested in was the Halftime Show... namely how they would pull it off. And I must say, I loved the presentation. They were able to strip it down while keep it feeling big. Using the top of the stadium as the stage instead of the usual on field one was a good idea, and necessary under COVID-19 protocols. As a whole, the NFL did a great job making the stadium look and feel full despite the majority of the "fans" being cardboard cutouts.

CBS' new graphics package looks really sharp, too. Probably my favorite current NFL graphics set.

[Ccook]

Quick numbers: CBS drew 97.4 million viewers for the game, the lowest rating since 2007. They did cite a streaming audience of some 5 million which to them was something of a plus.

[Ccook]

Error: the total viewers was 96.4 million, 5 million of which streamed it. CBS says it was the "highest average minute" viewership in SB history and was up 65% from last year.