2017 NFC Championship – Packers Hit A Wall

The game was never really even close. This NFC Championship game which was in a dome in Atlanta was not even close from pretty much the beginning of the game. At the end of the first quarter it was 10-0 Atlanta and by halftime the game was already over. Thank goodness I recorded it because I didn’t actually get home until halftime and it was already 24-0. You may not think that the game was out of hand by then but ESPN certainly did giving the Falcons a 99.4% chance of winning at halftime. I kept hoping that the Packers would find a way back into the game but the second half really was more of the same thing. After jumping out to a 31-0 lead in the third quarter the Packers finally started scoring some points. The game actually ends up looking pretty decent for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers as they really only lose 44-21 in the end but the score does not reflect just how dominate the Falcons were throughout the game. I believe if they had scored one more time to make it a 38-0 game you would have seen the second string in for the most part. That’s how sad this game was basically until the fourth quarter when it looked like Rodgers would try to make a miracle happen. Matt Ryan ended up with 392 yards passing with four touchdowns to go with it. He actually ended up with 415 total yards and was responsible for five touchdowns in the game which has got to be close to a record of some nature (at least in conference championship games). The best news for the Falcons is that they barely had to use their running game as both running backs were used less than 15 carries each. Julio Jones had nine receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

The problem that the Packers ran into is that they rely almost exclusively on Aaron Rodgers for offense. He led his team in passing and rushing. He was responsible for every touch down and even had half of the total rushing yards in the game. Montgomery was injured and Christine Michael just could not get the job done against the Falcons defense. Rodgers got tossed around like a rag doll most of the game by the Atlanta defense but was still able to make some places. He was sacked twice and got hit hard on seven difference occasions. If you look at the Atlanta defense you will see that over 10% of all tackles were behind the line of scrimmage, they deflected seven passes, got to Rodgers nine times hitting him every time and tackling him twice. All in all this game was not close at all. In terms of helping the poor ratings all season, it will be interesting to see what the final numbers are from this game.

List of 2016 Texas High School Football State Champions

So this past December saw some great high school football games across the country. There is probably not a state in the US that can compete with the football prowess of Texas. In small towns (like the one I grew up in) businesses will shut down on Friday nights while everyone heads over to the local stadium. So it’s no surprise when I tell you that the UIL State Championships is probably one of the biggest sporting events that happens every year in the state. What I have loved about the past few State Championships is that they are played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. It gives a chance for kids from all over the state to play where the big boys play. It gives dreamers hope and has been witness to some of the greats over the years.

Division	Schools	Results
1A – D1*	Gail Borden County (13-1) vs. Jonesboro (14-0)	GBC 60-12
1A – D2*	Balmorhea (14-0) vs. Richland Springs (13-0)	Rich Spgs 96-50
2A – D1	Crawford (14-1) vs. Refugio (14-1)	Refugio 23-20
2A – D2	Iraan (15-0) vs. Bremond (15-0)	Bremond 49-28
3A – D1	Mineola (13-2) vs. Yoakum (11-4)	Mineola 35-14
3A – D2	Gunter (15-0) vs. Boling (13-2)	Gunter 43-7
4A – D1	Abilene Wylie (12-1) vs. Carthage (13-2)	Carthage 31-17
4A – D2	Sweetwater (13-1) vs. West Orange-Stark (15-0)	Stark 24-6
5A – D1	Highland Park (13-2) vs. Temple (12-3)	Highland Park 16-7
5A – D2	Aledo (15-0) vs. Corpus Christi Calallen (14-1)	Aledo 24-16
6A – D1	The Woodlands (15-0) vs. Lake Travis (14-1)	Lake Travis 41-13
6A – D2	DeSoto (15-0) vs. Cibolo Steele (14-1)	DeSoto 38-29

*1A plays 6-man football in both Division 1 and 2

The first couple of scores might throw you through a loop because they are such high scoring games but as the asterisk above mentions the smallest divisions in football play with six players per side instead of eleven. Six Man Football is kind of a pride thing for Texas. They have over 240 schools that play in the two divisions. There are a few other states that play at this level but none even come close to as big as Texas. Florida has 32 teams which could probably be considered a league. I will post the results ever year from the Texas High School State Championship games. They are actually harder to find than you would think sometimes. Hopefully this helps someone at some point. I love to keep records of this kind of stuff. The video I posted with this article is a great look into the State Championships. It’s old but still good.

Championship Sunday Looks to Impress Viewers

With the AFC and NFC Championship games coming up later today, the big question for NFL leadership is going to be the ratings. Ratings have been down this season and there has been speculation that NFL might have peaked. The New York Post wrote a great article asking that very question. By far the most interesting article that I have read on the issue was written this time last year via Business Insider. In it, it talks about how two analysts who work for Pacific Crest Investment Bank talk about how the major networks are at the highest risk (especially the ones that play NFL games). They throw in the fact that the NFL is currently involved in several issues that could have major impacts on it’s future.

This weekend is extremely important to the NFL as it will once and for all put the debate to rest. While the Cowboys (who probably draw the largest audience) have been knocked out, there are still four teams in the playoffs left that have a large reach. The New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and Atlanta Falcons all have large numbers of fans who travel. The recent drop in ticket prices can be attributed to Cowboys fans who had hope they could see their team win a Super Bowl in the state of Texas. The games we have this weekend could mean more to the NFL than basically any Championship Weekend in NFL history.

3:05PM ET – Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons – FOX

This game will end up being a battle of the defenses because with these two Quarterbacks you really can never stop them the entire game. Green Bay will more than likely need to get their running game going to control some of the time of possession. The Atlanta Falcons have a complete set of mismatches on offense so as long as they keep at it there really should be no issue against this Packer secondary. They met earlier in the season and the Falcons won the game 33-32.

6:40PM ET – Pittsburgh Steelers @ New England Patriots – CBS

The biggest question in this game is the Steelers defense vs. Tom Brady. Le’Veon Bell is going to get his. The Steelers will be able to control most of the clock, but their defense is going to have to stop Tom Brady on at least 2-3 drives in order to stay even with the Patriots. They met earlier in the season and the Patriots won 27-16 in what ended up being somewhat of a blow out.

Leonard Downs Cavaliers With 41 Points

Kawhi Leonard just scored a career high 41 points against Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He scored more than a third of his teams points in the 118-115 overtime victory over the top team in the Eastern Conference. What makes this so important in my eyes is that the Cavs had all of their main starters playing heavy minutes. Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and Lebron James all put in more than 35 minutes. Lebron played nearly every minute playing 45 total minutes in the game. It was the Cavaliers bench that would eventually prove to be their weakest link as they got out scored, out rebounded, out assisted, out everything that has to do with basketball. You combine that with the 41 points that Kawhi Leonard dropped on them and you get a win in the game. The reason it remained a close game was due to the amount of talent that is on Cleveland’s roster. Kawhi Leonard is closing in on that MVP trophy because he is in the drivers seat on a team that is just three games out of first place in the NBA. Both Golden State and San Antonio are at least 3 games ahead of the top team in the Eastern Conference Cleveland Cavaliers. It has yet to be seen who will end up winning the MVP race but you can bet that voters will remember this game as two of the top teams battled it out to overtime where Kawhi Leonard sealed the game in the end with a steal and dunk.

Hines Ward Will Be Honorary Captain in AFC Championship

Hines Ward will be on the sideline once again for the Steelers this upcoming Sunday. Unfortunately he will not be playing on the field and just on the sideline in an honorary role. However, this will probably do wonders for the morale for some of the players. Ward played in five AFC Championship games and will no doubt be an asset (especially for the younger players) on the sideline. He was also named to four straight Pro Bowls from the 2002-2005 seasons. I would say his most impressive achievement was getting the MVP award during Super Bowl XL in their win over the Seattle Seahawks. He will more than likely end up in the Hall of Fame with two Super Bowl rings, one Super Bowl MVP, over 1000 yards receiving in the playoffs alone, over 12,000 yards receiving in the regular season, and nearly 100 total touchdowns in his career. With statistics like that, it’s hard to believe that he would not end up in the Hall. Nevertheless he will be on the sideline Sunday when the Steelers take on the Patriots for the AFC Championship and the chance to go to another Super Bowl.

Big Changes to Top 25 in Week 11

Baylor was the top team in the land until this week when they dropped several spots after accounting for their loss to West Virginia. No one expected Baylor to stay in the top spot because of their schedule, but who knew that Villanova would leap Kansas. The only reason this happened is because Kansas has not played the hard part of their schedule yet. They do have a win over Duke and a loss to Indiana which are unfortunately the only two ranked teams they have played all season. They have time to make up for it with 5 games against top 10 opponents left on their schedule.

Rank	School	Record
1	Villanova	17-1
2	Kansas	16-1
3	UCLA	18-1
4	Gonzaga	17-0
5	Kentucky	15-2
6	Baylor	16-1
7	Creighton	17-1
8	West Virginia	15-2
9	North Carolina	16-3
10	Florida State	16-2
11	Oregon	16-2
12	Louisville	15-3
13	Butler	15-3
14	Arizona	16-2
15	Notre Dame	16-2
16	Virginia	13-3
17	Wisconsin	14-3
18	Duke	14-4
19	Florida	14-3
20	Cincinnati	15-2
21	Purdue	14-4
22	Xavier	13-4
23	Saint Mary’s	15-2
24	South Carolina	14-3
25	Maryland	16-2

By February 2nd we will know exactly what Kansas is made of as they will have played three top 10 games during that span. Villanova will have a tough test with Virginia during that span as well. In three weeks we could see an entirely different top 10. This season is exciting as there really is no clear favorite to win it all.

Oregon Strength Coach Suspended One Month Without Pay

Irele Oderinde was just hired as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Oregon Ducks last week and there are already players in the hospital. Offensive linemen Doug Brenner and Sam Poutasi along with tight end Cam McCormick were all taken to PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend last week. The rumor is that some of the players (including those admitted to the hospital) are developing Rhabdomyolysis which can lead to kidney failure and is probably caused by these military style workouts. I am not sure how much I believe all of the hype though as there have been players coming out talking about how the media is making something out of nothing:

The workout was not even what the media is portraying it to be 🙄

— U.Amadi (@UAmadi14_) January 17, 2017

Y’all complain about losing then change comes and all of sudden “the workouts are too gruesome” tf outta here

— Button (@mattmcgraw_) January 17, 2017

Don’t believe we’re working any harder than the other top elite programs , some people bodies are just different

— Button (@mattmcgraw_) January 17, 2017

Honestly, in this case I am going to lead with the side of the players because if it really was gruesome or whatever I am sure there would be players coming out talking about it. Even college football has become some what of a business and these guys know they are commodities in a lot of cases. Something tells me that this has more to do with whatever supplements they might be taking in order to bulk up or get into shape. This is literally pure speculation but I find it hard to believe there are multiple players with the same issues without it being something that large groups are doing such as supplements.

So what does this mean for the Oregon Ducks? Well they have decided to suspend the newly hired Strength and Conditioning Coach Irele Oderinde for one month while the previous coach (who is now just helping baseball and basketball after being with the football team for 32 years) takes over for the next month or so.

Will Pudge Make the Hall of Fame?

Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez is a new comer on this years Baseball Hall of Fame finalists. While he was never suspended for using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED’s) there are several people who believe he did at some point. Should this affect his chances at getting into the Hall? Over the years there have been several articles which broached this exact topic. My belief is that performance enhancers should not be used as a consideration. If the numbers are there, they are there. I don’t believe this hurts the integrity of the game at all. If anything baseball had it great when a lot of their players were using. The home run races, long balls, etc were all amazing rating grabs. Here is the ballot of names for the Hall of Fame this year:

Returning Names

Jeff Bagwell
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Trevor Hoffman
Jeff Kent
Edgar Martinez
Fred McGriff
Mike Mussina
Tim Raines
Curt Schilling
Gary Sheffield
Lee Smith
Sammy Sosa
Billy Wagner
Larry Walker

New Names

Casey Blake
Pat Burrell
Orlando Cabrera
Mike Cameron
J.D. Drew
Carlos Guillen
Vladimir Guerrero
Derek Lee
Melvin Mora
Magglio Ordonez
Jorge Posada
Manny Ramirez
Edgar Renteria
Arthur Rhodes
Ivan Rodriguez
Freddy Sanchez
Matt Stairs
Jason Varitek
Tim Wakefield

If I had a vote I would more than likely vote in Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Pudge Rodriguez, Trevor Hoffman, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Larry Walker, Vladimir Guerrero, and Jeff Bagwell. Obviously a lot of those are not going to get enough votes due to the links with steroids or off the field issues. I am all about those numbers though and would not hesitate to put any of those guys in the Hall of Fame. I also would have voted Pete Rose in because there are so many gamblers already in the Hall that it’s really not a huge deal to me either.

I guess you could say that I look at the corruption of sports as part of the game. The New England Patriot’s spy on other teams, deflate balls, and whatever else they have not been caught doing in order to stay on top. What’s the result? They have won more Super Bowls since 2000 than any other organization and have been to every Conference Championship since 2011. Either way when it comes to Pudge Rodriguez who is arguably the best catcher to ever play the game, I say he should be a first ballot. I can’t think of anything keeping him out at this point. Let’s hope I am right.

Ranking NFL Playoff Teams

We are in the second round of the NFL playoffs. The Wildcard weekend was considered a success but was honestly no surprise. I predicted over on Facebook that all of the home teams would win. To be honest, I felt like the Texans-Raiders match up was basically a toss up but gave the edge to Houston for playing at home and actually having their starting Quarterback (even if it is just Brock Osweiler). The Texans, Steelers, Packers, and Seahawks all won their games this past weekend so this next round of games should be pretty contentious.

New England Patriots
The Patriots have the easiest path to the Super Bowl and it looks as if they will be in it barring some injuries or just laying an egg. The Texans are who they will be playing this weekend and I have very little faith in them at this point. The Patriots had a bye in Week 1 and will be honestly more than likely have another bye this weekend playing the struggling Texans. I suspect this will not be a very close game as Tom Brady is on a mission to let people know that he still has it. I see him playing another 3-4 seasons at least.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are riding on a four game winning streak to end the regular season. They were fighting for a first round bye on top of trying to win their division until the final couple of weeks of the season. Matt Ryan failed to reach the 5000 yard mark for the first time in his career by 56 yards. If you consider his rushing yards (117 yards to be exact) he really was responsible for more than 5000 yards of offense. The Falcons offense is on fleek right now and there really is nothing anyone can do to stop them. This weekends match up will be a great test for the Seahawks with Earl Thomas being injured and Julio Jones with those Antonio Brown like after burners.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay is the hottest team in the NFL right now. They started out the season 4-6 when Aaron Rodgers famously stated that they wouldn’t lose again. Flash forward to where they are at in the playoffs and they are now 11-6 backing up everything Rodgers felt. Since the end of Week 10 Rodgers has thrown 24 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He rushed for a touchdown as well. This does not bode well for a Cowboys team who is coming off a loss and bye week while the Packers are still pretty worn in.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys are coming off an end of season loss to their rival the Philadelphia Eagles. While the Cowboys were not really fighting for anything and some of their starters didn’t even play (including their star running back Ezekiel Elliot) you never want to go into the playoffs with a loss. This is especially true when you have a bye the first round of the playoffs. Nevertheless expect the Cowboys to control the time of possession which will be key to getting a victory against the Packers.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers and Chiefs game looks to be one of the more interesting ones of the weekend. The game has already been rescheduled due to stormy weather that is expected to happen. It’s at Kansas City which does effectively give them the advantage but I just don’t trust Alex Smith over Ben Roethlisberger which is the biggest reason I put them ahead of the Chiefs in the rankings. When it comes down to it, under bad conditions it’s really anyone’s game. It should be noted that after going 4-5 to start the season the Steelers have not lost a game and are now 12-5 going into this weekend. It should also be noted that the Steelers played the Chiefs in the regular season and crushed them 43-14 (which is the other reason I have the Steelers ranked ahead of the Chiefs). Roethlisberger threw for 300 yards and 5 touchdowns that game in which fantasy owners must have been in heaven.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs started the season 2-2 and finshed the that 12 games 10-2 and got a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Who knows what the extra week off has done for Alex Smith and the Chiefs. The Chiefs are a fairly evenly divided offense and above average defense. They do allow more rushing and passing yards than they themselves produce but the nature of the game on Sunday against the Steelers could play into the hands of the Chiefs. The cold weather matched with being at home and having a home crowd who isn’t afraid to show up to a cold game should give the Chiefs a slight edge in the match-up against the potent offense of the Steelers. It should help take Antonio Brown out of the game. Brown is coming off a really great game in which he pulled in over 120 yards in receiving yards with 2 touchdowns. He averaged 25 yards per catch as well. I would think that this would not be the case
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks have a hard road ahead of them. Losing Earl Thomas has put a major dent in their defense. Richard Sherman will more than likely be on Julio Jones most of the game unless Atlanta keeps Jones on the other side of the field. They played the Falcons in Week 5 coming off their bye week and ended up winning the game at home 26-24. Pete Carroll is looking to make up for that Super Bowl blunder against the Patriots two seasons ago. That passing play is still going down as one of the worst decisions that a head coach has made in the Super Bowl era. To me it almost seems like bad luck honestly.
Houston Texans
The Texans had some major ups and downs this season even benching their starting Quarterback Brock Osweiler at one point that smacked of a mother punishing her child for getting a bad grade on a test. There is a reason these guys are picked last in my rankings. The biggest being that their match-up this week is against the New England Patriots. This will not be a pretty game unless the Texans defense can step up their game and score some points. Look for Brady to have a harder time than he normally does being protected. I would say if the Texans can get to Brady and have more than 5 sacks this could be a game that the Texans could prevail.

Spurs hold off Rockets and Earn Win

We all knew the Spurs versus the Rockets in Houston would end up being one of the great match-ups available this season. With both teams playing really well early on, this looked to be a great test for both squads. The Rockets were just a couple of games back from the Spurs and in third place overall in the Western Conference. With just over 4 minutes to play in third quarter the Spurs had a six point lead (69-63). By the end of the quarter the Spurs would not only lose the lead they had since pretty much the beginning of the game and were down by seven points. The third quarter almost lost it for the Spurs as they got outscored 33-19 in the process with the final few minutes being the worst of it. Because of the loss the Rockets are now tied with the Clippers for fourth place in the West and four games out of first place. I feel like it would be prudent to note that even though it may not look all that bright for them being four games back this early on, but both the Spurs and the Rockets have more wins than any team in the Eastern Conference (YES, even the Cavaliers). Here, check out the full game highlights in under ten minutes.

Sports Dude