NFL - NEWS & NOTES

The Minnesota Vikings are the only remaining team West of the Mississippi River and it's only by less than a mile. It would have been less than a mile east when they played at TCF Bank stadium. The New Orleans Saints are a couple miles "East"

 

Round 2 is set.
AFC
Titans @ Patriots
Jaguars @ Steelers

NFC
Falcons @ Eagles
Saints @ Vikings

 

Also, four more first round draft picks are now set. Buffalo picks #21 (their own) and #22 (from KC), Rams #23, Carolina #24.

 

but they weren't 0-16 months ago ? I really never heard of it before. a parade for losing? I had the Eagles to worry about and other stuff. I try to avoid Cleveland at all costs. haha.

 

Eagles make history as being the first home underdog in the NFL Divisional Round.

 

Their opponent also made franchise history this past weekend. I mentioned in the preseason interview with Joe (which you can see here: http://live4sportnetwork.com/atlanta-falcons-2017-preview-with-torgo/ ) that Atlanta had a chance to win consecutive division titles for the first time in franchise history.

They blew that one in week 16 when they laid an egg against the Saints, but they did make the postseason and beat the Rams in the Wild Card game.

Sad but true: it's the first time in franchise history that they've won a playoff game in consecutive years.

 

Torgo you can suck it. But this week only. You can take it out next week.

 

Bears hire Matt Nagy as head coach

The Bears have found their next head coach.

The Bears announced that they have hired former Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. Nagy interviewed with the Bears on Sunday, a day after the Chiefs were knocked out of the playoffs in a 22-21 loss to the Titans.

Nagy, who also interviewed with the Colts, will replace John Fox, who was fired after three years in Chicago.

Nagy has spent his entire NFL coaching career on Andy Reid’s staffs in Philadelphia and Kansas City. He became the offensive coordinator in Kansas City in 2016 and took on offensive play calling duties during the 2017 season.

That offensive background will be put to work with Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who went second overall in the 2017 draft and started the final 12 games of the season. Because Nagy comes from that side of the ball, there may be a chance that the Bears hold onto defensive coordinator Vic Fangio after their defense took a step forward during the 2017 season. (PFT)

 

Bill Belichick says he “absolutely” plans to coach the Patriots next season

 

Packers announce Brian Gutekunst as G.M., other changes to front office

Sunday brought word that Brian Gutekunst is the new Packers General Manager and the team made it official on Monday.

In addition to announcing Gutekunst’s promotion to the top job in the personnel departement, the Packers also announced a couple of other changes. One is the promotion of Russ Ball, who was also up for the job, to executive vice president/director of football operations.

Gutekunst will have control over all roster decisions while Ball will continue to work as the team’s contract negotiator “while continuing to oversee several areas in football operations.” The Packers also announced that both men and coach Mike McCarthy will directly report to team president and CEO Mark Murphy in a change from the way the team has done business in the past.

“The process of identifying our next General Manager gave us the opportunity to analyze our entire football operation,” Murphy said in a statement. “While we have enjoyed a lot of success, we need to improve. With that in mind, the head coach, General Manager and executive vice president/director of football operations will report to me moving forward. While I understand this is a departure from the Packers’ current structure, it will serve to increase the breadth and frequency of communication and collaboration. Ultimately, it will make the Packers better.” (PFT)

 

Will-you must love the Vikings chances with Minnesota hosting the Super Bowl this year ? With C. Wentz out for the year, they look to lose to Atlanta. If Minn wins and Philly loses, then they host the NFC Title game plus the Super Bowl. Somehow with undrafted Case Keenum, the Vikings are looking good right now!

 

LOL!

Gotta say the season preview article nailed it ... again. The new coaching staff on offense has been Atlanta's biggest problem. (And it hasn't just been Sark. Among the rest of the staff, we also lost offensive assistant Mike McDaniel, who had worked with the WRs on techniques. We have no true WR coach in that regard, and this year the Falcons had the second most drops in the league. The real shocker is that SEVEN of Matt Ryan's twelve interceptions this season came off of drops.)

The defense seems to be a surprise to most of the media, but it shouldn't be a surprise at all for anyone who read that preview article. All the youngsters got all that experience last year, and this year the Falcons got Trufant, Clayborn and Shelby back from IR plus Poe in free agency.

So for the second year in a row, Live4Sport's preview kicked the crap out of what the preview mags from TSN, Street & Smith etc charged real money for people to read.

 

You also have to laugh that somehow, some way the Falcons and Eagles ended up playing each other. We just can't escape it.

For those who don't follow our teams, nearly every time the NFC East and NFC South have those one-off games on the schedule, Atlanta and Philadelphia end up getting each other. Throw in how often the entire divisions get each other on the schedule, and Falcons vs Eagles is almost an annual event.

With this weekend's playoff game, these same two (non-divisional) teams will have played each other in 13 out of the last 16 seasons. That's really freaky when you stop to think about it.

 

Steelers and Patriots have played each other 13 times since 2001.

 

What's the record in those games? Just wondering.

 

something to something

 

Big but they always do it because they will pretty much always finish 1st in their division. Same with the Colts when manning was there. You just always saw them play each other and on some years when the Steelers didn't win their division it was one of the 3 years the divisions were scheduled to meet. The 2 times the Pats were 2nd they never met the next season.

For the Eagles and Falcons it is really weird because often they happen to finish in the same position in their divisions and it's different every year. Most of the times it didn't line up was when they were scheduled to meet anyways.

 

If its happend twice there are good odds its happend more

The broncos and patriots have met 17 times in that span

 

New England Patriots...

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will play in his NFL-record 35th career postseason game on Saturday, adding to a long list of playoff records that he owns.

Just by taking the field against the Titans Brady will add to his record, and he’ll also add to his own career records with every attempt, completion, yard gained and touchdown. Here’s a look at Brady’s career postseason marks:

Games played: Brady now has 34 career playoff games played and has moved comfortably ahead of his old teammate Adam Vinatieri, who is No. 2 in NFL history with 30 career postseason games. No. 3 is Jerry Rice, with 29 career postseason games, while in fourth place are Peyton Manning and former Cowboys linebacker D.D. Lewis, with 27 career postseason appearances. Brady’s Patriots are 25-9 in the games he’s started; no other quarterback has been on the winning team more than 16 times.

Pass attempts: Brady has thrown 1,325 passes in the postseason. Peyton Manning is next, with 1,027, and no other quarterback has even thrown 800 playoff passes. This is a record no one will approach for many years, if ever: Ben Roethlisberger, with 618 career postseason passes, is second among active players, and he’s not even halfway to Brady’s total.

Pass completions: Brady owns the record with 831 postseason completions, 182 more than Peyton Manning. Again, no active player is close: Roethlisberger is second among active players with 385.

Yards gained: Brady has 9,094 postseason passing yards, which is nearly 2,000 more than Peyton Manning. Roethlisberger is the No. 2 active player with 4,787.

300-yard games: Brady has 12 games of at least 300 yards passing, three more than Peyton Manning. Drew Brees is next among active players, with seven.

Touchdown passes: Brady has thrown 63 touchdown passes in the postseason, easily better than No. 2 Joe Montana, who threw 45. Aaron Rodgers is second among active players with 36.

One piece of bad news for Brady: In last year’s Super Bowl he also set the all-time postseason record for interceptions, when he threw his 31st. Brett Favre has the next-most, with 30. Play long enough and you’re going to break some bad records, too.

 

Pats and Colts with the same playoff amount of meetings too and they haven't met the last 2 season. Of course they'll met next year though. I think those are the 2 biggest streaks and the Colts will take the lead next year.

Then we have the opposite. The Cardinals and Packers have met ever 3 years since realignment and they never met on off-years due to rank in their divisions. They have had 2 playoff appearances though.