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“NFL-Questions Worth Asking”

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NEW ENGLAND…A judge orders the sex tape of owner Robert Kraft destroyed because it was illegally operated.  Does the NFL drop  its probe because Kraft was freed on a technicality?  Does he still get sanctioned because that was him paying for sex acts in Jupiter, Florida?

KANSAS CITY…Two hiring cycles, a total of 10-interviews for Eric Bienemy, and he was hot hired nor offered a head coaching job?  Sounds strange.  Maybe lack of play-calling on his resume.  Maybe being in Andy Reid’s shadow.  Maybe a bad interview.  Maybe he needs to leave Kansas City, go somewhere else and call plays.

CHARGERS…Coming off a really good season for rookie QB-Justin Herbert and the team lets the entire offensive coaching staff leave.  Coordinator Shane Stiechen winds up with the Eagles.  QB-coach Pep Hamilton goes to Houston.  For Herbert, another day at the office.  He played under 3-head coaches and 4-different coordinators at Oregon.  Why mess with a good chemistry thing with the Bolts?

COLTS..From the elation of a special playoff season with Philip Rivers, now a dose of cold water-reality.  Rivers surprisingly retires; left tackle Anthony Constanzo retires; heavy duty RB Marlin Mack is a free agent; and the Frank Reich led coaching staff has been poached by other teams.  Alot of work to do to avoid this being ‘one and done’?

LIONS..Matthew Stafford could be the heir apparent to Rivers in Indy.  Has never played behind a good offensive line in Detroit; never had a good running game.  This will be a pleasant parting, not a bitter divorce from Detroit.  Interesting to see what the price tag Indy has to pay to get Stafford.

HOUSTON..Alot of ill-will there now, with Deshaun Watson now saying in public he will accept a trade only to Miami-Jets-Carolina.  Miami has talent to use in a trade (Tua Tagovailoa)…the Jets have Sam Darnold and a high first round pick…Carolina has virtually nothing talent wise.  Stay tuned for developments?

PITTSBURGH…Ben Roethlisberger late Thursday agreed to a pay cut from his (41.1M) cap figure contract.  He likely gets a 1-year plus a an option year at a friendly cap number, but the Steelers have cap problems everywhere, and have to address the cost to keep mouthy WR-JuJu Schuster-Smith, whose off field actions are starting to resemble Antonio Brown?

JETS…Interesting story on team chemistry.  Incoming coach Robert Saleh praises and praises Sam Darnold.  The Jets have a stud LT in Mekhi Becton, a bunch of young athletes, high draft picks and some 77M in salary cap space.  Do they keep the quarterback?

SAN FRANCISCO…This is a trouble spot.  Everyone has lost confidence in the battered young veteran Jim Garoppolo.  Is he headed back to the Patriots? Who replaces him?  San Francisco gets 6-extra third round comp draft picks in the next three years for losing a GM and a head coaching candidate to Detroit and New York.  The coaching staff has been stripped of alot of assistants too?  Not an easy off season coming in Ninerland?

RAVENS..Lots of heat on John Harbaugh, that Baltimore must find a way to get better receiverse for Lamar Jackson to work with.  That has to be priority one this off season?

GREEN BAY…Don’t believe anything about Aaron Rodgers wanting to be traded.  Now he may want the final three years of his contract ‘guaranteed’, but he and Matt LaFleur have been a pretty good two year combo.  But the play calling on the final two plays will be a bitter taste for everyone to swallow the rest of the winter won’t it?

RAMS…You don’t have to read between the lines about QB-Jared Goff’s status.  They doubt him.  He doubts himself.  The fans and media doubt him too.  The Rams have never been afraid to cut players and take big cap hits (see the Todd Gurley deal)..and they may try to trade Goff’s big contract (110M) guaranteed or let him walk.  They have no fear when they make decisions do they?

CHICAGO…What’s the old NFL phrase?  If you have two quarterbacks, you have none (Trubisky-Foles).  When was the last time the Bears had a great quarterback, not named Sid Luckman?

SAINTS…If the Drew Brees era is over, it was fantastic.  Is the new QB already in house, and I am not saying Taysom Hill, but rather Jameis Winston?  Can Sean Payton work his magic with the ex Buc, like he rebuilt the ex-Charger (Brees)?

MIAMI…Which Dolphin player dropped the phrase “Checkdown Charley” when making reference to Tua Tagovailoa.  Alot for Brian Flores to think about if his own players don’t believe Tua is a true NFL-QB going down the field.  Flores is headed towards hiring his 3rd offensive coordinator in three years there.

NEW ENGLAND…Cam Newton threw all of 6-TD passes this season, a non playoff season, in the Bill Belichick era.  What do they do?  Tired of waiting for Jared Stidholm?  Would they want Garoppolo back?  Is there a Ryan Fitzpatrick sighting coming to Foxboro?  Is it a draft pick?  Would they be a player for Stafford from Detroit?  The scoreboard says when Tom Brady played for Belichick, the Pats were (136-39).  When somebody else was at QB, the Patriots were (51-65).

EAGLES…Can they afford to keep Carson Wentz and his big contract with a brand new, very young coaching staff?  Can they fix him?  Is Jalen Hurts the future?  Alot to sort out in Philadelphia isn’t there?

WHAT BECOMES DEPARTMENT…of Cam Newton…Robert Griffin III?

Interesting off season once we get beyond the Super Bowl.

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“NFL–Let the Bidding Begin”

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We have not seen a time like this ever before.

No not the need for Quarterbacks in the NFL.
No not the speculation where the top college QBs might go.

But yes, the debate about to begin about the veteran QBs on the trade block.

and we have never-ever a time like this.  Marquee name QBs going public, saying they want out via trade.

Take a look at the established names who could be moved:
Matthew Stafford-Lions
Aaron Roddgers-Packers
Deshaun Watson-Texans
Jared Goff-Rams
Sam Darnold-Jets
Jim Garoppolo-49ers
Tua Tagovailoa-Miami

There are desperate teams out there looking for QB bailouts.

Think Jacksonville, Washington, Jets, Chicago, New England, Carolina and Denver among others.

The first domino to fall will be Stafford, who has agreed with the Lions to work with them to move him to another team.  It will establish what the price tag will be for a veteran starter.  It impacts everything else on the QB-Radar.

There’s fact and fiction about what is going on in Green Bay…with Rodgers.

Houston is a mess right now, still yet to hire a coach, and then having to deal with Watson’s unhappiness.

The Rams have a salary cap crisis and a leadership issue with Goff.

Who knows what the new staff joining the Jets will think about Darnold..

First things first will be the bidding battle for Stafford.

Here’s a quick look at potential suitors for him, vias NFL.com

——————

The NFL’s offseason quarterback market added yet another domino over the weekend, with Matthew Stafford eyeing a fresh start.
As NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported over the weekend, Stafford and the Detroit Lions have agreed to mutually part ways after the veteran quarterback expressed his desire for a trade. And I understand why he’d want out. Since being chosen first overall by the Lions in the 2009 NFL Draft, Stafford has played for three head coaches (four, if you include interim coach Darrell Bevell, who replaced Matt Patricia during the 2020 season) in 12 seasons, going 0-3 in playoff appearances. And, if he were to stay in Detroit, he’d be operating under yet another new coaching-front office regime, with the Lions hiring Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes.
The 32-year-old has battled a number of injuries in recent years and is coming off his third consecutive losing season. Still, knowing signal-callers are now playing into their 40s, I believe there is going to be a competitive market for a player of Stafford’s caliber and relative youth. In 2020, he put up an impressive stat line (4,084 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns and 10 picks in 16 games) while showing his arm strength is as great as it has ever been. He also moves much better than most give him credit for.
Now, Stafford can’t just walk away, because there are two years left, worth $43 million, on his current deal. Any team acquiring him in a trade would have to think about the cap hit they’d incur, although there is the possibility his contract is restructured if he lands elsewhere.
The Lions are in rebuild mode, with a new staff in place, and will demand a pretty penny (rather, a bevy of draft picks) in return, and I can’t blame them. Just look at some other comparable trades from the last 10 years. A 31-year-old Carson Palmer was worth a first- and second-round pick in 2011; an inconsistent and injury-riddled Sam Bradford was worth a first- and fourth-rounder in 2016; and a steady Alex Smith was worth a third-rounder and cornerback Kendall Fuller in 2018. I’d give up more for Stafford than any of those players commanded; with the going rate seemingly increasing for valuable players by the year, I’d actually be the crazy person who would trade three first-rounders for him. OK, I know that might be a little steep, but there are so many unknowns when drafting a quarterback. There would be zero questions about what I’d be getting with Stafford.
Stafford has played in a number of offenses with several offensive coordinators/play-callers, and his play has remained relatively consistent. He’s been thrown into a lot of different scenarios and has proved he can succeed, no matter how grim the situation.
Below, I’ve provided a list of six potential landing spots for Stafford — in order from most likely to least — along with potential trade packages.

Rank
1

Indianapolis Colts

What the Colts should give up: Two first-round picks.

This landing spot makes the most sense across the board, with the Colts having plenty of cap space ($64.9 million, per Over the Cap), draft capital and an opening at the quarterback position. Philip Rivers gave the team everything he had in his swan song and played well, considering the guy could barely move. With Rivers retiring and Jacoby Brissett slated to become a free agent, general manager Chris Ballard has a big decision to make, given that the Colts are in position to make a run at a Super Bowl with a talented, well-rounded roster. Stafford would be an upgrade in all areas of the position and fit well into Indy’s offense as a QB who excels out of shotgun, who has the arm strength to rip it all over the field and whose mobility allows him to make off-schedule plays. Not to mention, the Colts’ offensive line is one of the very best in the league (a luxury Stafford hasn’t had in Detroit), the rushing attack is on the come-up, the defense is young, fast and effective, and the Colts have a solid group of skill-position players. (Ballard will have to decide whether to re-sign T.Y. Hilton or let him hit the market in the coming months, as well.)

Rank
2

San Francisco 49ers

What the 49ers should give up: Two first-round picks.

When the 49ers aren’t dealing with an avalanche of injuries, this is one of the most complete teams in the league. We saw what they could be when they made the Super Bowl in 2019, and quite frankly, they put together an impressive 2020 campaign, with a number of their star players sidelined for a majority of the season. We know Kyle Shanahan’s team is capable of getting back to the Super Bowl, and there aren’t a ton of holes. That’s why GM John Lynch can afford to theoretically give up two first-rounders. Sure, he could try to hold the price to a first and a second, but I wouldn’t let the difference between these two options deter me from pulling the trigger.

Replacing Jimmy Garoppolo with Stafford would immediately elevate this offense. Garoppolo struggles at times with his mechanics and is too robotic when going through his reads; the experienced and knowledgeable Stafford, meanwhile, is able to read defenses and knows which player to get the ball to and when to get it there. Garoppolo’s contract is easy for the 49ers to move on from, as they’d take a mere $2.8 million dead-money hit if they released him, while saving $24 million against the cap. Whether by acquiring Stafford or another quarterback (see: Deshaun Watson), the 49ers should jump on the opportunity to improve at the game’s most important position.

Rank
3

Chicago Bears

What the Bears should give up: Two first-round picks.

Stafford donning a Bears uniform is hard to picture, and I’m not sure Detroit would trade within the NFC North. The Lions know Stafford, and playing against him twice each year doesn’t seem like something they’d welcome. Nonetheless, Stafford would fit well into the Bears’ offensive scheme and (finally) provide the Bears with consistent QB play — something pending free agent Mitchell Trubiskyhasn’t been able to do. Making an upgrade at quarterback could allow the Bears to keep talented receiver Allen Robinson from signing elsewhere as a free agent and potentially bring in more offensive help.

Projected to be $10.7 million over the cap and not exactly in possession of a bounty of picks in the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft, the Bears might need to get creative if they want to snag the QB. I, for one, would approve trading Khalil Mack back to the Raiders for a first-rounder, which would fall right into play for the Stafford trade. No, but seriously, GM Ryan Pace is under a lot of pressure this offseason to get this Bears team ready to win, and he’ll have to make a good amount of moves to make that happen. Let’s just hope he makes the right ones.

Rank
4

Washington Football Team

What the Football Team should give up: A first- and third-round pick.

The Football Team has a decent amount of cap space and at least eight picks, including No. 19 overall, in this year’s draft, so I definitely feel like this could be a potential landing spot for Stafford. The 36-year-old Alex Smith is under contract through 2022, but after making a truly miraculous comeback, he’s taking time to consider his future, while both Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen are set to become free agents. This decision is tough, because we’ve heard Ron Rivera say Smith could be the team’s QB1 past the 2020 season, and Smith proved as much, going 5-1 as a starter. That said, I do think it’s worth (discreetly) finding out what price Washington could get Stafford for. If it’s reasonable, by all means, I think they do it. Potential obstacles include Smith deciding he does want to come back, and Rivera’s view on draft picks. Is giving up a first-round pick or more worth it knowing they nabbed Defensive Player of the Year shoo-in Chase Young with one last year? I’m not so sure.

Wyche, Silver: Two teams that Stafford could land with in 2021


Rank
5

Carolina Panthers

What the Panthers should give up: A first-rounder and QB Teddy Bridgewater.

There’s a lot of pressure on Bridgewater this offseason, with the team already vocalizing its intent to keep all options open. Bridgewater is a solid starter but doesn’t do the dynamic things someone like Deshaun Watson, whom the Panthers have expressed interest in, or a big-time arm talent like Stafford can do. There’s a real possibility Carolina upgrades this offseason, and if the front office chooses to bring in another veteran, it might have to ship out Teddy, whose contract will count for $23 million toward the cap next season, in exchange to make room for the incoming QB’s contract.

Because the Panthers still feel like they’re in still in rebuild mode under Matt Rhule, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pass on veterans and go after one in the draft. Draft picks play such an instrumental part in the rebuild process, and trading away their No. 8 overall pick might be too much of an ask.

Rank
6

Los Angeles Rams

What the Rams should give up: A second-round pick, a third and QB Jared Goff.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. That’s apparently what we have in Hollywood between Sean McVay and his frustrated quarterback, Jared Goff. After a rocky postseason, McVay vowed to “evaluate everything,” and that includes the quarterback position. I can’t help but think McVay feels Goff’s limitations at the line of scrimmage are preventing him from tapping into another level of his offense. Goff has shown improvement, but a guy like Stafford could elevate McVay’s scheme in more ways than we’re seeing now. It gets tricky when you actually consider what has to happen if the Rams desire to trade for Stafford, because they are projected to be $30.4 million over the cap — with Goff counting for roughly $35 million toward the cap in 2021 and another $33 million the following year — and don’t have a first-round draft pick this year. The Rams would almost certainly have to ship Goff and his contract to Detroit if Stafford were to come to L.A. In reality, this trade feels a little far-fetched, but weirder things have happened in the NFL

———————

“Baseball Hall of Fame–Doors Closed”

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In the language of baseball we have all come to understand.

A shutout.
A no-no
A perfect game.

In the language that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling now must understand.

You don’t belong in the Hall of Fame, not because you were not a good player, but you were not a good person.

The Baseball Record Book is the bible of the game.  Each of them stained the pages of that record book and they don’t deserve a plaque in the hall gallery.

I am a baseball purist.  The history of the game means so much to me, like its means so much to all who played it, whether you were a Yankee or a St Louis Brown.

Like it meant so much to Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn and his legacy, first as a player but equally so as a person.

It means alot to all the fans to, that their heroes, from the Babe to the just departed Hammerin Hank, played the game right, and excelled at it correctly.

No one from this year’s 2021 ballot got into the Hall, and the top three, all viewed as stars with stained reputations, did not get the required 75% vote for enshrinement.

The stats they put up are in neon lights.  The bulbs dimmed however when you realize what they did to accumulate those statistics.

Curt Schilling accomplished so much, but he has talked and tweeted himself into a corner by his attitude and his personal beliefs.  His tweets and instagram posts about support for the assault on Capitol Hill, his support of Trump, or Q-anon, and the calling for a lynching,  have been relenteless.  He has turned society off.

Schilling must be remembered for greatness in Boston, Philadelphia and Arizona.  The (216-146) career record, the (11-2) playoff record.  The (3,116) strikeouts may never be duplicated again.  But many cannot forgive him for his post career stances on society.

Bonds’ career saw him rewrite everything, but his linkage to steroids, the Balco investigation, the lies, the mis-statements, the half-truths, will tail him for the rest of his non baseball life to the grave.

His statements, ‘I did not know what the cream and the clear were’ were as big a lie as you could manufacture, this coming from a guy who controlled every facet of his life, from the Pirates to the Giants.  He did not know?  Doubt that.

The message we all saw at Petco Park was a fan holding up a huge sign in leftfield, a sign of a ‘black and orange’ syringe, with the Giants logo on it.  That says it all about what society feels about Bonds.

The stats do say it all about talent, the 762-home runs, the .607-slugging percentage, the .444-on base percentage, the (.298) average over those 22-years in Pittsburgh-San Francisco.

But much like I am repelled now when I think about Mark McGuire-Sammy Sosa and home run derby and what it meant to the game, I cannot get over the Tom Glavine-Jon Smoltz promo “chicks dig the longball”.  Not home runs that way.

Sorry, Bonds can live in his toxic after-life.  I’d rather look at the stats of the recently departed Henry Aaron or what Jackie Robinson represented, than look at any accomplishment Bonds got to.

And the same can be said about Clemens, and his greatness in Boston, Toronto and with the Yankees.  He was dominant in his young years, dirty in his later years.

How he got to (354-184) with a 3.12-career ERA must be remembered.  The (4,612) strikeouts and the 7-Cy Young Awards all sit on his family shelf in Texas.  But so does the testimony of people giving him steroid injections in the hotel rooms overlooking Skydome in Toronto.

Schilling received 71% votes, some 16-short of the required.
Bonds fell to 61%, some 53-votes short
Clemens had 61%, 54-votes away from the finish line.

Add in the 14-Baseball Writers turned in blank ballots to protest the trio were even on the ballot.

Next year will be the last year they will be on the list, the tenth and final time they will be up for a vote.  Their fans can remember them well if they wish.  The rest will likely forget them.

The Hall of Fame ballot talks about quality of work as a player.  But it also mentions character, integrity, sportsmanship.

Yes there are racists (Cap Anson), drunks (Hack Wilson), womanizers (Babe Ruth) and malcontents (Ty Cobb) in the Hall.

But now the Hall of Fame, like society, is about PC to get you into the HOF.  Times change, values change.

Cooperstown honors history.  They have drawn a line in the snow now, about honoring cheats.

I guess you could place an *asterisk next to a name on a plaque.
History will mention names, and we all have flashbacks remembering something about each player on a plaque.

But when I think of those 3-it becomes repulsive.

And the story is not over, for in coming years, we will have to deal with the Alex Rodriguez legacy.  A Rod, the Yankee-Ranger-Mariner, now commonly referred to as A-Rod, A Fraud, A Lie.  His stats, his years, his tired act, his suspension.  Great player sure.  Bad person definitely.

And the popular figure David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz will be on the list, he too having come thru steroid allegations early in his career.

And Pete Rose and that argument is still out there.  His memorabilia is in as a great Reds-Phillies player.  He is not in for his gambling addiction as  a manager.  If we are holding Schilling accountable for his off the field conduct, we should maintain that stance for what Charley Hustle did betting on games.  Read the report.  You’d tag him out on the bases.

There will be a celebration this coming summer in Cooperstown, to enshrine last year’s class.  Legendary Union leader Marvin Miller, the Yankees icon Derek Jeter, Expo-Rockies-Cardinals start Larry Walker and Ted Simmons.

For Bonds-Schilling-Clemens, read the sign at the Gate at Doubleday Field.

Hall of Fame not open for people who are card-carrying members of the Hall of Shame.

Shutout, a no-no, a perfect day in Cooperstown.

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“The DH-in-NL”

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The 2021 season is just around the corner, and the Union and the Commissioners Office are at it again.

The Union insists there be a 162-game schedule despite the raging Covid virus.

The Owners are trying to open the Spring Training camps on time.

And the two sides remain at odds on a lot of different things.  The latest, whether there should be a designated hitter in the National League in 2021, as there was in the pandemic shortened 2020 season.

The Union agreed to use the DH last fall as a way to get 15-more players on major league contracts.  They were given 50M by owners for the players pool, as MLB got a bump in its TV contracts for the expanded wild card weekend.

Now the owners are offering a pay bump from 50M to 80M if the Union will accept the DH on a permanent basis, and also accept a permanent expansion of the playoffs for 14-teams this year going forward.

The Union says “no”.  They don’t think a bump up to 80M a year for the players is enough, consider the owners realized a 1B-bump in TV rights from last fall’s expansion.  They want a bigger slice.

The DH makes the game more exciting, better than having pitchers hit (.128) when they bat for themselves.  But the union wants more money, a much bigger slice of the pie, for its players.

A never ending battle over money, the way of life in baseball right now.

Here’s a closer look at the story, thanks MLB.com

——————

The Major League Baseball Players Association rejected the league’s most recent proposal to implement a universal designated hitter, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported this morning in a larger, broad-reaching look at the issues facing the two parties. MLB offered up a universal DH and a willingness to rule in favor of two players on a pair of service time grievances, per Rosenthal, but in exchange they sought an agreement on expanded playoffs, the implementation of a pitch clock and a Spring Training trial run with electronic strike zones, among other elements.

The lack of clarity on whether there will be a DH in the National League next season continues to serve as a major impediment for teams and for some free agents alike. Nelson Cruz and Marcell Ozuna, in particular, can’t fully get a grasp on their markets until they know whether the NL will carry a DH. Meanwhile, NL teams are left to build a lineup and a roster without knowing whether they’ll have a spot for an extra hitter.

The MLBPA clearly doesn’t view the addition of a designated hitter in the National League to be as advantageous to its side as the expansion of playoffs is to the league. That’s plenty understandable, given that most clubs no longer employ expensive, dedicated designated hitters and that the expansion of playoff teams would create far more revenue for the league than  for its players.

Rosenthal notes that MLB’s latest offer included an extra $30MM or so to be divided up among players — up from $50MM in 2020’s expanded field — but team-side revenues would increase on a much greater basis. Under the traditional structure (i.e. pre-2020), players’ postseason shares are tied to gate revenue, while teams collect 100 percent of television revenues. Last year, in the absence of fans, players agreed to an expanded, 16-team playoff field that saw $50MM of television revenues divided among players.

From the players’ vantage point, postseason expansion is a double-edged sword. A greater chance to play in October could very well be appealing, but there are likely some who (like many fans) worry about “watering down” the field. Of greater concern is the manner in which postseason expansion could also impact free agency. The league would surely argue that increasing the field will motivate borderline clubs to spend more on the open market, thus making it a win for the players.

However, the opposite effect could also play out as well; if the bar to reach the postseason is lowered, some clubs won’t feel as compelled to spend for an extra couple of wins to push themselves over the top. The margin for error is much greater when nearly half (or even more than half) of the teams in the game qualify for postseason play than it is when only a third of clubs do. That’s especially true when at any given point, there are a handful of teams tanking and actively doing everything they can not to win games.

At the end of the day, there’s a substantial disconnect between the extent to which the league and the union feel the universal DH will benefit players. The MLBPA knows that playoff expansion, and the associated revenues, is a massive bargaining chip to leverage in current talks and in the looming talks for a new CBA. That seems too large a concession to make in exchange for the universal DH — particularly because the commissioner’s office also wants a DH implemented in the National League.

Rob Manfred has continually sought to increase in-game action, and considering the fact that pitchers posted a combined .128/.160/.162 batting line with a 44 percent strikeout rate in 2019, swapping them out for a competent hitter would help with that goal. Of course, many traditionalists abhor the very notion of the designated hitter and are overwhelmingly against its implementation in the National League, but at this point it feels like an inevitability — whether that implementation comes in 2021 or in 2022.

As labor lawyer Eugene Freedman (who recently chatted with MLBTR’s Tim Dierkesabout the CBA) points out on Twitter, the very framing of this scenario as a negotiation is somewhat misleading. The two sides already have an agreement in place in the form of the 2016-21 CBA, and the union is under no obligation to renegotiate that agreement simply because the league is now making a push for an expanded postseason format.

The MLBPA’s latest rejection doesn’t mean that the two sides won’t eventually agree to something, of course. The league is obviously very motivated to expand the upcoming postseason field and grow its postseason revenues, so perhaps they’ll put together a more enticing offer. We saw in 2020 that the two sides are willing to come back to the table at the last minute, as 2020’s expanded postseason format was agreed upon about three hours prior to the first pitch being thrown on Opening Day.

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“NFL Playoffs–Matchups-Mismatches”

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1-game lived up to its billing, the other was a disappointment.

1-we expected to get there, the other didn’t.

Now we look towards the Super Bowl and the quarterback matchup, the old guard-vs-new breed.

Sunday was a day to step away from everything else in life and just watch the NFL.  The matchups provided excited..the mismatches were everywhere.

TAMPA BAY-GREEN BAY:

Huge setback for Aaron Rodgers losing this game..this showdown with Tom Brady.  It was more on the Packers coaching than it was their quarterback.  Coach Matt LaFleur kicking a field goal on a 4th down at the 8-yard line, never getting the ball back with 3-minutes to go.  But up till then, this was wild, vintage football between two very good teams.

The matchups of WRs-vs-CBs.  QBs dealing with a fierce pass rush.  RBs’ hitting holes and gashing defenses.  Long drives, big catches, big runs.  Sacks and pressures and dropped passes.  Both teams in attack mode.

Brady-Rodgers put on a show.  The secondaries suffered badly in the game.

The Bucs bracketed star receiver Davantae Adams almost out of the game.

The Packers picked off 3-Brady passes and almost came all the way back to win.

But in this game, the wrong calls killed Green Bay.  How the Packers would not provide safety help deep at the end of the first half and allow a 39Y-TD pass with (:01) left was a killer.   So was the 4th down call not to try and score a TD with 3-minutes left in the game.

Tampa Bay earned this trip to the Super Bowl, winning 3-road games in the playoffs.  Green Bay goes home disappointed after a likely MVP season from its quarterback.

It was as good as it could have been scripted.  Too bad someone had to lose, and it was the Packers in Lambeau Field

KANSAS CITY-BUFFALO

There was just too much of everything for the Bills to handle and so the Chiefs are going back to the Super Bowl.

Too much pass rush on Josh Allen, the Bills brilliant young QB.  Too much Travis Kelce-Tyreek Hill, a combined 22-receptions for KC.

Too much Patrick Mahomes, spraying the football all over the field.

Too much KC defense, keeping Buffalo out of the end zone, ending drives at the 4…the 9…and an interception at the 12.

Too many cheapshot penalties late in the game as emotions ran raw, when the Chiefs knew they were going to the Big Show and the Bills were going home.

It was pretty lopsided pretty much of the night at Arrowhead Stadium, but KC just showed how dynamic-diverse they really are.

So we head to the Super Bowl with Brady and Mahomes squaring off.  Firepower and firebrands on the roster.  It will be a fun game for sure.

Brady trying for his 7th ring.  Mahomes looking to his 2nd.  Andy Reid cementing his legacy as a coach.

In a season spent avoiding Covid outbreaks, the NFL has gotten us to the Big Game.  In a year of our life devastated by the virus, we had 6-hours of football to try and give us some normalcy.

The NFL gave us an interesting Sunday.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming, our lives in crisis.

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