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NFL Playoffs-Good-Bad-Ugly-Exciting”

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It was a little of everything this weekend, NFL wildcard weekend.

KANSAS CITY….Lots of questions now being asked around Arrowhead Stadium. Have they gone as far as they can with Andy Reid, who is a disappointing (1-4) in postseason games? What becomes of Alex Smith, coming off a spectacular season, with another disappointing result, and with one year left on his contract? Who are the real Chiefs, the quick starting team, the strong finish, or the erratic mid season and post season bad showing? An ugly finish to what many thought would be a great season.

TENNESSEE…You saw the cup half-empty and the cup half full, you saw failure and then potential. The Titans can be an enigma with Marcus Mariota, though his heroics in the second half, led by a power run game with Derrick Henry, and a tough guy defense got them the win. Consistency has not been part of the makeup of the Titans, but they won, and they will be better..

RAMS….A spectacular season even with the disappointment in the playoff game. There is so much to build on. Jared Goff is growing up on the job, and making more big plays than bad plays on a game by game basis. Credit to the organization for making 4-key acquisitions, left tackle, center, and the two big play wide receivers. The future looks bright in a city they have now recaptured emotionally.

ATLANTA…It’s not the same team that was in the Super Bowl, but it’s still really good. A great show by that secondary in choking off big passing plays, while slowing down the run game. Some games Matt Ryan and the receiver corps and their two headed running back group, look special. Other games they look out of sync. Still very good, but not great.

BILLS….Give them credit for getting as far as they did with a very limited offense, and lots of new pieces on a tour defense. To be decided, this 18M contract decision they have to make with Tyrod Taylor, or is it time to grow and develop Nathan Peterman. Hey a 9-win season when you consider where the Bills have been for nearly 2-decades but lots of work to do still on that roster. Yes they got there, but they don’t seem to be very good.

JAGUARS….Can you trust Blake Bortels, will he ever be a stud, or was the Sunday up and own performances him being him?. He may be playing his final games with the Jags. The defense is something special, and it should be considering all the free agent money they paid for talent and high picks. But they should not be confused with an AFC-power yet, till they get better quarterbacking.

SAINTS…No one could ever imagine a day where it would be okay to have Drew Brees throw for just 222-yards, and get a win. He can still air it out, witnessed by what he did against Carolina, but the strength of the run game, and a more physical defense means New Orleans is dangerous and very different than the years where Brees had to throw for 399-every Sunday just to be in a game.

CAROLINA….Cam Newton against the world on offense. He is asked to do so much, and he often does, it’s just too bad they don’t have enough firepower around him. Luke Kuechly and that defense is rugged. They proved a lot, even in the loss, and maybe being in the NFC South has actually made them a very good team. More good years going with this group.

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“Fans Forum on NFL on TV”

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NFL television ratings fell 9-percent this season across CBS-Fox-NBC-ESPN and the NFL Network.

In San Diego, the ratings dropped an amazing 42% from last season, after Chargers owner Dean Spanos moved the team to Los Angeles.

I asked the fans why the ratings have dropped, and why they may or may not watch any longer.

The responses from my website readers”

..There’s too much NFL on TV-over saturation.

..Drop Thursday night football.

..Monday Night Football games no longer important-stop guaranteeing each team they can be part of the MNF rotation.

..NFL has alienated its fan base.

..NFL problems are serious-MLB-NHL-NBA don’t have them.

..The National Anthem issues have turned me and all my friends off.

..The owners have given us every reason to label them as greedy.

..Moving teams after years of loyalty have offended fans everywhere.

..This is a saturation problem-too many games on television.

..Games and teams are unwatchable more times than not.

..Boring commentators-there are no Cowell’s-Maddens.

..Remember when Monday Night Football was important to watch.

..NFL is a heartless corporation about its players health-why support them.

..NFL games have become a barbaric sport.

..Look at the list of NFL problems and you want me to support Roger Goodell and the owners by watching games.

..Taking all that extra money from Direct TV and the streaming companies have taken fans away from traditional watching habits.

..Do they count people who watch on Direct TV as part of the normal Neilsen ratings.

..The violence of games on the field…the incidents with players off the field have turned me off.

..Roger Goodall is no different than Paul Tagliabue…it’s all about money, not the quality of the sport, nor the health of the players.

..Stop complaining. We can pay what we want and watch the team we want. The fans are not being forced to view.

..Bad teams in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and the controversy in Los Angeles have turned fans away.

..NFL is just like college football, so many games on television, it is no longer ‘must see’

..Is NFL becoming like NBA, the only games important are the playoff games now, not the in season games. How often do you want to watch LeBron vs Curry, Cavs-vs Warriors in November.

..See you when the AFC-NFC championship games are played, and then at my Super Bowl party.

..I am no longer a Chargers fan after 25-yers of season tickets. When the owners allowed the Spanos family to move, I decided to no longer be an NFL fan either.

..How many NFL teams were below .500 this year, more than half. How many bad quarterbacks are there in the league. Why watch that.

..I watch the key games each weekend, probably three a week, and don’t care about the ret. Why should I watch that.

..You used to say on your Chargers radio broadcasts, that the ‘world stops at 1pm on Sunday afternoon for the NFL….it doesn’t any longer. The games are unimportant.

..Jerry Jones-Bob Kraft-Stan Kroenke have the fans money. They don’t care.

..What goes around comes around, NFL greed. This is payback.

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“NFL-TV Ratings-Problems”

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The NFL season is over and so is the dominance of NFL games on television.

Bad teams…bad quarterbacking…bad matchups….over saturation…the National Anthem crisis….Violence on the field…..Ownership greed….Teams leaving cities and fans behind to move.

You name it, these are the scoreboard tallies:

..Chargers TV-games in San Diego…down 42% from this year to last…down 47% over a 5-year span.

..2017…(14.2 Rating) LA Chargers
..2016…(24.4 Rating) San Diego Chargers
..5 Y……(26.7 Rating) 5-Year Average 2012-to-2016.

..NFL TV ratings-down in every category
..NBC Sunday Night….(22.5M-drops to 18.1M) viewers
..ESPN Monday Night.(12.8M-drops to 10.7M)
..Thursday Night……….(12.4M-drops to 10.9M)
..CBS-Fox-Sunday…….(Dropped 9% for all games.

Why have ratings dropped so much. I invite you readers to Email me your thoughts: hacksaw5555@gmail.com

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“Chargers-Year 1-How’d that Go?”

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There will be football played next weekend in the NFL, and it will involve an LA team…the Rams-not-the Chargers.

It was a strange Sunday to say the least as the season ended. The Chargers buried an underachieving Raiders club, but at the Stub Hub Center, you’d thought it was a Raiders win, by the way the fans carried on.

Give the Chargers credit, they went (9-7) playing 16-road games this year. That’s the end result of ticket brokers buying up ducats and selling them to out-of-town fans, and whatever Chargers fans were out there doing the same thing.

Home team advantage? Never ever for the Bolts.

But as Sunday wore on, you got the sense, the only people rooting for the Chargers were those families of players, those related to the Spanos family, and people who work in the building.

“Beat LA-Beat LA” bounced all over that stadium. “Defense-Defense” was another favorite chant. And a few times we heard “Spanos sucks.”

Of course there were boos too, so much so, that the club wouldn’t-couldn’t introduce Chargers players before the so called home game,

And Chargers icon LaDanian Tomlinson was booed at halftime as he tried to interview Dodgers-World Series manager Dave Roberts.

The Chargers defense tried to pose for a picture in the end zone after a big play, and were pelted with garbage.

There were tarps still on upper deck seats, and bunches of seats at the 40-and-50 yard line unused-maybe unsold.

How tough was it for the QB-who had to go to a silent count to get off snaps while playing at home…again.

The heroics of Philip Rivers, driving his team to 9-wins in the final 12-games, were lost by all the Silver and Black shouts. His (4,515Y) passing season seemingly ignored. The same for the nearly (1,600) all purpose yards of running back Melvin Gordon, the 102-catch campaign of Keenan Allen, and an improving Joey Bosa-Melvin Ingram led defense that got better as the year went on.

And then to drive home the point, the season long history of ugly crowd turnout, planes flying overhead lambasting the greedy owner for what he did to San Diego, and the woeful home market-record setting low TV ratings.

In retrospect, hard to believe, Dean Spanos turned his back on 55-plus years of San Diego loyalty, had to borrow 650M to pay territorial fees, then has to put up with all this abuse on a Sunday-by-Sunday home game event. Think of what the interest was on that loan so they could play and get booed in LA.

NFL sources say by playing in the much smaller stadium, the team took in 30-M less in revenue than they would have, had they stayed in San Diego.

The rich man, an outcast lots of places, is a prisoner in his own skybox, not wanting to be even shown on television. Must be some nice way to live a life.

In 34-years they’ve owned this team, they’ve been to the playoffs just 9-times. Rivers, a likely Hall of Fame nominee, has just 1-playoff win in the last 9-years of his career dating to January 2008.

And on Monday, the day after the season ended, you had to turn to Page 6 of the LA Times, the newspaper of record, to get the Chargers game stories.

And Times columnists Bill Plashke and Dylan Hernandez had lots to say about the team, the owner, the move to LA.

The quotes included:
“Borderline disaster”
“It is a Raiders town”
“Visitors own the home town”
“Chargers remain an outsider”

The Rams won their division and recaptured the hearts of fans from Hollywood to Orange County.

The Raiders showed up and delivered again the knowledge they are a national brand who draw fans everywhere.

The Chargers, an afterthought, still unwanted, in their new home.

So you tell me, how year one went? Not very well, and it may be a longtime before things ever get better.

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“College Football Playoffs–Wow-Pow”

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Georgia and Oklahoma had never met, ever, in college football, despite the greatness for decades of programs led by Bud Wilkinson and Vince Dooley and more.

No one will forget the first meeting ever, especially in the Rose Bowl. The Bulldogs won a heart-stopper over the Sooners.

Alabama and Clemson met in a rematch, many hoped would equal last year’s National Championship game., in the other playoff game.

The Sugar Bowl turned sour. The Crimson Tide defense rolled like a tidal wave over the Tigers.

Name it and you saw it in Pasadena.

Baker Mayfield throws for 200-yards in the first half and the Okies jump out to a huge lead. Georgia takes over in the 2nd half with its power run game and big boy defense, and changes everything.

And then 2-overtimes of slugfest football for each before Georgia won it on a wild “Wild-Dog” run play.

The mood swings were everywhere. Mayfield came out throwing to anyone-everyone. The Georgia defense look stun-gunned and could not react, couldn’t cover, couldn’t take it. ..as they fell behind by 17.

Then Georgia went to a 5-man front and called blitz packages, and unleashed its fierce power ball run game, featuring Nick Chubb and Sonny Michel.

When it was over, it was a (54-48) Bulldog win. Chubb and Michel combined for (326Y) rushing, bulldozing their way to victory.

The heroics of OU running back Rod Anderson (201Y) couldn’t save the Sooners, neither could Mayfield-the Heisman Trophy king..

It was a spectacular game, with 4-hours worth of offensive thrills.

The late game was more methodical, more sledgehammer, typical Nick Saban type football. I guess that sells in Tuscaloosa, where the steel industry and football are the topics of conversation.

Alabama turned two deflected passes into 2-touchdowns, scoring 14-points in 13-seconds to take the heart ouf of Clemson. Of the course the Tigers no longer have DeSean Watson-Wayne Gillman nor Mike Williams, all in the NFL, and had no hope of mounting a comeback..

Poor Kelly Bryant, their young quarterback could not handle all the things the Bama defense did. Hits, pressures, sacks, mad scrambles. When they were done, Bryant had (124Y) passing on an 18-for-36 night of beatdown.

The championship game will be a war of attrition. Big boy Georgia offense, run the ball, against the heavy hammer Alabama defense. It will be all Southeast Conference football.

They would have met in the SEC title game, if Bama had not fallen at the hand of cross state enemy Auburn in the Iron Bowl..

But for 8-hours, it was something. What Georgia did in the fireworks filled early game. What Alabama authored all night long.

Wow-Pow, that’s what New Year’s Day football was.

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