Hello friends,
Apologies for being away for a long time from this space. Multiple stuff, both personal and professional put me in a mood which was not conducive for being online :) Good news is that things are more in control, or rather shall I say it is not affecting me that much, now. In particular personal stuff is doing good, so here I am again wishing all of you, my extended family, a very happy new year.
I know it is late but a good compromise, a bit late for the western new year, and at the start of the Chinese new year - so overall good, right? :D
Today I am looking forward to NFL championships. I got very invested into the NFL especially in the playoffs thanks to me finally coming out of the shell and enjoying podcasts again. Yes, you heard that right! Podcasts brought me back to NFL :D
TLDR
TLDR for the impatient : Looking forward to the NFL Conference Championship Games today. I am rooting for Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles ]
In the past I have enjoyed watching NFL from time to time. Getting live broadcasts was the biggest hurdle, but youtube was great to catch replays/highlights. The main reason I started enjoying NFL was playing Madden on the PC. I loved that game and it was the Tom Brady/ Peyton Manning era so it was a fun time to watch NFL. In the game Giants was my team, and Eli Manning was my QB. My favourite WRs in the game were Harrison and Beckham if I remember right. For the actual NFL Peyton Manning at Colt was my QB. I was particularly enamoured by their no huddle offence. Till this day if there is any sound that evokes NFL for me it is "Omaha Omaha" :D Then there is the EA sports slogan "It's in the Game" which always reminds me of Madden. That reminds me that there is some documentary around the game that I need to watch.
Here's the trailer from YouTube : It's In The Game: Madden NFL - Official Trailer | Prime Video
I guess it speaks something to the times and my age for how I keep getting back into my hobbies and interests. In my 20s and 30s my interest in NFL was ignited by video games, as gaming was a bit part of my free time. As was, it seemed, with everyone around me. Fast forward to now and it seems like I am in the same social media influenced doom scrolling zeitgeist. Hence it is not surprising that the trigger was listening to podcasts. Also not surprising in the Swifties driven world that the algorithm gods of YT felt it the right thing to do to bring me in contact with "The New Heights" podcast. For those not in the know, this is a wonderful weekly podcast speaking on American Football in particular and sports in general. It is hosted by the Kelce brothers, Jason Kelce, who retired as a Center of the the Philadelphia Eagles, and his younger brother Travis Kelce, one of the most impactful Tight Ends in the NFL playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. It just so happens that he is also the beau of our very own Taylor Swift - which makes him a star for both the sports kids and the arts kids :) I love this podcast and them brothers. They are just a wonderful pair and I would recommend it heartily to anyone who loves sports podcasts.
Which brings me to the playoffs. I have no idea of the teams setup, their strengths and weaknesses and what luck or misfortune they have faced. So essentially I am just enjoying these playoffs a la carte :)
It was an interesting playoff situation for sure. And based on the sports discussion on Youtube it looks like much of the playoffs were as expected.
The two main surprises for many seem to be how Washington Commanders defeated the first seed Detroit Lions to reach the divisional playoffs. And the other one was how Cincinnati Bengals missed out completely on the playoff season.
Wild Card
Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions had bye weeks thanks to being top seeds. The only game where I had a stake was the Green Bay Packers in Philadelphia to meet the Eagles. I had heard good things about the the Packers this year, but I did like Eagles, especially thanks to Jason :) So I was rooting for them. I did enjoy all the replays though. Houston Texans as well as Buffalo Bills were both quite impressive as were the Baltimore Ravens. I was under the impression that the Minnesota Vikings would win and was surprised to see LA Rams walk all over them. However the biggest surprise was the Washington Commanders pushing their way into the divisional playoffs. Boy, what a year for the franchise and for the rookie QB.
Divisional Playoffs
Texans @ Chiefs
Finally got to see the Chiefs play. I will be honest, I was not super charged. All inputs seem to indicate that they are not as dominant as they have been wrt their stats, and many games seem to have been won by scrapping through. Plus Travis seems to have had an underwhelming season.
Add to this the fact that they have not played for quite some time, while the Texans just had a great game against the Chargers, and there was a lot of apprehension on who would win. I managed to stay up and watch this live.
And boy, was I glad I waited up late to watch it live. It was such a roller coaster ride. As the game started it seemed like all the naysayers were right, and Chiefs seemed rusty and slow, while the Texans were just performing. The Chiefs seemed to be in a scramble mode. In fact a few calls going their way sure helped, though honestly this entire storyline of refs cheating to help the Chiefs was a bit too much. I knows fans have the rights to put forward an opinion, and like in every other sport we can complain about ref calls. But calling them out as trying to take sides is a serious allegation in my book, and their integrity should not be called out so casually unless there really is proof of wrongdoing.
Anyways long story short, the playoff brothers, as in playoff Pat & playoff Travis finally woke up to suddenly shine, turning the story upside down. It was still scrappy and the Texans still had much to given in their tanks. But they faced a real good defense line. At one point in the game they were sacking CJ Stroud at will. The Texans were unable to bounce back from that in time.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce brought in the spark, but the hardwork put in by the KC Defence through the game helped seal the Chiefs 7th consecutive trip to the Conference Championship. WOW!!!
Ravens @ Bills
This was another game I saw live. It was so much fun to see this game and the one at Philadelphia as it was my first time seeing American Football being played in such cold and snowy pitches. It was like a winter wonderland out there.
I wonder if that weather had to do something with the final result of this game. This was a very well contested match and based on the pundits it seems the Baltimore Ravens were the better team. However on the day Josh Allen and his team managed to pin it down while the Ravens started making too many mistakes.
Thanks to some very good play from both Offence and Defence Buffalo Bills managed to win this one and set up yet another battle with their favourite frenemies the Chiefs.
Commanders @ Lions
Again a cold game and that too against the first seed Lions. A team which had done wonderfully well this year. Not sure what happened, and if they bye week affected them worse than others, but it looked to me like the Lions essentially collapsed against the Commanders.
The Commanders were fully into the game, full of aggression and dynamism. While everyone was basically saying "oh golly! you are here, how quaint - here's a pat on the back" to them thinking they have hit the proverbial wall in Lions, the Commanders seemed to want to show the world that they are fully committed to try for the Super Bowl itself.
This was a shocking defeat for the Detroit Lions and a fantastic fairytale beginning to QB Jayden Daniel's career. Kudos to him and the team at Washington Commanders
Rams @ Eagles
This one was again a south Californian team having to play in cold Philadelphia. These set of games made me finally realise the home advantage angle in NFL. In most sports I have seen advantage of playing at home, the main points being around familiarity of the place, and support of the fans. However the full impact of weather is most evident in these NFL games.
The Rams were playing very well and at one point I did think that the Eagles might not win. But the running game of the Eagles, and the genius RB that is Saquon Barkley, meant that the Eagles could not be denied. Home field advantage was surely in the favor too, as they played the elements extremely well. This game should surely help QB Jalen Hurts and team to go into the Conference Championship with a lot of confidence.
Conference Championship
AFC Championship[1] - Buffalo Bills @ Kansas City Chiefs
I am so looking forward to this game. I love Josh Allen's game but boy do I want Kansas City Chiefs to win.
I could say it is because I like the Kelce brothers a lot, or that Pat Mahomes does weave some magic each year, or it could even be that I liked what I saw last weekend. If AJ Brown clicks and the running game works they should be able to do it after all.
However while all the above are important points in my mind there is another even more important point that I am surprised I am considering. It must be age, as in my younger days I would be doing exactly what every non Chief fans are doing, and that is hating on the Chiefs. In my last time around it was hate for the Patriots. I guess I can only blame my mellowing down as I grow old cause I am fully in the Chiefs bandwagon currently. And that is for just one major aspect --- I want to see history being made. I want Chiefs to win here and then win the Superbowl to create the new history of a team winning 3 consecutive Super Bowls.
I can understand the other teams in contention not want that to happen. However for the rest of us, why would we not want to be part of a historical moment even if we are not necessarily members of the Chief's kingdom.
I know the game will be scrappy and tough, as both teams know to play the elements and both know how the other stacks against them. In particular Bills go in with the confidence of having won their last outing, though it was not in the playoffs. However Chiefs will depend on their vaunted defence, especially against the run, and pray for the miracle of the playoff bros clicking. The WRs being back in action and healthy should be good for them too. And if the defence have a game like they had against the Texans, in particular my man George, then it could be closed game for the Bills. Though I suspect that might not happen as I don't see Josh waiting around in the pocket to be sacked.
To me it looks like a clash of titans though many are writing off the Chiefs. Here's wishing that we witness a fantastic game with zero controversy.
NFC Championship[2] - Washington Commanders @ Philadelphia Eagles
I don't have a true favourite in this game. I tilt towards the Eagles as I used to love them in the controversial days of McNabb and Terrell Owens. TO is one of the names I remember vividly from those days. I did like the way they played last weekend, but they are meeting a very dynamic QB in Jayden Daniels. While I am given to understand that they have some good veterans supporting the QB the rookie adventure is enough to make the entire team get energized for the last mile. Just like the 3-peat history that KC Chiefs can make if they go on to win the Super Bowl LIX, the Washington Commanders are on a course of making history even by just entering the Super Bowl, becoming the only team in NFL to reach the Super Bowl with a rookie quarterback.
Will the rookie energy and the dynamism of the Commanders win this battle, or will the experienced hands and home field advantage allow the Eagles to prevail. Whichever way this goes I expect to see a tough fought battle again.
As you can see I am very excited for this weekend. I believe we will see two fantastic matches. Here's wishing all the players the very best from us.
Cheers!
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Acronyms used:
QB: Quarter Back
RB: Running Back (also sometimes called a Half Back)
WR: Wide Receiver
TE: Tight End