GEORGE: 10 NFL Thoughts From Conference Championship Weekend
Patriots Punch Ticket to Super Bowl LX: 10 NFL Thoughts from Championship Weekend
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Some thoughts following this Conference Championship Weekend:
1) I woke up on Monday morning. Elephants were flying outside my bedroom window.
And then I knew. It really happened. The Patriots won in Denver. A postseason game, for cryin’ out loud.
The fact that the Patriots are AFC Champs is not to be believed on its own merit. But they beat Denver to get to Super Bowl LX?
And now we are all sitting at our typewriters writing stories that a decade ago (and beyond) were second nature and a seeming rite of passage?
“Old hat” isn’t back yet. But writing these articles is beginning to feel a little like how things used to be every year. Devin McCourty is screaming “Welcome to the Super Bowl! Welcome to the Super Bowl!” to his twin brother Jason in Kansas City the last time the Patriots won a conference title. Tedy Bruschi is screaming, “They ain’t got it! They ain’t got it!” after dispatching the Colts at Foxborough in a Divisional game two decades ago. Bob Kraft is once again preparing another “Tonight – once again – we are all Patriots! And tonight, once again, the Patriots are world champions!” speech in case it is needed a week from Sunday night.
All of that comes under the “old hat” umbrella. Those feelings are returning. Time for everyone to get Super again.
Never mind all that snow and freezing cold outside. Unless you have at least six thousand dollars of disposable income that is sitting there in your bank or credit union waiting to be spent, you’ll be at home for the big game. Maybe you’ll have lots of friends come over with all sorts of food and beverages, both alcoholic and not, and they will keep you nice and warm and cozy. Someone might want to bring a camera to your watch party and record anything that might look great on YouTube.
It’s almost here. Super Bowl LX. The Patriots. The Seahawks. Rematch of the Malcolm Butler Super Bowl. Bring it on.
2) Geek of the week: If Seattle had lost the game on Sunday, Riq Woolen may have been released immediately. He made a nice play on a pass from Matthew Stafford to Puka Nacua, which would have forced a Rams punt. Except that Woolen went to the Rams bench and taunted nearly everyone, especially Rams head coach Sean McVay. The officials told him to stop and to get back to his bench, but he kept on and got flagged for a taunting foul. On the next play, Stafford hit Nacua for a 34-yard touchdown. Woolen was covering Nacua on the play. The touchdown gave the Rams a temporary lead, but Seattle came back to win 31-27. Woolen did apologize for the incident and took ownership of the foul. Doesn’t matter. At this stage of the playoffs, this kind of stupidity is something teams have no time or patience for.
3) If you’re thinking that Stafford won’t get MVP now that his team is going home, put that thought out of your mind. Most of you know that MVP voting is done just after the regular season and prior to the playoffs. Stafford is still right there with Drake Maye. We won’t find out who won until next week.
That said, I picked the Rams to win this game. Coming down the stretch, when the Rams were on one last drive to try and snatch a win from the jaws of defeat, you could see the look of frustration and almost resignation on the face of McVay on the sidelines as his team trudged to its eventual defeat.
4) With wide receivers Nacua and Davante Adams, running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, and tight end Tyler Higbee, Stafford had plenty of offensive weapons. They did drop 27 points on one of the best defenses in the NFL.
But what all of Patriot Nation needs to get ready for is how their guys will defend such players as Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Kenneth Walker, and A.J. Barner. Maybe the Patriots will drop 27 points on Seattle like the Rams did. How much they give up will be a major factor in this game.
5) One nice thing about the venue (Santa Clara, Calif.) is that neither team really has to worry about bad weather. The NFL tries to put the Super Bowl in good-weather cities. Other than rain, this section of the Silicon Valley should be balmy and pleasant. It will likely be an environment where good-to-great football will most likely be played. No freezing cold or snowstorms to contend with.
I wouldn’t blame either team if they started licking their chops right now. This will be pure, unabashed championship football.
6) Back to school: According to a report, the Raiders are pursuing Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti. Now, here I thought the poaching would start next year, and by college teams. With Las Vegas seemingly a lock to pick Fernando Mendoza as the top pick in April, why not bring in his head coach? The report also said that there is a chance the Raiders may pursue their former quarterback, Derek Carr, to be Mendoza’s position coach. Again, all of this is unsubstantiated. But wow. Instead of the many-decades reputation of what a Raider is, will it now be a more spiritual group, instead of cheap-shot artists?
Why not? Name me one athlete you have seen recently that doesn’t give thanks to his Almighty in postgame interviews. Nothing at all wrong with this. It just doesn’t fit what you perceive a “Raider” to be.
7) The Patriots stayed another night in Football Hades, Colo – er, I mean Denver, Colorado, to wait out the blizzard that has been pummeling the nation. They arrived safely in Providence on Monday afternoon and returned to Gillette Stadium on Monday night. Both venues (T.F. Green Airport and Gillette) had full camera crews. No, Pope Leo XIV (and it’s Pope, not Il Papa. His perfect English is still hard to get used to from a Pope) is not aboard. It’s the nearest thing to royalty that the NFL has. The Patriots are back. Back on the A list. Hated once again by all not in New England. And all of Patriot Nation has something to think about other than snow.
8) So let’s see. If the Patriots do beat the Seahawks, where will this rank all-time in most surprising moments in Boston Sports History?
The Celtics’ win over the Lakers in the 1969 Finals still astonishes me. The ALCS and World Series from 2004 both make this list. Bobby Orr’s overtime goal in 1970 is also thought provoking; yes, it was a four-game sweep over St. Louis, but the first Cup for the Bruins in 29 years. The first Super Bowl win for the Patriots (XXXVI) and the great comeback (LI) make this list also. I might also put the Celtics’ 2024 title win on this list in that it came from nowhere and punctuated the rarity of Celtic titles as opposed to the 1960s.
But if the Patriots win Super Bowl LX? It’s on the list.
Talk about coming out of nowhere. Talk about unexpected, and not just the national scribes and fans. Talk about suddenly the Patriots have a great coach-quarterback tandem again.
We’ll get around to winning this game later. Meanwhile, just drink all this in. Wow. Back in the show again.
9) Remember him: Jody Allen owns the Seahawks. Her brother, Paul, used to own the Seahawks until his death in 2018. Oh, by the way, he also co-founded Microsoft Corporation, along with someone named Bill Gates. The late Paul Allen was seen in his private box as the final moments of Super Bowl XLIX played out. He had this gawky look on his face, which looked like total stress and anguish, and the interception hadn’t happened yet. It was probably just after that crazy catch by Jermaine Kearse. It was a cool camera shot, even though he probably looked worse after the pick by Malcolm Butler. Allen oversaw the transformation of the Seattle Seahawks into an NFL power. The then-defending champs were seen as a major test for the Patriots that year, even though the betting line was pick ‘em. His sister Jody now leads the team into Super Bowl LX, with the thoughts of her late brother weighing heavily on her mind.
10) Okay, some help from a Californian.
If you’re going: Try to stay in the San Jose area if you can, but you can do worse than staying in San Francisco. Availability at this stage of the game is always critical.
If it were me, I would aim for the East Bay, the various cities south of Oakland. Maybe there’s a room open off that way. Then, to get to the game, drive south down the I-880 freeway (or north on the same freeway if you’re in Fremont) to Milpitas. Watch for CA 237; take it and go west. Cross the Bay over the lesser-travelled Dumbarton Bridge (as opposed to the Bay Bridge or the San Mateo Bridge). Once on the other side, get off at the Great America Parkway exit and turn left. Go down the parkway and turn left on Old Glory Lane. The stadium is straight ahead.
If you’re coming from San Francisco or points north: Take the Bayshore Freeway (US 101) south to Exit 396B, which is CA 237. Go east on 237. Get off at exit 5 and go south on County Road G2 which is also the North Lawrence Expressway. Turn left on Tasman Drive and go a mile. Turn right on Great American Parkway. Turn left on Old Glory Lane. The stadium is straight ahead.
If you’re coming from San Jose or points south: Take the Bayshore Freeway (US 101) north. Exit at Great America Parkway. Go north on Great America Parkway. Turn right on Old Glory Road. Stadium is straight ahead.
Or you can use your GPS apps and never mind all this well-intended help. Maybe Google Maps knows better. In 2016, my daughter and I went to AT&T Park to see the Red Sox and the Giants. We saw a movie Friday night at a mall that was a stone’s throw from Levi’s. She saw Taylor Swift there, so she has been there, and I have not.
If you can go, go. Me, I’ll rock with the fam and stay bunkered down in my mancave. With the doors closed, of course. My daughter makes a mean bean dip and queso, among lots of other things.
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