Well, That Was SOME Super Bowl, Wasn't It?

If you are a regular reader of The Grandstander, you know that one phrase I often say is "This is why you follow Sports", and Super Bowl LVIII contested yesterday between the Chiefs and the 49'ers was certainly one of those instances, although for much of the game, it didn't seem like it would be.

The game was scoreless after one quarter, and San Francisco led 10-3 at halftime.  The 49'ers dominated  much of the game and should have had a bigger lead.  Both teams lost fumbles deep in the other's territory as they were marching toward the end zone.  Patrick Mahomes had thrown an interception, and Travis Kelce had made one catch for one yard.  It appeared that we were headed towards a duplication of the 13-3 Patriots win over the Rams a few years ago.

The Chiefs scored ten points in the third quarter to take a 13-10 lead, so things had picked up some.  Four minutes into the fourth quarter, the 49'ers scored a touchdown, and then something happened that changed everything:  the point after touchdown attempt was blocked.  A potential four point lead was now a three point lead for SF, and that changed everything and not just for the people in block pools.

The teams then exchanged field goals, with the Niners going ahead 19-16 with 1:53 remaining in the game.   Then, when the lights were the brightest and the heat was the hottest, Patrick Mahomes took over.   The Chiefs drive the field and that is when the specter of the failed PAT came into play.  If San Francisco has a four point lead, the Chiefs have to score a touchdown.  KayCee gets stopped inside the ten and on fourth down, Harrison Butker kicks the field goal to tie the game 19-19  with :03 remaining and send it into overtime.

We'll never know if the Chiefs would have scored a TD if they had to there to win it.  With Mahomes at the helm and the team rolling, you would certainly like their chances, but the FG was as sure a thing as there was.   We all know what happened then, but to summarize for the record:

• The 49'ers win the coin toss and elect to receive.  They drive the field, but are forced to settle a field goal.  SF 22 - KC 19.
• The Chiefs take the kickoff and proceed to drive  seventy-two yards in 12 plays.  This includes a critical scramble for eight yards by Mahomes on a fourth and one play five plays into the drive.
• Seven plays later, 1st and goal from the three, Mahomes hits Mecole Hardman in the end zone for the winner, and the Chiefs win their third Super Bowl in four seasons, 25-22.
• Bedlam ensues.

What had started out as a low key game, if, that is, the Super Bowl could ever be described as low key, turned into one of great drama and excitement, and it confirmed  the Kansas City Chiefs as a true dynasty with three Super Bowl wins within four seasons.  It also reaffirmed the fact that if Patrick Mahomes isn't the best football player in the NFL right now, he is certainly the most exciting, and that Andy Reid is certainly one of the best coaches to ever stroll an NFL sideline.

Kudos go to the 49'ers.  They are a very, very good team, and Brock Purdy certainly now belongs in the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks, but some questions must be raised about head coach Kyle Shannahan. This is now the second Super Bowl where his teams have blown a fourth quarter lead not to mention him being OC of the Falcons team that blew that 28-3 lead to Brady and the Patriots a few years back.  And now there are stories that are intimating that the Forty-Niners were not fully aware as to how the overtime rules in post season games worked.  If that is true, that certainly falls at the feet of the head coach.

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I started the watching the game by taking notes around the events surrounding the game itself, and this is what I came up with:

• How about that opening with Frank Sinatra singing "My Way" over clips of the two teams.  Can you say "over the top" and just a little bit too self-reverential?
• What was with Post Malone's teeth?
• Reba McIntyre did the Anthem in 1:35.6.  Very good job but 5.36 seconds too long.
• There's going to be a movie version of "Wicked"?  I can't wait.
• Loved the Lionel Messi Michelob Ultra commercial with Dan Marino making an appearance at the end.
• The Dunkin' Donuts commercial with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tom Brady, and Jennifer Lopez was great.
• I am guessing that the RFK Jr. for President ad using animation and music from his Uncle John's 1960 campaign could not have gone over well with the extended Kennedy Family.

After that, I pretty much stopped paying attention.  Don't ask about Usher's halftime show.  We were eating dinner (which is one good thing about a 48 minute halftime break) and weren't paying all that much attention to it.

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In other sports news, the Pirates made a free agent signing yesterday, veteran catcher Yasmani Grandal.  To be sure, Grandal is not Johnny Bench, but it is a signing that could - COULD - be significant for the team this upcoming season.

Leave it to the Pirates, though, to announce it on the morning of the Super Bowl.  Does the team actually TRY to avoid making news?

"Quarterback" on Netflix

If you are a football fan and have not yet watched the Netflix series "Quarterback", stop whatever it is that you are doing right now and begin watching.  No, seriously. just drop what you're doing and begin watching this eight part series right now.  

The show, whose Executive Producer is Peyton Manning, follows three QB's throughout the 2023 season, from training camp to Super Bowl.  Unlimited access was given to the show for games, practices, and glimpses into the players' personal and family life.  Two of these players' wives had babies during the season, for example.  The three stars of the show represented a perfect cross section of life in the NFL at its most important position.

• Marcus Mariotta.  A former first round draft pick, now trying to hang on with his third team, the Atlanta Falcons.  He started as the team's number one QB, was benched three quarters of the way into the season and then left the team.  (The series ended by telling us that he had signed on with the Eagles to be Jalen Hurts' backup in 2023.)
• Kirk Cousins.  Led his team to a 13-4 record, the NFC North championship, and was a serious MVP candidate, but his season ended when the Vikes lost in the opening round of the playoffs.
• Patrick Mahomes.  Need I say more?  He was the League MVP and led his Chiefs to a victory in the Super Bowl and was named the game's MVP.

It is a fascinating look at three individuals and what they have to go through, week after week, through all kinds of injuries and adversities, and just how they prepare for every game, every week.  It always looks like Mahomes goes in the huddle and says  "Travis, go straight for twelve yards and turn right.  The rest of you guys just block", but it's not as easy as they all make it look.

I can't recommend the series highly enough.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Super Bowl LVII: Chiefs 38 - Eagles 35

Yes, the Super Bowl ended three days ago, and here I am just getting around to writing about the Chiefs epic 38-35 victory over the Eagles.  There is a reason for that, and here it is....

Yep, over the weekend I made the decision to trade in my eight and one-half year old iMac, which, I have learned, Apple now considers to be "vintage", and get a new one.  I made the purchase on Monday, the Apple Store did the transfer of data from my old iMac to the new one yesterday, and I picked this baby up this morning, so you are reading the first official Grandstander post typed out on my brand new green iMac!

So I am not going to hash over a lot of detail on the game itself.  That horse has now been thoroughly beaten, but here a just a few small impressions that remain with me from SB LVII.

• Major lesson learned.  Never bet against Patrick Mahomes.  It took awhile before we all learned to never bet against Tom Brady, so let's get that same lesson as it applies to Mahomes down pat (no pun intended) right now.

• Mahomes, bum ankle and all,  was truly magnificent in that second half when he led the Chiefs from a ten point deficit to victory.  He is the best quarterback, if not the best player, in the entire NFL at this point.
• Equally magnificent in defeat was Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.  Three rushing TD's and a bomb of a TD pass.  He led the Eagles on a drive in the fourth quarter to tie the game after KayCee took a 35-27 lead, by making an "octopus" (more on that later).  It was gutty performance, and perhaps the best and most heroic performance in defeat in Super Bowl history.  Hurts has proven himself beyond all doubt, and Philly is set at QB for the next decade or so.

• Of course, Hurts did commit one major faux pas, the rather odd fumble that was scooped and returned 33 yards for a Kansas City touchdown.  It put the Chiefs back in the game when they were kinda sorta back on there heels, but hey, shit happens.
• The biggest cause celebre  was holding call against the Eagles in the last two minutes of the game near the Philly goal line.  It enabled the Chiefs to secure a fresh set of downs, eat up more of the clock, and allow Harrison Butker to kick the game winning field goal with only :08 remaining in the game.  Announcer Greg Olsen made a big deal about making a call like that that late in the game and that near the goal line in a game of this magnitude.  Maybe he wants the NFL to become the NHL where the zebras swallow their whistles in the third period of Stanley Cup games.  To me, it was a holding penalty ("but let's bring in Gene Steretore to see what he sees here...."), and if it wasn't called, do you really think Butker was going to miss the FG attempt from five yards farther back?  Of course, Philly would then have had more time on the clock to try for a miracle drive with no time outs remaining, but when all is said and done, I don't believe that had that call not been made, the outcome would have been any different.
• The slippery playing surface.  When you know years in advance that you are going to be hosting a Super Bowl, the largest single sporting event in America, how can you possibly screw it up like they did?  Unbelievable.

In the end, it was a great game, a Super Bowl for the Ages, and one that makes you sad that we have to wait six months before we see another NFL game.

Odds and Ends.....

BETTING

I made a total of 27 separate wagers on the Super Bowl ranging from point spread, money line, and over/under bets, to wild parlays, to props on who would score touchdowns, throw or rush for X number of yards, and so on.  Most were for one to two dollars.  The largest ones were for $14 and $12.50 on a point spread and a money line bet.  I wagered a total of $77.28 and received a return of $74 92.  So, I ended up losing $2.36 on the Super Bowl, and it gave me way more that $2.36 worth of pleasure.

I was really saved by the aforementioned "octopus" made by Jalen Hurts.  I had never heard of this before, but what it is is a bet that a player who scores a touchdown will also score a two point conversion after that same touchdown.  Eight points = Octopus; get it?  Hurts did that in the fourth quarter and  $1 be produced a $14 return for me.   Nice.

Also, and as if you didn't already know this, parlay bets are how bookies and casinos get rich.  You'd be smart to stay away from them, but they are just so damn TEMPTING!!!

COMMERCIALS

I was going to make notes on and keep track of commercials, but early on, I decided to hell with it.  So I'll be brief....I liked Ben Affleck working at Dunkin' Donuts with JLo in the drive through lane, liked John Travolta in the Grease take-off, although I had no idea that the two guys with him were also celebs, Serena Williams seemed to show up a lot, the rabbit hole one was really creepy, and I apparently missed Jennifer Coolidge.  Aside from that, I got nothing.

HALFTIME

God bless Rhianna.  I have nothing against her and I concede that she is talented, but I just wasn't interested.  What I did see was about 500 people on the field dancing while dressed as abominable snowmen, and Rhianna rising on a platform a million feet over the Stadium floor, so she has talent AND she has a lot of guts.  Most of the time, though, I was going to the bathroom and getting myself something to eat.

The Championship Games

Yeah, I know that I am at least three days late to the party on this, but I do want to put my 

worth in on this past Sunday's NFL Conference Championship games.  I will state that the doubleheader Sunday of the AFC/NFC Championship is one of my favorite sports days of the year, and in the 49ers v. Eagles and Bengals v. Chiefs, both games appeared to be attractive and exciting matchups.

Eagles 31- 49'ers 7

Well, as you have often read in this space, no sporting event ever comes with a guarantee, and never was that proven more true than in the NFC title game in Philly.

Only minutes into the game, on San Francisco's first offensive series and sixth snap, this happened:

Niners QB Brock Purdy, one of the better stories in the NFL this season, took an awkward hit on the elbow and was out of the game.  This put Josh Johnson, SF's fourth string QB into the game and, effectively, ended it.   The Eagles ended up winning 31-7 and would have probably won the game anyway, but here's something that probably wouldn't have happened. Down only 14-7 just before halftime and possessing the ball deep in there own territory, Purdy probably wouldn't haver fumbled, as Johnson did, seen the Eagles recover it, score, and take a 21-7 lead into the locker room at the half.

So, a highly anticipated game became a laugher and a blowout.  It happens, because as a wise man, or maybe a wise guy, always says, there are no guarantees when you buy a ticket to a professional sports contest.  Or watch one on television.

Chiefs 23 - Bengals 20

Unlike the NFC game, the Chiefs and Bengals delivered with a really good game in the nightcap.  Joe Burrow had a good but not a great game for him, and Patrick Mahomes, playing with a bad right ankle that severely limited his mobility and forced him to stay in the pocket, was excellent.  He proved that for all of the talk about Burrow and Trevor Lawrence and Jalen Hurts and Justin Herbert and Josh Allen, all of it justified, he, Mahomes, is the best quarterback  and might well be the best player in the entire NFL right now.

For all of that, though, the teams were tied 20-20, and it appeared that the game was headed into overtime when, with seconds remaining, Mahomes took off running and was forced out of bounds with :05 remaining when the Knuckleheaded gene that seems imbedded in the DNA of the Cincy Bungles (need I remind you of Vontaze Burfict and Pacman Jones in a similar circumstance in a playoff game with the Steelers a few years back?) kicked in in the form of linebacker Joseph Ossai that led to this:

Ossai pushed and shoved Mahomes to the ground when he was clearly, CLEARLY out of bounds.  Out came the yellow flags, and fifteen yards was tacked onto the play, and Harrison Butker kicked what was now a chip shot field goal to win the game for the Chiefs as time expired.  Ossai was devastated over his dumbshittedness, but he shouldn't feel too bad, because I'm betting that Butker would have nailed that field goal even without the fifteen yard penalty.

Thus, we had one game decided early due to a fluke injury, and another game decided, maybe, by a stupid and totally unnecessary penalty.  The Thrill of Victory and The Agony of Defeat encapsulated twice in the same day.

This now leads up to an interesting Super Bowl LVII in Glendale eleven days from now.  

These are some of the storylines that will be bandied about ad nauseam  between now and then....

• Andy Reid coaching against his old team, the one he took to a handful of NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl, that fired him.
• Two Black QB's starting in a Super Bowl for the first time.
• Two brothers, Travis and Jason Kelce, facing off against each other for the first time ever in a Super Bowl.
• Will Gronk really attempt to kick field goal in a Fan Duel commercial?
• Will Greg Olsen, now a dead man walking in the Fox booth now that Tom Brady has retired "for good", talk longer than Castro used to talk in one of his marathon speeches to the Cuban people back in the day?
• Rhianna

As I type this, the Eagles are 1.5 point favorites over Kansas City.  I think that the Eagles may be a better team than KayCee, but the Chiefs have an advantage in the most important position on the field in Patrick Mahomes at quarterback.  My inclination is that in what figures to be  close game, the team with the better QB is the one to pick, so I lean to the Chiefs at +1.5, but I'm not ready to put any cash on the line just yet.

Looks like a dandy matchup between two really good teams.  Can't wait.

Ben Makes It Official, The Best Sports Day of the Year, and One Other Football thought

Ben Roethlisberger made it official this past week and formally announced his retirement from pro football and the Steelers after an historic eighteen year career.  I have written a lot about Big Ben in recent weeks, so I won't belabor it any further in this space, other than to say thanks, and best wishes for a happy life for Number 7.

The speculation now begins as to "who comes next?" for the Steelers at the most important position on the field.  Talk show hosts and callers will be frothing at the mouths throughout the off season and well into the 2022 season and beyond.  What do I think?  Well, I think that Mason Rudolph has earned the right to go into the season at the top of the depth chart.  He has not earned the right to go to training camp without facing competition for the job.  That competition could come from current #3 guy Dwayne Haskins (meh), a veteran that they could obtain via trade or free agency (Russell Wilson? Bring him on.  Mitch Trubisky? Intriguing.  Kirk Cousins?  Please no.), or a drafted QB (Any chance Kenny Pickett might be available with the 20th pick?).  

Whatever and whoever it is, it will no doubt be THE storyline for the next twelve months where the Steelers are concerned.  I am old enough to remember bad quarterback play before Terry Bradshaw arrived in 1970, and I remember some mediocre (with some exceptions) quarterback play in the the twenty years After Bradshaw (AB) and Before Ben (BB), and eighteen seasons of Hall of Fame caliber play at the position since 2004.  HOF worthy QB's don't grow on trees, and I just hope that I live long enough to see another one at the position for the Steelers, but at my age, that is not necessarily a sure thing.

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As I type this, we are less than an hour away from the start of one of my favorite sports days of the year:  NFL Conference Championship Sunday.  It is hard to imagine either of the two games today matching what we saw last weekend in all four of the Divisional Round games, especially that absolute classic between the Chiefs and the Bills and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

As for today, I have put coin of the realm on the Chiefs at -7.5 over the Bengals and the Rams at -3.5 over the 49ers.  Cannot want to see the duel at quarterback between Mahomes and Joe Burrow in Kansas City.  

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Final thought following last week's NFL games.....

Has anyone fallen in the Court of Public Opinion as quickly as has Aaron Rodgers?

In the space of the last few months, he went from lovable prospective  "Jeopardy" host and affable State Farm pitchman to lying anti-vaxxer kook and a possible right wing nut job.  When his Number One seeded Packers lost the the 49ers last week, social and mainstream media exploded with people ripping him with a vengeful glee that was almost shocking to read.

Sic transit gloria mundi, A-aron.

 

Football, Coaching Decisions, and the Final GPR

 This scene from earlier this season will 

be repeated on Super Bowl Sunday

The NFL's Conference Championship games served to produce a Super Bowl match-up made in Heaven, 43 year old Tom Brady against Young Gun Patrick Mahomes.  The greatest quarterback of all time against the greatest quarterback in the NFL today.  It was problematic from the outset that an NFL season would be completed in 2020, and that it will culminate in this head-to-head contest has to be beyond the wildest dreams of Roger Goodell and the Punjabs who run the NFL, not to mention those of us who watch and follow the game.

Simply put, there really are no words left to describe Tom Brady and his accomplishments, so I won't even try.  Simply remarkable.

Nor will I go into trying to summarize the two games yesterday.  If you follow the game, you already know.  However, I simply have to comment on the two pivotal coaching moments in the NFC game.

First, with :20 remaining in the first half, the Bucs are facing fourth and four at midfield and send out the punt team to end the half and head into the locker room up 14-10.  After a time out, Bruce Arians says "screw that", Brady hooks up on  short pass to get the first down, then, with :08 remaining, Brady hits a bomb down the sideline for a touchdown and a 21-10 lead.  On Facebook I commented, "I wonder if the Packers will ever be able to recover from that dagger that Brady just plunged into them."

Next, with 2:06 remaining, the Packers trailing by eight points, 31-23, it is fourth and goal on the Bucs' eight yard line.  With presumptive MVP Aaron Rodgers at QB, only eight yards away from a chance to tie the game and go into overtime, HC Matt LeFleur elects to kick a field goal. And we all thought that Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash made the dumbest coaching move of the year in Game Six of the World Series.  Granted, Green Bay had all three time outs remaining, plus the two minute warning, but they were also putting the ball back into the hands of Tom F. Brady.  Did anyone in the world possibly think that Brady wasn't going to be able to bleed the clock and end that game?  Congrats on losing by only five points instead of eight, Coach.

It's going to be a long, long time until LeFleur lives that one down.

This leads us to the final Grandstander Power Rankings of the season.

1. Chiefs
2. Buccaneers

These should probably be labeled 1 and 1a, only because Tom Brady is at the helm of the Bucs.  At this point, I lean towards the Chiefs over the Bucs in the Super Bowl, but in the end, when it's time to put actual coin of the realm on the line, will you be able to actually bring yourself to bet against Tom Brady? We shall see.

The GPR and Other NFL Reflections

The Grandstander Power Rankings following the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs....

1. Packers
2. Chiefs
3. Bucs
4. Bills

• The Chiefs fall to Number Two due to the uncertainty surrounding the status of Patrick Mahomes.
• The Packers looked unbeatable after thoroughly dismantling the Rams.
• The Browns won the opening coin toss, and deferred, thus putting the ball into Patrick Mahomes' hands to start the game.  Why in God's name would a team do that?  (Mahomes proceeded to  lead the Chiefs on an a TD drive to begin the game.)
• A case can be made for anyone of of these teams being ranked in any order.  From a field of fourteen, the NFL ends up with the four best teams, I think.  They are most certainly the four best teams that started out in the Playoffs.

A few words about Tom Brady.  He (and a very strong TB defense) won that game over the Saints on Sunday, and he is going to his FOURTEENTH Conference Championship Game on Sunday.  There really are no words to describe all that he has accomplished.

Nobody living today, I am confident in saying, ever saw Babe Ruth play baseball, but we are all getting the chance to see Tom Brady do things that can only be described as Ruthian, football-wise.  You may not have to like him, but you have to like seeing what he has done and continues to do on a football field.

Oh, and if you don't like him, look  up the video of him talking with Drew Brees and his kids on the field of the Super Dome long after the game ended on Sunday.  Might change your mind, if even only a little bit.

(At this point, I was going to write something about the news that the NFL this week welcomed into its Head Coaching ranks none other than Urban Meyer.  Have decided to defer that unpleasant topic to another day.)

Now it is on to what might be my very favorite day of the year on the sports calendar  - NFL Conference Championship Sunday.

An old school AFL Match-up between the Bills and Chiefs with two dynamic young quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.  A Packers-Bucs Match-up with two dynamic old quarterbacks,  Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.  Like I said earleir, I don't think that the NFL could have scripted it any better.

Predictions will come later in the week.

Chiefs Win!

When the Chiefs took possession of the ball deep in their own territory with about eight minutes remaining in the game and trailing San Francisco 20-10, Joe Buck made the comment "Well, the Chiefs have the 49'ers right where they want them", referring to how the Chiefs had come back from double digit deficits in their prior two playoff wins.  It was a throwaway line for a cheap chuckle, but it seems that everybody's favorite play-by-play guy Buck was rather prescient, as the Chiefs proceeded to score a TD, force a three and out by San Francisco, score another TD, force the Niners to turn it over on downs, and then score another TD.  Presto change, a 10-20 deficit was now a 31-20 lead for Kansas City.  All in the space of about five or six minutes of game time.  It was pretty amazing as you watched it unfold.

In case you missed it, my Grandstander prediction post on Saturday ended with these words: 

"Oh, yeah, the Chiefs to win it in a high scoring affair.  An MVP for Mahomes, and good Guy Andy Reid finally gets a win in the Big One."

I believe I had that!

Some other quick comments.....

Mahomes was not as sharp and spectacular as we have become used to seeing.  He was off target early, and he did throw two interceptions, but then there were those final eight minutes.  It reminded me of John Facenda's line about the Steelers in the Super Bowl IV highlight film.  Allow me to paraphrase.....(imagine Facenda's Voice-of-God tones with NFL Films music playing in background) "Patrick Mahomes wasn't always great.  He was only great when he had to be."

Commercials.  To be honest, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention.  I liked the "Pahk the Cah" commercial for some self-parking car.  I didn't realize until I read in the paper this morning that Molly Ringwald was in the avocado commercial (need to look that one up).  It seems that MC Hammer is going to finance his entire retirement by playing the washed-up, forgotten, 15-minutes-of-fame guy in Super Bowl commercials; nice work if you can get it.

After watching Shakira bumping-and-grinding and J-Lo pole dancing, I made the following comment on Facebook:  "Next year the NFL should just hire fifty or so people from the porn film industry and let them have at it on the stage for the half-time show."  Four seconds of Janet Jackson's exposed bosom seems so long ago...and so innocent!

The Chiefs not only won the game, but they easily covered the 1.5 point spread, which gave me a winning ticket.  In football wager that I made at the Rivers Casino this football season, I finished with a record of 27-18, a winning percentage .600.  If only those wagers were for $500 or $1,000 each, instead of my usual five or ten bucks (twenty on the Super Bowl!), I'd be leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning.  It was a fun experience making these legalized wagers throughout the season.  It certainly added to my interest in many of the games, even with my penny ante wagers.  I'll look forward to doing it again come next season, although I am under no illusions that I will be able to duplicate such successes come 2020.

Despite the travails of the Steelers this year, I cannot recall enjoying a football season quite as much as I enjoyed this one.  I will miss it now that it is over.  True, the XFL opens up this coming weekend, and I suppose that I will give it a shot, but, C'MON, MAN, I have no high expectations for that.

I will end this post as I usually end my Super Bowl wrap-up posts.....Pirates pitchers and catchers report in nine days!!

Super Bowl Prediction

Like many of you out there, I, too, am looking forward to the annual exercise in bacchanalia that is the Super Bowl.  As is my custom, I will not wear myself out by watching the five or six hours of pre-game bullshit that will be shown on Fox, ESPN, or other networks.  As has been our custom, we will either head out to the movies in the afternoon, or watch one on TV to "prepare" for the game.  I will probably tune into the Fox telecast around 6:00 to catch a bare minimum of pre-game hoopla and then settle in to watch the game, which is set to kick off at 6:30.

I am offering one interesting "prop bet" for your consideration:

The Over/Under on number of Vituperative Comments about Joe Buck Across All Social Media Platforms has been set at 1.7 Billion (with a B) Snide-Snarky-Hateful Comments.  I'd definitely go with the OVER on this one.

As for the game, I am looking forward to a competitive and exciting game.  Great defensive team in San Francisco.  Explosive offensive team in Kansas City.  The 49'ers can run.  The Chiefs have perhaps the best and most exciting offensive force in football in quarterback Patrick Mahomes. 

I think it's going to be a fun game to watch, and I'm calling it for the Chiefs to win their second Super Bowl, and even fifty years after they won their first one in Super Bowl IV....

(Allow me to interrupt here with a personal memory.  I watched the Chiefs defeat the Vikings in that long ago Super Bowl on a black and white TV in a dormitory at Slippery Rock State College.  Lots and lots of water under many bridges since then.)

....okay, where was I?  Oh, yeah, the Chiefs to win it in a high scoring affair.  An MVP for Mahomes, and good Guy Andy Reid finally gets a win in the Big One.

Enjoy the Game, everyone.

NFL Quarterbacks in Transition 2020

The news that was leaked yesterday concerning the announcement that Giants quarterback Eli Manning will be formally announcing his retirement tomorrow, prompted me to sit and offer some comments that have been bubbling in my cranium (to use a Myron Cope-ism) for sometime now, and that is that the 2019 NFL season and post-season may be looked back upon at some future date as the year where an  "Old Guard" of outstanding and even Hall of Fame worthy cast of NFL quarterbacks gave way to a new wave of quarterbacks who will dominate the League for the next decade or so.

Let's begin with the three QB's who were drafted within the first eleven picks of the 2004 NFL Draft.

Eli Manning  Manning pretty much began showing signs of being washed up in the 2018 season.  The Giants drafted a QB in the first round last year, and Manning was benched early in this season.  His retirement comes as no surprise.  He was not the quarterback that his brother was, but he is a two time Super Bowl MVP, so his enshrinement in Canton is virtually assured.

Phillip Rivers  Rivers had a great season in 2018, and his Chargers made the playoffs, but his numbers were off this year, the team wasn't any good, and Rivers is an unrestricted free agent who undoubtedly will be playing with another team next year.  He might be able to help a good team who really needs a QB, but he is near the end of a good career.

Ben Roethlisberger  Big Ben left the second game of 2019 with an elbow injury that required surgery, and he was lost for the season.  He plans on coming back in 2020 for a 17th season.  In 2018, he was easily the best of his draft class counterparts, but in 2020, he will be 38 years old, will be coming off of major elbow surgery, and he will not have played in an actual game since September, 2019.  the Steelers and their fans can hope that he will be as good as ever, but there are no guarantees.

Before I continue with this little essay, let me offer this Fun Fact.  In addition Eli, Phillip, and Ben, fourteen (14!!) other quarterbacks were drafted by NFL teams in 2004.  The most notable name among them was Matt Schaub, and two other recognizable names were J.P. Losman and and Luke McKown.  After that, you get names like Jeff Smoker, Casey Bramlet, and Bradlee Van Pelt.  None of them are going to Canton unless they buy an admission ticket.

Let's look at a few other guys:

Tom Brady  He is undoubtedly the greatest quarterback of all time, but this year he began to show some slippage.  Part of that can be attributed to the fact that his surrounding cast wasn't as good as it had been in the past.  He did lead the Patriots to a division title, but in the Playoff game against the Titans, he looked just like a 42 year old guy who just may have reached the end of the line.  His last pass in that game was an interception thrown from his own end zone that was returned for a touchdown.  He is now a free agent, and he says he wants to keep playing.  Can he help a good team that just needs an experienced quarterback as a final piece of their puzzle?  Probably he could, but it seems almost unthinkable that we would see Tom Brady in another uniform next year.  The picture of Willie Mays as a New York Met comes to mind.  Not that I love or even like the Patriots or Brady, but I hope that this doesn't happen.

Drew Brees  Like Brady, Brees had a good year, but he also looked like a 40 year old guy in the Saints playoff loss to the Vikings.  He says that he is "undecided" about coming back next year.

Andrew Luck  After missing all of 2017, Luck came back in '18 with a terrific season, but after yet another injury, he retired right before the start of the 2019 season at the age of 29.

Cam Newton  At the age of 30, one time league MVP was benched this year by the Panthers and will be playing elsewhere in 2020.

Aaron Rodgers  Maybe not fair to lump Rodgers into this category, because he had a very good season and led the Packers to a playoff win against Seattle, but he had a very bad first half against the 49'ers in the NFC title game, and his facial expressions and body language showed every bit of his 36 years.

On the other end of the spectrum were whole raft of exciting and young quarterbacks who appear to be ready to take over the NFL.  Leading the way are Patrick Mahomes, last season's MVP and probably the best and most exciting player in the NFL right now, Lamar Jackson, the presumptive MVP this season and deservedly so, and Deshaun Watson.  Maybe even throw in Baker Mayfield  into this mix if he can survive the mess that is the Cleveland Browns.  Then there a some guys like Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, Matt Ryan, Jarrod Goff, and Carson Wentz, who have been around for awhile and could be factors for years to come in the NFL.

And finally, looming out there is LSU's Joe Burrow whom the Bengals, presumably, will take with the overall Number One selection in this year's Draft.

Yep, the guard is changing at the most important position in the NFL, and 2019 maybe seen as the year that this change took place.

Before I leave, let me speak as a partisan Pittsburgh Steelers fan for a moment.  If you've been paying attention, you know that the Steelers will be going into 2020 with a sure fire Hall of Famer at QB, but one who is 38 years old, and they will be in a division that will be requiring them to play two games a year for the next decade or so against teams led by Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Baker Mayfield.   This is not a hopeful sign.  Maybe Mason Rudolph will one day be the guy who will be the equal to these three Central Division rivals, but 2019 showed that he is still very much a work in progress.  There is also the very real possibility that the well demonstrated ineptness of the Bengals and the Browns could nullify the skills of Burrow and Mayfield.  In any event, the Steelers, who are aging in other areas as well as at quarterback, appear to have their work cut out for them in the next few seasons.

Championship Sunday Reflections

Random thoughts on this past Sunday's NFL Championship Games.....

• Without question, the single most dazzling play of the the weekend, if not of the entire season, was the 27 yard touchdown run by Patrick Mahomes that (a) put the Chiefs ahead 21-17, and (b) effectively ended the game.  We are seeing a passing of the torch in quarterbacking in the NFL (a subject of a future Grandstander post whenever I get around to organizing my thoughts on the topic) with a new wave of young and exciting QB's getting ready to take over, but there can be no doubt as to who the best of the New Wave is, and that is the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes.

• What the Tennessee Titans did to close their season, make it into the Playoffs as the final wild card team, and then defeat both the Patriots and the Ravens on the road, was remarkable.  Mike Vrabel should be the Coach of the Year because of it.  It was great story.
• The Titans fell because the Chiefs were able to take Derrick Henry out of the ballgame, and they did so not only with the explosiveness of Mahomes and his receivers, but by controlling the ball themselves and eating up a lot of the clock on drives.  San Francisco, take note.
• If the 49'ers-Packers NFC title game had been a prizefight, the refs might have stopped in midday through the second quarter.  Vince Lombardi must have been rolling in his grave watching the Packers defense get shredded by the 49'ers.
• Aaron Rodgers (much like Lamar Jackson the week before against the Titans) rolled up lots of gaudy passing numbers in the second half, when the game was already lost, but he came up small in the first half with an interception and two lost fumbles that led to a 27-0 halftime lead for San Francisco.  His facial expressions and body language throughout that game were those of a beaten man.  Very un-Rodgers-like.
• Raheem Mostert.  I must confess that up until Sunday, I had never heard of this guy, and with good reason.  In the last two years, he has been cut by six different NFL teams, and the 49'ers are his seventh team.  This past Sunday, however, we saw him rush for over 200 yards and score four touchdowns.  There is a very strong likelihood that he will never even come close to another day like that again in his career, but for one day, and maybe one day only, he was a reincarnation of Jim Brown and OJ Simpson rolled into one.
• Mostert went to Purdue University where he also ran track and was a teammate of my friend Stephanie Bonk, so I can claim two degrees of separation from him.

So this leads us to a very interesting Super Bowl match-up in two weeks.

After watching the playoffs for the last three weeks, I don't think that there is any doubt that the two best teams survived and are advancing to Miami.  This leads to the final Grandstander Confidence Rankings (GCR) of the season:

1. Chiefs
2. 49'ers

San Francisco is a very good team, and if any defense might be able to contain Mahomes, it might be this one.  The Niners can also run and control the ball, to the point where QB Jimmy Garoppolo only had to throw eight passes in the game on Sunday.  That could serve to keep KC and Mahomes off of the field, but the same was said about Derrick Henry and the Titans going into the AFC title game, so the Chiefs know how to play defense, too.

It is an intriguing match-up, to be sure, and I won't give an official prediction until closer to Super Bowl Sunday, but I will restate my long held belief:  When in doubt, go with the team with better quarterback, and we know who that is.