11/17/24
January 21, 2018
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Anticipating a possible Eagles win, Philly municipal workers are greasing the lamp posts downtown to keep ecstatic revelers from climbing them.
Anyone who grew up on a diet of cheesesteaks is not going to let a few handfuls of Crisco stop them from getting where they want to go.
posted by beaverboard at 02:09 PM on January 21, 2018
Poor Leonard Fournette must have been having a strong sense of deja vu from his LSU days with the Jags' play calling in the second half. Patriots obviously made some adjustments, but seems like the Jags were playing scared with the lead and went away from what got them ahead in the first place.
posted by holden at 10:01 PM on January 21, 2018
I'm not a big officiating complainer, but this wasn't interference on A.J. Bouye. He and the receiver were hand-fighting each other down the field and that doesn't get called.
The Pats offense gets too many soft calls. It's frustrating as a fan when the same refs take a "let them play" attitude when your team's on offense. The Pats only had one penalty called the entire game -- on special teams.
I know holding occurs on every play, but when it is done to secure the edge on a running play, as happened to Telvin Smith on a big third down run by Dion Lewis, it often draws a flag.
As a strictly personal aside, it doesn't do me any favors to see an official being one of the first to congratulate Brady after time expired. If I ran the league that would never happen.
But I did love Bill Belichick's contempt for the AFC Championship trophy.
posted by rcade at 12:24 AM on January 22, 2018
I know holding occurs on every play, but when it is done to secure the edge on a running play, as happened to Telvin Smith on a big third down run by Dion Lewis, it often draws a flag.
That's exactly what I thought when I saw the replay of the run immediately after it happened. I didn't realize that the Pats had been as penalty-free as they were.
posted by grum@work at 07:19 AM on January 22, 2018
Blake Bortles didn't throw a single pick in the postseason. He played well enough to win Sunday. I think the mockery he receives for awfulness has passed its expiration date. Back in August I never thought it possible, but he's a viable choice for the Jags in 2018 if salary considerations are addressed.
posted by rcade at 09:02 AM on January 22, 2018
At some point this season, I began considering the Jags in terms of the 2000 Ravens, and thought: "Hell, if they only had Trent Dilfer at QB they'd be serious contenders". Now I'm at the point where they wouldn't want Dilfer - they're better off with Bortles. Hackett has done a great job with him.
The Jags had a heck of a run. A better run, in fact, than the 84 Bears did before they became the monsters of 85. I fully expect the 2018 Jags to be a major force to be reckoned with.
Look at that division - if Luck returns to any sort of functional health and Deshaun gets back to 100%, that's a heck of a group of 4 competitive teams.
I know that the Pats' coordinators get a lot of press and a lot of love, but the guys who get my attention right now are the Eagles' Reich and Schwartz. I wouldn't bet against them at this point. I hope Philly can hang onto them a bit longer. I enjoy seeing good coaching cores achieve sustained success.
posted by beaverboard at 09:55 AM on January 22, 2018
The Pats offense gets too many soft calls. Yes. It seems every big comeback the Patriots are involved in begins with some bogus call like that one.
I did not see the game but was listening on the Pats radio network. Even the Pats radio announcers commented on that call and a missed PI call on Chung that ended a Jags drive in the 4th.
Really, they are good enough to earn it.
but he's a viable choice for the Jags in 2018 Bortles is a QB who can be a good game manager in the right offense: strong running game and short play action passes. For whatever reason the Jags abandoned that in the 2nd half and focused on trying to throw the ball downfield. Ended up being weakness vs weakness with the Pats secondary prevailing.
This is more of a knock on the play calling than Bortles as you can't expect he'll suddenly turn into Aaron Rodgers mid-game. Hell, even Green Bay would run the ball more if they had LF.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:24 PM on January 22, 2018
As part of a special appreciation outreach to fans, Tom Brady is going to mingle with tailgaters at Gillette Stadium before the Jags-Pats AFC title game.