nfl-playoff Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Tony Romo's Predictive Powers Are A True Marvel
Tony Romo’s ability to sit in the broadcast booth and accurately predict what’s about to happen on the field is something we’re all familiar with, but it was still hard not to impressed by the run he went on during the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game, which earned him the nickname “Romos...

The Only Thing That Can Ruin A Great Football Game Is Football
NFL fans could not have asked for a better pair of conference championship games. The four best teams in the league had all advanced, and the two remaining games promised to feature beautiful, high-scoring football played by some of the best young and old players the league has to offer. We got some...

Fuck This Fucking Shit
The Patriots beat the Chiefs 37-31 in an overtime instant classic at Kansas City, clinching the AFC title and a Super Bowl berth against the Rams. Tom Brady engineered long drives down the field at the end of regulation and in overtime—both of which ended with rushing touchdowns by Rex Burkhead....

Julian Edelman’s Fingertips Taketh, Giveth, Taketh Away<em></em>
Julian Edelman’s hands ruled the most consequential sequence so far in tonight’s AFC title game. First, down 17-14, the Chiefs punted to the Patriots receiver, who appeared to muff the punt and set Kansas City up for a prime scoring opportunity. It seemed like to me on the replay that he did touch t...

There's Only One Way This Could Get Worse
It is absolutely rotten that the Saints’ season was ended at least in part by two blown pass interference calls, including an inexplicable one in the last two minutes. Rams corner Nickell Robey-Coleman, who smashed Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis in the head while the ball was in the air, said of the...

Rams Head To Super Bowl While Saints Are Left To Be Haunted By Terrible Missed Penalty
Look: the officials didn’t make Drew Brees throw a horrific interception in overtime, and they didn’t make Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein nail a 57-yard game-winning field goal despite a low snap a few plays later. In fact, after a quarter and a half where the Saints jumped out to a 13-3 lead and the Ram...

Rams Give Up A Touchdown To Taysom Goddamn Hill<em></em>
The Saints have been force-feeding the ball to their Tebowian backup quarterback Taysom Hill in crucial situations, and head coach Sean Payton’s obsession with Hill paid off today in the third quarter against the Rams. Hill lined up wide on third and goal for a screen, and Drew Brees found one of hi...

The Fan Who Keeps Whistling During Rams-Saints Is Impressively Loud
You’re not hearing things—it does sound like a whistle is blowing before every Rams offensive play in today’s NFC title game. That noise is very likely being made at least in part by a superfan named Leroy “Whistle Monsta” Mitchell, who’s been doing it at Saints home games for 22 years. The whistle ...

Fox Tried To Save Us From Seeing Michael Thomas's Butt
On the first drive of the Rams-Saints game, the broadcast booth at FOX sprung into action to prevent the youth of America from seeing something ugly on a football field: Michael Thomas’s ass. ...

What's Up With These NFL Next Gen Stats?
Dating back a few years, the NFL has put microchips in players’ pads to track their movements in games. Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the company that sends you shit in the mail and provides the architecture for a lot of the internet has slapped its name on the statistics generated by thos...

It's Me, I'm The One Person Who Still Doesn't Believe In The Patriots
The New England Patriots, the second playoff seed of their conference, are preparing for Sunday’s AFC title game against the Kansas City Chiefs by pushing the idea that no one believes in them, a team that’s been to eight straight AFC title games. You might be asking, Who are they actually calling o...

The Big Boy President Threw A Burger Party For His Football Pals
Here is the dream, as I imagine it: A bunch of football players are in the White House. Let’s just say they’re the 1985 Chicago Bears, and let’s further say that they’re doing The Super Bowl Shuffle for reasons that are not immediately apparent. We must say this because the dream is not mine—the dre...

The Saints' Forever Drive Was Unstoppable
“That was a long-ass drive,” Saints guard Larry Warford said of the relentless march down the field that took up nearly the entire third quarter and gave New Orleans its first lead, the only one it would need in a 20-14 win over the Eagles. And my goodness, yes it was....

A Miracle Just Slipped Through The Eagles' Hands
Alshon Jeffery is going to be the scapegoat only because every close game seems to end up with one—something to do with human psychology, I suppose. Yes, he let the ball go through his hands for a game-sealing interception in the Saints’ 20-14 playoff win. But there are plenty of other things to bla...

Tom Brady Is Absolutely Toasting The Chargers' Zone D
It’s 28-7 Patriots as I write this midway though the second quarter, and New England is taking apart the Chargers defense that looked so impressive in last week’s win over Baltimore. But what works against Lamar Jackson doesn’t work against Tom Brady....

Sean Payton Is Trying To Motivate The Saints With More $1 Bills Than You've Ever Seen In Your Life
Football coaches have tried a lot of motivational techniques over the years. Tony Sparano dug a hole and buried a football. Jay Norvell wore a blue shirt. Jon Gruden sends players who play well to good teams. Jack Del Rio did whatever he did that resulted in his punter suffering an ax wound. Most o...

Andrew Whitworth Had His Way With The Cowboys
The Rams’ offensive line is in the soul-protecting business. The Cowboys’ vaunted defensive front, fresh off holding the Seahawks’ NFL-best ground game to just 73 yards rushing in last week’s wild card win, spent all week talking, dreaming, drooling over the havoc they were going to wreak at the lin...

Rams Beat Cowboys With A Star Turn From A Beefy, Beautiful Jon Gruden Castoff
Perhaps when Jon Gruden insisted that he got “a lot of phone calls from people who are dying to come and play here,” he was telling the truth, and those players didn’t mention how long they planned on staying. Even the briefest stints in Oakland appear to be performance-enhancing. ...

Dak Prescott Gets Sacked By His Own Lineman While Standing Upright
The officials in tonight’s Cowboys-Rams game made their own avant-garde contribution to the NFL’s constantly expanding reality. Is a catch a catch if no one recovers what is later ruled a fumble? Did a play actually end on the one-inch line if it was originally ruled a touchdown? And now: can a quar...