Classy Championship Game (NFC and AFC) Game Thread

luckiestman

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In the long run, not a horrific loss for Buffalo like the Jags suffered three years ago and never recovered in part because they obsessed over losing that game.
jags had a bad qb with a big contract; doesn’t seem similar
 

jon abbey

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No doubt. I was more making the point that Mahomes losing this one would mean that Brady necessarily gets to a number that seems absolutely insurmountable. Mahomes could win this year and never get back but if you are going to challenge Brady’s records you sort of have to get a running start, which Mahomes will have done if he wins this one.
Along somewhat similar lines, when Tim Duncan’s Spurs swept LeBron’s Cavs in 2007, that made it 4-0 at that point for Duncan. It took until the current season for LeBron to get back in range to tie, still down 5-4. Also many recent men’s tennis Grand Slam finals have been like this, with the three greatest players of all time jockeying for the alltime 1/2/3 positions.
 

loshjott

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Another stat showing how shockingly bad LaFleur’s FG decision was.



Packers' FG decision.
Search terms on @pfref covering 1994-present:
1) Team trails by 4 to 8 points.
2) 4th down
3) In red zone
4) Between 2:00 and 3:00 left in 4th quarter.
In 115 situations matching those terms, teams attempted a field goal in 3 of them before today.
 

rodderick

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Another stat showing how shockingly bad LaFleur’s FG decision was.



Packers' FG decision.
Search terms on @pfref covering 1994-present:
1) Team trails by 4 to 8 points.
2) 4th down
3) In red zone
4) Between 2:00 and 3:00 left in 4th quarter.
In 115 situations matching those terms, teams attempted a field goal in 3 of them before today.
Brady throwing 3 picks in the second half mindfucked LaFleur into putting more faith in his defense than he should, thus leading to a horrific decision to kick the FG.
 

BigSoxFan

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May 31, 2007
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Another stat showing how shockingly bad LaFleur’s FG decision was.



Packers' FG decision.
Search terms on @pfref covering 1994-present:
1) Team trails by 4 to 8 points.
2) 4th down
3) In red zone
4) Between 2:00 and 3:00 left in 4th quarter.
In 115 situations matching those terms, teams attempted a field goal in 3 of them before today.
That is a pretty damning statistic and is likely to be LaFleur’s coaching legacy unless he can squeeze out a title in the final years of Rodgers’ career.
 

BaseballJones

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What's amazing is Aaron Rodgers losing his last four consecutive NFCCG appearances.

1/18/15 - Sea 28, GB 22. Rodgers: 19-34, 178 yds, 1 td, 2 int
1/22/17 - Atl 44, GB 21. Rodgers: 27-45, 287 yds, 3 td, 1 int
1/19/20 - SF 37, GB 20. Rodgers: 31-39, 326 yds, 2 td, 2 int
1/24/21 - TB 31, GB 26. Rodgers: 33-48, 346 yds, 3 td, 1 int
0-4 record (0-1 home, 0-3 road). Rodgers: 110-166 (66.3%), 1,137 yds, 9 td, 6 int, 88.9 rating

Clearly Green Bay's defense has massively let Rodgers down in these four games (those teams averaged 35.0 points a game!), but he's also thrown 6 INTs and he's only managed to average 22.3 points a game in these four NFCCGs.

Meanwhile, in Brady's last four conference championships games:

1/22/17 - NE 36, Pit 17. Brady: 32-42, 384 yds, 3 td, 0 int
1/21/18 - NE 24, Jax 20. Brady: 26-38, 290 yds, 2 td, 0 int (with a right hand that had just been operated on)
1/20/19 - NE 37, KC 31. Brady: 30-46, 348 yds, 1 td, 2 int
1/24/21 - TB 31, GB 26. Brady: 20-36, 280 yds, 3 td, 3 int
4-0 record (2-0 home, 2-0 road). Brady: 108-162 (66.7%), 1,302 yds, 9 td, 5 int, 96.8 rating

Brady's defenses have played better than Rodgers', but Brady's offense has also put up a ton more points, averaging 32.0 per contest.
 

CFB_Rules

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Nov 29, 2016
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The NFL illegally reviewed a play in the Buffalo game. Fortunately didn't affect the outcome. See if you can guess which play based on the direct quote from the rulebook I'm about to post:

https://ibb.co/hCtYh5Z
 

Mystic Merlin

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Good catch. Here is the rule itself:

‘Item 3. Passer Out of Bounds Before Throwing Pass. A ruling that a player stepped out of bounds before throwing a pass is not reviewable to determine if he was inbounds when he threw the pass.’

I admittedly didn’t catch this watching the Allen play live.
 

shawnrbu

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Jul 14, 2005
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The Allen sideline play right before halftime. Was the first time I have seen that type of play reviewed since the scenario is so rare, but was not aware the play is not reviewable.
 

Silverdude2167

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Oct 9, 2006
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The Allen sideline play right before halftime. Was the first time I have seen that type of play reviewed since the scenario is so rare, but was not aware the play is not reviewable.
The rule does make sense...assuming the ref makes the call immediately then there will be waving and whistles that could have a direct and immediate impact on what comes next.

I am shocked the NFL has a logical rule.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Interesting stat I just saw (that in no way lets Lafleur off the hook, but is nonetheless interesting):

Yesterday was the 7th time in Brady's career that he has gotten the ball with between 2 and 3 minutes left on the clock, up by a single score, with the opponent having all 3 timeouts. It was the first time that Brady's offense closed out the game on that possession. In fact, his teams were only 3-3 in those 6 games.
 

luckiestman

Son of the Harpy
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Jul 15, 2005
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Interesting stat I just saw (that in no way lets Lafleur off the hook, but is nonetheless interesting):

Yesterday was the 7th time in Brady's career that he has gotten the ball with between 2 and 3 minutes left on the clock, up by a single score, with the opponent having all 3 timeouts. It was the first time that Brady's offense closed out the game on that possession. In fact, his teams were only 3-3 in those 6 games.

How many of those prior 6 did he have a shitty OC; how many did he coach himself?
 

Captaincoop

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Jul 16, 2005
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Santa Monica, CA
Another stat showing how shockingly bad LaFleur’s FG decision was.



Packers' FG decision.
Search terms on @pfref covering 1994-present:
1) Team trails by 4 to 8 points.
2) 4th down
3) In red zone
4) Between 2:00 and 3:00 left in 4th quarter.
In 115 situations matching those terms, teams attempted a field goal in 3 of them before today.
Pete Carroll got pilloried for throwing a pass on the goal line in the Super Bowl...that was nowhere near the insane decision that this was. I've been trying to think of a more indefensible coaching decision in a big game over the years...so far I can't.
 

Captaincoop

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What was Rodgers then, an F?
The only metric Brady was better than Rodgers at was winning the game. An important metric in the big picture, but they weren't playing one on one.

Rodgers completed 68% of his passes for 380 yards and 3 touchdowns and a pick. Brady was at 55% for 100 less yards and threw three picks. Tampa won the game, but Rodgers played significantly better than Brady.
 

rodderick

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The only metric Brady was better than Rodgers at was winning the game. An important metric in the big picture, but they weren't playing one on one.

Rodgers completed 68% of his passes for 380 yards and 3 touchdowns and a pick. Brady was at 55% for 100 less yards and threw three picks. Tampa won the game, but Rodgers played significantly better than Brady.
Aside from EPA/play and QBR, but sure. I mean, as long as we're just reading the box score without context.
 

steveluck7

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May 10, 2007
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Burrillville, RI
Accidently posted this in the SB thread and it probably fits better in this one...

Watching the game yesterday, after the Kelce TD catch on the underhanded shovel pass, there was a lineman so far into the end zone that Kelce actually never got past him. The lineman was into the endzone right off the snap. He blew by the D lineman and went right on to engaging the LB.
Why was that not a penalty for illegal man downfield?
When they showed the replays of all of those types on plays throughout the season, it looked consistent every time, and OL 5+ yards downfield on these pass plays
 

E5 Yaz

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Worrying about what Sharpe or Kellerman or Rob Parker has to say is a waste of time and energy.