January 15, 2024
Happy MLK Day everyone! Jared Goff got his revenge on Sean McVay and the Rams, as the Lions defeated LA 24-23 in the NFC Wild Card round. Look, this was a great season for the Rams to accomplish what they did. However, it doesn’t make the loss any less disappointing. I can’t understand why the Rams didn’t put more pressure on Goff from the start. When he has time, he can pick the defenses apart. This is well known. Instead they sat back, and said “let’s see if you can beat us” and he picked them apart early on. There’s no question that Puca Nakua got destroyed on that play and it should have been PI. It might have even won the game for them with a field goal. However, the game was lost on the missed opportunities in the red zone, and settling for field goals instead of Touchdowns. The game was there for the taking, but as we’ve seen before this season against elite teams, they Rams just seem to be a play or two short. The good news is, they have plenty of cap space and a nice 1st round pick to work with this off-season, so expect a big step up next year.
As for the Chargers, the coaching rumors are heating up and Jim Harbaugh is now scheduled to meet with them this week according to sources. At this point, if the Bolts don’t come away with Harbaugh, Pete Carroll, Bill Belichik, or Mike Vrabel as their next head coach, they should just move the franchise to Antarctica. Again, Harbaugh should be the guy though, and the only thing that would make me nervous is the Cowboys suddenly jumping into the sweepstakes. Stay tuned because it’s going to be a big week for the Chargers franchise!
Elsewhere around the NFL Wild Card Weekend, I think all the scouts that though Bryce Young was better than CJ Stroud should be drug tested immediately. Stroud lit the Browns on fire on Saturday, and led the Texans into the Divisional Round. I feel terrible for Cowboys fans after getting dismantled by the Packers. Not only did they suffer another devastating playoff loss, but Stephen A Smith is for sure going to cook them on First Take this morning. Meanwhile, the Chiefs destroyed the Dolphins in freezing cold temperatures. I realize that Travis Kelce is trying to be tough and show off for Taylor Swift without sleeves on. However, dudes arms were basically turning purple, and he couldn’t even catch the football. I’m impressed T-Swift showed up for the game, even if she was in a heated suite.
To the NBA where the Lakers are a complete train wreck. Sometimes it feels like every season with Lebron is either a total dumpster fire where the coach gets fired, or they end up in the NBA Finals. The Lakers are suddenly getting no production from what once appeared to be very productive role players, and even Austin Reaves isn’t doing the little things he did that made him look like a potential all-star last year. The worst part about this is that I don’t see a savior out there for the Lakers on the trade market. Zach Lavine isn’t worth gutting your roster for, and Dejonte Murray isn’t worth giving up Austin Reaves for, and simply doesn’t move the needle enough. If this team is going to turn it around, they need to do some serious soul searching, and Darvin Ham needs to play the lineups he did last year.
Meanwhile, the Clippers lost to the Wolves last night, but they are still on the up and ups in the West. They’ve won 8 of their last 10, but the bigger news is that they’ve signed Kawhi Leonard to an extension. It’s a three year, $152 million extension. This for sure paves the way for Paul George and James Harden to sign as well, which was important for Steve Ballmer going into a new arena next year. The good news for the Clips is that they didn’t have to crank it up to a a full 5 years on the extension, but it is still pricey. Nevertheless, the team is still very good when those guys are healthy, so clearly their best chance is keeping the group together and hoping for the best. Even if the sample size of big success is very small.
I guess the Dodgers aren’t really ruining baseball are they? It turns out the Yankees, Mets, and Padres all have larger CBT payrolls than the Dodgers. The Dodgers still need another left handed starter, and I think Clayton Kershaw is the guy, so hopefully he comes back. They could also use a high leverage bullpen arm. I think Kenley Jansen would be a reasonable option, as opposed to a larger financial commitment for Josh Hader. It would be nice to see Kike Hernandez make a return, but in this case, it doesn’t sound like there is much room left on the roster. I don’t really like the fact they traded Michael Busch, who is one of their best prospects, for a bunch of teenage pitchers. However, I will give Andrew Friedman the benefit of the doubt that he has something else up his sleeve.
I love hearing all the stories that “The Angels are interested in player x”. Of course they are, but that’s like me saying I’m interested in dating Jennifer Aniston. Reports are the Angels are waiting to see how their TV deal shakes out with Bally’s before they can figure out if they can afford a big free agent. That’s ridiculous though because it could take months to figure out, and even as slow as the free agent market develops, they still won’t figure it out in time. This idea that they could sign Blake Snell or Cody Bellinger is insane. They just don’t have the money, even though their payroll is currently around $70 million less than last year. Arte is looking for spare change in his couch right now.
I realize that UCLA Basketball won last night, however, they took an unbelievable beating from Utah on Thursday night, losing by 46 points. There is no world where UCLA Basketball should lose a game by that much, and certainly not to Utah. The good news is that most of these games are on the PAC-12 network, so most people can’t see the games.
Finally, the LA Kings have lost 8 in a row, and it’s looking really bad. In fact, at this rate, by the time they get home from their current road trip, they may be out of the playoffs. The noise around coach Todd McClellan is getting louder that he might even be fired. Double digit losing streaks for teams that are supposed to be Cup contenders are exactly the kind of thing that gets coaches fired. Nevertheless, the Kings need to get some scoring from their bottom 6 forwards, and figure out how to hold leads. They’ve been giving them away like they are a 501C3 charity of late. If they can clean those things up, they can get back to being the elite team we saw about a month ago.
