January 12, 2025
It was ugly, but they got it done. The Rams survived Wild Card Weekend against the Panthers with a 34-31 victory. I know many people will be alarmed by the fact they nearly lost after being 10-point favorites. I don’t think that part is a big deal though. This is the NFL playoffs. Any team can beat anybody in one game. You can also argue that the Rams could have put the game away early, but some unfortunate plays put the Panthers right back in the game. The close margin of victory didn’t both me. What does both me though is the Rams weakness in their secondary and special teams. They cornerbacks don’t seem to have that much size and physicality, so they have shown a propensity of late to get beat. They’ve also had some glaring special teams issues all year, and they reared their ugly head again in the 4th quarter. With all that being said, every team has their issues, but the Rams are still good enough to win a Super Bowl if things break right. Now they get the Chicago Bears on the road in freezing cold temperatures. The Rams haven’t won in Chicago since the Bush Administration, so let’s hope this one is different. I think the Rams should be able to score against the Bears defense. However, Caleb Williams can make big plays and isn’t afraid. The defensive line is going to have to apply a lot of pressure to contain him. I don’t like the idea of Matt Stafford in cold weather and hope it turns out much better than the last time they played there. If Stafford looks anything like he did in the 4th quarter on Saturday, the Rams should be just fine.
Then there’s the Chargers, who got smashed by the Patriots yesterday. I know many of you want to rag on the Chargers for another 1st round exit, but it wasn’t hard to see this coming. This was a patchwork offensive line that had a very hard time protecting Justin Herbert all year, which ended up costing the Bolts yesterday. They also didn’t have many wide receivers that were too productive either. The Chargers have a good quarterback and a good coach. Those two things are hard to find. They should be able to fix their offensive line and their wide receivers. The real shame in this is that this was a year where the Chiefs, Ravens, and Bengals all missed the playoffs, and the AFC felt fairly wide open. However, you can’t do much without a good offensive line, and that was always going to be a problem for this team, once they started getting banged up in the pre-season.
Elsewhere around the NFL, Erin Andrews was looking like Cruelle Deville with that massive fur coat on during the Eagles and 49ers game. When the Eagles get knocked out of the playoffs, America wins! The Bills won a playoff game for the first time on the road since the internet was invented. Is Trevor Lawrence really supposed to be good? Or do we just think he’s going to be good because he has long hair? The Packers gave away that lead to the Bears like they were some 501C3 charity. The idea of playing these playoff games on Saturday and Monday is ridiculous, and creates an unfair advantage for many teams that play the following week. Of course the NFL could care less about fair, and only cares about ratings.
The College Football National Championship game is set! It’s Indiana and Miami. For those of you saying “I told you that Miami belonged over Notre Dame” you’re missing the big picture. Miami was never the issue getting in over Notre Dame. The issue was Alabama getting in. They had no business being the playoff whatsoever. As for Indiana, they have turned things around so much in 3 years, that it makes you wonder if they are cheating. It also makes you think that if they can do that in 3 years, there is no reason Lincoln Riley can’t make USC a playoff team next year with the #1 recruiting class. Do you really envision Riley creating a roster that is as physical as the teams we’ve seen in the playoffs? I sure don’t. In any case, it really should be put up or shut up time for Riley.
In the NBA, you know it must be really nice to not matter and be low key. The Lakers have 1 more loss than the 2nd seeded Spurs, but every talking head will tell you that their season is over. Meanwhile, the Rockets are sinking like the Titanic, the Bucks are a lottery team, the Cavs are an embarrassment, the Warriors stink, the Thunder have been a .500 team for a month, and the Clippers have been the hottest team in the league just to get to the 11th seed. As we’ve told you before, the Lakers are flawed, but they still have a lot of talent and can win a lot of games. They will make things interesting in the standings and in the playoffs. How is Luka Doncic not the MVP? This team is one of the worst in 3-point shooting, bench scoring, and defense, yet they are right behind the #2 seed in the West.
Meanwhile, the Clippers now have 9 victories in their last 11 games. They are back in the mix for the play-in tournament. They are also a good example of how you can turn it around on defense. You can do that simply by communicating better, and hustling back to prevent easy buckets in transition. I do really wonder if the Clips might have an interest in Ja Morant. We saw Trae Young get traded last week for a ham sandwich. Say what you want about Trae being a small guard who is hard to build around. That’s fair, but he is still an NBA All-Star who was traded for very little. The same might be said for Ja Morant, and the Clips are looking to get younger and more athletic. This may also be a turning point for “star players” who are making upwards of $40 million a year. These guys are getting harder to trade, let alone trade for anything of value. That means those types of massive contracts may eventually only be in play for the 5-10 truly elite NBA Players.
Finally, in baseball, I’m getting a little bit skeptical of the idea of Kyle Tucker signing with the Dodgers. His market is dropping quite a bit, and I don’t think he’s going to get anywhere near the $400 million over 10 years or so he wanted to get. He’s just not that type of player. However, what scares me about him is there are questions if he really likes baseball that much. That’s giving me some Anthony Rendon vibes. If the price is right, ok he’s worth a look, but if we’re talking “if the price is right” I’d rather have Bo Bichette or Cody Bellinger.
