I should've blogged this Friday but your boy had one of those nights on Thursday where I did not want to look at my phone, iPad or computer at all the next day. Happens to the best of us and honestly I'm being brave AF for coming clean right now. I don't think I deserve a reward but if somehow I got one I wouldn't turn it down. I just did not wanna see the things I may have said that night after a few jack and diets. Honestly I'm proud of myself that it only took me until like 3 pm to look at phone but I'm getting off topic yet again. Let's talk some football. It's Conference Championship Sunday! We made it. It's here. After today we'll know who's going to the Super Bowl. It's a great day for football, but it's also kind of bittersweet. Only 3 more football games left this season. :'( It's been a very memorable year in the NFL and now we're down to the final four: The Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots. One of those teams will hoist the Lombardi in Houston on February 5th. The Green Bay Packers began the year 4-2 but suffered a humiliating four game losing streak highlighted by giving up over 40 points twice, to the Titans and Redskins respectively. At Packers to 4-6 and in 3rd place in the NFC North it seemed like Packers would be on the outside looking in come playoff time. But both teams in their division ahead of them; the Vikings and Lions both fell off to end the year and the Packers took off. Green Bay won 6 straight to "run the table" as Aaron Rodgers now famously claimed they would to end their season at 10-6. They clinched the NFC North by beating the Lions in week 17 in what was essentially an NFC North championship game. In the playoffs they beat two teams that finished the season with a better record than them the 11-5 New York Giants and 13-3 Dallas Cowboys. The Atlanta Falcons went 11-5 in 2016, their first winning season since 2012. Despite the best offense in the NFL many felt like the Falcons were frauds and for good reason. The Falcons have been frauds since Matt Ryan became the starter in 2008. With the exception of 2013 and 2014 they've always been in the hunt, but come playoff time Matty Ice and the Atlanta Falcons would fold. 1-4 in the playoffs going into last week, including some embarrassing blow out losses. Last week they beat up on the Seattle Seahawks to advance to the NFC Championship game for only the 4th time in franchise history. Despite the nay sayers the Falcons are a game away from the Super Bowl. The 2016 story of the Pittsburgh Steelers is much like that of the Green Bay Packers. They started strong (despite yet another Le'Veon Bell drug suspension) At 4-1 it seemed like all systems were a go in the steel city, but then much like their counterparts in Super Bowl XLV, the Green Bay Packers the Steelers suffered a 4 game losing streak that made playoff chances seem very bleak. After Ben Roethlisberger got hurt against the Dolphins the Steelers stumbled and fell to 4-5. Since then they've been one of the best teams in the NFL, they've won 9 straight games going back into the regular season. In the playoffs they beat up on a broken Dolphins team who honestly had no chance to advance with Matt Moore starting, then squeaked by the Kansas City Chiefs 18-16 thanks to 6 field goals from kicker Chris Boswell. Then that leaves my beloved New England Patriots. Despite not having Tom Brady for the first four games of the season the Pats still found a way to go 3-1. Despite trading away all pro linebacker Jamie Collins for basically a bag of chips mid season, and losing future HOF tight end Rob Gronkowski to a back injury the Patriots finished 14-2. Their best regular season record since 2010. They struggled by the standards of many in the divisional round against the Texans, yet they still won (and covered -16) and are playing in the AFC Championship game for a record 6th straight season. Now that you have a spark notes summary of these teams seasons lets get to the games. NFC Championship Game: (4) Green Bay Packers 12-6 @ (2) Atlanta Falcons 12-5 3:05 PM Fox. Line: Falcons -6. This game is all about offense. Both teams defenses have a few big names, but overall aren't very scary to match up against. When you think Packers and Falcons you think about their QBs and high end talent at WR. In the final game at the Georgia Dome, this game should be a shoot out. Big 12 style football. When these teams met in week 8 it was a back and forth affair that saw the Falcons win 33-32 thanks to a Matt Ryan touchdown to Mohemad Sanu with 36 seconds left. We all know how well both quarterbacks have been playing this year. Matt Ryan is probably going to win the MVP award and Aaron Rodgers has been playing out of his mind during this winning streak he's thrown 21 touchdowns and 1 pick. One. One interception going back to week 12. To me this game match up comes down to the health of the Green Bay receivers. We all know how great Aaron Rodgers is, and has been of late. Highlighted by this throw in the closing seconds against the Cowboys to set up the game winning field goal, but he needs guys to throw the ball to. Randall Cobb is a nice receiver but he's not Jordy Nelson. The Falcons have play makers at receiver in Julio Jones and Mohemad Sanu and s great backfield in Freeman and Coleman. They're gonna put up a lot of points in the dome, so you're gonna have to be able to keep up. I don't know if the Packers can given the health of Jordy Nelson and Devonte Adams. Both are seriously banged up and coach Mike McCarthy has already said he's not going to risk their longterm health for this game. They both are going to play, but for how long or how effectively remains a mystery. I've been going back and forth on this game all week. While I don't want to over look the Steelers, the Packers scare the shit out of me in a potential Super Bowl as a Patriots fan. Even with banged up weapons Aaron Rodgers still is a miracle worker. He does things on the football field that just don't seem possible. His over all skill set is the most impressive I've ever seen on a QB. Despite talking a lot of shit about him I'm actually a Matt Ryan guy. I was a big fan of him at BC and the Falcons have always been harmless so I've liked him the NFL and rooted for him to do well. I'm a big narrative guy in sports, it's why I picked Clemson to beat Alabama in the National Championship rematch and it's why I'm picking the Falcons to win. This is going to be the best chance Matt Ryan has to make a Super Bowl. All the stars have aligned. The Panthers were a huge disappointment this season which helped pave the way for the NFC South crown. They weren't supposed to get a second home playoff game. The 13-3 Cowboys had home field but thanks to the Packers the Georgia Dome gets to live another week. The Packers have been on fire. But they still have a ton of flaws defensively and the Falcons have to expose that. As I already said despite Rodgers playing the best football of his career, but he's doing it with a hand tied behind his back thanks to the health of the rest of his team. Aaron Rodgers is a huge obstacle to overcome for the Falcons but the rest of the team's health makes this game a lot more winnable for Atlanta. Everybody has been calling Matty Ice a guy who melts in the big game. Against the Seahawks he was incredible. If he's ever going to shed that label it has to be today. A loss drops him 2-5 career in the post season with two home losses in the NFC Championship game. A win today and he and the Falcons are in the Super Bowl. If Matt Ryan wants to be taken seriously as an elite QB he has to prove it today on the biggest stage of his career. I would not be shocked at all if the Packers pull it off. It would be very fitting given the way his career has gone up to this point for the Falcons and Matt Ryan to send the Georgia Dome out with a loss. My head says Packers but by heart says Falcons. I think Matt Ryan has a big day against the Packers defense and the injuries on offense finally comeback to haunt the Packers. The final: Falcons 38 Packers 31. AFC Championship Game: (3) Pittsburgh Steelers 13-5 @ (1) New England Patriots 15-2 6:40 PM CBS. Line: Patriots -5.5. The one team I did not want to have to face in the AFC playoffs was the Pittsburgh Steelers. With Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell they probably have the best WR-RB combo in the NFL. They scare the shit out of me. The Patriots defense allowed the fewest points in the league this year, but stopping them both will be a tall order.
That being said, I'm a huge narrative guy and the Patriots own the Steelers. Doesn't matter who's playing for either team, ever since I've been a Pats fan they've always beaten the Steelers. I've been very lucky as a Patriots fan, the first season I can truly remember watching they won the Super Bowl. I was in 4th grade when Drew Bledsoe relieved an injured Tom Brady against the Steelers in the AFC Championship game and ever since, whenever there's been a game vs the Steelers, more often than not the Patriots found a way to win. Big Ben has beaten the Patriots once since 2005, and never in Foxboro. Past outcomes don't really matter for this game tonight but I just have a hard time believing the Patriots are going to lose this game at home. Big Ben has also been historically bad on the road this season. I believe his QBR (if you care about that) is 30 points lower on the road than at home. While Gillette stadium isn't like Arrowhead or whatever they call the Seahawks Stadium now in the sense of noise. It is one of the biggest home field advantages in the NFL because the Patriots rarely lose there. The Patriots are 4-1 at home in AFC championship games with Tom Brady and like 500-10 in the regular season. Bill Belichick has been famous for taking away teams best weapon. You may very well beat him, but he's not going to let your best players be the reason why. I think the Pats are going to try to eliminate Le'Veon Bell or Antonio Brown and make the other one beat them. What scares me is that that can still very much can happen. The Steelers are the type of team that can go punch for punch with the Patriots in a shoot-out. Despite how great Brady and Patriots have looked this season, their performance last week shows they are beatable. If they played a team with even an average QB last week they probably aren't playing today. But like Kansas City, the Patriots defense gets much better in the red zone, and while I don't expect them to hold the Steelers to only field goals like the Chiefs did, as a Patriots fan it is encouraging to see. Luckily for the Patriots this week has been full of distractions for the Steelers. Antonio Brown shared an intimate locker room speech on Facebook live that was the big story all week long. Like 15 guys on the team have the flu. Then this morning in their hotel someone pulled the fire alarm in the middle of the night. Shout out the Patriot fan who did that. Love the move. I give the Steelers a legit shot at pulling off the upset, I'd give them like a 40% chance to win. But this is also my fucking blog and if you think for one second I'm picking against the Patriots you're outside your mind. I think the Steelers keep it close early but the Patriots break away late thanks to former Steeler LeGarette Blount and are onto Houston to hopefully win the Super Bowl and make Roger Goodell hand them the Lombardi. The Final: Patriots 37 Steelers 24.
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V rare Sunday song of the day. I'm gonna write about the Conference Championship games so I couldn't have a day of posts start without a tune. Just wouldn't be right. This comes straight off the Patriots official pump up song list. play.spotify.com/user/bose/playlist/1cphb4xjKCc4ZtBzHQ6L9R?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open Honestly fits the Patriot way perfectly. My guys like Cudi!!! Pats by a million. Song: Up Up and Away Artist: Kid Cudi Album: Man on the Moon: The End of the Day (2009) Song: Love Me Artist: The 1975 Album: I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
From this
To this in the blink of an eye.
There's somethings you can't joke about. Now what those things really depends on who your audience is. It all comes down to how cool the people you're interacting with are. With some friends of mine we'll say the meanest shit to each other. You'd be shocked to learn we're actually close friends if you heard as an outsider. But we're close and know it's cool because we know we're joking.
Then I have others who can't handle it, you make one joke about their sister being a whore and now all of a sudden they want to kick your ass, like you're the bad guy. It's crazy. I personally will say stuff about anything and everything. I made a joke about grandpa to my mom at his funeral. Yes, it has gotten me in trouble in the past but it's who I am. As Al Gore once said "a zebra does not change its spots". It's currently a battle I deal with on the blog everyday. There's stuff I want to joke about but since this doesn't pay my bills (yet) I have to be careful. Don't want to piss off the wrong person and fuck myself out of a teaching job if I have to go down that path. But for the most part I'm a big, no topic is off limits guy. Steve Carell has made a career of making jokes, and saying things that push the envelope. But of all the things he's ever said this is where I am finally offended. Congrats agent Michael Scarn, you did it. This was really fucked up. There's things you can and cannot joke about. When you're famous for being Michael Scott and say Office coming back to TV a line has definitely been crossed. You can bring people to the mountain top and then just push them off and say "my bad". You'd piss off less people making a joke about "what do you say to a transgender Muslim immigrant?" than you will by joking about the Office returning. It's just irresponsible to play with people's emotions like that. For all of 6 minutes, twitter thought that there would be a return of the Office and it was beautiful. Just thinking about how awesome that would be gets me emotional. The Office is my favorite show of all time it's not even close. I love the Office. The final episode made me cry. I've seen every episode probably a dozen times. I'm an Office guy. Thinking about new episodes got me so excited. I couldn't help but think about how Michael and Holly doing in Colorado? What's up with Athlead in Austin? How's Dwight and Angela's marriage? Has Andy came out yet? Is Creed alive? So many thoughts about my favorite characters were racing through my brain then Carell drops this bomb on us.
First thought when I found out Will and Grace was returning.
Will and Grace? Do you realize how much of a let down that is? I feel like Ralphie when he found out the secret message from Little Orphan Annie was to be sure drink your Ovaltine. A crummy commercial? That's basically what this whole twitter exchange was, a commercial for Will and Grace. Saying The Office is coming back to actually talk about Will and Grace returning is like a girl saying she'll blow you, then as she unbuttons your pants says, actually I was just kidding! But don't worry you can rub my feet instead! Like you're supposed to get excited for bologna after you were promised filet mignon. I can't lie. I'm hurt. I'm hurt you'd do this to the fans, Steve. There's really only one way to right this wrong. I think you and I know both what it is. Another season of Michael Scott episodes for the Office. After the rollercoaster of emotions you put us all through today I think it's the least you can do. We already know everybody else is on board.
I don't know if it's because I'm blinded by my love for him, but I actually thought Tommy was pretty funny in this video. You don't get to see a ton of the lighter side of Tom, so when you do I feel like people usually will blow it up more than it deserves. Like Brady's episode of SNL was not very good and I can admit that. But this clip with Sebastian Vollmer IMO was pretty funny. We have injured tackle Sebastian Vollmer trying to teach Brady some German which surprisingly did not go well. But can you really blame Tom here? It's impossible to not sound like an idiot when speaking another language. Especially German. That is not an easy one to pick up. Who like kind of kind of knows German? Nobody. It's not like Spanish, French or Italian where you can take it for 3 years in high school then forget it the minute you graduate. (It's not that just me, right?) I feel like you're either fluent or sound like Tom did trying to learn. There's no in between. You're either a Tom Brady type yelling sauerkraut and light saber or you're Sebastian Vollmer sounding like he's in Das Sound Machine. But in Tom's defense unless you're in Germany when are you really going to hear German? Only times I've ever really heard it are from like Hitler clips or Dwight Schrute. P.S. Can we finally admit that this was better than the Bella's final performance? Haim’s long-awaited second album — the follow-up to 2013’s ‘Days Are Gone’ — is growing ever closer. Now the LA trio have revealed a few more details about what to expect. Originally pencilled for Autumn 2015, the album was pushed back to Summer 2017. “We write everything, we play everything, and we help produce everything. These things take time, and we refuse to put out anything we’re not 100 percent in love with,” they told Entertainment Weekly last year. Now speaking to Q, the sisters promise “classic songwriting, but also modern, exciting and fearless” from their new LP. Song titles include ‘Nothing’s Wrong’ and ‘Give Me Just A Little Of Your Love’. The group spoke about the influence of Prince, who passed away in 2016. “Prince’s passing was really hard, he was integral to me,” said bassist Este Haim. “So I found this cathartic rabbit-hole back to all his magical records.” Explaining their perfectionism and why the album is taking time to finish, Este said: “We write and produce everything ourselves, we don’t have writers sending songs via email.” Additional contributors to the record include former Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij and producer Ariel Rechtshaid — the latter was involved in ‘Days Are Gone’. Haim also dropped a big hint about future festival plans, putting out a call and response to Emily Eavis by saying: “We can’t wait to get back to the UK! Glaston-buuuur-aaay! We just wanna play!” They added: “We’re so ready to go. Everywhere. And once it starts? It’s not gonna stop! Ever.” The band debuted several tracks from the record earlier in 2016, before cancelling a batch of tour dates to focus on the album. I found out about Haim thanks to Pandora. I'll give any rock band with a female lead singer a chance. Everybody knows I'm a huge Florence guy. I loved what I've heard of Metric. I just dig female voices with my alt rock. So when I first saw Haim come up, I gave it a chance and boy am I glad I did. I remember sitting in my room in my rental house from my (first) senior year of college when I heard "Forever" on Hipster BBQ Pandora. I was hooked from the start. Between the bassline, and Danielle Haim's voice I was all in. I did my research as I normally do after finding a new act I like (wikipedia and youtube) and just kept listening and learning. I was really into Haim for the rest of that year. Their debut album Days Are Gone was one of the best pop rock albums I've ever heard. You can listen without skipping a track. Whats awesome about them is despite the serious content of some music, (mainly heartbreak) they still have a lot of fun performing live. Most notably bassist Este Haim who gained notoriety for the faces she makes when playing the bass. Especially from their performance on SNL in late 2013. I fucking love her. So talented and imo pretty hot, you just throw the bass in her hands and it's perfect. Well after over three years of waiting, guess what we still have to wait! But at least there's finally some legit news about HAIM's follow up to 2013's Days Are Gone. After their sophomore effort got pushed back nearly two years, according to an interview their main reason why it's taken so long is something you hear very often in music: They're perfectionist. They're perfectionist who also work on everything they perform nearly by themselves. No ghost writers, they write all their own music. You can tell by the raw emotion in a lot of their songs and performances. Many that are about relationships they've dealt with. In a previous interview they said it took them 7 years to finish their debut album so these ladies have no issues taken their time to get what they truly want. For fans it's definitely bittersweet because you want artists you like to make as much music as they can, but at the same time you want it to be good and have substance. Not just be thrown together quickly to make a record just for the sake of making a record. I'd rather wait an extra year for an awesome album than just get some shit record just because the band felt rushed. If you haven't heard Haim yet and consider yourself a fan of alt scene definitely check them out. I cannot wait for their second album and will do all I can to see them live next time they're around. Here is some of their work so far. Over the last 14 seasons the AFC has been almost exclusively a three man team race for the conference's berth in the Super Bowl. It's either been (with the exception of Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens in 2012) Tom Brady's Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger's Steelers, or wherever Peyton Manning was playing in the Super Bowl representing the AFC every year since 2003. I'm not a math guy, but I am an odds and statistics guy (mainly from years of gambling) and it blows my mind that despite being two of the premiere franchises of the conference, for over a decade, the Patriots and Steelers have not met in the playoffs since the 2004 AFC Championship game. You'd think just by happenstance there would be a few more Pats-Steelers match ups in the playoffs. Just by the laws of probability (that's a thing right?) that these guys would meet up in the playoffs more frequently given the long reign of success both franchises and quarterbacks have had since 2003. Yet Big Ben and TB-12 have not. You have to go all the way back to January of 2005 for the last time two met. The 2004 AFC Championship Game, Roethlisberger's rookie year. January of 2005. I was 13 years old. It's been a loooooong time coming for these two great teams. That season saw the Steelers end the Patriots record 21 game win streak on Halloween. The Steelers were on their way to a 15-1 regular season under the rookie QB after a very disappointing 2003. The Patriots would go 14-2 in 04 and later get revenge in a 41-27 win at Pittsburgh en route to their 3rd Super Bowl victory in 4 seasons. The loss was the first of Roethlisberger's pro career. Given the circumstances of their first two meetings and the high stakes involved in those games from the 2004 season a rivalry between the two never really took off. In 8 meetings between the two QBs Brady has a 6-2 record, but two of those games came in 2004. Since 2005 the two QBs have only faced off 6 times. Considering how NFL scheduling works you'd think the number would be higher but injuries have also robbed the match-up. As Big Ben and the Steelers beat Matt Cassel's Patriots in 2008 and this season the Pats handled a Landry Jones led Steeler team. Yet in the dozen years since that AFC Championship game both franchise have been quite successful. Both have been to three Super Bowls. After this weekend when someone wins it will be the 7th time in 13 seasons one of these teams is in the Super Bowl. The Steelers previously won in 2005 and 2008 and lost to the Packers in 2010. While the Patriots lost in 2007 and 2011 to the New York Giants and defeated the Seahawks in 2014. Somehow it took until the 2016 season to get Brady-Roethlisberger II in the playoffs. There's been close calls, but the stars never could quite align at the same time for the two teams the meet up again. Given how often both teams have been in the playoffs it does seem quite unlikely that the two teams haven't face off more regularly. The Patriots have only missed the playoffs once since 2004, 2008. In that 2008 season the Pats went 11-5 with a back-up QB and missed out on the postseason thanks to a tie-breaker. In 2008 the Steelers took full advantage of a Tom Brady-less AFC as they won the Super Bowl. Going into the season the Patriots coming off a 16-0 regular season with almost the entire team returning were favorites to return the Super Bowl in 2008. That didn't happen as Tom Brady torn his ACL early in the first week of the season. Had Brady been healthy they very well could've met in the playoffs and history may have turned out a lot differently. Thanks a lot Bernard Pollard. The Steelers have been in the playoffs nine times out of a possible 13 since 2004. Both teams made the playoffs in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015 but their paths never crossed, until now. Brady and Roethlisberger will go down as 2 of the 5 best quarterbacks of this generation, with Brady possibly going down as the greatest of all time. Yet come postseason and honestly regular season too there are no truly classic moments between the two. They'll both be remembered more for their battles against Joe Flacco. Brady has faced him four times in the playoffs, Big Ben three. Then of course there's Brady-Manning, most prominent rivalry of this generation. The two played five games against each other in the playoffs, including 4 AFC Championship Games, where Peyton holds a 3-1 edge. Roethlisberger also played two playoff games against Manning. The games were a decade apart. In 2005 and 2015 the winner of each match-up would go onto win the Super Bowl. Tom Brady has played QBs like Phil Rivers, Eli Manning and Andrew Luck more often than Ben Roethlisberger. Brady has played the Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs more times than he's played Pittsburgh. Given the landscape of the NFL it just doesn't seem right, but it's true. He beat them in 2005 and 2007. In 2007 the Jaguars squeaked by Pittsburgh 31-29 in a match-up that sent the winner to Foxboro. That was the first instance where another potential Brady-Roethlisberger match-up in the playoffs did not occur. So how is it possible that two of the most dominate teams in the AFC over the last dozen years who both have won the conference 3 times have not played each other in a single postseason contest since 2004? To simply put it; upsets. Some of the most shocking upsets in NFL history have prevented these two great franchises from meeting up more frequently when the games mattered most. Let's take a look. 2010: 11-5 Jets beat 14-2 Patriots in AFC Divisional Playoffs In 2010 the New England Patriots were rolling. They went 14-2 that season and had according to "Football Outsiders" had the best offense in league history. One of their most convincing victories of the season came against the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football. A 39-26 Patriot victory that introduced the world to Rob Gronkowski as the rookie TE scored 3 touchdowns in the win . Going into the playoffs it appeared that the Patriots and Steelers were headed for a collision course for the AFC Championship game. The Patriots at 14-2 were the one seed and the Steelers who finished 12-4 were the two. They both just needed to beat division rivals in the divisional round to set up an epic AFC Championship game. The Steelers held on against Joe Flacco and the Ravens, but Rex Ryan and his "let's go eat a god damned snack" Jets had other ideas. The Mark Sanchez led New York Jets who just little over a month previously lost to the Patriots in Foxboro 45-3 came into Gillette and beat the Patriots 28-21 in what I believe is the most shocking loss in the Tom Brady Patriot history. Even more so than Super Bowl XLII. This game was not even as close as the score shows since the Patriots scored a late touchdown to bring the gap with little time remaining. The next week instead of facing off against the Patriots in Foxboro, now the Steelers got the Jets at home for the AFC Championship game. The Steelers ultimately won 24-19 before falling to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers two weeks later in the Super Bowl. 2011: 8-8 Denver Broncos beat 12-4 Pittsburgh Steelers in AFC Wild-Card Playoffs In 2011 the roles were reversed. It was the Steelers who bested the Patriots in the regular season and to date is their most recent victory against the Pats. In week 8, coming off a bye the Patriots lost in Pittsburgh to the Steelers 25-17. Despite the victory against New England and a 12-4 record the Steelers finished second to the Ravens in the AFC North. Both teams went 12-4 in the regular season but since they went 0-2 against the Ravens the Steelers entered the playoffs as a wild-card at 12-4 and had to head to Denver to face off against the 8-8 Tim Tebow led Denver Broncos. Sporting the top defense in the NFL and facing a Bronco team that limped into the playoffs losing 3 straight games to fall from 8-5 to 8-8 it appeared that the Steelers would handle the Broncos to set up a rematch with the Patriots. Big Ben had won a playoff game in Denver before. Something Tom Brady cannot claim. But Tebow had one more miracle up his sleeve against the Steelers. Despite only having 10 completions in the game Tebow threw for 316 yards and a walk off touchdown in the first playoff game under the "new" over time rules. The Broncos would upset the Steelers 29-23 in an epic wild-card game. Had the 7.5 point favorites not lost in one of the most shocking upsets in NFL history it would've been the Steelers playing the Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs instead of God love him, Tim Tebow. The Patriots would beat the Broncos in a laugher 45-10 on their run to Super Bowl XLVI. As the Broncos defense was no match for Tom Brady who threw 6 touchdowns in the win. Who knows what would've happened in a Pats-Steelers rematch? 2014: 10-6 Baltimore Ravens beat 11-5 Pittsburgh Steelers The 2014 upset was not as shocking as years previous but it still robbed us of a potential Patriots-Steelers matchup. In 2014 the Pittsburgh Steelers returned to glory after two straight 8-8 campaigns finishing 11-5 and winning the AFC North. With Big Ben, Antonio Brown and 2nd year RB Le'Veon Bell the Steelers had one of the most lethal offenses in the NFL. Le'Veon Bell was an AP 1st Team All-Pro running back but missed the playoff game due to an knee injury. When the two played in Pittsburgh earlier in the year the Steelers rolled 43-23. Without Bell the Steelers struggled and lost to the Ravens 30-17 at home. Going into the game the Steelers were a 3 point favorite. Although they were the 3 seed that year and the Patriots were the 1, meaning the only way they could meet in the playoffs was the AFC Championship, many expected that to be the match up going into the playoffs because of the other teams in the postseason. Had the Steelers taken care of business they would've gone into Denver to face the Broncos who were 12-4 but struggling mightily going into the playoffs as this was the beginning of the end for Peyton Manning physically as a passer. Despite throwing 39 touchdowns in 2014 only 3 came after week 12. He wasn't the same guy as he was earlier in the season and the Broncos lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round, who would've played the Patriots had the Steelers won. Instead the Patriots played Baltimore in a classic 35-31 win that included two separate 14 point comebacks. Had Le'Veon Bell been healthy in the wild-card round there's a great possibility this play never happens. After a dozen years of nearly bumping into each other on their way to Super Bowls the Steelers and Patriots will finally meet again in the playoffs. A dozen years have passed. The only guys left from those 2004 teams are the QBs, Brady and Roethlisberger. Anything from their previous match-ups in 2013, 2015 and 2016 can be thrown out. The teams are nothing like they were even in the game from this season. The Pats had Gronk and the Steelers didn't have Big Ben. After 12 years between AFC Championship Games will this game be truly worth the wait? We'll know Sunday night. Song: Lyin' Eyes Artist: Eagles Album: One of These Nights Had to go with my favorite Eagles song today.
R.I.P. Glenn Frey So I just got home from the gym. I have a little time to kill before work, so I figure I'll watch last night's Barstool Rundown and get a quick game of madden in beforehand. Then this commercial came up on Youtube.
I could've clicked away after 5 seconds, but I'm a big hate watcher so I decided to give it a chance. Mainly so I could bash Flacco afterwards. If you know anything about me you know I hate the Ravens and Flacco like poison. I could talk about how they ruined my 2012 Christmas present by beating the Pats in the AFC Championship game but I don't want to think about that day. Even after winning a Super Bowl it still hurts. However what these bastards at Pepsi and Tostitos did is arguably worse; they made me for a few seconds not hate Joe Flacco. Where do I go from here? I feel so dirty. Now in fairness that could be because I still haven't showered after the gym, but I'm not here to get to the bottom of that. I'm here to write crappy blogs that my mom's Facebook friends read. I hate the mixed emotions of not despising Joe Flacco. If even for a brief moment in time in this commercial. Maybe it's because as a former party pooper myself (literally) I understand how it feels to destroy a party (and stranger's home). Maybe it's because I love dry humor. (I was a huge Ron Swanson guy) which Flacco killed in this ad. Yes, he's boring as vanilla ice cream in this commercial but that was on purpose (I think). I love that he made fun of himself with the whole "elite party guest" line. Maybe I was just hypnotized by his perfect haircut (I'll give credit when due, dude has decent hair) But damnit that was not that bad of a commercial for an athlete I hate. Yet again, I am being the bigger more honorable man and admitting that this was not that bad. Congrats Flacco, you may not be Elite but you are alright at making commercials that run a little too long for soda. P.S. If you bring soda to a Super Bowl party you're a loser....Unless it's for mixies.
Moving sucks. Helping people move sucks even more. I have to help my mom move next month and I'm already trying to find a way out of it. An untimely broken leg wouldn't be the worst thing right now tbh. (I know you're reading this mom, relax I'm going to help)
Well, it appears at least 23 moving companies in San Diego are doing all they can to make the moving process more difficult for the Chargers. 23 companies have said they will take no part in helping the Chargers uproot to Los Angeles. They will not profit in a city losing its football team. It's pretty honorable if you ask me. Last week the news that many had been expecting for about a year finally broke: the San Diego Chargers are no more. (san-diego-chargers-are-moving-to-los-angeles.html) They're moving to LA to basically sleep on the Rams' couch since they couldn't find their own place to live. Obviously this isn't going to be what stops the Chargers from going to LA. It's not like they're like "oh shit you got us, now we have to stay". But I do love the symbolic gesture of a final "fuck you" by San Diego-ites to Chargers owner Dean Spanos.
The wounds are still open. The news isn't even a week old yet. People are upset and I don't blame them at all. But the business man inside of me absolutely loves this move by these companies.
You really think the Los Angeles Chargers were ever going to hire "Gotta Get Going Movers"? Of course not, but companies like them and a bunch more knew this was their one chance to get a little publicity. Let me ask you this? What normal person knows any moving companies besides Uhaul or Eggman Movers (A+ Toy Story reference by me) No normal person that's who. Now look at all the people who saw that tweet. Darren Rovell has 1.67 million twitter followers. Statistically some of those people are in San Diego and need a mover. Maybe instead of calling Uhaul now someone hits up Gorilla Movers (who are on that list twice for some reason) or another company on the list. None of these moving companies ever had a shot at the potential business from the Chargers, they probably already have everything already in plan. But now the Chargers will look like even bigger ass holes if they come out and say that they were never going to hire Sitter's Movers. It's a PR nightmare in an already shitty situation. Control the story before it controls you, and that's exactly what these 23 moving companies did by announcing this before we see whoever the Chargers hired to move all their stuff to LA. My hat is off you guys. P.S. |
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