It is my favorite football Sunday of the year. Yeah, forget the Super Bowl… Championship Sunday is where it’s really at. This year, we’re not going to get ripped off; with apologies to the Bills, we have the 4 best teams in the NFL in action. I love both of these games, and can’t wait to watch them. Let’s start some championship talk.
We have to talk about the QBs right? Right. In the AFC, there is a marquee matchup: Mahomes vs Burrow. Patrick Mahomes is on track to be the best QB of all time, right? Well, pump the brakes on that one kids. Wait, he’s got more than just the 1 Super Bowl right? Wrong. He’s got 1 Super Bowl… One, the same amount of Super Bowls as Trent Dilfer, Joe Flacco, Kerry Collins, and… Aaron Rodgers! Impressive company Patrick. I thought he was one of the greatest ever? Well, if that is going to be true, if he’s going to get back on that track, he needs to start winning the big game. If he needs to win the big game, he needs to win the AFC Championship game. Sure, he’s been to a lot of those, but… if you keep losing, you’ll remind people a lot more of Peyton Manning (no slouch) then Tom Brady (the GOAT?). Lot of pressure on Mahomes in this one IMO, and he has to do it with a sprained ankle.
Then there’s Joe Burrow; I really like Joey B. I thought the offensive line injuries were going to hurt him; well, they didn’t last week. Cincy looked more impressive than any team, considering the competition, last week; they rolled the darling Bills on their home turf. It wasn’t close. Speaking about another QB who may be a bit overhyped… Josh Allen? Love that guy, but he hasn’t won crap… zilch, zero, nada. Joey B? He hasn’t won anything yet either. They were the Super Bowl runners up, which I’m sure will make Lebron James proud, but… they haven’t won the big game yet. Many times a big, gut wrenching loss propels a team to come back the following year to complete the mission; many times it does not. I love what Burrow said a couple weeks ago, about the Bengals “window”. It went something like, it’ll always be open as long as I’m here. Love the confidence… too much confidence?
In the NFC, you have Jalen Hurts; arguably the MVP this year. Doing it with both his arm and legs, he’s lifted the Eagles to the top of the NFC; as a Bear fan, we can only hope Justin Fields follows this same development course. He looked just fine last week against the Giants, who, like the Jaguars in the AFC, maybe shouldn’t have even been in that game? Anyways, they smacked them down; Hurts looked fine… no effects of his shoulder injury that caused him to miss a couple weeks. On the other side of the field, will be Brock Purdy. If I mentioned that name at the start of the season, you may have not known who the hell I was talking about. Well, this last pick of the NFL draft is only undefeated thus far, after taking over for Jimmy G, who had taken over for Trey Lance. Yes, the 3rd string QB!!! Undefeated!!! Last pick of the draft!!! It’s a great story; I remember another QB taken in the 6th round who turned out to be OK. Certainly not comparing them past that fact, but Purdy has been good. Last week, it was Dak, NOT the rookie, who made the mistakes. That’s really all that’s being asked of Brock; don’t do anything stupid. Like that scramble in the red zone last week, where he was about to double back… but instead threw it away… smart Purdy, smart. When will it all come crashing down for Brock?
OK, that’s a little QB talk; we ready to make our picks yet? Let’s keep talking about these games.
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