🏈 NFL Playoffs, Milestones, Firings + More!

Good Morning, Blitzers!

Well, Blitzers, we have a full week ahead of us. No sugar coating things, this is going to be a tough week. But let’s look on the bright side! On Thursday, we get the Notre Dame vs. Penn State semifinal game; followed by the Ohio State vs. Texas game on Friday. Then the NFL playoffs start and we get games on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. So, we have a lot to look forward to. We just need to plow through these first few days of the week and we’ll be golden. Let’s get into it!

WTF Stat: Pretty incredible turnaround for the Commanders. For all of us that had their team eliminated yesterday (or much earlier in the season), remember this is possible next season if everything comes together — and if you have an amazing QB:

🏈 Jerod Mayo has been fired as head coach of the New England Patriots after just one season, finishing with a disappointing 4-13 record. Patriots owner Robert Kraft expressed regret over the decision, acknowledging Mayo's leadership and respect within the team, but ultimately felt the team’s performance did not improve as expected.

🏈 Aaron Rodgers, in what may have been his final NFL game, reached a significant milestone by throwing his 500th career touchdown in the New York Jets' season finale against the Dolphins. The 41-year-old quarterback became only the fifth player in NFL history to achieve this, joining Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and former teammate Brett Favre.

🏈 Tyreek Hill hinted at leaving Miami after their season-ending loss yesterday, which eliminated the Dolphins from playoff contention. Hill expressed frustration about missing the playoffs for the first time in his career and suggested that he would need to do what’s best for himself and his family, which could involve leaving the Dolphins. Hill, who has two years left on his contract, was noticeably absent during the game's final possessions, though coach Mike McDaniel clarified that his absence wasn’t injury-related.

NFL Week 18

What You Missed

→ Buccaneers win NFC South, WR Mike Evans makes history - The Buccaneers didn’t make it easy. Going up against a decimated Saints roster, the Bucs kept things close before finally pulling away in the 4th quarter winning 27-19. It was great to see Mike Evans surpass the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the 11th time (tying WR Jerry Rice). Evans is just a consistent, no drama, stud year in, and year out. You can also tell by the celebration that his teammates really wanted this for him.

→ Lions cap season with dominant win to take NFC North - it looked like it was going to be a defensive battle with the Vikings on SNF, but the Lions closed out the game scoring 21 unanswered to win 31-9. RB Jahmyr Gibbs was incredible scoring 4 TDs and racking up 170 total yards of offense. With the win the Lions lock up the #1 seed and get to rest up next week.

→ Broncos and rookie QB Bo Nix are headed to the playoffs - Incredible game and turnaround season for the Broncos as they dominated the Chiefs (backups) 38-0. Everything was going right for them as Nix finished 26/29, 368 total yards and 4 TDs. You know things are working when this crazy play turns into a touchdown:

→ Titans get #1 Overall Pick in Draft - The Titans lost against the Texans, who were playing mostly backups, 23-14, but it was the best loss of the season as they secured the #1 overall pick in the draft. Thanks to the Patriots, who were slotted to get the #1 pick, but decided to get their worst win of the season against the Bills, squandering what likely would have been a big trading chip. New draft order as follows:

1. Titans (3-14)

2. Browns (3-14)

3. Giants (3-14)

4. Patriots (4-13)

5. Jaguars (4-13)

Full order here.

→ Bears finally beat the Packers! - Too bad it was in a game that really didn’t mean anything. In fact, all it did was hurt the Bears in the draft. The biggest news from this game, however, was the injury status of QB Jordan Love, who left the game early with an elbow injury. Sounds like he’ll be good-to-go for their first round playoff matchup against the Eagles:

→ Ravens crush Browns, get #3 seed - This game went about as expected as the Ravens were 20 point favorites and won 35-10. The Ravens will face-off against division rival Steelers in the first round of the playoffs. In case you missed it, the game was sealed by 345-pound lockdown CB/DT Michael Pierce:

What We Learned

→ QB Bryce Young could be the guy after all - We witnessed a surprisingly great game between the Panthers and Falcons. Both Young and Michael Penix Jr. went off, while RB Bijan Robinson quietly had another great game (170 yards rushing, 2 TDs). But Young and the Panthers were too much for the Falcons winning in overtime 44-38 and squashing the little hope the Falcons had of making the playoffs. (The Bucs ended up winning so it didn’t matter.)

→ Steelers have the least momentum headed into the playoffs - Steelers lost their 4th game in a row to the Bengals on Saturday 19-17. Their defense wasn’t the issue, they held the red hot Bengals to only 19 points, even though the Bengals controlled the ball on offense for 38 minutes. The Steelers offense certainly does not look like it’s ready for playoff football, as they managed only 193 total yards against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

NFL Scoreboard and Standings

🏈 Tonight

No Monday Night Football unfortunately.

Top NBA Games

Thunder 105, Celtics 102: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the City Thunder, scoring 33 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. This win marked the Thunder's franchise-record 15th consecutive victory, improving their record to 30-5. Lu Dort's back-to-back 3-pointers helped seal the win. The Celtics went 9 of 46 from beyond the arc.

Rockets 119, Kings 115: Jalen Green scored 33 points, and Fred VanVleet's late-game steal helped the Houston Rockets secure a 119-115 victory. Amen Thompson added a career-high 23 points and 16 rebounds in his return from a suspension.

Kings 129, Warriors 99: Malik Monk scored 26 points and added 12 assists, while Domantas Sabonis contributed 22 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists to lead the Sacramento Kings to a dominant 129-99 win. Despite playing without De'Aaron Fox, the Kings never trailed and held a commanding 75-51 halftime lead.

Full NBA scoreboard here, and standings here.

Top NHL Games

Islanders 5, Bruins 4: Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game in overtime, leading the New York Islanders to a 5-4 victory. Horvat’s game-winner came on a breakaway 3:10 into overtime, slipping a wrist shot between Bruins goalie Jonas Korpisalo's pads.

Maple Leafs 3, Flyers 2: Morgan Rielly scored the winning goal in overtime, extending their winning streak to four games. Rielly's goal, assisted by Auston Matthews, was his fifth of the season and first in two months.

Hurricanes 4, Penguins 3: Sebastian Aho scored at 1:30 in overtime to lift Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 win. Aho, who also added two assists, reached 600 career points with his game-winning goal.

Full NHL scoreboard here, and standings here.

On this day in 1994, US figure skating champion Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by Tonya Harding's bodyguard at the US Championships in Detroit. There are a lot of layers to this story, for those that don’t remember or were too young you can deep dive on wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_of_Nancy_Kerrigan

Yesterday’s Trivia Time Answer

The Chiefs have made the playoffs the last 10 seasons, which NFL team has the second longest active playoff streak?

B) Buffalo Bills - Pretty surprising, here is a look at the full list: