NFL playoffs.

[Uncle Rico]

Sadly, the game already has been decided.
#nflrigged

On Monday morning, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy waded into the world of sports commentary by predicting that the upcoming Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers would be rigged for the former in order to set the table for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's endorsement of President Joe Biden this fall.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/vivek-ramaswamy-predicts-super-bowl-will-be-rigged-for-chiefs-to-set-the-table-for-artificially-propped-up-taylor-swifts-endorsement-of-biden/

Remarkable how stupid the right wing nutjobs are and that's just the ones running for President.

Guess they have to cheer for San Francisco to preserve America

[tower912]

Now that is irony.

[Pakuni]

https://twitter.com/BenjaminSolak/status/1751805288775110954?t=0BLs3777I0nLa0aQB_cQhg&s=19

Ben Solak = big Brandon Staley guy. (For real. Look it up)
I don't think anyone here is saying the fourth down decisions, and only the fourth down decisions, cost the Lions the game. But you can't deny they reduced their chances of winning.

And this tweet is really kind of silly. You can do this with dozens of plays throughout the game, both ways. How many points did the 49ers lose/Lions gain when Purdy threw an INT inside his own 30? Or when he missed multiple open receivers in the first half? Or when half the Niners defense missed tackling Jameson Williams on the opening drive?
Interceptions, fumbles, drops, missed tackles, etc., are things that happen naturally during a game. You can't "control" it any more than Shaka can control whether Kolek is hitting threes. What you can control are coaching decisions. And the decisions made by Campbell and his staff in the second half last night lessened his team's chances of winning.

[jesmu84]

Ben Solak = big Brandon Staley guy. (For real. Look it up)
I don't think anyone here is saying the fourth down decisions, and only the fourth down decisions, cost the Lions the game. But you can't deny they reduced their chances of winning.

And this tweet is really kind of silly. You can do this with dozens of plays throughout the game, both ways. How many points did the 49ers lose/Lions gain when Purdy threw an INT inside his own 30? Or when he missed multiple open receivers in the first half? Or when half the Niners defense missed tackling Jameson Williams on the opening drive?
Interceptions, fumbles, drops, missed tackles, etc., are things that happen naturally during a game. You can't "control" it any more than Shaka can control whether Kolek is hitting threes. What you can control are coaching decisions. And the decisions made by Campbell and his staff in the second half last night lessened his team's chances of winning.

https://twitter.com/WerderEdESPN/status/1751795476817473626?t=bmtTE3tu07bUSXD7UpZOPg&s=19

Per @ESPNStatsInfo: The Lions have failed twice on 4th down in the 2nd half.  Both were considered toss-ups according to ESPN's model, but leaned very slightly towards going for it.

3rd quarter, 7:03
WP go: 90.5%
WP FG: 90.3%

4th quarter, 7:38
WP go: 39.1%
WP FG: 38.8%

[Uncle Rico]

I think we can all agree, whatever the Lions have been doing the last 60 plus years probably shouldn't have been changed

[Pakuni]

https://twitter.com/WerderEdESPN/status/1751795476817473626?t=bmtTE3tu07bUSXD7UpZOPg&s=19

This doesn't contradict what I said.

[MU82]

I kind of wonder what they would have called if Aiyuk didn't make that catch. I know they picked it up, but wonder if it was incomplete or intercepted, if they would have stuck with the call.

Yep, having seen the replay 844 times like everyone else, I think it would have been a horrible interference call. But maybe they let it stand if the crazy play didn't ensue.

That play was amazing and huge, but I still think the Gibbs fumble was the biggest play of the game, followed closely by the two Reynolds drops.

The Niners had trouble stopping the Detroit offense all night. The game was decided by the 3 occasions that the Lions stopped themselves IMHO.

[jesmu84]

Yep, having seen the replay 844 times like everyone else, I think it would have been a horrible interference call. But maybe they let it stand if the crazy play didn't ensue.

That play was amazing and huge, but I still think the Gibbs fumble was the biggest play of the game, followed closely by the two Reynolds drops.

The Niners had trouble stopping the Detroit offense all night. The game was decided by the 3 occasions that the Lions stopped themselves IMHO.

Detroit still had a chance after all of that until they called a timeout before the TD

[Jay Bee]

Remarkable how stupid the right wing nutjobs are and that's just the ones running for President.

Guess they have to cheer for San Francisco to preserve America

Vivek ain't runnin 4 preZ

[Uncle Rico]

Vivek ain't runnin 4 preZ

He was and now he's terrified of Taylor Swift.  Incredible how much she threatens that side of the political spectrum.

Good news, though.  He'll be boycotting the Super Bowl and won't have to see her

[Lennys Tap]

This is the weakness of being a slave to analytics. It fails to take into account game situations (aka the Brandon Staley Effect).
Going for it on 4th and inches at your opponents' 40 yard line when you're down 10 points at home in the fourth quarter is not the same thing as going on 4th and 2 on your opponents' 28 when you're up 14 points in the third quarter of a road playoff game. The figures above fail to take this into account.
A coach needs to be able to make situational judgements, not just do what a computer tells him to do or, worse yet, go for it because they go for it.

For what it's worth, over the past four seasons Badgley is 28/32 from 40-49, which is 87.5%.

100% agree on all of your points. "Going for it" because the computer (without considering the situation) says to or because "that's who I am" are not valid reasons. And 87.5% is pretty close to a gimme.

[Pakuni]

The NFL remains popular.

The final NFL on Fox broadcast of the 2023 season gave the network one more dynamite audience.
The San Francisco 49ers' 34-31 win over the Detroit Lions averaged 56.691 million viewers, the network's most-watched NFC Championship Game in 12 years.

https://awfulannouncing.com/fox/nfc-championship-56-million-fox-sports-best-2012.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Uncle Rico]

The NFL remains popular.

The final NFL on Fox broadcast of the 2023 season gave the network one more dynamite audience.
The San Francisco 49ers' 34-31 win over the Detroit Lions averaged 56.691 million viewers, the network's most-watched NFC Championship Game in 12 years.

https://awfulannouncing.com/fox/nfc-championship-56-million-fox-sports-best-2012.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

We must be having a population surge to offset all the people that quit watching.

[Jay Bee]

We must be having a population surge to offset all the people that quit watching.

They're only watching to see the slogans in the end zone and on helmets

[Uncle Rico]

They're only watching to see the slogans in the end zone and on helmets

Yeah, those offend a lot of snowflakes, too.

[MU82]

87.5% is pretty close to a gimme.

Badgley had not attempted a FG outside a dome this season until Sunday's first-half chip shot. He also had only attempted two kicks beyond 41 yards, and he missed 2 extra points.

He's so reliable that 32 NFL teams have passed on him over and over and over and over and over again since the Chargers cut him after the 2020 season.

But yes, under playoff pressure, going for a tie in the fourth quarter and kicking outside for the first time in more than a year, a 48-yarder would have been a gimme for this proven kicking star.

[GB Warrior]

Yes.  I enjoyed the season.   A lot of fun.  But there were several things Detroit managed to paper over that came home to roost at a bad time.
1.  Their secondary. 
2.  Inability to contain scrambling QBs. 
3.  Their third quarter swoons.   
4.  Jared Goff doesn't make plays on the move.
5.  Ben Johnson, for his genius, had some odd stretches of play calling.


I see this Lion season as akin to the 22-23 MU hoops season.    A whole lot of things went right to create a very fun season with a disappointing ending.   And, the next season will be tougher.

#4 is so important. Clearly they can win in spite of that and very nearly did, but in those couple of plays where they needed something out of nothing, Purdy (for all of his shortcomings and near picks) did, and Goff didn't.

They're going to have to go the long way round on this next year. They have an awesome young core but it's not going to get any easier as guys start getting paid.

[CreightonWarrior]

We must be having a population surge to offset all the people that quit watching.

They're called swifties

[Pakuni]

Badgley had not attempted a FG outside a dome this season until Sunday's first-half chip shot. He also had only attempted two kicks beyond 41 yards, and he missed 2 extra points.

He's so reliable that 32 NFL teams have passed on him over and over and over and over and over again since the Chargers cut him after the 2020 season.

But yes, under playoff pressure, going for a tie in the fourth quarter and kicking outside for the first time in more than a year, a 48-yarder would have been a gimme for this proven kicking star.

Eh ... that's just a quirk of the schedule, with the Lions playing six of his seven games indoors. It says nothing about him being bad at kicking outdoors.
Last year, he was 11-for-13 outdoors, which is 85%.
And it's obviously not his first time kicking outdoors in more than a year.

What's it say about Dan Campbell if he rosters such an awful kicker for the playoffs? Good thing a big game has never come down to kicking, I guess.

[Lennys Tap]

But yes, under playoff pressure, going for a tie in the fourth quarter and kicking outside for the first time in more than a year, a 48-yarder would have been a gimme for this proven kicking star.

Well, if Campbell had kicked a FG midway through the 3rd quarter to expand a 2 score lead to a 3 score lead (rather than turning the ball over on downs) the 48 yard FG in the 4th would have been for the lead rather than a tie. But instead he went with the same computer that guided the genius who got canned by the Chargers. Bad choice.

[MU82]

Well, if Campbell had kicked a FG midway through the 3rd quarter to expand a 2 score lead to a 3 score lead (rather than turning the ball over on downs) the 48 yard FG in the 4th would have been for the lead rather than a tie. But instead he went with the same computer that guided the genius who got canned by the Chargers. Bad choice.

That one would have been a 45 or 46 yarder. Also not a gimme for a kicker nobody wanted - including the Lions, who cut him during the preseason.

What's it say about Dan Campbell if he rosters such an awful kicker for the playoffs? Good thing a big game has never come down to kicking, I guess.

I think it's fair to criticize Campbell and the Lions for their problems at kicker all season and for being stuck with a journeyman who has made only 50% of the kicks he has attempted in his career outdoors between 45-49 yards - and who hasn't made one of those since 2020.

More stats from this article: https://sidelionreport.com/posts/solid-free-agency-option-exists-to-fix-detroit-lions-massive-issue-at-kicker --

In his career from 48+ yards, Badgley was 9 for 20, worst in NFL history among kickers with that many attempts.

[Jockey]

So with a decent kicker, both the Lions and Packers coulda beat SF.

[MU82]

Crazy to think that Greg Olsen is about to get "demoted" by Fox. He's by far the best analyst in football, and maybe the best on TV today in any of the major sports. He was masterful Sunday, as usual.

[Uncle Rico]

Crazy to think that Greg Olsen is about to get "demoted" by Fox. He's by far the best analyst in football, and maybe the best on TV today in any of the major sports. He was masterful Sunday, as usual.

I could see him replacing Herbstreit at Amazon.  Al Michaels pushed for Herbstreit and Michaels is phoning it in.  I could see them restructure the team and bring Olsen in

[The Sultan]

Yeah Fox really painted themselves in a corner. They didn't want to pay big money for Buck and Aikman, but then paid big money for a big name because they felt they had to have an answer for Romo, only to have someone really good emerge from within. They better hope that Brady doesn't turn into anther milquetoast like Romo though.

I never thought the Brady deal was a good one and this is why. Not that I thought Olson would be good, but good announcers and analysts emerge. They don't come in great.