February Thaw?

  I came away with a lot of impressions from this weekend’s NFL games. Some were good, but too many were mostly bad. 

The New England-Denver game was a travesty. The weather was horrible, contributing to a less-than-exciting contest which ultimately put the Patriots back into the Super Bowl. That kind of game did not showcase the level of play which we could expect from elite teams—the top two in the AFC. 

Conversely, acceptable cold water in the Pacific Northwest led to a veritable offensive explosion which resulted in a Seattle win. It was a much more riveting affair which the Seahawks won capitalizing on poor play by the Los Angeles Rams. 

Do I think the better teams won both games? I believe so. 

Were the teams evenly matched? Yes—with an asterisk because Denver played without Bo Nix, its stellar stating quarterback, who broke his ankle last weekend and could only sit in a suite and cheer on his mates. 

Had Denver been guided by Nix instead of Jarett Stidham, who hadn’t taken a snap in a NFL game in eons, I think Denver might have pulled away from New England and would be headed to the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California. And even with Stidham’s unsteadiness, Denver had its chances. 

What changed the complexion of the game was a gaffe by Stidham. Pressured by the New England defense, Stidham tried to shovel the ball away to his left. 

Except that it appeared to be a lateral, not a forward pass. Which was recovered by New England, which ran the ball into the end zone for an apparent score. 

But initially thinking it was a forward pass, the closest official blew the play dead. Then the chaos began.

After a review and discussion among the officials who were also in contact with the review people in New York City, the call on the field of an incomplete pass was reversed. The Patriots were awarded the ball close to the Denver end zone because the whistle had ended the play. Now New England was in business, with a prime opportunity to score. 

Two plays later, New England QB Drake Maye scampered into the end zone. The score was now tied at 7. The game had changed, with the momentum in the Patriots’ favor. 

With the weather becoming a factor in the third quarter, the kicking game for both teams suffered greatly. Both teams’ kickers were normally reliable and accurate. 

Not with the field in windy, snowy conditions, hampering the ability to get a firm hold and set with any placement. The two kickers went 1 for 5, with Andres Borregales connecting on a 23 year attempt with 5:32 left in the third quarter. 

The score put New England ahead 10-7. That would prove to be the final score. Enough to secure an AFC Championship for the Patriots. It is the eleventh win for the proud franchise, which also has six Super Bowl victories. 

The game wasn’t won until Maye scampered left on his own to secure a critical first down very late in the game. It wasn’t a designed play and almost didn’t work. Maye made it just far enough to lead his team to the win. 

Seemingly in big games, quarterbacks make key runs of great difficulty to lead their teams—Maye had two such runs on Sunday. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza had a memorable scoring run last Monday to win the national title for Miami. Even LAR QB and notorious non-runner Matthew Stafford managed to sprint for a needed first down to keep a drive alive. 

Speaking of Stafford and the Rams, the LAR quarterback was outstanding. He looked like the Hall of Fame QB he will become once his playing days end. Stafford went 22 for 35 for 374 yards. He threw for 3 TD’s and had no interceptions against a really good Seattle secondary. Stafford exploited the inexperience of some Seahawks defensive backs and utilized the superior protection afforded him by the Rams’ offensive line while running through his progressions to repeatedly spot open receivers.

Two plays changed the game. A muffed punt by Xavier Smith was recovered by Seattle. On the next play, Seattle QB Sam Darnold found Jake Bobo in the end zone to put the Seahawks up 24-13. 

Behind Darnold’s guidance, Seattle extended the score to 31-20. When Seattle DB Riq Wooten was flagged for taunting LAR receiver Puka Nacua, Stafford went after Wooten and Nacua beat the DB to get the score to 31-27 after the extra point. 

LAR had another strong possession after a Seattle punt pinned them deep in their own territory. Stafford led the team down the field. Then some questionable play calling did LAR in. Runs instead of passes. And an unsuccessful fourth down pass which was swatted away left the Rams with no points on the drive instead of kicking a field goal and reducing the Seahawks lead to just one point. 

That might have been pivotal. The Rams got the ball with under thirty seconds and needed to score a touchdown instead of a field goal to win the game. 

Stafford made a game effort. His final completion to Nacua was caught in bounds. With no time outs left, the clock ran out and the game ended. 

Seattle was on the way to meet New England again in the Super Bowl. In 2015, a throw at the goal line by Seattle QB Russell Wilson was intercepted by New England’s Malcolm Butler, preserving a Patriots title. 

Could Darnold and his mates exact revenge for the fans in the Pacific Northwest? You know that’s on their minds. 

Meanwhile, New Englanders place their hopes on Maye and former Patriots great and current head coach Mike Vrabel, who resurrected a downtrodden franchise and has them back in the Super Bowl in his first year at the helm. It isn’t as ridiculous as it seems that the Patriots might win another title for the Kraft family, owners of the team.

To do so, New England needs to execute a precise game plan on offense. With Stafford’s brilliance demonstrating how to surgically operate on the Seattle defense, Maye must not make many mistakes. 

It is ironic that Maye can take pointers from Stafford. These two quarterbacks have repeatedly been mentioned as the top two candidates to win this season’s NFL M.V.P. Award. 

Not that it is a one man team. The Patriots have a top punt return threat in Marcus Jones, who set records this past season. Jones holds the highest career punt return average in NFL history.  And the Patriots' defense surrendered just over 200 total yards on Sunday, which while weather-driven, kept them in control of the game. 

Yet, to me, the deciding factor for the Super Bowl will be how Darnold plays. He nearly matched Stafford, going 25 for 36 for 346 yards and 3 TD’s. The former New York Jets top draft pick clearly rebounded from his poor showing last year with Minnesota in his first playoff game. 

Darnold is now an elite quarterback, worthy of mention with Stafford; Maye; Detroit’s Jared Goff; Dallas’s Dak Prescott; Trevor Lawrence of Jacksonville; Denver’s Nix. Darnold can  even be compared to KC’s Patrick Mahomes, who had a sub-par year and finished twelfth in the QB rankings but who also has three Super Bowl rings. I don’t think he has quite earned a comparison with the G.O.A.T., Tom Brady. 

So how the quarterbacks fare on February 8th in Santa Clara will go a long way towards deciding who is the champion of Super Bowl LX. Keep your eyes on them when you watch the game.

One thing we won’t have too much concern for is the cold and snowy weather of February. What we saw in Denver wasn’t pretty. Maybe the Coloradoans are hardy enough for that kind of precipitation. 

Correspondingly, CBS showed a snow-covered Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where the driving snow was augmented by bitter cold and wind. Imagine that scene had the Patriots garnered the top seed in the AFC. 

Games like Sunday’s have always been played in the home stadiums of teams in January. Too many times have we seen frigid temperatures which create less-than-optimal conditions for the players and fans. 

How many people died in Kansas City, suffered frostbite in Cincinnati or succumbed to bone-chilling temperatures in Green Bay to root for their team? Ditto the players, while handsomely paid, have to endure these nearly unthinkable surroundings. And what about ushers, support staff, broadcasters and their crew and any others necessary for the completion of the contest? Three of four layers of clothing may not be enough.

These fans were paying top dollar for the privilege of attending a game in potentially bad weather. For that matter, the prices for the CFP title game were beyond ridiculous, just like they will be for the Super Bowl, enriching the coffers of the owners and teams, while people make obvious choices to overspend for a lifetime of memories. Those memories should not be life-threatening. 

My wife astutely pointed out how, with the weather deteriorating, the Krafts were sequestered in a warm suite, watching the teams play. The Krafts are benevolent, but they also are in business to make money. While winning championships. 

Domed stadiums should be a must. When the health and safety of the fans and players is paramount, somehow domes are in cold weather locales or are planned for the future. 

Imagine if the NFC Championship was outdoors in Minneapolis with the icy grip of Winter paralyzing the city? How many people would be in peril? This is why there is a dome where the Vikings play. 

The NFL could change the way things are. Baseball did with COVID, going to neutral sites. Ditto the NBA and NHL. 

Either require that all new stadiums have domes in places where the cold invades or make all playoff games neutral site affairs. Enough of the spectacle of snow and freezing fans with owners warmly ensconced in booths while giving the appearance that they are special because of their wealth. 

If better weather conditions is what the Super Bowl is about, why not move the games leading up to it? The CFP took the second round games to bowls in warm weather. Are they smarter or less smug than the NFL? 

As a New York Jets season ticket holder for the past 49 years, I have not faced too many weather dilemmas based on the absence of home playoff games. I have maintained that my health would always come first if I had to make a choice about attending a playoff game in adverse weather. 

To me, that’s a no-brainer. And someone would buy my tickets if I sold them. Perhaps at a profit for me. 

The long-range forecast for Super Bowl Sunday is for a high of 70 degrees. I hope that the fans will have thawed out by that time in February. They deserve that much for the ridiculous prices they pay.