Princeton In The Playoffs

For the first time (at least TigerBlog is pretty sure of that), there will be six NFL playoff games in one weekend.

You have the expanded Wild Card round kicking off, with three games tomorrow and three more Sunday. 

It makes TB wonder how many people will watch every minute of all six games. Will anyone? What percentage of those six games would an average serious football fan watch? 

Is having six games necessarily better than four? Is there a saturation point? With football it certainly has always seemed that the general public has gone with a philosophy of "if some is good, more must be better."

Now that he's asked the question about how many people will watch all of the six NFL games this weekend, he has a second question: How many people usually watch more of the opening weekend of the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament (eight games) than they will of the six NFL games?

He's guessing that number isn't very big.

Okay, here's another question: Which would you rather attend, a Super Bowl or the World Cup final? How about the Olympics? Or, for that matter, if you could go to any sporting event at all anywhere in the world, what would it be?

If TB could go to any sporting event, only one, he'd probably pick the World Cup final. He's been to a World Cup qualifier (El Salvador at Costa Rica) and that was maybe the craziest athletic event he's ever seen live. 

Imagine what the final would be like? The Olympics would be fun also, but he'd want to go see all the "other" events rather than the more mainstream TV ones.

Meanwhile, back at the 2021 NFL playoffs, here are the six games:

Tomorrow 

Indianapolis at Buffalo - 1
LA Rams at Seattle - 4:40
Tampa Bay at Washington - 8:15

Sunday
Baltimore at Tennessee - 1
Chicago at New Orleans - 4:40
Cleveland at Pittsburgh - 8:15

Of those six games, there is some Princeton football connection to four of them. There's a fifth connection in the playoffs, to the NFC's No. 1 seed (and therefore bye recipient) Green Bay.

Going chronologically, Jim Salgado, a former Tiger assistant coach, is now an assistant coach with the Buffalo Bills. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Salgado is also great on Twitter. Follow him here: @coachsalgado.

There is no Princeton football connection to the other two games Saturday, unless you count the fact that BrotherBlog lives in Seattle and TB has given him some "Princeton" gear through the years. 

For Sunday, the Tigers have you covered in two of the three games. 

Ravens' president Dick Cass is a member of the Class of 1968. According to his official bio on the Ravens' website, "A knee injury, coupled with surgery, kept him from athletics his first two years…Played rugby as a junior and senior…Graduated from Yale Law School in 1971."

Ah, but before you root for Baltimore because of Cass, there's also former Tiger Luke Steckel, an assistant coach with the Titans, Baltimore's opponent. Steckel, a member of the Class of 2007, was a linebacker and captain on the 2006 Ivy League championship team, which went 9-1. He is in his eighth year on the Titans' staff. 

Next up? 

Jesper Horsted, the record-setting receiver from the undefeated 2018 team, has spent his second NFL season on the Chicago practice squad. A year ago, while on the active roster, he caught a touchdown pass on Thanksgiving Day against Detroit. 

And that brings you to the last game of the weekend, the one featuring Stephen Carlson of the Cleveland Browns, who was the other starting wide receiver in 2018. 

Carlson is a tight end with the Browns these days, as well as a valuable contributor on special teams. In fact, a week ago, in the game to get the Browns into the playoffs for the first time in 18 years, Carlson recovered an onside kick with a little over a minute to go to preserve a 24-22 win.

TigerBlog spoke to Carlson earlier this week about the recovery, the upcoming game, his professional career, what it's been like to be in the NFL in the COVID season and what the team's success means to the city. 

You can read that story HERE.

It has not been an easy week for Cleveland, as positive COVID tests have affected the coaching staff and a few of the players. Still, it's the playoffs, so you take your best shot and see what happens. Certainly Carlson has worked hard enough to get into this position.

The final Princetonian in the playoff will be John Lovett, who had established himself as an important part of the Packer offense before an knee injury ended his season. Lovett already has one Super Bowl ring, last year from Kansas City.