Thursday, January 19, 2023

Football Here, There And Everywhere

TigerBlog forgot to give you his predictions for the first weekend of the NFL playoffs, so he'll do that now:

Giants over Vikings
Cowboys over Buccaneers
49ers over Seahawks
Bills over Dolphins
Jaguars over Chargers
Bengals over Ravens

And there you have it.

Just kidding around. Had he actually picked the games last week, he definitely would have missed on the Chargers-Jaguars game and would probably have gone Vikes over Giants. 

Speaking of last week's games, it's not hard to see how a kicker can miss four extra points. You miss one, and then another, and then it's all in your head. TB is looking forward to seeing how Brett Maher bounces back this week after the historically bad performance he had against Tampa Bay.

TB admires how the Cowboys have stood by Maher, who is the first placekicker in NFL history to have four career field goals of 60 or more yards. Had the team released him, it wouldn't have been anything new for him; he's been released 13 times since he became a pro out of Nebraska in 2013 (and that includes times in the Canadian Football League as well).

Such is the life of a kicker, it appears.

Of all the players in the playoffs, the easiest one to root for is Brock Purdy, the San Francisco rookie who was the last player selected in last year's draft, which earned him the title of Mr. Irrelevant, a name given to the final pick in every NFL draft since 1979. Apparently, being Mr. Irrelevant brings some prestige with it, as well as some perks — the "winner" each year is invited to a week in the summer in Newport Beach, with a trip to Disneyland, a golf tournament and other honors thrown in (at least that's what is says on Wikipedia).

Purdy has already made a case that he is the best Mr. Irrelevant ever. In fact, he is unbeaten as a starter, and he became the first QB in NFL history to win his first five starts and throw for at least two touchdowns in each.

Grudgingly, TB will give you his predictions for this weekend ahead of time. He'll go with the Bills, Chiefs, Eagles and Cowboys, who win on a 50-yard Maher field goal on the final play.

The NFL playoffs aren't the only football games on the docket this weekend. The Ivy League all-star team is in Japan for the Dream Bowl, which will be played Saturday beginning at 11 pm Eastern time (which is 1 pm Sunday in Japan) between the Ivy Leaguers and a Japanese team.

In addition to the game itself, the players from all eight league schools have been immersed in local culture. There was also a visit to the U.S. Embassy.

It's the kind of once-in-a-lifetime experience that is a really nice punctuation mark on the careers of these players, all of whom have used their eligibility. 

TB can't help but wonder if the Ivy players stay tightly with the other players from their school or if they blend together, maybe by positions. 

From the Ivy League's Twitter feed, it certainly appears that the former rivals are enjoying being teammates. 

One player who isn't in Japan is Andrei Iosivas, who is getting ready for the Senior Bowl, to be held in Mobile, Ala., in early February. To be exact, the game itself is played on Feb. 4, but the more important moments might already be done by then. For all-star games like that, the practices during the week are where a pro prospect can really showcase his skills.

TB looked at the rosters for the Senior Bowl, and he saw that there are 16 wide receivers, or eight per team. That's a lot in terms of doling out playing time and keeping it even, which means that in-game moments might be limited.

Other than Iosivas, the other 15 wide receivers are all from FBS schools. There are five from the Big Ten alone. It's a great, and exciting, opportunity for Iosivas, ahead of the NFL Combine, to which he has also received an invite.

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