Frisky 4 picks
Well, the playoffs are here and not unlike our changed strategy in bowl games, there are a lot of factors that must be weighed.
We can all agree quarterback play is important during the regular season; it's more important come January. The comfort and collective coolness of the quarterback-head coach combination is valuable this time of year.
Check the weather. Seriously.
Remember that not all home-field advantages are created the same. Most importantly, remember that the under gets extra measure in the survive-and-advance nature of the playoffs. Coaches are more conservative, which a lot of times makes points extra valuable.
> Houston minus-3 over Oakland. Buy the extra measure here and believe. Believe that Brock Osweiler is a better bet than Connor Cook. Believe that the complete Texans defense is more reliable than the excellence of Oakland star Khalil Mack. Believe that the emotional baggage of not having former MVP candidate Derek Carr and the on-the-field issue of safety Nate Allen being less than 100 percent are far too much to overcome for the Raiders.
> Pittsburgh minus-10 over Miami. You're sitting there asking, what, are you crazy? Giving double digits in a playoff game when the underdog beat the favorite handily in Week 6? That's it Matilda, Greeson has lost it. Call the paper and make sure he's alright. We are alright and we are going to be all right on this one. Fact, the Dolphins defense has struggled, especially in the back seven. Fact, Miami thumped the Steelers during the regular season when Jay Ajayi went nuts, but that win was a) with the offensive balance provided by Ryan Tannehill; b) that was the Dolphins' only win against a team with a winning record this year; and c) in mild-and-warm Miami in early October. There's no chance of snow this weekend, but the high is a nice and balmy 19 for gameday. Pittsburgh has a huge edge at quarterback with Ben Roethlisberger over Matt Moore and coaching experience with Mike Tomlin over first-year coach Adam Gase. That's worth two scores at least. Throw in a legit home-field edge - especially with Moore making his first playoff start - and this one is going to be ugly.
> Green Bay-New York Giants under the 44.5. OK, research alert: Did you know that the under has hit 12 times in 16 games involving the Giants this year and seven of the last eight? Now factor the weather - sunny with a high of 15 on Sunday with 10 mph winds that will push the evening windchill below 0 - and this one screams 17-14 one way or the other. (And if you think that means backing the Giants, well, we're not going against Aaron Rodgers at home facing a rookie head coach and an opposing QB who battles interceptionitis.)
> And leaves us with Seattle and Detroit. Seriously, there is little feel on this one. The weather is mild - at least for Seattle standards on Saturday night - and the strengths kind of balance. In the end we'll lay the 8 and take the Seahawks for the following reasons. First, Seattle is at home and that's the best home-field advantage in the game. (And it makes pass-first offenses crazy with the noise and silent counts and miscommunication.) Second, it's tough to back Jim Caldwell against Pete Carroll considering Caldwell's last three playoff games have been losses. Third, Seattle's biggest weakness - its erratic offensive line play - will be counterbalanced by the Lions weak pass rush. Fourth, Detroit has a starting white running back. Read that again. (Unofficially, we believe that the Washington Redskins with John Riggins was the last playoff team to have success with a white featured back. And no the Patriots putting any of their interchangeable 5-foot-9 white pass catchers in the backfield does not count.) This doesn't mean we are terrified of the backdoor cover with Matt Stafford and the Lions offense, but the believe points back Seattle.
Last week: 3-1 (75 percent)
NFL picks this year: 12-4 (75 percent)
Elon's Steven Santa Ana (22) is tripped by Duke's Grayson Allen (3) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Greensboro, N.C., Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. Allen was called for a technical foul on the play. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) Duke is officially Cobra Kai
Yes, we all made the jokes.
Grayson Allen sweeps another leg of another competitor and the Karate Kid references come flowing. There even was a pretty sweet social media doohickey depicting that image with Allen and Coach K in the movie scene.
Well, to complete the analogy, Duke has issued the weakest and most-limp penalty since Johnny Lawrence only lost a point for the elbow to the knee of Daniel LaRussa in the All Valley finals.
Allen missed all of one game. One.
And he did it in a sport in which the regular season for a program like Duke is a simple formality.
And to make matters even more sketchy, dojo-leader Coach K is sidelined for the next four weeks with back surgery, so all the future questions about it will be directed to interim dojo-leader Jeff Capel answering the questions.
Yes, the imperial Coach K gave a taped interview with ESPN's Jay Bilas, a former Coach K player. Hey, we love Bilas, but as we've said many times, often the appearance of conflicted interests - Bilas' connection to K and Duke and the program - is every bit as damaging as actual conflict of interests. That video could only have been condescending if Coach K was sitting on a throne with a scepter in his right hand and a wad of hundreds in his lap.
Here's another question: Where's the ACC on this? Allen has tripped or kicked opponents on three different occasions; is he now officially on double-secret probation, Commissioner Swafford/Dean Wormer?
Man, we always enjoyed watching Duke play and enjoyed the villainous nature with which they acquired at times with guys you'd love to hate. In truth, we expected more from Duke. Not sure why since they are a big-time college sports program charged with winning on a big-time scale.
This is just another piece to the false narrative that Duke does it better or cleaner or whatever comparative adjective you want to use. Duke recruits just as many one-and-doners as any team, UK included, but we somehow wanted or tried to believe Coach K was above that.
Why because they have more white players than most elite teams and they play in a really cool, tiny old gym with clever fans? Well, hogwash.
And the way they handled this Grayson Allen mess forever kicks that narrative to the curb for me.
Clemson defensive lineman Christian Wilkins (42) greets fans after Clemson defeated Ohio State 31-0 in the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. Clemson advanced to the BCS championship game Jan. 9 against Alabama. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) Clemson's four-fingers deep
OK, the entire junk-grabbing incident involving Clemson linebacker Christian Wilkins has taken on a surreal vibe.
Wilkins probed the personal regions of an Ohio State player in last Saturday's Tigers win. He said after the game, he was being silly. (That's a different-type of silly than we are used to in competitive athletic scenarios, but we've never played in the Fiesta Bowl either.)
Then fellow Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware threw a whole new keg of kerosene on the controversy with his tirade earlier this week. Here, according to the details shared by Brian Hamilton of SI, is Boulware's rant:
"That kind of stuff annoys me. The game is so serious and it's so locked in out there, you try to do stuff just to have fun, to break up the seriousness of the game. People are trying to say 'sexual assault' - people that say that have either never played football, have never been in a locker room and seen the weird stuff. We're together every day for years and years and years. You get very comfortable around each other. I know there's going to be that one person [who says] 'Well, I played football and I never did that.' You either sucked at football, you had no friends in the locker room, or you were the person that went in the bathroom stall to go change because you were scared to shower with the team.
"We do that stuff just to have fun out there, just to mess with the team. I know none of those players care. . . . .'Do you all practice this at Clemson?' No, we practice beating y'all by 49 points. That's something I did on the side.
"It's annoying, because the players don't care. . . . .That's for the media to blow that up. Yes, Christian went - he went about four fingers deep. He went a little too far. But when I'm messing with somebody, poking them in the belly button or grabbing someone's butt, it's just to break up the seriousness of the game. The people who are freaking out about that have never played the game, or were just losers who didn't have any friends when they played the game. It's annoying."
Wow.
Here's one thing we wondered, and let the ramifications of this lead us where you want the discussion to go: What if Michael Sam had done that? Sam, of course, was the former Missouri All-SEC defensive end who came out to his teammates and became the first openly gay player to be picked in the NFL draft.
It's a question that gains even more intrigue when Boulware adds this, via TheState.com: "Me and Christian have fun out there. That's how we play the game. . . . It's something we do, just have fun. It might look weird or homosexual to others, but it's just fun out there."
Again - wow.
Here's one other thing we know: Clemson defenders better heed Alabama All-American tackle Cam Robinson's words about the possibility of having his oil-checked Monday: "He better not try me like that."
This and that
- UTC added two more football coaches to Tom Arth's staff. Here's the report from TFP UTC ace Mean Gene Henley. We've said it before and we know a lot of you already do, but if you are a Johnny Mocs Fan - or a Janie Mocs Fan for that matter - Mean Gene is well worth a Twitter follow @genehenleytfp.
- Here is former 16-time wrestling heavyweight champion of the world Ric Flair deadlifting 400 pounds. He's 67.
- Here's a story about Jordan Spieth spending a little time in December playing Augusta National and making a couple of 2s on the par-3 12th that ruined his chances at the 2016 Masters. Enjoy.
- The interweb is telling us that men's chokers will be a fashion hit in 2017. This is the 5-at-10 telling the interweb it's full of poppycock. Chokers? PUH-lease.
- We have spilt plenty of ink wondering about the effects of the down NFL TV ratings. Well, to be fair, while the numbers are mixed, the results are still as expected: The NFL dominated the 2016 TV dial. Of the top 20 TV viewerships in 2016, 15 of them were sports and 11 of those were NFL-related. Plus, according to Cynopsis media, the Fox game of the week averaged a 13.9 share and 24.5 million viewers to rank as the top-watched program in all of TV for the eighth straight season. NBC is reporting that Sunday Nigh Football - an 11.4 share and an average of 20.3 million viewers - is the most watched primetime show of the year. It's good to to be the king.
Today's question
We'll offer two today.
First, Pete Maravich died on this day back in 1988. He was 40. Who makes the Rushmore of the best college basketball players ever. (Just college mind you.)
Secondly, Chuck Noll was born on this day in 1932. His replacement Bill Cowher stepped down from the Steelers coaching job on this day in 2007.
That means from 1969 to today, the Steelers have had all of three coaches in the last 46-plus years: Noll, Cowher and now Mike Tomlin.
That's nuts, right? Noll guided the Steelers into contention and they have been there for the last 40 years. (Those three are 34-22 in the postseason; the other 13 Steelers coaches since 1933 are a combined 0-1 in the playoffs.)
What franchises make the Rushmore of the best run organizations in the last 40 years?
Go and remember the mailbag.