THE WORST LOSS EVER FOR THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS?
Just when you think you’ve seen everything in the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship game Sunday with an amazing hard-to-believe 61-yard desperation TD pass from Case Keenum to Stephon Diggs with 0:00 left for an utterly improbable 29-24 victory.
One athlete’s glory can be another athlete’s burden. New Orleans rookie Marcus Williams was the unfortunate safety who for some reason forgot to tackle Diggs inbounds at around the 35-yard line for what should’ve been the final play of the game.
Divisional Round - New Orleans Saints v Minnesota Vikings MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 14: Stefon Diggs #14 of the Minnesota Vikings leaps to catch the ball in the fourth quarter of the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the New Orleans Saints on January 14, 2018 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Diggs scored a 61-yard touchdown to win the game 29-24. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
I’m pretty sure every New Orleans Saints fan alive will take memories of that magic-to-tragic moment with them to their graves.
Minnesota fans must be thinking they’re ordained to see their Vikings become the first Super Bowl-team to win on its home field.
--Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was 0-2 versus Jacksonville this season. He lost to the Jaguars throwing five interceptions and then to the Jags throwing five TD passes.
--Some Buffalo fans are saying Jacksonville scoring 45 points against the Steelers proves that the Bills must have had a terrific defense because they lost only 10-3 to the Jags in the wild-card round. Wrong. The difference was that Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles was awful throwing the ball against the Bills but connected on many timely throws against Pittsburgh.
--The Philadelphia Eagles in their 15-10 victory over Atlanta proved that a team with a strong defense and solid running game can win a playoff game if their ordinary quarterback – in their case Nick Foles – doesn’t kill them with mistakes. Foles wasn’t great but he was OK.
--New England crushed Tennessee 35-14 and it wasn’t that close. The Patriots showed how much they were distracted by reports of internal conflict between Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft. They might not win Super Bowl LII but they’re clearly the team to beat. Experience and confidence are a tough combination.
THE EARLY ODDS FAVOR PATRIOTS AND VIKINGS
So now three of the four quarterbacks vying to start in Super Bowl LII are Case Keenum, Blake Bortles, and Nick Foles. Who could’ve guessed that? Plus, of course, Tom Brady. He’d be 1-to-20 odds if this were a quarterback – not a quarterhorse -- race.
Here are the early odds For Sunday’s NFL Conference Championship games: AFC -- New England favored by 9 points over Jacksonville (over/under 47 points)...NFC – Minnesota favored by 3 ½ points over Philadelphia (over/under 38 ½).
Here are the early odds to win Super Bowl LII February 4 in Minnesota: New England 11-to-10 (bet $10 to win $11)...Minnesota 7-to-4 (bet $4 to win $7)...Philadelphia 7-to-1...Jacksonville 8-to-1.
HOW BRIAN DABOLL WOUND UP AS BUFFALO BILLS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
The Buffalo Bills announced Sunday that Brian Daboll is the team’s fifth offensive coordinator in five years.
It is expected that one of his top tasks will be developing a “franchise quarterback.”
How did he reach the Bills?
He was born in Welland, Ontario, April 14, 1975. Had he stayed in Canada, he might have been a hockey or lacrosse player instead of a football player.
He played high school football at St. Francis in Athol Springs, New York (outside Buffalo). He was a hard-hitting safety. His coach once said the team lost one game in two seasons, and “it was the one (Daboll) missed.”
He was smart enough and good enough to be accepted to the University of Rochester. He weas a starting safety his sophomore and junior seasons. In the final game of the 1995 season, he suffered a neck and shoulder injury. Doctors advised that he’d be risking paralysis if he continued to play.
Daboll remained with the team as an unofficial student coach. He had a taste of coaching and was good at it. He graduated from UR with a degree in economics in 1997.
His first real college coaching job was as a restricted earnings defensive assistant at William & Mary in 1997, where he met senior safety Sean McDermott.
A friend of Daboll, Brian Polian, recommended him to the new coach at Michigan State, Nick Saban, who brought in Daboll in as a graduate assistant.
When Saban left for LSU, Daboll was among the coaches he wanted to bring with him. Daboll’s fiancée preferred not to make the move to LSU. Saban asked Daboll what he wanted to do. Daboll said he’d like to go to the NFL.
Saban contacted his friend and former boss – Bill Belichick -- who agreed to check out Daboll. He got a job as a defensive assistant. In two stints with the Patriots (2000 through 2006 and 2013 through 2016), he earned five Super Bowl rings as a defensive assistant, wide receivers coach, offensive assistant and tight ends coach.
From 2009 through 2012, Daboll was offensive coordinator for three NFL teams. The results aren’t pretty, but he had a parade of lousy quarterbacks to work with, including Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace, Matt Moore, Chad Henne and Matt Cassel:
Cleveland Browns – 32nd in total offense in 2009...29th in 2010
Miami Dolphins – 22nd in 2011
Kansas City – 24th in 2012.
He was reunited with Saban at Alabama for the 2017 season as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks. He had his critics. Some said he ran the ball too much on first down and had too many carries for quarterback Jalen Hurts and too few for a talented stable of running backs.
Saban made the decision to replace Hurts with freshman Tua Tagovalioa at halftime of the come-from-behind overtime victory over Georgia in the College Football Playoff Championship game, but Daboll got the credit for calling the game-winning TD pass.
There was speculation that Daboll was the favorite to become offensive coordinator of the Patriots if Josh McDaniels got a head coaching job. Maybe McDermott wanted to beat Belichick to the punch.
SYRACUSE ORANGE CATCH A BREAK – THE PITT PANTHERS
Jim Boeheim’s young Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team lost 101-90 in double overtime Saturday at Florida State and has dropped dour straight games – all in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
SU’s record in 12-6 with 13 games remaining – all in the ACC.
Boeheim never has had a losing season at SU since arriving in 1976. That streak probably is not in jeopardy – but a berth in the 68-team NCAA tournament is not a sure thing.
No panic. Said Boeheim after the loss to the Seminoles: “It’s five games (into the ACC schedule); Who cares?”
SU started 0-4 in the ACC two years ago and recovered to finish 9-9 in the ACC and advanced to the Final Four. Don’t expect a repeat. That team was better.
The Orange get a timely schedule break in the next three games: home Tuesday against Pittsburgh (0-5 in the ACC and 8-10 overall)...home against Boston College (2-3 in the ACC) January 24...home against Pittsburgh January 27.
Nothing is certain for SU this season, but the Orange have a shot to start a winning streak.
Pittsburgh is a poor rebounding team, has trouble scoring and shoots almost as poorly as SU.
Tale of the tape (rank among the 351 Division I teams in parentheses):
Scoring – SU 70.6 points per game (t272nd)...Pittsburgh 65.9 (323rd)
Field-goal percentage – SU .423 (286th)...Pittsburgh .432 (256th)
3-point FG percentage – SU .322 (301st)...Pittsburgh .334 (251st)
Free-throw percentage – SU .7129 (148th)...Pittsburgh .692 (.229th)
Rebounds per game – SU 40.33 (25th)...Pittsburgh 33.4 (290th).
The top scorers for the Panthers are averaging only 12.9 (Jared-Wilson-Frame) and 12.7 (Ryan Luther) points per game.
SABRES OFFENSE IS DEPRESSINGLY DULL
The Buffalo Sabres offense continues to be anything but sharp. In fact, it is downright dull.
The Sabres hit their mandatory five-day break with 2.25 goals per game – lowest in the 31-team National Hockey League. Their -1.16 goal differential is second-worst, ahead of only Arizona’s -1.20.
Buffalo had the NHL’s best power play last season: 24.5 percent. This season, the Sabres have an NHL-fewest 16 power-play goals and a league-worst 12.9 power-play percentage.
One reason the Sabres always seem to be playing from behind – an NHL-fewest 18 goals in the first period.
Only three players have double-figure goals, and one of them -- left wing Evander Kane – is almost sure to be dealt before the NHL trade deadline February 26. Benoit Pouliot also is trade bait. Many fans wouldn’t mind seeing Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson sent packing – and maybe even 2014 No. 2 overall draft pick Sam Reinhart.
The slow-skating “defensive-minded” defensemen are part of the problem. The 12 blue-liners have combined for 6 goals this season. Coach Phil Housely could use three or four defenseman who played like he did.
Buffalo’s scoring woes are nothing new. Since the 2013 lockout, the Sabres have by far the fewest goals in the NHL. The Sabres haven’t made the playoffs since 2011 and last won a playoff series in 2007.
The Sabres won’t be making the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, either.
That figures to be a good break for the Rochester Americans.
This season’s Amerks are going to make the Calder Cup playoffs.
Rochester currently is the fourth-best team in the 30-team American Hockey League (.679 point percentage). The NHL affiliates of two of the three teams ahead of the Amerks (Winnipeg Jets/Manitoba Moose and Toronto Maple Leafs/Maple Marlies) are likely to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and the third has a good chance (Pittsburgh Penguins/Wilkes-Barre-Scranton Penguins).
The Sabres already have committed to keeping the Amerks intact for the Calder Cup playoffs – including goalie Linus Ullmark and defenseman Brendan Guhle.
RAZORSHARKS...NEW LEAGUE, DIFFERENT RESULTS
The Rochester RazorSharks are 0-5. Really.
The team that won the past four Premier Basketball League championships with a combined 56-5 regular-season record is winless in the “new and better” North American Premier League.
The Kentucky Thoroughbreds swept the RazorSharks Friday (99-96) and Saturday (111-104) in Owensboro, Ky., to boost their record to 4-0.
The Sharks play at the Albany Patroons Monday afternoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Rochester will host the Kansas City Tornados Monday, January 22, and the Thoroughbreds Wednesday, January 31. Both games will start at 7:05 p.m., at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
The slumping Sharks released Dale Coker, DeVerell Biggs and Supreme Hannah last week and signed talented 6-foot-8 forward James Milton, who should be a big help.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: WARRIORS AT CAVALIERS
Three of the NBA’s top Most Valuable Player candidates square off Monday night (8 p.m., on TNT) – Steph Curry and Kevin Durant (Golden State) at LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers). Golden State is favored by 5 ½ points over the struggling Cans (2-7 in their last 9 games).
Golden State has an NBA-best 35-9 record. Cleveland is a disappointing 26-16 and has been playing awful defense. James is a four-time league MVP. He’s shooting for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA-record six MVPs. He could be running out of time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Monday, January 15
2017 IL all-star Red Wings catcher Mitch Garver (27)...Luke Willson (28)...Matt Holliday (38)...Drew Brees (39)...Mary Pierce (43)...Bernard Hopkins (53)...Marvin Lewis (58)...Kenny Easley (59)...Willie Huber (60)...Marty Lyons (61)...Turk Schonert (61)...Jerry Narron (62)...Randy White (65)...Ernie DiGregorio (67)...Bobby Grich (69)....Cy Young winner Mike Marshall (75). Pit Bull (37) and Shane McMahon (48) are invited to the birth day party...Rochester Royals star and NBA Hall of Famer Bobby Davies was born on this date 98 years ago (1920) and died in 1990 at age 70...Martin Luther King Jr. was born on this date 89 years ago (1929) and died in 1996 at age 37.
Tuesday, January 16
Tre’Davious White (23)...Matt Duchene (27)...Greivis Vazquez (31)...Mark Trumbo (32)...Joe Flacco (33)...Albert Pujols (38)...Brendan Morrow (39)...Joe Horn (45)...Roy Jones Jr. (49)...Jack McDowell (52)...Steve Balboni (61)...Gerald Henderson (62)....Lou Angotti (80)....A.J. Foyt (83). Sade (59), Debbie Allen (68) and John Carpenter (70) are invited to the birthday party.