Matthews: Foles and Amendola - Two Unlikely MVP's

FOLES AND AMENDOLA -- TWO UNLIKELY MVPs

Back in August – when NFL training camps began – if someone told you that the Most Valuable Players of the Conference Championship games would be a Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and a New England receiver – you probably wouldn’t have been shocked and would’ve guessed Carson Wentz of the Eagles and Rob Gronkowski or Julian Edelman or maybe even Brandin Cooks or Chris Hogan of the Patriots.

I’m pretty sure NO ONE would’ve come up with Nick Foles and Danny Amendola.

Foles, originally drafted No. 88 overall by Philadelphia in 2012, had one huge season with the Eagles (2013: 27 TD passes, 2 INTs, 119.2 passer rating) and was traded to St. Louis March 10, 2015 for Sam Bradford. He was with the Rams in 2015 and Kansas City as a back-up QB in 2016 before signing with Philadelphia as a free agent March 10, 2017, as the back-up to second-year QB Carson Wentz.

When Wentz suffered a season-ending knee injury December 10, Foles became the starter. He had one solid game in a victory over the Giants but struggled in subsequent games vs. Oakland and Dallas.

The Eagles were 3-point underdogs at home in their first two playoff games this month, mainly because Foles and not Wentz was the team’s QB.

Foles was very good in the 15-10 win over Atlanta in the Divisional round (23-of-30 for 246 yards; 100.1 passer rating) and fabulous in Sunday’s 38-7 romp over Minnesota (26-for-33 for 352 yards; 3 TD passes; 141.1 passer rating) in the NFC Conference Championship game.

Foles was the obvious MVP. His two-game playoff passing line entering Super Bowl LII: 49-of-63 (.778) for 598 yards; 3 TDs; 0 INTs; 122.1 passer rating. Not bad. Could Carson Wentz have done any better?

Amendola, third in the line of New England’s 2004-throuh-preesnt line of quick and sure-handed smallish wide receivers behind Wes Welker and Julian Edelman, inherited a bigger role this season when Edelman suffered a season-ending torn ASCL in a preseason game. Amendola had 61 catches for 659 yards and 2 TDs.

In Sunday’s 24-20 come-from-behind home victory over Jacksonville, he had 7 catches for 84 yards and two TDs, including the game-winner just inside the back end line. He also had a key punt return to set up another score and completed a 20-yard pass.

Personally, I would’ve voted QB Tom Brady for MVP of the NFC Conference Championship game, but I have no strong argument against Amendola.

It will be interesting to see if Sunday’s heroics will impact the status of Foles and Amendola for next season – when Wentz and Edelman return.

PATRIOTS FAVORED BY 5 ½ POINTS OVER EAGLES IN SUPER BOWL LII

New England is favored by 5 ½ points over Philadelphia in Minneapolis February 4.

That figures. Tom Brady will be trying to boost his Super Bowl record to 6-2 and his lacerated finger won’t be an issue. Super tight end Rob Gronkowski will have two weeks to recover from his concussion. Bill Belichick will have extra time to concoct a battle plan as only he can.

If any coach can cool off Philadelphia’s suddenly red-hot Nick Foles, Belichick is the man. Carson Wentz couldn’t have played any better than Foles did in Sunday’s 38-7 romp over Minnesota.

The big difference in Philadelphia’s victory over the 3-point favored Vikings was at quarterback. Foles was terrific and Case Keenum was brutal. He picked a poor time to revert to the old journeyman Case Keenum form(three costly giveaways) and cost himself a boatload of money in his next contract.

The Patriots appeared to be in deep trouble late in the first half of the AFC title game. They trailed Jacksonville 14-3 and super tight end Rob Gronkowski was out with a concussion. The Jaguars looked younger and hungrier. They were loaded with confidence and flying all over the field.

Tom Brady took over when it counted most. He engineered a late TD to close the first half deficit to 14-10. The rally continued in the fourth quarter as Danny Amendola replaced Gronkowski as Brady’s primary target. The Patriots gained momentum and Jacksonville began to wilt.

It was old hat to New England and a valuable learning experience for the young Jaguars. The game-winning TD pass from Brady to Amendola in the back of the end zone was a thing of beauty for Patriots fans. New England 24, Jacksonville 20.

I wish Super Bowl LII were New England versus New Orleans: a Tom Brady versus Drew Brees showdown of first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks would’ve been sweet. I’m sure the Saints and their fans are sicker now than they were after blowing the NFC Divisional championship the week before to the Vikings, who were out of magic dust Sunday in Philadelphia.

TWO GUYS WHO PROBABLY DON’T MIND THE SLUMP OF THE SABRES

The hapless Buffalo Sabres lost 7-1 at home Saturday to the Dallas Stars to drop to 11-26-9. They have a pitiful 31 out of 92 possible points in the NHL standings with 36 games to play in this regular season.

For the seventh straight season, they won’t be going to the playoffs.

The fans are demoralized but at least two people must be loving the woes of the Sabres – former general manager Tim Murray and former coach Dan Bylsma, who were fired April 20, 2017.

Jason Botterill is the new GM and Phil Housley is the new coach.

Better days could be ahead – but so far, not so good.

The 2016-17 Sabres were 33-37-12 (78 of 164 possible points i9n the standings) and outscored by a mere 36 goals (201-237).

The 2017-18 Sabres have been outscored by an NHL-most 59 goals (103-162) and are on pace for 62 points – 16 fewer than last season.

Murray had been GM since January 2014. Among his failings was lack of improvement on the blue line. Bylsma’s record for his two seasons was 68-73-23 and the speculation was that many of the players (denied by Jack Eichel) didn’t like him.

The way the team has performed this season, some players must hate Housley.

Maybe the biggest problems weren’t Murray and Bylsma. Maybe it was some of the players.

Buffalo’s next three games are on the road – probably not a bad thing considering that the Sabres were booed off the ice in the last two home games: at Calgary Monday, at Edmonton Tuesday and at Vancouver Thursday.

21 NATIONAL FOOTBALL CHAMPS AND COUNTING SINCE 1959 SYRACUSE

Syracuse University won the college football national championship for the first – and probably only – time in 1959.

Since then, 21 different schools have won the NCAA Division I national title (Associated Press version).

Here they are:

Minnesota (1) 1960

Alabama (11) 1961-1964-1965-1978-1979-1992-2009-2011-2012-2015-2017

USC (5) 1962-1967-1972-2003-2004

Texas (3) 1963-1969-2005

Notre Dame (4) 1966-1973-1977-1988

Ohio State (3) 1968-2002-2014

Nebraska (4) 1970-1971-1994-1995

Oklahoma (4) 1974-1975-1985-2000

Pittsburgh (1) 1976

Georgia (1) 1980

Clemson (2) 1981-2016

Penn State (2) 1982-1986

Miami (5) 1983-1987-1989-1991-2001

BYU (1) 1984

Colorado (1) 1990

Florida State (3) 1993-1999-2013

Florida (3) 1996-2006-2008

Michigan (1) 1997

Tennessee (1) 1998

LSU (1) 2007

Auburn (1) 2010.

Factors working against another NCAA football national championship for Syracuse include the region, the weather, the size of the stadium and competition from football factories with better facilities, more fairly recent NFL alumni and more national prime-time TV exposure.

SU BASKETBALL HOSTS BOSTON COLLEGE WEDNESDAY

Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orange host Boston College Wednesday, 7 p.m.

SU is 13-6 (2-2 in the Athletic Coast Conference) and can’t afford many unexpected losses in its quest for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Boston College is 13-7 (3-4 in the ACC) and no pushover.

The Orange continue to look lousy in the statistical rankings of the 351 NCAA Division I basketball teams: 277th in scoring (70.0 points per game), 289th in field-goal percentage (42.4) and 313th in 3-point field-goal percentage (32.0).

On a positive note, SU is tied for 19th in scoring defense (63.6), 29th in rebounds per game (38.79) and 138th in free-throw percentage (72.3).

Nest season’s team figures to be significantly better in every category.

SHORT SHOTS

The first 2018 baseball preview magazine has hit the newsstands (what few there still are): Street & Smith’s picks Yankees over Houston in the ALCS, Washington over Dodgers in NLCS, and Yankees over Nationals in the World Series.

The Rochester Americans (24-9-5-5) have played lots of fine hockey this season but they’re only ordinary in extra time. Sunday’s 5-4 loss in Charlotte dropped them to 6-5 in overtime and they’re 2-5 in shootouts.

Tommy Field, a hustling and valuable utility players for the Rochester Red Winds the past two seasons, has decided to retire. He’ll turn 31 next month. He played in 212 games at second base, third base, shortstop and outfield for manager Mike Quade: 2016 -- .226 (72-for-318), 14 doubles, 2 triples, 11 HRs, 44 RBI; 2017 -- .231 (93-for-402), 29 doubles, 6 HRs, 32 RBI.

The meteoric rise off Cameroon native heavyweight Francis Ngannou was derailed at least temporarily last Saturday night with a lopsided loss via unanimous decision to champion Stipe Miocic in the headliner of UFC 220. Nagannou was the favorite ($175 to win $100) and Miocic was $100 to win $145.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Monday, January 22

Ray Rice (30)...Greg Oden (30)...Jason Peters (36)...Chone Figgins (40)...Bucky Brooks (47)...Wayne Kirby (54)...Mike Bossy (61)...Serge Savard (72)...Red Wings Hall of Fame pitcher Dave Leonhard (77). Guy Fieri (50), Diane Lane (53) and Linda Blair (59) are invited to the birthday party.

Tuesday, January 23

Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett (23)...Jeff Smardzija (33)...Addison Russell (24)...Tito Ortiz (43)...Tomas Holstrom (45)...Julie Foudy (47)...Kevin Mawae (47)...Mark Wohlers (48)...Richard Smehlik (48)...Sherman Obando (48)...Brendan Shanahan (49)...Eric Metcalf (50)...former Amerks star Jean-Francois Sauve (58)...Pat Haden (65)...Red Wings Hall of Famer Ellis “Cot” Deal was born on this date 95 years ago (1923) and died in 2013 at age 90.


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