A SUPER BOWL WORTHY OF ROMAN NUMERALS...
FOLES AND PEDERSON UPSTAGED BRADY AND BELICHICK
Now that was a super Super Bowl.
Sunday’s super-entertaining 41-33 Philadelphia thriller over mighty New England was so exceptional that this advocate of using normal everyday numbers for Super Bowls – you know, like 52 – will remember this as Super Bowl LII.
Hail to Philadelphia’s two MVPs – emergency quarterback and Most Valuable Player Nick Foles and second-year head coach and Most Valuable Person Doug Pederson.
Eagles QB Carson Wentz was the frontrunner for league MVP when the suffered a season-ending knee injury December 10 in Game 13. Enter Foles. He had one impressive start in a 34-29 road win over the Giants, a decent start in a 19-10 home win over Oakland and a lousy start in a 6-0 home loss to Dallas.
But he was spectacular in the postseason. The Eagles were underdogs in each of the three games and Foles was a huge reason why they beat Atlanta, Minnesota and New England: 77-of-106 (.726 completion percentage) for 971 yards, with 6 TD passes, 1 INT and a 115.7 passer rating.
He even became the first QB ever to throw a TD pass (3) and catch a TD pass in a Super Bowl game.
He has one year left on his contract with Philadelphia and his trade value will never be higher. Would the Buffalo Bills be interested – maybe for one of the two second-round picks?
Pederson called a brilliant game on Sunday. No guts, no glory. Was he as little bit lucky? Maybe. Two daring play calls couldn’t have worked out better:
1—With 38 seconds left in the second quarter and 4th-and-goal from New England’s 1-yard line, he refused to settle for a field goal and ran the “Philly Special” – direct snap to running back Cody Clement, pitch to tight end Trey Burton, and a TD pass to Foles all alone in the end zone for a 22-12 lead.
2—With 5:39 left in the game, trailing 33-32, the Eagles had the ball 4th-and-1 from their own 45-yard line. With three timeouts left. Most coaches (am I right, Bills fans?) would’ve punted. Pederson called for a pass – Foles to tight end Zach Ertz for two yards and the first down. Had New England stopped Philadelphia on that play, red-hot Tom Brady’s Patriots would’ve been set up for a game-sealing TD. But the Eagles were able to control the clock for three more critical minutes before Foles connected on a TD pass to Ertz for a 38-33 lead.
A few more thoughts on Super Bowl LII:
One plus in the loss by the Patriots for New England fans is the end to wild speculation that coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady would ride off into the sunset with a career-ending victory. Fans is Western New York should be so lucky.
I hated the hit to the head by Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins to Patriots wide receiver Brandin Cooks in the second quarter. Cooks did not return. No penalty was called because Cooks was considered a runner after making the catch. I still think it was an unnecessary and cheap shot. At the very least, plays like that should be a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Extra props to the Eagles for winning the Super Bowl minus stars Carson Wentz, Jason Peters, Jordan Hicks and Darren Sproles. They’re four very good players.
PATRIOTS FAVORITE TO WIN SUPER BOWL 53...BILLS 80-TO-1 (NO THANKS)
It took Westgate Lasd Vegad SuperBook less than one hour after Sunday’s game ended to post the early-bird odds to win Super Bowl 53. New England is the 9-to-2 favorite and Philadelphia is second-choice at 6-to-1.
The rest: Pittsburgh 8-to-1...Green Bay and Minnesota each 12-to-1...New Orleans 16-to-1...Atlanta 18-to-1...Dallas, Houston. Jacksonville, Oakland and Seattle each 20-to-1...LA Chagers, LA Rams and Kansas City each 25-to-1...Carolina and San Francisco each 30-to-1...Baltimore, Indianapolis and Tennessee each 40-to-1...Denver 50-to-1...Detroit and Tampa Bay each 60-to-1...Arizona, Cincinnati, Buffalo, NY Giants, Miami and Washington each 80-to-1...Chicago, Cleveland and NY Jets each 100-to-1.
AMERKS, K-HAWKS: GOOD WEEKEND AT THE GATE...BAD IN THE STANDINGS
The Amerks and Knighthawks combined to draw 19,261 fans for two games at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial last Friday and Saturday nights. That was very impressive. The results of the games were not.
A crowd of 9,836 saw the American Hockey League Amerks lose 4-2 to the Toronto Marlies on Friday and 9,425 watched the National Lacrosse League Knighthawks lose 16-14 to the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday.
The Amerks also lost 4-3 in overtime Saturday night in Binghamton. Rochester has lost only three times in regulation on the road this season (14-3-6-3) but has a total of nine road defeats in overtime and shootouts.
Rochester was seventh out of the league’s nine teams in last week’s NLL power rankings, ahead of only the Calgary Roughnecks and Vancouver Stealth. The K-hawks probably will drop to eighth this week after the loss to the Buffalo. Rochester has lost five straight games after an encouraging 2-0 start this season. The K-hawks scored 38 goals in their first two games and have since scored only 51 goals in five games.
As if the K-hawks don’t have enough problems, the next three games will be a challenge: home Saturday against the Toronto Rock and then right back Sunday at the Georgia Swarm, and then host the NLL-best Saskatchewan Rush (6-1 and outscoring opponents 112-79) Saturday, February 17.
The Amerks host the Belleville Senators Wednesday, 7:05 p.m., at Blue Cross Arena. They’ll play at Lehigh Valley Saturday night and at Hershey Sunday afternoon.
GIONTA TIED THREE OTHER AMERKS FOR GOALS-PER-GAME AVERAGE
When U.S. Olympic hockey captain Brian Gionta scored a goal last Friday night for the Rochester Amerks in his first and probably final game of his career as a member of his hometown AHL team, I wondered if he set a record for the highest goals-per game average (1.000) in team history.
He did not. Research by sharp and resourceful texter John Ball reveals that Brian will have to settle for tying the record:
Bobby Schmautz – 7 goals (+8 assists) in 7 games in the 1971-72 season
Al Secord – 4 goals (+2 assists) in 4 games in the 1978-79 season
Johnny Wilson – 2 goals (+2 assists) in 2 games in the 1960-61 season.
GOOD WEEK FOR MIKE HOPKINS
If Mike Hopkins had any second thoughts about leaving Jim Boeheim’s coaching staff at Syracuse last March after 20-plus years, they might have vanished last week.
While slumping SU lost at Georgia Tech and home to Virginia to drop to 15-8 (4-6 in the ACC) and is on thin ice for an NCAA tournament bid, Hopkins’ Washington Huskies upset No. 25-ranked Arizona State last Thursday night and No. 9-ranked Arizona Saturday , 78-75 in Seattle, on a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Huskies are 17-6 (including 7-3 in the PAC 12) and have currently appear to have a better shot than the Orange to make the Big Dance.
GIVE THE SABRES CREDIT FOR NOT RAIDING THE AMERKS
The Buffalo Sabres should be commended for sticking to their development plan and keeping the AHL: Rochester Americans reasonably intact this season. With the fans and media grumbling in Buffalo, it must be tempting to promote a bunch of Amerks to take off some of the heat.
The Sabres still are seeking the 1,000th home victory in franchise history. It isn’t coming easy. Buffalo is 6-15-3 at home this season, including 0-3 in the current five-game homestand. The Sabres lost 1-0 to St. Louis Saturday and hosts Anaheim Tuesday and the New York Islanders Thursday.
There is a decent chance that the elusive 1,000th victory on home ice will happen before this season ends. There are 17 remaining home games.
SHORT SHOTS
The first game for the U.S. Olympic hockey team (featuring captain Brian Gionta) will be February 14 versus Slovenia.
Recommended NBA TV viewing (I don’t do this much until the playoffs start): Oklahoma City (Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony) at Golden State (Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Kyle Thompson and Draymond Green), Tuesday, 10:30 p.m., on TNT (33). That’s lot of talent and a lot of combined salaries).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Monday, February 5
Malik Monk (20)...Neymar (26)...Kelvin Benjamin (27)...Terrence Ross (27)...Mark Hamberger (31)...Christiano Ronaldo (33)...Brian Moornan (42)...Roberto Alomar (50)...Jane Geddes (58)...John Beilein (65)...Darrell Waltrip (71)...Craig Morton (75)...Roger Staubach (76)...Amerks Hall of Famer Larry Hillman (81)...Hank Aaron (84)...Don Cherry (84).
Tuesday. February 6
Chris McCullough (23)...Terrence Ross (27)...Jacquizz Rodgers (28)...Jermaine Kearse (28)...Pedro Alvarez (31)...Kris Humphries (33)...Kim Zmeskal (42)...Chad Allen (43)...Carlos Rogers (47)...Tom Tupa (52)...Rich Glover (68)...Paul Seymour (68)...Richie Zisk (69)...Kent Douglas (82). Axl Rose (56) and Fabian (75) are invited to the birth day party...Babe Ruth was born on this dater 123 years ago (1895) and died in 1948 at age 53.