Lazy Giant #38: New year ... same me
I could lie and say I'll be more consistent this year, but I'd rather underpromise and overdeliver.
If you’ve been paying any attention, 2024 has started off with a BANG in the realm of college and pro football.
Just this week, two coaching legends moved on:
Nick Saban officially retires after quite the run at Alabama
Bill Belichick and the Patriots “part ways”
The tides are changing. No longer has Alabama reined supreme in college football. Moreover, a Big Ten team (Michigan) won the national championship, which hasn’t occurred since 2014 (Ohio State).
The Patriots haven’t been seriously competitive since Tom Brady left town and finished this year 4–13, landing themselves the no. 3 draft pick.
More so in the NFL, a new generation has firmly cemented themselves. Gone are Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, and Drew Brees. Now, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow are here to stay as top-tier quarterbacks.
This change has taken place gradually over the past five or so years, but now with Belichick leaving New England – and potentially retiring – it feels like he is the last remaining piece of the old guard to be gone. I’m not acknowledging Aaron Rodgers because I don’t acknowledge quarterbacks who are attention seekers.
This year is the first in decades where neither Tom Brady or Peyton Manning are not in the playoffs. Strange to think about. Speaking of playoffs…
Playoff field is set, and so are my predictions
We’ve got six NFL games this weekend to start the 2024 playoffs. The standout games for me are:
Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys (-7)
LA Rams at Detroit Lions (-3)
Two games where revenge is in play. Former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy now coaches the Cowboys. Former Rams quarterback Jared Goff faces former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. For a reminder, Goff was shipped off to Detroit in a trade Rams wanted to dump Goff and gain Stafford.
How it goes down
Honestly, I don’t trust the Cowboys in the playoffs yet, even though they’re playing at home and are significantly better there. The Packers are getting feisty, but not quite good enough to win this one. I think there’s a good chance the Packers keep it close though, so I’m taking them to cover +7.
As for Rams at Lions, I would take Rams +3 or Rams to win outright. The Lions are going to be missing their star rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, and in a potential shootout game, that’s a big deal. Stafford comes home to Detroit and spoils their first home playoff game in forever.
In other news, the Colts fell just short of the playoffs this year. Thank goodness I was in Jamaica enjoying the warm weather and couldn’t watch the disappointing end to their season.
But, at the beginning of the year, no one thought the Colts would sniff the playoffs. Their over/under win total was 6.5, and they ended up winning nine. They came into this season with a rookie head coach, rookie quarterback, who then goes down five games into the season. Getting to 9 wins with a backup quarterback isn’t easy.
Takeaways after this year:
Shane Steichen looks to be for real. His feel for the game, use of personnel, and offensive creativity all are above-average to great.
Anthony Richardson will continue his development, if healthy. He only played in a handful of games this year, but what we saw so far was promising. No killer mistakes, he’s aware of the pass rush, and most of all, he didn’t look like a deer in headlights. All good signs.
The Colts need to resign Michael Pittman, and then draft or pickup another wide receiver to surround Richardson. Running back is set with Jonathan Taylor and a good backup, but the wide receiver room could use some work.
Only a few more months until offseason OTAs – the offseason goes by quickly.
Recommendation: Pete Holmes standup
I was perusing Netflix before our Jamaica trip, looking for anything to watch on the plane ride. Pete Holmes: I’m Not for Everyone caught my eye as I had seen clips of him before and his standup before, so I decided to give him a try. I was pleasantly surprised by his style and how much I liked him.
I’ve been off Twitter more these days, so this time, I don’t have tweets. Enjoy the weekend!