PMT DB
PMT DB
Conference Championship Recap: Eagles Crush Commanders, Chiefs Outlast Bills
Championship Sunday left half the room in tears and the other half planning trips to New Orleans. Max is officially heading to the Super Bowl after his Eagles turned the NFC title game into a track meet, while PFT is left staring at the "big picture" through a microscope of pain. It was a day defined by dominant rushing, questionable spots, and the undeniable reality that Patrick Mahomes simply does not lose in January.
The Linc is a House of Horrors
Philadelphia put up 55 points on a Washington defense that looked like it was already thinking about the off-season. Saquon Barkley was the best player on the field by a mile, looking exactly like the superstar the Giants let walk for nothing. Max nearly passed out after a fumble return, but he was revived by the sheer joy of watching Jalen Hurts play a near-perfect game.
MaxSaquon Barkley is the best player in the NFL and will change the running back market.
Saquon Barkley is the best player in the NFL and I think that he will, he's gonna change the running back market because it shows that we're going back into a play of game where running the football matters and you can win running.
PFT was quick to defend Jaden Daniels, noting that while the turnovers were backbreakers, the kid still showed flashes of the magic that carried them this far. He even refused to let the box score tell the full story of the afternoon.
PFT CommenterI refuse to count Jayden Daniels' last interception against the Eagles as a real stat.
Jayden played awesome. I thought he played great. We're not counting that last interception. If he throws a pick on this last drive, it doesn't count. I agree with that. It counts for Quinyon Mitchell... but that doesn't go against Jayden's stats in my book.
While the Commanders' season ends in Philly, the Eagles look like a juggernaut heading into the rematch. Big Cat pointed out that despite the constant noise around the coaching staff, the results on the field are impossible to ignore.
Big CatNick Sirianni has proven he is one of the best coaches in the NFL.
Nick Sirianni as a head coach, this is his fourth season. He's the first head coach to win the NFC two out of his first four years in the last 40 years. He's 48 and 20 all time, which is the highest winning percentage of any active head coach... Sirianni has proven that he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.
Vic Fangio deserves his flowers too. The Eagles' defense made life hell for the Commanders' rookie sensation, proving that experience matters when the stakes are highest.
Big CatVic Fangio is an elite defensive coordinator whose game plan perfectly neutralized Jaden Daniels and the Commanders' offense.
Vic Fangio is an incredible defensive coordinator. It was very clear from the jump that their entire game plan was, let's just take away [Jaden Daniels'] first read and make him go through his progressions... Vic Fangio is just, I mean he's a great defensive coordinator and [he was] dialing up blitzes when he had to.
The Chiefs are Inevitable
In the AFC, it was the same old story with a new controversial twist. The Bills and Chiefs traded blows in a classic, but a disputed fourth-down spot for Josh Allen turned the tide. Big Cat was incensed by the officiating, believing Buffalo was robbed of a chance to put the game away late.
Big CatThe fourth-down spot for Josh Allen in the AFC Championship was a first down and total bullshit.
The spot. I did not agree with the spot. That did suck though because if the Bills got that first down, it felt like they were gonna go down and score and be up nine. I thought the spot sucked. Fourth and one... they do Josh Allen sneak and the far line judge, I believe ruled it pretty much close to a first down. The closer line judge had a completely different interpretation... I thought it was a first down. I thought it was bullshit.
However, you can't blame the refs for everything. Sean McDermott and Joe Brady went to the well one too many times with a short-yardage package that the Chiefs had clearly scouted. Running the tush push against Chris Jones when you aren't even pushing the quarterback is a bold strategy that failed spectacularly.
Big CatSean McDermott and Joe Brady committed coaching malpractice by running the tush push repeatedly.
What was really bullshit is the fact that Sean McDermott and Joe Brady decided to keep running the same play that the Chiefs were clearly ready for all game. And that was the tush push that they didn't even do correctly. They don't even push. They just rammed Josh Allen in the line. That was coaching malpractice in my eyes.
Now the Bills head into another off-season wondering if they've reached their peak with the current regime. Josh Allen played well enough to win, but the gap between Buffalo and a championship feels like a wall they can't quite climb.
Big CatThe Buffalo Bills may have reached their absolute ceiling with Sean McDermott and might need a new coach to finally win a Super Bowl.
Is there a chance that they've [the Bills] hit the wall and to get through the wall they need something different? I don't think you fire him, but I just, it it did feel like this game was another winnable Bills game that coaching and defense... like it hurt them.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs are heading to their fifth Super Bowl in seven years. For the conspiracy theorists claiming the league is scripting these runs, PFT offered a simple financial solution.
PFT CommenterIf you truly believe the NFL is rigged, you should just bet all your money on the Chiefs.
If it's rigged. If you truly believe it's rigged, then why don't you just make a fuck load of money betting on the Chiefs? That's me personally. That's what I would do.
Coaching Carousel and Who's Back
Outside of the playoffs, the Cowboys provided the funniest news of the week by hiring Brian Schottenheimer as head coach. Big Cat sees it as a clear sign that Jerry Jones is tired of being challenged in his own building.
Big CatJerry Jones no longer wants an Alpha coach; he wants someone who will just do what he says.
Jerry Jones, the Jerry Jones from the nineties... that guy doesn't exist anymore. He just wants a coach that will just follow whatever he says and guess who's gonna follow whatever he says. The career assistant who is down the hall. He'll never. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Ever since Bill Parcells, he's not gonna hire someone who is gonna have that Alpha Energy and be like, this is my show.
We also saw Pete Carroll land with the Raiders, setting up a legendary reunion with Jim Harbaugh in the AFC West. These two are basically the Joker and Batman of football coaching, destined to fight forever in the same division.
Big CatJim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll are destined to be career-long rivals who will inevitably follow each other to the same divisions.
Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll are destined to just go against each other. I love that. They, no matter what, they will always follow each other. This time it's Pete Carroll following Jim Harbaugh. Obviously we had Stanford and USC... then Pete Carroll to the Seahawks, Jim Harbaugh to the Niners, and now Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers and Pete Carroll to the Raiders. They just, they have to be together.
To wrap things up, college basketball is officially back in the rotation. Big Cat is already finding reasons to get mad at the Badgers and Duke, but he's mostly just happy to have a villain like Dan Hurley to root against.
Big CatCollege basketball needs 'asshole' coaches like Dan Hurley to be interesting.
College basketball needs asshole coaches. That's what it was built on... I need a coach K, I need a like as much as I hate Coach K, he has that that like, ah, I hate him. I wanna root against him. Dan Hurley is that if you hate him, that's good for college basketball. So I want him to do whatever he wants to do.
Max is bringing his lucky boot to New Orleans, and we’re all just living in his world for the next two weeks.
