Oh, did they move it to Thursday this year? That’s one of my league nights at the curling club.
ESPN3 was live-streaming the Continental Cup, held in Las Vegas, a very fun event. Fortunately, if you missed it, you can get it for the next few days on replay. 
(P.S.: included in the North America team was Jaime Sinclair, who is a member at my curling club, Charlotte Curling Association. 
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Rodgers is a verb. Ask the Brits. Just, can Green Bay keep it up?
It’s late to say, but while watching this game with my family, I said multiple times “There is no number big enough for the Packers to be ahead for me to be comfortable with it.” That game nearly proved me right!
Now onto the insane TD-fest that will be Us Vs. Atlanta
Great game in the NFC yesterday. I wasn’t particularly rooting for or against either team, but not having a rooting interest didn’t hurt the excitement of that ending. I was a little surprised the Packers won it, to be honest. I thought the karma effect was going to give it to the Cowboys.
Last week, the Packers got karmic retribution for their 2011 loss to the Giants in a role reversal:
The losing team dominated time of possession and yards in the first half despite being plagued by drops. The winning team snuck in a last second hail mary touchdown to go into the half up by 10 (2011) / 8 (2016). The second half was then dominated by the winning team as they easily claimed victory 37-20 / 38-13.
When Joe Buck started talking about the Dez Bryant non-catch playoff game the Cowboys lost to the Packers in 2014, I thought back to the role reversal last week and damn if my magical-thinking football brain didn’t fully expect a similar role reversal this game, where the Cowboys would win on the strength of a late game controversial call.
Two good games yesterday, even for a disappointed (but not surprised) Seahawks fan.
However, four games this weekend and the wrong team won each of them, from my perspective. Rough weekend.
There is no karma in the NFL, or Kelly, Tarkenton and Marino would at least have one SB champ ring.
On a side note, the last 3 SBs have been first-seed v. first-seed, an unprecedented trend that the Packers have finally broken.
Also interesting to note (that I never realized), there’s never been a Super Bowl that didn’t feature at least one 1 or 2-seed.
So, I had to look. And according to my limited research, both Super Bowl teams have failed to reach the playoffs the next season only 4 times. This years was the first time ever that both teams were the number 1 seed in the previous year’s playoffs.
2016 - Broncos (1) V Panthers (1)
2002 - Buccaneers (2) V Raiders (1)
2001 - Patriots (2) V Rams (1)
1988 - Washington (3) V Broncos (1)
This also makes the Broncos the only two timer on the list 
It’s true, the Packers are the NFC’s Steelers. There was a big helmet-to-helmet hit on Cole Beasley that wasn’t flagged.
Wow, one play. And now the Pack are worse than the Steelers?
There’s always someone out there that has to take one play and turn it into a “team philosophy”. Where were you when Jordy Nelson got his ribs broke from a spearing hit? Where were you when Suh would routinely stomp on players after a tackle? Or any other blatantly illegal moves that have been going on since the dawn of time?
I know - probably not watching.
Not to homer too much, but where was the penalty on that? Beasley wasn’t a defenseless receiver or a QB in the pocket.
ETA: On the slooooow motion replay, there could be an argument for a call. There’s also an argument that it was incidental contact during the tackle. I’m still a big “Meh” on the no-call.
Only 2 AFC QBs not names Brady, Manning or Roethlisberger have appeared in the Super Bowl dating back to the 01-02 season. The last one was Joe Flacco, of course, four years ago. Before that, you have to go back to friggin’ Rich Gannon. So those 3 guys have appeared in 14 of the last 16 SBs. Amazing. Over that same period on the NFC side, Russell Wilson, Eli Manning and Kurt Warner have been in 2 SBs each.
In the last 4 SBs, the NFC has been represented by a non-white starting QB (assuming Kapernick is accurate about his ethnicity). So that is at an end. Non-white starting QBs are 2-5 overall (McNair was the only one for an AFC team).
The hit by Kentrell Brice #29? There is no penalty for helmet-to-helmet hits on ballcarriers in the open field unless a player lowers his head and leads with the crown.
If there were any “missed” calls, it was no-calls on numerous incidents of Cowboys DBs grabbing receivers a bit too much. I prefer less of that anyway, so I thought the officiating was pretty good.
Not a big Packer fan, but I’m a HUGE* Cowboy hater, going back for decades. Definitely an exciting game, but the way the Pack’s D wore down in the second half, I’m not confident at all that they’ll beat Atlanta (whose D hasn’t been bad the last month or so). I also kinda like the Cinderella thing where the Dirty Birds make it into the SB.
On the other side, I fear that Pittsburgh’s D won’t be able to handle the Pats’ offense, much as I hate to say it. 6 FG’s isn’t impressing me very much as offensive output, either, but then they were facing the top defense in the league. We’ll see what Brown can do for you.
It should be interesting. I can see any of the four scenarios happening, and I FERVENTLY hope for the Steelers to beat the Pats into a bloody pulp. We shall see…
*It’s funny…I haven’t used that word since before the Orangutan was elected. I get this feeling of uneasiness every time I go to type it. But here it’s really the best word; the only team I dislike as much as the 'Boys is the Raiders.
The Packers’ defense, particularly the secondary, has been ravaged by injuries this year, and I was surprised that it took as long as it did for the Cowboys to get their passing game going.
If they lose to the Falcons, I suspect that that the primary reason will be the patchwork defense not being up to the task.
Just to add to the misery, they lost Morgan Burnett in the Cowboy game too. It’s possible they’ll be without their top 2 CB’s and #1 free safety, and instead relying on a couple street free agents. Gunter was tasked with covering Dez, and he did not play well at all against Dallas (he gave up 6 receptions for 85 yards on 9 targets and 2 td’s) and Randall didn’t fare much better on the other side. But Gunter played pretty well against Julio last time, but there is no way I feel confident relying on him. The Packers have to hope someone steps up, like Micah Hyde did against the Cowboys, and makes plays, because they simply cannot go toe to toe against the Falcons with that secondary.
Still, with Aaron Rodgers, there is always hope. Falcons favored by 4 at this point.
Vegas sportsbooks lost pretty huge over the weekend with the Sunday upsets. I imagine the Packers especially killed them. Dallas giving Aaron Rodgers 4.5 was insanity.
And now Atlanta is giving up the same 4.5. I feel a little more confident in the Falcons, though.
New England is giving 5.5 to Pittsburgh and I’d say that’s about right. It’s entirely possible that Pitt’s defense won’t be able to get off the field and this one could be a route.
Small world. The lead on her team, Monica Walker, used to play at my club, as did the second on one of the men’s teams.