As we wait to be hit over the head repeatedly about the Kelce brothers next week in Arizona, here are some thoughts from an underwhelming championship weekend, different NFL topics and the Patriots:
- This weekend reinforced my belief that you better have a great team or a great QB to bail you out if you are a head coach that gets buried in your playsheet like Kyle Shanahan, Zach Taylor and Andy Reid. All three made major, critical management mistakes that cost his team.
- Funny how those mistakes used to kill Reid with the Eagles and early in his Chiefs tenure, but he gets away with them with Patrick Mahomes. Those rare QBs man ... really make you look good.
- Shanahan didn't challenge the first fourth-down catch on the opening drive, even though that wasn't a huge mistake because there wasn't a great replay initially. Not going to totally kill him for that. Hindsight always bats 1.000. That being said, it's another example of him not having a good operation. His sideline had a better view of the play than the official. There was the reaction by Devonta Smith, that should have told him something was up. And it's fourth down on the first drive in the first half ... who cares if you lose a timeout there? If it was third down, I could see not challenging. Fouth down that argument is harder to make.
- I will kill Shanahan for his decision to be aggressive before halftime. It cost his team the game. Brock Purdy was already knocked out of the game, leaving Josh Johnson as the only QB. Great job keeping the game 14-7 Eagles with 1:36 left before halftime. Niners had all three timeouts left, Eagles two. Ball on the SF 25. The Niners were getting the ball to start the second half.
- At that point, the No. 1 goal is to, at the very least, exit the half only down 7. You can get into the locker room, adjust the gameplan for Johnson, tell the team this is how we are going to win this game. You have a great defense, they'll keep you in the game if you don't turn the ball over.
- The pass on first down was too aggressive — you have to make sure the clock continues to run and, hopefully, the Eagles use their timeouts if they want to play aggressively. And then, to rush to the line with all three timeouts, was just stupid. It's YOUR FOURTH QB. How many times has he repped this in practice? In a game? Of course he dropped the snap, the Eagles recovered, scored a TD and the game was largely over.
- Because people are terrible, they'll all blame Joseph Ossai for the Bengals losing to the Chiefs, even though the 22-year-old rookie played his ass off and helped the Bengals stay in the game. They'll forget that Zach Taylor gave up just as many yards on that final drive when he allowed — because he's staring at his playsheet — his punter to kick a line drive right down the middle of the field. I don't care if the rookie returner has fumbled before ... that means he's going to do it there? Skyy Moore returned it 29 yards — double Ossai's penalty — to the Chiefs' 47. There's 41 seconds left and the Chiefs have one timeout. You have to at least kick it near the sideline, if not out of bounds altogether. That was almost as dumb as the Jets' decision to punt to Marcus Jones in the final seconds. It was beyond stupid, and gave the Chiefs a chance to win the game.
- And then Reid and Taylor had a stupid-off before halftime of their game. The Chiefs got the ball back after an interception with 2:22 and were out of timeouts due to Reid's genius. They're at the Bengals' 39 — just a few yards from a field goal. They were leading 13-3 and were to receive the ball before halftime. You, at the very least, have to run the ball to get to the 2-minute warning. The goal should have been to run clock and/or have the Bengals burn their timeout. At the very worst, if you don't advance the ball, you pin the Bengals, leave them with either one timeout and about 1:45 left, or all three timeouts and there's under a minute left.
- What did Reid do? Threw three incomplete passes, and the Bengals had the ball before the 2-minute warning, had all three timeouts and got a FG. That's just terrible coaching.
- Of course, Taylor used all three of his timeouts to go from the KC 44 to the KC 37.
- Nick Sirianni looked like he was going to have his moment when he threw two-straight times on his opening second half drive, and twice again to end the second drive ... before the lame roughing the kicker penalty gave Eagles new life. But he self-corrected and ran every play to score and end the game at 28-7.
- You have to manage the game and your players if you're a head coach. That's the essential part of your job description. Too many coaches forget about that, get lost in plays. Bill Belichick, when he had veteran coordinators on offense, defense and special teams, was the best at that. He just managed the game and gave the Patriots a huge advantage. As he allowed his coaching staff to slide, Belichick's advantage was nullified. He has to get back to that, especially when he's going to be 71.
- Three delay of game penalties, Shanahan? Really?
- How was that grounding on Joe Burrow when Samaje Perine was right there?
- It's cliche to say the NFL has an officiating problem — it gets said every year, almost every week. But this was the first time in a while I remember the total operation looking so shoddy on a championship weekend. There have been a lot of retirements in recent years. Officiating is very watered down at this point.
- Sure seemed like the Bengals were getting jobbed in that game.
- We used to do this all the time with the Patriots, so might as well do this with the Eagles ... what are their best wins this season after beating a bad Giants team, and a 49ers team on its 4th QB? Dallas in Week 6? The Packers is a big win in Week 12? It's been a long time since the Eagles had to play a meaningful game all four quarters — probably that Packers game on Nov. 27.
- Jalen Hurts was not that good against the 49ers. Steve Spagnuolo will do his best to put the game on his arm from the pocket.
- This Eagles "run" reminds me of some of those cream-puff Patriots postseason gauntlets — but they worked out for New England. 2016 vs Steelers, 2014 vs. Colts ... Patriots won Super Bowl.
- The lesson from this postseason, and just about every postseason — the trenches matter. The two best teams on both lines in both conferences are going to the Super Bowl. The Eagles have the best of the two finalists.
- Patriots can get there with some serious work at OT and a good o-line coach to get Cole Strange to boost a level, and they still need another disruptive DT to go along with a healthy Christian Barmore.
- Chris Jones was amazing on Sunday, but the Eagles will take care of him. Could swing the Super Bowl.
- Chiefs LT Orlando Brown (7 pressures allowed) is completely overrated, but someone will pay him as a free agent. I hope it's not the Patriots, but he'd be an upgrade for sure. Niners RT Mike McGlinchey, also a free agent, is a little bit better on his side.
- Bengals RG Max Scharping and RT Hakeem Adeinji — both backups — combined for 16 pressures allowed and 5 sacks, according to PFF.
- If Vic Fangio does indeed go to Miami as defensive coordinator — and there are conflicting reports that's locked up — it could be the most important move in the AFC East this offseason, provided the Jets don't get Aaron Rodgers. I would make the argument that Fangio is the best defensive mind in the game today. That was Miami's big weakness last season. Of course, they have the Tua issue lingering.
- I'm here for Andy Reid vs. the Eagles. I'm sure they'll all play nice and say great things about one another, but Reid has to have an ax to grind after being let go by the team.
- I've been really underwhelmed by all of these playoff games. Chiefs-Bengals had some great drama, but it was not well-played. The last Patriots-Chiefs matchup was way better. I'll reiterate my argument against the playoff change to the single bye system. I hate it. It didn't work out this year, but basically the two most healthy teams — which had byes — advanced to the Super Bowl this year. There's too much disparity in the schedules to give one team in each conference a huge advantage with a week off, and it makes it harder for other great teams who might have played tougher schedules. The teams that had to play 3 games to reach the championship game looked exhausted. I'd be open to having play-in game in each conference and giving most teams a week off. I just wanted better football in the playoffs. Since going to 17 games, I don't think that's happening.