The thing about Championship Game Sunday -- note I didn't say the "best" or "worst" thing, because I'm not sure which it is -- is that with only two games, and considering their significance, everyone watches at least some of them, and everyone has a take afterward. Officials are terrible, overtime rules need to be changed, Brady is the greatest, Payton is a whiner. We had all of them yesterday.
On one level, you can't get any better than a pair of overtime games. It's never happened on the same day in the playoffs, and might never happen again. But on the other hand, games that close tend to leave a lot of room for criticism, complaints and second-guessing. I had my rooting interests but at the end of day I'm mostly glad that we don't all have one player to pile on as the guy who blew it for his team. Never have been I so glad to see kickers from teams I didn't personally root for make end-of-regulation kicks, so we have other people to point fingers at. Which we'll do now and for the rest of the year, I imagine.
Rams 26, Saints 23. So this was a really great game, with the Saints dominating early, but the Rams -- thanks to a couple of defensive stops and a daring fake punt -- not letting things get away from them. Seeing Todd Gurley really struggle, with a pair of dropped passes that gave New Orleans 3 points (interception) and probably cost the Rams 4 had him the early favorite to be the goat (in a bad way; I'll be honest I can't really abide by the GOAT acronym being a good thing, it just doesn't work for me). Was weird to see him on the sideline in favor of C.J. Anderson for a good portion of the game, not just for runs but also for a couple of passing situations.
But that fake punt got things moving, and Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods and the tight ends made some big plays. And Jared Goff was also very impressive, getting out of a couple of jailbreak pass rush situations with a couple of quick passes that turned sure sacks into positive plays. That happened at the end of regulation and again in overtime, plays where the Rams would have been in deep holes and instead were in manageable offensive situations.
Legatron made the clutch tying to kick, to the relief of all non-Saints fans, and then the overtime winner from 57 that a lot of teams wouldn't have attempted, since they don't have Greg Zuerlein. (Kansas City would later punt rather than try a 53-yarder, granted not in a dome, but still.) Right before the winning field goal, Goff threw a quick pass to Cooks that Cooks dropped, maybe intentionally -- had he caught it he'd have been dropped in his tracks for a 4-yard loss and maybe the Rams don't attempt that 61-yard field goal; who knows.
So on to that play at the end of regulation. Obviously, it was a blatant pass interference. I didn't think it looked as bad in real time; I suspect the official thought it was borderline and didn't want to make the call that would have officially sent the Saints to the Super Bowl. So he kept his flag in his pocket, forcing the Saints to kick a short field goal, rather than take a couple of knees and then kick a short field goal.
Perhaps I'm still bitter about the whole Bountygate thing that kept Brett Favre and the Vikings out of the Super Bowl (a game that ironically was won on a field goal by the team that got the ball first in overtime, which factored into that rule giving us our current rule which still looks inadequate and will probably be changed eventually -- more on that later). Whether I am or not, I think Sean Payton has gone a little bit overboard bitching and moaning about the non-call, which yes kept New Orleans from going to the Super Bowl right then and there. Because, call or no, the Saints still had a lead in the final two minutes and just needed to make a defensive stop. AND they actually won the toss in overtime, so they could have won things on offense but for a turnover where Brees (who did not have a great game) held the ball too long. OR they could have stopped the Rams to prevent the winning kick.
I don't know. I just think all his talk about just getting off the phone with the league office after the game and being told this and that is a little unseemly. Yeah, it sucks, but there have been worse playoff losses. Including the one suffered by the Vikings (which included a huge pass interference call) that helped you guys win your Super Bowl. So maybe keep some of your sour grapes to yourself. You had other chances to not lose.
Patriots 37, Kansas City 31. So this game ended up with a really big total, primarily due to a back-and-forth fourth quarter where the defenses were gassed and both offenses marched up and down the field at will. Which sometimes happens, and is why I'm in favor of the overtime rules being modified (more on that in a moment). But prior to that, there was some defense played, and the game could/should have been 7-0 at the half. Looked like the Patriots were content with that, but Kansas City called a timeout on third and 4, maybe a mistake, and New England went down and made it 14-0. Oh, and that happened right after Kansas City did two things: 1) Mahomes missed a wide-open Damien Williams for a touchdown after a bomb to Tyrek Hill, 2) Mahomes took an awful sack that turned a likely field goal into a 53-yard that Andy Reid didn't even attempt.
So basically what could have easily, easily been a 7-7 or at worst 7-3 halftime score became a 14-0 game that Kansas City's second-half awakening wasn't enough to fully overcome. Ultimately, a big game for Mahomes, and Sammy Watkins, and especially Damien Williams -- can we talk for a moment about Miami's decision to let Williams walk while bringing in Frank Gore? A Hall of Famer, sure, but that decision doesn't look good.
Time and again, Tom Brady marched the Patriots down the field for go-ahead scores. He was helped by a couple of lousy calls, none worse than a phantom roughing the passer that proved pivotal. Would Kansas City have won without that call? Tough to say. New England was probably going to do whatever they needed to to work their way down the field for the necessary points regardless. I guess some call this the greatness of Brady. And sure, he got it done, as he usually does. He'll 10- and 15-yard pass to Edelman, White, or whoever you to death. Throw in a couple of questionable Andy Reid decisions (maybe take another end-zone shot with 11 seconds left before kicking the tying field goal?), and the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl.
Those comfortable with the current overtime policy will point out that the Saints won the toss, and lost. Imagine, though, if they hadn't turned it over, and BOTH overtime games were won by the team that won the toss without the other team touching the ball? That would probably have changed the rule right then and there.
Yes, Kansas City could have (and should have) simply managed a third-and-long stop to force either a punt or field goal, and then got the ball back. Since I made that point with the Saints, it needs to be acknowledged here, as well. Brady made the throws, Edelman made the catches, that's what they do.
But defenses are gassed in overtime, and it's not surprising when the team that wins the toss marches down the field and scores a touchdown. Patriots did it to Atlanta in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, after all: won the toss, scored a touchdown, Atlanta stood and watched.
I'm not in favor of a college system where teams get the ball with great field position or whatnot. A simple rule change that both teams get a possession, whether the first team scores a field goal (current rule) or touchdown. Not a big shift. Literally all I'm in favor of here. Each teams gets an offensive possession in overtime. I'm not sure anybody who's seen their team lose like Kansas City lost yesterday, or Atlanta in Super Bowl LI, would disagree.
So it's Patriots-Rams again. We've got two weeks to talk about it, so I won't do it at all right now. I'll just say, those were a couple of great championship games. No matter what happened and who won, I'm sure we'd all have something to complain and argue about. At least we won't be saying the games were busts. That's something.