Flaming Hot takes: The Newsletter

The the thing about being right is.....

After 4 Divisional Round playoff match ups one thing stood out to me, We were absolutely right about the Cincinnati Bengals and we might have jumped the gun on burying the eagles. Being right has its perks but there was plenty we got wrong as well so lets jump into it with the Kansas City Chiefs vs the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Kansas City still holds that Crown....for now

The Chiefs came into this game as one of the Superbowl favorites and when Patrick Mahomes had his ankle rolled over we both though that maybe this Jacksonville team, this team that survived more times than it should have would get to the next level. But; if you come for the king you better not miss and until proven otherwise Patrick Mahomes is still that guy. Injured ankle and all he held off a very plucky Jacksonville team. MY Flaming hot take from this game is that JACKSONVILLE WILL WIN AN AFC CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS this might seem crazy to some but Duval county doesn't seem like such a bad place to go this offseason. A solid Coaching staff a decent core of WR, a Great Running back and a QB who is only going to get better the Jaguars are here for a long time.

Buffalo hasn't earned a Crown

All season long the running narrative for a lot of the mainstream sports media was that Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were a lock to go to the Superbowl. And all season long I have been shouting that the team looked incomplete. On Sunday we witnessed that when the Cincinnati Bengals put together an absolutely dominant performance to lock in a trip to the AFC championship game against the Chiefs (ive got the Bengals to win for what its worth). Buffalo has had a few glaring issues all season long and a lot of folks have had a very hard time coming to terms with them. 1. the Run game was almost always Josh Allen. they weren't the worst running team but they abandoned the run far to quickly and far to often. 2. Josh Allen can only cover up so many issues. Superman cant fix everything and while his run plays and run through a wall for you attitude make him easy to cheer for, it also opens him up to ball control issues and ultimately give aways. 3. It would be Wreckless of me to not mention Injuries because this defense spent a lot of the season absolutely destroyed. they still found ways to win but at the end of the day not having Von Miller, Not having a large chunk of your secondary proved harmful.

The other thing I want to talk about with that game was Cincinnati. Folks spent a lot of time forgetting that the Bengals went to the Superbowl LAST SEASON. Things I heard that made me wonder if people actually watched the Bengals this year:

1. "its a weather game" Because Ohio is a tropical oasis?

2. "The Bengals are looking to get up there with the Bills and Chiefs" the Bengals went to the Superbowl last season the Bills did not

3. "Joe Burrow is looking to put his name with the other greats like Josh Allen" Joe Burrow has established himself as a winner and should already be listed in that category.

The overall tenor was that the Bills were destined to go to the Superbowl because they lost last years game against Kansas City in such gut punching fashion. Thats not how football works and Buffalo has some questions to answer going into next season.

Fly Eagles Fly

All Season long I've been on the Eagles wagon. They were dominant and absolutely crushed everyone... until they didn't. Jalen Hurts went down and Gardiner Minshew did his best but the team just looked lost. in Week 17 the Eagles looked to be a completely different team so you could maybe understand that I was a bit cautious giving Philadelphia an EASY win over the division rival giants. I WAS WRONG. Period. The Eagles looked every bit as dominant as they did all season long. Rust? What rust Hurts was effective and was able to do more then enough to secure the victory. I was wrong about this team heading into the playoffs and I may have been right all season long about the birds ill eat my humble pie today.

Same old Cowboys

Coming into this post season there was a lot of talk about how great the Cowboys were. Tony Pollard had an outstanding year Ceedee Lamb had career highs in a bunch of Categories but the one glaring issue was Dak Prescot. Dak was a little turnover happy this season and luckily for him it didn't impact the cowboys post season aspirations....until Sunday. Dak threw 2 costly interceptions to an incredibly dominant San Fransico Defense. Now before I bury the Cowboys here I want to state that I had the 49ers and Bengals as my Superbowl picks. before any claims I'm flip flopping I kept the receipts! alright lets get into it. The predictable play calling absolutely destroyed this cowboys team. Losing Tony Pollard was a big loss but at the end of the day you were going up against a Rookie QB. And on that final play we got to see the most Cowboy thing I've ever seen. Zeke Lining up at Center. Offensive linemen at WR and a pass to Dalton Schultz (if he had gotten his feet down would've been 15 yards further downfield) about 10 yards deep. This team has a lot of questions including what do you do with TWO stars who appear to be missing something. Cooper Rush had the cowboys performing at a top level (when I had them out Cooper Rush proved me wrong). ultimately Blowing out a washed Tampa team fooled a lot of folks into thinking the Cowboys were Superbowl bound.

On the other side of the ball what more can you say about Brock Purdy? Not much honestly. He's doing everything he can to keep this team going. incredible defensive performances will keep this team in any game so next week we will see what happens when a true offensive power comes into to town. Bosa and Fred Warner deserve some flowers here as does George Kittle who if not for Travis Kelce would be considered the top Tight end in the league.

A parting shot of Fire

The past two weeks of football we've seen everything from last grasps at victory to total domination and this coming week I think we are in store for some closer games. My Flaming hot take to get you out of here is: No Team wins by more than a TD next week

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