So now it is time. The NFL goes into its eighteenth and final day of play this weekend.
Many had criticized the league for their plan to add another week to the season. But if you look at the tables and see who still has a chance of a playoff place, the NFL simply has to praise the implementation of the season extension. Because so many teams rarely had a chance at the end of the season to get a ticket for the knockout round.
The Chiefs, the Titans, Bills and the Bengals are sure to be on the side of the AFC. The young team from Cincinnati that featured in this column several weeks ago actually made it. They left the Steelers and Ravens behind and won the AFC North. You can and must say “hats off”, because even if the traditional playoff participants from Pittsburgh and Baltimore still have a mathematical chance of 4 and 2 percent respectively, the arrival of the team around the young quarterback Burrow is the surprise of the Season. And yet again proof of why the NFL is so exciting, because anyone can beat anyone.
And through the draft system, in which the worst teams are allowed to select players first, this level of performance is guaranteed. When teams do their homework and carefully observe and evaluate the young players at college, things can quickly turn around.
And with the team with the tiger design on the helmet, you not only earned a 1+ for your work behind the scenes, but also a hard worker. After Joe Burrow was seriously injured, fans and experts called for a top O-line player to be picked in the next draft. I was also skeptical about the Bengals’ pick to opt for the wide-reiceiver chase instead.
But if you watch a game of the Bengals now, you will know why. Highlight football on two legs. Ja’mar Chase feels like catching all the balls that are thrown in his direction. The best example of this was his game against the Chiefs last weekend. 266 yards with eleven balls caught. Slalom through the strong Kansas City defense. I sat speechless on my couch as a Chiefs fan. Bengals football is not only successful again, it is also really fun.
And while the fans of the aforementioned teams can continue to dream of participating in the next Super Bowl, fans of the Colts, Raiders, Steelers, Ravens and also Chargers will have to keep their fingers crossed for them this weekend. While the eyes must be on the results of various other games.
Big Ben and Steelers fans must hope the Colts lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars and hope the Raiders and Chargers don’t end their game in a draw. Because if the Jacksonville team work the miracle and spit the Colts in the soup, Las Vegas and LA would be 0-0.
A non-aggression pact like the one at the 1982 World Cup between Germany and Austria in Gijon would then mean the ticket for the knockout round for the two AFC teams. Since the game of Raiders and Chargers won’t kick off until all other games are over, this could be tricky. But whoever believes that the Jaguars in their current form will really beat the Colts, also believes in cracking the lottery jackpot with just 5 numbers.
And jackpot is the keyword that brings me to one of my favorite players of the last few years and makes me look at the NFC: Cooper Kupp is his name. And he’s been with the LA Rams for five years now. Son of a former NFL quarterback who was selected as the ninth playmaker in the 1990 draft but never really got out on the role of substitute.
Since childhood, the young Cooper has seen the NFL as the shark tank, where performance is the only thing, and where weaknesses quickly make the other meaning of the NFL acronym, “Not for Long”, come true. Coming from a rather smaller college, Kupp was selected by the Rams in the third round of the draft in 2017 in 69th place. At 1.88 meters and “only” 94 kilograms, compared to the new receiver guard around DK Mettcalf, who look more like incarnate versions of the “Terminator” with mountains of muscles that look as if the muscles themselves still had muscles, rather small and slim.
The fact that the Rams not only fix the playoffs at the weekend, but can also win their division, has a lot to do with this young man. 138 balls caught for 1829 yards. These are values that catapult him into line with record receiver and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.
Because only Rice managed to catch over 1800 yards and more than 15 touchdowns in 1995. Should the Rams continue on Sunday evening against the 49ers as they did in recent weeks, namely with their foot on the gas pedal, Kupp could also equalize the records of Saints receiver Michal Thomas and Lions legend Calvin “Megatron” Johnson.
No wonder that Kupp is still in the running for the title as MVP. Even if in the NFL the title of Most Valuable Player is always awarded to quarterbacks. And there are also Brady and Rodgers who, with their teams, the Buccaneers and Packers, fixed the playoffs last week.
But what makes Cooper Kupp so unique is his attitude towards records. His answer to a question from various journalists what he would think of his record season: “With one matchday I shouldn’t break the records of players who have set theirs in a shorter period of time. You should think about a new era. “
In a sport full of alpha males, this is a kind of thinking that is rarely found. The Rams have to play against the 49ers on ProSieben MAXX on Sunday from 10:15 p.m. And the team from San Francisco has to win in order not to have to bury their dream of the playoffs.
The 49ers not only have to win themselves, they also have to keep one eye on the game of the Saints against the Falcons. Because only if the Saints leave the field as a loser, a win would be enough for the 49ers. So tension is guaranteed right up to the last second.
So I’m all the more happy to be able to comment on the Rams’ game. And to be honest, the Saints but also the 49ers, who have been so badly shaken by injuries and the Covid virus, would have more than deserved it if it was enough in the end.
For me, however, the surprise of the season is that the Saints still have a real chance at the playoffs after the departure of quarterback Drew Brees. After Brees’ successor Jameis Winston, brought in by the Buccaneers, tore his cruciate ligament in November, many of the Saints gave up. Just not the New Orleans team themselves.
Partly with the back-up of the back-up on the way, they managed to achieve some important victories. And now you still have it in your hand. With eight wins and eight losses, the Saints will travel to Atlanta with a saber between their teeth. A masterpiece by head coach Sean Peyton, who went into the games of the last few weeks with 57 different players. Absolute NFL record!
So if the New Orleans team manages to make it to the wild card round, the Saints coach has more than deserved the long-planned monument in front of the stadium.
So we will experience a football weekend with many exciting games, and only because the NFL has really managed to extend the season despite all the quarrels. And for that a loud “thank you” dear league boss.
– .
