The Monday Minute: Championship Games Edition - 1/25/21

"How can there be so much news in the offseason? There are only a few teams playing games left!" I obviously knew that there would be coaching staff and front office re-adjustments, but I feel like we are seeing more news than normal. Maybe it is the QBs just creating news, even though there may be nothing there. Or more likely than that, the NFL is the #1 sport in the country and people just want to talk about. Regardless of which, I am happy because I can pick and choose what I want to talk about to you.

Quick side note: If there is any football topic you would like my opinion on, shoot me a text, message on Twitter or post a comment about it. I'll be sure to include it in the next Monday Minute or maybe even make it into an in-depth Friday piece.

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We have had one more Head Coaching hire since last Monday. The Eagles hired Nick Sirianni, the former Colts OC. It became apparent that the Eagles were only going to consider candidates that believed in Carson Wentz because Jeff Lurie (the owner) and GM Howie Roseman believed in him. Good for Carson, bad for Jalen Hurts. Carson had 2 seasons with Frank Reich, the current Colts HC, at his side in Philly. One his rookie year, one his MVP season. Now, the connection to Reich is back with Sirianni taking the job.

A couple interesting things about this hire. First, Nick doesn't call plays. That isn't a huge issue, but it means he may be more of a CEO type whereas Reich and Pederson both called plays as HCs. Most Head Coaches with an offensive background do call plays in the current era, but it doesn't mean it is required. Last thing here, Sirianni is not technically from the Doug Pederson coaching tree. But he is from the Andy Reid tree which is what drew him to be the OC in Indy along with Frank Reich (from the Reid tree). You know who else is from that tree? Doug Pederson, their recently departed head coach. Most times a team that fires their Head Coach wants to go in a different direction. But in this case, they just dropped the used apple for a new apple on a different branch. A long-winded way of saying that the offensive system isn't likely to change much.

Speaking on Doug Pederson, he announced this week that he would be taking a sabbatical from football in 2021. Let me quickly decipher this for you. No one wanted to hire him for a HC job, and he wasn't ready to be demoted to an OC position. He probably needs to go to the Mike McCarthy analytics camp this offseason to get prepared for the coaching cycle in 2022. If you know why that's funny... no it really isn't that funny.

Also, Houston is the last NFL team without a head coach... shocker.

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The final 2 teams with vacant Front Offices have hired their GM. The Washington Football Team had a weird week as there were reports early on that former Panthers GM Marty Hurney was going to be reuniting with Ron Rivera as GM. As things turned out, Hurney was hired but is not the head man. Martin Mayhew also worked with Rivera in Carolina and was hired as the GM. The last important note in Washington is that both Martin and Marty will be reporting to Rivera in terms of personnel. I generally have not loved when the head coach also has the final say on the roster because there aren't checks and balances, but I respect what Rivera helped put together in Carolina. 

Jacksonville hired within for their GM job, but Urban Meyer has roster control here as well. Trent Baalke was a former GM with San Francisco before getting fired in 2016. He actually was out of work until 2020 (kinda backwards considering COVID) when Jacksonville hired him to be their Director of Player Personnel and now he is the top guy again. This relationship with HC and GM will be much different than in Washington though. Urban is going to be a dictator with his decisions, as the college ranks have taught him. In Washington, I expect more of a collaborative effort.

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As mentioned in the open, there was some more QB news this week. Let's start with the first signing of the 2021 offseason!! The Pittsburgh Steelers signed... Dwayne Haskins. Oh. To be fair, if Ben plays in 2021, he will be a great mentor for Haskins as they have very similar styles. I am already of the mind that Haskins is not mature ever play in the NFL again, but I mean people deserve 4 chances right?

Big news out of Detroit on Saturday and this is actually big news. Stafford and the Lions mutually agreed to trade him. I noted in my Friday article that I didn't believe that ownership would sign off on a trade, but I am happily surprised. Stafford is one of the most underrated QBs of the current era and will hopefully go to a team where he has a chance at some success. If you would like to see my full thoughts on him, take a look at that Friday article.

Last bit of QB news, Deshaun Watson has a new rumor! Before we get into that, I am actually 100% certain that there will be at least 1 rumor per weekend on Deshaun until we get into March. It doesn't have to actually be anything important, but I swear Schefter tweets something about him every weekend. Anyway, the few reports on him didn't change anything really, but they are still important enough to note. First, there was a report from Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (a very reputable writer even if his sources sometimes feed him shit) that Deshaun's top 2 destinations are 1 NY Jets and 2 Miami, in that order. Later on in the day, there was a plugged-in draft analyst that asked a few guys in front offices what they were hearing and they said that the Jets were not #1. The last thing which is possibly the most important, Deshaun wants out no matter who they hire at Head Coach. His trust with the owner is "too far gone".

Here is one more piece of player news that I thought was awesome. Tramon Williams played in the NFC Championship game yesterday for the Packers. He also played for the Baltimore Ravens just last week against the Bills. He is the first player in NFL history to play for 2 different teams in the same postseason. The reason this is possible is the new practice squad rules due to COVID. The Ravens elevated him from their practice squad last week to play, and because Tramon was not on the active roster, he could be signed to another team's practice squad and then elevated to play.

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The Senior Bowl starts on Monday. For everyone that may not be totally involved in the NFL offseason calendar, let me explain. The Senior Bowl is one of 3 big events for NFL Draft prospects. The others are the Shrine Bowl and the Combine, both of which were cancelled due to COVID concerns. The Senior Bowl, as you may have guessed, includes only draft-eligible seniors (or graduating sophomores or juniors) that are selected by the group down in Mobile, Alabama that runs the event. The players are normally selected based on feedback from NFL front offices of players they would like to see participate. AKA players they may be interested in drafting. In most seasons, the top 5 or so seniors in the class will not play in this game because the Combine is seen as the most important of the events and they want to be 100% for it. But this event will be the only time, other than Pro Days, that these players will be able to sit down and have a conversation with these young men because of the pandemic. All this to say, it is an extremely important week-long event.

Also I want to note that there are 2 different coaching staffs from the NFL that will be "coaching" these players. The Miami Dolphins and Carolina Panthers. These teams are invited based on the draft order. Any teams with a new HC cannot be invited. Apparently, there were a lot of teams that declined invites this year due to the pandemic. Here are some players I would keep my eye on or keep your eyes peeled to Twitter for. Let's start with the offensive players.

The Senior Bowl had some notable late arrivals added to their roster. Most important of them were Najee Harris and Devonta Smith from Alabama. Both of them are going to be coached by the Dolphins team which is no coincidence as both players have been heavily linked to them. Devonta won't be participating in drills but will be in meetings with the team. If Miami picks a WR at #3, I would be shocked if it is not Devonta Smith. As for Najee, I am very excited about this kid and I expect he will be drafted late in round 1. He will dominate this week.

A pair of WRs need to be addressed as well. Kadarius Toney out of Florida is going to make some corners look silly this week with his speed and moves at the line of scrimmage. I can't wait to see the clips on Twitter. He has risen up draft boards like a teenage boy rises when his crush hugs him. I expect him at the end of Round 1 or beginning of Round 2. The next guy's stock has significantly fallen because he opted out this season. Sage Surratt, from Wake Forest, is one of the better high point WRs in this class. If he has a good week, we could see him back in the round 2 conversation. Something working against both of these players, there are just so many good wideouts this year and teams haven't needed to draft a WR in the early rounds for them to be successful players in the NFL.

The Senior Bowl is one of the few places that you get to see the best OL and DL go 1v1 against each other. They have drills set up to showcase these matchups. The guys I'm looking forward to most on the offensive side are all supposed to be 1st or 2nd round prospects, but all have question marks. Alex Leatherwood (Alabama), Dillon Radunz (North Dakota St), and Liam Eichenberg (Notre Dame) are all likely 1st round left tackles. Radunz is the one I am most looking forward to because I would like to see how he does against "better" talent. Since he played in the FCS, he didn't go up against the beefiest of boys in college. Landon Dickerson (Alabama) and Creed Humphrey (Oklahoma) are considered the top 2 TRUE Centers in the entire class and will go up against a monster of a DT from Washington named Levi Onwuzurike. His play is as scary as his name sounds. Last OL I'm watching is Trey Smith from Tennessee. He has some really good tape but has had some blood clot issues in the past. The medical is the most important thing for this guard.

I mentioned Levi already, but the two Edge rushers that I am keeping an eye on are successful in very different ways. Carlos Basham from Wake Forest is a heavy-handed pass rusher but is also very good in the run game. Since the run game is simulated in these drills, it will be important to see his pass rush moves on full display. Pittsburgh's Patrick Jones is a bit more twitchy but is not as refined as Basham. He had 6 of his 9 sacks in 2 games this season and struggled against Eichenberg when they played this year. Hopefully, we see that matchup again.

There are two more guys I want to mention because I think people will point to the Senior Bowl as the week that these two players came on the map. Chazz Surratt (yes they are brothers) from North Carolina is a modern-day NFL linebacker. He is all over the field and it always seems like he is in the right place. He is going to be the defensive leader for whatever team drafts him. Wanna know how I know? He went to UNC to be a quarterback. The last guy is a safety named Joshua Bledsoe from Missouri. I personally haven't watched anything from Missouri. But I am hearing whispers on Twitter from different NFL people about this kid as someone to watch. I'm excited to get the chance this week.

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Bucs 31, Packers 26. No Risk It, No Biscuit. God, I hate Tom Brady. I kinda want to just leave this game at that.

But I will persevere... maybe.

Ok fine, but I won't be happy about it. What a year to be a Tampa sports fan right? Last year there were 0 of you and now ya'll are all over the place. You're like COVID. Too soon... too soon. I'm sorry to the true tortured Tampa fans that read this. None of you bandwagon, I just hate the others.

Lots of real key moments in this game that all went in the favor of Tampa, whether it was luck or just them being better. Refs had a bit of a rough game, but they were consistent most of the time. HOWEVER, the call that no one is talking about that was totally missed was on the Godwin 50 yard catch. The defender has the right to that ball as much as Godwin does and Godwin jumps into him and interferes. No call. That was on 3rd down on a drive that Tampa would score a touchdown. Lavonte David had amazing instincts in the 2nd quarter to swat down a pass to Davante Adams when GB was in the RZ. Also, props to the Bucs secondary for great film study. Carlton Davis and another Bucs player (I'm really pissed that I can't find who it was) were able to switch the man coverage on Adams for a motion play on the goal line that worked on the Rams last week (didn't save points but it was such a good play). Suh had a slight tip on a 2pt conversion where Equanimious St Brown dropped what would end up being a very important 2 points. The missed holding call on the SMB Bucs INT coupled with the dropped INT from GB's Sullivan led to 7 points for Tampa at the end of the 1st half. But let's talk about the Bucs decision a little more in-depth.

I mentioned some key moments in the game, BUT in truth 2 moments decided this game. Bruce Arians decided to go for it at the end of the 1st half with his MVP QB and Lafleur decided to kick a FG at the end of the 2nd half with his MVP QB. BA's decision was absolutely the right call and I was actually confused that they brought out the punt unit at first. The defensive call on that touchdown was so unbelievably bad. You have to defend the sideline and the endzone and they had one deep safety. They might as well have asked for Gronk to be out there on defense for them. As for the GB FG decision... when there are 2 minutes left in a football game in which you are 1 possession down and you are inside the 10-yard line PLAYING AGAINST TOM BRADY, you go for it. Analytics be damned. Also, you happen to have the league's MVP in your huddle. Crazy decision to kick it there.

To sum up, the Packers lost this game rather than the Bucs winning it. Between questionable play calls on offense and defense and only scoring 6 points on 3 turnovers, Green Bay didn't deserve to win this game let alone be within 1 possession with 2 minutes left. Unfortunately for GB, they got the ball on their side of the field for each INT, but of those interceptions, only one could've been called "a punt". Two happened on 2nd down (1 of those in FG range) and the other happened on 3rd and short. The Bucs allowed them to stay in this game with the 3 picks and I can guarantee that won't work against the Chiefs. Brady is not playing like vintage Brady, but the guy is still one of the greatest to ever play the game. 4 quarters left Tom. Please retire after.

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Chiefs 38, Bills 24. Gotta go fast(er Buffalo). I mentioned it last week. It is just impossible to stop this Chiefs offense. They can't even stop themselves if they wanted to because they are just so wide open. It is just so damn fun to watch and I'm glad we get to see it in the Super Bowl again. I could talk about them all day but I'll keep it to this. There were 4 different times I said out loud (while watching this game by myself), "He is just better".

As far as the other side of the ball goes, L'Jarious Sneed from KC was easily the best rookie corner this season (drafted in the 4th round from Lousiana Tech). It is a shame he was knocked out of the game and I hope we see him in the Super Bowl. Also, similar to their offensive model... he is very fast. You know who really didn't look great? Stefon Diggs was completely irrelevant in this game. He had only 40 yards through the first 3 quarters and after that, the game was already out of hand. To be fair to him, Allen rerouted Diggs on what would have been a touchdown if Allen leads him into the end zone. Also, Josh Allen... baby what is you doin. I talked about how he was so good scrambling around and not taking sacks. The issue is that if he does take those sacks, he loses a ton of yards. Sacks of 18, 10, 10, 16(intentional grounding), and 15 yards. 

Possibly the most important matchup in this Super Bowl is the Bucs RZ offense vs Chiefs RZ defense. The Chiefs had the worst red-zone defense this season and the Bucs have been incredible in the red zone this postseason. If the Chiefs can hold the Bucs to FGs, the same way they did the Bills, that will absolutely be the difference. Also, if you want to know what winning a football game looks like, instead of the other team losing... it looks like this game.

Oh and did you hear that this Super Bowl is gonna be the first one with the host city playing in it? Oh you did? You heard it 400 times already? Yea me too. Here is to 401.

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If you think Brady is a cheater-pants and you hate him, let me know in the comments or at @KyleTheCommish on Twitter.