Today, I thought that once Peyton retires, it might actually be fun to go in person to see Chiefs @ Broncos.

Broncos are the only home team, only team with a bye, to lose this weekend.

Against The Spread

Dave: 6-2
Mark: 5-3
Simmons: 4-4

Thank you, Colts

Denver fans are dramatically booing their own players. May that be their last memory of this season.

(I don't believe or see the benefit of booing your own team.)

Context

In the following screenshot, I have not deleted anything. 

It makes a bit more sense if you see the entire context.

Nick Young's Heat Check

First, a brief primer. A heat check is what happens after a basketball player has made a couple shots so he takes a difficult shot to check if he's hot and can drain anything.

In Shea Serrano's guide to trash talking he wrote that it's one option to say after you make a shot:

Which brings me to this sequence from January 5th:

Young enters the game at the 5:16 mark of the first quarter. On his team's first possession with him in the game, he launches a 39-footer. And makes it.

In the corners, the 3-point line is 22 feet. It's almost a double three-pointer.

- - -

The reality of the play is slightly less amazing than the transcript. In the video you can see that the shot clock was expiring so he basically had to take shot.



Still, it's quite the heat check.

Not the Broncos

Every year, once the Chiefs are eliminated I adopt a new team in the playoffs. That team is Not the Broncos. My hope is to ride out the Peyton era without them winning a Super Bowl.

This week there were 8 teams still alive, so it might seem like I have 7 teams to root for...but not really. I've got three teams.

Indy on the road.
Pats at home.
And the NFC Champ in Arizona.

The good news is I only need one team to win. For the Broncos to win three in a row, if you assume 50-50 chances in each games, that's a 12.5% chance of winning a Super Bowl. Or for my team, Not the Broncos, an 87.5% chance of winning.

The Colts knocked out the Chiefs last year in the playoffs. Now I'm hoping they can do the same to the Broncos.

I forgot to toot my own horn

That was me on January 3rd before any of the games started. Timestamped in comments that can't be edited. A day later, I went 4-0 and most amazingly of all...the Cowboys beat the Lions by 4 points.

Divisional Picks

Patriots -7
Panthers +11
Colts +7
Cowboys +6

Deeper End Zones

What if the NFL expanded the end zones from 10 yards deep to 15 yards deep? That would help the passing game when teams get inside the 5. The league likes passing and scoring so it would seem in their interest.

The downside is that not every stadium may be able to safely accommodate another 10 yards of live field...

For the record, CFL end zones are 20 yards deep.

Playoff Picks against the spread

Dave: 4-0
Mark: 2-2
Simmons: 1-3

Both the Panthers and Bengals made the playoffs with a tie, where they might not have made it with a loss. So maybe teams should play for the tie more often?

Wild

The Eagles were eliminated from playoff contention with a 9-6 record.
In the same conference, the Panthers were still alive with a 3-8-1 record.

On December 20, the Cardinals were 11-3 and the Panthers were 5-8-1.

Today, the Panthers crushed a Cardinals team that was 9-1 (their only loss at that point was against Denver).

Perhaps you think that a division winner deserves a playoff berth, but not a guaranteed home game or top 4-seed.

If it was sorted by records, the Panthers would have been the 6th seed on the road against the Cowboys.Arizona would move up to the 4th seed and host the Lions.

Wild-Card Picks

Panthers -6.5
Ravens +3.5
Colts -4
Lions +7