Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Six QB’s who started for the Steelers after Ben Roethlisberger retired:
14-10— Kenny Pickett
10-6— Aaron Rodgers
6-5— Russell Wilson
4-2— Justin Fields
3-1— Mason Rudolph
2-5— Mitchell Trubisky
Quote of the Day
“We have arrived at the moment when a national TV network recommends PARLAYS on the pregame show with a 6-1 return. The worst bet in sports gambling is promoted by celebrity athletes who have no clue on how to gamble as their gaming partner has cash flow problems.”
JT the Brick
Wednesday’s quiz
When the NFL/AFL merged after the 1969 season, which three teams jumped from the NFL to join the AFC?
Tuesday’s quiz
Aaron Rodgers won one Super Bowl in his Hall of Fame career; it was against Pittsburgh.
Monday’s quiz
Kevin Ollie was basketball coach at UConn, before Dan Hurley.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….
“Welcome to the most competitive business in the world.”
Bill O’Brien
Fine line between winning and losing in the NFL, and when teams stop winning, heads will roll, whether it is justified or not.
— Mike Tomlin coached the Steelers for 19 years; he went 201-126-2, 8-12 in playoff games. He won the Super Bowl in his second year in Pittsburgh, 17 years ago. He lost the Super Bowl two years after that. Tomlin never had a losing season (he was 8-8 three times) but he also lost his last seven playoff games, and is now out as head coach of the Steelers.
Steelers are first NFL team ever to lose five playoff games in a row by 10+ points.
— Much like John Harbaugh, who got dumped by the Ravens last week; Harbaugh coached the Ravens for 18 years, went 193-124, 13-11 in playoff games, winning the 2012 Super Bowl. Not sure what happened this season; Ravens made the playoffs six of the last eight years, but now Harbaugh is highly-sought after by other teams.
— Los Angeles Chargers fired their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach after they lost 16-3 at New England Sunday night.
— Philadelphia Eagles demoted their offensive coordinator after they lost 23-19 to the 49ers Sunday; they didn’t fire him, he can stay on the staff in a lesser role, but they’ll have a new guy as offensive coordinator next year.
— Denver Broncos are only the third #1-seed since 1970 to be an underdog in this round of the playoffs:
1971 Vikings were +1 against Dallas
2017 Eagles were +2.5 against the Falcons
— Last six years, #1-seeds went 4-8 ATS in the divisional round of the playoffs.
— Weird stat of the Day: Rams coach Sean McVay is 9-5 in playoff games; those 14 games have been against 14 different teams, and this week it’ll be 15 games against 15 different teams, when the Rams visit Chicago Sunday night.
— Famous birthdays, January 14th
Faye Dunaway, 85
Swen Nater, 76
Wayne Gross, 74
Terry Forster, 74
James Todd Smith, 58 (LL Cool J)
Jason Bateman, 57
Byron Leftwich, 46
Mike Pelfrey, 42
Aaron Brooks, 41
Stephen Piscotty, 35
— Movie of the Day: Absence of Malice (1981)- A Miami prosecutor leaks info to a naive, but well-meaning newspaper reporter that a liquor wholesaler is suspected in the murder of the local longshoreman union president, the wholesaler’s life begins to unravel.
Paul Newman is the wholesaler, Sally Field is the reporter, Wilford Brimley has a small but important role, as does Melinda Dillon.
Very good movie; anything that Paul Newman was in is worth watching, obviously, plus Sally Field was very good in this, too.
— Tennessee 87, Texas A&M 82, 2OTs
Aggies led by 11 points in the first half.
A&M shot 13-43 on the arc, 11-23 inside the arc.
Vols were 31-42 on foul line, A&M was 21-32
— Kansas 84, Iowa State 63
Cyclones’ first loss of the year, after a 16-0 start.
Kansas shot 12-24 on arc; they led 44-23 at halftime.
Jayhawks are 12-5 against the #2 schedule in country.
— Villanova 88, Providence 82
Villanova led 46-34 at halftime.
Providence shot 74.2% inside the arc; they’re 1-5 in Big East.
Villanova is 5-1 in Big East, tied for 2nd with St John’s behind UConn.
— UConn 69, Seton Hall 64
UConn led 35-22 at halftime.
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 4-33 on the arc.
Huskies have won 13 in a row; they lost by 4 to Arizona in November.
— Creighton 86, Georgetown 83 OT
Georgetown scored at end of regulation; after LONG review, hoop was waved off.
Hoyas led by 7 with 1:56 left in regulation.
Georgetown scored 1.29 ppp and lost; that doesn’t happen much.
— UNLV 89, Boise State 85 OT
Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 33 points, had six assists.
Rebels are 2-5 in games decided by 9 or fewer points.
Boise State lost last four games, two of them in overtime.
— Wisconsin 78, Minnesota 75
Both teams hit a 3-pointer in last 0:05; Badgers hit buzzer beater.
Minnesota led by 11 early in second half.
Wisconsin made 14 of 33 shots behind the arc.
— Virginia 79, Louisville 70
Cavaliers never trailed; they shot 14-34 on the arc.
Virginia has won four in a row, 10 of last 11 games.
Louisville star Mikel Brown missed his 7th consecutive game.
