Sports Illustrated

The New York Knicks, who are in the midst of an impressive surge, received positive news on the outlook of forward Julius Randle’s shoulder injury. Randle underwent an MRI on his dislocated shoulder Saturday night, and there’s hope he can avoid surgery and be back on the floor within weeks instead of months, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Randle’s injury occurred on Saturday, late in New York’s 125–109 victory over the Miami Heat. The 29-year-old has been a reliable difference-maker for the Knicks all season, playing in all 46 games to this point. He’s averaging 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 47.2% from the field, his highest mark since the 2018-19 season.

New York Knicks power forward Julius Randle suffered a dislocated shoulder in Saturday’s win over the Miami Heat. 

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Knicks’ recent trade with the Toronto Raptors to acquire OG Anunoby acted as a springboard of sorts, as New York has won 12 of its past 14 games to improve to 29-17 on the season. As things currently stand, the Knicks hold the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, just one game back of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Deebo Samuel got the latest laugh in his ongoing feud with Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. 

Samuel’s San Francisco 49ers did the unthinkable on Sunday night, erasing a 17-point deficit to claim a 34—31 comeback win over the Detroit Lions in the NFC championship game, securing a berth in Super Bowl LVIII in the process. 

During the game, C.J. Gardner-Johnson went viral—and was then roasted for—waving goodbye to 49ers fans in the second quarter before San Francisco stormed back.

After the game, Samuel continued the longtime war of words between the two, taking to his account on X, formerly Twitter, to troll Gardner-Johnson for his premature celebration. 

Somebody go check on lil bruh😂😂 https://t.co/8UgIk3iFkG

— Deebo (@19problemz) January 29, 2024

“Somebody go check on lil bruh,” Samuel wrote, adding laughing emoji faces to the post. 

The beef between the two spilled out onto the field on Sunday, as Gardner-Johnson was flagged for a personal foul after throwing a blind-side block on Samuel following a Brock Purdy interception. 

The bad blood between Samuel and Gardner-Johnson initially flared after last year’s NFC championship game, when Gardner-Johnson played for the Philadelphia Eagles. It escalated when Gardner-Johnson took a shot at Samuel on social media following a pregame skirmish between the 49ers and the Cleveland Browns back in Week 6. 

Gardner-Johnson implied that Samuel couldn't defend himself and was “acting hard,” to which the 49ers receiver responded by posting a clip of Gardner-Johnson getting punched during a 2020 game.

After Sunday’s result, the latest round of the feud goes to Samuel. 

Welcome to 2024 NFL championship weekend here at The MMQB. Below are links to everything Albert Breer wrote over the weekend, plus more from our staff.

Inside Patrick Mahomes’s Biggest Play in the AFC Championship The Chiefs came up with the eventual dagger at the team hotel on Saturday night.

Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports

Albert Breer talks to Andy Reid, Matt Nagy and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to break down the game-winning play.

Super Bowl LVIII Preview: What You Need to Know About Chiefs-49ers “The Niners are way more talented than the Chiefs, way more explosive than the Chiefs. But the Chiefs have surprised me the last two weeks,” says one exec.

Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports (left); Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports (right)

Albert Breer hears from NFL execs on what a Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl will come down to.

Takeaways: How Chiefs Players Honored Their Defensive Coordinator After Shutting Down the Ravens Spagnuolo has a special relationship with his defensive unit.

Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY Sports (left); Albert Breer (right)

Albert Breer talks to Steve Spagnuolo, Trent McDuffie, Justin Reid and more about the team’s bond with its DC.

More From the MMQB Staff:  It’s all or nothing for Kyle Shanahan’s star-studded roster.

Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports

Conor Orr: Congrats, 49ers, You Could Be the Best Team to Not Win a Super Bowl

Gilberto Manzano: Dan Campbell Doesn’t Deserve Criticism for Lions’ Loss to 49ers

Gilberto Manzano: Fact or Fiction: The Chiefs’ Offensive Issues Were Overblown

Conor Orr: Chiefs Land More Punches in Bout for AFC Championship

Matt Verderame: NFL Championship Sunday: Chiefs Headed Back to Defend Super Bowl Title

Matt Verderame: Counting Down the NFL’s 50 Most Influential Teams

Gilberto Manzano: NFL Championship Week Winners and Losers

Despite being one of the most respected color commentators in the NFL right now, Greg Olsen could be demoted from the Fox’s top broadcast team next season when Tom Brady joins the network.

Last February, it was reported that Olsen would move to Fox’s No. 2 team and take a big salary cut when Brady joins the Fox crew for the 2024 NFL season.

Brady is expected to take Olsen’s place along play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. The seven-time Super Bowl champion signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox in 2022 before he announced his retirement from the NFL on Feb. 1, 2023. He then decided to sit out the 2023 season before joining the Fox broadcast team.

With this transition on Fox likely happening next season, fans and pundits applauded Olsen on social media Sunday during the NFC championship game between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers in what was possibly his last game on Fox’s No. 1 team.

Greg Olsen deserves all the praise he gets. He took advantage of a huge opportunity (Aikman to ESPN) and has become a terrific listen. Highest compliment a sports TV analyst can get? Do you learn something from his or her broadcast. He delivers that.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) January 29, 2024

Lots of terrific performances today but let’s appreciate greatness while we still have it: Greg Olsen talking about situational football pic.twitter.com/gNlbuHt6Jr

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 29, 2024

Best NFL analyst on TV isn’t a former QB or coach. It’s Greg Olsen.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 29, 2024

Greg Olsen is so good at explaining football in a quick and concise way.

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 28, 2024

Greg Olsen putting on a masterclass in the booth right now 📺

— Darius Butler (@DariusJButler) January 29, 2024

Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen are excellent. Clear. Enthusiastic. Balanced. Chemistry. Energetic.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) January 29, 2024

Greg Olsen is so dang good at his job.

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) January 29, 2024

Greg Olsen is the 1.01 color commentator in the NFL. He should be announcing every big game. pic.twitter.com/x7ARQ4ilNb

— Nick Whalen (@_NickWhalen) January 29, 2024

My biggest takeaway from last night? Greg Olsen is a national treasure and must be protected at all costs. It’s time to start the petition for Fox to revoke Tom Brady’s contract for 2024.

— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) January 29, 2024

Greg Olsen is so damn good as an analyst. He prepares like crazy for every game and it’s clear in the broadcast. He knows each team and every player just as much as the game itself. A total star in the booth.

— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) January 29, 2024

Greg Olsen getting a demotion after this game is such a dud. He's been awesome in this role.

— Ryan Ballengee (@RyanBallengee) January 29, 2024

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I want to thank my local Mexican restaurant’s $10 burrito (with guacamole!) for greatly enhancing my football-watching experience.

In today’s SI:AM:

💪 The Chiefs lean on their defense

🦁 The Lions’ gamble

💰 Early Super Bowl odds

If you’re reading this on SI.com, click here to subscribe to receive SI:AM in your inbox every weekday.

The Super Bowl is set

Anyone hoping to see some fresh blood in the Super Bowl was sorely disappointed yesterday as the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers prevailed to set up a rematch of Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas. The Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions put up valiant fights, but in the end it was the Chiefs and Niners—who boast a combined 10 conference title game appearances in the past six seasons.

The Baltimore-K.C. game was a low-scoring affair, finishing 17–10. That may have come as a surprise to some, given the quality of each offense and the reputation of the two quarterbacks. But I have to admit I felt proud of myself watching the game unfold how I said it would in Friday’s newsletter, with both pass rushes making things difficult for Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.

The Chiefs sacked Jackson four times and knocked him to the ground an additional three times. Mahomes, who had not been sacked in either of the Chiefs’ first two playoff games, was sacked twice and hit five more times. Both QBs were frequently forced to abandon the pocket and scramble.

Overall, Mahomes dealt with the pressure better than Jackson, completing 76.9% of his passes, compared to 54.1% for Jackson. But Jackson also did not get any help from offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s play calling. The Ravens barely ran the ball all day, logging just 16 rushing attempts, eight of which were by Jackson, mostly on scrambles. Running back Gus Edwards, who averaged 11.6 attempts per game in the regular season, got just three carries. The Chiefs’ offense was much more balanced (41 pass plays, 32 run plays) and as a result, Kansas City dominated the time of possession (37:30 to 22:30).

The Ravens managed to keep things close, though, and the result might have been different if not for a handful of brutal mistakes. First there was rookie receiver Zay Flowers’s boneheaded taunting penalty late in the third quarter after a 54-yard gain. Four plays later, Flowers fumbled as he attempted to dive into the end zone. Baltimore never got into the red zone again. The most confounding error was Jackson forcing a throw into triple coverage in the end zone with about seven minutes left to play. The pass was picked off, denying the Ravens an opportunity to score critical points.

It was a tough way for the Ravens to lose the game, but it was nothing compared to what the Lions endured. Detroit dominated the first half, taking a 24–7 lead into the locker room, but the Niners turned the tide in the second half as the Lions wilted. San Francisco scored on all five of its second-half possessions (excluding the final drive to run out the clock), while the Lions failed to score on their first four possessions of the half. That translates to an astonishing 27 unanswered points for the Niners.

It was a stunning collapse for the Lions, and while the main reason certainly was the Niners putting their foot on the gas and showing why they were the NFC’s No. 1 seed, Detroit’s collapse did feel somewhat self-inflicted.

Twice in the second half the Lions had opportunities to pad their lead by kicking a field goal, and twice they passed up the chance for some points. The first was on fourth-and-2 from the Niners’ 28 in the middle of the third quarter. Coach Dan Campbell, who has been aggressive on fourth down all year, decided to go for it, but Josh Reynolds dropped a pass. (Reynolds dropped another pass on a third-and-long later in the quarter.) Campbell’s second fourth-down attempt was riskier. It came on a fourth-and-3 from the Niners’ 30 immediately after San Francisco had taken the lead on a Jake Moody field goal. Rather than attempt a field goal to tie the game, the Lions went for it and again failed to convert.

Campbell’s aggressiveness on fourth down is a big reason why the Lions won as many games as they did, and you have to respect him for refusing to change the way he approaches the game when the lights were the brightest. But maybe next time stop the bleeding and attempt a game-tying field goal.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

• Gilberto Manzano makes the case that Dan Campbell did nothing wrong in deciding to go for it on those two fourth downs.
• The Niners are headed back to the Super Bowl, and with several key players seemingly nearing the end of their time with the franchise, Conor Orr warns that San Francisco risks becoming the best team never to win a championship.
• Orr also wrote about how the Chiefs landed enough punches to defeat the Ravens.
• Albert Breer spoke with several NFL executives about what to expect from this Super Bowl matchup.
• Matt Verderame has an amazing new project that we’re beginning to roll out today. He surveyed a large panel of football experts to determine the 50 most influential teams in NFL history. The countdown begins with Nos. 50–41.
• With this year’s Australian Open in the rearview, here are Jon Wertheim’s 50 parting thoughts from the tournament.
• The Tigers gambled by signing Colt Keith to a six-year contract extension before his MLB debut, but Tom Verducci believes it’s a move that should work out for both sides.
• Michael Fabiano has a list of 101 fantasy football facts from this season.
• The 49ers are the early betting favorites in the Super Bowl, but only narrowly.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Nelly Korda’s clutch shot to set up an easy birdie putt and force a playoff at the LPGA Drive On Championship. She went on to win the playoff.

4. Patrick Mahomes’s scrambling and Travis Kelce’s diving catch to pick up a first down.

3. L’Jarius Sneed’s punch to knock the ball out of Zay Flowers’s hands on the goal line.

2. Lamar Jackson’s catch on his own pass after it was deflected at the line.

1. Brandon Aiyuk’s catch after the ball bounced off the face of a Lions defender. To me, that’s where the game really turned in favor of the Niners. The catch set up a San Francisco touchdown, and then it got the ball right back after Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled on the first play of the ensuing Detroit possession.

SIQ

Who is the youngest person to win a professional golf tour event? (Today is the anniversary of their victory.)

• Tiger Woods
• Lydia Ko
• Michelle Wie
• Jason Day

Friday’s SIQ: On Jan. 26, 1960, a high school basketball player in West Virginia scored 135 points in a game, setting a record that still stands today. What was the player’s oddly appropriate name?

• Fred Bucket
• Danny Heater
• William Swish
• Carl Gunner

Answer: Danny Heater. And, boy, was he on a heater that night. Heater went 53-for-70 from the floor and 29-for-41 from the free throw line in the 32-minute game. He also collected 32 rebounds. It remains the highest-scoring game in high school history, although the 138 points scored by Grinnell College’s Jack Taylor in 2012 is the new American record for points in an organized game.

Heater’s coach was hoping a big game would help Heater land a college scholarship, so he instructed his players to keep getting the ball in his hands. Heater didn’t get a basketball scholarship, though. A former Virginia state senator, Jack Stalnaker, arranged a grant to pay for Heater to attend the University of Richmond, but he spent only six weeks at the school before he got homesick and returned to West Virginia.

Heater’s big game was major news at the time. It earned him a spot in the “Faces in the Crowd” feature in the Feb. 8, 1960, issue of Sports Illustrated. SI also named him the No. 50 greatest sports figure from West Virginia in ’99. But Heater wasn’t entirely comfortable with how he’d torched his opponents in the 173–43 game.

“As I get older, I have accepted it,” he told West Virginia MetroNews in 2021. “I never wanted to embarrass anybody and I am afraid I did that night. But it is 61 years ago now so I think I am allowed to enjoy it a little bit.”

On first and second down, Andy Reid played it by the book.

An Isiah Pacheco run up the middle, stuffed for a one-yard loss, forcing the Baltimore Ravens to burn their second timeout. Pacheco again, off right tackle, for two yards, making Baltimore spend its final timeout. And with 2:19 left in the AFC championship, Reid’s all-universe quarterback trotted back to the sideline, with a set of directions for the coaches.

Put the ball in my hands, Patrick Mahomes told them.

To the untrained ear, that might’ve sounded like simple bravado from a superstar. In this case, it was more than that. It went back about 20 hours or so to the Kansas City Chiefs’ weekly Saturday night quarterbacks meeting at the team hotel in the Baltimore suburbs.

Reid on Mahomes: “He’s spectacular. I’ve been blessed to have coached some great quarterbacks. He is something special.”

Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports

It was there that Reid, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, pass-game coordinator Joe Bleymeier, quarterbacks coach David Girardi, and offensive assistants Corey Matthaei, Dan Williams and Kevin Saxton met with Mahomes and backup QB Blaine Gabbert, coming up with the call that would be the eventual dagger to send Kansas City to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. It was Mahomes’s confidence in their idea that prompted the demand.

“We had that ready for the moment,” Nagy told me on the field postgame, a swing pass away from the stage where the Chiefs accepted another Lamar Hunt Trophy. “We had a handful of plays, we were on the sideline talking through the situation, probably halfway through the fourth quarter—if we get into this moment, what are we going to do? We’d talked about that at the hotel.”

The concept from the night before called for three in-breaking routes out of a three-by-one formation (three wide receivers to the left, one to the right), with a back and tight end staying in to help against the blitz. For the play to work, the protection would have to give Mahomes time, and his receivers would have to win against man-to-man coverage. And, of course, Mahomes would have to make the throw.

“You know in that situation, they’re going to pressure you,” Nagy continued. “Now it’s about the guys making the plays.”

Check. Check. And checkmate.

Much-maligned receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling beat Ravens corner Arthur Maulet, and Mahomes stood in against pressure and got the ball to where only his receiver could catch it.

The play covered 32 yards, driving the aforementioned dagger into the Ravens.

“We get the quarterbacks’ input on things [on Saturday night], and that, jointly, was the play we wanted at that particular time,” Reid told me in a quiet moment after the game. “We try to cover all those situations, make sure we have it well thought out before we get in there. That was the result of it."

The result, ultimately, was a 17–10 win for the Chiefs in Baltimore. The result of it was a fourth trip to the Super Bowl in five years for Kansas City. And maybe most of all, the result of it was another Mahomes moment in a massive spot, something that, by now, we should all be pretty accustomed to.

Simply put, it’s why the Chiefs never hesitate to put the ball in his hands.

The Super Bowl is set, the Senior Bowl week is here, the conference champions are headed for their respective bye weeks, and we have plenty to dig into this morning …

• We have a detailed preview of 49ers-Chiefs through the eyes of scouts.

• A dive into the herculean effort the Kansas City defense put into slowing Lamar Jackson.

• More coaching carousel nuggets than you can shake a stick at in this week’s takeaways.

But we’re starting in Baltimore where I spent my Sunday with the Chiefs and Ravens.

Nagy on Kelce's back-shoulder catch for a touchdown: “That’s two of the greatest players on earth making a play.”

Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports

This, to be sure, has been a different year for Mahomes. Tyreek Hill’s been gone for nearly two years now. Travis Kelce’s been banged up, and wasn’t himself for most of the 2023 season. The offensive line is breaking in new tackles, and the team itself has leaned more on its defense than at any point since he became the starter in 2018.

As such, the group around the quarterback isn’t as equipped for him to light the world on fire.

“That’s been us all year,” Nagy says. “We talked about it last week. We figure out ways to win games different ways. All year long, we haven’t been a 30-point, 40-point offense. That’s not us. I think when you’re a successful player at the quarterback position, you’re going to have different teams every year. We went through a lot this year, there were people that doubted us—you can’t score. You’re going to have to ride the defense. They’re in trouble.

“Our offensive players really stuck together.”

For Mahomes, sticking with it meant learning to operate with a shortened margin for error, which, in certain games, meant having a feel for when it was time to put the cape on and be Superman—and, just as importantly, when it wasn’t.

"We always talk about ruthless versus reckless,” Nagy says. “That’s real. If you think about it, you want to try to rip somebody’s heart out, but you gotta do it the right way. You’ve got to be smart with it. If it’s not there, don’t make a bad play worse. Throw the ball away. He knows he’s got a phenomenal defense, great special teams, so use it if it’s not there.”

Sunday was a microcosm of that.

The Chiefs scored only 17 points, which in itself marks the change in the makeup of the team around the star quarterback. And how it’s manifested with Mahomes may best be illustrated in the way, postgame, Reid actually brought up the quarterback taking a sack as one of his best plays.

That came a possession before Mahomes’s throw to Valdes-Scantling. He took the sack on a second-and-6 with 5:55 left. It forced the Ravens to spend their first timeout, which, of course, meant Baltimore didn’t have any timeouts left at the two-minute warning after which Mahomes took three knees to end the game.

“He did a great job with that,” Reid says. “Maybe some of his biggest plays were just taking that sack, and not getting the ball back to them [as fast].”

But when the time came for Mahomes to wear the “S” on his chest, the 28-year-old went into the phone booth to summon the guy we’ve all come to expect him to be.

The first of those moments arrived on the Chiefs’ first possession of the game from the Ravens’ 41 on a fourth-and-2. Reid left the offense on the field. On the play he called, Mahomes’s first read wasn’t there, nor was his second. And the third read was a throw Mahomes saw as he was chased to his right, with Kelce coming across the backside of the play.

“They just zoned us out,” Nagy says. “We stayed within the play. Pat did a great job. Kelce made a great catch. That was just part of the progression.”

An easy throw—inside to his left and across his body as he rolled right—it was not. But, as Nagy says, smiling, “It’s Pat.” And three plays later, it was Pat, and Kelce, again, this time on a back-shoulder throw with Baltimore’s All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton draped all over Kelce for a 19-yard touchdown.

“They covered it,” Nagy says. “That’s two of the greatest players on earth making a play. We put that in and they were wanting that all week long. He just made a hell of a throw and it was a magical catch.”

The catch capped the 10-play, 86-yard drive followed by one that grinded out 75 yards in 16 plays, and necessitated more Mahomes magic, particularly on the final two of that possession’s four third-down conversions.

The first is the one that’ll be remembered most—with Mahomes dodging, then running past Jadeveon Clowney, Justin Madubuike and Roquan Smith, and willing the ball downfield as he took a shot low from Kyle Van Noy. He got just enough on it for Kelce to dive at the ball, corral it, and pick up the first down.

"We’ve been watching it for six years now with Pat,” Nagy says. “He gets in scramble mode, and if a play’s there, we hit it. So many times in the red zone, third down, you might get something where you have to extend the play, and that’s what he and Kelce did. Those guys, they just got that connection.”

On the second of the two, he, again, made something out of nothing, finding a way to weave through the Ravens defense for four yards on third-and-3. Two plays later, Pacheco scored from two yards out, a perfect illustration of how different things have been this year. And with 10:56 left in the first half, it was the final touchdown either team would score in the AFC title game.

Mahomes and Kelce will find out in two weeks if this version of the Chiefs can beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl like the 2019 version did in Miami.

Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

Because of what he’s used to, this one probably felt pretty different for Mahomes.

But his approach, according to those around him, hasn’t changed a touch—he figures out what he needs to do to win. And in comparing Mahomes with his old quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, Valdes-Scantling opened a window into how the Chiefs’ two-time, and maybe soon to be three-time, Super Bowl champion quarterback puts all of that to work.

“It’s crazy because they’re very, very similar in what they do and how they approach the game,” he says. “Very competitive. I think Aaron’s a lot more quiet than Pat. Pat’s more vocal, but they both have that edge about them, that they want to win every single play. Not even just every single game. They want to win every single play.”

And that, as Reid alluded to, has taken on different meanings at different points this year, and even at different points through Sunday’s game.

Is the 2019 version of Patrick Mahomes, with Hill and Kelce and Sammy Watkins alongside, taking a sack and counting it as one of his best plays of a playoff game? Probably not.

But that version also doesn’t have the defense of this year’s version, or the issues to work through at the skill positions. Which makes it feel like the winning plays are ones that seem like losses in the moment, yet fit perfectly to set up those plays where he knows when it’s his time to rise to the occasion.

“He’s got an internal dark side in the right way,” Nagy says. “It’s a dark side where he creates an edge. When he gets out here on the field, he becomes a different player. There’s no one as competitive as him. Nobody. The great ones are very, very competitive and they find ways to win. They fight through adversity. …. He just makes special plays in special moments.”

It’s also an innate awareness for knowing when to be a game manager and not a playmaker.

“He’s spectacular,” Reid says. “I’ve been blessed to have coached some great quarterbacks. He is something special.”

And just as it started with Mahomes on Sunday, with the two long drives, it ended with him, too, and that massive throw on third down to finish Baltimore off.

Just like the Chiefs drew it up—the night before.

It’s safe to say Stephen A. Smith wasn’t impressed with Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s performance in Sunday’s AFC title game.

Jackson did throw for 272 yards and rushed for another 54, but the Ravens' offense mustered just 10 total points in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Jackson fumbled in the first half and threw a costly red zone interception in the second half, key mistakes that stopped Baltimore from breaking through offensively. That’s why Smith called Jackson’s performance a “choke job” during critical comments on Monday’s episode of First Take.

“[Patrick] Mahomes is great, he’s phenomenal, he’s the greatest ever… but the big story is Lamar Jackson,” Smith said. “Ladies and gentlemen, with all due respect, this was a choke job. Let’s just call it what it is. What is the definition of a choke job? It’s doing what you always do, what you’re accustomed to doing, until the moment arrives, and then you don’t. That is the definition of what we’re talking about over here.”

"The big story is Lamar Jackson. Ladies and gentlemen, with all due respect: It was a choke job. Let's just call it what it is."

Stephen A. Smith sounded OFF on the potential MVP after the Ravens' loss to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game 🗣pic.twitter.com/igjHwWTlan

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 29, 2024

Ouch.

Jackson is now just 2–4 in the playoffs in his career. Sunday's yardage total was his second-highest in a postseason game, but Jackson has now completed under 60% of his passes in all four career playoff losses. And given how dominant the Ravens were in the regular season, one of the favorites for league MVP coming up short in a big game against another elite quarterback is a mark on the Baltimore QB’s résumé. 

Few former coaches know the pain of just missing out on a trip to the Super Bowl than former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan. That made him the perfect person to contextualize the Detroit Lions’ brutal NFC championship game loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.

Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up on Monday morning, Ryan called Detroit’s defeat “the most devastating loss of all time” and broke down how hard it is to process losing a game of that magnitude in such gut-wrenching fashion.

“I've lost three championship games,” Ryan said. “You know what you get when you lose a championship game? Not a dang thing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This will haunt you for the rest of your life."

Rex Ryan on the Lions' loss in the NFC Championship Game: "This is the most devastating loss of all-time. I've lost three championship games. You know what you get when you lose a championship game? Not a dang thing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This will haunt you for the rest… pic.twitter.com/A2eTdtmw3m

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 29, 2024

Ryan went on to say that he remembers “everything” about those losses, including his two as the head coach of the Jets in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Detroit and coach Dan Campbell will certainly have plenty of moments that will stick with him, including some controversial decisions to go for it on fourth down in the second half. And while Campbell said postgame it will be “twice as hard” to get back to this moment, Ryan had some thoughtful words on how he expects the Lions to respond.

“You’re going to react two different ways: You’re going to let it just kill you, or you’re going to sit back and say ‘I’ll be damned if that happens again.’”

Fans appreciated Ryan’s perspective after a truly gutting loss for Detroit. Of course, some felt the need to point out that the Falcons’ 28–3 blown Super Bowl lead might’ve been worse.

28-3 was worse brother lmao https://t.co/GJpcDPAHlE

— A Washed Kang (@AnthonyCanton_3) January 29, 2024

We’ve been there twice. Not a good feeling. @nyjets. https://t.co/d1bh7NdeK9

— Anthony Serafino (@SerafinoProduce) January 29, 2024

the yelling shows are dumb, but this is 100% correct and doesn't get said enough https://t.co/4JuirarctU

— Eric 👨🏻‍💻 (@emanatee) January 29, 2024

He’s right. January 23rd, 2011 still haunts the Jets. https://t.co/cWZrt3zqSV

— Mark (@beeg_Mark) January 29, 2024

you at least used to get a trip to Hawaii when you lost in the championship round https://t.co/YPWnTr8PeL

— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) January 29, 2024

The Kansas City Chiefs may already have some good mojo working when they step into Allegiant Stadium for Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 to take on the San Francisco 49ers—thanks to a loyal fan who worked on the stadium’s construction.

When the Las Vegas venue was being built in 2017, construction worker Gerard DeCosta buried a Chiefs flag under the field, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

By burying the flag, DeCosta presumably was trolling the Las Vegas Raiders, one of the Chiefs’ AFC West rivals. But now the prank may be perceived as good luck when the Chiefs return to the stadium for the Big Game.

@PatrickMahomes @ChiefsReporter @41actionnews @Mathieu_Era @Chiefs @tkelce @StoneColdJones @Farzin21 @KCTV5 @cheetah @TheRealFrankC_ Chiefs 1-0 vs Raiders in Las Vegas!!! Go Chiefs!!!! pic.twitter.com/pbbAugsAww

— Gerard DeCosta (@gerard102874) November 23, 2020

It’s unknown whether the flag is still buried under Allegiant Stadium as Raiders fans have claimed they dug up the flag.

DeCosta’s trolling didn’t end with just the flag prank, though. In 2018, he posted a picture of himself sitting on the stadium’s brand new grandstands wearing Chiefs gear, via KMBC-TV in Kansas City. He claimed to be the first fan to sit in the Allegiant Stadium seats.

So far, the Chiefs have won every game they’ve played in Allegiant Stadium, posting a 4–0 record against the Raiders.

Super Bowl LVIII between the Chiefs and 49ers kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 11.

Kevin Durant has made it known how he feels about a potential tribute video from his former team, the Brooklyn Nets. 

Durant, now with the Phoenix Suns, will be returning to Brooklyn on Wednesday night for the first time since the blockbuster trade that shipped him off to Phoenix ahead of the trade deadline last February.

Fans on social media have debated whether Durant should receive a tribute video from the Nets. The Suns star, an avid user of X, formerly Twitter, joined the conversation Sunday and made his thoughts on the matter very clear. 

Durant said he does not want the Nets to honor him with a tribute video. 

Please don’t, the night will be better without it

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 28, 2024

When one fan suggested that the Nets might give him a video “for the PR of it,” Durant chimed in, saying “please don’t, the night will be better without it.” 

The discussion then continued, with one Nets fan genuinely asking what would be featured in a Nets video tribute to Durant, citing the star’s tumultuous tenure in Brooklyn as “wasted years” for the organization, a point Durant said he agreed with. 

I agree wit u

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 28, 2024

Durant, 35, spent 3 1/2 seasons with the Nets, a period marred by playoff failures and organizational dysfunction, as the once-promising trio of Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Durant failed to make things work.

1. I guess I’m supposed to have a Tony Romo take today.

The only problem is my Tony Romo take is much different from everyone else’s Tony Romo take, so I feel like I’m on a different planet.

I know the move now is to either throw up some inflammatory headline about Romo or go on social media and take a shot at Romo so you can get some likes and retweets, but I just didn’t think Romo was bad calling Sunday’s Chiefs-Ravens game.

I’m not saying Romo is perfect. And I’m not comparing Romo to Greg Olsen or Troy Aikman or Cris Collinsworth. 

I’m just saying that outside of those couple of moments when Romo went over the top, his performance didn’t annoy me at all.

I actually thought Romo had a very strong first half. He predicted the Chiefs would throw on a 4th-and-2 in the first quarter. They did and converted. He said the Ravens should go on a fourth down in their own territory in the first quarter. They did and they made it. He repeatedly talked about how the Chiefs weren’t going to be able to gain many yards on the ground against the Ravens’ interior defense, which bore out with Isiah Pacheco gaining just 68 yards on 24 carries.

As I said, where Romo gets himself in trouble is when he goes over the top. Lamar Jackson catching a pass that was deflected and running for 13 yards was a cool play, but also a fluke play and not one of the greatest plays in NFL history. This was total hyperbole by Romo, and he would be better served in moments like this to not be so declarative.

"Ball batted up into the air... and CAUGHT BY JACKSON! HE CAUGHT HIS OWN PASS!" - Jim Nantz

"THAT'S ONE OF THE GREATEST PLAYS I'VE EVER SEEN! THIS IS INTERCEPTED A HUNDRED PERCENT..." - Tony Romo pic.twitter.com/Cahzy0cYtI

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 28, 2024

However, some of the criticism I see about Romo is just as over the top as one of his superlatives.

Going to a commercial break after the Chiefs recovered a Ravens fumble, Romo said, “In games like this, the ball matters more than any other game.”

For some reason, this comment seemed to bother a lot of people. Websites and blogs actually wrote stories about this one sentence.

Is this insightful analysis? Of course not. Was it even a sentence that should’ve been uttered? No. Was this just a case of Romo getting his words mixed up as he was rushing to get a sentence in as the music played to take the game to a commercial break? Yes.

If you really think this one line by Romo, while going to commercial break, is big news, I don't know what to say. If this one line by Romo, while going to a commercial break, really impacted your enjoyment of the game, I don’t know what to say.

Actually, I do know what to say. This is just nitpicking of the higher order because it’s become the cool thing to bash Romo, which is unfortunate because CBS has the Super Bowl in two weeks, and you can actually hear the sound of everyone sharpening their knives right now.

2. Back in September, right before the season began, Good Morning Football's Peter Schrager correctly predicted that the Chiefs would play the Niners in the Super Bowl.

Annual tradition, 30 minutes before Week 1 kicks off...Super Bowl pick:

Chiefs over 49ers

— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) September 7, 2023

When it comes to picking a Super Bowl winner each year, @PSchrags isn't just 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 at it... He's the best.

Is it too early to say congrats to the @Chiefs ?#PredictionWeek pic.twitter.com/pbDOC8j2m8

— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) September 7, 2023

Schrager also predicted that the Chiefs would win this year’s Super Bowl, which is fantastic news for the Kansas City faithful because he has correctly predicted the winner of the past five Super Bowls.

Of course, the most loyal of SI Media With Jimmy Traina listeners knew this because we covered this in August when Schrager appeared on the podcast.

Good Morning Football’s @PSchrags is on quite a streak. He has correctly predicted the Super Bowl champion for the past 5 seasons. He talked about this and much more on the SI MEDIA pod. Great listen for NFL fans.

Apple: https://t.co/ck0BFM7TyA
YouTube: https://t.co/hZgdmviaMz pic.twitter.com/3DY8yIEl67

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) August 17, 2023

3. One of the many, many, many things I hate about the cesspool that is Twitter is when someone pulls out an old sports take from someone and sarcatically says, “This aged well.”

I hate it for two reasons. One, part of the fun of being a sports fan is making predictions, trash talking and arguing with friends about what might happen. But now you have to be fearful someone might pull up a take you had five years ago to pull a gotcha on you, and it takes away all the fun.

Two, it’s not creative or original.

Having said all that, I'm going against my beliefs today because this old take is so good and so hilarious. Plus, if his own show can mock him by tweeting this last night, I can certainly mock him in my column. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Stugotz from The Dan Le Batard Show on Patrick Mahomes.

The worst take in the history of sports takes gets worse every year. 🔮😂 @Stugotz790 pic.twitter.com/llPsTNoGvq

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) January 29, 2024

4. The biggest controversy Sunday was Lions coach Dan Campbell repeatedly passing up field goals to attempt fourth-down conversions.

There seemed to be a 50-50 split between people who thought Campbell coached recklessly and those who felt Campbell was just doing what he always does and that mentality got his team to an NFL title game.

Did the Lions lose because of Campbell?

No.

The Lions dropped a fourth-down conversion, dropped a third-down conversion, fumbled on their own 25-yard line and were the victims of a wild, fluke play when the 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk caught a pass off a defender’s facemask.

Does all that mean Campbell wasn’t partially responsible for the Lions’ losing?

No.

Both things can be true. The Lions screwed themselves with drops and turnovers and Campbell shouldn’t be going on EVERY fourth down.

Also, screaming “ANALYTICS” every time a coach goes for it on fourth down doesn’t mean they should go for it on fourth down. There are other things to consider.

Home and road, momentum, going up three scores as opposed to two.

One of the worst trends in sports is people explaining a decision by just saying “analytics!”

5. Saturday Night Live spoofed CBS’s NFL Today crew as well as Jim Nantz and Tony Romo this past weekend.

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an outstanding conversation with Good Morning Football host Kyle Brandt.

Brandt talks about the strong ratings for GMFB, how he feels about the NFL season winding down, what a Super Bowl in Las Vegas means for people in sports media, why he doesn’t love talking about the Cowboys, why he avoids the social media game, his unique segment for CBS’s NFL Today, his experience on Wheel of Fortune and much more.

Following Brandt, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we talk about Doc Rivers leaving ESPN after the network fired Jeff Van Gundy, CBS’s upcoming special on the NFL Today, the best potato chips and more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Curb Your Enthusiasm returns for its final season this Sunday, so we will be featuring Curb videos all week in this spot. Today, we kick things off with the classic “chat and cut.”

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner had Brock Purdy’s back after winning the NFC championship game on Sunday.

In a postgame interview, Warner was asked about Purdy’s performance, in which the second-year quarterback led an impressive comeback to defeat the Detroit Lions, 34—31.

The veteran linebacker couldn’t help but tweak Purdy’s critics, namely those who condescendingly called him a “game manager” toward the end of the 2023 season.

“Heck of a game manager, wow,” Warner joked. “Managed the heck out of that game, boy. He’s the reason we’re going to have a chance to win us a ring. I love him.”

"Heck of a game manager, wow. Managed the heck out of that game."

Fred Warner on Brock Purdy 😂 pic.twitter.com/R2K1K94knT

— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) January 29, 2024

Despite some early struggles in Sunday’s game, including a costly interception in the second quarter, the 23-year-old was locked in for the second half and helped spearhead clinical offensive drives, one after the other. 

Down 24—7 at halftime, Purdy and the 49ers mounted the largest comeback in NFC title game history (tied with the 2012 49ers) as San Francisco hit back with 17 unanswered points in the third quarter. The 49ers scored on all five of their second-half drives before kneeling to clinch the victory. 

Purdy finished the game with 267 yards and one touchdown pass. He also showcased his ability to extend plays on the ground, recording 48 rushing yards.

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner recorded a game-high 13 tackles in Sunday’s NFC championship game against the Detroit Lions.

Kyle Terada/USA TODAY

Purdy is set to become the third-youngest starting quarterback in Super Bowl history, and he can become the youngest QB ever to win the Big Game.

The hordes of NFL pundits calling Purdy a “game manager” arguably had to eat their words Sunday night and likely are running out of reasons to criticize the young signal-caller as San Francisco continues its postseason run.

The 49ers will play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, aka Mr. Irrelevant, has made it further than any of his critics could have possibly imagined. On Feb. 11, when the second-year pro suits up for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas against the Kansas City Chiefs, he’ll ink his name in the history books next to a select group of signal-callers in their early 20s.

When Purdy takes the field at Allegiant Stadium, he will become the third-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl. He will be 24 years and 46 days old at kickoff, and if he wins, he will become the youngest starting QB ever to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Dan Marino and Ben Roethlisberger remain the two youngest starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl history, respectively. Marino was 23 years and 127 days old when he started for the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 20, 1985, and Big Ben was 23 years and 340 days old when he started for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Feb. 5, 2006.

Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers has a chance to become the youngest starting quarterback to win the Super Bowl.

Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports

The rest of the list includes high-profile names as well as a few the casual fan may be surprised to see. Jared Goff, who lost to Purdy’s 49ers in the NFC title game, was 24 years and 112 days old when he started Super Bowl LIII for the Los Angeles Rams and ranks fifth. Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Jalen Hurts, and Joe Burrow also make the list.

Here’s an updated ranking of the youngest starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl history.

The 10 youngest starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl history 

1) Dan Marino, Dolphins (23 years, 127 days)
2) Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers (23 years, 340 days)
3) Brock Purdy, 49ers (24 years, 46 days)
4) David Woodley, Dolphins (24 years and 97 days)
5) Jared Goff, Rams (24 years, 112 days)
6) Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs (24 years, 138 days)
7) Tom Brady, Patriots (24 years, 184 days)
8) Jalen Hurts, Eagles (24 years, 189 days)
9) Drew Bledsoe, Patriots (24 years, 347 days)
T-10) Joe Burrow, Bengals (25 years, 65 days)
T-10) Russell Wilson, Seahawks (25 years, 65 days)

The Detroit Lions had their spirits crushed in the NFC championship game Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium, as they blew a 17-point lead to the San Francisco 49ers, who bested them, 34—31. 

The stunning defeat, which robbed the franchise of a chance to advance to its first Super Bowl, hurts enough as it is. But what might hurt even more is the harsh reality of the NFL, something that Lions coach Dan Campbell reminded his team of after the loss.

Indeed, the Lions have seldom contended for a Super Bowl berth. Sunday’s trip to the NFC title game was the franchise’s first in 32 years.

“This may have been their only shot,” Campbell told reporters at his postgame press conference. 

The full Dan Campbell quote here is important, before bits go viral:

"I told those guys, 'This may have been our only shot.' Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. It'll be twice as hard to get back to this point," he said. pic.twitter.com/uUYAvOdV1T

— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) January 29, 2024

“I told those guys, ‘This may have been our only shot.’ Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. It’ll be twice as hard to get back to this point,” Campbell said. 

The Lions coach explained that if the team doesn’t maintain the same “hunger,” they won’t get back to this point, given that they won’t be “hiding from anybody.” 

It likely hurts for the Lions, one of the younger teams in the league, to hear this. But such is the reality of the NFL.

Detroit, which went from six consecutive seasons of missing the postseason to advancing to the NFC title game this year, will now go from being the hunter to the hunted. 

Their 2024 success likely will hinge on how well they handle this fact. 

And Campbell knows it. 

The Detroit Tigers believe Colt Keith can be a bat-first second baseman comparable to Gleyber Torres of the New York Yankees. Keith, 22, never has played a day in the majors. By signing Keith to a six-year, $28.6 million extension, the Tigers will save about $12 million plus gain three years of control if they are right.

If they are wrong? Well, it’s an overpay, but as seen with losing bets the Philadelphia Phillies made on Scott Kingery and the Seattle Mariners made on Evan White ($24 million over six years for each), that’s not the kind of money to set a franchise back.

That’s why the deal makes sense for both sides. The Tigers buy at least three more years of control and get a player on a discount if he’s an everyday contributor. They also send a message that the organization is committed to its young players as it climbs out of a rebuild.

Keith gets financial security and sheds the usual annual worry about value most young players face.

Keith, who has yet to make an MLB appearance, signed a six-year contract extension with Detroit.

Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports

You will see more of these deals, though in limited numbers. These contracts make sense from a risk/reward calculation only when 1) the player is a top prospect who has performed in a steady manner in the minors, 2) the organization knows the player’s makeup well enough to be confident the financial security will not lessen the player’s drive to be great and 3) he’s a position player. Pitchers are less predictable, especially because of the injury factor.

Here is what else you need to know about this deal:

• A left-handed hitter built like a slightly bigger Jeff Kent, Keith is a solid offensive player with good bat-to-ball skills, above average power at second base and an advanced approach. Think Jason Kipnis, another left-handed hitting, bat-first second baseman, though Keith is more of a quiet grinder who loves to work whereas Kipnis became a team leader with Cleveland. “That’s fair on the lower end,” one evaluator says about the Kipnis comparison. “I think he can be a better offensive player.” Kipnis was a two-time All-Star with a .750 career OPS and 102 OPS+.
• Though Keith can play third base, the Tigers intend to have him focus solely on second base this spring, where he could earn the starting job simply by demonstrating he can make the routine plays there.
• Tigers prospect Jace Jung, 23, who has played mostly second base, will get more time at third base, where he exclusively played in the Arizona Fall League.
• The Tigers are loaded with young, left-handed hitters. Keith, Jung, Riley Greene, 23; Parker Meadows, 24; and Kerry Carpenter, 26, are all legit hitters who are ready now or will be soon. It’s a similar blueprint the Arizona Diamondbacks and Baltimore Orioles used to build postseason teams last year.
• Just when we thought the ban on shifts would increase the premium on defense and athleticism at second base, the bat-first second baseman is becoming a trend. Keith joins Edouard Julien of the Minnesota Twins and Nolan Gorman of the St. Louis Cardinals (another good comp to Keith) as likely starters known more for their offense than defense, joining veterans such as Torres, José Altuve and Brandon Lowe. Explains one manager when asked about this trend: “The search for offense has probably never been greater.”
• Torres will earn $36.225 million through his six service years. Keith gets $24 million over a similar span. He is due another $4.6425 million in buyouts for years 7, 8 and 9, but if he is comparable to Torres, those three options are picked up and Detroit effectively buys his first three free-agent years at $38 million. (There are escalators attached to elite performance that can sweeten the deal.) Those same three free-agent years for Torres, who is making $14.2 million this year, are worth between $45 million (D.J. LeMahieu money) and $69.9 million (Javier Báez). It’s the usual calculus: go year-to-year to max your earning power or take less up front to buy security.
• Keith has been a better hitter in the minors than his contractual comps, Kingery and White, at the time of their deals, as well as better than his current major league comps, Torres and Gorman. With these selected comps, he looks most like Kipnis with a bit more power and swing and miss:

Minor League Statistics When Reaching MajorsPlayerGAvg/OBP/SLGOPSK%

Keith

239

.300/.382/.512

.894

21.5

Kipnis

254

.297/.377/.486

.863

17.6

Gorman

350

.270/.339/.496

.834

27.5

White

230

.296/.361/.471

.832

20.4

Torres

376

.285/.363/.421

.784

20.2

Kingery

329

.284/.324/.437

.761

16.6

• Keith is the seventh player to sign a long-term deal before playing a game in the majors. Of the previous six, two have worked well (Luis Robert Jr., six years, $50 million, and Eloy Jiménez, six years, $43 million), three have backfired (Kingery, White and Jon Singleton, five years, $10 million) and one is just starting (Jackson Chourio, eight years, $82 million).

Cleaning out the notebook and notes app from a cracking 2024 Australian Open. And some of you asked: If you want to receive the mailbag in your email each week, let me know at jon_wertheim@yahoo.com.

Onward …

1. All hail Jannik Sinner, 2024 Australian Open men’s singles champ. “If” became “when” and is currently “now.” For years the salon has talked up Sinner. In the last few months he has put together his elaborate gifts and professionalism. He blazed through five rounds without dropping a set. He stared down Novak Djokovic in the semis (for the third time since Halloween) and then returned to finish the job, rallying to win in five sets over Daniil Medvedev (3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3). Forza!

2. In the match she played before the Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka lost 6–0, 6–3. She then wins seven matches without dropping a set, defending her title, beating Coco Gauff and Qinwen Zheng—two top-10 players—in the latter two rounds. She’s very much a player of the present. But do note that Sabalenka could retire tomorrow and her spot in the Hall of Fame is secure.

Sabalenka won her second straight Australian Open title with a win over Qinwen Zheng.

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

3. Zheng could not do what Li Na did a decade ago and represent China as a major champion. But she did herself—and coach Pere Riba—proud, winning six matches and cracking the top 10. Much was made of her not facing a seed until the final. (How much predictive value is there when you win six matches, mostly against sub-50 players?) But Zheng sure passes the eye test. Such movement, such athleticism, such self-possession. Buy your stock now!

4. All hail Medvedev. There are players who deplore chaos. Others thrive amid mayhem. This guy, happily, is the latter. A match ending at 3:40 a.m. A spate of five setters. He finally succumbed against blazing hot Sinner in the final. But in his quirky wild-and-crazy-guy way, he showed an awfully lot of fortitude and soul during this event. Now he can rest.

5. For the first time in six years, Djokovic entered the Australian Open and did not win. Sinner, of course, beat Djokovic in four sets, serving the Serb his first-ever defeat in 20 “Final Four” matches in Australia. The result of the semifinals match was a mild upset; the tenor (and, thus, the scoreline) was a shocker. Djokovic remains No. 1 but the plot has thickened. Was this a one-off, a “bad day at the office”? Or is Father Time limbering up in the bullpen?

6. That whooshing sound you heard was the ATP breathing a sigh of relief as Alexander Zverev was eliminated in the semifinals by Medvedev, sparing men’s tennis more awkwardness. Nothing like a player accused—twice—of domestic violence and facing an adjudicated penalty order in advance of a public trial in May, competing for a title. We devoted plenty of airtime, ink and pixels to Zverev. One point perhaps worth stressing: this is not personal; it’s not a witch hunt (scoundrels’ favorite word); it’s not about “innocent-until-proven guilty.” It’s all about the fact pattern. Not too many other sports —or workplaces—would be business-as-usual when an athlete faced this set of facts.

8. A B-plus tournament for Gauff. She did not become the first woman to win back-to-back majors since Naomi Osaka. But all in all, a fine outing. She beat who she was supposed to beat. She’s had a lot of churn in her camp and it didn’t seem to bother her. She had her chances against Sabalenka. A sting, but not a wound. And she leaves at No.3.

9. Ah, tennis. In Week 1, we celebrate a 16-year-old. Week 2, it’s a 43-year-old. Specifically Rohan Bopanna of India, who teamed up with Australian (and mailbag reader) Matthew Ebden to beat Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7–6, 7–5 in the men’s doubles final. Two rounds earlier, Bopanna became No. 1 for the first time in his career.

10. In the women’s doubles final, 38-year-old Su-wei Hsieh, the connoisseur's favorite, teamed with Elise Mertens to take the title with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla (stay out of the) Kichenok of Ukraine. It’s Hsieh’s third major in nine months, each with a different partner.

11. This event reinforced the reality that we are in a new … reality. The Serena Williams and Big Three era is past. The era of all-time players reliably reaching the semis and finals is past. We are regressing to a statistical mean where 128 players—closer in talent than ever—will serve up more combinations and permutations than ever. “Upsets” needs to be redefined. Results like a Wimbledon champion losing in the first round will not seem so aberrant. Adjust expectations accordingly.

12. Do we need to talk about Iga Świątek? The top seed in the women’s draw is a generational player, who arrived on a 16-match win streak. She won two tough matches (willing her way past an admirable Danielle Collins, down a third-set break) and then lost to No. 50 Linda Nosková. In keeping with the previous paragraph, we need to recalibrate, re-wire and realize that Serena-style expectations are not realistic. By the same token … Świątek has not only lost in four of her previous five majors but has done so before the semis. Three of her four major titles are at Roland Garros (a higher ratio than Rafael Nadal). And for a top player, there is so much talk of nerves, pressure and discomfort. Lovely player. Lovely person. At some level, she is a victim of the standard she has set. But there are cracks in the facade, especially at majors.

13. Similarly, a strange event for Carlos Alcaraz. In Melbourne without a warmup (see below), or coach Juan Carlos Ferrero (DNP-knee surgery), Alcaraz was generally electric for four rounds. He then looked utterly bereft in the quarterfinals, falling to Zverev and doing so without much of a game plan. He’s 20. He could retire tomorrow and be a Hall of Famer. He is flagrantly talented. But he hasn’t been to a final since Cincinnati (causation or correlation?) and seems a bit dented right now.

14. You want more Su-wei? Sold! She came in having won six Grand Slam titles in women's doubles but none in mixed doubles. No more. She reamed with Jan Zieliński of Poland to outlast No. 2 seeds Desirae Krawczyk of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain 6–7(5), 6–4, [11–9] in the final.

15. In the juniors, top seed Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia—about time the Slovak region served up a decent player—took the girls' title. (That was a joke by the way.) Rei Sakamoto, a 16-year-old Japanese player, won it for the boys. For all results, Colette Lewis, as ever, has your back.

16. Sometimes prospects develop late or sneak up on tennis. Other times they arrive with advance fanfare. Two words: Hannah Klugman.

17. Cruel sport, this tennis. Playing into the guts of a major for the third time in eight months, Elina Svitolina was helpless against back spasms and had to pull out of her fourth-round match against Nosková. Had she won that, three Ukrainians (Dayana Yastremska and the winsome Marta Kostyuk) would have made the quarters. The Ukraine storyline has faded, Peng Shuai-style. But do note: It was only two years ago that the country was barbarously invaded and the situation is very much fluid.

18. Storyline to follow: Olympic eligibility. If there are other eligible players from your country, you cannot get a wild card. (Crassly: are there four players in, roughly, the top 50?). Note that there are four-plus American women in the mix, likely precluding Venus Williams from representing the U.S. yet again. And the same, potentially, for Spanish men … which would mean—short of some last-minute rule changes—Nadal playing in Paris 2024 is not a given. And what happens to the Czech Republic women’s doubles team? Do Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková defend their gold medal despite splitting up week-to-week?

19. The top Americans—Taylor Fritz and Gauff—did themselves proud. The other Americans had a rougher go of it. Some were upset. Some failed to show. Tommy Paul (defending semifinal points) had match points in the third-round match, hit two wayward forehands and lost 6–0 in the third set.

20. An underrated story line (documentary subject?) is the continued growth of wheelchair tennis. Great story, BBC.

21. Who remembers the proposed SuperTour? (We are taking the liberty of branding it with no space.) Discussions continued in Australia. When he wasn’t running, you know, the actual event, Craig Tiley was trying to whip votes from top players in private pitch meetings. The offer: “You’ll play 14 events: the four majors plus nine Masters Series plus a Saudi event in February. You’ll make way more money than you do now. And if the ATP or WTA sues, the deep-pocketed Saudis will cover legal fees and bleed them dry.” As always, the devil resides in the details. Will the players have equity in the SuperTour, as they do with the ATP and WTA? Will all 14 events play nice with each other? Will, say, Wimbledon be willing to open their books? Are there not non-competes for the current ATP 1000 events? What happens when Dubai or Doha—loyal tour members for decades—hear about this? Lots of hurdles left … .

The Australian Open upped its prize money pool to a tournament-record 86.5 million Australian dollars. 

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

22. Everyone—Tennis Channel included—got their mileage out of the “mom tracker.” Eight entered, five of them (Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka, Osaka and Svitolina) were once top-five players. Two (Azarenka and Svitolina) got to Week 2. All credit to the players. Credit, too, to the WTA for providing such a hospitable maternity leave policy.

23. After falling to Sinner, Andrey Rublev is now 0–10 once reaching a major quarterfinal. Do you know who else has lost 10 major quarterfinals? Djokovic. (He has also won 48.) Rublev is a fine player and strong presence. But does he have a ceiling against which he cannot stop bumping?

24. Mirra Andreeva, then 15, lost in the Australian Open girls final in 2023. In 2024, she reached the second week of a major for the third time and will, almost surely, be seeded at the next major. And another teenager, Świątek-slayer Nosková will likely be seeded higher still.

25. Tennis, like all sports, is figuring out its relationship with gambling … sports wagering is legal in Australia. But both the bettor and the subject of the bet must be 18. So one could not wager on Andreeva.

26. We can concede that wild cards are a necessary evil. They fly in the face of fundamental fairness, but tournaments need a mechanism, a back door for getting (marketable and sentimentally worthy) players like Wozniacki into the draw. Fine. But the reciprocal wild cards are a joke. Two French and American players automatically get into majors over more worthy players—Wimbledon admirably declines this sham—and get the $80,000 first-round checks, because of this backroom deal worthy of mob bosses. This is so cynical and unnecessary and such a glimpse into the oligopoly of the majors … and then Arthur Cazaux—the 20-year-old, tatted-up leap-before-you-look shotmaker with one prior win on tour—thrills to reach the fourth round.

27. Note the comeback of Amanda Anisimova who looked fully recognizable with her aggressive, clean ball striking as she reached Round 2. And happily unfamiliar with her persistent smiling. Makes you wonder if other players struggling with the demands of the job and possible burnout—the admirable but clearly in-need-of-a-jolt Jessica Pegula, to pick a name—see players like Anisimova and find solace that you can take off months, refresh, rewire and return to winning.

28. Five players who didn’t escape Week 1 but impressed nonetheless: Lukáš Klein, the qualifier had 80 winners, and won more games, in a five-set loss to Zverev. Dino Prižmić, who took a set off Djokovic in Round 1. Max Purcell, the serve-and-volley dervish who should have beaten Casper Rudd in Round 2. Qualifier Maria Timofeeva who took out Wozniacki and then backed it up against Bia Haddad Maia. The hard-serving Alycia Parks—now working with Sascha Bajin we’re told—offered little against Gauff but looked terrific in the previous two rounds including a takedown of Leylah Fernandez.

29. Given his mode of being, his fondness for attention, his candor and his preference for the team over the vulnerability of playing as an individual, Nick Kyrgios is better suited for tennis commentating than tennis playing. Like Damn Yankees or Big, this almost resembles the premise for a screenplay. The Zoltar fortune-telling machine says, “Good news and bad news, young Nick. I am going to make you a professional athlete. But it’s going to be in a sport that doesn’t appeal to you and runs counter to your constitution.”

30. More than a week later, many of us remain gutted by the loss of Mike Dickson, the longtime British journalist who died unexpectedly during the tournament. One way to honor his memory: read his work. Here’s his latest book, a meditation, yes, on Emma Raducanu but also the thermodynamics of sudden stardom.

31. Rough go of it for the local wild cards. Nine were given automatic entry. Zero won their first match.

32. Emma Navarro’s career management is quite interesting. She has been racking up points at smaller events, winning matches and gaining experience. She came to Melbourne as a seeded player and will likely be seeded again in Paris. Is she a concierge-level player? Perhaps not yet. But she’s young, ascending and her approach to allocating and accumulating points is something other players might want to study.

33. ICYMI, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are not happy about the prospect of the WTA holding its crown jewel event in Saudi Arabia. I wrestle with this: Why does it fall on the women—and so often, why does it fall on the marginalized—to take the moral stance? Cristiano Ronaldo, LIV golfers and Nadal can all cash in. But the women can’t? We don’t demand that they call out human rights abuses or the criminalization of homosexuality, but women’s tennis players must? At the same time, the WTA has made activism, female empowerment and social justice a cornerstone of its branding. As perhaps it should. But how does the same tour that espouses inclusion and equality and “strong is beautiful,” credibly plant its signature event in a country where women don’t enjoy full freedom of movement?

I don’t have much to add to Nadal’s announcement that he is now an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation. I know that to many inside and outside the sport, it’s a disappointment, a suggestion that he was bought off by an authoritarian regime that is using athletes with prestige and reputation to launder a national image and rebrand itself. The flip side: The Nadal I know is principled and doesn’t reach decisions lightly. Neither a point for or against, but when I visited The Kingdom last year I did notice that there was a franchise of Tatel—the restaurant Nadal and Ronaldo endorse—opening in Riyadh. Which suggests he entered this recent relationship eyes wide open.

34. A year ago, Alex Michelsen was winning a challenger in Edmond, Okla. Which put him on the fringes of the top 500. Having won two rounds in Melbourne, he is now arrowing toward the top 50. And he doesn’t turn 20 until the U.S. Open.

35. I once wrote this story about an Adderall situation that convulsed the University of Georgia tennis program. A half-decade later, Adderall is still an open secret in tennis. Whether there’s a material advantage to taking this drug—which counters hyperactivity disorder—or whether it’s just a psychological advantage, Adderall has found favor with so many players from juniors to pros. Does tennis have the stomach to confront this and all the exemptions? Yes, health records deserve maximum privacy. Yes, players who genuinely suffer from a condition should be able to return to a baseline level. But this is clearly a huge loophole being exploited by countless players seeking an advantage.

36. The arc of the tennis career is long. Unprecedentedly so. Which has benefitted college tennis. Yet another event where the alumni club made its mark. Four NCAA champions were in the main draw. The tournament director is a former coach at Illinois. John Isner made a strong Tennis Channel debut. And how about Nuno Borges, former Mississippi State Bulldog, taking out Grigor Dimitrov to reach Week 2?

37. Upset of the tournament? A vote here for the blazing re-emergence of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. This is a radical strategy shift, and it should be greeted as good news. The more the former champions are engaged and in the public eye—provided that’s what they want—the better. “Grafassi” are playing pickleball. They are ordering Uber Eats. They are playing with Simona Halep in Hungary. They are going to USTA meetings, I hear. A marked departure from the low profile they’ve kept as of late.

38. These Aussie Open media folks do so much so well. Few complaints about the app. Only a few glitches overall. One suggestion comes from reader R. Fernando:

Might you know someone at the Australian Open who can tell the “Extended Highlights” creators to stop using spoiler thumbnails (like the one below)? The truth is that for most matches that are only somewhat interesting, the extended highlights are a great length to get the best moments without spending too much time.

A screenshot of one of the Australian Open’s “Extended Highlights.”

39. Your periodic reminder that exchange rates figure prominently in this global sport. The Australian dollar is worth 66 U.S. cents. Which means the much-ballyhooed $120,000 first-round prize money was actually less than the $81,500 the U.S. Open offered last fall.

40. More question than rant. But what do we do about Patrick Mouratoglou? Here is a prominent figure in tennis who, while he doesn’t seem to be coaching much these days, puts on a well-paying exhibition, runs an academy and provides commentary. He also was coaching a top player when she was popped for a banned substance and—honorably, if belatedly—assumed responsibility. Imagine this fact pattern in another sport. A track coach whose runner tested positive. A college football strength coach whose players failed drug tests. In those sports, there would be consequences both formal and cultural; a necessary period of image rehab. I’m not saying cancel the guy. But it’s a little strange that for all the private whispering, there’s been no public institutional stance. And at a minimum, the WTA would do well to update this page.

41. I offered some thoughts on Break Point last week. And don’t have much to add. If you want to devote a segment to Zverev and then neglect to mention—much less condemn—his multiple domestic violence allegations and his committing the most violent act on a tennis court in recent memory … that’s a choice. When you then position him as the hero to Medvedev’s cheating villain, you have gone from “unforced error” to “tank.” Not just a whiff but an outright bad-faith effort. (And how does the ATP sign off on this?)

42. If the Tennis SuperTour comes to be—and there was a remarkable lack of chatter on this topic—­the ATP 250 and 500 events will be rendered something akin to dive bars. That is, fun places where the hard cores can seek refuge and hang out. But not as a serious enterprise with growth potential.

43. As it stands, it’s rough times for the ATP events that precede majors. There’s a growing consensus that tennis’ four biggest events should start early and wrap around three weekends. And Alcaraz, Medvedev and Sinner all showed you can skip tune-ups and arrive in form. Parents of teens know that sometimes you let your kids sleep in, and they have bedhead and feel sluggish all day. Other times, they feel refreshed. This was the latter.

Sinner became only the second Italian to win a men’s singles Grand Slam tournament..  

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

44. Who else is old enough to remember … line judges? (Wild—and instructive—how no one even discusses this shift. Outrage, it fades fast.)

45. Theft crimes are up! You can pay first-round prize money of $120,000 (Aussie). You can provide meal vouchers. You can provide travel vouchers. Cold plunges, smoothie bars and massages. And none of it will prevent players from towel larceny. I saw one player lose a match and then casually jog to the other side of the court to swipe his towel and place it surreptitiously in his bag. And then there’s Daria Kasatkina getting busted on surveillance cam.

46. Trivia: Which of the four majors charges the highest rate for licensing footage to outside media companies? Answer: the Australian Open, at $10,000 per minute!

47. This is seriously cringe, as the kids say, and I hope it comes across as objective advice and not unseemly self-promotion. From the snazzy Tennis Channel studios in L.A., I did a two-hour daily pregame show with Lindsay Davenport, Navratilova and Jim Courier (on-site in Oz), hosted by Steve Weissman. The shows did not lead into live match coverage. Sometimes they aired opposite NFL playoff games. And all the while, I kept thinking, “Man, if I were a hardcore fan, this would be great content for me." No-holds-barred debate and discussion. Deep dives. Insight. Gossip. Interviews. Features. Inside tennis jokes. Good chemistry. I would even listen in audio form. I strongly encourage fans to find these shows and tune in at future majors.

48. The view here is that pickleball is complementary to tennis, not competition to tennis, and should be treated as such. Both empirically and anecdotally, it’s not going anywhere. Except up. There’s a pickleball facility on the Santa Monica Promenade. Emma Watson is bringing a pickleball coach to her film sets. Drew Brees plays multiple times a day. Tennis would do well to embrace this new segment. It should be perceived as a blessing. You have a new demographic getting familiar with the thrill of a well-executed point, the ambivalence of a let-court winner, the sadistic joy of pulling off an angled drop shot and the effectiveness of a slice that stays low. Would these millions not enjoy and appreciate tennis?

49. Tennis gonna tennis … Davis Cup commandeers the calendar next weekend. The USTA and U.S. Davis Cup captain, Bob Bryan, announced that Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Christopher Eubanks, Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram will represent the U.S. in its 2024 Davis Cup qualifying tie with Ukraine. Given Korda’s spot on the team, it’s fitting that the matches will be played at SEB Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania.

50. Thanks for all your notes about the precarious state of Sports Illustrated. I have to be somewhat careful here, but with any luck, we’ll do another wrap-up column from Roland Garros.

HAVE A GOOD WEEK, EVERYONE!

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are going back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years after beating Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, 17–10, in Sunday’s AFC championship game at M&T Bank Stadium. 

The Chiefs had a blast celebrating their big win on their opponent’s field after the final whistle, and so did Patrick Mahomes’s dad, Pat Mahomes Sr., who enjoyed a victory cigar while taking it all in.

He also had a little fun trolling the Ravens’ star QB, saying his cigar was a “special blend Lamar Jackson.” 

Check this out: 

Pat Mahomes Sr. Told me postgame that he’s smokin on that
“Special Blend Lamar Jackson!”
He flew it in straight from Cuba pic.twitter.com/Sq2S4iIXos

— Steve Walls (@SteveWallsKC) January 29, 2024

The Chiefs will next face the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.

It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose.

A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

A flock of ravens (not Baltimore Ravens) is called an “unkindness.”

The Flintstones were originally called The Gladstones, and then The Flagstones.

The tongues of blue whales can weigh as much as an elephant.

Sloths can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes.

Superman wasn’t capable of flying in comic books until the 1940s.

Those are a few interesting facts you might not know.

Now for something you might find even more interesting: Here are your 101 Fantasy Football Facts from what was a very challenging and difficult 2023 NFL season.

Quarterbacks

1. It was a down season for the quarterback position from a statistical perspective. For the second straight year, just four players averaged more than 20 fantasy points per game (minimum 10 starts), which was down from nine in 2021. We also saw only four signal-callers throw for 30-plus touchdowns for the second straight season. That’s also down from the nine quarterbacks who hit that same mark in 2021.

2. Among the top 12 quarterbacks drafted based on average draft position (ADP) data, just seven actually finished in the top 12 in fantasy points. The players who failed to meet expectations include Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, Deshaun Watson and Kirk Cousins. Trevor Lawrence (12th) barely made it.

3. The other five quarterbacks who finished in the top 12 were Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, C.J. Stroud and Baker Mayfield. Goff was drafted highest out of the group, and his average draft position was just 139.9 on the NFFC website.

4. The 2023 NFL season was marred with injuries to field generals. In fact, there were 66 quarterbacks who started a game. None of those backups finished in the top 12 in total points, but Joe Flacco did rank fourth in points scored per game. Of course, he started just five regular-season contests for the Cleveland Browns.

5. The most backup quarterbacks to start a game in a single season came in 1987, which was the NFL’s strike-impacted campaign (so everyone was, by definition, a backup). Just nine teams started the same quarterback in all 17 games in 2023. Five other teams had just one quarterback start all but one game in the regular season.

6. In 2023, Patrick Mahomes threw for 5,250 yards and accounted for 45 total touchdowns, which amounted to 417.4 fantasy points. That broke the previous single-season record for quarterbacks, which was 417.1 points … and held by Mahomes. His leading wide receiver was JuJu Smith-Schuster with a modest 933 yards.

7. Mahomes was the first quarterback selected, on average in 2023 fantasy drafts. He went on to throw for a career-low 4,183 yards (1,067 fewer than last season) and account for a career-low 27 touchdowns. His 17.5 points-per-game average was 7.1 fewer than he had in 2022, and it was the lowest average in his career by three points.

8. The major complaint about Mahomes was his receivers, but rookie Rashee Rice was actually far better than Smith-Schuster from a fantasy perspective. Beyond that, however, his next best wideout was Justin Watson with just 460 yards. What’s more, his top target, Travis Kelce, failed to post 1,000 yards for the first time since 2015.

9. In the final five weeks of the fantasy season (Weeks 13-17), Mahomes was an awful 21st in fantasy points per game among quarterbacks. Some of the players (including backups) who ranked ahead of him included Geno Smith, Jake Browning, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, Jared Goff, Gardner Minshew and Taylor Heinicke.

Josh Allen threw 29 TD passes this season and added 15 rushing touchdowns.

Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports

10. Josh Allen scored 392.6 fantasy points this season, making it four straight years in which he’s scored over 390 points. He accomplished that feat despite the fact that he threw a career-high 18 interceptions, but his NFL-record 15 rushing touchdowns made up for some of those mistakes. His 15 scores on the ground tied Jalen Hurts (who also rushed for 15 touchdowns) for the league high in a single season.

11. Allen has now scored 2,082.5 fantasy points in his career. That’s the most points a quarterback has scored in his first six seasons in NFL history. He’s also first in terms of rushing touchdowns scored among quarterbacks in their first six years, and he’s third in rushing yards, behind only Lamar Jackson and Michael Vick.

12. Despite the fact that he rushed for an NFL-record 15 touchdowns, Hurts still saw his fantasy numbers decline this season. His points-per-game average dropped by more than four points, which was due in part to an increase in turnovers. Hurts had a career-high 15 interceptions and lost five fumbles, which was also a personal worst.

13. On a positive note, Hurts still finished second in points among quarterbacks. He also set the record for the most rushing touchdowns scored in a field general’s first four seasons in the league. His 41 scores eclipsed the previous high of 33, which was set by Cam Newton in his first four years with the Carolina Panthers.

14. Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys had a terrible finish to their season, but he was a “star” in the fantasy world. Despite throwing 15 interceptions last season and having an ADP of 113.5 on NFFC, he ranked third in points at the position and led the league with 36 touchdown passes. Prescott was also the most accurate field general in the league based on an on-target percentage of 81.2 in his 17 starts.

15. Jordan Love finished fifth in fantasy points this season, but he had a ton of peaks and valleys. He averaged 21.3 points in his first four games, but he failed to score 17 points in any game over his next five starts while averaging 13.1 points. He turned things around the rest of the season, however, scoring at least 17 points in all but one of his last eight contests including five games with over 20 points.

16. Kirk Cousins was the sixth-best quarterback in fantasy football in the first eight weeks of the season, before tearing his Achilles against the Green Bay Packers. Had he completed the entire campaign, Cousins was on pace to score 318.2 points. That would have been a career high and would have ranked him sixth on the year.

17. Brock Purdy was a hidden gem in fantasy drafts, too, finishing sixth in points at quarterback even after being drafted, on average, at 182.4 behind the likes of Daniel Jones, Geno Smith, Derek Carr and Kenny Pickett. Purdy scored 20-plus points in eight of his final 14 starts, and he ranked fifth in passing yards per game for 2023.

18. Purdy was also the best quarterback in the league in terms of big pass plays (20-plus yards), completing 72 such plays in 16 games. That was three more than Jared Goff, who played in one more game, and six more than rookie C.J. Stroud.

19. Stroud is coming off one of the best years for any rookie quarterback based on fantasy points, finishing with the eighth-most points all time. He also ranked third among first-year field generals in passing yards and tied for sixth in passing scores.

20. Stroud was arguably the best rookie quarterback as a passer in NFL history, at least based on fantasy points. In fact, no other first-year field general who rushed for fewer than 200 yards or scored fewer four or fewer rushing touchdowns has had more points than Stroud. He had just 167 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

21. Stroud also had the best single-game fantasy performance from a quarterback this season. In Week 9, he beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 470 passing yards, five touchdowns and 41.8 points. He also had a 147.8 passer rating in the game.

22. Stroud is one of just six rookie quarterbacks to throw five touchdowns in a single game in the history of the NFL. The other four signal-callers include Daniel Jones (2019), Deshaun Watson (2017), Jameis Winston (2015), Matthew Stafford (2009) and Ray Buvid (1937). Buvid only had six touchdown passes in that season.

23. Stroud’s 470 passing yards in that game is the most a rookie quarterback has ever thrown in NFL history. He broke the previous record set by Marc Bulger with the Rams back in 2002. Bulger threw for 453 yards and four scores against the San Diego Chargers

24. Sam Howell was one of the best quarterbacks in fantasy football in the first 13 weeks, averaging 18.2 points while ranking fifth in points at the position. In those games, he scored 18-plus points seven times including four with 20-plus points. He went in the tank the rest of the season, however, scoring a combined 20.6 points in his final four games while ranking 42nd in points. With the Washington Commanders holding the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, chances are Howell will lose his starting job to a rookie (possibly Drake Maye), and he could even be traded.

25. Joe Flacco went from his couch at home to a fantasy superstar in the final five weeks of the fantasy season. In that time, he threw for a combined 1,616 yards with 13 touchdowns and scored 100.8 points (20.2 PPG) while ranking fourth in points among quarterbacks. Flacco’s 100.8 points is 28.6 more than he had scored in his previous two seasons, during which time he scored more than 20 points once.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Colorado, Michigan and Virginia Readers: Get up to $100 from SI Sportsbook

Bet $5 on DraftKings and get $200 in Bonus Bets if not in those states

View the original article to see embedded media.

Running Backs

26. Christian McCaffrey finished first in PPR points not only among running backs but among all players, during the fantasy season. His 391.3 points was 100.8 more points for the entire year than the next-best runner, Breece Hall, and his 24.5 points per game was 3.2 more points than the second-best back, Kyren Williams.

Christian McCaffrey led the NFL in rushing yards and yards from scrimmage in 2023.

Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

27. McCaffrey has now averaged more than 20 points in all but one of his last six seasons. He has also scored more than 356 points in each of his last four seasons where he has played in at least 16 games. In the two seasons he was injured, he was on pace to score a bananas 482.1 points (2020) and 291.4 points (2021),

28. Based on those projections, McCaffrey would have scored 2,606.5 total fantasy points in his first seven NFL seasons. That would have been 416.3 more points than LaDainian Tomlinson, who has scored the most fantasy points all time among backs in their first seven seasons in the league. That’s an astounding fantasy fact.

29. As it stands, McCaffrey ranks first all time among running backs in fantasy points per game average with 22.5. That’s 1.7 more points per game than the second-best runner, Jim Brown (1957-1965), and 2.2 more than Tomlinson. Based on that alone, it can be argued that McCaffrey is the single greatest fantasy runner of all time.

30. Travis Etienne had a breakout season, scoring 282.4 points on 325 touches. He scored 17-plus points nine times, including six games with more than 21 points, and was unaffected by the selection of Tank Bigsby in the NFL draft. Etienne also led all running backs with 43 broken tackles, which is 29 more than he had as a rookie.

31. Over the first four weeks, Breece Hall ranked tied for 37th in touches, 23rd in scrimmage yards and 32nd in fantasy points among running backs. Coming off a torn ACL, the New York Jets limited his workload in the first month of the season.

32. When the Jets removed Hall’s touch limitation, starting in Week 5, he ranked first in touches, second in scrimmage yards and second in fantasy points among running backs. His 20 fantasy points-per-game average was third best in that time, trailing only McCaffrey and Kyren Williams. Hall will be a top-10 overall pick in 2024 drafts.

33. Speaking of Williams, he was the breakout player of the season in most fantasy leagues. He scored 16-plus points in all but three games, and he posted at least 20 points seven times. Williams also found the end zone 15 times in his 12 games.

34. Williams was an afterthought in fantasy drafts. Based on the NFFC ADP data for the first month of September, he was the 68th running back selected (209.5). The list of runners taken ahead of Williams included Ty Chandler, Sean Tucker, Deuce Vaughn, Chase Brown, Deon Jackson, Kendre Miller and Damien Harris.

35. Williams wasn’t the lone running back who significantly outperformed his ADP. Raheem Mostert, selected as the RB40 (113.1), finished fifth in points at his position and fourth on a points-per-game basis. Mostert would have finished higher among all fantasy runners, too, but he missed the final two contests due to injuries.

36. Mostert scored 21 total touchdowns, which is more than he had scored in his previous eight seasons combined! He did it at the age of 31, making him just the fourth running back in his 30s to score 20 or more touchdowns in a single year.

37. Priest Holmes leads all 30-something running backs in total touchdowns scored in a single season, as he found paydirt 27 times during his age-30 campaign. The other two backs to score 20 or more times in their 30s are John Riggins, who had 24 scores in 1983 at age 34, and Lenny Moore, who scored 20 touchdowns at the age of 31.

38. Mostert’s teammate, De’Von Achane, was the RB42 (two spots behind) based on NFFC ADP. He saw just two touches in his first two games, but the rookie went nuclear in the next three weeks scoring a combined 99.8 points including 51.3 in a Week 3 demolition of the Denver Broncos. While the rookie fought injuries for the remainder of the season, he still finished with 20-plus points in five of his 11 games.

39. Three of the top five fantasy running backs based on PPR scoring systems, Hall, Rachaad White and Mostert, were selected outside of the top 50 overall picks in 2023 drafts. Hall was the first to be picked out of the trio, going at 53.3 on average, while White was 66.9 and Mostert a distant third at 113.1. Williams, who finished sixth among running backs based on total points, was drafted even later (20.9.5).

40. White had all the looks of a fantasy bust in the first six weeks, scoring just 53 points as the RB24. He did a complete 180 over his final 12 games, however, as he scored a combined 214.9 points and averaged 17.9 points per game. His point total in these 12 games was second among backs behind only McCaffrey, and his points-per-game total was sixth behind CMC, Williams, Hall, Jahmyr Gibbs and Joe Mixon.

41. Gibbs had a very slow start to the season, similar to White, scoring just 38.9 PPR points and ranking tied for 32nd among backs. He, too, went wild the rest of the season, however, scoring 203.2 points over his final 11 games. The rookie also put up 18.5 points per game, which was the fourth-best total during that 11-game span.

42. Derrick Henry finished eighth in fantasy points among backs this season, but he still posted some troubling numbers. His 1,167 rushing yards were his least in a full season since 2018, and his 4.2 yards per rush was a career low. He also broke just 24 tackles, which is his lowest full-season total since 2017, and his 601 yards after first contact was also his worst full-season total in his last seven campaigns.

43. Fantasy managers had high hopes for rookie Bijan Robinson, who was the third running back drafted, on average, based on NFFC data in September. He would go on to finish ninth in points among running backs, but he was just 17th in points per game among runners who played in a minimum of 11 games in the regular season.

44. Robinson’s 246.3 fantasy points rank him 18th among rookie running backs who were picked in the top 10 of their respective NFL drafts, all time. Since 2000, with a mere 17 running backs being taken in the top 10 of drafts, Robinson ranks seventh in points scored behind Saquon Barkley (2018), Ezekiel Elliott (2016), Tomlinson (2001), Reggie Bush (2006), Trent Richardson (2012) and Adrian Peterson (2007).

45. Part of the reason Robinson failed to meet expectations was his usage. He saw fewer than 16 touches six times and saw less than a 30% touch share in five of them. That includes a Week 7 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which he was active but saw just one snap because he was feeling under the weather.

46. Isiah Pacheco took a huge leap in his second NFL season. He saw his touches increase from 10.8 per game as a rookie to almost 18 this past season, which led to a solid RB15 finish. Pacheco was also strong down the stretch, scoring more than 21 points in three of his final four games of the regular season. With Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon on the verge of free agency, Pacheco could be on the cusp of being the next great fantasy running back in coach Andy Reid’s offense.

47. Austin Ekeler was the second running back off the board, on average, based on NFFC data. In the first 10 weeks of the season, of which he missed four games, he averaged 18 points per game. That ranked seventh among all runners in that time, ahead of Gibbs, Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Breece Hall and Joe Mixon

48. Unfortunately, Ekeler’s numbers took a nosedive from Week 11 to the end of the season. In those eight games, he ranked as the RB27 and averaged fewer than 10 points a game. Ekeler finished 26th in points for the year, and his 13.2 points-per-game average is his worst total since 2018. He’ll be a free agent this offseason.

49. One of the heroes of the fantasy postseason for many fans was James Conner. He scored at least 17.9 points in all three games and averaged 22.1 points overall. That ranked fourth among running backs during that time, behind only McCaffrey, Breece Hall and Kyren Williams. More impressive, Conner put up those impressive totals against the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.

50. Conner’s emergence was hard to believe in some respects, because he scored single digits (fewer than 8.5 points) in five of his previous six games before the start of the fantasy postseason. In fact, Conner averaged an awful 6.8 points and was 49th in points-per-game average among backs in five games between Week 4-12.

51. Tony Pollard was considered by some to be the biggest bust in fantasy football this past season. He was the sixth running back drafted, on average, on the NFFC website, but he finished just 14th in points and 23rd on a points-per-game basis.

52. Pollard’s stats were actually not a whole lot different than his 2022 totals in some departments. He had two fewer rushing yards, 60 fewer receiving yards and rushed for one more yard after first contact than he did in the previous season. He was a lot worse in other categories, however, as Pollard dropped more than a yard per rush, scored six fewer total touchdowns and had seven fewer explosive runs. The veteran, who was on the Cowboys franchise tag, is slated to become a free agent in 2024.

53. Dameon Pierce finished his rookie season of 2022 with 250 touches and averaged 12.8 points in his 13 games. That led him to be the 17th back drafted, on average, on the NFFC website. Pierce went on to see just 158 touches while scoring an average of 5.9 points and losing his starting job to Devin Singletary. In all, he ranked as the RB57 on the season. That’s the worst final rank of any running back with an average draft position in the top 20 position among those runners who didn’t get injured.

54. The Miami Dolphins scored the most running back points this past season with a total of 579.7. They didn’t have a single runner who was drafted, on average, higher than 40th (Mostert). Backs drafted ahead of Mostert and Achane included Samaje Perine, Jamaal Williams, Zach Charbonnet, Antonio Gibson and Khalil Herbert.

55. The Los Angeles Chargers scored the least running back points this past season with a total of 270. Ekeler, who was the second runner picked in most drafts, had put up over 300 fantasy points all by himself in three of the previous four seasons.

CeeDee Lamb had a career year in Dallas.

Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports

Wide Receivers

56. Nine wide receivers finished with at least 298 fantasy points in 2023, including three who scored more than 330 points. That is the most wideouts to hit the 298-point mark in the same season since 2018, when nine also accomplished that feat.

57. CeeDee Lamb led all wide receivers with 403.2 fantasy points this season. He posted career bests almost across the board, setting new Dallas franchise records in catches and receiving yards. His 403.2 PPR points is also the third-most scored by a wide receiver in a single season, trailing only Cooper Kupp (439.5) in 2021 and Jerry Rice (414). His 23.7 point-per-game average ranks ninth all time in a single season.

58. Justin Jefferson was the consensus No. 1 overall pick in fantasy drafts, and he averaged a solid 20.2 PPR points on the season. The problem, however, is that he was only on the field for 10 games due to injuries. Jefferson became the third consensus No. 1 fantasy selection in a row to suffer an ailment, see his numbers decline or both, joining McCaffrey (2020, 2021) and Jonathan Taylor (2022).

59. Jefferson finished outside of the top 30 fantasy wideouts because of his time missed, but he actually averaged a career-high 107.4 receiving yards per game, and his 15.8 yards-per-catch average was 0.1 yards from tying a personal high. So, even though injuries limited his totals, J.J. was still amazing when he was active.

60. Who needs Patrick Mahomes? Not Tyreek Hill. For the second straight season, he produced a career high in fantasy points as a member of the Dolphins. A year after scoring 347.2 points in South Beach, Hill was even better in Year 2 with 376.4 points. That total ranked him second among all wide receivers behind Lamb.

61. Hill put up 93 catches for 1,481 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first 12 games of the season. Based on those totals, he could have finished with 132 catches, 2,098 yards and 17 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he only posted an average of 79.5 yards his final four games, and he missed one contest due to a bum ankle. Otherwise, Hill might have broken the NFL record for receiving yards set by Calvin Johnson (1,964 in 2012).

62. Among the list of 15 wide receivers to produce the most receiving yards during a single season, five have come in the last three seasons. That list includes Cooper Kupp (2021), Jefferson (2022), Hill (2023), Lamb (2023) and Hill (2022).

63. Amon-Ra St. Brown has quietly had one of the best starts to an NFL career of any wide receiver. He posted career bests in catches, yards, touchdowns and PPR points, finishing third overall. His 315 combined catches is the third most of any wideout in his first three seasons, trailing only Jefferson and Michael Thomas.

64. Jefferson, Randy Moss, Odell Beckham Jr. and Thomas are the lone wideouts to produce more combined fantasy points in their first three seasons in the league than St. Brown. That’s some elite level company for the Lions superstar.

65. Puka Nacua finished the regular season fourth in fantasy points among all wide receivers, scoring 298.5 points. That is also the third-most points scored by a rookie wideout in the Super Bowl era, behind Moss (306.7) and Ja’Marr Chase (304.6)

66. Moss was the 21st overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft while Chase went fifth overall in 2021. Nacua was a fifth-round pick of the Rams in 2023.

67. Nacua is the only player among the 13 highest-scoring rookie wide receivers in the Super Bowl era who wasn’t selected in either the first or second round of the NFL draft. What’s more, he’s one of only eight players to rank in the top 50 among rookies based on fantasy points who weren’t first- or second-round selections.

68. Based on NFFC ADP data, Nacua (236.3) was the 82nd wide receiver drafted in the first week of September. Wideouts such as Justyn Ross, Isaiah Hodgins, Parris Campbell, Rashid Shaheed, D.J. Chark and Michael Gallup went ahead of him.

69. Nacua scored 124.1 more points than his teammate, Cooper Kupp, despite the fact that Kupp was drafted 212.1 spots ahead of him. The veteran saw his numbers tumble, as he missed five games and averaged 8.7 fewer points per game than he did in 2022.

70. Kupp scored fewer than 11 fantasy points six times in his 12 games in 2023. In his previous 26 games, Kupp failed to score at least 11 fantasy points once. In that game (Week 10, 2022), Kupp left after playing 41 snaps due to an injured ankle.

71. Nacua was the highest-scoring rookie receiver this year, but several others also made an impact. In fact, five first-year players scored more than 190 points. That includes Nacua, Jordan Addison, Jayden Reed, Rashee Rice and Zay Flowers. In all, 2023 tied for the most rookies with more than 190 points in the last 11 years.

72. Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave were the lone rookie wideouts to score more than 190 fantasy points in 2022. Three rookies scored 190-plus points in 2021, and four reached that total in 2019. The 2014 campaign is the last that saw five rookie receivers score over 190 points, tying this year’s class. It included Odell Beckham Jr., Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin, Jordan Matthews and Sammy Watkins.

73. Tank Dell was well on his way to being the sixth rookie wideout to score more than 190 points. In his 10 full games, he scored 165 PPR points (16.5 PPG). That included a four-game stretch where he scored a bananas 94.6 points (23.7 PPG). Unfortunately for Dell and his fantasy managers, he suffered a knee injury in Week 11 and missed the remainder of his rookie season, but he was on pace to score more than 280 PPR points.

74. Evans recorded 1,225 receiving yards this season, making it 10 straight years where he’s recorded 1,000-plus yards. That’s an NFL record. He didn’t need Tom Brady to shine in fantasy leagues, either, as Evans had 79 catches and tied a career high with 13 touchdowns. His 282.5 fantasy points were the third highest total of his career and his best mark since 2018. Evans will be a free agent in 2024.

75. A.J. Brown was one of the hottest wide receivers in fantasy football to start the season, posting 1,005 yards with seven touchdowns and scoring 203.5 points in his first nine games. Only Tyreek Hill scored more fantasy points during that time.

76. Over his final eight games, Brown’s numbers fell off a cliff. He posted a mere 451 yards with one touchdown and scored 86.1 points. That was good enough for him to rank 30th in points among wide receivers in that time, behind the likes of Darius Slayton, Jakobi Meyers, Brandin Cooks, George Pickens and Jayden Reed.

77. Ja’Marr Chase had the worst season of his career in 2023, posting personal lows in touchdowns and fantasy points. He still finished 11th in points among wideouts, which is respectable, but 51% of his 262.7 points came in just four games. That includes a Week 5 game in which he scored a season-high 52.2 PPR points.

78. In the 10 games he played with Joe Burrow, Chase recorded 71 catches (7.1 per game) for 833 yards (83.3) and scored six touchdowns. In his other six games, Chase finished with 29 catches (4.8) for 383 yards (63.8) and scored just once.

79. Chase wasn’t the only fantasy superstar wideout who had a down year. Davante Adams, coming off a 335.5-point season in 2022, saw declines of 372 yards, six touchdowns and 70.1 points. He was held to fewer than 13 fantasy points in nine of his 17 games (53%), including five games (29%) where he was held to single digits.

80. Adams had been held to fewer than 13 fantasy points in just 11 of his previous 33 games (33%), and he had been held to single digits just four times (12%).

81. Adam Thielen ranked sixth in points among wide receivers between Weeks 2-6, averaging nearly 25 points per game. In that five-game span, he had 47 catches for 503 yards and four touchdowns. Over his final 11 contests, however, the veteran had just seven more catches and two more yards than he had in those five contests. He also failed to score a single touchdown and was the WR38 from Weeks 8-18.

82. Rashee Rice was one of the best values in fantasy drafts among wideouts, and he was especially productive down the stretch when managers needed him most. In the final six weeks of the fantasy season, he finished fourth in points behind only CeeDee Lamb, Deebo Samuel and Amon-Ra St. Brown. In that time, Rice scored 14-plus points five times including three games where he had 18-plus points.

83. Chase’s 52.2 points was the most any player has scored in a single season, but Amari Cooper’s 51.5 points in Week 15 might have been even more important. That’s because it came in the fantasy semifinals and led to a title game berth for countless managers. Cooper also scored the third-most points during the fantasy postseason, and he missed fantasy championship week due to injuries.

84. The Cowboys scored the most wide receiver points in the league with 795.1. Lamb accounted for 51% of those points. Cooks was a distant second with 173.2 points and Gallup was third with 87.8 points.

85. The Falcons scored the fewest wide receiver points as a team with just 315.9. Drake London was their highest-scoring wideout with 174.4 points and he was held to just two touchdowns on his 110 targets. No other Atlanta receiver had more than 43.1 points, and only one other (KhaDarel Hodge) scored a touchdown.

Travis Kelce had a down year by his standards, but he continued to add to his all-time numbers.

Jamie Germano/USA TODAY Network

Tight Ends

86. The tight end position was a complete nightmare to predict this season. In fact, 47 different players finished in the top 10 in fantasy points from Weeks 1-17. That list includes Pharaoh Brown, Shane Zylstra, Josh Oliver and Stone Smartt. None of those players (and many others) were even on the fantasy radar those weeks.

87. The list of top-10 tight ends based on fantasy points includes five players who had an ADP of 113.6 or higher, including David Njoku (113.6), Sam LaPorta (145.3), Cole Kmet (153.3), Jake Ferguson (192.7) and Trey McBride (267). Just two of the top 10 tight ends, Travis Kelce and T.J. Hockenson, had an ADP below 73.7.

88. Kelce, the lone tight end drafted in the first round, had one of his worst years as a pro. His 984 yards were his lowest total since 2015, as he had recorded 1,000-plus yards in the seven previous seasons. Kelce’s 14.6 points-per-game average was also his worst total since 2016, when he averaged a modest 13.9 points.

89. Kelce finished third in fantasy points among tight ends, making it just the second time in the last eight seasons that he’s not been the top scorer at the position. It’s also the first time since 2015 that Kelce has not finished at least in the top two.

90. Kelce now ranks fourth all time in career fantasy points at the tight end position with 2,489.4. He is still 337.1 points behind Antonio Gates, who is third all time, and 1,021.3 points behind the leader in this category, Tony Gonzalez. Kelce, however, has played in 77 fewer games than Gates, 112 fewer games than Jason Witten (who ranks second all-time among tight ends) and 111 fewer games than Gonzalez.

91. Sam LaPorta was able to overcome several prominent trends to become the best tight end in fantasy football this season. His 239.3 PPR points is the most scored in a single season among rookies, passing Keith Jackson’s 200.9 fantasy points in 1988. He also set a first-year tight end record with 14.1 points per game, which was 0.9 points higher than Charlie Young, who averaged 13.2 points per game back in 1973.

92. Not only did LaPorta set the rookie tight record for fantasy points, but he also set new NFL highs in catches (86) and tied Rob Gronkowski for the touchdown record (10). LaPorta’s 239.3 points is also 62.7 more than any rookie tight end has scored since 2000. Believe it or not, that tight end was Kyle Pitts (176.6) in 2021.

93. While LaPorta’s total is impressive among rookies (and overall), his 239.3 PPR points is the lowest number scored by a fantasy tight end to lead a single season since 2017. During that campaign, Kelce led the position with 233.5 fantasy points.

94. Evan Engram scored a career-high 230.3 fantasy points this season, surpassing his previous best of 176.9 set last year. Despite the presence of wide receiver Calvin Ridley in the pass attack, Engram still set career highs in catches and yards. Where he lacked was in the touchdown department, as Engram scored just four times. He has actually failed to score more than four touchdowns in each of his last six seasons.

95. David Njoku was almost a non-factor in the first six weeks, scoring double digits once and averaging 6.6 points. In fact, he was 22nd in points at the position in those games. Over his final 11 games, however, Njoku went nuclear. He scored double digits in all but one game, and he put up more than 16 points five times. In all, he averaged 15.3 points. His 168 points was the most of any tight end in that time.

96. Trey McBride was barely used over the first six weeks, seeing just 12 combined targets. The Zach Ertz injury created a chance for him to “fly high,” however, and he did that and more. Over his final 10 games, McBride caught 66 passes for 650 yards while producing 143 PPR points. That was good enough to finish fourth in points at tight end over that period of time. He has top-five potential next season.

97. Jake Ferguson enjoyed a breakout year with the Cowboys, recording 71 catches for 761 yards and five touchdowns. His 177.1 PPR points was good enough to finish in the top 10 (ninth) among fantasy tight ends. Dallas has now fielded a top-12 tight end between Ferguson and Dalton Schultz in each of their last five seasons.

98. Darren Waller was one of the most sought-after tight ends in 2023 fantasy drafts, but he once again failed to meet expectations. He missed five games due to injuries, making it a combined 18 games he’s missed over the last three years. Even when Waller has been on the gridiron, his numbers have paled in comparison to his most successful seasons. In fact, he’s scored single digits in 50% of his last 32 games.

99. George Kittle finished fifth in fantasy points among tight ends, but he was awfully inconsistent. While he did produce five games with at least 19.6 points and four with over 20, Kittle was also held to single digits in seven other contests including four in which he was held under five points. He has now been held to single digits in 45% of his games in the last two seasons. On a positive note, 42% of his 31 games in that time resulted in 16 or more points. He’s the definition of an all or nothing player.

100. No team’s tight ends scored more fantasy points than the Minnesota Vikings. The position accounted for 315.7 points, which was 57.5 points more than the second-best team, the Baltimore Ravens. T.J. Hockenson accounted for 219 points (69%), but Josh Oliver and Johnny Mundt combined for another 93.5 points.

101. The team with the fewest tight end points was the Miami Dolphins. Their top-scoring player at the position was Durham Smythe, who scored 71.6 points. Julian Hill was the only other Dolphins tight end to score a point, and he had just 8.8.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Colorado, Michigan and Virginia Readers: Get up to $100 from SI Sportsbook

Bet $5 on FanDuel and get $200 in Bonus Bets if not in those states

View the original article to see embedded media.

The Kansas City Chiefs were able to beat the Baltimore Ravens, 17-10, on the road on Sunday to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in the last five years.

Pop star Taylor Swift was once again in attendance and she had a fun time celebrating the win on the field after the game with her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and also shared a sweet moment with Chiefs coach Andy Reid. 

Swift also had a brief conversation with CBS’ Tony Romo, which Yahoo’s Jori Epstein was able to capture with her phone. This was a bit awkward, and ended with a fist bump between Romo and Swift: 

Taylor Swift told Tony Romo he does a great job. Sounded like he told her she’s even better, to which she replied: “We’re doing very different things, aren’t we? It’s a different skill set.” pic.twitter.com/N6IiKl7hET

— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) January 28, 2024

Fans had jokes: 

Hilariously awkward interaction with excessive fist bumping. https://t.co/JzKpABM7CD

— Ross Bolen (@WRBolen) January 29, 2024

Biggest moment of Tony Romo’s playoff career. https://t.co/hG6W1yKGMJ

— John Lund (@lundinbridge) January 29, 2024

Donna laughing at romo just like the perfect eagles fan she is https://t.co/alD7DesznE

— Rachel Steinman (@rachelds18) January 29, 2024

She obviously has no idea what is going on. Romo is awful 90% of the time. https://t.co/QGiCV12SPl

— Clinton Cole (@cdcole55) January 29, 2024

Me talking to someone at the office party whose name I don't remember: https://t.co/r9SFqE6pGR

— Xenocrypt (@xenocryptsite) January 29, 2024

Telling Tony Romo he does a great job is definitely the worst thing Taylor Swift has ever done https://t.co/ZYyUYZ2iQN

— Andrew Schnittker (@aschnitt53) January 29, 2024

Tony Romo is eager to tell Jim about becoming besties with Swift https://t.co/Amw7QWPlp0

— Richard (@richardhtx) January 29, 2024

Two great Americans, just being great. https://t.co/tY2vnx9N3q

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) January 29, 2024

taylor swift and tony romo having a conversation is short circuiting my brain https://t.co/ZswiCapaOP

— r 🪩🍒 (@thrusuburbs) January 29, 2024

"Why I Joined The Athletic" ..... as a sports media writer.

By Taylor Swift. https://t.co/Kdpgi2Eekr

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) January 29, 2024

I mean… even Taylor has to lie a little. 🤣 https://t.co/asL5wytRc6

— Lauren Maloney (@LaurenKMaloney) January 29, 2024

The National Football League has played 104 seasons, dating back to its roots as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1920.

Since then, there have been 2,321 teams spanning the NFL’s and American Football League’s history. Yet only a select few have made a lasting difference, something by which they have been—and will forever be—defined.

Here at Sports Illustrated, we embarked on a journey with the hope of finding the 50 most impactful teams in NFL history. Our process was simple.

During the offseason we brought together a 31-person blue-ribbon panel consisting of media members, analysts, former front office personnel and more, having each vote on more than 100 candidates. Each panelist voted for 50 teams, with their top team earning 50 points and their 50th team garnering a single point.

From those tallies, we detailed why each team deserves to be on the list, including quotes from panelists for every squad. Most importantly, SI reached out to a star player or head coach for every team from the Super Bowl era (1966 to present), gaining valuable insight into what made those teams so unique.

Below are the panelists and their titles, followed by our list, starting with numbers 50 to 41. Enjoy. 

50. 1990 New York GiantsRecord: 13–3, Super Bowl XXV champions

Coach: Bill Parcells

Hall of Famers: Bills Parcells (HC), Lawrence Taylor (LB)

Running back Rodney Hampton was a first-round pick out of Georgia.

Stephen Dunn/Allsport/Getty Images

Why they mattered:

The 1990 Giants were a unicorn in their time, and they remain one in many ways. But they were the precursor of a dynasty that took place a few hours north in New England.

That year, the Giants predominantly ran a 3–4 defense that under coordinator Bill Belichick, morphed time and again in the playoffs, a staple Belichick would become known for in his six Super Bowl victories as a head coach.

Against the run-heavy Bears in the divisional round, Belichick went to a four-man front. By choking off the run (Chicago rushed for 27 yards on 16 carries), New York’s top-ranked defense allowed only three points.

The following week, Belichick’s unit ended the 49ers’ dreams of a third straight title by eschewing a base defense to instead play nickel. New York held the high-powered San Francisco offense to 13 points in a 15–13 upset.

Then, in Super Bowl XXV, Belichick faced the league’s top-scoring offense in Buffalo, which averaged 47.5 points per game in the AFC playoffs. In a stunning twist, the Giants invited first-team All-Pro running back Thurman Thomas to run the ball while playing only two defensive linemen. The idea was to punish receivers and slow down the no-huddle with speed. New York won, 20–19.

Panel quote:

“This might have been one of the most well-coached teams in NFL history, especially given the circumstances facing Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. Losing Phil Simms late in the season meant that Jeff Hostetler was suddenly the starter, and they had to go through a playoff gantlet of the Bears, two-time defending champion 49ers and Bills, whose K-Gun offense was considered by many to be unstoppable. If they were to lose, Parcells told his team emphatically, it would not be because of Hostetler. He was right. The game plans were brilliant, with Hostetler outlasting Joe Montana in the NFC championship and Belichick’s defensive masterpiece against the Bills in Super Bowl XXV giving the Giants a second Super Bowl title and assuring Parcells’s place in the Hall of Fame.” —Bob Glauber, retired Giants beat writer, Newsday

Team quote:

“We had versatile players on defense. We had a couple of linebackers who could play inside and outside. So that gave us some flexibility that way. We had enough defensive linemen—our base was a three-man front—but we could use a four-man front. We had enough depth on the team there. Offensively, we were a highly disciplined team. We set the record for the fewest turnovers in a season that year. We played 19 games and turned the ball over only 14 times. We didn’t help our opponents very often, and we were good under pressure.” —Bill Parcells, Giants coach, 1983–90

49. 2020 Tampa Bay BuccaneersRecord: 11–5, Super Bowl LV champions

Coach: Bruce Arians

Likely Hall of Famers: Tom Brady (QB), Rob Gronkowski (TE), Ndamukong Suh (DT), Antonio Brown (WR), Mike Evans (WR)

Brady picked up his seventh ring with Tampa Bay’s win in Super Bowl LV.

Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

For the first 54 years of the Super Bowl era, only one quarterback had won Super Bowls with two teams. It was Peyton Manning, who despite an illustrious career, was a passenger (if not a burden) for his Broncos during the 2015 season.

Then, in Super Bowl LV, Tom Brady became the second, dismantling the defending champion Chiefs to win his seventh title and first with the Buccaneers.

For Tampa Bay, it was a championship. But for the NFL, it was a relatively new blueprint, and one that has been followed in the few years since. Despite free agency coming into existence in 1993, teams still believe the best and arguably only way to win a Super Bowl is through the draft, with outside signings used for needy areas of the roster.

The Buccaneers used free agency and trades to build a huge portion of their roster in 2019 and ’20, bringing in Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski, receiver Antonio Brown, edge rushers Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and others.

The following year, Tampa Bay was knocked from the postseason by the Rams, who used trades to win it all in 2021.

Panel quote:

“The whole season had such a storybook feel to it: Brady leaving the Patriots and coming to this long-suffering franchise to see if he could defy the odds and win one more ring. Every game, every step of the journey was so compelling. And then when the Bucs went on their late-season run to close out the regular season and march through the playoffs, to reach the Super Bowl and knock off the defending champion Chiefs for Brady’s seventh and longtime coach Bruce Arians’s first? Just magical.” —Mike Jones, national NFL writer, The Athletic

Team quote:

“One of the many things [Brady] does well is be able to see weak points, not only in us but opponents. Addressing the weak points in our team. Our run game wasn’t really where we wanted to be, our screen game wasn’t where we wanted it to be, our two-minute offense wasn’t how he wanted it to be. Those things specifically, he figured out ways to improve them, and how he decided to attack them were all different. Identifying weak points and how we could get better, that’s huge. Instead of just saying we need to get better, but figuring out ways.” —Ali Marpet, Buccaneers guard, 2015–21

48. 1994 San Francisco 49ersRecord: 13–3, Super Bowl XXIX champions

Coach: George Seifert

Hall of Famers: Steve Young (QB), Jerry Rice (WR), Richard Dent (DE), Deion Sanders (CB), Bryant Young (DT)

Lee Woodall (left) played six of his eight NFL seasons in San Francisco.

John Iacono/Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

In 1993, the NFL underwent a seismic shift. Free agency was introduced alongside the salary cap.

The following year, San Francisco showed how a team could win the Super Bowl by marrying smart drafting with significant moves in free agency. In the 1994 offseason, the 49ers signed linebacker Ken Norton Jr., stealing him from the defending champion Cowboys along with defensive end Richard Dent. Then, in September, San Francisco inked future Hall of Fame corner Deion Sanders to a one-year deal, while also bringing defensive end and four-time Pro Bowler Charles Mann for his final season.

The 49ers proceeded to go 13–3, winning the NFC West by six games due to an offense ranked first in points. The defense, spearheaded by its new talent, checked in at sixth in points allowed. In the playoffs, San Francisco crushed the Bears before beating the Cowboys at Candlestick Park in the NFC title game, finally winning the matchup for the first time in three years.

In Super Bowl XXIX, the Niners easily dispatched the Chargers, 49–26, coming into the game as a whopping 18-point favorite. Afterward, Sanders signed with the Cowboys in free agency, while Norton played another six seasons with San Francisco before retiring.

Panel quote:

“The 1994 49ers were a perfect blend of intelligent, complementary team-building that combined youth with targeted, veteran offseason acquisitions resulting in one of the most balanced, explosive football teams of any era. The youth and playmaking ability of guys such as Ricky Watters and Merton Hanks, combined with the Hall of Fame talents of Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Rickey Jackson and Deion Sanders all meshed together perfectly on the field by a star-studded coaching staff. Names such as Mike Shanahan, Ray Rhodes and Gary Kubiak would go on to be head coaches and win Super Bowls themselves, while many players on the roster would finish their careers being considered as some of the greatest to ever play the game.” —Louis Riddick, ESPN NFL/college football analyst

Team quote:

“It was the first time we experienced bringing in people right away from other teams, compared to what it used to be where when you were a free agent, you weren’t a true free agent even if you played your contract out. … Eddie DeBartolo and Carmen Policy jumped and tried to be creative with the system and beat the system in that way where we were selling our standard of play and how many championships we won to make it attractive for people to come to us at a cheaper price.” —Jesse Sapolu, 49ers guard/center, 1983–97

47. 2002 Tampa Bay BuccaneersRecord: 12–4, Super Bowl XXXVII champions

Coach: Jon Gruden

Hall of Famers: Warren Sapp (DT), Derrick Brooks (LB), John Lynch (S), Ronde Barber (CB)

Though not yet official, Sapp is expected to join Colorado football’s coaching staff next season.

Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

After three consecutive years ended in playoff defeat, Tampa Bay fired Tony Dungy before trading multiple first- and second-round picks to the Raiders for coach Jon Gruden. The change spurred a new attitude in the Buccaneers, who scored nine defensive touchdowns en route to the franchise’s first title.

While Gruden was important, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin was essential.

It was Kiffin who installed the now infamous Tampa 2 defense, which called for a two-deep safety look with a middle linebacker who could run down the seam to take away the inside. Underneath, it’s typically a four-man rush while the corners, safeties and other linebackers play zones. The scheme swept the NFL and remains a popular style of defense today, with the passing game flourishing more than ever.

In the Buccaneers, Kiffin had the perfect personnel. Derrick Brooks was a marvel down the middle, becoming an 11-time Pro Bowler and first-ballot Hall of Famer. On the back end, Tampa Bay had John Lynch and corner Ronde Barber, both also enshrined in Canton. Up front, defensive tackle Warren Sapp crushed the pocket, earning four consecutive first-team All-Pro honors.

Panel quote:

“How many teams get an entire defensive scheme named after them? It’s not called the Steeler 2 after all. It’s the Tampa 2. They say that the NFL is a copycat league, and every Super Bowl champion does something that the rest of the league then tries to emulate. With the 2002 Buccaneers, that thing was clear. The Tampa 2 scheme spread throughout the league after the Buccaneers started winning games in 1997, but everyone had to try it once they reached their peak with the 2002 championship. Advanced DVOA metrics go back to 1981, and over the past 42 years the 2002 Bucs had the best pass defense in a nonstrike year—and by a significant amount, too.” —Aaron Schatz, ESPN+ NFL analyst, founder of Football Outsiders

Team quote:

“It’s evolved over the years, but I think that was our legacy. A lot of teams tried to recreate it, but they just didn’t have the players. They didn’t have elite seam-droppers or the above-the-neck ability, the willingness to tackle and the other stuff asked of us to make the defense successful. I’d love to say it was genius in work, but it really was just having coaches able to coach up what those players had to do on every single snap against every single formation, etc. Our devil was in the details.” —Ronde Barber, Buccaneers corner/safety, 1997–2012

46. 1937 WashingtonRecord: 8–3, NFL champions

Coach: Ray Flaherty

Hall of Famers: Ray Flaherty (HC), Turk Edwards (OT), Sammy Baugh (QB), Cliff Battles (RB), Wayne Millner (WR)

Baugh (right) set new standards for a signal-caller.

Larry Froeber/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images

Why they mattered:

On the surface, the 1937 edition of Washington is most notable for having four Hall of Famers on offense and winning a title, beating George Halas’s Bears. But this team is more about the NFL’s fabric, and its future.

At the 1937 NFL draft, Washington selected quarterback Sammy Baugh with its first-round choice (No. 6) out of TCU. Baugh came with much fanfare and delivered immediately, leading the NFL in attempts, completions, passing yards and passing yards per attempt. Over time, Baugh revolutionized the position, becoming a six-time Pro Bowler, four-time first-team All-Pro and a charter member of the Hall of Fame.

During his 16-year career in Washington, no campaign was better than 1943. In an era when almost all players handled multiple positions, Baugh led the NFL with a 45.9-yard punting average and interceptions with 11 as a defensive back, all while throwing 23 touchdowns in 10 games.

In 1937, Washington and Baugh firmly enforced the idea that a quarterback could be central to winning a title, something the Packers had begun the year before with fellow Hall of Fame signal-caller Arnie Herber. Still it was Baugh who captured the public’s imagination, taking the position to new heights over time.

Panel quote:

“Washington rode the brilliance of rookie tailback Sammy Baugh to the NFL championship and in the process established the foundation of a devoted and loyal fan base. When Washington met the Giants in New York on the last day of the regular season to decide the Eastern Division championship, 10,000 fans accompanied the team and marched up Eighth Avenue from Penn Station to Columbus Circle, led by the team’s marching band. Washington won 49–13, and a week later beat the Bears, 28–21, in Chicago to win the NFL title, as Baugh passed for 335 yards and three touchdowns.” —Joel Bussert, former NFL vice president of player personnel and football operations

45. 1990 Buffalo BillsRecord: 13–3, AFC champions

Coach: Marv Levy

Hall of Famers: Marv Levy (HC), Bruce Smith (DE), Thurman Thomas (RB), James Lofton (WR), Jim Kelly (QB), Andre Reed (WR)

Kelly was doing something no other quarterbacks were in 1990.

John Iacono/Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

The 1990 Bills didn’t invent the no-huddle offense, but they took it to another level.

In a wild 34–30 divisional-round game loss to the Browns in 1989, Buffalo coach Marv Levy watched his team rally furiously in the final minutes using the hurry-up tactic, something used by the Bengals in ’88 to reach the Super Bowl. Levy went all in on the offense in ’90, with quarterback Jim Kelly calling the offensive plays.

The result was magnificent. Buffalo rolled to the AFC’s top seed while scoring a league-high 428 points. In the postseason, the Bills scored 95 points in two AFC playoff games. However, they were stunned 20–19 by the Giants in Super Bowl XXV, with the offense having only 19 minutes and 27 seconds of possession.

The Bills were both important as a schematic touchstone—taking a concept and reaching new heights by going to four consecutive Super Bowls with it—but also as one of the more iconic teams in NFL history.

While Buffalo never won a title, it’s the only group to ever reach four consecutive Super Bowls.

Panel quote:

“The 1990 Bills’ season was defined by an errant field-goal attempt that cost them a Super Bowl victory. As unforgettable as Scott Norwood’s wide-right kick against the Giants might have been, it’s only part of a larger story. This was the year the Bills’ offense fully unleashed its fast-paced, no-huddle attack. Jim Kelly, Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas formed the nucleus of a scheme that kept defenses on their heels and even forced them to call timeouts just to catch their breath, as the Raiders did in the AFC championship game. It also began a run of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances that might never be duplicated.” —Vic Carucci, Pro Football Hall of Fame voter

Team quote:

“For us, it was up-tempo. That was it. We had an offensive line that could run and pass-block. That team was all led by Jim [Kelly], who wanted to run the no-huddle. The only thing I was concerned about was I was involved in the running and passing game, so I got extra tired, and had to come out a lot. It was something that we wanted to do. If you see teams today at a fast pace, it’s not as fast as we ran. We were getting to the line and within 10 seconds, we were snapping the ball every single play. Now teams don’t do that. We had to be in shape. It caught a lot of defenses by surprise.” —Thurman Thomas, Bills running back, 1988–99

44. 1982 Los Angeles RaidersRecord: 8–1, lost in AFC divisional round

Coach: Tom Flores

Hall of Famers: Tom Flores (HC), Ted Hendricks (LB), Art Shell (OT), Cliff Branch (WR), Howie Long (DT), Ray Guy (P), Marcus Allen (RB)

Davis’s relocation efforts weren’t always met with enthusiasm from fans.

Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

This is a rare instance on our list where the on-field product wasn’t memorable, but the team was still important to the league’s history.

After spending their first 22 seasons in Oakland, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles before the 1982 season. For owner Al Davis, the relocation proved arduous, as he fought with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in court for the right to move without league approval. Eventually, Davis won the legal battle, and after years of trying, finally took his team from Oakland to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

Davis’s bullheadedness on the issue opened the proverbial floodgates of relocation in the NFL. Two years later, the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis under the cover of darkness. Four years after that, the Cardinals abandoned St. Louis for Phoenix. Then, in 1995, the Browns did the unthinkable, moving from Cleveland to Baltimore.

Davis’s ability to win his infamous court case helped league owners gain more power, and forever changed the landscape when franchises are seeking new stadiums or new cities. As an example, the Raiders have moved twice since 1982, including back to Oakland and then in 2020 to Las Vegas.

Panel quote:

“Irrespective of what one thinks about team relocation, whether in favor or not, it should be noted that Davis paved the way for teams to move when he moved the Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982. Many team owners opposed him when he did so, yet many followed suit. The league opposed him and initiated a legal dispute when he did so, yet the league now thwarts teams when they use relocation as leverage in stadium negotiations.” —Amy Trask, CBS Sports NFL analyst, former Raiders front office exec

Team quote:

“In 1981, we thought we were going to (play in Los Angeles while practicing in Oakland). And then it didn’t happen. Then ’82 came, and it did happen. Even before we got to training camp, they were saying that essentially we were going to have a whole season of away games. We were kind of mentally prepared for it. We showed up just like an away game, the day before. After a while, it just became, that’s what we do. I don’t believe it had as big a thing mentally as people would view it. The bottom line is we were prepared for it.” —Matt Millen, Raiders linebacker, 1980–88

43. 1950 Los Angeles RamsRecord: 9–3, lost NFL championship game

Coach: Joe Stydahar

Hall of Famers: Joe Stydahar (HC), Tom Fears (WR), Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch (WR), Bob Waterfield (QB), Norm Van Brocklin (QB)

Fears was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970.

Vic Stein/AP

Why they mattered:

In 1940, the Eagles became the first team in NFL history to throw the ball more than they ran it. The result was a 1–10 season. Ten years later, the Rams also went to the air on more than half of their plays, and became the first team in league history to enjoy a winning record by doing so.

Los Angeles went 9–3 and for the second consecutive year won the Western Conference. In the title game, the Rams visited the Browns in Cleveland’s first year as an NFL squad following the merger from the AAFC. Cleveland won, 30–28, on a field goal with 28 seconds remaining by future Hall of Fame Lou Groza.

Still, Los Angeles’s impact on the game is undeniable. The Rams featured a pair of Canton-bound flankers in Fears and Hirsch, who in 1950 combined for 14 receiving touchdowns. In one five-week stretch, Los Angeles averaged 50.2 points per game, including consecutive wins over the Colts and Lions where the Rams scored 70 and 65 points, respectively.

In 1951, the Rams rode a similar roster to a third consecutive NFL title game, this time defeating the Browns for their first championship on the West Coast.

Panel quote:

“Clark Shaughnessy developed the Rams’ offense in 1948 and ’49, but he was gone in ’50 due to squabbles with ownership and other coaches. Line coach and former NFL player Joe Stydahar took over and simply let nature take its course. [The Rams] became the top offense in the history of the NFL to that point and remain one of the best to this day—known as the “Point-a-Minute Offense.” In fact, their 38.8 points per game average is still first in NFL history edging teams such as the 2013 Broncos and ’07 Patriots.” —John Turney, NFL historian; writer, Pro Football Journal

42. 2013 Seattle SeahawksRecord: 13–3, Super Bowl XLVIII champions

Coach: Pete Carroll

Likely Hall of Famers: Richard Sherman (CB), Russell Wilson (QB), Marshawn Lynch (RB), Bobby Wagner (LB), Earl Thomas (S)

Wilson and the dominant Seahawks defense only ever won a single Super Bowl.

Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

In the golden age of two-high safety looks, the Seahawks flipped the script on the NFL.

Seattle dominated with a Cover 3 (four underneath players, and three deep players), playing Earl Thomas as a post safety while Kam Chancellor roamed the box. With Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner on the outside, the Seahawks rolled to their first Super Bowl title, destroying the high-powered Broncos, 43–8.

Seattle’s brand of football wasn’t original but certainly brought the scheme to another level, largely because of the exceptional secondary personnel. With Sherman, the Seahawks’ secondary had one of the great zone corners in league history, while Thomas was a worthy heir to Ed Reed’s free safety throne.

By holding Peyton Manning and Denver’s record-setting offense to only eight points in one of the Super Bowl’s biggest blowouts, Seattle showed the coverage is capable of dominating even the best units.

In addition to the defensive importance of Seattle’s championship, the Seahawks were only the second team in NFL history to win a title with a Black quarterback in Russell Wilson. And Wilson led Seattle back to the Super Bowl the following year, falling to Tom Brady and the Patriots in the final seconds.

Panel quote:

“There are two types of dominant defenses. The first type excels in a number of areas. That team finds what you do best on offense and shuts it down. (Bill Belichick defenses are a good example.) The other kind of defense just has great players that fit the scheme. They line up, run the strategy they want to run and dare you to get past them. The 2013 Seahawks are a great example of this second type. You knew they would run Cover 3. The Legion of Boom was so good that it didn’t matter how much you prepared. They allowed a league-low 14.4 points per game in ’13 and then shut down Peyton Manning and the powerful Denver defense, 43–8, in Super Bowl XLVIII. Pete Carroll’s Cover 3 style then spread throughout the league, with ex-Seattle coordinators such as Dan Quinn and Gus Bradley earning head coaching jobs.” —Aaron Schatz, ESPN+ NFL analyst, founder of Football Outsiders

Team quote:

“We probably called the same play about 93% to 95% of the game. We called the same damn play, but we ran it so well. We ran Cover 3. That’s all we ran. We knew exactly what our opponents were going to do, we knew how we’d fit what we called their issues and we played super fast—faster than anybody in the league. We did what we did, and nobody could figure it out.” —K.J. Wright, Seahawks linebacker, 2011–20

41. 1976 Pittsburgh SteelersRecord: 10–4, lost AFC championship game

Coach: Chuck Noll

Hall of Famers: Chuck Noll (HC), Terry Bradshaw (QB), Franco Harris (RB), Lynn Swann (WR), John Stallworth (WR), Mike Webster (C), Jack Lambert (LB), Jack Ham (LB), Mel Blount (CB), Joe Greene (DT), Donnie Shell (S)

Lambert was an inagural member of the Steelers’ Hall of Honor.

Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

Why they mattered:

If you understand NFL history, it was a cinch the 1974 and ’78 Steelers would make this list from the Steel Curtain era. However, some might be surprised a nontitle team from the era showed up.

Yet the 1976 Steelers might be the biggest reason we have the wide-open game of today. After winning consecutive Super Bowls the two years before, Pittsburgh struggled early, going 1–4 and with quarterback Terry Bradshaw suffering a concussion and neck injury in Week 5. The defense then put forth one of the most spectacular efforts ever seen, allowing only 28 total points across their final nine games, all resulting in wins. The Steelers also notched five shutouts during this stretch, including three straight.

Pittsburgh was so defensively dominant in this stretch, it eventually helped rewrite the rule book, making this particular Steelers team so noteworthy.

While the star-studded front seven (four Hall of Famers) was largely responsible for Pittsburgh’s dominance, corner Mel Blount literally inspired a rule change before the 1978 season. From then on, receivers were no longer allowed to be hit more than five yards downfield, whereas previously they could be chucked until the ball was in the air. Blount, who was 6'3" and 205 pounds, became the namesake of the rule.

Panel quote:

“The dream of three straight Super Bowl wins died in an East Bay–hosted AFC title game with both of the Steelers’ 1,000-yard rushers Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier watching in street clothes. That one game, though, isn’t enough to shake off the violent nightmares the Steel Curtain defense caused NFL offenses all season long. After starting 1–4 and losing Terry Bradshaw to injury, the team won nine straight on the backs of Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and Mel Blount, who collectively allowed one touchdown and pitched five shutouts. Bottom line: This team may not have reached the top of the mountain, but it still stands conservatively as one of the five best defenses of the Super Bowl era.” —Dave Dameshek, NFL analyst and host, Minus Three

Team quote:

“We played outstanding defense. It was because of Chuck Noll’s emphasis on playing special teams and defense to carry the load for the offense. I don’t care how good one facet of your team is. If one portion of the team is not carrying its load, and as a teammate you’re saying O.K., it doesn’t bother us, we’ll carry the load. But over time, it starts to erode confidence in the other group. I’m saying this because that confidence never was eroded, and it’s because the head coach and what he said at the beginning of all that. That’s what, in my view, made that team go out and deliver what it was capable of delivering.” —Joe Greene, Steelers defensive tackle, 1969–81