Behold FreeForAll Monday, on which even the thinnest of wallets get to experience the joys of Mobster-hood. Or, you know, something. Today we riff on the good arrogance of greatness, the wisdom and folly of 4th Down decisions and the unquestioned righteousness of the incomparable Tim Riggins. Enjoy and maybe shell out 8 bucks a month next time.
Just deal with it, killjoys.
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Dear Dan Campbell:
Next time, know where you are and what you are trying to do.
There are times when bravado is good for the soul, the psyche and the scoreboard. And there are times when you are in the conference title game with a chance to make the Super Bowl for the first time in ever.
Fourth-and-three, from the Niners 30. Down 27-24, 7:32 to play, on the road. Your team has been outscored 27-0 since the 2nd quarter. You need a tourniquet, some Band-Aids and a pint of O-negative, but a game-tying field goal will do.
Forty-eight yards isn’t a chippie, but it’s very makeable. When the Titanic hit the iceberg, it didn’t go into ramming speed.
All this stuff about how Campbell’s Lions have been expert on going for it on 4th down is irrelevant. This isn’t the Bears in September. We might love the spirit of the decisions and the mental points being made.
Tom Petty: “You can stand me up at the gates of a hell, but I. . . ‘‘
He didn’t back down.
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We don’t like the decisions themselves. Know where you are and what you’re trying to do.
The thing is, Campbell already had gotten a whiff of what throwing caution to the wind looked like on Championship Sunday. Midway through the 3rd quarter, his team up 24-10, Campbell blew off a 46-yard FG try that would have put Detroit up three scores. They went for it and failed.
“It’s easy in hindsight,” Campbell said about the scrutiny he has faced about the decision. “But I don’t regret those decisions.” But here’s the thing: It was easy in the moment, too. Lions fans should worry about a coach whose stubbornness blinds his decision making.
The Lions didn’t lose because of those two failed attempts. I mean, technically. Receivers dropped passes, a DB dropped a sure pick, the Lions let Brock Purdy run free in the 2nd half, SF’s Brandon Aiyuk caught a 51-yard pass that first bounced off a Detroit defender’s facemask.
The Lions lost because they didn’t know what the championship crucible felt like and SF did. There is much to be said for big-game experience. Ask the Chiefs.
I love teams that Go For It. I’ve advocated using all four downs since the Lost Decade. Thirty years ago.
God and Vince Lombardi made the rules. Four downs to make 10 yards and get another four downs. Only in the last several years have teams started to take advantage of that immutable law. The evolution will be complete when teams game-plan with four downs in mind, not simply when the numbers say it’s the thing to do.
Think of the craziness if offensive coordinators could treat, say, 3rd-and-8 the way they do 2nd-and-8 now. Think of the minds blown in the defensive rooms, trying to deal with that.
But too much of anything is no good for you. I loved Campbell’s attitude. His common sense, not so much.
MEANWHILE, look at it this way, Lions Fan. You could be a Ravens fan today. Detroit was house money. Baltimore was baby’s new shoes. After 10-17 at home Sunday, it’s possible Lamar Jackson’s career will never have the whole-ness of a Super championship. Legacies are two-way streets.
Full credit to the brilliance of Steve Spagnuolo, the KC D-coordinator whose blitzes turned the likely MVP into a backup playing for his career on a hot August night. And of course to Patrick Mahomes, the embodiment of Inevitable.
But this was Lamar’s game to win or lose. His career to be defined. He was the best player on the best team, playing in the most comfortable of surroundings. To whom much is given. . .
It wasn’t Jackson’s fault his rookie receiver Zay Flowers made one imbecilic play and one deadly mistake. But it was Jackson’s problem. Flowers made a catch near the KC goal line, got called for taunting, then injured his hand slamming it on the bench. Later, he caught a long ball and instead of making sure he secured the catch, tried stretching the ball across the goal line. . . and fumbled it forward for a touchback.
Teams accustomed to the footlights don’t do that stuff. This was KC’s 6th consecutive appearance in the AFC title game. Winning to them seems a form of muscle memory. The Ravens weren’t ready to play, at least not in the way Mahomes and Travis Kelce were.
Mahomes went 30-of-39, including 11 consecutive completions to start the game. Kelce had 11 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. He began the game playing as if his life depended on it.
Jackson, meanwhile, threw into triple coverage with some 7 minutes to play and had the pass picked off.
Expectations crushed Lamar. The Chiefs were happy to lend a hand.
KC’s in the Super Bowl for the 4th time in five years. And while most of us are tired of the Mahomes-Kelce-Reid act, their ascent has not been Swift. It has been the slow roll of greatness, combined now with the good arrogance of an experienced champion. We should never tire of watching that sort of excellence.
And no, it wasn’t rigged. Just stop with that nonsense.
Now, then. . .
A SHOCKING L. . . If you’re an X fan today, what are you thinking? I missed the first half of that stunning L at No. 1 UConn, which was the only half I needed to see. I know the Huskies are championship good, again. I understand the Musketeers are in full rebuild mode. But, man.
Xavier has some good players, especially in the back court. We’re a couple days from February. A team in Xavier’s spot should be showing some growth. You see any growth?
BECAUSE TV IS MY LIFE, I’m re-watching all five seasons of Friday Night Lights, on Hulu. As with The Wire, which I finished a 2nd time recently, FNL is better the 2nd time around.
Taylor Kitsch as Tim Riggins. Spectacular.
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I can’t think of any TV drama that featured more likeable characters. That includes Taylor Kitsch’s portrayal of Tim Riggins, the running back with more problems than rushing yards. Riggins is my favorite TV character ever. Better than Tony Soprano, better than Walter White, better than Jesse Pinkman and Jax Teller.
The writing is superb and tightly fits everyone in the cast. Kyle Chandler is wholly convincing as coach Eric Taylor, a man caught between two passions, coaching high school football and Doing Right. You can’t do both and win championships in Texas.
The writers had keen eyes for football problems, everything from steroid use to illegal transfers to worst-case injuries. They were even better writing about the human condition without being preachy or condescending. At one point or another, you root for everyone in the ensemble cast.
And I’d be lying if I didn’t mention Connie Britton, who plays the coach’s wife. She’s consensus all-state.
If FNL has a weakness, it’s ironically in its football scenes. They’re nothing special, made less convincing by the writers’ need to make almost every game as tight as 4th-and-goal from the 1.
That’s a small quibble. Great show, great writing and acting, humanity in every huddle. The mark of a great TV show is how sad you are to see it end and, honestly, how much you miss the people when they’re gone from your screen. I’ve never missed a show more. TML sez ckitout.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Music fueled the turbulent times in the decade-plus between the US arrival of the Beatles and end of the Vietnam War. Demonstrations, anti-war rallies, marches, sit-ins, festivals (Woodstock, Monterey) all carried out to the beat of the hippie movement.
Rock-n-roll was the soundtrack of the late 60s, musically, politically and socially. Central to that wall of symbolic sound were the San Francisco bands: Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Sly and the Family Stone, Big Brother and the Holding Company and. . . these guys.
No group is more closely associated with the era. Here’s my favorite tune from them. My son’s, too.
I watched the Xavier UConn game. Yes, they got blown out. What matters now is tomorrow's game against St Johns. This Xavier team is a work in progress and their future is undecided. I think Sean Miller is the best Xavier coach in their rich history and one of the best in the game right now. I see very good things in Xavier's next 10 years!
Going for it on 4th down. Finally there's a coach that is willing to do it. Still gotta pick your spots. Box of Rain.... The Daugherty's are on point. Probably my fav as well.