Monday’s 6-pack:
Lowest NBA payrolls……..
$125,523,942— Pistons
$146,899,961— Jazz
$151,516,231— Magic
$151,633,817— Spurs
$160,654,141— Wizards
$161,616,157— Thunder
Quote of the Day
“It’s always a good time to do the right thing.”
Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, on Arizona hosting the playoff game tonight
Monday’s quiz
Where did Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner play his college football?
Sunday’s quiz
Dan Quinn was the Falcons’ coach the last time they played in the Super Bowl.
Saturday’s quiz
Urban Meyer was Ohio State’s football coach, the last time they won a national championship.
*******************************************
Washington drove 51 yards, kicked 37-yard FG at the gun for the win.
Commanders in 2nd half: 36 plays, 197 yards, 13 points.
Third down conversions: Washington 8-15, Tampa Bay 5-9
Washington also converted 3-5 on fourth down.
Commanders advance to play the Lions in Detroit next week.
— Bills 31, Broncos 7
Denver drove 70 yards, scored a TD on their first drive.
Broncos rest of game: 37 plays, 154 yards, no points.
Bills’ lead was only 10-7 at halftime.
Buffalo was 8-15 on third down, Denver 2-9
Bills ran ball for 210 yards (4.8 yards/carry)
— Eagles 22, Packers 10
Green Bay missed a 37-yard FG when they trailed 10-0 in 2nd quarter.
Packers in first half: 30 plays, 77 yards, no points.
Eagles in 2nd half: 32 plays, 175 yards, 12 points.
Green Bay was 7-13 on third down, Eagles 2-11.
Eagles host the Rams-Vikings winner Sunday afternoon.
— Ravens 28, Steelers 14
Ravens in first half: 41 plays, 304 yards, 21 points.
Steelers in first half: 17 plays, 50 yards, no points.
Steelers lost their last five games, after starting season 10-3.
Since 2017, Steelers are 80-50-2 in regular season, 0-5 in playoff games.
Ravens advance to play the Bills in Buffalo Sunday night.
In their last five playoff games, Steelers were outscored 63-0 in the first quarter.
— Texans 32, Chargers 12
Chargers kicked FGs on first two drives, led 6-0 early.
On their next nine drives, Herbert threw 4 INT’s, Chargers didn’t score.
Houston outgained the Chargers, 429-261
Texans ran ball for 168 yards (4.9 yards/carry)
Texans advance to play the Chiefs in Arrowhead Saturday.
Chargers, by the way, haven’t had a home playoff game since 2009.
— New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel as their new coach; he played for New England from 2001-08, then went 56-48 as coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018-23.
— Dallas Cowboys blocked the Bears from interviewing coach Mike McCarthy, but starting this week, they can’t block any more interviews with McCarthy, so he may still be interested in Chicago.
— Famous birthdays, January 13:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 64
Kevin Mitchell, 63
Patrick Dempsey, 59
Curtis Conway, 54
James Posey, 49
Ronny Turiaf, 42
— When Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes was in high school, he threw a no-hitter, striking out 16 guys; the losing pitcher in that game?
Michael Kopech, who has been a big league pitcher since 2018.
— Toronto Blue Jays signed reliever Jeff Hoffman to a 3-year, $33M deal; he had a 2.17 ERA and 10 saves in 68 games for the Phillies LY.
Hoffman has been in the majors for nine years; he is from the same town where I live, albeit the other side of town— he went to Shaker HS, the same school NBA star Sam Perkins went to.
— Atlanta Braves signed IF/1B Garrett Cooper to a minor league deal; he is 34 years old, had a rough year in 2024, hitting .206 for the Cubs/Red Sox- he’s been in the majors for eight years.
— Georgia Bulldogs’ QB Carson Beck is now Miami Hurricanes’ QB Carson Beck; after going 24-3 as a starter for Georgia, Beck is recovering from a season-ending elbow injury that caused him to drop out of this spring’s NFL Draft.
Beck is apparently getting paid $4M to play for Miami next year. Wow.
— Cleveland Browns’ QB Deshaun Watson tore his achilles tendon again, had another operation on Thursday.
Watson has played in only 19 games for Cleveland the last three years, going 9-10 in those games, despite having a guaranteed contract worth $46M a year.
— Atlanta Falcons fired DC Jimmy Lake after only one season; Falcons started the season 6-3, but lost six of their last eight games, giving up 30-44 points in their last two games.
— San Francisco 49ers fired defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen after only one season; 49ers went 6-11, lost seven of their last eight games, giving up 40-47 points in their last two games.
— RIP former Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, who turned the Buffs’ program around in the late 80’s, going 73-19-4 from 1987-94, after going 20-36 his first five years in Boulder.
Back then, Oklahoma/Nebraska dominated the Big 8 Conference, but McCartney the Colorado to a national title in 1990, with Eric Bienemy his best running back.
McCartney’s coaching tree included Les Miles, Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett, Jon Embree and Karl Dorrell.
RIP, sir.
Lowest NBA payrolls……..
$125,523,942— Pistons
$146,899,961— Jazz
$151,516,231— Magic
$151,633,817— Spurs
$160,654,141— Wizards
$161,616,157— Thunder
Quote of the Day
“It’s always a good time to do the right thing.”
Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, on Arizona hosting the playoff game tonight
Monday’s quiz
Where did Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner play his college football?
Sunday’s quiz
Dan Quinn was the Falcons’ coach the last time they played in the Super Bowl.
Saturday’s quiz
Urban Meyer was Ohio State’s football coach, the last time they won a national championship.
*******************************************
Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday…….
— Commanders 23, Buccaneers 20Washington drove 51 yards, kicked 37-yard FG at the gun for the win.
Commanders in 2nd half: 36 plays, 197 yards, 13 points.
Third down conversions: Washington 8-15, Tampa Bay 5-9
Washington also converted 3-5 on fourth down.
Commanders advance to play the Lions in Detroit next week.
— Bills 31, Broncos 7
Denver drove 70 yards, scored a TD on their first drive.
Broncos rest of game: 37 plays, 154 yards, no points.
Bills’ lead was only 10-7 at halftime.
Buffalo was 8-15 on third down, Denver 2-9
Bills ran ball for 210 yards (4.8 yards/carry)
— Eagles 22, Packers 10
Green Bay missed a 37-yard FG when they trailed 10-0 in 2nd quarter.
Packers in first half: 30 plays, 77 yards, no points.
Eagles in 2nd half: 32 plays, 175 yards, 12 points.
Green Bay was 7-13 on third down, Eagles 2-11.
Eagles host the Rams-Vikings winner Sunday afternoon.
— Ravens 28, Steelers 14
Ravens in first half: 41 plays, 304 yards, 21 points.
Steelers in first half: 17 plays, 50 yards, no points.
Steelers lost their last five games, after starting season 10-3.
Since 2017, Steelers are 80-50-2 in regular season, 0-5 in playoff games.
Ravens advance to play the Bills in Buffalo Sunday night.
In their last five playoff games, Steelers were outscored 63-0 in the first quarter.
— Texans 32, Chargers 12
Chargers kicked FGs on first two drives, led 6-0 early.
On their next nine drives, Herbert threw 4 INT’s, Chargers didn’t score.
Houston outgained the Chargers, 429-261
Texans ran ball for 168 yards (4.9 yards/carry)
Texans advance to play the Chiefs in Arrowhead Saturday.
Chargers, by the way, haven’t had a home playoff game since 2009.
— New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel as their new coach; he played for New England from 2001-08, then went 56-48 as coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018-23.
— Dallas Cowboys blocked the Bears from interviewing coach Mike McCarthy, but starting this week, they can’t block any more interviews with McCarthy, so he may still be interested in Chicago.
— Famous birthdays, January 13:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 64
Kevin Mitchell, 63
Patrick Dempsey, 59
Curtis Conway, 54
James Posey, 49
Ronny Turiaf, 42
— When Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes was in high school, he threw a no-hitter, striking out 16 guys; the losing pitcher in that game?
Michael Kopech, who has been a big league pitcher since 2018.
— Toronto Blue Jays signed reliever Jeff Hoffman to a 3-year, $33M deal; he had a 2.17 ERA and 10 saves in 68 games for the Phillies LY.
Hoffman has been in the majors for nine years; he is from the same town where I live, albeit the other side of town— he went to Shaker HS, the same school NBA star Sam Perkins went to.
— Atlanta Braves signed IF/1B Garrett Cooper to a minor league deal; he is 34 years old, had a rough year in 2024, hitting .206 for the Cubs/Red Sox- he’s been in the majors for eight years.
— Georgia Bulldogs’ QB Carson Beck is now Miami Hurricanes’ QB Carson Beck; after going 24-3 as a starter for Georgia, Beck is recovering from a season-ending elbow injury that caused him to drop out of this spring’s NFL Draft.
Beck is apparently getting paid $4M to play for Miami next year. Wow.
— Cleveland Browns’ QB Deshaun Watson tore his achilles tendon again, had another operation on Thursday.
Watson has played in only 19 games for Cleveland the last three years, going 9-10 in those games, despite having a guaranteed contract worth $46M a year.
— Atlanta Falcons fired DC Jimmy Lake after only one season; Falcons started the season 6-3, but lost six of their last eight games, giving up 30-44 points in their last two games.
— San Francisco 49ers fired defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen after only one season; 49ers went 6-11, lost seven of their last eight games, giving up 40-47 points in their last two games.
— RIP former Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, who turned the Buffs’ program around in the late 80’s, going 73-19-4 from 1987-94, after going 20-36 his first five years in Boulder.
Back then, Oklahoma/Nebraska dominated the Big 8 Conference, but McCartney the Colorado to a national title in 1990, with Eric Bienemy his best running back.
McCartney’s coaching tree included Les Miles, Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett, Jon Embree and Karl Dorrell.
RIP, sir.
