Sez Me …
Is there such a thing as Chiefs fatigue?
Dunno. I’m too exhausted to answer.
As a rule, I don’t tire from greatness and excellence. It’s just that I can’t stand the Chiefs. I hate the way they’ve gone about things, g players of questionable repute, and I’ve seen this team play a lot. Nobody’s telling me they haven’t received far too many favorable calls from officials. Luckiest team in history.
They play the Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl, and Philadelphia has better players in their top 22, and a deeper roster. They’ve had the NFL’s best defense, and it’s the fastest. They have the best back, Saquon Barkley, a quarterback, Jalen Hurts, who can throw and runs the ball better than many backs. They have the best (and largest) offensive line — by plenty — huge for the Tush Push.
But dammit, they don’t have Patrick Mahomes. And the Chiefs’ quarterback, who has won two straight rings and will try to become the first to win three in a row, does one thing better than every other QB — and just about better than any who ever lived.
He wins. He wins from ahead, but especially from behind. He wins close games. If the Chiefs have the ball with the game on the line, he’s going to win. He doesn’t screw it up. He never screws it up.
Barkley has scored 20 touchdowns, and the average distance traveled on those excursions is 32.5 yards. Again, on the average, he runs four yards before he’s touched. K.C. has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in a playoff game since 2019.
So, there’s something, and it’s gotta give.
The Eagles are 5-0 this season on artificial turf. Their defense is fast everywhere, and Vic Fangio probably is the best defensive coordinator there is. He will attack K.C.’s Achilles, its offensive line.
There is a stack of reasons to take the Eagles. I’m going with Philly. But I don’t like the pick. Betting against Mahomes in a big game fits in nicely with all the stupidity going around.
But what do I know? I thought “The Catcher in the Rye” was Yogi Berra in a field of grain. …
The NBA never supersedes the NFL, let alone the Super Bowl. Announcing the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis deal at the start of the week had to really wrinkle Roger Goodell’s stuffed shirt. …
Especially when there hasn’t been less interest in the NBA in maybe 70 years. …
All this crap about Luka’s conditioning. I know one thing: whatever “basketball shape” is, he’s in it enough. …
As his dad, Sasa, says: “He played 100 games. Don’t look for excuses.” …
If Luka slimmed down, who’s to say his talent wouldn’t suffer? Streisand never got a nose job because she feared it might ruin her voice. …
Maybe LeBron, a defender when he so pleases, can teach Luka there are two ends to a basketball court. …
Since 2000, five players have scored more touchdowns than Antonio Gates’ 116, No. 1 being LaDainian Tomlinson (162). The most important things that happens on offense in football are TDs. …
Somebody can throw for 500 yards, a back can run for 300. In the end, it’s who scored the most points. And Antonio, a marvel (and no kind of act but class), scored more than any tight end despite his bad feet. Having to wait a year to get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was cruel. …
Big week for San Diego. Eric Allen (Point Loma High School), one of the great cornerbacks, had to wait a generation to get a Hall , and voters finally wised up and voted him in. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell (La Costa Canyon/SDSU) was named NFL Coach of the Year. …
Antonio of course never played college football, being a second-team All-American basketball player at Kent State. Another Hall of Fame tight end, Tony Gonzalez, played hoops at Cal. When asked about it, Gates offered what I think is his greatest quote: “Gonzalez played basketball; they game-planned for me.” …
A.J. Smith, GM of the NFL Team That Used To Be Here, never bragged about getting Gates as an undrafted free agent. “He just fell out of the sky into my lap.” …
But A.J. kept him around. …
Eli “Jughead” Manning is “at peace” with failing to get into the Hall on the first ballot. Well, if he wasn’t a Manning and a New York Giant, he’d be at peace with eternal exclusion. …
He won two Super Bowls? So did Jim Plunkett, whose name never is called. …
Luka just purchased a $15-million home in Dallas. In Beverly Hills, that’ll get him a garage. …
The “End Racism” that has been printed at the back of NFL end zones won’t appear on the Superdome’s field. I guess it worked. It really has ended. …
When a sitting president attends any sporting event, it messes things up. Super Bowls are a security nightmare as it is. And how could he get a ticket this late, anyway? …
Packers boss Mark Murphy wants to see the end of the Tush Push. So do I, so should everybody but Eagles fans. It is not a football play, aiding and abetting a ball carrier. What I don’t understand is why every team doesn’t do it. It’s as close to automatic as anything in the game. …
I find it hard to believe a first-and-one can’t be obtained with four consecutive plain quarterback sneaks. If you can’t do it, find another job. …
Did you know Don Coryell’s playbook, edited by Ernie Zampese, the best among all offensive coordinators and one of the greatest among great guys, didn’t have a QB sneak in it? I once asked Ernie about it after the Judases failed on a fourth-and-short. “Nah, we don’t have a sneak.” …
Are we seriously proposing that education should be no more than reading, writing and arithmetic? Ah, now, the dumbing down of America is about to reach rock bottom. Just so remarkably stupid. …
The bane of the NFL once was drugs and gambling. Now it’s massages that must be stopped, although Robert Kraft wants even the idea of a ban off the table until he can find the proper George Costanza electronic recliner. …
Washington will not change its nickname back to the Redskins, which is, of course, racist. What it should get rid of is Commanders. Is there a commander remaining in D.C.? …
Man, Rick Pitino is a great coach of Naismith’s game. Took him a New York minute to restore St. John’s. …
San Diego State’s most successful basketball teams were more veteran than this one, which mostly has been the case for everyone in the one-and-done era. …
I have the solution for any athlete who has jewelry stolen from opportunist criminals. It’s called a safe. …
And here I thought I was joking when I told people: “If you believe that, I have some beachfront property in Gaza I’d like to sell you.” …
I wonder if Gaza can be anywhere near as successful a gaming capital that Atlantic City has been. …
Tommy Tuberville is the worst coach Mahomes never had. …
Ben Franklin said: “Honesty is the best policy.” Now we know the guy was full of it. …
Montreal’s Oscar Peterson played remarkable piano. I guess I legally can listen to him for just another month. …
Do you know what Juno Beach was? Normandy. It was stormed by Canadian soldiers on D-Day. That Canada. Our ally.
