Football Playoff Projections 2021; RIP Tommy Lasorda

 

Yulian with the legendary Tommy Lasorda

Because I’m afraid some playoff games might be played before I get my blog out there, so here are my playoff predictions:

Titans vs. Ravens: I’m going Titans. The Ravens really turned around their play late in the year, right at the perfect time, but the Titans are coming in just as hot. The Ravens have all the right pieces, just not as much offense as the Titans. I predict this is going to be a shootout, or an offensively sputtering game (the Titans defense is good, it’s just not good enough for Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and AJ Brown, with a great supporting cast). Henry is the RedZone choice, the first down choice, the second down choice, the third-down choice, the fourth and short choice, he is the choice. He is a rushing machine, and the Ravens run stopping attack is just not it. But, really bad run stopping attacks could be turned into good ones, because the front 7 could come down for the run, but that leaves 4 guys in pass coverage, and with AJ Brown and Jonnu Smith going underneath and Corey Davis going deep (or vice versa), that’s 5-6 yard game every time. Player to Watch: Lamar Jackson. L. I. T. E. R. A. L. L. Y. the key to this game, because if it’s going to be a shootout, the Ravens need to bust out the playbook, and who’s the best player to center around? Action Jackson.

Browns vs. Steelers: This is quite obvious to everyone, I’m going Steelers. The Steelers are by far the worst 11-0 team in history, just because their schedule was a cakewalk, and they were exposed as pretenders late in the season. The Browns put up a great brawl against the Ravens a few weeks ago, but I think the Steelers will pull out because their defense is far, far, far above average and the Browns offense is just not doing the job. Player to Watch: Diontae Johnson and Eric Ebron. The unsung heroes for the Steelers are supposed to shine today; Johnson is the most underrated player on this team, and Ebron because he’s going to act as a safety net for Big Ben.

Colts vs. Bills: This could not be an easier choice for me; Bills are coming out on top. The 7 seed Colts will not pull out because they don’t have a true playmaker at WR1, without that, you can’t win a game. Tre’Davious White could play safety just because White could easily lock up one side of the field and read Philip Rivers like a book, he wouldn’t play CB because of the lack of a WR1. The Bills have Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley. Devin Singletary and Zack Moss are a mediocre two-headed monster at RB. Everything points towards the Bills and nothing to the Colts. Player(s) to watch: J. Taylor and Josh Allen. Taylor is amazing, he fights for yards, he’s built like a linebacker and he’s fast. The Colts should switch up the playcalling to get Taylor involved but to not draw attention to him. Send him in the flats but don’t throw to him every time. Allen because he finally got that WR1 and Bills fans want to see the Bills dominate, and Allen is the catalyst for this game to go Buffalo’s side.

Bucs vs. Football Team: The Bucs, they have the GOAT at QB, two superstar wide receivers, a good running back and the greatest TE to ever play the game. They are playing with a dream team, they are playing with a fantasy team, but I’m going to make a completely unnecessary comment about the Bucs being only the 5 seed. Tom Brady is washed. Oh, wait, hold on, my legal team is telling me that any harm done to Bucs fans after reading this comment is not my fault and I can’t be held accountable. Football Team? Next year guys, next year. You have a nice young core but your—I can’t quite put my finger on it,  your everything needs to be changed, along with your nothing, I’m sorry, I couldn’t really make up anything to say there. Player to Watch: (Scary) Terry McLaurin. If Football Team wants to make this game close and to put pressure on the Bucs, Alex Smith has to give the ball to McLaurin and to McLaurin only. Throw to him 80% of the time. Carlton Davis III couldn’t keep up with Tyreek Hill, and Terry is a slower runner than Tyreek but he makes quicker cuts. If Washington would have a playmaker at QB, Terry would have 1500 yards instead of just over 1100 this season.

Seahawks vs. Rams: The Seahawks are going to win this one. The Rams have been a middle of the road team ever since their Super Bowl loss in 2018 and that is the worst thing you could be in my opinion (you didn’t make the playoffs and you don’t get a good draft pick). Russell Wilson will try to get an MVP vote this year, but this year ain’t it again, Chief. The Rams don’t have an offense, if they do, it’s sputtering. The Seahawks are moving on, only because of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Player(s) to Watch: The Rams defense. The Rams want to make this game competitive, right? The only way to do this is for the defense to lock up. The Seahawks have a high-powered offense ran through their receivers. Russell Wilson is still a great QB, but if he didn’t have these two studs at receiver, he would be barely anything. But, we can’t change facts, they have the receivers, so, we need to bring pressure. If we flush him out of the pocket, he’ll be forced to make a quick decision, which is tough for anyone. Then we drop into coverage while the linemen swarm him. Sean McVay has to come up a lot more, but, it’s just a concept.

Saints vs. Bears: THERE IS LITERALLY NO CHANCE FOR THE POOR BEARS. Zero, they sadly have Nick Foles under center, I would have Mitchell Trubisky, he’s younger and he can sling it, but it’s mostly 10 yards in any direction around his receiver. Just because he’s younger, I would start him to get some momentum going into next season. The Saints have the best all-around offense in the league, on paper at least. The Saints have Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Jared Cook, and the conductor Drew Brees. No defense on my part needed, I just know and you guys just know. Player to Watch: For your fun, Alvin Kamara, he’s the most fun player to watch in the NFL, his balance makes him look like he’s not trying, he just runs and breaks tackles.

Chiefs and Titans: No one, no one, no one will touch me when this game comes on, I will go into a figurative hibernation, and I will sit and watch two great offenses go at it. The offense is better for the Chiefs, but the defense is better for the Titans. The Chiefs will go into the AFC Championship because a deep post to Tyreek Hill will sauce anyone, Mahomes will connect with him 60 yards past the line of scrimmage, and he will backflip into the endzone. But, if you scald your finger in hot water, you won’t do it again, right? So, I believe that they will double cover Tyreek, one overtop, one underneath (in man), and run a Cover 1 concept, it will neutralize the Chiefs pretty easily. A linebacker on Kelce, staying one step ahead, a QB Spy on Mahomes, then, the Chiefs are pretty much blanketed. It’s obviously not that simple, it’s just a possible concept that could work (money makes the world go round; defense makes the football world go round). Player to Watch: Derrick Henry. This is a shootout, and more than 75% of the Titans defense is only Derrick Henry. In the playoffs, they’re going to lean on Henry even more than ever before, they’re up against the best offense in the league and they need to keep up. The Chiefs will win this one just because of their offense and I trust in Andy Reid to make the right defensive schemes and plays.

Bills and Steelers: The Bills get this one. A great offense (The Bills) versus a great defense (Steelers) and an above average offense (Steelers) versus an above average defense (Bills). It should be great, but the Bills have so many concepts and such a deep playbook that it makes them unstoppable. Big Ben won’t be able to do much, because his receivers are young and don’t get much separation, put Tre White clamping Juju Smith-Schuster and there’s nothing Ben can do. What I just said is true, but actually no, but actually yes. I did a bit of digging, and I saw that Diontae Johnson gets the most targets on the team, and that stat was not obvious, Johnson, a second year receiver gets more targets than the “superstar” on the Steelers, Juju? So, Johnson might have a bigger impact on this game than we imagine. Player to watch: Chase Claypool. I know this contradicts literally everything I said in the piece above but, listen, Claypool is faster than a linebacker and bigger than CBs, it just makes sense, right? And, to account for Smith-Schuster and Johnson, Claypool is going to get a dream matchup, but, Ben isn’t going to throw to him because he’s intent on keeping his spot on the Steelers, and not as a backup, so, his two sweet spots are getting the ball, but my plan would be to spread the ball, create more opportunities.

Packers vs. Bucs: Packers are winning this one. Wow, I am imagining this to be such a good game. Momentum plays a big part in anything, especially playoff football. For the whole season, the Bucs have been inching forward, trying to win any games, but the Bucs just haven’t been good, and the defense hasn’t been playing well. The young stars need to step up, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead need to lock up Adams. Put one guy on Marquez Valdez-Scantling and a linebacker on Robert Tonyan and then Whitehead, Winfield and Carlton Davis, covering Adams, two at a time, they will switch out. The Packers have to stop Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski. That is a tough ask for any team. My answer: man coverage. That way everyone is accounted for, one person in a mid-read (that’s a zone in the middle of the field that sees who’s man coverage is slipping and drifts over to help). Brady can’t scramble that well, so we can take that away, but the sleepers, Scotty Miller and Antonio Brown are short and have small builds, but they get open. The Packers might expect a lot of 5 wide concepts, just to make it that much harder to cover everyone. The Bucs might expect shotgun concepts (QB 5 or so yards behind center) with Aaron Jones on the left or right, going out on a route. I think that the Packers will win this one, Aaron Rodgers is still far from being washed and he is arguably the greatest QB mind to ever step onto a gridiron. Player to Watch: Aaron Jones. While the Bucs and Bruce Arians are scrambling, trying to figure out how to checkmate Aaron Rodgers, Rodgers will use his wild card (or horse, because we’re sticking with the chess theme), Aaron Jones, he will go out of the backfield or just on a designed run.

Saints vs. Seahawks: Two aging QBs going at it, like in the game above. I think that the X factor in this game is the offenses. Two QBs playing chess against each other, the defenses are like flies hovering around a bull, it just brushes the pesky flies away. The Seahawks have two WRs that Wilson throws to, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. The Saints have a true number one, Michael Thomas, though he might not be in the game, because he’s always injured, but they have a receiver that’s not really targeted, but he’s there for Brees, Emmanuel Sanders. The Saints have the edge at RB and at TE. Alvin Kamara is unstoppable game in and game out. Jared Cook is fast, he’s big and he can catch, that’s all you want out of a TE. The Seahawks don’t have a definite TE; it’s more of a “by committee” situation. On the defensive end, the Saints have the edge on paper, but with their lackluster play so far this season, the secondary needs to step up as well as Cameron Jordan. The elite pass rusher had only 7.5 sacks this season, down from 15.5 last year, a crazy dip in his performance. The defense posted an above average season, but name one player better than Marshon Lattimore (other than Cam Jordan). No one, exactly. He is the leader of the secondary, and he’s had a sub-par season (for a CB of his caliber) and he has to step it up, especially switching between DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett throughout the game. Player to Watch: Tyler Lockett. For a casual football fan, Tyler Lockett is shadowed by DK Metcalf, for obvious reasons, like ESPN talking about him non-stop, social media, and so on and so forth, but watch Tyler Lockett, watch his route running, watch him dissect his matchup. Against the Saints, he might be clamped, because of the underrated corners, but usually, the Seahawks will isolate Lockett on one side or in the slot and then run a route towards the back of the endzone (if in RedZone) or towards the sideline. DK Metcalf will always be the older sibling, getting all the attention and always getting the ball, but the Seahawks should look at the safety net, Lockett.

Legendary Tommy Lasorda died a few days ago and he will be remembered throughout baseball forever. I know everyone says that for every good baseball player or coach, but 70 years of his life dedicated to baseball? That’s perseverance and dedication. Not many people get to meet the Hall of Famer, but, I did. Thanks to Gary Green, the person who oversees business operations at Baseball America, I had a chance to meet him at a Mets game in September 2019. The game was down to the wire, literally, in the bottom of the eight, journeyman Rajai Davis knocked in not one, not two, but three Metsies with a double into the left field corner. During that game, Mr. Green introduced me to the two-time Manager of the Year and he taught me one lesson that’s ringing in my ears ever since the tragic news broke. He taught me how to shake a hand, firmly and to look in your peer’s eyes. My father taught me this, my mother taught me this, and many other people will teach me this but I am one of the handful of people IN. THE. WORLD that can say that I met Tommy Lasorda, and the pinkie-full of people that can say I was taught, by Tommy Lasorda, how to shake a hand. Tommy, you’ll always be in our thoughts and may you rest in peace.