NFL 2019 and Super Bowl LIV

[K]

Media are all over the Katie Sowers story.

e.g.

Katie Sowers Seized Her Chances, and Now She’s Coaching in the Super Bowl

Sowers needed an assist to get her foot in the door. Then she burst through to become the first woman to coach in the N.F.L.’s championship game.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/sports/football/katie-sowers-super-bowl.html

[Pies4shaw]

https://www.espn.com.au/nfl/story/_/id/28614718/steelers-troy-polamalu-colts-edgerrin-james-elected-hall-fame

https://www.espn.com.au/nfl/story/_/id/28586997/nfl-honors-took-home-league-biggest-awards

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/01/nfl-honors-winners-lamar-jackson-mvp

Lamar Jackson becomes just the second-ever unanimous choice for NFL MVP.

Michael Thomas is Offensive Player of the Year.

Stephon Gilmore is Defensive Player of the Year.

John Harbaugh is Coach of the Year.

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Go the Kansas city chiefs in the super bowl

[K]

Australian punter's 18,000km Super Bowl journey

"Australian punter Mitch Wishnowsky's journey to Miami's Hard Rock Stadium for the Super Bowl has been long, winding and full of obstacles.
...

Wishnowsky quit Perth's Lumen Christi College at 16, became an apprentice glazier and hoped for a professional soccer or AFL career. But injuries took their toll on his 188cm tall body.

In 2013, he signed up to a recreational American flag football league.

It's where Craig Wilson, one of American football's leading figures in Australia, saw him punt a football.
...

It still was not an easy path to an elite US university.

Wishnowsky's early high school exit meant he had to enrol in California's Santa Barbara City junior college for two years to build up his grades.
...

He won the Ray Guy Award for college football's best punter in 2016 and last year, after impressing scouts at the NFL combine with his punting and 40-yard dash time of 4.63 seconds, was snapped up by the 49ers in the fourth round of the draft.

The time was the fastest by a punter since 2003 and quicker than elite wide receiver Jarvis Landry, cornerback Josh Norman and running back Mark Ingram."

(AAP)


[My immediate reaction is: punters aren't very fast, are they?]

[Pies4shaw]

Punters don’t have to be able to do anything except kick, unless they happen to be former star College QBs, in which case they may get to run a fake punt and throw it once in a 20-year punting career.

Sav Rocca was a brilliant punter for Washington and I don’t think anyone cared how slow he was.

[Pies4shaw]

I have just seen footage of Patrick Mahomes arriving at the ground in a very awful blue checked suit. He can't possibly expect to win a Super Bowl if he dresses like that.

[Pies4shaw]

San Francisco won the toss and will defer. You’ve got to wonder about putting the ball straight into Mahomes’ hands. I guess they’re hoping nerves will interfere with his first possession.

[Pies4shaw]

Mahomes went 3 and out and the 49ers are at the Chiefs' 25. They will score. It's just a question of what.

The Chiefs gave up an offside on 3rd and 10, so it's 3rd and 5. But the Chiefs stop Jimmy G. 43 yard field goal made. 49ers lead 3 to 0.. 7 m, 57 s to go in the first quarter.

[Pies4shaw]

Some good plays by the Chiefs, including a direct wild-cat snap to Williams on a 4th and 1 and Mahomes keeping it himself to run in the TD. Chiefs take the lead 7:3, 31 seconds to play in the first quarter.

[Pies4shaw]

The Chiefs have intercepted Jimmy G near midfield.

In fact, Kansas City will have it at 1st and 10 on their own 45 yard line (so, 5 yards short of halfway). Big chance for Mahomes to put some space between his Chiefs and the 49ers, early in the second quarter.

[Pies4shaw]

The 49ers’ D holds the Chiefs to a field goal but they lead 10:3.

[Pies4shaw]

And then, suddenly, the 49ers’ play action game starts carving through the Chiefs like a knife through butter. All tied up, 10 apiece.

[Pies4shaw]

And now, 14 seconds to go in the first half, the 49ers are driving for the lead. A bit offensive pass interference stops a big Kittle gain and SF take the knee. It’s a tie at halftime.

It’s impossible to pick a winner - both sides have periods of dominance but, equally, both have looked ordinary on both sides of the ball at times.

[Pies4shaw]

San Francisco have taken the lead 13:10 with a field goal on the first drive of the second half. They moved the ball very well but the Chiefs’ D made a good stop to hold the 49ers to the field goal.

[Pies4shaw]

Mahomes with the ball. He starts with a 19-yard pass.

And the a 4-yarder to Kelce. Then Williams is stopped on a run.

But Mahomes completes a 9 yard pass to Watkins for the first down.

This time Williams gets 5 with a run. Then, Nick Bosa knocks it out of Mahomes’ hands. Mahomes recovers the ball but it’s now 3rd and 12. And the Chiefs throw an INT. The 49ers have it back at their 45.

And they go the distance to lead 20:10. 2 and a half minutes left in the third quarter.