Tag: Super Bowl Page 3 of 14

The week leading up to the Super Bowl always floats a lot of stuff past my wheelhouse and this year’s seven-day period is no different.

I liked San Francisco for Super Bowl Sunday as recently as my San Francisco by a football nose post 10 days ago.

I still do.

Just not as much.

Listen, I’m not walking this back at all. Not at all. I just know this game could easily go either way.

People have told me I don’t give Kansas City’s defense as much credit as I should for the ability to stop the run. After all, they held Derrick Henry to a (for him) measly 69 yards on the ground during the AFC Championship game against the Titans.

Was this due in part to a Steve Spagnuolo-led Kansas City defense that keyed on Henry and wanted to force quarterback Ryan Tannehill to beat them with his arm?

Perhaps.

Was this due in part to Henry wearing down or was it time he had an off game?

Could be.

All I do know is that Kansas City’s defense has crept up on me in this whole process and I have been forced to look at the intangibles such as who wants it more and which team will best respond if each other’s defense shuts the opposing team’s running game down.

If San Francisco can’t run effectively is Jimmy Garropolo capable of beating the Chiefs with his arm? I know Patrick Mahomes can beat the 49ers with his.

So, have I shifted from San Francisco by a football nose even just a little bit?

I wouldn’t call it a shift as much as an acknowledgment that again, this game can go either way.

The intangibles in terms of who wants it more also apply to the coaching staff and front offices.

San Francisco’s head coach Kyle Shanahan wants to get his legacy back on track and avenge the horror story of the Atlanta Falcons’ historic collapse during Super Bowl LI (when he was the dirty birds’ offensive coordinator) and Atlanta was up 28-3.

Even though he publicly does not care to address this gap in his resume, Andy Reid wants to no longer be known as the winningest coach in NFL history without a Super Bowl win. Can his team get him over the hump?

The storylines are fascinating. And I feel like money is coming back to Kansas City’s side of the table.

Having said all of this, I still see Jimmy G giving the 49ers just enough with his arm to offset and eclipse the relentlessness-in-the-face-of-constant pressure (by San Fran’s defense) that is Mahomes and Kansas City’s offense.

I will end my analysis by reporting that nothing has changed in this one respect:

Make mine San Francisco 34-31.

Sports Illustrated

The classic sports weekly that was reduced to twice per month publication in January of 2018 is now a monthly publication (plus four special issues and the Swimsuit Issue.)

The magazine now features heavier stock paper quality.

The brand will still have an emphasis on great sports photography, contain beloved sports features only SI can deliver, and the SI swimsuit issue will also still be available.

Still, it just won’t be the same for me as this change in publication frequency heralds the end of an era as well as the demise of legacy sports journalism as we’ve come to know it.

First daily newspapers.

Now classic weekly mags like SI.

Sad.