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Good morning! Happy Black Monday?
NFL Debrief: It’s already a busy day
On the NFL calendar, today is unique. Some of the most consequential football of the season happened yesterday, but not even 12 hours later, the contents of each game matter little. The resulting playoff positioning is what sticks.
Oh, and today is also when everyone gets fired. A two-pronged day. First prong: The playoffs are set.
NFC
Narratives galore. Thanks to Dallas winning the NFC East yesterday, Mike McCarthy has to face his previous franchise, which closed the regular season on a 6-2 run. Matthew Stafford, formerly a 12-year Lion, experiences postseason Detroit for the first time. And the Eagles — once the toast of the league — limp toward NFC South champ Tampa Bay while looking like prime candidates for early dismissal. Delicious, all of it.
AFC
Also fun! The Bills went from AFC East preseason favorites to looking awful at times to stealing the division crown from Miami last night in the wildest game of the weekend. I’m also legitimately jazzed about seeing Cleveland’s Joe Flacco go against C.J. Stroud, who was 11 when Flacco won Super Bowl MVP in 2013. Also, make sure you have a Peacock login figured out before the Miami-Kansas City game Saturday night.
Lastly, please watch this absurd Bills touchdown from Trent Sherfield last night:
Trent Sherfield kept his feet in! 😱
📺: #BUFvsMIA on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/GqJJdyI3EW pic.twitter.com/mS8msPpjUg— NFL (@NFL) January 8, 2024
Prong No. 2: Black Monday. Job updates:
- Atlanta started early by firing Arthur Smith last night, two minutes into Monday on the East Coast. At 21-30 overall, Smith’s last public moment as Falcons head coach was a postgame spat with Saints coach Dennis Allen. Yikes. Now Atlanta’s monitoring Bill Belichick’s availability. Speaking of …
- New England is our biggest possible opening. Belichick appears to be on his way out after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles as head coach. We’ve seen this coming for a while, but the fallout is still immense. The 4-13 Patriots went out sad against the Jets yesterday, too.
- Ron Rivera is likely out in Washington. Rivera, 26-40-1 there, has been on the edge for weeks now, and with new ownership, it would be a shock if he gets another year.
- Others to watch: New Orleans, Chicago and Las Vegas. Both the Saints and Bears had nice late-season showings, which could mean Allen and Matt Eberflus stick around. In Vegas, no word is probably a good thing for 5-4 interim coach Antonio Pierce, who can’t be offered the full-time job until the team interviews external minority candidates.
Pro tip: Keep our coaching carousel live blog open in a tab today.
News to Know
The spree continues
The Dodgers signed Teoscar Hernández to a one-year, $23.5 million deal yesterday, adding his big bat to an already stacked lineup. The addition gives L.A. four of The Athletic’s top 40 free agents this offseason. And in Shohei Ohtani style, Hernández deferred about a third of that money.
More news
- Rams wideout Puka Nacua broke the rookie receiving records for yards and catches in a season yesterday. What a breakout year for the fifth-rounder.
- Randy Moss and Alex Smith are heading to the College Football Hall of Fame. The full class will be announced today.
- The 25-11 Bucks are at a crossroads already. After a bad loss to the Rockets yesterday, Giannis Antetokounmpo put everyone on blast.
Three Title Questions: Watch the lines tonight
Maybe you’ve heard of the massive college football thing happening tonight: the national championship between Michigan and Washington, which will be the last of an era. Next year brings super conferences and a 12-team Playoff.
There will be plenty of time to reminisce later. Let’s get to the game. For last-minute cramming, I consulted Until Saturday author Jayna Bardahl:
Last week, you did a great job breaking down everything we need to know about Michigan and Washington. I’m curious: What aspect/narrative/matchup of this game are you most excited to watch play out?
Jayna: This is truly a match of No. 1 Michigan’s dominant defense against No. 2 Washington’s hyper-productive offense, and differing styles make this game so fascinating. The biggest X-factor is at the line of scrimmage. Washington’s offensive line is the best in college football, but it hasn’t faced any team as physical as Michigan, which will be focused on pressuring Michael Penix Jr.
We’ve grown accustomed to watching big plays from Washington’s offense, and I’m excited to see what Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb pull out of their bag of tricks. Keeping up could require some unusually aggressive play calls from Michigan.
Much of the conversation is bigger, about the end of the four-team Playoff. What are your feelings as we leave one era behind?
Jayna: I’ve been a fan of Playoff expansion since it became official back in 2022. Then, after Florida State’s snub from this year’s field (and bowl game opt-outs at an all-time high), I think it’s clear how much the FBS needed a revised postseason. Just think, at this point next year, we will have watched eight Playoff games — including some on college campuses — with three more still to go. Yes, please!
Back to tonight: Give me a prediction.
Jayna: My pick is Washington. Both of these teams are experienced, but the Huskies feel truly battle-tested; their last 10 games have been decided by 10 points or less. Penix will be the best player on the field — and when that player is the quarterback of one of the most efficient offenses in college football, it’s hard to bet against him.
Pulse pick: I’m veering from Jayna’s pick despite her sound logic. I just can’t stop thinking about how Michigan’s defensive line mauled Alabama. Washington’s offensive line is theoretically better, but it’s tough to scheme against pure strength. I think this is a great game, but the Wolverines, favored by 4.5 in Houston, end up with the ring. Michigan 27, Washington 21.
Make sure to sign up for Until Saturday and catch Jayna’s coverage of the game tomorrow. The newsletter has been a must-read this season.
Watch This Game
CFB: Washington vs. Michigan
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
I mean, duh.
Pulse Picks
An elite season — or even a promising one — can net college football coaches millions. Justin Williams has a great story today about the coaching profession’s “25-year bull market” and why the money isn’t slowing anytime soon.
The NFL Draft order is also set. On the clock, in a few ways: the Chicago Bears.
Derrick Henry, a free agent this offseason, might’ve said goodbye to Titans fans yesterday. Joe Rexrode argues the Titans would be dumb to let him go.
Ken Rosenthal has an expansive notebook this morning, leading with an interesting hypothetical: How could Matt Chapman fit in with the Giants? And what’s he worth, anyway?
Yes, there’s still plenty of time in the NHL season, but there are some really great potential playoff matchups already lurking.
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(Photo: Rich Storry/Getty Images)
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