Tampa Bay Wins the Super Bowl!

Super Bowl LV wasn't the game any of us were hoping for but come the end of it we had a definitive winner.  Really the Bucs defense deserved the MVP trophy.  The scheme worked perfectly.  Kansas City couldn't get anything deep and Tampa Bay's front four provided consistent pressure making life for Patrick Mahomes miserable.  Great coaching by the Tampa staff.  And yes Tom Brady and the offense were excellent.  I was rooting for Tom Terrific and he didn't let anyone down.  The Chiefs on the other hand didn't adjust to the defensive scheme of the Buccaneers.  I get that the defense was playing great but you had to think short quick passes would have helped.  I didn't see KC do that consistently.  Great win for the Bucs.  I'm happy for Brady and Gronk but also for Leonard Fournette and the Buccaneers players who helped make it all possible. 

New England Defeats Los Angeles 13-3, Super Bowl LIII Champions

Last night was a great SuperBowl.  I know I’m in the minority on that but in an era when the offenses are handed so many advantages it was great to see two defenses play so very well.  NewEngland was able to move the ball some but Wade Phillips’ defense played so well limiting the Patriots to 13 points.  No matter how great they were they were outplayed by the Pat’s defense who befuddled Los Angeles all night long.  It was an amazing game plan for the Pat’s defense and Jared Goff seemed lost all night.  But don’t be fooled.  So props to the New England coaching staff and the players who executed the gameplan.  While the offenses did make mistakes what you really saw was the defenses getting pressure on the quarterbacks and covering receivers very well.  So good on both defenses.  

As for the Rams, Sean McVay has to take blame for the offense’s inability to adjust during the game and to his credit admitted he was out coached.  I also have to wonder why Todd Gurley wasn’t given the ball more. He is a rare talent at running back but ran the ball only 10 times for 35 yards and caught one pass.  The game was 3-3 going into the 4^th so they had plenty of time to run it and maybe create opportunities for play action.  Maybe try some screen passes?  I was at a loss as to Los Angeles’ lack of direction and creativity.  

The Patriots deserve a ton of a credit on defense but the offense did do enough when needed to win the game.  Julian Edelman starred and took home the MVP.  He seemed to be open so much in this game and it wasn’t until late they Gronk really got in a groove.  To be honest the defense deserved the trophy.  Again I think it is awesome a team could scheme so well as to shut down an offense that stood among some of the greats all-time.  You have to hand it to New England.  Bill Belichick figured out a way to win even when his offense wasn’t at its best.  It is just amazing what he and Tom Terrific has done.  I enjoyed the game and ate lots of good food in the process so it was a win all around for me. 

COMC.com - My First Time

I've heard fellow bloggers talk about comc.com (COMC Card Marketplace and checked it out some time back and I dove right in.  Over a few months I filled out my cart and received my first order last week.  I was very haphazard and put zero planning into this.  I ended up all over the place as I'd think of a player or card and say hey I need that.  I'll definitely put more thought into my purchases moving forward which will also mean I need to have a better handle on exactly what i have in regards to individual players.  That's all good motivation for me. For now you'll see me show off the cards I did pick up starting with Tom Brady.

 I'm a huge Tom Brady fan as he is a Michigan alum but amazingly I don't have that many cards of his.  Combining my love of those great Michigan uniforms, Tom Brady and the Contenders brand of cards I was very excited to see there were plenty at COMC to pick up.  I really like how these look.

  A couple more Contenders cards and a nice Rookie & Stars that has a similar design. 

I picked up far more Brady cards than any other player in this order.  I think because I didn't have many it made it very easy.  I've always liked that 2011 retro uni card of Brady so it was a fun pickup.  I'll continue to show off the cards I picked up this go around so expect to see more posts on those soon.

Again I need to figure out how to start cataloging those cards and sets I have in my personal collection better so that future COMC purchases are not so all over the place.  Idea has been born...a plan will hopefully follow soon...

New England Defeats Seattle 28-24 For Fourth Super Bowl Win

They did it and they did in about as exciting a fashion as you could imagine.  Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks for their fourth NFL title.  This puts Brady and Belichick in some elite company among quarterbacks and coaches with four Super Bowl wins.  This game lived up to the hype.  Going down to the final seconds after two New England fourth quarter drives to take a 28-24 lead.  Seattle, as they did at the end of the first half went right downfield and again looked like they'd score a touchdown this time to win the game.  And then little used, even less known rookie cornerback Malcom Butler jumped a route and made a fantastic interception to seal the victory with 20 seconds left.  A great breakdown of the play can be found here.  Tom Brady was smartly named the MVP.

What a game.  I think we were able to see the best of both teams throughout the game.  The Patriots' offense looked as good as ever on their four scoring drives and had it not been for a horrible Tom Brady pass on the first drive of the game, that would have been five drives.  Their game plan wasn't the most sexy but the dink and dunk got them 28 points in the end helped by an offensive line that did very well at protecting Tom Brady.  Their defense also stepped up big in the fourth quarter with stops on Seattle.  Yes, they did play poorly at the end of both halves but they played well when it counted allowing Brady and the offense to retake the lead.  And then with 20 seconds left they made maybe the biggest play of any Super Bowl ever.  New England showed they deserved to be champions.

Seattle also showed they deserved to be there on the cusp of winning their second straight title.  While the offense wasn't spectacular it did show some brilliance but too many times didn't show enough of what made them so good.  That run option is almost unstoppable, or so it seems and I thought they didn't showcase that enough.  Marshawn Lynch was very good and I thought they should have counted on his and Russell Wilson's legs more.  The defense was not as stout as I expected it to be.  The injuries probably played a part but even a dinged up Seahawks defense is better than probably 90% of the league.  Still they weren't quite up to stopping the Pat's offense when it counted and they just didn't seem to have those "oh wow" moments where you thought "now this is the Legion of Boom".  That swagger just wasn't there. 

Again a great game!  I can't say enough about how fun it was to watch.  I of course rooted for my Michigan guy in Tom Brady.  I felt good when the Patriots took the four point lead with just over two minutes left in the game but it was nagging at me that Seattle had way too much time left to score.  They didn't disappoint.  Then came "the call".  Don't hate on it.  It might not have been smart, or maybe it was.  Maybe it was the execution.  I'll never know.  But as Tom Brady said after the game "I'm glad they ran it".