Analyzing Super Wild Card Weekend matchups and highlighting Bill Belichick and Nick Saban's greatest moments

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🏈 Good morning to everyone but especially …

THE NFL PLAYOFF TEAMS AND NFL FANS

On Jan. 31, 2021, the Rams went all in, acquiring Matthew Stafford, who they hoped would be the final piece to their Super Bowl puzzle. The Lions‘ return was a pair of first-round picks, a third-round pick and, oh yeah, Jared Goff, who was viewed as a mere toss-in — a holdover until Detroit could start its next rebuild.

Fast forward to Sunday: Stafford, having already delivered a Super Bowl to Los Angeles, will return to Detroit for the first time. He’ll face Goff — no longer a toss-in but the quarterback who led Detroit to its first division title in three decades — and an impressive roster featuring several players selected with those draft picks.

This is the best Wild Card weekend I can remember, chock full of storylines, reunions, wild weather and legacies on the line. Rams-Lions sets up to be the best game, as Tyler Sullivan writes in his viewer’s guide. I can’t wait for Stafford’s return to Ford Field, which will be absolutely rocking, and what should be a shootout between two of the league’s best and most well-coached offenses.

Our NFL writers have done a terrific job previewing every matchup from every angle, so in chronological order …

Browns at Texans: What an unexpected quarterback battle: C.J. Stroud has been incredible, while Joe Flacco has come out of nowhere and can break a Tom Brady record. | Denzel Ward is questionable after hurting his knee in practice.
Dolphins at Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes is “extremely confident” in the offense. | It’s going to be very cold, and the Dolphins — especially Tua Tagovailoa — don’t like the cold. | Jaylen Waddle (ankle) and Raheem Mostert (knee/ankle) are questionable. | This Hallmark-style spoof hype video is hilarious.
Steelers at Bills: Why Steelers will win | The Bills are surging. | Prepare for awful weather. | Damontae Kazee is back, and Minkah Fitzpatrick says he will be, too.
Packers at Cowboys: Why Dallas will win | Mike McCarthy faces his former team. | The Cowboys’ recent playoff history is rough. | Stephon Gilmore is “confident” he’ll play. | These teams have produced some classics.
Rams at Lions: Why Detroit will win | Stafford vs. Goff tale of the tape | Goff has a chip on his shoulder.
We’ll get to Eagles at Buccaneers on Monday, I promise.

And now for picks …

Pete Prisco | John Breech | Will Brinson | Tyler Sullivan | Jordan Dajani picks the entire postseason

Rams-Lions to close out the weekend will be awesome. So will Browns-Texans as the weekend’s opener. Here’s Tyler’s pick:

Sullivan: “While the Browns have a reputation for having one of the top defenses in the league, they’ve been an entirely different unit on the road compared to who they are at home. Away from Cleveland, the defense is allowing 29.6 points per game (tied for most in the NFL) and 331.1 total yards per game. Projected score: Texans 27, Browns 23 | The pick: Texans +2.5“

As for everything else playoffs …

Ranking Wild Card QB matchups
Playoff QB Power Rankings
Most important non-QBs
Ranking playoff coaching staffs (spoiler: they’re all good)
Sleeper Wild Card teams
Best potential Super Bowl matchups

So make sure you’re ready for the winter weather if you’re getting any and settle in for an awesome weekend of football.

👍 Honorable mentions

The Warriors are reportedly putting everyone but Stephen Curry in trade talks. Here’s who they could target.
The Thunder are tied for No. 1 team in the West after obliterating the Trail Blazers, 139-77. It’s tied for the fifth-largest win in NBA history.
After massive defensive struggles, the Bucks got a much-needed blowout win over the league-leading Celtics, who were down 37 at halftime and didn’t bother playing their starters thereafter.
Marvin Harrison Jr. declared for the NFL Draft, but Emeka Egbuka returned to Ohio State.
Quinn Ewers returned to Texas.
Top transfer portal wide receiver Evan Stewart transferred to Oregon.
Casey Thompson transferred to Oklahoma for his seventh season of college football.
Juan Soto broke the arbitration record previously set by Shohei Ohtani. Here’s arbitration news from around MLB.
The Dodgers and Cubs made a trade.
The Caitlin Clark effect is real.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

The NCAA imposed several penalties on Florida State for NIL-related recruiting violations.
Injuries loom large ahead of Super Wild Card weekend.
Marcus Smart (finger) is out four to six weeks. That means more Desmond Bane, who spoke to James Herbert about his development and mindset.
Isaiah Collier (hand) is out four to six weeks for a struggling USC.
The NBA Draft is moving to two days, and I do not like that.
The NBA fined Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic $25,000 for his rant on officiating.

⚾ Yankees sign Marcus Stroman

The Yankees made their splash on offense when they traded for Juan Soto in early December. More than a month later, they made their big pitching acquisition. Marcus Stroman is heading back to New York, this time to his former Subway Series rival, on a two-year deal worth $18.5 million a season.

Stroman, 32, is coming off an up-and-down season for the Cubs, his second in Chicago. He was 9-4 with a 2.28 ERA through 16 starts, helping him earn an All-Star nod. He was 1-5 with an 8.29 ERA over his final 11 starts as he battled injury.

R.J. Anderson ranked Stroman, also formerly with the Mets and Blue Jays, as the eighth-best free agent this offseason.

Anderson: “Stroman still generates ground balls by the bushel, but we do have two concerns: 1) he threw a below-average amount of strikes last season, contributing to a career-worst walk rate; 2) he failed to clear the 150-inning threshold for the second year in a row. Stroman is now nearing his age-33 season, and while we believe he’ll remain an above-average starter in the near-term, it’s probably fair to think some further decline is in order.”

🏈 Bill Belichick’s best moments with Patriots

We’ve had a day to digest Bill Belichick and the Patriots parting ways, and now we can look ahead to what’s next for both sides.

Let’s start with Belichick, who immediately jumped atop Tyler’s coaching candidate rankings and will have plenty of interest. After all, he is the greatest coach of all time, per Bryan DeArdo’s top 10 (and many other people’s rankings, including mine). Tyler examined three potential landing spots for Belichick.

As for the Patriots, after a split that went about as well as possible, Robert Kraft identified what he’s looking for in his next coach, and Tyler identified several options who could fit the bill.

Finally, it was a day of tributes from all over social media, not the least of which came from Tom Brady.

🏈 Alabama’s All-Nick Saban team, plus more fallout from his retirement

Day 1 of the post-Nick Saban era didn’t produce a new head coach for the Crimson Tide — although we know it won’t be Dan Lanning — but it did produce a look into why the seven-time national championship retired. Saban cited his age (72) and the “mental grind” as top reasons for his decision to step down.

It also gave us a chance to reflect more, and I especially loved Shehan Jeyarajah’s “All-Saban” team from his time in Tuscaloosa because 1) the amount of talent is absurd, and 2) there are some really tough decisions. Running back is one of them. Saban had two Heisman-winning runners, a No. 3 overall pick and the school’s all-time touchdowns leader. Shehan’s backfield of choice is …

Jeyarajah: “Derrick Henry, Mark Ingram — It takes a Heisman Trophy to crack this list. Ingram became the first Alabama player to win a Heisman Trophy after rushing for 1,678 yards and 20 touchdowns for Saban’s first title team in 2009. Henry was arguably even better, rushing for nearly 3,600 yards and 42 touchdowns on 6.0 yards per carry for his career while winning the 2015 championship.

David Cobb, meanwhile, ranked Saban’s best teams, and Dean Straka ranked Saban’s best moments, including some all-time interviews. And speaking of all-time, the Saban coaching tree is second to none.

We’ll be on top of the Alabama coaching search right here.

📺 What we’re watching this weekend

Friday

🏀 Kings at 76ers, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Pelicans at Nuggets, 10 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Boise State at Nevada (M), 10:30 p.m. on FS1

Saturday

🏀 Northwestern at No. 15 Wisconsin (M), noon on BTN
🏀 St. John’s at No. 22 Creighton (M), 1 p.m. on Fox
🏒 Rangers at Capitals, 1 p.m. on ABC
🏀 No. 19 San Diego State at New Mexico (M), 2 p.m. on CBS
🏀 No. 10 Texas at No. 12 Kansas State (W), 2 p.m. on ESPNU
🏈 Browns at Texans, 4:30 p.m. on NBC
🏀 No. 2 Houston at TCU (M), 6 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Dolphins at Chiefs, 8 p.m. on Peacock
🏀 Warriors at Bucks, 8 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 No. 14 Indiana at No. 3 Iowa (W), 8 p.m. on Fox

Sunday

🏈 Steelers at Bills, 1 p.m. on CBS
🏀 No. 11 Virginia Tech at No. 21 Florida State (W), 1 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Packers at Cowboys, 4:30 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Rams at Lions, 8 p.m. on NBC