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| Tuesday, February 13, 2024 |
| Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| With the Super Bowl now two days behind us, that means the NFL offseason is officially here. If you're wondering what this newsletter will look like during the offseason, it will mostly be me writing long-form think pieces where I break down why every team with a cat mascot -- Lions, Jaguars, Bengals and Panthers -- is eventually destined to win a Super Bowl. JK, the NFL offseason is always loaded with news, so there will be no cat mascot breakdowns. Instead, you'll be getting a full newsletter each and every day, starting with today. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. All right, let's get to it. |
| 1. Today's show: Deep dive into Super Bowl LVIII |
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| After taking 24 hours to digest everything that happened in Super Bowl LVIII, Will Brinson, Ryan Wilson and I got together for the second straight day to talk about the game, but this time, we did a deep dive. |
| We talked about multiple topics, including how the Chiefs receivers all came up big for Patrick Mahomes. This was a group that struggled with dropped passes all year, but in the Super Bowl, they came up big. |
| Let's take a quick look at how the Chiefs' pass-catching crew did on Sunday. |
| Travis Kelce: Nine catches for 93 yards. The Chiefs tight end only had one catch for ONE yard in the first half, but then he exploded in the second half with eight catches for 92 yards. Kelce's biggest catch came when he converted a third-and-7 with a 22-yard grab with just under 20 seconds left to play in the game. That set up Harrison Butker's game-tying field goal. Mecole Hardman: Three catches for 57 yards. Hardman didn't catch a single TD pass all year, but he more than made up for that by hauling in the game-winning touchdown on a 3-yard reception in overtime. Justin Watson: Three catches for 54 yards. Going into the Super Bowl, Watson only had two games all season where he finished with at least 54 yards, which is the number he hit in the Super Bowl. His biggest play came on a 21-yard catch on third-and-9 near the end of the first half. The catch help set up a Butker field goal that ended up being Kansas City's only points of the half. Rashee Rice: Six catches for 39 yards. The Chiefs receiver didn't even hit the 40-yard mark, but he still came up clutch. One of his biggest receptions came when he converted a third-and-2 with a 6-yard catch to help set up a Butker field goal at the end of the first half. He had an even bigger catch in overtime when he converted a third-and-6 with a 13-yard reception. Marquez Valdes-Scantling: Three catches for 20 yards. MVS came up with one of the biggest plays of the game. After the Chiefs recovered a fumbled punt in the third quarter, Patrick Mahomes made them pay one play later when he hit MVS for a 16-yard score.Noah Gray: Two catches for 22 yards. Gray didn't put up huge numbers, but he did come up with a 12-yard gain on Kansas City's final offensive possession of regulation that helped set up Butker's game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter. Jerick McKinnon: Two catches for 15 yards. The Chiefs running back, who was playing in his first game since Dec. 17, came up clutch in the fourth quarter. McKinnon converted a third-and-2 with a 7-yard catch in the final minute of regulation that helped set up Butker's game-tying field goal. |
| There weren't many games this season where Mahomes had every single one of his pass-catches come up big, but they call came through in the clutch in the Super Bowl. |
| Not only did we talk about the receivers, but we also spent a good 10 minutes debating Kyle Shanahan's decision to take the ball first in overtime. Also, we actually spent a good chunk of time talking about how important special teams play was in this game. |
| If you want to hear our full conversation about Super Bowl LVIII, then be sure to listen to today's show by clicking here. You can also WATCH today's episode on YouTube by clicking here. |
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| 2. Super Bowl LVIII makes TV history |
| If you were tuned into CBS on Sunday for Super Bowl LVIII, then you were part of television history. The Chiefs' 25-22 win over the 49ers scored an astronomical viewership number. |
| Here's what you need to know: |
| Most-watched telecast ever. The overtime game averaged 123.4 million viewers, which makes it the most-watched telecast EVER. The viewership number covers all platforms that showed the Super Bowl, including CBS, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties. CBS set a record. An average total of 120 million viewers watched the game on CBS, which makes it the largest audience that any network has ever drawn for a single event in television history. Everyone was watching. Although the average viewership was 123.4 million, the total audience was much higher with 202.4 million people tuning in for at least part of the game, which makes Super Bowl LVIII the highest unduplicated total audience in history. |
| It's easy to see why this game drew huge ratings; it had everything the NFL could have asked for in a Super Bowl: |
| Drama (The game went to overtime)A superstar quarterback (Patrick Mahomes)Plenty of star power (Taylor Swift and other celebrities were in attendance)And a city hosting for the first time (Las Vegas) |
| The Super Bowl capped off a record-setting season for CBS Sports. The NFL on CBS scored the most-watched regular season since the NFL returned to CBS in 1998 as well as the network's best postseason viewership since 1998. |
| 3. Super Bowl LIX odds: 49ers and Chiefs on top |
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| In news that likely won't surprise anyone, the two teams that just played in the Super Bowl have opened as the top-two favorites to win Super Bowl LIX. And yes, this means that you can already bet on the winner of next year's Super Bowl, and that's because the oddsmakers never sleep. |
| Let's check out the Super Bowl odds for the 2024 season (For a full list, be sure to click here) |
1. 49ers +550 (Bet $100 to win $550)
2. Chiefs +650
3. Ravens +900
4. Bills +950
5. Lions +1200
6. Bengals +1200
7. Dolphins +1700
T-8. Eagles +2000
T-8. Packers +2000
T-8. Cowboys +2000 |
Worst odds: Panthers +25000 (Bet $100 to win $25,000)
Breech's best bet: Bengals or Chiefs
Best Value (AFC): Chargers (+5000)
Best Value (NFC): Rams (+3500) |
| If I had to make a Super Bowl bet right now, I'd probably put some money on the Bengals or Chiefs. At this point, I can't bring myself to bet against the team that has won three of the past five Super Bowls, but if forced to bet on someone besides the Chiefs, I'd take the guy (Joe Burrow) who just happens to be the only active quarterback who has beaten Patrick Mahomes in the postseason. |
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| 4. Five teams that could take a major leap in 2024 |
| Now that the 2023 season is officially over, we can start talking about the 2024 season and we're going to do that today. Jeff Kerr came up with a list of five teams that he believes will take a major leap forward next season. This doesn't mean any of these five teams will make the Super Bowl, but Kerr is expecting each of these five teams to take a major step forward in 2024. |
1. Texans (10-7)
2. Colts (9-8)
3. Packers (9-8)
4. Rams (10-7)
5. Bengals (9-8) |
| If you want to know why Kerr picked these five teams, you can check out his full rankings here. |
| 5. Ranking the Chiefs' possible opponents for the 2024 opener |
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| Thanks to their Super Bowl win, the Chiefs will now get to host the NFL opener to kick off the 2024 season. Although we have no idea who the Chiefs will be playing, we do know that there are eight options: Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Ravens, Bengals, Texans, Saints, Buccaneers. |
| So who's the best choice? Jordan Dajani decided to rank them. |
1. Ravens
2. Bengals
3. Texans
4. Chargers
5. Raiders
6. Broncos
7. Buccaneers
8. Saints |
| You can read the full explanation for his rankings here. |
| Jordan was ranking these by which game would give us the best possible matchup, but if I had to rank them by which game is the most likely, I'd say it's Texans-Chiefs or Chargers-Chiefs. The reason I think that is because the NFL has been changing its philosophy for the opener. Last year, the league could have scheduled an AFC title rematch with Bengals-Chiefs in Week 1, but instead, the Lions got put in Week 1. The NFL decided to save Bengals-Chiefs for later in the season. I think they'll do the same thing for the Ravens and Bengals games in 2024. |
| As for the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh making his debut in the Thursday night opener would be must-see TV, BUT the NFL doesn't usually let the defending champ host a divisional opponent in the opener, so Texans-Chiefs would seem to be the best bet (the Giants were the last defending champ to host a divisional opponent in the opener and that came against the Cowboys all the way back in 2012). |
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| 6. Extra points: Chiefs set date for parade |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
Chiefs' Super Bowl parade happening Wednesday. It's going to be a crazy Valentine's Day in Kansas City and that's because that's the day the Chiefs will be holding their Super Bowl parade. The festivities will be kicking off at noon ET and we'll have plenty of coverage here. Steelers cut ties with Mitch Trubisky and their starting punter. The Steelers started their offseason by making two notable cuts on Monday. Not only did they release Trubisky, but they also cut ties with starting punter Pressley Harvin III. Since both players were cut, they're eligible to sign with any team before the start of free agency in March.
NFL unveils logo for Super Bowl LIX. The next Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans and the NFL has already released the logo for the game. If you're a Super Bowl logo conspiracy theorist, the NFL added multiple colors to the logo to try and make it impossible to figure out who's going to be playing in the big game, but I tried anyway and you can check it out here. Big Super Bowl bets in Nevada. The state gaming commission reports that $185.6 million was bet on the Super Bowl in Nevada , which is a new record. This year's number topped the old mark of $179.8 million. With the Super Bowl being played in Vegas for the first time, it's not surprising that the state ended up setting a gambling record.
Jets set to get new uniforms for 2024. Jets owner Woody Johnson revealed this week that the team will be getting new uniforms for the 2024 season. The new uniforms will be unveiled in April. Cowboys hire Mike Zimmer after Rex Ryan drama. We mentioned last week that the Cowboys were going to hire Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator. However, Rex Ryan disputed that information over the weekend and said that he was still in the running for the job. Well, we have some bad news for Rex: The Cowboys ended the drama on Monday by officially agreeing to terms with Zimmer. You can check out the full details here. |
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| | | | | Born To Play | | UEFA Champions League | It doesn’t matter where you were born, if you’re born to play football. Watch one young boy in Ghana chase his dream in this year’s epic NFL Super Bowl commercial. Go to NFL.com/BornToPlay for the full commercial.
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| | The UEFA Champions League Round of 16 returns to CBS with a fierce matchup between Copenhagen and reigning champs Manchester City. Coverage begins at 2 PM ET with UCL Today.
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