NFL Championship Sunday | Little Lion Man | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
We have a ginormous Sunday of football that will decide who plays in Super Bowl LVIII so of course we gotta lead off there.
Let’s talk ball….
NFL Championship ‘24
*Not really, but there is no better pen in the pen game today. Take it from me, someone who scribbles notes every day, this pen has improved my handwriting by at least 1.5 points on my handwriting ratings.
(@YouTheReader a Sharpie deal one day would be pretty sweet.)
For starters, as you can see below, Taylor went with the white varsity jacket with red Chiefs trim and a red beanie hat. After watching her once again slay from the booth, I immediately went on Amazon and purchased myself a red beanie. I feel like the GANT Varsity Jacket would’ve been just a bit much. The Chiefs are on the road for the AFC Championship Game so expect Taylor to be bundled up in white again.
Sidenote: I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me and Taylor Swift doesn’t need Week to Week Notes to white knight for her, but how about these virgin, weak, and pathetic men behind all these AI Memes and sharing them on Twitter, who’s never spoken to a woman before, fuck off. I know right, very brave of me to write what 99.999999% of normal people with any sense still in the world are thinking, but still, it’s one thing to find her popularity annoying, another to pull that bullshit.
Above, Taylor was celebrating 1 of 2 of Travis Kelce’s receiving TDs last week in Buffalo. These were Kelce’s 17th and 18th playoff TD catches of his career, which further separates him from Rob Gronkowski’s 15 and brings him closer to Jerry Rice’s record of 22. Travis is also #2 in playoff receiving yards for his career as his 1,694 receiving yards only trail Jerry Rice’s 2,245. The Chiefs’ offense aside from Kelce leaned heavily on RB Isiah Pacheco who used for 97 yards and a score. Including the regular season and playoffs, Pacheco has rushed for 89 or more yards in a game in 5 of his last 7 games played. QB Patrick Mahomes is now in year 6 as a starting QB in the NFL and has made it to the AFC Championship in every one of those years. Mahomes is 3-2 in the AFC Championship and is looking to make his 4th Super Bowl run at the ripe-old age of 28. The Mahomes and Kelce duo broke an NFL Playoff record as the duo passed the combination of Tom Brady and Gronk’s 16 playoff TDs.
The Kansas City defense was excellent all season and played pretty well in Buffalo. One thing that might be concerning for the Chiefs is that they allowed QB Josh Allen to rush for 72 yards and 2 TDs. Allen is an excellent runner, but the Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson is even better. Chiefs LB Willie Gay was game-planned into spying on Josh Allen and when he got hurt in Buffalo, it may have thrown the Chiefs’ gameplan into disarray. Gay is questionable for Sunday with a tweaked neck. Chiefs’ CB L’Jarius Sneed allowed his first TD in coverage when Josh Allen was able to fit an unbelievable ball into Khalil Shakir’s hands. Otherwise, this Kansas City defense played pretty well, allowing Josh Allen to only throw for 186 passing yards. One final injury update to monitor is Chiefs All-Pro G Joe Thuney who suffered a pectoral strain and it is questionable if he’ll be able to play through the pain on Sunday.
Last Saturday, the Ravens beat the Texans 34-10. The game was not nearly as lop-sided at halftime, as the score was tied at 10. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson became the 1st QB in NFL history to have 3 playoff games of 100 or more rushing yards. Jackson’s 11 carries for 100 rushing yards and 2 scores were ultimately the deciding factor in the Ravens’ victory. While LJ8 is always to threat to run in the regular season, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Baltimore was saving his legs a bit for the postseason, as Jackson only rushed for 100 yards on one occasion this past regular season. In the passing game, Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a TD. The TE from Coastal Carolina has now caught at least 1 TD in 5 of his last 6 games played. The Ravens are hopeful that this Sunday they will get back another important piece to their offense in TE Mark Andrews.
Baltimore’s defense held rookie star CJ Stroud to only 175 passing yards last week. In comparison to his regular season, that was the 3rd lowest amount of passing yards he’s had this season and 1 of those games was against the Jets in the pissing rain. The Ravens’ defense made Stroud’s life very difficult as he was only able to connect with his top target Nico Collins on half his targets for 68 yards. As LB Patrick Queen put it, “We play a brand of football that people don’t want to play.” Queen, his linebacker sidekick Smith, and his dynamic duo of safeties in Kayle Hamilton & Geno Stone will be responsible for trying to limit the number of times Taylor Swift and Jason Kelce get to celebrate a Travis Kelce TD. The Ravens with Lamar Jackson have played Patrick Mahomes 4 times during the regular season. In those meetings, the Chiefs won 3 of 4, but Baltimore won the last time they met in Week 2 of ‘21. In each of those matchups, Mahomes threw for no less than 343 passing yards. That said, this season in Baltimore has been a bit different, as the Ravens have only allowed 300+ passing yards in a game once all season. The Baltimore Ravens should be the pick here, but I’ll take the Chiefs because of experience.
Prediction: 22-21 KC (+3 KC & Under 44.5)
The Detroit Lions have made it to the NFC Championship for the first time since 1992. That 1991-92 run led by Barry Sanders was the team’s only playoff win in modern-day Super Bowl Era NFL history dating back to 1966. Before the Super Bowl, the Lions were a fairly solid franchise in the NFL, having won the NFL Championship in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957. Since the Super Bowl started, the Lions have come in last place 16 times in their division and have suffered 34 seasons of losing records while also becoming the 1st team in NFL history to go 0-16 in a season back in ‘08.
Things are different now in Detroit as head coach Dan Campbell has his players roaring on all cylinders. QB Jared Goff is doing his best to shake off the fact that Ryan Gosling was an absolute liability on the gridiron in Remember the Titans. Goff has played clean football thus far in the playoffs, completing passes at a 74.3% clip for an average of 282 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, and most importantly no INTs in his first 2 playoff games as a Lion. His connection with WR Amon-Ra St. Brown made up the difference between the Lions and Bucs last week. St. Brown has been the definition of consistency this season, having gained 70+ receiving yards in 15 of the 18 games he’s played this year. He’s served as Goff’s primary possession WR. Another one of Goff’s security blankets this year has been rookie TE Sam LaPorta as his 9 catches last week led the team. In a bit of a surprising move, the Lions have also just signed TE Zack Ertz and plan to elevate him to their active roster on Sunday. Detroit also has the RB duo of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, with either one of them having the ability to take over games. In the Wild Card Round, it was Montgomery who Detroit went to close out the game. Last week, it was Gibbs who broke off a massive 31-yard rushing TD. Aside from their skill position players, the Lions have true grit on the offensive line as their All-Pro C Frank Ragnow suffered both a sprained knee & sprained ankle last week, only missed a few plays, and is expected to be ready for the NFC Championship.
Against the Bucs last week, Detroit got some great safety play out of Ifeatu Melifonwu and rookie Brian Branch. These two were all over the field, combining for 18 tackles, 2.5 sacks, plus 3 QB hits. They weren’t the only ones making life difficult for Baker Mayfield as Michigan Man, Aidan Hutchinson, picked up yet another sack as well. Hutchinson now 8 sacks in his last 4 games played. Lastly, man could LB Derrick Barnes pick a better time to get his first pick of his career? Barnes ended up clinching the game for the Lions when he intercepted Baker Mayfield on TB’s final drive with 1:33 left to play in the 4th Quarter. The Lions gave up the 2nd least amount of rushing yards defensively this season. It will be vital for them to contain the 49ers’ RB Christian McCaffrey. While this defense may not truly be elite, they have held their opponents to 24 or fewer points in 13 of 19 games played, including not allowing more than 24 points in a game in their 6 games.
Last weekend the San Francisco 49ers won an ugly rainy game over the Packers to advance to the NFC Championship for the 4th time in 5 years. Head coach Kyle Shanahan joined 49ers coach George Seifert as the only other coach to accomplish such feat, Seifert did so from 1989 to 1994. The biggest difference between Seifert and Shanahan is that the former had won 2 Super Bowls, one with Joe Montana and the other with Steve Young. Those San Francisco teams had the likes of Roger Craig and Ricky Watters at RB, this one features a pretty good one as well in McCaffrey. The Stanford alum scored twice in the 2nd half against Green Bay, including the game-winner with 1:07 left to play. He had 98 yards on the ground combined with a team-high 7 catches as the game plan was once again to feed him. The Niners dealt with the blow of losing WR Deebo Samuel with a Head & Shoulder injury (I promise not to do an ad for Head & Shoulders, I use Irish Spring anyway). Samuel is expected to play on Sunday but his status is a bigger deal than you may think, since he joined the 49ers they are 53-23 when he plays and 8-9 without him. With Deebo likely out of practice, this may be a game where San Francisco game plans for Swiss army knife FB Kyle Juszczyk to get the ball on a play or two. Juszczyk, whose lovely wife gifted Taylor Swift her jersey jacket, hasn’t touched the ball since New Year’s Eve ‘23 but may have a play or two game-planned in with Samuel not practicing.
For the 49ers, their linebacking core came up huge against the Packers. LB Dre Greenlaw, who missed some practice time before playing the Packers with an Achilles issue, didn’t have anything holding him back when he picked off Jordan Love twice last Sunday. After Greenlaw made the game-clinching interception on Green Bay’s final drive, the NFL’s behind-the-scenes caught DT Javon Hargrave asking Greenlaw “WTF was you doing?” for not just going down and trying to return the pick for a TD. Greenlaw “I don’t even know” and later after the game told reporters that his fellow LB Fred Warner was tempting him to get a Pick-6. Pretty funny. While the 49ers may not have recorded any sacks last week, Nick Bosa left his mark on Jordan Love, hitting the QB on 5 occasions. Both of these teams have great offensive lines that only allowed their QBs to be sacked 31 (Lions) and 34 (49ers) times. This game may come down to whether Bosa or Hutchinson wrecks the other team’s game plan. I’m rooting for the underdog, go Lions.
Prediction: 24-23 DET (+7 DET & Under 51)
Today’s tune has gotta be Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons. It makes sense, I’m taking the underdog Little Lion Man Detroit Lions. The funny thing is, both last week’s The Real Slim Shady and today’s tune were picked out on New Year’s Day. It's very convenient for the Lions to make a playoff run.
This tune came out in ‘09 and was nominated for “Best Rock Song” at the Grammys. I don’t know what the hell we were listening to because it peaked at #45 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #19 in Ireland, and #24 in the UK. At least the Aussies loved it - made it to #3 in the land down under.
Marcus Mumford, the writer of the song, said “It’s a very personal story, so I won’t elaborate upon too much. Suffice to say, it was a situation in my life I wasn’t very happy with or proud of… and sometimes when you can’t describe a feeling with your own words, it’s almost easier to express in a song. And then, when you get asked about the songs, it’s quite difficult to explain. It’s a conundrum — you don’t want to seem self-indulgent explaining yourself; it’s always awkward. Which is weird again, because it’s never awkward actually singing them. I suppose the song should stand on its own and people draw their own interpretation from the words.” (ABC Net)
Alright, I’ll try my best… I think this starts with a guy addressing his former younger self, but you could also view it simply as an older man with more wisdom telling off a younger fella as well.
For most men, when we’re younger, we’re much more cocky or arrogant. Throughout history, the king of the jungle has represented nobility, royalty, strength, and valor. The narrator of the song is telling the little lion man (younger self) to regret his former actions, where weeping comes in.
Rake in this situation doesn’t mean the tool you get from the shed but the concept of racking or gathering… so get yourself together and analyze your actions. Whatever confidence you have left, use it in a different form than the cockiness or arrogance of before.
Take that confidence have left and put it into fixing the problems you have created for yourself. I think he’s saying to admit that your problems are your own doing and/or they are all in your own head.
Marcus Mumford also said, “I guess the sound of it grabs you a little bit by the balls — it’s quite an aggressive song, a bit more of a punch in the face. Or at least, for our stuff, anyway — a lot of our stuff isn’t quite as hard-hitting as that. It felt like the right song to be the single because it represented the harder, darker side of what we do, and at the same time, the more folksy and punchy side.”
That’s one way to put it, this song is a punch to the balls…the fellas will relate! The chorus is about admitting to the person or people (dear) you hurt that it was your fault and not theirs.
Verse 2 to me sounds like the little lion man grew up a bit, but is still making the same mistakes and hasn’t learned from his Verse 1 days. Instead of “weep” in Verse 1, Verse 2 uses “tremble.” I think the change here signifies that he should no longer just regret his actions from previous, but that he should be frightened that he hadn’t learned from them yet.
Sometimes in life settling scores isn’t worth it. Sorta like you’re better off being the bigger man and getting over it. I’ll be honest, the only scores I’m trying to settle at this point are my NFL regular season picks from my Rookie Season and Sophomore Slump….
…wish me luck in Year 3…
Your grace is wasted in your face… what a lyric! Wasting your grace on your face to me means that all his redeeming qualities are being wasted on false perceptions for others, while he lacks true character from within. Everything is a mess, all the little lion man has left is his boldness.
Lion cubs get carried by their mothers by the neck. If you don’t grow up, you’ll always act like a boy.