weekend wrap up LAST NIGHT'S GAME weekend wrap up LAST NIGHT'S GAME

The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up

See who was able to pass go and who did not collect their $200 in this weekend's divisional NFL playoffs. (Spoiler alert! All of the home teams won). The games weren't without a “coin-troversy” and there were enough onside kicks to make a statistics nerd squeal.

Heads or tails,

The LNG Team  

NFL (National Football League) 

Kansas City Chiefs 20 vs New England Patriots 27

  • Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (aka Mr. Gisele Bündchen) was lights out in this game. 
  • In a play that ended up being the turning point in the game, Patriots Chandler Jones stopped the Chiefs momentum by causing a fumble. (Remember Jones was the player who showed up disoriented at the police station after a bad reaction to synthetic marijuana).  
  • The Chiefs had poor time management toward the end of the game and while they rallied in the fourth quarter, they ran out of time to seal the deal.
  • At the end of the game, the Chiefs attempted an onside kick. The play didn’t go as planned as the Patriots recovered the ball.
  • Patriots will play Broncos in Denver on Sunday at 3:05 pm (EST) on CBS.

Green Bay Packers 20 vs Arizona Cardinals 26

  • The Packers played better than expected but the game came down to the last seconds.
  • Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, threw a 41-yard pass with no time left to Jeff Janis in the end zone which sent the game into overtime.
  • The Cardinals won the coin toss and scored a touchdown on the first drive in overtime to win the game. (See the coin toss controversy below). 
  • Cardinals’ franchise player and all-around good guy, Larry Fitzgerald, scored the winning touchdown. In the postgame interview he gave a sweet shout out to longtime NFL insider Chris Mortensen of ESPN, who is battling throat cancer. 
  • Cardinals will play Panthers in Charlotte on Sunday at 6:40 pm (EST) on FOX.  

Seattle Seahawks 24 vs Carolina Panthers 31

  • The Seahawks must have been Sleepless in Seattle as the Panthers scored 31 unanswered points in the first half of the game. 
  • It must have been one heck of a halftime pep talk because Seahawks came out and scored 24 unanswered point in the second half.
  • Those 24 points were still not enough and the Panthers took home the win.
  • This game also came down to an onside kick. Seattle kicked a field goal and was down by seven points with 1:12 left in the game. They tried an onside kick in hopes they could recover it and then have the opportunity to score a touchdown. It didn’t go the way they planned and the Panthers recovered the kick. Game over.
  • Panthers will play Cardinals in Charlotte on Sunday at 6:40 pm (EST) on FOX.

Pittsburgh Steelers 16 vs Denver Broncos 23

  • Defense was the name of the game. There were only two touchdowns in the game - one in the first quarter for the Steelers and the Broncos’ game winner in the fourth quarter.
  • Steelers had the momentum throughout the game until the fourth quarter when Fitzgerald Toussaint fumbled and Broncos recovered. The Broncos offense then scored the aforementioned touchdown for the lead and the eventual win.
  • The Steelers joined the club and also tried an onside kick to salvage the game with little time left. After scoring a field goal, Steelers attempted an onside kick which failed - the Broncos recovered. (If you haven’t learned anything yet, onside kicks aren’t often successful).
  • In a clutch move, Broncos gave Demaryius Thomas the game ball to give to his mom who was attending her first ever game. Thomas’ mom had been incarcerated since he was 11 and had never seen him play a game in person. She is now out of prison and was able to attend on Sunday. She picked a great game as Thomas' team pulled out the win and he set a Broncos record for most postseason catches with 50.
  • Broncos will play Patriots in Denver on Sunday at 3:05 pm (EST) on CBS.

Tennis

  • Land down under. The Australian Open began on Sunday in Melbourne. This tournament is one of the four Grand Slam Tournaments, the most important individual competitions in tennis. The three other Grand Slam Tournaments are the Roland Garros (French Open), Wimbledon and US Open. Last year’s winners, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, are favored to win this year as well. You can find the match schedule here. 

Overtime

  • Before we go into the coin toss controversy, here’s a little background.  In overtime, the first possession is determined by a coin flip. If your team wins the coin flip you can either opt to receive the ball or kick the ball to the opposing team.  

In this instance, Packers called tails. The ref flipped the coin but it didn’t rotate in the air and landed on heads. He then made the executive decision to retoss the coin but didn’t give the Packers a chance to change their call. The coin landed again on heads (it flipped this time), therefore the Cardinals won the toss and opted to receive the ball. They went on to score a touchdown for the overtime win. (FYI- there’s no NFL rule that says the coin actually has to flip in a coin toss). 

Sideline stat

Coaches’ Corner

  • What is an onside kick? The team who kicks an onside kick is typically losing the game and does so in hopes that they can recover the kick, regain possession and quickly score again. It’s a long and complicated story, but the two things that you need to know are that the kicking team cannot touch or recover the ball until it goes 10 yards. If they do or if it goes out of bounds, the opposing team gets the ball at that spot. The risk with this play is that if it doesn’t work out, the opposing team will be much closer to their end zone (i.e. scoring) than they would be with a kickoff. Therefore, an onside kick typically happens late in the game when it’s your only option and you need to score again.

Yes, it’s complicated to explain. Watch this video as it should help.

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weekend wrap up LAST NIGHT'S GAME weekend wrap up LAST NIGHT'S GAME

The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up

While some we’re braving the -3° temps in Minnesota, we braved the sweltering heat of our fireplace to bring you with today's updates. We breakdown the NFL playoff games as well as preview tonight’s big game, the College Football National Championship Game.

Don’t fight the inevitable like Sepp Blatter and seize the day.

We’d prefer to stay in bed,

The LNG Team

NCAA Football (College)  

  • Tonight’s the night! It's the National Championship Game in Glendale, AZ where the Crimson Tide of Alabama will take on the Tigers of the University of Clemson. You can catch the game at 8:30 pm (EST) on ESPN
    • Crimson Tide beat Michigan State and are the SEC (Southeastern Conference) Champions.
    • Tigers beat Oklahoma University to become the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) Champions.
    • Key players
      • Alabama Running Back Derrick Henry who won the Heisman Trophy this season.
      • Clemson Quarterback Deshaun Watson who finished third in the Heisman voting.
    • Alabama is looking for the fourth National Championship in seven years.  Head Coach Nick Saban has four national titles under his belt.  
  • Z winners. North Dakota State Bison (pronounced bizon) won its fourth straight National Championship beating Jacksonville State 37-10. These teams play in the FCS division, which is one level lower then division one college football like Alabama or Clemson.  Quarterback Carson Wentz may have played himself into the top quarterback position in the NFL Draft.

NFL (National Football League)

  • Your playoff breakdown awaits

Kansas City Chiefs 30 vs Houston Texans 0

  • Chiefs continued their 11-game winning streak.
  • Chiefs Knile Davis set the tone for this thrashing by taking the opening kickoff back for a 106-yard touchdown.
  • Chiefs defense forced Texans Quarterback into five turnovers (four interceptions, one fumble).
  • Stand out Texans Defensive Lineman, JJ Watt, left in the third quarter with groin injury and did not return.
  • Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots play on Saturday at 4:35 pm (EST) on CBS.

 Pittsburgh Steelers 18 vs Cincinnati Bengals 16

  • Steelers lead 15-0 heading into final (fourth) quarter.
  • Cincinnati scored 16 unanswered points in fourth quarter and that’s when things went crumpled for Cincinnati.
  • Here’s how things went down from there. Cincinnati had the ball with under two minutes left and simply needed to run out the clock to win. Then Bengals fumbled the ball and Steelers recovered.
  • Long story short, the Steelers Kicker Chris Boswell kicked a field goal with 14 seconds left in the game to give the Steelers the lead and eventually the win.
  • Pittsburgh Steelers play Denver Broncos on Sunday at 4:40 pm (EST) on CBS.

Seattle Seahawks 10 vs Minnesota Vikings 9

  • Dedicated fans braved the weather and watched the third coldest game in NFL history (-6° F).
  • Vikings lead 9-0 heading into the fourth quarter.
  • Minnesota Kicker Blair Walsh was responsible for all of the points the Vikings scored through the third quarter.
  • Vikings had a chance to take the lead with 22 seconds left on a seemingly automatic field goal. In a ‘laces out’ debate that would make Ray Finkle cringe, Walsh missed the easiest field goal of the year to give Seattle the win. Walsh led NFL kickers with 34 made field goals on the year. 
  • According to ESPN, the Seahawks 10 points were the fewest by a winning playoff team since 1997.
  • Seattle Seahawks will play Carolina Panthers on Sunday at 1:05 pm (EST) on FOX.

Green Bay Packers 35 vs Washington Redskins 18

  • To say Packers weren't playing well going into game is understatement.
  • Washington had the early momentum when they tackled Green Bay Quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, in the end zone for a safety in the first quarter.
  • Redskins then hit a field goal and then scored a touchdown where the kicker, Dustin Hopkins, missed extra point to make it 11-0.
  • The momentum swung in favor of the Packers who led 17-11 going into halftime.
  • The Redskins came out of halftime strong by scoring in the third quarter but the Packers then scored 18 unanswered points to win 35-18.
  • Green Bay Packers will play Arizona Cardinals on Saturday at 8:15 pm (EST) on NBC.
  • Young and hungry. Miami Dolphins hire Chicago Bears Offensive Coordinator, Adam Gase, as their new Head Coach. At 37 years old Gase takes the title of youngest NFL Head Coach.

NCAA Basketball (College)  

  • What are the odds? University of Nevada-Las Vegas fires Head Coach Dave Rice after five seasons. Assistant Coach Todd Simon will take over on interim basis. It's rumored that former Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown will eventually fill position.
  • For the buzzer. In possibly game of the season thus far, University of Southern California beat University of Arizona 103-101 in four overtimes.

MLB (Major League Baseball)

  • In the rafters. Seattle Mariners announced they will retire the second number in team history- #24. The number belonged to newly selected Hall of Famer and former Mariner Ken Griffey, Jr. (All MLB teams have retired #42 which is the number of Jackie Robinson who was the first African American to play in the modern era of the Major Leagues.) 

FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association or french for INternational association football federation)

  • Naughty naughty. Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, will appeal his eight-year ban from the sport. His ban stems from a long list of corruption charges for bribery. 

Overtime

  • Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney was a walk-on wide receiver for Alabama where he won the National Championship in 1992. Swinney roomed together with his mom for three years during college because that was all they could afford. It’s a touching story if you need a little break from work. 

 Sideline Stat

  • In NHL (National Hockey League) news, Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin became first Russian born player to score 500 career goals. 

Coaches’ Corner

  • If the field at a NFL stadium is only 100 yards long, how does a player have a 106-yard punt return for a touchdown? While the field only shows 100 yards, the field is actually 120 yards long (10 yards for each end zone.) Therefore, Knile Davis caught the kick six yards into the end zone and ran it all the way down the field for a 106-yard touchdown. 
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weekend wrap up LAST NIGHT'S GAME weekend wrap up LAST NIGHT'S GAME

The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up Edition

Happy New Year!

If you're like us and lacking motivation on this first day back to work in 2016, keep delaying the inevitable and brush up on all of the sports highlights from the holiday weekend. That's right we have the college bowl game updates and everything you're dying to know about the NFL playoffs. (We can read your mind.) 

We also know that one of your resolutions is to learn more about sports and that's where we can help. Here's to checking one of those New Year's resolutions off your list. After coffee of course. 

Where's the coffee creamer? 

The LNG Team

NFL (National football league)

  • Next victim. Today is Black Monday. If you remember Black Monday is the first day after the last regular season game of football when coaches typically get fired. So far we’ve had two casualties in the Browns’ Mike Pettine and 49ers’ Jim Tomsula. (Eagles' coach Chip Kelly was fired last week.) 
  • On their way. Carolina Panthers (NFC – National Football Conference) and Denver Broncos (AFC – Atlantic Football Conference) clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs as well as a first round bye. (Click here if you don’t remember what a bye is.)
  • I’ll take the #1 with cheese. Tennessee Titans clinch the first draft pick for 2016 draft.
  • Let’s go streaking. Kansas City Chiefs finish their season on 10 game winning streak to make playoffs.
  • He’s back. Peyton Manning returns in the second half of Broncos - Chargers for the first time since injuring his foot on November 15th. He then led Broncos on four scoring drives (two touchdowns and two field goals) on the way to clinching #1 seed in playoffs.
  • In case you're wondering. NFL playoffs begin on January 9th.
  • Score alert. For all the weekend’s NFL scores, click here. 

NCAA Football (College)

  • Don’t call it a comeback. Despite being without starting quarterback Trevone Boyin (who was suspended Thursday for his involvement in bar fight), TCU came back from 31-0 deficit against Oregon. TCU beat Oregon in the third overtime 47-41. This was the biggest comeback in bowl game history.
  • They’re grrreat! Clemson Tigers beat Oklahoma Sooners 37-17 in the first college football semifinal playoff game from the Orange Bowl in Miami.
  • Roll Tide. Alabama Crimson Tide beat Michigan State Spartans 38-0 in the second college football semifinal playoff game from the Cotton Bowl.
  • And now there are two. Clemson Tigers will face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Championship Game on Monday, January 11th at 8:30 pm (EST) from University of Phoenix in Glendale, AZ. You can catch the game on ESPN.
  • Score alert. Notable bowl game scores:
    • New Year’s Eve
      • Houston (#18) 38 vs Florida State (#9) 24
      • Clemson (#1) 37 vs Oklahoma (#4) 17
      • Alabama (#2) 38 vs Michigan State (#3) 0
    •  New Year’s Day
      • Stanford (#6) 45 vs Iowa (#5) 16
      • Notre Dame (#8) 28 vs Ohio State (#7) 44
      • Mississippi, aka OLE MISS (#12) 48 vs Oklahoma State (#16) 20
      • Northwestern (#13) 6 vs Tennessee (#23) 45
      • Michigan (#14) 41 vs Florida (#19) 7
    • January 2nd
      • Oregon (#15) 41 vs TCU (#11) 47
      • West Virginia 43 vs Arizona State 42

nba (National basketball association) 

  • Blank Space. San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan was held scoreless for first time in a regular season game in his 19-year career (1,360 games).
  • Cash money. A Lakers fan sinks a half court shot during halftime of Suns vs Lakers game on Sunday, winning $95,000.

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

  • Give him a left. Saturday night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Robbie Lawler (champion) beats Carlos Condit by a split decision in an action packed five round fight in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. With the victory, Lawler retained his title as Welterweight Champ. (Welterweight class in UFC is where a fighter is a minimum 156 lbs with a maximum weight of 170 lbs).

Overtime

  • The New York Attorney General has made an amendment to the lawsuit against daily fantasy sports companies FanDuel and DraftKings. This amendment calls for the companies to return all revenue earned from residents of the state of New York, which is estimated to be 600,000 people who spent approximately $200 million on entry fees. These daily fantasy companies were deemed illegal and forced to stop operating in the state of New York because they are considered gambling websites. They have already been deemed illegal in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada and Washington. 

Sideline Stat

  • Chicago Bulls’ guard Jimmy Butler scores 40 points in second half of the game vs Toronto Raptors to lead the Bulls to a 115-113 victory. The previous record for points in a half was set by Michael Jordan at 39 points.

Coach’s Corner

  • What is a split decision? This is when the judges have not have reached a unanimous decision on who won the fight. In the case of the UFC fight, the judges (there are three judges) were split on who they thought won. The majority ruled in favorite of Lawler. For more on UFC judging, click here. 

 

 

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