This will be a good one.
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I want to thank my local Mexican restaurant’s $10 burrito (with guacamole!) for greatly enhancing my football-watching experience.
In today’s SI:AM:
???? The Chiefs lean on their defense
???? The Lions’ gamble
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Anyone hoping to see some fresh blood in the Super Bowl was sorely disappointed yesterday as the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers prevailed to set up a rematch of Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas. The Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions put up valiant fights, but in the end it was the Chiefs and Niners—who boast a combined 10 conference title game appearances in the past six seasons.
The Baltimore-K.C. game was a low-scoring affair, finishing 17–10. That may have come as a surprise to some, given the quality of each offense and the reputation of the two quarterbacks. But I have to admit I felt proud of myself watching the game unfold how I said it would in Friday’s newsletter, with both pass rushes making things difficult for Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.
The Chiefs sacked Jackson four times and knocked him to the ground an additional three times. Mahomes, who had not been sacked in either of the Chiefs’ first two playoff games, was sacked twice and hit five more times. Both QBs were frequently forced to abandon the pocket and scramble.
Overall, Mahomes dealt with the pressure better than Jackson, completing 76.9% of his passes, compared to 54.1% for Jackson. But Jackson also did not get any help from offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s play calling. The Ravens barely ran the ball all day, logging just 16 rushing attempts, eight of which were by Jackson, mostly on scrambles. Running back Gus Edwards, who averaged 11.6 attempts per game in the regular season, got just three carries. The Chiefs’ offense was much more balanced (41 pass plays, 32 run plays) and as a result, Kansas City dominated the time of possession (37:30 to 22:30).
The Ravens managed to keep things close, though, and the result might have been different if not for a handful of brutal mistakes. First there was rookie receiver Zay Flowers’s boneheaded taunting penalty late in the third quarter after a 54-yard gain. Four plays later, Flowers fumbled as he attempted to dive into the end zone. Baltimore never got into the red zone again. The most confounding error was Jackson forcing a throw into triple coverage in the end zone with about seven minutes left to play. The pass was picked off, denying the Ravens an opportunity to score critical points.
It was a tough way for the Ravens to lose the game, but it was nothing compared to what the Lions endured. Detroit dominated the first half, taking a 24–7 lead into the locker room, but the Niners turned the tide in the second half as the Lions wilted. San Francisco scored on all five of its second-half possessions (excluding the final drive to run out the clock), while the Lions failed to score on their first four possessions of the half. That translates to an astonishing 27 unanswered points for the Niners.
It was a stunning collapse for the Lions, and while the main reason certainly was the Niners putting their foot on the gas and showing why they were the NFC’s No. 1 seed, Detroit’s collapse did feel somewhat self-inflicted.
Twice in the second half the Lions had opportunities to pad their lead by kicking a field goal, and twice they passed up the chance for some points. The first was on fourth-and-2 from the Niners’ 28 in the middle of the third quarter. Coach Dan Campbell, who has been aggressive on fourth down all year, decided to go for it, but Josh Reynolds dropped a pass. (Reynolds dropped another pass on a third-and-long later in the quarter.) Campbell’s second fourth-down attempt was riskier. It came on a fourth-and-3 from the Niners’ 30 immediately after San Francisco had taken the lead on a Jake Moody field goal. Rather than attempt a field goal to tie the game, the Lions went for it and again failed to convert.
Campbell’s aggressiveness on fourth down is a big reason why the Lions won as many games as they did, and you have to respect him for refusing to change the way he approaches the game when the lights were the brightest. But maybe next time stop the bleeding and attempt a game-tying field goal.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Nelly Korda’s clutch shot to set up an easy birdie putt and force a playoff at the LPGA Drive On Championship. She went on to win the playoff.
4. Patrick Mahomes’s scrambling and Travis Kelce’s diving catch to pick up a first down.
3. L’Jarius Sneed’s punch to knock the ball out of Zay Flowers’s hands on the goal line.
2. Lamar Jackson’s catch on his own pass after it was deflected at the line.
1. Brandon Aiyuk’s catch after the ball bounced off the face of a Lions defender. To me, that’s where the game really turned in favor of the Niners. The catch set up a San Francisco touchdown, and then it got the ball right back after Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled on the first play of the ensuing Detroit possession.
Who is the youngest person to win a professional golf tour event? (Today is the anniversary of their victory.)
Friday’s SIQ: On Jan. 26, 1960, a high school basketball player in West Virginia scored 135 points in a game, setting a record that still stands today. What was the player’s oddly appropriate name?
Answer: Danny Heater. And, boy, was he on a heater that night. Heater went 53-for-70 from the floor and 29-for-41 from the free throw line in the 32-minute game. He also collected 32 rebounds. It remains the highest-scoring game in high school history, although the 138 points scored by Grinnell College’s Jack Taylor in 2012 is the new American record for points in an organized game.
Heater’s coach was hoping a big game would help Heater land a college scholarship, so he instructed his players to keep getting the ball in his hands. Heater didn’t get a basketball scholarship, though. A former Virginia state senator, Jack Stalnaker, arranged a grant to pay for Heater to attend the University of Richmond, but he spent only six weeks at the school before he got homesick and returned to West Virginia.
Heater’s big game was major news at the time. It earned him a spot in the “Faces in the Crowd” feature in the Feb. 8, 1960, issue of Sports Illustrated. SI also named him the No. 50 greatest sports figure from West Virginia in ’99. But Heater wasn’t entirely comfortable with how he’d torched his opponents in the 173–43 game.
“As I get older, I have accepted it,” he told West Virginia MetroNews in 2021. “I never wanted to embarrass anybody and I am afraid I did that night. But it is 61 years ago now so I think I am allowed to enjoy it a little bit.”
