Some thoughts on the National Football League conference championship games and more on former Bonnie Jaylen Adams:
— It’s not exactly what the NFL was hoping for on the penultimate Sunday of its 100th season. Two blowouts in the AFC and NFC championships to decide this year’s Super Bowl participants are not the prescription for gaudy television ratings … and they weren’t.
Four second-half touchdowns boosted Kansas City from two early 10-point deficits to an 18-point margin that became a 35-24 victory over Tennessee and the AFC title.
Then, in the night game, San Francisco claimed the NFC crown, roaring to a 27-0 intermission lead over Green Bay, then coasting to a 37-20 decision.
By halftime, television viewers, other than Chiefs and 49ers fans, had quit on the games and the TV numbers for CBS and Fox reflected just that.
Twelve days from Super Bowl LIV (54 to those who are Roman Numeral challenged) at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Kansas City is a 1-point favorite.
And the hook to this matchup between the Chiefs and Niners is their drastically different approach to offense.
KC coach Andy Reid has ALWAYS been an advocate of the passing game. In the win over the Titans, quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw three three touchdown passes and ran for another. In that game, before KC rushed six times in running out the clock late in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs threw 35 passes — despite being ahead the entire second half — or on 63 percent of its snaps. That’s Reid’s offense.
Meanwhile, in Santa Clara, the 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo threw a mere eight times … EIGHT, completing six. Instead, he handed off 42 times for a staggering 285 rushing yards as tailback Raheem Mostert logged 29 carries for 220 yards — second-most ever in an NFL playoff game — and scored four touchdowns.
Garoppolo, the former backup to Tom Brady in New England, performed as the ultimate game manager and though the exaggerated ground game was decidedly old-school, the 49ers worked it to perfection.
It will be interesting to see whether it’s Kansas City or San Francisco which imposes its offensive will come the Super Bowl.
— Rochester’s John Palermo sent an email after my Saturday column which included a segment on former Bonnie Jaylen Adams, having a great first half of the season for the Milwaukee Bucks’ G-League team (20-5).
Palermo noted, “I’m able to watch the Wisconsin Herd games on my computer, and Adams has been great. While running the offense, he’s been shooting a lot more than he did in his brief stay in the NBA (with Atlanta), where it seemed like he was more interested in passing the ball than scoring. He would often pass up good shots.
“Even though he’s playing well, his future with the Bucks seems cloudy, since they are 37-6, with a complete cast of NBA proven characters. I believe that Adams’ best chance is being picked up by another team that needs a point guard who can score as well as distribute the ball. This is what happened to Rayjon Tucker, a Herd teammate, who was grabbed by the Utah Jazz.”
Palermo also passed on tips about two former Bonnies who transferred, Izaiah Brockington and Josh Ayeni.
Brockington starts for Penn State (13-5, 3-4 Big Ten), which briefly made it into the AP’s Top 25 until a three-game losing streak to Rutgers, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He’s played all 18 games and is averaging 10 points per, tied for third on the team. The 6-foot-4 sophomore guard is shooting 47 percent from the field while averaging 22 minutes, three rebounds and an assist.
Ayeni, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, is a reserve for South Alabama (12-8, 5-4 Sun Belt Conference) and is averaging two points and rebounds per game in eight contests.
(Chuck Pollock, a Bradford Publishing senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
