Haaland rewriting history and the 2023 NFL Divisional round recap
The Monday morning edition of "Five things to know before 5 AM" is here!
What a weekend. One filled with controversy in the WNBA, a forward taking the Premier League to new heights, and where the top-two seeds won their games in the NFL, while the same cannot be said for the men’s and women’s draw in the Australian Open nor in men’s college basketball.
Without further adieu, let’s get started.
1) Haaland’s hat trick and history
Before I discuss all things football, I must talk about the greatest futbol sensation that’s sweeping the globe. His name? Erling Haaland.
The 22-year old Norwegian’s name was not mentioned in last month’s World Cup, because Norway failed to qualify for the 32-team tournament. However, Haaland has taken the Premier League (PL) by storm, scoring more goals now (25) through 20 games than the last four top PL goal-scoring leaders the last four years in a full 38-match season.
(The above Tweet was posted after Haaland’s second goal on Sunday, not accounting for the third one that happened ten minutes of game time later)
Yesterday morning, Haaland continued his remarkable scoring onslaught, netting his fourth hat trick of the season, this, in his first season with Manchester City. All three of Haaland’s goals were scored within a 13-minute flurry, between the 40’ and the 53’ of action against the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC:
Haaland is on an insane goal-scoring streak, and his Manchester City squad has already become must-watch TV. Manchester City plays against Harry Kane and the Tottenham Hotspurs on Sunday, February 5, at 11:30 AM ET.
I hope to also see Haaland and Norway qualify for the much-larger 48-team World Cup in 2026.
2) NFL Divisional Round Recap
I actually had a write-up previewing all four of these NFL quarterfinal games… but on Friday I had a Covid booster shot that left me feeling fatigued and cold that late evening. You can read my preview for only the Saturday games here.
But alas, here I am ready to give my recap of the four NFL Divisional games
Kansas City Chiefs 27, Jacksonville Jaguars 20: The first divisional game on the docket was looking to be a rout in the first quarter, as Patrick Mahomes and company were having their way (noo, not that Burger King jingle!) offensively.
Then… the injury happened:
Mahomes was never the same dynamic athlete when he returned to play the entire second half. Color commentator Chris Collinsworth jokingly said that Mahomes was now ‘human’ (no longer ‘super human’) following the first quarter right high-ankle sprain.
However, the Chiefs were able to avoid further harm by putting in 37-year old backup Chad Henne (who entered the league in 2008 with the Miami Dolphins) for the entirety of the second quarter. Henne led the Chiefs on a 12-play, 98-yard drive that was capped with a one yard Travis Kelce touchdown. The Jaguars’ defense was caught off-guard with Henne, as they did not game-plan against the 15-year veteran.
If Henne was the unheralded Chiefs’ star, then Kelce was the undisputed MVP. I said in my preview: “Will Mahomes rely on ole' dependable, 33 year-old tight end Travis Kelce, the best tight end in the NFL?” Well, I was partially right on that front, as Kelce had a career-best 14 catches and 17 targets for 98 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs in the win.
For the Jaguars, the miracle season has come to an expected end. Few expected a last-place team the past two seasons (1-15 in 2020 and 3-14 in 2021) to surpass expectations and reach the Divisional Round this year.
Philadelphia Eagles 38, New York Giants 7: Well, I did not see this game to be as lopsided as it was on Saturday night. This NFC East re-rematch (the third game between these two teams this season) was over by the first quarter, as the Eagles opened-up to a 14-0 lead and led in this wire-to-wire affair.
Like the Jags, the Giants also went beyond what most prognosticators thought would happen with another first-year head coach, but with a less-heralded cast. Quick. Name me five Giants’ players not named Saquon Barkley nor Daniel Jones.
Joking aside, the Eagles are a more-talented team at every position (minus running back), and it showed on Saturday night. Not much more has to be said, as garbage time started from halftime-onwards in this blowout victory at Lincoln Financial Field.
Cincinnati Bengals 27, Buffalo Bills 10: With all the Bills had to deal with this season - the myriad of injuries, along with what happened to DaMar Hamlin three weeks ago - and the advantageous situation yesterday afternoon: a snow game with Hamlin making his first public appearance at Highmark Stadium, everything was pointing in Buffalo’s direction.
However, the visiting Bengals had other plans. They quickly stormed to a 14-0 lead, and much like the Eagles on Saturday night, did not look back. However, I would not give the MVP to quarterback Joe Burrow, nor star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Instead, I would hand-out five MVP awards to each member of the Bengals’ offensive line. Coming into Sunday, one would think the Bills’ defensive line - with guys like Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, Shaq Lawson, Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle and A.J. Epenesa - would dominate against a Bengals’ offensive line playing without three of their starters during the regular season. The opposite happened, as the Bills’ run defense was gashed for 172 yards on the ground. The Bengals continued to feed running backs Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine, and averaged a very healthy 5.1 yards per rush attempt. What was a reasonable 17-7 halftime Bengals lead turned into a 27-10 dominating rout due to the physicality the Bengals’ offensive line put on the hapless Bills’ defense. So, MVPs go to left tackle Jackson Carman, left guard Cordell Volson, center Ted Karras, right guard Max Scharping and right tackle Hakeem Adeniji.
Even I, as a devout NFL fan, only knew one of those players (Karras), who played for several years under Bill Belichick in New England.
San Francisco 49ers 19, Dallas Cowboys 12: Out of all the divisional games that were all wire-to-wire wins, this Sunday late afternoon/early evening game was the one to watch.
The 49ers led 9-6 in what was a defensive masterpiece by both teams. However, the team that won (49ers) was the team that committed the fewest gaffes (one Ray Ray McCloud fumbled punt return).
The Cowboys were unable to persevere through quarterback Dak Prescott’s ineptitude, as he threw two interceptions and had two killer game-deciding drives in the fourth quarter.
Not all of the faults fall on Dak’s shoulders, as some has to reside on the clock management awareness (or lack thereof!) on the Cowboys’ coaching staff for the second consecutive postseason.
Give a lot of credit, however, for the 49ers, who had a rookie quarterback at the helm (Brock Purdy) for the seventh straight game, and he played flawlessly with nary a turnover. Also, the 49ers defense stifled the Cowboys offense to only six second half points.
Now, the stage is set for the NFC and AFC championship games, as the Bengals meet the Chiefs yet again at Arrowhead (rematch of last year’s AFC championship), and the two best teams in the NFC square-off in the 49ers and Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
3) It’s not safe being a #1 nor a #2 seed in the Australian Open
Unlike the NFL, in which the top four teams will now play in the semifinals next Sunday, the top two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draw have since been ousted at the Australian Open.
I talked about Rafael Nadal getting swept in straight sets last Thursday. Norwegian Casper Rudd, the men’s second seed, also lost in the second round, to American Jenson Brooksby, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6.
The women’s number one, Iga Świątek, who dominated the courts, winning the French and US Open grand slam tournaments last year, was eliminated by 22nd-ranked Kazakh Elena Rybakina surprisingly in straight sets, 4-6, 4-6.
Second-seeded Turkish lady Ons Jabeur, much like Nadal and Rudd, lost in the second round as well. Jabeur fought back from a 1-6 opening set deficit to win a contested second set 7-5, but could not muster enough in the third and deciding set, 1-6.
So, where do we stand right now? As of midnight Monday morning, four of the men’s quarterfinalists are set: (18) Karen Khachanov (who beat Maryland’s own Francis Tiafoe two rounds earlier) against American (29) Sebastian Korda. The other is Greek (3) Stefanos Tsisipas against Czech unranked Jiri Lehecka (who upset Canadian (6) Felix Auger-Aliassime in four sets in the previous round).
The final eight for the women’s side in the quarterfinals is as follows:
(17) Jelena Ostapenko versus (22) Elena Rybakina
(3) Jessica Pegula versus (24) Victoria Azarenka
(30) Karolina Pliskova versus unranked Magda Linette
(5) Aryna Sabalenka versus unranked Donna Vekic
Linnette defeated heavily-favored (4) Caroline Garcia in the fourth round, and Vekic knocked-out (18) Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets in the second round.
If I were to make a prediction right now as to who will be in the Australian Open championships (both men’s and women’s draws), knowing next to nothing other than looking at the draws to-date:
Men’s: (18) Karen Khachanov versus (4) Novak Djokovic (Djokovic wins)
Women’s: (24) Victoria Azarenka versus (5) Aryna Sabalenka (Sabalenka wins)
4) Nor is it safe being a top-2 seed in men’s Division I college basketball
Remember how I said that the top two seeds lost in the Australian Open? Well, the same is true for men’s college basketball, as both the number one Houston Cougars (18-2) and the number two Kansas Jayhawks (16-3) both lost this weekend.
Not only did both teams lose, but it was how they lost that could inevitably send both the Jayhawks and the Cougars tumbling out of the top-three when the weekly official Associated Press Top 25 Poll is released at noon, EST.
The Kansas Jayhawks were facing against a 14th-seeded Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs squad at home in Allen Fieldhouse. However, the visiting Horned Frogs made themselves comfortable in Kansas, as TCU opened to a 35-15 first half lead and never looked back in a dominating 83-60 win.
Now… with the Cougars… they were favored by around 18 points in this expected rout of the Temple Owls (12-9, 6-2). However, the Owls had other plans, holding-off the top-seeded Cougars by one, 56-55. This, after a furious finish that involved one last Cougars inbounds play that would have given the team its 19th win of the season:
5) A WNBA trade involving an accusation and the WNBA’s player’s association
On Saturday, the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces swapped reserve forwards and draft picks, in what seemed to be just your ordinary deal:
However, the Aces’ front office has come under fire soon after former sixth lady of the year recipient Dearica Hamby heard she was going to L.A., as she voiced her displeasure on Twitter (and a since-deleted post on Instagram) on Saturday:
Hamby was a beloved player for the Aces, and the team traded her away to create cap room and a roster spot, since she will most-probably miss the 2023 WNBA season due to her pregnancy.
The Aces have been at least to the WNBA semifinals each of the past four seasons (and are the current WNBA champions), so the trade made sense - get a player who can support the team now versus another that takes up a roster spot but is unable to play.
However, the way Hamby was treated by the Aces’ organization, according to Hamby’s social media entries, was unethical:
“Being traded is part of the business. Being lied to, bullied, manipulated, and discriminated against is not… I was accused of signing my [contract] extension knowingly pregnant. This is false. I was told that I was ‘a question mark’ and that it was said that I said I would ‘get pregnant again’ and there was a concern for my level of commitment to the team.”
Hamby signed her two-year extension with the Aces back in June 2022, and said she was pregnant with her second child during the team’s championship parade in September.
The WNBPA - the WNBA’s player’s association - released a statement Saturday early evening following Hamby’s language on her social media. The WNBPA is looking into these allegations by Hamby:
“A member of our Union has raised serious concerns regarding the conduct of members of Las Vegas Aces’ management. We will review this matter and we will seek a comprehensive investigation to ensure that her rights under the collectively bargained provisions of the 2020 CBA, as well as her rights and protections under state and federal law, have not been violated.”
Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), any WNBA player will receive their full salary under maternity leave. As for the team, they will be allowed to sign a replacement player should one of their own players step aside for maternity leave.
The Aces have yet to put out their own statement, over 24 hours after this WNBPA statement Saturday.
We are done with another edition of my Snippets on this late-January Monday morning. Enjoy the start of the school and/or work week. So, until next time, signing off.