Who to Root For: NFL Championship weekend

   We are down to the final four teams in the NFL playoffs.  The Bengals face off against the Chiefs for one spot in the Super Bowl and the 49ers and Eagles play for the other spot.  

However, just because we are 95% done with the season doesn't mean won't get an Iowa Connection update!  Late breaking news, there were two more Iowa Connections discovered today on the Philadelphia Eagles.  Coaches D.K. McDonald and Tyler Scudder are both former Cyclone coaches and are now helping the Eagles.  This bumps up Philly from 2 to 4 connections, but will it be enough to get them to the Super Bowl?

D.K. McDonald





6 - Baltimore : Mike Devlin / Tyler Linderbaum / Geno Stone / Kristian Welch (Iowa), Charlie Kolar (ISU), John Harbaugh (Iowa City)

6 - Miami: Steve Ferentz (Iowa), Darrell Bevell / Tyron McKenzie (ISU), Elijah Campbell (UNI), Andrew Van Ginkel / ZaQuandrew White (Iowa Western)

6 - Buffalo : Ike Boettger / AJ Epenesa / Micah Hyde (Iowa),  AJ Klein, Leonard Johnson (ISU), Spencer Brown (UNI)

4 - San Francisco :   George Kittle (Iowa), Daniel Bullocks (UNI), Brock Purdy, Brian Schneider (ISU)

4 - Dallas : Joe Philbin / Bradon Smith / Chauncey Golston (Iowa), Aden Durde (NIACC)

4 - Jacksonville : Brandon Scherff / Mekhi Sargent /  Coy Cronk / C.J. Beathard (Iowa)

3 - Minnesota : Kene Nwangwu (ISU), Chris Reed (Cedar Rapids), T.J. Hockenson (Iowa)

3 - New York Giants : Casey Kreiter, Dane Belton (Iowa), Elerson Smith (UNI)

3 - Seattle :    Pete Carroll (ISU) , Noah Fant / Austin Blythe (Iowa)

3 - Tampa Bay :     Tristan Wirfs, Anthony Nelson, Tom Moore (Iowa)

3 - Los Angeles Chargers :    Nick Niemann, Tom Donatell (Iowa), Jay Rodgers (ISU)

4 - Philadelphia : Reid Sinnett (Des Moines), Matt Leo / D.K. McDonald / Tyler Scudder (ISU)

2 - Kansas City :  Brendan Daly (Drake), Ihmir Smith-Marsette (Iowa)

1 - Cincinnati :    Joe Burrow (Ames)


Round 1 Results: 5-1  


Only loss was the Cincy victory over Baltimore with a fluke fumble return.



(3) Seattle @ (4) San Francisco: 

(3) LA Chargers @ (4) Jacksonville: 

(6) Miami @ (6) Buffalo: 

(3) NY Giants @ (3) Minnesota: 

(6) Baltimore @ (1) Cincinnati: 

(4) Dallas @ (3) Tampa Bay:  



Divisional Round Results: 2-2

AFC messing with the algorithm...or....I just haven't found their Iowa Connections yet.





(1) Cincy over (6)Buffalo

(2) Kansas City over (4) Jacksonville

(4) San Francisco over (4) Dallas 

(4) Philly over (3) Giants

Championship

We root for KC this weekend, although Joe Burrow just might be worth multiple Iowa Connections at the rate he keeps breaking the algorithm.  Philly and SF both have 4 so we win either way, but I'll be pulling for Kittle and Purdy.




Kansas City vs Cincy 

Philly vs San Francisco

Super Bowl


No matter what, the NFC team will have the most Iowa Connections, but if Cincy makes it all bets are off.  Enjoy!






Comments

  1. FujiJanuary 28, 2023 at 8:10 PM

    Rooting for Cincy (for my buddy) and the against the 49ers.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 WNBA - Iowa Connections

Image
With the highly anticipated 2024 WNBA ready to start today, let's look at the Iowa Connections in the WNBA this season, including this Fever rookie named Caitlin.  Washington Mystics    Julie Vanloo - Signed letter of intent to play with Iowa State in 2011 but the Belgium was not granted international eligibility from the NCAA. This is her first season with the WNBA.   Dallas Wings   Stephanie Soares - The #4 pick in the 2023 draft out of Iowa State, Soares will be playing her first season in the WNBA after missing laster year with an ACL injury.   Las Vegas Aces   Kiah Stokes - From Cedar Rapids, Kiah will be in her 10th season in WNBA. She won 3 NCAA titles with UConn and the last 2 titles with Las Vegas.   Megan Gustafson - Megan was AP Player of the Year with Iowa in 2019 and has played previous season with Dallas, Washington and Phoenix. This offseason she was Finals MVP for the London Lions in the WBBL final.   Kate Martin - Kate is the 2nd round pick from Iowa who will
Read more

TCdb vs. Beckett - First Impressions

 So I post a couple of weeks ago that I was starting to play around with TCdb.  I've been a loyal Beckett user for years now, and have become more down on it lately.  For collectors like me, it seems that TCdb has gathered a pretty decent sized following and positive reviews.  But how will it work for this collection?  Here's what I found. TCdb Pros Cost You can't complain about the cost (free!).   Its like some of the other big services I use for my collecting, mainly wikipedia and [sport name]-reference.com in that they provide so much information but I just don't know how they do it well.   The Checklists The database is very comparable to Beckett.  Beckett does have some cards that TCdb doesn't have, and visa-versa.  Notable for this blog, Beckett does not list the 2017 Panini Iowa set, and TCdb doesn't have all the Iowa Hawkeye Football team sets from the late 80's, early 90's.   Rankings! After I enter in my card for a player, I can then see how I
Read more

NFL Playoffs: Iowa Connections and Wild Card Round Results

Image
   Wild Card Weekend Picks (5-1): Miami (7) over  Kansas City  (4)   Buffalo (6) over Pittsburgh (2) Houston  (4) over Cleveland (2) Detroit  (7) over LA Rams (6) Tampa (7) over Philly (4) Green Bay  (7) over Dallas (2) Five for six is pretty good, but how do we justify that Kansas City win over Miami?  I think we can point to two factors that boosted KC's Iowa score.  First, KC is Caitlin Clark's favorite team, and she was unable to see the game as she was routing Indiana at the same time (on Fox, where this game was on Peacock).  Second, KC imported some good old Iowa weather for the game, and we appreciate that as well.
Read more