Macca

Both D's playing very well ... turnovers, fumbles could decide this game. Atlanta's running game not there and the Rams need to use Gurley more.

Big moment there ... the ball was like a piece of soap. Falcons need to take advantage here

Victory formation for the Titans ... they'll go to the Pats next week unless the Bills win. KC imploded again.

Hope all is well there Wadda ... Pounamu has found it's true form and is worth following up on. I do like horses that swoop late ... 'Art Series' is another horse from the Ascot carnival to look out for down the track. Aside from the big Magic Millions meeting on the 13th Jan, there's not a lot happening with regards feature races until the Autumn carnival kicks off in February. However, there's 1 or 2 Stakes races most weekends to keep things interesting. For those that are interested here's a list of all the Group and Stakes races for the entire Australian season. I did find a G3 race at Sha Tin on Sunday to have a go at though - only 8 runners but 3 stand out and all 3 are well down in the weights from their lead-in runs. Those 3 horses are the 2, 4 & 5 and I'll put together a Tri & F4 and hope that some sort of combination comes through with the goods. The 7 & 8 could get into the minor placings as well. Sha Tin (Hong Kong) Sunday 7th Jan Race 7 (The G3 Bauhinia Sprint 1000m 7.10pm)

Here's a good article that covers all sorts of categories Bill Barnwell makes a good case for Kamara but it's line ball between him and Hunt. Barnwell's 2017 NFL awards: Picks for MVP, best rookies, more

Wentz hardly had an off day in the 13 games that he played ... he was probably very good to outstanding in 10 - 11 games. Those numbers would probably measure up quite well against Brady & Gurley but Wentz got injured at the wrong time for an award such as this. What happens at the end of the regular season stands out more ... that's why I reckon Gurley can win the award. We'd probably have any number of Brownlow comparisons through the years where similar scenarios have happened.

Given that it's an award for the regular season only it would have been interesting to see how Wentz would have fared if he missed the first 3 games of the year and then played the rest of the season unimpaired (the reverse of what actually happened)

I reckon Gurley wins in a bit of an upset ... he's been outstanding however and finished off the season well. 2 strings to his bow has to be acknowledged. Brady has been very good again and is odds on favourite but he's had better years.

Yeah it's hard to go past the 4 home teams to win but there's nearly always at least 1 upset in both of the first 2 weeks of the playoffs. Atlanta are probably the best road team this week but the Rams will be primed and ready. Maybe Carolina if they can produce their best? The framed odds reflect that too - KC $1.25, Rams $1.30, Jags $1.25 & Saints $1.33. All 4 teams are either -6.5 or -7.5 to win at the line. Having said all that I'm picking all of the home teams! Titans 16 @ KC 27 Falcons 19 @ Rams 22 Bills 13 @ Jags 27 Panthers 29 @ Saints 32

I reckon the NFC is wide-open. Any of the teams can progress to the SB if they get hot ... home field throughout for the Eagles keeps them right in it too. In the AFC the Pats & Steelers obviously stand out but neither team is as good as they've been in the recent past.

I don't believe they'll make a move on McCarthy anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what they decide to do with Hundley and whether they decide to pay for a decent back-up QB. Thompson was all-in on drafting and seemingly had no interest in free agents. I reckon that will change. The GB roster has a number of holes to fill ... that was highlighted with the loss of Rodgers. McCarthy is safe as long as a healthy (or unhealthy) Rodgers is on the roster.

Not surprised ... there have been murmurings for quite some time about his position. You've often got to make changes in order to improve.

8 new teams make the playoffs ... which means that 20 different teams have made the playoffs in the last 2 seasons. Quite amazing. I'm not sure there's another sporting league in the world where the parity is as it is in the NFL. Every team has 167 million to spend on player salaries which should mean that every team gets to have it's fair share of top-end talent. Except for the Browns it seems

Ha ha! Again, just a great story D77. As much as it's a gambling sport, the stories that surround the winning & the losing of these major races is very real for the participants. I really do like seeing people achieve their lifelong ambitions. It's part of what attracts me to these group races ... they are quite literally life-changers. Anyway, we've got the Magic Millions coming up on the 13th of Jan but I may have a nibble at Japan & HK next weekend (there's 3 or 4 Group 3's on show - all with very healthy prize-pools) And for those who haven't seen the Perth Cup, here it is as well as the interviews afterwards et al ...

Pounamu was a good thing beaten wasn't it? Definitely worth following if it comes over to the East - looks a Flemington horse the way it powers home. It's a 6 year old but it's found it's true form. I got a percentage of the Tri as I changed my mind on Material Man - took it to win as well as Pounamu & Trap For Fools instead of Royal Star to win. But it was a grandstand finish and a fairytale ending for the family involvement of Material Man. A great story.

From ESPN ... 2017 NFL playoff primer: Bracket, schedule, Super Bowl paths, more

Yep, agree with all that Gorg. The Browns just have to keep going back to the well with fingers crossed ... the Sixers (NBA) and the Raiders have also both had horrendous luck with drafting but both franchises are now slowly starting to come good. All that tanking and then they draft busts! Drafting is often a cruel beast.

They could draft a couple of busts again! ... and I've yet to witness anyone ever being able to predict a bust (or at least being able to do so consistently)

Noted NFL insider Adam Schefter is saying that Jon Gruden is set for the Oakland Raiders job. A huge story if true. Jack Del Rio has been fired to make way? If it happens Gruden will end up coaching out of Las Vegas. Chuck Pagano has been sacked as the Colts coach

Yeah ... it's free scoring alright. The Americans can't get enough of it though. My interest extends to the playoffs (only) like I often am with a few other sports (Rugby League, the pointy end of a number of soccer cups, Super Rugby, NHL etc etc)

Work intervenes but the 2 College SF's could be good viewing ... I really only tune in at this stage of the College season but it would be good if they expanded the playoffs to 8 teams. Close finishes are my ideal outcomes as I don't really have a dog in any of the fights. Alabama just made it into the playoffs but the 2 SF's are played at neutral venues.

That's the idea Dappa ... if one has a poor tipping result in week 1 or week 2 of the playoffs there's still a chance at winning overall with a strong finish. Here are next week's games again - all times are AEDT ... Sun 8.35am ...... Titans @ Chiefs Sun 12.15pm .... Falcons @ Rams Mon 5.00am ..... Bills @ Jaguars Mon 8.40am ..... Panthers @ Saints

Traditionally it's been 1 point per winner with 3 points up for grabs for the Super Bowl but ... I'm interested in making the NFC & AFC Championship games worth 2 points for each game just to spice things up and keep people interested. What does everyone think? We've also traditionally posted up our likely score outcomes but those scores are there for interests sake only. @pantaloons started things off that way back in 2013 and we've all just followed suit.

Regular Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2017 Clintosaurus Go the Biff Dappa Dan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell Clintosaurus/ DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell/ Macca JV7/ DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Dappa Dan DeeSpencer Gorgoroth --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2016 Gorgoroth/ JV7 Clintosaurus Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 JV7/ cowboy_from_hell Gorgoroth/ Macca DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 JV7/ pantaloons Gorgoroth/ Go the Biff Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013 titan_uranus DemonDave cowboyfhell/ Macca -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall Medal Tally Gold Silver Bronze Gorgoroth 3 0 4 JV7 2 2 0 Macca 2 1 3 ---------------------------------------------------- cowboy_from_hell 1 3 1 Go the Biff 1 1 0 Clintosaurus 1 0 2 Dappa Dan 1 0 1 Strafford 1 0 0 titan_uranus 1 0 0 DeeSpencer 0 2 2 pantaloons 0 2 0 DemonDave 0 1 0

And we have a winner in the tipping competition! Congratulations to Clintosaurus who wins the competition with a record score of 15 points - well done and well played. Go the Biff (2nd place) stayed up near the pace all season but couldn't quite bridge the gap. Former winner Dappa Dan rounds out 3rd place. Final Tally 15 - Clintosaurus 12 - Go the Biff 10 - Dappa Dan ------------------------------- 7 - Macca 4 - JV7, Gorgoroth Well played to all though ... the comp is easy to run from my point of view and hopefully we'll get a few more joining in next season. We can do another post-season tipping comp as well if we can get enough takers (more on that later) To the victor go the spoils ...