🎧Sports Brief: Turbo-Charged End of Year Football Spectacular

Michael Penix Jr. #9 of the Atlanta Falcons passes the ball against the New York Giants during the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 22, 2024. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

What’s cookin’ sports fans? Welcome to the extra large and turbocharged Epoch Times Sports Brief for Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, it’s only five days till we rock in the new year, we’ve got some exciting stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on in the thrilling world of sports.

A pair of veteran coaches charge full steam toward the AFC playoffs, two strong-armed rookies go toe-to-toe in a dynamic gridiron duel, and a Big 12 runner-up takes out a staggering insurance policy with a steep premium on a couple of budding superstars—just so they can play in a Saturday night showdown.

Also, a major basketball superstar suffers a brutal injury that threatens to destroy his season, and we’ll peek ahead to the college football playoffs—and tell you everything you need to know to kick off the new year with a bang.

We’ll break it all down for you play by play, and we begin with where the big boys eat their Wheaties—from a trough; the NFL. Tomorrow afternoon, a couple of experienced coaches with very young teams can punch their tickets into the NFL playoffs, and here’s how it all pans out.

Harbaugh Charges Toward the NFL Playoffs

Tomorrow in Foxborough, Massachusetts, it’s “win and in” for the surprising L.A. Chargers, who only have to knock off the pesky New England Patriots to make it back to the postseason in head coach Jim Harbaugh’s first year back on the pro sidelines.

However, the Chargers are limping into this crucial game, especially at running back, where starter Gus Edwards is out, J.K. Dobbins is questionable, and a couple of inexperienced players are next in line to tote the rock.

Meanwhile, the Patriots have only won a measly three games, they’ve dropped five in a row, and they’re mired in their worst back-to-back seasons in more than three decades.

Sports Brief Host Commentary: Ya, the Pats are having a tough time, but right now, I’d pit them up against any Pop Warner squad nationwide and I’m not saying they’d win, but I can guarantee, at the very least it would be a close game. Back to the program.

The good news for the Pats is that promising rookie Drake Maye is poised to be their quarterback of the future, first-year head coach Jerod Mayo has his team playing gritty tough football, and the weather forecast looks to be wet and wild for a winter throwdown in New England.

Also tomorrow, further south down Cincinnati way, Joe Burrow and the Bengals look to keep their dwindling playoff hopes alive when they host the stubborn Denver Broncos.

The Broncos haven’t made the playoffs in nearly a decade and they were supposed to struggle again this year, but somebody forgot to tell head coach Sean Payton, rookie quarterback Bo Nix, and a very stingy defense—they are defying the odds.

Meanwhile, the Bengals have been playing behind the 8-ball, the tragic 8-ball, all season long, but Burrow is quietly putting together another stellar campaign. He’s tossed for over 250 yards and three touchdowns for an NFL-record seven straight games, he’s playing at an MVP level, and his favorite target, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, is virtually unstoppable.

The Bengals need to win out and get very lucky to have even a razor-thin hope of making the playoffs, but you can be sure they’re gonna make it downright difficult for the Broncos, who are in with a win, when they kick it off tomorrow at 4:30 local time.

We’ll stay at the grown-ups table a bit longer and on Sunday night, a rare hard-throwing lefty tries to keep his high-flying team in contention when they take on the leading candidate for rookie of the year, and here’s the lowdown.

Falcons Fly to DC to Battle Commanders

First-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. makes his second consecutive start when the Falcons head to Washington for a knock-down, drag-out primetime slobberknocker against the Commanders.

As you know, the hard-throwing rookie rode pine all year long until the birds sidelined the stumblin’, bumblin’, fumblin’ multi-zillionaire Kirk Cousins. Penix puts a lot of zip on the ball, he’s got plenty of offensive weapons to choose from, and he’ll need ‘em all to hold on to first place in the NFC South.

Meanwhile, phenomenal rookie Jayden Daniels is having a remarkable year for surprising Washington, who can clinch a wildcard berth with a win. Last week, he led the young Commanders to a shocking comeback victory against their division rival Philadelphia Eagles, tossing for 5 touchdowns along the way.

Daniels has already locked up rookie of the year—so put a fork in it, ‘cause that contest is well done. However, his team’s running game has fallen apart like my 87-year-old Aunt Martha’s 1976 AMC Gremlin—and that’s a bad sign as they barrel ahead toward the playoffs.

Sports Brief Host commentary: C’mon, Aunt Martha, time for a new ride, and you got tons of dough, so let’s get you a new Corvette after the Super Bowl. You deserve it. Back to the program.

As we rumble on, we all know how expensive insurance can be, but one team has just paid a record price to take out a disability policy to protect their two superstars—just so they can play tomorrow. Insurance policies ain’t cheap, but like a good neighbor, State Farm was there and here’s what’s up.

Policy Ensures Colorado Superstars Will Play in Alamo Bowl

When the 9–3 Colorado Buffaloes take on the 10–2 BYU Cougars in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, both quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter will be well covered, and we don’t mean by the defenders.

Both players are expected to be chosen at the top of next year’s NFL draft, and head coach Neon Deion Sanders made sure they received the highest level of disability protection ever purchased in college football—just so they can play in this highly competitive contest.

In case you haven’t noticed, Colorado has defied expectations in legendary Coach Prime’s second season, he’s putting together a monster program, and don’t look for the Buffs to stumble beneath the bright lights of San Antonio, Texas, where the football is great and the salsa is even better. And no, we’re not brought to you by Pace Picante sauce.

On the other side of that wide green turf, the Cougars roared off to a tremendous start this year before crashing back to earth, longtime head coach Kalani Sitake continues to build the BYU brand, and quarterback Jake Retzlaff has led the charge by playing well beyond expectations.

Sports Brief Host commentary: Hey NFL players ... Sitake, Retzlaff, and so on. Whatever happened to easy names to pronounce like Csonka, Butkus, and Nitschke? You’re making this more difficult than it needs to be for the Sports Brief Host. Back to the program.

Both of these teams narrowly missed out on playing each other for the Big 12 championship and now they’ll get the chance to settle the score in what looks to be a very entertaining primetime matchup, with the entire nation watching—and as we all know, Coach Prime thrives when the lights are at their brightest.

By the way, there’s a whole batch—a potpourri of bowl games this weekend, and some of the more intriguing matchups include USC and Texas A&M in tonight’s Las Vegas Bowl; Syracuse and Washington State in tonight’s Holiday Bowl; Boston College and Nebraska in tomorrow’s Pinstripe Bowl in New York City; and Iowa State versus Miami in tomorrow’s Pop-Tarts Bowl. Never heard of it, but sounds tasty enough to me. I’m in.

Let’s hop along now over to the hardcourt, where yesterday, an all-pro superstar was evaluated for a significant leg injury, which could derail his team’s long-term championship aspirations, and here’s what we now know.

Mavs Lose Star Player for at Least a Month

Earlier this week on Christmas Day, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic was knocked out of the game against Minnesota after he twisted his leg, and then hobbled out of the arena on crutches.

For the record, he’s been diagnosed with a severe left calf sprain, and doctors won’t even check on him again for at least a month.

To make matters worse, he has a long history of trouble with that same calf, he’s already missed eight games this season with a boatload of other injuries, and if he sits out as long as expected, he’ll be taken out of contention for the NBA’s biggest individual awards, including both MVP and the league’s All-NBA teams.

By the way, the superstar from Slovenia has made the first-team All-NBA squad for five years running, but unless there’s a miracle, it sure looks like his streak is about to come to a screeching halt.

Meanwhile, right now, the Mavs are right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture and they’ll have to rely on both Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson to keep them in the hunt until Cool Hand Luka returns.

We’ve got time to squeeze in just one more story and we’re gonna take a quick peek ahead to next week and a quartet of massive college football playoff collisions. BUCKLE UP!

Top Dogs Collide in College Football Playoffs

The action kicks off on New Year’s Eve when Penn State takes on surprising Boise State at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. Last week, the Nittany Lions stomped all over SMU and they’ll be looking for more of the same against the Broncos, but don’t be surprised if the well-rested ponies and angry Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty put up more of a fight than most people expect.

A few hours later, New Year’s Day kicks off with Texas and Arizona State at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. You may recall that earlier this year, we picked the Longhorns as our No. 1 team and we’re standin' by our pick. They should absolutely demolish the Sun Devils and we’ll be disappointed if they don’t.

Meanwhile, Ohio State gets another crack at top-ranked Oregon in the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, California. Some people say it’s unfair that the Ducks get such a difficult reward for being the No. 1 seed, but we say if you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best—so stop quackin’, Ducks!

In the day’s grand finale, a pair of legendary programs, Notre Dame and Georgia, bang helmets at the legendary Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Some guy named Gunner Stockton will throw the ball for the Dawgs after starter Carson Beck wrecked his arm in the SEC championship game. Stockton’s inexperience gives the very tough Irish a “fighting” chance against Georgia and they’ll need every ounce of help they can get if they hope to steamroll over the big bad bully on the block and move along to the semifinals.

Hey, that’s all we’ve got time for today, but before we go, instead of a New Year’s resolution—which we’d only break in a few hours anyway—we’d like to wrap things up with a very appropriate quote for the New Year. This one comes from one of the greatest hockey players of all time, Wayne Gretzky, who said:

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

The Great One bagged four championships in his legendary career and scored more points than anyone in NHL history.

Now, it really is time for us to head out, but please don’t fret, we’ll be back again next week with another edition of the soon-to-be almost-award-winning Epoch Times Sports Brief.

If you have any thoughts or comments about this program, we’d love to hear from you, and you can find us at [email protected].

For all of us here at The Epoch Times Sports Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.

The Sports Brief program is written each week by Davey Ross, sports briefologist extraordinaire.

Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, almost-accurate, and engaging rundown of all the sports stories you absolutely need to know about.

Enjoy another great weekend of sports, stay safe, have a superb day today, and don’t forget to keep your eyes on the game. Happy New Year, and bye for now.