Scruffy’s This N That

1 – SUPER BOWL THOUGHTS:  The Super Bowl that a lot of us didn’t want to see is what we are going to see Sunday night in New Orleans as the Eagles try to prevent the Chiefs from achieving the “Three-peat”.  On paper, I think Philadelphia has the better team, but the best player on the field Sunday will be Patrick Mahomes. Say what you will about the Kansas City quarterback, but he gets the job done much like others like Tom Brady, Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw have done on Super Bowl Sunday.

I would like to see Philly win, but I just don’t see them doing so. If the Eagles are going to win, they are going to have to hope their defensive line can make life miserable for Mahomes. If Philly brings the blitz, Mahomes will find who he needs to find. Final score KC 33 Philly 23.

2 – SUPER BOWL NEWS AND NOTES:  Here are some tidbits of info to get you ready for the 59^th NFL championship.

• Kansas City is the first team to reach the Super Bowl five times in a six season span and can become the first team ever to win three consecutive Super Bowls. The Chiefs are the fourth team all-time to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, joining the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills (four consecutive Super Bowls), 1971-73 Miami Dolphins (three) and 2016-18 New England Patriots (three).
• With Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, it will mark the fourth rematch between starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl history, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Jim Kelly, Pro Football Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach, as well as Eli Manning and Tom Brady.
• Kansas City DL George Karlaftis has seven sacks in nine career playoff games.
• Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is the third head coach all-time to make the Super Bowl twice in his first four seasons as a head coach, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs (1982-83) and Mike Tomlin (2008 and 2010).

3 – YA DON’T SAY: The NFL Referees Association on Tuesday joined league commissioner Roger Goodell in dismissing suggestions that officials favor the Kansas City Chiefs when working their games. Both Goodell and NFLRA head Scott Green says it is insulting to think otherwise. WHAT ELSE WERE THEY GOING TO SAY?  Imagine the firestorm if Goodell, Green or both didn’t staunchly defend their officials. If Goodell had said yeah he sits at home and wonders about the Chiefs getting one favorable call after another, the fallout would have been huge. This is a story that isn’t a story kids.

4 – SALARY CAP FALLOUT:  NHL players had to be rubbing their hands gleefully when news broke of what is a sizeable increase in the salary cap over the next three years. It does make me wonder about the viability of some Canadian teams with the current state of our dollar, but that’s another story for another time. It has some wondering if Connor McDavid’s upcoming contract could be close to, or above $20 million and it has some wondering about what Connor Bedard’s next contract could look like. Some have suggested it could be in the $15-million-dollar range if not higher. Say what you will about Bedard and his talent, but does he deserve that in what is still the early range of his career? There are many that deserve big paydays that have more experience, and Bedard will basically what he wants as will other young stars, but will it be a long-term or short-term deal? That is what will be interesting moving forward. Chicago will want to lock up Bedard for many years just like Philly will with Matvei Michkov, San Jose with Macklin Celebrini and Montreal with Lane Hutson, but will those guys settle for four-year deals knowing they can get another bigger long-term bag down the line?

5 – FOUR NATIONS CUP: I asked the question last week and I ask it again this. Are you excited for the upcoming 4 Nations Cup? It isn’t the all-star game so that is a big plus and it will be best-on-best for the first time in a long time, but this isn’t the Cup that guys on the ice want to play for in the middle of the season. With no Olympic medal on the line, will those taking part be going 100 percent or will they be going out for a skate?  It won’t be like what we see in all-star games, but I don’t think it will be what we see in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs either. If Canada doesn’t win, are you going to be angry? Again, this isn’t the Olympics so to me the winner doesn’t matter. I just want to see good hockey and I am not 100 percent convinced we will get that. I hope I am proven wrong.

6 – NHL PLAYER POLL:  The City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba need to do something to show NHL’ers why the city isn’t as bad as they think it is. The Jets are competing for top team in the league, they have some of the league’s top players in Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey but many want no part of the city. A recent players poll asked over 100 guys what is the first team on it if you have a no-trade list and nearly half voted Winnipeg. Yeah, we might chuckle about that in the 306, but I am guessing NHL’ers wouldn’t have Saskatoon high on that list too if they were in the league. Is Winnipeg really worse than Columbus or Salt Lake City? Current Jets need to get on the phone with some guys, especially with the trade deadline approaching, to tell them that Winnipeg is an OK place. I wonder if any of those answering that poll are guys that are from or played junior in Manitoba or Saskatchewan?

7 – HMMMM!: Some who cheer for the Pats were outraged when the team decided to part ways with the Vaughan twins. I have never spoken to either, but quite a few have told me they just aren’t good dudes when they step on the ice. Since being traded to Prince George after what was deemed by the Pats as a “hockey-related matter” after a practice, all Corbin Vaughan has done is incur a four game suspension followed by a 10-game suspension. Is this guy the WHL’s version of Chad Rempe? His junior career has seen him suspended six times for a total of 26 games. Do I need to say more?

8 – CFL FREE AGENCY: Deals don’t become official for a few days yet, but it would appear as if Jeremy O’Day was more concerned with keeping his team together – one which was a wind gust away from finishing first in the West last season – than shopping around looking to fill this hole with that player. Getting Micah Johnson and Marcus Sayles back was huge and while he doesn’t put up dazzling numbers, Mitch Picton is one of those guys you need to be successful. We all knew there were guys that likely wouldn’t be back and they won’t be.

Like Zach Collaros though, I do wonder about the announcement being made Wednesday by the CFL and the Players Association about the salary cap going up by over 400,000 dollars. How many players had verbally committed to deals under the old cap because teams weren’t willing to go that high to retain Player A or Player B? Those teams might be able to do that now. Collaros, in an interview with the Winnipeg Sun, wonders if the Bombers might be able to keep Kenny Lawler now that there is some additional money on the table.  I think all nine CFL teams might be in a position to try and keep someone that they thought they had lost by making a better offer. Did the Riders take advantage of the extra money to sign Johnson and Sayles? It looks bad on the league to make this announcement before the FA window opened. It is good for the league and players to be able to make the move because it shows the league financially appears to be in good shape, but this was a little shady IMO.

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• During the Oilers skills competition last weekend, goalie Calvin Pickard fired donairs into the crowd from the ice. This needs to happen at WHL games in Saskatchewan.
• Most people I talk to feel the Bombers and Riders will fight it out for first in the West. Have they forgotten about B.C?
• It is February 8. I have had enough of winter for this year.
• Longshot Super Bowl MVP pick – Xavier Worthy of the Chiefs.

That’s all I got! Have a great week!