January 14, 2025
Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images
Deion Sanders has found a groove as a college head coach. Is he ready to make a leap to the NFL?
The Divisional Round is coming. The Eagles are now preparing to host the Los Angeles Rams with a trip to the NFC title game on the line. Before then, here are some thoughts I have from around the NFL...
Deion Sanders has made a name for himself the last several years coaching in the college game, going from Jackson State to Colorado and drawing a lot of hype along the way. Is the next step for Sanders' coaching trajectory to make the leap to the NFL?
His former team, the Dallas Cowboys, now have a head coach opening after not brining back Mike McCarthy. A report surfaced on Monday from FOX Sports' Jordan Schultz that Sanders discussed the vacancy with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Sanders has had success in the NCAA, no doubt, but the pros are just an entirely different proposition. This has disaster potential. Being a great college coach, when I'm not even sure Sanders is flat-out great, has never been a clear indicator of NFL coaching success. For every Jimmy Johnson or Pete Carroll, there's a Nick Saban or Lou Holtz or Steve Spurrier.
A splashy move like this has the Cowboys written all over it. Eagles fans would be sick of hearing about it before Week 1 of the 2025 season even rolls around, but it could end up being a hilariously combustible situation for Dallas.
Patrick Mahomes inhabits his own orbit, but the two best-performing quarterbacks for the 2024 campaign specifically were Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. They will be No. 1 and No. 2 in MVP voting in some order with Jackson likely nabbing his third MVP win.
This one is conjuring up images of the 2021 Divisional Round matchup between Buffalo and Kansas City that had a pulse-pounding ending right into overtime.
The ideal scenario for Eagles fans is that they make quick work of the Rams on Sunday afternoon and then can relaxingly watch these two potential Super Bowl opponents go at it.
When the Texas make the playoffs, you can bet they're playing in that opening Saturday afternoon spot on Wild Card Weekend:
Start time for every Wild Card game in Texans history
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) January 6, 2025
2011: Saturday 3:30
2012: Saturday 3:30
2015: Saturday 3:30
2016: Saturday 3:30
2018: Saturday 3:30
2019: Saturday 3:30
2023: Saturday 3:30
2024: Saturday 3:30
A tradition like no other
They beat the Chargers over the weekend and now face Kansas City in the Divisional Round. The Chiefs feature the best overall player in the sport in Patrick Mahomes and the NFL's most famous player in Travis Kelce. They are the marquee team of this era with their bevy of Super Bowls and the Taylor Swift effect and, by drawing Houston, they've been slotted into the most "eh" spot of the Divisional Round.
This is easily the least juicy game of the weekend. Kansas City hasn't looked as dominant as they've had at other points in the last several seasons, but there's just this magical element to them that has them constantly snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. The Chiefs will cruise to a win, sit back and then watch Buffalo and Baltimore kick the crap out of each other for the chance to head to Arrowhead Stadium.
As stated above, Houston took down the Chargers this past Saturday. "Social media QB" Justin Herbert tossed four interceptions in an overall embarrassing effort from the Bolts. Can we finally scrap any notion that this is a consensus top-five guy? Draftniks need to take the deepest of breaths with the way they anoint QBs so quickly. The same thing happened and continues to happen with Trevor Lawrence. Some players are talented, but just don't show up when it matters most! That's the nature of the sport!
It goes Mahomes, then Allen-Jackson-Joe Burrow in some order and then it's the given flavor of the week. That just can no longer be considered Herbert after the Wild Card Round and the Chargers' historic playoff collapse a couple years back against Jacksonville.
In these "5 NFL thoughts" columns, I like to close at times and rank the best players at a given position across my lifetime. I'll go with offensive tackles to finish this story up:
1. Jonathan Ogden
2. Walter Jones
3. Jason Peters
4. Orlando Pace
5. Lane Johnson
6. Joe Thomas
7. Tony Boselli
8. Willie Roaf
9. Trent Williams
10. Tristan Wirfs
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