LOS ANGELES -- Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
I don't know how it happened, but the Super Bowl is now only three days away. At least, that's what I've been told. I actually have no idea how far away it is because I've lost all sense of time out here in Los Angeles. I live in the Central Time Zone (Nashville), my work life is based in the Eastern Time Zone and I've spent this entire week in the Pacific Time Zone and what has happened over the past five days is that time has lost all meaning to me. It is possible to see time as a color, because I think that's what's happening to me right now. It's a good thing I'm not in charge of making sure the Super Bowl starts on time.
With the Super Bowl right around the corner, we'll be making bold predictions for the game in today's newsletter, plus we'll be ranking ALL 55 Super Bowls from most entertaining to least entertaining. With that in mind, let's get to the rundown.
As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the Pick Six newsletter. To get your friends to sign up, all you have to do is click here and then share this link with them.
1. Today's show: Super Bowl bold predictionsAs you may or may not have noticed, the Thursday episode of the podcast during the postseason has consisted of Will Brinson, Ryan Wilson and myself making bold predictions for the upcoming round of playoff games. This week, there's only one game, THE SUPER BOWL, so we decided to make some bold predictions for that.
For the most part with these bold predictions, it usually ends with me making fun of Brinson and Wilson for how bad their predictions are, but I didn't do that this week, because their predictions are better than mine.
For this round of bold predictions, we each made one prediction on the offensive side of the ball, one prediction on the defensive side of the ball and one random prediction.
Offensive prediction
Brinson: Ja'Marr Chase scores only rushing TD in the game
Defensive prediction
Random prediction
If you want the full explanation for each of these predictions, then be sure to listen to today's episode, which you can do by clicking here. You can " target="_blank"also WATCH today's episode on YouTube by clicking here. If you watch on YouTube, you'll get to see how much fun we're having in Los Angeles.
2. Ranking all 55 Super BowlsAs the host of the Pick Six Podcast, Will Brinson doesn't do a lot of writing during Super Bowl week, but he did write one monster story from Los Angeles and I'm pretty sure he would unfollow me on Twitter and unfriend me on Facebook if I didn't share it here.
Brinson took the time to rank EVERY Super Bowl ever played. I don't want to spoil the entire list for you, so I'm going to go through his top 10, plus I'm also going to reveal the Super Bowl he has ranked as the worst one ever.
1. Super Bowl XLIX: Patriots 28-24 over Seahawks
2. Super Bowl XLII: Giants 17-14 over Patriots
3. Super Bowl LII: Eagles 41-33 over Patriots
4. Super Bowl LI: Patriots 34-28 (OT) over Falcons
5. Super Bowl XIII: Steelers 35-31 over Cowboys
6. Super Bowl XXV: Giants 20-19 over Bills
7. Super Bowl XXIII: 49ers 20-16 over Bengals
8. Super Bowl XXXIV: Rams 23-16 over Titans
9. Super Bowl III: Jets 16-7 over Colts
10. Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers 27-23 over Cardinals
...
55. Super Bowl XXIX: 49ers 49-26 over Chargers.
The Rams and Bengals both have a Super Bowl in the top 10, which obviously means we're in for a classic on Sunday. That's what that means, right? Please tell me that's what that means. If you want to see where the other 44 Super Bowls fall on Brinson's list, then be sure to click here.
If you want more Super Bowl rankings, we also ranked the 15 greatest endings in Super Bowl history and you can check that out by clicking here.
3. NFL headed to Germany for first time everFor the first time in NFL history, the league will be holding a regular-season game in Germany. The NFL has played preseason games in Germany, including one that was held as recently as 1994, but the league has never put a regular-season game there.
Here are the details on the NFL's international schedule heading into 2022:
Germany will get four games over the next four years. The NFL will be holding one game per year in Germany from 2022 thru 2025. Munich and Frankfurt will be alternating hosting duties with Munich getting the first game later this year. That game will be played at FC Bayern Munich Stadium. If the NFL is smart, they'll schedule the game during Oktoberfest and if I'm smart, I'll beg CBS to send me. Five international games will be played in 2022. For the first time in NFL history, there will be FIVE international games played in a single season. Since the first international regular-season game was played in 2007, the NFL has never held more than four games abroad in a single season. The five games will be played in London (3), Munich and Mexico City. The Jaguars will be hosting one of the London games while the other four teams hosting the other games are still up in the air. How international host teams will be selected. The NFL will be implementing a new international scheduling plan starting this year. Under the plan, the conference that gets to play nine home games will be the conference that hosts the international games. In 2022, the NFC will be getting the extra home games, which means four NFC teams (plus the Jaguars) will serve as the home teams in the international games. This new scheduling set up will assure that every NFL team hosts at least one international game every eight years. Since the international series started in 2007, the Packers are the only team that hasn't left the country for an international game, so it wouldn't be surprising if they ended up hosting one of these games.Although the NFL hasn't announced which NFC teams will be leaving the country to host a game in 2022, there's been at least one report suggesting that the Saints will be hosting one of the London games.
4. NFL Honors: Awards being handed out tonightIf there's one thing that always seems to get lost in the shuffle during Super Bowl week, it's the fact that the NFL hands out all of its major awards and that will he happening tonight during the NFL Honors ceremony.
This year, that means if you want to know who's going to win MVP, you'll need to tune in to the NFL Honors show, which will be airing at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. During the two-hour ceremony, which will be hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, we'll see every award handed out from Coach of the Year to Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Here are all the details on how you can watch:
Show: 2022 NFL Honors
Date: Thursday, Feb. 10
Location: YouTube Theater (Inglewood, Calif.)
Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: ABC/NFL Network/ESPN+
Since we love making predictions here, we tried to predict how the ceremony is going to go: If you want to check out our predictions for each award, then be sure to click here (Spoiler alert: We are predicting that Aaron Rodgers will win MVP). If you want to read our prediction for who will be getting voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, then be sure to click here.
5. Roger Goodell holds annual Super Bowl press conferenceIt's been a while since anyone has heard from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, but that changed on Wednesday when he showed up in Los Angeles to hold his annual Super Bowl press conference. With the NFL mired in so many controversies right now, Goodell basically spent most of his time answering questions about the league's handling (and/or mishandling) of certain situations.
Here's a quick look at some of the topics that Goodell was asked about:
Accusations against Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. Ross is accused of offering Brian Flores $100,000 for every loss the Dolphins suffered in 2019, which means Ross is essentially being accused of trying to fix the outcome of a game. Goodell called the accusations "very disturbing" while also noting that the other owners DO have the power to vote an owner out, which is something that could happen to Ross if the accusation ends up being true. Lack of minority coaches in the NFL. Goodell seemed to insinuate that the NFL is slowly inching toward a future where Black coaches have more opportunities. "They are getting into the room and they are getting the interviews," Goodell said. "What we want to see is the outcomes. We want to see Black head coaches in the NFL and coaches of people of color, and eventually gender. We think that it is all important, so we have an inclusive process and hopefully and inclusive outcome." Investigation into Washington. After new allegations of sexual harassment were made against Commanders owner Dan Snyder, Washington announced it would be conducting an investigation. However, Goodell made it clear that the NFL, and NOT the team, will be conducting the investigation. Bills need a new stadium. The commissioner made it very clear that the Bills need a new stadium in Buffalo. "The bottom line on it is we have to get a new stadium in Buffalo," Goodell said, via The Buffalo News. "The governor has recognized that. It's got to be a public-private partnership. All parties are going to have to work together. That means the state, the county, the team and the NFL to be able to achieve that."For a full breakdown of everything Goodell talked about, be sure to click here to read Tyler Sullivan's story. Sully broke everything down into nice digestible nuggets. I knew there was a reason I've always liked Sully.
6. Rapid-fire roundup: Will Aaron Rodgers return to Green Bay?It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
Aaron Jones expects Aaron Rodgers to return to Green Bay. Although Rodgers' future is up in the air, Packers running back Aaron Jones feels confident that his quarterback will be returning to Green Bay for at least one more season. Jonathan Allen apologizes for Hitler tweet. The defensive tackle found himself in some hot water this week after he wrote on Twitter that Hitler was someone he would have dinner with if he could pick any three people dead or alive to join him for a meal. Allen tweeted an apology for his Hitler tweets, which also included calling the former German dictator a "military genius." NFL invites 324 players to the combine. The official invite list is out for the combine and the league has decided to invite 324 players to this year's event. If you want to check out the entire list, you can do that by clicking here. The
