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Joe Burrow keeps the Bengals playoff hopes alive

What a wild day of football on Saturday. There were fights, there were resurrecting Pop-Tarts, and there was a player opting out of a bowl game at halftime.

There were also several NFL games with playoff hopes riding on them. Bowl season with a sprinkle of NFL games is the best. My multiview had a busy day.

The Pop-Tarts Bowl had the people talking. It had everything but defense. The Pop-Tart that was cooked and devoured after last year’s bowl game returned.

Pop-Tarts were stripping. It was an out-of-control scene in Orlando as No. 18 Iowa State and No. 13 Miami combined for 83 points.

To add to the fun, Cam Ward’s final act as a member of the Hurricanes football team was to opt-out at halftime. That’s right.

After leading Miami to a 31-28 halftime lead on 12 of 19 passing for 190 yards and three touchdowns, one of the top quarterbacks heading into next year’s NFL Draft didn’t play in the second half.

Ward entered play on Saturday needing just three touchdown passes to reach 156 for his career to break the record previously held by Case Keenum.

He did that in the second quarter of the eventual loss, then called it a college career. The Pop-Tarts bowl’s greatest gift might be Ward sitting out the second half and the Hurricanes losing.

But it wasn’t the only bowl game and, given the end of game fighting, the other bowl games meant more to those who participated in them.

An ECU player stealing an NC State player’s towel near the end of the Military Bowl sparked a brawl that led to player ejections with seconds left in the game and a referee bleeding from his face.

There was also some pushing and shoving at the end of the Pinstripe Bowl between Boston College and Nebraska after a late slide by Dylan Raiola on the Cornhuskers final drive.

Saturday’s NFL slate included several teams still fighting for a spot in the playoffs. The Chargers clinched a playoff spot by dismantling a terrible Patriots team.

It was the most lopsided of the Week 17 Saturday games as Los Angeles dropped 40 points on New England on the road. The Chargers are now 10-6 after a 5-12 season and are headed to the playoffs.

The Broncos and Bengals both still had a shot at the postseason entering play in Cincinnati. The Bengals had to win to keep those chances alive, while all Denver had to do was win and they were in.

The back-and-forth game had to be decided in overtime, where Joe Burrow decided that he couldn’t leave it up to his kicker after his kicker doinked a game winner earlier in overtime.

When he got the ball back, he ended it with a touchdown drive. It was the Bengals fourth straight win, and they’re still in it heading into Week 18. Although they need some help.

The Bengals need to win next week’s game against the Steelers. They need to have the Colts and Dolphins each lose at least one of their last two games, and they also need the Broncos to lose next week against the Chiefs.

If all that happens, they’ll be in the playoffs after a 1-4 start and be a team that nobody wants to face. For Denver, it was their second straight loss on the road to an AFC opponent that would have clinched a playoff berth.

The Broncos now have to beat the Chiefs next week to get in. The night game was an ugly one between the Cardinals, who were trying to play spoiler, and the Rams, who needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Los Angeles won the game 13-9 and could clinch a playoff spot by the end of the weekend depending on how several games play out, which could give them a strength of schedule tiebreaker over the Seahawks.

Again, it was ugly, but they don’t hand out style points for wins and losses, not yet anyway. The playoffs have essentially started already for some teams.

Woman asks officer if he believes in magic during field sobriety tests

This is one of the more entertaining bodycam videos you’re going to see. The woman allegedly drove her Jeep into a ditch and couldn’t get it out.

Officers suspected that she was intoxicated and attempted to conduct field sobriety tests. She didn’t exactly pass and was arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence.

Before being placed in handcuffs, she used her hand like a phone and asked officers questions, like if they believed in magic. It’s a unique arrest to say the least.

The first few comments on the video say it all. One offered up a trade, “Can we trade her for hawk tuah?”

Another said, “I can fix her.”

And a third added, “I want to be the next ex.”

I don’t know that she’ll find her way to Hawk Tuah Girl status, but she is going to be a legend of the bodycam footage world, that’s for sure.

Christmas at my in-laws’ Florida condo

– Gen X Warren M writes:

Hey SeanJo,

I hope you had a great Christmas! We went to my in-laws’ condo in Florida, not too bad of a drive for us, only about an hour north of where we live in South Florida. Helped my father-in-law man the grill as he cooked a bunch of filet mignon. Wife made a charcuterie board. Ended up being a pretty cloudy and windy day, couldn’t go to the pool or the beach.

Take care and happy new year!

SeanJo

We had a decent Christmas here. My in-laws were in town for a few days and my father-in-law had the grill going too. I didn’t grab any pictures of it – I should have – but he tossed on some wings to go along with the ham my wife cooked.

It looks like yours wasn’t too bad either, despite not being able to hit the pool or beach. You can’t go wrong with filet mignon on Christmas.

CFB

– John from SD sends:

No grilling pictures this week, busy times.

Watched a lot of college football on Saturday and burned my couch card with the wife tomorrow. Time to grind and “get things done” tomorrow.

Highlights:
Watching Colorado and Dieon get smoked by BYU in the Alamo Bowl.
The Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl was great when Snoop took to the booth for two quarters. Very knowledgeable and entertaining about football.
Watching the U go down is always entertaining and losing the Pop Tarts Bowl topped it off. Pop Tarts knows how to put on a great show (with the exception of the trophy toaster launching the tarts to the ground during pregame.
Hoping Army pulls out their game.

Refs/penalties:
It’s been happening for a while but very obvious Saturday: one ref throws a flag and 2-3 refs throws their (delayed) flag after. Are they just saving face and agreeing with the call after the fact?  Next, lined up in the neutral zone: rarely called but you can see it all the time.

Thanks for the additional day of SC!

Forgot to add: how ironic is that it was the Cyclones vs the Hurricanes in a bowl game!

Adding more: What was it with LA Tech players talking so much smack against the Army offensive players? Show some respect and play football.

SeanJo

I did the same thing on Saturday. After my wife dragged me out for some shopping in the morning, I parked my sick ass on the couch and stayed there until the end of the Cardinals-Rams game.

I had the YouTube TV multiview going, usually with one NFL game and a few bowl games. Miami losing was great. Nodding off in the early afternoon was needed.

The trash talk and celebrating by the losing teams will never make sense to me. Hopefully you’re still able to get some football in today. You know, between getting things done.

——–

That’s it for the last Sunday Screencaps of 2024. What a year it’s been. I hope everyone has an awesome New Year, and we’ll do this again next week.

The inbox is always open sean.joseph@outkick.com.

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