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Wild Card Weekend is underway

The Wild Card weekend has arrived, and while the first two games didn’t end up being all that competitive with both home teams, the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens, winning their games to advance, we learned something about all the teams.

The Los Angeles Chargers aren’t ready for the playoffs and the Pittsburgh Steelers are who we thought they were. The Texans can dominate their opponent in all aspects of the game and the Ravens are really, really good. Derrick Henry adds a lot to Baltimore’s offense.

That doesn’t mean they won’t choke in the playoffs, but they weren’t about to do that in the Wild Card round against the Steelers.

I think the match-ups on Sunday are going to be slightly more difficult for at least a couple of the home teams. That’s not to say we couldn’t see a clean sweep of the weekend by the home teams, we could.

I don’t think the Bills are going to be one of the teams that drops a game at home. But that’s why they play the games.

The Buffalo Bills are kicking off the Sunday slate by hosting the Denver Broncos at 1 pm. Next up is the Green Bay Packers at the Philadelphia Eagles at 4:30 pm. This, as much as I hate it, could be a game where the home team loses.

Nobody, except for Packers fans, wants to see them win a road playoff game. Speaking of winning a road playoff game, if the Washington Commanders want to advance, they’ll have to do just that.

They’re in Tampa Bay, under the lights at 8pm, taking on Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers. That game could go either way, in my opinion. I think we’re in for a couple of good games to finish off Wild Card weekend.

The UFC is back

The UFC was back in action on Saturday night for the first time in 2025. There were knockouts, submissions and a fighter slapping one of her coaches after a loss.

That’s how you get things started for another year in the octagon. UFC Vegas 101 was headlined by Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas. More on that fight in a minute.

It was a warm-up for UFC 311, which will be the first big night of 2025 for the mixed martial arts organization and takes place next Saturday night.

Now to the slap heard round the MMA world. Viktoriia Dudakova was having a cut tended to after an onslaught of elbow strikes ended her night in the second round of one of the UFC Vegas 101 prelims.

The cameras caught one of her coaches approaching her to console her after the loss. She was having none of it. Dudakova can be seen shrugging the coach off before slapping him in the face.

She can then be heard saying to him, “You didn’t even come over. You just sat there. That’s how little you cared.”

A tough night for Dudakova and her coach, that’s for sure.

Someone whose fight had a much more positive outcome was headliner Mackenzie Dern. Her fights and her weigh-ins for that matter have become appointment viewing for fight fans.

That was the case last night as Dern took on Amanda Ribas with a lot riding on the fight, not just the skillful camera angles. She was either going to make a case as a potential title challenger or continue to simply be fighting for social media views.

She got the views and the win. Dern got her first stoppage in the octagon since 2021 when she submitted Ribas with an armbar at the end of the third-round of a close fight.

The win also avenged Dern’s first loss, which came at the hands of Ribas in a one-sided decision in 2019. It’s safe to say we’ll see more of Mackenzie Dern in 2025.

The sun was replaced is one of my favorite new conspiracy theories

And the woman who assaulted a Chipotle employee is sort of 

No offseason

– Chris B. In Johnson City writes:

SeanJo,

I finally grilled in the snow since accepting the challenge. I grilled some New York strips on NYE but there was no snow. Friday we were supposed to get a “strong 3-6 inches” according to local news-whatever that means.

The storm happened to coincide with the Cotton Bowl. It was the perfect storm to tailgate like it was September. I told the wife to grab some burgers or steaks. She surprised me and went with burgers. The snow started a little after 1:00 and we were optimistic. It never really got going and the “strong 3-6 inches” failed to fully cover the grass.

As a native Ohioan I would call it a dusting, but I’m counting it. To top it off, the Buckeyes are going to the Natty. I’m including a picture of the charcuterie board I made at halftime. It probably wouldn’t cut it on IG but it hit the spot.

Go Bucks

SeanJo

Grilling in the snow is grilling in the snow whether the snowfall lives up to its promised amount and intensity. It definitely counts.

We were promised 1 to 3 inches with no specific intensity of said amount promised. We got less than a dusting. It snowed for maybe 45 minutes here and switched over to freezing rain.

All of it was gone by late morning on Saturday. They weren’t even close this time and trying to explain that the weather isn’t always accurate to a five-year-old wasn’t fun.

Anyway, congrats on pulling off the grilling in the snow and on Ohio State making it to the National Championship game. I will be rooting against them, which means they’ll probably win.

Football

– John from SD sends:

After Thursday and Friday night CFB games, I wasn’t excited about the Saturday wild card games but still watched most. Ended as expected with home teams winning. Fox Sports Charissa Thompson can bring it, I’ll keep it clean!

Great to see the Buckeyes pull that game off against upside down-non hook-em horns! I know you’re not happy with the outcome and if I recall you’re a PSU fan(?). I would have liked to see a PSU/OSU all big 10 championship. Go Buckeyes, beat ND!

Grilled Italian hot sausage tonight but forgot to take the picture since the game was on. Sorry!

Keep up the great work!

SeanJo

First, Charissa Thompson is awesome. Second, I can’t stand that the Buckeyes beat Texas and are playing for a championship.

I’ll be rooting against Ohio State with everything that I have. I am a Penn State fan with ties to the school. And I bet you would have liked to see the Nittany Lions. James Franklin would have handed the game to the Buckeyes.

I hope Notre Dame puts up more of a fight. Keep the grills hot!

——–

That’s it for this Sunday. The playoffs are here, and the men will be separated from the boys over the next few weeks. We’ll find out who the Chiefs will be playing in the Super Bowl as they attempt a threepeat.

I’ll see you next week. The inbox is always open sean.joseph@outkick.com.

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