I Never Did Quite Make it to Acceptance

• If the Green Bay Packers had intentionally been losing in order to secure a better draft pick, I could have accepted the season. The part I’m having a problem with is that they’ve actually been trying to win. The Packers ended up with their first losing season since 2008 and were swept by the Detroit Lions for the first time in more than a quarter-century.

• The 35-11 game was not as close as the score indicates. A three-score game implies that the Packers had a remote chance of victory.

• There are a lot of frustrating players on the roster. Brett Hundley will have a beautiful throw (usually dropped by a receiver), and then follow it up with a ghastly interception or foolish fumble. Jamaal Williams is a good runner; not great at catching the ball. Trevor Davis is speedy returner, who makes absolutely terrible decisions every time -- if he reversed every single one of his decisions, he’d be pretty good. 

This is Trevor Davis' face when he's 10 yards deep in the endzone and the coverage
team is on top of him. "This would be a good time to make a run for it!"

• Honestly, no other team would ever keep Richard Rodgers on its roster. Who is our tight end coach? Why can none of our tight ends block?? 

This is pathetic from Richard Rodgers. He has Harrison Smith by 30+ pounds and gets demolished to let Smith blow up the play. A TE blocking a safety shouldn't be a power mismatch for the offense. You see this @BenFennell_NFL?? pic.twitter.com/aKzhzDHll8

— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) December 27, 2017

• Good news for Jason Spriggs! The backup offensive lineman left last week’s game with what looked to be a very serious knee injury. Fortunately, he avoided an ACL tear. He did dislocate his kneecap (ow), which is a significant injury, but far better than an ACL injury. (I’m not sure this is good news for the Packers, however…)

• When a former offensive lineman is calling the game, you get an unusual amount of love for offensive line play. On Sunday, announcer Mark Schlereth couldn’t get enough of Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari, calling him the best pass protector in the league (rightly so) and saying he “dispensed justice all season long.”

Put that on your resume.

• I’m convinced that the Packers always overestimate their offensive talent because it’s going up against the Packers defense in practice, which would make anyone look like the Patriots. “Brett Hundley looks amazing in practice!!!”

• Defensive coordinator Dom Capers is out in Green Bay -- along with the defensive line and inside linebackers coaches -- much to the delight of fans who have been calling for Capers’ head for ages. I can’t say I’m sorry -- in the last two seasons, the Packers defense has been 30th in opponent completion percentage and 31st in quarterback rating. I don’t think Capers has had a lot to work with, in the secondary especially, but the results have under him have been unacceptable.

This is a Dom Capers special. Seven guys in coverage. Two WRs on the route. Somehow BOTH of them are open and an entire back end is covering literally no one. Is 1 PM too early to start drinking?? pic.twitter.com/QZPW4F088e

— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) December 27, 2017

• Enough with the “Jordy Nelson is no good anymore” hot takes. He obviously lost a step after tearing his ACL, but he still found a way to lead the league in touchdowns the next year. It’s not really fair to take his Brett Hundley-driven statistics as the measure of his play.

• Nelson, for his part, is very realistic and self-aware. He knows he’s not the same player he was before his knee injury, and he knows that there probably isn’t enough money to go around for him, Randall Cobb, and Davante Adams (who just signed a four-year, $58 million extension). He understands that his role is changing as Adams becomes the number-one receiver. Said Nelson, “I have no problem with it. I’m happy for Davante. He’s put a lot of work in and grown so much ... I was in that same situation six years ago or whatever with Greg (Jennings) and Donald (Driver). So I’m not mad at all. I’m happy for him, I’m happy with the way he’s developed, I’m happy with the way he’s grown as a football player, as a person, everything.” You don’t hear a lot of professional athletes talk like that.

Because Jordy's not like other athletes. 

• I love how much Davon House loves Green Bay. House had an injury-plagued season and is again facing free agency. When asked if he wishes he hadn’t played through some of those injuries, he responded, “Why not? Last year during this time, I was wishing I could be back here. Now that I’m here, I’m glad I played.”

• I really don't care about James Harrison signing with the Patriots after being cut by the Steelers, but you just know New England and Pittsburgh are going to meet in the playoffs and there will be some BS, last-minute play by Harrison that will end up winning the game or some nonsense like that. Because it's the Patriots, and that's how it always works.

• Twitter must think I like football players whose initialed first names end in J.

Do I talk about JJ Watt too much??

• Someone on Twitter threw out the idea that if a football player wins you your league, you should donate to one of their causes. With Todd Gurley’s last couple of weeks winning a lot of his owners their leagues, several of them did contribute to Shriners Hospital for Children in thanskgiving for Gurley’s blowing up the box score. Pretty cool!

• Philadelphia's punter forgot to take his warmup pants off.

Boss.pic.twitter.com/Bwsxg4LK4S

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) December 31, 2017

• That was the highlight of the Eagles-Cowboys game. No, really.

• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been in a giving mood. Defensive tackle Sealver Siliga was eating with friends late on Christmas Eve at an Applebee’s. Before paying, he asked the manager how many employees were still at the restaurant, and left a $1,000 tip to be divided equally among all 10 employees there. Then, the offensive line -- apparently sick of getting crappy presents from each other -- decided that instead of exchanging gifts, they’d pool their money and give it to the training, equipment, and cafeteria staff as Christmas bonuses.

• I worry so much about Andrew Luck. It is NEVER a good sign when a player goes to Europe for treatments.  

• Someone should probably get the New York Giants locker room under control. Three defensive backs have been suspended this year, most recently first-round pick Eli Apple, who apparently refused to take reps with the scout team. Meanwhile, Apple’s veteran teammate is publicly calling him a “cancer.” Not a good look, guys.

• I didn’t think the Cleveland Browns had a chance to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, but then the Steelers decided to rest all their starters and there was a glimmer of hope left!! Cleveland kept within striking distance the whole game and were down 28-24 when they got the ball back with 4:30 left. They picked up some big yards and ended up facing 3rd-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 31-yard line at the two-minute warning. They pick up four yards on the next play. It’s 4th-and-2, everything on the line. DeShone Kizer takes the snap, the Steelers pressure, looks like Kizer’s going to be sacked -- but wait! He escapes! He slides left, has a man opens he throws and --

Fitting end to the Browns season #LOLBROWNS pic.twitter.com/bAI5iHDzMf

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) December 31, 2017

• Oh, the poor Browns. What’s to be done about them? They were so close to getting their first and only win of the season. How epic would it have been if they won their last game to avoid the ignominy of 0-16? And the poor receiver was inconsolable, as you can imagine. Here’s Kizer trying to comfort him.

• It was uncomfortable having to depend on the Atlanta Falcons in order to bounce the evil Seattle Seahawks -- that’s never a position you want to be in. Fortunately, Atlanta handled the Panthers 22-10, which automatically knocked the Seahawks out of contention. It wasn’t necessary, but it was still a lot of fun to watch Seattle also lose to the Cardinals on a missed last-second field goal. Muahhahaha! This was the real celebration on new year's eve.

• The most fun story of the day was the Buffalo Bills. They beat the Miami Dolphins, but needed the already-eliminated Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Baltimore Ravens, who were playing for a spot in the playoffs. Here’s the Buffalo locker room watching the end of the Bengals-Ravens game:

The Bills' locker room erupted when the Bengals scored to send them to the playoffs. (via @buffalobills) pic.twitter.com/i4jhuVnJMI

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 1, 2018

• Buffalo hadn’t made the playoffs in 17 years, the longest active drought in the league (yes, even the Browns have been to the playoffs more recently than the Bills). The Bills are thanking the Bengals by sending them buffalo wings, and Bills fans have been donating to Andy Dalton’s charity.

• We’ll have to trudge through the postseason without the Packers, which is a real downer. I feel as sad as Randall Cobb in his post-game interview. My solace comes from the fact that the Cowboys and Seahawks also are sitting on their couches. I’m now taking applications for which team to cheer for. I’m open to any team except for the Kansas City Chiefs, because they’re too boring, and the New England Patriots, for obvious reasons.

Another Shutout

• For the second time this season, the Green Bay Packers were shut out at Lambeau Field, this time against the Minnesota Vikings. Ouch. That’s pretty embarrassing.

• I thought Brett Hundley played much better than his putrid stat line -- 17-of-40 for 130 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions -- but he wasn’t getting help from anyone. They were without Davante Adams, who sat out the game with a concussion, and then lost Jordy Nelson (oh no!!!) to a shoulder injury and Aaron Jones to a knee injury during the game.  Beyond the injuries, the Packers receivers kept on dropping great passes from Brett!! There had to be at least five or six big passes that hit the receivers in the hands that they just couldn’t hold on to. Poor Brett.

• It’s hard to tell if Green Bay was just being cautious with injuries since the game was meaningless, but it felt like some sort of apocalyptic story where there’s only a few survivors left. (Though the scrappy bands of misfits in those stories usually have better outcomes than the Packers did on Saturday.) In addition to Adams, guard Jahri Evans, Clay Matthews, Nick Perry, and Damarious Randall were all inactive coming in. During the game, they lost not only Nelson and Jones, but also backup right tackle Jason Spriggs to a very serious knee injury (could cost him all of next year) and tight end Richard Rodgers. 

• Randall Cobb was pretty sad after the game, saying he “never felt more defeated, more embarrassed about a performance.”

No, Randall, you're not a loser! You're great!

• At one point in the game, left tackle David Bakhtiari allowed zero pressures on 20 passes against Everson Griffen, who’s pretty darn good. 

• Apparently some teams in the league are trying to say that the Packers did not follow IR protocol with Aaron Rodgers and should now be forced to release Rodgers. LOL okay.

• What do I have to do to make McCarthy stop trying to use Cobb in the backfield? It’s a nice idea and all, but have they ever gained positive yardage on that? (Hint: no.)

• When Antonio Brown went down last week, he had more receiving yards than four teams’ receiving corps!

• I’m sick of Tom Brady just being the go-to MVP leader when no one else is having a particularly marvelous season. Yes, I understand that Brady is in contention for being the best ever, but he and the Patriots are two last-minute mistakes away (Texans, Bucs) and two bullpoop calls away (Jets, Steelers) from being 8-7 instead of 12-3. Maybe it’s time for a non-QB MVP, eh?

• A couple of weeks ago, after getting creamed by the Jaguars, Houston Texans defensive end Jadeveon Clowney was asked if he thought Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles had improved, and responded, “He’s trash.” (Rude!) Jacksonville fans took up a campaign to order trash cans online and send them to Clowney. In the spirit of the season, Clowney filled up the trash cans with toys and donated them to a local shelter. 

Touché to everyone involved.

• Jimmy Garoppolo seems to be working out alright for the San Francisco 49ers. After winning just one of their first 11 games, they are now 4-0 with Jimmy at the helm. Before he came, they averaged 17 points per game; in the last four, they’re averaging 27.5 (that average is helped a lot by the 44 they hung on the Jaguars on Sunday).

• People are understandably up in arms about the latest “what exactly is a catch” debate following an overturned Buffalo Bills touchdown in New England. (A controversial decision by the officials benefited the Patriots?? How strange.) The rule has survived a lot of offseason Competition Committee meetings, but it’s hard to see it at not being at least tweaked this year. The refs actually called the play correctly (a touchdown), but the review from New York overruled it, despite zero “clear and obvious” evidence to overturn. (I think it probably wasn’t a touchdown, but that was the call on the field and it should have stood.)

• There are three Watt brothers in the NFL. They all went to Wisconsin, JJ plays for the Texans, TJ for the Steelers, and Derek for the Chargers. Their mom found a way to support them all with one very creative jersey.

• Normally, the network pregame shows are just a bunch of incoherent buffoonery and 60-year-old men guffawing at things that even a five-year-old wouldn’t find funny, but the Fox referee parody of the famous Love Actually scene was hilarious!

• (You can’t see it in that clip because it cuts away, but normally when it goes back to the guys in the studio, they're loyally guffawing over whatever sketch, but this time it was dead silent because none of them understood the reference, and Curt Menefee had to explain that it was a reference to a wildly popular romantic comedy.)

• The Dallas Cowboys lost and were knocked out of playoff contention, which normally I would enjoy, except for 1) the loss was to the Seattle Seahawks and kept them in the playoff hunt; and 2) I was really hoping the Cowboys fans would spend another week reciting to themselves all the scenarios in which they could make the playoffs and would have their hopes dashed in a heartbreaking play in the final moments of Week 17. Alas, you can’t have everything. 

• It’s bizarre to win a game that keeps you in contention, with everything riding on the next week, and then go up to the losing coach in full view of cameras and tell him to "come get me" whenever you are a free agent. That's what Seattle safety Earl Thomas did. After the game, he confirmed that he was asking for Dallas to sign him when the time came, but he tried to spin it as 'I really want to be in Seattle, but whenever I'm not...' which did not make things better. This is weird, but if I were a teammate or coach, it would irritate me that he's not thinking about next week. Your playoff lives are in the balance! Why are you thinking about joining other teams when you are still trying to make the playoffs with your current one?

• A blocked extra point returned for a two-point conversion!!! I LOVE that play!! The high five at the end is the cherry on top.

• In case you hadn’t realized, the Cleveland Browns are so bad. They went into Sunday's game against the 4-10 Chicago Bears knowing that this was their last shot for a victory in the 2017 season. The Bears are terrible -- and the Browns didn't even compete! They lost 20-3. You couldn't even manage a touchdown in what is essentially your Super Bowl?

No, DeShone, the dream of 1-15 is now a distant memory.

• Why are the Detroit Lions so bad? They seem like they have so much talent, but they’ve again missed the playoffs and are 8-7. That record doesn’t sound terrible, but only one of the eight wins came against a team that is currently over .500. Their other wins were against: Arizona, New York Giants, Green Bay, Cleveland, Chicago (twice), and Tampa Bay. Why aren’t they better?

• I get really mad at teams who put up poor performances when their seasons are on the line. The Lions were playing against the Bengals, whose season is long over and who were down several players to injury, too. When one team is trying to make the playoffs and the other team has nothing to play for, how do you not at least make it close? Nine penalties, Detroit?? Don’t you care? Don’t you care, Jim Caldwell?

• The New Orleans Saints were playing bitter division rival Atlanta Falcons. How bitter, you ask? Bitter enough that they had the halftime performers spell out 28-3 on the field. 

• The Jaguars had a bit of an ugly scene on the sideline when two of their defensive players got it a fight. The real hero of this clip is the Gatorade dude. How does he stay so calm??

• You guys, I think I found it -- the worst officiating of the season. Apparently there’s a new rule designed to speed up kickoffs that says kickoffs can begin as soon as a play clock starts. (Play clock or "a" clock, I'm not sure, but the announcers talk about it in the second link below.) So the Tennessee Titans ran onto the field while the Los Angeles Rams were still milling about, kicked an onside kick, and recovered it. The referees threw a penalty flag. Then they said actually, there was no penalty, but there was a timeout called by the Rams before the kick. The Rams head coach was like, “Uhhh, I didn’t call a timeout, but…” So the refs came back on the field and said actually there was no timeout, but the ball had not been put "in play." Here's the actual onside kick. And here's the refs obviously trying to explain away their bumbling errors. 

• Eww, the Houston Texans finished with 51 passing yards in their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The silver lining is that some of those yards came on this eye-popping DeAndre Hopkins catch. (Yes, there’s some offensive pass interference there; don’t care.)

• One team has 25% of the ejections this year. Guess which one.

• We all want Seattle to miss the playoffs, but for that to happen, the wildly inconsistent Atlanta Falcons have to beat the Carolina Panthers next week. Carolina has already clinched a berth, but they’ll be playing for home-field advantage. Ugh, I hate having to depend on Atlanta. In the AFC, it’s the Tennessee Titans, California Chargers, and Buffalo Bills fighting for the two Wild Card spots. It all comes down to next week!

• Merry Christmas!!

So Much for the Playoffs

• It was a rough comeback for Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay’s 31-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers. I would have been totally fine with the Packers losing, but did they have to cut the Panther’s lead to one score with three minutes left and then recover the onside kick before losing the game? That seemed unnecessarily cruel to fans.

• It was a wonder that Green Bay was even in it at the end, considering how their defense played, plus having four turnovers on the game. The Panthers had six first downs on the opening drive, during which Christian McCaffrey faced little-to-no resistance from the Packers defense.

Don't know when exactly in the game this picture was taken, but I know
that there's about a 0% chance that HaHa Clinton-Dix made the tackle.

• There were some offensive highlights, however, including this beautiful cutback by Green Eyes to get into the endzone.

• Despite the three interceptions, Rodgers looked pretty darn good, and it was a bittersweet reminder of what having a good quarterback feels like. 

• Here’s a weird and ominous photo of Aaron Rodgers in the dark that fits my mood. 

This is from the actual game day photos on the Packers website...

• What was that crap from Thomas Davis taking out Davante Adams following a Green Bay interception?? Davis is generally well respected and liked in the league, and he has offered an apology, but also said he wasn’t trying to hurt Adams. One might be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, except for the fact of his arms. Look at where his arms are on that hit. They are at his side -- he’s not trying to tackle him; he’s headbutting him. 

• Davis was suspended for two games (could be reduced to one on appeal), but how was he not ejected from the game? His dirty and illegal hit knocked Adams out of the game, which had huge repercussions on the outcome -- Geronimo Allison isn’t in the game on that last possession with Adams healthy, and if Allison doesn’t fumble the ball, Packers still have a chance at forcing overtime. Who’s to say what would have happened, of course, but it seems grossly unfair that Davis gets to stay in the game and contribute for his team while the Packers are stuck with Geronimo Allison because of him. 

• This is the second time this season that an opponent has taken a dangerous, dangerous shot at Adams’ head. No one can blame him for being angry about it. Having two concussions in a season is a big concern; the Packers should shut him down along with Rodgers.

• So, Jason Spriggs is back to being terrible. The right tackle allowed two sacks on Rodgers on a crucial fourth-down drive, including a fourth-down sack that gave Carolina the ball back. 

"Oops."

• If Panther’ receiver Devin Funchess wants to grow his personal brand, he should have his own motto: “Bunches of Fun-chess.”

• Welp, the Green Bay Packers will not be in the playoffs for the first time in nine years. It’s going to be a very strange postseason without the Green and Gold. It’s very painful for me, as you can imagine, but it’s for the best. Now we can shut down Aaron Rodgers and just concentrate on our draft picks. 

• Here’s Randall in a tux to soften the blow.

• Antonio Brown became the first receiver in history with five consecutive 100-catch seasons, on Sunday, but suffered a serious leg injury. His partially torn calf muscle sounds extremely painful, but experts whose calf muscles are currently intact assure us that he’ll be back for the postseason, no biggie. 

• How adorable is Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota? Here he is opening up his weekly media availability by apologizing to reporters for being short with them after last week’s game. 

Watch @Titans QB Marcus Mariota apologize to the media for being short with us after the game on Sunday #titanon2 @WKRN pic.twitter.com/srz50v9V8E

— Cal Baxter (@CalBaxter) December 14, 2017

• I was curious and had to look up just exactly what this “rude and inappropriate” interview looked like. He was curt and said “pissed,” which is apparently what drew his mother’s ire.

• Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater played in a game for the first time in almost two calendar years. It was pretty cool to see how happy his teammates and the fans were to see him on the field. (It was also pretty funny and anti-climactic when he threw an interception on his first pass.) 

Welcome back, @teddyb_h2o! #SKOL pic.twitter.com/SJQQuybmhk

— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2017

• Last week, New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple was inactive for the game and ran afoul of league rules by tweeting from the bench. Okay, fine, that’s not smart, but it’s not egregious … until he retweeted a highlight of the Dallas Cowboys Rod Smith (Apple’s college teammate) scoring the touchdown that sealed the Cowboys’ victory over the Giants. Why would you do that???

• That Pittsburgh-New England game ending was the biggest pile of horse manure I’ve ever seen. Don’t tell me Jesse James didn’t score. The common take on this is that, while the rule is terrible, it was the right call, but I’m not convinced. THE BALL IS ALLOWED TO MOVE! The ball is allowed to move when it hits the ground as long as the receiver maintains control. The ball definitely moves, but I’m not sold James lost control and I certainly don’t think it was “clear and obvious” enough to overturn.

• I should step up and be honest that I’m the reason that Pittsburgh touchdown was overturned. I jinxed the Steelers. I was watching their incredible last-minute comeback, and I started typing up my notes, revelling in the despised Patriots second consecutive loss, laughing joyously to myself at the thought of the faces of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski. I shouldn’t have started celebrating until the clock was at zero. I should have known that the officials will do whatever is necessary to assist the Patriots to victory.

• Note to angry Twitter trolls: check your spelling first.

• I will actually somewhat defend the “process of the catch” rule. I think it can and should be tweaked (see option #1 here), but I also think people don’t necessarily understand the repercussions of just saying two-feet-plus-possession is a catch. My concern with that approach is that it’s going to highly, highly incentivize hitting a receiver as hard as is physically possible in order to force a fumble. How, for example, would you square that approach with the defenseless receiver possession? If a receiver goes up in the air for a catch, for example, what is the defense supposed to do? (Kind of how it is now, but the “process of the catch” at least gives the defender a tiny window to defend the catch.) I think changing the rule would lead to a lot more dangerous hits and injuries.

• One rule that NO ONE can possible defend is the weird fumble-out-of-the-endzone-and-apparently-that’s-a-turnover rule. That's what cost the Oakland Raiders the game against the Dallas Cowboys. The rule doesn’t make sense and no one likes it or understands it. The idea is to penalize the fumble so players can’t just lunge for the endzone without having to protect the ball (a team shouldn’t ever benefit from fumbling the ball, but the punishment is way out of proportion to the crime. As many people have proposed, instead of turning the ball over, it should be something like a 15-yard penalty (and the down would be lost), which is a significant penalty for fumbling, but not so outrageous as taking the ball away from the offense. (Even this fix I have a problem with. If the ball hits the pylon, why isn’t that a touchdown, play over??)

• The Blake Bortles jokes just write themselves.

Playoffs, lets go!

• Here’s untamed beast Ndamukong Suh jumping offsides and instead of stopping because it's a dead ball, plowing right on and punching Tyrod Taylor in the head.

• The California Chargers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 30-13. What did I tell you about believing in the Chargers??

• What in tarnation was going on with the Dallas Cowboys’ first-down measurement against the Oakland Raiders?? 4th-and-inches, Dak Prescott dove for the first down and he was really, really close. The refs brought out the chains for measurement and even then, it was tough to tell. So ref Gene Steratore took out an index card to see if it could fit in between the ball and the chain. It did … and he signaled for first down.

• But, but, but -- there was obviously space there…? I don’t get it at all. Gene, can you explain?

• Jason Garrett took the words right outta my mouth.

• (I actually think Dak got the first and the spot they gave him was a tiny bit short.)

• I’m actually very happy for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They used to be a joke and now they’ve put together a very formidable team (at least a very formidable defense).  

• With the Cleveland Browns at 0-14, do we cheer for them to get a pity win? Or for the accomplishment of 0-16? If anyone could lose to them, it’s the Chicago Bears, so next Sunday’s their last chance. (They play the Steelers in Week 17, and that ain’t happening.) While I can appreciate the beauty and symmetry of 0-16, I really would like the Browns to have something positive happen to them this year. And I would like it to come at the expense of the Bears.

• Rams running back Todd Gurley had three touchdowns … in the first half. They came against the Seattle Seahawks, which makes Gurley something of a national hero. Where shall we put the statue of him?

• Ooooh, drama in the Seahawks’ locker room! Safety Earl Thomas, who is out for the season, commented on teammate Bobby Wagner’s play on Sunday. Wagner was playing through a hamstring injury that was obviously hobbling him. When asked about the mounting injuries, Thomas commended Wagner’s toughness, but said he didn’t think Wagner should have been playing because he was so limited. Wagner then tweeted (and deleted): “E keep my name out yo mouth. Stop being jealous of other people success. I still hope you keep balling bro.” 

• Man, every team needs a little of what the Philadelphia Eagle special teams has. On Sunday against the Giants, Philly blocked a field goal, an extra point, and a punt!!

• Now that the Packers are out, I’m going to have to find some way to survive the rest of the season and the playoffs.