The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.
Good morning! Stay healthy today. Inside:
NFL Playoffs: A classic (and Pyrrhic?) Broncos win
Two teams punched conference championship game tickets last night. Let’s take the simplest result first: Seahawks 41, 49ers 6, in one of the more total playoff dominations in a long time. The Seahawks continue to be the Super Bowl favorites, and their chances only look better given what happened in the other conference yesterday. (More on that shortly.)
“Ferocious” is one very good word to describe how Seattle looks. Sam Darnold’s health was a genuine question mark entering the day, but things now look rosy all around for the QB and his ‘Hawks. If these guys are scoring 41 points going forward (not likely, to be fair), good luck to everyone else.
Now, to the dramatic and somewhat stunning turn of events in Denver: Broncos 33, Bills 30 in overtime, with a chip-shot Will Lutz field goal finishing off Buffalo. Josh Allen made a handful of devastating mistakes as the Bills came a whisker short of history in at least two ways. The Bills failed to win in overtime for the seventh time in Allen’s career (he’s now 0-7, counting three losses in the playoffs) and failed to improve road teams’ 1-85 playoff record (per CBS) when finishing minus-3 or worse in the turnover margin. Allen was in tears at his postgame press conference, knowing what he’d squandered.
Bills coach Sean McDermott is unhappy with the officiating on an attempted Brandin Cooks catch that became a Denver interception and led to the winning score in overtime. Your mileage may vary there, but from here, it’s a hard sell that the play was anything other than an INT. (Be careful about looking at isolated screenshots that look favorable to Cooks here.)
Meanwhile, the Broncos won, but at an enormous cost. Quarterback Bo Nix is out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle suffered in overtime. The Broncos are maybe the trickiest team to have this happen to, given how much football Nix has played the past two years. Backup QB Jarrett Stidham has thrown as many NFL passes during that time as you and I have: zero. Stidham has suddenly become very important at work. Could he live out a Nick Foles fantasy? Sure. Denver just has to win one home game to get to the Super Bowl, and weird things can happen in small samples. No sugarcoating Nix’s injury, though. Either the Patriots or Texans will soon have a juicy opportunity.
More reactions: Seattle is in fact very good, though some 49ers remained defiant in the loss. And in Denver, Allen’s tears should offer Buffalo a lesson.
Two more divisional round games today. If you like football playoffs, what a few days these are, with Miami and Indiana playing for the college title tomorrow night. Get prepped for that one with The Audible.
News to Know
NFL coaching carousel heats up
The Falcons have landed the top target in their coaching search, signing Kevin Stefanski to a five-year deal last night. President of football Matt Ryan hired the 43-year-old former Browns coach, who was in high demand across the league. More details in our full report.
Earlier yesterday, John Harbaugh and the Giants put pen to paper on a five-year contract three days after negotiations between the sides commenced. Notably, Harbaugh told The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor he will report directly to Giants co-owner John Mara rather than GM Joe Schoen. Read more on Harbaugh’s deal.
In other coaching news around the league:
- The Packers shut down any rumors about Matt LaFleur’s job security by signing him to a multi-year extension. (Green Bay is also nearing an extension with GM Brian Gutekunst.)
- The Titans scheduled second interviews with multiple candidates — which included Stefanski before his hire — as Dianna Russini reported yesterday.
More news:
-
One name that certainly won’t show up for those coaching vacancies: Curt Cignetti, who strongly shut down any NFLrumors.
-
Air Force men’s basketball coach Joe Scott was suspended indefinitely amid an investigation into his treatment of cadet-athletes. More here.
-
Longtime MLB reliever and World Series champion Ryan Pressly announced his decision to retire after a 13-year major-league career. Read his full statement.
- A rare college hockey fight broke out on Friday. Yikes.
Watch Guide
📺 NFL: Texans at Patriots | 3 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC
Houston’s defense is terrifying, but so is C.J. Stroud’s ball security. If the QB plays clean, Will Anderson and his defensive friends should keep the Texans in this game until the end. Speaking of Anderson, New England rookie left tackle Will Campbell faces the assignment of his life.
📺 NFL: Rams at Bears | 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC
At the time of this writing, it looks like it could feel like around 2 degrees in Chicago at kickoff. Not ideal for the L.A. visitors, and the Bears might have literal divine intervention on their side.
Pulse Picks
Our friends at Peak asked over 100 people in sports which leaders they most admire. Here are the top 40.
Inbox zero. I recently switched from Gmail to Fastmail (highly recommended) and used the opportunity to finally tame my inbox of 32,000 emails dating back to 2007. It feels great to have a completely empty inbox, and along the way, I cherished reliving so many experiences lost to time. My favorite part: re-reading mundane correspondence with my sweet grandma, who died almost 13 years ago. — Alex Iniguez
Our staff dished out midseason grades for every NHL squad.
I stumbled across the British sitcom “Big Boys” (Hulu) recently and was thrilled to see there are three full seasons. Nostalgic, heartfelt and a little (OK, a lot) crass. — Torrey Hart
Teams across sports have spent lavishly, amassed talent and won consecutive championships. But have any done it quite like the Dodgers?
I recently upped my workout routine, and recovery boots are a must. I “borrowed” my sister’s, but of course, Wirecutter broke down the pros and cons and suggested the best options. — Emily Olsen
On “The Athletic Show” this week, go behind the curtain of the most intense broadcast in media, NFL RedZone, and get to know exuberant host Scott Hanson. Stream it on Fire TV, The Athletic app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Wirecutter’s favorite coffee subscriptions.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Bo Nix fallout.
Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)