The Week That Was | National Championship Preview | Wild Card Weekend Recap & Divisional Playoff Preview | NFL Offensive Rookie & Defensive Rookie of The Year

The National Championship Game between Notre Dame and Ohio State should be a riveting game where both programs are starving for a national title because of the long droughts of not winning a national championship. For example Ohio State hasn't won a national championship since 2014. The Notre Dame college football program hasn't won a national championship since 1988 during the Lou Holtz era. Something has to give for both of these programs. Overall this game should be close where Notre Dame defensively should be very opportunistic in terms of forcing turnovers plus attempting to take away the dynamic QB/WR combo of Will Howard and Jeremiah Smith. The Notre Dame defense has to generate a pass rush to create havoc against the vaunted Ohio State offense.

On the flip side, the Notre Dame offense will definitely rely on their rushing attack against the Ohio State defense but the passing game led by Quarterback Riley Leonard of Notre Dame has to upgrade through the air and the potential X-factor could possibly be Wide Receiver Jaden Greathouse who caught 7 passes for 105 yards and one touchdown catch against Penn State. Can Greathouse be greater against the pass defense of The Ohio State Buckeyes in terms of having an encore performance. Overall this is the Ohio State Buckeyes championship to win and they will prevail against Notre Dame winning by score of 24-20.

Let's move forward to the NBA recap of the week that was in the NBA and what stood out was the rematch between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers where the Thunder returned the favor avenging the previous loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers by score of 129-122 on January 8th. But the Thunder gave the Cavaliers their worst loss of the season:134-114 on January 16th at the home court of the Thunder. Point Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 40 points and 8 assists in 3 quarters. Lu Dort scored a season high 22 points and Jalen Williams added 19 points. Defensively OKC from a defensive standpoint held Cleveland Cavaliers Donavan Mitchell to 8 points on 3-15 shooting. Currently Cleveland and OKC had the same identical records after this matchup took place: 34-6.

The Wild Card Weekend of The NFL Playoffs was a dud due to the product being led by noncompetitive and not well-played games. The Chargers should have been up 14-0 but instead the score was only 6-0 in the 1st quarter. Quarterback Justin Herbert of The Los Angeles Chargers played terrible throwing 4 interceptions including a pick six from Safety Eric Murray of the Houston Texans of 38 yards. The Texans defense had 4 sacks. Offensively the Texans Running Back Joe Mixon ran for 106 yards on 25 carries including a rushing touchdown. Quarterback CJ Stroud of The Texans threw for 282 yards some of those yards was to Wide Receiver Nico Collins who had 7 catches for 122 yards and a touchdown catch. The Texans won by score of 32-12.

The night-capper of the doubleheader on Saturday was the Baltimore Ravens vs the Pittsburgh Steelers where the Ravens won 28-14 dominating the time of possession which was 39:33. The rushing attack of Baltimore was in full swing where in total the Ravens rushing attack resulted in 299 yards featuring 186 yards on 26 carries including 2 rushing touchdowns from Running Back Derrick Henry and 81 yards rushing from Quarterback Lamar Jackson. This was noncompetitive because the Ravens had a 21-0 lead at halftime. Now the Ravens will play the Buffalo Bills who won 31-7 against the overmatched Denver Broncos. Quarterback Josh Allen of Buffalo Bills threw for 272 yards including 2 touchdown passes resulting in a 20-26 performance and Running Back James Cook of Buffalo Bills ran for 120 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown run.

The Eagles beat the Packers by score of 22-10 as Running Back Saquon Barkley of The Philadelphia Eagles ran for 119 yards on 25 carries and led by a defense of the Eagles which had 2 sacks and 3 interceptions off of Quarterback Jordan Love of The Green Bay Packers. The best game of Wild Card Weekend was the Washington Commanders beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by score of 23-20 on a walk off game winning field goal by Kicker Zane Gonzalez from 37 yards. This was the first playoff win for the Washington Commanders since 2006. Quarterback Jayden Daniels of the Washington Commanders continues to play beyond his years as a rookie sensation culminated by impeccable poise and leadership passing for 268 yards including 2 touchdown passes completing 24-35. Finally on Monday the Rams beat the Vikings by score of 27-9 led by the Los Angeles Rams defense resulting in a NFL playoff record tying 9 sacks on Quarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings. This game was played on a neutral field due to the wildfires in Los Angeles. Quarterback Matthew Stafford of The Rams threw for 209 yards including 2 touchdown passes. Rookie Linebacker Jared Verse of the Los Angeles Rams recovered a fumble resulting in a touchdown from 57 yards.

Offensive Player of The Week:

Quarterback Jayden Daniels of Washington Commanders

24-35, 268 yards, 2 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Defensive Player of The Week:

Linebacker Nolan Smith of Philadelphia Eagles

8 tackles,2 tackles for loss and 2 sacks against the Green Bay Packers.

The best weekend in the NFL is on the horizon as the Divisional Playoffs will begin on Saturday with the Kansas City Chiefs who are looking to begin the quest for a 3-peat an unprecedented feat playing the wild card Houston Texans at home. The Chiefs know what's at stake so the Chiefs should be ready to play and win 27-17. The Detroit Lions host the Washington Commanders on Saturday night and key matchup is the run defense of Washington versus the vaunted rushing attack of Detroit where the Commanders run defense was the worst in the NFL allowing 137.5 yards rushing. Look for Detroit being aggressive with the rushing attack. Meanwhile on Sunday afternoon the Rams will play at Philadelphia against the Eagles. Can Running Back Saquon Barkley of the Eagles have an encore performance similar to what he did rushing for 255 yards in Week 12 against the Rams. The Eagles should win this game being at home. The offense of Philly should be at a fever pitch scoring more points than a week ago. Philadelphia Eagles will beat the Los Angeles Rams.

Last but not least the main event of the Divisional Playoffs will be the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens. Two great quarterbacks in their prime of their respective careers:Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Allen had a 40 combined touchdowns for the fifth straight year plus playing with an offense that was the NFL's first to score 30 touchdowns both passing and rushing. Jackson combined for a career best 45 touchdowns resulting in a NFL first running an offense to top 4,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing. The Ravens have the better team but Buffalo at home will find a way to win the latter part of the 4th quarter and prevail to advance.

Offensive Rookie of The Year:

Tight End Brock Bowers of Las Vegas Raiders

112 catches,1,194 yards & 5 touchdowns

Defensive Rookie of The Year:

Linebacker Jared Verse of The Los Angeles Rams

4.5 sacks,66 tackles,2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries