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| Friday, February 9, 2024 |
| Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| Before we get to our normal stuff today, I have some good news to start off with: This won't be your final newsletter before the Super Bowl and that's because you'll be getting a special SUPER BOWL LVIII edition around 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, so remember to check your inbox then. |
| Although the Super Bowl is just two days away, that won't be the only thing we're going to talk about today and that's because there was an AWARDS CEREMONY last night. We'll go over the winners of all the NFL's major awards, plus take a quick look at this year's Hall of Fame class. |
| Basically, we have a huge newsletter today, so let's get to the rundown. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. Actually, you don't even have to tell all of your friends; just tell two of your friends and I'll be happy. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let's get to the rundown. |
| 1. Today's show: Best bets for Super Bowl 58 |
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| With the Super Bowl just two days away, you can probably guess what today's episode of the podcast is about and if you guessed the Super Bowl, you are 100% right. |
| For today's show, host Katie Mox was joined by Will Brinson along with R.J. White and Alex "PropStarz" Selesnick -- two of our gambling gurus over at SportsLine -- and the four of them offered some of their best bets for the Super Bowl. |
| The crew spent an entire hour handing out picks, and we're going to go over a few of their best bets here. Since there are only two games, their picks were all over the place: They bet on props, they bet on team totals and yes, they also bet on the point spread in each game like they normally do. |
| Will Brinson (30-32-1 on the season) |
| Christian McCaffrey OVER 4.5 receptionsNick Bosa UNDER 0.5 sacksChiefs (+2.5) to cover against 49ers |
| R.J. White (27-33-3 on the season) |
| Chiefs team total OVER 23.5 pointsBrock Purdy UNDER 1.5 TD passesJersey number of first TD is OVER 19.5 |
| Katie Mox (27-29 on the season) |
| 49ers money line over Chiefs (-130)Brock Purdy UNDER 225.5 passing yardsValdez-Scantling OVER 1.5 receptions |
| As for PropStarz, he handed out a few of his favorite props for the weekend, because when your nickname is PropStarz, that's what the people expect. |
| Chiefs vs. 49ers UNDER 23.5 total points in the first halfRashee Rice UNDER 6.5 receptionsIsiah Pachecho OVER 66.6 rushing yards |
| PropStarz went 1-2 in the conference title round and is now 35-24 on the season. (PropStarz started the season 2-7, but he's been on an absolute tear since Week 4, going 33-17). |
| To hear what the rest of the best bets are for the divisional round -- and there are quite a few -- be sure to click here so you can listen to the entire episode of the podcast. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here. |
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| 2. NFL Honors: Lamar Jackson wins second MVP in four years |
| The only problem with NFL Honors this year is that there just wasn't much drama surrounding the awards. For instance, everyone has been assuming for the past month that Lamar Jackson was going to win MVP and that's exactly what happened. The Ravens QB took home the award for the second time in his career. |
| Actually, there was a small bit of drama and that came from the Coach of the Year award. Kevin Stefanski and Demeco Ryans actually tied for the award with 165 points each, but Stefanski took home the honor because he beat Ryans in the tiebreaker, which was most first-place votes (21 to 20). |
| Also, Joe Flacco topped Damar Hamlin for the Comeback Player of the Years even though Hamlin received eight more first-place votes. A big reason Flacco won is because Hamlin got completely left off of eight ballots. |
| One twist in the awards is that Houston swept the Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards with C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. both winning. The two Texans players became just the fourth set of teammates to sweep the rookie awards joining the 1967 Lions (Mel Farr and Lem Barney), 2017 Saints (Marshon Lattimore and Alvin Kamara) and 2022 Jets (Sauce Gardener and Garrett Wilson). |
| Here's a look at all the awards that were handed out on Thursday night: |
| AP Most Valuable Player: Lamar Jackson (Ravens)AP Coach of the Year: Kevin Stefanski (Browns)AP Offensive Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey (49ers)AP Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett (Browns)AP Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Flacco (Browns) AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: C.J. Stroud (Texans)AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Will Anderson Jr. (Texans)AP Assistant Coach of the year: Jim Schwartz (Browns)Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year: Cam Heyward (Steelers)FedEx Air Player of the Year: Brock Purdy (49ers)FedEx Ground Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey (49ers) |
| If you missed the NFL Honors ceremony, you can relive it by clicking here and checking out our live blog from the event. |
| 3. 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class revealed |
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| Although the NFL's biggest awards were handed out on Thursday night, that wasn't the only thing that went down during NFL Honors. The Pro Football Hall of Fame also revealed its class of 2024 and here's a look at who got in: |
| Dwight Freeney, DE/OLB: Colts (2002-12), Chargers (2013-14), Cardinals (2015), Falcons (2016), Seahawks (2017), Lions (2017) |
| Devin Hester, PR/KR/WR: Bears (2006-13), Falcons (2014-15), Ravens (2016)Andre Johnson, WR: Texans (2003-14), Colts (2015), Titans (2016)Julius Peppers: Panthers (2002-09, 2017-18), Bears (2010-13), Packers (2014-16)Patrick Willis, LB: 49ers (2007-14)Randy Gradishar (senior candidate): Broncos (1974-83) Steve McMichael (senior candidate): Patriots (1980), Bears (1981-93), Packers (1994) |
| You can take a closer look at each player's career by clicking here. |
| If you want to know who might get voted into the Hall of Fame next year, we took an early look at some of the candidates for the class of 2025 and you can check that out here. |
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| 4. Super Bowl LVIII picks: Everyone is on the Chiefs |
| I've basically spent half my week tracking down everyone's Super Bowl pick here at CBSSports.com and although we don't have every pick in yet -- I promise I'll have all of them by Sunday -- I did have several sent to me over the past 48 hours, so I'm going to share them with you now. |
| The writers I feature in this section every week combined to go 3-1 against the spread in the conference title round, which means we're now 57-42-3 ATS with our picks that have been featured in the newsletter. |
| With that in mind, here is what the six of us see happening in the Super Bowl in a game where the 49ers are currently favored by 2 points. |
| Pete Prisco: Chiefs 24-20 over 49ers. "Early on, I see two teams running the football against weak rush defenses. The game will be close late. But in the end, it will be Patrick Mahomes time." For a full explanation of Prisco's Super Bowl pick, be sure to click here.Jeff Kerr: Chiefs 30-24 over 49ers. "The 49ers have the better roster, but the Chiefs have the championship pedigree and the edge in the trenches. Kansas City is poised for its third title in five years. Not a gambler, but the spread is Chiefs +2, so they'll cover, too." For a full explanation of Kerr's Super Bowl pick, be sure to click here.Cody Benjamin: Chiefs 27-23 over 49ers. "They say defense wins championships, however, and while San Francisco has a reputation for fast, physical play on that side, the Chiefs actually have a clear advantage there. Steve Spagnuolo's in the midst of his best stretch as Andy Reid's defensive coordinator, and he's got imposing difference-makers on every level" For a full explanation of Benjamin's Super Bowl pick, be sure to click here.Jordan Dajani: Chiefs over 49ers. "The Chief are an underdog and Patrick Mahomes is 10-1-1 ATS in his career as an underdog along with 9-3 straight up. He's also 3-0 SU as an underdog in his playoff career, with two of those wins coming over the last two weeks." If you want a full list of Super Bowl bold predictions from Dajani, be sure to click here.Tyler Sullivan: Chiefs 24-20 over 49ers. "Andy Reid is 3-0 against the spread and straight-up against Kyle Shanahan and all of those victories have been by double digits. While the Niners are certainly a talented club, it just feels like more of the advantages lean in the Chiefs favor. They have the better defense, quarterback, and coach in my estimation." For a full explanation of Sullivan's Super Bowl pick, be sure to click here. John Breech: Chiefs 31-20 over 49ers. "After watching the 49ers defense struggle through the first two rounds of the playoffs, I have no faith in their ability to slow down Patrick Mahomes. I think the Chiefs QB is going to have a huge game, and unlike that past few years of his career, he actually gets some help from his defense, which has been pretty dominant so far in the postseason." For the rest of my pick, be sure to click here. |
| For more playoff picks, you can check out our CBS Sports picks page here. |
| 5. Bold predictions for Super Bowl 58 |
| Every Friday this season, Garrett Podell has given us five bold predictions for the upcoming weekend of games , and this week is no different. |
| Let's see what Garrett has in store for us the Super Bowl: |
| 1. Brock Purdy gets overwhelmed by the blitz. "Purdy has been strong against the blitz all season: he threw 15 passing touchdowns to just two interceptions while throwing 1,488 passing yards, good for 10.5 yards per pass attempt when blitzed this season. Purdy's numbers are good for the highest yards per pass attempt in the NFL against the blitz, and his 15 passing touchdowns versus the blitz were tied for the most in the league as well. However, Purdy under pressure, when the blitz gets home or otherwise, is a different story. He was pressured on 39.5% of his dropbacks in the regular season, the eighth-highest rate in the NFL. Under pressure, Purdy threw seven interceptions in the regular season, tied for the fifth-most in the NFL. That's the Purdy we'll see." |
| 2. Travis Kelce goes for over 100 and a TD. "There has also never been a better playoff pass-catcher in league history than Kelce. His 156 postseason catches broke the previous all-time record of 151 set by the overall receiving G.O.A.T Jerry Rice. Kelce is four playoff receiving touchdowns away from passing Rice's postseason receiving touchdowns record of 22. While San Francisco is top tier at defending tight ends, Kelce goes for over 100 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown against the 49ers on Sunday." |
| 3. Patrick Mahomes cooks the 49ers. "Mahomes shredded the 49ers secondary the last time these two teams played, a Chiefs 44-23 win at San Francisco in Week 7 of the 2022 season. He tossed three touchdowns and racked up 423 passing yards while completing 25 of his 34 passing attempts. That led to a career-high 12.4 yards per pass attempt overall for Mahomes in the victory. He particularly feasted on their zone coverage, averaging 15.1 yards per pass attempt against it, the highest rate by any quarterback in a game versus any team in the last four seasons. It feels like we could see something similar again." |
| Garrett actually has five bold predictions for Sunday, and if you want to see all five along with his explanation for each prediction, you can check those out here. |
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| 6. Extra points: Cowboys finally hire a defensive coordinator |
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| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
| Mike Zimmer returning to Dallas. Nearly 20 years have leaving Dallas, Mike Zimmer is returning. The former Vikings coach is expected to get the defensive coordinator job. Zimmer's NFL coaching career started in Dallas in 1994 and he stayed there until 2006, so he definitely has some history with the organization. 49ers had to deal with an early-morning fire alarm . The 49ers had to deal with an early-morning wake-up call on Thursday. An alarm at their hotel went off around 6 a.m. and it went off for nearly 18 minutes, so there's good chance they weren't able to sleep through it. You can read more about it here.Madrid to host NFL regular-season game in 2025: The NFL continues to plant its global footprint, announcing Friday that a game is set for Spain in 2025. The game will be played at the iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home to Real Madrid C.F. It's too soon to know who will play, but the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears do have international marketing rights in Spain. You can read more about it here. Zay Flowers being investigated for domestic assault. The Ravens rookie is being investigated for an incident that went down on Jan. 21. You can check out more details on the situation here. Tom Brady surprised Belichick wasn't hired. With all the coaching jobs now full, Brady admitted that he was surprised that Belichick didn't get hired for one of them. "I'm surprised that the greatest coach ever doesn't have a job, absolutely. But I'm surprised [by] a lot of things in the NFL," Brady said. You can see Brady's full comments here. Patriots have a new offensive coordinator. The Patriots are turning to Alex Van Pelt to run their offense with the team officially hiring him on Thursday. Van Pelt spent the past four seasons as the Browns OC before surprisingly getting fired following the 2023 season. Some owner upset with 49ers over compensatory picks. Apparently, some owners have complained to the league office about the fact that the 49ers have been getting a lot of extra compensatory picks under the NFL's policy that awards team for diversity hires. It's an interesting situation and you can read more about it here. |
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| | | | | Tracker | | Super Bowl LVIII on CBS | Watch a new episode of Tracker starring Justin Hartley on Sunday 9|8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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| | The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers punched their tickets to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas as each team hopes to hoist the Lombardi Trophy and celebrate as it rains confetti in Las Vegas at Super Bowl LVIII. Want to know how to tune in for Super Bowl 58? We've got you covered!
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