What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Conference Championships

By Rhys Knott

Football is hot, hot, hot. Scoring 55 points in a football game is hot, doing that in a playoff game is as hot as the sun. So is scoring a hat-trick of touchdowns! And a different rookie receiver came in hot too. 

Depending on your point of view controversial officiating calls are either hot or Knott. This week a couple of them were just confusing.  

Missing the ground when you spike the ball is pretty Knott. Dropping the ball is usually Knott, but the Bills seem to have perfecting recovering their own fumbles. Losing a fight and being penalised for the privilege is definitely Knott. 

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What’s Hot in Football – Conference Championships

Hot, football, Saquon, these words go hand in hand and have done all season. He’s the real MVP. He carried the football 205 yards against the Rams, this week he came up with a much more sedate 118 yards on the ground. But he scored three more touchdowns, his first hat-trick since Week 1 in Brazil. 

Stopping the run is hot too, it’s the mainstay of the Eagles’ defense. They make quarterbacks beat them, but neither Matt Stafford nor Jayden Daniels have been able to. Philadelphia held the Commanders to just 99 yards on 25 carries. That forced Jayden Daniels to throw 48 passes, something he never had to do during his two years at LSU. 

Tight ends are hot too, Zack Ertz led all receivers in the Conference Championship round with 104 yards on 11 catches. Not to be outdone Dallas Goedert came in third on that list with 85 yards on seven catches.  

If there’s such a thing as an under-the-radar rookie speedster Xavier Worthy is that guy, the 21-year-old led the Chiefs with 101 total yards from scrimmage.

JuJu Smith-Schuster also provided the Chiefs with some much-needed hotness. The former Patriot (can you believe they cut him in August?) only caught two passes but averaged 30 yards per reception!

A 314-pound defensive lineman playing leapfrog is hot too. You might not want him to drive you to work, but Jalen Carter is a physical freak.   

Turning the Empire State Building green (with envy, probably) is hot, for Philly fans at least.

What’s Knott in Football – Conference Championships

Calling a catch when the football has clearly hit the ground is Knott. The officials seemed to get caught up trying to decide who had possession of the ball as Cole Bishop and Xavier Worthy wrestled for the ball. The thing was neither of them had secured the football before it touched the ground. 

Getting your helmet ripped off is always Knott, but getting your helmet ripped off after your opponents have scored a touchdown and your opponents are a divisional rival is incredibly Knott.

Being penalised for getting your hat handed to you is ludicrously Knott. 

How the officials decided that only one player committed a foul after all of that is perplexing, to say the least.

On the topic of perplexing refereeing decisions, how they missed Josh Allen crossing the line to gain here is both bamboozling and Knott. 

 However, why exactly Joe Brady persisted in calling the Buffalo version of the tush push after Kansas City stopped it on three occasions is a good question.

Scoring two rushing touchdowns in the same game for the first time is nothing to be sniffed at. But celebrating like this is absolutely Knott! Did he miss the ground with the football? Not many people apologise for their spike attempt.

Normally speaking, four fumbles by one team is very Knott, but the Bills recovered five fumbles so in a way their dropping the ball was actually a positive.

Even Josh Allen throwing passes at Kansas City defenders worked out for Buffalo as the defenders appeared shocked that the ball was heading their way. Chiefs’ DBs hands are absolutely Knott! 

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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