| | | | | | | | | | | Axios Sports | | By Kendall Baker ·Jan 25, 2021 | | 👋 Good morning! There have been 54 Super Bowls. For the first time ever, a team will play in its home stadium when the Buccaneers host the Chiefs in Tampa Bay on Feb. 7. - Fun fact: This will be the first Tampa Bay vs. Kansas City playoff meeting in any sport.
- Vegas line: Chiefs -3 | O/U 57
🚨 Sign up: Axios Tampa Bay launches today (we are experts at timing), as does Axios Twin Cities. Subscribe. Today's word count: 1,929 words (7 minutes). | | | | | | 1 big thing: 🏈 Brady strikes again |  | | | Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images | | | | The first playoff matchup between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers didn't disappoint, as they combined for 626 yards and six touchdowns in the Bucs' 31-26 victory, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. - The top-seeded Packers looked overmatched early before nearly climbing out of a 28-10 hole in the third quarter, but ultimately fell just short.
- With the win, the Bucs became just the third No. 5 seed to advance to the Super Bowl (1985 Patriots; 2007 Giants).
By the numbers: Brady was far from perfect — throwing three picks for just the fourth time in 44 playoff games — but did enough to get the job done (20/36, 280 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT). - He's tied for third all-time with nine playoff wins over NFC teams despite this being his first season in the conference.
- He's beaten 27 different QBs in the playoffs, while just one other QB has even started that many playoff games (Peyton Manning: 14-13 record).
- He's advanced to his 10th Super Bowl, which is twice as many as second place (John Elway) and represents 52.6% of his healthy seasons as a starter.
- Tompa Bay: Since Brady signed with the Bucs in March, Tampa Bay has sent the Rays, Lightning and Bucs to their respective championship games/rounds.
🤯 Stat du jour ... All-time playoff wins: - Patriots: 37
- Packers: 36
- Steelers: 36
- Cowboys: 35
- Brady: 33
- 49ers: 32
Rodgers watch ... The Packers trailed 31-23 with 2:05 left, facing a fourth-and-goal from the eight-yard line, and opted to kick a FG rather than go for the tie. - "It wasn't my decision," a frustrated Rodgers told reporters, adding that there are a lot of uncertain futures in Green Bay, "myself included."
- When asked what's next for him, Rodgers said, "It's a good question ... I don't know; I really don't."
- "Aaron Rodgers sure sounded like a guy saying goodbye," noted ESPN's Jason Wilde. ... Did we just watch his last game with the Packers? He's under contract through the 2023 season but could demand trade.
|     | | | | | | 2. 🏈 Mahomes is ready to run it back |  | | | Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images | | | | In the nightcap, the Chiefs thrashed the Bills, 38-24, to reach their second straight Super Bowl, Jeff writes. - Aside from the first quarter, when Buffalo took a 9-0 lead thanks mostly to a muffed Chiefs punt return, this game was pretty one-sided.
- Kansas City scored touchdowns in each of their three possessions of the second quarter (not counting a kneel-down to send it to halftime) and never looked back, leading by at least nine the rest of the way.
By the numbers: The Chiefs' top-ranked passing offense diced up the Bills' secondary all night, led of course by another vintage Patrick Mahomes performance (29/38, 325 yds, 3 TD). - Cheetah breaks away: Tyreek Hill tied his own playoff best with nine catches and set a new personal record with 172 yards.
- Kelce's record night: Travis Kelce tied Kellen Winslow and Sterling Sharpe for the single-game playoff record for catches by a tight end (13). His line so far through two playoff games in 2021? 21 catches, 227 yards, 3 TD.
- Money Mahomes: Including playoff games, Mahomes is now 44-9 as a pro.
Stop kicking FGs: Everything's easier to litigate in hindsight, but Bills fans had to be questioning Sean McDermott's unaggressive coaching strategy. - On consecutive possessions while trailing by 12, Buffalo faced fourth-and-goal from the two- and eight-yard lines and opted to kick field goals.
- Yes, there was plenty of time left, but it's tough to play it safe against a juggernaut and still come out on top.
Of note: Chiefs Pro Bowl LT Eric Fisher, who protects Mahomes' blind side, left the game (Achilles) and has been ruled out for the Super Bowl. In two weeks, someone's going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. Looking ahead ... Brady and Mahomes have met four times, with each winning twice. All four games were decided by seven points or fewer and the cumulative score is Mahomes 121-Brady 120. | | | | | | | | 3. 🏀 The NBA is obsessed with threes | | Giphy While it's no secret that three-pointers have revolutionized basketball, what's happening in the NBA this season is still shocking. By the numbers: A whopping 16 teams — over half the league — are attempting at least 40% of their shots as three-pointers this season. For reference, here's how many teams did so in the past: - 1980-2016: 0
- 2017: 1
- 2018: 2
- 2019: 5
- 2020: 9
The 16 teams: Raptors (48.2%), Jazz (47.1%), Trail Blazers (46.6%), Thunder (44.7%), Heat (44.5%), Suns (44.3%), Rockets (43.2%), Warriors (42.4%), Mavericks (42.2%), Nets (41.8%), Bucks (41.8%), Clippers (41.8%), Pistons (41%), Hornets (40.6%), Hawks (40.2%), Bulls (40.1%). Wild stat: Of the 42,036 field goals attempted by all 30 NBA teams this season, 16,608 have been threes, making the league-wide rate roughly 40%. Put another way, the NBA as a whole is now doing something that until recently no team had ever done. Sign of the times ... Stephen Curry on Saturday passed Reggie Miller for second on the all-time three-pointers list (in roughly half as a many games!). But the Warriors were blown out by the Jazz, who attempted more threes (50) than twos (44). What's next: More threes. - "I don't think we've reached the upper limit yet," Haralabos Voulgaris, the Mavericks' director of quantitative research and development, told WSJ (subscription).
- "[W]hen you start getting into around 60 to 65% 3-point rate, that's probably where you're getting toward more diminishing returns."
| | | | | | | | A message from Axios | | Local news from Axios, delivered to your inbox | | |  | | | | Get a daily digest of what's new in your hometown with our new Axios Local newsletters. Starting with the Twin Cities, Tampa Bay, Des Moines, Charlotte and Denver with more cities to come. Subscribe for free | | | | | | 4. ⚡️ Lightning round |  | | | Raymond James Stadium, October 2020. Photo: James Gilbert/Getty Images | | | | 🏟 22,000 fans will attend Super Bowl LV in Tampa, including 14,500 ticket buyers and 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers invited as guests of the NFL. ⚽️ Frank Lampard is officially out as Chelsea manager, with former Borussia Dortmund and PSG manager Thomas Tuchel set to replace him. 🎓 Michigan Athletics is halting all sports for up to 14 days following positive tests for a new coronavirus strain. 🏈 QB musical chairs: The Lions have agreed to explore a trade of QB Matthew Stafford; Deshaun Watson reportedly wants out of Houston regardless of who the Texans hire as head coach. 👟 Jim Walmsley shattered the American 100K record on Saturday, finishing in 6:09:25. He missed the world record by just 11 seconds. Get to know Jim. 🏀 Jaylen Brown scored 33 points in 19 minutes in the Celtics' blowout win over the Cavaliers, the most points in under 20 minutes played in the shot clock era (1954–present). Brown ranks sixth in the NBA in scoring (27.3 ppg). Breakout year! ♟ Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player in the world, suffered a stunning loss to 18-year-old Andrey Esipenko at the Tata Steel Tournament. ⛳️ Golf winners: Si Woo Kim won the PGA American Express; Tyrrell Hatton outplayed Rory McIlroy to win the Abu Dhabi Championship; Jessica Korda won the LPGA Diamond Resort TOC (and her sister, Nelly, came in third). | | | | | | | | 5. 💔 RIP, Hammerin' Hank |  | | | Hank Aaron in 1967. Photo: Bettmann Archives/Getty Images | | | | Henry Louis Aaron passed away Friday at the age of 86, leaving a legacy of greatness both on and off the field that is equal parts stunning and, perhaps, still underappreciated, Jeff writes. By the numbers: Attempting to fit all his accolades into a single post is a fool's errand, so I'll try sticking with only the most essential or mind-boggling. - All-time leader in extra-base hits (1,477), RBI (2,297), total bases (6,856) and All-Star berths (25).
- Second in HR (755), third in hits (3,771), tied for fourth in runs (2,174) and fifth in WAR among position players (143.1).
- Wild stats: Take away his HR and he's still one of just 32 players with 3,000 hits; his total bases lead over second place (Stan Musial) is more than 12 miles worth of bases.
The big picture: No single moment of Aaron's career was as defining as when he hit No. 715, but the snapshot belies the racism he faced while chasing Babe Ruth's record. - "Retire or die," read one of the 900,000 letters he received in 1973. "My gun is watching your every black move," read another; "Dear [n-word] Henry," started many.
- "[1973] should have been the happiest time of my life, the best year," Aaron told SI in 1992. "But it was the worst year. It was hell. So many bad things happened. ... Things I'm still trying to get over, and maybe never will."
- White America couldn't believe a Black man had the audacity to supplant Ruth at the top. Fortunately, most of the 53,775 on hand to witness history on April 8, 1974 were not among those whose ugly words marred the chase.
- "What a marvelous moment for the country and the world," Vin Scully belted out. "A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol."
The bottom line: WashPost's Thomas Boswell described Aaron's presence as quiet, utterly composed and almost Buddha-like, which sound like the exact traits required to come out the other side of his chase bruised but not broken. "When you put it all together, when you look at his statistics and then add the degree of difficulty ... to me, that adds up to the greatest player ever." — Dale Murphy, fellow Braves great Go deeper: | | | | | | | | 6. 🌍 Photos 'round the world | | Photo: Johann Groder/AFP via Getty Images KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Swiss skier Beat Feuz (above) won the famed Hahnenkamm downhill, considered the world's most dangerous ski race, while his countryman Urs Kryenbüehl suffered a horrific crash. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC ABU DHABI, U.A.E. — Dustin Poirier exacted revenge on Conor McGregor, scoring a stunning TKO victory in the second round Saturday night in the main event of UFC 257. The key to victory: low calf kicks. - The big picture: It's a brutal loss for McGregor, who had big plans for 2021. But let's not forget: he's bounced back before.
Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images MANCHESTER, England — Bruno Fernandes scored a gorgeous free kick as Manchester United dumped Liverpool out of the FA Cup with a 3-2 win on Sunday. - Downward spiral: Liverpool has only one win in its last seven games. José Mourinho and Tottenham await in league play on Thursday.
| | | | | | | | 7. 💪 From Home Depot to the record books |  | | | Photo: Lukasz Szelag/AFP Getty Images | | | | American Ryan Crouser shattered the world indoor shot put record at an American Track League meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Sunday. - By the numbers: Crouser, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, tossed the shot put 22.82 meters (74 feet, 10.5 inches), breaking the mark of 22.66 meters (74 feet, 4.25 inches) set in 1989.
- The event: Prize money isn't what brought athletes to the four-week American Track League series. Because there is none. Instead, they're there for something that feels just as valuable these days: actual competition.
The backdrop: 10 months ago, Crouser was in lockdown, practicing behind an Arkansas elementary school in a shot-put ring he'd made with plywood from Home Depot, per WSJ's Rachel Bachman (subscription). | | | | | | | | 8. Jan. 25, 1924: 🇫🇷 The first Winter Olympics | | The front page of French newspaper Le Petit Journal Illustre in 1924. Photo: Leemage/Universal Images Group via Getty Images 97 years ago today, the first Winter Olympics began in Chamonix, France. The backdrop: At the time, the Games were not formally recognized as the Olympics. Instead, they were called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver (Week of Winter Sports) and held in association with the 1924 Summer Games in Paris. - Yes, but: In 1925, the IOC decided to organize Winter Games every four years, independent of the Summer Games, and retroactively designated Chamonix as the the first Winter Olympics.
- 🥇 Medal count: 16 nations competed, with Norway (17 medals) and Finland (11) dominating the podium. The U.S. won four medals, including the first gold in Winter Olympics history (Charles Jewtraw, 500-meter speed skate).
Photo: Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Figure skaters, left to right: Herma Szabo of Hungary (gold), Ethel Muckelt of Britain (bronze) and Beatrix Loughran of the U.S. (silver). Photo: Topical Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Canada, represented by an amateur team called the Toronto Granites, won gold in men's hockey. The U.S. and Great Britain took silver and bronze, respectively. Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images Great Britain's all-Scottish lineup won gold in curling. 82 years later, in 2006, the IOC upgraded their medals from "demonstration medals" to official status. 🎥 Watch ... Archival footage (Olympics) | | | | | | | | 9. 🏈 Super Bowl trivia |  | | | Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images | | | | Tom Brady will become just the fourth QB to start in a Super Bowl for multiple franchises. - Question: Who are the other three?
- Hint: Two retired this century.
Answer at the bottom. | | | | | | | | 10. 🎥 Weekend's top plays | | Brent Burns. Source: Giphy So many incredible plays this weekend. Man, I love sports. - 🏒 Brent Burns!
- 🏈 Playoff Lenny
- ⚽️ Fernandes' goal
- 🏒 Carl Grundstrom!
- 🏀 JaVale's handles
- 🏒 Filip Chytil!
- 🏀 Dunk down under
- 🏀 Classic Giannis
- ⛳️ Hole-in-one
- 🏈 Godwin snags it
Watch all 10. | | | | | | | | A message from Axios | | Local news from Axios, delivered to your inbox | | | | | | | | Get a daily digest of what's new in your hometown with our new Axios Local newsletters. Starting with the Twin Cities, Tampa Bay, Des Moines, Charlotte and Denver with more cities to come. Subscribe for free | | | | Talk tomorrow, Kendall "Hank Aaron forever" Baker Trivia answer: Peyton Manning (Colts, Broncos), Kurt Warner (Rams, Cardinals) and Craig Morton (Cowboys, Broncos) | | Invite friends to follow Axios Sports Use your personal link to track how many readers you bring into the community  You currently have 00 referrals. Share with a friend For questions email referralsupport@axios.com. Participation in the Axios Sports Referral Program constitutes your acceptance of the Axios Terms and Conditions of Use, which can be viewed here. | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters.
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