LOS ANGELES -- Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six Newsletter!
There's some extra excitement in Los Angeles today and that's because the Bengals will finally be arriving here for Super Bowl LVI, and I have to say, it's probably for the best that they're coming now because it's going to take a day or two to get used to the Pacific time zone. I lived here for six years and it took three and a half of those to get used to this time zone. The Bengals have five days.
With the Super Bowl right around the corner, we'll be going big on the Super Bowl today. Not only will we be ranking Super Bowl storylines, but we'll also be looking at five unbreakable Super Bowl records, plus I'm also going to reveal MY PICK for the game. I slept zero hours last night as I worked to finish up my pick, so if the newsletter is completely incoherent today, that's why.
On a completely unrelated note, if you want to see me in video form this week, the higher-ups decided to give me an hour each day to talk about the Super Bowl with Ryan Wilson and Will Brinson. That will be coming to you at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and if you want to watch for free on CBS Sports HQ, be sure to click here.
Alright, I'm done stalling, let's get to the rundown.
As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the Pick Six newsletter. To get your friends to sign up, all you have to do is click here and then share this link with them.
1. Today's Show: Ranking Super Bowl storylines
Normally, when we do a podcast for Tuesday of Super Bowl week, it mostly involves us rehashing the craziness of Opening Night. However, since there wasn't really an Opening Night this year, we had to come up with something else to talk about, so Ryan Wilson, Will Brinson and I did what anyone else would do: We decided to rank Super Bowl storylines.
Here are a few of the storylines we talked about for Tuesday's episode:
- The Bengals could win their first Super Bowl ever.
- It's the second straight year that one team is playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
- Sean McVay coaching against Zac Taylor will give us the youngest coaching matchup in Super Bowl history.
- Tickets are tracking to be the most expensive ones in Super Bowl history.
- Von Miller could become the first defensive player in NFL history to win two Super Bowl MVPs
- Evan McPherson could break Adam Vinatieri's single-season playoff record for most field goals. (McPherson has 12 and he needs just two to tie Vinatieri.)
- Rams starting left tackle Andrew Whitworth will be trying to get revenge on his old team.
- The NBC announcers for the game both have Cincinnati ties: Cris Collinsworth used to play for the Bengals, while one of the first major jobs for Al Michaels was serving as the play-by-play guy for the Cincinnati Reds in 1971.
We spent a good three to five minutes talking about each of these storylines PLUS more, so you should definitely check out today's episode.
To listen to today's episode -- and subscribe to the podcast -- be sure to click here. You can also watch today's podcast on YouTube by clicking here, and I would recommend doing that because it will allow you see how much fun we're having in L.A.
2. Breech's Super Bowl LVI pick
The upside of making a Super Bowl pick is that you get an extra week to think about it thanks to the bye week, which is a good thing, because I definitely needed an extra week to think about this pick.
As the resident Bengals homer here at CBSSports.com, the obvious thing to do would be to pick Cincinnati, especially since my dad (Jim Breech) was the Bengals kicker in their first two Super Bowls. However, taking the Bengals because I'm related to a former player would NOT be objective. Also, I went to college with Rams coach Sean McVay at Miami of Ohio, and what kind of person would I be if I were to pick against someone I went to college with? I would be a horrible person.
Basically, my pick boils down to this: Do I want my family to disown me for picking against the Bengals? Or do I want Miami to rescind my degree for picking against a fellow alum? Very tough choice.
- Rams vs. Bengals (+4.5): I'll be honest, I think this game ends in one of two ways: Either the Bengals win a close one in the fourth quarter or this turns into a replay of last year's Super Bowl where Patrick Mahomes got destroyed by the Buccaneers defense and the NFC team wins in a rout. I'm going with option A. As the son of a former Bengals kicker, I feel like the only way for me to go with this pick is to predict that it ends on a field goal by the current Bengals kicker, so that's what I'm going to do. There's a good chance Aaron Donald is going to wreck the Bengals offensive line, but the Titans also wrecked the Bengals offensive line and Joe Burrow still did enough to win. PICK: Bengals 27-24 over Rams.
For a way more in-depth look at my pick that includes about 2,000 more words, be sure to click here.
3. Grading all the coaching hires
With the Texans and Saints both making their coaching hires Monday, that means that all nine open spots have now been filled, which means there is only one thing left for us to do: Grade all the coaching hires.
Since Cody Benjamin's goal in life is to be a college professor, we went ahead and let him hand out all the grades for each hire. Here's a look at how he thinks each team did:
- Bears: Matt Eberflus (Grade: C+)
- Broncos: Nathaniel Hackett (Grade: B)
- Texans: Lovie Smith (Grade: D)
- Jaguars: Doug Pederson (Grade: A-)
- Raiders: Josh McDaniels (Grade: C+)
- Dolphins: Mike McDaniel (Grade: B+)
- Vikings: Kevin O'Connell (Grade: B+)
- Saints: Dennis Allen (Grade: C+)
- Giants: Brian Daboll (Grade: A-)
To get Cody's full explanation on each grade, be sure to click here. Also, if you want to read more about the Saints' hiring of Dennis Allen, then be sure to click here. On the other hand, if you want to know more about the Texans' surprising decision to go with Lovie Smith, then be sure to click here.
4. Five Super Bowl records that probably won't ever be broken
There's a good chance we're going to see the Rams and Bengals combine to break several Super Bowl records on Sunday. As a matter of fact, the two teams will break one as soon as they step on the field and that's because Sean McVay and Zac Taylor will break the record for the youngest combined age of the two head coaches in the game.
Although plenty of records will be broken, there are also plenty of records that WON'T be broken. With that in mind, our Bryan DeArdo decided to put together a list of the five most unbreakable Super Bowl records and here's the full list:
1. Washington scores 35 points in a single quarter in Super Bowl XXII
2. Bob Griese only attempts seven passes in Super Bowl VI
3. John Riggins carries the ball 38 times for Washington in Super Bowl XVII
4. Rod Martin intercepts three passes for Raiders in Super Bowl XV
5. Bears allow just seven rushing yards in Super Bowl XX
This is a solid list, but if I could make one change, I'd probably take out the second record and replace it with something else. The reason for that is because the Griese record for fewest passes by a starting quarterback could easily get broken if a QB gets injured early in the game, and now I'm hoping I didn't jinx anyone by mentioning that.
As for the other four records, I think DeArdo hit the nail on the head. I don't think anyone will be getting 38 carries in a Super Bowl anytime soon, three interceptions seems almost impossible, and it's not going to be easy for anyone to match Chicago's record for fewest rushing yards allowed.
5. QB drama: Tom Brady leaves door open for possible return, Kyler Murray snubs Cardinals on social media
After Tom Brady announced his retirement last week, I figured he'd fly off to Costa Rica with his family and we wouldn't hear from him for at least a month, but as it turns out, I was way wrong about that. Not only did we hear from Brady this week, but it sounds like he might be re-thinking this whole retirement thing.
- Brady leaves the door open for a possible return. While talking on his "Lets Go" podcast with Jim Gray, here's what Brady had to say when asked if he's consider coming out of retirement, "You know, I'm just gonna take things as they come," Brady said, via ProFootballTalk. "I think that's the best way to put it, and ... you never say never." I'm guessing Gisele is going to have a stern talking with him once she sees these comments. Brett Favre made a similar statement after announcing his retirement in 2008 and he ended up not retiring at all. Instead, he was on the field with the Jets by the time training camp rolled around after the Packers traded him to New York.
- Brady says if "Tuck Rule" didn't happen, he probably wouldn't be famous. ESPN did a "30 for 30" on the Tuck Rule game this week and during the episode, Brady basically credited the Tuck Rule for all of his career success. "I'm probably the backup QB going into 2002," Brady said of what would have happened if the Tuck Rule didn't work out in New England's favor, via NBC Sports Boston. "I'm not the starter if we lose that game." Without that play going their way, the Patriots would have been one-and-done in the playoffs that year with a 13-10 loss to the Raiders, and it's not crazy to think that Bill Belichick would have made the decision to go back to Drew Bledsoe for the 2002 season.
- Kyler Murray causing some serious drama in Arizona. I'm not sure if the Cardinals are dead to Kyler Murray, but that's what it seems like based on the current state of his social media profiles. The Cards quarterback has scrubbed his Instagram of all Cardinals pictures and has removed all mentions of them from his Twitter profile. You usually only see this kind of social media scrubbing after a celebrity breakup, which makes this situation incredibly interesting. Murray is eligible for a contract extension this offseason and it's possible this is his way of playing hardball, but it's also possible that he's just doing this for attention because as we all know, doing something for attention on social media is really the only reason to even be on social media.
It's going to be an interesting offseason.
6. Rapid-fire roundup: Odell almost signed with Patriots
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.
- Odell Beckham came 'very' close to signing with New England. During his Super Bowl Media Night interview on Monday, Odell revealed that he almost signed with New England in November. I'm guessing he's now glad he didn't.
- Super Bowl tight end injury update. With Rams tight end Tyler Higbee and Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah both dealing with strained MCLs, there's been some question about whether they'll be playing this week. On Uzomah's end, he said there's no way he's going to miss the "biggest game of his life," so I think that means he's going to play. As for Higbee, his status is still completely up in the air and he isn't expected to practice this week, according to Rams coach Sean McVay.
- Brian Flores calls out Texans over hiring of Lovie Smith. Flores' legal team ripped the Texans after the team's hiring of Smith. According to Flores, the only reason he didn't get the job is because of his pending lawsuit against the NFL. Look, I'm not saying I agree with the Texans' hiring choice, but if I'm looking at two finalists for a job, I'm definitely going to lean toward the one who's NOT suing me.
- Eric Bieniemy's contract is expiring. After nine years in Kansas City, Bieniemy could finally be leaving. According to NFL.com, Bieniemy's contract is expiring this offseason and there's a chance that he could end up with another team. For more details on that story, be sure to click here.
- Joe Judge could be returning to New England. After getting fired by the Giants in January, it doesn't seem like Judge is going to be unemployed for very long. According to Sports Illustrated, the Patriots are planning to hire Judge as an offensive assistant. Judge spent eight seasons with the Patriots before taking the Giants coaching job in 2020.
- Giants appear to have found their defensive coordinator. After getting fired by the Ravens in January, it appears that Don "Wink" Martindale has already landed on his feet. According to ESPN.com, Martindale is finalizing a deal with the Giants to become the defensive coordinator under new coach Brian Daboll.
- Jaguars appear to have found a defensive coordinator. Jaguars coach Doug Pederson is on the verge of making his first big hire. According to NFL.com, the Jags are planning to hire Buccaneers inside linebackers coach Mike Caldwell as their new defensive coordinator
- Packers set to hire Rich Bisaccia as special teams coach. The former interim coach of the Raiders is about to land on his feet in Green Bay. According to multiple reports, Bisaccia is going to be hired as the Packers new special teams coach. The Packers fired special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton last week.
