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The Week That Was (January 12-16, 2026)
A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.
 • Neil Paine
Who Will Advance In the AFC Playoffs This Weekend? Flip a Coin — Literally.
The numbers say Patriots-Texans and Bills-Broncos are both effectively toss-ups — which mostly means we have no idea what’s about to happen.
 • Neil Paine
College Hoops Is a Weird Scramble of Banners and Baggage This Season
Some of the top men's teams are exactly who you'd expect — and some are decidedly not.
 • Neil Paine
🏈🎙️ Football Bytes: Who's the Chaos Quarterback Now?
We’re hunting value in a Divisional round where the numbers — and the vibes — don’t always agree.
 • Neil Paine and Tyler
1:08:23
Mike Tomlin Was the NFL's Ultimate Floor-Raiser
For nearly two decades, he never let the Steelers be bad — even as his teams increasingly struggled to be great when it mattered most.
 • Neil Paine
After Decades of the Same Dudes, the Super Bowl Is Due for a New QB (or Two)
The 2025-26 NFL playoffs are set up to produce at least one first-time Super Bowl starter — and likely a first-time winner — hinting at a long-awaited…
 • Neil Paine
Who Will Win Super Bowl LX?
Let’s forecast the 2025-26 NFL playoffs using a composite of my two prediction models.
 • Neil Paine
What Would a Championship Version of Trae Young Look Like?
As trade talks swirl, let's look at why Young’s offense-first profile has proven so hard to build around — and what would need to change for him to play…
 • Neil Paine
Beyond the Streak: What — and Whom — is Standing Between the Sabres and the End of Their Drought?
A 10-game heater made Buffalo relevant again. But ending a 14-year playoff drought will depend on what happens from here.
 • Neil Paine
📈2025 NFL Power Ratings and Projections🏈
Ratings, rankings and forecasts for every NFL team this season.
 • Neil Paine
Just How Bad Is the NFC South, Really?
Measuring one of the NFL's weakest divisions — maybe ever — and why it's still guaranteed a home playoff game anyway.
 • Neil Paine
What I Learned From the 344 Posts I Wrote in 2025
I categorized every post I published in 2025 by type and sport to see what I actually spent the year writing about — then picked out the stories that…
 • Neil Paine
The Chiefs Are Doing the Weirdest "Relocation" in Pro Sports History
Is it a short commute of a stadium-switch or a full-blown franchise move? Yes.
 • Neil Paine
The Spurs Have Suddenly Made the Thunder's Title Defense a Lot More Interesting
OKC still looks like a dynasty-in-waiting — but Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs have exposed a matchup problem that history says can’t be ignored in the…
 • Neil Paine
How the NFL Grinch Stole the NBA's Christmas
For decades, Christmas belonged to the NBA — until football realized the old rules of the sports calendar no longer mattered.
 • Neil Paine
The Super Bowl Shuffle and the Lost Era of Renegade Teams
The 1985 Bears didn’t worry about backlash or "bulletin-board material". In today’s buttoned-down sports world, that kind of swagger is in short supply.
 • Neil Paine
Bowl Season Is Dying. Long Live Bowl Season.
College football bowls seemingly lost their purpose when we finally got a playoff. But they were always messy, exclusionary, arbitrary — and mostly…
 • Neil Paine
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