VITO'S VIEWS

OK, we understand the players seem destined to take the money and give the owners a 17-game season.

But are they selling themselves short when they are putting player safety on the back burner to get more money?

The real question is: Are they getting enough to take the risks of playing that extra game?

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the owners will increase the players’ percentage of the designated gross revenue from 47 to 48 percent if the schedule stays at 16 games. But they get 48.5 percent for a 17th game.

That apparently means the players are getting a half of one percent of revenue for the 17th game. Since the owners really want that 17th game, shouldn’t they at least get a one percent increase to 49 percent?

According to Schefter, the players will get $5 billion more over 10 years if they go from 47 to 48.5 percent.

Sounds like a lot of money and both sides will put the spin on it about how much the players are getting.

But remember, $5 billion for 10 years is $500 million a year and remember, the players have to split it 1,500 ways.

Also, most players will pay about 40 percent in taxes – maybe more – depending on the state they live in. Now we are down to $300 million or less than $10 million per team.

And it is split 53 ways per team with the quarterbacks and star players getting a lot of it.

The players are going to get an increase in the minimum wage but it won’t be a windfall.

Maybe my math is wrong and we only have what Schefter has reported to go by.

And as revenue increases, they will get more over the life of the contract. And it will go up more if they play the 17th game than it will if they stay at 16.

Still, it seems like players should get more than a one half of one per cent increase to give the owners a 17th game. They take the risk of suffering injury, including CTE. The owners take no risk and the fans don’t play to see them.

The player reps – or the players themselves – should vote no. But if they take the deal, they can stop complaining the next 10 years about how players in other sports get paid a lot more money than they do.

It is easy for the players to take the money and run. But this is a time to stand up to the owners if they are going to take the risks to give the owners something, that they really, really want.

One of the toughest things for any successful college coach to do is to walk away in his prime.

The temptation is to stay too long the way Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden and Woody Hayes all did.

Bob Stoops didn’t make that mistake. He coached at Oklahoma for 18 years from 1999 to 2017, won a national championship in his second year and kept the Sooners a force in college football while going 190-48 before stepping down on top as an icon.

He chronicled his career in his autobiography, “No Excuses, the Making of a Head Coach,” which was published by Little Brown and Company.

Even though It was published last fall, it is very timely because in the last page, he mentions that he decided to return coaching in the XFL with the Dallas Renegades.

He will make his debut Saturday when the new league kicks off its first season.

He ends the book by writing, “Two years ago, I got to write my own ending. I needed that time to decompress and recharge…Now I get to do something even better. I get to write my own beginning.”

It will be interesting to see what his new beginning is like. Is the XFL a springboard to him returning to big time college football? He did decide not to pursue the Florida State job at the end when FSU appeared to have him at the top of their list.

It remains to be seen if the XFL will scratch his coaching itch or whether he whether he will decide to go back into the pressure cooker as the coach of a big-time college time to cap off his career.

Either way, he is already had a fascinating career and his bio is one of the best I’ve read because it is so candid.He admits that it was almost a football miracle that put him on the road to becoming a successful coach.

He grew up in Youngstown as the son of a coach, but was not heavily recruited. The only Division I school (now known as FBS) to offer him a scholarship was Bowling Green. He was recruited by an assistant but when coach Denny Stolz met him, he wasn’t impressed, and rescinded the offer.

That left his options as staying home and playing for Youngstown State or going to Southern Illinois.“I would have been fine. But I am not sure I would have been happy,’’ he said.

Then came the miracle. The Iowa coach, Bob Cummings, offered him a scholarship. He was from Youngstown and played at the same high school his dad did.

But the team went 2-9, he didn’t play as a freshman and Cummings was fired at the end of the year.

He was ready to transfer, but his dad told him that he would wind up like one of those guys who go off to school, come back and amount to nothing.

That was the end of his transfer talk and he returned to Iowa where Hayden Fry had been hired as head coach.

He says that Cummings bringing him to Iowa was his first big break. The arrival of Fry and his defensive coordinator Bill
Brahler at Iowa was the second one.

They turned the program around and Stoops wound up playing in the Rose Bowl, becoming a team captain, making first team All-Big Ten honors and even honorable All-American mention.

And he not only met his future wife there, but Fry offered him a job as a graduate assistant coach.

That started him on the road that eventually led to Oklahoma and he entitled the chapter about his arrival at the school as “Lonely.” You don’t often hear coaches talk about being lonely at a new job when their family hasn’t joined them.

He said when he was visited by an old friend, he hugged her like she was his wife.“I made his go to lunch with me,’’ he writes. “I just needed to talk so someone with a connection to my past. It surprised me that I reacted that way, but that was the depth of my loneliness.”

That is the kind of candor that makes it such a good book. It is more than about football and gives a lot of insight into his life.

Now he begins the next chapter of his life in the XFL.

1. This was an easy game to handicap. Not surprisingly, the game was won by the team with a better quarterback. Even though Patrick Mahomes struggled for the first three quarters, he made the big plays in the fourth quarter to win the game while Jimmy Garoppolo wasn’t able to counter and overthrew Emmanuel Sanders when he had him open deep for what could have been a game winning score.

2. San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t learn any lessons from being the offensive coordinator when Atlanta went through the 28-3 disaster in the Super Bowl. He again showed he doesn’t know how to manage a game, notably at the end of the first half and in the fourth quarter. The 49ers had a 20-17 lead with six minutes left when Raheem Mostert ran five yards on first down to the San Francisco 25. Shanahan then called two pass plays and both were incomplete and the 49ers punted. Shanahan didn’t even seem to understand why he should have called a run on second down. He said it wasn’t about bleeding the clock, but moving the chains. But the 49ers averaged 6.4 yards a carry and a run would have been better shot to move the chains. Shanahan was the goat of the game.

3. There was a lot of chatter after the game that this is the beginning of a dynasty since Mahomes isn’t even in his prime yet. They have a chance but it won’t be easy to win multiple Super Bowls in the salary cap era. The Patriots did it but after winning three in four years, they went a decade before winning three more.

4. General manager John Lynch said after the game the the 49ers will be back. Don’t count on it. Seattle and Atlanta haven’t been back since they flopped on the cusp of Super Bowl wins. And they have to worry whether they have the right coach and quarterback to do it. And it is easy to forget that if Seattle hadn’t botched things after being a yard away from winning the season finale, the 49ers would have been a wild card team after losing three of their five regular season games.

5. The Super Bowl TV ratings increased slightly from last year but it was still only the 10^th most watched Super Bowl. The Super Bowl still draws the biggest ratings of an TV show all year. But the audience doesn’t seem to be growing.

6. It remains to be seen if the Chiefs are on the cusp of a dynasty, but another question is whether the Patriots dynasty is over. Bill Belichick was booed at the game and flashed three of his six Super Bowl rings, but he may not win a seventh one. Even if Tom Brady returns, he is showing his age and the Pats don’t have an alternative.

There will be millions of words written to analyze the upcoming Super Bowl in the coming days.

But let’s make it easy for you if you want understand why the Chiefs are going to win.

They have the better quarterback.

That’s it.

There are times in the Super Bowl when the quarterback is a wash when two Hall of Famers face each other like Bradshaw vs. Staubach and Montana vs. Elway.

There are times when neither quarterback is a Hall of Famer like Trent Dilfer vs. Kerry Collins.

But when one team has the edge at quarterback, it wins. This dates back to the early years when Bart Starr beat Daryle Lamonica, Joe Namath topped Earl Morrall and Len Dawson beat Joe Kapp in the second, third and fourth Super Bowls.

And note that Tom Brady won six of them but except for beating Hall of Famer Kurt Warner with the help of poor coaching by Mike Martz, he beat five quarterbacks who have combined to win one ring.

They are Jake Delhomme, Donovan McNabb, a young Russell Wilson, who threw that ill-fated pass which was a bad call by the coaching staff, Matt Ryan, handicapped by Kyle Shanahan’s poor coaching, and Jared Goff.

So, the choice in this Super Bowl is Patrick Mahomes over Jimmy Garoppolo.

The 49ers may have the better team but they’re not going to beat the Chiefs with Jimmy G. throwing eight passes the way he did against the Packers.

Mahomes will put points on the board and eventually Jimmy G is going to counter and while he may one day be a top quarterback, he isn’t there now.

That means the obvious choice is to go with Mahomes.

Case closed.

1. If Patrick Mahomes makes the Hall of Fame one day, his highlight reel will include his 27-yard touchdown run down the left sideline that spurred the Chiefs to the come-from-behind victory over the Titans. It was aided by some shoddy Titans’ tackling, but showed Mahomes is more than just a prolific passer. He may be the best quarterback in the game right now.

2. It wasn’t exactly a Joe Namath guarantee but Frank Clark of the Chiefs raised some eyebrows before the game when he talked about how it’s not hard to hit Derrick Henry. Earl Thomas had said similar things the previous week and then was stiff armed by Henry on one of his big runs. But the Chiefs held Henry in check with 69 rushing yards although it helped that the Chiefs got ahead and forced the Titans to go to the passing game. Clark talked the talk and then walked the walk.

3. Jimmy Garoppolo passed for only 77 yards and completed just two passes in the second half in the 49ers easy win over the Packers. Coach Kyle Shanahan said they stuck with the running game because it was working but the New York Times brought up the possibility that Garoppolo isn’t completely healthy after turning his ankle in the win over the Vikings. One thing is certain. He has to throw for more yards in the Super Bowl if the 49ers are to win.

4. Even though he was cut by six teams, Raheem Mostert refused to give up and was rewarded for his determination when he ran for 220 yards – the second most rushing yards in a playoff game since at least 1950 — as the 49ers demolished the Packers with their ground game. Mostert was helped by the fact the 49ers’ line opened gaping holes for him to run in.

5. Andy Reid has a glittering coaching record except for his playoff record. He’s only made it to one Super Bowl. Even after the victory, he is only 14-14 in the playoffs and 2-5 in conference title games. But now he gets a second chance to win that first Super Bowl.

6. Aaron Rodgers said after the loss that Green Bay’s championship window is still open. But after being routed by the 49ers twice in the same season, you have to wonder if Rodgers will never win another one.

1. The Titans upset the Chiefs in the regular season matchup, but it not surprising the Chiefs are favored. The Titans were at home and it was Patrick Mahomes first game back from his injury. This time, the Titans are on the road and Mahomes is at the top of his game after overcoming a 24-0 deficit in one quarter against the Texans.

2. The Titans have been outgained in yardage in both of their surprising road playoff wins. Both times they were aided by mistakes or turnovers by the Patriots and Texans. If the Chiefs don’t turn the ball over the way the Ravens did four times, the Titans may be hard pressed to pull off another upset.

3. The four coaches in the conference title game have one thing in common. They haven’t won a Super Bowl. But except for Andy Reid, they’re young coaches who are also making their first appearance in the conference title games. That is why Reid has the most at stake. He’s 1-5 in conference title games and lost his lone Super Bowl appearance. The lack of a Super Bowl is a glaring hole in his resume.

4. Derrick Henry has been the workhorse for the Titans, but Ryan Tannehill will be the key to the Titans chance for an upset. The Chiefs are going to put points on the board, which may make it difficult for the Titans to stick with their ground and pound offense built around Henry. They need Tannehill to counter Mahomes if they fall behind.

5. Aaron Rodgers is the only one of the four quarterbacks who has played and won in Super Bowl. And he’s the underdog facing a better team. But don’t look for Rodgers to repeat his poor showing against the 49ers in the regular season when he passed for only 104 yards, lost a fumble and was 0-for-13 on third down in a 37-8 loss. Look for Rodgers to make it close against the tough 49er defense and it wouldn’t be surprising if he pulls off an upset.

6. It is not surprising the two home teams are favored in the conference title games so a Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl is the chalk. But it would be fitting in the NFL’s 100^thseason for it to end with a Packers-Chief Super Bowl. That was the matchup for the first Super Bowl before it was called the Super Bowl as the Packers won for their fourth title in their five-title run in the 1960s.

1. The mark of a great player is showing up great in big games. Patrick Mahomes did that against the Texans. His first two drives were stopped when receivers dropped third down passes and the Chiefs fell behind 24-0. But he then led the Chiefs on seven consecutive touchdown drives to win easily. By halftime, he had turned a 24-0 deficit to a 28-24 lead and he kept going in the second half.

2. Bill O’Brien is not considered a good coach. And his decisions to kick a field goal on fourth and short while up 21-0 and then to go for a fake punt on his own territory had the Texans fans calling for his head. But it wasn’t the Texans strategy that was the problem. It was the way his defense prepared or didn’t prepare to stop Mahomes. They had no idea on how to stop him.

3. If the TV networks are going to have a yellow line to mark where a team needs to get for a first down, it should be accurate. Many fans were confused why Green Bay got the first down that clinched the game because the receiver didn’t get to the yellow line. The problem was that the yellow line was past the first down marker. Meanwhile, the Seahawks not only didn’t make a stop, but they punted on fourth and 11 with 3:22 left, taking the ball out of Russell Wilson’s hands. Will Pete Carroll ever win another Super Bowl after being a yard away from winning two in a row and then throwing a pass a few years back. And they were in Green Bay in the first place when they botched things from the one-yard against San Francisco in the regular season finale.

4. Did the Ravens make a mistake resting Lamar Jackson and several key players in the season finale? The Ravens have to wonder if the 20-day layoff was a reason for their mistake prone game in the loss to the Titans.

5. Aaron Rodgers is the only quarterback left who has won a Super Bowl, which means he has a shot at joining the ranks of the quarterbacks who’ve won two or more Super Bowls. The Packers will be the underdog against San Francisco but Rodgers gives them a chance to pull an upset.

6. Kirk Cousins will again get the flak for not winning the big ones after the loss to San Francisco. But the Vikings were simply overmatched against the 49ers and had the disadvantage of playing a bye team on a short week after a wild card victory. Cousins never really had a chance against the dominant 49ers defense.

1. It is not unusual for a rookie to lose his first playoff game. That is what happened to Lamar Jackson last year when he struggled in his playoff debut against San Diego. Now he’s back in the playoffs against the Titans as the season MVP and the top seed. He says he is using last year’s showing as motivation. He says he is treating every game like the Super Bowl because a loss means he’s doesn’t make it to the big game. Now the spotlight is on Jackson to take the next step.

2. The Patrick Mahomes-Deshaun Watson playoff duel was likely destined to happen after they were both snubbed on the first round in 2017 when the Bears took Mitch Trubisky and both were picked by AFC teams. And it likely won’t their last playoff duel. The winner likely faces Lamar Jackson in the AFC title game.

3. Ryan Tannehill’s job against the Patriots was not to make any mistakes as the Titans protected a one-point lead in the second half. But that won’t be enough against the Ravens. They can’t win just running Derrick Henry. Tannehill has to make plays and put points on the board to keep up with Lamar Jackson to give the give the Titans have a shot at an upset.

4. Kirk Cousins showed last week he could win a big game and win in the playoffs. But that just leads to another big game against the 49ers. The pressure will be on him to have another big game. And the game brings back memories of two memorable playoff games the two teams had in 1987 and 1988. The Vikings won the first in an upset when, according to the book Blindside, the 49ers didn’t have a left tackle to block Chris Doleman in a game that featured Bill Walsh pulling Joe Montana for Steve Young. The next year, the 49ers did block Doleman and won.

5. Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson will duel in a battle of two quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls when the Seahawks play at Green Bay. Both are in quest of that elusive second one. One of them will advance to the NFC title game.

6. Jimmy Garoppolo once backed up Tom Brady. Now Brady is out of the playoffs and Jimmy G. has a shot at advancing to the NFC title game when he duels Kirk Cousins.

1. It is now obvious that age is catching up with Tom Brady. But what is Bill Belichick’s excuse? How could he not get Brady better weapons this year? The Titans were obviously convinced that as long as they didn’t make a mistake, the Patriots’ offense couldn’t pull the game out. So, they ran the ball and punted the entire second half with a one-point lead. Whether Brady stays or leaves, Belichick has to rebuild the offense if the Patriots are going to win another Super Bowl anytime soon.

2. The Saints have now lost in the playoffs on the final play three years in a row? They actually had a shot at three Super Bowls in a row. Or at the very least one. And they wound up with zero and have to wonder if their Super Bowl window is closing since the future of Drew Bree’s is up in the air.

3. Jadeveon Clowney should have been called for a penalty for the helmet hit that knocked Carson Wentz out of the Eagle-Seahawk game and virtually ended any chance the Eagles had of winning. The official said Wentz didn’t give himself up, which he should have done, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Even though it was a bang-bang play, Clowney could have avoided hitting him in the helmet. They can’t say they are serious about protecting the QB and avoiding concussions if they don’t penalize that paly.

4. The NFL should end its ill-fated attempt to make pass interference reviewable. Kyle Rudolph obviously got away with pushing of on his game winning touchdown catch even though director of officials Al Riveron said they were hand fighting. If they aren’t going to make that reviewable, kill the rule. For Viking fans, it was a makeup call for Drew Pearson getting away with pushing off on the 1975 Roger Staubach Hail Mary.

5. Kirk Cousins, who has lived with the tag of not being able to win the big one, got that monkey off his back by leading the Vikings to the victory over the Saints. He came in 6-30 against winning teams and 0-9 in MNF. But there is always a big game the next week unless he wins the Super Bowl. Next up is a trip to San Francisco.

6. The wild-card round featured exciting games. But did it make any difference which teams won. The teams that had a bye have won six consecutive Super Bowls. If the Ravens, Chiefs, Packers or 49ers win it all this year, it will be seven in a row. If all four win this week – and all four are favored – the streak will continue.

1. The New England Patriots obviously aren’t the team they once were and they probably blew a chance to get to the Super Bowl when they cost themselves the bye while losing to Miami last Sunday. That means they will likely have to win two road games – probably against the Chiefs and Ravens – to make the Super Bowl. The Patriots have never won the Super Bowl when they haven’t had a bye. But they’re home this weekend against the 9-7 Titans and they’re favored so it won’t be a surprise if this isn’t Tom Brady’s last game in a New England uniform. If the Titans pull off an upset, it may be his last game as a Patriot because for the first time in his career, he is heading into the offseason without a contract.

2. Both road quarterbacks Saturday – Josh Allen of the Bills and Ryan Tannehill of the Titans – will be starting their first playoff game. It is not surprising that Allen be making his first playoff start in his second season. But somewhat surprising that a veteran like Tannehill never made the playoffs in Miami before jump starting his career with the Titans. Since replacing Marcus Mariota, he’s 7-3 as a starter. But the odds are against Allen and Tannehill this weekend. According to walterfootball.com, the last 37 quarterbacks to make their first start won only 15 times. Carson Wentz will be in the same situation Sunday when the Eagles host Seattle.

3. How does Seattle bounce back from the loss to San Francisco at home Sunday night as they face a cross country trip to play at Philadelphia? The Seahawks were inside the one in the last half-minute against the 49ers and inexplicably got a delay of game penalty that helped cost them the division title and relegated them to a Wild Card status. It was a devastating setback for the Seahawks and a case of déjà vu since they were within a yard of beating the a Patriots in the Super Bowl a few years back. Now they have to try to rebound against the Eagles, who are slight underdogs in playoffs for sixth time since 2016. They are 4-1 in those games including a Super Bowl victory. So they can’t be overlooked despite 9-7 record.

4. The Texans declined to put J.J. Watt on the injured reserve list and kept him on the active roster after he went down on Oct. 27 with a torn pec muscle. The move paid dividends because he will return against the Bills. But the big question is how long can he play and how effective will be?

5. Despite Watt’s return, the Texans have a shaky defense so the task for Allen will be to outscore Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins, who figure to put points on the board even though Buffalo has a solid Buffalo defense.

6. The Vikings may have the toughest assignment of the weekend, going to New Orleans to face Drew Brees. And the Saints have a lot of motivation after being bounced from the playoffs two years in a row in games they probably should have won. And then there’s the Kirk Cousins factor. He is not noted for coming up big games. A Viking victory would be a major upset.