Football this 'n' that

 Is your NFL playoff bracket busted?

Three weeks after losing a heartbreaker to Minnesota, the Giants returned to Minneapolis on Sunday, and stunned the 2nd seed in the NFC, 31-24.

Daniel Jones not only threw two TD passes, but he also ran for nearly 80 yards himself, while Saquon Barkley scored twice. Vikings fans are 2nd guessing 1st year coach Kevin O'Connell's play call on the final play, as Kirk Cousins' pass came up short of 1st down as time expired.

Up next for the Giants is a 3rd match with East rival Philadelphia. Date & time to be determined after tonight's game.

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For the first time, the Pro Bowl's pre-game skills competition will be shown live on ESPN on February 2-3. Well, it's a ratings sweeps period, and now Disney wants to give the game the same kind of build they would if they had the Super Bowl this year.

Ok, that's all well and good, but coaching the teams this year are the seemingly omnipresent Manning brothers, Peyton (AFC) & Eli (NFC), who have TV deals with ESPN and NBC, and are seemingly everywhere in advertising, too (i.e. Caesar's SportsBook, the Pepsi/Frito Lay ads leading to the Super Bowl). I can't picture Tom Brady, with all his off-field issues, in this year's Pro Bowl, being coached by his old nemesis, Eli, can you?

Worse, and this is so ironic in terms of player safety after the Damar Hamlin cardiac event two weeks ago, is that the Pro Bowl is now a flag football game. Pass the Pepto.

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Speaking of Brady, he & the Tampa Bay Buccaneers know where they will be next weekend if they beat Dallas tonight.

Thanks to the Giants' upsetting Minnesota, the Bucs-Cowboys winner heads to San Francisco to play the 3rd seeded 49ers, who routed Seattle on Saturday night. At last check the NFC South champions are a 2 1/2 point home underdog. If Brady makes one more run for a ring, it may be more because he's got something to prove, plus avoiding being surrounded by the Mannings....!

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And if Dallas should lose, renowned Cowboy hater and professional bloviating moron Screamin' A. Cosell (Stephen A. Smith) will be crowing all morning on First Take tomorrow. Listen, Screamin' A., you don't know as much about football as you think you do. I'd like to see you challenged to go to the scouting combine before the NFL Draft. If that doesn't expose you as a nothing happening clown, well......!

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The AFC Divisional round is now set.

Cincinnati will get a rematch with Buffalo, while Jacksonville visits Kansas City. The #4 seeded Jaguars pulled off a miracle comeback Saturday night to eliminate the Los Angeles Chargers, leading to questions about coach Brandon Staley's future in Los Angeles.

The bad news for the Bengals, of course, is that they will play in Buffalo after business was left unfinished in Cincinnati two weeks ago. Maybe the Bills will give Bengals fans some tickets as compensation. Who knows?

We do know they'll light up the scoreboard, though.

Picks on Friday.