ESNY’s Monday Morning Shootaround

A WILD Wild Card Weekend!

Welcome to the Morning Shootaround!

How about the Buffalo Bills! Buffalo, in front of their home fans, authored the first perfect game in NFL history — regular or post season. Seven drives, seven touchdowns. They demolished the Patriots.

And the Cincinnati Bengals won a playoff game for the first time in 31 years! Two fan bases that are desperate for a winner got really impressive performances. It was fun as a fan of teams that aren’t in the postseason to see them enjoy big victories this weekend.

As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. today, we’ve got a nice schedule of matinee games in college hoops and the NBA today.

But the playoff weekend isn’t over. We’ve got a big Monday Night Football broadcast to close out Wild Card Weekend. And that headlines what we’re watching tonight.

• NFL: Cardinals @ Rams — 8:15 PM ET
• NBA: Hornets @ Knicks — 1 PM ET
• NBA: Nets @ Cavs — 3 PM ET
• NHL: Flyers @ Islanders — 7:30 PM ET
• CBB: #7 Purdue @ #25 Illinois — Noon ET
• CBB: Long Island U @ St. Francis (Brooklyn) — 3 PM ET
• CBB: UMBC @ Stony Brook — 4 PM ET
• TENNIS: Australian Open first round — 1:30 AM ET

Eagles blown out

Giants fans can’t cheer for their team in the playoffs (again) this year. But one thing that New York fans can unite in is rooting against a team from Philadelphia.

So the Eagles getting waxed by the Buccaneers on Sunday was good football therapy for a fan base that could use a smile these days.

Having a FLIPPIN' good time

*sorry, couldn't resist ? pic.twitter.com/lFnZNfLNHC

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) January 16, 2022

Heartbreak in Dallas

Man, you hate to see it. The Dallas Cowboys took enough penalties for three games and still, somehow, were in position to take a shot to win the game late. But a Dak Prescott scramble took just long enough and the clock ran out on Dallas.

What a way to end the game! #SuperWildCard pic.twitter.com/esKKpbkrQn

— NFL (@NFL) January 17, 2022

Giants fans really, sincerely, hate to see things end like that in Dallas.

Heck, even former Giants players appreciated the Niners’ victory.

Haha

— Justin Tuck (@JustinTuck) January 17, 2022

No KD for a while

On Sunday the Nets confirmed that Kevin Durant suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee. He’ll reportedly miss 4-6 weeks. Justin broke down the impact on the Nets on Sunday.

The Nets will start their schedule without Durant with a Monday matinee against the Cavs. We’ll see how their rotation evolves without the NBA’s leading scorer and with Kyrie Irving only able to play in most road games for the time being.

Weekend baseball news

Major League Baseball is still on pause with the players locked out by the owners, so major league free agents can’t sign with teams — yet.

But that didn’t stop teams from getting busy when the international free agent signing period opened officially on Saturday. The Yankees landed the top-ranked prospect in this year’s class, Dominican shortstop Roderick Arias. Arias reportedly got a $4 million bonus — big money for a 17-year-old.

The Mets also reportedly had a strong weekend, signing 21 players including two five-tool outfielders from the Dominican Republic.

Few fans at the Winter Olympics

On Monday morning we learned that organizers of the Winter Olympics will not be selling tickets to the public any more. Citing COVID concerns in the region, there will be strict limitations on who can attend the events of the Games this time around.

The organisers expect that spectators will strictly abide by the COVID-19 countermeasures before, during and after each event so as to help create an absolutely safe environment.https://t.co/N0iUrtpcK8

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) January 17, 2022