Today's Updates, 1/9/2019

Today's UPDATES

In the second half to covering the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs this weekend, it's needless to say that the Sunday games will not disappoint, unless one team decides to blow so early or so late in the game. Max Sports will kick things off with a preview of the Los Angeles Chargers vs the New England Patriots, it looks like another renewed QB showdown between Tom Brady and one of his fierce rivals, Phillip Rivers, but this time feels different. The last time the Chargers were in the AFC Championship game, it was 2008 and they were still in San Diego at the time, Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson brought a feisty, banged-up Chargers squad to Foxborough and failed to beat the unbeatable Patriots, the Chargers team that presents itself today has a much better chance at winning this Sunday if they were outmaneuver them in vertical passing and a strong pass rush. Of course it will also take the defense of the Chargers to get the job done, Melvin Ingram, Joey Bosa and Trent Brown have all been great assets for Rivers and Co. who have been excellent on the road all season, they beat the Seahawks, Steelers, Chiefs and Ravens on their home field, leaving the Patriots as the NFL's only undefeated home team this season. There is little to say about the Patriots and what they have to make it back to the AFC Championship game, all their best performances have come from Foxborough, but the fact that Tom Brady and his receivers aren't playing at the same level that they have leading up to these playoffs, the whole team would have to depend more on their running backs and occasional trick plays.The Sunday Madness will continue with the Philadelphia Eagles vs New Orleans Saints, the Defending Super Bowl Champions survived the cold treachery of the Chicago Bears thanks to a "Double Doink" that left a whole city, who had high hopes for their team to see them win it all, sad and furious, but the Eagles know that there's no napping on the job. In Week 11, they suffered terrible defeat at the hands of the Saints 48-7, though things have changed for both teams after that game, the Saints' offense has not been great but relying more on its defense and situational football to close out the season has worked out well. Meanwhile, the Eagles have been the Eagles of last year and not just with their Super Bowl MVP Quaterback Nick Foles, but their defensive line closed out the season by playing as well as any unit and the offensive line has done a terrific job protecting Nick Foles. Rasul Douglas, Avonte Maddox, Cre'Von LeBlanc and Tre Sullivan have all stepped up for Philly's secondary depth, but a team with a surplus of receiving options cancreate mismatches against Philadelphia, although it's completely uncertain if the Saints can be that team. Drew Brees has Ted Ginn and Michael Thomas on his offensive line and he turns 40 years old before the NFC Championship, so if the Saints win on Sunday, it will be the best birthday gift of all for Brees and he may have the best backfield combination and the best defense to get one step closer to the Super Bowl. We have a lot more on the Divisional Round later on this week, but until then see what's cooking in the NBA, NHL and WWE.

NFL Playoffs
Divisional Round
Indianapolis Colts vs Kansas City Chiefs, Saturday at 4:35PM on NBC
Dallas Cowboys vs Los Angeles Rams, Saturday at 8:15PM on FOX
Los Angeles Chargers vs New England Patriots, Sunday at 1:05PM on CBS
Philadelphia Eagles vs New Orleans Saints, Sunday at 4:40PM on FOX
Conference Championships
NFC Championship, January 20th at 3:05PM on FOX
AFC Championship, January 20th at 6:40PM on CBS
Super Bowl LIII
February 3rd, 2019 from Atlanta at 6:30PM on CBS

NBA

Last Night

Pacers 123, Cavaliers 115
76ers 132, Wizards 115
Nuggets 103, Heat 99
Raptors 104, Hawks 101
Timberwolves 119, Thunder 117
Suns 115, Kings 111
Warriors 122, Knicks 95
Clippers 128, Hornets 109
Tonight
Pacers vs Celtics at 7PM
76ers vs Wizards at 7PM
Hawks vs Nets at 7:30PM
Bucks vs Rockets at 8PM on ESPN
Spurs vs Grizzlies at 8PM
Cavaliers vs Pelicans at 8PM
Suns vs Mavericks at 8:30PM
Magic vs Jazz at 9PM
Bulls vs Trail Blazers at 10PM
Pistons vs Lakers at 10:30PM on ESPN
Tomorrow
Celtics vs Heat at 7PM on TNT
Clippers vs Nuggets at 9PM
Thunder vs Spurs at 9:30PM on TNT
Pistons vs Kings at 10PM

NHL
Last Night
Bruins 4, Wild 0
Sabres 5, Devils 1
Hurricanes 4, Islanders 3
Penguins 5, Panthers 1
Captials 5, Flyers 3
Canadiens 3, Red Wings 2
Lighting 4, Blue Jackets 0
Stars 3, Blues 1
Jets 7, Avalanche 4
Golden Knights 4, Rangers 2
Sharks 7, Oilers 2
Tonight
Predators vs Blackhawks at 8PM on NBCSN
Avalanche vs Flames at 9:30PM on ESPN+
Senators vs Ducks at 10PM
Tomorrow
Captials vs Bruins at 7PM on ESPN+
Maple Leafs vs Devils at 7PM
Islanders vs Rangers at 7PM
Stars vs Flyers at 7PM
Predators vs Blue Jackets at 7PM
Hurricanes vs Lightning at 7:30PM
Canadiens vs Blues at 8PM
Jets vs Wild at 8PM on NBCSN
Panthers vs Oilers at 9PM
Coyotes vs Canucks at 10PM
Sharks vs Golden Knights at 10PM on ESPN+
Senators vs Kings at 10:30PM

WWE
SmackDown LIVE results
- Daniel Bryan defeated R-Truth
- Samoa Joe and Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas defeated Rey Mysterio and Mustafa Ali
- The Bar defeated The Usos, has the Usos won, then they would have earned a future Tag Team Titles match
- Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte and Carmella in a Triple Threat match to determine the #1 Contender for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool match card
- Rhea Ripley vs Toni Storm for the NXT UK Women's Championship
- Moustache Mountain vs Grizzled Young Veterans for the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Championship
- Pete Dunne vs Joe Coffey for the WWE United Kingdom Championship
- Dave Mastiff vs Eddie Dennis in a No Disqualification match
NXT TakeOver: Phoenix match card
- Tommaso Ciampa vs Aleister Black for the NXT Championship
- Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair for the NXT Women's Championship
Royal Rumble match card
- 30-man Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania 35
- 30-woman Royal Rumble match for a women's championship match at WrestleMania 35
- Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman for the WWE Universal Championship
- Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles for the WWE Championship
- Ronda Rousey vs Sasha Banks for the WWE Raw Women's Championship
- Asuka vs Becky Lynch for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
- The Bar vs The Miz and Shane McMahon for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
- Buddy Murphy vs Akira Tozawa vs Kalisto vs TBD in a Fatal Four-Way match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

In other football-related news, many NFL teams are searching for a new head coach after failing miserably this season. We have a few new hirings that sure to brighten the mood of each team whose fanbase are sick of the way they've been playing. Three hirings have been made so far with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who fired Dirk Koetter after a 5–11 season, hired former Cardinals head coah Bruce Arians as their new head coach. The Green Bay Packers fired Mike McCarthy as their head coach fired on December 2, shortly after the Packers lost to the Arizona Cardinals, McCarthy has claimed today that he is only interest of being the new head coach of the New York Jets who fire Todd Bowles a couple of days ago. As for the Packers, they announced yesterday that their new head coach will be former offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur, but the biggest signing of the day yesterday came from Arizona. The Cardinals made the move of firing Steve Wilks on New Year's Eve, and then made a great interest of pursing former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury, as did the NY Jets, and despite being initially blocked by USC,he was hired for his first NFL coaching position yesterday. Today's #TwitterTrend covers the Cardinals who will officially introduce Kingsbury as their next head coach at a press conference today.

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

In under two months, Kliff Kingsbury has been:

-Fired as Texas Tech head coach (Nov. 26)

-Hired as USC OC (Dec. 5)

-Hired by Arizona Cardinals as head coach (Jan. 8)

NFL Research @NFLResearch

.@AZCardinals expected to hire Kliff Kingsbury as head coach.

Kingsbury worked w/ some notable college & NFL QBs.

Josh Rosen ranked last in pass YPG (162.7) & passer rtg (66.7) in 2018.

According to Next Gen Stats, Rosen threw in tight windows on 21.6% of passes (most in NFL).

James Palmer @JamesPalmerTV

Patrick Mahomes was asked about his former coach Kliff Kingsbury about 2 hours ago before the news broke. Here is what Mahomes had to say about Kingsbury as a NFL head coach:

Erik Burkhardt @ErikBurkhardt

Congratulations to my client & brother @KliffKingsbury. Head Coach of the @AZCardinals

NFL @NFL

Cardinals expected to hire Kliff Kingsbury as head coach: http://on.nfl.com/gqHi9j (via @PSchrags + @RapSheet)

Peter Schrager @PSchrags

Per sources, Kliff Kingsbury is finalizing a deal to become the Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals. @nflnetwork @gmfb @NFLonFOX

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

Cardinals officially will introduce Kliff Kingsbury as their next head coach at a Wednesday press conference at the Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center.

Adam Gorney @adamgorney

Kliff Kingsbury just got an NFL job. He coached for six seasons at Texas Tech where he never won more than eight games and had four losing seasons.

Jason McIntyre @jasonrmcintyre

Matt Nagy had never been a head coach. Playoffs.

Frank Reich had never been a head coach. Playoffs.

Doug Pederson had never been a head coach. Won a Super Bowl. Back in playoffs.

Your point?

Graham Barfield @GrahamBarfield

No quarterback was pressured more often (37.2%), threw into a tight window more often (21.6%), or had a lower expected completion percentage (59.4%)—based on the difficulty of the throw—than Josh Rosen did in 2018.

This will certainly change under Kliff Kingsbury.

Jordan Schultz @Schultz_Report

Kliff Kingsbury is going to do wonders for Josh Rosen. Consider the impact he had on Mayfield and Mahomes. Rosen doesn’t move quite as well, but has the necessary quick release, accuracy and overall skill set to be fully highlighted by Kingsbury’s creativity. Gr8 hire for #Cards.

Marcus Mosher @Marcus_Mosher

Sean McVay - 32 years old

Kliff Kingsbury - 39 years old

Kyle Shanahan - 39 years old

Pete Carroll - 67 years old

The NFC West is wild, man.

Hong Kong Disneyland revealed yesterday that its latest new Marvel attraction "Ant-Man and The WASP: Nano Battle will soon be opened to the public on March 31st. According to Thomas Smith, Editorial Content Director for Disney Parks, "It will be the world’s first attraction featuring Ant-Man and The Wasp, as well as the first Marvel-themed attraction featuring a female Super Hero as a lead character." This marks the Hong Kong resort’s second Marvel-themed attraction and the continued development of the Marvel Super Hero hub action as part of Hong Kong Disneyland’s multi-year expansion which will conclude in 2023 with the much-anticipated Avengers attraction. For more on what's in stored for Earth's Tiniest Heroes from a visual standpoint, we go to a special Web Choice playlist from Walt Disney Imagineers explaining very carefully about the certain details for this new attraction that has everyone buzzing.