Detroit Lions vs. San Francisco 49ers is a rematch 66 years in the making

Detroit Lions vs. San Francisco 49ers is a rematch of the last Lions playoff win on the road way back in 1957

The Detroit Lions are setting themselves up to face off against the San Francisco 49ers this coming Sunday. The winner of that battle of top-tier NFC teams will represent the conference in Super Bowl LVIII.

This is not the first time these two teams have faced off with a chance to play for a league championship.

On Dec. 22, 1957, a mere 66 years ago, the Lions and 49ers met in San Francisco in the Western Conference title game. The Niners held a commanding 24-7 halftime lead, led by the passing of Y.A Tittle. The second half saw the Lions score 24 points while holding the 49ers to just three points, with Detroit advancing to the NFL Championship against the Cleveland Browns.

This 49ers team is likely to come out of the gates firing. They will be pressing the Lions’ secondary and linebacking groups. Brock Purdy will be doing his best Tittle impression, but the Lions need to do what they did back in 1957 — bend but not break. This Lions defense has done that all year, and they need to do it for two more games.

Will history repeat itself come Sunday?

[lawrence-related id=102609]

Broncos vs. Patriots series history: Bill Belichick on the way out?

If this is Bill Belichick’s last season with the Patriots, Sunday will dictate if he goes out with a winning record vs. the Broncos (10-10).

When it comes to rivalries between teams, there’s few that are more original than the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos and Patriots were part of the first AFL game in history in 1960, a game which Denver won, 13-10.

Since then, the Broncos lead the all-time series 31-23-0.

These two teams have had several iconic moments in their rivalry, with most of them happening during the Tom Brady era. First of all, there is the iconic almost-pick-six by Denver cornerback and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Champ Bailey of Brady in the 2005 AFC divisional game.

But the biggest games of recent memory happened when two other Hall of Famers duked it out on the national stage: Peyton Manning and Brady. Manning-Brady was almost always a primetime game, and as a Bronco from 2011-2015, Manning didn’t always win against Brady (he had a 3-3 record during his tenure), but Manning won two AFC Championship games against the Pats.

New England coach Bill Belichick is 10-10 against the Broncos all-time, but he has a losing record (3-1) in the playoffs, with his one postseason win against Denver coming against quarterback Tim Tebow.

Belichick’s future with the Patriots is uncertain, so it’s possible that Sunday could be his last game against the Broncos as New England’s coach. If that ends up being the case, Sunday’s game will dictate if Belichick ends up with a winning or losing record against Denver while coaching the Patriots.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=482983128]

Saints statement game brewing against the Rams, one of their oldest rivals

The Saints are hoping to make a statement on Thursday night against one of their oldest rivals. A look back at their series history with the Rams:

We’re in for a big one on Thursday night — maybe the biggest game of the year for the New Orleans Saints. A win over the Los Angeles Rams wouldn’t just help open a second path to a playoff berth for the Saints, meaning they could reach the postseason without an NFC South title; it would also tip the scales back in their favor in the all-time record against one of their oldest rivals.

The Rams may have beaten the Saints often in their early years as neighbors in the old NFC West, but New Orleans evened the score by winning 16 of their 22 matchups from 1985 to 1995, including an undefeated stretch of seven games from Dec. 9, 1990 to Oct. 3, 1993. Now, Los Angeles maintains a lead of 43-35 in the all-time record between these two teams.

Can the Saints notch another win after beating the Rams 27-20 in New Orleans last season? They have their work cut out for them against a red-hot L.A. squad that has won four of its last five games, having taken the 11-3 Baltimore Ravens to overtime in a last-second loss.

We’re going to learn a lot about the Saints in this game. If Dennis Allen’s team can pull off the upset and stay alive in the playoffs race, it will validate the swagger he’s shown as of late after knocking out the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers. If they fall short and regress after making some big strides, well: the criticism Allen has drawn from all corners in New Orleans is only going to return with vengeance.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Breaking down the all-time series history between Alabama and Michigan

Looking back at all of the past meetings between Alabama football and Michigan

In the history of college football, no program has more wins than the Michigan Wolverines with 1,002. However, the Alabama Crimson Tide isn’t far behind at No. 2 on the list with 965 wins. Despite being the two winningest programs in the history of college football, Alabama and Michigan have only met on the gridiron five times in over 100 years of playing football.

Michigan and Alabama are slated to meet for the sixth time on Jan. 1 in the College Football Playoffs Rose Bowl semi-final. The Wolverines are currently a 1.5-point favorite, but the SEC has had a ton of success against the Big Ten in the Playoffs.

Alabama currently leads the all-time series over Michigan 3-2, with all but one of the five games coming in bowl season. The last time the two sides met was in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2020, where Nick Saban and the Tide were dominant. Below is the full break down of all five meetings.

Broncos vs. Texans series history: Denver look to capitalize in 10th meeting

The Broncos lead the all-time series against the Texans 6-3. Can they make it 7-3 on Sunday?

The Denver Broncos ride into Houston, Texas with a five-game winning streak under their belts. But winning No. 6 in a row won’t be easy against the in-the-playoff-hunt Texans, led by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.

This is a relatively young series matchup (this week marks the tenth overall meeting) compared to last week’s series against the Cleveland Browns (now-32 games), however, this series has already produced some memorable matchups. Denver leads the all-time series 6-3.

Last season, the Broncos played the Texans at Empower Field at Mile High, to win their first of five games of the season, a 16-9 win for Denver. With that victory, quarterback Russell Wilson improved to 4-0 against the Texans in his career.

That game, however, has almost no luster compared to when Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning threw his record-breaking 51st touchdown in a season to tight end Julius Thomas in 2013, a record which outlasted even twice-retired Tom Brady and now-head coach Sean Payton’s best pupil, Drew Brees.

Payton, quarterback Russell Wilson and the Denver defense look to rattle Stroud and ride into the sunset with win No. 7 on Sunday.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=482983128]

Saints vs. Lions: Who has the edge in all-time series history?

The Saints have a slight edge over the Lions in their all-time series, and they’re riding a two-game win streak over Detroit. Can they extend it to three in a row?

Can the New Orleans Saints extend their win streak over the Detroit Lions to three games in a row? The Saints have a 14-12-1 lead in the all-time series history between these two teams, but that’s helped by back-to-back wins in 2017 (52-38 in New Orleans) and 2020 (35-29 in Detroit).

And those games were won by Sean Payton and Drew Brees. Dennis Allen and Derek Carr haven’t done enough to give fans confidence they can beat anyone this year, much less the 8-3 Lions led by Dan Campbell and Jared Goff, with a future head coach calling plays on offense in Ben Johnson. This is the toughest game on the Saints’ schedule to this point and, by all expectations, of the matchups to follow.

So a win would mean a lot. It wouldn’t just extend New Orleans’ grip on the all-time series with Detroit, it would prove that these Saints do have some fight in them and that they can punch above their weight class. The 2023 season to this point has been a disappointment. Maybe they can pull off a win and prove their doubters (including those on staff here at Saints Wire) wrong in the process. Kickoff is scheduled for Noon CT/1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 3 from the Caesars Superdome.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Broncos vs. Browns history: Denver has dominated all-time series

The Broncos have had quite a few memorable games against the Browns, and Denver leads the all-time series 24-7.

The Denver Broncos come into Week 12 on a four-game winning streak. It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Broncos have found a way.

In Week 12, Denver comes into a home game against the defense-heavy Cleveland Browns, who have lost their starting quarterback Deshawn Watson for the season.

The Browns are coming to the Mile High City on a three-game win streak of their own against the Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.

All-time, the Broncos have dominated the series between these two teams 24-7-0. Along the way, this game has brought some pretty great matchups.

The two most famous games in this series came during the late 1980s, when John Elway and the Broncos went to back-to-back Super Bowls in 1986 and 1987. In the 1986 AFC Championship game, Elway led “The Drive,” a game-tying, five-minute 98-yard fourth-quarter drive before barefoot kicker Rich Karlis made a game-winning overtime kick. In the following year’s AFC Championship, the defense made the game-winning play when safety Jeremiah Castille stripped Browns running back Ernest Byner at the Denver two-yard line to preserve a win.

The last time these two teams met, the Browns churned out a 17-14 victory over the Broncos in Cleveland.

Russell Wilson, Sean Payton and the Broncos look to solve a league-leading Browns defense and make it a five-game win streak on Sunday.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=482983128]

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Missouri-Arkansas series lopsided since Tigers joined SEC

Arkansas fans don’t want to hear it, but Missouri has dominated the series between the two teams, especially since the latter became a SEC member.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, any Arkansas fan is aware of Missouri’s dominance of the Razorbacks since the former joined the SEC prior to the 2012 football season.

Many fans thought that Texas A&M would be more of a challenge than Missouri would, and while Arkansas has certainly struggled with the Aggies, it’s been almost as tough sledding in the ‘Battle Line Rivalry.’

Arkansas owns just two wins since that expansion, in 2015 and 2021, while Missouri has seemingly pulled out every close game in the mean time.

Prior to the Tigers joining the SEC, it was more even. The first meeting was in 1906, an 11-0 Missouri victory in Columbia.

The Razorbacks won a 1944 contest in St. Louis 7-6, then dropped a 1963 outcome in Little Rock by the same score.

In the mid-2000s, the teams split a pair of bowl games. Arkansas finished off a 9-win season in 2003 with a 13-point Independence Bowl victory, while the Tigers romped a 8-4 Arkansas team that had just parted with Houston Nutt a month prior in the 2008 Cotton Bowl, 38-7.

Missouri will take a 10-4 all-time lead into tomorrow’s 3 p.m. meeting in Fayetteville.

Wisconsin has a decade-long winning streak at stake this weekend

Wisconsin has a decade-long winning streak at stake this weekend:

Wisconsin is in the midst of maybe its most forgettable season in 30 years. The 5-5 doesn’t tell the entire story, especially the story of the last month of losses vs Wisconsin, at Indiana and vs Northwestern.

The season went from can’t-miss to can’t-watch. Two games still remain, and Wisconsin needs one more win to become bowl-eligible for the 23rd-straight season.

The first chance at that feat comes Saturday against Nebraska. But Wisconsin has a lot to figure out before that date if it wants to extend its current 9-game winning streak against the Cornhuskers.

This was the first in that streak, a 70-31 win in the 2012 Big Ten Championship:

 

Broncos vs. Bills series history: Denver looks to gain ground in matchup

The Bills lead the all-time series against the Broncos 23-16-1.

The Week 10 Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills marks a pivotal point in the season for both franchises.

The Broncos are coming off a bye week, two weeks off breaking their 16-game losing streak to the Kansas City Chiefs and announcing a brand-new facility earlier in the week.

The Bills are coming off a Sunday Night Football loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Ohio. Buffalo is 5-4 on the season, one game out of the lead of the AFC East, behind the Miami Dolphins.

All-time, the Bills lead the series against the Broncos 23-16-1. The last time these two teams played in the regular season, it was a bloodbath for Denver, who lost 48-19 in December of 2020. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen passed for 359 yards and two touchdowns in the big win. The Bills also gained 182 yards on the ground.

Can the Broncos flip the script against the Bills and create a three-game winning streak? We’ll find out Monday.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts