SPORTS
Friday, January 4, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
While Wagner leads Seattle D, Lee fights for Cowboys’ scraps
By SCHUYLER DIXON
AP Pro Football Writer
FRISCO, Texas — Seat-
tle’s Bobby Wagner and
Sean Lee of Dallas were
the All-Pro leaders of their
defenses at linebacker the
previous time the Seahawks
and Cowboys made the
playoffs.
Little has changed for
Wagner’s group in two
years. Not much is the same
in the middle of the Dal-
las defense going into the
first postseason meeting
between these teams since
the 2006 season.
Wagner is still among
the NFL leaders in tackles,
according to SportRadar,
and perhaps headed to his
third straight All-Pro selec-
tion. Joining him among
those leading tacklers? Not
Lee, but Cowboys rookie
Leighton Vander Esch.
And that’s only the half
of it with Dallas (10-6),
which will host the Sea-
hawks (10-6) in a wild-card
game Saturday night. Jay-
lon Smith is the other under-
25 linebacker getting most
of the attention, while Lee’s
presence almost feels like
an afterthought in another
injury-plagued year for the
two-time Pro Bowler.
“I think when you have
two young guys who are
playing at a Pro Bowl cal-
iber, in years past, missing
the time, you’d probably be,
‘Hey I need to be back to
help this team,’” Lee said.
“When you have guys like
that playing that well, you
know you can take your
time.”
The 28-year-old Wag-
ner, drafted two years after
Lee but four years younger,
doesn’t sound like someone
willing to wait around for
anyone anytime soon. Asked
if he was ever a sloppy tack-
ler, Wagner started his reply
AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File
In this Sept. 30, 2018, file photo, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner (54) gestures at the line of scrimmage during an
NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz.
with, “Sloppy tackler?”
“Maybe when I was
an infant and I was barely
walking,” said Wagner, the
only player with fewer than
five missed tackles (he has
one) among those with at
least 100 tackles this sea-
son, according to SportRa-
dar. “Legs weren’t fully
developed yet.”
It was never Lee’s style
for that sort of brash answer,
even in his prime.
But now the questions
are about how many snaps
he needs to feel comfort-
able in a playoff game after
missing six of the last eight
games in the regular season
and nine overall with two
hamstring injuries. Or about
whether he will even have
a prominent role now that
AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File
In this Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, file photo, Dallas Cowboys middle
linebacker Sean Lee (50) runs the ball after intercepting a pass
from the New York Giants during the fourth quarter of an NFL
football game in East Rutherford, N.J.
he’s healthy.
“Sean Lee is someone
who can have a huge impact
Giving big money to NFL QBs
guarantees nothing in return
on our team,” coach Jason
Garrett said. “Those other
guys have played awfully
Tickets for College Football Playoff
title game available for cheap
By ROB MAADDI
AP Pro Football Writer
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
Giving
quarterbacks
big money doesn’t guaran-
tee success or even playoff
appearances.
The NFL’s six high-
est-paid quarterbacks in
2018 will be spectators this
postseason. Green Bay’s
Aaron Rodgers ($33.5 mil-
lion), Atlanta’s Matt Ryan
($30 million), Minnesota’s
Kirk Cousins ($28 million),
San Francisco’s Jimmy
Garoppolo ($27.5 million),
Detroit’s Matthew Stafford
($27 million) and Oakland’s
Derek Carr ($25 million)
couldn’t lead their teams to
the playoffs.
Only Cousins had a win-
ning record (8-7-1), and he
failed in a do-or-die game
in the regular-season finale.
Cousins, who received a
three-year, fully guaranteed,
$84 million contract, strug-
gled in a 24-10 loss to the
Chicago Bears that elimi-
nated the Vikings.
Of the top six on the sal-
ary list, only Rodgers has
won a Super Bowl. Ryan is
4-6 in the playoffs, Stafford
is 0-3 and Cousins is 0-1.
Carr and Garoppolo haven’t
made a postseason start.
Among the 12 start-
ing quarterbacks still play-
ing, six are still under their
rookie contract and another
— Nick Foles — is a
backup.
Here’s a look at a few
more numbers entering
wild-card weekend:
Setting records: New
Orleans quarterback Drew
Brees broke his own record
with a 74.4 completion per-
centage, the highest in a sea-
son in NFL history. ... Phil-
adelphia’s Zach Ertz set a
record for most receptions
by a tight end (116). ... San
Francisco’s George Kittle
set a record for most yards
receiving by a tight end
(1,377). ... Teams combined
to score 1,371 total touch-
downs, the highest total in
a season. ... Eight quarter-
backs had a passer rating
of 100 or higher, most in a
season.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.
— Qualifying for the college
football championship game
never has been harder for
teams other than Alabama
and Clemson.
Getting into the stadium
to watch the Crimson Tide
and Tigers play for the title
for the third time in four
years has perhaps never been
cheaper.
With the College Football
Playoff final located thou-
sands of miles away from
the two campuses, possible
fatigue for fan bases of teams
that have become annual
participants in the playoff
and a game site in an expen-
sive market lacking college
football die-hards, prices for
tickets for Monday night’s
championship in Santa Clara
have been plummeting the
past few days.
“It’s sort of a perfect
storm of factors at play
this year,” said Jesse Law-
rence, the founder of Tick-
etIQ, a secondary ticket mar-
ket. “It’s a big ask for fans to
come and that’s why we’re
seeing the prices the way
they are.”
Tickets for the champi-
onship game are now avail-
able for just $135 on the sec-
ondary market, according to
TicketIQ, less than half of
what the price was before the
semifinals and well below
the face value price of $475.
StubHub
had
even
cheaper tickets available
Wednesday night, with seats
priced at $115 — less than
double the cost of a parking
pass on the ticket resale site.
The CFP picked Santa
Clara as its site for this year
in part out of hope of broad-
ening college football’s
fan base. The Bay Area is
much more of a pro sports
region and it appears that not
enough locals want to brave
rush-hour traffic to attend the
game Monday night. Games
at California and Stanford
struggle to draw big crowds
and the annual Pac-12 cham-
pionship game needs tarps
to cover unused sections at
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File
In this Nov. 15, 2018, file photo, Green Bay Packers
quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks to pass against the Seattle
Seahawks during the first half of an NFL football game in
Seattle.
Last man standing: Phil-
adelphia’s Doug Peder-
son is the only one of seven
coaches hired in 2016 still
with his team. Adam Gase
(23-26, Miami), Chip Kelly
(2-14, San Francisco), Hue
Jackson (3-36-1, Cleve-
land), Mike Mularkey (19-
17, Tennessee), Dirk Koet-
ter (19-29, Tampa Bay)
and Ben McAdoo (13-16,
Giants) all were fired, some
sooner than others.
Worst to first: The Bears
(12-4) and Texans (11-5)
won their divisions after fin-
ishing in last place in 2017.
The Eagles won the Super
Bowl last year after going
worst-to-first in the NFC
East.
The newcomers: Seven
teams who weren’t in the
playoffs last season quali-
fied this year. All seven —
Baltimore, Chicago, Dal-
las, Houston, Indianapolis,
the Los Angeles Chargers
and Seattle — will play this
weekend. Since the 12-team
playoff format was adopted
in 1990, at least four teams
have qualified for the play-
offs in every season that
were not in the postseason
the previous year.
Wild-card champs: Nine
teams who played wild-
card games have won the
Super Bowl, including the
1980 Raiders, 1997 Bron-
cos, 2000 and 2012 Ravens,
2005 Steelers, 2006 Colts,
2007 and 2011 Giants and
2010 Packers.
Toughest road: The
Eagles and Colts are each
trying to become only the
third No. 6 seed to win a
Super Bowl, joining the
2005 Steelers and 2010
Packers.
Easiest road: Since 1975,
49 of the 86 teams (57 per-
cent) to reach the Super
Bowl were No. 1 seeds. In
that span, 20 No. 2 seeds,
four No. 3, nine No. 4, two
No. 5 and two No. 6 made it.
Over the past five years, nine
of 10 No. 1 seeds played in
the Super Bowl. Only the
2016 Cowboys didn’t get in.
Welcome to the dance:
Four quarterbacks will make
their postseason debut as
starters. Baltimore’s Lamar
Jackson, Chicago’s Mitch-
ell Trubisky and Houston’s
Deshaun Watson play this
weekend. Kansas City’s Pat-
rick Mahomes has a bye.
Stingy defense: In three
of the past four seasons,
the teams with the stingi-
est regular-season scoring
defense have advanced to
the Super Bowl. The Bears
led the league with the few-
est points allowed per game
(17.7) this season.
well also, so we’ll work it
out as the week goes on.”
In the past, there wasn’t
anything to work out when
Lee was ready to return
from injury. While a knee
injury sidelined him for
all of the most recent sea-
son in which the Cowboys
won a playoff game (2014),
Lee was the best defensive
player for the NFC’s top
seed in 2016.
Dallas lost a divisional
playoff to Green Bay at
home to finish the only one
of Lee’s nine seasons in
which he didn’t miss a game
because of injury, while the
Seahawks fell in the same
round to Atlanta.
Lee has missed nearly
half the games since then
because of hamstring issues,
but is praised for how he has
mentored Vander Esch and
Smith, by far the team’s top
two tacklers.
“You come into the
meetings so excited because
you see these young guys
at the beginning of their
career wanting to do every-
thing to help this team,” Lee
said. “And you see your-
self in them when you were
young. I try to help them,
but they also help me with
their energy.”
Smith was a rookie
rehabbing a knee injury
from his final game at Notre
Dame when Dallas made
the playoffs two years ago.
Vander Esch still hadn’t
started a game at Boise
State, just a couple of years
removed from walking on
there after playing eight-
man high school football in
tiny Riggins, Idaho.
Now the Cowboys are
just trying to find Lee play-
ing time among those two.
“You go to one side of
the field and one guy is
flying over and making a
tackle for loss and then you
try the other side, and the
other guy is making a tackle
for loss,” Wagner said of his
young counterparts. “Every
time one of them makes a
play, they’re the first one
congratulating them and to
me, that’s fun to watch.”
Don’t think the Cowboys
haven’t noticed Wagner,
particularly since they have
just one touchdown com-
bined the past three times
they’ve faced his defense.
“Turn on the tape,” quar-
terback Dak Prescott said.
“He’s an elite linebacker,
and he’s been that way for
a long time. He’s the quar-
terback of their defense. He
knows for the most part the
offense’s formations and the
things that they like to do
out of that and that puts him
ahead of the game.”
AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File
In this Oct. 7, 2018, file photo, fans watch an NFL football
game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona
Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Levi’s Stadium.
Tickets for the cham-
pionship game are consid-
erably cheaper than those
for the SEC championship
game last month in Atlanta
between Alabama and Geor-
gia and both CFP semifinal
games.
With both schools still
having tickets available and
the secondary market filled
with relatively cheap seats,
there’s a distinct possibility
of empty seats for college
football’s biggest game.
“It’s actually not surpris-
ing,” Lawrence said. “I think
it’s predictable or expected
based on two factors.”
The main factor is the
location of the game. The
two schools are an average
of 2,428 miles away from
the game site, the longest
distance since TicketIQ first
began tracking the distance
in 2011.
Flights from South Caro-
lina and Alabama were run-
ning around $1,000 round-
trip and hotels in the Bay
Area are notoriously expen-
sive, making the trip costly
even if the tickets aren’t.
With the two schools
having been to this game so
often so recently, demand for
tickets is very soft.
The previous mark for
cheapest ticket for the col-
lege championship since
2011 was $202 in 2016,
when Alabama and Clem-
son met for the first of two
straight playoff meetings
in Glendale, Arizona —
another city more than 2,000
miles away from the schools.
In contrast, last year’s
title game in Atlanta
between Alabama and Geor-
gia was the closest location
to the schools at an aver-
age of 136 miles, and the
most expensive ticket, with
the get-in price on the sec-
ondary market reaching
$1,752, according to Tick-
etIQ. That was just slightly
higher than the prices for the
Alabama-Clemson rematch
in Tampa, Florida, in 2017,
and the Oregon-Auburn title
game in 2011 in Glendale,
Arizona.
Lawrence said he believes
the prices would have been
in the middle of the pack had
Oklahoma and Notre Dame
won the semifinal games, but
even then it would have been
hard to top games where the
teams were closer to the site.
“You can overcome the
lack of novelty if the location
is good but even in a situa-
tion where there is novelty,
location will trump,” Law-
rence said. “The best exam-
ple of that is Alabama-Clem-
son I, which was in Glendale,
Arizona. That was first time
Clemson had been, there was
a lot of novelty there. Ala-
bama had been there before,
but still it was the first of the
matchups and highly antic-
ipated and that was a $200
get-in price.”
Location is a much bigger
factor for the CFP title game
than the basketball Final
Four, where ticket prices are
less susceptible to fluctua-
tions based on the proximity
of the teams because there
are four schools involved
and more casual fans plan
trips for that event.