01/14 Quickie: NFL Divisional, More

The NFL Divisional round might stack up just behind the first two days of the NCAA Tournament as the best pair of days on the sports calendar.

Depending on how you feel about the Pats and Jets -- and most of you probably loathe them both -- they are the marquee game of the weekend.

In hype, yes. But the Pats are going to throttle them. So that's kind of the end of that story.

The Ravens should give the Steelers a game in Pittsburgh -- it's the best game of the weekend. Give the Packers a puncher's chance in Atlanta. And let's just root for the Seahawks to keep it going with what would be a shocking upset in Chicago.

Check out Quickish for links to two ends of the tabloid spectrum on this Pats-Jets rivalry: The NYPost's Star Wars-themed cover -- and Boston Metro's let's-just-get-to-the-feet mockery.

Cam Newton entering the NFL Draft: Of course he is. Two points to make here:

*Newton had the single-best (and single-most intriguing) season of any player in college football history. Part of the myth is its "one-and-done" essence. Veni, vidi, vici. Part is just the ass-kicking dominance.

*Where will Newton go in the NFL Draft? Sounds like the draftniks have learned their lesson from the shellacking they took with Tebow last year. Kiper has Cam at No. 14 overall -- which has nothing to do with where he'll ultimately be drafted (which is all that matters -- my problem with the draftniks is that I don't care how they rank the players; I care where they think the players will go. I suppose ranking is a proxy for general draft status, but it's not the same). I think he goes in the Top 15, probably the 3rd QB taken after Gabbert and Mallett. I'm long on Newton as a pro QB. Then again, I was/am long on Tebow as a pro QB.

NFL Coaching Hires: Really like John Fox in Denver (despite the 2010 season in Carolina), and am willing to give Pat Shurmur a chance in Cleveland. That's a rough situation for any coach.

Hot Stove: Yankees get Rafael Soriano, and now they have the best bullpen in baseball -- all they need to have is the best bullpen in the AL East.

Heat lose 2nd straight on the road: They were playing without LeBron -- what were you expecting? Without LeBron, the Heat are barely better than last year's Wade-only team.

The best thing ever yesterday? Shawn Kemp as a trending topic, because of the halo effect from comparisons to phenomenon Blake Griffin.

Quickish is going to be HOPPING this weekend during the NFL Playoff games. Presuming you're watching, fire up the laptop, iPad or phone and check in at Quickish during the game for the best real-time commentary from Twitter, live-blogs and everywhere else.

Thanks for an awesome launch week for Quickish. So much more to come next week and beyond.

-- D.S.