The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Pigskin

The best day of football all season, Championship Sunday, is in the books and we were treated to two outstanding games. The Giants edged out the 49ers in overtime and the Patriots narrowly avoided going to overtime with the Ravens when Billy Cundiff missed a relatively easy 32 yard field goal to tie the game. Here are some judgments to help you break down what happened this past weekend. [CBS Sports]

Here is Peter King’s weekly analysis in his MMQB column. See what he thought about Sunday’s games and his impressions of the matchups going forward. (Pro-tip: there are some links on the first page to other quality analysis) [Sports Illustrated]

John Clayton plays Q&A on the Super Bowl XLVI matchup. [ESPN]

Joe Paterno passed away this weekend. The legendary coach lost his battle with cancer. No matter what you may think about his actions and what transpired at Penn State during the Jerry Sandusky years it is always rough to see someone die in disgrace. [Yahoo! Sports]

As is common around this time of year players are getting added to the Pro Bowl roster to replace injured players and others that might be playing in the Super Bowl. One of the big names that was added was rookie QBs Cam Newton. [National Football Post]

After a disappointing first round exit from the playoffs Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians announced his retirement. Or did he? There are some reports that the OC that helped the Steelers to two Super Bowls was let go so that the team could go in a different direction on offense. [ESPN]