-The Falcons, Panthers and Bills all scored defensive touchdowns within the first three minutes of their respective games. My favorite was Captain Munnerlyn's interception return, mainly because that's an awesome name. All three teams ended up winning, proving that scoring a touchdown in the first three minutes of your game is probably a good thing. Also, playing bad teams helps.
-Yes, I'm including the Miami Dolphins in the "bad teams" category (other members include Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, New York (NFC edition), Minnesota, Oakland and St. Louis. Houston is shockingly close to getting there, but I liked their gumption today against Kansas City. Though getting -1 yard in the 4th quarter is not good). To come off a bye and lose to a team that might move to CANADA is absolutely embarrassing. Terrible playcalling, terrible execution of those poor plays, and terrible effort lead to Miami being our Worst Team of the Week. Miami fans, be glad the NBA season starts in nine days. At least Brandon Gibson's touchdown jump was pretty awesome.
-Buffalo has looked surprisingly good with Thad Lewis at the helm. I remember him from the ol' college days at Duke, and all I remembered was thinking he looked fast but he actually wasn't, and one time he threw a pick six while I was standing on the sidelines and it was really cool to see the returner (the Canes' Darryl Sharpton) running right down the line. EJ Manuel is still probably the better option, but I can think of at least five NFL teams that Thad Lewis could help.
-Sticking with the AFC East, the Patriots' Chris Jones wins our Stupid Play of the Week. However, in this case, the stupidity is really awarded to the NFL. Jones was penalized for some garbage rule that was just introduced to the NFL this year: a player in the "second level" can't push a teammate into the line of scrimmage. Considering people get pushed around at the line of scrimmage all the time, this is already a bogus idea. What's worse is that Jones was also on the line of scrimmage. Which should have meant he couldn't commit that penalty. But he was flagged, Nick Folk's missed FG was waved off, and the Jets got the ball back, eventually kicking the winning field goal after moving a bit more down the field. Nothing quite emphasizes the stupidity of a rule like it being incorrectly enforced.
-Redskins + Bears = Where's the defense? The once mighty Bears have been forced to rely on Chris Conte at free safety, who might be the worst player in the NFL at his position. He essentially gave up 21 points by himself, including a play where he ran into another player while trying to cover his man. Predictably, that didn't end up well.
-The Eagles and Cowboys played a boring football game, and I watched nearly every second of it...waiting, HOPING something would happen. It never did. I'd like those hours of my life back. We also learned that Chip Kelly had his first scoreless half as a coach ever. Those Oregon Ducks rarely scored three points in a game, so that probably had something to do with it.
-It'd be frustrating to be a Baltimore Ravens fan this year. They seem to lose a lot of close games they should win. But then you remember they won the Super Bowl last year, and you tell those 20 or so Ravens fans to stop complaining.
-The Cleveland Browns had a nice stretch going of six straight games where they led at halftime. That streak ended today. In related news, Cleveland is still bad at every sport imaginable.
-Calvin Johnson and AJ Green are arguably the top two receivers in the NFL, and they both had 155 yards receiving today in the same game, leading all receptionists. So that's pretty cool.
-I just discovered that NFL RedZone has a "touchdown montage" every week. As in, every touchdown from the week, in the order they happened. IN. CREDIBLE. Watch it here.
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