NFL RECAP – WEEK NINE
STATE OF THE GAME
One area I think the NFL
needs to address from an officiating perspective is the pervasiveness of
defensive and offensive pass interference calls. Like NBA charging calls, sometimes pass
interference calls are obvious, but most times, the calls appear rather
subjective. Like snowflakes, it appears
no two officials in the NFL have the same idea of what is or isn't pass
interference.
Two calls stand out from
Sunday's games. In New York the
officials flagged Steeler Keenan Lewis for a mystery infraction that netted the
Giants 43 yards. I think the official
had a bad angle and called what he thought happened rather than actually seeing
interference. In Atlanta, the tables
were turned and the officials nailed wideout Julio Jones with a phantom
call.
The league has swung so far
in favor of offenses in most cases of downfield contact that quarterbacks view
hucking it up to draw a pass interference call as a viable strategy. I would rather the league adopt an approach
to let players compete for the ball. If it isn't obvious, don't call it. Subjective pass interference calls play too
big a factor in today's NFL. Also, I
prefer the college rule where the offense receives a 15-yard benefit rather
than the ball at the spot of the foul.
The college approach doesn't grant a huge reward to what is in essence
an incomplete pass. Also, the college
rule reduces the strategy of just trying to draw an interference call.
Let the athletes compete for
the ball in the air. Most wideouts are
so good these days they are likely to win mano et mano battles with the
defensive backs anyway if the league would let the players play. The current rules punish both sides of the
ball by penalizing aggressive play.
5-10 MUSINGS FROM THE GAMES
These are not your Father's Bucs
So when did Tampa Bay turn
into the most exciting offense in the NFL? I sped through the Raiders/Bucs game, but had to keep rewinding to catch
all the big plays. Tampa rookie back
Doug Martin hung 250 on the Raiders and scored three times on runs longer than
45 yards. Wow. Josh Freeman is making good decisions and now
has two big play wideouts (Williams and Jackson). The Bucs have
averaged 36 points over the last four games.
All those teams that were chalking up Tampa Bay as a W on the schedule
four weeks ago better think again.
A Little Justice
The Steelers took it on the
chin from the officials on Sunday. Two
very questionable calls led directly to ten New York points. The Steelers also suffered injuries to key
contributors on offense. Still, they
found a way to make the plays they needed to on offense and the defense shut
down the Giants cold in the fourth quarter.
The Giants have a knack for fourth quarter heroics, but the Steelers
were having none of it. The defense
bailed out coach Mike Tomlin who made a suspect call for a fake field goal
inside the Giant five-yard line. I don't
mind aggressive play calling, but why would a coach think it is a better move to
put the ball in the hands of his kicker to get it into the end zone instead of
Big Ben? Curious.
Charity begins at Home
In their last two home games
the Packers have defeated the always-terrible Jags and the fading-from-view
Cardinals. However, in each game the
Packer D has yielded 300 plus passing yards.
Blaine Gabbert and John Skelton are not exactly Brady and Manning. Is this just the Packer defense playing to
the level of their competition? Or, is
the defense slipping back into the yard-yielding unit that ultimately could not
beat the NFC's best at playoff time last year?
Bearish
Other than Pardon the
Interruption's Michael Wilbon, is anybody else ready to crown the Bears the
NFC's best team? I just can't get
there. They pasted the Titans yesterday
in Tennessee to bring their record to 7-1.
The list of Bear victims is not exactly impressive, but you can only beat
the teams on your schedule. The Bear
defense reminds me of the 2006 unit that seemed to produce as many points as
the offense. The next two weeks will
give us a much better sense of whether the Bears are who we thought they
were (Dennis Green's line never gets old). Houston comes to town next
Sunday. The Bears then travel to San
Francisco to play the Niners on Monday night.
If they win both those games they deserve co front-runner status with
the Falcons.
The Future Looks Bright
Two of the league's star
rookie quarterbacks faced-off yesterday when the Dolphins traveled to Indy to
play the Colts. The Colts won an
entertaining back and forth game 23-20.
Andrew Luck threw for 433 yards including the game-winning score. Ryan Tannehill passed for 290 yards. Neither QB threw an interception. I think most fans expected Luck to be good
soon, but maybe not this good this soon.
Tannehill has been a bigger surprise. He is not as smooth as Luck, but
the game does not look too big for him. These two QBs, along with predecessors like
Matt Ryan and Cam Newton, have set the expectation bar high for early first
round quarterbacks. The days of carrying
the clipboard for a year or two are over.
A little Help, Please
Adrian Peterson is the
hottest runner in the league this side of Doug Martin. He has rushed for 460 yards in the last three
games with a pair of highlight reel long runs boosting the total. The Problem for the Vikings is that in two of
those three weeks Christian Ponder has passed for less than 65 yards. During that same three-game span Ponder has
thrown four interceptions and just two scores.
Hard to say of Ponder has lost his confidence or if Viking coach Leslie
Frazier has lost faith in Ponder. Maybe
both. A promising Viking season will
slip away if Peterson is the only guy carrying the offensive load.
Sometimes you just can't close the deal
Both Tony Romo and Matt Ryan
passed for 325 plus yards last night.
Each team had but one touchdown to show for their efforts. It was a strange game to sort out. While both teams had sporadic big plays, the
play calling and execution looked a little out of rhythm inside the 30. The defenses were solid on both sides, but it
felt more like the offenses just couldn't get into a flow. The Falcons at 8-0 can take ugly wins. The Cowboys are running out of runway at 3-5
We've Seen This Before
Once again Michael Vick and
the Eagles could not get it done in the red zone. Vick's pick six from inside the Saints five-yard
line set the tone for the entire game.
The Eagles looked like they could have carved the poor-tackling Saints
at will with their running game -- but fell behind and couldn't stay on
plan. The Eagles have now lost four
straight and don't appear to have any idea how to stop the bleeding.
WEEKLY AWARDS
MVP
Doug Martin and his 251
rushing yards and four touchdowns takes home the prize this week. The 31st pick of the 2012 draft has become
the man in the Tampa Bay backfield putting up monster back-to-back games
against the Vikings and the Raiders.
EL BUSTO
Well, somebody had to give up
all those rushing yards and long touchdown runs. I don't know exactly what the Raiders were
doing, but Martin had way too easy a time getting the edge with scarcely a
tackler breathing on him. Fool me once
shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on
me. Fool me three times and take home
the El Busto for the week.
SURPRISE-SURPRISE-SURPRISE
This week's Jim Neighbor's
award goes to the Chicago Bears. I don't
think of the Bears as a high-scoring unit, so 51 points kind of gets your
attention, even if the defense and special teams plays a part in the carnage. After narrowly escaping at home against the
Panthers the week before, I thought the Bears might get locked into an ugly
close game against the Titans. It was
ugly for the Titans, but it wasn't close.
Color me surprised.
TREASURE OF THE WEEK
The Colts and Dolphins played
a game that meant something given that each team was 4-3 coming into the game
and battling for playoff position, funny as that sounds. Each team had its moments and the rookie
leaders showed their stuff. A close,
well-played game stands out on a weekend where the matchups were not that
compelling. Colts/Dolphins are winners
of the week's best game.
TRASH OF THE WEEK
In all honesty it wasn't that
bad a game. I just expected more from
the matchup between Cam Newton and RG3.
So, for not giving me dueling highlight-worthy footage from the last two
Heisman Trophy winners, Panthers/Redskins have to stay late and clean the
classroom.
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