Andy Richardson
If you watched yesterday's games, you know how huge a play, a call, a decision really was. One defensive play in New York helped the Jets win a game they seemed to have lost; one decision in Houston may have cost the Titans a win, and that coupled with an official's decision in Baltimore may determine the AFC's top seed. And that's only three games. Crazy week, so let's get right to it....
Lions at Colts: Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. The flipside of that is when you kill an early-season trade for Dallas Clark because he's hurt, and he later gets traded to the guy you face in the playoffs and kicks your butt. Aside from that, a Peyton Manning-to-Reggie Wayne near touchdown turned into a short Dominic Rhodes TD, which probably affected a whole lot of playoff outcomes (and I'm not sure Wayne didn't score). Every week Calvin Johnson comes up with a catch or two that makes you think he's already the league's best wideout -- certainly the most fun to watch play -- and this one was no exception. Pretty nice game for Kevin Smith, too. Maybe the Lions actually do have some pieces in place for the next decision-makers to build around.
Titans at Texans: A month ago everyone was talking about a Titans-Giants Super Bowl. Now? Tennessee is no longer a lock for the conference's top seed, and may not have a healthy Albert Haynesworth, who's basically the key to their defense. Plus there's a real concern that offensively they're just not that good; certainly it's tough to see them doing much against Pittsburgh next week in a game now set to determine homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. For Houston, this is a team that would be 9-5 but for blowing a couple of games against the Colts and Jaguars earlier in the year. Andre Johnson had a 207-yard receiving day (also got away with a pushoff on his touchdown grab, which proves you've arrived as a wideout in the NFL), Matt Schaub and Steve Slaton also had nice numbers. Titans passed up a 50-yard field goal against a tricky wind (Bironas had made 4 already) to go for a 4th and 3, which Jeff Fisher later said was a mistake. Huge game next week, which seems to pretty much be a weekly occurrence for the Steelers; I'm giving them the edge, even on the road.
Bills at Jets: This was my 3-year-old son's first football game, and even he reacted to a surprise 27-yard bootleg by Brett Favre by saying, "Daddy, why is he so slow?" I think 30 NFL starting quarterbacks would have scored touchdowns on that play; I'm not sure about Kurt Warner. Anyway, much is being made and rightly so about the Bills blowing the game, and it's true -- the head-scratching decision to put the game in the hands of J.P. Losman with a lead in the final two minutes when your running game has just picked up a first down and was probably going to pick up another without too much trouble was crazy, and it cost the Bills a win. On local radio somebody said, "If I were in any way involved in the decision-making in the Bills' organization, Dick Jauron wouldn't have made it through his press conference. Jauron is probably gone, and the Bills will probably mail it in at Denver next week, putting the Broncos in the playoffs. Anyway, let's not overlook a fine game by Marshawn Lynch (127 yards) against a once-stout Jets run defense, or the fact that Leon Washington rushed for a 47-yard TD on his only carry to turn New York's first deficit into a lead, or the fact that my 3-year-old handled it all very well even though he couldn't see anything and was nearly stepped on several times when I wasn't carrying him. Jets didn't look good, but hey, they had some bad breaks (ridiculously flukey interception, long Bills field goal that caromed through off an upright) and made enough plays to win. Now it's off to the West Coast, where they've lost 3 times already this season, to play Seattle, whose head coach has some history with New York's quarterback.
Vikings at Cardinals: Should the West divisions be realigned right out of existence? Seriously? The Cardinals and Broncos are the only teams of the eight who even have a chance to finish with winning records, and the Cardinals have been blown out by some pretty ordinary opposition, while the Broncos are just horrible, at least defensively. Never would I have figured that Arizona's offense would just be defused at home by the Vikings, but that's why they play the games. Quarterback controversy in Minnesota? Tarvaris Jackson had beautiful, perfectly thrown TDs to Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade; the Cardinals are giving up more than 2 TD passes per week, which is ridiculous, but a very nice game for Jackson. The NFC North is now in the Vikings' grasp if they win a home game against Atlanta next week (which seemed easier in the preseason). Huge game for Adrian Peterson, too -- glad I started him. For Arizona, well, it's just one dud game, but they had one at Philadelphia a few weeks back, and they're now starting to look like a team that's where it is solely because of a horrible division, and won't be going very far. Bad week for Larry Fitzgerald to have his worst game of the season, as well.
Steelers at Ravens: Saved the best for last, well, as long as you like defense. What was interesting about the goal-line play to end the game -- which I agree with those who say it shouldn't have been reversed -- was that some weren't entirely clear whether it mattered if the ball broke the plane or not. Ball in hands, two feet down in end zone; touchdown? Apparently not, although the officials reversed their initial call of a 4th-down just outside the goal line, which would have made for a very interesting playcall (I'd have gone for it and think Tomlin would have too, rather than kick the tying field goal). Truly I didn't much care who won, but if the intent of instant replay is to overturn clearly incorrect calls, that's not what happened here. Road cooking, I guess. And it's a huge call, that helped save the Steelers from a bizarre wasting of a play at the goal line -- spiking it to stop the clock with 53 seconds left AND a timeout in hand; just crazy. Amazing play by Roethlisberger to hit Holmes for the maybe TD. Week after week, the Steelers find a way to get up for these huge games; Mike Tomlin deserves a whole lot of credit for that. And if they have one more game in them at Tennessee this week, they might not have to travel again until the Super Bowl.
Andy watches as much football as he can each Sunday. If you've got some observations of your own, feel free to add your comments below.
- Comments [0]
Readers' Comments
Add a Comment
Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.
To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.
