The seventh Sunday of the NFL season is in the books so here are the different thoughts and opinions I have on various things I witnessed this past weekend. My Cowboys crushed my spirit, but like the Dude I will abide. Lots of craziness this week. Just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
Disaster on the road again
Redskins 20 Cowboys 17. What a frustrating game. There's two things I absolutely hate: Losing to the Skins and losing to the Eagles. Now the Cowboys have a bye so I have two weeks to grouse about this loss.
Dallas is now 0-4 on the road and 3-0 at home. One of the main reasons for that is turnovers. Dallas has eight turnovers on the road and zero at home. This offense doesn't have the firepower to overcome these kind of mistakes. It was Dak's endzone fumble which turned into a Skins TD that was the difference maker in this game. Otherwise Dak played well despite the absence of his best deep ball threat in Tavon Austin.The Skins bottled up Zeke pretty well. The Dallas D shined again, only surrendering 13 points.
My main bone to pick with Dallas is once again the coaching. The Cowboys came storming back in the waning seconds and Garrett took his foot of the gas to play for overtime instead of going for the jugular. Brett Maher hit the upright and it was game over. It's bad coaching to leave the fate of the game in the foot of the kicker.
The snap infraction penalty was bullshit, long snapper L.P. Ladouceur goes through the same motions every single time he snaps and has never been called for a penalty in the past. We're talking 2,000 plus snaps and now it is a penalty. This isn't just a Cowboys fan talking here, Tony Dungy ripped the call on Sunday Night Football. Still a 47-yard field goal is no gimme and Garrett should have stayed aggressive.
Last week I laughed at the Raiders for thinking they could get a #1 draft pick for Amari Cooper. Today karma laughed at me since the Cowboys gave them a #1 for Cooper. Oh man. Cooper is an upgrade over our crappy wide receivers, but he sure isn't worth the draft pick. Classic Jerry Jones overreaction.
You know what, maybe a bye this week is a good thing. This team is driving me nuts.
Maybe the Chargers should have moved to London
The Chargers must have felt weird playing a "home" game in front of an actual crowd. Nearly 85,00 fans, about 60,000 more than they usually draw in Los Angeles. They should have stayed in San Diego, nobody wants them in LA. The LA fans didn't want the Rams either, but they will put with up them if they keep winning.
The Chargers are looking good this year. It is a nice change from their usual start the season 0-4, win a bunch of games and lose the season finale to miss the playoffs form. Too bad they share a division with the Chiefs.
The big story from this game was Titans head coach Mike Vrabel deciding to go for two and the win with seconds remaining instead of kicking the extra point to force overtime. I respect the hell out of that call. Why risk overtime with the Chargers potent offense when you can win the game now? Just because it didn't work doesn't mean it was the wrong decision. San Diego is a better team and the longer the game went the odds were going to be in their favor. The problem wasn't going for two, it was the play call. You have the ball on the two-yard line and Mariota is back in the shotgun formation. Bruising RB Derrick Henry wasn't even on the field. Made it easy for the Chargers to see what was coming. Should have run the ball.
Former Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians was calling the game and he said Vrabel's decision was "bad football". Hmm. Maybe that is why Arians is working for CBS and Vrabel has a coaching job. Fortune favors the bold.
I know I'm getting older, but does anybody remember when teams ran the ball with two or less yards to go?
Must have been a hell of a half time pep talk
The Carolina Panthers offense was suffocated by the Eagles defense for 3 quarters on Sunday. Cam Newton had more rushing yards than passing yards at half-time. And he only had 28 yards rushing at the half.
Trailing 17-0 entering the 4th quarter, suddenly the Panthers came alive by scoring TDs on three straight possessions to escape Philadelphia with a 21-17 win. It was crazy how the Panthers flipped the script. Biggest 4th quarter comeback in franchise history.
I may have mentioned once or twice my hatred of the Eagles, so I can't deny watching this team melt down in the end brought me great joy. But the post-game and Monday press conferences by head coach Doug Pederson were even better. After the game he proclaimed the pressure was off the Eagles because nobody believes this team can do anything and nobody has given them any credit this season.
Huh? No credit is ridiculous since the Eagles have been the favorite in every game they have played this season. And I think it's fair to say the majority of NFL fans think the Eagles should still win their division. They are the defending champs right? If anything the pressure is on for an underachieving Philly squad.
It got even better on Monday. Pederson tried to backpedal from the previous day's comments by saying every team in the league has pressure on them. True, but I think it's fair to say the defending champs have more. Then as the press began asking questions about Sunday's debacle, Pederson started to crack. First he insisted the only reason the reporters were scrutinizing the game was because the Eagles lost, they wouldn't be so harsh if the Eagles won. Well duh. You don't ask what went wrong when a team wins. You do however when a team blows a 17 point 4th quarter lead at home.
When he was asked why the Eagles didn't run the ball more to chew up some clock, Pederson responded with "Let me ask you to block 700-pound men sometimes." If you can explain what that means please let me know. The questions kept coming and Pederson completely lost it. He told the reporters their questions were crazy and they shouldn't question any of his decisions unless they watch tape and stand on the sidelines with him.
Oh man I love it! Pederson has declared war on the Philly media! Want to guess how many reporters would love to take him up on that offer to coach with him? The Eagles are going to need to charter more planes to London this week. Seems like somebody is sure feeling the pressure in Philly these days.
Browns are working hard for the money
Somebody needs to explain to the Browns that NFL games are scheduled for 60 minutes. The Browns played their 4th overtime game of the season Sunday against the Buccaneers. They've only played seven games! Because they are the Browns, they lost on a last second 59-yard field goal. Their overtime record now sits at 1-2-1. The all time record for OT games in one season is five. The Browns have a shot.
The people of Cleveland have suffered enough. Just lose in regulation time and spare your fans the extra agony of bonus Browns football. I'm begging you.
No record is safe
Coming into the 2018 NFL season, Drew Brees had defeated every team in the league except one: the Baltimore Ravens. His career record vs Baltimore was 0-4.
That situation was rectified Sunday as Brees led the Saints to a 24-23 win at Baltimore. He joins Brett Favre and Peyton Manning as the only QBs to defeat all 32 teams. He also threw his 500th career TD pass. Later he tacked on 501 for good measure.
The Saints needed some luck to walk away with this win. Trailing 24-17, Ravens QB Joe Flacco hit WR John Brown for a TD with less than 30 seconds left in the game. All Baltimore needed was an extra point to send the game into overtime. Hey, no problem. Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker has never missed an extra point. I mean not once in 245 attempts. Whoops. Tucker missed. Freaking kickers.
Tucker talked the media after the game and was praised last night for facing them like a man. Who cares? He's a kicker, he missed, he wished he made it. I didn't need a press conference to figure that out.
Random Stuff
Jacksonville is a mess right now. Bortles was benched and the trade for Carlos Hyde means Leonard Fournette isn't coming back any time soon. Now we hear the defense was getting into fights with the offense after their loss to Houston. Funny, I don't remember the offense giving up 40 points to Dallas.
Houston head coach Bill O'Brien said winning a NFL game is the hardest thing to do in sports. Did he ever take a swing at a slider? Seriously half the teams win every week. Only two teams ever lost every game in a season. Sounds like pressure is amping up in Houston too.
Another week, another 100-yard game for Adam Thielen. Good luck at stopping him Saints. Then again after last year's playoff debacle, the Saints might just cover Stefon Diggs with 11 guys.
Rough one for the Bears, coming up one yard short on a hail mary. This team is still a year away, but they are on the right track.
Last week I criticized the Rams for playing down to their competition. This week they crushed the 49ers 39-10. Hey McVay, if you need any more help hit me up on discord.
The Bengals and Chiefs both experienced gut wrenching losses in the final seconds last week. Want to guess who got over it first? I'm not sure if the Bengals could have stopped the Chiefs with 22 guys on the field. Cincinnati just looked lost. The AFC is the Chiefs to lose.
Watching the end of the Monday Night game as I type this. Who the hell goes for two when they are down eight? Pat Shurmur does. I can't figure that one out.
Pat Shurmur summing up the Giants problems: We need to score more and give up less. Brilliant. I can't wait for Jason Garrett to get kicked out the door in Dallas, but I'm not kidding when I say he might be the best coach in the NFC East. We have come a loooooong way from the days of Landry, Parcells, Gibbs and whatever goof was coaching the Eagles. Believe me.
Let me know your thoughts on Week Seven.
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