Thursday, January 15, 2015

By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth: Don't Cross the Torches

Plenty of time for Flacco so far. Jesus, the Ravens coasted down the field. No pass rush from the Patriots whatsoever and the Ravens did nothing but throw. Fumble? This is a heck of a scrum right here. This doesn't seem like a good time to challenge a catch. They reversed it? Oooo-kay. Isn't this the same drive? Oh, the Ravens ran the ball a few times. This is too easy.


The Ravens might want to cover Gronk. The Ravens might want to cover Gronk with a stronger man. Blount got STUFFED. Brady: "Fine, you worthless peons. I'll do this myself."




Sounds like the Pats don't have a No. 53. How is that not interference? McCourty jumped up Daniels' back. Some crappy tackling by the Ravens on the Amendola TD.


That's one of the worst passes Brady's ever thrown. I mean EVER. Make them pay, Flacco. BANG! Daniels again. The Patriots get the ball to start the second half and immediately go three and out. This is potentially big. Wow! Flacco completed the pass to Torrey Smith despite the interference. As good as Justin Tucker is, I like it. Throw it upand see if you get a big play for a flag and they got both.


Now it's big drive time for the Patriots. Gronk. I remember this other dude. Wait, who's eligible? Whatever that was, it worked. Harbaugh is LIVID. What else is new? GRONK. Wide receiver pass? OK. Tie game! I don't know why this review is taking so long but whatever. Then Flacco makes a bad throw — I mean, he overthrew the receiver and it had no chance of resulting in anything good, but it ended up being the worst outcome. Oh wow. What's this? Is it a fumble? Oh, there's a flag? Holding on Revis?!? Good God. That's the second one?


The Patriots can't stop Forsett. At all.


And Revis may have gotten away with another hold. The Patriots don't fold and the Ravens have to kick. Wait, what? Did anyone even see the ball come out? Looks like his knee's down. The Ravens still aren't giving Edelman a lot of respect. Good God, that throw to LaFell. Did Flacco slip? That was odd. So it's incomplete? Why did they call time out? And now the Patriots call time out for no discernible reason. He threw that into coverage and Daniels caught it.


Oops. Flacco overthrew it but that's a well-hidden coverage. I'm not sure they needed to go for it all at that point, though. There was 1:30 left! What's Belichick doing? There's gonna be time left. Why did Jones field that punt? That wasted about four seconds trying to get out of bounds. This won't work.

Actually, that may be backwards. (Patriots 35, Ravens 31)

I don't like Cam's chances or surviving the night. That was... ill-advised. You can (and should) test Sherman, but that's not the way to do it.


A better throw by Wilson and Kearse is strutting into the end zone. Dropped snap? Oh, their regular center's back. That was a missed opportunity.


Carolina fumbles? Gotta catch that, dude. Touchdown Seahawks. Nice catch by Baldwin going backwards and out of bounds. Notice the Panthers have moved Brown off of Sherman's side. They brought Tolbert in, then called a Newton sneak. Interesting. This is the best chance the Panthers have — run the ball and keep the Seahawks' rushers honest and off Cam's back. And he threads the needle to Benjamin to cap off a good drive with a touchdown. Remember what I said earlier about how Wilson's first throw to Kearse could have been better?


That's what I was talking about. Olsen needs to catch that. Yeah, that's a face mask. Maxwell's having shortness of breath? I like how Lynch both criticized the idea of all-star officiating crews and still praised this group. Newton got some blocks on that run. Wait, he got the first down before that, didn't he? Is that reviewable? Why did Rivera let the clock run down? I don't think Cam made it. What an odd play call. He got it! Interesting. Man, the Panthers utterly botched those last 20 seconds. First they waste about 12 seconds before calling time out, and then Newton telegraphs his throw to the end zone and it gets intercepted. Or does it? Incomplete and the Panthers get a break. A DRAW play? What the hell? Then Chancellor just jumped OVER the entire line. How didn't he block that? That's amazing. HE DID IT AGAIN AND BLOCKED IT. Wait, did he block it?


Running into the kicker? That's not bad acting. And Gano makes it finally. I don't like these pitches the Panthers are running. They don't play to anyone's strengths. WILSON RUNNING. About time Lynch joined the party. I don't know... I don't think he's out of bounds there. That's... you can't ask Roman Harper to do that at his age.


Somebody came flying across the screen and almost blocked that Hauschka field goal. Huh? That's not a penalty? Tolbert should have caught that, though. Why is Luke Willson great? Burkhart: "And now this is a defense that smells blood." Whoa! BIG catch by Olsen. Oh, Cam. You shouldn't have waited. Chancellor just closed the book on this one. Newton has his flaws but he's doing all he can here. (And make no mistake, they're not even playing in this game without him.) I mean, they can't win this game and he's still gunning it. Good job by Benjamin to stay inbounds this time. Oh, is Unger hurt again? He JUST came back. Now I have to ask the same question of the Panthers that I did when the Seahawks ended up in exactly this situation: Was this a good season? (Seahawks 31, Panthers 17)



The Packers are facing token resistance. Rodgers isn't gonna run this, is he? Oh. The Packers could have gotten to Romo there probably. Holding? Oh. And this'll be holding on the Cowboys. Romo made somebody miss a tackle. I'm not sure the spot will make a huge difference here. Hmmm... that's close. I'm not sure about that one. Who's THAT guy? Bad overthrow by Rodgers on the corner blitz — that could have been a touchdown. "Prior to the pass"? There was no pass. That was a chaotic six seconds. The Cowboys receivers are doing a good job at not being tackled. I have a bad feeling about this. That's another miss by Rodgers and he's not right. Nelson needs to catch that one. Buck: "Last time Masthead punted at home we were still in daylight savings time." The Packets can't stop Jason Witten. Is it 2006 again? That's a real generous spot. Oh, they reviewed it and made the right decision. Why not run it, Cowboys? Bad snap and the receiver in the end zone still almost caught it. Good Lord, Bailey missed it worse the second time. Oh, someone got a hand on it? That makes sense. Cobb made two really good catches on this drive. That dumb decision by the Cowboys swung this game six points.


Oh McCarthy, don't challenge THIS. Romo threw it with his eyes closed? No, Troy, it was not worth a challenge. Fumble! Packers ball! And Lacy ran through the hole that Murray just had when he fumbled. Three Cowboys were needed to drag Adams down and now we've got a scrum. Packer Nation is displeased. I'm not sure who that pass was actually intended for. Now Romo's hobbling.


Murray scores and I really don't like where this is headed. Rodgers' throws have varied greatly in quality. Adams just brushed somebody off. Touchdown! Go for two now or no? I say no. Clutch sack. Randall Cobb, running back. The Cowboys don't have a pass rush, which they could use right now. Aikman just said what I was thinking — Rodgers normally would have run that one into open field. Another clutch sack. Beasley won't make it. You have to go for this, right? Dez! McCarthy's gonna lose this challenge, too. Oh man... that ball's loose. He might win this.





That's the FIRST challenge he's won all year? I didn't even know that before making that joke.




This Adams kid is coming up big. That may have iced it. How did Cobb catch that? THAT iced it.


Ah, the circle of life. (Packers 26, Cowboys 21)



Josh Cribbs did that to himself. That's what they didn't call on Clay Matthews' late hit on Romo on his first-quarter touchdown pass in the first game. Julius! Yeah, the Colts need to cover Demariyus with a corner. LaRon Landry's not up to that task. The Colts aren't even trying to run the ball, and they can't go down the field for some reason, and that's not a good recipe. Did McAfee jump into that contact? The Colts are starting to go a little deeper — the pass to Fleener on the left sideline was one example. That seems to have loosened things up as well, as Herron didn't have too much trouble scoring. Fumble! Colts have it! So someone not involved in the demonstrations was the one who false-started. OK. Talib's having a bad day so far. He was getting abused by Hilton earlier... and that was Hilton he held just then. And the Colts take the lead. It's been a while since Peyton's overthrown dudes.


Viniatieri MISSED? What's going on today? Both of these teams have become one-dimensional.
Luck took two chances on that series and neither one paid off. Yeah, it's the equivalent of a mediocre punt, but what that interception does is save time. Demariyus dropped another one? At least Sanders can still catch. Is it just me or has Welker done nothing this year? They ended up not needing those eight seconds or so they saved but it was nice to have. Wow, Peyton could have run for that first down and didn't. Even he could have made it.


Nice leaping catch by Fleener.  How did Luck get to the end zone so easily? Oh, that's how. Look at Hakeem Nicks being physical again. It's amazing how few guys on the Broncos' offense have played well today.


Man, they're angry. Fumble? WHAT? That's on Cribbs. You HAVE to fair catch that.


How do you not see the defender bearing down on you? They overturned it? Apparently nobody can throw a decent deep ball today. The screens aren't working. The run game hasn't been great. The Colts are daring Peyton to beat them deep and he can't. You know what this feels like? The Bengals shutout. The Broncos are extremely lucky they didn't draw a flag for that nonsense. Whoa! Anderson was dead to rights TWICE on that run. Now did he save the season or simply postpone the inevitable? Yep, it's the Bengals shutout. The Colts are keeping everything in front of them just like in that game where I'm pretty sure the Bengals' yards after the catch was in the single digits.


Chuck Pagano's dad's cigar game is the TIGHTEST. This drive seems interminable. Now the Broncos can't stop the run. Has DeMarcus Ware done anything today? Or Von Miller? I've barely heard either of their names. Why the hell would you try a long field goal here, Phil? There's not enough time left for that to make a difference. Why didn't Demariyus go out of bounds? Bad day for him too.


Joyful Colts! Too bad they're gonna get smashed next week. (Colts 24, Broncos 13)
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