Sunday, November 25, 2018

By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth, Week 11: Home Runs

Is that an actual seahawk? Chris Carson fumbles the first play of the game and the Packers recover. I'm surprised he's playing since he missed Sunday with a bad hip. Graham now has as many catches in Seattle as Packer than he did as a Seahawk. (I'm exaggerating. Mostly.) Touchdown Aaron Jones. Seahawks not starting well in a game they need. Rodgers drops one right into Adams' breadbasket for 41 yards. Crosby misses barely left on a 47-yard attempt. Big run by Rashad Penny! He them limps off. Lockett wanted to throw that, but the Packers had sniffed it out. Carson with a nice run. Packers aren't giving the Seahawks anything side-to-side so far. Wilson badly overthrows Baldwin in the end zone. Seabass kicks it through. Weird that Eddie Lacy's already out of the league.




Rodgers goes 54 yards to the fourth-string tight end for a touchdown! 14-3 after one. Wilson and Baldwin finally connect. Carson converts 3rd and 1. Penny finds a hole and it's first and goal. Bashaud Breeland gets hit with a facemask call, giving the Seahawks another set of downs. Baldwin tries a one-handed catch in the back corner of the end zone but can't finish it. He DOES catch this ball on the opposite corner. Good kickoff return is utterly wiped out by the usual shenanigans. Wilson loads up, fires downfield to Lockett — who draws a pass interference flag. Wilson finds tight end Nick Vannett, who gets to the 1. Touchdown Carson and the Seahawks lead. Jones takes a quick toss for 22 yards. Then they send him on a go route and he makes a nice catch in coverage for a touchdown! 21-17 Packers. Those are the first points the Seahawks have given up in the last two minutes of a half, Buck says. Wilson gets sacked and this drive is over. Rodgers catches the Seahawks overmanned (12 men on the field) and finds Adams downfield. Bobby Wagner was downfield covering Davante Adams, which is wild. That's a coverage sack. Wilson under pressure again. Buck's joke reminds me that it's actually been quite a while since there's been a bad roughing the passer flag on Clay Matthews. Packers call time out on 3rd down and promptly get sacked. Punt pins the Seahawks inside their own 5. I think this is a catch on 3rd down here. Catch and fumble out of bounds. Seahawks are challenging. Call overturned but it took too long. He took three steps and fumbled. Baldwin on the far sideline for another first down. Carson fools half the defense on third and short, then the other half can't tackle him. ANOTHER sack. This one loses 11 yards. Packrell has three tonight.



That forces the Seahawks into a field goal. Packers pick up the blitz and Rodgers hits Adams for 57 yards. That timeout leaves the Packers with only one with 10 minutes left. Seahawks run a stunt and the pocket breaks down around Rodgers. Field goal is good. Back-to-back big plays to Lockett. They replay the second Lockett catch as Buck wonders if the Packers would have challenged had they had more than one time out.




Valid, but only having one time out left at this point is on McCarthy. Touchdown Dickson! Packers go three-and-out and punt, which is... probably correct with 4:20 left. The best argument against it is that it's 4th and 2 and you have Aaron Rodgers, but you figure you'll get the ball back. I'm no McCarthy fan, but I can see why he did it. Seahawks continue running the ball. Wilson gets a first down off a bootleg. Another first down, this one by Davis. Yeah, that clock management, man. Punting backfired. McCarthy's finally getting fired, isn't he? (Seahawks 27, Packers 24)

Signal Finder: PIT @ JAX, DAL @ ATL, CAR @ DET (end), PHI @ NO

Was the entire AFC East off this week? Who schedules that?




Romo doesn't want to blame Bortles for the Jaguars' struggles... not overtly, at least. Fournette's finally back? Huh. They're already plugging the Saints-Cowboys Thursday night game two weeks from now ON ANOTHER NETWORK. Jaguars returning to the power ball that worked so well for them last year, which they can do better with Fournette back. Scoreless after one and not much to talk about. That pass to Westbrook was the first one of this drive, on the 13th play of this drive. It's almost like the Jaguars won't admit it, either. Field goal is good. Fournette powers through for a first down. Another Lambo field goal makes it 6-0 Jaguars. Ramsey comes across the middle and picks off Ben, but did he catch it? Refs say no and the Jags challenge. I don't think the ball actually hit the ground. Steratore doesn't, either. Call overturned. Carlos Hyde plays? Huh. Westbrook makes a catch off a deflection for a first down. The Steelers just haven't had the ball. There's 3:30 left in the half and they've run 11 plays. Another Jaguars field goal. 9-0. Ben airmails one and it's intercepted by Church! He just missed Antonio Brown. Wild. Then Sean Davis (who's wearing 21 now, apparently) drops an interception of his own. That was a long way to go for two yards, Steelers.




9-0 Jaguars at halftime. Watt forces a Bortles fumble but the Jaguars fall back on it. Not a good punt. Ben is pressured and throws a weak ball that Jack intercepts, but the Jaguars are hit with a roughing the passer call. Then Telvin Smith is flagged for unnecessary roughness. If the Steelers are going to get back into this game, now would seem like the time. Intercepted by Ramsey in the end zone! That's a crazy play — he went over Brown's shoulders, caught it in mid-air, and landed on his back. Is he running it out? Was he touched down? Replay says touchback. Fournette running over the Steelers now. He dives and it looks like the ball breaks the plane, but the refs say no. Jaguars challenge. I think he made it. Yep. BROWN! Holy hell. The replay shows his brilliance — he pulls a delayed double move that leaves two defenders stranded. Steelers go for two but the pass is tipped and falls incomplete. 16-6. The Jaguars just threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 11. Punt. Steelers go for it from the Jaguars' 42... nope. They're somehow still in this game despite having only one successful drive. But this one is starting to look like a second one. Steelers staying in shotgun this whole time. Touchdown! McDonald was open, then had to get open again, and Roethlisberger had just enough time to find him the second time. Three and out? No bueno, Jaguars. JUJU. Smith-Schuster goes up and rotates midair after making that catch. Tough drop by Conner, who may have scored if he'd caught it. Ben finds Brown and he gets to the Jaguars' 3! No reason to spike it. Now you can't run the ball here, despite what Romo says. INTERCEPTION! But there's a flag. Who's it on? Face mask against the Jaguars! That's Raiders bust D.J. Hayden committing that. Now they CAN run the ball, Tony. Defensive holding and the Jaguars have fallen apart in the last minute and a half. Roethlisberger... keeps it! TOUCHDOWN! And of course, the Jags fumble on the last play of the game. *crosses off Jaguars* (Steelers 20, Jaguars 16)




And on the same date, no less. Colt McCoy's still there? Hm. That's the first lead change in a Washington game this season. And that's the second. I'm not sure how smart it is to send a kicker who hasn't practiced half the week out to try a 63-yarder. That's not even close. Smith apparently went right into surgery, too. Damn. The final score was the same as the Theismann game, too. AND I'm seeing that apparently he was there. Holy hell. Houston's won seven in a row, by the way. (Texans 23, Redskins 21)

Ryan gets pressured and nearly throws a pick to a defensive lineman on the first play. Coleman gets drilled on 3rd and 5 but still holds on for a first down. Another close call by Ryan as Julio Jones played good defense on a jump ball.




Sack! Falcons did not handle the Cowboys' rush well on that series. Elliott takes a screen pass 34 yards into the red zone. Swaim somehow catches that desperation flip from Prescott. Elliott finds a hole and it's first and goal. Beasley... DROPS a touchdown pass. We all thought he had it. Option pitch to Elliott fools absolutely no one. Cowboys probably should have gotten a touchdown there. Matt Bryant also back. Game tied. Wait, Randy Gregory's back? Ryan sacked for the third time this half. THAT pass was picked off and Jones knocked it out of Heath's hands. Two-minute warning. Ryan's been throwing a lot of high balls that his receivers can't quite get to. Cowboys' defense holds, but they go into the locker room without even trying a Hail Mary. The announcers (Burkhart and Davis) are flummoxed. Coleman wearing the Cowboys out on this drive. Touchdown. Extra point MISSED. Elliott fumbles! The Cowboys recover it, but where is it? Refs say it's a first down and that's a big break. Elliott drops a ball downfield. Beasley catches a 3rd and 10 pass and it's not first and goal. Prescott keeps it for the touchdown. And THAT extra point is missed. Ryan looks for Ridley, who can't catch it, and Vander Esch ends up with it. Elliott with a 28-yard touchdown run. 19-9 Cowboys. Cowboys fool the Falcons with a fake to Elliott, then Prescott keeps it to pick up 3rd and 2. Another quarterback keeper doesn't go as well. Falcons force a punt. 1:59 left? Already? It's 3:30. Matt Ryan with a chance here. THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG. Jones fights to hang on and that's a touchdown. Now, do you go for two? They don't, and Bryant's kick is good. Tie game! The downside is, there's a lot of time for the Cowboys. The upside is, if the Falcons get this stop they'll have time to drive for the win. But the Cowboys pick it up. Beasley loses Alford and gets into field goal range. 34 seconds left. Tyron Smith down. Cowboys run Elliott to get slightly closer. Maher from 42. He JUST made it. (Cowboys 22, Falcons 19)

Touchdown D.J. Moore! Panthers going for two? RIVERBOAT RON LIVES. Cam with all kinds of time. Wright finally gets open but Cam misses him. Lions recover the onside kick and this is a bad loss for the Panthers, who left six points on the field. (Lions 20, Panthers 19)

This is going to be a disaster. Saints force a three-and-out, then Ingram takes the first carry for 38 yards. Yep, this is going to be a disaster. The Flyers score first more often than the Eagles have this season, and the Flyers haven't scored first in eight years. Dez Bryant may have played for the Saints this week had he not torn his Achilles in practice nine days ago. They signed Brandon Marshall to replace him, but he's only been here four days and is inactive. Jenkins stops the Saints on third down, but the Saints appear to be considering going for it on 4th. They are not. Field goal is good. Clement with a good kickoff return. Maybe that'll help. Or not, as Eli Apple may have gotten away with a hold on Matthews. Punt return is blown dead, for some reason. Kelce's arm being worked on as we go to commercial. Refs decided Kamara signaled for a fair catch, thus the whistle. This Kirkwood is fresh up from the practice squad. A big part of why this offense has gone to another level this season is nobody can sack Brees. Josh Hill gets 16 on a tight end screen. Brees misses Taysom Hill in the end zone. Kirkwood again. Kamara takes it to the 5. Maddox down for the Eagles, who just got Sidney Jones back and are short on defensive backs. He's being helped off. Austin Carr? Any relation? (No.) Regardless, it's a Saints touchdown. Sack is negated by defensive holding. Wentz throws deep and this is doomed. Intercepted by Lattimore. Saints are running literally everyone else they have out there to make plays. Kamara takes a run down the near sideline. Touchdown Ingram. Tate with a catch, finally. Eagles starting to click? Adams finds a hole and scores from 28 yards. Saints punt. Pederson said he probably should have used Adams more last week, and he's doing it now. Wentz gets wrecked on a sack, ending this drive.




Boy, after running into the kicker made it 4th and 8, I wouldn't have been against a fake punt there. Saints on the move again. Smith! This a touchdown? Refs say it is. Yep. That's a bad personal foul call but it's not really relevant. The Eagles' pass protection hasn't been good today. The run blocking's been mostly fine. 24-7 Saints at the half and they'll get the ball. Michael Thomas showing up big now. Brees drops one over his shoulder into his hands for a touchdown. Ertz doesn't have a catch yet. There it is. Eagles get caught with 10 men on the field. They go for it on 4th and 5. Lot of movement, bad snap, incomplete. Smith is feasting on these dudes the Eagles had to bring in off the street. Touchdown Ingram and this thing's been over for a while. Did Cameron Johnson gave Kamara an STO on that punt return? And Kamara gets flagged for taunting (throwing the ball at a player afterwards) Brees hits Smith for 38 yards as the third quarter ends. Good Lord, this game is dragging. Kamara makes a catch down the sideline and drags Jenkins into the end zone. An Eagle gets clotheslined on the extra point. It's 44-7, by the way.




Buck discussing the fact that this Saints run seemed over before last season, when they nailed their draft and got supremely unlucky in Minneapolis. Seriously, there's no need for Wentz to take another snap. There's still 12 minutes left? (Saints 48, Eagles 7)

FLEXING.




Trubisky makes a move (!) and finishes off that scramble with a first down. Trubisky finds rookie Anthony Harris for another first down. Field goal is... GOOD. Cousins overthrows an open Diggs in the end zone. Cook fumbles! Bears ball. Mack forced the fumble. Imagine that.




Trey Burton picks up a first down. This is the first Sunday night game in Chicago since 2012, and thanks to FLEXING, they'll be back in three weeks when the Rams visit. Trubisky throws into traffic and it's... picked off! Couldn't tell right away. I thought it was incomplete. Trubisky slides like Mark Sanchez. Is he the Bears' leading rusher tonight? He's averaging 9 yards a carry? The hell? T-FORMATION. Trubisky to Anthony Miller for what's called a touchdown. I thought it skipped off the field. I'm wrong about that, at any rate. Bears going for two here? That seems... odd. They get it! ELEVENER. Vikings not doing a whole lot so far. Tarik Cohen gets the edge and picks up a first down. Man, he's quick. Field goal is good and the Bears get a hard 14. Diggs with a big catch and run. The Vikings badly needed that. Interception! Halftime. Big screen to Burton is nullified by a penalty, making it 1st and 21. Cohen then gets all 21 back on the next play. Vikings can't sustain anything for more than two first downs. Harris picks off Trubisky for the second time and this return's got some mileage on it. Vikings get a real break. But Cousins looks for Diggs in traffic and can't connect. They're going for it on 4th and 1 from the Bears 19, and Thielen makes the catch. Bears hold again and Bailey hits from 37. That's a catch and fumble. Vikings ball. Cook's done nothing tonight. Amir Abdullah, the ex-Lions bust, just had the longest run of the night for the Vikings.


Akiem Hicks with the sack on third down and he just came on through. Field goal is good. Taylor Gabriel with a clutch catch. Miller takes a hit but hangs on for seven yards. That was almost intercepted and this game was almost within a two-point conversion of being tied. "Rockit?"





Interception! Touchdown Bears! That throw sailed on Cousins and went right to Jackson. That guy's got at least four defensive touchdowns already and he's in his second season.


Bears going for two again (with Hicks going out wide after the backfield formation breaks). They get it. Cousins feeding Diggs now as the Vikings go no-huddle. That's pass interference? Whatever y'all say. Cousins goes too high for Diggs in the end zone. Then he hits Robinson for the touchdown. They go for two and it's no good, but the Bears get flagged for roughing the passer, which Terry McAuley disagrees with. Thielen catches the second attempt. 4:30 left and the Vikings (correctly) don't onside kick. Allen Robinson converts a third down. Harrison Smith hits a sliding Trubisky and gets flagged. I mean, he's down at that point. Al explores John Madden's etymology of the word "doink" when discussing Cody Parkey's adventures from last week. The Bears can't pick up 3rd and 4 and the clock's stopped. It'd be about a 48-yarder. Parkey comes in. Collinsworth would not be surprised by a fake. Nope, straight kick. GOOD. Wait, that's Don Beebe's kid? Damn, we're old. That pass to Cook almost got picked off by the defensive line. This two-minute drill has picked up. Diggs catches a touchdown. Two-point pass is knocked down by Hicks. The Bears recover the onside kick and that's that.




(Bears 25, Vikings 20)

This game was relocated to L.A. because the grass at Azteca was in bad shape due to recent overuse. Orlando Scandrick's starting? Good Lord, why? Cooks with a big play coming across the middle. Wood outruns Scandrick on a crossing route and that's a touchdown. Goff dropped back like 12 steps. Reel it in. Extra point is not good. Chiefs playing a sloppy game so far. Lots of flags. Josh Reynolds is basically replacing Cooper Kupp, and look who he just beat for a touchdown. Kareem Hunt is the Chiefs' best weapon tonight, as the Rams struggle badly against the run. Hill with a big catch. Witten called that touchdown to Hill before the ball was in the air. Not sure there's anyone in the league who can catch him from behind. 13-7 Rams.







Wait, Reid can challenge this?




Thank you, sir. That was clearly tipped and the call was correctly reversed. Fourth down. Field goal is good. Chiefs come right back with a chunk play to Hill. Mahomes goes way too high for Kelce. Another penalty means that completion to the 5 won't count. Mahomes-to-Hunt gets the yardage back. Mahomes keeps it on a zone read option, but he has to slide at the 1. They send Hunt on a sweep but he doesn't make it. Chiefs take the field goal. This a fumble? It looks like Goff's down. I guess it is. And Hunt immediately takes a screen into the end zone. Good blocking. PAT is good and it's 17-16 Chiefs. A PUNT! Fumble! Touchdown Rams! Cam Erving had no chance against Aaron Donald. (In fairness, few do.) Overhead shot shows the place is packed for the first MNF game at the Coliseum in 33 years. I wonder what the fan ratio is. Mahomes to Conley for the touchdown! Another missed PAT leaves it tied at 23 at the half.




The Chainsmokers? Really? That's so 2017.




Conley gets free down the sideline. Donald blows up ANOTHER play, and that's another fumble by Mahomes. Get the ball! Brockers (who Tessitore completely misidentifies) eventually falls on it for the Rams. Cooks dives futilely for ball in the end zone and is off to the locker room. Rams going for it on 4th and 1. They THROW it and pick it up. Tight end screen gets 15. Goff runs in UNTOUCHED.




That's a good kickoff return. Kelce's man falls down and he's wide open. First and goal at the 5. Touchdown, surprising no one. Cooks back for the Rams. He then picks up a 3rd and 11 on a screen, helped by a huge block. That cornerback is dead. My goodness.


Did I miss a field goal? Interception! TOUCHDOWN RAMS. Bad throw by Mahomes. That's Samson Ebukam's second touchdown tonight, and Mahomes and Hill combined can't bring him down. 40-30 Rams after the extra point with 2:14 left in the THIRD.




Wait, WHAT??? They're calling this a fumble and touchdown Rams! Let's see. Oh, I think that's a forward pass. It is rightly overturned. Hill makes a bad decision to return that punt from the 1 and doesn't even get to the 10. TYREEK HILL. SEVENTY-THREE YARDS. And no one within that of him. They flagged him for the celebration and the kickoff still got to the end zone from the 20. And now the Chiefs get a scoop-and-score touchdown and retake the lead! 44-40 now. Reynolds is left alone for a big gain. Woods comes back to the ball and makes a diving catch at the Chiefs' 7. You know who's been surprisingly silent tonight is Todd Gurley. Touchdown Everett. A punt? Wow. I believe this is the first time the Andy Reid "Punt, Pass, and Kick" footage has aired on MNF. Did Mahomes slip or was he tripped up? He gets that first down if he doesn't go down. Chiefs going for it on 4th and 2. Rams call time out. Chiefs go over the middle to Kelce and cross midfield in the process. Conley is all alone on a crossing route and scores. Chiefs retake the lead.




This is nuts. We now have the highest-scoring Monday Night Football game ever, and this is No. 773.




Reynolds probably should have had that. Rams now out of time outs.




DAMMIT, HE STAYED IN. TOUCHDOWN EVERETT. This is insane. 54-51. We've literally never seen this before.




That catch by Hill, though! Stretches out with a man flashing in front of him and still brings it in. INTERCEPTION MARCUS PETERS! The ex-Chief! Dear God. Rams still out here throwing. That pass got knocked down and could have been intercepted. That's bad clock management — the Chiefs still have a time out and there's 1:04 left. Hill brings this punt out of the end zone! What the hell, dude? Did he not know where he was? Chiefs take over at their 12 with 50 seconds left. Kelce DROPPED that? Wow. Fooled me and the announcers. INTERCEPTION JOYNER. That WILL do it. Unbelievable. (Rams 54, Chiefs 51)

RANKINGS:
TOP 4:
1. L.A. Rams (10-1) — That was ridiculous, in a good way
2. New Orleans (9-1) — How did these guys lose to the Buccaneers?
3. Kansas City (9-2) — No cause for shame
4. Houston (7-3) — They were always this division's best team

BOTTOM 4:
29. N.Y. Giants (3-7) — Good eating off a bad defense
30. Tampa Bay (3-7) — A period that rivals their worst days
31. San Francisco (2-8) — These things happen
32. Oakland (2-8) — They're still allowed to win games?

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)