Thursday, September 26, 2019

By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth, Week 3: Eyes Up

It's Contractually Obligated Thursday Night! Jaguars and Gardner Flint Minshew THE SECOND will start. Minshew misses the tight end on 3rd and 1. Adoree' Jackson fumbles the punt and the Jaguars recover! He's just gotta fall on that. First and goal at the 6. Minshew finds a wide open O'Shaugnessy for the touchdown.




Jalen Ramsey IS playing, by the way. Dede Westbrook makes a nice catch over A.J. Bouye's outstretched arms. Some of the saddest uniforms in the league on display tonight. Minshew with a great over-the-shoulder throw to D.J. Chark for the touchdown. Quickly 14-0 Jags.




Titans finally get a first down. That's as far as it goes. Jackson fields this punt successfully. We've got another one of those bad roughing the passer calls here. Looks like the rain is coming down harder. Fournette drops a screen pass. Titans try to down the punt but fail. They've shut down Fournette since the Jaguars' second touchdown drive. Mariota hasn't been good but he hasn't had a single pro coach who you'd trust with a young quarterback. He just took a nine-step drop before getting pressured out of the pocket. Titans finally turn to Derrick Henry. Absolutely nothing happens for about seven minutes.




Westbrook drops a third-down pass that wouldn't have gotten him a first down anyway. Holding penalties are up 64 percent from last year already. Vrabel accepts and gets a better (for the Titans) punt out of it. They'll get the ball in Jaguars territory with 1:14 left. This drive also fizzles.







Understand something: Tom Brady has three million better things to do than watch this game. Tom Brady was not watching this game. Halftime and it's raining even harder. I think that's Dion Lewis's first carry of the game. Najee Goode's deflection saves  a touchdown. The next pass is almost intercepted. Titans go for it and Calais Campbell wrecks the pocket like he's been doing all night. Minshew with a bomb to Chark. Conley with a 20-yard catch and run. ANOTHER drop by Westbrook, this one in the end zone. That was another really well-placed throw by Minshew. Field goal is good. Henry runs for a first down. Campbell's pressure creates a sack for somebody else. Eagles-Packers next week on Fox as the simulcasts begin. Mariota gets lucky to fall on his own fumble, but the Titans have to punt.




Mariota hits Walker in stride, then finds him again two plays later. Kevin Dyson stretch highlights. Corey Davis with a nice one-handed catch on the sideline, then he fumbles but the Titans recover. Adam Humphries gets blown up as Mariota scrambles and the flags go flying. First and goal Titans from the 1! Touchdown Henry. Jags have gotten less than nothing from Fournette tonight. Which is odd, because the Titans only have two Alabama players and one of them is Derrick Henry. Oh, maybe that explains it.




Lambo field goal is good. Sacksonville is back, at least for one night. David Bryant sacked Mariota with one hand while holding off a lineman with the other. Fournette goes for 69! Nice. It's his first 25-plus yard run since November 2017 against... the Browns. Jags go for it here when a field goal makes it a 16-point game, and the pass to Westbrook is broken up. I don't like that, especially with the Titans without any time outs left. ANOTHER sack. That's nine tonight. Buck and Aikman finally mention Ramsey, as Mariota hasn't thrown in his direction at all tonight. (Jaguars 20, Titans 7)

Signal Finder: DET @ PHI, BAL @ KC, PIT @ SF

Dallas Goedert recovered from last week's carnage and is active. Eagles get the ball first. They split Sanders out wide and send him on a go route, and he's wide open for 40 yards. Did Wentz almost catch his own deflected pass? Agholor wants a pass interference flag... and he gets it. It's not a touchdown, but that field goal is rare first-quarter points. This is the first Emmys commercial I've seen and the show is in seven hours. Fox's graphics just gave Jake Elliott a 25-yard touchdown reception. The Lions just took the kickoff to the house.




No reason for Ertz to be that open. Sanders with a good cut to pick up 3rd and 1. Pocket breaks down and Wentz scrambles to the... 1. Yep, elbow's down. Touchdown Howard. Good catch by Golladay with Darby all over him. This'll be an interesting spot. "Favorable" definitely the right word. Lions now with first and goal as the quarter ends. I thought Johnson broke the plane here. Guess not. Eagles jump, Stafford throws to rookie T.J. Hockenson for a touchdown, but the refs say he stepped out of bounds. Johnson leaps over the pile and scores. Comparisons of Belichick's and Reid's coaching trees is laughingly one-sided... in Reid's favor. And it's just the ones who are currently coaching. Two straight first downs for Mack Hollins, but the second one is canceled for offensive pass interference. Spielman's last game with the Lions was the 58-37 wild card loss at the vet in 1995. Eagles get a stop on 3rd and 15 and here's the first punt. Again, how is Ertz that open when he's clearly the No. 1 guy today? Sanders fumbles but it squirts backwards five yards and Semualo recovers it without incident. Lions jump offside, but the fans are booing because the pass — which Arceaga-Whiteside caught — won't count. Did Sanders fumble again? He did and this time the Lions recover. Double reverse and the Lions are at the 7. Eagles hold the Lions to three. Sanders gets clotheslined and his helmet torn off on the kickoff return. How is that not a face mask, Spielman wonders. Jason Peters is sick and Andre Dillard got hurt. Now Agholor fumbles and Darius Slay returns it to inside the Eagles' 20. Call stands. A shot into the end zone right here would have ended this game and I'm shocked the Lions didn't try it. They settle for three again. Wentz takes a sack on second down and that feels like a bailout. 20-10 Lions at the half and it should probably be worse. This is... not a catch by Marvin Jones. Jenkins misses the sack on the front end and Bradham misses the interception on the back end. Fortunate for the Lions he didn't know the ball was coming. The Lions are challenging that Hockenson was interfered with. He was not. Peters back for the Eagles. It is a warm day for September. Slay drops a pick-six and comes up limping. Hollins gets another OPI penalty and this one's dubious. Punt dies at the Lions' 3. Eagles take over just across midfield. Agholor bounces off two tackles and scores! Stafford beats the blitz and hits Jones for a big pickup. This... shouldn't be a touchdown. He never had control. Stafford with a perfectly placed ball to Jones for a touchdown. Nothing you can do there.




Wentz gets sacked two plays in a row because no one is open. Lions out here shooting themselves in the foot like they do. Goedert finally in and he drops an easy touchdown pass. Wentz doesn't see him on the next play, but Sproles gets plastered out of bounds. Touchdown Agholor, followed by a mea culpa from Spielman after he thought Hollins was going to be flagged for another OPI, but he wasn't. 27-24. Amendola gets both toes inbounds on a catch I was ready to insist that the Eagles challenge. That's good replay work. Stafford underthrows an open Jones, and Brenneman's right — he rushed that throw. Eagles take over. Pederson going for it on 4th and 8. Wentz is forced out of the pocket, runs, but comes up a yard short. With 2:18 left and three time outs, maybe they should have punted. Sidney Jones knocks a third-down pass away from Golladay. Field goal is BLOCKED!! Jenkins comes in utterly untouched (Extend that man) and Douglas has it! It looks like there was an illegal block penalty that wasn't announced, so the ball's at midfield. Sproles makes a great catch on the sideline on 4th and 5, but the refs say he pushed off. Now it's 4th and 15. Arceaga-Whiteside drops it and that's it. Seven drops for the Eagles.




That's hard to do. (Lions 27, Eagles 24)




How did this happen? (Patriots 30, Jets 14)

I know the rules are "the No. 1 team does a late game on doubleheader days" but with the Brees injury, Nantz and Romo should be here instead of in Seattle. The best hope for Lamar Jackson is that the Chiefs' defense may be worse than last year.




Good coverage forces Jackson to scramble and get seven. Ravens going for it on 4th and 2, a decision Fouts doesn't like. Jackson keeps it and picks it up. You don't see many quarterbacks who run like he does. What I mean by that is that he runs like a running back, waiting for holes, using his vision, and cutting back. Ingram finishes the drive off. They go for two (?) and don't get it. Ravens putting a lot of pressure on Mahomes early, to mixed results. Note that Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher is out. That last one was a horse collar, moving the ball to the 2. LeSean McCoy spins and scores on third down. Chiefs challenge the spot on this Mark Andrews catch and get the call reversed. So it's 4th and 1 Ravens from their own 34. They give it to Edwards and he picks up five. Don't get sacked! Ravens going for it on 4th and 2. NOPE. Mecole Hardiman runs about 30 yards in both directions in what turned into a one-man reverse. Ravens send a safety after Mahomes, and DeMarcus Robinson makes a great one-handed catch for a touchdown. Might want to try covering Hardman, Ravens. Because once he gets behind you, you're not catching him. Now Butker misses an extra point. The big plays haven't been there for the Ravens so far.




Chiefs bring two time outs into this two-minute drill, which is already a success. Field goal is good and it's 23-6 Chiefs at halftime. Ravens return to the run game as it starts to rain. Touchdown Ingram! This Chiefs drive seems slow by comparison to their others. And it just ended with a pick. But there was defensive pass interference on the other side of the field. Quick pass to McCoy, and he accelerates through traffic and scores. 30-13 Chiefs now. There's Hollywood Brown. Ravens go for it on 4th and 5. Jackson somehow doesn't get sacked, and he throws up a Hail Mary duck that Seth Roberts leaps and catches at the 2! Chiefs throw a pass interference challenge flag. Nope. Ingram needs two tries to score and does. Ravens go for two for... some reason. They don't get it and it stays 30-19. Ravens force a punt. Brown's given the Ravens more big plays in the passing game through three games than it feels like they've had in several years. OPI makes things difficult. SNEAD! None of that made any sense.




Across his body, across the field — that's against everything you're taught. Frank Clark sacks Jackson and that's a killer because you really can't justify going for it on 4th and 15. Field goal is good. Did... did I just see that?





Touchdown Jackson! That's what I was talking about before. He runs like a running back. Two-point conversion fails again. Mahomes fires a quick pass to Darrell Williams, who outruns the Chiefs just long enough to get the first down and seal the win. (Chiefs 33, Ravens 28)

Are the Buccaneers still looking for a kicker? They're certainly not looking for a No. 1 receiver. I'm pretty sure Dallas Winston from The Outsiders could look like a competent NFL quarterback against this Giants defense, much less an actual quarterback in the NFL. Now Barkley's out? Jebus. Oh, Shepard's back. Shaquil Barrett has EIGHT sacks already?




Bucs stay Buc'in. EVANS AGAIN. The Giants can't do anything with him. What's Arians doing? Is he taking a delay of game penalty? Why would you deliberately move your kicker back? He MISSED??? FROM THIRTY-FOUR???? Like I said: Bucs stay Buc'in.




(Giants 32, Buccaneers 31)







Oh, it's gonna be a trash fire. (Panthers 38, Cardinals 20)

I think this is the second game I've actually seen Garoppolo play. That's inauspicious. T.J. Watt with the pick off of a poorly thrown screen pass. Mason Rudolph makes his first start for the Steelers and dumps one off to Conner, who hasn't practiced all week with a bad knee. Steelers score their first first-quarter points of the season also. Progress! Raheem Mostert drops the pitch and the 49ers are lucky to get it back. 2nd and 28. Sure. 49ers punt. Garoppolo gets pressured and throws another pass that gets tipped and intercepted, this time by newly acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick, who's starting immediately for Sean Davis. Steelers end up with another field goal and it's 6-0. Garoppolo hits Kittle with a slant for a first down. Holy hell. I thought that pass to Jusczyck was picked. Mostert loses the ball again and this time the Steelers recover. Niners are a mess right now. But the Steelers haven't done a lot offensively, either. Jusczyck again! I'm with Trent Green — that's not a penalty if Garoppolo doesn't get hit in the head. ANOTHER FUMBLE. STEELERS BALL. This is unreal.




49ers moving the ball again. Nice catch by Matt Brieda, who I assume got artificial ankle implants in the offseason. This isn't another fumble, is it? No, that's an incomplete pass. 49ers have a new holder, which bears watching. That was fine. This game is somehow 6-3. Donte Moncrief is inactive for the Steelers after two terrible games. Now Rudolph gets pressured into an interception. Garoppolo hits someone named Kendrick ward for 24 yards to the Steelers' 4. Fake pitch and shovel pass to Jusczyck fools no one. Touchdown 49ers. I don't know who these people are. Deebo Samuel ALMOST made a great catch on a deep pass by Garoppolo, but he can't maintain control of it. Trent Green thought Joe Haden had a shot at intercepting it briefly. That's somehow the 49ers first three-and-out of the season, according to Gumbel. JUJU!! 76 yards!




The kids needed that. Samuel with a tough catch over the middle. Brieda with a tough run. Who is this Wilson kid vulturing touchdowns from the 49ers' other running backs? 17-13 49ers. Crank Yankers is coming back? Who asked for that? Jason Verrett apparently interfered with two different guys on that play. One of them was James Washington, Rudolph's teammate at Oklahoma State. They hooked up for 31 touchdowns. Rudolph hits Dontare Johnson for a touchdown! Double move leads to blown coverage and the Steelers retake the lead. Mostert with a nice run for the Niners. And he didn't fumble! Niners run a jet sweep but they fumble the exchange and the Steelers recover! Good God. Kyle Shanahan got too cute again (and T.J. Watt recovered the fumble again.) Then Conner fumbles and the 49ers get it back! Oh no. Defensive holding gives the 49ers an automatic first down on 3rd and 11. To actually add insult to injury, Cam Heyward is down hurt for the Steelers, which is a bad injury in this part of the field at this point in the game. Touchdown Dante Pettis! Rudolph gets sacked, fumbles, and that's it. The Steelers simply cannot win a game west of the Mississippi River. It's bonkers. (49ers 24, Steelers 20)

Chargers get the ball back with 4:19 left and one more chance, if things go their way. Rivers looking for Keenan Allen a lot (and finding him a lot.) They don't really have to hurry here. What do they have for 4th and 13? Allen! Two minutes left. Travis Benjamin can't haul that one in. Rivers RUNNING. They run it with Ekeler on 4th and 2 and it works. Offensive holding? So much for that. Turned first and goal at the 7 into 3rd and 14. Nope, and... nope. (Texans 27, Chargers 20)

The Rams return to their ancestral roaming grounds. This is the first SNF game in Cleveland since... 2008? Nice Major League takeoff for the intro. Browns get the ball first. There's nothing Greg Robinson can do against Aaron Donald. NOTHING. Browns seem nervous, which worried Rodney Harrison pregame. Browns new secondary (three starters are hurt) doesn't give up anything on the first drive. First down Robert Woods. First down Brandon Cooks. Goff goes too high for Cooks. Legatron hits from 53. Beckham's made two catches on this drive. I'm not sure this offense needs Kareem Hunt. Nick Chubb's a good running back. Field goal is good. Browns are turning up the heat defensively. They bring seven on third down and two guys still had a chance to intercept it. (Goff should have thrown that one away, as Cooks wasn't open.) The Rams challenge for pass interference but I don't see it happening. Nope. Montage of people making THE Beckham catch (including Beckham again) Zeuerlein MISSES? Clay Matthews Jr. in the house! He's getting honored at halftime with his kid here. Was this a pass? Refs rule it a fumble. That's a fumble caused by Myles Garrett. Browns ball at the Rams' 17 with 18 seconds left in the half. But they can't advance it. Field goal is good and it's 6-3 Browns at halftime. Gurley already with three touches to start the second half. Rams burn a timeout three minutes into the second half. Good job, guys. Touchdown Kupp. Al and Cris do the Browns' Mount Rushmore and they say it's pretty easy. (Jim Brown, Paul Brown, Otto Graham, and they picked Marion Mobley for the fourth.) Chubb finds a hole. Then they throw a screen to him on 3rd and 13 and he gets 31. That's how screens beat blitzes. Landry draws a pass interference flag in the end zone. Chubb's touchdown is taken away by an illegal shift penalty. Tight end Griffin finally gets in.




Gurley hasn't done much so far outside of a couple of pretty good runs. Interception! It's being reviewed. Just as Terry McAuley is in the middle of saying, "I can't tell..." the refs announce the call stands. Mayfield and Chubb have a communication breakdown and are fortunate to not give the ball right back. Rams hold and get the ball back. Goff to Kupp to end the third quarter. Goff sneak doesn't work, then a penalty pushes the rams back. Browns get caught napping and Kupp is wide open for the touchdown. Mayfield, on the run, finds Beckham. So the refs call an illegal motion penalty but ignore the pass interference on the Rams? What? The officiating in this league gets worse every year. The Browns run a draw with Chubb on 4th and 9. It does not work. Fans boo the play call, as they should.







Then McVay calls time out before Goff hits Reynolds for almost 40 yards. What is happening down there? The Rams end up settling for three.




Goff throws another interception! That return would have gone for longer if he hadn't run into his own teammate. 2:41 left. Rams jump but they were drawn off. Dangerous and dangerously short pass to Chubb falls incomplete. Landry! Browns still have all three time outs and DON'T call one here, which makes me wonder if they're thinking about going for two if they get a touchdown here. And that concerns me, because I'm not sure I trust Kitchens to call the right play for that situation. Correct roughing call made on Donald. First and goal with three time outs and the Browns call three straight passes, which confirms my belief that Kitchens wouldn't know which play to call for a potential two-point conversion. What in God's name was that? (Rams 20, Browns 13)

Somehow this is the first time these two teams have met on MNF. Cordarrelle Patterson gets the first two touches. Bears were moving the ball nicely with short passes to get Trubisky into a rhythm until Montez Sweat sacks him, forcing a punt. Pick six for Clinton-Dix, who was traded to Washington less than a year ago, then signed with the Bears in the offseason. Decent "Let's Go Bears!" chant.




Mack with a sack, making it 3rd and 22. That seems pretty close to  a safety for Washington, at least closer than that spot at the Bears own 1 1/2.
Keenum is sacked and fumbles, but a penalty on the Bears wipes it out. Keenum scrambles for a first down to get into the red zone. Was that a delayed blitz by Danny Trevathan? Sweet. Hopkins MISSES the field goal. Maybe not the best time to use the Redskins marching band to come back from break. Trey Burton picks up a first down on a well-blocked screen pass. Trubisky overthrows an open David Montgomery, but he hits Anthony Miller in stride for first and goal. I disagree with Booger that the Bears don't have a No. 1 receiver. It's Allen Robinson. Patterson is lined up in a full house backfield! He carries it five yards to the 2. Linebacker decides to stop covering Taylor Gabriel after four seconds and Trubisky flips it to him for an easy touchdown. 14-0 Bears.




Trent Williams is still not here, by the way. Keenum to McLaurin for 22. Fumble! Bears ball! Keenum just held the ball up there and Mack slapped it out of his hands like it was nothing. Anther touchdown for Gabriel, and it was just like the last one. That's a good kickoff return. Intercepted by Kyle Fuller! Yeah, he got underneath it. I wasn't completely sure. The camera inside the first-down pole, new this year, gave the best view of that. Gabriel beat Josh Norman but couldn't stay in the end zone. They're looking at it. John Parry is the new MNF rules guy this year, and he thinks it's a catch. Call reversed! Touchdown! Keenum sacked again to end the half. Or not, as Mack was offsides. Hopkins with a sad field goal to end the half. 28-3 Bears. Keenum starts the second half with another interception to Clinton-Dix, who returns it to the Washington 24.




Piniero, kicking with a pinched nerve, misses right. London Fletcher joined the Ring of Fame at halftime. (And they spelled his name wrong on the big screen.) (At least they HAD something at halftime for this game.)




Touchdown McLaurin! Extra point is missed. Cohen with a catch-and-run for 25 yards on 3rd and 8, then Landon Collins cheap shots him after Cohen made him miss. Robinson gets open in between the zones for another first down. Norman picks off Trubisky at the 1! Big pass play from Chris Thompson. Talk returns to Trent Williams, and Booger has it right: It's not about money, as he's not owed any more guaranteed money. He no longer trusts the organization to do what's best for him and his health. Gruden barely calls time out before a delay of game. Vernon Davis mistimed his jump and lands two yards in front of Amukamara. Keenum's pass goes right through Sprinkle's hands. Booger knows what will end hurdling, but he won't say it. Put it this way: It involved defenders aiming better. Touchdown Paul Richardson on fourth down! Two point try fails. Defense forces a punt. Fourth and 1 and Keenum hits McLaurin for 7. Washington ON THE MOVE? Fourth and short. Keenum with the quarterback sneak, but he tries to go over the pile and Trevathan stops him cold!




Bears play four-minute offense and Piniero makes a field goal with 1:50 left. (Bears 31, Redskins 15)

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)