Sunday, November 22, 2020

By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth, Week 10: Count It Out

Play action! All of it, Titans. All of it all the time. Big play from A.J. Brown. Tannehill flicks it to D'onta Foreman for an easy score. Rivers passes Marino for fifth all-time in passing yards with that first-down completion to Jonathan Taylor. T.Y. Hilton back? Colts already going for a fourth and 1 on their 45, and Taylor's second effort picks it up. Rivers calls an audible and Jordan Wilkins carries for five.


They go for fourth and 1 again, passing on a 47-yard field goal, and this time it doesn't work. Clowney made the stop. Tannehill looks for Brown down the near sideline, but Brown can't hold on to it. Trey Burton back! First-down catch by Zach Pascal for 18 to the Titans' 11. Good slow-mo replay of Rivers' weird as hell delivery. Quick slant is too quick for Wilkins, who stops short and drops it. Colts settle for three. Is that Henry's first carry? The first quarter ends without a whistle and with the Tannehill still doing a snap count. They HIKE THE BALL. The Colts' defense is all "What?" This play can't count. And it doesn't, as we turn over to the second. Pass to Henry for a first down. Gostkowski HITS from 50, which is a coin flip this season. Rivers to Nyiem Hines for 11, then he finds Pittman for 30. Touchdown Hines, who had three or four catches on this drive. I can't tell if his knee actually hits the ground. Call CONFIRMED and we're tied at 10.


I assume that's a Doug Flutie shout-out. That's an easy interference call on Rock Ya-Sin, and even then it almost didn't prevent the catch. Henry gets stonewalled. Another Colts penalty gives the Titans new downs. Touchdown RUN by tight end Jonnu Smith on a jet sweep. Rivers overthrows Hilton in the end zone. Then he gets sacked. They spike it with one second left, and they wouldn't have had that second if they hadn't gotten their last time out called. After a false start, Blankenship makes the kick from 49 yards. Halftime. Rivers throws to a well-covered Marcus Johnson, and Malcom Butler catches it out of bounds. Mo Alie-Cox comes up two yards short. Colts go for it and Rivers finds Pascal for a first down. Pass to Pascal gets to the goal line. He's called short. Third down run by Taylor goes nowhere. They run it again and get stopped AGAIN! Maybe try something else next time. Three Henry carries get the Titans out to the 20. Tannehill goes down and the Titans punt. That's AWFUL. Seventeen yards? Really, dude? Where's Brett Kern? Touchdown Hines. Colts lead. Punt is BLOCKED! Touchdown Colts!


Tannehill scrambles out of bounds and Darius Leonard gets a penalty for shoving him after the fact. Everyone rushes over and harsh words are exchanged. It looked more like he just didn't let go once they were out of bounds. Gostkowski MISSES. They gotta cut him, right? This can't go on anymore. Pittman gets free in space for the Colts. Then he gets drilled at the Titans' 2 but still hangs on. Brissett is in on 3rd and 1 for some reason. Sneak? Touchdown! 34-17. Derrick Henry not getting these carries. Diving catch by Corey Davis. Titans go for it from 4th and 3 from the Colts' 14 and the pass is incomplete. Someone just got thrown out. Oh, yeah. Can't be out here throwing punches. (Colts 34, Titans 17)

Signal Finder: PHI @ NYG, BUF @ AZ, JAX @ GB (end), WSH @ DET (end), CIN @ PIT

Lewis can't get the kickoff return back to the 15. First play is a sack by Barnett. Slatyon makes a 17-yard catch and immediately grabs his hand and walks off the field. Big run by Gallman. Shovel pass to Engram on 3rd and 3 gets the Giants another first down. Jones outruns everyone for a 34-yard touchdown.


Alshon back, but Wentz's first pass to him is a little too high. As is this third-down pass for Goedert. Eagles going for it, and a quick screen to Reagor picks it up. Wentz to Fulgham for a first down. For some reason the nearest defender to him was a defensive lineman. Bradberry knocks down a third-down pass intended for Reagor. Elliott is good from 40. Eagles aren't anywhere near any Giant catching a pass. Gallman hits a big hole on the second level and is at the Eagles' 9. Fullback dive (really?) comes up short on third down. Giants go for it. Gallman leaps over the line and scores. Laura Okmin reports the Meadowlands winds are back. Wentz to Rodgers for 22. Again for 19. Wentz trips and loses four yards on 3rd and 1. Hard count on 4th and 5 almost works, but doesn't, and they punt. Eagles get a stop! Big punt is downed at the 5. Wentz's throws have been oddly high all day so far. Late flag for DPI comes in, giving the Eagles a first down. Announcers recap the Giants' cornerback troubles but don't mention DeAndre Baker. Left side of the line collapses and Wentz does well to get rid of it.


Punt is downed at the Giants' 2. Lewis makes a difficult catch on the sideline for a first down. Pass to Shepard is stopped short. Giants call time facing 4th and 1. They line up to go for it from the Eagles' 44. They can't draw them offsides and they punt. Wentz throws low, then fumbles the snap. Lot of rust out there. Then Fulgham moves early. Now it's 3rd and 14. Reagor is double-covered and the pass is incomplete. Jones throws high for Tate and Robey-Coleman misses an interception.


At least they got a stop before halftime.


Penalty on the second-half kickoff return. Sanders with a solid run. Scott escapes from a pile, speeds down the sideline... and scores! 56 yards! They're looking at a spot on the sideline. I don't think there's enough to make this not a touchdown. Call STANDS. They go for two. They give it to Sanders and he gets in. 14-11.


Jones with two good throws to Shepard and Tate, and the Giants have first and goal already. Gallman to the 2, and he only didn't score because Maddox got his shoe. They go to Gallman again and I thought he got in. Apparently not. This time he does.




I mean, whatever works. Wentz to Ward to the Giants' 24. Sanders turns the corner and goes out of bounds at the 6. They give it to Clement and he scores. They review this, too, for some reason. They go for two again and this time Wentz gets sacked. I don't get that at all. Eagles force a three and out but they've not had good starting field position today. Hurts runs into the line and gets nothing. Then they throw a one-yard route on 3rd and 8. Pederson hasn't coached a good game all season. Third quarter ends. Slayton drops a third-down pass that would have been a big play. And again the Giants give the eagles bad field position. ANOTHER bad snap? WTF, Kelce? Peppers returns this punt to the Eagles' 40. More Eagles penalties. Jones takes it in for another touchdown, but it's called back because of offensive holding. That ends up costing them four points as Gano kicks the field goal. Haven't seen Rodgers since the first quarter. Sanders drops a swing pass. Fulgham can't hold on. Eagles going for it because there's 4:56 left. He goes to Reagor but Bradberry knocks it away.


Slayton catches a deep pass on the sideline at the Eagles' 24 and that might be a wrap. Yep, they pick up the flag. This one's over.


Gano's kick comes back left and goes through. Wind might have affected it. Wentz is sacked for the third time. They're 0/9 on third down today. Pass to Scott comes up well short. This was always going to end, and I would have preferred it ended when the Giants got good again. (Giants 27, Eagles 17)

This Week's Game That Shouldn't Have Been This Close: Tough, tough catch by Adams for the touchdown. Luton escapes the initial sack but stumbles and goes down. Luton runs around for about an hour before throwing incomplete on 4th and 26. (Packers 24, Jaguars 20)

Scorigami! (Buccaneers 46, Panthers 23)


WE HAVE A TOUCHDOWN IN CLEVELAND. And there's another one, even. But this will NOT be another one, as Chubb runs out of bounds at the 1. (Browns 10, Texans 7)

Prater from 59. IT'S GOOD!!! The Lions ALWAYS lose this game. Nothing makes sense.


It's a compelling case. (Lions 30, Washington 27)

BATTLE IN GLENDALE. Let's not. Josh Norman tested positive on Saturday, and close contact has the Bills down three DBs. Cardinals get the ball first. Murray takes off and gets the first down. Kenyan Drake back and he gets inside the Bills' 10. Pass to Hopkins is broken up. He wants a flag, but both guys were fighting on that one. Field goal is good. Screen to John Brown and he's got a convoy. Dre Fitzpatrick runs him down from behind. Wide receiver pass back to Allen! Touchdown Bills!


Cardinals go three and out. Snap is high and Allen goes down. Is there something in the air today? (Besides COVID.) Kick CLANGS through the uprights. 10-3 Bills early. Big play from Murray to Hopkins across midfield. Back-to-back penalties because they're still the Cardinals. But they right the ship with the help of an offsides call that makes it 3rd and 8, and they get nine. Bills do well to only give up three there. Good run by Singletary for a Bills running game that's struggled this season. Baker breaks up a pass intended for McKenzie. 55-yarder is good. Cardinals keep it on the ground this time. But again, they can't cash in and kick another field goal. 13-9. The Colts have won the AFC East more recently than the Bills (1999 vs. 1995) and the Colts left the division in 2001. That's what they're dealing with up there. Bills try a 58-yarder at halftime. It's GOOD! Who is this kid? Cardinals get a stop, but then Drake fumbles and the Bills get it. Touchdown Beasley! The Bills have not been able to stop Hopkins from getting into open space. Lot of holding on this play, apparently. Chase Edmonds helps bail them out. Murray fakes the handoff and that's too easy. Touchdown Cardinals. "Sweet Caroline?" Keep that shit in Fenway. Another field goal for the Cardinals. Peterson picks off Allen! Murray goes down the sideline inside the Bills' 30. Touchdown Murray! That's the same play as the other one. Cardinals lead. Singletary bails Allen out and the Bills lose three yards instead of 13. Whoa! A rare miscue by Larry Fitzgerald and Jordan Poyer comes up with the deflection. Did that hit the ground? I couldn't overturn it. Call STANDS. Nothing comes of it and the Bills punt it back. Murray takes it outside on 3rd and 1 but Micah Hyde is not having it. Cardinals punt. Allen throws another interception, this one to Kirkpatrick. Bills get the ball back with 3:35 left. Bills content to throw short and let the clock run, though they probably should have crossed midfield before the two-minute warning. Bills not huddling. Allen finds Beasley over the middle for 17. Allen throws to the end zone and Diggs is there for the touchdown! That's a great route.


Thirty-nine seconds and two time outs for the Cardinals. Murray hits Andy Isabella for 14. Time out. Murray to Hopkins for another first down. Time out. Fitzgerald gets out of bounds for a first down. Time out Bills. Hm. Eleven seconds. Murray rolls left. Here it goes. TOUCHDOWN HOPKINS!! Wow! He out-jumped three guys!








And all the Cardinals had to give up was a second-rounder and David Johnson (who's hurt again!). That's why Bill O'Brien was fired. Cards line up to go for two (and take the possibility of a blocked kick off the board) but take a knee. They squib kick it and that's over. Both these teams needed to figure out how to win a game like this, and that's a big win for the Cardinals and a tough loss for the Bills. (Cardinals 32, Bills 30)

I understand why, but this game on this channel at this time is just weird. The wind in Cleveland has moved to Pittsburgh, and it's forecasted to get worse later. (It's also headed here.) Bengals muff the punt and the Steelers recover. Don't quite get running a one-yard route on 3rd and 2 but do you, Steelers. Field goal is good. Ebron can't be asked to block. Throw into the end zone is just a bit too far for Ebron. Field goal is good and it's 6-0 Steelers. Big pass play to Dionte Johnson. Johnson again for the touchdown! Two-point try fails. Burrow finds Boyd downfield for the Bengals' first first down. Tee Higgins fumbles and the Steelers have it. This is their SIXTH possession already? How? Burrow goes deep to Higgins, who hangs on to this one. Touchdown Higgins. Bengals on the board. Juju with a leaping catch at the Bengals' 45. That's interference. First and goal from the 5. Touchdown Juju! Burrow gets sacked. Ben throws for Johnson but it's short and Bates almost picks it off. Field goal is good. T.J. Watt brings Burrow down. 22-7 Steelers at halftime. Apparently Burrow hurt his ankle on a hit by Bud Dupree that may have been out of bounds. Bengals challenge this incompletion, for some reason. They lose and punt. Ebron converts a third down. Juju gets 12 on 3rd and 10. Claypool touchdown makes it 22-7 and this feels like what Bengals-Steelers usually feels like. (Steelers 36, Bengals 10)

No fans AT ALL at Foxborough. But a good amount of weather, though. Why are the Pro Football Focus rankings larger than the jersey numbers? Ravens getting Duvernay into the offense early after both teams open with short drives. First quarter ends with side-by-sides of Lamar and Cam as Heisman winners, Rookies of the Year and MVPs. Jet sweep to Snead and he scores, capping a 94-yard drive. Cam finds Byrd for a first down. Burkhead picks up another one on a run. Swing pass to Burkhead and he scores. That was quick. I did not know Mark Andrews was diabetic. Edwards turns a short pass into a 31-yard pickup. Throw to Andrews in the end zone is too low. Field goal is good. Damien Harris needs more carries. See? Cam laterals to Meyers, and he throws to Burkhead for a touchdown!


Extra point gets blown left. Someone found high school footage of Meyers as a quarterback. Jackson gets sacked. Pass to Duvernay but he stays inbounds. Deep ball is intercepted by J.C. Jackson and we go to halftime. Tough running from Damien Harris. Cam finds Meyers downfield, and Peters gets flagged for hitting him out of bounds. Newton skips into the end zone. Mark Ingram back? The Ravens went for it on fourth down with a direct snap that got away from Ingram, and the Patriots will take over. Pass is too low for Meyers and the Pats settle for three. Apparently Belichick still can't tell the McCourtys apart. I think Jason might be taller? Nick Boyle gets blasted and the Patriots wave to the sideline. Edwards gets 11 on fourth and 1. Ball comes out after an Edwards carry but the refs rule forward progress was stopped. Also, he was down anyway. Ricky throw by Lamar but Snead jumps in and catches it for a touchdown. Rain is REALLY coming down now and has been for a while. Another bad snap for the Ravens. Didn't they have this problem last week in a dome? Lamar throws a pass right to Devin McCourty that he drops. I'm not sure where that was headed. Cam finds Byrd for a first down. 3:25 left. Punt goes out of bounds with 1:06 left. The cameras are soaked in rain. 30 seconds left and we can barely see the field. Dobbins drops the pass on fourth down and the Patriots stay off the list. And five minutes later, the rain stops. (Patriots 23, Ravens 17)

Vikings are down four corners, while the Bears won't have David Montgomery tonight. Dalvin Cook and Akeim Hicks have an exchange. I think Rudolph's down here. Call says it's a fumble and Bears ball. Call STANDS. Yeah, I still don't know about that one. Then two plays later, Harrison Smith gets an interception off a tipped pass. Throw was high but that hurts. Cousins flings one to a tightly covered Thielen, who makes a one-handed catch for the touchdown. Foles finds Robinson downfield in traffic for 24. Vikings have no pass rushers with Danielle Hunter out for the season, Everson Griffen gone, and Anthony Barr wherever he is. (He's not playing tonight.) Patterson catches a pass? OK then. Bears end up settling for a field goal.


Apparently Trubisky is inactive tonight? Vikings blitz and Foles can't get away. I don't think I like Bedlam (Oklahoma-Oklahoma State) being so early now. Cousins finds Thielen in space for a first down inside the Bears' 35. KHALIL MACK picks off Cousins? What? He took it out of Thielen's hands! Christ. Foles hits Miller for 21. Foles throws into more traffic on 3rd and 10 but gets less lucky than last time. At least they got three out of it. Halftime. Patterson brings this one out of the end zone. Uh-oh. UH-OH. HE GONE. 104 yards!




Then the Bears muff this punt and the Vikings have it! Riddick says the Bears signed Dwayne Harris to field punts and improve their field position, but he didn't do it there. Pass to Thielen is broken up in the end zone. Field goal is good. Footage of the time that Patterson brought one back 105 here... when he was a Viking. Then the Vikings almost muff this punt. What is going on down there? Smith and Trevathan get to Cousins. Dalvin Cook's done nothing tonight. Until NOW, that is. Oh, look, a flag. it comes back. Jefferson! 53 yards and no flag on this one. This pass to Jefferson is well short of the first. Field goal is good and we're tied. The Bears offense has died. Third quarter ends.


The "Kirk Cousins is 0-9 on Monday Night Football" graphic is given an Office Space homage. First big Cook run of the night that will actually count. First and 20 and Cousins finds Rudolph, who drags Trevathan and picks up 22. Cousins to Jefferson for 16. Touchdown Thielen. Bad snap on the extra point attempt and that'll fall apart. 19-13 with 10 minutes left. Bears having less than no success running the ball tonight. Foles gets hit in the head and nothing is called. Fourth straight three-and-out for the Bears. Cousins takes off for 15 but it'll come back. Miller fields this punt, comes across the field, and gets 27 yards. Foles to Patterson for the first Bears first down of the second half. Third-down pass gets one yard after Foles has to bail out. Bears go for it... and Foles overthrows Miller. Bears get the ball back. Foles is down. What?


The cart's out. Tyler Bray is the backup, and there's 37 seconds left. Bray overthrows Robinson on third down. Eight seconds left. That throw isn't near anyone.


Cousins wins! These teams are absolutely going in opposite directions. (Vikings 19, Bears 13)

RANKINGS:.
TOP 4:
1. Pittsburgh (9-0) — Return to normalcy
2. Kansas City (8-1) — Still some things to figure out
3. Green Bay (7-2) — May have been a little hung over
4. New Orleans (7-2) — More Brees-free time?

BOTTOM 4:
29. Washington (2-7) — That's a terrible loss
30. Dallas (2-7) — Will they get Dalton back? Will it help?
31. Jacksonville (1-8) — Can't squander opportunities like that
32. N.Y. Jets (0-9) — I'm sure something bad happened there this week

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)