Friday, February 11, 2022

By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth: Four Counters

Derrick Henry back, which also means that the Titans have their entire offense back for the first time since Week 6. Jesse Bates picks off Tannehill on the first play of the game.


Mixon breaks a tackle after a catch and picks up 19. Titans bring a blitz and force Burrow into a quick incompletion. Wait, why does the lineup say "Jackrabbit Jenkins"? Did he change his name? Burrow gets sacked on third down and that may take them out of field goal range. But the Bengals didn't get the play off in time, so it's delay of game and the sack doesn't count. Higgins is stopped at the 20. This is a makeable kick and it's good. Titans do what they should have done and hand off to Henry. Drive still stalls. The Titans are leaning on their pass rush and it's working. Titans pass up a 57-yard field goal but the Bengals are set up like they might fake this punt. Not on 4th and 11 in the first quarter, dudes. Chase with a catch-and-run that would have been a touchdown if he hadn't had to hurdle the safety at the end. That was 57 yards. Another sack.


Slant to Higgins — which Trent Green (subbing for Charles Davis, who's in COVID protocols) points out seems to be the Bengals' go-to on third and long — sets up another McPherson field goal. 6-0 Bengals. Tannehill goes deep to Brown but overthrows him. Burrow to Higgins for 24. This deep ball to Brown IS caught. Direct snap to Henry with Tannehill split out wide and Henry somehow scores untouched. Good block by Westbrook-Akine to seal off Bates. Titans go for two and give it to Henry. The Bengals stop him! Still 6-6.


The Titans should probably cover Higgins when he's in the middle of the field. He fumbles, but the ball rolls right to Chase. Two minute warning. Burrow gets sacked AGAIN on 3rd and 14. McPherson for 54. NAILED IT. And now they're gonna get the ball back with a minute left. Bengals going too short here. Burrow has no one open downfield and finally throws it away with four seconds left. Hail Mary? Nope. Halftime. Burrow finds Higgins again on third down and he would have scored if he hadn't stepped out of bounds. Burrow keeps it and picks up a first down. Mixon goes left and high-steps into the end zone. Foreman with a big run! 54 yards! Mike Hilton deflects the pass and intercepts it!


That wasn't even a play fake. Why do that? Titans get the ball back and Tannehill finds Brown deep. They get another field goal out of it. Amani Hooker with a diving interception off a tipped pass! It's being reviewed. Steratore thinks it could be overturned because the ball hit the ground. Green acknowledges this but notes that the ball doesn't move.


Call STANDS. Titans ball. It's the Bert Emanuel rule. Touchdown Titans! Tannehill with a great throw to Brown, who caught it with one hand after getting turned around.


We're tied with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. Burrow sacked AGAIN. That's, what, seven? Bengals punt. Foreman picking up some crucial yardage. Tannehill to Brown for 20. The Titans sneak on 3rd and 1 at the Bengals' 35 but don't get there. Titans go for it. Deep handoff to Henry and he doesn't get there! The Bengals stopped him again!


They probably should have sneaked it with Tannehill, because that play never had a chance. Oh, look, ANOTHER TITANS SACK. And there's ANOTHER one. That's NINE.


Bengals punt to the Titans' 16. I don't understand why the Titans are running the ball at this point. OH NO. ANOTHER PICK. That's EXACTLY how they lost the Jets game — screwing around with no urgency at the end. Eli Apple made the play on that? When did he stop sucking? Twenty seconds left. Burrow finds Chase and they're already in field goal range. Bengals run it into the line. Four seconds. McPherson for 52. It's GOOD!! (Bengals 19, Titans 16)

Packers get the ball first. Aaron Jones takes a swing pass into 49ers territory. Niners are gonna have to double Adams or something. Touchdown A.J. Dillon.


A returning Za'Darius Smith sacks Garoppolo. Marcedes Lewis FUMBLES and the 49ers recover. That ball got punched out almost immediately. Then, two plays later, Aiyuk fumbles and the Packers get it back. They review it and overturn the call to an incomplete pass. Then the Packers sack Garoppolo anyway. Rushing three, mind you. Kittle with a rare drop. Rodgers gets sacked again. Deebo mishandles a pass. Jones gets stuffed. Kittle with a juggling catch on the sideline. Knee's down inbounds. Niners send Deebo in motion 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, then Garoppolo has to flip it to Mitchell because the Packers blew the play up. He somehow gets 16 yards. Trent Williams in motion? What? Kittle gets inside the 10. We're already at two minutes? Trent Williams gets called for holding. Garoppolo is flushed out of the pocket and throws a pick on the run! Adrian Amos came back and cut Kittle off from the ball. Aikman: "We've seen this too many times from Jimmy Garoppolo."


Rodgers finds Jones WIDE open downfield. That fooled three 49ers and Jones gets down inside the 15. PROTECT THE FOOT — oh, the Packers recovered it. Field goal is BLOCKED! PACKERS SPECIAL TEAMS. So it's still 7-0 at halftime.


Now it's starting to snow. 49ers send Deebo out to field the second half kickoff and he brings it back to midfield. Then he takes a screen to the 15. Mitchell runs it inside the 5 but gets called for a face mask. Deebo down after getting inside the 10 on third and long. They kick it. Packers go three and out and Samuel's back on the field.


He got away with that one. But this offense just isn't working tonight. Rodgers finds Adams for a big first down.


Armstead brings Rodgers down on third down. Crosby hits from 33. Why is Alex Rodriguez here? Garoppolo throws one into the dirt. Kittle! Rashaan Gary stuffs Mitchell on 4th and 1 and that's probably game. No one's blocked him all night.


Rodgers gets sacked on third down and loses 10 yards. Punt is BLOCKED! Where's the ball? It finally comes down and it's surrounded by nothing but 49ers! TOUCHDOWN! We're tied! That ball hung up there for like 10 seconds and no one looked up. Rodgers almost throws interceptions on back-to-back plays. They end up PUNTING. Two minutes left. Garoppolo guns one to Deebo. Don't know why they're taking so long with the clock stopped. They hand it to Deebo on 3rd and 7 (?!?) and he gets the first down before limping off again. 49ers run the clock down to four seconds. Gould's kicked in shit like this for years in Chicago. It's GOOD!! Dear God.





So both top seeds are out. This just got nuts. (49ers 13, Packers 10)



Fournette back. Pass to Gronk is broken up. Beckham weaves through traffic and gets 19 back of a first and 20. Stafford finds Higbee down the middle of the field. Not sure what happened on that Kupp incompletion — and the Rams got lucky the throw was high or this drive would be over. Fade falls incomplete. Field goal is good. I always forget Suh is still playing.


He gets flagged for taunting and while it's being announced, the mic picks up him saying "Did you see him kick me?" And he's got a point! Stafford rolls left and finds... Kendall Blanton? Touchdown Rams. Brady finds Fournette on a slip screen. There's Gronk over the middle. Did I miss a field goal here? Why is it 10-3? First quarter ends. Stafford goes down on a coverage sack. Then he finds Kupp in space on 3rd and 20, and he makes a move and will not be caught! 70-yard touchdown!


To make matters worse for Tampa, Lavonte David gets flagged for slamming his helmet down afterwards. Al notes that the same thing happened in their Week 3 game, just with DeSean Jackson. The safety never turns around, either! Cris: "The Buccaneers keep screwing this up." I'm not sure the Bucs have the horses to come back without getting some kind of break in another phase. It's gonna have to look like this. They got BRADY for taunting? That'll just piss him off more.



He floats one to Fournette for a first down. Succop MISSES wide right! Stafford pump fake fools Cris and half the Rams. First down Higbee. Gay hits from 44 and it's 20-3. Brady gets intercepted on the sideline! That's actually a great play by Nick Scott to get over there and time his jump. The Rams let the clock run down to 4 seconds before calling time out for some dumb reason. Oh, that's a fumble. That ball's moving. Call REVERSED. Al rightly points out that that could have been the kill shot. Bucs go into halftime only down 17. Devin White breaks up a third-down pass downfield. Punt pins the Bucs at their own 5. Then the Bucs punt and the Rams get a 39-yard return out of it. Akers gets to the 2. Stafford sneak and that's a touchdown. Al makes a Rube Goldberg reference (in relation to the harness Arians is wearing) that Cris doesn't get. Brady finds Gronk for a big play downfield. Donald continues to wreak havoc. A field goal? Really? Then the kickoff goes out of bounds. Kupp FUMBLES and the Buccaneers finally have something go their way. Brady overthrows Gronk deep. Bucs go for it on 4th and 9, and he finds Scottie Miller for a first down. Brady goes to Tyler Johnson and he gets to the 2. Touchdown Fournette. Bucs could have gone for two there and not lost anything, but they kick the PAT instead. Rams go three and out in nine seconds. NOT IDEAL. Von Miller strip-sacks Brady and the Rams get the ball! Donovan Smith's a good tackle but Miller worked him there. Then the snap goes right past Stafford and JPP recovers it for Tampa at the Rams' 36! Jebus.




Brady to Gronk. Another sack! Fourth and 14 and Brady throws deep. It's broken up, but there's a flag. Eric Weddle, who came back last week after being retired for three years, hit Evans after the ball hit the ground. It's correctly ruled a dead ball foul because it was after the play was over.


So the Rams get the ball, but at around their own 25 or so instead of near midfield. Reverse to Jefferson gets almost 20. I like it. Akers breaks off a run. Stafford finds Jefferson again and he gets to the Bucs' 30. Gay is SHORT from 47 yards! What? Darious Williams gets called for interference. Pass to Fournette but he gets slowed up. Fourth and 9. Brady has plenty of time but throws it to absolutely no one. Wild. Bucs call their last time out with 4:07 left. They've got Gio Bernard back to field this punt. He goes nowhere after catching it at the 21. Evans beats Ramsey deep and scores! Akers FUMBLES! Bucs recover! You can't be serious.


Evans falls down and the ball sails past Ramsey. 1:15 left. Rams double Evans in the end zone and break up the pass. Cameron Brate makes the catch for a first down. The Rams call time out, then the refs say that Brate didn't get the first down. Now they can look at it. It's gonna STAY fourth an inches. They DO move the ball up slightly. Brady hands it to Fournette, who goes off tackle and SCORES UNTOUCHED. Succop ties it.


He's done this so many times and it's still unbelievable every time it happens. Rams have 42 seconds.



Stafford gets sacked and has to fall on the ball. Kupp gets 20 and out of bounds. Stafford goes deep to Kupp and he's GOT HIM! Down at the Buccaneers' 9!


They get up and spike it with 4 seconds. Gay comes on. It's GOOD!!!! THAT'S unbelievable.


(Rams 30, Buccaneers 27)



Bills get the opening kickoff. They're taking zero risks so far. OK, they're going for it on fourth and 2 from midfield. Allen keeps it and gets 10.


Bills still not taking any deep shots or big chances on this drive. McKenzie takes an end around out of bounds at the 3. Allen sneaks from the 2 but only gets one yard. They're going for it. They give it to Singletary and he scores! Was sure that was going to be another Allen keeper. Nice work.


An underreported storyline is how the Chiefs have dialed back their offense to not be so big-play reliant. We're seeing it on this first drive here. Mahomes takes off for 34! Two plays later he runs for another first down. Mahomes scrambles left again. He dives... touchdown! The Bills are gonna have to respect his running. The Chiefs are also gonna have to respect Allen's, as he just got 14 on a sweep. Melvin Ingram sacks Allen for a 10-yard loss on third down. Chiefs starting to turn it up as Mahomes goes downfield to Kelce. McKinnon catches a wheel route and puts a lick on the defender. Ed Oliver sacks Mahomes. Bills get called for holding on a third-down sack. Shovel pass falls incomplete. Mahomes spins and Pringle makes a great jumping catch in the end zone! Allen finds Beasley near midfield. Allen with a big run to the left side. Touchdown Gabriel Davis! Two Chiefs DBs tripped over each other, and that's how he got free. Tied at 14 with 37 seconds left. Mahomes finds Kelce inside the Bills' 35. Time out with 11 seconds left. Then the Bills call time out. Butker MISSES from 47 to end the half. Pushed it just to the right.


They do get the second half kickoff, though. Fourth and 1 from the Bills' 46 and Mahomes flips to McKinnon for 26! Offensive holding behind the play negates a Mahomes third-down scramble. (He also takes a knee to the head that doesn't get called.) Butker just sneaks this kick over the right upright. Bills punting on 4th and 1? They might regret that. HARDMAN! He stutter-stepped to freeze the defenders for a half second and then just took off. Butker MISSES the extra point. Allen launches a MISSILE down the middle of the field to Davis, who beats Thornhill for a touchdown! (That's where Mathieu would have been.)


Third quarter's over. Jarran Reed with a big sack on Allen after the penalty. Offsetting penalties on the punt, and the Chiefs elect to make the Bills rekick. This time Hill puts on a spin move, and after some poor tackling by the Bills, takes it all the way back to the Bills' 16. Chiefs try a direct snap to Kelce to an option pitch to McKinnon but the Bills don't buy it.


Field goal is good but also a waste. Allen trucks some poor defensive back. Chiefs blitz and break up the pass to Davis. Allen keeps it but only gets six. Fourth and 4, three minutes left, from the Chiefs' 30. Allen makes Melvin Ingram whiff on a sack, scrambles out of the pocket, and runs for it! It really does feel like the Bills are playing this to leave no time for Mahomes. But they still have to score. And now they've lost yards. Two minutes! It's 4th and 13. Someone just ran onto the field. How'd they get that far? Impressive. Anyway. Travis Kelce doing jumping jacks on the sideline. NO ONE COVERS DAVIS AGAIN. TOUCHDOWN BILLS.


How does that even happen? He's caught, like, 30 balls today. Replay shows what happened: he absolutely wrecked Mike Hughes on a cut. Bills go for two and Allen finds Diggs in the back of the end zone. Kelce with a clutch catch on third down. Mahomes finds Hill in space. He's got room in front of him! TOUCHDOWN!! Dude didn't even shift gears. He's THAT fast. Two touchdowns in 52 seconds.




Still a minute left! No one's used a time out! Allen to Davis at midfield. Emmanuel Sanders sighting! Touchdown. Gabriel. Davis. Again. Like, what are they doing out there?





Thirteen seconds left. Chiefs get 19 on a quick pass. Mahomes finds Kelce down the middle! Time out and they've got a shot. Butker from 49. IT'S GOOD!! OVERTIME.






Chiefs win the toss and take the ball first because why wouldn't they. Somehow Hardman's left open on the right side. He gets 26 to the Bills' 9! Kelce in the corner! There's a discussion but that looks good to me. TOUCHDOWN. What a game. I'm exhausted. (Chiefs 42, Bills 36, OT)
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