Freezer's #NFL Week in Review - Week 11
Welcome to the Week in Review. RIP Terry Glenn.
Tennessee 17, Pittsburgh 40
Funny... If they had done the “All-Skycam” game on Sunday Night or Monday Night, it’d be called an “experiment.” or a “special edition.”
It was on a Thursday, so it’s a “gimmick.”
They kind of needed it.
Yeah, there were some highlights: Antonio Brown’s one-handed helmet catch, Rishard Matthews’ 75-yard Madden catch. But for the bulk of the game, it was the Steelers keeping the Titans at arm’s length, before pulling away in the fourth. It was both teams’ rushing attacks going MIA. It was Pittsburgh showing they’re the only real challenger to the Patriots in the current AFC. It was Tennessee showing they’re not ready for prime time (again). Though they’ll probably win the AFC South because Indy and Houston are missing major pieces¹ and...
Oh right. I keep forgetting the Jaguars are actually good (somehow). Disregard.
Tampa Bay 30, Miami 20
I don’t care how pedestrian Matt Moore is and how little trust the Dolphin coaching staff has in him, if Jay Cutler plays another down for the Dolphins this year, that isn't forced by injuries, the entire front office and coaching staff needs to be fired on the spot.
Detroit 27, Chicago 24
What happens when a stoppable force (the Bears’ air attack) meets a movable object (the Lions’ ground attack?)? This pile of meh.
Wonder how well the Lions would’ve done if Chicago had anything close to starter level-receivers?
Jacksonville 19, Cleveland 7
Six chances left...
Baltimore 23, Green Bay 0
I would like to thank the ravens and Packers for putting on a game that leaves me with no reason whatsoever to recap this game with more than “Brett Hundley sucks, shows no signs of getting better and is getting no help from his coaches or running game.”
Arizona 21, Houston 31
Plus side: Blaine Gabbert is a clear upgrade over Drew Stanton (possibly over Carson Palmer at this point).
Minus side; It didn’t help, as Tom Savage stayed out his own way long enough for the Texan to get the win.
It is nice to see the Texans aren’t going down without a fight, though.
L.A. Rams 7, Minnesota 24
In a highly-anticipated matchup of two of the four NFC division leaders and arguably the two biggest surprises of the 2017 season... The Rams got dragged like a high school sophomore trying to tackle Beast Mode.
The Vikings took control of the NFC #2 playoff slot by backhanding L.A. with a dominating performance. They nearly doubled up the Rams on total yards, time of possession and first downs, utterly shutting down what had been the league’s hottest offense.
And they did it with a backup QB Houston didn’t want. 12-4 looks like the floor for this squad, going by their remaining schedule.
And the Rams still have the OTHER two division leaders - New Orleans and Philly.- still on the schedule. Good luck with that, fellas!
Washington 31, New Orleans 34 (OT)
Speaking of the Whodats, they played the heavy to the Chargers East’s latest episode of “How Do We Blow This One?”
And today’s answer is: “Blow a 15-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the game and lose in Overtime.”
As the captain of Team Fucksnyder, I couldn’t be happier.
And the last time the Saints had the kind of ground attack they have with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, it was Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush in 2009. We know how that season ended. Just saying...
Kansas City 9, N.Y. Giants 12 (OT)
Oh, Chiefs.. What the hell happened to you? A month ago, you guys were the odds-on favorite for the AFC’s Super Bowl team. Now, you’ve lost four of five and looked bad doing it, culminating in this: A slow, boring tortuous loss to the tire fire that is the Giants.
Seriously: Kareem Hunt has basically vanished and the big plays and offensive creativity that drove the Chiefs’ hot start have similarly gone ghost.
As bitter Philly fans look on at Coach Boyardee’s works and think “That sounds about right.”
Buffalo 24, L.A. Chargers 54
[insert five minutes of derisive laughter here]
Now, I don’t blame this on Sean McDermott. Benching Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman was clearly a management move. Management making moves to avoid having to pay up to keep Tyrod Taylor (or rather, see if they could get out of their QB quandary on the cheap with 4th rounder Peterman).
Everyone who doesn’t work for the Buffalo front office thought this was a bad idea¹ No one thought things would be “5 interceptions in the first half, three in the first quarter” bad.
I would’ve been petty as FUCK were I Taylor, when he was told he’d be going in tn the second half.
Buffalo sacrifced a shot at their first playoff appearance since 1998 in order to save money in 2018. If I’m in Bills Nation, I. Would. Be. PISSED.
Cincinnati 20, Denver 17
Dear John Elway;
If Paxton Lynch doesn’t turn into Jared Goff 2.0, you’re getting fired. Or you should be. If a championship didn’t save Bobby Beathard from the Ryan Leaf debacle, it shouldn’t save you from screwing up the post-Peyton Manning situation.
New England 33, Oakland 8
Wasn’t Oakland supposed to be good?
Philadelphia 37, Dallas 9
For one half, the short-handed, reeling Cowboys hung in there with the league-leading Eagles.
Then the second half started, everything that could go wrong with Dallas did go wrong and 30 unanswered points later, the Cowboys suffered their most humiliating loss in years.
The pass rush never got close to Carson Wentz, exacerbated by four turnovers constantly giving Wentz a short field to work with. Dak Prescott played his worst game as a pro: When he was actually throwing on target, his receivers weren’t getting open or straight up dropping passes. And while Byron Bell was an upgrade from Chaz Green (four sacks instead of eight), it still didn’t come close to making up for the loss of Tyron Smith. And, of course, the lack of Sean Lee meant “Opponent chews up Dallas on the interior.”
Smith and Lee should be back for the annual Thanksgiving game, so that should help.
None of this really takes away from Philly’s domination. They took on the team in front of them and throttled them. They are the clear NFC #1 - arguably the NFL’s, and looked every bit of it (at least in the second half).
Atlanta 34, Seattle 31
Seattle played an opponent close, going back and forth with them down to the wire, coming up short thanks to an iffy play call.
Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.
Did the Seahawks lost specifically because of the failed fake field goal? No. But it didn’t help and it was completely unnecessary. Sometimes doing the obvious safe thing is the best thing. Take the points, Carroll! They might have come in handy during that fourth-quarter rally!
The Falcons, on the other hand, have gotten off the mat with this win, their third of four after a three game losing skid. But, they also have the Panthers (the one loss in that four-game stretch) the Rams and the Saints (twice) left.
Good luck with that, fellas!
Tennessee 17, Pittsburgh 40
Funny... If they had done the “All-Skycam” game on Sunday Night or Monday Night, it’d be called an “experiment.” or a “special edition.”
It was on a Thursday, so it’s a “gimmick.”
They kind of needed it.
Yeah, there were some highlights: Antonio Brown’s one-handed helmet catch, Rishard Matthews’ 75-yard Madden catch. But for the bulk of the game, it was the Steelers keeping the Titans at arm’s length, before pulling away in the fourth. It was both teams’ rushing attacks going MIA. It was Pittsburgh showing they’re the only real challenger to the Patriots in the current AFC. It was Tennessee showing they’re not ready for prime time (again). Though they’ll probably win the AFC South because Indy and Houston are missing major pieces¹ and...
Oh right. I keep forgetting the Jaguars are actually good (somehow). Disregard.
Pieces named “Andrew Luck” and “Deshaun Watson”.
Tampa Bay 30, Miami 20
I don’t care how pedestrian Matt Moore is and how little trust the Dolphin coaching staff has in him, if Jay Cutler plays another down for the Dolphins this year, that isn't forced by injuries, the entire front office and coaching staff needs to be fired on the spot.
Detroit 27, Chicago 24
What happens when a stoppable force (the Bears’ air attack) meets a movable object (the Lions’ ground attack?)? This pile of meh.
Wonder how well the Lions would’ve done if Chicago had anything close to starter level-receivers?
Jacksonville 19, Cleveland 7
Six chances left...
Baltimore 23, Green Bay 0
I would like to thank the ravens and Packers for putting on a game that leaves me with no reason whatsoever to recap this game with more than “Brett Hundley sucks, shows no signs of getting better and is getting no help from his coaches or running game.”
Arizona 21, Houston 31
Plus side: Blaine Gabbert is a clear upgrade over Drew Stanton (possibly over Carson Palmer at this point).
Minus side; It didn’t help, as Tom Savage stayed out his own way long enough for the Texan to get the win.
It is nice to see the Texans aren’t going down without a fight, though.
L.A. Rams 7, Minnesota 24
In a highly-anticipated matchup of two of the four NFC division leaders and arguably the two biggest surprises of the 2017 season... The Rams got dragged like a high school sophomore trying to tackle Beast Mode.
The Vikings took control of the NFC #2 playoff slot by backhanding L.A. with a dominating performance. They nearly doubled up the Rams on total yards, time of possession and first downs, utterly shutting down what had been the league’s hottest offense.
And they did it with a backup QB Houston didn’t want. 12-4 looks like the floor for this squad, going by their remaining schedule.
And the Rams still have the OTHER two division leaders - New Orleans and Philly.- still on the schedule. Good luck with that, fellas!
Washington 31, New Orleans 34 (OT)
Speaking of the Whodats, they played the heavy to the Chargers East’s latest episode of “How Do We Blow This One?”
And today’s answer is: “Blow a 15-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the game and lose in Overtime.”
As the captain of Team Fucksnyder, I couldn’t be happier.
And the last time the Saints had the kind of ground attack they have with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, it was Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush in 2009. We know how that season ended. Just saying...
Kansas City 9, N.Y. Giants 12 (OT)
Oh, Chiefs.. What the hell happened to you? A month ago, you guys were the odds-on favorite for the AFC’s Super Bowl team. Now, you’ve lost four of five and looked bad doing it, culminating in this: A slow, boring tortuous loss to the tire fire that is the Giants.
Seriously: Kareem Hunt has basically vanished and the big plays and offensive creativity that drove the Chiefs’ hot start have similarly gone ghost.
As bitter Philly fans look on at Coach Boyardee’s works and think “That sounds about right.”
Buffalo 24, L.A. Chargers 54
[insert five minutes of derisive laughter here]
Now, I don’t blame this on Sean McDermott. Benching Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman was clearly a management move. Management making moves to avoid having to pay up to keep Tyrod Taylor (or rather, see if they could get out of their QB quandary on the cheap with 4th rounder Peterman).
Everyone who doesn’t work for the Buffalo front office thought this was a bad idea¹ No one thought things would be “5 interceptions in the first half, three in the first quarter” bad.
I would’ve been petty as FUCK were I Taylor, when he was told he’d be going in tn the second half.
Buffalo sacrifced a shot at their first playoff appearance since 1998 in order to save money in 2018. If I’m in Bills Nation, I. Would. Be. PISSED.
And you won’t convince me McDermott wasn’t among them.
Cincinnati 20, Denver 17
Dear John Elway;
If Paxton Lynch doesn’t turn into Jared Goff 2.0, you’re getting fired. Or you should be. If a championship didn’t save Bobby Beathard from the Ryan Leaf debacle, it shouldn’t save you from screwing up the post-Peyton Manning situation.
New England 33, Oakland 8
Wasn’t Oakland supposed to be good?
Philadelphia 37, Dallas 9
For one half, the short-handed, reeling Cowboys hung in there with the league-leading Eagles.
Then the second half started, everything that could go wrong with Dallas did go wrong and 30 unanswered points later, the Cowboys suffered their most humiliating loss in years.
The pass rush never got close to Carson Wentz, exacerbated by four turnovers constantly giving Wentz a short field to work with. Dak Prescott played his worst game as a pro: When he was actually throwing on target, his receivers weren’t getting open or straight up dropping passes. And while Byron Bell was an upgrade from Chaz Green (four sacks instead of eight), it still didn’t come close to making up for the loss of Tyron Smith. And, of course, the lack of Sean Lee meant “Opponent chews up Dallas on the interior.”
Smith and Lee should be back for the annual Thanksgiving game, so that should help.
None of this really takes away from Philly’s domination. They took on the team in front of them and throttled them. They are the clear NFC #1 - arguably the NFL’s, and looked every bit of it (at least in the second half).
Atlanta 34, Seattle 31
Seattle played an opponent close, going back and forth with them down to the wire, coming up short thanks to an iffy play call.
Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.
Did the Seahawks lost specifically because of the failed fake field goal? No. But it didn’t help and it was completely unnecessary. Sometimes doing the obvious safe thing is the best thing. Take the points, Carroll! They might have come in handy during that fourth-quarter rally!
The Falcons, on the other hand, have gotten off the mat with this win, their third of four after a three game losing skid. But, they also have the Panthers (the one loss in that four-game stretch) the Rams and the Saints (twice) left.
Good luck with that, fellas!