When John Carney missed the extra point that would have put the Saints up 38-34 in today's game, I thought it was, well, interesting.
That clip was from a game played on December 21, 2003. It was the 16th week of the 17 week season, where the Saints had to win to remain in the playoff hunt. Making things worse, Jacksonville was 4-10 entering that game. To say that loss hurt would be a bit of an understatement, but really, it was just another wacky happening during the Jim Haslett era in New Orleans.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
NFL Quick Hits
- An Alex Smith sighting in San Francisco? A competent Alex Smith sighting in San Francisco??? I'm shocked. You mean it's better for the head coach to not snipe at the #1 overall draft pick QB and to actively undermine his confidence in every way possible? That's an interesting theory. Oh, and to all those who kept asking why Shaun Hill never seemed to get the opportunities to start before? That's why. He's just not that good.
- Oh, and Houston, you're allowed to play well for 60 minutes, instead of 30.
- There were 5 games in which one team scored at least 30 points, and the other team socred less than 10. Perhaps a few teams need a refresher on the definition of parity. Even better, one of these 5 games was the showcase game to the English public. I understand the desire to not take away a home game from an NFL team that will actually put that home game to good use (though by that measure, Oakland should play one of their home games in England every year), but if you're actually serious about trying to expand to London, using crap teams for these showcase games is probably a bad idea. Tampa Bay? Really? That seemed like a good idea at any point this offseason?
- Thank you, Pittsburgh (I will never utter these words again). For one week, the Brett Favre hype machine can take the week off, now that Minnesota is no longer undefeated and 2 Brett Favre turnovers became 2 Steeler defensive touchdowns. Now we can focus on...what's that you say? Minnesota's next game is where??? %$#@!!!!!!
(If you can't guess where the game is, you haven't watched ESPN yet this year)
- You had to see this Jets-Raiders game coming. Angry defensive-minded genius coming off 3 straight losses versus terrible QB in a dysfunctional organization. Just makes Philly's loss last week all the more mindboggling. And Mark Sanchez makes waves again, as he's caught eating a hot dog on the sidelines towards the end of the game. I believe this means he has brought the curse of Rick Mirer upon himself, which means he either is going to regress into a skittish QB who refuses to go through his progressions by year 2, or he's going to ruin a Chicago Bears draft at some point in his career. I'm not sure which one.
- Okay, I give you a box-score. Team A outgains Team B 425-167. Team B gets only 9 first downs all game, gives up a safety, and loses the time of possession battle by about 10 minutes. Then I tell you that Team B won by 11 and never trailed in the game. You'd be confused. Befuddled, even. Then I'd tell you Team A's quarterback is Jake Delhomme. And suddenly it would all make sense. And Carolina signed him to an extension this offseason. John Fox has just joined Jim Zorn in the dead man walking zone.
And will someone please explain to me what it is about Buffalo that forces both them and their opponents to turn their games into poop-slinging contests? These last 3 Bills games have been some of the ugliest football games I've seen, though the Bills are 2-1 in them, go figure.
- Cutler throws 3 picks. Bears lose big. Broncos fans laugh.
- Miami shocks everyone by going up 24-3 on the Saints, but can't hold on. The first crack came with 5 seconds left in the first half. New Orleans had just scored a touchdown that was reviewed. The review showed that the Saints player was actually down inside the 1 yard line. This meant the officials would spot the ball, and then start the clock, and the Saints had no timeouts left. Saints coach Sean Payton left his kicking unit on the field (they were already there to kick the extra point before the review), content to get 3 points before halftime. Then Miami coach Tony Sparano made the boneheaded decision to call timeout. This gave Drew Brees the chance to get in his coach's ear to make his case to go for the touchdown instead and get within 2 scores. Payton was convinced, and Brees snuck the ball over the line for the touchdown. And instead of going into halftime up 18, the Dolphins instead went in to the locker room up 14, which became 7 less than 1 minute into the thrid quarter.
Would New Orleans still have been able to come back from an 18-point halftime defecit (instead of the 14 point one they actually faced)? They certainly had the offesne for it. But Coach Sparano needlessly gave away 4 points of their lead. Thos 4 points could have come in very handy late in the game. Bad bad decision that really had no upside. Are the Saints really going to set up a fake in the 15 seconds between getting the word back from the officials and when the clock starts? Especially with their extra-point kicking unit on the field? I highly doubt it.
- Oh, and Houston, you're allowed to play well for 60 minutes, instead of 30.
- There were 5 games in which one team scored at least 30 points, and the other team socred less than 10. Perhaps a few teams need a refresher on the definition of parity. Even better, one of these 5 games was the showcase game to the English public. I understand the desire to not take away a home game from an NFL team that will actually put that home game to good use (though by that measure, Oakland should play one of their home games in England every year), but if you're actually serious about trying to expand to London, using crap teams for these showcase games is probably a bad idea. Tampa Bay? Really? That seemed like a good idea at any point this offseason?
- Thank you, Pittsburgh (I will never utter these words again). For one week, the Brett Favre hype machine can take the week off, now that Minnesota is no longer undefeated and 2 Brett Favre turnovers became 2 Steeler defensive touchdowns. Now we can focus on...what's that you say? Minnesota's next game is where??? %$#@!!!!!!
(If you can't guess where the game is, you haven't watched ESPN yet this year)
- You had to see this Jets-Raiders game coming. Angry defensive-minded genius coming off 3 straight losses versus terrible QB in a dysfunctional organization. Just makes Philly's loss last week all the more mindboggling. And Mark Sanchez makes waves again, as he's caught eating a hot dog on the sidelines towards the end of the game. I believe this means he has brought the curse of Rick Mirer upon himself, which means he either is going to regress into a skittish QB who refuses to go through his progressions by year 2, or he's going to ruin a Chicago Bears draft at some point in his career. I'm not sure which one.
- Okay, I give you a box-score. Team A outgains Team B 425-167. Team B gets only 9 first downs all game, gives up a safety, and loses the time of possession battle by about 10 minutes. Then I tell you that Team B won by 11 and never trailed in the game. You'd be confused. Befuddled, even. Then I'd tell you Team A's quarterback is Jake Delhomme. And suddenly it would all make sense. And Carolina signed him to an extension this offseason. John Fox has just joined Jim Zorn in the dead man walking zone.
And will someone please explain to me what it is about Buffalo that forces both them and their opponents to turn their games into poop-slinging contests? These last 3 Bills games have been some of the ugliest football games I've seen, though the Bills are 2-1 in them, go figure.
- Cutler throws 3 picks. Bears lose big. Broncos fans laugh.
- Miami shocks everyone by going up 24-3 on the Saints, but can't hold on. The first crack came with 5 seconds left in the first half. New Orleans had just scored a touchdown that was reviewed. The review showed that the Saints player was actually down inside the 1 yard line. This meant the officials would spot the ball, and then start the clock, and the Saints had no timeouts left. Saints coach Sean Payton left his kicking unit on the field (they were already there to kick the extra point before the review), content to get 3 points before halftime. Then Miami coach Tony Sparano made the boneheaded decision to call timeout. This gave Drew Brees the chance to get in his coach's ear to make his case to go for the touchdown instead and get within 2 scores. Payton was convinced, and Brees snuck the ball over the line for the touchdown. And instead of going into halftime up 18, the Dolphins instead went in to the locker room up 14, which became 7 less than 1 minute into the thrid quarter.
Would New Orleans still have been able to come back from an 18-point halftime defecit (instead of the 14 point one they actually faced)? They certainly had the offesne for it. But Coach Sparano needlessly gave away 4 points of their lead. Thos 4 points could have come in very handy late in the game. Bad bad decision that really had no upside. Are the Saints really going to set up a fake in the 15 seconds between getting the word back from the officials and when the clock starts? Especially with their extra-point kicking unit on the field? I highly doubt it.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Top 7 Calls that made me want to put a fist through the television set (luckily I created this blog instead), #3: Darrell Jackson Pass Interference
Back to the main series of this blog. Let's go back once again (last time, I promise) to Super Bowl XL. This play is 4 plays into a promising Seattle drive in the first quarter with the score still 0-0. Matt Hasselbeck drops back to pass, rolls around to buy more time, then launches a pass down the deep middle of the field for #1 target Darrell Jackson. Jackson makes the catch in the end zone, seemingly giving Seattle a 6-0 lead, pending the PAT.
But then the referees would make their first large stamp on this game.
Jackson was called for offensive pass interference, which is traditionally called once every 3 years (unless the receiver is Plaxico Burress or Randy Moss). I have included a very brief clip of the play below:
Yeah, I wasn't kidding about the brief part. Anyway, I acknowledge that Jackson did push off and he did extend his arm, which is a red flag for the officials. However, I still have 2 major problems with this play:
1) As Jackson is moving around towards the end of this play, the Steeler defensive back is all over him, grabbing him and jostling him. This is normally an automatic illegal contact penalty, but because Hasselbeck left the pocket during his scarmbling around before the throw, the DB cannot be called for illegal contact. But, just because that jostling isn't illegal in that setting, doesn't mean he should be allowed to grab Jackson without Jackson being allowed to try and shed the DB. I also believe that the Steeler DB is still grabbing Jackson after the pass has left Hasselbeck's hand, which means it's defensive pass interference at that point. Unfortunately, there's no camera angle to show this.
2) If this is offensive pass interference, you are compelled to call the more egregious examples of offensive pass interference over the rest of the game. Number of other OPI calls over the rest of the game? 0. Curious. Especially when you consider at least once Hines Ward fully extended his arm and pushed off of Seattle cornerback Kelly Herndon's face mask to get open later in the game, but this was not called. If you're going to set the precedent, then you have to follow it. This is too big of a game to try and make a bigger statement. Call it both ways, or let the players dictate the outcome of the game.
Seattle would subsequently face 1st and 20 at the Steeler 26, and turn that into a field goal, instead of a touchdown.
Anti-Quality of call: (4/10 at first, 10/10 once I realized they weren't actually going to call this ever again)
Effect on game situation: 5/10
Effect on my mood: 9/10
And now please excuse me while I go take a shower to wash off the filth of watching all of those highlights.
But then the referees would make their first large stamp on this game.
Jackson was called for offensive pass interference, which is traditionally called once every 3 years (unless the receiver is Plaxico Burress or Randy Moss). I have included a very brief clip of the play below:
Yeah, I wasn't kidding about the brief part. Anyway, I acknowledge that Jackson did push off and he did extend his arm, which is a red flag for the officials. However, I still have 2 major problems with this play:
1) As Jackson is moving around towards the end of this play, the Steeler defensive back is all over him, grabbing him and jostling him. This is normally an automatic illegal contact penalty, but because Hasselbeck left the pocket during his scarmbling around before the throw, the DB cannot be called for illegal contact. But, just because that jostling isn't illegal in that setting, doesn't mean he should be allowed to grab Jackson without Jackson being allowed to try and shed the DB. I also believe that the Steeler DB is still grabbing Jackson after the pass has left Hasselbeck's hand, which means it's defensive pass interference at that point. Unfortunately, there's no camera angle to show this.
2) If this is offensive pass interference, you are compelled to call the more egregious examples of offensive pass interference over the rest of the game. Number of other OPI calls over the rest of the game? 0. Curious. Especially when you consider at least once Hines Ward fully extended his arm and pushed off of Seattle cornerback Kelly Herndon's face mask to get open later in the game, but this was not called. If you're going to set the precedent, then you have to follow it. This is too big of a game to try and make a bigger statement. Call it both ways, or let the players dictate the outcome of the game.
Seattle would subsequently face 1st and 20 at the Steeler 26, and turn that into a field goal, instead of a touchdown.
Anti-Quality of call: (4/10 at first, 10/10 once I realized they weren't actually going to call this ever again)
Effect on game situation: 5/10
Effect on my mood: 9/10
And now please excuse me while I go take a shower to wash off the filth of watching all of those highlights.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Criticism gets to MLB, Shift in Umpiring Assignments for World Series
Apparently, the bad press the umpires have generated for MLB has actually gotten a response.
From espn.com:
and
So, in the end, baseball does a good thing, but for entirely the wrong reasons.
This is at least the third year that I have heard references made to the fact that CB Bucknor is one of the least respected umpires in MLB. He then proceded to blow 2 calls at first base in the first game of the Angels-Red Sox series. Taking Bucknnor out of a World Series assignment is the right thing to do.
However, it's not the right thing to do because Bucknor is inexperienced. It's the right thing to do because he's not a good umpire. And this is MLB's problem. It categorizes umpires as experienced or inexperienced, instead of good or bad.
Other leagues give championship game assignments based on merit. They grade officials and give the ones with the highest marks postseason games. Not MLB. They give out these assignments based on experience instead of merit.
Is it really a shock that all of these calls are being blown in the playoffs, when all that matters to MLB is how much experience an umpire has?
From espn.com:
Stung by a rash of blown calls in the playoffs, Major League Baseball is breaking tradition and sticking with only experienced umpires for the World Series.
and
CB Bucknor was in line to work the World Series for the first time this year. But he missed two calls in Game 1 of the division series between the Red Sox and Angels, damaging his chance to get picked, one of the three people said.
So, in the end, baseball does a good thing, but for entirely the wrong reasons.
This is at least the third year that I have heard references made to the fact that CB Bucknor is one of the least respected umpires in MLB. He then proceded to blow 2 calls at first base in the first game of the Angels-Red Sox series. Taking Bucknnor out of a World Series assignment is the right thing to do.
However, it's not the right thing to do because Bucknor is inexperienced. It's the right thing to do because he's not a good umpire. And this is MLB's problem. It categorizes umpires as experienced or inexperienced, instead of good or bad.
Other leagues give championship game assignments based on merit. They grade officials and give the ones with the highest marks postseason games. Not MLB. They give out these assignments based on experience instead of merit.
Is it really a shock that all of these calls are being blown in the playoffs, when all that matters to MLB is how much experience an umpire has?
Monday, October 19, 2009
NFL gets call right during game, then wrong the day after
The NFL got this one wrong, after the referees got it right.
Dante Wesley of the Carolina Panthers is a gunner. The guy who runs down the sideline on a punt who becomes the first line of defense once the returner catches the football. The best thing a gunner can do? Lay a huge hit on the returner just after the ball gets there to try and cause a fumble.
What Dante Wesley did yesterday in the game against Tampa Bay, though, can only be called one thing: dirty.
It's true that the gunner cannot find the ball in the air while running full speed downfield and getting blocked by 1 or 2 guys. It's true the gunner has to rely on visual cues from the returner. But there are no visual cues from the returner. The returner hits the deck before the ball does. And Wesley didn't accidentally hit Clifton Smith, he launched himself into Smith with no reason to believe the ball would get there when he hit him. That's dirty, and that's dangerous.
The referees made the right call: personal foul penalty and an ejection for Wesley. There's no place in the game for that, and if they didn't do it, the Tampa Bay players would have rioted. The the NFL got to weigh in, and they suspended Wesley (good) for just 1 game (wait, WHAT???).
Let's compare this to an event from a couple years ago that resulted in an ejection and a 5-game suspension: the Albert Haynesworth stomping incident:
Haynesworth stepped on the face of a prone Andre Gurode, who didn't have a helmet on at the time. That was dangerous and dirty, and could have ended Gurode's career. All of those things are true of the Wesley hit as well.
I guess you can make the argument that Wesley just mistimed his hit, and at least it was a football play, whereas stepping on a helmetless player's head is never an okay play, but Wesley left his feet to take off Smith's head a full second before the ball got there against a defensless return man.
To suspend Wesley for only 1 game is to minimize the danger of concussions to Clifton Smith's health and his career. At a time where the NFL has commissioned a study on concussions, and stories like Ted Johnson's and Kyle Turley's, among many others, that is the last message the NFL should want to send.
With great speed and power has to come great responsibility, otherwise, as Carson Palmer said to SI's Peter King in a quarterback roundtable before the season started, "The truth of the matter is . . . somebody is going to die here in the NFL. It's going to happen." The NFL had a chance to take a stand on a clearly dirty play, and failed to do so.
Dante Wesley of the Carolina Panthers is a gunner. The guy who runs down the sideline on a punt who becomes the first line of defense once the returner catches the football. The best thing a gunner can do? Lay a huge hit on the returner just after the ball gets there to try and cause a fumble.
What Dante Wesley did yesterday in the game against Tampa Bay, though, can only be called one thing: dirty.
It's true that the gunner cannot find the ball in the air while running full speed downfield and getting blocked by 1 or 2 guys. It's true the gunner has to rely on visual cues from the returner. But there are no visual cues from the returner. The returner hits the deck before the ball does. And Wesley didn't accidentally hit Clifton Smith, he launched himself into Smith with no reason to believe the ball would get there when he hit him. That's dirty, and that's dangerous.
The referees made the right call: personal foul penalty and an ejection for Wesley. There's no place in the game for that, and if they didn't do it, the Tampa Bay players would have rioted. The the NFL got to weigh in, and they suspended Wesley (good) for just 1 game (wait, WHAT???).
Let's compare this to an event from a couple years ago that resulted in an ejection and a 5-game suspension: the Albert Haynesworth stomping incident:
Haynesworth stepped on the face of a prone Andre Gurode, who didn't have a helmet on at the time. That was dangerous and dirty, and could have ended Gurode's career. All of those things are true of the Wesley hit as well.
I guess you can make the argument that Wesley just mistimed his hit, and at least it was a football play, whereas stepping on a helmetless player's head is never an okay play, but Wesley left his feet to take off Smith's head a full second before the ball got there against a defensless return man.
To suspend Wesley for only 1 game is to minimize the danger of concussions to Clifton Smith's health and his career. At a time where the NFL has commissioned a study on concussions, and stories like Ted Johnson's and Kyle Turley's, among many others, that is the last message the NFL should want to send.
With great speed and power has to come great responsibility, otherwise, as Carson Palmer said to SI's Peter King in a quarterback roundtable before the season started, "The truth of the matter is . . . somebody is going to die here in the NFL. It's going to happen." The NFL had a chance to take a stand on a clearly dirty play, and failed to do so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)