NFL Week #15

[Jeff K]

Even though the drive ended with two incomplete passes, Ben made some huge plays to get them into scoring position converting a 3rd and 24 and a 3rd and 18 on the final drive. It all lined up for a 24-22 win. Definitely an exciting ending.

I can't really find anyone to blame for the loss. Ryan Mundy didn't play his best game filling in for Troy, so maybe him? The defense got schooled on a couple play fakes, so maybe them as a unit? Jonathan Scott for giving up the safety? Eh, it's not worth it to ponder any longer. The Jets had a game plan when they stepped on the field, so kudos to Rex Ryan and his players for executing it better than Tomlin and his players.

-Mike

The lack of a flag on that last drive hurt as well. Can't remember if it was Mike Wallace or Emmanuel Sanders clearly having his jersey pulled by the Jets defender. Should have been a first and goal. Oh well, the Steelers didn't make the plays when they needed to...

 

[Ed Goode]

Ed -

I gotta ask ... what is it like in New York media (radio & TV) today in the aftermath of the game? I'm sure Coughlin and Matt Dodge (the punter) are getting ROASTED!

FWIW, I place this loss firmly at the feet of Coughlin. He simply go out-coached in this one. (Although if the Iggles had lost this game, Reid would have to take some heat for failing to throw the challenge flag on the Jackson fumble. He was clearly "down by contact" and a reversal there would have kept Giants points off the board.)

The Coughlin haters are screaming for his head, not out of the ordinary for NY. But most are placing the blame squarely where it belongs, on the players. No one can just sit back and hope the clock expires before they run out of points, and that's just what the Giant players did. If Coughlin puts them into the post-season, which is almost a certainty, he'll keep his job.

For 52 minutes the Giants completely, utterly controlled the game. I was shocked that Vick stayed in there after getting hit so many times. Until DeSean Jackson returned the punt for the winning TD he hadn't been heard from all day. And honestly, if it wasn't for the great athleticism of Vick, combined with terrible D by the Giants, for the last 8 minutes of the game, it would have remained a gigantic blowout.

Can't lay it all on Dodge, he never should have been in that spot to begin with. That said, kickers/punters should always be prepared for those tough situations and they've strung this kid along too long this year. You don't easily replace Jeff Feagles. FWIW, Coughlin screaming at the kid after the kick & return wasn't really an issue .... Coughlin screams at anyone who blows an assignment, so why should Dodge be immune.

It's painful because it's the Eagles. It's painful because the Giants clearly pounded them up until the middle of the 4th quarter. It's painful because we could have sewn up homefield with a 1st week bye. But it ain't over yet ....

 

[macaroni tony]

Anyone else tired of hearing the comparisons between the "miracle in the meadowlands" and the "miracle in the new meadowlands?" These sports guys are really running this thing into the ground, and it's only the next day

 

[Clark Dark]

in all this has been one of the most enjoyable football seasons to watch. Teams rising to the occasions like the Lions, Browns, Bills putting up .500 seasons, the parity seeming to get better, how can anyone not like pro football.
Man it's been wild in Philly, Cliff Lee, Cindy Crosby and the Penguins get spanked by the fly guys, the 6'ers doing better, and a come from behind, down 21 with 8 minutes left to score 28 and secure first place...I think there's going to be a conga line in center city

 

[MJ5150]

in all this has been one of the most enjoyable football seasons to watch.

I agree. Some real fun games each week, some clunkers, some "WTH?" moments, a little bit of everything.

Maybe because it is most fresh in memory, but the Eagles/Giants has to be the game of the year in my mind.

-Mike

 

[mid_life_crisis]

The Pats/Pack game came down to seasoning.
When it came down to the crunch, Brady was aware enough to recognize that the Pack had the wrong defensive unit on the field for the situation and called a hurry up offense so they wouldn't be able to swap out and got a touchdown out of it.
Flynn got so flustered that he couldn't remember that he was out of timeouts and barely got a play off. Give him some more time and he'll be a lot better in those situations, I bet.

 

[thesteve]

What a disaster of a week this was

In addition to the complete and total collapse of the Giants, my weekly pics were horrendous .... clearly, I don't have a handle on anything ....

The thing that really burns my butt with the Giants game is that the Eagles were handed that victory by the idiotic "protect the lead enough to avoid losing" concept that the Giants use. You can not mess around with the Eagles, and if you don't stick the knife in their heart when you can (and as often as you can), they will do exactly what they did yesterday.

The Giants can still take the wild card with a W next week, but seeing how the Packers played against NE, that game is certainly not an easy W.

Crazy disappointed with the Giants ....

+1 on the crazy picks this week. I'm 5-10 going into tomorrow.

That being said, The ending to the NYG/PHI game was wild. My wife was trying to figure out why Jackson didn't run straight into the endzone. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he thought there was still clock to burn, but part of me really wanted to see him get blasted and not score the TD just based on his rep as a show boat.

I thought Matt Flynn did great for 59 minutes. Yes, he had the pick-6 (apparently no one on the Packers offense knows how to tackle), but he also looked really good until the Pack got into the 2-minute drill. At that point he looked absolutely clueless. It sucks and it's understandable as a rookie mistake, but it hurt the Pack big time.

 

[MJ5150]

(apparently no one on the Packers offense knows how to tackle)

I don't get paid to tackle.

-Deion Sanders

 

[Ed Goode]

+1 on the crazy picks this week. I'm 5-10 going into tomorrow.

Yup, me too .... 5-10 so far, with the Bears for the W tonight


It was clearly a showboat thing for DeSean Jackson, that's what he does ... but as they say, the game will catch up to him sooner or later

 

[Bassman316]

DeSean Jackson isn't the only wide receiver to show boat. Yes, some of his celebrations/tactics have resulted either in penalties or, in some infamous cases, no touchdowns (spiking the ball a yard short of the endzone in Dallas), but he realizes the cost of pulling moves like those and I think he's growing past the early spiking or penalty-worthy celebrations. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say look at the situation- it was the final seconds of the game, and he wanted to burn up any time he could short of coming to a complete stop on the field. He just ran through the entire New York Giants defense- he's not going to know what the game clock is down to the second. I'm gonna say he was trying to drain the clock as much as he could.

 

[Sundogue]

Kudos to you man, you almost nailed it and I (as a Pats fan) was really sweating it. Flynn showed composure and poise- he can be really good.

I agree about Brady as MVP, but there are many who will vote for the dog killer.

The MVP is supposed to go to the guy that literally makes his team what it is. That without him, they are practically nothing. Combine that with stats and wins and that is the MVP.

Now, there are lots of guys that could qualify, Even Rodgers, as you could see what happened with Flynn not having the experience to just know what to do at the end there. Vick certainly is also deserving as the Eagles would be nothing without him.

But man, as much as that game was a heartbreaker for me, how can anyone honestly pick anyone other than Brady for MVP? When it just needs to get done, he not only finds a way with his arm, but his savvy, calm disposition and most of all his ability to rally the troops and elevate their game to where they collectively just have the will to win.

As much as I admire Rodgers for all of his talent as a QB, Brady is just the complete package.

 

[macaroni tony]

DeSean Jackson isn't the only wide receiver to show boat. Yes, some of his celebrations/tactics have resulted either in penalties or, in some infamous cases, no touchdowns (spiking the ball a yard short of the endzone in Dallas), but he realizes the cost of pulling moves like those and I think he's growing past the early spiking or penalty-worthy celebrations. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say look at the situation- it was the final seconds of the game, and he wanted to burn up any time he could short of coming to a complete stop on the field. He just ran through the entire New York Giants defense- he's not going to know what the game clock is down to the second. I'm gonna say he was trying to drain the clock as much as he could.

this is pretty much what I was thinking

 

[IotaNet]

DeSean Jackson isn't the only wide receiver to show boat. Yes, some of his celebrations/tactics have resulted either in penalties or, in some infamous cases, no touchdowns (spiking the ball a yard short of the endzone in Dallas), but he realizes the cost of pulling moves like those and I think he's growing past the early spiking or penalty-worthy celebrations. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say look at the situation- it was the final seconds of the game, and he wanted to burn up any time he could short of coming to a complete stop on the field. He just ran through the entire New York Giants defense- he's not going to know what the game clock is down to the second. I'm gonna say he was trying to drain the clock as much as he could.

+1

He has not been shy about owning up to his showboating. When asked about this situation however, he said that it was all about running out the clock.

 

[Sundogue]

Watching Matt Flynn stumble through those last 30 seconds gave me some flashbacks to the same thing in his LSU days. Funny stuff.

-Mike

I don't pin that on Flynn as much as McCarthy. He knew Flynn lacked experience and they used really poor clock management on that last drive. Sure, you don't want to give Brady any time at all to pull something out, but you gotta give your backup QB some time to score too.

Rodgers would have been pulling the same "no huddle" offense Brady used because he knows what to do in that situation. McCarthy should have been more in sync with the situation. You could see Flynn was struggling trying to get a call from the sidelines on that last play. I would bet McCarthy never gave him two or three plays to run on the previous down. If he had, Flynn could have called them at the line.

I don't know how anyone could expect any more out of Flynn. He did great. And as is typical of Green Bay, we are a QB factory (Brunell, Hasselback, Detmer, Majkowski, et al) and certainly there will be interest in Flynn. I'd hate to see him go because it's rare (perhaps not in Green Bay ) to have a legitimate backup QB.

 

[stratovani]

The Pats/Pack game came down to seasoning.
When it came down to the crunch, Brady was aware enough to recognize that the Pack had the wrong defensive unit on the field for the situation and called a hurry up offense so they wouldn't be able to swap out and got a touchdown out of it.
Flynn got so flustered that he couldn't remember that he was out of timeouts and barely got a play off. Give him some more time and he'll be a lot better in those situations, I bet.

Like I said in my previous post, Flynn will in all likelihood be a starter somewhere next year. Teams without QBs got really bugeyed when they saw his performance last night. They'll only be too happy to trade a draft choice or two to pick him up.

I'll tell you what, he'd look pretty damn good in Patriot blue! Brady's 33, and it might not be too early to think about an eventual replacement (perish the tought!).

 

[Eric Perry]

I'm actually suprised the Saints / Ravens game was close. I really expected the Ravens to handle them easily. Same goes for the Pats / Packers game. As much as I was rooting for the Packers, I expected a bludgeoning! The Steelers / Jets game was great, regardless of outcome. I think if #43 played, the outcome would have been quite different, however. The final few minutes of the Giants / Eagles game was also sumthin' to watch!

 

[MJ5150]

I saw a whole lot of Matt Flynn when he was at LSU. He didn't play any differently than he did as a Tiger, and performed just as I expected. I have no opinion on who to blame for the last 30 seconds, but it definitely looked like the last 30 seconds of a tight LSU game starring Mike McCarthy as Les Miles.

-Mike

 

[jokerjkny]

Gotta disagree there. I didn't see the whole game but I saw Tebow make some pretty nice throws -- including a beautifully thrown sure touchdown that the receiver dropped in the end zone. I'm not a Bronco fan one way or another but I really believe that this kid Tebow has "something." He is one of those kinds of people who figure out a way to succeed and I wouldn't bet against him.
(...)

tebow did look ok, but frankly, the weird hitch is still there, and only a matter of time...

 

[jokerjkny]

For a long while after the Eagles win yesterday afternoon, I was speechless. At halftime, I was happy I wasn't able to watch the game on TV where I live. At the end of the game, I would have given anything to have been able to watch it. For the Eagles to come back after halftime down 24-3, to be down the same 21 points midway through the fourth quarter, and score 28 points to win the game is just nuts. Very happy with the Eagles right now- that win taught us not to give up on a game no matter how bad it looks. Fly Eagles Fly!

i had just flipped on the game, when manningham fumbled to start the comeback, and the whole time, it just felt like it was gonna happen. no joke.

and Djackson was just running the clock out. if he wanted to showboat, i'm sure he's got better moves than merely follow along a line.

 

[MJ5150]

......and Djackson was just running the clock out. if he wanted to showboat, i'm sure he's got better moves than merely follow along a line.

I got the same impression.

-Mike