NFL Week 6
 

Atlanta finally falls from the realm of the undefeated.

Bengals / Bills got a bit easier for Cincy when EJ Manuel was announced as the starter. I don't even know who his backup is.

It may be years of pessimism talking, but I don't like the Bengals/Bills matchup at all. It seems like a clear trap game. Hopefully the Bills'injuries will make the difference.

Am I crazy thinking that the Browns will win against Denver?

Well the Browns do like to win a couple games before crushing the souls of their fanbase with a late season collapse. And a win against an undefeated team would make the collapse all the more crushing.

So no, you're not crazy.

This is hilarious.

I feel like the Bills game has a shot at being a trap game too, but the thing that stops me from fully believing it is Eifert being healthy. A TE of that caliber can make a good defense look a lot worse by just being on the field, and Andy has torched Rex Ryan defenses before. My worry is that the defense will somehow fail the team, but I think they still come out 6-0 with a 27-23 type win.

No way an EJ Manuel led Bills puts up 23.

I don't discount EJ Manuel. He was pretty shitty at FSU but then the light came on. It might happen in the NFL too.

My beloved Cards take on a Big Ben-less (thank god) Steelers team today in Pittsburgh....where it was snowing this morning, two weeks before Halloween...

Hey, it was snowing in Mass during my flag football game this morning... And it'll be in the 60's by Tuesday. I love fall in New England!

Line's already moved 3 points to the Patriots, but even 9.5 isn't enough imo."The main thing I want is to see them win. As long as they have one point more than the Colts, I'm fine," Tom Brady Sr. told The New York Times. "That being said, I'd like to see them put 60 points on the board, and love to see Tom throw for 500 yards and eight touchdowns."

You can beat Denver. I'll give you the blueprint:

1) Keep the Denver running game down. (the easiest of your tasks, because the Broncos offensive line sucks)

2) Take advantage of Manning mistakes. (While the stats didn't show it, he played a lot better last week and only one of the INT's was his fault) He will make a mistake or two and you cannot drop it when he does.

3) Use the TE. Good luck getting it to WR consistently. you won't have time in the pocket anyway.

4) Take the sack when you need to. Seriously, just don't try to make a miracle Russell Wilson play against this defense. You might make a play or two by doing that. The more likely scenario is you make a spin move and turn into a LB who is going to strip you. Just go down if there isn't a clear way out.


Do those things, you have a shot. Denver is not even close to unbeatable right now. The running game is in tatters, Manning is struggling, and the defense is a little banged up (Ware will miss this game, Talib not at 100%) and has been on the field A LONG TIME the last few games.

I think Denver will win the game, but I wouldn't be stunned at all if it didn't happen.

Vick got sent off by the ref for I assume was a concussion check-Landry Jones is the 3rd string-looks like Vick might come back when they have the ball again.

The NFL still has no idea what a catch is.

Nope. Nobody has any idea of what a catch is anymore. None of us have a clue.

What's funny is the more they've done to clarify what a catch is the more they've confused everyone.

Game changing call in the Bears game. When everyone in the booth says no catch, mike pereira says no catch, and everyone in the studio says no catch and the refs, on review, say catch something is wrong.

Two things. The KC 4th down the back was never down. The Steelers TD, didn't his butt land out of bounds before the 2nd foot came down?

3rd thing. Why go for 2 there? An XP makes it a 3 point lead.

I thought he was clearly out of bounds before his second foot came down. Can't believe they didn't at least look at it

Vick had dirt in his eyes, no concussion, but has strained his hamstring now and Jones is in, and got his first NFL TD. Somehow with Palmer throwing over 200 yards in first half, and vick with one yard, the steelers are in the lead. Would be a very bad loss if Cards go on to lose this game.

No you're not crazy after that pick 6 :p

Better than John Fox kicking the XP down by 2 in the 4th quarter.

Some odd decisions today.

Why did Cleveland go for 2?

Oh FFS Browns

There was 12 minutes to go and the bears have been moving the ball well. No need for 2 there.

Would love to see Dez Bryant's thoughts of the call today.

And now Caldwell kicks a FG down by 7 with 2:46 left. It was only 4th and 4. Dumb decisions from both coaches in this Lions-Bears game.

Bryant is gross.

Or Caldwell taking field goal with less than three minutes to go, to cut deficit from 7 to 4?

Instead of kicking a field goal for the lead they just kicked one for a tie with 1:30 left.

I just don't get it

odd stat moment with Den-Cle

with 56 seconds left, both QBs were 20/37, less than 20 yards difference, Manning 1 TD / 2 INT, McCown 2 TD / 1 INT ...

and as I type this, McCown throws a pick

Detroit/Chicago game seemed like an ongoing effort for the refs to screw up the game more and more with every subsequent ruling.

Bears stink, so this isn't a "woe is them" post at all. But what a miserable experience it was watching this game between bad teams get scrambled even further by the zebras.

The Broncos need some new receivers. The old ones are broken.

Come on Manning. Can't believe I picked Broncos in a survivor pool.

The winners of this weeks Bears/Lions game are the Viking and Packers, who both get the opportunity to stack multiple wins against these chumps.

Would have won the game as things went. Bad decision

Denver is definitely an incrediblely flawed and starting to get banged up team, but 6-0 when they probably should be 3-3 is always good. The two week bye couldn't come at a better time.

1) Keep the Denver running game down. (the easiest of your tasks, because the Broncos offensive line sucks)

Fail. Way too easy for Denver to run the ball. Horrible run defense.

2) Take advantage of Manning mistakes. (While the stats didn't show it, he played a lot better last week and only one of the INT's was his fault) He will make a mistake or two and you cannot drop it when he does.

Success: Got him 3 times. Made the most of your chances there.

3) Use the TE. Good luck getting it to WR consistently. you won't have time in the pocket anyway.


Success, at least in the red zone. Benjamin had a great game, but 50 yards of it was off a play Denver stopped playing. Doesn't take away anything from him overall, he's a good little player.

4) Take the sack when you need to. Seriously, just don't try to make a miracle Russell Wilson play against this defense. You might make a play or two by doing that. The more likely scenario is you make a spin move and turn into a LB who is going to strip you. Just go down if there isn't a clear way out.

Fail. The height of this was at the end of regulation. A really stupid decision under pressure. There were others though. Barrett and Miller were both within a whisker of causing fumbles.



Denver is incredibly lucky to be 6-0. They don't deserve it on a lot of levels. The one thing they have, however, is a simply dominant defense and that part isn't luck. The high water mark for any offense against Denver is 325 yards. (That will almost certainly be lower when Rodgers comes to town in two weeks)

They just don't allow you to get yardage and on 3rd and long, you are dead.

The thing that sucks is the stupid penalties by the defense. Late hits on the QB, offsides, face masks. . . . Ugh.

6-0? The AFC West essentially over? I'll take it. But I'm still not buying this team is a Super Bowl contender until I see more from the offense. The Patriots, Bengals and Steelers (if Big Ben is healthy) are all better NFL teams right now.

very disappointing loss from the Cards-defense held Vick to 1 yard passing and couldn't contain a guy with no experience in the NFL.

Cleveland made two REALLY strange moves this game:

1) Going for 2. Seriously, what the hell? Stupid, stupid move. Kick the point and go up 4. Going up 6 does what exactly?

2) End of game, Cleveland is driving, down 3. They have a 1st and 10 at the Denver 13 yard line and Denver uses their first time out. Cleveland decides to make sure Denver uses their other two timeouts as though a FG will allow them to take the lead.

No, it only ties them the game. So they run the ball two times so Denver doesn't have any timeouts left. It sets them up with a 3rd and 7. Seriously? You set yourself up with a 3rd and 7 against that defense? Ummm, ok. Nearly a sack and a throw out of the end zone later and the game is tied.

You need to be going for the win there. You shouldn't be worried at all about how much time Denver has left. Just a stupid decision.

The combination of those decisions cost Cleveland the football game.

What's the explanation for Dalton? Has he really taken a giant step forward or is he on a hot streak that's going to come to an end soon?

Kodos,

Latimer played early in the game. He ran a poor route and was overthrown on his target. (Manning was visibly upset at him heading to the sideline) After Sanders was injured, Latimer was in every play. He was not targeted the rest of the game.

Just no way for teams to deal with Green and Eifert at the same time and if you try to, they get you with Jones and Sanu. Offensive line is playing extremely well also.

He's got a ridiculous amount of weaponry now. A healthy Green, a good TE, a top 10 running game and an offensive line who keeps him clean. He's always been an average to above average QB. When you add all of that other stuff, he suddenly becomes a very good QB.

I don't think this Cincy team is a mirage. They are a good football team. I don't see Dalton coming down from this. I think he's for real.

Mike Pettine looks like a HS Football Coach/History Teacher

How the hell was that not roughing the kicker?

I agree on the weapons for Dalton, but in the past he hasn't been able to find second and third options or audiblize so efficiently. He's making very few bad decisions. His mechanics also seem a lot better. He's not sailing throws the way he has in the past. He's got more options, but he really seems to be much better with his tasks than he was previously.

Arizona guys are used to playing in Pittsburgh.


;)

I'm sure Caldwell is a really nice guy but he'd be a great hire for some college program

Could not get any replays to see what was really going on, but it sure looked like the refs gifted the Seattle fans at least one and possibly two early false starts on Greg Olsen. In neither case did it look like anyone was moving before the snap when watching the play live; there was some movement as they settled just before the snap on the first one, so I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out there was something, but the second sure looked clean. But heaven forbid Fox would show a replay, even after the announcers questioned it (my son is a witness that I questioned it before they started talking about it, though).

But hey, the fans got to flip their false start counter twice...

Yeah, I think its a trust thing. Dalton has been in this offense for more than a year, has played with these weapons for more than 2, and has them all healthy now. He can throw it into tight spots with a guy like Eifert and Eifert can bring it down. The whole team is incredibly unselfish, and the ball gets spread around to whoever is open. Dalton is making better calls at the line and better decisions with the ball, but a good deal of his confidence in doing that has to be a combination of familiarity and comfort with this offense. It has been nice seeing him play at this level to this point.. Now I just need to see this team come out of the bye and not be flat footed, then win some prime time games, then win in the playoffs. I think they can do it, especially with Burfict on his way back after the bye.

Yeah, I'm still a little amazed that a guy who coached at William Tennant and North Penn (two not very great HS programs we played against, though he came later) is now coaching an NFL team.

Well that was definitely a man-up, assert your authority drive.

What was that one?

Colts ame up with a onsides after the pick six? You have to admire the Colts here.

Or not, come on refs, figure out which side is which now :)

Think they may have to bench Edelman. Sucks.

So the ref first says Colts ball, then says Patriots ball. Now we have a challenge but based on that replay I see nothing that can reverse the call. But with the Colts player coming out of the pile with the ball I would like to know what the ref saw that made him say Patriots ball.

Random guess.

A lot going on. I'm sure they didn't see it. Or they just saw the angle where the Pats fell on top of it.

SSHHHH. . . The league and the networks HATE the Patriots and are against them 100%. Stop trying to insinuate otherwise.

In all seriousness, it looked on the replay when you combined the angles that it was a clear Colts recovery. Just my opinion. Colts are playing this game the exact right way so far. Be aggressive at times, but overall, just try to not do anything stupid. I know it is a novel idea, but take what the Patriots give you and don't try a bunch of stupid reverses or counters.

This defense will give you 5 to 8 yard chunks between the 20's. Don't be stupid and try for more. Take them.

They should be crowding the line and daring luck to throw long. I don't think he has that in him.

And not interfere.

For a guy who supposedly is a dead man walking, Pagano's looking good tonight. No question Pats got lucky on that review.

Great play by Luck on that touchdown.

Nice half by the Colts. Unfortunately, I fear for them football is a two half sport
:-)

LOL, what the fuck was that!?

LOL, I'm almost in tears from laughing so hard.

That was the dumbest play I can recall seeing in my life.

Pagano should be fired tomorrow. Snap the ball, 2 on 5, get tackled immediately and give the ball to Brady on your own 30.

There have been some odd (being kind) calls today but I think that one tops them all.

About that... :eek:

I don't even know if they were going to snap the ball, the guy under center seemed surprised when the ball was snapped.

Wtf !...Pagano has pretty much signed his resignation papers with that f'ed play. LMFAO. Nice way to hand the game to the Pats haha.

I'm seriously wondering if they practiced that play and thought it was a good idea.

EDIT - Let me fix my grammar, sorry


Here's my best guess:

This play is designed to do two things:

1) Be a way to take a delay of game without your foe realizing that you want it
2). To get an offisdes call for a first down

It's so odd and bizarre, that you get your foes thinking about the wrong thing.

Finally, a special teams play worse than this:

Drinking? or phone posting?

Did they just play Misunderstanding by Genesis when the Pats scored? Trying to tell us something there NBC?

Just not editing my posts after I type them pre-post. That's all. It's pretty common.

Wow. Just catching up with that play.

This just in. The Colts have handed their trick play center's head to the NFL officials, claiming the Patriots deflated it.

Every time I see the Colts Castonzo is either giving up sacks or taking holding penalties

:)

That was clearly another example of a coach getting mind-fucked by Bill Belichek.

Looked like one of the DL smacked Luck in the head on the sack/1st holding call.

I would have paid money to see the Colts try that play again that time.

Has that play ever worked ever? Didn't Oregon do a bunch of stuff like that

Okay, I would even pay more money to see the Patriots line up in that formation now.

Qhoa!

I've never seen anyone successfully hurdle the line and block the kick before.

5-0.

Will say this, Both teams had moments of gifts (the questionable call on the onside kick recovery, the ball off Edelman's injured hand that turned into a Pick Six, and then the Snapfu).. The Colts aren't a bad team, I expect to see them again in the playoffs. I think the Pats are better then them right now.

But huge game next week, 5-0 Pats vs 5-1 Jets. (Although Bills fans might steal a line from the Freddy vs Jason movie (or was it Alien vs Predator).. "No matter who wins.. we lose"

The center is also not supposed to snap the ball.

The Colts were at their own 37 when they attempted that strange special teams play. Unless they think their punter is going to do a 65-yard punt, they weren't going for the delay of game. I don't think they were trying to do anything remotely conventional.

Post game it was explained that it was an attempt to either catch the Pats off guard while subbing or draw an offsides penalty. The ball was never supposed to be snapped.

Regardless, the play obviously hadn't been practiced enough and they had no business trying stupid shit like that against a Belichick team.

Considering that the other Colts players didn't move I concur that the ball wasn't suppose to be snapped.

Grigson will probably try to use this to fire Pagano. There's already lots of speculation that those two do not get along well at all.

Can you try to draw a defense offside with an illegal formation, or would those two penalties just offset even if it "worked?"

Edit: I read one theory that the idea was to confuse the Patriots about where the line of scrimmage was, so that they would line up too far forward. But that wouldn't be a penalty until the Colts snapped the ball in their illegal formation, which would certainly result off-setting penalties. If not that, they were trying to make someone jump and make contact, but, the play wasn't really set up for that either because everyone except the snapper was pretty far back.

Is the point of that play to get the patriots defender to screw up and line up directly on top of the center and/or to nail the defenseless snapper? I dunno if the punt formation rules protecting the snapper would still apply but the punter was still in formation. Maybe they hoped Whalen would get wailed on?