Green Bay 12
Seattle 14
Before I address the big issue that everybody's been talking about, I'm going to go through the game first.
Seattle is always a hard place to play and Green Bay found that out the hard way. Rodgers was sacked, I believe, 9 times in that game. The Seahawks front line was just dominating the Green Bay offensive line. Russell Wilson played a good game like a game manager should. He didn't throw any picks, made safe throws and didn't force anything that needed to be there. And when he could threw it, he did as he set up a 41 yard TD pass to Golden Tate in the second quarter.
In the second half, Green Bay regrouped and came out playing like Green Bay scoring 12 unanswered. Just when you thought Green Bay had regained control and was going to win this game, the unthinkable happens.
When time expired, Russell Wilson throws up a Hail Mary into the Endzone which is pulled down by Golden Tate for a TD to end the game! Right? Wrong!
The official NFL rulebook states as followed:
Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 5 of the NFL rulebook states, "If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control."
The play was reviewed and the TD stood. But here's the thing, both men didn't have possession of the ball. M.D. Jennings had control of the ball from the jump and Golden Tate tried wrestling the ball away from him when they hit the ground. It should've been an interception and a win for Green Bay. The refs got that call wrong. Green Bay got robbed and as a result, drop to 1-2 and the Seahawks go to 2-1.
The refs have been at the center of a lot of NFL Controversy and we're only in Week 3. Add to that, but talks with the original refs don't look like they're going to be settled anytime soon. People can complain all they want but nothing will stop them from watching the NFL. If it weren't for these refs, we wouldn't be watching Football at all.
Green Bay hosts The Saints on Sunday and Seattle travels to St. Louis to face The Rams.
New England 30
Baltimore 31
Here's another game where the refs had an effect on the outcome. But before I get to that, we're going to go through the game.
In the wake of his little's brother's death, Torrey Smith plays alongside The Baltimore Ravens in Sunday night's game against New England. On a personal level, it was amazing to see him cope with his brother's death and still be able to play Football all in the same day. Much respect and love to him. He came to play scoring two TD's in this win.
The game didn't start off so hot for The Ravens. Brady and Co. engineered a 13-0 lead in the first quarter moving the ball at will. But Baltimore came back and scored two TDs, including one to Torrey Smith in the second quarter for a 14-13 lead at halftime.
In the second half, it was back and forth as Flacco and Brady moved the ball willingly down the field. Brady and Lloyd were killing the Ravens' Defense on short yardage plays and the it came down to which defense would make the big play to stop the offense.
Now, in the fourth quarter, here was the play where the fans of Baltimore came unglued. New England had the ball up 30-28. Brady goes for Welker on 3rd down, but it gets intercepted by Ledarius Webb. The call is illegal contact, but it could've just been called as holding. Another penalty was given for unsportsmanlike conduct on John Harbaugh who was almost out on the field. The fans started a Bulls*** chant which wasn't blocked out on NBC and actually gave a me a little laugh. They were extremely worked up as New England might have had the opportunity to put this game away.
After not converting on 3rd and 16, Baltimore gets the ball back, drives down the field and the rookie kicker Justin Tucker kicks what appeared to be the game winning FG. The Ravens were celebrating and the Patriots were saying the kick was no good. It looked to me like it was no good, but when you look at it closer, it just barely gets inside sailing way above the right upright. I'm still questioning that call myself.
So was Bill Belichick who raced after the referee to talk to him about the call, but the ref ignored him even when Bill put his hands on him.
New England is now 1-2 and travel to Buffalo on Sunday. The Ravens have a short week as they have to face The Browns on Thursday night.
Detroit 41
Tennessee 44
The game of the week. Hell, the game of the year so far took place in Tennessee.
This game had everything you wanted and then some. Big plays, trick plays, a 46 point fourth quarter, a hail Mary, and OT to close things up. Tennessee blew a 20-9 halftime lead and Detroit would score 18 straight and Tennessee would come back to score 21 straight in the fourth including a spectacular catch by Nate Washington right over the back of a defender, and racing into the endzone for the TD. 46 points combined were scored in the fourth.
An onside kick that was recovered by Detroit set up the hail Mary pass from Shaun Hill who took over for the injured Matthew Stafford. He let it fly and it was caught in the endzone by Titus Young! An amazing ending to a game that was not going to end anytime soon.
In OT, Tennessee kicks a FG and now it's Detroit's turn to score. They take the ball down to the redzone and on a 4th & 1, instead of taking the points and tying the game up, they decide to QB sneak it, and get stopped. Questionable call in an OT game on the road only down by three. I don't understand that. You can't tell if Detroit's defense would've been able to stop Jake Locker, who was on fire that day.
No question on how serious Stafford's injury is, but they face Detroit next week. The rejuvenated Titans face The Texans next week.
New York 23
Miami 20
Another OT game which wasn't as exciting as the others, but still worth mentioning.
The Dolphins looked good early on moving the ball with Reggie and keeping the game plan simple for Tannehill. But when Bush went out with and injury, Miami's offense took a big hit and didn't really capitalize on opportunities. For instance, an interception in the Endzone and a missed FG by Dan Carpenter early on in the game. The Jets offense looked pitiful. Their lone offensive TD came in the fourth quarter. And let's just say, their two QB system is not working. You either you use one QB, or don't.
And then, then in OT, Dan Carpenter misses a FG which costs Miami the game and Santonio Holmes carries The Jets offense down the field for the game winning FG.
The Jets offense is absolutely horrid and they need more weapons instead of running their offense through Santonio Holmes. They host The Niners next week and Sanchez might be in for a rude awakening. Miami takes on the 3-0 Arizona Cardinals. Best of luck to them.
Kansas City 27
New Orleans 24
Battle of 0-2 teams and this quite the game.
The Saints were moving slow in the beginning like they seem to do now as of late. They only had a 10-6 lead at halftime. But coming out of the locker room, they exploded and took a commanding 24-6 lead over The Chiefs. Game Over, right? Wrong!
The Chiefs came to New Orleans to win and they slowly started to chip away at New Orleans by feeding the ball to Jamaal Charles gaining 233 yards on the ground. The Chiefs offense came all the way back from 18 down to tie the game at 24 and send the game in OT. The Saints' defense allowed The Chiefs to run and throw all over them. And then, a Drew Brees led offense only racked up over 288 total yards of offense.
In OT, The Chiefs made all the plays and took the ball down the field and Ryan Succop kicked the winning field goal. Chiefs go to 1-2 and The Saints go to 0-3. The Drew Brees Saints go to 0-3. Saints haven't been 0-3 since 2007.
It may be 0-4 because The Saints face Green Bay on Sunday. The Chiefs host The San Diego Chargers.
San Francisco 13
Minnesota 24
San Francisco was being touted as the best team in the NFL already, but they ran into a major trap game here with Minnesota. The Niners defense ran up to a very smart offense. They jumped on The Niners early by methodically running the ball and setting up Ponder to make plays with his arm and his feet. More importantly, they forced the game into the hands of Alex Smith and he couldn't beat them.
I don't look at The Niners any differently after this game. I still think they're one of the best teams in the NFL. This was just a bump in the road that they're gonna rebound from.
The Vikings on the other hand look like they have a pretty damn good team over in Minnesota. We'll have to see how they develop in the next few weeks. They've got a tough division foe in Detroit next week. Let's see how they do in Divisional action before we start proclaiming them as anything.
The Niners travel to New York to face The Jets. The Jets defense will be without Darrelle Revis, so that's one worry out of the way. A talented QB like Alex Smith should be able to rebound and have a big game.
Honorable Mentions:
Arizona - They rolled on the Eagles and made it look easy. Arizona moves to 3-0 and so far look pretty legit. They have a relatively easy schedule coming up. Let's see if they can keep it up.
New York - Went into Carolina and dismantled The Panthers. That defense couldn't do anything against The Giants offense.
Atlanta - The Falcons finally look like they've got the defensive side of things figured out to complement their offense. They completely ran over San Diego and look like the best team in the NFC. But only time will tell how long it'll last for.
Cincinnati - It looked like business as usual when they defeated Washington. They gave up a Big lead, but Dalton and Green rallied and look like one of the best tandems in the NFL right now.
Houston - Beating up on a Peyton Manning led team in Denver and moving to 3-0. Houston may just be the most complete team in the NFL.
Dishonorable Mentions -
Philadelphia - Vick isn't going to make it through the season if he keeps getting knocked around like he did against Arizona. And with games like Pittsburgh, New York, Detroit, and Atlanta coming up, this offense needs to figure out what they're doing wrong and fast. It's funny, I'm talking about them like they're 0-3, but they're 2-1. Go figure.
Carolina - Their defense was abysmal against The Giants. They couldn't rush the passer, couldn't cover, couldn't tackle. Long story short, they were horrible. With Matt Ryan coming to town on Sunday, they better get their act together. If they show up like that on Sunday, I guarantee The Falcons drop close to 45-50 points.
Denver - Not necessarily on Peyton Manning and the offense, but the defense. They gave way too many big plays and allowed Houston to convert third down after third down after third down. It's starting to look like Indy all over again for Peyton Manning. This defense needs to get its act together if they're going to amount to anything.
Dallas - Sure they won, but their offense is so inconsistent. They have the firepower, but they don't seem to use it all the time. 16 points? I expect more out of the team that beat the Super Bowl Champions on opening night. They're gonna need more than 16 points to beat Chicago next Monday night.
Feel free to Comment.
By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete
No comments:
Post a Comment