National Football League

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I think I copied that template from you, Alpe?

Any of you anoraks remember a game that featured 10 TDs and no other scores?

73-0 1940 Championship Game

 

[Amsterhammer]

73-0 1940 Championship Game

I had a quiet bet with myself that the moment I dropped the word "anorak" Foxxy would appear.

So, you 'remember' this 1940 game?

I said, '10 TDs and no other scores'. If they made 73 they had a FG, no?

 

[Merckx index]

Any of you anoraks remember a game that featured 10 TDs and no other scores?

Bengals beat the Colts 42-28 last year.

Last night's game was historic, though. At the half, before the Falcons began taking out their starters, it wasn't just the 35-0 score. Total yards, 300 vs. 63, first downs, 19 vs. 2. YPP, 7.5 vs. 2.5. When Mr. Ice departed in the third quarter, he had thrown as many TD passes as incompletions.

You occasionally see a game when one team runs up a huge score, but usually some of it is turnovers, missed FGs, red zone failures, special teams play, etc. A team falls way behind and starts making high risk plays, like long passes into heavy coverage, and the rout snowballs. This game was as lop-sided at the line of scrimmage as you'll ever see in the NFL. Reminiscent of a top college team playing a marshmallow opponent early in the season.

The only NFL game I can recall that was somewhat comparably one-sided was SB 24. The 49ers won 55-10, moving the ball at will throughout the game, and holding Denver to about 160 yards and twelve first downs. There have been many other SB blow-outs, including last year, of course, but usually turnovers and other factors played a big role.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I had a quiet bet with myself that the moment I dropped the word "anorak" Foxxy would appear.

So, you 'remember' this 1940 game?

I said, '10 TDs and no other scores'. If they made 73 they had a FG, no?

No FGs, only TDs, and no other one scored a TD than Da Bear(s).
Yes I remember all of it.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The only NFL game I can recall that was somewhat comparably one-sided was SB 24. The 49ers won 55-10...

I had to look this one up, but on Thanksgiving of 2008 the Tennessee Titans, who at the time were a defensive powerhouse and the top team in the AFC and 10-1, played the 0-11 Detroit Lions. The game was over mid 1st quarter, with the Titans just blowing the Lions off the line of scrimmage, and out of their own stadium. Tennessee had an astounding 292 yards rushing. By the 4th quarter the Titans emptied their bench, and the bench still piled it on. 47-10 was the final. But the game wasn't anywhere near as close as the score might make you believe.

Here's the stats. Not as lopsided as last night, but close.

Here's some (poor) highlights.

 

[Merckx index]

A long and very detailed report of the Rice affair, beginning with the elevator KO, and going through everything now known about how the team and the NFL responded. Some of the most damning evidence:

Just hours after running back Ray Rice knocked out his then-fiancée with a left hook at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Baltimore Ravens' director of security, Darren Sanders, reached an Atlantic City police officer by phone. While watching surveillance video -- shot from inside the elevator where Rice's punch knocked his fiancée unconscious -- the officer, who told Sanders he just happened to be a Ravens fan, described in detail to Sanders what he was seeing.

Sanders quickly relayed the damning video's play-by-play to team executives in Baltimore…

The Ravens also consulted frequently with Rice's Philadelphia defense attorney, Michael J. Diamondstein, who in early April had obtained a copy of the inside-elevator video and told [Ravens President D!ck] Cass: "It's f---ing horrible." Cass did not request a copy of the video from Diamondstein but instead began urging Rice's legal team to get Rice accepted into a pretrial intervention program after being told some of the program's benefits. Among them: It would keep the inside-elevator video from becoming public.

Four sources said Ravens executives, including Bisciotti, Cass and Newsome, urged Goodell and other league executives to give Rice no more than a two-game suspension, and that's what Goodell did on July 24.

Four days after the incident, TMZ Sports released a different surveillance video, shot from outside of the elevator, showing Rice impassively dragging Janay's unconscious body out of the elevator. Although the grainy video did not show what had happened behind the elevator's doors, the images horrified Ravens coach John Harbaugh, according to four sources inside and outside the organization. The Super Bowl-winning coach urged his bosses to release Rice immediately, especially if the team had evidence Rice had thrown a punch. That opinion was shared by George Kokinis, the Baltimore director of player personnel, according to a fifth source outside the organization but familiar with the team's thinking.

But Harbaugh's recommendation to cut the six-year veteran running back was quickly rejected by Ravens management: owner Bisciotti, team president Cass and GM Newsome.

No player did more for the community than Rice, and no player on the team embraced the city of Baltimore the way he did. Rice named his daughter, Rayven, after the team's nickname. He had the "Baltimore" tattooed on his forearms. He became friends with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, appearing with her regularly at charity events. He raised millions for sick children, urged the state legislature in Annapolis to pass anti-bullying laws and hosted a football camp for hundreds of disadvantaged kids each year. He even dressed up as Santa Claus at an event hosted by the House of Ruth, a Baltimore shelter for victims of domestic violence. During the week before the Super Bowl this year, two weeks before the incident, Rice appeared on an anti-bullying panel. Perhaps most visibly, Rice was the longtime spokesman for M&T Bank, one of the team's main sponsors and one that has its name on the Ravens' stadium. Practically every time Bisciotti asked Rice to make an appearance on behalf of the team, he'd say yes.

Rice also leveled with his general manager, Newsome, who had a Hall of Fame career as a tight end with the Cleveland Browns. Rice sat down with Harbaugh, as well, and Harbaugh later described their conversation in a June interview with ESPN The Magazine. "I talked to Ray right away," Harbaugh said, "and what he told me right away -- we always tell our guys, 'Never lie, never cheat, never steal' -- he told me the exact truth of what happened, and it held up all the way through. He didn't sugarcoat it, he admitted what he did wrong, he explained everything to a T. Everything I've heard since then is held up to what he said."

PTI [pretrial intervention program] is an unusual result for defendants charged with aggravated assault in the third degree, defense lawyers and New Jersey domestic violence legal advocates say; less than 1 percent of all assault and aggravated assault cases in New Jersey are resolved by PTI, according to data obtained by "Outside the Lines."

Minutes later, Rice's phone buzzed. He could scarcely believe what he was looking at-- back-to-back text messages from Bisciotti. Rice read them aloud so everyone in the room could hear them:

Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here. Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay.

When you're done with football, I'd like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league.

Rice was flabbergasted. One minute Bisciotti and the Ravens were essentially calling him a liar, the next Bisciotti was quietly offering him a job?...

A few days later, after thinking about it more, Rice told friends he believed Bisciotti was suggesting that, as long as he kept quiet and stuck to the story that he had misled team officials and Goodell about what had happened in the elevator, the Ravens would take care of him down the road. He felt incredibly insulted.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That is pretty damning (here's a link to Outside the Lines report on ESPN) but I do still wonder if that's the entire story. But it sure makes it look like Rice was a guy with a good heart who royally screwed up, but the Ravens, and the NFL were looking at this entirely from a CYA/money viewpoint. And when Rice became a liability, they very quickly tossed him under the bus and tried to wipe their hands clean.

This follows Roger Goodell's wretched, prepared speech that was almost on par with the one Tiger Woods read. More and more it's looking like Goodell and the NFL is about one thing, and one thing only: Money. It's the (modern) American way, isn't it?

As to this week's picks, here goes nothing:

SD@BUF - Bills aren't really a 3-0 team, are they?
DAL@StL - Close call. Cowboys defense just bad enough for Rams to win.
WASH@PHI - May be closer than people realize, but went with Eagles.
TEX@NYG - Are the Texans for real? I'm not so sure, but the Giants passing game sucks, playing a top defense.
MIN@NO - Lock of the week.
TEN@CIN - Titans improving, but Bengals for real.
BAL@CLE - Browns at home, Ravens rattled with distractions. Is this an upset pick?
GB@DET - I still think the Packers are very good, but Detroit is too, at home.
INDY@JAX - Indy will not start 0-3.
OAK@NE - So tempted to pick the Raiders, but...
SF@ARI - SF inconsistent on offense, missing key defenders. Cardinals on a roll and a great run defense.
DEN@SEA - Lot of emotions in this game. Seattle better overall team, and at home, but PM has a long history of looking great in games like this.
KC@MIA - Home team, better overall team.
PITT@CAR - Awesome Panthers defense prevails.
CHI@NYJ - I kind of like the Jets. Secondary exposed against Aaron Rodgers, but team playing well overall.

Some early interesting stats. The best defense in the NFL (pts) right now are the Texans with 20. And Seattle? No better than 19th, at 46. Seattle however is currently 4th in offense, just ahead of Denver and Cleveland, who couldn't do squat on offense in the preseason.

If you believe in QBR (total quarterback rating), the best QB in the NFL right now is, drum roll please...

Kirk Cousins!

 

[Amsterhammer]

C&P above and beyond the call of duty, Merckx. Thanks for that summary.

TB @ ATL – What an embarrassment this was.
SD @ BUF – Rivers on a roll?
DAL @ STL – Dallas doesn’t throw much, Dallas wins.
WASH @ PHIL – I would love to believe, but I don’t. The Iggles have been pretty good.
HOU @ NYG – Another loss for these poor Giants.
MINN @ NO – Really should be a home banker, Saints have something to prove.
TEN @ CIN – Bengals must be too good at home.
Bal @ CLE - A Ravens loss would be no surprise, but I'm sticking with them.
GB @ DET – A tough one could go either way. I’ll take the cheeseheads.
IND @ JAX – Away banker
OAK @ NE – Absolute home banker.
SF @ ARI – Going for the Niners, but a home win would be no major surprise.
DEN @ SEA – Another home banker, especially if it’s bad weather.
KC @ MIA – Two Jekyll and Hyde teams, Fins to have the edge at home.
PIT @ CAR – Panthers have the edge at home.
CHI @ NYJ – Da Bears should be too good.

 

[ToreBear]

After checking out the injury report I have decided to go for:

Elimination: Titans and Chiefs

Survival: Steelers to loose.

 

[Eshnar]

TB @ ATL – Is that still valid?
SD @ BUF
DAL @ STL
WASH @ PHIL
HOU @ NYG
MINN @ NO
TEN @ CIN
Bal @ CLE
GB @ DET
IND @ JAX
OAK @ NE
SF @ ARI
DEN @ SEA
KC @ MIA
PIT @ CAR
CHI @ NYJ

 

[The Hitch]

SD @ BUF- SD have history of beating the best teams and losing to the worst ones.
DAL @ STL- Dallas can pull ones like this out of the bag but STL are a very talented team. Home wins
WASH @ PHIL- Better team. Division games close though
HOU @ NYG- Close enough that home wins
MINN @ NO- Brees in the dome
TEN @ CIN - Lock of the week (aside from Pats)
Bal @ CLE- Chosen all home so far so have to pick an away team. Division game and Ravens have talent.
GB @ DET - ARod gets it going
IND @ JAX- A little better
OAK @ NE- Way better
SF @ ARI- Palmer out so will go niners
DEN @ SEA- Better team and at home
KC @ MIA- KC hitting into stride
PIT @ CAR- Better team and at home
CHI @ NYJ- Great game and total toss up. Like both these teams. Will take Geno and the Jets at home over injury riddled Bears. Cutler can step up here though.

 

[Amsterhammer]

SD @ BUF- SD have history of beating the best teams and losing to the worst ones.

This. I never get those goddamn Bolts right, they always fcuk me up. I hate them.

Sometimes I hate my Skins even more. After a totally dominant first half, where we held the lead throughout, we're going into HT one point down. Incredible.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Sometimes I hate my Skins even more. After a totally dominant first half, where we held the lead throughout, we're going into HT one point down. Incredible.

Didn´t you know? The Eagles under Kelly is the 2014 Version of the ™Kardiac Kids... they need to be down big, and then comeback.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

After this week I will be a perfect 100% with my away picks! ... and still zero strikes on survival elimination (since TEN is losing big)




(1/1 with JAX losing today)

 

[Amsterhammer]

That was one hell of a game. We could have tied or won at the death if our star QB on the day hadn't choked on the crucial play. But fir the rest, his stats were great.

 

[The Hitch]

This. I never get those goddamn Bolts right, they always fcuk me up. I hate them.

Sometimes I hate my Skins even more. After a totally dominant first half, where we held the lead throughout, we're going into HT one point down. Incredible.

well, looks like maybe this year will be different. Glad they won that. Chargers could be real good this year.

 

[leftover pie]

Fantastic second half of the broncos seahawks game, I wish the Superbowl had been that entertaining.

 

[The Hitch]

WTF. As I switched that game off I thought the Seahawks had it won. In front by 5 with a first down deep in Broncos territory inside 2 minutes. How did Broncos come back

Must really hurt to lose in overtime after that comeback.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Am I the only one who thinks the Broncos were lucky to have the game that close, let alone have it go to OT? With exception to that last minute drive where Seattle was practically in a prevent defense, the Seahawks were winning the game I saw handily.

The Bengals look like a serious contender in the AFC right now. Playing great on both sides of the ball.

Impressed with the Cards beating of the 49ers. Also with Dallas pulling one out of a hat with a balanced offense. Arizona looks like Seattle did, two seasons ago.

As to the Eagles, Cary Williams is saying out loud today that Chip Kelly works them too hard in practice, so they are worn out in the 1st quarter of each game. Uh, they are 3-0, with his logic they'd be dead by the 4th quarter.

Wish Foxxy could have seen Eli come alive, though the Texans offense was woeful.

Oakland and Carr playing the Patriots so close, in NE was great to see. I'm just not sure how long the kid can take losing. Plus, rumors are that Marc Davis, like his dad, is very impatient and may fire Dennis Allen after the bye week if the team is 0-4, and get Tony Sporano in there. I think that would be a terrible move. It would almost guarantee that the team would finish one of the worst in the NFL, delay Carr's development (unless inside reports are he and Allen can't get along), and Reggie McKenzie is the one who made poor off-season decisions, not Allen. If Al Davis (the senile, old version) were still alive he would fire Allen, then draft Jamis Winston next season with their top draft pick (eg, an even bigger blunder).

 

[Oldman]

Am I the only one who thinks the Broncos were lucky to have the game that close, let alone have it go to OT? With exception to that last minute drive where Seattle was practically in a prevent defense, the Seahawks were winning the game I saw handily.

The Bengals look like a serious contender in the AFC right now. Playing great on both sides of the ball.

Impressed with the Cards beating of the 49ers. Also with Dallas pulling one out of a hat with a balanced offense. Arizona looks like Seattle did, two seasons ago.

As to the Eagles, Cary Williams is saying out loud today that Chip Kelly works them too hard in practice, so they are worn out in the 1st quarter of each game. Uh, they are 3-0, with his logic they'd be dead by the 4th quarter.

Wish Foxxy could have seen Eli come alive, though the Texans offense was woeful.

Oakland and Carr playing the Patriots so close, in NE was great to see. I'm just not sure how long the kid can take losing. Plus, rumors are that Marc Davis, like his dad, is very impatient and may fire Dennis Allen after the bye week if the team is 0-4, and get Tony Sporano in there. I think that would be a terrible move. It would almost guarantee that the team would finish one of the worst in the NFL, delay Carr's development (unless inside reports are he and Allen can't get along), and Reggie McKenzie is the one who made poor off-season decisions, not Allen. If Al Davis (the senile, old version) were still alive he would fire Allen, then draft Jamis Winston next season with their top draft pick (eg, an even bigger blunder).

The Hawks were very nearly victims of their own hubris: Percy Harvin's ego had him fielding a kick return clumsily in the end zone and jammed in one corner. Denver's cover team was coming in hard and he should have put a knee down. Instead...he wanted to show some magic and ended up downed on the 9 yard line. A quick procedure penalty and Hawks were on the 4.5 and then a safety came because everyone in the World knew that the Beast was carrying on the critical next play. There must have been 5 guys tackling him at once.
Hopefully they learned from stupid stuff like that.
On the counter side your were correct: Denver was lucky to be in that game. What was most impressive was how cool Wilson was in that OT drive. Peyton didn't display that calmness all game and a lot of his passes had that nice fluttering technique CBs like so well.

 

[Merckx index]

I just got through pointing out how unusual Atlanta’s dominance over TB was, and glory be, Indy did the same to Jax. At the half, 330 yards vs. 55, 18 first downs vs. 2, 7.5 YPP vs. 3.2. But the Colts vented a lot of frustration in that game. They had arguably the toughest opening two games in the NFL, Denver and Philly, though SD’s AZ and SE might have been just as bad.

What must really hurt Denver is not even getting the ball in OT. I really don’t understand that rule. At least give Denver a chance before declaring the game is over. But SE was very deserving of the win, and Wilson looks more and more like he might be the best QB of his generation.

Wilson has gone head-to-head with the game’s luminaries seven times. Seven games against Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers. The tale of those seven games:

W-L Avg. Margin Comp.Pct. Yards TD Int. Rating
7-0 14.4 points 64.5 1,491 14 1 113.0

So the burning question of the day: Is Foxxy wrong about PM being a great RS QB who chokes in the postseason? For most of the game, he looked just about as inept as in the SB. The big difference was Denver’s defense, which kept them in range when the offense couldn’t get more than a FG. Maybe PM is just a great QB who can’t figure out SE’s defense.

Speaking of Foxxy, all his crowing over his picks reminds me of a comment by the late coach John McKay. Back in 1983, Mike Ditka (with huge help from Rex Ryan’s father) was developing the Bears into a SB contender. They weren’t quite there that year, but they shut down the 49ers in Chicago, holding them to a FG. After the game, Ditka went on and on about how he saw “tendencies” in the 49ers offense, meaning that offensive genius Bill Walsh was actually quite predictable if you knew what you were doing. Upon hearing that, McKay retorted, “If there is a tendency, it’s that the Bears talk a lot when they win.”

The 49ers season so far is told in halves. In the first half, they have outscored the opposition 59-13, in the second half, they’ve been outscored, 52-3. That’s right, they haven’t scored a TD in the second half yet. They gave Gore only six touches Sunday, only once in the second half. Unbelievable, he gained only ten yards in the whole game. Not having Vernon Davis and his backup hurt the passing game, but also the running game, since he’s a key blocker for many of Gore’s plays. But still…

Speaking of the 49ers, Kaepernick was fined more than $10,000 for allegedly calling a Bear player the N-word. WTF? Kaepernick is half African-American. Is he going to use a slur that is derogatory to one of his biological parents?

And after that great Outside the Lines report on Ray Rice that I linked upthread, ESPN, in another WTF moment, let the Ravens other nefarious Ray comment on the situation:

We’re here because we saw a friend of mine (Rice) brutally hit his wife in the face in the elevator. There’s some things you can cover up and some things you can’t.

Yeah, Ray, you ought to know.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Was Ray wearing a white suit when he said it?!

You mention Indy (and Atlanta) and dominance. Despite that, there are only three teams left in the NFL that are 3-0. Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Arizona. Plus, only three 0-3 teams. Tampa, Oakland and Jacksonville. That's a lot of parity.

Foxxy can of course speak for himself, but one of my criticisms of PM in the past is that he's piled it on against mediocre defenses, or in games that were not crucial. But caved in many big games. Then again, I thought he would play better in Sunday's game than he did. You are right though about Denver's defense keeping them in it. I still feel as though they were beaten in almost every aspect of the game. If they played again in the next few weeks, I'd definitely pick Seattle to win again.

As to Russell Wilson, I don't think there's anyone left that doubts him. He certainly is playing better than RG3, EJ Manuel, Geno Smith, Cam and Luck even. Nick Foles however has really excelled, but not played as well in that big of games, yet. Wilson may not pile on huge stats, but he plays big in big games. Just one bad pass on Sunday in the 4th quarter. Stellar after that. Before too. He's the kind of QB that helps a coach sleep like a baby. And when he runs, he rarely takes hits. He's the opposite of RG3, who for whatever the reason can't seem to play safe. No QB gets hit the way he does, even big guys like Roethlisberger, Newton, Foles or Kaepernick don't get hit like he does.

Speaking of, I'm not sure what to think about Kaep, I only saw highlights of this week's game. He still seems to make some of the mistakes he did in college. Locking in on receivers, not going to 2nd 3rd reads quick enough. His behavior has also been off in the last several months, like he's not the nice kid he seemed coming into the league. I don't get it.

I know Foxxy (and others) aren't big on noodle arm QB's, but so far Alex Smith has played quite well with almost no one to throw to, no Jamaal Charles, getting sacked 5 times last week, yet still coming up big on key downs. And Andy Dalton is playing very well leading the Bengals (though I don't think of either guy as noodle arms, more like average arms). What was it that Martz said about accuracy..?

 

[The Hitch]

Flags non reviewable such a joke. Jets screwed over 40 yards there.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Not only joke, replay system is better than nothing but it could use some improvement. Bears have made their share of dumb moves to draw flags; like the end zone head shot to a Jet WR. Or the offensive language by Bear DLman. The Jet RT Breno Giacomini playing his usual nasty style buried the DLman (#99 Houston I thought), who took offense with it. Better get use to it.

On head shots (tackling technique) college & pro teams now (&have been) are teaching to target the thighs, knowing as the contact occurs the target moves up to the midsection (as the offensive player gets lower or as the defensive player drives through). However, it's possible not all teams are teaching it that way, or do not practice it enough. It takes a bit of work to retrain tackling technique because it is not just a matter of targeting the proper spot... also taught is to drive through using same leg as contacting shoulder for power (e.g. hit with right shoulder drive with right leg). So it takes reps to get used to it. Its pretty clear more teams need to spend time on the fundamentals.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

You have to admit though that was a solid win for the Bears. Cutler tried to force the ball much less in the past, and his reads were excellent throughout the game. And it was miscues as much as anything that hurt the Jets.

James Harrison is reportedly returning to play for the Steelers. While this sounds great, keep in mind this is a 2014 Harrison, not a 2005 Harrison. But if there's one city he can bond with and feel welcome, it's Pittsburgh.

NFL.com reporting that Tampa Bay is working out Terrerll Pryor to give him a shot there. It's not a bad idea, but they need more than a dynamic QB. I like Pryor and am surprised the Texans didn't give him a look either, as their offense this past week was pathetic. The Giants took away the short passing game, and that was it.

In a strange development, Dolphins coach Joe Philbin hinted that Ryan Tannehill may not start this week against Oakland (game is in London). Here's a good article in NFL.com about it.

Finally, the gift that just keeps giving, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti issued an item by item rebuttal to ESPN's Outside the Lines (posted earlier this week by Merckx, link below that in my post). He makes some value assertions, and questions some of the sources. What isn't in the interview or article is that if you step back and get a broad view from a historical perspective, Bisciotti has a history of being one of the better owners in the NFL, and very player friendly as well.