EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS
Sunday night, as I was watching the Dallas Cowboys get rocked by the Packers, I thought to myself…I'm almost embarrassed for the Cowboys right now.
Nothing went right for them, and I just couldn't stop laughing at their misfortune.
So I thought to myself that so far this year, there have been quite a few really odd things that have happened, more so than usual even. Looking back week nine, after much deliberation I was able to compile a list of the top five most embarrassing and ridiculous moments from the games this past week.
5. Hapless Vikings rally from 14-point deficit to beat the hapless Cardinals, accidently make Brad Childress look good.
There has been a lot of press about the Vikings this week, mostly related to everyone wanting Brad Childress to be fired, including the players who have had enough of his “BS”. Percy Harvin apparently almost came to blows with Childress during an argument where Childress suggested that Harvin wasn't trying hard enough at practice.
All I can say about that fight is that Childress is lucky he checked himself before he wrecked himself.
Back to the game, up until the last five minutes everything was going according to plan. The Vikes were about to lose to the woeful Derek Anderson and the Cardinals, and seal the fate of their perennially terrible coach.
However even the best laid plans can often go bad, and in this case Brett Favre actually decided to avoid throwing interceptions, and instead hit Visanthe Shiancoe for a 25 yard TD in regulation to tie the game, then setting up the game winning field goal in overtime.
But wait, winning is good right?
Usually it is, but in this case the best thing for the Vikes would probably have been a loss. It would have ensured that owner Zigi Wilf fired Childress after the game, with some fans even calling for his firing at halftime (a move I too would have endorsed).
But now the Vikings are stuck with one more win, maybe making fans think that the team has a shot at the playoffs, and likely (and unfortunately) keeping Childress around for at least another week.
4. Wes Welker kicks an Extra Point and kickoff, is actually the only thing that went right for the Pats against Cleveland
When your wide receiver kicking off and making the extra point is the highlight of your game, you know something went wrong. And for the Patriots - who before yesterday held the best record in football - to lose to Eric Mangenius and the Cleveland Browns, something went wrong indeed. I debated making this point about rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski, who had a large role to play in the Patriots loss. On a shallow kickoff in the 1st quarter, Gronk called for a fair catch of the ball, and then proceeded not to catch it, giving Cleveland the ball for a second straight drive, this time beginning inside the Patriots 30 yard-line.
Fast forward about 20 game minutes, and the Pats are driving right before halftime. Gronk catches a ball on the Cleveland three, only to fumble it and stop a drive that could have changed the momentum of the game going into the half. Not to mention the countless Tom Brady passes that clunked off Gronkowski’s fingers like children in a bouncy-castle.
But all the blame cannot fall on Gronk, as overall the Pats just looked straight-up confused. Receivers were making a lot of uncharacteristic drops, the newfound explosive running back Danny Woodhead was a non-factor, and for some reason the Pats were unable to stop running back Peyton Hillis.
The Denver Broncos reject and his abnormally huge biceps ran for 185 yards and 2 TD's on 29 carries, and rookie QB Colt McCoy was effective against a Patriot’s defense that was exposed as the subpar unit that it is.
The only thing that did work? Wes Welker made that PAT, and kicked it off all the way to the 30. Gold star for Wes.
3. Kansas City finds a way to lose, despite 13 Raider penalties and 3 turnovers.
Oddly enough, the Chiefs-Raiders matchup was actually a big game for the first time in a decade, and for once the AFC West is actually interesting.
The Chiefs defense has been hot as of late, and the Raiders offense was finally coming together on the shoulders of running back Darren McFadden. However, for most of the game the Raiders looked terrible, and their 13 penalties combined with 2 fumbles and an interception should have lost them the game.
But late in the 4th quarter the Chiefs collapsed, mostly due to cornerback Brandon Flowers not being able to catch the ball when it is thrown directly into his hands by Raiders QB Jason Campbell.
Instead of a game-ending pick, this turned into a 29 yard pass to rookie Jacoby Ford, to set up a game-tying 41 yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski. Janikowski is so huge he could probably just have kicked it 30 yards back without the completion (70 yarder), but it’s always nice to make the kick more of a sure thing.
But wait, the story gets better. In OT the Chiefs won the coin toss, muffed the return so they begin from their own 10, and managed all of 2 yards on 3 plays. They then punted it over to Jason Campbell and the Raiders, who on the first play connected with Ford on a 47 yard pass, to set up a Janikowski chip shot from 33 yards out.
First of all, the Raiders shouldn't be beating anyone, especially through the air. Kansas City had a big chance here to set themselves up as the favorites in the AFC West, but to lose to the Raiders opens the door for a tight race for one playoff spot between the Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders.
It makes the west more interesting I guess, but all three of those teams are so terrible that if any one of them makes it past the first round it will be a miracle.
2. Rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh misses extra point, makes it a 3-point game to force OT for the Jets instead of 4
Sticking with the theme of players who shouldn't be kicking field goals, this was kind of hysterical.
For comparison sake let's take Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, a guy with an average build for a kicker. He's 6-1, and weights in at 215. Ndamukong Suh is 6-4, 307 pounds, and is an enormous defensive tackle.
Really, didn't Detroit have anyone better to attempt the extra point? The punter, maybe? I feel like he has more experience kicking the ball than a guy who touches the ball maybe once a season, and it’s not with his feet.
But why was this one point so important? On the final Jets drive of regulation time, the score was 20-17, instead of 21-17 which it would have been had Suh made the PAT.
Instead of forcing the Jets to score another touchdown, they only need a field goal to force overtime, which they got, and eventually won the game. I don't know what coach Jim Schwartz was thinking, but in retrospect I bet he would have selected someone different to attempt that extra point. Add that to the long list of “Things The Lions Wished They Did Better.”
1. The Cowboys bad luck on a fumble call, and the fact that Green Bay actually stopped trying to score at the end of the game
The Dallas Cowboys are terrible, and though they ran into some bad luck...it would happen to them.
The first and possibly funnier situation came on the kickoff with 2:04 left in the first half. Dallas return man Brian McCann fumbles the ball, and Packers linebacker Nick Collins returns it 26 yards for the touchdown. Sucks for Dallas as is, but the situation is even more hilarious then it initially seems.
First off the call was terrible, and McCann did not fumble the ball in any way shape or form, he was clearly down by contact. So Dallas can challenge, right? Right, except that they were out of timeouts, so they couldn’t challenge the call. And the time on the clock was 2:04, and outside of two minutes the officials are not allowed to review the call on their own.
So there sat Wade Phillips, with no timeouts in the first half – think about that for a second - and not able to challenge a terrible call, just four seconds standing between him and a free challenge. And then I though to myself...only Dallas.
And speaking of Dallas being terri-bad (and I don't use that word lightly), Green Bay actually felt bad for them being so horrible, and legitimately stopped trying to score.
They had the ball on the Dallas 17 with around seven minutes left in the game. So they put in the backup running back, and ran the ball four straight times. They didn't bother with the field goal, they just went ahead and stopped trying and said “Dallas, you can have the ball back, it's not like you'll do anything with it anyway”.
And of course, Dallas didn't do anything with it, ending the game appropriately with quarterback John Kitna eating a sack.
Dallas Cowboys, that was truly embarrassing. Perhaps now things will change for the better, with Wade Phillips finally out of town.
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