Week 8 of the NFL season definitely did not match the drama and excitement of the league-wide roller coaster ride that was Week 7, but that does not mean we were not able to mention 10 observations that we made while watching this past week’s slate of games. (Well, mentioning 10 noteworthy happenings during the week in the NFL is the premise of this post, right?) Let’s start in the Motor City, with what turned out to be the game of the week between the Cowboys and Lions, with a finish that brings to mind another famous bit of chicanery on the football field.
1. Beware the aftereffects of a perfectly-executed, game-winning fake spike play.
Take it from a Jets fan, Cowboy supporters. The most famous fake spike play – Dan Marino’s touchdown pass to Mark Ingram at the Meadowlands in 1994 – led to a Miami Dolphins’ 28-24 win over the Jets in a game that would have seen the winner go into the final month of the season with the AFC East lead. Here is what followed for Gang Green after that defeat: losses in the last four games of 1994, the firing of Pete Carroll as head coach after that season, the hiring of Rich Kotite, a 3-13 season in 1995, a near-winless campaign (1-15) in 1996, the hiring of Bill Parcells as coach, three respectable seasons under Parcells that included a conference title game appearance in 1998, Parcells’ retirement in 1999, Bill Belichick’s hire as the new head coach of the Jets, Belichick’s resignation as head coach one day later, Belichick being hired as head coach of the rival New England Patriots, USC becoming a college football mini-dynasty under Carroll, New England becoming a mini-dynasty under Belichick, the Seattle Seahawks having their best stretch in franchise history under Carroll, and so on and so on. All that, and the Jets remained the “same old Jets.” But don’t worry, Cowboys fans, because Dallas has the resolve and the mental fortitude to put that game against the Lions on Sunday out of their minds and rebound to have a strong second half of the season, right? (Hold your laughter.)
2. What I saw in Landover, MD with the Eagles in Week One was a mirage.
The offense was as blindingly fast as Usain Bolt in Beijing and London, ran 18 offensive plays before Washington ran their first and afterwards, the Eagles were the envy of fans and journalists everywhere – myself included, who saw the exhibition of great offense in person. Fast forward to this past Sunday when the Eagles, on their third quarterback of the season, gained a grand total of 200 yards while losing their 10th consecutive home game, a 15-7 horror show against the New York Giants. The Eagles are still only a game out of first place in the loss column in the NFC East, but if the worst team in the division record-wise, the Giants, can hold you without an offensive touchdown while the defense looks as shaky as it has been all season despite not allowing a touchdown themselves, then things are far from sunny in Philadelphia. Speaking of poor professional football in the Keystone State…
3. The Pittsburgh Steelers are finished for 2013.
In the second half of Pittsburgh’s 21-18 loss in Oakland, the Raiders ran 23 plays and gained a grand total of 35 yards and only one first down. That’s one first down in 30 minutes of playing time. ONE. Yet, not only did Oakland defeat the Steelers, but did so pretty handily despite what the score line would tell you. Seeing that game should have told you all you needed to know about Pittsburgh in 2013, and why their season is hurtling towards lost status. Oh, and is Terrelle Pryor that fast (on his 93-yards touchdown run to open the game), or is the Pittsburgh defense as a unit that slow?
4. Thirteen years later, the Rams now know how it feels to be stopped at the one-yard line.
Needing 97 yards to pull off one of the upsets of the season, the St. Louis Rams- quarterbacked by the largely ineffective Kellen Clemens – ended up gaining 96, only to fail to gain those necessary final 36 inches or so as Seattle held on for a 14-9 win on Monday night. Probably the most famous game that ended with a team one yard away from glory happened in Super Bowl XXXIV (34), when the Rams stopped Kevin Dyson and the Tennessee Titans one yard shy of possibly tying the game on the last play of the game. Yes, the stakes Monday night were much, much less, but any climax that reminds us of one of the all-time great finishes in NFL history is worthy of the press attention.
5. Dez Bryant blew a gasket on the sidelines – twice. And the story is…?
Dez Bryant is a bona fide diva in Dallas- like Terrell Owens before him and Michael Irvin before him. Tony Romo got chewed out/called out/singled out by a teammate for the umpteenth time. These are the Cowboys we know and (fill in the blank). This is probably going to happen again by Week 14, so let’s just move on. The next thing you’ll tell me is that Miley Cyrus is in the news again for something outrageous.
6. Some fans and journalists might need to read the NFL rulebook more in their spare time.
At least that is the impression that I got when many fans, as well as Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports, lambasted the officials for calling an illegal batting of the ball on Miami’s Olivier Vernon after Tom Brady was sacked and fumbled the football in the fourth quarter and the Patriots clinging to a three-point lead. To prevent Patriots’ offensive linemen Marcus Cannon from recovering the ball and maintaining possession for New England, Vernon batted the ball forward towards the Pats goal line. Immediately, I knew that was a penalty seeing that upstairs–and was correctly called as such by referee Ron Winter and his crew. (See Rule 12, Article 8 in the NFL Rulebook) For those linking this with the obstruction call in Game Four of the World Series and a Boston-area sports team getting the benefit of an official’s call on the gridiron that they did not get on the diamond, get real.
7. The Show Me State can sure show us some good defensive end play.
Which set of defensive ends is better? Is it Tamba Hali and Justin Houston of the Kansas City Chiefs, with their 20 combined sacks? Or is it Robert Quinn and Chris Long of the St. Louis Rams, with their 15.5 sacks? On a national stage – and competing with the hometown St. Louis Cardinals, playing a World Series game just 10 blocks from the Edward Jones Dome, for attention – both Quinn and Long sacked Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson three times. Quinn now has 10 sacks, and has recorded at least one sack in six of the team’s eight games this season.
8. The Carolina Panthers, over .500 for the first time since 2008, won’t fall below .500 the rest of 2013.
First of all, take some time to digest that statistic above. It took the Carolina Panthers five full years to get above the .500 mark at any point in a season. Given that, I expect the Panthers to keep their noses above water the rest of the way on their way to a possible playoff spot. The reeling Atlanta Falcons come into Charlotte this coming Sunday, giving Carolina a great chance to be 5-3 at the halfway point. They have yet to play the New Orleans Saints (Week 14 and Week 16 are those match-ups) and they still play at San Francisco (Week 10) and at home to New England in consecutive weeks, but with the way the run game has been humming with Cam Newton and the stingy play of the league’s third-best total defense, there should be some meaningful (and winning) football in December in the Tar Heel State for the first time in a long while.
9. Andre Ellington will come from nowhere and win the 2013 Offensive Rookie of the Year.
It is a shame that the Arizona Cardinals had the rookie running back from Clemson buried on the depth chart for the first few weeks of the season. In six of the seven games is which he has carried the football, Ellington has averaged at least five yards per tote, and has averaged 7.3 yards per carry in four games. All of those efforts were in limited action until this past Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, when he rushed for 154 yards on only 15 carries with an 80-yard touchdown run being the pièce de résistance. There really is no rookie in the league offensively that has really stood out with his play outside of EJ Manuel (who is currently missing time with a knee injury), and with Ellington in line for more usage in the coming weeks, now is his time to make his presence felt consistently and gain league-wide recognition.
10. Get your popcorn ready…Terrell Owens is on reality television again.
Before I go on, let me say that I hate almost all reality television shows. Absolutely detest some of the junk produced and passed as must-see television. On November 2, however, former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens will be on the season premiere of the OWN television network’s ‘Iyanla: Fix My Life.’ Vanzant, a well-known inspirational speaker and author, comes across as a mix between Joel Osteen and Morton Downey Jr. (during his talk show run) every time I’ve ever seen her in action – which is not a whole lot. But combine that with the always “stable” personality that is T.O., I might have to lift my self-imposed reality television ban.
