NFL 2018: Week 14

*Legion* wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

How the hell does Mahommes make those throws?

Goddamn absurd.

Adam Teicher
ESPN Staff Writer

NFL Next Gen stats on the Pat Mahomes to Tyreek Hill fourth down pass ---Mahomes speed at time of throw: 15.95 MPH ---Mahomes scrambled 31.7 yards before the throw ---Air distance on the throw: 43.6 yards ---Hill separation at catch: 0.99 yards ---Completion probability: 15.8 percent

Chairman_Mao wrote:

Giants still got a playoff chance!

It's crazy what is going on with that team

Okay, I get why everyone in this town hates Cowboys now. I'm on board.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Before the ref came back with that second explanation and they re-kicked the ref stated that the penalty occurred before the snap or kick so the kick didn't count. His explanation after that made it sound like the Browns accepted the penalty and re-kicked but that would be stupid. I can't believe that would actually have transpired even though that's definitely how he announced it.

Makes more sense. Don't understand why offside would be a dead ball foul on an XP though. It's usually not.

Ref blew whistle? I don't know. The officiating in the game was near constant. There were 17 of the bastards that stuck.

I mean Eagles probably didn’t deserve that win but the refs right from the obvious turnover that wasn’t to start were brutal all in favor of the Cowboys.

garion333 wrote:

Dolphins are always a thorn in the Pats' side.

Believe me I know this. It dates back to when I was growing up in the 70s.

I like to trot out the "dynasty is over" trope because why not.

TheGameguru wrote:

I mean Eagles probably didn’t deserve that win but the refs right from the obvious turnover that wasn’t to start were brutal all in favor of the Cowboys.

$$$

TheGameguru wrote:

I mean Eagles probably didn’t deserve that win but the refs right from the obvious turnover that wasn’t to start were brutal all in favor of the Cowboys.

Nothing better than a little home cookin' when you don't want the Eagles back in the playoffs.

The worst part about a Cowboys win is that a team that is 3-9 in the playoffs since '96 will continue to be featured on ESPN all week.

And the fans.

The fans.

The insufferable fans.

Top_Shelf wrote:

The worst part about a Cowboys win is that a team that is 3-9 in the playoffs since '96 will continue to be featured on ESPN all week.

And the fans.

The fans.

The insufferable fans.

Hey man Cowboy fans are keeping the VHS industry still alive with highlight tapes of the glory years.

garion333 wrote:

Ref blew whistle? I don't know

That's probably the case, which of course just changes the question to, "why are you blowing the whistle on an offside on a PAT attempt?"

Just poor officiating procedure, that entire sequence.

So the Bears beat a real team. As a lifelong Bears fan, I always expect the worst. So, seeing them at 8-3 having played the league's weakest schedule, then lose to the Giants to fall to 8-4, I absolutely did not expect them to beat the Rams.

I don't know what was going on with Goff tonight. Maybe the Bears put up a picture of Jeff Fisher in the Ram's locker room or something, but he looked like he did that abysmal rookie year.

My guess is it done got cold. Goff is a Cali boy, and rarely has to play in cold weather.

Worried about the Chiefs for Thursday. It's a quick turnaround, and they are not healthy. Hill was limping. Watkins is still out. Erving, the LG went out. And coming off a great comeback and OT in an emotional game also can mess with the team's focus in the short term.

I think they win Thursday, as I don't think the cold weather will help Rivers, either. It's also the most important game of the season, so far. If they lose, San Diego will then be tied with them. the Chiefs will still own the division tiebreaker, as they are 4-0 and the Chargers are 2-2. But a loss will leave both SD and KC with 2 losses in the conference.

San Diego finishes with Ravens at home and the Broncos on the road. The Chiefs go to Seattle and come home for the Raiders. Not sure who you give an advantage to schedule-wise.

But a win pretty much seals HFA for the playoffs. The Patriots would be the only team with a shot, since they own the tiebreaker. But a chiefs win on Thursday would mean NE needs to win both of its games, and KC would have to lose both of theirs.

Just wish all of this did not come down to a game on just 3 days rest. It's fair, as SD has to do it, and travel to KC. But the short rest means it could be an ugly game and random bounces might decide it.

Jayhawker wrote:

Goff is a Cali boy, and rarely has to play in cold weather.

He grew up in the same town I did and was probably old enough to experience the last hard freezes and that one dusting of snow we had in the past 20 years. And then climate change set in and now we get fire, rain, and mud out here in Cali so...fair point, Jay.

Stele wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

I mean Eagles probably didn’t deserve that win but the refs right from the obvious turnover that wasn’t to start were brutal all in favor of the Cowboys.

$$$

So naturally I've been seeing such memes this morning passed around, and my brother reminding everyone for the past week that the Cowboys/Saints game was rigged and Vegas made a lot of money off of it. I tend to roll my eyes at this stuff, but I have to wonder, is there any (recent) precedent for officials taking bribes? I can imagine potential personal bias driving decisions as well as complete incompetence (there was a block to the back early in the game that would have otherwise resulted in a sack of Dak Prescrott, and it happened right in front of a ref, yet failed to get called), but the idea that a game is rigged in that fashion just gives me the skepticism.

You Cowboys haters (Eagles fans) are funny. Yes, the officiating was horrible. Both ways. Just like during the Saints game. (Same crew, I believe). Over at my Cowboys-friendly home, we were ALSO yelling about the horrible officiating.

I will readily admit that there were calls that boned the Eagles, but you have to admit that there were also calls that boned the Cowboys. When you have calls that make Buck and Aikman (even more) confused, then you have something special.

I don't understand how the league can have the same crew officiate the same team in back to back games when the first game was such a trainwreck, but I don't know how the league assigns officiating crews.

That said, it was an exciting game, err, second half. None of it matters, because whatever team wins the East is not going far in the playoffs.

American football is too random for fixing. Plus there are so many refs that would need to be in on it. Donaghy (ref busted for fixing) in the NBA was 33% of the reffing crew and NBA games are notoriously subject to specific calls.

If game fixing were as widespread as losing team fans claim, we'd see actual evidence.

Abu5217 wrote:

I will readily admit that there were calls that boned the Eagles, but you have to admit that there were also calls that boned the Cowboys. When you have calls that make Buck and Aikman (even more) confused, then you have something special.

I try to be open-minded about that. My Dad complained about a "failed" pass interference call, but I made note that an Eagles player did the same thing just minutes earlier. He mumbled something as an excuse and then we moved on, but I've learned to just stop taking note of the times Eagles players didn't get called for the sake of fairness. It's just more difficult because the response to Eagles getting away with bad calls is "thank goodness" as opposed to "WHAT ARE YOU TALKIN' ABOUT?!"

While there were entirely too many penalties in the Browns game yesterday, the crowd was chanting "bullsh*t" to every single penalty flag against the Browns even when it was clearly legit.

Fandom and the things people do don't always hold up well when one applies logic to them.

Pass interference is a tough one and a lot of times comes down to the view angle of refs (ie. sometimes they can't see it) and whether or not there was a bunch of back and forth between the two players (ie. both were handsy), which they sometimes won't call, especially in the playoffs. Plays also look different in real time than replay with replay generally making things look worse due to a slowing down of the film. Everything doesn't look better in slo mo.

That said, holding calls are the ones you see most people complain about not being called and the adage that "holding could be called on every play" is basically true. Big men holding back other big men is a part of the line's duty and there's a time when holding onto someone is okay as long as you let go, but the line of when it goes form okay to holding is fuzzy and judged by humans. Holding is usually only called when it's flagrant because otherwise it'd be called all the damn time.

tldr Complaining about refs is lazy and something we're all guilty of.

"Oh, Jesus." The Miami Miracle called by Patriots radio. I'm disappointed Deadspin doesn't have clips of that in every language known to man up yet.

Rat Boy wrote:

"Oh, Jesus." The Miami Miracle called by Patriots radio. I'm disappointed Deadspin doesn't have clips of that in every language known to man up yet.

That's great. The color commentator is former backup QB Scott Zolak who is a huge homer. He takes the wins /losses so personally but is pretty entertaining to listen to.

Rat Boy wrote:

"Oh, Jesus." The Miami Miracle called by Patriots radio. I'm disappointed Deadspin doesn't have clips of that in every language known to man up yet.

Just looked up video of the play. Dang. That looked like it could have failed at any moment. I gotta give it up to Miami for that one.

Abu5217 wrote:

You Cowboys haters (Eagles fans) are funny. Yes, the officiating was horrible. Both ways. Just like during the Saints game. (Same crew, I believe). Over at my Cowboys-friendly home, we were ALSO yelling about the horrible officiating.

I will readily admit that there were calls that boned the Eagles, but you have to admit that there were also calls that boned the Cowboys. When you have calls that make Buck and Aikman (even more) confused, then you have something special.

I don't understand how the league can have the same crew officiate the same team in back to back games when the first game was such a trainwreck, but I don't know how the league assigns officiating crews.

That said, it was an exciting game, err, second half. None of it matters, because whatever team wins the East is not going far in the playoffs.

I don't blame the general officiating awfulness.. and I agree bad calls go both ways.. I'm mostly concerned that the replay booth somehow couldn't overturn what was a clear fumble and recovery. Did that make any difference in the outcome of the game.. who knows.. but it didnt help.

That's a fair point, and I just saw that particular replay for the first time. I guess it's a limit of the replay rules... the ball was clearly out, it was clearly a fumble, but there is some specific (I guess?) definition of "clear recovery" that did not happen. Based on postgame comments from the ref, that's why they could not overturn, because there was a pile.

I will 100% admit that the touchdown called back for OPI was a bullsh*t call. The Eagles ended up scoring anyway, but it took at least another two minutes to do so. With the way the end of the game went, that may have made a difference.

Raiders fire Reggie McKenzie.

Reportedly, after Khalil Mack had another game with a sack and forced fumble, and Amari Cooper notched the game winning TD in his 217 yard, 3 TD afternoon, McKenzie was overheard saying to Gruden, "I told your cracker-ass so".

I made that last part up but it's probably close to true.

Ah, Chuckie, he truly is the gift that keeps on gifting. He has finally solidified himself as the SOLE decision maker on the team. The buck stops with him. And, oh boy, is it beautiful so far.

garion333 wrote:

While there were entirely too many penalties in the Browns game yesterday ... [/i].

I hope you enjoyed the game, Garion. I know you said you were at the Browns-Panthers game, but there is no such team as the "Panthers" or "Carolina." "Cam Newton" sounds like the name of a fashion icon, not an NFL QB.

The Panthers *I'm* familiar with* are 10-3 and have a lock on a wild card spot.

*

Spoiler:

in a fantasy universe where the team didn't utterly collapse.

garion333 wrote:

Fandom and the things people do don't always hold up well when one applies logic to them.

Yep. Sportsball Fan is the worst. Also drunk most of the time.

*Legion* wrote:

Gronk showing why putting your offensive players on the field for Hail Mary defense might be just a little too cute.

The Miami radio call was the best.

First announcer: Gronkowski's standing at about the 15 yard line.

Second announcer: He couldn't tackle anybody!

Hahahaha.

Seriously, though, that was a great play. But it's not the best hook-n-lateral in team history. This is, in one of the best games in NFL history. I was 14 years old and a huge Fins fan (in the middle of DC territory), and I screamed at my TV when it happened.

Enix wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Gronk showing why putting your offensive players on the field for Hail Mary defense might be just a little too cute.

The Miami radio call was the best.

First announcer: Gronkowski's standing at about the 15 yard line.

Second announcer: He couldn't tackle anybody!

Hahahaha.

Seriously, though, that was a great play. But it's not the best hook-n-lateral in team history. This is, in one of the best games in NFL history. I was 14 years old and a huge Fins fan (in the middle of DC territory), and I screamed at my TV when it happened.

If you are good enough, you don't need a stinking lateral.

Here is Tony Romo breaking down the greatest pass play in the history of the NFL.

The Seattle uniforms are terrible.