All hail the mighty kickers of goals from the field:
Six teams -- six! -- won games this weekend on last-second kicks: Browns, Texans, Cardinals, Lions, Seahawks and Broncos. Those game-winning kicks had real consequences:
* The Browns are squarely in the playoff race
* Texans QB CJ Stroud is now everyone's dark-horse MVP candidate
* The Cardinals clearly aren't tanking (and Kyler Murray is a g.d. wizard)
* The Lions are Seahawks remain playoff contenders
* After losing to the Broncos, the Bills fired OC Ken Dorsey
Meanwhile, four other teams (Bears, Colts, Steelers and Raiders won by 4 points or less).
Even if the primetime games (except MNF) were garbage, at least the highlights were fun.
STAT(S) OF THE WEEK
* The Browns are the only team in the 21st century to win a game after trailing for the first 59:20.
* In the past seven regular season losses with Lamar Jackson as QB, the Ravens entered the fourth quarter of all seven games with a 75%+ win probability. In five of those games it was 90%.
* After 9 weeks, the Jets currently have the highest FG-to-TD ratio in NFL history (23 FGs to 10 TDs)
* Until Monday night's Broncos-Bills game, only one other NFL game had a 15-8 halftime score. That game: Broncos-Bills in 1961. (Broncos won that one, too.)
PLAYOFF PICTURE
If the season ended today ...
(Teams are listed in seed order)
AFC division winners: Chiefs (7-2), Ravens (7-3), Jaguars (6-3), Dolphins (6-3)
AFC WCs: Steelers (6-3), Browns (6-3), Texans (5-4)
On the bubble: Everyone else, including the Bengals (5-4) and Bills (5-5)
NFC division winners: Eagles (8-1), Lions (7-2), Niners (6-3), Saints (5-5)
NFC WCs: Seahawks (6-3), Cowboys (6-3), Vikings (6-4)
On the bubble: Everyone else, including future Conference USA champion Panthers
WEEK 11 SCHEDULE
We strike gold this week, with epic Thursday night and Monday night clashes, plus an interesting Sunday night game because who doesn't like Josh Dobbs and the Suddenly Scrappy Vikings?
Thursday
*** Bengals at Ravens *** (Prime)
Sunday early
Cowboys at Panthers, ugh
Steelers at Browns
Bears at Lions in the ZOO BOWL
Chargers at Packers
Cardinals at Texans
Titans at Jaguars
Raiders at Dolphins
Giants at Commanders
Sunday late
Bucs at Niners in the MMD LEGION BOWL BROUGHT TO YOU BY GWJ
Jets at Bills
Seahawks at Rams
Sunday night
Vikings at Broncos (NBC)
Monday
*** Eagles at Chiefs *** (ABC, ESPN, ManningCast)
Bye: Falcons, Colts, Patriots, Saints
Maps (posted Wed.)
Bucs at Niners in the MMD LEGION BOWL BROUGHT TO YOU BY GWJ
So weird that the Bucs are playing in Santa Clara two years in a row.
I have so many thoughts about that Bosa and Young pic. Let me go to BlackTwitter and see what’s up.
Bucs at Niners in the MMD LEGION BOWL BROUGHT TO YOU BY GWJ
Part 1. The Jags game is next month.
Cowboys at Panthers, ugh
BOA Stadium will be about 60% Cowboys fans. Dallas is already favored by 10 or so. And the Panthers cut their starting LG today because who the hell knows why they do anything anymore?
BOA Stadium will be about 60% Cowboys fans.
Apparently Everbank Stadium was flooded with 49ers fans last week.
Jump to 1:05 for a sea of red plus one Mark Brunell jersey walking away from the stadium:
Going to get the Niners 2 weeks in a row for afternoon games TV here in NC? That's crazy.
I've never been happier about a bye week in my life.
* After 9 weeks, the Jets currently have the highest FG-to-TD ratio in NFL history (23 FGs to 10 TDs)
That's a really funny way to say they're horrible in the red zone.
* The Browns are the only team in the 21st century to win a game after trailing for the first 59:20.
I'll be pendantic and point out that they were not trailing for the first 59:20. Ravens scored at 0:40 and Browns scored at the death, so the Browns led for the last 59:20.
Enix wrote:* After 9 weeks, the Jets currently have the highest FG-to-TD ratio in NFL history (23 FGs to 10 TDs)
That's a really funny way to say they're horrible in the red zone.
Could be worse. They could miss the field goals, or turn the ball over.
Monday
*** Eagles at Chiefs *** (ABC, ESPN, ManningCast)
Is Philadelphia cold-blooded enough to have Taylor Swift themed audibles?
They could miss the field goals
The only way that could be happen is if they were dumb enough to draft a kicker in, say, the 3rd round.
Or 2nd.
Either.
It's PJ Walker Season in Cleveland! Y'all are in for a wild ride.
I want to make fun, but the Niners lost to PJ so I can’t.
Shame they didn't have someone like Josh Dobbs to rely on.
Saw another story that said if he gets hit again in the same spot, his shoulder could just fall apart.
Seems like a good reason for him to keep playing to me.
Saw another story that said if he gets hit again in the same spot, his shoulder could just fall apart.
Seems like a good reason for him to keep playing to me.
New strategy: Can the Browns play fewer than five offensive linemen?
I want to make fun, but the Niners lost to PJ so I can’t.
Same, but I root for a team that got rid of PJ to open up a roster spot for a QB who's shorter and has a weaker arm.
Groper is making a business decision. Can't say I blame him for that at least.
It's a shame when a guy like Watson gets a serious injury.
And it's not a groin injury.
Saw another story that said if he gets hit again in the same spot, his shoulder could just fall apart.
The Browns spent $230m guaranteed to get Tim Couch again.
MilkmanDanimal wrote:Saw another story that said if he gets hit again in the same spot, his shoulder could just fall apart.
The Browns spent $230m guaranteed to get Tim Couch again.
No, Tim Couch was, by all accounts, not a serial sexual predator.
No, Tim Couch was, by all accounts, not a serial sexual predator.
That's true. He was just sexy.
Enix wrote:BOA Stadium will be about 60% Cowboys fans.
Apparently Everbank Stadium was flooded with 49ers fans last week.
"So many 49ers fans in there. Y'all got it, that's your house."
Eagles fans live by a different creed. We are all saying we wish some Niners fans try and show up.
Whenever I think of Eagles fans, I think of some random phone cam shot after 2017 NFC Championship game (don't think it was after the SB win) where the crowds are on the street and some shirtless guy in a rubber Eagle mask comes walking into the frame OUT IF NOWHERE with this ridiculous laugh.
I can never find that gif!
Update from Dysfunction Junction, NC: The Panthers owner and his wife watched O-line drills a day after the Panthers cut their starting LG, and Frank "Short Timer" Reich decided to resume playcalling duties after letting his OC do it for two weeks.
This would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
I watched the most recent QB School on Tiny Bryce and I couldn't make it past the halfway point.
I had never seen a passing game run entirely with stop routes, but I have now. It had all the creativity of a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
I watched the most recent QB School on Tiny Bryce and I couldn't make it past the halfway point.
"Who's he supposed to throw it to here?"
Orlofsky, meanwhile, says TBY is waiting for guys to get college open. Problem is, they're not even NFL open (except for Thielen, sometimes). Young was making those throws early in the season, but guys were dropping them, running the wrong depth, they were getting picked, etc. Now TBY seems a little trigger shy and who can blame him?
Worse, because the Panthers have no deep passing game (except for that one lovely heave vs the Bears to a guy I had never heard of until the very moment he caught the ball), DBs are driving on every pass. Which means picks (especially when TBY throws it late to the flat), breakups or a receiver who gets blasted into next week.
But, yeah, the problem is who's calling the plays. It's not like Carolina's OC pulled out an alt gameplan he had been holding onto since OTAs. Can't wait to see the Panthers against the Cowboys on Sunday. I'm wondering if Reich will go vanilla, audible to French vanilla or go with the crap vanilla you find in Neapolitan ice cream but toss in a couple of sprinkles (but no chocolate sauce). No matter who's calling plays, the Panthers' offense is freezer burned vanilla ice milk.
DJ Chark is the only WR on the team with a yards-per-reception in double-digits, which makes sense because DJ Chark is also the only WR on the team who is legitimately fast. He needs to stay on the field, and they need to use him more.
Where are the passing concepts Tiny Bryce was familiar with from Alabama? Where's mesh, where's lion, where's Y cross, where's glance? I get that there might be trepidation about running RPOs and exposing Bryce's twig-like skeleton to big boy hits, but drafting a QB that you liked for his creativity and then having your WRs run 7 yards and stand still seems incredibly self-defeating.
Almost as self-defeating as not giving the ball to Viska at every possible opportunity. Get well soon, Viska's ankle!
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