And now for the facts.
The blown interception was on a 2nd and 18 at the Giants 30. So if it had been called correctly It would have bren 3rd and 18. Why that would alarm the refs is hard to fathom.
On your second point: it was a 6 yard gain on first down at the Giants 37. And it wasn’t for taunting, it was for smacking Donald Driver after the whistle was blown.
It was a little playful tap on the facemask, it was bullshit.
The interception that wasn’t was a change of possession. There’s no reason the Giants couldn’t have converted a third down against that suck-ass secondary. The refs were afraid the Giants were going to get back in the game, that’s all.
Only in the sense that IMO the Giants had already checked out mentally. Down by 14 with 10 minutes left in the game and you have the ball on your own 30, the game is not objectively already over.
Hoooo Doggie, the Packers took the Giants to the woodshed!! An outstanding win. The Lions win again on the road, three wins in a row for the first time … in quite awhile. They could be a force to be rwckoned with in the future. The Bears win against a good team … in a way I never would have thought. Their offense had to carry their D. And the Vikings, well who really cares, they’re done.
Next week will be fascinating.
This is a cross-post from the Week 16 thread regarding the Bears-Packers next week. I figured it was appropriate here.
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Couple of interesting tidbits if I understand the NFC playoff situation correctly. Next week the Bears and Packers face off in Green Bay. If the Bears win they will most likely eliminate the Packers from the playoff picture which would be incredibly satisfying. With a win the Bears would also lock down the #2 seed and the first round bye. With a loss the Packers are in the playoffs and assuming the Eagles take care of business the Bears and Packers would end up having a rematch in Soldier Field to open the playoffs.
The two historic rivals have only played once in the Playoffs ever, a Bears win 33-14 in 1941 prior to a Bears championship.
If the Vikings win tomorrow it will render the next weeks matchup moot and the Bears will have nothing to play for, it’ll be interesting to see if the Bears start everyone and try and whip the Packers anyways, I suspect they would.
[/QUOTE]
The funniest part is where you said, “If the Vikings win tomorrow…”
Hey, the football gods will frown on this Philly stupidity of postponing the game. Trust me.
What’s the weather report for Detroit on Sunday?
The Vikings are scheduled to play a game that day and, well, I’m just saying.
It’s in a dome. What could possibly happen?
Two words for this weekend: Go. Bears.
When they were there a few weeks ago, Zygi was checking out the roof, just in case.
Well, half the division made the playoffs, with even the lowly Lions ending the season on a 4 game winning streak. Altogether, not a bad year.
Kudos to the Lions for playing hard most every game and for improving greatly over the year. They still lack the talent and depth to compete in every game, but if they keep getting better, and get/stay healthy, they may have turned a corner.
Kudos to the Bears for playing hard in the last game. No Colt-like resting their starters or lying down, they played and played hard. It will be interesting to see if they can make any noise in the playoffs.
Kudos to the Vikings for … giving me something to greatly enjoy. Their collapse, both on and off the field, was a joy to behold, and having been built to make a two year run and failing, they need to get used to the world “rebuilding”.
Kudos to the Packers for sucking it up and winning when they had to. They made the playoffs, and have played pretty well. There are still way too many mistakes (dropped passes, false starts, dropped interceptions), but at least they are in and have a good chance to make some noise.
Only 4 more Packer games in this years’ season, so enjoy them.
The last time the Lions won 4 games in a row? 1999. The last time they won this many games in a season? 1996.
They blew this draft, though. We need cornerbacks badly.
Cornerbacks, like wide receivers, can be found in free agency. You’ll pay just as much to draft a good one anyway. I’m sure Buffalo’s corners will be free agents this offseason. They always are.
And damn your Lions for keeping the Buccaneers out of the playoffs!
I’m actually quite glad the Packers won, because the Giants also won so the Bucs wouldn’t have gone to the playoffs even with a Pack loss.
Suh looks like the real deal, and Spievey, while still learning, can be a quality starter in this league (nice pick on Sunday). I think trading up for Best was a mistake, and they will need more CBs, but I really don’t think you can call this years draft a bust yet.
Hell, I’d say Suh makes it a great draft all by himself.
So I went 37-27 on my game-by-game picks to start the season. Not too bad. The Packers and Lions did fairly close to my expectation, while the Bears and Vikings did not. I am very impressed with the Bears this year and also with the way theh Lions finished. Assuming the Packers are healthy next year it looks like it could be a pretty interesting division between these three teams…
In somewhat trivial news the Minnesota Vikings signed former 3rd round draft pick Juaquin Iglesias off the Bears practice squad. Not sure exactly how these end of season signings work and what the future implications are but I think it’s safe to say that it closes that chapter on his career with the Bears. He was a bust through and through as the first pick of that Cutler-trade draft, as I predicted. The Bears are in dire need of a big, physical move-the-chains receiver and Iglesias was supposed to be that guy yet in 2 years he never earned a single snap.
For Minnesota it probably indicates that they are looking to get some insurance at the position with Berrian being a potential cap casualty and Sidney Rice becoming a Free Agent. I doubt Iglesias will be a factor, but if he breaks out as a solid contributor for them I’ll be mighty pissed. The ESPN blogger seems to think that he was developing well on the Bears practice squad, so time will tell.
Long story short, I hope the Bears shit-can Jerry Angelo this offseason regardless of the playoff outcome.
I highly doubt they’ll let Rice test free agency. He and Harvin can be a top-3 wideout pairing for the next 5-10 years. Assuming they find a quarterback.
It’s a couple days late, but it should probably be mentioned that Leslie Frazier has been made the permanent head coach of the Vikings.