# NFL 2021: Week Six Degrees of Parity **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [October 12, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358 "2021-10-12T14:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/41 "2021-10-18T18:10:15Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > It looked like what you’d expect from a couch potato fan who won the “Be an NFL quarterback for one play!” lottery. Okay, yeah, but Mahomes was being pulled to the ground as he did it. I would not criticize him for throwing it badly. I criticize him for not throwing it away. He should have tossed it out of bounds and just taken the incompletion. Or even throwing it in-bounds where there was nobody and risking the grounding penalty. You don’t just throw it where there are players and hope that one of your guys happens to catch it. I don’t see that as a mechanics problem, I see that as a judgement problem. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/42 "2021-10-18T18:40:15Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I criticize him for not throwing it away. He should have tossed it out of bounds and just taken the incompletion. It was 3rd and 1 at the WFT 20 with about 30 seconds left in the half. Even throwing it away gains nothing, because then it’s 4th down. He should have just eaten the ball and let Butker kick the FG. Obviously terrible judgment by Mahomes. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/43 "2021-10-18T20:18:05Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I would not criticize him for throwing it badly. I criticize him for not throwing it away. He should have tossed it out of bounds and just taken the incompletion. Or even throwing it in-bounds where there was nobody and risking the grounding penalty. You don’t just throw it where there are players and hope that one of your guys happens to catch it. I think it’s fairly obvious that he was trying to throw it away. He was getting wrapped up but was trying to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage. The defender pulling on him made it impossible to get behind the throw. Bad decision still since in that situation you can survive the sack, but 99% of the time he gets the ball away into safety. > [@Railer13](#): > > It was 3rd and 1 at the WFT 20 with about 30 seconds left in the half. Even throwing it away gains nothing, because then it’s 4th down. He should have just eaten the ball and let Butker kick the FG. Considering the result, it’s probably him trying to do too much, but he wasn’t trying to complete a pass that I could see. Throwing it away saves the FG kicker ~10 yards on the attempt. That’s the difference between a 37 yard gimme and a 47 yard attempt. Throwing it away is absolutely worth doing and there was a play in the Bears game that was very similar where Fields ate it and took us out of FG range. It’s not an obviously bad decision, but he simply had too much confidence in his strength here. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/44 "2021-10-18T20:30:53Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I think it’s fairly obvious that he was trying to throw it away. He was getting wrapped up but was trying to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage. The defender pulling on him made it impossible to get behind the throw. Bad decision still since in that situation you can survive the sack, but 99% of the time he gets the ball away into safety. Okay, yeah, maybe. It’s really easy for some guy sitting at home to criticize what happens to the trajectory of a throw as a mountain of muscular manmeat is pulling you down like the Incredible Hulk tearing down a skyscraper. Mea culpa. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/45 "2021-10-18T20:39:09Z")
The crazy thing is that he basically threw that ball with just his arm and it still went ~10 yards upfield and ~20 yards in the air. Most of us couch potatoes would pull something trying to throw the ball that high and far without someone ripping us to the turf. Its easy to forget that even a 20 yard throw takes a fair bit of juice for most mortals. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/46 "2021-10-18T20:57:05Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Throwing it away saves the FG kicker ~10 yards on the attempt. That’s the difference between a 37 yard gimme and a 47 yard attempt. You are probably not familiar with the Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker. But Patrick Mahomes knows him well. Mahomes was most definitely not trying to throw it away, because he knew that Butker would more than likely make a FG from either distance. Mahomes thought he could get it to the receiver in the end zone. But he wasn’t counting on getting pulled down by a guy twice his size. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/47 "2021-10-18T21:35:48Z")
He didn’t even have a grip on the ball. He shot put the stupid thing. I mean, maybe you can read his mind, but the video certainly doesn’t suggest it. And no matter how good your kicker is, any QB worth a shit is going to try to avoid a sack in that situation. It’s QB 101, and whatever Mahomes faults are he’s not a moron. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/48 "2021-10-18T22:48:25Z")
Mahomes gets away with a lot of “what the fuck is he doing… holy shit he made it” type of plays, so I’m inclined not to criticize him much when he has “what the fuck was THAT” plays that go badly. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/49 "2021-10-18T23:39:45Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > … he wasn’t counting on getting pulled down by a guy twice his size. Yet he probably should have - that big guy had two hands on him before he threw the ball. Mahomes has more talent to make amazing plays than most. But he’ll be a better player when he figures out that a 2% chance of pulling off a miracle (as opposed to the normal QB’s 1%) still means he should eat the ball. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/50 "2021-10-18T23:42:02Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > But he’ll be a better player when he figures out that a 2% chance of pulling off a miracle (as opposed to the normal QB’s 1%) still means he should eat the ball. In Wisconsin, we call that “Favre’s Disease.” ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/51 "2021-10-18T23:45:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > … we call that “Favre’s Disease.” Apropos. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/52 "2021-10-19T00:39:28Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > Yet he probably should have - that big guy had two hands on him before he threw the ball. Which is even more reason why he should have eaten the ball and taken the 7-8 yard loss on the sack. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In Wisconsin, we call that “Favre’s Disease.” That made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/53 "2021-10-19T00:40:57Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > That made me laugh. I used to say that my one share of Green Bay Packers stock entitled me to yell at the television when my employee tried to force a play like that, and had it backfire on him. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/54 "2021-10-19T00:47:50Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I mean, maybe you can read his mind, but the video certainly doesn’t suggest it. The video doesn’t exactly suggest that he’s throwing it away, either. ISTM that he’s looking at his receiver (#13) when he attempts the pass. Whatever his intention, it didn’t work. But he looked about 1000% better in the second half. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/55 "2021-10-19T00:57:46Z")
On the Mahones pass, did KC have any timeouts left? If not he doesn’t have time to take a sack and an intentional grounding runs off the clock. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/56 "2021-10-19T02:09:20Z")
Browns might be missing Mayfield on Thursday (and if he plays, it’s badly hurt), Chubb, Hunt, both tackles, and probably 5 or 6 players on defense. What a brutal fucking week to have a Thursday night game. Really, it’s inexcusable for Thursday games not to occur after a team’s bye week. That’s such an obvious thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/57 "2021-10-19T02:33:01Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > On the Mahones pass, did KC have any timeouts left? Yes. They used their first timeout about 20 seconds earlier, so they still had 2 left. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > If not he doesn’t have time to take a sack There were about 30 seconds on the clock when the ball was snapped. KC had plenty of time to get a play off even if they didn’t have any timeouts left. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > an intentional grounding runs off the clock. Not quite sure what you mean by this? The penalty for intentional grounding is loss of down and ball placed at the spot of the foul. Clock stops on the incomplete pass. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/58 "2021-10-19T02:54:50Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > The penalty for intentional grounding is loss of down and ball placed at the spot of the foul. Clock stops on the incomplete pass. If it’s near the end of the half, the defense can choose to have another 10 seconds run off the clock on the penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/59 "2021-10-19T03:03:11Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > If it’s near the end of the half, the defense can choose to have another 10 seconds run off the clock on the penalty You are correct about the ten-second runoff, which I totally forgot about. I think it happens automatically inside of two minutes. But that still would have left about 10-15 seconds on the clock for KC. And the clock would be stopped. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358/60 "2021-10-19T03:45:27Z")
Some great games on primetime this year, especially when they don’t forcefeed us more NFC east games. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-six-degrees-of-parity/952358.md?page=4)