There was a midseason reminder to refs to make sure the “three running backs run into the back of the QB sneak” doesn’t turn into pulling him forward, but it’s been legal consistently.
But there is talk that the rules may change in the offseason.
53: Patriots beat the Rams in an absolute snoozer
54: Chiefs over 49ers in an exciting game
55: Bucs over Chiefs in a blowout
56: Rams over Bengals in a snoozer
The strategies have become more developed than in the past. In the last few minutes of the game KC had an oportunity for a walk in touchdown and yet the runner purposely sat down, why? Why would he do that? Because that TD would leave too much time on the clock for the Ravens to have the ball even though KC would have been up by 6 or 7 points. So KC skipped the TD, ran down the clock, and gambled it all on the winning field goal.
It was a gamble that might not have happened in the past.
I think teams are getting better at it. For instance, more than once today, the Eagles had two guys lined up behind Hurts for the sole purpose of shoving him and the pile forward.
It’s just a fluke, and after all, we aren’t having good ones every year. Here’s the last ten:
Seattle 43, Denver 8 - Pretty much over in the first quarter.
New England 28, Seattle 24 - Decided in the last minute.
Denver 24, Carolina 10 - A bad game; the Panthers and Cam Newton looked just horrible.
New England 34, Atlanta 28 - Obviously a terrific contest; the greatest SB comeback ever, overtime
Philly 41, New England 33 - Good game, not great
New England 13, LA Rams 3 - The worst Super Bowl every played. An absolute snoozer.
Kansas City 31, San Fran 20 - KC did win this in the fourth quarter, but it really got away from SF.
Tampa Bay 31, Kansas City 9 - Zzzzzzz
LA Rams 23, Cincinnati 20 - Great
This year - Great
But even the non-blowout snoozer games were sorta close:
Carolina kicked a FG with 10 minutes left to draw within 16-10, and then got the ball back at their own 24 with 4 1/2 minutes left. So they still had a chance, but a Newton fumble on a sack led to a quick Denver TD.
Really? Philly twice led by 10 points, but NE came back to take a one-point lead with nine minutes to go. But the Eagles answered with a 7 minute drive to retake the lead, then recovered a Brady fumble on a sack before they kicked a late FG.
While certainly not the most aesthetic game, it was still close. It was tied a 3-3 until NE scored a TD with 7 minutes left, and then kicked a late FG to clinch it. Yeah, a snoozer, but still close.
Indeed. Could have gone either way, but dang, that was not in any way an enjoyable game to watch, and stands out in my mind for that reason alone – I distinctly remember, by the third quarter, marveling at just how uninteresting it was.
Pardon my ignorance but why did Kansas go for that short kick right at the end and give Philadelphia the change for a return, rather than simply belt it through the back of the end zone?
They let more than that go throughout the entire game. It wasn’t egregious by any means and should have been let go like many others were previous to that point. No, instead they decide to make a call in a Super Bowl game situation and turn a great game into an absolute dud of an ending.
Thank you, Roger Goodell, the man who claims that “NFL officiating has never been better.” Yeah, right; don’t believe what you see and hear, believe him.
Didn’t score immediately because it would leave too much time. They ultimately kicked a FG because:
a) they had given up yardage to run more time off
b) a FG is a much higher percentage play, particularly from outside the five
c) a kick-off return for a score is a very low percentage play
The clock winds once the return man touches the ball. If you kick it in the endzone, the return guy can just avoid it and take the touchback with no time off the clock.
Kickoffs are live balls, unlike punts. Squibbing it to the 30 forces the return team to pick it up because the kicking team can jump on it. Technically whoever picks it up on the return team can immediately kneel, so you’re looking at one or two seconds run off the clock. But that’s better than nothing.
Oftentimes the return team will pick up a squib and run, probably caught up in the heat of the moment, and now you’re looking at three or four seconds run off the clock.
When there’s only 8 seconds left in the game, burning an extra two can go a long way. The Chiefs’ squib kick burned two seconds, with the Eagles getting the ball back with 6 seconds left.
For whatever reason, squib kick return touchdowns are almost unheard of. Probably because the kicking team is able to get down there around the same time the ball does.
(I don’t actually remember the play. Was it a squib, as in did it bounce on the ground, or was it just a short kick? If it touches the ground, you also can’t fair catch it, which is another way for the return team to avoid any time coming off the clock. You could kneel, but you’d probably get crushed so you kind of have to run for your life.)
I feel like 9 times out of 10, the squib kick is likely the best call, but with eight seconds left it really didn’t make sense to me given the Eagles had no timeouts. But whatever the Chiefs did, it was going to be all low-percentage chances for the Eagles either way.