If they didn’t like the look they got at the line, it was an utterly sensible use of the timeout. If they didn’t get the first down on the next play, the game was over. If they did, they’d be in FG range and still have plenty of time to move closer.
So there are only 5 divisions left alive (had KC won it would’ve been 4). I wonder if that’s a record for the fewest divisions remaining at this point.
Stupid Bengals. Please make a HC change, Mike Brown. It’s time.
My thoughts on the games this weekend.
They were all very good to watch. Not having your team in any of the games makes them both easier to watch, and less stressful, too. I’d prefer to have had the Steelers in, but they didn’t make it, so now I can watch the games without fear of losing my hair, and being able to fall asleep on the couch without any stress that I’m going to miss the big play.
I was very happy to see the Chiefs go down. I did jump on the Colts bandwagon before the playoffs started, so I had someone to root for. And I really thought they were toast, like the rest of America did when they were down 28. But they got a few lucky bounces and pulled out that amazing comeback.
I don’t think it is coincidence that Andy Reid is the coach of the Chiefs, either. I can’t say what he did that was so terrible… I know some folks have hammered his clock management, but they scored enough points to win. However, he has consistently underperformed in the playoffs, and I think he is just one of those guys, like a Marty Schottenheimer, destined to be a great regular season coach but a dud in the playoffs.
I was glad to see the Saints win on the road at Philly, because i like Drew Brees and the Saints a lot. Brees is one of those guys I’ve followed since college, and I have always rooted for him. He seems like a genuinely nice guy.
Today’s Packers/49ers game was interesting, but. I think some no calls by the officials kept the Packers from being blown out in the first half. The one call that sticks out in my mind was the no call pass interference in the endzone, when the Packers DB basically mugged Crabtree. I can’t stand the 49ers and even I had to admit that was a bad no-call. The Niners were the better team most of the day and deserved that win. I can’t stomach the thought of Jim Harbaugh winning another game though, so I’ll be rooting for them to lose next week.
The final game, SD and Cincy was a big surprise to me. I don’t honestly know what to think of the Bengals, and this year has to be very disappointing ti their fans. That fumble near the goal line seemed to be the change point in the game, but Andy Dalton didn’t impress me very much today either. He has that “hasn’t won a play-off game” tag on him, and I thought he would lose it today. Now, it just gets to be a bigger monkey on his back.
I don’t think Marvin Lewis is the problem, but FoisGrassIsEvil does, so maybe he’s right. He pays closer attention to the Bengals than I do. I just wish it was the Steelers beating the Bengals today in Cincy to crush the Bengal fans one more time in their history, but the Chargers got to do it instead. That just didn’t seem right. 
Oh well. The AFC has only one team in it that I actually like now, and that’s the Colts. I would love and am rooting to see a Colts/Chargers Championship game.
As for the NFC, I think the Seahawks win and will play Carolina.
I wonder how Denver will react if Manning comes up short again this year. The man is an amazing QB, and I like him as a person, but I am so glad he’s not my team’s QB. He breaks the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people every year.
I thought that wasn’t too bad… consistent with how they were calling contact all day (including 49ers defenders on Packers receivers), and at any rate it was made up for by the phantom PI they did call on the Packers. They did miss some blatant holding when Rogers escaped pressure to set up a TD, but that again balanced the dreadful holding call against the Packers earlier (hint: if the blocker’s head is turned by 90 degrees because the rusher is pushing his facemask to the side, whatever happens after that, probably the blocker is not the one that should be flagged).
You have a point. They did seem to let them play. That no-call I am referring to was early in the first quarter, I believe the second 49er drive, so that’s why it stuck out. But yeah, they seemed to be consistent. Mostly.
I don’t mind some hand checking, but when a guy blatently grabs, holds, or otherwise impedes a receiver for the ball, that bugs me. Especially since the NFL always calls that ticky tack call when a ball is underthrown and a receiver tries to get to the ball by stopping, letting the defender run into him, and getting that called a interference. (I’m not implying this happened yesterday, I am talking generally.)
But i guess if both teams are permitted to play a receiver the same way, I guess that’s ok.
I take back giving Andy Reid a pass for the KC loss. He completely mismanaged the game clock with his play calling. I didn’t realize this, but this morning on the Dan Patrick show Dan said that Reid’s Chiefs threw the ball 25 times (I think) int he second half AFTER getting up by 28 points. Why would he do that? That just gave the Colts and Luck more time to make their comeback. He should have run the ball more to grind off some of that clock. I didn’t watch the whole game, so I’m guilty of not knowing how they played after going up 28. I turned the channel. But if true, e Chief fans have a reason to be angry and have gotten a taste of what Eagle fans dealt with for 10 years of Andy Reid.
What a nightmare loss.
Their #1 and #2 RBs were out with injury, and they have a high percentage efficient short passing game - I don’t think passing a lot was necessarily a mistake in the second half.
Yup, when you’re down to your third-string running back (the immortal Cyrus Gray) and your top rushing option is Alex Smith, you can’t blame Reid for throwing the ball in the second half. Had Smith been able to throw a slightly more accurate pass to Gray along the sideline - or a slightly more accurate throw to Bowe on fourth down - chances are the strategy would have worked, and Reid’s play calling would have overcome the defense giving up 35 points in the second half.
I was at the Packer game yesterday and I have no idea what was shown on TV, but I can tell you that it was incredible how much stuff the officials were ignoring on both sides of the ball, especially in the first half.
My theory was that they were afraid their whistles would stick to their lips.
It was a great game. Not a great outcome, IMHO, but very exciting all around.