If so, that seems a bit unfair. He made an NFL-high 34 FGs this year (34 out of 39). That was only his second career miss from less than 30 yards (out of 35 attempts). cite
But I guess kickers are expected to be perfect. You don’t see the Seahawks cutting Russell Wilson because he threw an interception to lose the Superbowl.
He was also the only player on the team to put any points up at all. Adrian Peterson’s fumble was more costly than Walsh’s miss, IMO.
And Captain Munnerlyn’s inabilty to hold his spot/lane after the snap that went over Wilson’s head allowing the ridiculous completion that lead to a TD was more costly than Peterson’s fumble.
That was what amazed me on that play.
Early snap, mad scramble, Wilson going to his knees to retrieve the ball rather than falling on it, more mad scramble…
And Ty Lockett all by his lonesome just beyond the yardage-to-make for first down. No defenders in frame. No one within five yards, upfield, downfield, laterally. Anywhere. Lockett, the fastest Seahawk, on an island.
The wider view shows the defensive backfield gawking at Wilson’s scramble, deciding if they’re going to have to come up and box him in. You can almost see the gears grinding.
They seem to have forgotten: this is 2016. Scrambling Russ Wilson is most dangerous passing on the run, not running himself.
The rest of the play proceeds according to script, other than the heroic four-yard-line tackle by Josh Robinson.
That was a massive defensive brainfart on Minnesota’s part. Seattle did something surprising in response to a serious mistake, but the Vikes completely failed to take advantage of it by forcing a sack and not maintaining coverage discipline.
In some ways, Blair Walsh’s inexplicable miss was kind of anticlimactic.
I cut him some slack considering everyone’s assignment gets blown to hell when the snap rifles past the QB.
Just saw the Jones/Porter shove. Even neglecting was it a shove or not, HOW THE KCUF was Porter not flagged 15 yards for taunting when as an assistant coach he is on the field in the face on the Bengals team inciting them?
Pittsburgh Steelers. The answer to that, and other officiating questions.
I mean, I understand your larger point and agree that Walsh shouldn’t be scapegoated, but this might be overstating it. Peterson’s fumble probably dropped the Vikings win expectancy by 20%, which is pretty costly… but Walsh’s miss dropped it from probably around 95% to less than 1%, which is about as costly as it gets.
That’s just a function of timing, though. Had his miss been on the previous drive and Peterson’s fumble been on the final drive, those percentages reverse.
Walsh was the only player on the team to put any points on the board. If your defense holds one of the best offenses in football to 10, but the offense can’t do anything other than kick field goals, it’s a failure of the entire offense, not just the kicker.
I’ve never looked into how ESPN generates these win probability charts, but this shows the Seahawks win percentage right before Walsh’s missed field goal at 28%! I’m not sure how much of that is probability of a Walsh miss versus how much is probability of a post-field goal comeback. Nonetheless, the win probability is much higher than what you said here, which was pretty close to my intuition as well.
Several Bengals players and coaches ran onto the field to taunt or fight after the Shazier hit on Bernard (including Burfict). None of them were flagged either.
Absolutely correct. The better team won.
In possible further defense of Walsh- on the previous FG, Richard Sherman came in from Walsh’s right and VERY nearly deflected the ball. Could that have been a factor in Walsh shanking the next one to the left?
(And was this already mentioned upthread?)
Seattle’s offense is OK. Angry Doug Baldwin is great, Lockett is very good, the rest are journey-level. I mean, without Lynch and Rawls.
But they usually get the job done. The only other team to hold them to a single TD was Dallas, but it was enough for Seattle to win on.
They also have this other guy, Russell Wilson. He led the league in passer rating this year, so he’s starting to become a little more well known.
He’ll never amount to anything. Too short.
So a coach trying to break up a fight is the same as starting a fight? Is this the same NFL logic where tackling someone is an illegal block? Or the ball only has to get to the 6" line for a touchdown?
Trying to find a source besides a blog ,but I just read that the Chandler Jones hospitalization was due to an OD at Rob Gronkowski’s house
Burfict ran onto the field and shoved a Steelers player cause he was breaking up a fight? If you say so.
Wow, definitely some shady business surrounding Jones’ situation.
Seems any reports tied to Gronk may be inaccurate, though. The original source of that piece of info has since retracted.
When you miss a short FG during money time(Playoffs), you have to be released
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