He doesn’t lead with the crown of the helmet. He leads with his shoulder. Romo’s body moves because he’s being hit from the other side; nothing Kiwanuka can do about that. Between those pictures a fraction of a second elapsed. It’s not enough time for him to pull off, or hit him with a pom-pom, or do pretty much anything. Neither Al Michaels nor Cris Collinsworth said anything about the hit, and I didn’t see any Cowboys protesting. You are making up a controversy.
Eh, I apologize for my tone, Omni. The way the Bengals lost was pretty upsetting to me. Of course I wasn’t blaming Maualuga for the loss, but his penalty nullified a slim chance at the end of the game where the Bengals defense had engineered a stop.
Man, that Sanu fumble really turned the game, but that last exchange at the end of the first half was so badly managed by the Bengals on so many levels. Playcalling NOT to run out the clock after the first down run was stuffed for a loss, shanking the punt, then adding a personal foul (that shouldn’t have been called, IMO) to get the Bears within reach of a long FG that should have never happened.
Ugh. And that was the margin in the game, too.
It would be interesting to know if anyone schooled in probability has ever crunched the numbers, but the Patriots must have figured their best chance to win was to do it the way they did. If you keep running plays, lots of things could happen. Maybe you’ll fumble, or throw an interception. Maybe you’ll score a touchdown immediately and the other team will have time to move the ball downfield and score one of their own. But a field goal from that distance is probably >90% successful. Those are pretty good odds.
As I remember it, the Patriots got within easy field goal range, then Brady ran a play where he dived to his right (not quite the same as taking a knee), let the clock run down to nine seconds, called time out, then kicked the field goal.
The dive play was to position the ball as near the middle of the field as possible. That way, the next play (the field goal attempt) would take place in the middle of the field. I don’t know how much of a difference that really makes; the effective width between goal posts can’t be more than a couple inches less if you’re kicking from the hash marks. I’ve always wondered if maybe the kicker can line things up better by starting on the center line and knowing the ball has to stay between the hash marks.
The dive play also lets the clock keep running. If you know you’re going to attempt the field goal anyway, you’d probably like it to be the final play so the other team has no time to stage a miracle comeback. In practice, 9 seconds gives you two chances. If something happens on the first try, like the holder bobbling the ball, the team can keep the ball and try again from a few yards further back.
Robot-Sorry I forgot to mention it, but I meant at the end of the 1st half.
Redskins, RGIII, and MNF in 30 minutes! WOO HOO!
Looks incomplete. Interesting to see the Philly offense looking so good to begin with. Big Chip Kelly fan, but utterly baffled at Pat Shurmur at OC.
Heh, holy crap. The slowest part of the game so far was the 90 yard lateral return.
Now that gassed Washington D has to go right back out there.
Looks backward to me.
That isn’t going to stand is it?
Different angles, looks more like a lateral now.
What I was trying to communicate was that the Bengals executed well. They made lots of mental mistakes, but their play-calling kept the Bears off-balance, they generally ran good routes and converted on 3rd down consistently. They made a lot of mental mistakes which always happens to Bears opponents, but those tended to not happen between the whistles.
A quote from the ESPN game recap to back this up.
That’s what I call sharp, there’s a reason the Bengals were up 11 on the road.
They haven’t posted the drop statistics for this game yet, but I’m pretty confident that the Bengals and Bears numbers will be very similar and fairly low as a whole. Balls tend to bounce off players hands when the QB is forcing the ball, the WR is hearing footsteps or trying to make a big play. Players make mistakes when put in difficult positions and the opponent forces them into those positions. Also, it’s not luck that the Bears secondary is constantly catching these dropped and batted balls. They practice it, draw they scheme up to ensure that players are in position to capitalize on these mistakes (not blitzing, cover-2, playing soft man coverage, maintaining downfield, outside position etc.) and they draft players with good hands and ball skills.
Discount it if you want, but remember next time you see a batted ball skip helplessly to the ground our bounce off a DBs hands why you constantly claim the Bears are “lucky”. As you noted, the Bears were awfully “lucky” for 16 games last season and here again in week 1. They must be harvesting rabbits feet every Saturday night at Halas Hall.
Pat Shurmur is more a consultant than a real OC. Kelly calls plays, that much is obvious. Shurmur was brought in just to be a West Coast consultant and give Kelly a different voice in play design.
I think the Refs blew that lateral-fumble-TD call. There wasn’t good evidence to overturn it, but if you look where Vick was standing and where the RB was standing (Vick on the 4, arm over the 5, and McCoy just in front of the 6 and running upfield) there’s no way that pass was backwards unless Vick was throwing it behind McCoy badly. Vick would certainly have led McCoy by at least a yard. It was only a matter of inches where Kerrigan swatted it, but that thing was probably moving ever so slightly upfield.
No need to apologize, as far as pissy Sunday football posts go this was barely even worth noting around here!
I know it was a 3 point game, but that second half field goal wasn’t the deciding factor. The Bears had the ball in FG range on the final drive and would have kicked a bunny to win it had it been tied (of course, the math is never that simple, butterfly effect and all).
Also, Cutler threw a bad pick on the series before the Sanu fumble. You can play the what-if game all day long.
Like I said, I think the Bengals are going to easily win the division. They Bears were a 10-6 team last year and got better in the off-season, losing on the road to a good team isn’t exactly a hard-luck situation. I think this game was the toughest match-up on paper in your entire season, the Bears are probably the best team you go on the road for (Ravens, maybe, Lions if you’re a little loopy).
Well, I was horribly wrong about Kaepernick but I might have been right about Griffin. Has he been as bad as the numbers suggest?
No idea, but Griffin could just be very rusty.
That reminds me, I’ve got to save up for a Kaepernick jersey. I should have bought one when he was drafted like I wanted, now I seem like a bandwagoner.
Men shouldn’t wear QB jerseys. That’s Omni Rule #73.
Omni I was referring to the 58 yard FG that the Bears got at the end of the first half. It should have never happened.
… does that include quarterbacks?
How did Desean Jackson get away with that? Now he’s going to be an even bigger punk than before, and that takes some doing.
While the Reds obviously are suffering from RG’s lack of time under center, Philly looks good. Better than in years.
I know. I’m just saying that if it hadn’t happened - the Bengals burn the clock or Gould comes up short - that doesn’t mean it’s a tie game at the end of regulation. Assuming everything else that happened remains the same then the Bears have the ball with 6:30 left to go and still get into FG range with one of the best kickers ever having a chance to win it as time expires.