Not sure, but going under 40.5 cost me a lot of parlays. I thought over 40.5 on that game was a really good bet the way both teams have been playing lately.
Now I need NE/Buf to go over 46.5 to remotely salvage my weekend.
The difference is that in the regular season, if a game is still tied at the end of the 5th period, it goes down as a tie. It doesn’t happen all that often.
It was like bizarro world. The Jets run defense was staunch; they never let up a big gainer on the ground all day. Plus, their pass rush was phenomenal, with something like 7 sacks. (Ben had only been sacked 9 times all season coming into the game.) Most of that pressure was from exotic packages that Mangini apparently cooked up during the bye week. Similar to last year, actually, when coming out of the bye the Jets turned everything around and made that playoff run.
One thing that helped a lot was the Steelers intentionally pooched every kickoff to avoid a big return by Leon Washington, so the Jets started out with good field position all day.
Oh yeah, and Thomas Jones was a beast, though he didn’t get into the endzone. (Still 0 for the season.) Jones is now the second back (Edgerrin James) to rush for 100+ yards against the Steelers in 50+ games. Wow. The OL wasn’t particularly dominant; it seemed to me to be a lot of cutback running.
Clemens had 1 or 2 bonehead “rookie” mistakes, but otherwise looked solid. Coles got dinged up fairly early, and amazingly enough McCarreins stepped up, along with Smith. Cotchery had a quiet day. It was weird all around.
Really, back against the wall I would say the main reason the Jets won was karma from that playoff game in 2004.
So far that doesn’t look like it will be a problem.
28-7
I can hardly even watch these guys anymore. They are good.
I have to get blind drunk to watch them play anymore. Then when I wake up later, I can act like it didn’t happen. Just like that night with the sheep, the half gallon of whiskey, and the two sorority girls…
The Lions could/should have had that game.
So in the SNF game, Madden repeatedly talks about how it’s okay for the Patriots to run up the score. Fine with me, I don’t really have a problem with it.
But then later, as Buffalo is trying to get a garbage TD to maybe save some dignity, Madden says something like “they really shouldn’t be trying this now, playing hard like that… someone could get hurt”
I understood Madden to say teams should play a solid 3 quarters regardless of the score, then let up. Madden questioned the Buffalo garbage play because it was late in the 4th.
Well, the Pokes held on (whew!), but I think that Wade Phillips needs to send out a search party for our defense. Just where in the hell WERE they for that final 'Skins TD drive? The only way they could have given the receivers more cushion to catch and run was if they’d sat on the sidelines (and I’m not completely sure that they weren’t)!
And I was just about ready to hand Andre Gurode back to Haynesworth*. What WAS he doing? Hiking the ball into Romo’s face wasn’t bad enough, he had to hike it over his head TWICE? And Romo had to jump for a few more. Yeesh!
*No, not really. What Haynesworth did during that game was atrocious and I don’t really think Gurode deserves that again–but boy, was I ready to stuff the guy into a DEEP hole!
A couple thoughts on the Patriots.
Tom Brady looks so comfortable in the pocket. Effortless really. He looks like he is getting ready to pass a ball to his son. I think he is going to get hurt in the next couple games. He is so relaxed and has been so protected lately, he wont even see it coming.
A far as them running up the score I say go for it. I am all for asserting dominance. And going for it on fourth down I think is a good call. At some point if they keep winning they are just going to be outright boring to watch. If they keep scoring 50 plus points and breaking records I will watch. The game would have been worse and I would not have been able to watch the rest if they just kinda half-assed it the whole second half.
I heard a commentator last night say they may never loose again. Sound kinda funny but they have some great picks in the next draft.
An under .500 team is exactly the team to beat them I think. The long shot underdog. I think many of the Pats opponents for the rest of the season have tossed out any hopes for a Post Season. They do have the Pats though, to regain a bit of pride and have reason to throw a party.
Just a few thoughts.
Go Cowboys!!
The GIANTS should have put away the game earlier, nor should the Lions have ever gotten their touchdown. Even in a win, I was complaining (like the announcers) about BIG BLUE’s inability to run up the score.
Plus, we really got to see why Reuben Droughns is the number 3 back. Not that it was completely his fault, as he kept getting attacked 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
A name you might’ve heard recently and will in the future is Joshua Cribbs. I obviously haven’t watched every team’s special teams unit all year, but there’s a good chance that Cribbs is the best special teamer in the league. He’s in Hester’s league in terms of being a returner - he’s a much better kick returner but a worse punt returner - but he also plays very well on coverage teams too. Yesterday not only did he keep popping off 40+ yard kick returns, but he played the gunner on the punt coverage team and forced a fumble from the opponent’s returner. He’s been consistently doing awesome stuff on special teams for a while now.
Wes Welker is the current vote leader for the AFC returner, but if Cribbs doesn’t go to the pro bowl it’ll further prove what a sham it is.
I’m surprised it isn’t Leon Washington, what with his 3 return TDs. Where did you see the list? Got a link?
I couldn’t find my original source. I think it was on SI.com or espn.com in one of the weekly columns, but I couldn’t find it.
A web search lead me here which looks correct.
The pro bowl voting is pretty silly. Chris Hanson, the Patriots punter? He’s punted about 4 times this year. Manning is getting by on name recognition, he hasn’t been great this year. But that’s how the pro bowl works, especially the fan voting portion.
Leon Washington is good, and he’d be more worthy of going to the pro bowl as a KR than Welker, but Cribbs has 500 more kick return yards than anyone else in the NFL, the highest average return (Washington is close, but Cribb’s having almost double the returns means that a few 80+ yard returns boosts his average by less and it becomes a more statistically valid sample), 2 TDs, and a better PR average. Cribbs has 37 20+ returns compared to 21, 7 40+ returns compared to 4. The only area where Washington wins is the extra TD, but Cribbs almost had 3 - got tripped up at the 4 yard line on one of his returns.
I watched a few Washington returns on NFL.com, and they look good - he’s very quick and fast - but he seems to be the beneficiary of great return blocking and is able to just run straight through the coverage unit. The fact that Justin Miller did so well last year in the same role supports this.
Watch what Cribbs has done in the last 2 games. I don’t know how to link to the videos directly as they’re embedded in the page here.
First return was at 0:37, second return at 2:40. The second return was a disaster turned into gold. Not many players in the NFL could do what Cribbs did there.
And, unfortunately, although Cribbs was ripping up the Ravens all game long, they only included one of his returns in the highlight. Here at 2:23. That’s the best return, though - with 26 seconds on the clock, his team down by 3, Cribbs drags about 7 defenders 10+ yards through sheer force of will.
It’s unfortunate that they don’t show the other returns, because every time they kicked Cribbs the ball he burned them. It made Billick’s decision to kick to Cribbs with 26 seconds left, and then yet again into overtime look quite foolish. The highlight videos they put up on a game’s page right after the game finishes are very good - unfortunately they replace them with inferior NFL network recaps after that.
You aren’t kidding with how silly some of that voting is. The NFC team would appear to just be the Cowboys roster plus Adrian Peterson. I guess it was silly of me to think a member of the Giants OL would make it for once.
Speaking of which, that was basically my point about Washington. I figured the probowl voters – both players and fans – would just look at the stat sheet and pick the guy with 3 TDs regardless of anything else. I personally agree with everything you said here:
That was an interesting contrast last week. Baltimore kept kicking to Cribbs, who torched them. The Steelers, meanwhile, kept pooch-kicking it to keep it away from Washington, giving the Jets guaranteed good field position every possession. (Leon also returns punts.) This indirectly led to the Jets winning. What directly led to the Jets winning is that the Steelers kicked (punted) to Leon exactly once all game…in overtime. Which he returned to the Steelers 26; run, run, run, game-winning field goal, thanks Leon!
There’s a reason that Leon has gotten so few returns. What seems unreasonable is that Cribbs has gotten so many. Are the Browns’ opponents just stupider? (Judging by the Steelers and Ravens last week, uh, yes?)