Sorry, I meant the chop block call. The Giant who was blocked low was not engaged by anyone else. The Eagle who was accused of engaging him was engaged with another defender and almost facing a different direction at the time. It was an egregiously bullshit call and nearly decided the game. Sorry about the confusion though.
I just wanted to highlight this prescient comment. Very nice.
If only I had as much foresight with my picks. I kinda thought that game would be close. I also thought Asomugha would play, that might have played a tiny role. Oh well, I was wrong. Not the first time, etc.. Sometimes, it’s even fun to be wrong…
The only thing I find harder to believe than the way the Jets pulled out a victory after blowing a 16-point lead is that I appear to be the first one here to be commenting on it.
I mean, holy crap! After the Texans’ interception that led to the field goal, leaving less than a minute on the clock, I didn’t think the Jets had a chance. That was two amazing fourth-quarter comebacks in the same game!
The Jets win every game in the last 20 seconds. It’s already old.
Don’t forget it was the same Texans who were beaten last week with a Hail Mary. A real Hail Mary.
I haven’t seen enough of Houston to know the answer, but they seem like they should be better than they are. I don’t know what their problems are.
And it isn’t like Mark Sanchez is a great QB, or that their defense is as good as it was last season… what’s going on here?
I didn’t notice that, but I did mark that in the first ten minutes or so Collinsworth noted two instances of the Giants getting away with holding, so I started paying a little attention. (Disclaimer: I was rooting for the Iggles, but without huge commitment). Looked like nearly every passing play, the Giants O-line were getting away with arm-bars to keep the pass-rusher from getting around them.
Oh, good, an easy one. They can’t cover anyone.
I agree that it felt like the Eagles should have been up by 24 instead of 13, but, in fairness, the Giants’ Defense dropped two interceptions, and the most basic reason that the score was as close as it was is that their defense played really well, keeping their team in the game despite no help from the offense (either on the scoreboard or in terms of field position).
“Luck,” I think, is the short answer. They haven’t been bad, of course, but given their level of play, if just a handful of their good breaks were instead bad breaks, they’d be 6-4 or 5-5, and it wouldn’t be a huge injustice. (To be fair, they did lose a very tough game to Baltimore by 1 point in the first week, so it hasn’t all fallen in their favor.)
It’s officially official. Chilly has gottenthe boot. Zygi has apparently seen enough and given the bum his walking papers. Lemme say this, screw you Zygi, why didn’t you shit-can him last week so that you might have actually had a chance at beating the Packers.
The Packers get to borrow the nickname of coach killer. There’s been talk in Chicago about Lovie maybe earning another contract extension. While I want the Bears to make a playoff run, a first round ass-whipping on the heels of another 4 year deal for Lovie would be the absolute worst case scenario. Perhaps the Packers will lay the wood to the Bears in week 17 and eliminate them and get Lovie fired all in one fell swoop.
Incidentally, with games against the 49ers in 2 weeks and the Giants in week 16, the Packers might very well provide the final nail in 3 more coaches’ coffins before the season is done.
People forget how many NFL games turn on a single play. Even blowouts often really aren’t.
For example, I kept telling people last season that the Buccaneers weren’t as bad as their record. We lost four straight games on the final play (or didn’t win them on the final play). This season, our players are making that one extra catch or breaking that one extra tackle, and we’re tied for the 4th best record in the league with largely the same personnel.
ETA: Omni, there’s no reason for the Bears to re-sign Lovie yet. Nobody is going to be beating down his door to offer him anything more than a DC job.
I think you’re wrong about that. Lovie will get another HC job the moment he’s available. He’s a company guy and a class act. He’s got serious issues as a head coach but they are the types of issues that only fans and hard core scouts tend to notice. His players love him and play for him. His record and statistics will end up looking pretty good and his failures may rightly or wrongly be attributed to a terrible GM and brutal QB play.
That said, there is little motivation to resign him. That’s almost entirely due to the lockout though. It’s unclear what teams will do during that stretch and HC contracts are guaranteed, meaning that cheaper teams might be content to be without an HC as long as there is no football due to be played. Teams might opt for minimum salary HCs instead of shooting for big established names. But, teams with money to spend won’t risk losing good candidates by waiting.
The issue is that the Bears are often blindly loyal and repay loyal insiders who always toe the company line, exactly like Lovie, to their own detriment. If Lovie gets this team to the playoffs, effectively living up to the mandate laid down at the start of the season, the Bears will certainly be compelled to extend him based on past history. That Jerry Angelo is under contract through 2012 means Jerry will have little motivation to not sign him and ownership will probably have to fire Jerry in order to not resign Lovie. Lastly, a playoff run would mean that Lovie could warrant a bidding war and it’ll be cheaper to keep him with an extension in December as opposed to waiting til the offseason when the labor situation could be clarified.
Speaking of Luck, here is the 2011 NFL draft top pick, Andrew Luck, with a ridiculous run. Bills? Panthers? Vikings? 49ers?
Bidding war? He’s 56-46 as a head coach, including playoffs. He’s won two division titles in six seasons in the second-worst division in the NFC. The team has won 12 games just once during his tenure (13, actually).
You think people are going to be fighting over Lovie Smith with Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden and Tony Dungy* available?
I’d go so far as to say that at least one coordinator - Perry Fewell - will be more in demand than him.
*maybe
There’s no way a man named “Luck” could end up on the Bills or Vikings. That’s just a fundamental truth.
I said “if he makes a playoff run”. Yes, if Lovie is fired/unsigned following a playoff appearance, yes he will be involved in a bidding war. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be in Cowher’s pay bracket, but he’ll be hotly bid for. I think Lovie would be in greater demand for conservative franchises than Gruden who’s often controversial and has been out of football for a while. Head coaches with winning records, a Super Bowl appearance as a HC and 3 playoff appearances in 7 seasons tend to not be available in the open market very often, and there will be a lot of HC openings.
And let’s face it, Dungy, Gruden and even Cowher may not even be coaching in 2011.
No way in hell Fewell will be in greater demand. He couldn’t even get a HC job last year following a positive showing in Buffalo and it’s not like the Giants are a juggernaut. There’s talk that Coughlin’s job is in jeopardy.
I’m gettin’ pretty fucking sick of Giants’ Defensive Coordinators being poached by other teams in need of a Head Coach. Definitely a “glass half empty” way of looking at it, but still: frustrating.
ETA:
There’s been some meaningful scuttlebutt about Fewell getting some HC consideration. Might not happen this year (though it wouldn’t shock me), but with another good season I’d almost expect him to be gone after next season.
The Giants are 2nd in total defense (3rd against the pass, 4th against the run). That’s pretty juggernauty.
I would argue that Sanchez is great, but in spurts, particular drives - the last 30 seconds of yesterday’s game he was absolutely great.