NFL week 13

[DCnDC]

@Hamlet

It’s fun to see teams finding success without having to sell the farm to chase the dream of finding and paying an elite QB.

[SNIP]

…and 4th rounder Kirk Cousins hasn’t sucked too bad.

To be fair, the Redskins DID sell the farm for some obscure guy named Griffin or something, and just happened to pick up Cousins too.

[gnoitall]

@Dickerman

And the Seahawks are now at +70 with their thrashing of the Panthers.

I’d be happy to give most of that back if the Hawks can have Earl Thomas back. Done for the season, I bet, and talking about retiring (though it’s hard to tell how seriously, since he was still in the locker room in pain and bummed out).

[AlsoNamedBort]

@Vicsage

Watched the end of the falcon game and wondered something. The Chief who picked off the ball and ran the extra point back to give the Chiefs a 1 point win, what if he had been run down, tackled on the 1 yard line, fumbled into the end zone, and had the ball been recovered by the Falcons for what would usually have been a safety for the Chiefs, Would the Chiefs still have gotten 2 points for a safety?

It’s a 1-point safety:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/strange-but-true–nfl-team-could–in-theory–score-just-one-point-134704295.html

Note: if the Chiefs fumbled into the end zone and the Falcons recovered, I don’t think that would be a safety. On a normal play that would be a touchback. the fumble would have to be before the endzone, recovered, and then the Falcons player would have to go into the endzone and be tackled.

[Robot_Arm]

@Quercus

[later more detailed report]Wait, the team rule violation was not wearing a tie? You bench people for that? Do you have any team rules that actually contribute to winning, or are they all pointless and annoying rules that exist merely for the sake of rules and petty authority-mongering by the head coach? It’s a stirring leadership statement, no doubt, to tell your players that they should be more concerned with what they wear for travelling than, say, studying film of opponents, learning the team’s game plan, getting adequate training and rest, or keeping emotions in check on the field. [Plus, there’s the bonus of doing that one extra thing to keep players from being comfortable on a flight; who needs rest when you’re an elite athlete, after all?]

It was a super-simple rule to get benched for, but it’s also a super-simple rule to comply with. Wear a shirt and tie on team trips; it’s not rocket science.

I do wonder about some of the day-to-day trivialities of being a star athlete like that. With the hours that they put in, practice, travel, media, and the games, how much time do they have left for the mundane tasks of living? When do they take in their dry cleaning, or go to the grocery store? Do they even have to, or does the team employ some people who can run errands for things like that.

[Quercus]

@AlsoNamedBort

It’s a 1-point safety:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/strange-but-true–nfl-team-could–in-theory–score-just-one-point-134704295.html

Note: if the Chiefs fumbled into the end zone and the Falcons recovered, I don’t think that would be a safety. On a normal play that would be a touchback. the fumble would have to be before the endzone, recovered, and then the Falcons player would have to go into the endzone and be tackled.

Yes, that article gives an example (essentially the same one given in this thread) which would not actually be a safety. If a Falcon recovered a Chief’s fumble in the Falcons end zone, for there to be a safety, the Falcon would have to run out of the end zone, turn around and run back into the end zone, and then be tackled (or go out of bounds) in the end zone.

It would take something ridiculously crazy (a blocked kick going backwards 70 yards), inconceivably stupid (a Falcon intentionally running backwards across their own goal line, again 98 yards behind the line of scrimmage), or both (a 99-yard sack) to get a one-point safety.

[kenobi_65]

@Robot_Arm

I do wonder about some of the day-to-day trivialities of being a star athlete like that. With the hours that they put in, practice, travel, media, and the games, how much time do they have left for the mundane tasks of living? When do they take in their dry cleaning, or go to the grocery store? Do they even have to, or does the team employ some people who can run errands for things like that.

I was only partially paying attention to a discussion about this on NFL Network last night, but it sounded like the Panthers had stayed out on the West Coast, after playing at Oakland last week, and that the players had had to pack for a week of travel (and, apparently, Cam didn’t pack a tie to go with his suit for the trip to Seattle).

[Procrustus]

@kenobi_65

I was only partially paying attention to a discussion about this on NFL Network last night, but it sounded like the Panthers had stayed out on the West Coast, after playing at Oakland last week, and that the players had had to pack for a week of travel (and, apparently, Cam didn’t pack a tie to go with his suit for the trip to Seattle).

I’ve had that happen to me. It’s not hard to 1) buy one, 2) borrow one, or 3) ask the guy at the front desk to get you one.

[kenobi_65]

@Procrustus

I’ve had that happen to me. It’s not hard to 1) buy one, 2) borrow one, or 3) ask the guy at the front desk to get you one.

Totally agreed. But neither you, nor I, are a fashionista with his own clothing line. I suspect that Newton figured he’d get fined for it, and was surprised by being held out of the first series for it.

[AlsoNamedBort]

@Quercus

Yes, that article gives an example (essentially the same one given in this thread) which would not actually be a safety. If a Falcon recovered a Chief’s fumble in the Falcons end zone, for there to be a safety, the Falcon would have to run out of the end zone, turn around and run back into the end zone, and then be tackled (or go out of bounds) in the end zone.

It would take something ridiculously crazy (a blocked kick going backwards 70 yards), inconceivably stupid (a Falcon intentionally running backwards across their own goal line, again 98 yards behind the line of scrimmage), or both (a 99-yard sack) to get a one-point safety.

Although the opposite can also happen, and has happened twice in the NCAA (which has had this rule for longer). Seems a hell of a lot more likely. The defense could intercept the goal outside the goal line, and then run back into the end zone trying to return the ball.

Deadspin | Only Two One-Point Safeties Have Ever Happened In NCAA Football...

[Saint_Cad]

@RadicalPi

The Browns manage to not lose this week!

Are you sure? When I check the score it was Bye 38 Browns 3 meaning that Bye covered this week.

[Quercus]

@AlsoNamedBort

Although the opposite can also happen, and has happened twice in the NCAA (which has had this rule for longer). Seems a hell of a lot more likely. The defense could intercept the goal outside the goal line, and then run back into the end zone trying to return the ball.
Deadspin | Only Two One-Point Safeties Have Ever Happened In NCAA Football History, And Brad Nessler Called Them Both

After I posted, I did think of the one NFL play that was crazy enough to get a 1-pt defensive safety: the famous wrong-way run when an O-lineman picked up a fumble, and having been turned around during the play, ran to the wrong endzone. But I think that kind of play would be much much more unlikely in conversion situation, as even the most concussed lineman is going to start wondering how the endzone suddenly got 90 yards farther away.

[Death_of_Rats]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

“Hey Jeff, awesome moustache! By the way, here’s stacks of cash for brilliantly stashing Jared Goff on the bench until we were able to secure a top 5 pick. Nice work! The owner has a private jet waiting to fly you to LaGuardia for dinner at Nobu to celebrate”

I assume that by “owner” you mean the Hunt family, because the Titans own that pick. It was part of the massive trade to get the benchwarmer. Kroenke just gets piles of LA fan cash and has to produce nothing.

[Bricker]

@Shodan

They wanted to see if anyone could tell the difference between that, and a regular Browns game.

You know . . . I have to say that there’s a certain sadness, a certain sense of sol que mucho madruga, poco dura, as my dad would have said, watching RGIII.

He was an amazing rookie quarterback, and then came a fateful decision to play on a hurt knee . . . and apparently the RGIII magic derived from his footwork, because he never had it after that injury.

He’s done as a starter. And I blame Dan Synder and Mike Shanahan.