# NFL Week 14 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 8, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445 "2010-12-08T18:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/101 "2010-12-12T23:36:47Z")
Did anyone else see that play in the Jets - Dolphins game where someone (non-player) on the Jets sideline stuck his knee out into a Miami player who was running down the line? Knocked him off his feet and everything. They showed it clearly on the replay but nothing happened on the field so I don’t even know if the players saw it. Pretty weird. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/102 "2010-12-12T23:40:14Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > He needs his McDaniels. Still had his McDaniels last year when he completed 7 passes for 80-something yards. > [@dalej42](#): > > Skelton looks like the best of the Cards QBs so far this year. Good to see Cards fans inspired to reach for the stars by that Super Bowl trip. 😃 ETA: He’d also be the second best Chiefs QB this year. God, but Brodie Croyle sucks balls. Still can’t believe they let Tyler Thigpen go. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/103 "2010-12-12T23:44:36Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Did anyone else see that play in the Jets - Dolphins game where someone (non-player) on the Jets sideline stuck his knee out into a Miami player who was running down the line? Knocked him off his feet and everything. They showed it clearly on the replay but nothing happened on the field so I don’t even know if the players saw it. Pretty weird. Yes, pretty scummy thing to do. I was rooting against them anyway, but even more so now. Think there will be a fine? Is there precedent - has anyone ever seen something like that in the past? ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/104 "2010-12-12T23:49:29Z")
Again, I don’t know who the culprit is, but if I was Rex Ryan I would publicly fire the guy at the post-game press conference. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/105 "2010-12-13T01:16:49Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > You don’t want to keep watching anyway, NE just intercepted. You misunderstand me; I’m a Pats fan. I was enjoying it immensely. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/106 "2010-12-13T01:45:03Z")
Pro tip, professional announcers: If there’s no reverse in direction on the play, it’s not a reverse. You’re probably looking at an end around. The thing you’re calling a double reverse is actually a reverse. Thanks. You make millions of dollars to yap at football games, it’s time to learn the terminology. ---
**Author:** ![Jules\_Andre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jules_andre/32/9334_2.png) [@Jules\_Andre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules_Andre)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/107 "2010-12-13T02:16:13Z")
That makes six straight games where the announcers point and laugh at a replay of the Eagles getting robbed on a fucking blatant non-call. Bonus points for the same call being flagged against the Eagles moments before. And now the Eagles starting MLB is done for the year. Fuck this. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/108 "2010-12-13T02:26:02Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Yes, pretty scummy thing to do. I was rooting against them anyway, but even more so now. Think there will be a fine? Is there precedent - has anyone ever seen something like that in the past? There should definitely be a fine or some disciplinary action (since it looked like an employee, not a player, but I could be wrong). However, aren’t you required to try to get back in-bounds as soon as possible? The Dolphins player ran about 60 yards five yards deep in the Jets sideline. Not too smart, even if there isn’t some asshole trying to purposefully trip you. ---
**Author:** ![Jules\_Andre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jules_andre/32/9334_2.png) [@Jules\_Andre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules_Andre)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/109 "2010-12-13T02:36:47Z")
I checked on replay and I’m pretty sure that illegal contact happened three yards beyond the line of scrimmage. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/110 "2010-12-13T03:10:32Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Did anyone else see that play in the Jets - Dolphins game where someone (non-player) on the Jets sideline stuck his knee out into a Miami player who was running down the line? Knocked him off his feet and everything. They showed it clearly on the replay but nothing happened on the field so I don’t even know if the players saw it. Pretty weird. I was just reading about that. [There’s no place for this kind of nonsense.](http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Video-Jets-employee-trips-Dolphins-player-durin?urn=nfl-294916) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/111 "2010-12-13T03:22:56Z")
What a weird week. Jets lose again, KC gets shut out (damn you, Dwayne Bowe!!!), Green Bay loses to the Lions, The Bears don’t even show up to play, San Fran hangs 40 fucking points on the Chickenhawks, The Cards make the Bronkhoes their bitch…damn…the NFL is loaded with surprises. Except my Bengals of course. Oh yeah, and the Bills beat the supposedly unstoppable Browns! 😃 If only they’d given the ball to Peyton Hillis on every play! 🙂 I feel your pain **Beef** , I really do… ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/112 "2010-12-13T03:43:23Z")
The Jets employee who tripped the Dolphins player was apparently [the Jets strength coach](http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/23081/jets-strength-coach-trips-dolphins-player), who is now apologizing to everybody in sight. Apologies are cheap, especially when the guy is obviously scared shitless of losing his job. Personally, I think that’s a firing offense. There’s no excuse for that. Not only is it immature and unprofessional, but he could have seriously injured that guy. If he does keep his job, he better watch his ass on the sideline. Somebody’s going wipe him out. ---
**Author:** ![President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/President_Johnny_Gentle)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/113 "2010-12-13T04:06:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s what the Fox postgame crew said, but I went back and checked and if anything it should have been spotted as an 8 yard gain, not 9+. Also, the chain gang didn’t move the chains after the play, and the down marker on one side of the field went to 2nd, and the one on the other side stayed on 1st. So it was a clusterfuck all the way around. > > I can’t see if the officials ever signaled for a first down, but they cut away to a shot of the sidelines so it might have been then. The [video](http://nfl.cpa.delvenetworks.com/delve/player/carousel/embed_code.html?channelId=de89a8aeb3e422bac4eb48567f10ebd0&mediaId=e29a2877c95d445dbc1b1d8369362624) is online. If you look closely at the first play (right away - there’s a good shot at 0:03), the first down marker is at the three, but the Fox first down line is at the two. The play distinctly results in a first down. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/114 "2010-12-13T04:34:28Z")
> [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](#): > > The [video](http://nfl.cpa.delvenetworks.com/delve/player/carousel/embed_code.html?channelId=de89a8aeb3e422bac4eb48567f10ebd0&mediaId=e29a2877c95d445dbc1b1d8369362624) is online. If you look closely at the first play (right away - there’s a good shot at 0:03), the first down marker is at the three, but the Fox first down line is at the two. The play distinctly results in a first down. That makes it pretty clear that there was no issue with the officiating. The super imposed yellow line and the TV graphic were just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/115 "2010-12-13T05:21:29Z")
The Lions lost 19 division games in a row until today. They had lost to Green Bay 10 in a row. All is well. ---
**Author:** ![Jules\_Andre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jules_andre/32/9334_2.png) [@Jules\_Andre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules_Andre)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/116 "2010-12-13T05:47:46Z")
Well, the Eagles kinda stink, results from tonight aside. Their defense is unbearably suspect (the graphic about the Eagles being historically bad defending in the red zone was a shock to abso-fucking-lutely no one who follows this team) and figures to get much worse with their starting MLB almost assuredly done for the year. Which is a damn shame because Bradley was just starting to look good after missing all of last year with the knee problem. This team is just not catching many breaks, The strange thing is that the offense goes into these funks where they’re trying to get 30 yards per play and repeatedly get held to 3 and outs or sacks or turnovers… but when they try to take what the defense gives them and settle for, I don’t know, SUSTAINING A DRIVE!, they can usually move the ball at will. It’s almost as if they’re “settling” for sustaining a drive only when they most have to because it isn’t as much fun or something. It’s maddening. And they have the pieces to play a much more deliberate, steady, offensive game. The kind of game that drives people crazy because it’s damn near impossible to stop. The kind of game that gets played against the Eagles fucking weekly it seems. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/117 "2010-12-13T06:24:26Z")
That Packers @ Lions game set football back 70 years. 21 total passing yards in the first half, _combined_. 21 for the Packers, 0 for the Lions. That should be the score, not the friggin’ passing totals. > [@D\_Odds](#): > > That would have been unacceptable for the **GIANTS** , who did not bring outdoor weather gear. That doesn’t matter, they could easily have called home and gotten someone to fly their outdoor gear out in plenty of time. Remember, they weren’t in Minnesota yet either, so their outdoor equipment theoretically could have beaten them to Minnesota. The real problem was that the stadium had already been “winterized,” whatever that means, and it would have taken at least a week to get the field NFL-ready. (They may want to get on that for next week’s game.) > [@SenorBeef](#): > > Does anyone have an answer for the whistle blow/fumble thing in post #71? That wasn’t just venting, I really don’t know wtf happened. Based on your description, that’s the same thing that happened in the Steelers-Dolphins game earlier in the season. Remember that? At the end of the game Ben fumbled into the end zone, Dolphins recover but they ruled that the whistle had blown so the ball went back to the Steelers, who then proceeded to win the game. Had it gone to the Dolphins as it should have, they could have knelt it out for a victory. The public outcry was loud and long about that. I don’t know anything about this situation; I’m only aware of it based on your posts. But if I had to guess, awarding the ball to the Bills might be a reaction to the outcry over the Steelers play. Actually, that Steelers-Dolphins play is coming back to me a little more. In that game they did review it, and they did determine it was a fumble despite the whistle blowing. The only reason they couldn’t award the ball to the Dolphins was because they couldn’t confirm it on replay. What generated the outcry is that the Dolphins player clearly came up with the ball because he friggin’ handed the thing to the ref. But when doing a replay, they can only use video evidence and there was no clear video of the Dolphins recovering. All they could do is award the Steelers the ball at the spot of the fumble. So we have precedent from earlier this season of a play being blown dead, everybody stopping, then a couple seconds later players scrambled for the ball, then a review, and the call being reversed to being a fumble. That’s what happened to the Brownies, yes? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/118 "2010-12-13T06:41:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > That Packers @ Lions game set football back 70 years. 21 total passing yards in the first half, _combined_. 21 for the Packers, 0 for the Lions. That should be the score, not the friggin’ passing totals. > > That doesn’t matter, they could easily have called home and gotten someone to fly their outdoor gear out in plenty of time. Remember, they weren’t in Minnesota yet either, so their outdoor equipment theoretically could have beaten them to Minnesota. > > The real problem was that the stadium had already been “winterized,” whatever that means, and it would have taken at least a week to get the field NFL-ready. (They may want to get on that for next week’s game.) > > Based on your description, that’s the same thing that happened in the Steelers-Dolphins game earlier in the season. Remember that? At the end of the game Ben fumbled into the end zone, Dolphins recover but they ruled that the whistle had blown so the ball went back to the Steelers, who then proceeded to win the game. Had it gone to the Dolphins as it should have, they could have knelt it out for a victory. The public outcry was loud and long about that. > > I don’t know anything about this situation; I’m only aware of it based on your posts. But if I had to guess, awarding the ball to the Bills might be a reaction to the outcry over the Steelers play. > > Actually, that Steelers-Dolphins play is coming back to me a little more. In that game they did review it, and they did determine it was a fumble despite the whistle blowing. The only reason they couldn’t award the ball to the Dolphins was because they couldn’t confirm it on replay. What generated the outcry is that the Dolphins player clearly came up with the ball because he friggin’ handed the thing to the ref. But when doing a replay, they can only use video evidence and there was no clear video of the Dolphins recovering. All they could do is award the Steelers the ball at the spot of the fumble. > > So we have precedent from earlier this season of a play being blown dead, everybody stopping, then a couple seconds later players scrambled for the ball, then a review, and the call being reversed to being a fumble. > > That’s what happened to the Brownies, yes? I haven’t seen the play or heard any discussion, but my assumption would be that the play wasn’t actually blown dead. When the whistle blows the play is over, no matter what, so there’s no way they would have awarded a fumble recovery after the whistle. I’ve seem lots of plays, the Johnny Knox fumble today a prime example, where the players let up and the refs run in towards the tackle/fumble yet the whistle isn’t blown. From the TV you might think the whistle blew, but on the field it didn’t. Like you note, there have been examples where a reviewed play was negated because of a blown whistle and I suspect this would have been another if the whistle really did blow. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/119 "2010-12-13T06:57:30Z")
Bears game. What. The. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445/120 "2010-12-13T07:13:34Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > When the whistle blows the play is over, no matter what, so there’s no way they would have awarded a fumble recovery after the whistle. That’s not true. Don’t you remember the Steelers-Dolphins example? The play was blown dead as soon as Ben broke the plane of the end zone, but then the ball squirted out and bounced around until a Dolphin picked it up. Booth reveiw showed that Ben had actually lost control before breaking the plane so it was reversed as a fumble. The only reason they couldn’t give the ball to the Dolphins is because they couldn’t verify the recovery by video replay, since the replay went to the TD celebrations because the play was blown dead. Grabbing the ball off-camera can’t be honored by video review. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/563445.md?page=7)