Weird Bears game today. The Bears pretty much dominated the Vikings yet needed a 2 minute drive and a TD pass with 10 seconds left to win by one. The Bears made some bad mistakes and the Vikings made some timely plays, but it was clear the Vikings are not in the Bears class. The Bears had 411 yards to the Vikings 350, but Hester contributed 249 yards in returns with 49 yard average making the actual disparity much larger. I didn’t get to see the Lions/Vikes game last week, but that sounds like about the same story with the Lions dominating far more than the score indicated.
Cutler really helped the Vikes, generally he had a good day passing and managing the game, but he was responsible for 3 turnovers, 2 INTs inside the redzone and 1 fumble that was returned of a TD.
The Bears got lucky on the deciding TD, they were lined up in an illegal formation on that play with 2 WRs on the near side on the line of scrimmage. No call, but I was yelling at the screen when they were getting ready to snap the ball.
Saints played bad, especially (and uncharacteristically) on offense, and still won. Brees played bad the whole 2nd half until the last drive, and then he drove down in less than a minute for the winning FG. Geaux Saints!!!
Well, you really don’t want one of your millionaires to get electrocuted on live TV. Fans are more expendable. Someone else is already on the waiting list for the seat license. And once you issue the warning/request them to shelter on the concourse, anybody that does get struck by lightning will have a hard time convincing a jury to hold the team/stadium liable.
There was only one headhunting hit. The referees apparently decided during the preseason that the Buccaneers were going to be flagged for every big hit, because there were two last week and two this week that were clean as a whistle and drew a flag.
As you know, I’m a Saints fan…but you’ve got a point. This new emphasis on “head shots” is getting out of control. That hit on Brees was bonecrushing…but absolutely clean as the game has previously been played and officiated. Some of the same stuff is trickling down to the college game as well. Alabama almost had a player ejected over a phantom “targeting” hit yesterday. Fortunately, the booth reversed the ejection, but the penalty stood…when it clearly should never have been called.
After the offensive firepower in some of these games, it’s nice to see a defensive battle between two teams that really don’t like each other. Neither of these offenses have looked impressive, though, and both Carroll and Harbaugh have been their usual complaining selves. Can both these teams lose?
Wow. Having the better half of San Fran’s offense in a fantasy league with Gore, Boldin and Davis, I have to say…wow. The lack of scoring is appalling.
Well, there was this freak accident involving the other kind of football that apparently killed eleven players, all from the same team. I remember hearing about this when it happened (or not too long after), and I haven’t seen any reports saying this was a hoax. It seems rather unlikely and odd to me, but who knows?
A general football question (these occur to me as I’m watching the games). When teams do their practice plays do they have people officiating? On the one hand, it would seem unnecessary during a team’s practice - it’s not a real game, nobody’s keeping score, and everyone’s playing on the same team. But I was thinking that if they don’t have “referees” on the field, some players might unconsciously develop bad habits during practice. Generally speaking, you want your practice to be as realistic as possible and for football that means officiating.
