Beauty of a drive. 14 plays and 9 minutes, getting a TD and also eating up great time off the clock.
Now we need just one or two more Ravens TDs to send the proper message…
Because it’s an egregiously bad call that leads to the loss of a game? How is that not fair for discussion?
There’s no use in debating a ref conspiracy because evidence would be hard to come by, but it’s very likely that some teams get the benefit of the doubt or extra scrutiny. The refs seem to favor popular and successful teams and no one raises much of a fus if an unpopular or bad team gets screwed over. Certainly we agree that certain star players get officiated differently than the rest, right? What constitutes a roughing the passer call is different against Tom Brady as it is against Cam Newton - so it’s not unreasonable to think unconcious biases exist at the team level either.
Brady vs Newton is a bag example due to differences in the style of play. But obviously Tom Brady gets a much higher level of protection than random low tier quarterbacks.
One nice thing about being a mediocre fan is I have no issues in not watching a game. I stopped watching the Packers after their touchdown (I wanted to end on a high note)
But what an ugly game – it is one thing to lose, but another to be blown away with almost nothing clicking.
Brian
Some random thoughts:
Hey, I was right about Miami getting their first win of the season. While it’s nice to believe in “Any Given Sunday” and Fitzmagic, the Jets were just bad. And while I like seeing LeVeon Bell struggle, I thought Sam Darold would be better than he has been.
CMC is amazing. Everyone in the damn stadium knows he’s going to get the ball, but he still produces. I really hope his usage doesn’t shorten his career because he’s fun to watch. It will be interesting to see what they do with Cam Newton once he’s healthy.
Can you believe Mitch Trubisky made the Pro Bowl last year? And Nagy was coach of the year? Wow.
I feel bad for the Colts. Injuries are killing them, and Adam Vientiari is problematic.
The Pack were clearly unprepared and ill coached against the Chargers. Burn the tape and move on. That defense giving up huge plays will continue to be a problem though.
Lamar Jackson is fun to watch. I really hope he doesn’t get hurt, but the Ravens seem willing to take that chance a lot.
Just want to point out (as i did in the HOF discussion thread a while back) that while Ben admittedly did not have a great game in his first Superbowl, he was pretty brilliant in the three road playoff games that got them there:
Wild Card round: beat the Bengals 31-17: 14/19, 208yds, 3TD, 0INT, passer rating 148.7
Divisional Round: beat the Colts 21-18: 14/24, 197yds, 2TD, 1INT, passer rating 95.3
AFC Championship: beat the Broncos 34-17: 21/29, 275yds, 2TD, 0INT, passer rating 124.9 (and a rushing TD)
Anyway, back to the current season, i was wondering if the Bills were as good as their record and i see that they got their 6 wins by beating the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Titans, Dolphins, R-words. Oof… those teams have a combined record of 9-41.
No argument from me. And his second ring helped wash away the bad memories from his first Superbowl performance, or lack thereof.
My question: “How on earth did the Ravens lose to the pathetic Browns?”
I think the Browns are more dysfunctional than pathetic. The Jets are pathetic. (How on earth did the Cowboys lose to the Jets?)
I assume that I’m way late to the party, but does everyone else know about the 10-minute recaps of the games the NFL puts out on youtube? I googled the Patriots/Ravens score, and in the bottom left of google’s answer it has a red play button and says “Game recap.” That takes you to the youtube video, which is a 10-minute highlight reel cut together quite nicely.
That’s, like, the greatest thing ever. I’m guessing I’m the last to be aware of this, but on the off chance anyone else is unaware, check them out. They’re available for all games as far as I can tell.
Simple: that team from Texas is over-hyped every single season. I don’t think there’s another team in the N.F.L. that could go nearly ¼ century without making it to the S.B. and still be on T.V. as much as that one team from Texas is.
I figured them to go 9-7 this year and that’s still a real possibility given the teams they’ll be playing.
Likely not enough to make the playoffs, but I expect some kind of second-half surge.
They don’t get national games because they’re good, they (along with the rest of the NFC East) get national games because people want to watch them. They bring in ratings.
I’m not a Giants fan at all. In fact, I’m a Cowboys fan through and through. But anyone who can’t see that Eli Manning is solidly in the ranks of “elite” QB, is smoking crack or something. Talk about stats all you want, dude knows how to WIN.
He does, but to be fair, he knows how to lose exactly as much.
As a Cowboys fan, I agree - they are something of a circular situation. They are on TV because they are popular, but they are popular because they are on TV.
Ever since the 1996 season, the Cowboys have shared more in common with the Bengals or Lions than the 1966-1995 Cowboys.
Bengals yes, Lions no. Lots of playoff appearances compared to the Lions, but winning playoff games has proved elusive. Like the Bengals, who probably have more appearances but even fewer wins. (None?)
Eli Manning’s Career Win Loss Record: 124-120.
Eli Manning’s Winning Percentage: .508.
QB’s with a Higher Winning Percentage than Eli Manning: Brian Sipe. Carson Palmer. Trent Dilfer. Mark Brunell. Matt Hasselback. Andy Dalton. Michael Vick. Neil ODonnell. Bobby Hebert. Joe Flacco. Jake Delhomme. Jay Schroeder. Just to name a few.
Eli Manning is one of the most difficult QBs to define. The guy was basically Philliip Rivers, but with two Super Bowl rings. Very durable, solidly above average, and with a few terrible 4-INT games and boneheaded errors every now and then. But somehow, mysteriously, he absolutely caught fire during two Super Bowl runs.
This is not really germane to the discussion, but just for grins, I looked up the list of QBs who have multiple SB wins:
6 victories: Tom Brady
4 victories: Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw
3 victories: Troy Aikman
2 victories: Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, John Elway, Jim Plunkett, Bob Griese, Roger Staubach, Bart Starr
All of these QBs who are eligible for the Hall of Fame have been voted in, except one: Jim Plunkett. Plunkett has a decidedly average career record of 72-72 regular season starts, but a stellar 8-2 playoff record as a starter. Both of his SB victories came when he began the season as the backup QB.
Carry on.
[bolding mine - Eng.]
Phillip Rivers career winning percentage: .562.
Rivers has better career numbers than Manning in completion percentage, TD percentage, interception percentage, yards per attempt. adjusted net yards per attempt, yards per completion, yards per game, rating, net yards per attempt, and adjusted net yards per attempt. In 12/14 years, Rivers has had a better QBR than Manning. Phillip Rivers is better than Eli Manning at every aspect of playing QB but avoiding sacks (Manning 4.8%, Rivers 5.5%).
Manning is a whole lot closer to Joe Flacco with one extra ring than he is to Rivers with 2 rings. Joe Flacco got his ring during a postseason in which he was incredible, but he’s an overall middle-of-the-road quarterback on a generally good team. So is Eli.