Wow, what a game my boys in black and gold played. First, I agree that I don’t like to whine about the refs, but man, they seemed particularly bad this game.
Second, kudos to the Giants for stopping the fake FG. I thought it was well executed. That little toss over the holder’s shoulder? Fantastic. And yet the Giants didn’t go for it and stopped it. Just good football all around. Too fun!
And last - Hooray! In the end, my boys pulled it out.
I think it was well executed, but it wasn’t really a great situation for the fake. With that position on the field, there’s no way that play works unless you completely fool the defense, and I think the Giants are well enough coached that your odds are probably better just going for it on fourth with your skill players.
That said, we established today that I hate Manning the Younger more than I hate the Steelers. It’s always good to establish a definitive hierarchy of which teams you’d rather root against, given the chance.
That fake FG call was horribly stupid. Either go for it with a run or QB sneak, or kick it.
That’s probably the third or fourth really dumb call I’ve seen from Tomlin this year.
Bad week for you!
A couple of things avout Tomlin I really like.
He keeps his cool on the sidelines. When every call seemed to be going agsinst the Steelers, he never flinched (at least not in the clips I saw). I remember a certain chin who would have covered the field with spittle for 15 minutes after those calls. Maybe rightly so, but Tomlin keeps his cool amazingly well.
I didnt understsnd the fake fg either. The only thing i can come up with is the holder, kicker, long snapper or whoever is responsible for calling those things off didn’t see what they needed to see to absndon ship. But from my perspecrive you hwve to kick thst field gowl. Tie the game on the road, dont leave those points on the field. But they won, so he(tomlin) can somwhat he wants. I am not sure who actuallm makes that call for the steelers. Is it the special teams coach? The O.C.? Or Tomlin Himself? My guess is no matter who, tomlin has the final say. He’s got some pretty large balls to call thst.
Great Scott the Bears look good right now. The Titans are bad but not that bad. Texans are going to have to play their guts out next week to win that one.
It was mostly D though. Cutler is still an unknown, as in you never know which Cutler will show up, the one from this week or the one from last week.
Defense, specifically Peanut, is what made them look good this week.
I don’t know… but I would go for the first down instead of the FG. (4th&2, :22 seconds left, Falcons on the 'Boi’s 12)/
D wins games. Looks like the Texans D in that they force mistakes and then capitalize. Schaub is already good one bad mistake per game. Bears could turn it up on him. Can’t wait till next weeks game. Both teams are so similar, should be good. Texans failed their first big test with Green Bay, it’s second chance time.
Delete. Double post.
Hey, I’m not complaining!
Honestly though I don’t think they’re gonna coast to a Super-bowl on D alone.
Sooner or later we’re gonna have to get some yards/points from the other side of the ball.
As a Giants fan, I agree that the officiating on the Giants’ first (and only) TD drive was terrible. Phantom DPI call for 41 yards*, phantom roughness penalty to extend a drive after a failed 3rd Down, then I’m almost certain the ball never crossed the plane on the TD run and they somehow got that wrong TWICE.
I actually thought the Roethlisberger strip-sack/‘empty hand’ fumble call wasn’t horrible. I think it was probably wrong, and I even think it *probably *should have been overturned, but I can absolutely see why a referee who’s conservative about the whole “indisputable evidence” thing would refuse to overturn the call on the field: the ball shifted in Roethlisberger’s hand before his arm started forward, and even though IMO he still had “control” of the ball despite an awkward grip, it’s not impossible to interpret that as a lack of control.
I’d also mention that there was a non-call on a possible block in the back at the end of the fumble return, and I thought that was actually a *good *no-call: Miller (or whoever it was) absolutely took a dive after being breathed on. Smart play, worth a shot, but he wasn’t pushed.
Anyway, in fairness, I didn’t see any notable bad calls against the Steelers (or the Giants) after that one sequence, and I was looking for them. The only questionable one was when they missed the spot on a Giants conversion (Cruz had the 1st then *voluntarily ran back, but they still gave him forward progress). The corrected it on review, but the initial screw-up did cost Pittsburgh their last challenge.
As to the game, the Giants sort of gave it away at the end, but really they were lucky even to be competitive by that point (for the reasons listed above). I expected them to play like shit this week (the hurricane really did wreck their routine), and at least on the offensive side of the ball they didn’t disappoint. Oh well. Lick ‘em tomorrow.
** —> The refs’ eagerness to call pass interference is driving me absolutely crazy this season. Jesus Cunting Christ, let them goddamn fucking play a LITTLE bit, guys. Either coach the refs to dial it back next year, or change DPI to a 15-yarder, or (preferably) both.
Oh, and Tomlin’s decision to try a fake FG was a good one, IMO. Going for it was the right move, the fake was well-executed, and the Giants have actually been very good at stopping 4th & 1’s the past couple of years: their D-Line is their biggest strength, and it ain’t a bunch of Dwight Freenys: aside from maybe Umenyiora, they’re all big and powerful (and they get great penetration, etc.). A lot of teams have tried running right into the teeth of the Giant’s line on 4th Down and regretted it lately. The fake FG was fine; the Giants just happened to be ready for it.
Oy. Bengals are reeling. They have now lost four winnable games in a row. They just can’t close the deal. If but for a couple different things, this team could easily be 7-1 instead of 3-5.
Ouch.
You could say that about almost any 3 or 4-win NFL team. A Panthers fan expressed those sentiments to me last night.
So 2 weeks ago, the Browns were at the Colts 41 yard line, down by 3, with 4 minutes left in the game. It’s 4th and 1. They punted. Touchback. Net gain of 21 yards. Awful, retarded call.
This week. At the Browns own 22, down by 7, with 4 minutes left. Browns defense actually forcing quite a few three and outs in the second half. 4th and 2. Goes for it.
I’m not going to say it’s an awful retarded call in all circumstances - it’s justifiable with certain variables - if your offense is very likely to pick up the yards, your defense is very unlikely to stop them from running out the clock, etc. But it’s hard to believe that those were honest decisions made by the same guy.
My guess - after the retarded call 2 weeks ago and all the criticism it generated, he spitefully said “FINE? WANT ME TO GO FOR IT ON 4TH DOWN? HERE YOU GO BITCHES”
So, yeah, awesome.
By the way, do other coaches in the league have offensive coordinators serve them up multiple plays to choose and then pick the best one? That’s Shurmur’s method, and the Browns are constantly breaking the huddle late, lining up late, and taking unnecesary timeouts. Seems stupid to me, like some sort of power freak thing.
True, but I’d be willing to bet not many, if any, of those other teams had leads in all of their losses and lost them and the game.
If any team gets to say that, it’s Miami. They’ve lost two of their last five and both losses were in overtime.
I think the Bengals and Dolphins are quite similar in many respects. Young team, plays almost everyone close, stout run defense, inconsistent offense with a couple decent players…
Quite different in many respects, too: Cincy has a top-five player on offense and high expectations. Miami, conversely, have already won about twice as many games as anyone expected.