Written by Brad Gagnon on Monday, 21 October 2013 20:35. Where to begin with the stupidity from Week 7? While nothing stood out in extreme fashion, there might have been more stupid this week in the NFL than any of the first six weeks of 2013. It's only a shame that we publish this stupid post before Monday Night Football, because this Minnesota Vikings-New York Giants game is destined to be laced with stupidity. We work with what we have, though, and the quantity of stupid moments and trends was quite high on Sunday alone. For example...
This goes to Adam Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals, who decided to field this punt from his own two-yard line...
This is the moment poor Nick Foles decided that he'd be better off taking a sack -- and consequently getting pancaked by two 300-pound defenders -- instead of throwing the ball away...
"Maybe he needs to get suspended or taken out of the game completely." -- Bears WR Brandon Marshall.
Whatever happened to the aggressive Chip Kelly we saw at Oregon? Not only has Kelly been incredibly conservative on fourth downs in the NFL, but he's been so conservative that it has bordered on stupid. That's the only way to describe his decision to have kicker Alex Henery attempt a 60-yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining in the first half against Dallas. Let's review the stupidity that went into this decision...
1. Henery had never made a field goal beyond 51 yards. He had missed three of his four attempts beyond 50. 2. It was fourth-and-one on the Dallas 42-yard line. From that spot, you'd have a better chance of getting a pass interference call or completing a Hail Mary than converting that field goal (which, by the way, missed by a wide margin). 3. You wouldn't have even needed to attempt a Hail Mary, because you still had one timeout left. You could have thrown a pass anywhere on the field and stopped the clock to set up a shorter field goal. 4. The odds of converting on a quarterback sneak are significantly better than making that field goal. At least if you do that, succeed and stop the clock later, you don't leave Dallas any extra time with good field position. Even if you fail to convert, you've left the Cowboys with worse field position. But by attempting a prayer of a field goal that early, you give Dallas superb field position while also leaving them nine seconds on the clock. And after getting to start the ensuing drive at midfield, the Cowboys actually came very close to scoring at the end of the half. In closing, it was literally one of the most nonsensical decisions I've ever seen a coach make. The stupidest...um...I'll let the picture tell the story
But if they're all bad, and if they're the best of the best -- which they clearly are, because it's not as though the replacement refs or college refs fare(d) any better -- then aren't they actually just victims? Maybe it has simply become impossible to officiate NFL games in a satisfactory way. We add rules every year, some of which are necessary and helpful, and some of which are ridiculous. But we never take any away. The system is flawed, and the officials are patsies. They take the heat for throwing flags like the one umpire Tony Michalek threw when he and Boger penalized New England's Chris Jones to keep a the New York Jets' game-winning drive alive after a missed field goal in overtime Sunday. When Michalek threw the flag, he was doing his job. He was doing his job properly, whether we like it or not. In 2013, "pushing" is a penalty, and the game changed based on this:
MichaelHarris1 5pts
I reffed in college for flag football. It was a high level intense league with some pretty skilled players. It was a freaking hard job. After that experience I learned to lay off the refs a bit. I can only imagine how hard it is in the NFL. Oh and the pushing rule was requested by players. They were basically pushing 4 guys onto one and twisting them up like pretzels. The rule is in the same vein as illegal chop blocks or horse collar tackles. j40bob 5pts
The new pushing rule is one that was asked for by the players as a way to improve player safety. Don't blame it on the league. reefinder 5pts
Never read or heard of this column, writer and do not know how I ended up here but am glad I did. Very entertaining and worth the read. Thanks
Amniculi 5pts
@j40bob Boohoo player safety. If you want to be safe go play flag football for less money. The NFL isn't quite powder-puff yet, but it's getting close.
Kyle Culley 5pts
@reefinder Ditto. This came to me via The Yardbarker and I really enjoyed the content. Alot. ThanksBloguin. Get back to me.
j40bob 5pts
@Amniculi Not sure why you're getting on my case; I'm just reporting the facts. I don't care about the rule in particular. It's just that it was the players who asked for it, which the article didn't seem to know.
Written by Brad Gagnon on Monday, 21 October 2013 20:35. Where to begin with the stupidity from Week 7? While nothing stood out in extreme fashion, there might have been more stupid this week in the NFL than any of the first six weeks of 2013. It's only a shame that we publish this stupid post before Monday Night Football, because this Minnesota Vikings-New York Giants game is destined to be laced with stupidity. We work with what we have, though, and the quantity of stupid moments and trends was quite high on Sunday alone. For example...
This goes to Adam Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals, who decided to field this punt from his own two-yard line...
This is the moment poor Nick Foles decided that he'd be better off taking a sack -- and consequently getting pancaked by two 300-pound defenders -- instead of throwing the ball away...
"Maybe he needs to get suspended or taken out of the game completely." -- Bears WR Brandon Marshall.
Whatever happened to the aggressive Chip Kelly we saw at Oregon? Not only has Kelly been incredibly conservative on fourth downs in the NFL, but he's been so conservative that it has bordered on stupid. That's the only way to describe his decision to have kicker Alex Henery attempt a 60-yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining in the first half against Dallas. Let's review the stupidity that went into this decision...
1. Henery had never made a field goal beyond 51 yards. He had missed three of his four attempts beyond 50. 2. It was fourth-and-one on the Dallas 42-yard line. From that spot, you'd have a better chance of getting a pass interference call or completing a Hail Mary than converting that field goal (which, by the way, missed by a wide margin). 3. You wouldn't have even needed to attempt a Hail Mary, because you still had one timeout left. You could have thrown a pass anywhere on the field and stopped the clock to set up a shorter field goal. 4. The odds of converting on a quarterback sneak are significantly better than making that field goal. At least if you do that, succeed and stop the clock later, you don't leave Dallas any extra time with good field position. Even if you fail to convert, you've left the Cowboys with worse field position. But by attempting a prayer of a field goal that early, you give Dallas superb field position while also leaving them nine seconds on the clock. And after getting to start the ensuing drive at midfie
ld, the Cowboys actually came very close to scoring at the end of the half. In closing, it was literally one of the most nonsensical decisions I've ever seen a coach make. The stupidest...um...I'll let the picture tell the story
But if they're all bad, and if they're the best of the best -- which they clearly are, because it's not as though the replacement refs or college refs fare(d) any better -- then aren't they actually just victims? Maybe it has simply become impossible to officiate NFL games in a satisfactory way. We add rules every year, some of which are necessary and helpful, and some of which are ridiculous. But we never take any away. The system is flawed, and the officials are patsies. They take the heat for throwing flags like the one umpire Tony Michalek threw when he and Boger penalized New England's Chris Jones to keep a the New York Jets' game-winning drive alive after a missed field goal in overtime Sunday. When Michalek threw the flag, he was doing his job. He was doing his job properly, whether we like it or not. In 2013, "pushing" is a penalty, and the game changed based on this:
MichaelHarris1 5pts
I reffed in college for flag football. It was a high level intense league with some pretty skilled players. It was a freaking hard job. After that experience I learned to lay off the refs a bit. I can only imagine how hard it is in the NFL. Oh and the pushing rule was requested by players. They were basically pushing 4 guys onto one and twisting them up like pretzels. The rule is in the same vein as illegal chop blocks or horse collar tackles. j40bob 5pts
The new pushing rule is one that was asked for by the players as a way to improve player safety. Don't blame it on the league. reefinder 5pts
Never read or heard of this column, writer and do not know how I ended up here but am glad I did. Very entertaining and worth the read. Thanks
Amniculi 5pts
@j40bob Boohoo player safety. If you want to be safe go play flag football for less money. The NFL isn't quite powder-puff yet, but it's getting close.
Kyle Culley 5pts
@reefinder Ditto. This came to me via The Yardbarker and I really enjoyed the content. Alot. ThanksBloguin. Get back to me.
j40bob 5pts
@Amniculi Not sure why you're getting on my case; I'm just reporting the facts. I don't care about the rule in particular. It's just that it was the players who asked for it, which the article didn't seem to know.