Buck-Buck-Brawckkkkkkk No. 2: Trailing Dallas 24-9 early in the fourth quarter, Green Bay faced fourth-and-2 on its 35, and sent in a punt unit. "Got to be a fake," yours truly thought -- boom went the punt, and Dallas scored on its possession to ice the game. As TMQ endlessly notes, teams that punt on fourth-and-short when trailing in the fourth quarter almost always go on to lose.
With 13:55 left in the game, and down by 15 points, it's always best to take a risk that will immediately put your opponent in field goal range if the gamble doesn't pay off
Best Purist Drive: Jacksonville ran an 18-play, 82-yard drive that consumed 12 minutes and 18 seconds of the fourth quarter. Fourteen of the snaps were rushes; the result was a field goal that put the Jags ahead 20-14 with 2:36 remaining.
Network Priorities Praised: TMQ lives in the Washington, D.C., area, where endlessly the network affiliates show excruciatingly dull Baltimore Ravens games instead of whatever the day's headliner is, on the theory that Washington is a "secondary market" for Baltimore.
Who are the Ravens, and why are they playing in the Nevermores' stadium?
Look, I hate watching the Redskins play, but Baltimore, MD (where the Ravens play) and Landover, MD (where the Redskins play) are only 50 miles apart. In that space, there are fans of both teams. Please do like me, and get over it.
On Sunday, WUSA, the CBS affiliate, had the late slot and showed Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, the headliner game, not the Cleveland-Baltimore stinker.Good call!
Easterbrook, the guy who constantly writes about how DirecTV's exclusive rights to Sunday Ticket prevents thousands of fans from being able to watch their home team play, lauds a local affiliate for preventing Ravens fans who live in the Maryland suburbs from watching their team play. This reminds me of a word that starts with "h," hapo...hypo...hippopotamus, that's it.
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia wasn't a fireworks game, but was a lot better than the Cleveland-Baltimore stinker.
Browns/Ravens: 38 combined points, 5 touchdowns, 41 first downs, 5 sacks, 5 turnovers = stinky.
Steelers/Eagles: 21 combined points, 1 touchdown, 1 safety, 30 first downs, 12 sacks, 4 turnovers, 5 second half points = not stinky.
ESPN should blackout this Monday's game between the Ravens and the Steelers because the forecast calls for a 100% chance of stinkyness in Pittsburgh that night.
Philadelphia-Pittsburgh was a shitshow. Who's he kidding?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking that we can shorten this line:
ReplyDelete"As TMQ endlessly notes, teams that punt on fourth-and-short when trailing in the fourth quarter almost always go on to lose."
To this:
"As TMQ endlessly notes, teams trailing in the fourth quarter almost always go on to lose."
And it would still be accurate. Suddenly, punting from your own territory at the start of the fourth quarter in a game you trail by two scores doesn't seem so crazy.
Glad to see someone pointed out how he praised the Jags for kicking the field goalin a situation where he's always yelling at teams that they should go for it. I got into a disagreement with him a couple years ago when he started chirping about the averge NFL play going 5 yards. Sure Gregg, but what does the median play go for? What does your typical play gain? What are the real odds a team is going to make 2,3,4, or 5 yards on a play? By his theory, teams just march up nd down the field 5 yards at a time....
ReplyDeleteI do agree with some of his ideas. Too many teams punt in situations where they should go for it, but 4th and 2 from your own 35 isn't one of them with nearly the 4th quarter to go.
Also, he's right bout too many teams going shotgun or pass happy from the 1 and 2 yardline, yet his "Sweet Play" was a pass from the 2. He has regularly attacked the Chargers for not running in that kind of situation ovr the years. Don't praise them now merely because the play worked.
This entire column was like it was written by the Anti (but still pretentious) Gregg.
Ah, but larry...was San Francisco considered a secondary market for the Raiders, too? If not, there's that hippopotamus word again
ReplyDelete