Jeezus, the Seahawks are winning ugly, but winning. But dear god, 3 missed game-winning field goals by Jay Feeley, one at the end of regulation and 2 in OT that let the Seahawks stay in it. That’s a cardiac game if you’re a Seattle fan.
I think we saw a preview of the NFC Championship today. Seattle didn’t impress me at all, especially the way they let the Giants push them around late, but they got the W, and they’re in the driver’s seat for home field now.
The Giants, Cowboys and Bucs all missed clutch FG’s this week – it’s a good year if you’re a decent kicker about to leave college. :)
And how about the Jag’s playoff hopes? Byron Leftwich, broken ankle. Anyone know anything about his backup?
See Tom Brady implode.
Fucking Jay Feeley. The Giants should have won that game, the way they had all the momentum in the 4th, and all the come-from-behind heroics by both the offense and defense, and the 3 goddamned chances they gave Feeley. How can a kicker go from pure awesome, unmissable, in the first half of the season to 3 misses in a row in a hard fought, gritty match, where the rest of the team did all they had to do to get the win??
Statistically, the Giants kinda pushed the Seahawks around the entire game, but it was like death-of-a-thousand-penalties there for the Giants O-line.
The Giants were bizarre to watch at times. That one series where they had 5 false starts? 11 in total? Damn. I would not want to be a lineman around Tom Coughlin this week.
That Shockey catch, ruled as incomplete in OT, really bit them in the ass. Instead of 1st down on the 20, it was 3rd on the 36. I suspect that Feeley would’ve made the chipshot from 35 or closer.
Can’t complain though. Two Giant TD’s could easily have been overturned if the camera angle’s had been a bit better. I suspect that Shockey coughed up his TD catch before the 2nd foot made contact, as well as that Toomer’s right foot was out of bounds before his left came down.
The Giants showed me they’re for real, but I could easily see them missing the playoffs with a couple more missteps.
God, Shockey is such a prick… which makes this moment from today’s game even more teh awesome.
http://www.imagedonkey.com/show.php/432_shockey
I watched the Bengals/Ravens, and good God, how the FUCK does Boller get to start? The guy is borderline in a panic every time he has the ball, has no ball control, misses wide open receivers, and has no idea how to throw with any touch. Oh, and he makes bad reads and can’t even hand off the fucking ball without tripping.
Just mind numbing in his mediocrity, but he gets to stay in because, well, he runs a 4.6 in the 40 and has a rifle arm. Gee-awd.
Palmer, on the other hand, looked like an unholy terror.
First time in NFL history 3 teams from the same division (Giants, Cowboys, Redskins) all lost in OT in the same week.
I have a gun. Would someone please shoot me in the face? The only guy SF can count on to score points, PK Joe Nedney, is hurt. Okay, that sucks. So, they pick up JOSE FUCKING CORTEZ as a replacement? HAHAHAHAHA YESSSSSS! Let’s not learn from, you know, Cortez’ abysmal slump about a month ago (where you’ve got Bill Parcells on camera clearly mouting “What the FUCK is your problem?” shortly before firing him) OR his execrable second season for the Niners (missed PAT? Yes! Missed go-ahead figgies, OT included? Yes! Yes!) OR his pathetic start with the LA, uh, Xtreme? Wait, oh wait, did you just doink a mother effing 34-yarder, Jose?
And, as usual, a nice long TD play (Barlow the victim this time) is negated because the Niners are undertalented retards. Am I silly? I guess I figured the Niners, with Nolan as their coach, might improve their D above, like, WORST PLACE. I could point and laugh at the Texans for losing a game to a rookie QB making his first start ever, but the Niners did that like last year against the Bears. PSH CATCH UP, HOUSTON.
[i]“With the first pick in the 2006 draft, the Houston Texans select: Reggie Bush, running back, USC.”
“With the second selection in the 2006 draft, the New York Jets select: Matt Leinart, quarterback, USC.”
“The San Francisco 49ers are now on the clock.”[/i]
Somewhere, I imagine Bill contemplating this scenario and his head exploding. :)
Fuckin’ evil heartbreakin’ Redskins!
HO-LY Crap did that Seattle/NY game give me trouble.
I’m seriously worried about Hasselbeck… he just hasn’t been getting the job done for the past two games now… and I don’t think he can use the “hey it’s backup recievers I’m working with” excuse 'cause these backups have been incredible all season long. Jurevicious single handedly won the game yesterday. Yes… more than the missed FG’s… because that game shouldn’t have been that close.
The Seattle/NY game should never have gone to OT because the first NY touchdown wasn’t a touchdown. Shockey benefitted from what I call the ‘Jordan Syndrome.’ That’s where officials call a game differently with ‘name’ players than they do with regular Joes. If some second-string TE had made the same play, it would have been ruled an incomplete pass. Instead, 'cause it’s Shockey, he gets the benefit of the doubt even though he never came down with possession of the ball (because he got rocked so hard). Still though, I’ve got to worry about my Seahawks… Hasselbeck’s not performing the way a championship quarterback does, and the defense, while improved, still gives up WAY too many 3rd and long conversions. I don’t think anybody realizes just how much the Seahawk secondary misses Hamlin.
Other teams… I think anybody who still thinks the Bengals are an overrated team that benefits from a soft schedule needs to stop watching football forever. This is an incredible team and they will go deep into the playoffs. Ditto for the Bears… they’re the team in the NFC I’m most worried about keeping my 'hawks from the promised land.
p.s. Houston-St. Louis… the Texans must really want that top pick…
Shockey didn’t get “name” treatment, he got lucky that refs have a lot to focus on in a split second and that there’s no Hi-Def screen in the replay hood.
It was hard to definitvely tell in slow-mo if that second foot scraped the ground (and that’s all that’s required) before the ball came free. Which means it’s almost impossible to be watching the ball AND his feet in real time, from a handful of yards away.
Very strange week. Two OT games decided by TDs, one more with 2 missed FGs. Cincy goes from up 31 to giving up 29 2nd-half points to Baltimore (and yeah, I’m sure some of it was “We don’t care-itis”, but still). Another missed FG by Tampa seals a Bears win. Ridiculous comeback by a rookie 7th round pick from Harvard. Jets missing the game winning FG by a yard or less after disasterous plays late.
On a semi-related note, Vegas is probably taking a pounding this year. Favorites were covering at like 58% two weeks ago, then went 7-9 last week and 11-3-1 going into tonight. Historically, Favorites cover only about 51% of the time.
Actually I think it’s only through instant replay that it even looks a little bit like an actual reception. In real time, the ball got there and just as Shockey started to come down with it he got hammered and the ball came loose. The second TD toss to Toomer was the real deal though… what an amazing catch.
Ha! That was a great finish to that Rams game. Fourth and six from mid-field with 34 seconds to go and the rookie QB from Harvard tosses a TD pass to Bruce.
Then they recover the onside kick and the rookie QB hits Holt for a big gainer down the middle and Wilkins nailes the 47 yard FG to send it to OT.
Texans win the toss and get stalled near midfield. Punt and after a penalty the Rams start at their own 10. The rookie QB moves them to midfield and then hits Curtis on a short pass that the lily-white Mormon – the fastest player on the Rams – breaks for a TD!
Yes, it was the Meaningless Bowl, but it was damned fun to watch. I guess the Rams have an outside shot at the playoffs if they run the table and finish 10-6, but I’m not getting my hopes up. The Rams defense is still the pits. (Interesting note: Mike Furrey, the WR converted to Safety, was the most experienced player in the Rams secondary with six games under his belt. That’s a secondary that needs help!)
Ryan let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now I’m just hoping the Seahawks can win a playoff game. :D
Actually I think it’s only through instant replay that it even looks a little bit like an actual reception. In real time, the ball got there and just as Shockey started to come down with it he got hammered and the ball came loose. The second TD toss to Toomer was the real deal though… what an amazing catch.[/quote]
I dunno, later in the 4th (or was it OT?), Shockey made a 15-yard catch for the 1st down, got the ball stripped, and Tim Carter recovered for the Giants at the Seattle 20. One booth review later and the refs are saying Shockey never had possession of the ball, and that it was an incomplete pass. I thought his catch this time was a lot more definite than his TD catch, so I think the refs were doing a little “corrective overturning” there with Shockey. This was crucial, too, as the Giants never converted the 1st down after the pass was ruled incomplete, and Feeley had to kick the ball a good 10-15 yards farther (and missed, of course).
Ditto for the Bears… they’re the team in the NFC I’m most worried about keeping my 'hawks from the promised land.
As much as I love my Bears, I wouldn’t see them beating the Seahawks. The Bears’ biggest weakness is their secondary, and I think Seattle would hurt 'em there pretty badly. The Bears have really only played one good passing team all year (Cincinnati), and the 30-yard receptions are what did 'em in there. Ditto for their loss to Cleveland, where Dilfer’s long TD passes to Antonio Bryant won the game. And then they gave up 165 receiving yards to Steve Smith last week, and had Tampa march the ball right down the field at the end of yesterday’s game via the pass. They’re not complete pushovers through the air (Carson Palmer only had 130 yards or so, without those long passes), but I just don’t see them beating a good passing team with a decent offensive line.
Me too man - me too. Which is why I’m worried about Hasselbeck. He’s not performing like a playoff-winning-caliber QB… which leads to my concerns about the Bears… so their secondary is the weak spot in their defense… not a concern if the QB doesn’t put the ball on target.
But then again maybe the 'hawks are just in a slump… and if winning ugly is how this team slumps, I guess I’m o.k. with it… but seriously - what was up with Walter Jones yesterday? He got used (which may have contributed to Hasselbeck’s accuracy issues).
Oh… and the Shockey Instant Replay thing at the end of the game… I’ll take a make-up call if it keeps my team alive like that one did, but it’s bad form if that’s what happened. I think it’s more likely that the ball was clearly still rotating in his arms/hands as Shockey hit the turf – the ball movement thing is pretty much the primary visual cue they look for in a replay when determining whether or not possession took place.