NFL 2015 Week 10: Down on your Luck

[Joe Pesci]

Fitzgerald even gets up from cheap shots like a professional.

[Bonesy]

They are away against a divisional rival that has been underperforming.

Edit: Anything can happen in that situation and now we see the evidence.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 It's a BIRDEMIC!

 

[Jace, Extat]

 

 

They are away against a divisional rival that has been underperforming.

 

Edit: Anything can happen in that situation and now we see the evidence.

I love this comment (see also in my best Kristen Wiig impression: Winning the NFL is HARD!) Fuck you, Cardinals. If you want me to think you're good, beat teams that don't exclusively suck.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 Carson Palmer should've taken his own advice and gone longer.

 

 

[Jace, Extat]

HAHA! The first time I saw that weird looking QB roll out draw play was when Andrew Luck and Vick Ballard ran it for the Colts in 2012. I love being wrong!

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 Have to dig the enthusiasm...

[Jace, Extat]

 Have to dig the enthusiasm...

On a basically unrelated note, my answer to that is this. Today was the first game Kirk Cousins' dad has been able to attend his games due to battling cancer, and the ole' Captain put up a perfect passer rating.

Stuff like this makes me look for the manufacturer guarantee for my eyes. The damn things keep leaking.

[Bonesy]

So we've got maybe 8 good teams? All suspect now except for Carolina and Cincinnati? Who are historically suspect? And the magical Patriots Patrioting.

The mediocrity seems historic right now.

Statisticians and whatnot please explain why I'm being irrational about this.

[Mexal]

 Carson Palmer should've taken his own advice and gone longer.

 

 

This will never get old for me.

[Mexal]

 

 

 

Adam Schefter

Denver's Peyton Manning has torn plantar fascia in right foot, league sources tell ESPN. Manning was battling plantar fasciitis; worsened.

Helps explain why Manning is unable to step into his throws. He has to be done for the year right? With his arm, he can't play with that injury. 

[DanteGabriel]

So we've got maybe 8 good teams? All suspect now except for Carolina and Cincinnati? Who are historically suspect? And the magical Patriots Patrioting.

The mediocrity seems historic right now.

Statisticians and whatnot please explain why I'm being irrational about this.

I don't think you're being irrational. Does feel an awful lot like more teams than usual just suck. We have an unusually large number of undefeated teams, which also means there's a larger underclass of bad teams. Some regular contenders have regressed (Seattle, Baltimore) or been slowed down by QB injuries (Pittsburgh, Dallas). And we're probably going to have two division winners at 8-8 or worse.

[Tywin et al.]

Go Vikings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What is wrong with A.A.Ron?

[Jace, Extat]

Go Vikings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What is wrong with A.A.Ron?

He's not the second coming of Chryst.

[SkynJay]

Helps explain why Manning is unable to step into his throws. He has to be done for the year right? With his arm, he can't play with that injury. 

At leat a month one would think.  A local guy reported this injury last week and the Broncos played the whole 'sore foot' thing.  Since they are now admitting the injury it seems they are setting up for him to sit a while.

So it is time to co.e up with nicknames for Brock!  Obviously if he goes on a run we must trademark 'the wizard of Os.'  But what if he starts throwing picks like Manning?  Lurch?  I'll just call him Big-O either way.

[Tywin et al.]

He's not the second coming of Chryst.

It's probably hard to throw the ball with nails in your hands.

[Mexal]

Victor Cruz having season ending surgery on his injured calf. Guess the Giants can't count on him coming back anymore.

[Kalbear]

Wish I could have posted this earlier, but - yeah, the Seahawks went pretty well as I expected. Arizona threw a lot of bombs, Seattle sucked at defending them, Seattle's D kept them in the game to a certain extent but their O was too limited to win in a race. Outside of the two fumble drives for TDs Seattle still didn't score over 20 points via their offense. 

Marshawn Lynch had 5 carries in the first half. 

And most of their woes are because of their OLine. Wilson running for his life is one thing, but 5 holding penalties resulted in basically 5 dead drives. This team can't do intermediate to long passes worth a damn and their playcalling isn't interesting enough to overcome it. The only time Seattle looked at all potent was running the hurry up - which makes me think a lot of their problem is the o coordinator and not the talent. 

But yeah, Seattle's now all but done, and the local sports radio's gnashing of teeth is going to be marvelous to behold.

[Rockroi]

Yes I did. It's not a slight, it's the truth. If they would have lost, I'd bet one of my balls that somewhere tomorrow, I'd have read an article or watch a segment on TV and Edelman going down would be used as a reason/excuse that they lost. Not by the team, or anyone on here, but by someone in the media. As the halftime show comes on, Rodney Harrison comes to mind as someone who might say it.

 

Uh… so …? 

 

I mean, what you are saying is that if a team loses its #1 WR, it would NOT have an impact on the game?  That that fact would NOT be impactful? or relevant  And that mentioning it would have been, what?  Stupid?  What you are basically saying is “Jesus!  I do not  want to listen to people bringing up cause-and-effect rationale, and being able to draw conclusions from events and circumstances!!!  STOOPIDPATRIOTSFANS!!!” 

 

Thankfully, the Pats won so we can avoid that living-hell for you. 

 

You know what?  I’ll just save everyone some time: I’ll give people a list of reasons why the Pats won on Sunday; just pick the one you find the LEAST offensive to your sensibility:

 

1. Tom Brady: incredible passing as the game wore on; hit guys long and short. 

2. Danny Amendola: Who I stated was a huge boon for the Pats and that needlessly started a riot on these boards.  Because punt returns are incredibly overrated. 

3. Bill Belichick: Take your pick: unbelievable clock management, especially at the end of the game.  The play calling that worked the whole way; the extraordinary ability to prepare his team for almost every circumstance.

4. Gronk: He takes so much attention off of everyone else.

5. Malcom Butler: He gave up that huge play to start the game (which, sad to say, was more McCourty’s fault for taking a terrible angle on Beckham. But almost the rest of the game he was battling every step of the way; he also knocked the ball out of Beckham’s hands to keep the game in reach.

6. The Giants…

 

Look, after all that here is what I can say about the Pats “win;” it looked a HELL of a lot more like a Giants loss.  The fumble in the 2^nd quarter; the drop by Beckham, the surrender of the GIGANTIC Gronk catch; shitty special teams play (not just Amendola’s punt return, but multiple ST penalties); not scoring while at the five yard line; giving the Pats the ball back with 2 minutes; the dropped INT on the last Pats drive.  And on and on…

 

The Giants gave that game to the Pats.  Don’t get me wrong; the Pats had to fight for every inch, and do about 50 things right to get there, and they did just that.  BUT… the Giants did a whole bunch of things that created the condition precedent to allow the Pats to win.  The Giants are a 5-5 team that played EXACTLY like a 5-5 team.  And Brady kills those teams. 

 

Now, the bad news is pretty obvious: the Pats lost their best WR, likely for the remainder of the season, possibly back by the playoffs.  The Pats are suddenly injury-riddled: lost the offensive line’s woes are public knowledge, losing the starting LT (Solder) and then the starting RT (Volmer, after Volmer moved to LT), losing the replacement tackle (Cannon) leaving the Pats with 3 rookies and a guy from the practice squad (not hyperbole; actually happened).  

Jamie Collins has not played since the Miami game, which seems like 6 years ago. 

Lost Lewis for the season.

Now, lost Edleman for the foreseeable future. 

 

Now, I get that most teams suffer through some injuries, but for the second time in 3 seasons,  the Pats are facing a “breaking point” problem where, eventually the injuries will overtake them at one key area (in 2013 it was their D; 2015 it’s the O-line).  Hopefully, the Pats get Volmer back before the Denver game; hopefully Edleman makes it back for the playoffs; hopefully White and Bolden can spell Lewis. 

 

But right now, of the 3 remaining undefeated teams, the Pats look the most vulnerable. 

 

A few other notes:

 

-Okay, so, lets talk about the old man masquerading as Peyton Manning.  So, when the World War One veteran with the bum hip passed Brett Favre for most career yards I realized two things:

 

1) the celebration was fucking pathetic.  As a Denver-area radio host stated, it was like Lumberg’s birthday party in Office Space… h….h-h-hooray?  Nobody wanted that celebration; it was forced and silly and just pathetic.

 

2) when the corpse of Barney Fife dressed in a Broncos QB-outfit took the field again, he IMMEDIATELY started closing in on Brett Favre’s other major record: most career INTs!  (he is currently 9^th). 

 

And then the cover story began.  A partially torn plantar fascia… an injury… right?  I mean Eli had this in 2009 (missed 0 games).  And they told us he has been “struggling” with it for “weeks” (first appeared on the injury report this week) and was apparently a recent flair up because BEFORE, Manning played so well that he had the “I-don’t-want-to-say-I-told-you-so-but-I-told-you-so” press conference after the GB win.  And this is CERTAINLY NOT an excuse to cover-up the fact that Manning is getting benched for a while.  No!  It’s not a cover-story!  Who cares if he STILL cannot throw a 16-yard out, before or after this injury?  Who cares that he has looked just as bad all season and has thrown picks in nine consecutive games. 

 

(Do… do you want to see a List of QBs with at least 9 consecutive games with an INT .  NSFW, so here are some names on that list: John Skelton, Ryan Leaf, Carson Palmer (x2), Jay Cutler, Sage Rosenfeld, Brett Favre (x2), Jake Plummer, Tim Couch, Charlie Frye, Chad Henne, Derek Anderson… on and on… until you hit Rex Grossman and you just want to cry). 

 

So, is it a partially torn plantar fascia/rib injury/quad/its getting cold/his receivers are not as good/O-line/Peyton-has-never-played-with-a-Defense-like-Brady-has-had (WARNING: Excuse not applicable to 2004, 2006, 2011, 2015 etc) WHAT-EVER!  Does it matter?

 

Peyton threw 4 picks and, had 5 completions on 20 attempts (25%), for 35 yards.  His QBR was .1; his Rating was 0.0… Mr. Blutowski…. Zero…. POINT…. Zero… His rating was lower than any rating Tim Tebow ever had as a Bronco.     

 

Can we just stop?  Can we just say, Look, okay, MAYBE right now there is an injury, but this is over.  He was not playing well before; he is playing worse as the season goes on.  He is not really good or even competitive right now.  Its like watching Ali fight Trevor Berbick; like watching Reggie Jackson in an Angels uniform; Unitas in a Chargers one.  Its over.  Can we just be done with this? 

 

To me, I always felt best when discussing Brady when he had his “Other;” the Rival; the Nemesis.  Manning was great for Brady because Brady was great for Manning.  They each were the measuring stick for the other.  Their careers were a constant back-and-forth of “Anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better.”  From 2001-2004, it was Brady, from 2005-2006, Manning.  In 2007, Brady took the lead, only to have Manning retake it in 2008 and 2009.  Brady battled back from 2010 through 2012, only to have Manning supplant him in 2013, only to have Brady retake the argument in 2014.  Great rivalry, 

 

Now?  Now, it’s considered “bad taste” to mention Brady and Manning in the same breath; it’s not fair to Manning.  So we have to ask very strange questions about the Broncos and if they can win IN SPITE of Manning; if Brock Osweller is “the answer” (that should send chills up your spine); if he can “be a game manager.” 

 

Its sad.  Everyone stays at the dance too long.  That’s the nature of this game.  And he’s staying too long.  Yes, the NFL would be better with him, but only if its 2005-2013 Peyton Manning, not … not whatever THIS is.  Not this old man with a shot arm and terrible mechanics and a worn out body.  Let that guy rest.

 

He’s making me sad. 

 

-Great game by the Cards who had a true battle and test at Seattle and was able to win a great game.  Right now, the Cards are the team, I think, to beat in the NFC, even more so than the Panthers.  They seem to have everything on D and their O has a great bit of firepower than can overcome a lot.  Yes, Palmer has to stay healthy, but they are the most solid looking team in the NFC. 

 

-Which brings me to the animated race in the NFC North.  The Vikings are now king of that ring, with the Packers apparently answering the question I posed last week, with a responding “NOPE!  We are NOT GOOD!”  They lost to … the Lions!  Yes, the worst team in the NFL beat a pre-season favorite to go to the Superbowl, at home.   Fuck. Me.  On top of that the Vikings won and… and … the Bears suddenly look feisty?!  Really!??!  Shit… NFC North is suddenly one hell of a fucking division. 

 

-Oh, let me now take a shit on Saints.  Just … Rob Ryan is employed.  They gave up like 744 points to Washington DC; Sean Payton looks like he’d rather be lobotomized than have to do what he is doing.  Drew Breese actually looks like he’s sick.  Sorry Saints. 

 

-Colts lost to the bye-week. 

 

I am starting to worry about the Pats as their margin for error gets smaller and smaller (it was one-point this week).  Buffalo is Monday night and then the Pats travel to Denver to try to see how this all ends up. 

 

But they have to get healthy or they are just going to be KO’d from another AFC Championship game.  

[Kalbear]

So, is it a partially torn plantar fascia/rib injury/quad/its getting cold/his receivers are not as good/O-line/Peyton-has-never-played-with-a-Defense-like-Brady-has-had (WARNING: Excuse not applicable to 2004, 2006, 2011, 2015 etc) WHAT-EVER!  Does it matter?

It kind of does, because two weeks ago Manning had one of the best games by a QB this season. It's very odd for you to both go off on Joe Pesci for bringing up that Edelman's being out would be an excuse and then decry all the excuses that people are making for Peyton. 

If it's legitimate to accept that the Pats wouldn't perform as well with Edelman out (which it is), it's legitimate to accept that Peyton was throwing very badly due to an injury.