Absolutely crazy week in football, and it seems like none of it happened on the field. The Texans had a rollercoaster of a game having their head coach collapse at halftime, the Broncos coach also had major heart surgery, and the Miami locker room is in a heated battle. But more of that later, let’s start with football.
Let’s not Crown him quite yet…
Eagles QB Nick Foles had a day that most hall of fame QBs dream about. Granted he was playing the Raiders, but Foles tied an NFL record for 7 TD passes in one game. Very surprising that Chip Kelly still won’t name a starter once Vick is healthy, which leads me to believe that Vick is outperforming Foles in practice. The only other theory is that Kelly’s offense is so set on having a mobile QB, that Kelly can’t get over the fact that he has Vick. Will be interesting if Foles continues to succeed.
Seattle is the best team in the NFC that’s in Trouble:
I don’t think I can name a team in the NFC that can easily beat the Seahawks, other than themselves. For the second week in a row, Seattle found themselves down and in need of a comeback. This time to 0-8 Tampa Bay. Not sure if coaches took part of the week off, or what, but to go down 21-0 to the Bucs is pathetic. They managed to comeback, and are still an impressive 8-1, but they won’t be able to make that comeback against a playoff team in January.
Comebacks that are OK:
The Colts have one of those magical teams this year it seems. On Sunday’s game they also found themselves down 21-0. But it seemed like it was more the Texans playing awesome than the Colts screwing up. They came out with a vengeance in the 2nd half and had an impressive win. Look at Luck’s stats. In his short career, he’s only played 24 games, and 10 of those games he has won with a comeback in the 4th quarter! That may say something to how he starts the game, but still very impressive!
Chiefs are Dropping on Everybody’s Power Rankings:
The Chiefs went into Buffalo, a team that was reeling and using a 3rd string QB, and barely won. In fact, they didn’t even score an offensive touchdown. Yes, they’re the last 9-0 team, but I’m more worried about the Chiefs than I am of the Seahawks. (Side note, I need to implement a new rule in the English language. For some reason, the more I talk about the Chiefs, the more I misspell it. The new rule should be “I before E except after C, unless there’s an H after the C, then it’s still I before E”). Or something like that.
Called It!
Are the Jets legit? They’ve had a goofy season, with a win, loss, win, loss, etc. Well they beat a great team in the Saints, and perhaps showed that they can stick with the big boys. Last week I put them as the #6 team to make the playoffs. Even if that doesn’t happen, I think Rex Ryan may have saved his job.
Week 9 Recap:
Week 9 was unique, where every team with a Winning record only played teams with losing records (2 teams with winning records didn’t play). Two of the teams with losing records ended up winning, but five winning teams took care of business. If the Chiefs, Colts, and Seahawks wouldn’t have pulled off comebacks, this could have flipped drastically.
Stolen Stat of the Week:
KC has faced 5 backup or worse QB’s in a row
Stolen Stat of the Week #2:
Andre Johnson caught 3 TD passes in the first 30 min, TY Hilton caught 3 TD passes in the last 16 minutes
Stat of the Week #3:
The Vikings have won 2 home games, yet
Year of the Backup QB:
It’s only Week 10, and 12 of the 32 teams have started a backup QB, not just played, but STARTED! With how protective the league is of QB’s, it’s amazing the amount of teams that have been ravaged at the position! Surprisingly, 5 of these teams have had to dip into their 3rd string. It just seems to be one of those crazy years.
Pick your Choice?
Without looking at the QB, which one would you rather have? 62.7% Completions, 13 TD’s, 0 INTs, or would you rather have 54.6% completions, 5 TDs, 3 Ints? Without looking at stats, who is better? Foles or Vick? My initial thought is Vick. But it utterly shocked me that Stat #1 (the 13TD one) is actually Nick Foles! I know he had an amazing game on Sunday, but he also struggled the week before. The fact that he has a higher completion percentage, and no INT is indeed impressive. Wonder what Kelly would say after seeing that?
Vikings Not Quitting:
As evident of their win last night, the Vikings are still trying to stay competitive. I was more impressed in the Dallas game, seeing 2 crazy touchdowns that emphasized the “no quit” attitude. The first, Peterson gets hit and lifted up at the 5 yard line. He got some help from his TE, but he bull rushed and pulled the pile 5 yards to get into the endzone in what was an awesome play. Kyle Rudolph did the same thing (on the play he broke his foot). Getting hit at the 3, he just kept pushing and got in. I know these guys are paid to do this for a living, but impessive for a team that was 1-7 (now 2-7).
Off Field Issues
Scary moment in Houston on Sunday night, when at halftime Gary Kubiak collapsed on the field on the way in for halftime. My initial thought was “this is the best place this can happen.” He was immediately surrounded by trainers, the team has a doctor in the locker room, and there’s always an ambulance on-site to rush players to the hospital. He apparently had a mini-stroke and is out at least another game. An excited team and fanbase immediately went quiet, and I feel bad the Texans lost that game.
The 2nd off field issue has been spoken about non-stop this week, so I won’t put my 2 cents in. But in a crazy rollercoaster of a ride, first Jonathan Martin looks like a victim and has everybody’s sympathy, then players start defending Richie Incognito, now they’re back to bashing Incognito. I don’t think Incognito ever plays for the Dolphins again, and I think that Martin will struggle to ever fit into a locker room again. It’s the downside to whistleblowing, but interesting to see the world of Sports and Human Resources come together.
Game in 2 Weeks:
Getting very excited for the Broncos vs. Chiefs matchup in 2 weeks! FFMQB and I were having a heated discussion on how that game will play out, and just want to get my opinion in writing to let people know. I think Denver is going to destroy KC. The Chiefs didn’t have an offensive TD last week, and won’t be able to keep up with Denver at all. The saying “Defense Wins Championships” worked 10 years ago, but not today. I am impressed with KC’s defense, but Peyton can pick them apart slowly until it’s too late. I have Broncos winning by at least 24.
FMQB 
As a Patriots fan, who had a loss tallied against his team because of the “propelling a fellow player forward” rule, how was the Peterson play not flagged for the same type of penalty? The offensive rule has been in the books for a lot longer and is never enforced, yet the special teams version cost my team a chance to win. Not only should Peterson’s td have been negated the Vikings should have been moved back from the spot of the foul.
I was wondering the same thing but read a reason why it wasn’t called. Apparently the “safety issue” and reason for the rule is pushing players into the line of scrimmage. Because Peterson was downfield and pass all the lineman, that’s why it was considered to be legal.