FMQB: Psych!
This week’s article will be focusing 100% on football, and not politics. Because that’s why I and millions of other Americans watch this game; for entertainment purposes. Everybody has and is entitled to their opinions. Nobody is right, nobody is wrong, it’s an opinion about what you think is right. And that folks, is the most I’ll say about this subject the entirety of the season. Now on to Football!
Crazy week of upsets:
Apparently the Thursday night game was a precursor to the surprises we’d see on Sunday! Jags blowing out the Ravens, Bills over Broncos, Bears over Steelers, Vikings with a backup QB dominating the Bucs, Jets over Dolphins, Saints blowing out undefeated Panthers, and Redskins over the Raiders. We also came dang close to the Bengals knocking off the Packers, and the Texans taking out the Patriots.
Surprise records:
It’s Week 3, I get it, it’s early. But still!
- Bills are 2-1 and technically in 1st place in their division
- Jaguars are 2-1, tied for first
- Giants are 0-3, team many had making a deep playoff run
- Vikings are 2-1 with their QB only playing in 1 game
- Rams are 2-1, alone in 1st place in their division
- Seahawks are 1-2
Stat of the Week #1:
For the most unbelievable stat I’ve ever seen, Aaron Rodgers had never won an Overtime game going into Sunday. He is now 1-7.
Stat of the Week #2:
Kareem Hunt is averaging a whopping 8.5 yards per carry! And this is through 3 games, it’s not an obscure stat where someone had 10 carries but a 70 yd TD in there; it’s looking at 47 carries!
Stat of the Week #3:
Tom Brady is on pace for 5824 passing yards, which would beat Peyton Manning’s record by nearly 400 yards.
Stat of the Week #4:
Kareem Hunt is on pace for 2139 rushing yards, and 2870 total yards from scrimmage. Both would be NFL records
Stat of the Week #5:
Alex Smith is in 1st or 2nd place in completion percentage, passer rating, and TD’s, all with 0 INT’s. Proving my point about the Patrick Mahomes questionable draft pick.
Stat of the Week #6:
The Rams and Jaguars are both in the Top 4 offenses in terms of points scored
Stat of the Week #7:
Jared Goff had 5 TD’s and 7 INT’s last season. He’s already equaled his TD mark just 3 games in, and has only thrown 1 INT.
Stolen Stat of the Week #8:
Jacksonville has won by 22 points, then lost by 21 points, then won by 37 points.
Stolen Stat of the Week #9:
Undrafted quarterback Case Keenum is 3-0 versus first overall draft choice quarterback Jameis Winston
Worst Injury I’ve ever heard:
Darrren Sproles tore his ACL and broke his arm on the same play. How does that even happen, they’re two completely different areas of the body!
Effort Award:
Dez Bryant’s touchdown was a piece of beauty to watch. He caught the ball on a slant and got hit at the 4 yard line. He kept his legs churning, and at one point there were 4 Cardinals trying to push him back, a 5th grabbing at his legs, and only him and an offensive lineman pushing towards the endzone. The 2 beat the 5, touchdown.
Lack of Effort Award:
How many videos do you have to show these kids before people will stop showboating before they get into the endzone? Leon Lett is literally a household name for being chased down in that Super Bowl against the Bills. DeSean Jackson dropping the ball before he got in is the same thing. Bears CB had a chance to score a TD but started showboating at the 15 yard line. Game went into OT, could have affected it.
New Rule Proposal:
New rule should be if the victim of a penalty is laughing, it should be flagged. Surprised that Von Miller got a flag for pretending to help Tyrod Taylor up, but doing the “psych!” thing and moving his hands away. Taylor started laughing, the refs obviously weren’t amused. It was funny but it actually cost the Broncos the game.
Lions have a beef:
It seems like the Lions and only the Lions have weird endings involving receivers, a la Calvin Johnson, the Cowboys playoff games, and Sunday. Golden Tate ran a slant, fell into the endzone, but his knee was barely down before he got in. Since they called it a TD and it was reviewed, the Lions were charged a 10 second runoff since they were out of timeouts. This was the refs fault for not getting the call right on the field, and I think you have a legitimate beef since the Lions could have easily gotten set for one more play.
Insult to Injury:
Jacksonville ran a successful fake punt while up 37-0. If this was the Patriots, there would be a ton of outrage for running up the score. But people were like “eh, it’s Jacksonville let ‘em have it.”
Feel good story of the week:
Eagles kicker Jake Elliot nailed a 61 yarder at the end of regulation to win the game. If that’s not impressive enough, he’s a rookie who also missed a 30 yard field goal the week before. Carson Wentz jokingly said “I’ll give him my game check if he makes it.” Apparently Elliot turned Wentz’ offer down if he donated something to a charity.
Official Scorer’s Rendition of the Showboating Fumble:
1-10-CHI 18(:06) (Field Goal formation) C.Boswell 35 yard field goal is BLOCKED (S.McManis), Center-K.Canaday, Holder-J.Berry, RECOVERED by CHI-M.Cooper at CHI 29. M.Cooper to PIT 1 for 70 yards (V.McDonald). FUMBLES (V.McDonald), ball out of bounds in End Zone, Touchback. PENALTY on PIT-J.Berry, Illegal Bat, 10 yards, enforced at PIT 20. Play Challenged by Replay Official and REVERSED. (Field Goal formation) C.Boswell 35 yard field goal is BLOCKED (S.McManis), Center-K.Canaday, Holder-J.Berry, RECOVERED by CHI-M.Cooper at CHI 26. M.Cooper to PIT 1 for 73 yards (V.McDonald). FUMBLES (V.McDonald), ball out of bounds in End Zone, Touchback. PENALTY on PIT-J.Berry, Illegal Bat, 0 yards, enforced at PIT 1.
Week 2 missed stats:
Because FMQB is human, I forgot to mention several things from Week 2 which I don’t want swept under the rug.
- Props to Antonio Gates for catching the most TD passes for a Tight End in NFL History
- Same to Tom Brady, most Pass Yards for a 40 year old QB with 447
- Patriots sure are disciplined. At the end of the 1st half, Brady got tackled with 12 seconds left. Clock running, they successfully kicked a field goal. Watching the right players get onto the field, the offensive line shift and all report as eligible correctly was insane.
- Pierre Garcon, catch of the season against the Rams
- A fine-able celebration is a gambling reference. The Steelers were not fined for their dice celebration in the endzone, because NFL officials couldn’t tell if they were playing Yahtzee or Backgammon. That’s no joke, that was the actual explanation
- “False start, offense. Everybody except the center moved” Ref
Photo credit: Matt Rourke/Associated Press
