FMQB

FMQB: Dilly Dilly

Crazy ending:

Alright, I know I promised at the beginning of the season I wouldn’t dissect plays or sequences, but the Jaguars and Chargers game was just too crazy to not address. If you know what happened, skip this, but otherwise it’s worth reading! Let’s set the scene. Chargers up 17-14 with 2:51 left in the game, they are just punting the ball to Jacksonville.

• After 49 seconds and crossing midfield, Bortles throws an interception. Should be game over, right?
• 1^st play, Chargers Fumble! Jags run it back for a score, but it’s reversed. But hey, they have the ball in FG range already
• Hold your horses, at the 22 yard line (so a 39 yard Field Goal), Bortles throws ANOTHER interception. Game over, right?
• Nope, Jags have all 3 timeouts since they fumbled the first play last time. 3 runs and 3 timeouts later, there’s 1:08 in the game and Chargers have to punt
• Josh Lambo, ex Charger, nails a short FG to tie the game as time expires. Overtime
• Jags punt first possession
• Chargers throw deep and it’s caught by Travis Benjamin only to be ripped out of his hands and ruled an interception. Guy runs it back 51 yards and gets tackled at the 2 yd line
• Now fun with penalties. There’s a 15 yard penalty on the INT for taunting. Ball at the 17. Jags go nowhere in 3 plays and line up to kick a field goal, but there’s a delay of game on the defense, march the ball forward 5 yards.
• Field Goal is BLOCKED! But trickles barely over the uprights. Jags win! BUT, had that delay of game not been called, the ball would have fallen short.
• “I’m exhausted” Jag’s head coach Doug Marrone afterwards

Mo Money Mo Problems:

Falcons Adrian Clayborn had 6 sacks on Sunday (tied for 2^nd most in one game). Crazily enough, he was sitting at 2 sacks going into the game, and his contract gives him a $750,000 incentive for hitting 8 sacks in a season which was likely out of reach going into Sunday. Now he’s only 2 sacks away from another $1.25M payday

Quick Hits:

• Not like Tyrod Taylor was blowing it up, but if a 5-4 record, 10 TD to 3 INT ratio, and current 6^th seed in the playoffs isn’t good enough to keep your job, I don’t know what is. Watch out Case Keenum.
• Catch of the year by the Redskins Harris, holy crap. They just brought him up from the practice squad too. (See picture above)
• Cool isn’t the word, but special to see Teddy Bridgewater get emotional on the sidelines. Realizing he’s getting a 2^nd chance after all the hard work in rehab and not taking a snap for 22 months
• Antonio Brown is a beast
• Bears must be trusting Trubiskey? He had 7 pass attempts against the Panthers, and 2 games later had 35 this week.
• As good as the Steelers are, their 2 losses have been to the Bears and Jaguars

Bennett Brother’s Last Name should have been Pinocchio:

Hard to believe Martellus Bennett’s story about the Packers. How does he go from not being able to play and doctors forcing him back on the field, to play the next week for a new team? Something doesn’t add up.

Stat of the Week #1:

Matt Ryan has become the fastest QB to 40,000 yards

Stat of the Week #2:

The Saints are the 2^nd team to lose their first 2 games and win their next 7. The last team was the ’93 Cowboys, who went on to win the Super Bowl

Stat of the Week #3:

Joe Flacco has more completions for negative yards, than completions for over 20 yards

Stat of the Week #4:

Blake Bortles became the first QB to throw 2 INT’s in the final 2 minutes of the game, and still win.

Stat of the Week #5:

Jacoby Brissett became the first Colts QB with 4 TD’s in a season that were over 60 yards. Yes, that means even Peyton Manning didn’t do that.

Stat of the Week #6:

The Browns have set an NFL record for most losses in a row, with 26 dating back to last season.

Stat of the Week #7:

Through 9 games this season, Matt Ryan has already thrown more INT’s than he did all last year

Stat of the Week #8:

Only 6 teams in the NFC have losing records, while the AFC has 10 teams. Eight of the top twelve teams in point differential are also in the NFC.

Stat of the Week #9:

The Saints were the first team since 1941 with 6 Rush TD’s and 0 Pass TD’s. At one point they ran the ball 24 consecutive times.

Stat of the Week #10:

The Steelers have won 7 games. The other 3 teams in their division (Browns, Bengals, and Ravens) have 7 wins combined.

Schedules moving forward:

As muddy as the NFC is with four 7 wins teams, it’s about to be filtered out by tough schedules moving forward. The Rams play 5 of their last 7 against teams with winning records (including 3 of the 4 teams with 7 wins, and the Eagles). The Vikes also have 4 very tough games coming up, ending with 3 very winnable ones (2 of which at home). The Panthers and Saints have perhaps the easiest schedule with only 2 of their last 7 against these teams, but they meet up in Week 13.

Fitzy!

For anybody who has the option of watching Larry Fitzgerald’s “Football Life” on NFL Network, do it. I swoon over him as a football player, but he’s an amazing human being who’s traveled to 97 countries, he’s constantly learning and asking questions, and you get the sense he truly cares about everybody he comes in contact with. Back to the swooning. A couple weeks back he passed Tim Brown to become 6^th on the all-time yardage list for receivers. He’s 34, but if he can play 1 more season, he will easily pass the log-jam that’s ahead with Tony Gonzalez, Isaac Bruce, Randy Moss, and Terrell Owens to make it to #2 all time. I think it’s worth noting how incredible Jerry Rice’s record looks when you look at this list. He is nearly 7000 yards ahead of TO! Retirement talks are already abound for Larry, but SHOULD he decide to play until 42 like Rice did, he would have to average 924 yards per season for the next 8 years to catch him. That’s a tall order.

Audible of the Week:

“Dilly Dilly” Ben Roethlisberger. For the record, I can’t stand that commercial, and the fact it’s catching on is driving me nuts, but I did find that funny

Quote of the Week:

“Cliff Keebler” Nick. Yes, we have a radio personality here in town (local to Minneapolis) who CANNOT get “Case Keenum’s” name right. It’s become a running joke, so he now only refers to him as Cliff Keebler

Games of the Week:

Rams at Vikings: Battle of two 7-2 teams. And oh yeah, I’ll be there!

Redskins at Saints: The Redskins are much better than their record states

Patriots at the Mexico City Raiders: Could be intriguing, could be a blowout

Eagles at Cowboys: Cowboys need a win if they want a shot at the division

Falcons at Seahawks: Shootout?

Games of the Weak:

Make sure not to miss Bortles vs. Kizer, Gabbert vs. Savage, Fitzpatrick vs. Cutler, Peterman vs. Kellen Clemens, Flacco vs. Hundley, and Dalton vs. Osweiler….

Meme of the Week:

Bonus Meme: