FMQB: Fake the Flu and go Bowlin’
Saints vs. 49ers is this year’s Chiefs Rams. And we have a much better chance of seeing these 2 teams meet in the playoffs. It would be awesome to see this as the NFC Championship game! These shootouts are always fun, where you almost watch the clock to try to figure out who will have the ball last because they’ll have the winning score. That Kittle 4th and 2 play! It was an option route, and you expect the guy to get 2, maybe 3 yards, but instead gets 39 yards and a 15 yard penalty added on.
Quick Hits:
- Drew Lock over the Texans? After they crushed the Patriots? They were up 38-3 over a division champ
- Patriots 21 game win streak at home was snapped
- I find it hilarious that the Saints keep getting screwed over by the PI penalty. That’s karma for pushing this bogus rule into the league
- The Panthers have lost 5 straight since starting 5-3
- Manning’s swan song. Eagles players lined up to shake his hand.; Respect
Patriots have Another Scandal, or two…
The one thing I’ll say, is if the Patriots are going to cheat and videotape an opponent, it’s NOT going to be against the 1-12 Bengals. But that’s as far as my “benefit of the doubt” will go. There’s NO other franchise this stuff happens to. I mean seriously, it’s ONLY the Patriots. It’s scandal after scandal after scandal. There’s 31 other teams in the league, there should literally be a 3% chance that the next scandal involves the Patriots. But it’s always them. Do they just toe the line so closely that they sometimes step over it? Or are there other instances that have happened that have truly given them the edge over the years and they haven’t gotten caught? They were very quick to come up with an excuse, and self-report it. For anybody believing them, just look at what they told videographers back in 2007 when they got caught for Spygate:
The videographers also were provided with excuses for what to tell NFL security if asked what they were doing: Tell them you’re filming the quarterbacks. Or the kickers. Or footage for a team show.
And, now for the 2nd one. Hearing the story about the Chiefs helmets and gear getting sent to the wrong airport was pretty shocking. In fact, with ALL the coordination that goes into play week in and week out, for 16 teams, we’ve never heard of this happening before. If the Chiefs didn’t have their gear, they would have had to forfeit the game. And who, OF ALL TEAMS, would they have been forfeiting against? The Patriots. I was literally waiting on the edge of my seat for the Belichick meme to come out, one of the better ones, see below!
Stat of the Week:
Eli Manning moved into 7th all time for TD passes, but has a 116-117 all time winning record
Stat of the Week #2:
Drew Brees is 2 TD’s shy of breaking Manning’s record
Stat of the Week #3:
Danielle Hunter became the youngest player to 50 sacks
Stat of the Week #4:
Lamar Jackson just passed Micheal Vick for the most rushing yards by a QB in a season. If that alone didn’t put him in the MVP conversation, perhaps the fact that he’s leading the league in TD Passes does. He also still has 2 games left to pad his stats!
Stolen Stat of the Week #5:
In the last 3 games featuring NE vs KC, New England has 96 points, KC has 94
Stat of the Week #6:
Drew Lock had a QBR of 98.7. This is the one based off the 100 point scale.
Stat of the Week #7:
Ryan Tannehill became the 2nd QB in NFL history with 4 straight games with a passer rating of 130 or higher
Two things I learned this week!
Other than super obscure rules, I feel like I know the ins and outs of pro football as good as any other fan, so I’m always a bit surprised to learn new things. Regarding the Pass Interference non-call in the Saints game, it was the correct call because of something I never knew. If a team lines up in a punt formation, there’s no such thing as pass interference. That’s because the gunner is running down the field, and it would be a cheap and easy penalty to call against the defense every time since that player is trying to block the gunner the entire time.
#2: Thanks to the Patriots scandal, I learned my 2nd nugget of the week. I never knew that teams sent “Advance Scouts” to games of the teams they play next. i.e the Patriots sending a scout to the Bengals game, the week before the Bengals play the Patriots. It makes sense, but seems like a bit of an unnecessary expense. Game film is out there and studied every week, why does this just not get sent to whichever team needs it?
My Beef with NFL Geography:
I completely realize that 95% of Minnesotan’s would want to watch their team play on Sunday, but it was incredibly disappointing to miss the 49ers Saints game, a game that was clearly the game of the week and would be competitive, and instead get a game that featured a low scoring affair against a backup QB. With as big of a fan I am, I need to buckle down and get NFL RedZone, or Sunday Ticket. Or Fox needs to be better than the once a quarter game update. How about during punt plays or kickoffs, you do a picture in picture where you have a game update while the tiny screen does the punt play?
Quote of the Week:
“I’m sorry I got seen, but I bowled a 251, that’s a career high!” LeVeon Bell, after asking how he felt about getting caught bowling on Saturday night even though he was ruled “out” of Sunday’s game because of the flu.
2pt Tracker:
Texans: +1
Redskins: +1
Jaguars: -1
Dolphins: -1
Sorry guys, I truly though this was going to be THE stat to watch this year, and everything basically happened by Week 3 and no movement since. To top it off, 3 of the 4 teams have nothing to play for.
Memes of the Week:
FMQB 