FMQB: Chip’s Ahoy

Posted by fmquarterback on January 3, 2016
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Week 16

Photo Credit: NFL.com

Falcons Ruin Perfection:

After a hot start and then dreadful losing streak, the final Panthers game was the Falcons Super Bowl this year. It was a bit disappointing to see them get 14 wins and not be able to finish it off. They didn’t even need trick plays or turnovers to lose the game. The Falcons dominated the clock, and they dominated on 3rd down defense. The Panthers only had 8 possessions, didn’t score a TD after their opening drive, and were held to a dismal 113 yards passing. It may be a blessing in disguise though, as now they won’t face the pressure that the 2007 Patriots faced, and they won’t be forced to make the “resting” decision this week.

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FMQB: “Your Blitzen days are over!”

Posted by fmquarterback on December 25, 2015
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Week 15

Photo Credit: NFL.com

 

Shorter post this week as for the first time FMQB falls on Christmas day. Merry Christmas everybody! For all you non-football fans, throw out a few of these stats to wow your family.

 

Panthers vs. Giants:

In the first of 2 great comebacks, this one fell just short. With 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Panthers took a 35-7 lead, and it looked all but over after scoring 4 straight TD’s. The Giants strung together a couple TD drives, and by the 3rd one where Shane Vereen scored to pull within 7, the crowd was absolutely on fire! The whole place was rocking when Odell Beckham tied it up with less than 2 minutes left. It was interesting to see Cam Newton’s expression, and I’m actually going to give him a compliment here GASP! Despite their last 4 drives ending in Punt, Blocked FG, Fumble, Punt, Cam Newton looked absolutely confident on the sidelines. You could tell he was just looking at his teammates and saying “Let’s go win this.” Four plays later they were within FG range, and merely got a bit closer to make the chance more of a guarantee to remain undefeated. On a side note, I’m not sure how I feel about the Josh Norman vs. Odell Beckham feud. It was chippy, and the helmet to helmet hit was terrible, but I kind of liked it. The flags probably had their coaches hating it, but it felt like a playoff atmosphere again between two great competitors.

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FMQB: Rival-Tastic

Posted by fmquarterback on December 18, 2015
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Week142

Photo Credit: NFL.com

Packers Back?

Sure they were only playing the Cowboys, but the Packers looked to return to a bit of their old selves. They showed improvement after a 2-4 six game stretch, and they probably shouldn’t have beaten the Lions. Mike McCarthy is back to calling plays, which seemed to help both Aaron Rodgers and the run game. In fact, the Packers ran for 230 yards on 44 carries (vs. 35 passes for 218). And 28 points will win you a lot of games in the NFL, but in saying that there was a stretch of 5 straight punts on offense in the 2nd half.

 

Quick Hits:

  • Russell Wilson threw his 2nd 5 TD game in 3 weeks
  • Brock Osweiler lost for the first time in his career. He has now led his team to 1 TD in 2 games
  • Jacksonville has a legit shot at winning the division. They play the Falcons, Saints, and Texans. And the Texans and Colts are down to 3rd string QB’s
  • Andy Dalton getting injured this late in the season nearly guarantees a playoff birth but 1st round loss for the 5th straight year
  • Speaking of Dalton, didn’t it seem like he was in the locker room, back in street clothes, and fully casted up in about 7 minutes?
  • Sending LeSean McCoy as the only Bills captain against his old team? Love it!
  • Wow, Bengals Steelers felt like a playoff game. Very chippy! Rival-tastic! Bengals LB Burfict was fined $70,000 for 3 plays.
  • Raiders are looking strong! Great couple drafts (Derek Carr, Khalil Mack, Amari Cooper) and strong coach in Jack Del Rio. Should be a playoff team next year
  • An unblocked Clay Matthews coming at you through the line must be one of the scariest things a QB can see

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FMQB: Quarter Pole

Posted by fmquarterback on December 11, 2015
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Week132

Photo Credit: NFL.com

 

Without trying to sound like a broken record, the final 4 or so weeks of the season is always the most exciting! We’re down to the nitty gritty, and one of my favorite websites is back up again! Head over to the Playoff Machinehttp://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine where you can pick the final 4 weeks to see what the Playoff matchups would be.

 

  • I have the Packers and Vikings tied for record entering their Week 17 matchup, which could bring the entire division down to that final game in Lambeau.
  • The Broncos vs Bengals Week 16 matchup will determine who gets a first round bye
  • I have quite the change in seeding for the AFC, with the Patriots pulling the #1 Seed (at 3 now), and the Steelers leapfrogging the Jets.
  • The NFC is pretty much the same, with the Packers winning the division, Seattle and Minnesota flipping Wild Card spots, and the Eagles taking the East.

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FMQB: Instant Classics

Posted by fmquarterback on December 4, 2015
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Week 13

Photo Credit: ESPN/SportsCenter

 

In an FMQB first, I’m switching the picture and title after a Thursday night game (most of my blog is written by Friday morning). What a game last night! I would typically turn off any game that’s 20-0 in the 3rd quarter, but I’m sure glad I kept with it. Granted people will be harping on the facemask penalty on Rodgers to give them an extra shot, but it was an incredible final hail mary (albeit lucky) to end the game. Successful game winning hail marys are extremely rare in the NFL. The last one was the “Fail Mary” in 2012, then the Jags Titans in 2010, and then you have to go all the way back to 2002. So that’s only 3 endings like this in the last 13 years! Here’s a list of all successful hail marys if anybody is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hail_Mary_passes_in_American_football#Professional_football . Huge division game though, it was a must-win for the Packers (although they didn’t act like it in the first 40 minutes of the game).

 

We’re into the nitty gritty, with only 5 games left in the season. The playoff push will be strong, with most divisions having a fairly clear winner, but about 10 total teams vying for 4 total Wild Card spots. Let’s dive into last week.

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FMQB: Black Friday Special (Free this Week ONLY)

Posted by fmquarterback on November 27, 2015
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Week 11

Photo Credit: NFL.com

 

Coincidence:

Cam Newton and Jameis Winston both had career days last Sunday. But their stat-lines were pretty interesting to look at. Both QB’s have very similar playing styles including bruising runs, and rocket arms from the pocket. On Sunday, Winston’s stat line was 246 yards, 5 TD’s and 0 INTs. Newton’s stat line was 246 yards, 5 TD’s, and 0 INTs. Each TD for both QB’s went to 5 different receivers. Both QB’s play in the NFC South, and they both demolished a team from the NFC East. (Cue Twilight Zone music)

 

Controversy in Denver:

After one of the worst statistical games of all time, Manning missed a rare game to get healthy and Brock Osweiler got the first start of his career. He had a solid game, granted I saw him as a game manger more than anything else. Either way, he was efficient, didn’t make any mistakes, and threw 2 TD’s in their road win. Rumors are saying that Manning wants to play in 2016 no matter what, and for any team. There are rumblings that the Denver organization is wishing that Manning will kind of fade off into the sunset so they can move on without causing too much pain (remember the flack they got when they got rid of Tebow). It could lead to an interesting offseason.

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FMQB: Congrat’s, I’m in a treestand

Posted by fmquarterback on November 20, 2015
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Week 10

Photo Credit: NFL.com

 

Week 10 was the week of the season so far, with a handful of extra exciting games and storylines.

 

Lions win in Wisconsin:

A lot was said of the Lions going up to Green Bay and winning for the first time in 26 years. Division rivals, you’d think that even one of the years that the Lions were good (Barry Sanders, their few playoff years recently, etc.) that it would have happened by accident. But this year it was nearly out of the question! The Lions were 1-7 and had just fired a lot of their coaches. The Packers were 6-2, but both losses came to undefeated teams. There were rumblings about issues on offense and the team not playing strong, but on the otherhand losing to 2 elite teams shouldn’t be cause for panic. Well they might have cause at this point. Despite the field goal fest to start, the game finished with a ton of excitement. The Packers scored to bring it within 2, and then actually recovered the onside kick! On a side note, I can only think of 1 or 2 other players I’d want recovering an onside kick other than Calvin Johnson, how he had butterfingers on that play is bizarre. They managed to get into long FG range in a couple plays, and then even more bizarre was how bad Crosby’s kick was. It didn’t looked to be blocked, he just shanked it like crazy and it fell 20 yards short.

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FMQB:

Posted by fmquarterback on November 13, 2015
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Hard to believe, but we’re already to the halfway point of the NFL season (each team has played 8 games, some 9). We’ll look at some 2nd half predictions of course, but it has been quite the crazy season so far!

 

Rams at Vikings:

I had this one pegged as the matchup of the week, because the winner of the game would be put into the #6 seed of the playoffs. Also, I had the good fortune of being at the game, my 3rd NFL game of the season!!! The offenses were sluggish, but the game offered a ton of storylines and ended up being pretty intense. The Vikes took a quick 10-0 lead, but then the Rams scored a TD. Being against the wind, the Rams opted to go for 2 and missed (points and wind would definitely come into play later). We then saw Greg the Leg hit his career long 61 yard field goal with the wind at his back, which looked like it could have been good from 70. The Rams were actually up at halftime, but the Vikes came back and took the lead. Then it was the Rams turn, they missed a long FG 1:45 left, but used their timeouts to get the ball back. They drove down and kicked a 53 yard FG to take it into OT. Once again the wind came into play, and Mike Zimmer made a gutsy call to defer to take the wind. As a Rams fan, I thought this was circa Marty Morningwheg who deferred and had the other team march down and kick a game winning FG. It was especially confusing since Shaun Hill was now in, and hadn’t hardly moved the ball at all in the 4th quarter. But the Rams went 3 and out, and the Vikes were able to kick the game winning FG. Super exciting game to be at!

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FMQB: Football 101

Posted by fmquarterback on November 6, 2015
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Week 8

Photo Credit: NFL.com

 

Broken Record:

There have been 2 points I feel like we’ve seen week after week this season. First, crazy comebacks. Second, teams that tie up the game with barely any time left, and then somehow getting the ball back and kicking a game winning field goal. Two games featured both instances occurring on Sunday. The Vikings were down 20-13 with less than 5 minutes in the game. After a long drive to tie the game, the Bears had 1:49 to either win the game or send it into OT. Not only did they go 3 and out, but the Bears had 2 incomplete passes which stopped the clock for the Vikings (they never had to call a timeout on this drive). Bridgewater then went 48 yards in 4 plays, 36 yard FG is good. Boom!

 

The second game was the high scoring slug fest between the Giants and the Saints. In the 4th Quarter, the Saints were actually up 42-28. The Giants then scored 3 unanswered TD’s in less than 8 minutes to take a 49-42 lead. Then it was the Saints turn to comeback, scoring with only 36 seconds left to tie the game at 49. Overtime, right? Wrong! In a terrible turn of events, the Giants went incomplete pass, short completion (Giants timeout), and then incomplete pass to take a whopping 16 seconds off the clock. Then in another debacle, the Giants punted and allowed a 24 yard return before the Punter mauled the guys facemask, adding an extra 15 yards. The Saints then kicked a 50 yard field goal to win the game 36 seconds after they tied the game.

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FMQB: Skoal Vikings….and 100th post!!!

Posted by fmquarterback on October 30, 2015
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Week 7

Photo Credit: NFL.com

 

 

Good morning FMQB-ers! Today is a pretty big milestone for me, with my 100th FMQB post!!!! Thanks for those readers who have stuck with me these past 5 years. It’s time consuming but fun, and it gives me an excuse to help my football-fix during the week.

 

Comeback Complete:

This season has definitely felt like the season of comebacks, at least it feels like I’m writing about it every week. We had two more epic ones this week. First, the Jaguars led the bills 27-3 only to have the Bills score 28 unanswered points and shock the Jags. But then Blake Bortles mounted a late drive of his own to take the win anyway, but 28 points would have been quite the story. Instead everybody is talking about Washington, who set a franchise record for the largest comeback. They were down 24-0 before Kirk Cousins led them on 5 scoring drives including a last second TD to Jordan Reed.

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