Good morning from the Mile High City! We’re here for other reasons than sports, but staying less than a mile away from where Peyton Manning goes to work. Apparently Walgreens gives out a free cup of coffee anytime the Broncos win, so I’d buy stock in CVS until Manning retires because that’s a lot of coffee.
So I try to look at the best things in life and not complain too much, but there is going to be a little taste of the famous FMQB rants in this post. Let’s start with the quality of games this year. I had a previous post that talked about the first 7 games I watched were crappy. Well Week 4 was very similar.
Take a look at the Margins of Victory this week: 31, 28, 27, 24, 24, 21, 21, 19, 13, 7, 6, 5, 3. Nine of the Thirteen games were double digit affairs, with eight of these being three possession games. Primetime games haven’t fared much better, with about 50% being pure blowouts (Lions vs Giants, Steelers vs Panthers, Cowboys vs Saints, and Chiefs vs Patriots). What’s worse is the Thursday night games. All 4 have been decided by 20 points or more. Wasn’t it CBS’s plan to pick the best games of the week (all division games so far) to get the Thursday night crowd watching? Kinda backfired so far. Games have been so rough that I almost decided to put in a Kansas City Royals post in this week’s column…almost.
Thursday night update: Week 5 of CBS’s experiment didn’t go any better, with a 32 point blowout. Loved that Jim Nantz openly admitted that the Top 3 worst blowouts on Thursday night history have been this year.
Dream Come True turns into Worst Nightmare:
Last week I mentioned the quick turn of emotions I felt as a Rams fan watching the Cowboys come back after thinking our season may still be alive. Little did I know that another team’s fanbase could feel a faster swing of emotions, until I watched the Vikings game. Without crowning him (I would never do that…), Teddy Bridgewater seriously looked like a legitimate franchise quarterback on Sunday. I didn’t exactly see what happened until I saw Teddy on the trainers table and Christian Ponder warming up. The collective gasp could be heard 14 miles away from me at TCF Bank Stadium, as the savior of the franchise was getting replaced by the bane of the Vikings existence…the constant reminder that the previous 3 years had been a waste. Luckily Mike Zimmer did not pull from the Leslie Frazier playbook, and in the 11 plays the Ponder saw the field, there were 11 runs! The “Teddy, Teddy, Teddy” chants from the crowd were pretty funny, he’s been in for 1 game.
Stat of the Week #1:
It has been 10 years since the Vikings put up as many total yards as they had on Sunday. It was their Rookie quarterback’s first career start…
Stat of the Week #2:
The Panthers have allowed 75 points in the past 2 games. They were the #2 defense in the league last year
Stat of the Week #3:
It was a tale of 2 halfs for the Eagles and 49ers. Coming into Sunday’s game, the Eagles had scored 27 first half points, and 74 second half points. On the flip side, the 49ers had scored 59 first half points, and a pathetic 3 2nd half points! This completely flip-flopped on Sunday, with the Eagles scoring 21 first half points (nearly as many as they had the first 3 games), and 0 second half points. The 49ers were at least consistent, scoring 13 each half.
Stat of the Week #4:
At the start of Sunday night’s game, with all running backs having played 4 games, DeMarco Murray was leading the league in rushing despite only having 3 games under his belt.
Surpising Stat of the Week #5:
Andy Dalton has his team at 3-0, yet has only thrown 2 TD passes.
Stat of the Week #6:
In a 5 quarter stretch against the Bears and Vikings, the Packers scored 66 unanswered points.
Double-take Stat of the Week #7:
I was watching the Vikings Packers game in a bar. I quick saw a drive summary for a team that had 9 possessions, two of which had 4 plays and the other 7 had 3 or less plays during the possession. My initial thought was “wow, Ponder hasn’t even gotten them a first down” until I looked up and saw it was highlighting the Packers! In those 9 possessions, the Packers had 28 plays and had scored 28 points.
Stat of the Week #8:
Blake Bortles has played 2 and a half games, and is 3rd in the league in completion percentage.
Stat of the Week #9:
Christian Ponder has only played 1 game, and 10 starting QB’s have the same or fewer interceptions thrown. He’s also been sacked more than half the QB’s in the league.
Quick Hits:
- How do the Steelers absolutely kill the Panthers last week, and then lose to the winless Buccaneers this week?
- Why delete a tweet saying Dennis Allen has been fired, if it’s the truth anyway?
- Either the Texans or Cowboys will be 4-1 after this week
- Is Kyle Orton THAT good, or THAT lucky. He will have been the starter for 5 teams (within 7 years)
- Very surprising that the Vikings, 49ers, Giants, Packers, and Bucs all pulled upsets last week
- Throw it INTO the endzone Chicago and Kansas City
- Did anybody heed my warning to start Steve Smith last week? FFMQB did 🙂
If the Playoffs were to Start Today, AFC Edition:
Look who would be winning their division! Bengals, Chargers, Texans, Bills
Rant #2:
With all the off the field issues that have occurred this year, I have purposely tried to stay away from talking about them. But somebody made a good point last week. These indefinite suspensions are ridiculous, and the NFL is taking the chicken way out by not making a decision. Ray Rice is already on Week 5 of his suspension, and it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon even though the NFL made a 6 game limit. Adrian Peterson is also waiting for a court date to determine his fate. At the end of the day, Josh Brent killed a guy and he only got like 2 games. Ray Lewis was in a murder investigation, and they let him play in the Super Bowl. But this is a crazy double standard that needs to change.
FMQB 