Week 19 NFL Game Recaps
49ers 36, 49ers 32
Well, you'd have to call this a coming-of-age performance for Smith. He really struggled at times, especially in the second and third quarters, but his two late drives were really impressive. When the Saints went up 24-23, I was pissed that they scored with four minutes on the clock because New Orleans has accumulated way too many bulls*** front-door covers this year. I figured Smith would either go three-and-out or commit a turnover, allowing the Saints to go up by at least four points.
So much for that. Smith proved just about everyone wrong, finishing 24-of-42 for 299 yards and three passing touchdowns. He also had a rushing score with a couple of minutes remaining where he looked like Tim Tebow, sprinting out left and down the field for 28 yards.
Brees' picks both came prior to intermission, and they were part of four Saint first-half turnovers. Donte Whitner forced a fumble on Pierre Thomas on the opening drive on what was one of the hardest hits I've ever seen. This site's senior editor said it looked like something out of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Courtney Roby would later muff a kickoff and then fumble it. There was also a fifth give-away in the third quarter when Darren Sproles coughed up another fumble.
Despite all of this, the Saints were in position to win this contest, which is a testament to how good Brees and all of his weapons are. It's a shame that we won't have a Packers-Saints rematch.
The offensive line will also have to perform better. Smith had no pass protection when he was in third-and-long situations. He was sacked or pressured almost instantly nearly every time, even fumbling twice.
Patriots 45, Broncos 10
I've never seen an offensive line look so Jekyll and Hyde in a span of a week. The front kept Tim Tebow completely clean against the Steelers, yet the Patriots were in the backfield on almost every single passing down. Tebow had no chance whatsoever, especially with his receivers unable to separate. Denver had 14 negative plays - the most by any team in the NFL this year.
On the rare occasions that Tebow was able to get a clean release off, his receivers would drop passes. The worst infraction of this nature came from last week's hero, Demaryius Thomas, whpo dropped what would have been a first down in New England teritory on a third down during the team's second drive. I counted five drops in total.
There was a brief stretch in which Brady struggled in the middle of the first half, heaving an interception on one throw, tossing another near-pick and then missing an open Wes Welker. But he recovered on the next drive after the Broncos drew to within 14-7, leading his team on an eight-play, 52 yard drive to give his team another two-score advantage.
Hernandez also caught four balls for 55 yards and a touchdown, but that paled in comparison to Rob Gronkowski's 10 receptions for 145 yards and three scores, which tied a postseason record. The Broncos doubled Gronkowski last time and really limited him, but they decided to play zone this time, which is a big no-no against Brady. But it's not like they could have done anything to stop New England, save for drugging Brady's offensive linemen.
Ravens 20, Texans 13
Let's review each aspect:
- Flacco went 14-of-27 for 176 yards and two touchdowns, but those numbers don't tell the whole story. He missed open receivers and was very tentative in the pocket. He took five sacks (2.5 each from J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed). Basically, if Flacco's name was "Tim Tebow," ESPN buffoons like Bomani Jones, Merril Hoge and Cris Carter would be calling him the worst quarterback of all time after this performance. The difference between Flacco and Tebow though is that the Baltimore quarterback did have time to throw on some occasions, so his performance has to be more discouraging to Raven fans than what Denver supporters feel about their signal-caller.
- It doesn't help that Flacco once again had awful play-calling. Cam Cameron idiotically forgot to involve Ray Rice early on. Rice finished with 21 carries, gaining 60 rushing yards in the process, but had just four catches. Even worse, Cameron was guilty of some really predictable play-calling at the goal line in the fourth quarter. He did a good job with this in the first quarter, signaling in a play-action pass from Flacco to Kris Wilson, which resulted in a touchdown, so I don't understand why Cameron went back to stupidity when he could have sealed the deal. No, wait. I do understand what happened. Cameron is just that completely inept.
- What happened to Baltimore's run defense? I figured it would be better with Ray Lewis healthy, but Arian Foster managed to rush for 132 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries. This made things easier for T.J. Yates.
Of course, Yates' turnovers made things easier for the Ravens. Yates went 17-of-35 for 184 yards and three interceptions. He could have been picked off on five occasions, but Ed Reed dropped two interceptions in the first half.
Yates' problem wasn't accuracy; in fact, most of his throws were on the money. The issue was that he predetermined where he wanted to go on some of his attempts. He stared down Andre Johnson far too often, including the last real drive of the contest when he foolishly heaved a ball downfield despite being at midfield and having ample time remaining on the clock.
Giants 37, Packers 20
Green Bay's meltdown was truly amazing. The team committed so many unforced errors that had the Lambeau crowd groaning in disgust on nearly every possession. It's almost as if the players ha d the same lack of urgency they typically do in the preseason. Here's the laundry list of dumb mistakes:
- Drops: The Packers had a whopping eight drops by: Greg Jennings (2), Jermichael Finley, James Starks, Tom Crabtree, Ryan Taylor, Ryan Grant and Jordy Nelson. Drops plagued the Packers in their loss to the Chiefs, and that issue festered once again.
- Aaron Rodgers missed a wide-open Jennings for a touchdown on the opening drive. The Packers would have to settle for a field goal.
- John Kuhn lost a fumble in Giants' territory during the second quarter.
- Rodgers then lost a fumble of his own in New York territory on the opening drive of the third quarter.
- Rodgers had a wide-open Finley on a third down with 13 minutes to go, but missed him. He was sacked on the following play, which turned the ball over on downs.
- Grant fumbled the ball away down 10 in the fourth quarter. Chase Blackburn returned it inside the Green Bay 5-yard line. Eli Manning threw the game-sealing touchdown on the very next play to give his team a 30-13 lead.
If you're not familiar with Leavy, he's the inept/crooked ref who botched/fixed the Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl. I don't know how the hell he's still permitted to officiate playoff games. He needs to be fired because allowing him to work another game would be completely irresponsible. He's either bought or just completely awful at his job.
That wasn't even the craziest Nicks score. Manning launched a Hail Mary on the final play of the first half, and New York Nicks came down with it in the end zone. The Packers covered the Hail Mary very poorly - almost as if they had no idea it was coming. Nicks finished with seven grabs for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Mario Manningham (3-31) also scored. Victor Cruz (5-74) was also a factor.
My playoff 2011 NFL Power Rankings, will be posted Monday morning.
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Elisabeth Constantine
04-05-2012
04:44 am
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Eszter
03-23-2012
05:24 pm
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i know that the NO OL has 3 pro-bowlers up the middle brees' seuccss zone ..i am nervous about pain and suffering , although quick as hell, not quite getting the job done against sproals and thomas because pain will be preoccupied with graham .NO rush defense has really come on the last half of the year and we know the niners rush offense is damaged the last half of the year .average receiving weapons and one of those upper echelon weapons will be in check because of the NO blitz packages the other weapon is a possession rcvr and this allows the whole NO defense to move closer to the LOS ..can KW or ginn provide enough of a threat to open up the middle of the field if it is really true that this year AS is being overly conservative going deep down the sideline .never having the BE type expectation and losing JM and now DW just can't be overcome this year only bright possibility is that there just isn't enough film on the niners potential receiving threats if the coaches can come up with and the players execute some never before seen route schemes .there is nothing to rest my hat on here and it is causing some sleeplessness .i get we have our 8 or so pro-bowlers and all NFL 1st and 2nd teamers and a rookie DE/OLB who may be in this game more on subpackages but our cow bell remains a mystery and although AS has improved tremendously that NO team is on an historically epic journey ..and it did not rain and the temperature is going to be perfect for aerial offensive .culliver is a rookie covering NO colston .NO special teams kicking is just about as good as niners .and the10-15yd field advantage niners normally gets with punting i expect will be nullified by NO being able to throw some long hand offs to the backs and TE on a consistent basis and we have to admit the niners offense has not really shown that kind of consistency ..although apparently we are all expecting it to happen because the niners got their two weeks of practice to prepare new wrinkles ..this could be an advantage and i harken back to the NYG game where the niners changed it up and squeaked by seuccssfully and apparently as fans we are hanging our hats on recreating a similar scenario ..my gut feeling is the niners have actually put themsleves ahead of the comeback team of the year curve .yet they do have 11 well now 10 first round picks on the team but the cowbell is suspect .and the number 1 overall is experiencing his first extended seuccss albeit with a few stinkers this year of his career ..coaches .the best feature of this team this year .they made it happen with their humble hearts
Johan
03-23-2012
04:40 pm
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i understand the rules but i think some irewevs are right you should do a video explaining the rules so people would get more into the game and in the videos AA ..apart from that great video one more time :D greetings from a proud member of the Boyah Nation Papamaki
Hitesh
03-23-2012
12:37 am
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Very attractive iehter way, and I almost always will side with a good #1 RB over a QB, but Manning is durable and reliable and Gore sometimes has bad games. Last season, Gore finished a game with less than 50 yds rushing 5 times, and only had 5 games with over 100 yds rushing, and he missed 2 games. Manning had 4,500 yds and 33 TD's last season, and had 9 games of more than 300 passing yds. out of the 14 games he played (he played in all 16 but was pulled in weeks 16 and 17 to rest him for the playoffs). Manning has higher value here and is much more reliable and consistent. Keep Peyton.
Elisabeth COnstantine
03-08-2012
02:49 am
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Elisabeth constantine
02-27-2012
08:26 am
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Evelyn
02-25-2012
01:27 am
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Thanks for the udtpae Cliff! It appears that OSU has A LOT to improve on in many areas! Offensive Line is the catalyst for the entire team!
Kathy
02-25-2012
12:40 am
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SCORE! i'll have to see if i can find a way to flangie myself up there next time i'm in nyc and VERY cool that you met the founder would make for a great interview!
Pekok
02-24-2012
10:14 pm
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Cliff,I read both your main story and your rpeort card. Don't you think you are being overly optimistic about where this team is? They beat Arizona. After seeing how bad Arizona is the worst game I can imagine is Arizona vs Colorado. I am excited that the Beavers won, but I will take a wait and see attitude with the Beavers. They have an easy streak with Arizona, BYU and WSU and if they are going to show any improvement they need to win all three games.One win, especially against a terrible Arizona team is a step in the right direction, let?s see what the Beavers do over the next few games.
Vidas
02-23-2012
10:51 pm
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aaron,In the world of could have beens the Beavers could be 5-0 and rakned number 1 in the country, but they are not. They have had one win against a terrible Arizona team, that is a step in the right direction, but they need to do a lot more.
Vinicius
02-23-2012
07:16 pm
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Thanks for dipnorpg by! Do you have any experience with natural gas fired tankless water heaters? I've been hearing about those lately and they sound to me like a good idea.
Zapacioiu
02-23-2012
06:07 pm
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crickets now that they are wnniing ..where is everybody? Rileysafraud, where are you?The team played well, lets hope they can build on this. This team is not that far off from being decent. We should have won the Sac state game and the UCLA game. the ASU game we had a chance but we didnt get it done and the Badgers game we flat out lost. So we could easily be 3-2. But we are not and now have to dig ourselves out of a big hole. But it can be done, they have done it before .
Victor
02-23-2012
03:21 pm
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I agree with the moirajty thinking that the D's come round. I hope so anyway. I agree with Adam. Scoring should be hard work. Unfortunately it seems the NFL is not immune to the disease common amongst sports administrators of attempting to make the game more attractive to people who don't particularly like it
Jason
02-23-2012
04:46 am
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Excellent! it is the word that comes in my oiopinn when I look at your weblog and when I read what you have to say. Your thinking are very a lot as well mine. I pleased that I decided to enter your website to see what you are interested in.
Wharthog
01-25-2012
01:50 pm
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Mike & Kyle,
Agree with Kyle, disagree w/Mike. Teams win championships. Individuals have great performances that give their teams better chances & conversely individuals also have awful games that help cost their teams. Saying Bradshaw was a better individual QB than Marino because "he" won championships #1 degrades the unreal defense Pittsburgh had during the 70's and the amazing O-Line they had (not to mention their running game & hall of fame WR's) & #2 overlooks the fact that Marino never had a running game & always had an average at best defense (yet still put up amazing stats against great defenses). Saying Johnny Unitas & other QB legends like Otto Graham don't matter & you don't consider them to have played "real football" speaks volumes about the credibility of any statement that came before or after. Of all QB's to have ever played which ones were more protected by league rules? Which ones played under rules that allowed for clothesline & horse-collar tackles? Which ones play under a league setup that almost flags & fines anyone who sneezes the wrong way in the vicinity of a QB? While it is very difficult to compare QB's from different eras it is dismissive to write off an entire group that played before 1985 simply because you're not old enough to remember their accomplishments. I submit to you that the older era QB's had to be tougher because they weren't as protected and were subject to harsher hits before & after the whistle. |
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