With another week of football behind us it is time once again for us to take a look back at some of the most memorable moments (both good and bad).
HIGHLIGHTS
DALLAS COWBOYS BIG WIN- It finally happened, my beloved Dallas Cowboys actually beat a team they were supposed to beat! Can you believe it? I know I still can’t. But they did, and while it was a very close affair, the Cowboys suffocating defense managed to squeeze the life out of the Panthers on their few promising drives, particularly at the end of the game. Now don’t let this game fool you, things are not all good for the Cowboys, in fact far from it. With the injuries piling up (including the loss of their only relevant offensive lineman in Phil Costa in this one), a tough next 3 games, the offense sputtering and of course the lack of consistency out of Tony Romo, the Cowboys will be lucky to be over .500 when they face the Browns in a couple of weeks. But on this day, and for a moment, it was nice to be a Cowboys fan again.
NEW YORK GIANTS COMEBACK WIN- Well who would have thunk it, Eli Manning led his team to a big comeback win in the 4th quarter. I know this would have seemed inconceivable even a few years ago, but is there a better or more reliable quarterback in the NFL when it comes to the 4th quarter than Eli Manning? He truly is the Mariano Rivera or Tem Henke (for all you Blue Jays fans out there) of the NFL. And of course Sunday was no different. Playing at home against Redskins and the RG3 hype-machine, the Giants were able to rally after a seemingly game ending touchdown by Santana Moss with just over 90 seconds to play. Do you think that kind of scenario would unnerve Manning? Hell no, as the Giants leader only moments later hit Victor Cruz with a perfect pass that went 77 yards for the game winning touchdown. Amazing. Next week Manning plays the Cowboys on the road, and while I am hoping he has an off game, something tells me that this Giants team is already in playoff-mode and the Cowboys are in for a good ol’ fashioned Texas whooping.
STEELERS DO IT AGAIN- If there is one constant theme in all of sports it is of course that good teams find a way to win. Think about it, in any sport, no matter the odds against them, a solid team with a winning pedigree finds a way to win games when they are supposed to. This of course does not mean the team with the best record in a given season, I am talking about proven teams with proven leaders. Case in point the Pittsburgh Steelers and their tilt with the Bengals. The Steelers had every excuse in the book to rely on if they lost this contest, they were on the road, they had more turn-overs, they were without some of their best playmakers on offense and defense, but as usual the good team got the job done and won a game they not only had to have, but has no business winning. I don’t know whether or not the Steelers will have enough gas come the end of the season with all of their injuries, but whatever their record I would take them over the likes of the Ravens or Texans.
LOWLIGHTS
TAMPA BAY’s SUSPECT LOSS- I will say from the outset that there is nothing I particularly like about Greg Schiano. I find his oafish style of coaching perplexing and his bizarre in games stunts annoying (his latest move to have his team scream in unison during field goal attempts is juvenile at best). However, despite my disdain for Schiano I will still do not believe that Tampa Bay should have lost this game the way they did. On the game’s final play receiver Mike Williams ran into the endzone, was absolutely shoved out of bounds, but then managed to recover his composure, get back in the end-zone and catch what seemed to be a game tying touchdown. However, despite Williams’ recovery the referees ruled the touchdown no good as Williams had gone out of bounds and as such could not be the first player to touch the ball. This is ridiculous, as even though it is a rule, the rule’s purpose is to punish players who go out of bounds on their own volition. Here however, the receiver is absolutely clocked out of bounds and is then himself penalized? Whatever happened to pass interference or not touching the receiver after 5 yards? I know pass interference calls still exist as I see bogus versions of them week after week, but the league needs to get together immediately and right this wrong of being able to shove players out of bounds lest a team that people actually like end up holding the bag like Schaino’s Bucs did on Sunday.
JETS BLOWN OPPORTUNITY- While the Steelers did everything they could to win on Sunday, the Patriots did everything they could to blow it. However, unlike the Steelers, the Pats were not successful, because even with all of their mistakes, the Jets still did not want the victory. Up ten points late in the game, the Patriots once again let a team come back on them, but time and time again with the game on the line the Jets could not pull the trigger. From Stephen Hill’s huge drop on third down and four late in the 4th quarter, to recovering the Devin McCourty yet only managing a field goal, to allowing the Patriots to march down the field with under 2 minutes to go and kick a field goal at the end of regulation, the Jets seem to miss on every opportunity gift wrapped to them by the Patriots. In the end as usual, the Patriots took care of business when it matter, kicked the field goal in overtime and then promptly got a sack-fumble on Sanchez to ice it. And while this game will not be of any particular relevance to the Patriots because they have done it so many times before, the Jets and Rex Ryan (particularly if he’s unemployed) come season’s end and remember it as the game that got away and could have changed their season.
CAM NEWTON’s METLDOWN- When I refer to Cam Newton’s meltdown, I am not talking about his on-field performance against the Dallas Cowboys. Losing to a team with a quality defense when you are the underdog, is no big crime even if it’s at home. No, the meltdown I am referring to is of course Cam Newton’s performance in the post-game press conference. Anyone who saw this spectacle must have been floored by Newton’s erratic and ultimately disappointing display (usually he saves that kind of performance for the field). In his despondent and nonsensical diatribe Michael Vick 2.0 (or Robert Griffen the 3rd -1.0 if you will), blamed everyone for his problems and was shocked that his on field Superman antics are yielding results that are anything but. The worst part of this scattered and disjointed rant, was that it seemed to have yielded its intended purpose. How you ask? Well in the age of the me-first world of professional sports, Newton cried his way into shifting the blame of his shoulders for his string of disappointing performances, and onto the franchise’s now ex-GM Marty Hurney. What happened to the age of integrity and accountability by the people regarded as franchise players who stood up and took their share of the blame? Was its end suddenly prompted on the night of Lebron’s now infamous Decision, or is its death a tragic reflection of the times we live in as a whole? Either way I don’t like it, and Cam Newton should feel ashamed that he is willing to deflect blame while still mascarading as a superstar. Just because Newton’s hype has now shifted to the equally unproven RG3 this year, it doesn’t mean he has to try and hang on to fame by shifting the focus on someone else. Where I came from that’s not what leaders, let alone franchise players are about.
