Week 14 Monday Afternoon TPS Report
Dec 10th 2007ericjhoroTPS Report & NFL
Remember all the hubbub surrounding Gate D at Giants stadium? After a New York Times article revealed that during halftime of Jets games men gather to chant and harass women into showing their breasts, the city promised to put a stop to it. Well, it turns out that publicizing publicizing potential nudity in the country’s most famous newspaper wasn’t a good idea. During halftime of Sunday’s game Gate D had record crowds as all the fans from gates A,B, and C decided to show up in the hope of sneaking a peak at some Jet fan boob. They didn’t get what they were looking for. The interesting part is that the hopelessness of asking women to show their breasts is pretty similar to the hopelessness of being a Jets fan.
Onward with the report…
Don’t Miss…
…Terence Newman sticking it to Jon Kitna. After the Cowboys came from behind to beat the Lions, Newman added insult to injury by proclaiming that God wanted the Cowboys to win. “Yeah, I mean, God definitely is on our side,”Newman said. “They talk about God watching us at Texas Stadium, but he was in Detroit today, too, watching his Cowboys play.”
…Bart Scott showing off his toughness. Last week he broke a bone in his hand, but he returned to the field and lead the Ravens in tackles last night. How did Scott deal with the injury? “Just give me some duct tape” he said.
…Jon Gruden basically admitting that he lied to everyone about Jeff Garcia’s back injury. Said Gruden, “I have done the best I can to not let the whole world know what we’re doing.” I blame Bill Belichick’s for all this.
…The Dolphins staying up late on Saturday night in order to watch the Floyd Mayweather fight. Hey, if you’re gonna lose, you might as well have some fun the night before.
…The fightin’ words coming from the Titans. Despite losing to the Chargers the Titans still think they’re the better team. Bo Scaife articulates: “They think they are a little better than they are, especially on defense. I am not trying to give them any bulletin board material or anything like that, but I think they think they are better than they are.
…How bad it is to be a 49ers fan? There’s actually optimism surrounding Shaun Hill, a guy who’s so mediocre you could have a serious debate about whether or not he’s one of the five best quarterbacks to play for the University of Maryland this decade.
…Bryant Young’s very quiet quasi-retirement announcement.
Brett Favre Runs Up the Score Like a Gentlemen
I know there hasn’t been a pattern of behavior like with the Patriots, but nobody has said word about Brett Favre throwing the ball on 2nd down with four minutes left in the game and a 24 point lead. If that was Tom Brady, I guarantee things would be different. I guess the Raiders can’t be upset—they can only feel honored that Brett Favre gave them the pleasure of watching him throw another touchdown pass.
The Unstoppability of Play-Action Fakes
The lack of discipline displayed by NFL players on play-action fakes is simply astounding. In the final minute of the Detroit-Dallas game the Cowboys had the ball on the Detroit 16-yard-line with 20 seconds left and no timeouts. A running play that didn’t get the ball into the end-zone would have ended the game. There was zero chance the Cowboys were going to run the ball. Nevertheless, Romo faked a draw to Marion Barber, and the fake froze the linebackers just long enough for Romo to slip the game winning touchdown pass through to Jason Witten.
Anthony Smith had an even worse gaffe for the Steelers. On Randy Moss’ first quarter touchdown pass Smith came charging towards the line of scrimmage like it was 4th and 1. At that point the Steelers front seven was easily handling the Patriots rushing attack (on those rare occasion Tom Brady handed off). There was absolutely no reason for Smith to be within 30 yards of the line of scrimmage.
You know why the Colts and the Patriots are the two of the best teams in the NFL? Because they’re two of the best at not biting on play-action fakes. Play-action has become such a big part of the game and coaches would be wise to do a better job of coaching their players on how to deal with it.
Joe Gibbs is Learning
Last week the Redskins ran the ball on first down five straight times while protecting a 4th quarter lead. On those five predictable carries Clinton Portis gained a total of 11 yards, and the ensuing punts gave the Bills an opportunity to win the game with three 4th quarter field goals. That ultra-conservative play calling was nothing new—it had already hurt the Redskins in numerous come-from-ahead losses and near losses.
This week Joe Gibbs showed he may have learned his lesson. When the Redskins took over late in the 4th with a 4 point lead, the offense threw the ball on its first two first down plays. Those plays netted 29 yards and opened things up for Portis to gain 5 yards on the first down run that followed. That put the Redskins into a much more manageable 3rd down, and the drive ultimately concluded with a game icing touchdown. Gibbs didn’t completely atone for his performance in the Buffalo game, but for one day he proved to not be as senile as people think.
The Patriots Go Marching On
I’m not sure if I was watching a different game than the rest of the national media, but I did not see a dominating “statement” game from the Patriots. What I saw was a game in which the Pats were completely dominated in the first half.
In the first 30 minutes the Patriots had 3 three-and-outs and the Steelers defense had Tom Brady misfiring. Even with an extremely lucky fluke turnover and an Anthony Smith gift-touchdown to Randy Moss, the Patriots only had a four point lead at halftime. At that point nobody could argue that the Steelers weren’t the better team. They had scored on three of their four first half possessions. The Patriots scored on three of six. The game only changed with Vince Wilfork’s sack on the Steelers first 2nd half possession. That killed a potential go ahead drive and set the stage for Anthony Smith’s second gift to the Patriots.
I don’t want to play the “if these two plays didn’t happen” game, but if you take away the two big Anthony Smith mistakes it would have been a completely different game. Although the Patriots looked dominant in the 4th quarter, that was a mirage. Once the Pats made their goal line stand (thanks to some inexplicable play calling) the Steelers basically took it down a notch, playing a more straight up defense so they wouldn’t show the Pats any blitzes or schemes that could be used in a future meeting. Thus concludes the “trying to find flaws in the Patriots” rant of the week.
Ok, now let’s get back to that inexplicable play calling. A team should never, ever, ever, ever throw a fade from inside the 2-yard line unless it’s the final minute and they have no timeouts. How could a jump ball be better than running up the middle for a yard? It doesn’t make any sense, especially when Santonio Holmes was giving up two inches to Rodney Harrison. The 4th down play call was nearly as bad. Once the backfield cleared out and Ward came in motion, the defense knew who was getting the ball, where he was getting it, and when he was going to get it. That’s generally not a good thing for an offense.
Stat O’ the Week
3. The number of defensive tackles on the Vikings who had interceptions on Sunday. (Statistic submitted by Trent Dilfer)
European Football Goal O’ the Week
Jump forward to the 1:50 mark and watch Sully Muntari of Portsmouth go between a defender’s legs and blast one in from 30 yards out
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