Post by spiderfan on Dec 3, 2019 13:33:52 GMT -8
Gobble Gobble SCtoC, It is I Spiderfan and with the Thanksgiving weekend edition of the National Football League season having been finished like a solid Thanksgiving dinner, it is now time for me to talk about it. Let us begin!
Turkey Day Futbol
Thanksgiving Day started out with the Detroit Lions playing the Chicago Bears in what was a decent game. The Lions were lead by former Purdue QB David Blough who got the announcers excited by playing great for a quarter and then the rest of the game playing mediocre and ultimately throwing the game losing interception. On the other side ya had da Bears who had a hard time coming out the gate, but they were the more talented and better coached team and when you are both of those things it is REALLY hard to lose.
Then came the middle game of the day which was the much anticipated matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills. Coming into the game Cowboys Grand Poobah Jerry Jones repeatedly ripped into the coaches during the week. This led people to think that Cowboys HC Jason Garrett's job was on the line... including Jason Garrett.
See, the Cowboys were outplayed and outcoached in every facet. That shouldn't be a surprise to long time readers of this column. What was a surprise was how little it appeared the coaching staff actually cared. Seriously when you go for it inside your own 20 yard line in the first quarter, that is saying "I don't care". Going for it on 4th and Goal unnecessarily later in the game and not taking 3 points to give the team momentum shows you don't care and ultimately wouldn't mind being fired. It shows someone who wants to coach the New York Tinys as soon as possible (something which was rumored last week, which I didn't talk about because I didn't think it was credible, but now I think that is true).
The Cowboys defense played horrendous, and former Cowboys WR Cole Beasley (who left the team on bad terms after he felt he was underpaid and wasn't being used properly) had a monster day with over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown catch. It was weird seeing Beasley play in JerryWorld in a different uniform, but it sweet to see him get his revenge. The rest of the Bills offense played good too, with the Bills O-line being dominant which led to Bills QB Josh Allen having all kinds of time to do what he does.
The Cowboys offensive line on the other hand was dominated by the Bills defensive line and because Bills HC/defensive play caller Sean McDermott decided to take Amari Cooper away from the Cowboys, the Cowboys passing game ended up being a joke. That wasn't the worst part though because totally brilliant young offensive mind Kellen Moore (note my sarcasm) decided it was a good idea TO ONLY RUN ZEKE ELLIOTT TWICE IN THE SECOND HALF!? WHHHHHAAAAAAAA?!!
Repeat after me: EZEKIEL ELLIOTT IS THE BEST PLAYER ON THE COWBOYS AND IT ISN'T CLOSE, EZEKIEL ELLIOTT IS THE BEST PLAYER ON THE COWBOYS AND IT ISN'T CLOSE, EZEKIEL ELLIOTT IS THE BEST PLAYER ON THE COWBOYS AND IT ISN'T CLOSE
I think you get it, but it was worth repeating because apparently Kellen Moore thinks he is calling plays for the Boise State Broncos and not the Dallas Cowboys. For all his faults previous OC Scott Linehan at least realized that running the ball with Zeke should be what gets the offense going. Kellen Moore thinks that Dak is the be all and end all. As I've stated before he is not. And don't get me started on the morons who don't think Zeke is worth his contract, but I'm digressing. The point is the Cowboys ran the ball a total of 12 times in the game and got blown out by the Bills in front of over 32.5 MILLION people and made Jerry Jones literally cry. Seriously, Jerry went into the locker room and tearfully said "We can still make the playoffs guys!"
That may seem completely ridiculous but because of the wonders of Fitzmagic, the Eagles ended up losing, knocking their record down to 5-7. The Cowboys record? 6-6. Cowboys, just lose out, hire Urban Meyer, and let us pretend all of this never happened. Oh, and Garrett, I hope ya enjoy the coaching for the Tinys or hey maybe your buddy Nick Saban will hire you to be one of his 15 offensive assistants and you can get his dry cleaning.
The last Thanksgiving Day game was the Atlanta Falcons versus the New Orleans Saints which is notable for 2 reasons. 1.) Mercedes Benz Stadium which opened 3 years ago was crazy empty for a prime time Thanksgiving game against a divisional rival and 2.) The Falcons managed to recover 2 onside kicks and still lose the game.
The Saints win gave them the NFC South title, which depending on their playoff seeding may or may not end up being all that notable.
The Super Bowl?
If you remember during last week's column I said that I would talk about the then upcoming 49ers-Ravens game. Well, it has now happened so I'm going to talk about it.
The game opened up with a 49ers touchdown drive which ended in a bad defensive play by Ravens CB Marcus Peters which gave 49ers WR Deebo Samuel enough room to work and get the TD. With the score at 7-0, it is now worth mentioning that the conditions of this game were not good. It was so rainy in fact, that Ravens QB Lamar Jackson had a hard time looking at his play sheet. Because of the rain the ball was obviously slippery and because of that Jimmy G fumbled on the 49ers next series which then set up the Ravens to do what they do, which is have an effective and methodical drive down the field, which ended in a fantastic grab by Ravens TE Mark Andrews for a Ravens TD. Game now tied at 7 and a key opportunity by the 49ers to take a 2 possession lead squandered.
The Ravens forced the 49ers to a 3 and out which led to another effective and methodical drive down the field by the Ravens which led to another TD thanks to the dual threat ability of Lamar Jackson. The Ravens defensive then gave up another big play TD this time to 49ers RB Raheem Mostert who it worth mentioning ended up with nearly 150 yard rushing on the day. Speaking of rushing, yet again the Ravens do what they do which is run the ball, complete nice passes, and chew a lot of clock. The Ravens then kicked a FG their second drive of over 7 minutes in the game. This made it so that the 49ers didn't have much to time to answer, and because of the poor conditions when the 49ers tried their FG attempt, it was no good. 17-14 Ravens at Halftime.
The Ravens got the ball to start halftime and it looked like the Ravens were going to score yet another TD until 49ers defender Marcell Harris forced a fumble by Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, killing what was again a likely TD drive by the Ravens. This gave the 49ers momentum and on their next offensive series they kicked the tying FG. Game now tied at 17 and not much else would happen until later in the game when with 6 and half minutes left the 49ers failed to convert on 4th down at their 40 yard line. Going for it on 4th down was the right call, as it didn't appear likely that a crazy long FG was going to be good. However, with 6 1/2 minutes left the Ravens chewed the rest of the clock and to me that is what makes the Ravens scary. It is the fact that like a team like Army or Navy or The Citadel once they get the ball offensively, it is quite possible that you won't see the ball again for a LONG time or late in the game not at all. With 3 seconds left Ravens K Justin Tucker kicked the game winner and the Ravens won 20-17.
The Ravens are now officially the best team in football and being that they are on an eight game win streak, I wonder if they'll lose again. After facing Buffalo next week, they are likely to not face a team with a winning record for the rest of the regular season and even with the Bills being at 9-3, I don't see them beating this Ravens team.
As for the 49ers because of the Seahawks win against the Vikings (which I'll get to) they are second place in the NFC West, which means that it is possible for an elite 49ers team to be a wild card team and not play any home games in the playoffs as opposed to having home field advantage for one or more playoff games.
Was this game a preview for Super Bowl 54? Only time will tell.
Sunday Night Sadness?
For being the QB of a 10-2 team Patriots QB Tom Brady frustration is getting ridiculous. However, I think I know why he is frustrated with the Patriots offense as much as he is despite the Patriots record. In past years the Patriots were a team that when it came down to it, were an offensive team whose best player was Tom Brady and thus he got a lot of credit for the Patriots success. Now, the Patriots are winning games with a historically strong defense and one that no doubt Patriots HC/defensive play caller Bill Belichick is happy with. The more and more people talk about the defense, the less people are talking about Brady, and I think that is where Brady's unhappiness lies.
Where the sadness comes in for me is the fact that after finally giving up my Texans fandom (at least until Bill O'Brien is fired) the Texans finally defeated the Patriots. To see all those players and coaches and fans for the Texans happy after finally slaying the dragon and feeling a sense of unhappiness about it all, is kinda sad when ya think about it. This win won't mean much come playoff time for either team as the Patriots will get things turned around after their quasi-slump and the Texans will find a way to lose in the playoffs, if they make it at all.
Kirk Cousins still has not a won a game on Monday Night Football
Over the last few years, I have gone and on and on and on about how Kirk Cousins isn't a franchise quarterback and how he was overpaid by the Vikings and how he doesn't win big games and wait. I just repeated all of that again for the millionth time, thus kinda defeating my point about not going on and on and on about it. I'm totally digressing, the point is the Seattle Seahawks at home in primetime came up with a huge win and as stated previously that now puts them in the top spot in the NFC West and puts the 49ers in a wild card position. The Seahawks earned it too, they were played close by the Vikings for most of the game and ultimately made the plays they had to make. The Vikings didn't do that and when you have a game that ends with a one score lead (The final score was 37-30) that is to be expected.
Panthers fire Ron Rivera
When the Panthers were up 14-0 on the Redskins on Sunday, I was thinking "Hey, Kyle Allen and the rest of the Panthers are doing well it looks they are gonna get back on track." Nope. The Redskins scored 29 unanswered points and after a TD and an onside kick recovery by the Panthers (an onside kick recovery? Ya don't see those anymore) it looked like the game would go into overtime.
Now I'm going to offend the Stanford alums on this forum, but Christian McCaffrey is not a tough bruising runner. When you are at the 1 or 2 yard line needing to score having him run up the middle is a bad idea because unlike Zeke or Leonard Fournette or Todd Gurley he isn't big and powerful enough to get it done. For all the good he has done for the Panthers, McCaffrey has also cost them games, because the Panthers have been in that situation numerous times this season and they were against the Redskins and they lost yet again.
Now the Panthers are 5-7 and because of their 4 game losing streak in which the defensive performed poorly, Panthers HC/defensive mastermind Ron Rivera was fired. I thought this was going to happen at the end of last season and at the beginning of this season, it looked like the idea of firing Rivera was a distant memory. Not anymore. To me if you are a tough defensive coach like Ron Rivera, if your defense stinks that is on you. Well, the defense has stunk, the Panthers have lost games and now here we are.
I'm surprised Panthers owner David Tepper made the move this early, although it worth mentioning that the Big 12 Championship Game is this Saturday and both Oklahoma HC Lincoln Riley and Baylor HC Matt Rhule are gonna have some time on their hands after the game. Just floating that out there.
Zone Coverage
-Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals for winning a game! It was looking like that wasn't going to happen, but Bengals HC Zac Taylor made the right decision by going back to Andy Dalton and got good karma for it. The Road to 0-16 is over.
-Nick Foles lasted all of 2 1/2 games as a Jacksonville Jaguar. Never in a million years did I think that was going to be the case.
-The Titans are for real.
-I would say it can't get any worse for the NYC football teams, but it probably will get worse.
-Congrats to Drew Lock on his first win in first start as an NFL QB.
-Las Vegas... er.. Oakland Raiders what the heck happened?
-Cleveland Browns you are indeed a factory of sadness.
Random Eurobeat Recommendation of the Week
Since both the road to 0-16 and road to 16-0 are done, I figured I needed to come up with a replacement segment. So in their stead, comes the Random Eurobeat Recommendation of the Week. What is Eurobeat? It is basically European disco pop music. It was made most famous by the anime series Initial D and Initial D is my favorite anime of all time in part because of the Eurobeat music throughout it. So without further ado my first recommended song is The Top by Ken Blast. Enjoy!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I hope ya enjoyed this edition of Web of Football too. See ya again next week! This is spiderfan out.