Post by spiderfan on Nov 1, 2021 21:59:58 GMT -8
Greetings Sports Coast to Coast, it is I, Spiderfan the official analyst of this great forum and today I bring you the 8th edition of the 2021 Web of Football season. Some great stuff happened in the NFL this week, so without further ado let us begin!
Holy Cardinal!
Almost every week this season during a game or games I form what I think are going to be segments in this very column in my mind, only for something crazy to happen and completely throw the segment I was going to write out of the window. I have mentioned this phenomenon before, but there is no better example of it, than Thursday's night game between the Packers and Cardinals.
After what had started out as a low scoring physical slugfest of a game and then had turned into a back and forth contest, the Packers had 1st and Goal at the 1 yard line with a little less than 5 minutes to go up 24-21. Packers RB Aaron Jones was stuffed on both 1st and 2nd down which led to a 3rd and Goal with a little over 3 and half minutes go. Due to not having any timeouts, the Packers could not stop the delay of game penalty coming their way and instead of 3rd and Goal at the 1 yard line, it was 3rd and Goal at the 6 yard line. On said 3rd down play Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was indecisive whether to run or pass, ultimately decided to run, but because of his aforementioned indecisiveness he did not score a TD. Thus it was now 4th and Goal at the 1 yard line. The Packers went for it and the pass failed. Turnover on downs and still down only 3 points the Cardinals got the ball at the 1 yard line with just over 3 minutes left in the game with 2 timeouts. The Cardinals drove right down the field, excitement was in the crowd and my thought was this:
"The Arizona Cardinals have faced and overcome adversity all season long, and now in a primetime game against a quality Packers team they have done the absolutely unthinkable in getting a goal line stand and then winning the game on a 99 yard touchdown. This is a defining moment of what IMO will now be a Super Bowl season for the Cardinals. The '72 Dolphins might have a bead of sweat or two now."
And then on 2nd and Goal at the 5 yard line with 15 seconds left and no timeouts remaining Cardinals WR AJ Green had absolute zero levels of awareness of where the football was being thrown and Packers CB Rasul Douglas caught the game winning interception. Packers win 24-21. The '72 Dolphins pop the champagne bottles as we approach the 50th anniversary of their undefeated season.
The Cardinals had 3 turnovers and the Packers had 0. Obviously, that is one of those eye popping stats that just says "oh, the Cardinals lost didn't they?" and that would be an accurate statement. My lasting takeaway from this game is that the Rasul Douglas feels like a play that is the beginning of a seasonal collapse. We saw a collapse with the Cardinals going from 6-3 to 8-8 and missing the playoffs and we saw a collapse with the Steelers who were last year's last remaining undefeated team and while they did win the division they had a humiliating postseason performance that they still haven't fully recovered from. It is also possible that this loss motivates the Cardinals and they go full steam ahead, but I'm going to go with the earlier collapse view.
As for the Packers having now stolen victory from the jaws of defeat they are now on their 7th consecutive win and are likely to coast to the postseason where they will probably have a rematch against the Tommy Bay Bucs in the NFC Championship Game. Already looking forward to it.
Backup Bonanza
I've often said that of the 4 major sports that the NFL is the best one. I say that because of the true unpredictability of the NFL as opposed to the other sports leagues. You want a prime example of unpredictability? How about the Saints losing starting QB Jameis Winston and because usual backup QB (and Sean Payton gimmick play guy) Taysom Hill was out due to a concussion, 3rd stringer Trevor Siemian leading an upset win over the defending Super Bowl champ Tommy Bay Buccaneers? How about Cooper Rush leading the Cowboys to a win on SNF against the Minnesota Vikings (Ok, it isn't AS impressive because any team led by Kirk Cousins usually sucks in primetime games, but the Cowboys have also shown that without Dak as their starter they don't care to win games so....)? Or how about the biggest upset of the day in Mike White leading the Jets to a win against the Cincinnati Bengals?
With the exception of the Cowboys game which I would have expected to competitive, I would not have expected the Saints and ESPECIALLY the Jets to pull off the wins that they did. I give credit to the teammates for rallying behind their new QBs and the coaches for coming up with the gameplans to lead their teams to success.
Von Miller is now a Los Angeles Ram
To be perfectly honest and transparent, I didn't think had a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2022 to trade to the Denver Broncos in exchange for Von Miller, as the Rams have been trade happy over the last couple seasons. My lack of draft pick ownership aside, I think this is a great trade by the Broncos. Getting a 2nd and 3rd for someone who was going to be a free agent next year is always great. Considering their season is also spiraling it is better to get any compensation that none.
I think this also a great trade by the Rams if they have some sort of unspoken agreement that Miller will stick around after this season. Even if they don't, Miller will still help the Rams in their stretch run and considering the Cardinals have just shown that they are mortal, getting a pass rusher like Miller will absolutely increase the Rams chances of beating the Cardinals and winning the NFC West and potentially getting home field advantage for the postseason.
Other thoughts:
-Well, at least the Texans made their loss to the Rams respectable.
-I know the teams records are the same, but considering the Colts have a better roster than the Eagles, I think the Eagles are glad they traded Carson Wentz.
-If Tua's last game as the unquestioned starter of the Dolphins is the game against the Bills, it was kind of a wimper.
-Ya know The Artists Fomerly known as Redskins are going to be just bad enough so that when Fitzmagic comes back and is magically they won't get as high of a draft pick as they would have otherwise expected at this point in the season.
-Can't say I'm impressed with the 49ers beating the Bears as the Bears are one of those "not terrible teams on paper, but are kind of a disaster" kind of teams.
-I was impressed by the Seahawks win against the Jaguars. I really expected that one to be a close down to the wire game and it was the exact opposite.
-Looking back the playoff win that the Browns got against the Steelers looks weirder and weirder as time goes on. I mean the Steelers got their kicker injured on Sunday and the Browns lost in classic Browns choke fashion. Just another example of unpredictability in the NFL.
-With the Bengals and Chargers losing, despite being on their bye weeks the Ravens and Raiders got wins by keeping their spots in the AFC standings.
-Derrick Henry's season ending injury should have ended the Titans season, but by signing Adrian Peterson I think they'll be just fine. I know he had a bad season last year with the Lions, but he was actually underrated on the Redskins (back when that was still their name).
-Speaking of which, all the Super Bowl hype for the LA Chargers that the national media was throwing about has suddenly gone quiet. Glad I didn't hop on the bandwagon and saw it for what it was. LA favoritism.
-I'm not sure how to feel about the Chiefs win. On one hand, they did win to get themselves at .500 and they are still alive in the playoff hunt. On the other hand, the Chiefs barely won a turnover riddled and penalty filled game against... the New York Tinys. Yeah....
ROAD TO 0-17
1 team is currently 0-8. I will keep doing this segment that team has a win or a tie. Team currently without a win or tie is:
Detroit Lions
The biggest stat from the Lions 44-6 loss to the Eagles? Their home attendance was worse than it has been in a decade and currently they are on pace to have worse attendance than they in 2008. Yeah, those Lions (insert 0-16 song). The Matt Stafford era is coming full circle. Will that circle be a full circle and not a semi-circle? I'm still inclined to think that it will be a semi-circle and the Lions will win a game or two. I will predict right now that the Lions do end up with the #1 overall pick and if they don't then that means some other team's coaching staff and GM are going to be unemployed come the new year.
We are officially at the stretch run of the NFL folks and I hope ya to see ya again next week and in the weeks ahead. As always I hope ya enjoyed. This is spiderfan out.