Post by spiderfan on Nov 9, 2021 18:34:20 GMT -8
Hola Sports Coast to Coast, it is I, Spiderfan, the official NFL analyst of Sports Coast to Coast and I bring you the halfway point column of this National Football League season. Without further ado, let us begin!
Special Teams DOES actually matter (and other thoughts about Packers-Chiefs)
I know for fans who lead toward the hardcore/passionate as opposed to the casual fan that statement is kind of obvious, but even amongst people like myself and on this forum, special teams can be forgotten easily. Special Teams is actually a VERY important phase in the game, because not only can special teams give you points (kicking and kick/punt returns), it can also give the other team points. The punchline to all of this rambling is that horrendous special teams play cost the Packers their game against the Chiefs every way you slice it. The final score was 13-7 and the Packers had a missed FG and a blocked FG as well as a muffed punt that gave the ball to the Chiefs in the red zone.
If both of those FGs are made it is 13-13 and the game goes into overtime where as we know a coin flip can decide the outcome because NFL overtime is the worst in professional American sports. If the muffed punt doesn't happen the score is 10-7, meaning if the Packers had made only one of their FGs it would have been 10-10 and gone into overtime OR if the Packers had made both FGs they would have won the game outright 13-10. Of course none of those scenarios account for possible in changes in playcalling late in the game by both teams, so while the final score may not have been those exactly, with the way the Chiefs were playing and have been playing up to this point, I doubt the Chiefs would have won.
With that last statement said however, I do want to say that the last actual play of the game (not counting kneel downs) by the Chiefs (which would end up being the game winning play) was pure Mahomes greatness and showed why he has been the GORN (Greatest of Right Now) and my thought immediately after the play was "this will be a defining play of this Chiefs season". I don't know whether the Chiefs go on a run and make the playoffs, go on a playoff run, heck pull a Super Bowl out when no one expects it. But, I do think the Mahomes game winning pass to Tyreek Hill will be remembered later this season.
Oh, and last thought: The Packers need Aaron Rodgers because if he either doesn't play or doesn't play well, their team is not anywhere near as good. The fact that Jordan Love didn't chop up the immensely bad Chiefs defense should be concerning to a Packers front office that wants to move on from Rodgers after this season.
The parity in the AFC is astounding
With the notable exceptions of the rebuilding Jets, Jaguars, and Texans and the just plain bad Miami Dolphins (seriously, this season HAS to be karma for not sticking with Fitzmagic last year) the American Football Conference is basically even at the midseason point. You have the 7-2 Titans, the 6-2 Ravens, 4 different teams at 5-3 (the Chargers, Raiders, Bills, and Steelers), 4 teams at 5-4 (the Chiefs, Broncos, Browns, and Bengals) and the Colts on the outside at 4-5. The race for the #1 seed (and by extension homefield advantage in the AFC playoffs) is wide open, the AFC East, North, and West are all up for grabs at this point, and the 3 wild card spots could end up belonging to anyone that isn't one of the AFC bottom feeders. What this means is that down the stretch every game matters for these teams and the games that they play against each other will be important for tiebreaker purposes and those are always wacky and wild and fun.
Other thoughts:
-Congrats to the Jaguars for their upset win against the Bills!
-The Falcons didn't blow a lead? I mean this genuinely, good for you Falcons fans. You've experienced enough of those.
-One of the few things that the Tinys are good at is sucking and then winning a bunch of games late in the season to reduce their draft pick. So they shrink even when they win. The Miami Boat Curse lives.
-There are different view points as to whether or not the Browns are better with or without OBJ, my take is that he wasn't a fit for a Stefanski coached run based offense and so getting rid of him was a good idea.
-Sam Darnold is still a scrub who can't play. Kinda funny that the week after the Panthers made a big public showing of NOT trading for Deshaun Watson, the guy who they stuck with played REALLY bad.
-The Broncos-Cowboys game is a classic "Cowboys get blown out, but score a bunch of garbage time points which pumps up Dak's stats and Kellen Moore's offensive play calling stats and makes the Jones' pretend that nothing happened" game.
-It will be really interesting to see how the Vikings rebuild after they blow everything up at season's end.
-I would make a joke about how the Dolphins blew a chance at the #1 pick because they beat the Texans, but I think the Lions will end up with it, so no joke.
-The Cardinals dominated the 49ers WITHOUT Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins? Maybe my prediction of them collapsing was too hot of a take. Maybe.
-The Chargers won a close game? I mean this genuinely, good for you Chargers fans. You deserve to actually win those once in a while.
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
Not much to say this week other than, you never lose on a bye week so that is at a silver lining. Except, the Lions record is still winless, so the segment lives on for at least another week.
As mentioned previously, we are now officially at the halfway point of the National Football League season. I expect the the rest of the season to be epic and thrilling and I hope y'all share it with me. As always I hope ya enjoyed. This is spiderfan out.