Post by spiderfan on Jan 9, 2022 22:26:07 GMT -8
Greetings Sports Coast to Coast to the first ever Week 18 Edition of Web of Football! I'm your official NFL analyst Spiderfan, and without further ado, we have lot to get into, so let us begin!
Victory Lap
I took a loss with the failure of Urban Meyer as the head coach of the Jaguars as I really thought that he would be a good NFL HC. I admitted that defeat earlier this season, as I think it is important for analyst/pundits like myself to take admit errors in analysis. Now, that I've been humble it is time for me to do this
From the Other Thoughts segment in Week 10:
-I will admit if I'm wrong later, so here goes: The Indianapolis Colts will not make the playoffs. Carson Wentz has gotten away with some stuff the last couple games due to the opponents being inferior to the Georgia Bulldogs, but once the Colts go up against good teams they are going to fold like Borders.
In an ironic twist of fate they actually fared well against good teams (primarily the playoff bound Bills, Patriots, and Cardinals) and lost to the team that now has the #1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The vaunted offensive line that supposedly makes Colts GM Chris Ballard a good GM was taken apart by the Jaguars defensive line. The vaunted Colts defense that supposedly makes Colts DC Matt Eberflus qualified to be a HC was chopped up by arguably the worst offense in the entire NFL. Colts QB Carson Wentz played bad like he usually does, bad play which was made worse by the reality that the Colts traded a 1st round pick to the Eagles to get him, which was EVEN worse by the reality that despite taking a $30 million dead cap hit to get rid of Wentz AND hiring an underqualified HC to try to please Wentz who they took the aforementioned cap hit to get rid of, made the playoffs with Wentz's fan favorite replacement Jalen Hurts. All of this happening while a bunch of Jaguars fans were wearing clown outfits to protest Jags Owner Shad Khan's inexplicable decision to keep GM Trent Baalke.
Instead of eating crow, I'm eating fantablous fried shrimp courtesy of those clowns in Jacksonville, Florida. 2022 has started off great!
Big Ben Lives!
The beneficiary of the Colts' humiliating loss to the Jaguars was going to either be the Baltimore Ravens or Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens started off the season great despite injuries, but Lamar Jackson eventually got injured and the season went completely off the rails for the Ravens. As for the Steelers they have managed to hang around in large part due to their highly ranked defense. With both teams still fighting for the playoffs despite their warts, it was fitting that the game was an ugly, low scoring slugfest.
I know there are some Tyler Huntley fans out there and I'm going to go on record as saying if Lamar had been healthy, the Ravens would have won. Huntley had multiple missed throws and threw a key INT that kept the game close late and allowed the Steelers to stay in the game. Once, overtime arrived it felt like destiny. Steelers QB Ben Roethelisberger led the Steelers down the field and to a game winning FG.
I gotta say it is cool to see Big Ben lead his team to the playoffs one last time, as he has done so many times before. Final note on the Ravens, pay Lamar. He's worth it.
The Roll of the Dice
Chargers-Raiders was bizarre. It really wasn't a close game for most of it, in fact the Raiders kinda dominated and there were parts of the 4th quarter where it felt like it was only a matter of time before the Raiders won... until the Chargers decided to crank up the volume to 12. After being down 15 points and being more or less dominated on both sides of the ball, the Chargers offense started clicking and with the luck of repeated penalties by the Raiders defense keeping the Chargers offense on the field, the Chargers would capitalize and score the points they needed to score to keep the game going. Add on the fact that the Raiders offense shriveled up like a turtle and you have a recipe for overtime unlike any other. I say unlike any other because unlike usual where both teams want to and have incentive to win the game and prevent it from becoming a tie, due to playoff tiebrakers neither the Raiders OR Chargers playoffs chances would be hurt by a tie. In the event of a tie both teams would make it. I failed to mention this last week, as I did not personally find out about this wacky scenario until well after Web of Football for Week 17 was finished.
Both teams would kick FGs and it looked like the game would end in a tie, until Chargers HC Brandon Staley made the moronic decision to call a timeout to stop the clock and allow the Raiders to get into FG range and win the game as opposed to tying it, and eliminating the Chargers in the process. As I mentioned earlier in the season, I take joy in the Chargers failure, as it means the LA based national sports media complex takes a loss, and allows other teams to get more coverage. The last thing the NFL needs is NBA style coverage where the LA teams are what matter and the other teams don't.
Back and Forth-ish
49ers was a tale of two halves. In the first half the Rams completely dominated the 49ers. So much so, that when combined with the Saints blowing out the Falcons it seemed like the many 49ers fans that made up the vast majority of SoFi Stadium would have a long drive home. That was until, the 49ers came right back and dominated the Rams which then led to a tie game. The Rams did not go out without a fight as Rams CB Jalen Ramsey made a spectacular red zone interception and on the ensuing drive Rams QB Matthew Stafford led a drive right down the field, where Rams WR Cooper Kupp made a spectacular play of his own for a TD.
Once the Rams retook the lead, it was up to 49ers QB Jimmy GQ to try to match the Rams TD to send the game into overtime. Jimmy had an up and down game, sometimes making great plays that made you say "how can the 49ers want to replace this guy?" and other plays that made you say "Can the 49ers trade him mid-game?". He was up on the last drive of regulation though, as the 49ers tied the game, kept the momentum going, and won the game in overtime.
My biggest takeaway is that the Rams won't make it far in the playoffs. Stafford has been off for a while now and even though the Rams defense has plenty of talent, talent will only go so far in the playoffs.
Other thoughts:
-I have no inside sources, but I think Vic Fangio purposely kicked the late FG instead of going for it, as a way to get fired. I would guess that is because he made the decision that he didn't want to be a HC anymore.
-Don't read too much into the Cowboys blow out win against the Eagles. The Cowboys starters were playing against the Eagles backups after all.
-For as below average as everyone (myself included) thought Daniel Jones was, without him the Tinys have been without a shadow of a doubt the worst team in football. Have fun keeping Joe Judge!
-The Browns should trade Baker Mayfield. He doesn't fit in the offense they want to run, and they'd better off from a scheme and financial standpoint if they got someone who did.
-The Seahawks ended up going 7-10, just like I thought they would. Dag nabbit.
-Even without Tom Brady, late season games in Miami are still the Patriots kryptonite.
-Congrats to the Bills on their second straight AFC East title!
-If the Texans do end up firing David Culley, I hope they hire Doug Pederson.
-Tom Brady for MVP and Fire Matt Rhule!
The playoffs are officially upon us my friends and I hope you are as psyched as I am. I hope to see ya next week! This is spiderfan out.