Post by spiderfan on Jan 17, 2022 21:15:34 GMT -8
Playoffs SCtoC! I am Spiderfan the official NFL analyst of this great forum and we have a lot of ground to cover this week, so without further ado let us begin!
The Erroneous Whistle
As long time readers know I have been pounding the table for more video reviews in NFL, as I think it is outrageous, egregious, and preposterous that with the technology available the NFL is still behind the 8 ball when it comes officiating the game. This was made clear once again during the Raiders-Bengals game when in the 2nd quarter Bengals QB Joe Burreaux threw a controversial TD pass to WR Tee Higgins. See, Burreaux ran out of the pocket and nearly, key word being nearly ran out bounds and threw it down field for a TD. While the ball was in the air, due to their being confusion at the time as to whether or not Burreaux actually stepped out of bounds or not, a whistle was blown erroneously. This led to a long conversation on the field between the various officials, where the play was ruled a TD because as it was shown on replay Burreaux was in bounds. However, NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay pointed out after the official review that because of the whistle being blown, the play should not have counted and the down should have been retried.
The fact that by rule is a ref makes the decision to blow the whistle too early, the play has to be redone needs to be changed. Because if the play had been redone and the TD was taken off the board we would be having a similar conversation right now because the Bengals would have had what was clearly a legal TD taken away from them because a sideline ref believed the Raiders players who were telling him that Burreaux stepped out of bounds. Even if the NFL wants to keep the rule that when the whistle is blown the play is without any doubt dead, audio should be able to apart of video review. Either way, the lack of the use of technology has made an unnecessary and avoidable mess out of things, and I hope for the sake of the game of football, that the NFL competition adapts accordingly in the offseason.
Despite it being mired in unnecessary controversy I congratulate the Cincinnati Bengals for their first playoff win in 30 years! Even with the loss, I think Rich Bisaccia should stay on as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders even with Raiders GM Mike Mayock being fired. Moving on from Derek Carr and Alex Leatherwood would probably be a good idea too.
A Glorious Moment for Bills Mafia
The playoffs can be a time where classic games that will be remembered for years to come are born. The playoffs can also be a time when one team beats all of the snot out of another team much to the sadness, shame, and embarrassment of the loser. With the Patriots dynasty being dead, despite Patriots czar Bill Belichick trying to buy back life for the dynasty, the division rival Bills decided to just keep beating on the Patriots. Considering all of the pain and suffering that the Patriots gave them after all these years, Bills fans deserved to see their team flip the script.
With Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski once again making it farther than the Patriots, it is fair to wonder whether that torment was actually of the dominance of the Patriots or Tom Brady being the GOAT. I personally lean toward the latter mind.
Florida!
Speaking of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski making it farther than the Patriots, their Buccaneers (without both of their top RBs) beat all of the snot of out the Philadelphia Eagles. Unlike, the Patriots who really had no business being on the same field as the team that beat all of the snot out of them, the Bills, the Eagles actually put up a decent fight initially, at least on defense. See, the Eagles did sack Brady numerous times and forced some punts. The thing was the Eagles offense ignored the football truism "take what the defense gives you". Instead of throwing ball toward the outside WRs that had open space to get yards, Eagles HC and play caller Nick Siranni made the brilliant decision to keep throwing it deep across the middle. Add on that once the Eagles got down they stopped running the ball and you have a recipe for a blow out loss.
Because of the questionable play calling, I'm not going to make any hot takes as it relates to whether the Eagles should keep Jalen Hurts or not. I will say that if they decide to get rid of him, unlike the Eagles previous QB, someone will be genuinely happy to get Hurts.
Abject Buffoonery
The Dallas Cowboys give me a feeling of cognitive dissonance. On one hand they have a world practice facility and a world class stadium, they have the best merchandising of any team, and they are broadcast on national TV more than anyone else. From a non-football business perspective they are the best organization in sports and valued accordingly at 5 BILLION, yes BILLION dollars. On the other hand? From a football perspective they are a complete clown show. I know Jaguar fans think that moniker is reserved for them because Jags owner Shad Khan hired Urban Meyer which hurt the feelings of all the Florida St, UCF, and even Florida alumni that make up the Jaguars fanbase, but guess what the Cowboys are a clown show too. I have been beating this drum for YEARS as long time readers are aware. I have never felt more validated in my frustration and all around contempt for the Cowboys than after their game against the 49ers.
For starters, Kellen Moore is the most overrated coordinator in the sport of football. This is a guy who runs a gimmicky one dimensional Air Raid offense despite the fact that his QB was literally recruited in college to be in the archetype of Tim Tebow the exact opposite of a traditional Air Raid quarterback. This is also in spite of having Ezekiel Elliott who despite what mongrel idiots in the DFW media complex and Cowboys fans will tell you, is a VERY good running back and deserves the ball more. On a team that was run and coached properly he would, but the Cowboys are a clown show built around the lie that Dak Prescott is a Top 5 QB, a lie created because the Jones' are so aware of their own incompetence, that they convinced themselves that are physically and mentally incapable of finding someone better than Dak Prescott to quarterback their franchise.
I would have no problem with Dak Prescott quarterbacking the Cowboys if they would use a run based offense similar to the Ravens and even their division rival Eagles. The Cowboys roster is more well suited and arguably better than both the Ravens and Eagles. The problem is that Dak is not a pocket passer and even though he throws 50 times a a game and gets a bunch of passing stats, they are ultimately meaningless because any half decent QB could put up the same numbers. That is why for YEARS Air Raid QBs were ignored by NFL scouts. Because they realized that shear passing attempts and TDs can be hollow.
And speaking of hollow, how about Mike McCarthy's coaching talent? It shouldn't have been mathematically possible to find a coach worse than Jason Garrett, but the Jones' managed to do it. McCarthy is an abject buffoon and Aaron Rodgers more or less told the football world this and people were like "Yeah, maybe but maybe you are just a diva". His lack of leadership and game management skills are astounding.
There was no better example of Dak's mediocrity, Moore's suckage, and McCarthy's buffoonery than the last play of the Cowboys' playoff game against the 49ers. The Cowboys are down 23-17 with 14 seconds left with no timeouts at their own 41 yard line. The decision was made for Dak to RUN the ball, yes RUN THE BALL. Dak kept running and running until he was tackled down at the 24 yard line where because the Cowboys had no timeouts they had to spike the ball. Dak then DID NOT hand the ball to the referee for proper spotting, instead trying to spot the ball himself, which is against the rules. This caused the clock to run out and the Cowboys to lose the game.
Moore is at fault for calling a bad play in a situation where the clock is likely to run out, Dak is at fault for not only not sliding earlier (a point made by Chris Simms during Football Night In America) or just handing the ball to the referee, and McCarthy is at fault for not knowing you can't spike the ball yourself and blaming the officials and the analytics department for a game management mistake that shouldn't have been made. Moore is an offensive coordinator who is actively trying to become a head coach he should know better. Dak is a QB making 40 million bucks a year, he should know better. Mike McCarthy is the head coach of the most valuable franchise in sports he should know better. Jerry and Stephen Jones run the front office of the said most valuable franchise in sports, they should know better than to employ such bad coaches and a mediocre quarterback.
I had some sympathy for Mike McCarthy before the game, as there were rumors that if the Cowboys lost he would be fired and replaced with Kellen Moore or Dan Quinn. I personally thought throwing him under the bus just so the Jones' had an excuse to finally hire their underqualified favorite Moore to finally be the head coach of the Cowboys was a bush league way to do things. At this point, I say let Moore go be a HC somewhere else, fire McCarthy, hire Dan Quinn, and let Quinn pick his own offensive coordinator.
In reality, the Cowboys are just going to make Moore the head coach anyway, which while stupid is what they should have done instead of hiring McCarthy because it was clear then that the Jones' wanted Moore to be the head coach.
The Ben Roethelisberger Retirement Party
Even as a fan of the Chiefs, it was hard to not feel bad for Ben Roethelisberger. The Steelers offense was not functioning at all, while the Chiefs were just rolling and rolling looking like their Super Bowl selves (Side note: Jerrick McKinnon was awesome and should be the starting RB for the Chiefs. I know that is a hot take, but one that I think is valid). While it was a shame to see Big Ben go out on a low note, at least he did lead his team to the playoffs one last time, and ultimately the sight of Big Ben shaking hands with the GORN Patrick Mahomes was a cool sight to see. As SNF color commentator Cris Collinsworth said "A passing of the guard". Happy Trails Big Ben!
The Lights Were Too Bright
At least for Cardinals QB Kyler Murray anyway. While, I did predict a Cardinals collapse earlier in the season and stated that I did not think that they would have postseason success, I was still surprised to see Kyler flat out choke. This was especially surprising considering that Rams QB Matt Stafford has been the one under the microscope and someone who is perceived by some as a non-big game QB. As, it turns out when he isn't playing on a team cursed by Bobby Layne, Stafford is pretty good. I feel bad for JJ Watt and the Cardinals defense, as similar to the Eagles earlier in the weekend, they played better than the final score shows.
The Cardinals will probably write off the late season collapse because of WR DeAndre Hopkins' injury and that is fair considering he is one of the best WRs in the NFL. As for the Rams? They did beat the Buccaneers in dominant fashion earlier in the year, although both teams have changed significantly since then, so I don't think that win applies much at this point.
Firings and (so far) no hirings!
After the regular season concluded last week, a whole bunch of head coaches and general managers were relieved of their duties. The teams currently hiring are:
Jacksonville Jaguars
I went in detail on my thoughts on the firing of Urban Meyer a while back, so I won't get into that here. The reason I'm even addressing the Jaguars job at this point is because the news that the somehow still employed GM of the Jaguars Trent Baalke is high on Bill O'Brien. As long time readers know (That really is being repeated a bunch this week isn't it?) my resentment of O'Brien is longstanding. Not only did he ruin the Houston Texans football team, he kept what was a Super Bowl caliber team from reaching that level, meaning JJ Watt is likely to finish his HoF career without a Super Bowl. Unless, Baalke is fired (which as of this column he hasn't been), I think O'Brien is going to get the Jaguars job. I say that because at least according to various reports over the years, Baalke is shall we say disliked, so with him still employed they are going to have to hire someone who is desperate to be a NFL HC. O'Brien is desperate to once again be a NFL HC. Good luck Trevor Lawrence!
Denver Broncos
The Broncos are supposedly going to be under new ownership right after a new HC is hired. I don't know who that owner/ownership group is and how much control they'll give Broncos GM George Paton to make the decision as to who the new HC is.
Miami Dolphins
To the surprise of the football world the Dolphins made the decision to fire Brian Flores as the HC of the Dolphins. There are conflicting reports as to the exact reasoning ranging from Flores just being a jerk to Flores not liking Tua and wanting to replace him Deshaun Watson. I don't know what the actual truth is. What I do know is that Bills OC Brian Daboll was the OC of Alabama and coached Tua. If the Dolphins are all in on Tua, I don't see how Daboll doesn't get job unless he decides to take another offer. Flores deserves (and likely will get) another job, where that is I'm not sure yet.
Chicago Bears
In a decision that was months in waiting the Bears fired both HC Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace AND demoted long time Team President Todd Phillips. With senial old man who is only in the HoF because he drafted Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf Bill Polian advising the search for the to be restructured Bears, I'm skeptical as to whether or not the Bears can actually turn things around. Still there is hope in Chicagoland and there is something to be said for that.
Minnesota Vikings
Wouldn't ya know putting all your eggs in the Kirk Cousins basket ended up with a bunch of broken eggs and unemployment? That is what HC Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Speilman get for throwing folk hero Case Keenum to the curve because they were convinced that a notoriously underachieving and overrated QB was better than the one that led them to NFC Championship Game. Football karma is a thing folks.
Houston Texans
The Texans are going to end up paying David Culley 22 million bucks for coaching 17 games. With how supremely underqualified Culley was in the first place, him being a one and done doesn't surprise me. If the Texans were going to do that, I don't know why they didn't give Romeo Crennell the full time job because he was beloved by the players and probably would have won more games. With all of the Patriots connections, the Texans seemed like an obvious fit for Brian Flores, except there are rumors that Flores wants to go where Deshaun Watson goes and that I can assure you even with no inside sources, that won't be the Texans.
New York Football Tinys
The Jaguars and Cowboys may be clown shows, the Lions may be cursed, but the Tinys are cursed AND are a clown show. Both traits are amplified being in the largest US media market and because of the sheer hilarious nature of their poor play. I've documented this at different occasions over the years (There I go yet again) and the revolving door of coaches, management, and players hasn't changed a thing. Giants ownership is determined to restructure things and unlike the Bears they aren't being advised by a senial old man, so in theory they have the opportunity to change things for the better. They are casting a broad search for their next GM, who may or may not cast a broad search for their next HC depending on his relationships with coaches. I have an idea as who their next HC and GM should be:
And with that the Wild Card Weekend is in the books! It was kind of underwhelming to be honest, but I'm optimistic that the Divisional Round will be much better. I still hope ya got so much enjoyment out of this week's column and I hope to see y'all again next week! This is spiderfan out.
