Post by spiderfan on Dec 19, 2022 20:18:18 GMT -8
Merry Days Before Christmas and Happy Hanukkah SCtoC, Spiderfan, coming to you with the Week 15 edition of Red Hot Gridiron. It was a crazy week, so without further ado let us begin!
The Greatest Comeback in NFL History
Much was made of the Colts 4th quarter implosion against the Cowboys 2 weeks ago. A game that was 21-19 entering the 4th quarter, one where an upset was not out of the question, turned into a humiliating 54-19 loss. The Colts entered the bye week on that loss. Jeff Saturday's tenure as interim HC and frankly the Colts season had hit the lowest point of a season filled with lows.
So with the score being 33-0 at halftime against the Vikings, points achieved by numerous FGs and TDs (offense, defense, and special teams all put up touchdowns in the first half) the natural thought to have (or at least the one I had) was that during the bye week, the Colts had circled the wagons and Saturday had successfully managed to motivate his guys to a blowout victory. A remarkable turnaround considering not only the aforementioned loss to Cowboys, but also the fact the Colts were blowing out the Vikings, a team with its eyes on clinching a division title and a high seed in the NFC playoffs, on the road. According to ESPN analytics the win probability for the Colts coming out of halftime was a whopping 98.6 percent. Even with a Vikings TD in the 3rd quarter, the Colts winning probability peaked at 99.6 percent with 3:18 left in the 3rd quarter with the score being 36-7.
After going up 36-7, the Colts offense produced only 5 first downs (including overtime), a fumble, and a turnover on downs (which if it had been successful would have sealed the game for the Colts and I think should have been a first down considering that by the time Matt Ryan fell to the ground he had crossed the down marker, but for some reason they called forward progress before he hit the ground).
The Vikings didn't play perfect though. After cutting the deficit to 15, Kirk Cousins threw an interception. Later after the Vikings had managed to cut the deficit down to 8, they turned over the ball on downs after Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell decided to go for it on 4th and 15 at the 45 yard line. Then after the Vikings had managed to tie the game and take into OT, O'Connell decided to not kick the long FG to take the lead in OT with 5 minutes left and punt the ball, a move that I thought would end up resulting in the game being an anticlimactic tie. As you all know it wasn't.
The Vikings would get the ball back and kick the game winning FG to win 39-36 and achieve the biggest comeback in the history of the National Football League. For as shocking as the outcome was, in 20/20 hindsight the formula was there for a Vikings comeback. Jeff Saturday led Colts in the 4th quarter + early window Kirk Cousins + football karma (now former HC of the Colts Frank Reich led what was previously the greatest comeback of all time when the Bills beat the Oilers back in the 1992 NFL Playoffs) + Matt Ryan (who despite not being the ultimate cause now has the embarrassing distinction of the being QB of the team that choked in Super Bowl 51 and the greatest comeback ever) = Greatest Comeback of All Time.
Will this be the peak of the Vikings season similar to how the Miracle at the New Meadowlands (insert 2010 Eagles Wiki page) or the Monday Night Miracle (insert 2000 Jets Wiki page) were for their teams or will the Vikings go to to the Super Bowl like Bills did? While the answer is still up in the air, there is no doubt that this game will be remembered forever.
Congratulations to the Minnesota Vikings players, coaches, fan base for being a part of NFL history! I SO want to hear highlights of the game called by Vikings radio play-by-play announcer Paul Allen.
I'll let these clips speak for themselves
Other Thoughts:
-It says something about just how crazy the week in the NFL was when the New York Football Tinys manage to pull out a close nail biter victory and it is the 3rd craziest thing that happened.
-Remember when Nick Mullens had a couple good games for the 49ers as a third string QB and people (including myself) thought he was going to be the next big thing? Brock Purdy is now filling that role, so the hype train for him should calm down.
-Obvious statement of the week: The Baltimore Ravens aren't the same team without Lamar Jackson.
-The Dolphins have the potential to be a dangerous team in the Wild Card round. The trick for them is actually making sure they get there, which is no guarantee at this point.
-Sure, you can look at that as a sign of the Eagles winning another "trap game as them being overrated, but as I've said before, the fact that they haven't fallen into the trap shows me that they are a mentally tough team in addition to be a physically tough team.
-For the second week in a row the Texans nearly won a game that shouldn't have been competitive in the first place. I think Lovie Smith should stick around and get a shot to coach a better roster in the years to come.
-Because of Robert Saleh's awful game ending clock management, Zach Wilson won't be blamed for the Jets losing to the Lions. Good for him!
-Does anyone want to win the NFC South?
-Even though they lost on Sunday, the Cowboys still clinched a playoff spot because of the Tinys win against the Commanders, so in a roundabout way they still won. Weird!
-I hope Kliff Kingsbury enjoys his buyout money because he'll be getting it pretty soon.
-Dag nabbit, Justin Herbert made a undeniably great play and now the whole "Herbert is elite" hype train is going to get going again.
-When you have a bad offensive line, you can make lemonade out of lemons by using the skillset of a mobile QB. When you have a pocket QB? You're screwed, hence the Rams 4-10 record.
And with all that said, that's all for this weeks Red Hot Gridiron. As always I hope ya enjoyed and hope ya have a fun and safe holiday. As the crazy things this week showed, football truly is the greatest game in the world (Not soccer). This is Spiderfan out.
