The 2014 NFL thread

[Pies4shaw]

W of Y, Teddy will be back for the next match, apparently he would have been right to go if the game had been scheduled for today. It's a scary thing about the draft that occasionally someone actually takes an ornamental plant with their first rounder.

This week's free to air games on 73 are Texans at Cowboys, Jets at Chargers and Bengal at Pats. The coverage starts at 4 am Monday morning. Will be interesting to see the Pats - Kosh tells me their offense was a shambles last week - I wonder whether, despite his consistent greatness over a long period, we are seeing the decline and fall of the Brady Empire?

[OEP]

[Pies4shaw]

Yes, they're in a weak division, so they probably might still make the playoffs but we all know that isn't the objective.

[Pies4shaw]

OMG (well, OYG, really), did anyone see the Jets play this morning? I had my hands over my eyes for most of the game. They are truly horrible. A 31:0 loss in San Diego made the Vikes' performance in Green Bay on Friday look good.

Meanwhile, the Broncos beat the Cards 41:20 (the QB rating scales really need to be reviewed - Logan Thomas completed one pass in 11 attempts that happened to go for a TD and received a 108.9 rating, whilst Manning threw 4 Tds, gained 479 yards and only got a 110.2 rating).

Someone else may need to report on the Broncos next few games. Manning is getting too close to the Great One's record for my liking. He now has 503 career TDs. Just 6 to go to take the lead, now. In an effort to mask my fervent desire to see him get a career-ending shoulder injury whilst putting out the laundry during the coming week, here's a link to an ESPN article about his achievement:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11648301/peyton-manning-denver-broncos-throws-500th-career-td-pass

He may be "just the second" quarterback to pass for 500 TDs but he is still "the second". Churlish of me? Yes, of course. What do you expect???

Carolina came from behind the Bears to win 31:24, Buffalo knocked off Detroit 17:14 with a late field goal, the Browns scored 29 unanswered points to beat the Titans (you guessed it) 29:28, the Cowboys beat the Texans 20:17 in O/T in reasonably unconvincing fashion, the Giants ran over the Falcons in the last quarter to win 30:20, the Saints got over the Bucs 37:31 in O/T, the Eagles beats the Rams 34:28, despite two late Rams TDs, the Colts beat the Ravens 20:13, the Steelers beat the Jags 17:9 and the 49ers got over the Chiefs 22:17.

Presently, the Pats are up 14:0 against the Bengals, still early in the second. Tomorrow's game is the Seahawks at Washington.

Once those last two are done and dusted, it might be time to have a look at the standings after almost a third of the season is gone. At the moment, I think we can safely rule a line through the Jets, the Titans, the Raiders and the Jags in the AFC and the Rams, Tampa Bay and - probably - Washington (unless they upset the Seahawks tomorrow) in the NFC.

[Pies4shaw]

Pats now lead the Bengals 34:10, with a little under 5 minutes to go in the 3rd. Total yardage 364 to 170, so far - looks like New England will take this one.

[Pies4shaw]

And they did, 43:17. The Bengals were unimpressive, really. Their defensive line put little pressure on Brady and their receivers, running backs and special teams all struggled to hold onto the football.

The game was, I think, summed up by Brady's first drive (a waltz down the ground for a TD) and Dalton's first drive of substance (a waltz down the ground to the 5 yard line, followed by an inept turnover).

The upshot, along with the Cardinals' loss yesterday is that there are no undefeated teams in the NFL this year.

[Pies4shaw]

Today, the Colts led 24:0 just before quarter-time against the Texans and hung on to a 5 point lead for the last 10 and a half minutes to win 33:28.

[Yarra Falls End]

WOW. I have seen it all from No 12.
Game winning drive starts on the 2 minute warning with no time outs left.
Decent punt return takes ball to midfield.
He gets sacked on 3rd down and FUMBLES amazing recovery by Lang.Clock still running.
Connects with Jordy on 4th down who goes OB and able to stop the clock
Starks with a few good runs then its 1st and 10 from about the 18 with less than 20 seconds remaining and clock running.
No 12 fakes the spike, connects with the Adams ( I think) near the sideline who with a nice twisting move gets it to the 4 and OB.
Miami call time out.
Ist and goal with 06 sec on the clock, No 12 finds Quarless in the endzone TOUCHDOWN
Packers win 27-24.

Meanwhile, in other news, Packers opponents next week, the Panthers, cannot break the deadlock against the Bengals and tie 37-37 in OT.

[Pies4shaw]

^^^ Rodgers certainly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in that one. I was cursing Quarless for an incomplete pass earlier in that drive, too - probably quite unfairly. Nail-biting stuff. The Dolphins fans get to go home knowing that they've seen what a proper QB looks like.

In other results from the early games, the Browns pumped the Steelers 31:10, the Pats beat the Bills 37:22, basically because Orton kept giving the ball away when the game was in the balance in the middle part of the game, Bridgewater showed that he has a little way to go, throwing 3 interceptions as the Vikes went down 3:17 to the Lions, Peyton threw 3 TDs as the Broncos beat the Jets 31:17, Bucs fans got to home a couple minutes into the 2nd quarter with their team trailing 35:0 to the Ravens (finally losing 48:17), Flacco throwing 5 TDs by I minute into the 2nd quarter for a QB rating of 146!!! and the Titans beat the Jags 16:14 (like it matters).

[Pies4shaw]

Meanwhile. Dallas is learning the hard way that special teams errors can kill your momentum. They are currently 17:17 against the Seahawks with a little over 6 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Romo has thrown for 2 TDs and his team leads the time of possession 25 minutes to 13, roughly - but a blocked punt and a fumbled catch have both been turned into TDs by the Seahawks.

[Pies4shaw]

And now Romo has gifted them the lead with a fumble at his own 17, recovered by Seattle and turned into a field goal. Seahawks lead 20:17.

Harris didn't fumble the kick return (this time), so let's see if Romo can turn things around.

[Pies4shaw]

After a field goal apiece, Romo has taken the Cowboys 80 yards down the filed in a 5 minute TD drive. They lead 27:23 with 3 minutes, 16 seconds to go. The way this game has gone so far (Dallas with three offensive TDs to 1 - and that was on a very short field created by a turnover), if they don't make any more handling errors, they should win.

[Pies4shaw]

And they did, 30:23.

In the other "middle" time-slot games, the Chargers just held out the Raiders 31:28 (Carr threw 4 TDs and only 1 interception in an encouraging display), the Bears beat the Falcons 27:13 and Cousins has just coughed up the winning touchdown for Arizona, who will beat Washington 30:20.

The Giants have the Eagles in the late game. Tomorrow, the 49ers get a win against the Rams.

[ANNODAM]

NYG losing to PHLE 0 - 10 at the moment.

[Pies4shaw]