notahomer wrote:I enjoyed the Seattle/Eagles game. I've watched a bit of this Eagles offence under Chip Kelly and he wasn't able to run a lot of the stuff they usually do. What I mean is get some success on a drive and then use that success to keep the Defence off-balance via quick snaps, not allowing subs etc..... These things can't get done when you AIN"T moving the ball. Sanchez certainly didn't look AMAZING but he didn't look as awful as he did in a Jets uni...IOW, it wasn't Sanchez/Eagles, IMO, it was the Seahawks D that caused problems...
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The Colts/Browns game was a bit of a close one. I missed the ending but the Colts were able to pull that one out of the bag via a late TD
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Raiders BEAT the 49ers!
Raider have sucked and continue to suck but they were able to beat the 49ers. I guess the shine of one of my least favourite QB's maybe wearing off....
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RG3? Not sure what they''ll do but his first year success sounds like it'll be holding him back. "I did well, you guys are the problem". Right!?! I know Shanahan is not the best coach of all time but he's won Superbowls. Maybe Shanahan is like Wally Buono, now, "I just can't seem to be in touch with todays player...."
RGIII is starting to look like a coach-killer. I think Shanahan was a good coach, but he was saddled with RGIII whether he wanted him or not. Now Jay Gruden is similarly handicapped. I think Gruden would like to go with Colt McCoy, but Dan Snyder will probably meddle and push Griffin.
Yep, Kaep sucked today by the looks of it. 18 of 33 for 174 yards and 2 ints. The shine is indeed fading....
Here's a piece from
Pro Football Talk on the contrast between Derek Carr and Colin Kaepernick in today's game:
Carr excels, Kaepernick struggles as Raiders upset 49ers
Posted by Michael David Smith on December 7, 2014, 7:29 PM EST
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had a big game today, and 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick did not.
It wasn’t all about the quarterbacks, but the biggest takeaway from Oakland’s upset win over San Francisco is that Carr looks like just the kind of bright young quarterback the Raiders hoped they were drafting this year, while Kaepernick looks like he’s regressed.
Carr was poised, confident, accurate and efficient as he completed 22 of 28 passes for 254 yards, with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Carr also seems more in control of the offense than most rookies, capable of changing plays at the line and catching the opposing defense off guard. This was an impressive performance.
But Kaepernick, who threw two interceptions and was sacked five times, looked out of sync for most of the game. The 49ers had three delay of game penalties because Kaepernick repeatedly struggled to get his signals called in time, and Kaepernick’s passes often missed the mark.
The loss drops the 49ers to 7-6 and makes it a near certainty that they won’t be going to the playoffs. In fact, the biggest question now isn’t whether the 49ers will make the postseason, but whether Jim Harbaugh is already checked out and looking for his next job.
Some people think his next job will be in Oakland, as head coach of the Raiders. If so, he may just have a better quarterback in Oakland next year than he has in San Francisco now.
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This article on tonight's Patriots-Chargers game (from
Pro Football Talk):
Sunday Night wrap-up: Pats take advantage of Mike McCoy
Posted by Darin Gantt on December 7, 2014, 11:36 PM EST
Chargers coach Mike McCoy was working as an assistant for John Fox when the Broncos coach (then with the Panthers) said “a punt is not a bad play.”
Except, sometimes it is.
When the Chargers punted away to the Patriots trailing 23-14 with 6:19 to go, they may have given away the best/only chance they had to win the game.
Faced with a fourth-and-4 at the 50-yard line, the Chargers surrendered the ball, knowing they needed a two stops and two scores.
They lost more than four minutes and 30 yards in the process, and didn’t get a chance to make it matter, never moving the final score.
The conservative approach has served McCoy well in a global sense, as he built the Chargers into a clutch-and-grab team that can play with anybody in the AFC, thanks to a smart quarterback and a solid run game and defense.
They don’t have overwhelming talent on the edges, and Philip Rivers is better suited to performing meatball surgery than working in the pristine operating rooms Tom Brady is accustomed to performing in.
But for the Chargers to have a chance, their coach has to give them one. Sunday, McCoy, as smart as he is, didn’t.
Here are five more things we learned during Sunday Night Football:
1. The whole Revis Island thing is real, and it works.
Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis draped himself all over Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen, and kept him off the board for more than a half.
It was the third quarter before Allen was even targeted, and Revis was the sole reason for that.
Granted, Malcom Floyd’s touchdown catch was beautiful, and Antonio Gates is still a dangerous target. But without Allen, the Chargers Offense is missing a key part.
2. Speaking of Patriots cornerbacks, Brandon Browner’s penalty in the third quarter which took an interception off the board was a bad call.
The combination of Browner’s track record and Ladarius Green’s head snapping backward like it was on the end of a rubber band made it look worse than it actually was.
And it was a big, hard hit. Also a legal one.
There was plenty of time to review that play before calling it a helmet-to-helmet hit, which it wasn’t, as Browner clearly got him with his shoulder.
Even though Green didn’t return to the game with a concussion, it doesn’t change the fact that the visceral reaction to the hit weighed more heavily on the refs than where it actually landed.
3. The 2-11 Titans couldn’t use linebacker Akeem Ayers.
The Super Bowl-contending Patriots are glad to have him.
Ayers came up with the redemptive interception in the third quarter, taking the refs off the hook for a botched call (see above).
And this isn’t to bang on the Titans, plenty of people have done that already.
But the beauty of Bill Belichick is the way he’s able to make odd parts fit his system, and to take undervalued commodities and make them more valuable than they were otherwise.
4. Boy, the way Tom Brady threw it right to Manti Te’o before halftime, it’s like he didn’t even see him.
Yeah, it’s a cheap joke. But it’s also reflective of the way Te’o has largely disappeared from our collective consciousness since he entered the league with the specter of a fake dead girlfriend hanging over his head.
It’s a shame we made so much of Te’o because of his ridiculous back-story at the time, and if we’d have known his future role maybe we wouldn’t have.
He’s not a horrible player, and not a great one. He’s a perfectly acceptable two-down linebacker who does a solid job, the kind the NFL is full of, who never get that kind of attention. And frankly, they probably would never want it.
5. Chargers kicker Nick Novak is not a horrible punter.
But they’re going to need a regular one if Mike Scifres is as hurt as he looks.
Scifres didn’t return after landing awkwardly on his left shoulder in the second quarter, forcing Novak into double duty.
Novak did the best he could, despite not having punted regularly since high school. He actually got better as the night went on, after a 27-yarder on his first attempt. His next three were 33, 45 and 51 yards.
Solid. For a kicker.
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If the Seahawks don't have the best corners in the NFL, the Patriots do, with Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.
One item of note re the Seahawks: WR Chris Matthews (of CFL outstanding rookie fame with the Bombers) was added to the Seahawks' 53-man squad for today's game. I didn't catch his number out there, but it's possible he was in for one or more plays. The 'Hawks need help at the WR position, and a really big guy like Matthews (6-5, 230) might be able to make a contribution to their offense--particular in the red zone. I've been following Matthews in his on and off spells on the Seahawks' practice squad. I hope he sticks with the 'Hawks. He really does have many of the measurables needed in a WR--4.57 40 speed, excellent (sub-7 sec.) 3-cone drill time, size.
Not saying it described the game, more how my day went.....
RG3 
Of course the MNF game that is a gem for offence, I miss cuz I assummed Packer would BLOW the Falcons out of the water. It does seem to be a thing about following NFL. Perhaps we do this in the CFL too. Just keep saying stuff again and again like Packers are the best and eventually it'll be true, I guess. Another example of this is Johnny Football in Cleveland. The pundits were just going to keep asking and poking and prodding until he got to play. Now he'll get to play by the sounds of it. If he does well: WHY WASn'T he in there SOONER? If he struggles "WHY DID YOU THROW HIM TO THE WOLVES, Hoyer was doing fine". 