STAMFORD, CT – It’s cold out there, folks. I spent my Monday day off bundled up, hoping for some footage of President “Weekend at Bernie’s” getting wheeled out the back door. Someone get the poor guy some ice cream! It’s hard work pretending to be President! Now to football! There were some much better games this week. A few observations re Divisional Round Thoughts; Lions Choke, Revis /Johnson Blow It, Saquon Becton Pain
The Lions’ Share of Blunders
Have you ever seen two highly sought after head coaching candidates lose so much cache in one game? Darrelle Revis’ D couldn’t stop a three-year old from getting a cookie out of a locked safe on top of the refrigerator. Ben Johnson called one of the most ill-timed and unnecessary trick plays of all time.
I know second-guessing play calls in hindsight is not always fair. Like when Homer was trying to convince Barney they had some good times, “Remember when we always knew what coaches should have done?” But this one was bad.
The Lions were still very much in the game when Johnson called a WR pass. They were moving the ball with ease and were only stopping themselves. There was no need to dig too far into the playbook.
But Johnson, seemingly in love with his own creativity, couldn’t help himself. Jameson predictably threw one up for grabs and the game was all but over.
Low-Key Bad Play Call of the Week
The Rams had the ball on the Eagles’ 22 with 1:22 left, down by 6, with a very real chance to pull the upset. A third and two seemed like a great time to give it to Kyren. He was averaging 5.6 yards per carry and the Rams wanted to run some clock there to make sure the Eagles didn’t have much time to get in FG range on the next drive. If he didn’t make it, there was plenty of time to regroup and get the first.
Instead, they called a pass and took the sack and that was the game.
More Pain for Giants and Jets Fans
I have argued in this space that Saquon shouldn’t be the MVP because the Eagles were good without him. But I’m rethinking that a bit, mainly because Jalen Hurts is not a great thrower of the football. 128 yards passing? I still think it should be Allen or Lamar, but the Eagles offense would be hot mediocre without Saquon.
Wee We Giants’ fans are forced to experience exponentially increasing pain each week when Saquon breaks long TD after long TD in an Eagles uni. This week Jets’ fans must have felt a few pangs of loss as well, watching former #1 pick Mekhi Becton clear the road for Barkley like my dog Chief clears a path through a party when someone drop a piece of bacon across the room.
Where are teams always finding a way to use Giants’ and Jets’ busts, but it never seems to happen the other way around?
Anyway, that’s it for me. Thanks for reading. Come back tomorrow for Angry Ward, who thinks Todd Monken is to blame for the cold weather.
