Give Vinatieri a break. The hold on that shanked field goal was bad.
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"Dolphins 26, Jets 18 Ryan Fitzpatrick had a nice day, but you have to consider the context." I look forward to this column each week.
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By the end of the first quarter, there was very clearly zero chance that the Pats would win. Loving Lamar Jackson this season!
@Alyssa really? they actually had a few chances. that muffed punt put them back in the game.
Andy Reid may have a "system", but his biggest benefit was playing the Vikings with Kirk Cousins at QB. Cousins is 5-27 against teams with a winning record (1-8 as Vikings QB). With that kind of record, lets just say that I wasn't surprised by the outcome. Throw in the fact that the Vikes were four for four in the lousy department (offense, defense, special teams, and coaching) and they proved once again they are a middle of the pack team.
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Jameis Winston threw zero interceptions and his one turnover was caused by his own offensive lineman bumping Jameis' arm. To say that "turnovers haunted" him is not only factually incorrect but contextually incorrect as well.
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@Patrick
Thank you
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Loved the caption of the picture.
At 2-14, the Jets have the worst record in the NFL going back to week seven of last season. That includes a loss to the runner-up Bengals who are also 2-14 in the same time period. They do play each other later in the season. The NFL should force the owner of the league's worst team to sell. That would at least give fans hope for next year.
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Ryan Fitzpatrick had a nice day, but you have to consider the context. (love this)
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About field goals kickers being lest accurate there are been a time were they were missing more than 50% of their attempts. In 1938, the first year the NFL kept statistic on field goal percent only one kicker had a rate of success over 50%. Here are the five top kickers:
Field goal percent
W Cuff-NYG 55,6%
R Kercheval-Bkn 38.5%
J Manders-ChiB 33.3%
C Hinkle-GB 33.3%
H. Reese 16.7%
The first ones to reach 60% and more were C Hinkle (GB) with 64.3% and W Cuff (NYG) with 62.5%, in 1940. And they were the exception usually the top kickers % were in the 50s until the second half of the 1940s. And since then the accuracy of the kickers improved year after year. Even four players had an accuracy of 100%. The first one being Tony Zendenas of the LA Rams in 1991.
1
Once again the 49ers are absent from any discussions and that is ok with us. They remain undefeated, and next Monday we will see if they can beat Wilson and the Hawks. Superbowl, baby, Superbowl!
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With the loss of their running back, the Lions once again are a "one trick pony" with Mathew Stafford providing the only hope now that he has a few receivers that can hang on to the ball. Oakland stopped the game to set their defense because they knew exactly what was coming and overran Stafford on the last play of the game.
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Re Russell Wilson, QB rating overemphasize touchdown passes.
What I learned is that another NFL season is a waste for me.
1. I'm the kind of Jets fan who, if the Jets won the Super Bowl and went 15-1 in the regular season, but that one loss was to the Miami Dolphins, then it's a bad season. If the Jets are last in the NFL, but go 2-0 against Miami, it's a good year.
2. With the Patriots loss, I have to deal with another year of overrated 1972 Miami Dolphins smugness.
3. Calling the Dolphins the spawn of Satan is a complement.... but I've known this for over 45 years.
The 49ers still have a shot at ending the '72 Dolphins' champagne parties.
The Ravens beat the Patriots, the Chargers beat the Packers, the Broncos beat the Browns, and the Dolphins' perfect losing season slipped through their fins like fine beach sand.
What a crazy and upside down weekend. There were only tricks and no treats in this Halloween bag of surprises.
I swear I thought the Packers had put on the wrong uniforms because the Chargers, especially their defense, performed as magically as the Packers had most of the season.
Kind of wonder what's really in that Gatorade barrel.
2
Love those Ravens!
5
The Ravens beat the Patriots, the Chargers beat the Packers, the Broncos beat the Browns, and the Dolphins' perfect losing season slipped through their fins like fine beach sand.
What a crazy and upside down weekend. There were only tricks and no treats in this Halloween bag of surprises.
I swear I thought the Packers had put on the wrong uniforms when dodging those the Chargers. The defensive line of the Chargers was magically and a pure joy to watch, even as they thrashed my Packers.
1
"not having beaten a team of consequence"
I'm reminded of this point time and again when considering the New England Patriot's and their supposed legacy. The AFC East is not competitive. The last time the Patriots were seriously in danger of losing a playoff spot was in 2010 under Mark Sanchez. Tom Brady gets to walk 8 games out of 16 and chances are he's only facing a challenging away division 1 year in 4. Meanwhile, the Patriots are notorious for cheating at home. What does that say about Tom Brady and the New England Patriots? In a word: Overrated.
Tom Brady should go sell goop or something. Fans weary of his underwhelming record hunting. Sanchez still won more playoff games on the road. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. That's what happens when you steal home field advantage spot every single year. You just ain't that great Brady. Get used to it.
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Baltimore won because they had the ball a lot longer than New England. The only way to beat New England is to keep Tom Brady off the field.
3
@Stephen Kurtz Brady wasn't exactly lighting the turf on fire when he *was* on the field . . .
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*As a Steelers fan, I feel guilty lauding "The Hated Ravens", but here goes - you guys Rock!!
*Never been a Harbaugh fan (that Hated Ravens thing) but his Lamar Jackson-based offense just blows my skirt up! I'll bet Jamie Collins agrees.
*Has there ever been a season when so many backup QBs have played so well? Maybe a column about that, Ben?
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That photo of the pained Miami fan plugging her ears behind the paper bag Jets loudmouth is priceless. I can almost hear it. I feel your pain, lady!
1
After watching 3 hours of exciting play, it was disappointment to have the game between the Buccaneers and Seahawks decided by a flip of the coin. With Seattle winning the overtime coin toss and then scoring a touchdown, the Buccaneers didn't have a chance to respond.
What a stupid way to settle a tie. Why not just play another 15 minute quarter? I can think of no other sport that has such a ridiculous and unfair way to settle a tie.
3
In a thirty second time out explanation Baltimore was the better team. After this many games into the season one usually meets their match. It was from a Raven's fan point of view, a heck of a game to watch on a Sunday night. I didn't check but were there more close games yesterday than blow outs?
Patriots were definitely not ready for the Ravens when the game started. But after Baltimore jumped out to that 17-0 lead, the game was pretty even. A rematch in the playoffs at New England will probably send Baltimore packing. If they play in Baltimore, then Ravens will have a slight edge.
Jimmy Garappolo had a passer rating of 136.9, 317 yards and four TDS against Arizona this week. Why is he not mentioned as a top passer?
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@Game Manager Maybe because other Q's have better stats. There is no denying he's top notch but has a few rungs to climb before he's seriously rated. He's got not only a good arm but assesses the situation real fast and get's rid of the ball unlike Drew Bledsoe who hung on to the ball way too long. His long pass as far as I'm concerned his better than Brady's. But of course a lot of tossers are better with the long pass than Brady. I personally thinks that keeps him from all time best quarterback. He's played on the best teams in New England but has his faults. Scrambling has always been a problem with him.
I am not a very good judge because I see him far more than any other quarterback in the NFL, but Russell Wilson is amazing. He is not as good a runner as he was say 3 years ago, but he still picks his spot for a game changing scramble. Maybe the most impressive thing is how he has adapted every year to the change in personnel at WR and TE. He continually puts up high numbers with totally new receivers. Baldwin, Tate, Harvin, Jimmy Graham--all long gone. Instead we have Metcalf, Moore, Hollister and Lockett--guys who look like world beaters every week. It is the magic of Wilson.
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@mihusky Russell had to do two game winning drives in one game. And all of us Seattle fans, when we saw the coin toss, knew he would probably do it. He's "elite" okay. I wonder how much the team makes selling jerseys in Seattle with 3 on them?
3
The NFC North was supposedly the toughest division in the leagues, top to bottom. Not so much. The Vikings made Matt Moore rethink his long term career options, the Lions and Bears are melting to upper-middle draft position. My beloved Packers, playing in front of huge transplanted fan base, acted like they missed the time change and weren't awake for three quarters.
The Seahawks, 49ers, Ravens and despicable Patriots look like the teams to beat.
2
@lion2019 - If you get a chance, see if you can find Aaron Rodgers response to the Packers' loss yesterday. (Maybe you can see it on the Packers' website). I love what he said. Aaron Rodgers is so zen!!!
@lion2019 Which of the 4 NFC North teams put up the best performance yesterday? I can't decide between the Lions or the Vikings since both put up stellar offensive performances on the road, but their porous defenses proved costly.
Speaking of tanking. We need an end to tanking in the NFL, it has no place in professional sports. Teams should be fined for losing, a team that loses every game , should have to pay every other team in the league a fine equal to the teams TV revenue, then lets see how many teams go 0-16. A lesser fine should also be true for a 1-15 season. no team should cheat its fans out of a whole season. Also, what good does it do if you draft the number one QB in the draft without a team around him. That's how QB who could have been great get destroyed. The perfect example is Andrew Luck, who took the worst beating i have ever seen a QB take in his first two years in the league, when he played in front of an offensive line that was inferior, because the team tanked, and got rid of good players and had to start from scratch. They had the QB and no way to protect him. We will never know just how good Andrew Luck could have been, this is a real shame, and in many ways a crime. If a team is found guilty of not trying to win, the ultimate punishment is losing the draft pick they humiliated the sport to get in the first place.
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I would love to see professional sports league rotate the draft order rather than basing it on record. I agree that tanking has no place in pro sports.
4
@Lonnie I said that taking a great college QB and putting him on a team that has tanked to get him, thereby stripping their team of all that is needed to properly develop would get him 'destroyed' that is the wrong word, the proper word is: ruined. Sam Darnold, for one is in the process of being ruined.
1
@Lonnie I don't know if I've seen a team start off the season in tank mode before, and I will never forgive the Dolphins for doing it. Tanking has gotten out of hand, teams use to wait until the season was half over before trying to secure the #1 pick. There needs to be a lotto system to determine the draft order ... maybe the 8 worst teams. And don't determine the order behind closed doors - because the NBA version appears fixed.
2
Our long national nightmare with the Patriots is slowly coming to an end. Father time is undefeated, even if your last name is Brady. A 42 year old feels hits a whole lot longer that a 22 year old, and Brady though he might want to play till he is 50, also wants to enjoy his retirement years with an intact body and mind. In a sport where the main objective is to maim the QB, he is one hit away from facing reality. The Patriots looked like world beater against the Jets, Browns and Dolphins ...but so does everybody else. I see a new champion in the NFL this year, a surprise champion, very similar to the Nationals, who turned on all the switches on at the right time, were hungrier and came to play when it counted the most. 2020 may be the year that both are national nightmares are consigned to the dustbin of history.
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@Lonnie But the objective is NOT to maim the quarterback. The rules were changed years ago to protect QBs from being pulped by 300-lb. linemen. The reason Brady is still playing is because QBs can no longer be manhandled like in the old days. Johnny Unitas is probably the greatest QB of all time, because he played in an era when QBs were not given special treatment.
You could be right about the Pats not being champs this year. The offensive line is shambolic and they miss Gronk a lot.
5
I’ve read virtually identical posts every year for the past six years. True this year? Perhaps...but I doubt it.
2
It's always a pleasure to see the Patriots lose.
Thanks for the recipe, Baltimore Ravens !
Delicious.
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@Socrates I'd feel the same way if I wasn't a native New Englander. One note of caution: the Patriots have amazing recuperative powers. They learn from defeats better than anybody else. If they have the best record in the AFC and therefore home advantage in the playoffs, there's a good chance they'll be in the Superbowl again. Whether they'll win there it's too soon to say.
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@Socrates I absolutely LOVE when fans of losing teams focus their energy on the champs, instead of their more than likely pathetic team.
I'm a Pats fan and I saw this coming a mile away. Jackson is tough.
On to a bye week.
Thanks for your attention.
Delicious.
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@Socrates
A running QB--even one as talented as Lamar--will drive conventional defenses crazy. Until they get hurt. And they always get hurt. That recipe is as delicate as a soufflé and collapses like one too.
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