Week 13 Open Game Discussion

And the Saints trail. For the first time in forever.

A pass intended for Thomas that was not completed? That's new. A 3 and out for the Saints? That's RARE.

2 Three and outs. Back to back. That looked a bit like a catch, but there wasn't a camera angle that clearly showed the ball getting loose or not getting loose.

Seriously though. Eli Apple is slowly becoming more a liability and less an asset.

Could players stop holding the football with just the hand through contact? That's yelling for a fumble.

Saints stopped on 4th and goal!

The Saints have enough firepower to get out of that hole. But can they actually start firing on all cylinders before it's too late? And can they put a spy on Dak?

Well, I was worried this game might turn into a blowout early. Just not by this team.

I hate the challenge rules. Better to have it all initiated from the booth. Just get the calls right. It's stupid to have missed calls because a coach doesn't know when to challenge or has already used up his challenges.

Well, that just happened. The Saints got shut out in the 1st half.

39 yards? I'm just tuning in, what?

a) The Cowboys really want to make sure the Saints score a TD. b) Morstead got leveled there.

Brees looks fine, but I'm not sure I've seen a completed pass yet, they've all been dropped and every first down has been a defensive penalty. Oh wait there's one for a TD

Who gets the 4QC/GWD (Assuming New Orleans ties it up)? Brees or Prescott?

So, New Orleans Offensive Line blows up and Brees is strip sacked. All is good for the Cowboys until Randy Gregory gets called for offsides. After he Roughed the Punter a drive early.

How that is not a helmet to helmet hit!? That was pretty much a Hit Stick tackle out of Madden with the helmet to Kamara's head. Dude was even getting up slowly. No flag.

"Sometimes when you get a guy that wide open… it's a harder throw than you can imagine."

"Sometimes when you get a guy that wide open… it's a harder throw than you can imagine."

"Sometimes when you get a guy that wide open… it's a harder throw than you can imagine."

For the Saints, How is that you allow a QB to slip out of your grasp like that? For the Cowboys, dang it Dak (Or Gallup, can't see who did something wrong). He had nothing but space and opportunity with not a single black jersey in front. Either an over throw or Gallup simply ... missed it.

Wow...ANOTHER blown call. They need to fix replay.

That fumble might be the best thing to happen to the Cowboys. If Garrett kicks a field goal there, he forces the Saints to go to four down football and play for the TD.

Now the Saints will be more likely to go conservative if they get to the Cowboys side of the field and play for OT.

Well that's lame

Stupid use of the timeout at 2:03. You save yourself three seconds, but you make an incomplete pass consequence-free, which makes it much more likely that Dallas tries to throw and clinch the game instead of just killing clock.

Like I think Aikman was saying, it might've made sense for the Saints to save their timeout for after the two-minute warning. It would only cost you three seconds and would ensure there's still a reason for the Cowboys to not run the ball, which in turns lowers the chance Dallas picks up a game-clinching first down.

Some thoughts on last night's game:

- The Officiating was horrible - and I want to point out that it made Mike Pereira want to leave in shame by the end
- Troy Aikman actually seemed... engaged and enthusiastic for once. He tends to be mister bland but he was engaging and energetic and by far the best I've heard him as an announcer. I think no one was more surprised than Joe Buck in the 1st quarter about it - but Buck did match him as it went on there.

So on the game itself
- The Cowboys defense was fantastic - and was all over the field and in Brees face.
- The Saints defense, after a rough opening was good
- The Cowboys offense still needs some work but seems to be getting a bit better overall.

This might be the first time that the Saints have paid for lacking a true second receiver there - and they need to figure out what was going on with their offensive line there. Brees looked frighteningly mortal there with pressure in his face and made some bad decisions. Sean Peyton also needs to learn to better handle challenges as he wasted them early on there and it cost them later - though with how the Saints offense was playing it may not have mattered.

I only watched the 2nd half but it seemed like one of those games where one team was just faster and more powerful than the other.

Was it just Bhron Jones on Thomas most of the match or washe being bracketed?

Those Cowboys LBs were outstanding, was astonishing to see how quickly and cleanly they were getting to the gaps and executing.

KC has released Kareem Hunt (who also has been placed on the Commissioner's exempt list, so he can't play or practice or even attend games).

Oh no! Chris Harris carted off the field. That's not good

The announcer for Bills/Phins just said “shades of Steve Young” about a Josh Allen play. I don’t know if my eyes will ever be unrolled again.

Texans punt on 4th and 3 from the Browns' 40. I understand it a little more when you're up by 10 and the opposing offense is struggling, but I still don't like it.

WTF CBS? I understand that you feel the need to shill semi-charitable whatever on your broadcast, but DO NOT PLAY SAPPY MUSIC WHEN YOU DO! MFG that is INFURIATING. That music is fingernails on a chalkboard for me. Ugh.

And now AJ Green is hurt on a non-contact injury. I think Chris Harris' was non-contact as well. Is the field in Cincinnati known to be bad?

ETA: Green carted to the locker room. The update on Harris is he's "done for the day," which I guess is reason dor cautious optimism.

And Derick Wolfe is hurt with what appeared to be an injury caused by the turf. WTF is going on with this field?

For as much as Vontaze Burfict clearly loves hitting people, he sure is a baby about it when he's hurt (not a turf injury this time! And he's already back in the game)

So, Broncos-Bengals observations, 2-minute warning:

1. The Broncos look like a team that usually plays at 2:30 suddenly having to play at 11:00. The Bengals, meanwhile, just look completely discombobulated–their last drive ended on a 3rd and 39 caused by a bunch of offensive penalties.
2. The Bengals are totally playing hide the quarterback today. They've had opportunities to do something, but they haven't really capitalized on them.
3. There have been four injuries so far. Outside of Burfict (tweaked his shoulder on a tackle), they've all been turf-related. Strangely, according to the FO report on Turf Type and Injuries, the Cincinnati turf isn't that bad; it's about middle of the league injury wise and one spot above Denver's field for injuries, so maybe today is just an outlier.

Panthers are down by 10 to the Bucs at halftime. Their season has really fallen apart since that 6-2 start.

EDIT: Newton has 54 yards and two picks. That's incredibly bad against the Bucs defense.

Ridiculously bad call on Von Miller just then for what was actually 'hands to the pads'.

Jeff Driskel called for intentional grounding because he didn't pretend good enough to be throwing a real pass.

If current scores hold up and the Ravens lose their tied game we would have a four-way tie in the AFC for the last wildcard spot between the Dolphins, Ravens, Colts, and whoever wins Broncos-Bengals. I expect the Colts and Ravens will win their games, though.

Just saw that Jalen Ramsey pulled the 'nah, I won't help you up after all' on Luck that Von Miller did last year (on Mahones?), but somehow didn't get the 15 yard penalty.

Giants get their second TD pass from Odell Beckham on the season. Odell takes the ball, kind of fakes that he's going to run after looking downfield, then lobs it deep to an extremely wide open receiver. A great play call, especially when you consider Eli is 8/18 for 76 yards and an INT.

Bruce Arians and Trent Green have been having some interesting discussions of defensive schemes (Tampa 2 high safety vs. Man) as the Browns were doing both at times against the Texans, then Gumble seemed to nudge them away saying they were speaking a different language. I hope they go back to this discussion at some point.

Great play by 38 on special teams! The Bengals returner muffed the punt, and instead of scrambling for the ball he just hits the returner, preventing his recovery and allowing a Bronco teammate to get the recovery

Shamarko Thomas is 38, apparently

Giants go for it on fourth and goal from the 1. Eli is under enormous pressure almost immediately but is able to lob it up to Odell, who is completely alone in the left side of endzone. With Chase Daniels at QB the Bears are going to have a hard time coming back from down 24-14.

Packers looking like world beaters again. If they lose to the Cardinals at home, will McCarthy get the boot now rather than the courtesy wait till the end of season firing??

Cardinals now leading the Packers in Green Bay. If Green Bay loses, it would surprise almost nobody if McCarthy is fired with the next 24 hours.

I see the Jags and Colts are playing a scintillating game.

Looks like the Bears get screwed out of a TD. On a long pass downfield the receiver goes down, but doesn't appear to be touched. He gets back and after two defenders hit him but fail to bring him down there's no one to prevent a TD. But the play has been whistled dead so the ball remains at the Giants 29.

Under ten minutes to go and the Colts still looking for their first points. I guess Cody Kessler has succeeded where Bortles failed to inspire the Jags defense to carry him.

I hate the "points off turnovers" notion that networks push. When the turnover is at the 10 yard line and the offense drives 90 yards, that's hardly due to the turnover

Just saw this completely crazy stat on Twitter, courtesy of Field Yates: "The Buccaneers entered Week 13 with three interceptions as a team for the entire season. Safety Andrew Adams has three interceptions today." Panthers mid-season meltdown continuing.

Falcons are a complete mess

Cya Mike. Enjoyed having you around from 2006-2014.

Wow. Nuts play to end Dolphins-Bills. On fourth down Josh Allen is way behind his line under pressure, but gets away and throws a pass to the endzone to a wide open Clay for what would be a game winner. It's a poor, wobbly pass, but the receiver has no one near him and should be able to adjust and make the catch. He doesn't and the Fins win.

Surprised Bears didn't go for two instead of risking OT

Chris Harris is supposed to have a broken fibula according to NFL.com.

I have a succinct response to this, but due to the preferred PG-rating for the game threads, I'll just call myself "displeased" and leave it at that.

Kascmar should have a lot to write about for Clutch Encounters this week.

I feel like Fox is abusing the "BREAKING NEWS" chyron for announcing that the Rams won half an hour ago…

Although the Bears lost, I think they made the right decision in choosing overtime. Their defense is better than their offense, so betting that their defense would hold over their offense converting a fourth-and-goal is the right decision to me.

The way that Giants-Bears OT went should give anyone who believes in momentum pause for thought. It won't, but it should.

That ref sure looked uncomfortable making a call against the Patriots, wringing his hands nervously. More proof of the conspiracy?

I was really surprised Zimmer won that challenge. He was right. I just don't remember a midfield challenge with <1 yard being won.

The NFL does a pretty decent job with its Youtube highlights. 8 minutes are usually enough to get a decent sense of the flow of a game.

(If you're wondering, I was looking up the 6-0 Jags/Colts to see what happened. Basically, good defense from both teams, a failed 4th down or two for the Colts, and the Jaguars just taking the field goals when they got close enough [and faced long 4th downs instead of 4th and 1s].)

So ... this is the year's upset week I guess?

Wait, what? How was that a 1st down? It didn't look like Cook crossed the 1st down plane.

KC needs to make big improvements on defense if they want to survive the postseason. There's no reason the Raiders should even be close in this game.

Hard to make up 20 yards when you only throw 3 yards each play.

Dammit Vikings. A 4-yard slant with the defender right on him on 4th and 11 isn't going to do it. It would be better to take a sack looking for a deeper throw because at least then you're trying!

Mike McCarthy has been fired.

EDIT: And Joe Philbin is the interim HC.

Wait, did Gruden really sent the FG team to kick an FG with pretty much no time left, down by 10?

And Oakland is eliminated from the playoffs.

I hope all of you were standing for that anthem! If I find out any of you were kneeling so help me… *shakes fist menacingly*