Monday, December 12, 2016

NFL Monday recap - week #14

Steelers: This was one of our local televised games this week, go figure. So my buddy came over to my house to watch. "I forgot how loud it is when you watch football," Darcy said at halftime.
  • Defense once again on point until the end when they allowed the Bills to score two touchdowns.
  • Ben Roethlisberger's two interceptions were awful in that he just threw two bad balls. The first was as if the snow flurries were hindering his sight, the second as if he just didn't care. Then he went and threw a third one in the end zone, and WTH?
  • And thank god the defense came back the next play and intercepted Tyrod Taylor to get the ball back in Steelers' hands.
  • Roosevelt Nix was the hero of the day with all of his blocks and tackles that allowed La'Veon Bell to move up the field and into the end zone.
  • The game was delayed at halftime because when the Bills clean up crew tried to remove the snow from the field they instead stirred up little beads of rubber that floated to the surface of the turf and caused a safety hazard. 
  • In the fourth quarter Buffalo's Tyrod Taylor got through five Steelers who were trying to pull him to the ground, but Bud Dupree, the sixth try, was awarded the sack...finally. It played out like a cartoon with five Steelers trying, trying, trying, and falling down in the snow, failing each time until Dupree broke out and stuffed him to the ground.
  • During one of Bell's run in the fourth quarter, he spread his legs wide and went airborne, jumping over a Bills' defender. When he came off the field Tomlin went over to him not to do that shit because "you're going to give me a heart attack on the field?"
  • Steelers became the first organization with three head coaches with 100 wins; Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin.
  • Once again La'Veon Bell rushed for over 200 yards and scored the most fantasy points by any player this year, and the third most by any non-quarterback in the last ten years. Uh, yeah, Ben had 2 points for me today. 2 points. 
Other:
  • Once again Bronco's hothead Aqib Talib jumped in to something that didn't really concern him after Titans Harry Douglas dove at Bronco's cornerback Chris Harris, hitting him in the knee away from the play. It was a terrible cheap shot, and in the next play Talib tackled Douglas and then the two began rolling around on the ground punching each other. It was a typical, shake our heads kind of moment to see two grown men acting childish. Hey, players, let the coaches deal with the on field antics. Don't add to it.
  • Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannenhill went down in the third quarter with a knee injury that is being reported as a season ending ACL injury, and back up QB Matt Moore came in and lead the winning drive to put a "W" in the column for the Dolphins. His last throw down into the red zone was huge. I'm sure his parents were proud.
  • It was cold during at Lambeau Field and I couldn't help but think of charging bulls as both teams lined up in formation, knees bent, hands on the ground, heads up, and "smoke" billowing out of mouths and noses as the players breathed.
  • More talk on rolling heads this week, Buffalo's Rex Ryan being one of them after this loss to the Steelers. Is it really going to change anything at this point in the season?
  • Scary moment during the San Francisco/Jets game when receiver Torrey Smith landed on his head as he was tackled after missing a catch, and lay motionless on the field for some time. Jets Rontez Miles, who was in the vicinity, watched Smith's head hit the ground, and he immediately grabbed his own head in anguish. It brought home once again how dangerous this game truly is, and watching someone playing it with that reaction was chilling to me.
  • I think Atlanta's quarterback Matt Ryan is getting skinnier each week. He looks terrible, but he sure plays like a dream.
  • What was happening with Seahawks Russell Wilson who kept throwing the ball to the wrong team? Whoa. And I thought Big Ben was messed up, but at least he had the snow pouring out of the sky as an excuse.
  • Well, thank goodness I had Aaron Rogers in one of my fantasy teams since Ben Roethlisberger and Marcus Mariota were my other fantasy QB's; 2 and 5 points for them.
  • It's too bad that at 42-0 in the third quarter the Rams couldn't just call, "Uncle."

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