Monday, October 21, 2019

Monday morning NFL recap week 7

No Steelers this week as this was their bye. Which meant, for me, stress-free football viewing!

  • It didn't take long before a player was ejected for poor sportsmanship conduct. The Dolphins Christian Wilkins and the Bills Cody Ford got into a jersey-holding match that Wilkins apparently couldn't handle. He threw a punch to the facemask of Ford, and the eagle-eyed ref tossed him out with less than a minute of play in the first quarter. Probably a good idea if Wilkins was that pissed off at the beginning of the game.
  • Each week we've lost significant players to injuries. This week wasn't any different. There went the Chiefs Patrick Mahomes on Thursday and on Sunday, the Vikings Adam Thielen and the Falcons Matt Ryan. 
  • Matt Stafford is the fastest player to reach 40,000 career passes. A feat he accomplished Sunday in the game against the Vikings in the first quarter. I love Stafford. Not because he is my new fantasy quarterback but because he plays like he's on the playground having tons of fun.
  • Craziness in the Miami/Buffalo game. The Dolphins were lined up to kick the FG on fourth and one. Casually, I suggested aloud a trick play. Low and behold, they heard me. Punter and holder Matt Haack took the snap, and instead of lining up the ball for the kick, he ran with it for the first down. Unfortunately, the Bills stuffed Miami's Fitzgerald on the next play. He lost the ball, but the Bills were too busy with celebrating to notice, and the Dolphins got the ball back. Then, next play, Fitz threw an interception. Up, down, and gone.
  • Scoreless at halftime were the undefeated 49ers playing the Redskins in a torrential downpour. It wasn't until late in the third quarter than points were put on the board with the 49ers kicking a FG. The rain was steady from the start of the game and had me wondering...do they change into dry uniforms at halftime, or do they sit in their wet uniforms in the locker rooms? The field was full of puddles and mud, and players were slip-sliding all over the ground like they were on a slip n' slide. Dangerous for sure, and the cameramen had to keep wiping the lens so we at home could see the game.
  • Meanwhile, the Packers just kept getting wide open and kept scoring touchdowns. On a beautiful sunny day in Wisconsin.
  • Men misbehaving went to the Falcons Devonte Freeman and Rams Aaron Donald. The Falcons Matt Ryan threw an interception, and somehow in the aftermath, Donald and Freeman engaged in a face mask war. Donald, a big guy who seemed to start the fight, actually lifted Freeman off his feet in the scuffle. That pissed off Freeman, who threw his arm toward Donald's facemask, and because that is considered a punch, he was ejected from the game. Bad enough, I lost another fantasy member, but I was not too fond of Donald's laughing attitude on the sideline. How old are we? 
  • Okay, I hate the celebrations, but I gotta say, I laughed at the 49ers celebration of slip n' sliding across the field after sacking the Redskins quarterback with 11 seconds left in the game. Now that was funny.
  • The inconsistent ref calls rose again. There was the whistle blown for a sack that wasn't a sack. There was a missed roughing the passer that resulted in an interception. But the call on Jacksonville's Chalais Campbell, who was tackling a Bengal, was the worst. Unfortunately, this happened near the Bengals Andy Dalton, and as the block finished, Campbell hit Dalton as he went down. Terrible call. Terrible. And it gave the Bengals life. Well, until they were intercepted, but that's beside the point.
  • And the crowd at Soldier Field got some fun when Bears Cordarelle Patterson went one hundred and two yards to return a kick-off. He weaved and shuffled and ran down the field like it was nothing. Great blocks by his teammates. Easy peasy. 

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