Reactions to Sunday's Events

Sunday provided a lot of disappointment for my Week 7 picks. I missed multiple games by a point or two even though I picked the right team to win. The curse of the spread. Let's get into my reactions to the craziness of Week 7.

Packers vs. Vikings

Last night brought another performance that has become the status quo for Brett Favre. The difference now is that his age seems to have affected him just enough to make some of his normal magic turn into disaster. Though, we were a Percy Harvin foot from having another moment to add to the legacy.

The fireworks came in the postgame news conference with Brad Childress. Childress took shots at Favre’s decision making and chided him for not “playing within the system.” Did you really expect a QB like Favre to stay within the system? He hasn’t done it his entire career, and more importantly, he won a lot of games for the Vikings last year by playing outside of that system.

This is the same coach who previously said that the Vikings were a family and these things stayed in the family. Well, here he is bashing his QB right after a loss. Did Childress forget that he is one of the worst coaches in the NFL? That he is incompetent in clock management? Or, more importantly, that he lobbied Favre incessantly and visited him in Mississippi to get him to come back. So who is to blame here? Childress sure is hurling a lot of stones to be living in a glass house.

I hope everyone watched Trent Dilfer’s take on this situation last night. He crushed it.

The biggest news of the game got lost in the Childress Favre saga. Once again the officials show that they don’t know the rules. The overturning of the Visanthe Shiancoe catch in the end zone may have been the worst call I have seen in the NFL.

Here is the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH8rVTQ7V-g

NFL Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 4 says: "If the ball touches the ground after the player secures control of it, it is a catch, provided that the player continues to maintain control." How in the world did the referee manage to say that Shiancoe didn’t have possession? As Chris Collinsworth said after the play was overturned, if that isn’t possession, there is no such thing as possession. That call ended up determining the game because Minnesota would have been in position to kick the game winning field goal instead of having to take shots at the end zone.

Steelers vs.  Dolphins

In what was the norm on Sunday, I lost this pick because of a single play. If Big Ben can hang on to the ball for a couple more feet, the Steelers make me money. Instead, he fumbles it away and introduces controversy into the game.

My counterpart will argue that the replay official blew the game again for the Dolphins, but I will take the opposite approach. While the play was called wrong initially, the replay result was still correct according to the replay rules. You cannot give the defense possession unless they clearly are shown recovering the ball. What occurred in this game was more of a pile where who knows how many times the ball changed hands. When interviewed, Roethlisberger said he had the ball under the pile until the officials told him it was a touchdown. Naturally, a QB is going to let go of the ball and not risk an injury for a useless recovery. This is exactly the situation the NFL was addressing when it instituted the clear recovery rule, and they got it right. In summary, blame the original call, not the replay official. 

The bigger story may be the Aaron Smith injury that ended his season. Let’s not forget last year when the Steelers went 6-2 only to miss the playoffs due to Smith and Polamalu getting hurt. Nothing is guaranteed in this league.

UPDATE Ex-VP of Officiating says the replay ruling was correct.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZM1AU5svoc Watch for yourself here. 6:00 in is the best replay

Browns vs. Saints

What has happened to Drew Brees? He has transitioned into a gunslinger for no apparent reason, and at least five of his picks have been on stupid decisions that he doesn’t make last year. He currently has 10 interceptions through seven games after having 11 through all of last season. Is that inverse mullet blocking his vision? Whatever the deal is, Brees better get with the program because he is killing his team going into what is a very tough stretch of games.

 I would like to take this moment to laugh at Ronnie Jones for spending $62 ($20 more than any other QB) on Brees in our auction draft this year. Bravo.

It was pretty funny to watch the Browns pull out all the stops and take a page out of the Sean Payton playbook with all their trickery. The Peyton Hillis direct snap followed by a pass to Colt McCoy was nothing short of classic, and the NFL record fake punt run was pretty good too. One has to wonder if Sean Payton’s inability to score opiates has negatively affected his play calling this year.

Bucs vs. Rams

Josh Freeman just keeps getting it done. It isn’t always pretty, but he has emerged as a leader on what could be the most underrated team in the NFL.

Freeman now has five 4^th Quarter comebacks in seven career victories. Pretty impressive

Broncos vs. Raiders

Tebow wasn't the only one crying Sunday

This game could have pushed me over the edge if I hadn’t squeaked out a victory in fantasy football. Darren McFadden tells reporters that he is only 70% confident that he will play, much less be effective, and what does he do? Blows up for 4 TDs and 43 fantasy points.

Denver looked terrible. I bet London can’t wait to host the battle of two epic failures in San Francisco and Denver. Payback for 1776 and 1812 I say.

Eagles vs. Titans

Is Andy Reid really going to switch QBs on a weekly basis? Can't wait for Vick to come out and get shut down by the Colts sparking Reid to switch back to Kolb. Give someone the job and let them take over. You are only hurting the team by not letting one QB take the leadership role with the knowledge and confidence of the team. This back and forth makes it to where nobody knows who is going to start from week to week.