NFL 2012 - Drive to Glory

Count me in on the "Down with Tebow" train. I swear that the only reason he's as big as he is now is due to ESPN hyping him up during his college years.

 

I could care less about Tebow, I just as a Pats fan hate the Jets.

I'm betting he starts after the bye week. The 6 points a game they average will be an improvement.

 

I'd rather listen to them then the pregame gang or the announcers. That network is awful. And yet I still come back every week.

 

Not really a heckuva lot of choice.

I mitigate that by watching at the bar, where you can't really hear the announcers.

 

I muted the game last night because the phone rang, then got distracted and forgot I had it on. It wasn't bad with no sound, I think I might be onto something. It lacks the beer of being at a bar, but that is easily remedied.

 

A muted boring football game is almost as good to fall asleep to as baseball.

 

For the second half of the MLB season, that's about how I felt unless R.A. Dickey was on the mound.

 

Another defensive TD for the Bears gives them a little breathing room.

 

As a Patriots fan, I'm pretty happy after this one. The running game showed up again, they got that ridiculously fast no huddle offense going pretty precisely, and I love the guys on D getting a pass rush on and stripping the ball.

The O-line is still shaky, and the D is definitely the 'bend but don't break' variety, and I was still freaking out with 4-5 minutes left, but nice to see a win over a quality opponent. Loved the clock management at the end of the first half, cringed when then went for it on 4th and 5. Sort of the too deep to kick a FG, too close to punt without a touchback, might as well go for it thing they do.

 

Frustrating game for the Broncos. I'm not shocked that they lost, but the manner in which they lost was frustrating. Too many pivotal mistakes on the offensive side. Big ones were Thomas turning another sure touchdown into a fumble and McGahee dropping a wide open pass on fourth down and then fumbling to basically end the game. I'm definitely rooting for New Orleans tonight so Denver will only be one game back when they visit San Diego next week.

Also, what was Belichick thinking when he went for it on 4th and 5?!? Reminds me a lot of his famous 4th and 2 call from a few years ago..... is he really so scared of Manning that they can't punt it back to him, even though they were up by 3 scores with 8 minutes to go?

Also, I was shocked when the Pats were trying to phase out Welker at the beginning of the season, and today confirmed that thinking. Why in the world would they not want that guy on the field?!

 

I went to the movies when the Bears went up 20-3. I missed some good 4th quarter stuff.

 

Can you blame him? Manning was a McGahee fumble away from coming back in prime position to win this one. Manning has done the come-from-21-behind victory thing before.

 

In this case, I'll say that yeah, he took an unnecessarily paranoid risk. This wasn't like 2009 where it was a high-scoring shootout. Up to that point, the Denver offense couldn't get anything going and the Pats offense could not be stopped for much more than a drive at a time. Even if Manning suddenly found his mojo (which he ended up doing), there was no reason to assume the the Pats' offense would be unable to run enough time off of a follow-up drive to get additional scores. Denver would have needed some major gifts from the Patriots to overcome that points gap with that little time and without the Patriots pulling away again, and the failed fourth down followed by the Riddly fumble almost made it possible.

 

By that point, the clock was becoming more of an issue than the defense. Mesko is a good punter, I watch him play every week. Even if you shank it out at the 15 or 20, and not coffin corner it out at the 2, or get a touchback and they still get it at the 20, that is 20-25 more yards they need to go with the clicking ticking away on them instead of getting it right on top of Flying Elvis.

And there was a fumble on the play, Denver could have just as easily recovered and ran it all the way back and score in 12 seconds instead of 2:30 or however quick they could go 82 yards. With timeouts intact an the 2 minute warning left as well.

They run that play all the time though, no sure points and no sure field position if you punt. Plus Gostkowski has looked like he's been drinking from the same well as Billy Cundiff lately, so you don't trust him to hit one from deep on a rainy day.

 

Hmmm. I like it... the season goes well for the Bears right when Lovie needs an extension. I'm willing to cede the division to you while my Packers go down in flames for the greater good.

I can enjoy the NFL again. Thanks Timby!