NFL Week 1 - GOY!!
- Thread starter Jord20
- Start date
- Sep 7, 2006
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Thanks Jord :toast:
Between you and Hashish, I got back what I lost and more after yesterdays debacle :0008
Between you and Hashish, I got back what I lost and more after yesterdays debacle :0008
When it comes to pre-season, I once heard Bill Cowher say "Preseason has nothing to do with winning games. It's about fine tuning plays and kicking the tires. Losing every preseason game is fine with me. We are simply taking a test drive. "
And that's how you should look at pre-season too.
Brady has the same outlook but every rookie is out to prove himself. So they score. Or at least try to. Some players are still near the cut line during preseason too.
Pre-season has nothing to do with the score.
Exactly, which is why you need to actually watch preseason games instead of simply checking the scores. If you want to have a leg up the first few weeks of the season, watching some preseason games helps immensely.
Thanks fellas! I appreciate all the good words, advice, etc...
12-9 +9380
I said I wasn't going to count 1st halves towards my record, but I did count my 2 losses on the Denver 1h game anyhow. My new rule is simple... If I post it, it counts. If I don't, it doesn't
12-9 +9380
I said I wasn't going to count 1st halves towards my record, but I did count my 2 losses on the Denver 1h game anyhow. My new rule is simple... If I post it, it counts. If I don't, it doesn't
Hashish said:
Thanks buddy. I really felt Carolina was the right side too. That rams line should have been 3 too. 3-2 will work for now. I really felt I had a 4-1 card though. This week looks tougher
From Barnwell on Grantland... I couldn't agree more. That Lions game, despite the score, was a complet ass-whooping! Only the Lions could have made that game a sweat. :facepalm: They will probably smoke Zona in week 2, but I'm not rushing on that one yet.
The hidden blowout.
To me, the most interesting game of the day occurred in Detroit. I don't know that I've ever seen a team play as well as Detroit did on Sunday and come away with as little recognition to show for it. Detroit dominated Minnesota ? a playoff team a year ago ? at home, and all it has to show for it is an Adrian Peterson highlight-reel run.
That starts with the Lions' performance against Peterson, who torched them on the opening Minnesota play of the game for a 78-yard touchdown. Not good. Peterson later added a rushing and a receiving touchdown, each from four yards out, to give fantasy owners a mammoth day from the consensus top overall pick. Here's the thing: It wasn't all that great of a real-life day. The 78-yard run is obviously valuable, but scoring from four yards out isn't exactly a feat. And outside of that one lengthy run, the Lions absolutely shut Peterson down; his other 17 carries produced a total of 15 rushing yards. He caught all four of the passes thrown to him, but they only totaled 18 yards. The mortal version of Peterson was a boom-and-bust back, but this is that taken to an extreme. Minnesota only had one rushing first down outside of the two touchdowns, and Peterson had 13 carries for two yards or less, many of which came on first-and-10 or second-and-long.
And that created third-and-longs for Christian Ponder, which created disasters for the Vikings. Well, sorta. The Vikings were able to get away with a bunch because the Lions either shot themselves in the foot or shot their foot off altogether. They dropped at least one possible Ponder pick-six, went offside to nullify a strip-sack of Ponder, and had a pick-six wiped off the board by a Ndamukong Suh low block during the return.
The defense had a lucky day compared with the offense, which was brilliant before encountering an impossible bit of bad luck. On their first drive, the Lions drove the ball 58 yards to the Minnesota 13-yard line, only for a Calvin Johnson slant to be called a half-yard short of a first down. The Lions were then stuffed on second down, dropped a pass on third down, and bungled the ensuing field goal attempt. Then they gave up the Peterson touchdown. With the Vikings possessing all the momentum, the Lions again drove 65 yards down the field with ease, only for a Calvin Johnson touchdown to be nullified by the Calvin Johnson rule,10 leading the Lions to settle for a field goal. The next drive saw Tony Scheffler drop a likely touchdown inside the 5-yard line and a Joique Bell fourth-and-1 conversion overturned by a holding call, leading to another field goal.
It kept going. That Ponder pick-six that was called back for a low block? The Lions got the ball and promptly gave it back on a tipped interception. Detroit fumbled a snap on the next drive. Two drives later, Brandon Pettigrew (who held on that Bell fourth-and-1) fumbled the ball after a reception, only for Harrison Smith to fall on it before it trickled out of bounds. Then, when the Lions finally got it to the goal line, Bell dove over the pile at the 2-yard line and had the ball careen backward11 for a fumble that was recovered by the Vikings, only for replay to finally turn a call in Detroit's favor.
The second half wasn't much better. The Lions had another three touchdowns wiped off the board, with Megatron's second potential score of the day coming up a toe too far in the back of the end zone, while two Reggie Bush scores ruled as a touchdown on the field were called back because his knee was on the ground. In any case, the Lions came back to score touchdowns on those drives, and they actually forced a strip-sack of Ponder that came through. In all, the Lions celebrated eight touchdowns on Sunday and actually got to keep four of them, including this gorgeous middle screen to Bush for a 77-yard touchdown. The Lions were very aggressive moving Bush around the formation, splitting him out frequently as a receiver and designing plays to take advantage of his unique skill set. He did come out twice with finger and knee complaints, but Bush finished with 191 yards from scrimmage on 25 touches. He outplayed the league MVP on Sunday.
Was some of this sloppy play by the Lions that they need to correct? Sure. The holding penalties and the fumbles aren't going to fly if the Lions are to compete in 2013. Keep in mind, though, that the Lions had five drives of 50 yards or more, both ran the ball and threw the ball very effectively, and shut down the league's best player after one play. It was a quietly impressive performance, and one that will sneak under the radar as the Lions travel to Arizona to play the Cardinals in Week 2.
The hidden blowout.
To me, the most interesting game of the day occurred in Detroit. I don't know that I've ever seen a team play as well as Detroit did on Sunday and come away with as little recognition to show for it. Detroit dominated Minnesota ? a playoff team a year ago ? at home, and all it has to show for it is an Adrian Peterson highlight-reel run.
That starts with the Lions' performance against Peterson, who torched them on the opening Minnesota play of the game for a 78-yard touchdown. Not good. Peterson later added a rushing and a receiving touchdown, each from four yards out, to give fantasy owners a mammoth day from the consensus top overall pick. Here's the thing: It wasn't all that great of a real-life day. The 78-yard run is obviously valuable, but scoring from four yards out isn't exactly a feat. And outside of that one lengthy run, the Lions absolutely shut Peterson down; his other 17 carries produced a total of 15 rushing yards. He caught all four of the passes thrown to him, but they only totaled 18 yards. The mortal version of Peterson was a boom-and-bust back, but this is that taken to an extreme. Minnesota only had one rushing first down outside of the two touchdowns, and Peterson had 13 carries for two yards or less, many of which came on first-and-10 or second-and-long.
And that created third-and-longs for Christian Ponder, which created disasters for the Vikings. Well, sorta. The Vikings were able to get away with a bunch because the Lions either shot themselves in the foot or shot their foot off altogether. They dropped at least one possible Ponder pick-six, went offside to nullify a strip-sack of Ponder, and had a pick-six wiped off the board by a Ndamukong Suh low block during the return.
The defense had a lucky day compared with the offense, which was brilliant before encountering an impossible bit of bad luck. On their first drive, the Lions drove the ball 58 yards to the Minnesota 13-yard line, only for a Calvin Johnson slant to be called a half-yard short of a first down. The Lions were then stuffed on second down, dropped a pass on third down, and bungled the ensuing field goal attempt. Then they gave up the Peterson touchdown. With the Vikings possessing all the momentum, the Lions again drove 65 yards down the field with ease, only for a Calvin Johnson touchdown to be nullified by the Calvin Johnson rule,10 leading the Lions to settle for a field goal. The next drive saw Tony Scheffler drop a likely touchdown inside the 5-yard line and a Joique Bell fourth-and-1 conversion overturned by a holding call, leading to another field goal.
It kept going. That Ponder pick-six that was called back for a low block? The Lions got the ball and promptly gave it back on a tipped interception. Detroit fumbled a snap on the next drive. Two drives later, Brandon Pettigrew (who held on that Bell fourth-and-1) fumbled the ball after a reception, only for Harrison Smith to fall on it before it trickled out of bounds. Then, when the Lions finally got it to the goal line, Bell dove over the pile at the 2-yard line and had the ball careen backward11 for a fumble that was recovered by the Vikings, only for replay to finally turn a call in Detroit's favor.
The second half wasn't much better. The Lions had another three touchdowns wiped off the board, with Megatron's second potential score of the day coming up a toe too far in the back of the end zone, while two Reggie Bush scores ruled as a touchdown on the field were called back because his knee was on the ground. In any case, the Lions came back to score touchdowns on those drives, and they actually forced a strip-sack of Ponder that came through. In all, the Lions celebrated eight touchdowns on Sunday and actually got to keep four of them, including this gorgeous middle screen to Bush for a 77-yard touchdown. The Lions were very aggressive moving Bush around the formation, splitting him out frequently as a receiver and designing plays to take advantage of his unique skill set. He did come out twice with finger and knee complaints, but Bush finished with 191 yards from scrimmage on 25 touches. He outplayed the league MVP on Sunday.
Was some of this sloppy play by the Lions that they need to correct? Sure. The holding penalties and the fumbles aren't going to fly if the Lions are to compete in 2013. Keep in mind, though, that the Lions had five drives of 50 yards or more, both ran the ball and threw the ball very effectively, and shut down the league's best player after one play. It was a quietly impressive performance, and one that will sneak under the radar as the Lions travel to Arizona to play the Cardinals in Week 2.
Good call...........I'm a Detroiter that can't stand the Lions, but I take my hat off to you. Was it two really bad teams playing each other, only time will tell.
