It's as though they're becoming smarter as the season wears on. This was easily the least stupid week thus far in 2013. Thank goodness for the NFC East.
The stupidest pick six, considering the circumstances
I hate to pile on Matt Schaub, but when you've become a pick six goat this season, I don't know how you throw this pass on the very first series against the San Francisco defense…
The stupidest promotional idea
Not hating on the cause, but I think we have quite enough pink to get the point across. The flags caused confusion, which is why the NFL is scrapping them next week.
A player's pink towel fell off. They thought it was a penalty flag. That's just one of the dozen reasons this idea is stupid. @nfl
— Andrew Luck (@FauxAndyLuck) October 6, 2013
The stupidest last-second coaching decision
On my Bleacher Report blog, I elaborate on why Jason Garrett botched the final chance Dallas had to beat the Broncos when he didn't make sure his defense let Knowshon Moreno score with 90 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
It was third-and-one on the Cowboys' two-yard line, and Dallas had no timeouts. A first down essentially ended the game, because it would give the Broncos a chance to run the clock down before kicking what was basically an extra point for the victory.
Dallas would have been much better off letting Moreno score. That would have given Tony Romo a shot to redeem himself. And 90 seconds would have been plenty of time for an offense that had already scored 48 points.
By stopping Moreno on the one-yard line, the Cowboys dug their own grave.
The stupidest use of timeouts, ever?
This one goes to another NFC East head coach. When LeSean McCoy made an 11-yard catch on a third-and-10 early in the third quarter, Giants players were pushing head coach Coughlin to challenge whether McCoy had full possession. So…he called a timeout. And then he challenged, and lost, thus burning two timeouts on one play in the second half of a close game. Rookie mistake from the NFL's oldest coach.
The stupidest waste of a penalty
I'm really tired of seeing this. It happens everywhere. The example I'm using comes from the Saints-Bears game, but it's ubiquitous. Here's what happened: New Orleans scored and Chicago's D.J. Williams took a 15-yard horse collar penalty, which is supposed to add insult to injury. The penalty gave the Saints the chance to kick off from the 50-yard line, but they proceeded to hammer the kick through the end zone.
Why settle for a touchback in that situation? Why not take advantage and attempt an onside kick? If you don't recover it, they get the ball at the 35 or 40, which isn't that unusual anyway. At the very least, pop it up and try to force a fair catch inside the 20. But by smashing the ball through the end zone, you're accomplishing nothing. Touchbacks happen all the time on regular freakin' kickoffs. In fact, Saints kicker Thomas Morstead had four other touchbacks on regular kicks Sunday.
Just stupid, man.
