Nine weeks of stupid already in the books? It's hard to believe how many stupid things happen in a flash. As we jump into the second half of the 2013 NFL regular season, let's break down all of the stupidity from Week 9.
The stupidest play call
You're Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. C.J. Spiller is working on a 100-yard day. He and Fred Jackson are on their way to a combined 193 rushing yards. You're leading the unbeaten Chiefs in a low-scoring affair in which field goals are probably going to matter quite a lot. Third-and-goal from the one-yard line…and you have your rookie third-string quarterback throw out of shotgun? C'mon, dude. The result? A 100-yard pick six.
The stupidest officiating call
Welcome to the NFL in 2013, where this is roughing the passer…
Ron Winter was pushing it with that one. The definition of incidental contact.
The stupidest spot
This was ruled a first down in the Carolina-Atlanta game…
I know the yellow line isn't official, but I went back and looked and the Panthers needed to get all the way to the Falcons' 44-yard line. They were almost a full yard shy, but a review didn't come from above and the drive continued.
The stupidest coaching decision
It wasn't that the New Orleans Saints went for it on fourth-and-one on the New York Jets' 36-yard line down 12 in the fourth quarter. In fact, that was the right call. But getting this fancy was quite silly on Sean Payton's part…
The stupidest final-second decision
Statistically, San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy wasn't making a terrible decision when he settled for a game-tying field goal on the Washington one-yard line with seven seconds to play in the fourth quarter, but I believe it was still the wrong one. Considering they were merely tied with Washington on the road and had been outscored 17-7 by the 'Skins in the second half, San Diego's chances of winning in overtime were undoubtedly below 50 percent.
Even without taking momentum and home-field advantage into account, their statistical win probability when settling for that field goal was 48 percent, according to Advanced NFL Stats.
Meanwhile, since 1999, teams have scored 51.2 percent of the time on fourth-and-goal from the one. Throw in that the ball was actually inside the one in this case and I'd guess the Chargers had about a 10 percent better chance of winning by going for it than by settling for three.
The stupidest trade
This just seems like a good time to remind everybody that, seven weeks ago, the Indianapolis Colts traded away their 2014 first-round pick for running back Trent Richardson. Since joining the Colts, Richardson has averaged just 41 yards per game and just under 3.0 yards per carry. He scored on his first carry as a Colt and has found the end zone just once since. Donald Brown has 34 fewer yards on less than half the carries, and Andrew Luck has 43 percent of the rushing yards Richardson has accumulated since coming to town. It's been a month since he's had more than 40 yards in a game, and he has just 57 yards on 22 carries the last two weeks. Pro Football Focus grades him as the sixth-worst running back in the NFL.
Stupid.
