This weekend in NFL stupid

This was one of those rare NFL weekends in which stupidity wasn’t ubiquitous. But don’t worry, we still dug up a few comically stupid moments for ya’ll…

The stupidest throw

With a six-point fourth-quarter lead and the ball deep in his own territory, what exactly was New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees thinking when he threw this pass?

brees

Absolute back-breaker in yet another road loss for a team that is lucky to be 2-4.

The second-stupidest throw

Um, someone wanna tell Jay Cutler that Martellus Bennett is being covered by two receivers?

cutler

It was also a crappy pass. Oh, Jay. Will you ever learn?

The stupidest play call

I’ve got no issue with the Browns gambling responsibly by going for it on a 4th-and-5 at the Jacksonville 44-yard line while trailing by four points in the fourth quarter. Smart, aggressive move from head coach Mike Pettine.

The issue comes with the play offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had Brian Hoyer run…

fourth

Seriously? What the hell was that? An option route? A pitch to Ben Tate, who averaged just 2.3 yards per carry on the day?

The worst part is the Browns had the Jags confused on defense just prior to the snap by exchanging the punt team for the regular offense at the last moment…

fourth1

This should have been easy. But it’s Cleveland we’re talking about. Nothin’ easy.

Oh, and it gets even stupider. This from ESPN.com’s Pat McManamon:

Clearly Hoyer thought the Jaguars had 12 on the field, and so did an official who threw a flag. When the ball was snapped, Hoyer ran and pitched probably figuring the Browns would get the first down to penalty. Except the player running off was Jacksonville’s 11th man. The Browns not only miscounted the number of players, but they also did not get the first down against 10 defenders.

The stupidest usage of a timeout

This goes to San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy, who in a 20-20 game with 26 seconds to go decided to use one of his three remaining timeouts in order to attempt to freeze Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos. Freezing hardly ever works, and that timeout could have been of much better use on the ensuing desperation drive.

Santos made the kick and Philip Rivers had only two timeouts to work with on that last-ditch series. Possible game-changer there.

The stupidest open-field decision

Alright, Tre Mason. It’s 3rd-and-1 with 1:14 to go in the game and your team has the lead. I know you’re not used to being in situations like these, but the math indicates that as soon as you get a first down, the game is over. What that means is that if you gain a yard on this handoff, your job is to get down.

Instead, you do this?

mason

Damn lucky that was recovered by a teammate….

The stupidest rash of penalties

In Tharold Simon’s defense, he was making his NFL debut due to injuries in the Seattle secondary. But the dude committed not one but two ridiculous penalties in order to basically usher St. Louis into the end zone as the Rams took a two-score lead in the first half.

First, how does a professional cornerback commit pass interference in heinous fashion like this…

simon

Yes, speaking of stupid, that was Simon lobbying for a flag at the conclusion of the play.

And then this…

simon1

Fifteen free yards, man….

 

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.

Quantcast