After a couple fairly un-stupid weeks, there was almost too much stupid for us to handle in Week 8…
The stupidest roughing the passer penalty
There’s usually one every week, sometimes more than one. This time, the victim was Tyrann Mathieu of the Cardinals:
Walt Anderson’s crew had a bad day, but this was the worst call of the weekend. You simply can’t throw a flag there.
The stupidest celebration
Congratulations to Lamarr Houston of the Bears for becoming the second player this season to suffer a season-ending injury while celebrating a sack. But not only did Houston tear his ACL while showboating, he did so despite the fact he had just sacked a backup quarterback while his team trailed by 25 points…
Going forward, contracts should have clauses that make it so players don’t get paid when they injury themselves in such stupid fashion.
The second-stupidest celebration
Too early, Sammy Watkins…
Every year we get at least one Leon Lett.
The stupidest attempt to be tricky
Um, the Bills can see you lying down there in the end zone, T.J. Graham…
And that’s a return to the 3-yard line from Percy Harvin. Gang Green got a little too fancy trying to involve him in unique fashion there.
The second-stupidest attempt to be tricky
I don’t mind that the Raiders broke from field goal formation to run a surprise fourth-down play with holder/backup quarterback Matt Schaub taking the snap in the first quarter against Cleveland, but the problem with plays like those is they give the defense a numbers advantage. I mean, did the Brown in coverage on the top of the screen really have to concern himself with kicker Sebastian Janikowski?
The unsurprising result…
The stupidest quarterback decision
I don’t think I’ve eve seen a veteran quarterback make a decision this bad, Matt Ryan…
The stupidest kickoff decision
This happens all the time. I’m just picking a nationally-televised example to rant over. Washington scores a touchdown to take a seven-point lead on Dallas and the Cowboys took a personal foul on the extra point. With the kickoff at midfield, Jay Gruden had his kicker smash the ball through the back of the end zone.
But why?
Why basically let the penalty have no impact? At the 50-yard line, you might as well pop it up like a punt and try to lock the Cowboys inside the 10-yard line. Or hell, attempt a long-range, surprise onside kick. Worst-case there, the Cowboys get the ball at the 30 instead of the 20. Isn’t it worth risking the 10 yards there?
NFL teams employ more than a dozen coaches, and rarely do they consider simple tweaks like these.
By the way, Dallas scored in eight plays from the 20-yard line on the ensuing drive.
Finally, the stupidest game
Poor London. Detroit-Atlanta at Wembley was just a stupid mess.
Yeah, there was that Ryan interception. But there was also Atlanta letting Golden Tate do this on a 3rd-and-25…
Or Atlanta’s decision to run the clock out on the first half despite having a 2nd-and-4 from their 24-yard line with two timeouts left and over a minute to play. Apparently they were satisfied with their 21-point first half. Hindsight bit them there, with Detroit eventually winning 22-21. The Falcons offense had been rolling to that point, so that’s a baffling decision from head coach Mike Smith.
Or the fact the Falcons somehow gave the ball back to Detroit with 1:38 to play in the fourth quarter despite the fact they had a 2nd-and-9 from the Detroit 39-yard line with 1:55 on the clock and the Lions out of timeouts. It’s almost impossible to lose with a lead in a situation like that — with just over two minutes remaining, Atlanta’s win probability was at 97 percent — but Smith and the Falcons found a way. Abysmal clock management, as per usual.
Also, I don’t believe this was a delay-of-game penalty…
So yeah, a lot of stupid there.