This weekend in NFL stupid

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:

rough

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…

houston

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…

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…

harvin

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?

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The unsurprising result…

raiders1

The stupidest quarterback decision

I don’t think I’ve eve seen a veteran quarterback make a decision this bad, Matt Ryan…

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…

tate

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…

delay

So yeah, a lot of stupid there.

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.

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