Last week was seriously one of the stupidest weeks in NFL history. This week, the law of averages did its thing and it felt as though officials, players and coaches were at least a little less stupid. Still, we’ve got a few bones to pick.
The stupidest missed call
All of the times we’ve ranted here about officials over-flagging for unnecessary roughness…and then they go out and refuse to throw a flag here?
“The contact was with the shoulder,” explained referee Walt Anderson. Um, no.
Just another example of the officials not being able to keep up with a game that is becoming faster by the year. These plays should be reviewable instantly. I’m sure the NFL could come up with a system that wouldn’t even delay the game, just for potential major calls such as those.
The stupidest fake
How do you not laugh at Eric Weddle’s decision to audible to a fake punt on a 4th-and-35 in Oakland?
Well, at least it’s easy to laugh now that we know the Chargers still won the game. No team this century has converted a fourth down beyond 34 yards.
“I could probably say that was not the smartest decision I’ve made in eight years,” Weddle said, according to Matt Calkins of U-T San Diego, per Pro Football Talk. “You work all week on certain looks in protection. I lost my train of thought on the situation. Coaches trust me with that stuff. It’s unfortunate. I made a decision. We overcame it. I’ll learn from it.”
The stupidest pass interference penalty
But also quite possibly the most obvious DPI in NFL history…
Not sure what Buffalo’s Duke Williams was thinking, because he had a chance to break that up, or even intercept it, had he just turned around.
The stupidest — or at least most simplistic — analysis of kicking stats
Take it away, Dick Stockton…
https://twitter.com/OrdioMongo/status/521410746144788480
The stupidest coaching decision
This goes to Jacksonville’s Gus Bradley for his decision to opt for a 55-yard Josh Scobee field goal attempt while trailing Tennessee by two points with 12 seconds on the clock. Although his team had no timeouts, it’s remarkably hard to screw up a basic sideline route in that time, so throwing one more pass was worth the small risk.
Instead, Bradley made a classic mistake — one becoming all too common in the NFL coaching world — by leaning on his kicker far too early. Dating back to 1998, field goals from that distance are about exactly a 50/50 proposition (kickers are 51-for-101 during that span), and Scobee was just 1-for-4 in his career on attempts from that exact distance.
Unsurprisingly, the kick was blocked, and the Jaguars are 0-6.
The stupidest final score
Panthers 37, Bengals 37
How unrewarding for the players, who put their blood, sweat and tears into this. And for the coaches, who spend sleepless nights preparing. And for the fans, who spend their disposal income to come to these games, which are supposed to be played in order to declare a winner.
And finally, everything about the Lions kicking situation
Using three different kickers and with weather hardly a factor, the Lions have missed 10 field goals in six games. That’s 19 percent of the total number of kicks missed league-wide this season. Last year, not a single team missed that many field goals the entire season. It’s unfathomably stupid.