The last play of the Monday Night Football game not only raised the ire of New England Patriots fans who thought Rob Gronkowski was either illegally contacted, held or interfered with on the last play of the game (and they are right). It also kept my brother from gaining any ground on me in our NFL picks segment.
I may not be able to bet worth a damn right now. But I’ve got the straight up thing going on. The Panthers’ narrow escape pulled me into a tie with Tony for Week 11 – we both hit 12 of 15 games.
Fantasy Guru Anthony Maggio and Contributor Rich also had solid weeks, both nailing 10.
So as we head into the regular season’s home stretch, here are the standings:
Week 11
Season totals
Andy
12-3
110-52
Tony
12-3
104-58
Maggio
10-5
98-64
Rich
10-5
97-65
As with last week, when a solid schedule was highlighted by Sunday night and Monday night games that actually mattered, this week’s slate of games is also entertaining. I count six divisional match-ups and a prime time Sunday nighter between Peyton’s Broncos and Brady’s Patriots. Should be some good watching.
Well, the best Monday Night Football game in quite awhile ended in controversy.
An officiating call – to pick up a flag on the last play of the game when pass interference or illegal contact or defensive holding or criminal assault almost certainly should have been called – overshadowed the fact that the Patriots/Panthers contest was one of the most entertaining games of the 2013 season.
That officiating keeps ending up in the news is disappointing. But all season long, officials have been ridiculously inconsistent in their approaches to pass interference and, in particular, roughing calls, particularly when related to helmet-to-helmet contact.
I’m all for eliminating the kill shot from existence. I don’t think the game’s founding fathers – or at least the helmet’s founding fathers – ever intended for the head gear to be a weapon. But when helmet-to-head contact is getting called when it’s actually shoulder-to-shoulder – or when the receiver ducks his head into a position where the defender has no chance to avoid the contact, something has to be tweaked.
And the pass interference rules … wow. Are they handing out different rule books to different officiating crews? The ref tandems are not even close to consistent. This brings to the forefront again the need for full-time officials.
Former Vice President of Officials Mike Pereira, who on twitter disagreed with Monday night’s decision to pick up the flag, told Fox Sports 1 in September that the rule book is too thick – well, Pro Football Talk has long made the argument that full-time officials would lessen the issues the part-timers face now.
With respect to the Monday night game, VP of Officiating Dean Blandino can say what he wants about this being a judgment call. It’s pretty straightforward to me. There was contact that prevented Rob Gronkowski from having any kind of a chance to make a play on Tom Brady’s last-second pass. A slow-mo video at Pats Pulpit makes it look to me like there were at least three steps taken by the interceptor after LB Luke Kuechly initiated contact with Gronk before the ball was caught.
Now, one play does not make the game. The Patriots should have played better, as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady acknowledged in the postgame interviews. And sure, Gronk being able to catch the ball may be a long shot. But the rules say he should have had that shot. And he didn’t. So it should have been a flag. Nobody is going to change my mind on that.
Life always feels a little bit more complete during the football season and that’s never more true than when the bye weeks start winding down and the games take on more importance.
That’s starting to happen now. After a few weeks of lesser inspiring match-ups and six-team bye weeks, there are finally some truly great games in store for the next three weeks.
So, with that mediocre week behind us, we now can look forward to a collection of games that includes Kansas City at Denver, New Orleans hosting San Francisco and even a Monday night match-up worth waiting up to watch as New England visits Carolina. Here’s who we think wins: (more…)
As is often the case in the NFL, the only thing that went as expected was the unexpected.
Upsets abound and some narrowly averted bigger upsets almost made the numbers even worse. At the end of it all, week nine was nothing like week eight, when we combined for a 45-7 mark. Last week three of us struggled to a 7-6 record. The lone standout was Rich, who gained some ground in the season pool by nailing 9 of 13 games.
Here are the standings:
Week nine
Season totals
Andy
7-6
88-45
Tony
7-6
84-49
Rich
9-4
82-51
Maggio
7-6
80-53
With week nine in the books, we’re approaching the final third of the regular season. Games are starting to matter more and division matchups will again start becoming more prominent. Here’s who we think will win the 14 upcoming games. (more…)
Some weeks you have no idea what is going to happen in the NFL. Then others, like last week, it’s awfully predictable.
The four of us combined to go 45-7 in our picks for week eight, with four of the incorrect guesses being the Giants win over Philly. Three hit 11 out of 13. I hit 12. It was a good week. So here are the standings:
Week eight
Season totals
Andy
12-1
81-39
Tony
11-2
77-43
Rich
11-2
73-47
Maggio
11-2
73-47
Week eight frankly offered a lot of one-sided games and, unlike many NFL weeks, those contests actually went as expected. Week nine could present another set of similar games, as it’s the second of two with six teams on bye. At least in week nine we know Jacksonville won’t lose.
Gronkowski was either illegally contacted, held or interfered with on the last play of the game (and they are right). It also kept my brother from gaining any ground on me in our NFL picks segment.
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