Poor refereeing marring NFL action

by | Oct 26, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

There were several exciting, tightly-contested games during week eight of the NFL season but poor officiating continues to affect outcomes.

In Philadelphia, with 2:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, Atlanta had pulled within six points of the Eagles and was receiving a punt with a chance to go on a tying drive. Instead, a punt allegedly bounced off return man Adam Jennings and the Eagles recovered. Two plays later Brian Westbrook iced the game with a 39 yard touchdown run.

I didn’t see the play, but according to media accounts, Jennings never touched the punt. According to ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio, who was on Fox Sports Radio at the time, Jennings in fact was waving teammates away from the ball. But the Falcons were out of challenges so they could not dispute the call despite its game-changing nature.

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Wrong veteran got traded on deadline day

by | Oct 15, 2008 | NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

Tony Gonzalez is 32-years-old. He’s in the middle of his 12th season with the Kansas City Chiefs. During those 11-plus seasons he’s played in 179 of a possible 181 games. He’s caught 841 passes for 10,075 yards and caught 68 touchdowns while becoming a serviceable blocker as well.

After a couple seasons where his yardage and touchdown numbers fell, he played 16 games in 2007, catching 99 passes for 1,172 yards and five scores, showing he was far from done.

Gonzalez arrived in Kansas City in 1997. During his rookie year, the Chiefs went 13-3. They were upset in the divisional playoff round by Denver, but Gonzalez must have thought that the NFL was a piece of cake. That was the end of a collection of playoff runs for the Chiefs, however. In the five years that followed, the Chiefs won seven, nine, seven, six, and eight games.

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NFL trade deadline likely anti-climatic … again

by | Oct 14, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

The NFL trade deadline will pass this afternoon with likely little more than a shrug and a yawn.

Dan Patrick discussed this topic on his morning radio show. Part of the problem is that the season is so young that most teams don’t know yet whether or not they are contenders. Sure, the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs know they aren’t going anywhere this year and you have heard the names Tony Gonzalez, Larry Johnson, Roy Williams and Jon Kitna mentioned in talks.

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NFL refs continue poor performance

by | Oct 12, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

During the Sunday night game tonight the San Diego Chargers got hosed out of an interception when referees rules that the interceptor went to the ground on his own rather than as a result of contact from a New England Patriot.

The call, clearly incorrect to anyone watching, apparently meant that the ground could in fact cause an incompletion as opposed to a tackle via contact when it can’t.

This particular mishap came at a point when the Chargers were dominating the game so it didn’t have an impact on the outcome, a 30-10 win. But forgive San Diego and coach Norv Turner for being sensitive to such situations. After all it was San Diego that lost a game after Ed Hochuli missed a call in week two in Denver when a clear fumble by Jay Cutler was ruled an incomplete pass.

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Mangini Names Son after Brett Favre

by | Oct 12, 2008 | NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

New York Jets coach Eric Mangini’s wife gave birth to their third son Friday.  Apparently fulfilling a promise made by Mangini to Brett Favre while convincing him to join the Jets earlier this year, the child was named Zack Brett, joining thousands of parents in Wisconsin that made a similar mistake.

Even more ironic–Friday was also Favre’s birthday.

But, we have to wonder what Mangini will think of having a son named Brett when Favre is throwing picks late in the season.  Or knocking the Jets out of the playoffs.

Or playing his “Yes I will, No I won’t” retirement game again this offseason.

NFL pondering late start times for coast-to-coast travelers

by | Oct 7, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

The Seattle Seahawks traveled to New York in week four only to take home to Washington a 44-6 beating.
It was the Hawks’ second visit to the east coast in 2008 and the second time they went home licking their wounds.

The same day the Seahawks suffered their beating, San Diego traveled to Miami and lost an early game. While the Dolphins are improving under Tony Sparano and Bill Parcells few would argue that the Dolphins are currently a better team than the Chargers.

KFAN-AM Radio Monday in Minnesota Monday indicated that the NFL might be considering the idea of requiring late start times – 4 p.m. on the east, 1 p.m. on the west – for games played by west coast teams that travel across the country to play.

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