Thanksgiving dinner is one of those special meals that not only tastes amazing the night of, but arguably is better the next day. Its right up there with a cold pizza breakfast and microwaved Chinese food. Simply, the turkey sandwich holds a special place in my heart; and not just because it’s clogging the arteries. Still, there reaches a point where the turkey is no longer moist; the bird that once seemed to melt in your mouth now almost dissolves. The gravy bowl, however vast, is not bottomless, and soon one is left with the lumpy left-behinds. Heck, even your loaf of bread might get stale. Yet, you’ll put all these elements together three nights after the family feast for a sandwich that may look fine, but tastes nothing like you know it could. Which is why, as the old saying states, you can’t judge a sandwich by its cover, especially if it’s open faced, but that’s a whole different story. That is what the NFL experienced this past week: A leftover Sunday. Except the Thursday night turkey may have been a little dry to begin with.
There are different ways to classify a “good” game. The one most point to is the score. So at first glance, the fact that 10 of the 12 NFL games played on Sunday finished with the losing team within a score means a good week of football right? In a way, yes; much like the three day old sandwich could be good, but maybe interesting would be a better word. There were good finishes in week 12, and interesting games, but the actual football was subpar.
The best game of the week was probably Buffalo at the Jets. The Bills were either an easy Stevie Johnson catch or an amazing Stevie Johnson catch away from winning the contest within the final seconds. However the game was decided much earlier, though not without Johnson’s involvement. After a 5-yard TD reception with just 2 minutes left in the first half, Stevie put Buffalo up 14-7. He proceeded to celebrate by mocking Plaxico Burress and pretend shooting himself in the leg. Actually, that part was funny, but to then act out a jet crashing may have been a little much. Yeah, you were playing the Jets, but think about where you are. New York may not be the best place for that. Regardless, the Bills took a 15-yard penalty, and when replacement kicker Dave Rayner muffed the kickoff right after, it gave the Jets the field position to go for the game tying touchdown. Is it Johnson’s fault that Rayner couldn’t properly kick the unmoving ball off an elevated tee? No, but in a game where Mark Sanchez didn’t complete half of his passes yet threw four touchdowns, it probably cost his team the game. Much like Matt Moore’s inability to handle a snap at the end of the half in the Dolphins/Cowboys game, cost his team a W. In general, it’s disappointing to see football games lost on bad plays rather than won on good ones and it was happening all Sunday.
Carolina didn’t beat the Colts. Curtis Painter lost to the Panthers when he threw interceptions in the end zone on his team’s final two drives. Can anyone expect anything better in a game played by teams with a combined record of 2-18? Probably not, but at least try to give the illusion that you haven’t already had your clubhouse staff make a blue and white, number 12 jersey for your soon to be first overall pick. And speaking of illusion, Dwayne Bowe needs some lessons on how to look like he cares. At least raise your arms! It’s no wonder why your team has only scored one touchdown in its last 44 drives. This was another theme of yesterday’s action: the inability to put up seven. The Raiders keep making Al Davis look like a smart man for taking kicker Sebastian Janikowski with the 17th overall pick in the 2000 draft. He hit 6 field goals to begin the game for Oakland, a contest they would win 25-20. Apparently field goals aren’t a bad thing if you kick nearly a three touchdown equivalent of them. Oh, and if the opposing QB throws three interceptions too. You can’t blame Caleb Hanie though; he hasn’t gotten many reps this season, just like the four men who took snaps in the incredibly ugly Houston/Jacksonville game. Still, no game reached quite the horrendousness of the turnover flush Bucs/Titans affair. It literally seemed like no team wanted to win this game. Each club managed just a single offensive touchdown. There were eight fumbles, six lost. Not to mention three interceptions, one of which was run back for a score and another thrown by Josh Freeman late in the 4th before it could even be conceived that Tampa was going to have a game winning drive. In fact there was a point during the 3rd quarter where three turnovers took place in the span of 1:31.
