Seahawks vs Vikings: Epic Choke
Well, you can take the coach out of Cincinnati but you can’t take the Cincinnati out of the coach. Former Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer had to deal with his own playoff collapse this past weekend. It was less dramatic but every bit as painful. The Vikings led the Seahawks 9-0 in the 4th quarter of Sunday’s Wild Card game and up to that point had played a near perfect game on defense. Their performance represented a major upgrade from the 38 they had allowed to Seattle week 13. The Seahawks cut the lead to 9-7 with eleven minutes left in the game, setting up a dramatic and tragic ending for the dedicated fans that had braved near record low temperatures of -6 degrees.
On the ensuing drive NFL rushing champion and famed child disciplinarian Adrian Peterson, fumbled the ball back to Seattle on the second play from scrimmage. Peterson has a history of fumble issues but this was particularly egregious as replays showed he was carrying the ball like it was a porcupine. Seven plays later the Seahawks took a 10-9 lead on a 46-yard Steve Hauschka field goal. It was a tough break for the Vikings but unfortunately for Minnesota, their pain was just beginning.
With less than two minutes remaining, and still trailing 10-9, game-manager Teddy Bridgewater improbably marched the Vikings 52 yards against arguably the best defense in the NFL, to set up a go-ahead 27-yard field goal with just 26 seconds left in the game. Twenty seven yards. A chip shot. A gimme. A laugher. A kick so close you would almost have to try to miss it. Kicker Blair Walsh had already kicked three field goals that day, two of which were over 40 yards. There is no way he misses this.
Wide left. Waaaaaay left. The kick hooked more than a Bert Blyleven curveball. Twenty seven friggin yards and it never even had a chance. It was 6 yards closer than an extra point. A total choke job.
Though a closer look reveals it was in some ways a collective choke job. Adrian Peterson failed to run up the middle to set up the kick in a preferred center location. Mike Zimmer had failed to simply have his quarterback take a knee and place the ball between the hashmarks. Holder Jeff Locke Ray Finkled the attempt by failing to rotate the ball and leaving the laces exposed to Walsh.
But still.
It was twenty seven lousy yards. An NFL kicker should be able to make that blindfolded, with his left foot into the eye of a hurricane. That’s like a golfer missing a 6 inch putt to win a major; an NBA player missing a dunk to win a playoff game; a baseball player failing to touch third base on a game-winning single in game 7.
No excuse. Walsh blew it, and in an instant managed to crush the hopes and dreams of 52,090 freezing fans who were forced to sulk out of TCF Bank Stadium, with icicles hanging from their beards, because a former high school soccer player had just ended their season.
-While Walsh’s kick is easily one of the 5 worst in NFL history it might not even be the worst in Viking’s history. In 1998 the Vikings, led by Rookie sensation Randy Moss, entered the NFC Championship with a 16-1 record and were heavily favored against the Atlanta Falcons. Late in the game, with Minnesota leading by 7, kicker Gary Anderson missed a 38-yard field goal, in a dome, that would have sealed the victory and sent the Vikings to the Super Bowl. Atlanta rallied, tied the game, and eventually won in overtime. Not only was the kick more important than Walsh’s but prior to that kick Anderson had attempted 101 kicks in 1998 and made all 101. That was his first miss of the year. Brutal.
-Both missed kicks add to a long history of Vikings playoff failures that includes 4 Super Bowl blowouts, a last second loss to the Cowboys on a 50-yard Roger Staubach Hail Mary, a 41-0 rout in the 2000 NFC Championship to the underdog Giants and a back-breaking 2009 interception by Brett Favre that cost them a trip to the Super Bowl.
-Pete Carroll coached a terrible game against Minnesota. The offense wasted multiple timeouts, the sideline was constantly late getting plays to Russell Wilson, he foolishly chose to go for it on 4th and 13 and he passed on a very makeable 47-yard FG, even though Blair Walsh (and later his own kicker) had no problem kicking from a similar distance. Makes you wonder if Carroll is still rattled from his embarrassing and costly decision to pass the ball on the goal line in last year’s Super Bowl.
-Speaking of that, there was a strange theory floated that Marshawn Lynch, who had practiced all week, suddenly chose not to play because he was still upset that he didn’t get the ball at the end of the game against the Patriots. Generally I think most conspiracy theories are nonsense and don’t possess a shred of truth but one thing is clear, by not practicing all week and not playing, Lynch selfishly took practice reps away from Seattle’s backup running backs which probably played a role in Seattle’s weak offensive output.
-Sad and strange quote of the day: “I never had a problem with this. I’m not pc (politically correct) so I can’t talk about this.”
-Mike Ditka on Adrian Peterson abusing his 4-year old child
-Even sadder and stranger quote of the day: “My father whipped me a lot, and I thank God everyday that he did.”
-Mike Ditka
Chiefs vs Texans:
Unlike the Bengals and Vikings, the Houston Texans playoff performance had nothing to do with a late-game meltdown. For the Texans it was more a case of general incompetence. As the winner of the worst division in the NFL, Houston entered the playoffs with the unofficial title of “worst team in the postseason” and on Saturday they more than played like it. Dominated for 60 minutes on both sides of the ball, the Texans were out-hit, out-coached and out-classed during their 30-0 drubbing by the Kansas City Chiefs.
And nowhere was their incompetence more painfully evident than in the play of their quarterback Brian Hoyer. Hoyer was awful. The entire game his demeanor shifted back-and-forth between frightened to confused. He looked like a freshman high school quarterback that had been unexpectedly thrown in to play with the varsity. Hoyer is no Joe Montana but he had actually played solid enough to spur Bill O’Brien to make a public apology to the team for benching him earlier in the year. And for that Hoyer thanked him with one of the worst playoff performances in recent memory. Hoyer was a pitiful 15-34 with four interceptions and a fumble. He was responsible for four turnovers in the first half. His offense made it inside the red zone once in 11 drives. It was as bad as you can play the quarterback position.
Patriot fans should be thankful Tom Brady never pulled a hamstring when Hoyer was his backup.
-After Hoyer’s embarrassing playoff performance and with the benefit of two years of hindsight it is looking like the Texans made a huge mistake when they drafted DE Jadeveon Clowney over QB Blake Bortles.
-Classic case of over-coaching: Bill O’Brien using J.J Watt as the wildcat quarterback on a running play from the 2-yard line when the game was still close (13-0). Watt was tackled for a loss on the play.
-KC quarterback Alex Smith wasn’t exactly sharp against Houston, throwing a bad interception and missing a wide open receiver for a long touchdown. If he misses those throws this week it will be a long day in Foxboro for the Chiefs.
-Some people have drawn comparisons between the 2015 Chiefs and the 2001 Patriots because of their obvious similarities: slow start/strong finish, game-managers at quarterback, opportunistic defenses, well coached. But the Patriots only had to win one road playoff game to get to the Super Bowl while the Chiefs would have to win three, a feat accomplished by only four teams: the ‘85 Patriots, ‘05 Steelers, ‘07 Giants and ‘10 Packers.
Packers vs Redskins Washington Football Club
The Washington Redskins are the Houston Texans of the NFC i.e. a mediocre team from a terrible division that had zero chance to win the Super Bowl. Unlike the Texans, the Redskins actually have a quarterback, and therefore reserved their playoff ineptitude for the other side of the ball. Some people are bothered by the name “Redskins” but personally I found Washington’s defensive performance against Green Bay far more offensive than their team name.
Green Bay entered their Wild Card against Washington sputtering on offense, having scored 21 in their previous two games combined. But fortunately for them nothing cures the ills of a struggling offense faster than a poorly coached 28th ranked defense.
But that was not how this one started. For the first 15 minutes on Sunday Green Bay’s offensive woes continued to plague them as they racked up three punts and a safety in their first four possessions, allowing Washington to jump to an 11-0 lead. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers looked like they were on the fast track to a playoff one and done.
Then everything changed.
The dormant Packers offense rose from the dead and the Redskins defense turned into a sieve. Rodgers and the offense shredded Washington’s defense, scoring on five consecutive drives, racking up 326 yards and four touchdowns. The offensive explosion was as abrupt as it was effective. In a blink of the eye Rodgers once again looked like a franchise quarterback and the Redskins defenders looked like Chris Christie on roller skates.
Why did this suddenly happen? Who knows. Maybe Packers coach Mike McCarthy found a weakness in the defense. Maybe somebody reminded Washington that they stink. Maybe Aaron Rodgers remembered that Olivia Munn is his girlfriend and that that automatically makes him awesome. Whatever happened, by the time the Redskins finally forced another Packers punt, Green Bay was pummelling Washington, 32-18.
You were almost waiting for Rodgers to run past the Redskins sideline and scream, “You like that, you like that?”
Most troubling was the complete lack of adjustments by Redskins coach Jay Gruden. He literally did nothing. He didn’t even change his facial expression, spending the entire game with his mouth open and wearing the confused look of a dog watching television. We all know Gruden is known primarily as an offensive coach but you would think he had acquired a little defensive knowledge along the way. But he had no answers. It was as if he hadn’t watched a single minute of Packers game film. He even fell for the old substitution switcheroo, where Rodgers rushes to the line and hikes the ball while the defense is substituting, and draws a penalty on the D for too many men on the field. He fell for this not once but twice……on the same drive. Gruden might want to check and make sure there isn’t a banana in his tailpipe.
Offensively the performance wasn’t much better. Emerging golden boy QB Kirk Cousins, the 4th round afterthought of the RG III draft, wilted in the bright lights, failing to continue the high level of play that landed him NFC Offensive Player of the Month for December.
Offense, defense, coaching….it was a bad day all around. And now the Redskins have to deal with Kirk Cousins’ looming free agency. Unless they overpay that could mean losing him, which would leave the Redskins with a meddling owner, a bad defense and a head coach that looks more like the problem than the solution.
-To put into perspective just how bad Washington’s defense was, Green Bay scored on four of their previous 29 drives, before scoring five straight times against the Redskins.
-With their offense moving against the wind in the 1st quarter Green Bay had 6 yards passing and Aaron Rodgers was 1-8 with a safety. With the wind at their back in the 2nd quarter Green Bay had 148 yards passing and Rodgers was 14-20. I wonder if the Packers QB is a Bob Seger fan?
-Washington might not have the most popular team name these days but there is no denying the old-timey awesomeness of their fight song “Hail to the Redskins”. Here is a sample of some other NFL fight songs. The list includes everything from the lame (Lions, Eagles), outdated (Bucs, Bears) and unoriginal (Saints, Bills) to the poetic (Raiders), wonderfully cheesy (Chargers) and addictively awesome (*Dolphins, Steelers). But when it comes to NFL team music the pure arrogance of the Chicago Bears wildly audacious Super Bowl Shuffle is the gold standard.
*This is the T-Pain remix that was disabled in the above link.
-And from the political front: At a campaign rally Sunday Donald Trump declared that the NFL has gone soft. Basically his argument is that the league is no longer tough because they stopped celebrating violent hits, headhunting and concussions. That opinion is bold, ridiculous and ill-informed, in other words, vintage Trump.
Four quick thoughts on Alabama’s 45-40 win over Clemson Monday night:
-So did Clemson’s defensive team meetings sound something like this: “OK men here’s the game plan: we are going to cover everybody except the tight end.”
Clemson basically lost the National Championship because they twice forgot to cover Alabama tight end O.J. Howard. A fact Dabo Swinney will probably think about two or three thousand times over the next 30 years.
-Deshaun Watson was the best player in college football this year and was spectacular Monday night, accounting for 478 yards and 87% of Clemson’s offense.
-The execution on Alabama’s onside kick was masterful. If the kicker had grabbed the ball and thrown it, he could not have been more accurate.
-According to Darren Rovell Clemson’s late touchdown caused an estimated 10 million dollar swing for gamblers in Vegas. You could probably add a zero to that figure if you include illegal gambling.
On to the divisional round.