The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Crazy Weekend in the NFL

Posted on | September 19, 2022 | Comments Off on Crazy Weekend in the NFL

All manner of insanity broke out in Sunday’s NFL games. In a comeback victory over the Las Vegas Raider, Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals scored a two-point conversion in which he ran 84 total yards.

The Raiders, who made it to the playoffs last season and added former New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel as their head coach, are now 0-2, last place in the AFC West. Meanwhile, in the AFC East, the Miami Dolphins are 2-0 after a ccomeback victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The Dolphins trailed 35-14 going into the fourth quarter, but then scored four touchdowns to win 42-38 as Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa finished 36-for-50 for 469 yards and six touchdowns, including the go-ahead score to former Alabama teammate Jaylen Waddle.

It was a good weekend for the ’Bama boys, as Tua’s former backup, a guy named Mac Jones — maybe you’ve heard of him — was good enough to win a road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-14, thanks in part to this amazing touchdown catch by wide receiver Nelson Agholor.

That 44-yarder shows the increased confidence of Mac Jones to throw deep, into coverage, counting on his receiver to make the contested catch. It’s more risky than the kind of “dink-and-dunk” check-down stuff that Jones did so effectively last year, but if he is ever going to become a great quarterback, he’s going to have to take some chances like that. Sunday was not a great performance by Mac — there were plenty of errors, including an interception made by former ’Bama teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick, where Mac tried for the deep post route it would have been better to hit the crossing route underneath — but it was good enough. There were some encouraging signs of improvement by the offensive line, and the Patriots defense looked solid. We’ll see what happens next week when New England hosts the Ravens. Meanwhile . . .

The usually pathetic New York Jets made an amazing last-minute comeback to defeat the still-pathetic Cleveland Browns 31-30. In San Francisco, the Niners lost their starting quarterback, Trey Lance, to a season-ending ankle injury in the first quarter, but then brought veteran Jimmy Garoppoolo off the bench to beat the Seahawks 27-7.

For Monday night, the NFL will try a doubleheader this week, with the Tennessee Titans taking on the Buffalo Bills in the early game, then the Minnesota Vikings playing the Philadelphia Eagles in the late game. Of course, I’ll be cheering for the Titans, not just because they’ve got Alabama alum Derrick Henry at running back, but also because as a Patriots fan, I need the Bills to lose. In the late game, let’s hope Philly’s Jalen Hurts makes it 3-0 weekend for ’Bama QBs.




 

Category: Football

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