- First, the locals. I really try not to troll the Vikings and their fans. It is astonishing, really, how cruel their losses are. This one has to rank right up there. It was an awfully cold day yesterday and to lose the game on a chip shot field goal is particularly excruciating. The Vikings gave a good accounting on themselves on that frozen field yesterday and gave themselves a chance to win against a team that had crushed them only a month before. I don't think this season was a flash in the pan, either -- the Vikings should have a multiple-year window ahead of them where they will contend for a championship. That's all you can ask, really.
- After being missing for over half the season, a team that bore a strong resemblance to the Green Bay Packers played very well yesterday. The Packer offense moved the ball well, especially on the ground, and Aaron Rodgers had the spring back in his step. I've been worried that something is physically wrong with Rodgers all season; beyond the ineptitude of his teammates, he hasn't looked right, missing throws he would have made in previous seasons. The Packers have a tough assignment in the desert next weekend, but if they play at the level they showed yesterday against the Redskins, they will have a chance. Arizona is formidable, but not invincible.
- The Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game on Saturday night had a number of disgraceful moments. The cheap shot that Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict laid on Antonio Brown of the Steelers was a stupid play. When Ben Roethlisberger was being taken off in a cart, the Bengals fans were pelting him with debris. That struck me as particularly strange, as the fans we encountered at a Reds baseball game were gracious and exceptionally friendly. Emotion is baked into all sports and football in particular, but it got completely out of hand at Paul Brown Stadium. You used to see this sort of mayhem in the 1970s, but the league has made considerable efforts to bring the thugs to heel. It will be interesting to see how the NFL responds after this ugly event.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Football weekend
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3 comments:
Meh. This loss doesn't even make it into the top 10 (lowest 10?) in Vikings history - not after 4 Super Bowl losses, 4 blown NFC Championship games and Drew Pearson pushing off.
I guess as a mark of a true Vikings' fan, the moment Seattle took the lead I assumed the game was over. And when Peterson was stopped short on the last 3rd down, my innate Vikings cynicism took over and assumed Walsh would miss the kick. To his discredit, he didn't disappoint.
It's hard to win when your strategy rests on your opponent failing. For most of yesterday's game, the Seahawks shot themselves in the foot without the Vikings capitalizing (other than 3 field goals). I will say, the game was much closer than I thought it would be.
I watched the Bengals/Steelers game and it was horrible, like a train wreck in slow motion. The league needs stiffer penalties, ejections, anything to stop what happened there that night.
I've thought for a long time that in the case of an intentional foul that injures a player, the person who commits the foul needs to be out for as long as the person he injured.
Or stop subsidizing the teams, and see how many louts no longer are interested in playing when the pay is in the middle six figures instead of getting into seven and eight figures. And for the colleges, make sure that athletes are in fact students getting a real degree, not just "general studies".
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