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I’m glad that’s over.
Ever since the NFL released its schedule, and I saw the Falcons playing the Patriots in Week 7, the date and time have been drilled into my mind. We had an entire offseason full of 28-3 jokes — some better than others. It got to a point where most of us were impervious to the pain, as Falcons fans.
Even though the Falcons put on a bad show Sunday in a 23-7 loss, it was nice to just get the game out of the way. The Super Bowl chatter has been going on in every Falcons or Patriots broadcast this season. It was expectedly more rampant during the week leading up to the game and was talked about more on Sunday’s broadcast than the actual game. It was honestly great that the severe fog was around, because it’s not like they could just ignore it.
The Falcons looked lost against a Patriots defense that came into the game as the NFL’s worst. I’m going to pretend that things are fine there and just be glad that game is over with.
Here are GOOD things from Sunday:
We had a SAFETY play kicker
This is a very College Football Thing that happened on NFL Sunday. Dan Bailey, one of the best kickers in the NFL, was out for the Cowboys. That led them to have to use safety Jeff Heath to play kicker; he had the most experience on the team at doing so.
His first kick was a beautifully loud CLANG that banked through the uprights:
His second attempt was what you’d expect from a safety playing kicker, but the Cowboys were up 33-3 at the time so it’s cool:
Bailey might be out next week too, and by then the Cowboys will likely sign another kicker to replace him.
But I wouldn’t be against seeing another position player take on the duties again. Let Dez Bryant or Dak Prescott line one up once.
Kenny Stills stayed with this one
The Miami Dolphins survived a Jets team that is somehow good this season after seemingly cutting any talented player they had on the roster during the offseason.
This Kenny Stills catch — very much like Jermaine Kearse’s in the Super Bowl against the Patriots — helped the Dolphins score, thanks to some serious concentration:
The play was initially ruled incomplete, which is kind of expected. It certainly looks like that ball could have hit the ground at some point and that there was no way Stills could have managed to get mitts on it.
But he did!
Christian McCaffrey shows why you catch the ball with your fingertips
Slow-motion replays can take away from how impressive some plays are. This is not one of those cases.
Look at not only McCaffrey looking the ball into his hand, but the way he’s gripping it once it hits his hand. It really was as perfect as a catch could be:
The Panthers suffered a tough 17-3 loss to the Bears on Sunday, but McCaffrey won some nice points with coaches for this catch. It’s what they drafted him to do.
HIDE-AND-SEEK!
Group celebrations have been getting progressively more creative and abundant since the season started. It’s honestly been the best development this NFL season.
The Steelers are a fun bunch and have taken advantage. They were shooting dice earlier in the season, and on Sunday they played hide-and-seek:
The Steelers are playing better football. They were the first team to beat the Chiefs last week, and they had an easy time with the Bengals in their 29-14 win on Sunday.
Better play = better celebrations. It’s real math.
Le’Veon Bell is a bully
This is the only form of bullying that should be acceptable anywhere in the world. And even that is pushing it.
Le’Veon Bell really took Dre Kirkpatrick by the face and shoved him like a cartoon:
I hope Kirkpatrick has nice, loving family members who won’t bring this up during the holidays when everybody’s together.
If somebody does, he’s gotta fight.
The Browns almost won, but they were the Browns
We don’t hate the Browns around these parts at SB Nation. We actually feel bad for them. But we accept them for what they are, and love them for when they are themselves the most.
Sunday was an example of that. They were in a game with the Titans throughout, one that unsurprisingly was only field goals. In the fourth quarter, they almost blew their chance to send it to overtime, after Cody Kessler threw a late interception (yup, DeShone Kizer got benched AGAIN):
They eventually got the ball back and made a game-tying field goal to make it a 9-9 game and send it into overtime. But you know — they’re the Browns. The game was won with a field goal by the Titans after the teams nearly spent the entire overtime period scoreless. It was simply ugly.
Even when the Titans are at their absolute worst, the Browns still couldn’t beat them. They’re now 0-7, but they have to win eventually, right?
OTHER THINGS FROM WEEK 7:
- Eddie Jackson scored two 75-yard touchdowns for the Bears
- A facemask, aka “grabbing the helmet opening”
- Robby Anderson scored a touchdown, then sat in the stands
- WATCH YOUR HANDSSSSSS
- Joe Thomas missed a snap, and all is wrong in the world
- BAD BEAT!
- Vontaze Burfict kicked a Steeler two plays into the game
- T.Y. Hilton was brutally honest
- The Seahawks had 10 plays inside the 11-yard line and scored zero points
- A bad call you can get mad about
- Jason Witten still has mittens
- The Seahawks had another play that looked just like the Fail Mary
- This fake punt was a work of art by the Steelers
- LOOK AT ALL THIS FOG
Sunday scores
Saints 26, Packers 17
Jaguars 27, Colts 0
Seahawks 24, Giants 7
Bills 30, Buccaneers 27
Bears 17, Panthers 3
Titans 12, Browns 9 (OT)
Rams 33, Cardinals 0
Dolphins 31, Jets 28
Vikings 24, Ravens 16
Cowboys 40, 49ers 10
Steelers 29, Bengals 14
Chargers 21, Broncos 0
Patriots 23, Falcons 7