You will never get Roger Goodell to admit it but the NFL had a lot riding on the latest edition of Sunday Night Football. After weeks of disappointing ratings and mostly dreadful games, they couldn’t really afford the Super Bowl XLIX rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, their first post-election showcase game, to be a bust.
On paper, you wouldn’t think they would have to worry. After all, it wasn’t just a Super Bowl rematch, it was also potentially a Super Bowl preview. This was a battle between evenly matched teams that have designs on deep playoff runs: the Patriots came into the game with the best record in the AFC while the Seahawks are behind only the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC. It featured a great quarterback battle with Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, two of the best coaches in the league in Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll and even a healthy Rob Gronkowski.
Here’s the thing about heavily hyped games, the ones that look like they should be instant classics: they nearly always disappoint. Our expectations are nearly always too high and sports are inherently volatile and unpredictable. This particular matchup had an additional level of difficulty. The last time we saw the Patriots play the Seahawks they gave us one of the best Super Bowls of all time. The image of Malcolm Butler’s game-clinching end zone interception is still fresh in everybody’s minds. There’s no way to top that.
Sunday’s game won’t be remembered as among the greatest of all time, nor even of the day – that distinction likely belongs to the Dallas Cowboys’ utterly bananas win over the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier in the afternoon (see below). It was, however, exactly the kind of game that the NFL hoped it would be: a suspense-filled, competitive contest that featured seven lead changes. There were spectacular catches, questionable coaching decisions and a few flat-out screw-ups, including a rare Brady interception.
And once again it came down to the final play of the game. After going up 31-24 on a Doug Baldwin touchdown, the Seahawks aimed to make it a two-score game by trying for a two point conversion. When Seattle failed in their attempt, the Patriots had more than enough time on the clock to march down the field with the hope of scoring a game-tying touchdown.
And the Patriots came very, very close to doing so. This time around it was the Seahawks, not the Patriots, making a goal-line stand at the end. The Patriots were able to get inside the two yard line but could not punch the ball in. At one point of accidental symbolism, the ball slid out of Brady’s hands.
The Seahawks’ stand had a slightly less dramatic finish than the Patriots’. Instead of Butler picking off a ball in the end zone, this game ended with Brady flinging a failed fourth down pass attempt to Gronkowski and New England waiting for a pass interference call that never came. The Seahawks won 31-24 while dishing out at least a small amount of revenge.
So, Patriots-Seahawks more than lived up to expectations on the field, but will it help improve the NFL’s (relatively) stagnant ratings? If it doesn’t, it’s worth asking what exactly would.
Quote of the week
“To me, it didn’t really matter who went in there. The system still remains intact that oppresses people of color.” – Colin Kaepernick on why he did not vote in this year’s election
After sparking controversy with one group for his national anthem protests, Colin Kaepernick has now disappointed a new group of people by revealing didn’t vote in this year’s election. Even some of his defenders believe that this decision undermines his newfound activism.
If this last week has rattled Kaepernick at all, it’s not showing up in his on-fie;d performance. On Sunday he had his best game in over a year as he led the San Francisco 49ers to a spirited comeback attempt capped off by a late game-tying touchdown. Unfortunately it didn’t matter, as the Arizona Cardinals ended up winning in overtime, 23-20.
Video(s) of the week
Ben Roethlisberger gave the Pittsburgh Steelers the lead thanks to this fake-spike that led to a touchdown pass to Antonio Brown, giving them a 30-29 lead over over the Dallas Cowboys.
🚨 FAKE SPIKE ALERT! 🚨
— NFL (@NFL) November 14, 2016
And Big Ben finds @AntonioBrown in the end zone.
WOW. #DALvsPIT https://t.co/4GgDIDgvvS
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter. With 43 seconds left in the game, Ezekiel Elliott went off for a 32-yard touchdown run that gave the gave the Cowboys a 35-30 win.
😮😮😮
— NFL UK (@NFLUK) November 14, 2016
Exhilarating @EzekielElliott wins it for the @DallasCowboys.
Incredible 🏈 game #DALvsPIT. #OnlyInTheNFL https://t.co/KvmBp3QZx6
Stat of the Week
2-1. That’s the record of the Los Angeles Rams when they fail to score a touchdown in a game. The Rams offense was limited to three field goals on Sunday, but it turned out to be just enough to beat the hapless New York Jets, 9-6.
Fantasy Player of the Week
Ezekiel Elliott. Dallas Cowboys. Sometimes there are players that help fantasy teams more than their real club (and vice versa). It’s safe to say that Elliott wasn’t one of them this week. His 114 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns look good in any context. Oh and Elliott’s already over 1,000 yards rushing for the season.
He’s good, I think, is what I’m trying to hint at here.
Elsewhere around the league
• Biggest win of the season for the Philadelphia Eagles, defeating a dangerous Atlanta Falcons team 24-15. Still not enough to climb out of their division’s basement, unfortunately.
• Jay Cutler was doing Jay Cutler things early in yesterday’s game between the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, throwing two interceptions in the first quarter. Then he threw a successful Hail Mary pass right before halftime. It was not, however, enough to spark a second half comeback. In fact, the Bears didn’t score at all after that, eventually losing to the Bucs, 36-10. Maybe they should switch to an all-Hail Mary offense.
🚨🚨 HAIL MARY ALERT! 🚨🚨
— NFL (@NFL) November 13, 2016
🚨🚨 HAIL MARY ALERT! 🚨🚨
🚨🚨 HAIL MARY ALERT! 🚨🚨
Wowwwwwwww. #FeedDaBears #CHIvsTB https://t.co/UAZySFNBRf
* You may have missed it, because it happened while we were all still processing Tuesday’s events, but the Cleveland Browns’ quest for the Imperfect Season is still-on-track after the Baltimore Ravens beat them 28-7 on Thursday Night Football. They are now 0-10 for the season.
• Without a doubt the most amusing moment of Sunday’s games came when the Denver Broncos broke a late tie by blocking the New Orleans Saints’ extra point attempt, which Will Parks scooped up and took into the end zone. That unorthodox two point conversion prove to be the difference in the game as the Broncos won 25-23. (If you’re a Saints fan you might argue that Parks actually went out of bounds during that run, and you might be right.)
Wow.
— NFL UK (@NFLUK) November 13, 2016
Broncos block the extra point.
Broncos return the 🏈 for two.@Broncos win!#OnlyInTheNFL #DENvsNO https://t.co/joKtQl2qwM
• Let’s not talk about what’s befallen the Carolina Panthers. It’s been a depressing enough week as is.
