Jeff Bezos Night
With complaints about the previous Thursday Night Football match aired on billionaire’s platform Amazon Prime, this week was different. It was like a high school football game! The match between the Cardinals and Saints was absolutely comical as both teams were consistently slinging it down the field with their erratic plays, and Arizona came out on top 42-34. Andy Dalton, the Saints quarterback, also got to contribute to the fun for the fans by throwing two pick-sixes and three interceptions total throughout the night.
What The Hell Happened in Jacksonville?
This game was simply fishy from the start. A matchup between the 5-1 New York Giants led by NFL head coach Brian Daboll that could very well run for New York Mayor for the way he’s coaching got to travel to Florida to play the 2-4 Jaguars. You’d think it was another easy win for Daniel Jones and crew to get, but it was the exact opposite. With Giants being slight underdogs before the match, something was off. The Giants and Jaguars going into the fourth, had Jacksonville with the lead of 17-13. This was no new situation for Jones, as most of New York’s wins this year have been from comebacks in the fourth quarter.
That’s exactly what they did once again, tacking on an additional 10 NFL points to pad their lead to six. With Trevor Lawrence, the quarterback of the Jags, with a track record to have the ability to lead his team to game-winning NFL drives in the past, he really wasn’t supposed to do it this time. A crucial unsuccessful conversion for Jacksonville led to New York having to do simplistic clock management. Run the ball and stay in bounds. Well, on third down, they forgot to do so. Their superstar back, Saquon Barkley, ran to the outside of the NFL defense and, when trying to intentionally go down like he’s done in the past, slid out of bounds. How did this affect the game? It allowed Jacksonville to have a whole minute and 18 seconds to drive down the field instead of 25 seconds if Barkley stayed in bounds.
It was brutal! And it only got worse. With Lawrence’s final drive really not being too impressive at first, the Giants were plagued by penalties. It would be third, and ten, and they would get bonehead flags called against them, such as roughing the passer and pass interference. This allowed Lawrence to have a good enough field position in the end with 5 seconds left to dart his speedy receiver, Christian Kirk, right near the goal line. He caught the pass, which everyone thought would be a victory, and missed the end zone by one yard. The Giants had luckily won the game. With questionable flags announced by referees and poor time management from New York, that’s all behind them as they sit 6-1 in the NFC.
Kansas City Silenced The Hype
This week, we got to see one of the best half-backs in the NFL finally change teams. Christian Mccaffery had become a San Francisco 49er. With their already explosive offensive, the top-tier defense led by Nick Bosa, and their newly built field in Santa Clara Levi Stadium, this was a dream come true. And in their first week with their new addition to the offense, they got to battle Patrick Mahomes, the leader of the NFL AFC. With Vegas having Kansas City as the underdog, they made a mistake. Mahomes absolutely deflated and humbled San Fransisco. He threw for over 400 NFL yards and 3 NFL touchdowns and hit receivers like Juju Smith Schuster, and Mecole Hardman for three touchdowns.
He also made a big play to Marquez Valdes Scantling on 49ers safety Jimmy Ward that put the nail in the coffin. This Cheifs team was out for blood after losing in their previous match against the Bills. Mahomes vouched after that loss to Buffalo that he would improve and not blame his receiving core, and that’s exactly what he did. It’s very early for San Fransisco, so there’s no need to panic at all, but we got to witness what a solidified Kansas City crew. Not only do I think they’ll win their division, but it’s looking like they’ll win the AFC.
