Grid Iron Recap

Every week I’ll be bringing you my thoughts from the Grid Iron, and recapping some of the biggest games of the weekend. With that said, it’s time to look at last weeks action.

 1. Oregon gets a second chance

This time last week, the Ducks weren’t in a good place. They had been physically dominated by Stanford, suffered their first loss of the season, and saw their National Title hopes disappear. But this game of football is a strange…..strange thing. You see, despite the fact that Stanford looked poised to run the table and at worst play for a trip to the Rose Bowl in a few weeks, you never can predict this game. Saturday night Stanford traveled to the usually somewhat friendly confines of the L.A. Coliseum to face off against the USC Trojans. But that’s the thing. This wasn’t just a regular game for the Trojans, Interim Head Coach Ed Orgeron, or the fans at the Coliseum. Sure Stanford had beaten USC four straight years, including three of the most agonizing losses in the post Pete Carroll era. Sure the Trojans don’t have much to play for other than pride right now, and yes USC isn’t supposed to compete with a team like Stanford with the scholarship reductions they’re dealing with. But Saturday night was special for the Trojan faithful. Right from the kickoff it was obvious something was different. The crowd was deafening to the point that Stanford was forced to use two timeouts in less than two minutes. The Trojans defense looked was physical, flying around and swarming to ball carriers.

Much like Oregon, USC found it difficult to run the football, but Cody Kessler responded completing 25 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown. Modest numbers for sure, but sometimes modest is enough. The Trojans would find a hero in the most unlikely of places as weekly scapegoat Andre Heidari sent a 47 yard field goal right between the pipes to start the celebrating. The partying wasn’t just in L.A. though. Further North in Eugene, the celebrations also began…

The Trojans’ win puts the Ducks back in control of their own destiny, and on course to potentially represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl.

2. The NFC Race Might Be Over Already

Another team in the Pacific Northwest had a good football weekend. Out in Seattle, the Seahawks hosted the Vikings. Not surprisingly, the Hawks won going away, and took another step closer to sealing home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That is something every single team in the NFC should be concerned about. It’s not just that Seattle has a very good, and suddenly very balanced team. It’s more than the dreary Seattle weather at times lulling teams to sleep, or the Legion of Boom that strike fear in most opposing Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers. It’s more than the 12th man, their energetic coach that the team feeds off of or the jet lag from a cross country trip. It’s all these things mentioned and more. The Seahawks are as close to unbeatable at home as you’re going to get in the NFL (they have a 5-0 record to prove it). The scarier part of the 5-0 record is the 17 point average margin of victory that the Hawks have at home.

In case the numbers alone weren’t enough to suggest Seattle clinching home field advantage is a very bad thing, the Hawks have a secret weapon. His name? Percy Harvin. Seattle’s biggest move in the offseason was to give young QB Russell Wilson an explosive weapon in the passing game. Carroll and the Seattle staff paid a large price, but acquired a player they believe can get them a Lombardi in the jack of all trades Harvin. But for Harvin and the Seahawks, the change of scenery to Seattle hit a speed bump. Harvin suffered a significant hip injury during the offseason and was forced to have surgery sidelining him for much of the season. Sunday, Harvin made his debut, and looked as explosive as ever. He made an acrobatic catch where he tapped the ball to himself and then gathered it falling to the ground. Not content to settle for just one highlight, Harvin had a 58 yard punt return that reminded everyone just how special the former Florida Gator standout can be. All of a sudden we’re seeing the team that Carroll envisioned in the offseason, and we’re seeing just how good it can be. A home game against New Orleans could be the last remaining hurdle to clinch home field advantage. If they do….look out.

3. The Playoff Race Is Shaping Up
As it does most years around the middle of November, the NFL playoff scenarios are starting to unfold. In the AFC the Broncos and Chiefs both seem like locks for the playoffs, and possible favorites for the Super Bowl. You have the teams that may not be as strong, but are almost locks for the playoffs because of their divisions. This is a group of three teams in New England, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Things get a little murky with that last Wildcard spot where you have eight teams still in contention with a 5-5 or 4-6 record. Looking at the remaining schedules, the Jets or the Dolphins seem the most likely to grab that last spot, but it’s almost assured the first five are in.

Over in the NFC there’s one team standing out. The aforementioned Seattle Seahawks are in the driver’s seat in the conference, and have a chance to put a stranglehold on it this Sunday when they host the Saints. Speaking of those Saints, they have the second best record in the conference at 8-2, but with two games still remaining against the surging 7-3 Panthers anything could happen in the South. The list of teams that are effectively out of the playoff list is a little larger in the NFC. Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Minnesota, Washington and St Louis and New York all are realistically out of the playoff picture. The race for the NFC North and the NFC Least is a little cluttered. Three teams are within a game of first place in the North, but with injuries to Jay Cutler and Aaron Rogers the Lions look to be the favorites. Over in the East, the Eagles and Cowboys are the “class” of one of the weakest divisions in football.

Which brings me to the Wildcard situation. Much like the AFC, there’s a number of teams competing for the two spots. The Panthers hold a slim lead on the other Wildcard contenders, but will need to continue to win to guarantee their spot. Luckily for the Panthers they have a relatively favorable schedule with four of their six remaining games coming against teams that are .500 or worse. I would be pretty surprised if the Panthers (who are known to get better down the stretch in the Rivera era) fell apart and missed the playoffs completely. Factoring in QB injuries in the North, San Francisco, Arizona, and the runner up in the East seem to be the favorites for the second spot. Of those four teams, San Francisco is the best of the bunch, and with a pretty favorable schedule down the stretch I would be surprised if they were on the outside looking in when January rolls around.

Eugene Buffalo Wild Wings watching USC Kick vs Stanford 11/16/2013

[The Week in Football written by contributor Daniel Guy, Follow Daniel on Twitter via @Danny_G13]

Weekly Football Re-Cap

  The first few days of November brought about some interesting football games. We learned a lot about teams in the NFL, and college football, and there were some big performances that need to be mentioned. So it’s time to review some of the lasting impressions from this weekend’s action.

1. Florida State is the most complete college football team.

No disrespect to Alabama or Oregon because they’re both great teams, but in my opinion Florida State is, and should be the number one team in the nation.  Jameis Winston has been the man getting all the headlines, and while the Redshirt Freshman is legit, the rest of his team is just as good. Florida State faced off against Miami in the prime-time game Saturday, and showed why they should be considered the biggest threat to the SEC’s dominance. After a tight first half, they pulled away in the third quarter destroying seventh ranked Miami, 41-14.  Winston was unspectacular, throwing one touchdown and two interceptions, but it didn’t matter. The running game was outstanding, and the receivers showed they may be the best collection of pass catchers in the nation. Not to be outdone, the defense performed exceptionally; holding the Miami passing game to 6.9 yards per pass attempt, and the Canes offense to just 275 total yards.

 

2. The Carolina Panthers are for real.

Things looked pretty bleak for the Panthers after a last second loss against the Bills, but since then they have been one of the hottest teams in the NFL. Winners of three of the last four, the Panthers welcomed the Atlanta Falcons into Bank of America Stadium Sunday for an NFC South battle. In a game that the Panthers would have been all too happy to give away in the past, the Panthers entered the fourth quarter leading by just a touchdown. However, these aren’t last years’ Panthers, or even the version that came home from Buffalo in September. Quarterback Cam Newton engineered a drive resulting in a Touchdown to effectively put the game away. Moments later, cornerback Drayton Florence picked off Matt Ryan and returned it for another score. What was an uncomfortable seven point lead, stretched to a 21 and eventually 24 point lead as the Panthers cruised for a fourth straight week. Newton struggled at times with inconsistency in the passing game, but it’s a good sign to see that the team could win in such convincing fashion without him having his A+ game. One thing that has been constant for the Panthers is the performance of the Defense. The Panthers have been stifling on that side of the ball, and continued the trend on Sunday, surrendering just 289 total yards and forcing four turnovers. For all the doubters who are still saying the Panthers haven’t played anybody, you get your wish on Sunday when the 49ers host Newton and the Cats.  Still it’s not who they’re playing, its how they’re winning. You don’t blow teams out four consecutive weeks without being a quality football team.

 

3. Any given Sunday….

Any team can beat any team…..well, almost. It’s a saying that has long been a part of the game, and on Sunday it almost held true. Two of the hottest teams in the NFL (Indianapolis and Seattle) kicked off against much inferior opponents (Houston and Tampa Bay). In both cases the better teams played sloppy and spotted their teams a huge lead, 18 points for Houston, and 21 points for Tampa. But that’s the funny thing about good teams. They always seem to find a way to claw back, and claw back they did. Mistakes were corrected in the second half for both teams, and both the Texans and Buccaneers cooled off. In both cases the opposition managed just a field goal in the second half. Both the Colts and the Seahawks caught fire late in their games, and as you can already guess ended up pulling off the miraculous comeback in both cases. The Seahawks needed an Overtime field goal to send the Bucs packing, and the Colts Quarterback Andrew Luck found Receiver T.Y. Hilton for a third touchdown to cap off the stunning road victory. For Tampa and Houston, a disappointing season continues. The Seahawks and Colts won’t apologize to anyone for letting inferior opponents stick around, and why should they. Both teams are looking like one of the strongest in their conferences, and these are the types of games that sometimes jump start a Championship run.

 

Final Thoughts

The “where did that come from” performance of the year belongs to Nick Foles of the Eagles. Foles was electric against the Raiders on Sunday completing 22 of 28 passes for 406 yards and an NFL single game record tying SEVEN touchdowns. That’s the crazy thing about this game of football; you never know who will have a historic performance, or when it’s coming.

* Thoughts and writing from Daniel Guy, Follow Daniel on Twitter via @danny_g13 *