The Sunday night game turned out to be pretty good in the end, but it took forever with all the penalties, injuries and reviews. At one point, the refs spotted a Russell Wilson third-down run too generously, calling it a first down. Bruce Arians challenged it, there was a review, and he won, so Seattle had fourth and inches. They handed it to the fullback, he was stopped behind the line initially, but turned around, planted his feet and fell backwards toward the line of scrimmage into a crowd of linemen. The refs again spotted the play a first down, Arians challenged again, there was another review, and because it was impossible to tell, the play stood - first down for Seattle, at exactly the spot it was erroneously ruled 10 minutes before.
I've discussed how this 10 minutes multiplied by 20 million viewers costs entire human lives of time and how it changes the way referees call the game (when in doubt they call turnovers on the field because that triggers an automatic review.) But it occurred to me today while watching that replay is like a lot of technologies that succeed in solving certain problems (did a player get both feet in bounds, for example) but creating entirely new ones (what is a catch, anyway, and why do games take three and a half hours now?) It's the same thing with other relatively recent inventions like the cellphone, for instance. While it's great to get your phone calls done while driving in traffic, now everyone expects you to be reachable all the time. It's not possible you're simply out and unable to receive a call. Moreover, when you used to meet someone somewhere, they had to show up reasonably on time. Now they can just text to let you know they'll be 20 minutes late.
There are a million things like this, and while there are many amazing benefits to cell phone technology, I don't think it's likely people enjoy their lives more than they once did because of it. Similarly, I don't think games are more enjoyable now than they were before the advent of replay. While the most egregious calls are less likely to be missed (occasionally there's still the Golden Tate TD from a few years ago against the Packers), the game flow is constantly disrupted, and our time is wasted. One problem is solved, more are created. Overall, I'm not sure this technology makes the game better.
• Carson Palmer played a great game in Seattle, recovering from two disastrous strip sacks in the league's most hostile environment and engineering two long drives, despite Michael Floyd, his big play receiver in the game, leaving with a hamstring injury. Of course, on the last drive Andre Ellington foolishly scored a touchdown rather than taking a knee at he one-yard line, and the Seahawks might have come back had they recovered an onside kick.
• It's too bad Floyd got injured because he was having a monster day, and it could have been even bigger had he not let a perfectly thrown 50-yard pass fall through his hands. With Larry Fitzgerald looking like the player he was five years ago, and John Brown playing well when he's been healthy, this could be the best trio in the league come playoff time if Brown and Floyd can get through their ailments.
• Russell Wilson is the master of getting away with intentional grounding. He finally got flagged late in the game but no one throws the ball away during a sack better than him. And he takes a ton of actual sacks too.
• I really don't want to write about the Giants game because I'll sound like a broken record. But this is the third game this season Tom Coughlin has simply gifted away. Consider the Giants had the ball, down one, 1st-and-goal from the Patriots five yard-line with 2:06 left. The Patriots had one timeout left. All the Giants have to do is run three plays. The first one gets the clock to the two-minute warning. The second gets the Patriots to call their final timeout, just under two minutes. The third one gets the clock down to 1:15. They kick a field goal, and the Patriots get the ball with 1:10 or so and no timeouts, down two. That wouldn't end the game, but when you consider how the Patriots needed every second of the clock, the Giants would have vastly increased their chances to win. Of course, the Giants might also have scored a touchdown on one of those runs because it's not especially hard to advance the ball five yards on three tries, and you get closer on each try.
• Incidentally, ill-advised as the play call was, Odell Beckham's target should have been ruled a touchdown. The moronic Mike Carey came on to say first it wasn't a catch because the ball was knocked out at the same time he was getting his foot down (false, the foot was down before it was knocked out), then switched his rationale to Beckham not establishing himself as a runner, even though Beckham was in the end zone - where the hell would he be running? Look at the replay, listen to these half-wits and decide for yourself.
• Even with the botched clock management and the bad call on the Beckham TD catch, the Patriots overcame a dropped interception right in the hands of safety Landon Collins, converted a 4th-and-10, got Danny Amendola the ball short of field-goal range, but he darted for another five yards, and made a 54-yard kick. It's amazing this billion-dollar organization (the Giants) both tolerates these kinds of gaffes from its coach every other week and is still in first place.
• I loved the deep throw to Odell Beckham on the first play from scrimmage. The Giants should call every game like they're playing the Patriots.
• The Giants defense played better than it had in weeks, in part due to the pressure from Jason Pierre-Paul, who as of a few weeks ago, wasn't even a sure thing to play this year.
• Dwayne Harris was as big pickup for the Giants. Not only has he played well as a third receiver (sometimes a second, even), but he's the league's top punt returner.
• Julian Edelman might be out for the year with a broken foot. With both him and Dion Lewis gone, someone has to fill the short-pass-catcher void. Danny Amendola is the obvious candidate, but maybe James White takes on a bigger role going forward. Brandon LaFell should see more targets too.
• The Packers performance at home against the terrible Lions defense was troubling. Davante Adams had 79 yards on 21 targets. That's not even good for a running back. Randall Cobb (10 targets, 53 yards) was nearly as bad. It's amazing the ways Detroit still tried to give the game away, but the Packers deserved to lose.
• Maybe Eddie Lacy's not the problem because James Starks, given the starting job, managed 2.8 YPC himself.
• One of the best and oddest sequences I've watched was the Packers throwing an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-2, near midfield and committing a hold, Jim Caldwell declining the penalty (assuming Mike McCarthy would punt), McCarthy leaving his offense on the field on 4th-and-2 and Caldwell changing his mind (and the refs letting him) to accept the penalty, making it 3rd-and-12.
• Peyton Manning broke Brett Favre's record for passing yards then played so poorly he was benched. His numbers (5-of-20 for 35 yards, four interceptions, two sacks) were bad beyond belief. Gary Kubiak said after the game Manning was playing through injuries, and he pulled the plug to protect him. Whether Manning starts next week is anyone's guess, but I'd imagine he'd have to look considerably better in practice.
• Charcandrick West didn't do much with his 23 carries but he found the end zone and wound up with a huge day thanks to an 80-yard TD reception. He'll get a lot of work in the Jamaal Charles role in Andy Reid's offense.
• Adrian Peterson finally broke out after a pedestrian first half of the season. I don't know whether this is a sign of things to come, but his best stretch in 2012, when he returned from the torn ACL, was in the second half of the year.
• It was odd Landry Jones started the game, given Ben Roethlisberger proved he was completely healthy and put up huge numbers once Jones went down. Note that DeAngelo Williams did very little against one of the league's worst run defenses. Sometimes, when a team has a known weakness, it'll make extra effort to shore up that area at the expense of a another one. Of course, it would make sense for Mike Pettine to focus on stopping Williams with Jones under center. Once Roethlisberger got into the game, Williams was the poison they should have picked, though.
• With Roethlisberger healthy, Antonio Brown is again the No. 1 receiver. Martavis Bryant is perhaps No. 1 on a per-play basis, and if he gets 10 targets regularly, look out.
• Johnny Manziel threw for 372 yards on 8.2 YPA with only one pick. He did take six sacks, but he's shown enough for the Browns to give him a chance to prove he's their franchise QB. Of course, once Josh McCown's healthy I'd be shocked if Pettine gave Manziel that chance.
• It looks like Travis Benjamin and Gary Barnidge can produce no matter who's under center.
• Talk about gifting away a game. The Eagles were dominating early but missed a chip shot field goal, got a punt blocked, got behind, lost Sam Bradford to injury, then watched Mark Sanchez throw a terrible interception in the red zone.
• Jay Ajayi looks explosive and should be involved going forward. But Lamar Miller has been good for the last year and a half and isn't in danger of losing the bulk of the job. Miller is also seeing a ton of targets in the passing game.
• Jarvis Landry is one of the least efficient receivers in the league, but the opportunities are there almost every week.
• A week after breaking out, Jordan Matthews went 3-for-21 on five targets
• The Saints defense made Kirk Cousins look like Joe Montana, and Cousins' day would have been much bigger had Washington not taken its foot off the gas. Whoever is facing the Saints defense is arguably the best fantasy quarterback in the NFL going forward.
• Brandin Cooks is starting to earn his expensive draft slot the last few weeks. A terrible defense is a nice tail wind.
• The Ravens lost a game that was sewn up on a senseless facemask penalty. They obviously did not study tape from the Giants-Saints game two weeks ago because that ended the exact same way.
• Kamar Aiken saw 14 targets, while speedster Chris Givens saw seven. Neither was especially efficient, but Joe Flacco has to throw to someone.
• Blake Bortles did very little against what's been a terrible Ravens pass defense. I don't think it was him so much as Baltimore playing closer to its true level after the bye.
• Jeremy Langford is playing so well, I can't see the Bears rushing Matt Forte back. Oddly both he and backup tight end Zach Miller led the team in receiving while Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett did almost nothing.
• Todd Gurley didn't go off, but he scored a touchdown and, like Langford, led the Rams in both rushing and receiving. I wonder how long it's been since that's happened in the same game.
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