It has been quite an eventful week for me since my last blog. I am now officially another year older, not sure if I am any wiser though! I have also had the privilege of meeting the 2013 Legends Football League (LFL) MVP Heather ‘Rockstar’ Furr. I was not sure what to expect but I can honestly say she is a very kind and sincere person who goes the extra mile for her fans. Meeting her was a great honour and the fact we spent a couple of hours chatting football was a bonus I will never forget!
I arrived back in the UK on Friday just in time for the NFL fan rally on Saturday in Trafalgar Square. This was the big fan event before the Jacksonville Jaguars vs San Francisco 49ers game to be played on Sunday at Wembley.
This year the fan rally had a similar feel to last year only it seemed to be a lot busier. I guess that’s what happens when you have one of the most supported teams in the country in town! I will talk about the day more on the podcast later in the week but here are a few snaps I managed take whilst walking around:
This year the fan rally had a similar feel to last year only it seemed to be a lot busier. I guess that’s what happens when you have one of the most supported teams in the country in town! I will talk about the day more on the podcast later in the week but here are a few snaps I managed take whilst walking around:
Unfortunately despite the hype, and being the second match at Wembley this year, the game itself was pretty one sided. For me it was pretty boring as well to be honest and I was gutted that Sky Sports saw fit to force me to watch this game without the ability to change to NFL Redzone!
One of the other early kickoffs was the Detroit Lions at home to the Dallas Cowboys. For most of the game Dallas appeared to be on top and with under two minutes left in the game they kicked a field goal to go six points up leaving only one minute and two seconds left for Detroit to get the game winning touchdown. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle as with two consecutive completions including a monster gain down the sideline to Kris Durham and a short pass to Calvin Johnson, the Lions were at the Cowboys one yard line. Matt Stafford was then screaming and signalling to get everyone to the line of scrimmage so he could spike the ball to stop the clock.
Stafford however had something else on his mind as he took the snap and jumped across the goaline for the winning touchdown leaving just 12 seconds left on the clock. Check out the play by clicking on the picture below:
Another point of interest from this game is that Calvin Johnson now holds the record for the most receiving yards in four quarters at 329 yards. It is even more impressive when you factor in Stafford only threw for 488 yards on the day! I know what you are all thinking, will he win this week’s offensive impact player of the week, well there is only one way to find out and that is by listening to the podcast ‘Spitball’ later in the week.
Before we check out all of the scores from week eight, how about that Denver Broncos vs Washington Redskins game! I trust you all saw at least the highlights? Washington found a way to hold their own on defence against the Broncos high powered offence keeping the score to just seven all at half time. We skip now to the third quarter and one crazy minute of football that turned the game on its head and revealed the true character in the Denver locker room.
First we had a one yard to touchdown run from Alfred Morris of the Redskins and this was swiftly followed by a 26 yard interception by DeAngelo Hall which he took in for another score.
I’m sure at this point a lot of Broncos fans thought their unbeaten home run was coming to an end, I only hope that they did not leave early like the Patriots fans a couple of weeks ago! It was almost like conceding these 14 points gave Denver a royal kick up the behind as what followed was a total point’s avalanche from the Broncos. Denver scored the next 38 points in the game and blew the Redskins right out of the water. I’m sure I heard Mike Shanahan walking away saying ‘you sunk my battleship’ lol.
I’m sure at this point a lot of Broncos fans thought their unbeaten home run was coming to an end, I only hope that they did not leave early like the Patriots fans a couple of weeks ago! It was almost like conceding these 14 points gave Denver a royal kick up the behind as what followed was a total point’s avalanche from the Broncos. Denver scored the next 38 points in the game and blew the Redskins right out of the water. I’m sure I heard Mike Shanahan walking away saying ‘you sunk my battleship’ lol.
Let us now look at all of the scores from week eight:
Carolina 31 vs 13 Tampa Bay
Detroit 31 vs 30 Dallas
Kansas City 23 vs 17 Cleveland
New England 27 vs 17 Miami
New Orleans 35 vs 17 Buffalo
New York Giants 15 vs 7 Philadelphia
San Francisco 42 vs 10 Jacksonville
Cincinnati 49 vs 9 New York Jets
Oakland 21 vs 18 Pittsburgh
Denver 45 vs 21 Washington
Arizona 27 vs 13 Atlanta
Green Bay 44 vs 31 Minnesota
To be played Monday 28th October 2013
Seattle vs St Louis
Carolina 31 vs 13 Tampa Bay
Detroit 31 vs 30 Dallas
Kansas City 23 vs 17 Cleveland
New England 27 vs 17 Miami
New Orleans 35 vs 17 Buffalo
New York Giants 15 vs 7 Philadelphia
San Francisco 42 vs 10 Jacksonville
Cincinnati 49 vs 9 New York Jets
Oakland 21 vs 18 Pittsburgh
Denver 45 vs 21 Washington
Arizona 27 vs 13 Atlanta
Green Bay 44 vs 31 Minnesota
To be played Monday 28th October 2013
Seattle vs St Louis
Before I finish off this week I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge a team defence that probably gets overlooked because of how bad the offence has been this year and that is the Arizona Cardinals. After watching their defence the last few weeks it is hard to believe that their record is only 4-4.
They have a couple of great linebackers in Karlos Dansby and Daryl Washington who just swarm around the ball and appear to hold their own in pass coverage. Then you look at their starting cornerbacks, Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu aka ‘the honeybadger’ from his time at LSU.
They have a couple of great linebackers in Karlos Dansby and Daryl Washington who just swarm around the ball and appear to hold their own in pass coverage. Then you look at their starting cornerbacks, Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu aka ‘the honeybadger’ from his time at LSU.
Patrick is without question one of the best cornerbacks in the league and would walk into any other team and he has taken Tyrann under his wing. As a pairing I think you will find it hard to find a better one with the exception of Seattle. This season Tyrann has 49 tackles, one forced fumble, one sack and two interceptions. Peterson is not having a bad season either with 21 tackles and three interceptions. I would put his low tackle numbers down to teams trying to avoid him with their passing attack! Let me know what you think, do you agree they are one of the best cornerback pairings?
Okay so that is it from me this week, but be sure to check out our podcast later in the week and also a new article landing in the redzone before the beginning of December. Hmm will it be about LFL Australia I wonder!
Until next time football fans, stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for stopping by’.
Until next time football fans, stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for stopping by’.