December 15, 2022 was a Thursday. It was the beginning of the craziest weekend in NFL history.
The "weekend" began on the Thursday, with the San Francisco 49ers beating the Seattle Seahawks, 21-13 at Lumen Field in Seattle. The 49ers thus clinched the NFC Western Division, while the Seahawks lost at home to the team they consider to be their arch-rivals (but not vice versa, as the Niners' main rivals are the Los Angeles Rams), and probably ruined any chance they had at making the Playoffs. But that was one of the least remarkable games on the weekend.
Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 142-101 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets, 111-108 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Tyler Herro scored 41 points.
* The Utah Jazz, who used to be the New Orleans Jazz, beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 132-129 in overtime at the Vivint Arena (now again named the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City. Jordan Clarkson scored 39 points.
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-95 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
There were 12 games in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at the Prudential Center.
* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 in a shootout at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers, 4-2 at the FLA Live Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. (It's now named the Amerant Bank Arena.)
* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg. Kyle Connor won the game with a goal with 1:29 left in overtime.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 in a shootout at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
* And the New York Islanders, the Detroit Red Wings, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the San Jose Sharks, the Ottawa Senators, the Arizona Coyotes and the Minnesota Wild were not scheduled.
*
December 16, 2022 was a Friday. There were no NFL games that day. There were 2 bowl games in college football. In the Bahamas Bowl, the University of Alabama at Birmingham beat Miami University of Ohio, 24-20 at Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau. (Robinson was a Bahamian sprinter in the 1950s and '60s, and while he won Gold Medals at sub-Olympic tournaments, he never won a medal at the Olympics.)
And in the Cure Bowl -- sponsored by Cure Auto Insurance, not anything medicine-related -- Troy University, based in Troy, Alabama and ranked Number 23, beat the University of Texas at San Antonio, 18-12 at Exploria Stadium in Orlando (home of Orlando City SC).
There were 10 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 114-91 at the United Center.
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors, 119-116 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Kyrie Irving scored 32 points for the Nets, Fred Van Vleet 39 for the Raptors.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 117-109 at the TD Garden.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, who used to be the Philadelphia Warriors, 118-106 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Joel Embiid scored 34 points.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 125-106 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 130-110 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 112-110 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-112 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell scored 41 points.
* The Sacramento Kings beat the Detroit Pistons, 122-113 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 126-108 at the Crypto.com Arena. LeBron James scored 30 points.
And there were 3 games in the NHL:
* The Islanders lost to the Coyotes, 5-4 at the Mullett Arena, the new arena on the campus of Arizona State University, in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona. It seats only 4,600 people, making it by far the smallest venue in North America's big five sports. At least they're selling it out.
* The Blackhawks beat the Wild, 4-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* And the Blues beat the Flames, 5-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
*
December 17, 2022 was a Saturday. There were 3 NFL games. The new version of the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens, who were the old version of the Browns, 13-3 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now named Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.
In a snowstorm at the original Highmark Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York, the Buffalo Bills trailed the Miami Dolphins, 29-21 with 12 minutes left in regulation. But the weather favored Buffalo, not Miami, and the Bills came from behind, and Tyler Bass kicked a 25-yard field goal as time ran out, giving the Bills a 32-29 victory. This clinched a Playoff berth for the Bills.
But neither game could match what went on at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Indianapolis Colts led the Minnesota Vikings 33-0 with 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Up by 33 with 24 minutes to go. It was shaping up to be one of the upsets of the season. The Vikings needed about a touchdown every 5 minutes to avoid it.
Then the Vikings came back, outscoring the Colts 36-3 the rest of the way. With 2:15 left in regulation, Kirk Cousins threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Cook, and the 2-point conversion was successful. That sent the game to overtime, and with 3 seconds left in that period, Greg Joseph kicked a 40-yard field goal to win it: Vikings 39, Colts 36.
The 33-point erasure was the biggest comeback in NFL history -- and the biggest blown lead. It surpassed the Bills' 35-3 comeback to beat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime in a Playoff game in the 1992-93 season.
The Colts' quarterback was Matt Ryan. Ryan had also been the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback when they built a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI in 2017, only to lose, 34-28 in overtime. Ryan has now been part of the biggest blown leads in regular-season and Super Bowl history. He is the anti-Frank Reich: Reich had been part of what were once (but both records have since been broken) the biggest comeback in college football history and, in the aforementioned Bills-Oilers game, the biggest comeback in NFL history (and still the biggest in NFL Playoff history).
There were 6 bowl games that day:
* I don't know whose idea it was to stage a bowl game at Fenway Park, since Boston is usually very cold at this time of year. But the University of Louisville beat the University of Cincinnati, 24-7 in the Fenway Bowl. Both teams were once members of the Big East Conference, but now, Louisville are in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).
* In the Lending Tree Bowl, the University of Southern Mississippi beat Rice University, 38-24 at Hancock Whitey Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, home field of the University of Southern Alabama.
* In the Frisco Bowl, Boise State beat North Texas, 35-32 at Toyota Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. Toyota Stadium is usually the home of Major League Soccer team FD Dallas.
* In the New Mexico Bowl, Brigham Young University beat Southern Methodist University: BYU 24, SMU 23, at University Stadium in Albuquerque, home of the University of New Mexico.
* In the Las Vegas Bowl, Number 17 Oregon State beat Florida, 30-3 at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
* The LA Bowl isn't quite held in Los Angeles, but at SoFi Stadium in adjoining Inglewood. Fresno State beat Washington State, 29-6.
There were 7 games in the NBA:
* The Cavs beat the Mavs, 100-99 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
* The Bucks beat the Jazz, 123-97 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
* The Thunder beat the Grizzlies, 115-109 at the Paycom Center.
* The Blazers beat the Rockets, 107-95 at the Toyota Center.
* The Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs, 111-101 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
* The Suns beat the Jazz, 118-114 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Devin Booker scored 58 points.
* And the Clippers beat the Wizards at the Crypto.com Arena.
There were 13 games in the NHL:
* The Rangers beat the Flyers, 6-3 at the Wells Fargo Center.
* The Islanders beat the Golden Knights, 5-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise.
* The Devils lost to the Panthers, 4-2 at the Prudential Center.
* The Lightning beat the Canadiens, 5-1 at the Bell Centre.
* The Bruins beat the Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the TD Garden.
* The Leafs beat the Caps, 5-2 at the Capital One Arena.
* The Stars beat the 'Canes, 5-4 at the PNC Arena. Martin Necas scored the winning goal with 2:41 left in overtime.
* The Senators beat the Red Wings, 6-3 at the Little Caesars Arena.
* The Avalanche beat the Predators, 3-1 at the Ball Arena.
* The Sabres beat the Coyotes, 5-2 at the Mullett Arena.
* The Ducks beat the Oilers, 4-3 at Rogers Place.
* The Kings beat the Sharks, 3-2 in a shootout at the Crypto.com Arena. (The Sharks consider the Kings their arch-rivals, but the Kings' are the Ducks.)
* The Jets beat the Canucks, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
* And the Blackhawks, the Penguins, the Blues and the Kraken were not scheduled.
*
December 18, 2022 was a Sunday. There were 10 NFL games. I'll work my way up from least to most interesting.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Arizona Cardinals, 24-15 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. The Cards led 9-3 in the 3rd quarter and blew it, but that's about the only interesting thing about this game.
* The New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-18 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Aside from each team being the other's arch-rival, this one wasn't very interesting.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-16 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. About all I can say about this one is that the Steelers' Chris Boswell and the Panthers' Eddy Pineiro each kicked a field goal of at least 50 yards.
* The New York Giants beat the Washington Commanders, 20-12 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. The Giants' Graham Gano hit 2 50-yard field goals, while the Commanders' Joey Slye kicked one 51 yards. The Giants moved to within 1 win of a Playoff berth, while the Commanders still have a chance.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears, 25-20 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago. The Eagles clinched a Playoff berth, although quarterback Jalen Hurts got, well, hurt, and might end up missing the next game, against potential Playoff opponent Dallas.
* The Detroit Lions beat the New York Jets, 20-17 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands. Jared Goff threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Brock Wright with 1:49 left. Both teams were 7-7 after the game, but the Lions had been surging, while the Jets, as usual, had been crashing.
* The Los Angeles Chargers beat the Tennessee Titans, 17-14 at SoFi Stadium. The Titans tied it on a Ryan Tannehill touchdown run with 48 seconds left in regulation, but the Chargers had enough time to get within field goal range, and Cameron Dicker kicked one 43 yards with 4 seconds left. The Titans remained in 1st place in the AFC South Division, while the Chargers stayed in the Playoff hunt.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-23 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Bucs blew a 17-0 lead, despite having Tom Brady at quarterback. I guess the cheating isn't working anymore. The Bucs still lead the NFC South, while the Bengals lead the AFC North.
* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Houston Texans, 30-24 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston. The Texans, with the worst record in the NFL, 1-11-1 coming into the game, actually led 14-7 late in the 2nd quarter, and 21-16 early in the 4th. But Jerick McKinnon won it with a 26-yard touchdown run with 5:13 left in overtime. The Chiefs clinched the AFC West, while the Texans will get the top pick in a draft that doesn't have a player that currently stands out -- although history may end up saying otherwise.
(UPDATE: As it turned out, the 1st pick went to the Chicago Bears, and the Texans got the 2nd pick. The Bears traded their pick to the Carolina Panthers, and got quarterback Bryce Young. The Texans made a trade with the Cardinals, and thus had the 2nd and 3rd picks, using them on quarterback C.J. Stroud and linebacker Will Anderson Jr.)
* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Dallas Cowboys, 40-34 at TIAA Bank Field (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville. The Cowboys led this one 21-7 with 11 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and thought they had it won when Dak Prescott threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown with 3:02 left, to make it 34-31.
But Riley Patterson kicked a 48-yard field goal on the last play of regulation. And with 6:52 left in overtime, Rayshawn Jenkins intercepted a Prescott pass, taking it 52 yards for a game-winning touchdown. The Jags kept their slim Playoff hopes alive, while the Cowboys still clinched a Playoff berth due to losses by other teams.
* Then there was the game between the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders, at Allegiant Stadium. Whether the Raiders play in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Oakland, they have priors with the Patriots, with strange occurrences benefiting each team. But Patriot coach Bill Belichick didn't have Brady to save him this time.
The Raiders led 17-3 at the half. But the Patriots scored 21 unanswered points to take a 24-17 lead with 3:43 to go. With 32 seconds left, Derek Carr threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Keelan Cole, and it was 24-24.
The Raiders kicked off, and the result was a touchback. The Patriots got to their own 45-yard line with 3 seconds left. The smart thing to do would have been to take a knee, run out the clock, and go to overtime. The gutsy thing to do would have been to attempt a 62-yard field goal, and hope that, if it missed, their defense prevented the Raiders from returning it for a touchdown.
Instead of doing either of these things, quarterback Mac Jones handed off to Rhamondre Stevenson, who gained a few years as time ran out, enough for a 1st down, but not nearly enough for a touchdown. So he lateraled the ball to Jakobi Meyers. It was reminiscent of "The Play," the six-lateral play that the University of California used to beat Stanford in 1982; and "The Music City Miracle," the single-lateral play that the Titans used to beat the Bills in a Playoff game in 2000. Reminding everyone of the Cal-Stanford play, an announcer told the TV audience, "No sign of the Stanford Band!"
Just as he said that, Meyers tried a 2nd lateral, passing the ball back, possibly intending it for quarterback Jones. Instead, it was caught by Raider linebacker Chandler Jones at the Patriots' 48-yard line, and he ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. Ballgame over: Raiders 30, Patriots 24.
It was as if the Patriots had forgotten that the game was tied, and that their chances in overtime were better than their chances of a last-play win. Announcers, studio analysts, and fans all over the country were thinking of similar boneheaded plays: The wrong-way run of Jim Marshall of the Vikings in 1964, the fumble by Joe Pisarcik of the Giants that led to an Eagles win in "The Miracle in the Meadowlands" in 1978, the Cowboys' Leon Lett messing up a missed field goal to give the Dolphins a win on Thanksgiving Day in 1993, and Mark Sanchez's "Butt Fumble" that embarrassed the Jets against the Patriots on Thanksgiving 2012.
All those men, if they weren't already, are now off the hook: This was the dumbest play in NFL regular-season history. (Pete Carroll calling a pass at the end of Super Bowl XLIX remains the all-time standard.) It kept the Raiders' slim Playoff hopes alive, and seriously damaged the Pats' hopes. And the Colts and their fans were probably saying, "Yeah, we looked bad, but at least we didn't do that!"
There were 7 games in that NBA that day:
* The Knicks beat the Pacers, 109-106 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
* The Nets beat the Pistons, 124-121 at the Little Caesars Arena.
* The Magic beat the Celtics, 95-92 at the TD Garden.
* The Warriors beat the Raptors, 126-110 at the Scotiabank Arena.
* The Timberwolves beat the Bulls, 150-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Nuggets beat the Hornets, 119-115 at the Ball Arena.
* And the Lakers beat the Wizards, 119-117 at the Crypto.com Arena.
And there were 5 games played in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Rangers beat the Blackhawks, 7-1 at the United Center. The Rangers pulled off the unusual feat of having 7 different scorers: Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trochck, Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski.
* The 'Canes beat the Pens, 3-2 at the PNC Arena.
* The Wild beat the Senators, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center.
* The Flames beat the Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.
* And the Kraken beat the Jets, 3-2 at the Canada Life Centre.
Oh, yes, there was also a soccer game on this day. The World Cup Final, played at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. This event was also crazy. I have a separate entry for it.
*
Finally, December 19, 2022 was a Monday. The week's Monday Night Football game was comparatively tame, as the Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 24-12 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In spite of the time of year, which could well have heavily favored the Packers over the Rams, the weather was unremarkable, the Packers kept their slim Playoff hopes alive, while the Rams' ended.
There was a college football bowl game that night, the Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall University beat the University of Connecticut, 28-14 at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina, home field of Coastal Carolina University.
There were 9 games in the NBA:
* The 76ers beat the Raptors, 104-101 in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center. Pascal Siakam scored 38 for the Raptors, while Embiied led the Sixers with 28.
* The Hawks beat the Magic, 126-125 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Trey Young scored 37 points.
* The Bucks beat the Pelicans, 128-119 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 42 points.
* The Spurs beat their arch-rivals, the Rockets, 124-105 at the Toyota Center.
* The Thunder beat the Blazers, 123-121 at the Paycom Center.
* The Cavs beat the Jazz, 122-99 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
* The T-Wolves beat the Mavs, 116-106 at the Target Center.
* The Suns beat the Lakers at the Footprint Center.
* And the Hornets beat the Kings at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. D'Aaron Fox scored 37 for the Kings.
And there were 8 games in the NHL:
* The Islanders lost to the Avalanche, 1-0 in a shootout at the Ball Arena.
* The Bruins beat the Panthers, 7-3 at the TD Garden.
* The Caps beat the Wings, 4-3 at the Capital One Arena. Dmitri Orlov scored the winning goal with 22 seconds left in overtime.
* The Predators beat the Oilers, 4-3 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Alexandre Carrier scored the winning goal with 2:48 left in overtime.
* The Stars beat the Jackets, 2-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Canadiens beat the Coyotes, 3-2 at the Mullett Arena. Mike Hoffman scored the winning goal with 3:52 left in overtime.
* The Sabres beat the Knights, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Arena.
* And the Blues beat the Canucks, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena.
No comments:
Post a Comment