Official Lions-Falcons Game Day thread

[pbmax]

Quite the finish there, I turned away for a couple of seconds, what happened? Did the Lions kick on 3rd down? They missed the kick, were penalized, kicked again from further back, no loss of down?

Not sure of down, but before FG attempt, refs called delay of game on Lions. Clock never starts (still 4 seconds left) and they get to retry on same down. 5 yard penalty with a deep FG seems like it hurts the O, but Prater got a second chance for life because he missed the first one (which they struck even with the flag and whistles) wide right.

[smuggler]

So... was the clock running on the delay of game?

[pbmax]

I don't think I've seen a team choke that bad down the stretch. Atlanta can basically run out the clock. Instead they get a holding call. Stops the clock. Then, they drop an easy catch. Then, they get a defensive holding on a run play. Then, their coaches call a timeout immediately after a play by the Lions with 25 seconds, giving the Lions a free time out (instead of letting the clock run down). Just terrible. They deserved to lose. Not to mention, Matt Ryan threw about the ugliest interception you'll ever see also. No wonder Atlanta is 2-6.

I think the penalty really confused them. That doesn't happen often when running to drain clock. Suddenly instead of getting the game clock down to about one minute, its stuck at 1:46. They recalibrate and decide, like they did with 3 minutes left earlier, that they HAVE to get a first down.

The other dumb thing was that zone they played on D. Stafford isn't going to run them to a FG. Play man. If it ruptures for a TD, then at least you get the ball back.

I still also hate Golden Tate, but man does he look good running down the seams of a defense.

[smuggler]

Your feelings toward Golden basically mirror those of everyone else on the planet.

[pbmax]

So... was the clock running on the delay of game?

Nope. Dead ball after Stafford clocked it at 4 seconds. It almost seems like you should get a runoff and not another shot at a FG when you get a penalty while trying to kick a figgie.

[smuggler]

Falcons definitely should have run it 3rd and 11

[Guiness]

I think I just realized one of the things that's up with the London games. Of course I know it's about money, I just wasn't quite able to follow it.

I've never been so sure that the NFL actually wants to expand to Europe, it just doesn't make sense to me. And if they did, they'd be paying more attention to Germany, where pro football was quite successful in the past.

I think one of the attractions is time zones! What the NFL has done by putting games in London is extended their broadcast day by 3 hours! I turned on the TV around noon (EST) and lo and behold, live game on, that brings the number of games to 4, and the total time to north of 12 hours. Maybe the rest of you have already figured that out, but it was a revelation to me.

The other piece of the puzzle I don't understand is why the Londoners are showing up for random teams. That's human behavior though, there's no making sense of that.

[denverYooper]

Who knew if you substitute trusting the talent for inciting aggression, your team would improve? (Caldwell over the Schvartz)

Dunno. But one of the talking heads made a comment about the Lions winning the close games they were losing last year. I haven't looked at the numbers, but it seems like their seasons often turn on 50/50 games. Last time they made the playoffs under Schwartz, they made a living winning close games. So it could be a matter of luck so far.

[pbmax]

Dunno. But one of the talking heads made a comment about the Lions winning the close games they were losing last year. I haven't looked at the numbers, but it seems like their seasons often turn on 50/50 games. Last time they made the playoffs under Schwartz, they made a living winning close games. So it could be a matter of luck so far.

It could be that yes. But they just seem to be inflicting a lot less damage to themselves in the process. That has to help tilt close games to them a bit.

[George Cumby]

The thing that concerns me is that by winning these close games, they are doing positive things for their teams Psyche. If they don't already, they are beginning to believe in themselves and play with confidence that they can win these games. This makes the dangerous.

[smuggler]

Fucking Falcons.