A masterclass in collapsing
I've never seen a team make this many inexplicable, catastrophic, unforced errors. Plus! SKYCAM DRAMA, an identity crisis in Philly, and more.
The Eagles and the Bills were the last two undefeated teams remaining in the NFL entering Sunday. Both of them lost, so congratulations yet again to the 1972 Miami Dolphins and their comically weak strength of schedule.
In addition, two of the NFL’s remaining winless teams, the Titans and the Saints, won on Sunday. This really is an Any Given Sunday league, in which anybody can win and anybody can lose …
… except the Jets, of course. We’ve taken quarterbacks with the #3 pick in the NFL Draft and with the #2 pick in the NFL Draft, but I really think getting the #1 pick will fix us.
Cardtastrophe
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an NFL team make as many inexplicable and catastrophic unforced errors as the Arizona Cardinals on their way to blowing a 15-point fourth quarter lead against the worst team in the NFL.
First, the Cardinals messed up the snap count and snapped the ball directly off Kyler Murray’s facemask for a turnover.
Murray’s reaction to the ball bouncing off his helmet was that of a cartoon character getting hit in the face with a pie. He briefly checked out of the game with a foot injury, although I wondered whether the Cardinals thought the ball boinked his face so hard it gave him a concussion.
Later, the Cardinals cost themselves a touchdown when third-string running back Emari Demarcado dropped the ball before crossing the goal line, turning an uncontested touchdown into a turnover.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon physically confronted Demarcado after the drop, grabbing him and screaming in his face. Of course, we all know the mistake is really on Gannon for failing to implement the Goal Line Drop avoidance strategy outlined in last week’s newsletter.
Then, the Cardinals intercepted a Cam Ward pass … but safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson fumbled the interception without being tackled. Several Cardinals players then kicked the ball backwards into the end zone, where Titans receiver Tyler Lockett jumped on it.
It’s hard to determine how many times in NFL history a team has forced a turnover and managed to give up a touchdown on the same play, but I feel confident saying IT’S RARE. The most recent double turnover-touchdown I can think of occurred in 2009, when Robert Meacham ripped the ball out of the arms of a defender who intercepted Drew Brees and ran into the end zone.
The Titans won the game on a last-second field goal after some remarkable passing by Cam Ward. Tennessee was shut out by the Texans last week and didn’t score a touchdown in the first three quarters of Sunday’s game. Then they scored 16 straight in 10 minutes.
The Cardinals have now lost three straight games on last-second field goals, which is reportedly the first time in NFL history that any team has lost back-to-back-to-back games at the buzzer. On one hand, they’re only a few seconds from being undefeated. On the other hand, I am troubled by the microscopic levels of Dog in this team. Medical professionals are scanning the Cardinals’ chests with Dog detectors and coming up empty. Theoretical physicists hypothesize that a substance they’re calling “anti-Dog” may exist in the hearts of the Arizona Cardinals. I look forward to seeing how they lose at the last second next week.
Time to cut the cord?
We had not one, but TWO ball-hitting-SkyCam cable incidents in Sunday’s NFL games.
The first came during the morning game in London. In the fourth quarter of a tied game, Vikings kicker Will Reichard missed his first kick of the year. Nobody in the stadium noticed anything unusual, but viewers at home were treated to slow-motion replays that showed the ball seemingly hitting the skycam wire before swerving to the right. After the game, officials said the video wasn’t clear enough to determine whether the ball hit the wire. Luckily, the Vikings won the game anyway.
Later came a flukier, but more blatant SkyCam incident. Cowboys defensive end Dante Fowler deflected a pass by Jets quarterback Justin Fields, and the ball flew behind the play and smacked directly into the trailing camera.
The incident didn’t affect the play. An incomplete pass simply became a weirder incomplete pass. But NFL rules specify that the down must be replayed if the ball hits the wire, no matter the circumstances. Even though the Jets didn’t deserve a free play, they were entitled to one.
Live balls have hit the SkyCam wires before. A kickoff hit a wire during last year’s Buccaneers-Eagles playoff game, and a punt hit a wire during the 2023 NFC Championship game. There was also a 2016 incident, in which a pass from Derek Carr to Amari Cooper swerved at the last moment and left Cooper looking baffled, but whether the ball hit a wire was never confirmed.
Two things stand out to me about the incidents listed above. First is that most of them occurred during standalone national broadcast games. I suspect that wire snafus happen more often than we know, especially during the 1 p.m. kicks when there are fewer eyes and fewer replays. Second is that, most of the time, the referees don’t notice. Only one of those incidents (the Bucs-Eagles kickoff) was spotted live and resulted in a redo. It makes sense: On-field officials are more concerned with watching the 22 players on the field than tracking the flight of the ball on a pass or kickoff.
I’m not an expert on camera technology, but I do want to point out that the UFL was able to capture absolutely incredible in-game footage using drones, which are not connected to cables that occasionally deflect field goals.
Run the damn ball!
Despite a 4-0 start, the Eagles have been hounded by allegations that they can’t throw the ball. First was A.J. Brown posting cryptic messages after wins in which he didn’t get the ball much. Then there were Chiefs defenders making fun of Jalen Hurts’ passing stats to his face, even as Hurts was kneeling out victory against them.
Sunday, the Eagles made a hard and disastrous pivot in the opposite direction. They went up 17-3 on the Broncos, then almost completely avoided running the ball, failing to run clock as the Broncos scored 18 unanswered fourth quarter points to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season.
Saquon Barkley only had six carries, the fewest of his career outside of any game in which he suffered a serious injury. Jalen Hurts only had two carries, both scrambles, the fewest of his career as a starter. The Eagles only had 11 carries as a team, their fewest since 2010. Relatedly, the Eagles’ longest drive of the second half was just two minutes and 36 seconds, allowing the Broncos ample time to find a groove on offense.
Of course, it’s not like the Eagles simply forgot to hit the “run” button. The Broncos stacked the box to stop the run and coaxed Philly into throwing. Many of the Eagles’ second-half play calls were RPOs, in which Hurts chose to pass because of what the defense gave him.
But the Hurts-era Eagles have prided themselves on moving the ball on the ground, even when the defense knows it’s coming. Their ability to pound the rock is built on physicality, and a belief that they’re strong enough and good enough to run the ball no matter the circumstances or the opponent. First-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo fairly deserves the questions he’s getting about the gameplan. (Not that Eagles fans were waiting for me to declare that it was OK to criticize their coach.)
Drake Maye played the best game of his young career to lead the Patriots to a stunning Sunday Night Football win over the Bills. His performance included plays like this …
… which allows me to once again talk about Bill Belichick’s disaster tenure at UNC. The Tar Heels’ social media staff has reportedly been instructed not to celebrate Maye’s success because the recent grad plays for the Patriots, and Belichick wants the Pats to fail.
The Ravens were non-competitive with Cooper Rush playing in place of Lamar Jackson at QB, losing 44-10 to the Texans while Rush threw three interceptions. The loss underscored the value of players like Jackson and Joe Burrow. If I were an MVP candidate, I’d encourage my team to hire Tim Boyle or Nathan Peterman as my backup just to make me look even better.
The first 200-yard rusher of the 2025 NFL season is … Carolina backup Rico Dowdle, who went for 206 yards and a touchdown in the Panthers’ 27-24 win over the Dolphins. Dowdle spent his first five NFL seasons as a backup with the Cowboys after going undrafted in 2020, and is talking about having another big game next week in a revenge game against Dallas. I’ve seen the Cowboys defense; I believe him.
I loved reading this article. Great job 👏!
With regard to Belichick, I'd love to read a comparison of all-time great coaches who completely lost it at the end of their careers. Belichick, Landry, maybe Paul Brown (I know he took Cincy to the playoffs a few times but I heard that was mainly because of Bill Walsh). Heck, you could even include Walsh's second stint at Stanford.