Things That Made Me Giddy
The Lions Are On the Board!: Really, if this team played the Jaguars next week they’d win by two touchdowns. If they played the Texans they’d win by three touchdowns. Detroit has the worst record in football, but at no point this season have they been football’s worst team. So there is some justice in Dan Campbell, Jared Goff and Co. finally getting on the board this week, even if it was against an opponent that is better than they are:
Classic-Ish Ben Lives for Ravens Week: His pocket movement might most closely resemble Joe Pera (I will be going to this line frequently over the remainder of Ben's career), but Roethlisberger ultimately came up with enough plays to beat the Ravens in the fourth quarter. He delivered two TD passes and what turned out to be a crucial two-point conversion to upset the Ravens. He also made a handful (literally, five or fewer) of impressive throws, including one at the end of the first half that should have gone for a touchdown but was dropped by Diontae Johnson.
John Harbaugh Goes for Two: This isn't an analytics decision any more than going for a touchdown from the 2 instead of kicking a field goal in a three-point game. It was the right call because the Ravens have the right offense and they had the right play call. T.J. Watt made a play and got in Lamar Jackson’s face, causing the ball to be thrown three inches off-target, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes. For Baltimore, the alternative was leaving it up to a coin toss and, perhaps, your exhausted defense.
The Diontae Johnson Redemption Tour: After a baaaaad drop cost the Steelers four points at the end of the first half, Johnson delivered two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in Pittsburgh’s comeback win.
Bears Pass-Catchers Salute DeAndre Hopkins: Jakeem Grant and Cole Kmet, quite thoughtfully, batted passes into the hands of Cardinals defensive backs early, allowing Hopkins and Kyler Murray to ease back into action with a couple of short-field touchdowns (on a day of short-field scoring drives for Arizona). The Kmet play is simply incredible, managing to turn a routine third-down catch into a turnover and 78-yard field flip. (But, hey, Kmet did top the depth chart among Chicago’s on Sunday.)
Brian Johnson Drills It: Not exactly an easy task in his first game on Washington’s active roster, but the kicker snuck the game-winner inside the right upright from 48 to win it in Vegas.
Chargers Steal One in Cin City: It’s a team that’s walking a tightrope every week, typically looking at Justin Herbert to save them. On Sunday, they caught a couple early breaks (namely, Ja’Marr Chase bobbling a sure touchdown into a turnover), one late break (namely, Joe Mixon simply dropping the ball mid-run, leading to a long scoop-and-score TD). The Chargers also shot themselves in the foot a few times (namely, Austin Ekeler losing two fumbles) and Herbert left a few plays on the field. But in the end, they stole a road win from a quality opponent to move to 7–5, putting them in excellent position in a tight AFC wild-card race.
Hey, It’s Gardner Minshew: He got an afternoon to tango with the -on-rookie defense that is the Jets and took advantage, leading three first-half touchdown drives.
Kyler and Hopkins Eeeeaaaaase Back In: I’ve written about the Cardinals—who are a legitimate Super Bowl contender—and their simply unprecedented run of good bounces in 2021, but Sunday was something else. They got four interceptions, two that bounced off a receiver’s hands, one deflected at the line of scrimmage and another on a screen pass. It resulted in touchdown drives of 28, 15 and 12 yards, plus a field-goal drive of 21 yards. They only had one sustained scoring drive, but between the turnovers and Matt Nagy essentially surrendering with a fourth-and-short punt at the end of the first half, there was no need for them to put together any sustained drives.
