Week 16 WTF Moments in the NFL

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever holiday you celebrated this week!

After witnessing an epic, yes I said epic, one-for-the-ages Steeler’s game on Christmas Day, complete with a win-clinching postseason playoff berth… and winning the AFC North, I think Steelers Nation had to have an awesome holiday weekend. (Whew! What a mouthful that is to say!)

Now as we are basking in all of this glory, let’s take a look at the reasons that Big Ben and the boys gave us heart palpitations! It’s still fresh in my mind, so we will start with the Steelers game, then move on to the other WTF moments in the NFL this week.

Christmas Day

Playing at home, for what was the most important game of the season (and against our most celebrated rival, the Baltimore Ravens) you just knew there was going to be many WTF moments to cover in this game.

This was not only a must-win game, but the Ravens were also playing for their postseason lives.

A physical game was absolutely on the agenda!

So we settle in, as most of us have opened presents with the kiddos, with our hot cocoa next to us on this cold day, and what happens?

Yeah, our special teams player of the game last week, Chris Boswell, kicks the opening kickoff out of bounds! The Ravens start the game at the 40!

WTF Chris?

Luckily, the opening Ravens drive ended with a Mike Mitchell and Artie Burns tackle on WR Mike Wallace… this time.

Remember the last game? (Never mind! Let’s not go there!)

Penalties

After a 7-3 quarter, what starts happening?

Penalties.

SMH WTF guys?

You know this is for the AFC North right?

Settle down.

No Penalties

Then the no calls start.

Clearly punter Jordan Berry is hit by 2 Ravens without a flag thrown. The ref tells the crowd (and we heard it at home too) that “they were blocked into the punter.”

He lied, but whatever. It’s not like the Ravens totally got this same call when the game was played in Baltimore:

Another bad call?

I just can’t help myself… I have to give another WTF to the referees, for the penalty on Ryan Shazier. Even Tony Dungy, and Mike Tirico (who were announcing the game) were like WTF is a defender to do?

When a RB lowers their head as the defender is making a clean, and legal, tackle to self-inflict a helmet-to-helmet penalty, it seems like an unfair advantage to get 15 yards.

The Competition Committee needs to look at this, because at this point we are going to lose defensive players wanting to play in the NFL. They will all switch positions.

You can’t hit high, low, or legal without drawing a penalty nowadays. WTF?

Worse yet? Our friend Ben Anderson at Steel City Blitz posted this gem about the “call”:

So much for consistency!

Fitz-mas

Fitzgerald Toussaint, one of the usual kicker returners, but more so with Sammie Coates out, takes a kickoff out of the endzone for 20 yards.

That doesn’t sound bad, until you realize he started at his own -3 yard line, and only got to the 17.

Dude, WTF?

Take a knee and get us to the 25.

Sorry Ben

I am sorry Ben, you are my guy, but we cannot have these turnovers.

WTF?

Two interceptions turned into a 10-point swing, and a 20-10 Ravens lead.

Talk about a hole to climb out of!

But climb out they did: three straight touchdown drives, with “Renegade” played not once, but twice for the home crowd, was a definite WTF moment for the Ravens!

They got to see what a real Hall of Fame quarterback looks like! (Ben was just in the zone!)

How do you say…

The Ravens have a fullback, and he’s pretty good. Kyle Juszczyk (I can spell it, but not pronounce it) plays practically all-of-the-time, and then winds up getting a crawling touchdown to take the lead?

WTF defense?!

Photo finish

I saved the best WTF moment of this game for last. It was a WTF, but for different reasons.

With 14 seconds left, Antonio Brown runs a cross pattern near the goal line, and Big Ben connects with him on a short pass… as AB snags it, and 3 Ravens defenders try to get him down short of the goal line.

While this occurs, Ravens S Eric Weddle is pulling on Brown’s facemask, yanks his helmet sideways (another no-call) and AB-being-AB, with the ball in his left hand, stretches to break the plane for the game-winning touchdown! (I’m glad he’s a lefty!)

Ramon Foster‘s celebratory spike of the ball, was awesome as the TV camera went to a half smiling Suggs thinking WTF was that?

We know what it was Terrell: VICTORY!!!

https://twitter.com/steelers/status/813943580461035520

Tomlin’s climb continues, despite Bradshaw’s comments

With the win, Mike Tomlin now has 102 wins as a head coach; tying Tony Dungy for the most in a 10-year span.

By now, we know I’m bringing this up, because former Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw (drunk on egg nog apparently) went on a TV rant about how Coach Tomlin is not a very good coach, but a “cheerleader” for his team.

This is a man who not only disrespected his own coach, Chuck Noll, by not attending his funeral, but now feels he needs to comment on a coach he does not know or ever played for?

Many media outlets around the league were also asking the WTF question on why he would say that?

We still don’t know.

Move on Bradshaw. This is the year 2016, not the 1970’s. It is a different game now, and Tomlin is in fact one of the best coaches out there!

Oops

Seattle had all but sealed home field advantage in the playoffs, coming back to score a touchdown to tie the Arizona Cardinals on Christmas Eve. All they had to do was kick the PAT, and they would go up 1-point with a minute remaining.

Steven Hauschka comes out for the try, and… uh oh.

He missed!

WTF?

The Cardinals march halfway down the field with a minute left and one timeout remaining, as Chandler Catanzaro makes a 43-yard field goal as time expires, securing an Arizona win, a Seattle loss, and fuzzy NFL math to figure out the playoff situation in the NFC.

Injuries

Several sad WTF moments occured as Raiders QB Derrick Carr, Titans QB Marcus Marriota, and Seattle WR Tyler Lockett all broke their legs this weekend. (I wish I hadn’t seen Lockett’s: it broke in two places… graphic…)

I feel so sad for these players, two of which were playoff bound. Our prayers go out to them.

Injuries are part of the game, but I don’t think I have ever seen three broken legs in one weekend before.

The Big Guy

Get ready for this WTF!

We have nothing else to say! (Except maybe LOL too!)

Until next time

That’s a wrap until next week. I assume many teams who clinched the playoffs this weekend will rest some of their starters, so we can pick on some backups in what could be an interesting “spoilers” weekend if the back ups do well!


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