MMQB Review: More Official Insanity Edition

Peter King is a little annoyed this week. He wanted to talk about what he wanted to talk about in this week's MMQB. But nooooo, the new officials had to go and have a bad week calling games incorrectly and now Peter has to talk about that in MMQB. Of course, after Peter wrote MMQB the officials decided to award a football game to the Seattle Seahawks after they "caught" a pass in the end zone (which a Packers player actually caught) for a touchdown to win a game. My favorite gif was of one official ruling interception and the other official ruling it was a touchdown. Overall, everything is such an inconvenience for Peter. He wanted to talk about Steve Sabol, which he does for 25% of this column anyway, but now he has to talk about the officials first and it is getting in the way of his Steve Sabol tribute. Peter also has some strong words for people who pay for a ticket to a concert and then have the audacity to choose what they do when attending that concert.

On a day to pay tribute to the late Steve Sabol, which I'll do for a good chunk of this column, it's maddening and saddening to have to discuss the officiating disaster so prominently. 

I know. It's maddening to have to discuss a topic that is about the NFL and deserves a discussion in an column that is supposed to be about the NFL. Why can't Peter just write about his daughter's softball games and give random shout-outs to people his readers don't know in his weekly column about the NFL? Don't Peter's readers care more about what's going on his own life and what he thinks about "The Office" than they care about NFL news?

The legitimacy of NFL games is at stake with officials who simply aren't suited to work games of the intensity and importance of Atlanta-Denver last Monday or New England-Baltimore Sunday night.

These games are super-important and super intense. Mess up a Washington-Cincinnati game and that doesn't matter too much because that is an unimportant, non-intense game, but these super-duper important games that are played between two teams that Peter really thinks are great teams should not be stood for. Let's execute every replacement official for having the audacity to mess up the Atlanta-Denver game. The Broncos aren't a 1-2 team, they are a really, really important 1-2 team.

If the lockout isn't solved by Wednesday or early Thursday, 25 percent of the season will have been officiated by the fifth-stringers from the NAIA and other such football hinterlands.

And Peter swears to God, if a really, really important game is messed up because of these new officials then he is going to be unhappy. Can't the old officials come back to call only the games that Peter deems to be very important?

In Minnesota, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh got two free replay challenges he didn't deserve near the end of the second half (video below). When he called his third timeout late in the fourth quarter, he asked referee Ken Roan if he was allowed to challenge a play during the timeout because he'd noticed what he thought was a Minnesota fumble during the timeout. Roan allowed him the challenge, even though you've got to have a timeout remaining if you throw the challenge flag, because the penalty for losing a challenge is a loss of a timeout. 

But how important was this game? Minnesota v. San Francisco? Not that important so who cares if the officials completely ignored the rules on how a challenge is supposed to work? Let's move on.

In Tennessee, the stunner of all stunners gave the Titans a crucial 12 free yards on what turned out to be the decisive field-goal drive in overtime, the drive that provided the winning points in Tennessee's 44-41 victory. Tennessee had 2nd-and-18 from its 44, and Jake Locker threw what was ruled a 24-yard completion to tight end Craig Stevens. At the end of the play, Detroit linebacker Stephen Tulloch was called for a 15-yard personal foul on Stevens. But the completion was reversed and ruled an incompletion.

Now the officials had to mark off the 15-yard penalty. Presumably, replay official Earnie Frantz or the officiating supervisor told the referee, Gerald Wright, to mark the 15-yard penalty from the Tennessee 44. But Wright marked it from the Detroit 44, giving the Titans a first down at the Detroit 29. If the crew had marked it from the Titans 44, the first down would have been from the Detroit 41. As it was, Tennessee, from the 29, was already in field-goal range. It's beyond inexcusable -- and to think the league office put an extra set of eyes in the replay booth to ensure debacles like a 27-yard personal foul wouldn't happen. It did anyway.

Are we still watching these games? We are? Then the NFL doesn't give a shit. The NFL has no reason to care when fans still come to the games and watch the games on television. It's just like the NFL lockout last summer. The NFL didn't care if they ever came to an agreement with the players. Either way, the general public would be salivating for NFL action whenever the game returned. The NFL wasn't worried about losing the fans because they knew the fans would come back when/if there was an agreement. So all this complaining about the officials will mean nothing until a player gets severely injured because the officials can't control the game. Sure, the NFL is ashamed the new officials are screwing up calls like this, but not ashamed enough to budge on negotiations with the old officials. At this point, players are exaggerating their reaction when a penalty is called, seeing what they can get away with without being flagged, and I question whether the officials could keep control of a game between two teams that don't like each other. Still, the NFL doesn't care because we keep watching and the same sports media that whines about the officials still writes about the NFL games every week. It won't change until it has to change.

It's only a matter of time before some gaffe like a 27-yard penalty or two extra challenges costs some team a game it should have won. I think the league is going to have to compromise more than it wants to.

Very interesting comment by Peter on Monday in concern to the Seattle-Green Bay game later Monday night. I think it will come to something more than that. The NFL has already doubled-down on the new officials by warning players and coaches not to criticize them and fining coaches who argue too aggressively with the new officials. Those Packer players who criticize the refs over Twitter are going to get hit hard by the NFL with fines. I think the NFL will have to compromise more than they want once an agreement is reached, and one will be reached at some point, but Peter is wrong. The NFL doesn't care if an official's mistake costs a team a game it should have won. You could argue Detroit should have won the game Peter just talked about against the Titans. The Packers should have won the game against the Seahawks last night and I'm not sure the NFL cares. I don't know what will cause the officials or the NFL to get real and come to the bargaining table to make a real effort, but I don't know if a blatantly missed call that affects the outcome of a game will do it at this point. There may need to be a player severely injured before either side gets real about an agreement.

The news could be ominous for Darrelle Revis. We should know by this afternoon, after he exits an MRI tube in New Jersey, if Revis will become the biggest loss any team has had this year. His left knee caved on the grass in Miami without being hit, the kind of awkward sight and subsequent crumbling of a player that makes you think it could be a serious knee injury. Why would the loss of Revis be a disaster for the Jets?

Because the media talks about what a great defensive coordinator Rex Ryan is, yet it seems his entire defense hinges on the health of one player? I realize Revis gives the Jets an advantage other teams don't have in that Revis doesn't need safety-help, but Rex Ryan had a lot of success in Baltimore without a Revis-type corner and I feel like we get told a lot how good of a coordinator he is. So I would think, banking on this genius-level defensive-coordinating skill, Ryan can figure out a way to run his defense without Revis. Every other NFL team manages to play defense without a player like Revis, so I would assume the Jets can figure out a way also. I have also heard the argument the Jets safeties can't cover in the secondary very well and are mostly used in run support in Ryan's system, which is another bit of reasoning I don't really care about. I'm sorry the Jets can't seem to find safeties who can cover receivers in the secondary, welcome to what the rest of the NFL and their fans have to deal with. If Rex Ryan is such a great defensive coach, I am sure he can figure something out. That's why you have backups. I could feel sympathy for the Jets and would lay off Ryan if Cromartie goes down for the season as well, but that hasn't happened.

Because they're not ready to put their recent first-round Boise State corner on Kyle Wilson Island.

Of course Wilson can't be Darrelle Revis, but this is his third year in the NFL. At this point, shouldn't Wilson be ready to start for the Jets and do a good job? Even if he can't be Darrelle Revis, he should at least be able to play corner sufficiently. He isn't some rookie being forced to start before he is ready. He has been in the Jets defensive system for over two years. Time to start earning that first round pick money.

Then Peter compares the Titans special teams play to the Music City Miracle. Both were very well executed plays, but the Music City Miracle was executed under such tremendously tough circumstances where the Titans had to score a touchdown or they lost the game. The special teams play on Sunday was just a really cool special teams play that helped to decide, but did not decide, the outcome of a game.

That's the strength of Jerry Reese as a general manager. He's not a knee-jerk guy. Last April, I wrote a story on Reese (and, in particular, how well he works with Tom Coughlin), and I sat in his office for a while talking about roster-building.

Seemingly every year Peter King talks about how well Jerry Reese builds the Giants roster. No one denies his ability to build a quality roster at this point. I just wish Peter would stop talking about it because it isn't a new story.

The subject of the abuse he took from the talk-show set and fans came up for letting Steve Smith and Kevin Boss go in the 2011 offseason. He got a smile on his face and played me a couple of, shall we say, interesting, voice mails from critical fans after those players went to Philadelphia and Kansas City by way of Oakland, respectively. He asked me not to report what was said in the voicemails, but let's just say you need to have some blisters on your hide to be a general manager for a New York sports team.

You need some blisters on your hide to be the GM for a New York sports team, but for every other GM in the NFL it is just smooth sailing while having zero issues with angry or disgruntled fans.

Brandon Jacobs had worn out his welcome; Brown and rookie David Wilson will have a shot to replace him -- and that looks good so far.

Andre Brown has played well for a game and a half and David Wilson hasn't looked very good so far. It also helped that Brandon Jacobs tends to be somewhat overrated, at least over the last season or two. He wasn't a guy who the Giants should have kept around. Jacobs hasn't been active this year due to injury and he is 30 years old coming off the worst year since his rookie season.

Charting players who have been good Reese picks in his first six drafts with the Giants:

I understand the purpose of this exercise, but Peter is basically proving the Giants had one good pick in each of their last six drafts. That's not saying much really. I would hope each draft had at least one good player come out of it, specifically since the Giants have won two Super Bowls in that time.

Yes, Jerry Reese has been great over the past few years. I'm not sure why it took a blowout win over a bad defensive team to reignite Peter's yearly passion of showing how great of a job Reese has done. It used to be charts about the New England Patriots (more specifically charts about Matt Cassel, the Patriots draft picks, and Tom Brady) that Peter loved to write in MMQB and now it is a discussion, with draft picks used as a supporting example, of how great Jerry Reese is at his job.

I thought the best way to tell the story of Sabol's impact on football would be to find 10 people whose lives were impacted by Sabol and who can tell what he meant to them, and to the sport long-term.

Did you know he was once asked to be commissioner? That he had Bill Belichick eating out of his modest hands? That he and his dad made Vince Lombardi cry? That he's the reason Mike Mayock's on TV? That he's the inspiration for a 23-year-old photography student in a small town in Ireland?

I had absolutely no idea that Steve Sabol was the inspiration for a 23-year-old photography student in small town Ireland. This super-specific nugget of information somehow managed to evade my knowledge.

Jim Marshall, former player

"In the '60s, most coaches felt cameras and microphones were an intrusion, and had no place inside a team, or on players. But it was a great, great positive for the players that America could get to see what we were really like. Steve wired me for 'Big Game America.' He showed me in team meetings, in games and he even showed me skydiving and skiing. When he came in to talk to me about participating in the project, he said, 'I want to show football players as they really are.'

Nowadays this would consist of showing the NFL player sleeping, studying his playbook for that week's game plan and then going out to a club.

David Maraniss, author

"Steve believed Lombardi's voice was something that separated him from others in history, and gave him his character. With NFL Films, the voice was central to the myth-making. They used John Facenda, and he was called the voice of God. But there was a practice in Green Bay once, and a dog got on the field and was interfering with practice. They couldn't get the dog to leave. All the players were laughing it up with this dog on the field, and Vince saw it, and he just yelled over, 'What the hell's going on here? Get that dog off the field!' The dog scampered away. That really did happen. Sabol witnessed it, and he thought it said something about Lombardi -- that his voice was so powerful, so controlling.''

This doesn't seem like anecdotal evidence at all. I once saw a beer in the wild and screamed at the bear to go away. The bear started to walk in a different direction and thereby my voice can make bears run away.

Brett Favre, former quarterback, current douchebag and media-attention hog


(stabs self in the eyes with a knife)

"It's funny. It used to be when I first got into the game nobody wanted to wear those wires for games. It was like, 'Get that camera out of my face.' Late in my career, it was, 'Hey, I'm wired today! Cool!' Numerous times I would tell [Packers PR chief] Jeff Blumb or [Vikings PR men] Tom West and Bob Hagan no, because I thought they wired me too much. But now, thinking back, I wish I would have done it more. It shows a side of the game you want to remember forever.

Plus Favre didn't mind being wired because, you know, Brett Favre absolutely adores any form of attention he can get and if he was wired for a game that means he was getting attention based how he played the game of football like a little kid would play. At the time when he thought he was wired too much, Favre had not quite become the narcissistic, ego-driven, media-hound that he developed into later in his career. Early in his career Favre would have done so many other things in order to grab attention if he had known earlier in his career how well it worked.

3. San Francisco (2-1). Sunday, in Minnesota, was the first real sign that the Niners might be mortal.

No offense to the 49ers, but they have Alex Smith as the quarterback. He can't manage the hell out of every game while having the lead. So the question becomes whether he can do what he did last year in the playoff game against the Saints, when he was able to play well in situations where he had to throw the ball and make things happen with the 49ers offense while coming from behind.

9. Chicago (2-1). Mayhem turns to fine working order in the span of a week. The Bears held St. Louis to 160 yards, and physically handled the St. Louis offensive line.

"Fine working order?" Did Peter watch the Chicago offense this past week? Why am I asking this question? Of course he didn't.

15. Denver (1-2). For those who'd like to throw Peyton Manning out with the trash, here's a stat for your consideration. Yards per attempt in his last healthy season, 2010: 6.9. Yards per attempt this season: 7.2. Time, people. Time.

Right, time. Time is going to wear down Manning's arm strength and test him the rest of this season. These yards per attempt only show me that Manning has had to come back in the last two games, so he has had to be more aggressive in moving his team down the field. The eye test of watching Manning play tells me his arm strength isn't by any stretch of the imagination bad, but there are 13 games left in the season and I don't see his arm getting stronger as the year progresses.

Flaherty's the unsung hero on the Giants' coaching staff, and he proved it again Thursday night. Eli Manning was sacked once in 51 minutes of play time, and rarely under duress. A first-time starting back, Andre Brown, rushed for 113 yards, and the Giants held the ball for 36 minutes. It shouldn't be this easy, but Flaherty's line made it look that way.

It also helps when the opposing team didn't show up to play and laid down once they got hit in the chin a few times.

Goats of the Week

Dan Carpenter, K, Miami. Missed a 47-yarder, wide left, in regulation -- in a game that went to overtime. Missed a 48-yarder, wide left, on the second possession in overtime, a kick that would have won the game. I know Carpenter's 41-yarder in the final minute forced overtime. Goody goody. A kicker can't miss two kicks in the 40s.

I probably would have added Joe Philbin as a "goat" as well, because he called timeout to negate a blocked kick by his team. Hey, at least he iced the kicker though.

"Who wants to support something that puts on a performance of embarrassment? If I was a fan of the Carolina Panthers, I would be holding my head down in shame of the product that was out there today."

-- Cam Newton, after his Panthers lost to the Giants 36-7 Thursday night.

Get a hold of yourself, fella. A bomb didn't fall on Charlotte.

No, a bomb didn't fall on Charlotte, but this is somewhere near the attitude I want my quarterback to have. I prefer this attitude to a lack of caring and general comments about needing to prepare harder next time. If Brett Favre said something like this then Peter would see this as an example of him taking responsibility for the loss and it would show just how much Favre cares about winning or losing. Cam Newton says something like this and all of a sudden he is being overly dramatic. Newton was absolutely right. I was ashamed to watch that game and see the effort that was put up offensively and defensively. It was pathetic and embarrassing to get your ass kicked on national television. Being a 23 year old, Newton obviously has to mature some, but it's clear he cares, which makes me happy.

Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week

Not a travel note per se. More a lifestyle, world-we-live-in-today note.

This is actually more of a "why can't people act in public the exact way I want them to act in public" note from Peter King. It seems there is a consistent pattern about Peter. He has this way about him where he wants everyone to act in public the exact way he believes they should act. I tend to believe if we lived in a communist country or dictatorship Peter would work for the national police force ensuring all citizens behaved the way the State wanted them to behave.

Drove over to see Bruce Springsteen at the Meadowlands Wednesday night.

So the show starts. We're in an upper tier, last row. The fourth song is "Hungry Heart," which has the crowd going. The fifth song, "We Take Care of Our Own," is one of my new faves, from his latest album. I notice the four guys next me, maybe in their late 20s, all have their iPhones out, texting or reading email during the song.

No fucking way! People who had purchased tickets to hear Bruce Springsteen sing songs were choosing to spend their time hearing Bruce Springsteen sing songs while on their phones? Why can't we live in a country where everyone does the exact thing that Peter wants them to do? How dare they choose to listen to the music and text someone about how much they like the concert?

It doesn't make sense to go to a concert and check email, but if a person wants to do that, that is his/her choice. How does this affect Peter's enjoyment of the concert negatively?

They're texting or reading. "Death to My Hometown" is next, and I look around, and it seems half the section is fooling around with phones.

In fairness to them, "Death to My Hometown" isn't one of the best songs on Springsteen's new album.

We're such cellaholics. I get that. But outdoor concert events like this one, these are the nights where the experience should be enough to make you put away the phone (or at least stash it until you get in the bathroom), unless you're just writing down the setlist or something like that.

Maybe they were all writing down the setlist. Why does it make a difference what they were writing? While I agree with Peter that you would think these people would enjoy the concert without the use of their phone, these people paid for tickets as well, so if they want to do something else while they listen to the music that is their choice.

If Steve Jobs were still here, I wonder whether he'd feel triumphant that the masses can't live without his invention for three hours, or despondent that the masses can't live without his invention for three hours.

Considering Jobs spent his life trying to make his products absolutely essential to people, then I would say he would be triumphant.

 1. I think this is what I liked about Week 3:

h. Doug Martin, who runs every attempt like it's his last.

Oh yes, and Martin runs for 3 yards on every rush attempt. It's weird to me that Doug Martin seems to becoming known as a really good running back. His yards per carry in the three games he has played this year are 4.0, 3.3, and 2.8. He's gotten 63 carries and gained for 214 yards. He is 2nd in the NFL in carries and 12th in yards. His yards per rushing attempt is 39th in the NFL among the qualified leaders. I don't dislike Doug Martin, and he may run every attempt like it is his last attempt, but he isn't this explosive game-changing back that I think some people believe him to be. Maybe I'm picking on him too much because he isn't explosive, but I would hope an NFL running back could get 214 yards on 63 carries.

q. Heck of a bomb, Blaine Gabbert.

It was basically a slant, not even close to a bomb.

2. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 3

a. Tebow shirtless again. Come on, Tim. You're on the verge of becoming the girl who wants to be respected for her brain dressing in next to nothing.

 I don't think he wants to be respected for his football ability. It's not a bad thing, but I believe football is a means to an end for ex-backup QB punt protector Jets. That "end?" World domination.

b. The protection for Drew Brees. He must have gotten hit 15 times after releasing the ball by various and sundry Chiefs.

At least they didn't get paid additional money to hit Brees...as far as we know.

4. I think Chris Johnson is costing every great running back of the future about a million bucks a year. Pay the guy big and he disappears.

What about Ray Rice? Isn't he helping the running back of the future who gets paid? Doesn't this show these players will still come out and play at a high level? Matt Forte is injured, but he was also playing well before he got hurt and earned a large contract from the Bears. Are these two players not helping great running backs who want to get paid?

7. I think, in case you didn't catch my drift about Cam Newton, I objected to three things he did Thursday night, aside from playing his worst all-around game as an NFL player. One: Scoring in the third quarter to make it 23-7, and then pulling the Superman act in the end zone; bush league.

Because I hate myself, I surfed a few Giants message boards after the game. A lot of the writers on this certain site I went to were talking about how they are glad Manning has class (apparently refusing to play for the Chargers is all but forgotten) and isn't as immature as Newton has shown himself to be. It doesn't matter to me what they write really, but Cam shouldn't have done the Superman-thing after scoring that touchdown. He looked like a loser doing it.

So Newton isn't completely mature yet, he is only 23. We all know Manning came to the Giants and was immediately incredibly mature. How quickly people forget it seems. Newton has been thrust into the spotlight as the savior of a franchise and like any normal person he isn't ready for it emotionally. Everything non-football related Newton does very well, but he tends to pout when Carolina gets their ass kicked and in this situation he worried too much about putting on a show. It happens and he may learn from it. I'm not the person who blindly defends his favorite teams and players, but Peter is making a bigger deal out of this on Monday than it should be three days after the game was played.

Three: Talking postgame about the loss like his dog just died.

I'm glad he cares enough to be down about the loss. I don't see how this is a bad thing. I think this is what the fans want from him. I don't speak for a group of people, and no one wants to see Cam pout, but it is nice to see responsibility taken. He came out in his postgame news conference and wasn't rude, wasn't short with the media, but answered the questions and was clearly upset about losing in the way Carolina did. He isn't the most mature player in the NFL, but he came out and played like shit, just like the rest of the team did. Acknowledging the shame the Carolina fan base felt was simply reflecting the feelings of the fans who came out on a beautiful Thursday night to support a team that clearly didn't give a shit.

Bernie Kosar once had a great line about a quarterback's job once the game ends. He said the postgame interview scrum is like the fifth quarter, where you help set the agenda for your teammates and, in part, your organization, for the next week. When you do that, you can't be an all-is-lost guy, which is what Newton looked like after the Giants beat Carolina.

I don't know what Peter's deal is, but he is taking that one quote and making it into a bigger deal than it probably is. The Panthers came out and laid down an absolute turd in front of a national television audience and Newton let his understanding about the fan's frustrations show through in his quotes. Three days after the game, this really isn't a big enough deal to devote this much time to it. This quote isn't taken completely out of context, but I think it is a welcome quote to read. Peter has never taken a quote and given it no context, has he?

I think Newton has a habit of saying things off-the-cuff that come off as stupid, but Peter King has a habit of taking these quotes from Newton and blowing them up. If anything Peter should jump all over the quote from Newton that partially took away credit from the Giants for playing so well. Newton played his first national television game and had the worst game of his short NFL career and the fans really were embarrassed. I know because I am one. So in the context of Newton having the worst game of his career in front of the biggest television audience of his career, he said the fans are probably embarrassed to be a fan of the team. Superman crap aside, I don't get the issue Peter appears to have such a huge problem with in regard to this quote. Maybe he saw Newton at a Bruce Springsteen concert using his cell phone mid-concert.

10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. The Triple Crown is a pretty big deal

Is this a thought anymore than it is a point that goes without saying that only a true idiot would say without believing he is truly stating the obvious?

If the season ended Sunday, Miguel Cabrera would do the exact same thing -- win the batting and RBI titles, and tie Josh Hamilton for the homer run title with 42. I admire the ridiculous season of Mike Trout, but if the season were over and I had a vote, Cabrera would be my MVP.

There is a reason Peter doesn't have a vote. He probably can't tell us who Mike Trout plays for.

e. Dodgers: 11-16 since The Trade.

See! It isn't the Boston fans, Red Sox management or the Boston media that is the problem. The problem are the players, not anything Red Sox management did wrong. I would say maybe Peter wants Beckett, Gonzalez and Crawford to come out and take personal responsibility for the Dodgers/Red Sox playing so poorly and sympathizing with fans of both teams, but apparently Peter doesn't like it when players do that. God, the Red Sox and their fans are so tortured.

Green Bay 21, Seattle 20.

To a lesser quarterback than Aaron Rodgers, I would make Seattle's cacophonous 12th man crowd a big factor tonight. And it still very well could be; Rodgers calls a ton of stuff at the line, and he changes plays with alacrity because Mike McCarthy gives him immense freedom in the no-huddle offense at the line.
But you can bet the Packers worked overtime on hand and non-verbal signals in practice this week. So I say this comes down to five Green Bay receivers -- Jordy Nelson, Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb and Jermichael Finley -- making enough plays against the top five Seattle secondary men (Seahawks should be in nickel a majority of the time) -- Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner and Marcus Trufant at corner, and the punishing pair of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor at safety. By the score, you can see I believe this game could go either way,

Not really. From the score I can see Peter chose the Packers to win this game. The game did go the other way, but it is kind of a cop-out to say the game could go either way. That's pretty much true for every NFL game.

The Adieu Haiku

So long, Steve Sabol.
Do those slo-mo spirals look
as good from up there?

Two straight weeks of ending MMQB with a haiku. Why? Why do NFL writers love writing haikus so much? I'm guessing Peter will end next week's MMQB with a haiku about the ineptitude of the officials.