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At the Water Cooler : Week 10

Washington Redskins at Minnesota Vikings (Vikings won, 34-27)

Credit where credit is due: prior to leaving in the 3rd quarter with an injury, Vikings QB Christian Ponder went 17 of 21 for 174 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. Not amazing, but not too shabby for a guy who doesn’t get much r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons (Seahawks won, 33-10)

Stick a fork in the Falcons. They’re done.

Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears (Lions won, 21-19)

This NFC North matchup was everything it was promised to be. Megatron and his two second half touchdowns sealed the deal for the Lions, who now own first place in the division.

Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers (Eagles won, 27-13)

The Packers own first place in the game they are playing, called Let’s See How Many Backups We Can Field In One Season. All appearances would suggest they are a lock to win it.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans (Jaguars won(!), 29-27)

The Jaguars can breathe a sigh of relief: they will not be the 2013 version of the winless ’08 Lions. Your move, Tampa Bay.

St. Louis Rams at Indianapolis Colts (Rams won, 38-8)

Not to take anything away from the Rams, who played very well, but this was a complete collapse by the Colts. And likely the worst game of Andrew Luck’s life: 29 of 47 for 353 yards, 1 TD, and 3 INT’s. That’s a bad day at the office right there.

Oakland Raiders at NY Giants (Giants won, 24-20)

The Giants are officially on a 3-game winning streak. It wouldn’t be news in any other season, but in this one, it’s cause for major celebration – especially considering that two other NFC East rivals fell (Redskins and Cowboys) this week.

Buffalo Bills at Pittsburgh Steelers (Steelers won, 23-10)

This wasn’t quite the welcome back party Bills fans were anticipating with EJ Manuel back in the lineup.

Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens (Ravens won, 20-17 OT)

The Bengals, somehow, came all the way back from a 17-point deficit, thanks in part to an insane AJ Green TD catch. (Even more insane than is usual insane TD catches.) But in the end it wasn’t enough to best the Ravens, who are now only one game behind the Bengals in the wide open AFC North.

Carolina Panthers at San Francisco 49ers (Panthers won, 10-9)

This was the litmus test for the Panthers. They had won four straight…but not against teams like the 49ers…and the 49ers coming off a bye and playing at home, no less. With their fifth straight win coming against the well-rested defending NFC Champs and a Carolina defense that looks scary good, the Panthers can officially be recognized as the real deal.

Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers (Broncos won, 28-20)

Cue the script for the rest of the week in the world of sports: Is Peyton ok? It’s a legitimate question – one we’ll get more answers to after his MRI today – and one that will be talked to death until the Broncos hit the field against the undefeated Chiefs next Sunday.

Houston Texans at Arizona Cardinals (Cardinals won, 27-24)

That fork we used for the Falcons? Feel free to stick it in the Texans. It’s kind of hard to believe they’ve dropped to 2-7.

Dallas Cowboys at New Orleans Saints (Saints won, 49-17)

In Friday’s post we had talked about both the Saints and the Cowboys needing a big statement win after their mediocre Week 9 games. The Saints certainly held up their end of the bargain on that one; it was a thorough stomping.

Miami Dolphins at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (MNF on ESPN)

Florida football has seen brighter days, that’s for sure. The fallout in Miami gets a little messier every day and the Bucs – afflicted with MRSA, an ousted QB, and generally bad play – are still looking for their first win. Tonight might be their best chance to get it.

Bye: Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, NY Jets

Review and Preview : Week 9

Review

Down: Once the offense starts their drive, they have four chances, called “downs,” to move the ball 10 yards from where they started (this place is called “the line of scrimmage”). Each play is then calculated by what chance (down) the offense is on and how many yards they have left until they reach 10 yards total. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Down and Distance: The calculation of what down it is and how far the offense has left to go (1st and 10, 2nd and 2, etc). (From Tuesday’s post.)

Line of Scrimmage: The imaginary starting line extending from the ball to both sidelines. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Punt: To kick the ball away to the other team to start a new drive. (From Tuesday’s post.)

The Holder: The guy who takes the snap and holds the ball in place for the kicker. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Actual Field Goal Distance: The distance at the current line of scrimmage + 17-yards. The extra yardage accounts for where the holder holds the ball for the attempt (7-yards behind the line) and where the goal post is located (at the back of the end zone, which is 10-yards deep). (From Wednesday’s post.)

It’s Aaron: A charitable initiative created by Aaron Rodgers and David Gruber that highlights amazing organizations and amazing kids. (From Thursday’s post.)

Also, don’t forget to sign up for your spot in the Understanding Football class over at the Influence Network on November 26th!

Preview

Normal Girl Game of the Week

Broncos at Chargers, Sunday at 4:25pm EST

There are a bunch of worthy candidates for game of the week in Week 10, but I really like this AFC West battle. The Chargers, once again, lost a game they could/should have won in overtime against the Redskins last week. The Broncos are coming off a bye, have an interim head coach (Jack Del Rio, current OC and former Jaguars head coach), and are getting ready for the game of the year next weekend against the Chiefs. The Chargers need this win to stay alive in the playoff hunt. The Broncos need this win to know they can function without John Fox at the helm. Plus: Peyton Manning vs. Phillip Rivers when BOTH are having unreal seasons?! Get ready for an offensive showdown for the ages.

Also on the Radar:

1. I’m really looking forward to Cowboys at Saints on Sunday night, and I’m not 100% sure why. It just seems like it’s going to be a good one – plus, it is Rob Ryan’s first game coaching against his former team, the Cowboys, so that always adds a layer of intrigue. The Cowboys barely won last week against Minnesota, and the mighty Saints fell to the We-Only-Win-In-Odd-Numbered-Weeks Jets, so both will be looking to make statement wins to bounce back this week.

2. Can the Packers hold it together without Aaron Rodgers? And without all of the other artists Formerly Known as Starters? Just to take inventory, here are some of the more notable players who were on the roster last year at this time who will not be on the field this Sunday: Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Nick Perry, Brian Bulaga, Jermichael Finley, Randall Cobb, DuJuan Harris, Donald Driver, Charles Woodson, Ryan Pickett, T.J. Lang, and probably a laundry list of others that I can’t remember because it’s basically the entire team. If you turn the speakers on your computer up you can probably hear me sobbing in the background.

3. The Mess in Miami goes primetime on Monday Night. Against the Bucs. This has the potential to be one long, ugly night in Florida.

Things That Matter : It’s Aaron

I love my quarterback. (Even his fractured collarbone which will keep me up at night for the next 4-6 weeks.)

But more than that, I love people loving on other people. Which is why we are taking a break from the x’s and o’s today to spend a minute focusing on things that matter more than football.

I know we’ve talked about Aaron Rodgers’ work with the MACC fund before, but I had to show you these new videos from Season 2 of It’s Aaron. They’re just so good. It’s great to see someone with a platform highlighting awesome organizations like Operation Dream and Independence First, but it’s just as great to see amazing kids get their chance to shine.

Take a few minutes out to watch these today, and when you do, think about how you can make a similar impact in your own circle of influence – even if you aren’t Aaron Rodgers. And for the record, let’s note that it appears as though Aaron Rodgers has a Yankee Candle air freshener in the vehicle he is driving. He’s just a normal guy. A normal guy with a car jar who happens to have a high profile job but still finds ways to do things that matter.

All of us normal people can find ways to help out, too. If you know of an individual (in the football world or otherwise) or an organization that is doing work that matters give them a shout out in the comments!

5-Minute Football : Actual Field Goal Distance

Let’s consider this scenario:

Your team has advanced pretty far down the field on offense. They are at the opposing team’s 20-yard line facing 4th down. They decide to kick a field goal instead of trying to go for it on 4th down, and it seems like a good decision since a kick from the 20-yard line is pretty much a chip shot. But when the kicker comes out for the field goal, the announcer says it’s a 37-yard attempt. And you’re thinking…What gives?! Where did those extra 17 yards come from?!

You’re not crazy. That’s a good question!

Here’s a good brain exercise: that field goal in the example above will, in fact, be kicked from the 20-yard line. But it will also be a 37-yard attempt. And while it would seem like this is more of the same football shenanigans we’ve seen before – things like imaginary lines and invisible boxes – it’s actually not.

The line of scrimmage doesn’t change for field goal attempts. But that’s where the offensive linemen are all lined up, not where the holder is. The holder – the guy who takes the snap and holds the ball in place for the kicker – is 7-yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Those are the first 7-yards. The other 10 come from the location of the goal post: at the back of the end zone, which is 10-yards deep. So the 7-yards behind the line of scrimmage where the ball is kicked from plus the 10-yards to the goal post in the back of the end zone account for 17 extra yards that are added onto every field goal attempt. Which makes that “chip shot” from the 20 still makable from the 37, but at nearly double the distance.

So your math equation for every field goal attempt is as follows: current line of scrimmage + 17 yards = actual field goal distance.

Check out this video to put all of the pieces together – the offensive line on the line of scrimmage, the holder 7-yards behind, and the goal post at the end of the end zone.

Quiz of the day: In the video, Matt Prater kicked a 53-yard field goal, which means that the Broncos 4th down line of scrimmage was at which yard line?

10 points if you guessed the 36-yard line! 53 – 17 = 36.

(And 10 more if you used a calculator to double check your 1st grade math, as I just did.)

What He Said : 3 and Out

Have you ever been watching a game and the announcer said something to the effect of, “And the Vikings are going to go 3 and out”? (No offense, Vikings fans; I picked a team at random. Kind of.) You may have thought that statement was a piece of complicated football jargon, but it’s not! It’s actually really simple and makes a lot of sense once you figure out what it means – as per all of football. Let’s dive in!

Do we all remember everything we’ve learned about downs? Let’s review just in case we need a refresher:

Once the offense starts their drive, they have four chances, called “downs,” to move the ball 10 yards from where they started (this place is called “the line of scrimmage”). Each play is then calculated by what chance (down) the offense is on and how many yards they have left until they reach 10 yards total. Once they reach or exceed the 10 yards in one set of downs, they get a new set – four more chances to move the ball 10 more yards. The calculation of what down it is and how far they have left to go is called the “down and distance.”

Let’s say the offense is starting their drive (current offensive possession) on their own 20-yard line (a very common occurrence). The ball will be placed on the 20-yard line, and the imaginary line extending from the ball to both sidelines is the line of scrimmage. The offense needs to reach or exceed the 30-yard line, which means they’ve gained at least 10 yards total from where they began (at the 20-yard line), over the course of the next 4 downs to receive a new set of downs and therefore another opportunity to advance down the field and score. You will know how far the offense needs to go to gain a new set of downs thanks to the magic of technology: they need to reach or exceed the bright yellow electronic line on the field, which indicates how far the offense has to go to get a first down.

Ok, so let’s keep rolling with this scenario to talk about going 3 and out. Let’s say the quarterback hands the ball off to a running back on first down and he gets pummeled before making any progress. He is down at the 20-yard line, so the new down and distance is 2nd and 10 (because it’s their second chance and they still have 10 yards to go). On the next play the quarterback hands the ball off to another running back…who is also pummeled before making any progress. Down and distance: 3rd and 10. On 3rd down, the quarterback throws a pass out to a wide receiver who can’t make the catch. That’s an incomplete pass, and it’s now 4th and 10.

4th down is when everything changes. The offense has 3 options:

1. PUNT. This happens most often when a team is on their own side of the field (the 50 yards connected to their own end zone) or fairly close to it.

2. KICK A FIELD GOAL. This happens most often when a team is within field goal range (30-50 yards is typical length for NFL kicks) and doesn’t want to give the other team the ball where they currently are. (Although it should be noted that if the offense misses the field goal, the other team gets the ball at the spot of the kick (not at the 4th down line of scrimmage), unless the kick is from the 20 yard line or closer, in which case the other team would get the ball at the 20 yard line.)

3. GO FOR IT. This happens most often when the yardage is short (4th and 1 or 4th and inches) and the team believes they can either convert (get the 1st down) or hand the ball over on downs without sacrificing too much field position.

In our scenario, the offense is on their own 20-yard line. That means they have 80-yards of field to cover before they reach their opponents end zone. A field goal is out of the question; it’s way, way too far of a kick. Going for it would be a desperation attempt. If they don’t get the first down, they hand the ball over to their opponent and put them right in scoring position, 20-yards outside of the end zone. The only reason they would choose this option is if they are way behind late in the game. Let’s assume that it’s only the 2nd quarter. In this situation, the offense would more than likely choose to punt: kick the ball away to the other team to start a new drive.

If a team punts on 4th down on their FIRST set of downs, it’s called going “3 and out.” Why? Because they were unsuccessful in their first 3 downs, and they’re using the 4th down to go “out” or off the field by punting. It means they barely got out there before needing to punt and get off the field again.

It’s important to note that anytime a teams punts on 4th down after 3 unsuccessful attempts is NOT a 3 and out. So if a team has successfully converted downs during their current drive – let’s say they advanced from the 20-yard line to the 47-yard line over the course of two sets of downs – and decides to punt after 3 unsuccessful attempts, it’s not a 3 and out. Anytime the offense has earned a new set of downs on their current drive, punting on 4th down can no longer be considered going 3 and out because they had a successful conversion prior to the punt.

So, to review:

Punting on 4th down after 3 unsuccessful attempts on the FIRST set of downs = 3 and out.

Punting on 4th down after 3 unsuccessful attempts after the first set of downs = just a punt.

Got it?

The Influence Network + Football for Normal Girls

You are probably here for one of the following reasons:

1. You really love football and want to learn more about it.

2. You really hate football and just want to survive the season without ripping your hair out.

3. You love someone who loves football and you want to support them.

4. You are a friend or family member and you read to support me (hi, guys!).

If any of those things apply to you, you might be interested in learning more about a class I’m teaching over at the Influence Network. The class is called Understanding Football and will be held live online on Wednesday, November 26th, at 9pm EST.

You should attend if: You fit any of the above criteria; you know your stuff but want to brush up on the basics; you know nothing and need a successful starting place; you just want to hang out with cool people online for an hour (and hear me being myself on overdrive, which is usually what happens when I’m nervous/excited/talking about football, which means there will be ample opportunities to laugh with me/at my expense and I would fully encourage you to do so). We’ll be going over everything you need to know to successfully watch a football game from start to finish. Or, alternatively titled, Everything You Need To Know to Watch the Super Bowl Which is Rapidly Approaching (for those of you who appreciate motivation by deadlines, as I do). As per the class description, if you have you ever wondered what a first down is and why the explanation involves an imaginary yellow line, this class is for you.

How does it work?

You can sign up for the class by clicking here. It’s only $10 for an hour that is bound to change the course of your football watching future from now until eternity. And in light of that kind of payoff, what’s $10?! But really, the Influence Network does a great job of offering affordable prices for a wide variety classes, so you should check them all out while you’re there! I’m taking Hayley’s class on building a cohesive brand next week and I can’t wait!

Warning: THERE ARE ONLY 50 SPOTS. And once they sell out there are no additional spots! So I would recommend going over and signing up sooner rather than later if you are interested in attending.

I hope to see some of you there! And please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the class or how to attend!

*For those of you expecting to see the regular Monday post, At the Water Cooler, it will be back next week! Not to worry!