Excessive Celebration

Week 11 Byes:

(7-3) Houston Texans

(0-10) Indianapolis Colts

(7-3) New Orleans Saints

(7-3) Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 11 Games:

Thursday, November 17

(5-5) New York Jets 13 at (5-5) DenverBroncos 17

Sunday, November 20

(2-7) Carolina Panthers at (6-3) Detroit Lions

(4-5) Tampa Bay Buccaneers at (9-0) Green Bay Packers

(5-4) Dallas Cowboys at (3-6) Washington Redskins

(5-4) Buffalo Bills at (2-7) Miami Dolphins

(3-6) Jacksonville Jaguars at (3-6) Cleveland Browns

(5-4) Tennessee Titans at (5-4) Atlanta Falcons

(5-4) Oakland Raiders at (2-7) Minnesota Vikings

(6-3) Cincinnati Bengals at (6-3) Baltimore Ravens

(3-6) Seattle Seahawks at (2-7) St. Louis Rams

(3-6) Arizona Cardinals at (8-1) San Francisco 49ers

(4-5) San Diego Chargers at (6-3) Chicago Bears

(3-6) Philadelphia Eagles at (6-3) New York Giants

Monday, November 21

(4-5) Kansas City Chiefs at (6-3) New England Patriots

Tim Tebow is now 4-1 as a starter; his touchdown run put the Broncos up 16-13 over the Jets in Thursday night’s game. The PAT made the final score 17-13. Both teams are now 5-5.

Tebow is a polarizing player. Arguments go both ways about his football abilities and whether he will have success in the NFL, because he is not a traditional NFL player. His wins give his supporters “I told you so” rights; his loss did the same for his detractors.

Much has been made of Tebow’s dropping down to one knee, giving thanks to God. No one seems to doubt his sincerity in doing so, and he’s not the first college or NFL player to give a prayer in thanks after a good play or score.

Tebowing has become a verb describing the phenomenon of dropping to one knee regardless of where a person is; people are posting photos of themselves Tebowing at http://www.tebowing.com.

When what you do becomes a verb, it’s become excessive.

Players are penalized for excessive celebration if they leave their feet or use a prop, particularly the football, in the course of celebrating a good play or score. Tebow’s habitual and automatic dropping down on one knee in prayer both makes use of God as a prop, and focuses attention on himself. Maybe his team should receive the automatic penalty of 15 yards after he does it.

Other players have knelt down and given a quick prayer, but the media coverage was not giddy as it is now with Tebow. Was it because they did not flaunt their faith as Tebow does?   

Maybe it’s time Tebow took it down a notch and the media coverage did likewise. If God sees and hears all, what is wrong with offering a silent prayer? Is it more effective if a person prays from a knee?

Before you start frothing at the mouth, let me ask you this: if a Muslim player was prostrate in prayer to thank Allah in the end zone or along the sideline, would there be as much congratulation and marveling about their faith? Would the media be as infatuated as they are with Tebow? Or would the hue and cry be of a different nature, such as how there is no place for that at a football game?

What would we look like if everyone started Tebowing at work after something good happened? A toll booth attendant breaks a $20 in record time, and suddenly drops out of sight in their booth. A hair stylist drops to one knee after a customer says how much they like their new haircut. A real estate agent drops down to one knee to give thanks after a spectacular sale.

People at work are expected to be professional. Football is a game, but Tebow is paid to play it. He’s a professional, and it’s time he started acting like one.

The Stakes for Green Bay and Indianapolis

Week 9 Byes:

(2-6) Carolina Panthers

(6-2) Detroit Lions

(2-6) Jacksonville Jaguars

(2-6) Minnesota Vikings

Week 9 Games:

Sunday, November 6 (Day games)

(1-7) Miami Dolphins 31 at (4-4) Kansas City Chiefs 3
(3-5) Cleveland Browns 12 at (6-3) Houston Texans 30

(5-3) Atlanta Falcons 31 at (0-9) Indianapolis Colts 7

(5-3) New York Jets 27 at (5-3) Buffalo Bills 11

(7-1) San Francisco49ers 19 at (3-5) WashingtonRedskins 11

(4-4) TampaBayBuccaneers 16 at (6-3) NewOrleansSaints 27

(2-6) Seattle Seahawks 13 at (4-4) Dallas Cowboys 23

(6-2) Cincinnati Bengals 24 at (4-4) Tennessee Titans 17

(3-5) Denver Broncos 38 at (4-4) Oakland Raiders 24

(6-2) New York Giants 24 at (5-3) New England Patriots 20

(8-0) Green Bay Packers 45 at (4-4) San Diego Chargers 38

(1-7) St. Louis Rams 13 at (2-6) Arizona Cardinals 19/OT

Night game (being played as I write this)

(5-2) Baltimore Ravens at (6-2) Pittsburgh Steelers

Monday, November 7

(4-3) Chicago Bears at (3-4) Philadelphia Eagles

Today’s games were a mixed bag: the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals, both struggling, took their game into overtime to decide a winner; Green Bay’s defense had 2 touchdowns in the first quarter; the Kansas City Chiefs were spanked hard by the Miami Dolphins, for their first win; Tim Tebow gave his fans a reason to say “I told you so” with a Denver win over Oakland; and in a game reminiscent of Super Bowl XLII, the Giants beat the Patriots, once again playing spoiler for Patriots records: consecutive games won at home, and for Tom Brady, consecutive home games won as a starter.

At this point, we are down to two teams with zero in their win/loss records: the Green Bay Packers, undefeated at 8-0; and the Indianapolis Colts, winless at 0-9. They are yin and yang, the undefeated and the winless.

The Green Bay Packers are playing to repeat as Super Bowl champions, and if they can produce a “perfect season” along the way, so much the better. The pressure on them to continue winning games will grow as the season wears on; the longer they go without losing, the greater the pressure to keep winning.

The Indianapolis Colts are playing for the draft. The draft order goes from worst record in the previous season to the best record; right now the Colts have the worst record, and would have the first pick in the 2012 draft.

Indianapolis desperately needs a quarterback. Peyton Manning is still recovering from neck surgery. It is not known at this point how well he would be able to play next season, after not playing since January 10, 2011. If Andrew Luck (from Stanford) enters the draft, would he go to Indianapolis? Would he be their new franchise player?

Anything can happen in football. My father often said, “Any team can beat any other team, on any given Sunday.” The Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots know the truth of that.

Overtime

Week 8 Byes:

(4-3) Atlanta Falcons

(4-3) Chicago Bears

(7-0) Green Bay Packers

(4-3) New York Jets

(4-3) Oakland Raiders

(4-3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 8 Games:

Sunday, October 30

(5-3) NewOrleans Saints 21 at (1-6) StLouis Rams 31

(2-6) Minnesota Vikings 24 at (2-6) Carolina Panthers 21

(0-8) Indianapolis Colts 10 at (4-3) Tennessee Titans 27

(2-6) Arizona Cardinals 27 at (5-2) Baltimore Ravens 30

(2-6) Jacksonville Jaguars 14 at (5-3) Houston Texans 24

(0-7) Miami Dolphins 17 at (5-2) New York Giants 20

(6-2) Detroit Lions 45 at (2-5) Denver Broncos 10

(3-4) Washington Redskins 0 at (5-2) Buffalo Bills 23

(5-2) Cincinnati Bengals 34 at (2-5) Seattle Seahawks 12

(3-4) Cleveland Browns 10 at (6-1) SanFrancisco 49ers 20

(5-2) New England Patriots 17 at (6-2) Pittsburgh Steelers 25

(3-4) Dallas Cowboys 7 at (3-4) Philadelphia Eagles 34

Monday, October 31

(4-3) San Diego Chargers 20 at (4-3) Kansas City Chiefs 23/Overtime

It was a wild week, Week 8 was: Pittsburgh not only beats New England, but they held the Patriots to 1:22 time of possession in the first quarter – the Steelers had the ball for 13:38; Detroit stops their 2-game losing streak and stomps Tim Tebow and the Broncos; Buffalo shuts out Mike Shanahan’s Redskins; Philadelphia’s DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy have their way with the Cowboys; St. Louis caps a World Series win with the Rams’ first win this season; and Kansas City beats the Chargers in overtime. On top of the football, there was an early snowstorm in the Northeast that left snow on many football fields, and we haven’t gotten to November yet.

Overtime is this week’s topic. People are confused by the rules, because the rules are different between college and the NFL, and between the NFL regular season and the NFL post-season.

College overtime and NFL overtime differ in several ways: college teams each get a chance to score, NFL teams play sudden death, i.e., the first team to score wins; college teams play additional overtime periods as necessary until one team scores and the other doesn’t, NFL teams play one 15-minute overtime period in the regular season – a game can end in a tie (but in the playoffs, no game can end in a tie and additional overtime might be necessary for one team to score and break the tie); college teams scoring a touchdown in the third overtime period must try for a two-point conversion, NFL teams don’t have scoring parameters.

On Saturday, USC lost a heartbreaker at home to Stanford in triple overtime. At the end of regulation, the score was tied at 34. First overtime: both teams scored a touchdown – score tied at 41. Second overtime: both teams again scored a touchdown – score tied at 48. Third overtime: Stanford scored a touchdown, and scored on the two-point conversion; USC did not score a touchdown. Final score: 56-48, Stanford wins.

On Monday night on ESPN, the San Diego Chargers played the Kansas City Chiefs. The game ended regulation in a tie – 20-20. One 15-minute overtime period would be played, each team receiving two timeouts. If neither team scored by the end of the 15-minute overtime, the game would end in a tie, with San Diego’s record going to 4-2-1, and Kansas City going to 3-3-1.

But Kansas City scored a field goal at 5:19, winning the game 23-20. Both teams go to 4-3.

A tie in the NFL regular season is rare. The last one was in November 2008, between Philadelphia and Cincinnati; the previous tie game was in 2002.

Week 9 Byes: Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Minnesota Vikings.

A key game next week: the New York Jets (rested and coming off a bye) at Buffalo Bills (fresh from a win).

Now that we’re in the heart of the regular season, we’re starting to see which teams have what it takes to go the distance.