Turnovers - Not a Tasty Treat

My condolences to the Oakland Raiders, whose owner Al Davis died on October 8.

Week 5 Games:

New Orleans Saints (4-1) 30 at Carolina Panthers (1-4) 27

Arizona Cardinals (1-4) 10 at Minnesota Vikings (1-4) 34

Tennessee Titans (3-2) 17 at Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2) 38

Oakland Raiders (3-2) 25 at Houston Texans (3-2) 20

Seattle Seahawks (2-3) 36 at New York Giants (3-2) 25

Philadelphia Eagles (1-4) 24 at Buffalo Bills (4-1) 31

Cincinnati Bengals (3-2) 30 at Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4) 20

Kansas City Chiefs (2-3) 28 at Indianapolis Colts (0-5) 24

TampaBay Buccaneers (3-2) 3 at SanFrancisco 49ers (4-1) 48

New York Jets (2-3) 21 at New England Patriots (4-1) 30

San Diego Chargers (4-1) 29 at Denver Broncos (1-4) 24

Green Bay Packers (5-0) 25 at Atlanta Falcons (2-3) 14

Chicago Bears (2-3) 13 at Detroit Lions (5-0) 24

Congratulations to the undefeated Detroit Lions and GreenBay Packers, both 5-0.

In life, turnovers are tasty, flaky pastries filled with sweet and spicy filling, sometimes dusted with powdered sugar. Think of an apple turnover still hot from the oven, topped with a decadent scoop of vanilla ice cream, your fork cutting into that pastry – can you feel the resistance before the crisp pastry yields and your fork eases into soft, spicy, cinnamon-y apples? Smell the release of scent and steam, taste the molten middle merging with the melting ice cream and mingling on your tongue with the yin and yang of hot and cold. Nirvana on a fall day.

In football, turnovers are mad scrambles for a ball that was going one way, and now is going the other way. A ball batted down from an offensive receiver that is now in the mitts of a defensive player, with players from both teams running in the opposite direction from where they were going a moment ago. A ball stripped from a runner, now on the ground with an agonized scrum of players all grabbing for it: the offense, anxious to recover it and minimize the loss of yardage; the defense, eager to get an unexpected turn with it. The yin and yang in this turnover is the agony of one team played against the ecstasy of the other, feelings compounded when points are scored off the turnover and the momentum of the game swings to favor the other team. Hell on a fall day.

During the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New York Giants, each team had three fumbles, and each team lost two of them to the other team and recovered one of them. A turnover occurred when the ball changed possession during those fumbles. The Seahawks were intercepted once by the Giants, and the Giants were intercepted three times by the Seahawks; each of those interceptions was a turnover (the ball was turned over to the other team).

The next component of a turnover is whether the recovering or intercepting team scores points during the ensuing possession. In this game, the Giants scored a touchdown (7 points including the extra point) and the Seahawks scored a touchdown and a field goal (10 points total, including the extra point). Seattle was more effective with their possessions after a turnover than the Giants were.

Every possession is an opportunity to score; every punt is an opportunity given to the other team. Gaining possession of the ball because of a turnover is a bonus opportunity to score, and a punt is an extra opportunity lost that may haunt a team in the end.

New York Giants Win Home Opener

Game played last night (winner in bold):

St. Louis Rams (0-2) 16 at New York Giants (1-1) 28

The score is misleading because it makes it seem the game was closer than it was; at no point did St. Louis come close to taking the lead back after the Giants’ first touchdown. As a Giants fan, sometimes I do better with a periodic game check instead of watching the whole game. Last night was no exception, although I watched most of it. Several times I thought the Giants got lucky, but then I thought about the quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The Giants were able to score after two Rams errors.

The Rams led briefly, scoring first with a field goal. The Giants answered with a touchdown, and then the Rams second field goal in the first quarter brought them within 1 point of the Giants. The Giants had two touchdowns in the second quarter, and the teams went into the locker rooms with the score 6-21.

The third quarter saw the Rams score a field goal (9-21), the Giants score a touchdown (9-28), and then the Rams got a touchdown (16-28).  Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

The Giants and the Rams were both abysmal on third down conversions. The Giants went 5/15 (33%), while the Rams were 5/17 (29%). The Giants did not convert on their one fourth down attempt; the Rams were able to convert on fourth down, during the scoring drive in the third quarter that resulted in a touchdown.

The biggest game killers for St. Louis were fumbles and penalties. The Giants did not fumble; St. Louis had 4 fumbles and lost 2 of them. The Giants had 5 penalties for 55 yards; St. Louis had 8 penalties for 85 yards.

Tom Coughlin won both challenges last night; his percentage before the game was 40 wins out of 80 challenges, for a .500 average (the highest of any coach). He is now 42 of 82, increasing his average to .51.

Next week the Giants play the Eagles in Philadelphia at 1:00. The Rams host the Baltimore Ravens at home – game time is 4:05. The Sunday night game is Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts. The Monday night game is Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys.

Opening Day

Today is opening day of the regular football season, and right now the season is sparkly with possibility. Today is the best day of the season because all teams are undefeated.

The first game of the season is tonight: the New OrleansSaints travel to Wisconsin to play the Green Bay Packers. The tally of wins and losses begins, and the speculation about which team has what it takes to go all the way to the Super Bowl.

A lot of energy is expended during the regular season assessing and talking about a team’s chances of going to the post-season, or winning the Super Bowl.

How hard is it to get to the Super Bowl? The Buffalo Bills went to four Super Bowls in a row, from 1991 to 1994 (following the 1990-1993 seasons). They didn't win one. No other team has gotten to the Super Bowl that many times consecutively.

The New York Giants have been to the Super Bowl four times, and won three. The last win was memorable for defeating the heavily favored, up to that point undefeated New England Patriots.

The Miami Dolphins still hold the record for having a “perfect season” (1972) for winning all the regular season games, and all post-season games including the Super Bowl.

The football season kicks off at 8:30 pm on NBC, and for the next four months it will be all football, all the time in some households. Our home contains a Buffalo Bills fan and a New York Giants fan - tension will be highest on October 16, when the Bills play the Giants in New Jersey. We’ll probably take that game on the road to a local sports bar, and sit with our respective fellow fans.

The Lockout is Over!

The football lockout is over, and teams are in a fury of signing and trading players. Right now it seems ESPN always has breaking news about what player went to what team, and there is daily (if not hourly) breakdowns of what that means.

The big news: Nnamdi Asomugha has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a cornerback who has been with the Oakland Raiders for eight seasons. Besides generally being big news, you might think “And this affects me how?”

I am a New York Giants fan. This affects me because the Eagles are in the same division as the Giants, so we’ll get to see their new acquisition up close and personal for at least two games this year.

The beginning of the season may be a little rough, with players learning new plays, new teams, and getting used to new teammates. Pre-season games begin August 11, and the regular season begins September 8. The lockout shortened the time that teams have to shake out their roster.

It will be exciting to see how the teams develop over the next few weeks.