I hate ties. Hate wearing them. Hate watching them.
Oct 23, 2016, 11:26 PM | Updated: Oct 24, 2016, 8:59 am
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) reacts after a missed game-winning field goal attempt during overtime of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. The game ended in overtime in a 6-6 tie. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
I feel like I just drove across country to find that Wally World is closed (Editors note: Strong language is in this movie clip). That about sums it up. Sorry folks, park’s closed, moose outside shoulda told you.
A tie.
The old cliche goes, a tie is like kissing your sister. I don’t have a sister so I don’t have the slightest clue what that means. I hate ties. I hate wearing them and I certainly hate watching them.
The standings will reflect that nobody won or lost this game between the Cardinals and Seahawks but that’s a borderline lie. The Cardinals lost on this night. They had a whole catalog of ways they could have won this game. Opportunity after opportunity. The Seahawks had one. OK, maybe more that but it felt like only one. Add in the fact the Cardinals are the one chasing Seattle in the standings and there’s no question perceptually who lost, a notion that Larry Fitzgerald agreed with.
So many chances. So much wasted. It feels like the Cardinals lost this game. Makes me want to punch that moose right in the mouth.
Here are some quick thoughts from tonight’s game:
Special teams were anything but. Missed field goals. A blocked punt. Is it a stretch to say that special teams are the reason the Cardinals are 3-3-1 and not 5-2? Doesn’t feel like it. If the Cardinals can just reasonably execute a kick or two on a Sunday night against the Patriots and the Seahawks, our perception of this uneven season is a whole lot different. The blocked punt led to the Seahawks only points in regulation. But it’s those missed kicks that will haunt. The Bobby Wagner block was deemed legal almost immediately on Twitter by Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira but you can’t help but wonder if that block was going through Catanzaro’s mind on the potential game winner in OT when Wagner did it again. Truth is, nothing burns in football more than having a kicker you can’t trust. It’s hard to get that trust back. When asked what he told Catanzaro after the game BA said bluntly “Make it. This ain’t high school. You get paid to make it.”
The defense rests. No seriously, take a breather, guys, because you played your guts out. Seattle had 11 first downs, 257 yards, converted three third-downs, and possessed the ball for 20 minutes less than the Cardinals did. And that’s all in a game that featured an extra quarter of football. Seattle’s beleaguered offensive line had no choice but to hold the Cardinals as often as they did. It’s a shame their work didn’t yield better results.
Decisions and Mistakes. Palmer’s fumble at the end of the first half potentially cost them a field goal (or at least an attempt). Second quarter drives that put the Cardinals on Seattle’s 20-, 28- and 25-yard line but Arizona only getting three points out of those drives hurt. The decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 from the Seattle 19 in the third quarter, possibly robbing the Cards of three more points burned. The ball hitting J.J. Nelson in the hands in the end zone in overtime, a Michael Floyd drop on the next play, David Johnson somehow hitting the pylon but not getting in and for whatever reason, no review of that play — these are some of the things I’ll think about when thinking about this game.
David Johnson is going to need some ibuprofen. His final line: 33 carries for 113 yards. Eight more catches for 58 yards. Forty-one touches in five quarters of work.
