Until the ball was snapped, this wasn't out of the ordinary for the type of desperate brinksmanship that coaches sometimes engage in. Once or twice a game, you will see an otherwise conservative coach line up his players in a seemingly bold move, only for the players to sit there until the play clock expires or a timeout is called. Once in a blue moon, it works and a defender jumps offside or something. It did not work here. The Patriots quickly gathered themselves, disciplined and ready.Then the Colts snapped the ball. It was an uneasy snap by Whalen coupled with a perfunctory effort at performing an impossible job, specifically blocking four guys at once. Anderson was summarily clobbered by a group of Patriots defenders; a football novice watching the play would have assumed that Anderson had wronged his head coach in the days before the game and was now receiving code-red retribution from the sideline. That or it was some sort of hazing ritual. New England scored another touchdown and never looked back.Read More: Was This Colts Fake Punt Play The Greatest in NFL History? A Vice Sports Non-Debate
The good news: they vote. — Photo by Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Each week brings a fresh reminder that the NFL can't define a football catch—or, at the very least, it has an extremely exacting standard for receivers who happen to be going to the ground as they catch a pass. Usually, this failure manifests in the form of a catch being taken away from a frustrated receiver. Yesterday's clusterfuck in Detroit was a little different. At the end of the first half, Lions receiver Golden Tate briefly caught a pass in the end zone before the ball was dislodged and caught by a Bears defender for what was initially ruled a turnover. This time, the referees reviewed the play and ruled that Tate controlled the ball long enough for it to be a score.In a vacuum, that's a questionable, if at least understandable, conclusion. The problem is, if Tate were to fall to the ground and lose the ball after taking three steps instead of coughing it up while still upright, it would have been ruled not a catch. It's a dumb standard that the NFL is content to tweak without ever sincerely attempting to fix. This is the NFL's approach to pretty much all problems, but it looked especially goofy here.In Which the World Continues to Struggle with the Concept of Peyton Manning Being a Game ManagerNFL Vice President of Officiating explains the ruling behind the Golden Tate touchdown.— NFL (@NFL)October 18, 2015
The Broncos remain undefeated after eking out an overtime victory in Cleveland. It's not easy to get used to seeing famed Jeb Bush supporter and Papa John's foil Peyton Manning getting outplayed by Josh McCown, though that's the world we live in today. Broncos running back Ronnie Hillman still has Pey-Pey's back, as does every TV announcer who, upon seeing Peyton complete a pass, testily reminds viewers that Peyton is the greatest ever and there's no place for haters on this train. The Peyton Manning of 2015 isn't terrible, mind you. He's just not what he was; he is, at this point, just not capable of carrying a team to a second-round playoff exit mostly on his own. For some, that's hard to understand. That's fine. There are still 10 more games left in which to watch the Broncos defense doing all the work—plenty of time for it to register.The Seahawks Struggle to Hold a LeadYa need to get off Peyton that's our QB bottom line .You fake fans don't say anything when he is winning us the game smh
— Ronnie Hillman (@MrHillman2U)October 18, 2015
Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward was fined $11,567 last week for paying tribute on his eyeblack to his father, former NFL star Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, who died of cancer in 2006. This was just days after it was reported that the NFL told running back DeAngelo Williams that he couldn't continue to wear pink after October to honor his mother and aunts who died of breast cancer. Defiant, Heyward still had the message on his eyeblack this week, meaning the NFL will make the uncomfortable—and, to them and no one else, necessary—decision to fine Heyward again. The more zealous defenders of The Shield maintain that Heyward should even be suspended for his stubborn unwillingness to stop remembering his dead father.NFL: Please Don't Turn Hypocycloids Into Pot LeavesFOX has prominently shown — Mikey (@fsmikey)October 18, 2015
The NFL has been working hard to protect its copyrights of late. The league made waves last week by cracking down on several popular websites circulating GIFs and Vines of game footage. Getting a little less attention was the NFL cracking down on a Pittsburgh pro-marijuana group that has been using a hugely dank logo inspired by that of the Steelers. Le'Veon Bell had no comment.Welcome to FanDuelVilleA Jaguars loss is hardly remarkable or surprising, so instead I choose to focus on my discovery that the team has named the north end zone deck of its stadium "FanDuelVille." This might be the most depressing corporate sponsorship in any NFL stadium, and there is a lot of competition. In the meantime, FanDuel is encouraging its users to hector lawmakers via a petition on its website that brands fantasy sports as "fundamentally a test of knowledge." Whether that means proprietary insider knowledge not known by the public is unclear.Joe Flacco Plays 500The NFL sent a cease and desist to Pittsburgh NORML over its logo. — Dan McQuade (@dhm)October 18, 2015
When you are an emotionally mature pet owner and unafraid to express your feelings in public. — Photo by Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
If speculating NFL insiders are to be believed, Chip Kelly is liable to be distracted during tonight's game by USC officials coquettishly waving a handkerchief in his direction from the stands. The Eagles early season struggles have led to a drumbeat of Chip-back-to-college rumors, though a victory over the Giants can place Philly back atop the deeply flawed NFC East. Of course, the Eagles have already lost the two division games they've played so far in 2015, so perhaps that is easier said than done.Eli Manning is off to a very good start in 2015. Sam Bradford is not, and on Monday night he gets to go against a defense coached by Steve Spagnuolo, the guy who was coaching the Rams when St. Louis made the delightful and not at all regrettable decision to take Bradford with the first overall pick in the draft. While Bradford's numbers in 2015 have been middling, he has been playing much better in the second half of games. His rating in the second half this year is 102.0 compared with 65.6 to start games. While the obvious answer to Bradford's struggles, to the point of being glib, is "Please do better early in games," I'm willing to concede it might be a little more complicated than that.For all the questions about Philadelphia living up to expectations on the field, their locker room emoji game is as strong as any.Chip Kelly to get considered for — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet)October 18, 2015
That's a start.Jason Kelce has a poop emoji on the nameplate of his locker stall. — Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski)October 16, 2015