Week 11 Football Fallout: Flacco Plays With Torn ACL, Bengals Play Without Brains
By Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff)
BOSTON (CBS) -- Patriots Nation has an interesting relationship with Joe Flacco. No, he's far from Tom Brady's equal and not even his rival so there's no reason to fear or envy him. But at the same time, he has often delivered big-time performances in playoff showdowns with the Patriots, most notably in his 2012 Super Bowl MVP run. So the thought of Flacco leaves a bit of a sour taste in New England fans' mouths.
One thing a lot of fans outside of Baltimore like to do with Flacco is mock his personality and portray him as this dull, milquetoast mannequin who doesn't exactly strike you as tough or a strong leader. But he pretty much shattered that notion on Sunday when he tore his ACL against the St. Louis Rams...and kept playing.
Flacco played out the Ravens' final series, which set up Justin Tucker's game-winning field goal, with "two completely torn ligaments" in his knee, as head coach John Harbaugh revealed to reporters after the game. Flacco apparently didn't want to burn timeouts and/or cause clock problems for the Ravens, who improved their record to a mere 3-7.
To put yourself on the line like that for a bad team that's likely going nowhere this season in a regular season game was at least an admirable move by Flacco. He may be an easy target for ridicule because of his somewhat dorky appearance and personality, but the man is still a football player and just proved he is a supremely tough one. He joins the likes of Logan Mankins and Philip Rivers as guys who continued playing on arguably the most serious injury an athlete could suffer. Much respect to Wacko Flacco here.
As the dust settles on another Sunday, here's what else happened around the NFL with the Week 11 Football Fallout...
Superb Situational Awareness By The Cincinnati Bengals At The End of Sunday Night Football
In case I didn't lay the sarcasm on you thick enough, the Bengals' Domata Peko showed with one play Sunday night why Marvin Lewis is not Bill Belichick. Hoping to draw a false start penalty, Peko simulated the Arizona Cardinals' snap count - a penalty if caught doing it, as Patriots fans may have learned earlier this season after the New England defense was accused of doing it against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Even if Peko got away with the simulated snap count and drew a false start with a 10-second runoff, it would have changed Chandler Catanzaro's game-winning field goal from 46 yards to 51 yards. Harder, for sure, but not impossible by any means. Instead, he took a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Catanzaro booted a 32-yard chip shot.
That's just horrible risk/benefit assessment by Peko, and highly questionable situational awareness by the Bengals in general. Coach Marvin Lewis called the penalty a "phantom call" that was "kind of ridiculous", so it's clear that he either specifically instructed Peko to do what he did in that spot or simply has no clue about the situation in the first place.
Either way, bad look for a talented but undisciplined and unevenly coached team that just seems destined for playoff failure as long as Lewis is calling the games. But despite the Bengals' futility at the end of that game...
The Cardinals Offense Looks Dangerous
Of all the possible NFC contenders that the Patriots would face if and when they make it to Super Bowl 50, the Cardinals look like they could present the most balanced threat. They have an elite defense anchored by arguably the league's best secondary and a coach who isn't afraid to take chances. But ultimately, QB Carson Palmer has to be the one to elevate the team from playoff contender to Super Bowl favorite.
Unlike the Bengals, the Cardinals did show solid situational awareness at the end of the game when they had just over one minute to drive down the field with no timeouts. It was scary enough seeing Palmer sling the Cards deep into field goal range with a breakneck series of chunk passing plays that moved the ball 40+ yards in what felt like seconds. They looked even scarier showing the urgency and awareness they needed to succeed in that particular situation. Larry Fitzgerald did all he could to get out of bounds, while the team sprinted up to the line to spike the ball when they needed to.
It's incredible that I now have to credit a team for doing exactly what they're supposed to do in a given situation, but the overall coaching in the league is so bad this year you have to admire and respect it when teams play good situational football. Palmer looks poised in big moments these days, and Bruce Arians at least seems like he has a clue. It's one big reason why the Cardinals have a chance to make it back to the Super Bowl this season and the Bengals (probably) do not.
The Rams Left A Concussed QB In The Game And Everyone Knew It Immediately
It's clear as day whenever a player suffers a concussion. They stumble, they stagger, they ask when President Gruden is coming over for dinner. So it would be a major risk on many levels for a team to leave a player in after suffering a bad head injury. That's apparently what Jeff Fisher's Rams did on Sunday with QB Case Keenum.
Clutching his helmet and clearly struggling to even stand up straight after slamming his head hard on the turf, Keenum stayed in instead of being removed for testing. But his concussion somehow, amazingly, went unnoticed to the very people watching for the signs of head trauma.
The NFL league office noticed, though. They have reportedly already begun an investigation into the Rams' failure to remove Keenum from the game.
It's exceptionally poor timing for Fisher's team, which has been the target of accusations of dirty play and disregard for player safety.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read more from Matt here. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
