At a time of year when folks get all wrapped up in pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and “scary” costumes, the gridiron absorbed that atmosphere this weekend as we saw some ghoulish and garish individual performances – more than we can highlight in this column, but we’ll do our best.
Some of those that failed to make the cut: a nightmare six-penalty display from Chargers’ left tackle Marcus McNeill, Tim Tebow’s sub 50% completion percentage, and Barry Richardson’s abysmal display of run blocking on Monday night. And, if those are some of the performances not to make the cut, there must’ve been some really intriguing horror shows on display this week.
We take a look at a corner who will head back to Arizona with a recurring nightmare from giving up the same catch over and again on Sunday. Next up is a rookie tackle squaring off with a defensive end who posts the best game of his career. Then we’ll close with an unwelcome trip north of the border for one Washington Redskin.
Baltimore WR Anquan Boldin vs. Arizona CB A.J. Jefferson
When you see an offense find something that works they’ll sometimes opt to keep it in their back pocket and pull it out just when they need it or when they want to use it as their get out of jail free card, so to speak. This Sunday in Baltimore, the Ravens found something that worked, going to Anquan Boldin against A.J. Jefferson, and they went after it, mercilessly. The Ravens had every reason to keep going to the well.
For a stretch in the third quarter, Jefferson simply could not cover Boldin on back shoulder throws and comebacks. Coming back from a three-score deficit, this was the opening the Ravens needed and they made the Cardinals pay for not closing it off. When they did, they were too late and as it turns out, the adjustment they made (putting Patrick Peterson onto Boldin) didn’t work out too well in the third quarter either. Boldin didn’t get a score on Sunday but the work he did taking the Ravens up the field was pivotal in the largest comeback victory in franchise history.
Headline Play
Boldin did almost all of his damage on back shoulder passes and comebacks in this matchup and it only seems right to highlight one of those. We go with one that set up the score that brought the Ravens back within a score late in the third quarter. Boldin had already caught two passes on this drive for 50 yards but it was the 21-yard-gain at 2:15 that set them up in the red zone. As was the case with many of the plays, Jefferson’s location in coverage wasn’t terrible but his ability to turn and locate the danger and the ball was lacking. Boldin simply peeled away from coverage and hauled in the catch. Two plays later, the Cardinals had Patrick Peterson on Boldin and that encounter resulted in a pass interference, setting the Ravens up at the 1-yard-line for the score.
Seattle RT James Carpenter vs. Cincinnati DLE Carlos Dunlap
It may not be for the same reasons but James Carpenter is struggling early in his NFL career almost as much as the last Alabama Crimson Tide offensive tackle to be taken in the first round, Andre Smith. He has made it on to the field in his rookie season but the performances he is putting forth are subpar and he found himself in a bad situation this Sunday going up against former SEC foe Carlos Dunlap.
Dunlap has quietly been the Bengals’ best defensive player all season but due to some dubious management of their defensive line snaps hasn’t been getting the playing time to make a full impact. That all changed this week as Dunlap registered a season-high 58 snaps and made the most of that extra playing time by taking Carpenter to task for much of the game. Dunlap registered four pressures and one sack (also drew a holding penalty) against Carpenter. Using a combination of outside moves and brute strength, he drove Carpenter back into whichever QB the Seahawks happened to have in the game at the time.
Headline Play
Our headline play for this matchup (Q4 4:03) is a combination of a poor play from Carpenter and mis-timing in the Seattle offense resulting in, unbelievably, Carlos Dunlap’s first sack of the season. The play is set for a quick pass to the right from the shotgun and, as a result, Carpenter attempts to cut Dunlap to get him down out of the play. However the combination of a rather dreadful cut block, which Dunlap rides well, and press coverage to the right prevents the ball from coming out immediately. From there, Dunlap shows the determination to bring Tarvaris Jackson down and get the statistical recognition that his fine season had lacked.
Washington RG Chris Chester vs. Buffalo DT Marcell Dareus
The Redskins didn’t have much fun on their foray north of the border, they were the first “road” team to lose to the Bills in Toronto and, to be frank, their offense may as well have not turned up. In a way it’s harsh to single out Chris Chester for his poor play because none of the Redskins’ offensive linemen deserve to avoid their time under the microscope, but it was Chester who was most obviously tossed around by one player.
On either side of the bye week Marcell Dareus has put together a pair of exceptional displays. Against the Giants he was dominant in run defense, this week he converted the pressures he was getting against the Giants into sacks against the Redskins without giving up his stout play against the run. Dareus didn’t register any of his sacks against Chester but he did manhandle him in the run game making one tackle for loss and generally showing Chester that he wasn’t up to blocking him on this day. Chester will surely look forward to getting back south of the border, but the schedule is not kind. With Ray McDonald and Justin Smith coming to town this Sunday, things may not get much better for him and the Redskins’ offensive line.
Headline Play
At 13:51 of the second quarter, we saw the sort of disruption that Dareus caused against Chester and the Bills caused on the Redskins’ offensive line in general. The Redskins attempt to run their bread and butter, or at least what should be, a zone running play to the left with Ryan Torain. But they get comprehensively beaten at the line seeing this play stopped in the backfield. Dwan Edwards, Chris Kelsay and Dareus immediately ride their offensive linemen into the backfield, killing the play. Dareus is able to work inside of Chester to get a piece of the tackle for a loss. The Bills’ pass rushing stats drew the eye this week but it was their utter dominance over the running game, making it a complete irrelevance, that allowed them to pin their ears back and make those telling plays against John Beck in the pocket.
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