About an hour ago
Monday’s “First Call” has some Bengals fans rolling their fingers at Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree after his team lost at Heinz Field. The New England Patriots played another trick on the Baltimore Ravens. The Cleveland Browns squandered a bet. And the Jacksonville Jaguars gave the Steelers a few things to think about heading into their fight next Sunday.
Buds fan crazy in bud
After the Steelers’ 36-10 victory, Bingle fans were spotted at Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree. And they may have at least one reason to be excited.
Ran with dupree Little shock Bingles rookie quarterback Joe Burrow during a scuffle in the second quarter.
Eh, let’s just say I’ve seen a flag draw less. Especially that late. Especially at a quarterback. Especially on QB’s own sideline.
Bengals fans are essentially treating Berto like Penguin fans treating Sidney Crosby during his battered year in Pittsburgh. Any “abusive” hit is dirty, malicious and the reason for the five alarms.
Now Dupree is in Public Enemy No. 1 CineSeye, it appears, as there was a massive catering ruling online from those in Cincinnati when a flag failed to pull and Booraj appeared to bend the ankle.
Credit Burrow though. He was not one to complain.
“I don’t think there were too many (late hits) today,” the bureau told reporters via Cincinnati.com. “I think Pittsburgh did a great job of not beating me too late and if they did they would have caught me and not followed me.”
Now, if you want to talk about the “filthy” hit at quarterback, how about Cincinnati’s Sam Hubbard on the knees of Ben Rothlisberger?
I know. At least that one was marked. But it is kind of ironic that a Bengals defender was given. Former Cincinnati wide receiver TJ Homholmandzadeh said during a recent interview that Kimo von Olhofen’s 2005 Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer was intentionally attacked. It was a very kind of drama.
“If they didn’t intentionally hurt Carson, in my opinion, they wouldn’t have beaten us in the playoffs,” said Gharmandzadeh.
Does this help?
The Steelers have managed to avoid “that nasty Mike Tomlin loss” so far this year.
Notably, in these last two games against the 2–7 Dallas Cowboys and the 2–6–1 Bengals.
But on the next schedule? 1-8 Jacksonville Jaguars. The division’s first rival, the Baltimore Ravens, on Thanksgiving.
It’s making all of a classic “trap game” except maybe Sunday, with the Jaguars doing enough to awaken the Steelers and make them realize that they aren’t cutting the liver.
Eventually, the Jags hung on with the 7–2 Green Bay Packers. Rocky, who was excellent running for James Robinson, excelled for Jacksonville. The Illinois State product had 109 yards on 23 carries. He is averaging exactly 109 yards per game in his last three contests.
For the season, Robinson has lost just one fumble in 159 touches.
And the Jacksonville defense caught the Packers running for 80 yards.
But if quarterback Ben Rothlisberger did as Aaron Rodgers did for Green Bay, the Steelers might come close to stating that the Steelers will recover just fine.
.@ AaronRodgers12 It allows the 78-yard flight to Marquez Valdes-Scantling @packers Touchdown! @ MVS__11 #GoPackGo
: #JAXvsGB On fox
: NFL App // Yahoo Sports App: https://t.co/6yCTrUNGY8 pic.twitter.com/9Tb7gTNcKl– NFL (@NFL) November 15, 2020
Packer’s QB was 24 of 34 for 325 yards. He threw two touchdowns and had a rating of 108.1. He was dismissed only once.
Now they are only messins around
It is rare that Pittsburghers enjoy watching the Patriots play a trick.
But when is it against the Ravens? Well, it can be fun.
Like, remember when the Patriots busted the “inept, eligible” receiver formation in the 2014 playoffs? And when Julian Edelman gave a tricky touchdown pass to Danny Amendola in the same game?
Well, the Patriots did it again for the Ravens on Sunday night as receiver Jacoby Meyers threw a touchdown pass to run Rex Burkhead.
High school QB, NFL WR throwing TD passes here at SNF. @ jkbmyrs5 | #GoPats
Watch Live: https://t.co/hYp83EW2oK pic.twitter.com/AyYTZ5k8hm
– New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 16, 2020
Like Edelman, Meyers had something thrown in his background. A high school quarterback, Meyers transitioned to wide receiver at Neck State. Edelman was a quarterback at Kent State.
I know. I know. Bill Belichick is going crazy – again – pulling a fast one. But if it burns John Harbo and the Ravens, a lot of fun, right?
The Patriots won 23–17. They improve to 4-5. And the Ravens are now three games behind the Steelers with a 6-3 record.
Win the game
Nick Chubb did the right thing on Sunday.
The Cleveland Browns running back ran out of bounds before scoring a late touchdown. By 10-7, the Brown coaching staff told Chubb to first step down and then down so they could run out of clock.
Okay, he did a lot better than that, kind of.
Nick Chubb ran 59-yards and stopped at the 1-yard line
(Via @thecheckdown)pic.twitter.com/IK5Pbpyyi1
– Sportscenter (@SportsCenter) November 15, 2020
Chubb played a pitch on third-and-3 with 1:07 left and extending the left sideline towards the end zone. The Texans had no time, so Chubb went out of bounds instead of just scoring and giving the ball back to Houston.
This allowed Cleveland to take the clock out over the next two plays.
Now maybe he should have just given himself inbounds. And scoring a touchdown plus extra would essentially put the game out of reach with a 10-point margin and less than a minute.
But Chubb did what he was told.
For some gamblers, however, this was not a good thing. The Browns were in favor of 4.5. So those who had big game money were clearly pulling their hair out because a three-point margin allowed the Texans to cover.
Via ESPN.com, “In William Hill Sportsbooks nationwide, 89% of the money was placed on the pointmaker at kickoff, according to figures reported by the bookmaker an hour before betting.”
“Jeff Stoneback, director of the sports book for BetzMM in Nevada, TX, said the sprawling cover produced a mid-six-figure swing in the home side.”
Which has to hurt.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise specified.
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