NFL Week 11: The 11 most silly Sunday mistakes, ranked

On paper, this Sunday seemed like a disappointment for those of us who are enjoying a bit of Monday morning schadenfreude. Our most undisciplined teams – the Bills, the Browns and the Jets – were all on a start. And even before the start of the weekend, Mike McCarthy had already sewed the top three spots on the list of worst training decisions in the Packers' loss to the Seahawks on Thursday Football.

But what I do know is that Sunday was perhaps the most stupid list of games we've seen this season. Here are the 11 biggest mistakes of the 11th week, classified as "uh, what is this part called?" To "why even throw that, Kirk Cousins, why …":

11. The Steelers gave up to end the first period against the Jaguars

Pittsburgh finally came back to beat the Jaguars after an unlikely rally, but the situation looked grim in the first 43 minutes of Sunday's game. The Steelers' best strikers saw the team win and his worst witness was the loss of Ben Roethlisberger by Jacksonville High School. The Pittsburgh offensive was downright demoralized in early Florida and all the evidence needed to prove it arrived at the end of the second quarter.

This is Mike Tomlin's big game with three seconds to go in the first period, a 9-0 lead and a 46-yard pass from the Jaguars.

Roethlisberger then found his stride, scoring two touchdowns and rushing for the winner with five seconds to go. But for a moment, he seemed to be collecting a tribute strangely faithful to Nathan Peterman's career in the NFL.

10. The Buccaneers forgot Saquon Barkley, one of the two guys they had to cover

The Giants do not have a ton of offensive options. The search for playmakers by Pat Shurmur led him to insert All-Pro camber as a quarterback, tailback and kicker kicker. Saquon Barkley is one of the players who has reinforced the good news of New York. The No. 2 overall pick was a double-threat rookie as a rookie, averaging 127 yards per go-per-game and a total of 10 touchdowns in 10 holdings up to now.

For most teams, this would make him a type of player who would focus on defense on every afternoon run and who would be doubly close to the end zone. Not Tampa Bay.

Barkley won one of the easiest touchdowns in Sunday's Sunday win in the 38-35 win over the Buccaneers. He would end his day with 152 yards and three scores. It's an unforgettable performance from a player that Tampa finished whitened at the start.

9. The Bengals charged Hue Jackson to try to repair their defense

Last week, the Bengals fired defense coordinator Teryl Austin. They had yielded more than 500 yards in three consecutive games, a record (disgraceful) of the NFL. Marvin Lewis also did not hire a new defensive coordinator. Instead, he took up the defense and brought back a familiar face – and another guy who had recently been on the line of unemployment – to help him handle it: his former offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.

This week, the Bengals played in the second leg against the Ravens, a team they beat in the second two-digit week. This time, however, Joe Flacco was injured and Baltimore started rookie Lamar Jackson. Aaaaaand:

The good news for the Bengals is that they have NOT yielded 500 meters. But the Ravens rushed for a season high of 265 yards. They had not only their first 100 yard rider this season (Lamar Jackson), but two 100 yard riders in the same match (Gus Edwards being the other).

Do not let Hue touch anything.

8. Ryan Fitzpatrick killed Fitzmagic once and for all with this "screw it" interception

You have already heard that. It was not so long ago either. But Fitzmagic, unfortunately, is dead. Really dead. Dead, murdered, stabbed.

This time, we really think so. Just watch that shot that he stuck in the rainbow until Curtis Riley was forced to stay there, wait a few seconds and gently remove it from the air as if he was catching a butterfly:

It is a turn after Alec Ogletree's victory over the selection of the six most miraculous (and the most team-at-work team) that we have seen this year:

It might have been enough for Fitzpatrick. Maybe it was the piece that had just broken it. It was the tenth time he was eliminated in eight games, and it was almost unfair to see how the physics and gravity oppose this Ogletree, with interception of Janoris Jenkins.

So maybe he told the devil with that, and decided to withdraw Fitzmagic on his own terms. Then it makes a little more sense.

If so, it worked. After the choice of Riley – the 11th of the Fitzpatrick season and the third of the match – the Bucs returned to Jameis Winston.

7. Lance Lenoir has facilitated the return of the Falcons playing dirty.

The last four minutes of the Cowboys-Falcons were stupid in many ways. But before Jason Garrett and Dan Quinn fight over who would leave the Mercedes-Benz stadium with a win, Lance Lenoir did what he could to help the Falcons equalize the game.

With his Cowboys leading 19-12, Lenoir played the shooter on a punt that trapped Justin Hardy on his own 17-yard line. And then, as Hardy turned to get out of the third step, the Dallas catcher flew into the frame to equalize the Atlanta player's comeback and give Matt Ryan another 15 miles on his way to tie the game.

Six games later, Ryan found Julio Jones to tie this game to 19-all. Fortunately for Lenoir, the Cowboys would come back to win it.

Blaine Gabbert was facing a difficult situation on Sunday. His Titans were already leading 24-0 when he was replaced by Marcus Mariota, injured. But his first training resulted in a game late in the game (with a plentiful help from a useless roughness penalty for the Colts). And his second training allowed Tennessee to move closer to 30 meters to start the second half, giving hope for an unlikely comeback on Sunday afternoon.

And then, Gabbert threw a pass directly into the chest of linebacker Darius Leonard, and fans of Titans around the world were forced to take their hands in the forehead and sigh "oh, Blaine Gabbert, riiiiiight.

Indianapolis turned that into a touchdown three games later. And then another on their next drive. And then it was 38-3 and we all let ourselves wonder, again, what the heck are the Titans even in 2018.

5. Vance Joseph refused to use his challenges because the referees ruined everything

Twice, calls on the ground were launched against the Broncos. Twice, their head coach refused to throw his challenge flag.

In the second quarter against the Chargers, the Broncos were up 7 to 6 and decided to try the game at 4 and 1 on the LA line at 16 yards. Phillip Lindsay ran to the center and the referees said he was missing the first goal. CBS advertisers noted that Vance Joseph was clearly upset with Lindsay's position. The coach even pointed to the referees when they folded the ball, but did not challenge it.

The Chargers recovered the ball and set up an 84-yard touchdown for a 13-7 lead at halftime.

In the fourth quarter, the Broncos regained the advantage when a Lindsay touchdown scored 20-19. They decided to go for two and this time, Case Keenum ran to the center. He too was considered short. However, as stated by the CBS rules expert, Gene Steratore, the nose of the bullet appeared to have crossed the plane before Keenum 's knee touched the ground:

CBS

Joseph did not dispute it, and if he did, Steratore thought the arbitrators would have canceled the appeal. His reason for not challenging it, however, is even worse:

Hey, Joseph: That's the ambition of money!

The Chargers scored a goal on the next shot to regain the lead. The only reason the Broncos won 23-22 was because the Chargers came back to their old form and dropped the match. Their coach did not do them any good.

4. Nothing contributed more to the Steelers' return than Jaguar penalties

Jacksonville's main problem on Sunday was the fact that Blake Bortles remains his starting quarterback (18 assists, 104 yards, six sacks and six shots, and too many shots like this):

But the Jaguars' defense showed some major cracks when Pittsburgh fought back to turn a discouraging defeat into a difficult win. D.J. Hayden canceled his own game interception with a face mask at the end of the fourth quarter. A game later, he would again have the chance to score the Steelers with the first run of the half-yard line from Jacksonville, where Ben Roethlisberger was able to bulldoze to reach the winning score.

But none of the team's defensive penalties was as bad as a defensive Jaguar defenseman stepping in to James Washington on a deep ball to Antonio Brown, making the 78-yard touchdown a bit more embarrassing:

The defense was perfect at that time, but it sparked the 20-0 run that saw the Steelers win Sunday.

3. Dan Quinn is left behind by Jason Garrett

If a coach who becomes a computer scientist fails when the game is at stake, it's … well, Mike McCarthy. But it's also Jason Garrett, who is more conservative than Alex P. Keaton and more incompetent than Andy Reid.

And Dan Quinn increased it a bit in the Falcons' loss to the Cowboys.

The match was tied two minutes from the end and Garrett was, of course, happy to set a goal. The Cowboys approached and could have given Brett Maher time – who had already missed an extra point Sunday and three of his last five goals early in the game – attempted a shot of 48 yards. But Quinn did not stop taking time off that allowed the Cowboys to feed Ezekiel Elliott and bring them closer for their first year punt.

So Maher, who had only missed two goals under 45 points this season, had to face a 42-yard test. He did it, preserving the Cowboys' hopes for the playoffs – and virtually putting the nail in the coffin of the Falcons.

2. Philip Rivers had a rookie brain during his 215th game as a pro

The Chargers led the Broncos 22-20 when Rivers was folded to drop third and seventh on Denver's 48-yard line. It was a strange decision. The Broncos had no more time out, and even a stuffed race would allow Los Angeles to clock in at about 1:20 am before shooting the ball and daring for Case Keenum to beat them with a winning drive .

But the call also made sense. Rivers could scan the field looking for a wide and low target. If he had no one, taking a bag would not penalize the Chargers much; this would turn the clock and with the ball near the middle of the field, any defeat would have a negligible effect on the right kick to follow.

Rivers did not throw the ball at the back of the field. He did not take a bag either. Instead, he blocked a slow-moving screen that was slowly developing, stopping the stopwatch and giving the Broncos an additional 40 seconds of timekeeping for a winning workout.

1:55 later, Denver scored a winning goal to knock the Chargers to 7-3 this season.

1. Kirk Cousins ​​chose the most deflated moments to get kidnapped

The Vikings needed Something. Down 14-0 for the Bears, and being played even more than this score suggests, they had the ball around one minute from halftime on Sunday night. Kirk Cousins, who has a deserved reputation for not being ready for prime time, has failed to get the Minnesota offense. Their records consisted of three three-and-one and one that ended with an escaped Dalvin Cook.

Then they finally had a little life. The cousins ​​found Adam Thielen for 11 yards and Stefon Diggs for 25 yards to bring the Vikings to the 32-yard Chicago line. This is where all their momentum was wiped out with a classic Caffeine blunder.

According to the points, this pass was designed for Kyle Rudolph, but good luck to spot it anywhere in the frame. Because there is only the safety of bears, Adrian Amos, endowed with the easiest interception of his life:

You think it's bad? Let's move on a bit.

It's in the middle of the fourth quarter. The Vikings are now 14-6 and have just forced the Bears to play flat. A touchdown training, plus a two-point conversion, could tie things together.

Then the cousins ​​decide to "nah, lemma, put it in a triple cover"

The cousins ​​eventually led the Vikings to the end zone twice, but he came back too late in the able quarterback and lost 25 to 20.

Now, the Bears have a 1.5 game lead in the NFC's north. And cousins? Well, his record dropped to 4-12 in the prime time games.