Analysis

10/24/22

5 min read

Week 7 First-and-10: What You Missed Over a Wild Weekend of Football

By The 33rd Team

first and 10 graphic

Ten wonderful, weird and wacky items from a wild weekend of football:

1st Down

Setting the Wrong Record

Leave it to FCS football to produce one of the strangest stat lines of the week. Weber State committed four safeties against Montana State, all on errant snaps out of the back of the end zone. This set a new FCS record and proved to be the difference in the game, with Weber losing, 43-38.

2nd Down

There's Football in His Blood

Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. is the son of Indianapolis Colts' legendary receiver Marvin Harrison, but he's making a name for himself with the Buckeyes. Harrison Jr. made this absurd catch in Ohio State's 54-10 win against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday.

3rd Down

Rocket Leg

Toledo’s Jonathon Batzke turned some heads Saturday when he blasted a punt 91 yards. The Rockets were backed up on their own 10-yard line when Batzke was called upon. Talk about flipping field position.

4th Down

One-Man Band

Hurdle, strip, sack, touchdown. This play by Vanderbilt’s CJ Taylor sent the college football world into a frenzy and earned him the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter’s top plays.

So good you have to see it twice. On-field angle of CJ’s play:

5th Down

Big-Time Burrow

To say the least, Joe Burrow was locked in on Sunday. He had the Falcons defense in a blender, posting another monster stat line of 501 total yards and 4 touchdowns. If that wasn’t wild enough, Burrow threw this 60-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd — his NFL-best 12th passing TD of 50+ yards since 2021. No other player had more than 7 over that span entering the week, according to NFL Research.

Before LSU’s home game on Saturday, the Tigers put on their jumbotron each alumni that is currently playing in the NFL. Guess who got the loudest roar?

6th Down

Lions Doing Lions' Things

The string of bad luck continues for Detroit, this time surfacing in the form of an unfortunate sequence. In the fourth quarter on Sunday against Dallas, the Lions were driving and had a chance to take the lead. T.J. Hockenson caught a pass and was tackled less than a yard short of the goal line. On the next play, Jaamal Williams fumbled and Dallas recovered. The Lions lost to the Cowboys 24-6.

To make matters even more embarrassing, the Lions also hit the ref in the head with the football. This was a week — and maybe a season — Dan Campbell and the city of Detroit would like to forget.

7th Down

Mascot's Revenge

Halftime of the Bengals-Falcons game was just as electric as the game itself. Mascots and kids took to the field for what on paper would seem to be an innocent scrimmage. The Falcons' mascot took things up a notch, shoving a kid out of bounds, where a scuffle ensued.

 

8th Down

A Glimmer of Hope

With all the chaos surrounding the owners and “Sell the team” chants raining down from fans, things weren’t looking promising for the Washington Commanders. Especially with Aaron Rodgers coming to town. But we all forgot about the Taylor Heinicke effect.

Nothing like a fresh dose of swagger and pinpoint deep passes to energize a team. Heinicke finished the day 20-of-33 for 201 yards and two touchdowns, beating Rodgers and the Packers, 23-21. Whether Rodgers was crying or not after the final play of the game is up for debate, but at the very least he was clearly upset with the loss.

9th Down

Mark Andrews: QB1

This Sunday was National Tight Ends Day, and Baltimore celebrated with Mark Andrews taking a snap at quarterback. Andrews pitched it to Lamar Jackson to convert on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter. This man can really do it all.

10th Down

Quarterback Controversy in Carolina

Until this week, there seemed to be a lack of chemistry on the Carolina Panthers, with rumors pointing at Baker Mayfield being the issue. Mayfield was out for Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay with a high left ankle sprain, leaving the starting job to PJ Walker. Just a few years ago, Walker was in the XFL waiting for his next shot. On Sunday, he capitalized on that shot and outplayed Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. The entire Panther team seemed to be playing inspired football, with the defense allowing only three points. Afterward, the energy in the locker room was high, as the team finally seemed to mesh together for the first time. Walker made that happen and was awarded the game ball. Mayfield better watch out for his job.

 

Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers See More

The 33rd Team

The 33rd Team is a Football Think Tank created by Mike Tannenbaum and Joe Banner.

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