Sour Rankings: Jets call foolish timeout, Denver hates Phil Simms

Author:
Chris Burke
Publish date:
Sep 17, 2014

You’ve seen (and likely disagreed with) the Week 3 Power Rankings. Now the Sour Rankings take a spin through the worst of the past week in the NFL …

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10. CBS' primetime lineup

Hey, more Phil Simms! (He's also still to come in our Sour Rankings countdown.)

CBS announced that four former NFL players -- three of whom are current CBS announcers/analysts -- will make cameo appearances across the network's fall lineup. Tony Gonzalez and Boomer Esiason, both now on The NFL Today, will be featured on NCIS and Blue Bloods, respectively. And Simms will saunter into a guest spot on Sherlock.

The fourth famous football face getting a CBS primetime nod: Eric Dickerson. The Hall of Fame running back will play himself on an episode of Hawaii Five-O.

9. The refs! Always, the refs

A couple of curious replays (or non-replays, as it were) on Sunday -- first, when Sammy Watkins might have fumbled before crossing the goal line on a touchdown; later, more obviously, when Percy Harvin stepped out of bounds on a touchdown run. The NFL admitted its error on the second example.

But the controversy continued into Monday night, when a game-changing interception by Andrew Luck might have come as a result of Philadelphia's Brandon Boykin holding Colts WR T.Y. Hilton.

"It sure looked like it on the Jumbotron," Colts coach Chuck Pagano said.

8. Steve Weatherford gets hacked

Weatherford is the Giants' punter, so this tweet from his account was noticeably out of place ...

Weatherford later apologized for being hacked. Although, if he wanted to jump ship from the 0-2 Giants to the 2-0 Eagles, it'd be hard to blame him.

7. Brandon Marshall vs. ESPN

The Bears' receiver went off, via Twitter, on ESPN and reporter Lisa Salters late Tuesday night. What set Marshall off was ESPN's decision to air an updated version of a 2012 "E:60" profile that touched on Marshall's background with off-field issues, including domestic violence and what later was diagnosed as borderline personality disorder. Part of Marshall's rant:

ESPN responded with this statement: "This story was originally told two years ago on "E:60", and we felt it was particularly worth telling again at this point given what's been in the news the past week. Marshall's story brings an important perspective: the story of a player who faced similar circumstances and through persistent dedication, changed his life, in an effort to regain the respect of fans and players.

• Amid brutal week in NFL, Marshall shows power of self-awareness

6. Getting political

In what was the NFL equivalent of Joan Callamezzo teasing Leslie Knope for being born in Eagleton (That one's for you, Parks and Rec fans), the Erie County Democrats ripped gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino for -- gasp! -- being a Dolphins fan.

"This weekend," the ad opens, "when the Miami Dolphins come to town, we'll all be rooting for our Buffalo Bills. Well ... everyone, that is, except Rob Astorino. You see, Astorino is a Miami Dolphins fan."

5. Marty Mornhinweg and Sheldon Richardson

Mornhinweg-called timeout costs Jets game-tying touchdown

The timeout heard 'round the world. Just as the Jets snapped the ball -- and then Geno Smith threw what could have been a game-tying touchdown -- offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg raced up the sideline shouting for a timeout. DT Sheldon Richardson, perhaps noticing that the officials were not responding, stepped forward and asked the line judge for a TO.

The official granted it, even though neither Mornhinweg nor Richardson is allowed to call a timeout in that situation, per league rules.

"Whether it was a bang-bang thing or whatever, I don’t know," Rex Ryan said. "Obviously, if Marty sees something in the thing, that’s an important call, that we want to make sure we’re in the right call at that situation. Obviously, that would be a reason to call it. I just know for a fact, I did not call the timeout."

4. Drew Stanton gets decked

Pretty good Sunday for Drew Stanton, thank you very much. The Cardinals' backup quarterback stepped into the lineup with Carson Palmer out and helped lead his team to a road win over the Giants. There was very little to complain about, save for this deadball run-in with Jameel McClain:

3. Tailgating Vikings fan

From the "taking it too far" category, one Adrian Peterson fan decided it would be a good idea Sunday to walk around holding a switch. Not great.

2. Denver vs. Phil Simms

As of the writing of this article, nearly 40,000 football fans had signed a petition asking that CBS' Phil Simms be banned from calling Broncos games. Comments on the petition range from this, by David Zahorsky: "Phil's transparent dislike for the Broncos is completely out of control as far as I'm concerned. If anchors and analysts are removed from the booth for insensitive comments I don't see why Phil isn't removed for just not being very competent at his craft" ...

... to this, from David Latimer: "I don't like his face."

Simms' profile has been increased this season by CBS' acquisition of half the Thursday night broadcasts, meaning an extra game every other week for Simms and play-by-play man Jim Nantz. That duo remains the network's No. 1 team, so the defending AFC champion Broncos probably will see them plenty as the season unfolds.

Sorry, Denver fans.