Sour Rankings: Special teams gaffes, TD celebrations worst of Week 13
The updated Power Rankings arrive on Wednesday. But first, the Sour Rankings take a spin through the worst of the past week in the NFL …
10. Trash-talking Brandon Marshall's wife
Brandon Marshall scored six huge points late in the fourth quarter against the Giants, hauling in a touchdown pass with 32 seconds left to help force overtime. He also scored some relationship points during the Jets' win.
Week 13 Snaps: Seahawks coming together at familiar time for NFC foes
Marshall revealed after the game that the Giants' Cullen Jenkins had some words about Marshall's wife.
"I believe in trash talk and some guys get up for that, but some things are off limits," Marshall told reporters. “He made a comment—he said my 'girl' and he didn't know I was married. I don't care, there's not enough money on this earth for someone to disrespect my wife. ...
“He thought maybe I had four or five girls or something. But I'm happily married to one woman. I love my wife, Michi Marshall, and I will fight to the end for her. So there you go, baby. He's 500 pounds and I went after him for you."
9. The Bills’ defense (and the refs, again)
A huge win for Buffalo over Houston on Sunday. This, however, was not the finest moment for Rex Ryan's team:
Of course, the Bills have an argument that Houston was not set prior to the snap—two receivers and at least two linemen still were getting set when the Texans hiked the ball; the rules require shifting players to set for at least one second prior to the snap.
• FARRAR: Bills preserve playoff hopes with win against Texans
8. The AFC South (in GIF form)
Heading into Week 13, the AFC South actually held two playoff positions—Indianapolis leading the division and Houston as a wild card. It's down to one now after the top three teams (Indianapolis, Houston and Jacksonville) all lost.
The Jaguars went down to the Titans, 42–39. They might have flipped that outcome were it not for ...
7. Extra points
Newton’s MVP performance vs. Saints helps Panthers remain undefeated
A return trip to the Sour Rankings for the NFL's PAT. There were eight extra points missed on Sunday, including one in the Carolina-New Orleans game that was returned by the Saints' Stephone Anthony for two points—the first time such a play has occurred since the league changed its rules to allow the defensive two-pointer.
Kickers missed eight extra points all of last season, back when they were of the 19-yard variety.
Bonus Sour Rankings mention for the Ravens, who nullified two missed extra points on back-to-back snaps by jumping offside. After the second penalty the Dolphins lined up and went for two, converting on a Jay Ajayi run. Miami won the game by ... you guessed it ... two points.
6. Jeremy Hill jumps in the Dawg Pound
Perhaps nothing (well, nothing other than Sunday's 34-point home loss) signals that the Browns and their fans have thrown in the towel on 2015 better than the tepid reaction to Jeremy Hill's celebration:
There's that one Browns fan who gives it a half-hearted, ‘Get out of here’ shove, and LB Karlos Dansby eventually runs over. But all in all, pretty calm.
5. The Rams' fake punt punt
Jeff Fisher has a reputation as being something of a savant when it comes to special teams trickery. He may have let the hype get to his head Sunday.
The Rams motioned punter Johnny Hekker out of his usual spot ... only to have him just punt the ball anyway. (GIF via SBNation)
Presumably, the idea was to get Arizona to move its return man, thereby making it easier for St. Louis to down the ball deep. It sort of worked, because the Cardinals did shift back into something resembling a base defense. Hekker kicked the ball into the end zone for a touchback, though.
• NFL playoff picture after Week 13: Patriots slide down to AFC's No. 3 seed
4. Mark Ingram's touchdown celebration
We've seen quite a few examples now proving why it is a bad idea to whip the football as hard as you can after scoring a touchdown. At least this one wasn't a direct hit.
Worse yet for Ingram, he was hit with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after giving his team the late lead. Carolina returned the ensuing kickoff to the 50, but Ingram was bailed out a bit by a holding call that brought the ball back to the Panthers' 25.
3. Dabbing owners
Here's 68-year-old Jets owner Woody Johnson dabbing after his team's win over the Giants:
And here's 79-year-old Carolina owner Jerry Richardson:
RIP, dabbing (2015 – ...later in 2015).
2. The Patriots' drop kick
New England did recover an onside kick in the fourth quarter, but its special teams still would like to forget most of Sunday's loss to Philadelphia. The Patriots surrendered a touchdown on a blocked punt, as well as an 83-yard return TD by Darren Sproles.
Both of those plays came after this one, a surprise drop kick from Nate Ebner:
The drop kick is legal but rarely used, and perhaps that's evidence of why. The Patriots led 14–0 at the time of that attempt, only to watch Philadelphia then rip off 35 unanswered points.
• FARRAR: Loss to Eagles proves Pats' depleted roster catching up to them
1. Antonio Brown's touchdown celebration
Spiderman! Spiderman! Does whatever a spider caaaannnnnn ... noooooo!
