Nathan Peterman's great grandfather, Nathaniel Jeremiah Peterman, established the family tradition of interception throwing way back in the early 20th century when he played college football somewhere in Florida at a time when passing in football was only beginning to find its way into offensive playbooks. Three generations later, Nathan Peterman proudly carries on the family tradition in a Buffalo Bills uniform. His relationship with interceptions is complex and deep. They are a fundamental part of who he is as a football player and as a man. And he is committed to the practice: his career NFL statistics show that he throws an interception on every tenth pass attempt. Even when they are not his fault, the interceptions just seem to pile up when he is under centre. But that didn't stop the Bills from taking him in the fifth round of last year's draft and naming him as their starting quarterback going into week one this season. He got another start yesterday - the third of his NFL career - as he was clearly the best quarterback on the roster not suffering from an injured elbow or a concussion.
The Chicago Bears had 11 first downs yesterday in Orchard Park. The Bills had 22. The Bears gained only 190 total yards compared to the Bills 264. Buffalo won the time of possession battle by eight minutes. These statistics usually lead to a win but the Bills engineered their own blow-out by handing the game to the Bears with three turnovers in six offensive plays in the second quarter. Two of these were returned for touchdowns. Peterman did achieve a couple of irrelevant milestones yesterday: first, he played a complete game for the first time in his career and second, he led the team on a touchdown drive (and scored the touchdown himself) which began on their side of mid-field for the first time in 25 quarters, or almost 40% of an entire NFL season. Albeit, that was in garbage time. I had long since taken the dog for a walk at that point and didn't see it but I'm sure that NFL Films will feature it one day as part of its deep dive on Nathan Peterman as the only player to win the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award three times in one season. And there are still seven games to go. If he wins it again, that record will likely stand until climate change consumes the earth in fire.
On Saturday, I caught most of the second half of the game in Austin, Texas where the No. 7 West Virginia Mountaineers stole a 42-41 win over the Longhorns. After scoring a late touchdown which brought them to within a point of tying the game, the Mountaineers rolled the dice and went for the win by going for a two-point convert which was successful. I admire that kind of aggressive approach and it helped make that the game of the day in College football. Going into yesterday's NFL action, the game of the day was either going to be the Saints and the Rams (the league's only undefeated team) or the Patriots and Packers. The saints ended up handing the Rams their first loss of the season in a very entertaining game, thereby prompting the 1972 Miami Dolphins to uncork their champagne knowing that their record of an undefeated season, including the playoffs and the Superbowl, will stand for another year.
The US mid-term elections take place tomorrow. I saw some eye-popping numbers from the advance polls over the weekend which point to a high turnout and renewed engagement on the part of voters aged 18 to 29. These numbers may not carry through to the final results but in some states, the early voting numbers for that cohort are quite impressive: in North Dakota, turn-out in advance polls among 18-29 year-olds was up 2,400%, in Wisconsin, it was up 758%, Tennessee 666% and over 400% in Texas and in Georgia. I read some analysis which predicted that this mid-term round will probably have the highest voter turn-out since 1966 when about 49% of eligible voters exercised their right. The last few mid-term rounds have averaged at or below 40%. High turn-out and an engaged pool of younger voters probably spells bad news for the GOP but engagement on both sides appears to be strong, thanks to inflamed rhetoric and the unprecedented political divide in the US right now.
The Democrats are on a path to re-take the House of Representatives as all of its 435 seats are up for grabs tomorrow. The Senate is another story with only 35 seats being contested, 26 of which are held by Democrats. They will need to hold all of these and gain another two seats if they are to take over control of the Senate. Or, if they lose one (as seems likely in North Dakota), they will need to take away three seats from the Republicans. The most likely states where the Dems have a chance to unseat Republican Senators are Texas, Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada. The party which occupies the White House is almost always dealt a set-back in mid-term elections. Tomorrow night, we'll learn how big that set-back is.
For those who might care, the Bills play the Jets next week at the Meadowlands of New Jersey.
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