Wow...what a game! That will be a contender for game of the year for sure! Looking forward to watching it when I get home in a couple of days.
First off...penalties...I don't know what it looked like on TV yet, but man, there was some serious chippiness from the some of the Stamps after plays early...and I really have no idea why. The penalty that caused the ejection was a weak call, but he was at it non stop, and the refs had to get it under control. I can not recall a game that I have seen a player acting up after the play for that many plays.
Congrats to the Stamps for digging out of that. They were in a viscous cycle of stupid penalties, and looked like they were imploding when they were down by 3 scores, but top notch effort! I think the Riders felt a little too cozy with that lead, and the Stamps jumped all over it. Bad timing for a first turnover huh? The Rider O started going for that big strike in the 4th, and it kept putting them in 2nd and long...granted they probably should have had 1 or 2 of them. They were having relative success before that. The Stamps smothered Sheets late, and the Riders did a really bad job of killing the clock.
And seriously...a post to put it into OT! WOW!
There were some big drops by both teams in this game, but none bigger than Dressler...That was shocking...highlight reel to doghouse! And the sack late in regulation...was I seeing right? The Riders seemed to have an empty backfield a few times, when they should have been at least keeping the threat of a run there. Really bad decisions on play calling there. You get a huge break on the fumble...then tat...really? Also...the bad snap was a killer I guess.
Lewis was a machine as usual...he made a couple of sensational grabs...the one TD...sorry, but I don't think any other Stamp would have caught that.
I was impressed on how well both sides ability to smother the running game for the most part. The one thing I questioned was why the Stamps were not passing underneath more...it was money all night...well, unless Cornish was dropping it (horrid outing for him).
I must admit, I thought Glenn would get sacked a few times more. He very intentionally took off a couple times, and I think that was very smart. When Glen went out the backup QB looked pretty darned poised...gotta be a confidence booster for the Stamps.
Overall, despite the score, both defenses played pretty well. There were a lot of balls thrown away because of coverage, and the run game was kept in check.
There were a few injuries in this game...sure hope all bounce back.
Amazing game...and yes, I do feel the Riders snoozed a bit with the lead...not attempting to take anything away from the Stamps, because they grabbed momentum and never let go. They dominated for the last 10 minutes or so, at a time they could have easily fallen apart.