It’s Wembley-week, or at least the first of this season’s two, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Minnesotta Vikings (18:00 Sun – C4 / Sky Sports). Both teams are winless and will hope that the trip across the Atlantic will play its part in turning their fortunes around. Watch out for the Vikes’ RB Adrian Peterson making plays with his legs, and Big Ben (no not that one) making plays with his arm for the Steelers. Before all that, on Thursday night the San Francisco 49ers are hosted by the St Louis Rams (01:25 Fri – Sky Sports). Also on the slate for Sunday we have the Dallas Cowboys taking on the San Diego Chargers (21:25 Sun – Sky Sports) and the New England Patriots playing the Atlanta Falcons (01:30 Mon – C4).The Monday Night Football matchup is between two 3-0 teams as the Miami Dolphins play the New Orleans Saints (01:40 Tues – Eurosport).
NFL Week 4
Published by Will Davies on
Listening to TNF via some internet radio station, but trying to fall asleep, so don't expect many comments ;) #nothere
Steelers vs Vikings at Wembley program just started on Channel 4. For reasons of stupidity they are switching to More 4 at 8pm
You what?! They clearly didn't remember that American Football takes just a tad longer than 'regular' football.
Evening all.
It winds me up when broadcasters do that. BBC are far more guilty of it to be fair
Especially with Wimbles
"An orange peanut, for me?"
ooh cheerleaders. hey all.
aww it won't be in hd :(
:)
I don't understand why they are not showing the teams going on to the field so that the new fans they keep talking about get a look at them
gene simmons?!
Purple team ftw
He has done the anthem for games before. The good thing about him doing it is he doesn't have to try and impress anyine so he just sings it straight
never seen him without makeup.
I hope someone does a score
:)
It would be good to see him and his mates in full make up doing it like one of their own songs
Sorry you have gone way to far with the jargon for me
:)
I always try to watch american football for the uk match and the superbowl and everytime I get super confused really quickly
Vikings kick off so Steelers get the ball unless they screw it up
Those scarfes are going to wear out really quickly
As always, my American football knowledge comes from Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpRllS5WhBw
"Let’s play from the trash can, to the lightpost."
other way round
See how confusing it is
and the game hadn't even started at athat point ;)
Good throw
at least I mean it looked like a nice throw. It's a better throw than the throws I do, so it's a good throw
Oh that throw wasn;'t so good, he threw it at the subs
Those scarfes have raise $3 million for a school for the disabled
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrible_Towel
That's awesome!
He almost went into the crowd!
Great coverage
steelers 24 is a good cb
best thing about this, is we're all in sync :)
Great effort to score from 54 yards
If you want live data from the game http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2013092906/2013/REG4/[email protected]#menu=drivechart&tab=track
i think i may be 5s (only) behind
how have ya managed that?
streaming via 4od
ahh.
Mrs^ has control of the TV ;)
"Well done for not getting injured" :)
Surely people are not questioning David Hay's latest fight stopping injury
I thought they had Roethlisberger there
Big Ben is the best at avoiding a sure sack
No takeaways! I have one every month
first and ten graphics are lacking there usual impressive subtlely.
They seem flickery to me
is the pitch the wrong green?
If you want to be a serious sportsman you are not allowed to go to McDonalds
yeah, i guess because it is a temporary installation.
heheh
I always assumed you needed to be a big chap to smash through everyone in american football or is that just all the padding?
They really are very big
That was a good run
nice!
flag...
I like how the referees have numbers too
Have a look at the heights and weights of the Steelers' players
http://www.steelers.com/team/roster.html
There are 7 different officials in every game. No-one can remember all those names
they're pretty much all 6 foot, yeesh
Also so the league can review performance - to ensure consistency
The lightest one I can see is 180 pounds which is 13 stone
The heaviest is 323 which is 23 stone
yah
touchdown!
yay
he didn't actually touch it down, is that allowed?
They don't touch down touchdowns
All they have to do is break the plane of the goal line
really?!
Tooooouchdooooown is a lot better to run off the tongue than runninnggmmaaannn
Damn - i dropped jennings 2 weeks ago.
People think it is confusing but all you need to know is this is football where hardly anyone uses their foot an the ball is not ball shaped. Add in that most scores are touchdowns that no-one touches down and you can see why people get cconfused
There are cheeseheads at Wembley?
Cheese, gromit!
For Lukeh
Green Bay Packers fans are called cheeseheads because they wear cheese on their heads
http://www.survivinggrady.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/cheesehead.jpg
Brilliant!
We need more cheese-based supporting groups. They should have renamed this Wembrie Stadium
hehe. big ben comparison.
good catch!
Green Bay is in Wisconsin which is dairy country although just to add to the confusion they are called the Packers because the team was formed by meat packers so they should really be the steak heads
nothing in this sport is straightforward, apparently
Absolutely nothing
My knowledge of the NFL is limited to the longest yard so I'm more comfortable if one of the teams brings on Chris Rock and a bunch of WWF wrestlers
You need to watch the MASH movie and Mean Machine then. Not the Vinnie Jones Mean Machine but the original
you must have seen batman when big ben fell into the massive hole in the pitch...
td - booo yaaa
Steelers 7
Vikings 10
4 minutes 2 seconds to go in the first quarter
oh yeah!
I bet that day must have been the bane of the NFL's life
:)
Great blocking there
Trades descriptions!
That only applies here.
If it applied in America they would need to shut down all their sports for a re-write
Nearly an interception but the ball just touched the ground before he got to it.
Vikes seem to be covering Ben's receivers too much for him.
Even on a disguised pass like that they got two men to the receiver
So close
That was dedication
big ben doesn't chime at 6:47!
I think the Vikings need a quarterback who knows where to put his passes. Cassel keeps putting them in positions that don't help his receivers
Forte has scored for the Bears, so all my FFootball teams have a jump in points :D
End of the first quarter. The second quarter starts from the position they finished the first quarter
But haven't they switched ends (while retaining the same field position)?
Yes. I tried explaining it that way before but people got confused so I went for the simple version
I seeeeee.
`
Haha, so many subtleties that perhaps I should ignore today ;)
christine nicked the tv. now i'm on relegated to the small screen too.
#women
So although the game is played in 4 quarters it is really played in 2 halves. Not confusing
#affinity
Shouldn't there be a #confidential after that?
nah. i nicked her tablet. #planning
I love that we are being kicked off Channel 4 for Kevin McCloud to build a sun lounge on a beach hut and the big fat quiz of the 90s. Clearly those had to be shown on this channel tonight
That is why Adrian Peterson makes the big bucks
AP could run all day!
Allen sacks Roethlisberger
bit harsh, mid game
It's a tough game
heeeeh
I'm enjoying this, I just don't understand anything :)
i've been like that for two years ;)
The team with the highest score is winning
How come there are two timers?
Oh, one of them disappeared
There is a maximum time for every play (play clock)
ahhh, makes sense.
So you have the game timer with is around 9 minutes just now
And you have a play clock which the director tends to put on screen when it gets down to around 5 seconds to go
I hope Cassel was watching that. That is how a QB places a pass so that the receiver is in the best place to catch it
I wonder why they have made the yellow line red for this game. 1st and 10 graphics always have the line of scrimmage in blue and the new first down line in yellow
Phew, half time
timeout
Not yet
whoops, I thought they said half time
*sits in the corner embarrassingly*
not to worry - sorry if my post are curt, one handed typing here ;)
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2013092906/2013/REG4/[email protected]#menu=drivechart&tab=track
Look under the teams' scores and you see 3 little boxes. Each one represents a time out. If they are yellow the team still has the time out to take. They get 3 new ones each for the second half
holy moly this puts live timing to SHAME
and then some :(
there is so much everything
and not a java error in sight!
I said the game was confusing.
If a head coach doesn't like a ruling from the officials he can challenge it. If he loses the challenge he loses one of his time outs. The team can only challenge if it has a time out to gamble with. Head coaches get a little bit upset if they have no time outs and they disagree with a decision
So essentialy like a challenge in tennis but without the hawk eye bit. I get that
First time Mr C saw it we spent the whole game discussing that and n field graphics. Baseball was worse
This is the baseball version
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_09_29_detmlb_miamlb_1&mode=gameday
Holy...
Yes. The referee disappears to the side of the field to have a look at a screen
F1 fans are losing out big time. MLB have actually taken away some of the data from that to put in their pay version
Absolutely crazy and so very awesome especially for a free version.
Best sports tweet of the day was someone asking why the NHRA don't do in race interviews like NASCAR. NHRA runs drag racing where the top cars run times of around 4 seconds.
They used to show each pitch in real time in data. So you got the speed, the change in height, the spin etc. All of that worked out in real time.
I love that they have an airship flying round the field in Game Center
Lucky lucky Vikings
Normally a Steelers defence would take the ball there
The two minute warning is like a competition caution in NASCAR where the game is stopped for ads
detail.
Mashable explaining why there is a yellow first down line. Years behind sidepodcast
http://mashable.com/2013/09/25/yellow-first-down-line/
Vikings make the field goal
20-10 Vikings
No idea how they are winning with Cassel making so many mistakes
I mihgt suggest: AP + defence (/poor Steelers OLine) + luck.
This is often the best part of the game. The Steelers have to go 80 yards in 39 seconds for a TD or 40-ish yards for a field goal. Only haveing one time out now is a big problem
Can't someone just run through them quickly?
Now it's definitely half time!
Agreed ;)
Running down the middle is a bad idea. If the ball carrier gets out of one of the side lines the clock stops. If he stays on the field the clock keeps going. Playing through the middle when you only have 30-ish seconds is rarely a good idea
If they had been more organised they would have put 4 receivers on and let them charge up the field so Roethlisberger can pass to them
The good thing is that it is a close game so the second half should be interesting
And the Americans were apologising that they were sending 2 win-less teams... we've got a great match-up :)
Cassels' numbers are odd. 15 attempted passes but he has only made 6 of them but he has thrown for 128 yards. Despite missing most of his passing attempts he has one TD but no interceptions
It means the game is very important to both of them
What's his current QBR?
Game centre dowesn't give that
Shame, it's only maths.
vernon :)
93.194
http://www.csgnetwork.com/quarterbackratecalc.html
If he had an interception instead of a TD it would be 43
He poushed him over!
Flag on the play. Pass interference
That looked dodgy to me, can they send anyone off?
Damn that PI, I need those points to Brown.
Ball will be placed on the one yard line. Now that is a proper penalty
Spot of the foul penalty, in the endzone, so it goes to the 1.
They can but it very rarely happens. Normally it is for violence rather than a technical foul
Touchdown
touchdown! with an actual touch down!
Now I see the TD
Great movement by the Steelers to create the gap
That was exactly what we needed to make sure we got a competitive second half
3 point game
It's very close now
Nice to not have any full course yellows either
ha!
One of the things I like about this sport is the officials throw their flag on the ground so they are committed to their decision. None of the nonsense you see in football with a linesman putting his flag up then taking it down again
Every decision is a yellow flag though
old school whiteboards. like literally from my old school :)
There is the case where some officials "pick up" their flags.
Yes but normally they explain that there was no penalty on the play because... rather than slinking away and pretending they hadn't done it
Totally. Usually it is because the officals have had a discussion between them and decided no infraction.
Channel change
Over to More 4
Steelers totally blew that
How can AP be left with a gap that wide straight down the middle?
I had no idea that the Steelers didn't have cheerleaders. I thought it was kind of compulsory
Interception
Touchdown Vikings
did they say why not? isn't that mean on pittsberg people wanting to compete?
The owner said "We are here to play football. That is all"
that's really working out for them...
It means they can't sell cheerleading mechandise though. The profits from merchandise sales of club don't go to them. Because it is a frachise system each club gets a share of all the teams' merchandise sales. So all the other teams are paying for cheerleaders but the Steelers will get a share of the profits
I assume it was an early owner and they have a very successful history
Damn - i picked the Steelers to win this - looking unlickly now
I haven;t seen Vernon kay on TV for a while
Ridiculous stereotypes going on at Sidepodcast HQ today. I did some exercise and then cooked dinner, while Mr C sat on the sofa watching football with a beer.
I hope Mr C talked in a texan accent and questioned why people weren't properly using propane otherwise my dream of it seeming like an episode of King of the Hill is ruined
Send him out for exercise tomorrow and let hime cook dinner. Then you can sit on the sofa with beer and talk to us
He has to watch his kids because Tess is always on TV
Mr C says he can't do a Texan accent. Spoilsport.
Can he do Noo Yoik?
Touchdown Steelers
Big Ben now has a sore paw.
Luckily London Bridge is warming up on the side
:)
Surely everyone can do that. Especially to ask for cawfee.
You need to find a reason to put that in the next podcast
"In other news, New Jersey is back on the 2014 calendar..."
"It is? Now we can get some CAWFEE!"
I think you mean Noo Joisay
fg miss
I imagine a lot of Vikings fans are not happy with the game being in London. Normally they pay for a season ticket and only get 8 games but this year they only get 7
2-score game... I sense an onside kick if the Steelers can finish off this drive
Steelers make the field goal. Now the Steelers need to get the ball back and get a TD
Onside, onside!
The Vikings will now be trying to run down the clock as much as possible.
Has to be
Well, well, well
Or not. Decided to go for territory
Steelers will use time outs to keep as much time as possible on the clock so they have time if they can get the ball back
The Vikes are doing a good job of controlling the clock (so far).
Steelers will get a chance to win it, but without a timeout
1 minute 43, no time outs and they need a TD
Simples
Nearly another interception. That must be 4 that have been within inches of being interceptions
we're about to watch JT on itunes. i'd be gutted if it was a dramatic finish...
now have nfl on the very small screen.
could this go to ivertime?
*overtime, ivor's headed home for the day
A TD will tie it up
If the Steelers get a TD they have the choice of a conversion kick for one point to tie the scores or they can try to score another TD and get 2 points. It would be very unusual for them not to take the kick
FUMBLE ends it
Game over
Well that was fun :)
There is another game just starting on Sky. Chargers and the Cowboys
Great to have you guys along for the ride :D
That will be a shootout
Then next week the Cowboys host the Broncos
I suppose shootouts in Texas are cliche
That could shape up to be another Broncos demolition
Just look at the Seahawks-Texans right now 20-20 into OT.
So Lukeh are you considering joining us more often to watch games or do you like to just see the odd one?
I think the odd big matches here and there. I find it very difficult to keep up with but enjoy it when the big matches like this pop up at a reasonably sensible time
There is a 2nd Wembley game later in the season.
Some big scores tonight
Bears 24
Lions 40 with a minute to go
Any time you fancy joining us just ask loads of questions and we will try to help you understand
good game. cheers all!
Thank you for letting us 'borrow' you motorsports website ;)
So much for me criticisng Cassel. He finished with a QB rating of 123
That stadium emptied quickly
Race for the tube
Here we go!
I am going to miss the first chunk of this game. Hopefully will be back during the 2nd quarter
So far Romo looks like the wrong QB to have chosen as my WildCard - he's 0 for 4 throws.
Nice of them to keep the scores down until I got back
7 for 7 since then
Chargers field goal to take a 3 point lead
It took 10 minutes for me to et get fom my seat - slowest it's ever been!r
Still, good game - how was it on TV?
And how did Seattle's game finish?
ot fg for the hawks
we enjoyed it :)
I didn't know you were at the game
It looked really good. The only thing we spotted was that the first and ten graphics were a bit dodgy
23-20 after OT
What was the atmosphere like?
Touchdown Cowboys. 40 yard pass from Romo.
PAT made
14-10 Cowboys
eh, it can't be the best commenting system in the world™ without any comments ;)
Now seems to be a bad time to remember Rivers is my wild card
Pretty good. Lots of Steelers fans, but crowd supported Vikings, even when they were ahead. Didn't seem to get bored either
There were a lot of positive comments from players, former players etc
Chargers score a field goal right on half time to make it 21-13
Chargers make it a one point game
Peyton Manning's QB rating with a quarter to go is 138. So gladly that I am blindly biased about him. Does wonders for my fantasy team
Chargers make a field goal to lead by 2
Cowboys punt and had the opportunity to ground the ball at the Chargers' 5. Instead they let it bounce and it ended in the end zone.
56 yard play action pass from Rivers to Gates. Chargers lead by 9 with less than 7 minutes left on the clock
Denver must be a good bet for the Superbowl already. Not only is Manning picking teams apart but they blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown and the Eagles last drive ended with a missed field goal from 4th and 21.
Final score
Cowboys 21 - Chargers 30
Eagles 20 - Broncos 52
First time the Broncos have scored 50 points in 50 years. I have a feeling it won't be the last time this season. Peyton finished with a QB rating of 148
I have one eye on the Patriots. So far so good.
I have 1 ear on it.
oof, that looked painful