This weekend in NFL stupid

Lucky us. This was one of the stupidest weeks of the 2013 NFL season. At least thus far. Details…

The stupidest roughing the passer penalty

This week, the "award" goes to a defensive player for taking a stupid penalty, not an official for throwing a stupid flag. The San Diego Chargers forced a turnover inside their own red zone in a close game with the Miami Dolphins, bit the play was negated because Corey Liuget took two full steps after Ryan Tannehill threw the ball before pounding him.

How, in 2013, could a defensive player even think about touching a quarterback when this is the distance that separates them when said quarterback releases?

Two plays later, the Dolphins scored to take a three-point lead. They'd go on to win by a score.

The stupidest roughing the passer penalty, part two

It looked liked the Tennessee Titans were going to hold the Indianapolis Colts to a field goal with just a couple minutes left Thursday night. It was going to be third-and-six, and one more stop would have meant they'd have to chance to respond in a one-score game. But then Akeem Ayers hit Andrew Luck well after he had handed the ball off to Donald Brown.

That essentially iced the game, with Indy taking advantage of the fresh set of downs and scoring two plays later.

The stupidest fan

I certainly hope he and the guy he crushed are OK, but the dude who decided it was a good idea to slide down a railing next to a cliff that dropped from one level to another at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo deserves a special mention here.

The man who fell, who has already been banned from future games in Buffalo, has a shoulder injury which is reportedly non-life-threatening. The man he landed on sustained a head injury. 

The stupidest coaching decision

I usually support aggressive offensive football and fourth-down gambles, but I don't understand why Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz felt the need to get fancy at the Pittsburgh Steelers' 10-yard line with a four-point lead in the fourth quarter. Instead of taking a field goal to make it a seven-point game, the Lions ran a fake, which was unsuccessful. Pittsburgh would take the lead on the ensuing drive and never look back. 

Sometimes, you've just gotta take the damn points.

“I just know what goes on in our locker room,” Schwartz said. “Everybody knows why we called it and why we practiced it and everything else. We really don't care what anybody else's feeling is."

Well that's good, because my feeling is it was stupid. The risk just wasn't worth the potential reward there.

The stupidest penalty

Are you being serious, Eric Walden? Who headbutts a dude, period, let alone a dude not wearing a helmet? 

Walden was suspended one game for that. I honestly think he got off light. 

The stupidest non-call

This might not have been a safety on Colin Kaepernick, but if it's not intentional grounding, I just don't know what is. 

The worst part is that referee Tony Corrente claimed Kaepernick was "well outside the pocket." What?

The stupidest last-minute quarterback decision

Robert Griffin III faced immediate pressure from Fletcher Cox on a third-down inside the Philadelphia Eagles red zone with less than a minute to play. But instead of going to Roy Helu underneath to live another day, Griffin chucked it into the end zone, Hail Mary style, for the game-closing interception.

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.

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