Cue Cards is a series designed to assist with the common small talk about high-profile recent sporting events that is so omnipresent in the workplace, the bar, and other social settings.
On Mondays during in the fall, the conversation is so dominated by NFL football that the expression “Monday morning quarterback” has entered the vernacular. The phrase is defined by google as “a person who passes judgment on and criticizes something after the event.” With the popularity of fantasy football, we now have Monday morning quarterbacks talking about football from two different perspectives. We want you to be able to participate in this great tradition, so all fall we’ll be running NFL One Liners in our cue cards series on Monday. Use these tiny synopses throughout the day:
NFL One Liners
New England 23, Tampa Bay 3 — Despite having put Boston in a constant state of crisis for the past three weeks, the Patriots are 3-o and it’s the Buccaneers who are lost at sea.
Indianapolis 27, San Francisco 7 — Colts quarterback Andrew Luck beat his college coach Jim Harbaugh, now head coach of the 49ers, whose team and quarterback specifically have looked confused while losing the past two games.
Cincinnati 34, Green Bay 30 — In the most entertaining game of the day, the upstart Bengals beat the Packers in the type of shoot-out game that the Packers were designed to win. The winning score came as the result of a fumbled fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. The football!
Carolina 38, New York Giants 0 — The Giants are known for slow starts but losing their first three games and getting shut out against the previously winless Panthers may be taking things too far.
Detroit 27, Washington 20 — Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III looked more like himself today than in previous games this season. Unfortunately the Washington defense continued to look exactly like themselves.
Miami 27, Atlanta 23 — This game is a great example of how unstable the fortunes of most NFL teams are from year to year. Last year the Miami were 7-9, this year they are 3-0. Last year the Falcons were 13-3, this year they are 1-2.
Baltimore 30, Houston 9 — Missing their star running back, Ray Rice (RUTGERS!!), the Ravens won this game due to the strength of their defense and special teams units.
New Orleans 31, Arizona 7 — Saints keep their perfect record going and look like one of the strongest teams in the NFL.
Cleveland 31, Minnesota 27 — Cleveland played without their starting running back (who they traded to Indianapolis this past week) and their injured starting quarterback and still managed to score more points against the Vikings than they had in their two previous games combined.
San Diego 17, Tennessee 20 — The Titans scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter including a touchdown with 15 seconds remaining to beat the Chargers.
Dallas 31, St. Louis 7 — Believe it or not, this game was not as close as the score would suggest. The Cowboys dominated the Rams from start to finish.
Chicago 40, Pittsburgh 23 — Pittsburgh has pride and tradition but not much of an offensive line. Those guys are important.