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
The first week of the playoffs!
Indianapolis 45, Kansas City 44 — The closest, most back-and-forth game in a weekend full of closely contested games, people will be talking about:
- How Chiefs coach Andy Reid stayed true to his nature by wasting his team’s time-outs which left them unable to possibly get the ball back for one last shot at the end of the fourth quarter.
- How Colts quarterback Andrew Luck stayed true to his nature by leading his team’s unbelievable comeback from 28 points down in the third quarter.
- How many injuries the Chiefs sustained to important players, especially star running back Jamal Charles who left the game very early with a head injury and did not return.
What’s next: The Colts go up to New England to play the Patriots next Saturday night at 8:15 on CBS. The Colts and the Patriots have had many memorable meetings in the playoffs in the last 15 years but all of them involved Peyton Manning who is now playing for the Broncos.
Philadelphia 24, New Orleans 26 — Saturday’s night game also came down to the wire. People will be talking about:
- All week the narrative was that the Saints had trouble winning on the road and in the cold, both of which they just did. So much for that.
- The Saints were able to “win” the battle of the offensive line and defensive line. On defense they found a way to hold the Eagles great running game to not-so-many yards and on offense they ran for 175 yards and only allowed two sacks.
- The overriding factor in this game might have been experience. The Saints quarterback and coach have been together since 2006. The Eagles coach and quarterback were new to each other and (more or less) the NFL this season.
What’s next: The Saints travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks, Saturday 4:35 on Fox. This is a rematch of a memorable playoff game from 2011 which the Seahawks won 41 – 36.
Cincinnati 10, San Diego 27 — The one lopsided game of the weekend was the early game on Sunday. People will be talking about:
- How the Chargers barely made the playoffs. They needed two other teams to lose last weekend just for them to have a chance.
- How the quarterback of the Bengals, Andy Dalton, really blew it. Dalton has blown it in the playoffs before, so now it’s a pattern, which is never good. Plus he has red hair, which seems to be a magnet for criticism. Editorial note: he really did blow it. He threw two bad interceptions and fumbled the ball in the second half.
What’s next: A rematch of the week 15 (two weeks ago) game that started the Charger’s run to the playoffs. They travel to Denver to play the Broncos Sunday, 4:40 on CBS. The Chargers and the Broncos are division rivals but have surprisingly never played in the playoffs.
Green Bay 20, San Francisco 23 — The last of the four games was an icy affair in Green Bay. People will be talking about:
- How the 49ers seem to have the Packers’ number. This makes three straight defeats starting with last year’s playoff game. This one was closer but still.
- How all three of the outside, cold weather games were won by teams from California and New Orleans. So much for home-field and home-environment advantage.
- How the 49ers are a tougher, bigger, more physical team than the Packers.
What’s next: The 49ers travel to North Carolina to play the Panthers on Sunday at 1:05 on Fox. The Panthers are the East Coast equivalent of the 49ers — big, strong, with an incredible defense and a young, talented, running quarterback.