US Sports

Diving done right in the NFL, the cockiest TD that never was and an obligatory Any Given Sunday reference.

Diving is much more fun in NFL

The Premier League is caught up in a diving frenzy right now. When Phil Neville is getting booked for simulation, the game has indeed gone mad. Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres also weighed in this weekend to put theatrical leaps at the head of the agenda, just behind the now ever-present issue of racism.

Over in the US though, ‘flopping’ is not really an issue in the NFL. But we did see one superb dive this weekend, one more suited to the Olympics than anything Luis Suarez ever tried. Add to that the fact this piece of acrobatics by Vick Ballard won the game for the Indianapolis Colts, in over time, and it is even more impressive.

Showtime gets cancelled

Considering it’s the biggest, brashest, most popular sport in the US, the NFL bosses are strangely conservative. They don’t allow players to ‘over’ celebrate TDs and anything that is seen as ‘taunting’ an opponent will see the player slapped with a fine.

There are many names for what Pittsburgh Steelers Antonio Brown did on Sunday but we think taunting is probably top of the list. The wide receiver’s punt return against Washington was great and he decided to spice it up by running the last 20 yards backwards.

Unfortunately, the TD didn’t count after a penalty was called further up the field against the Steelers, making Brown look very bad indeed. Just click here to watch the ‘TD’.

By the way, you may have noticed that the shirts are not the usual ones the Steelers wear. They are a recreation of a 1934 jersey worn by a team called the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cue Al Pacino…

It is almost impossible to go an entire NFL season without mentioning the movie Any Given Sunday. To be honest, we’re amazed it has taken us this long. But at the end of a crazy game on Sunday, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant proved the NFL is, as Al will tell you, a game of inches.

After falling behind 23-0, and with Quarterback Tony Romo having one of his ‘Bad Tony’ days, Dallas looked like they were going to receive a serious beating from the New York Giants.

But they managed to turn it around and actually led 24-23 going into the fourth quarter. However, trailing by five points with time running out, it looked like the Cowboys would lose after all.

Then Romo found Bryant in the endzone and the fairytale comeback looked like it had come to pass. That was until they looked at the video and it proved that Bryant’s hand was out of bounds as he landed. Giants win, Cowboys lose.  Inches man, inches.