Yes, the arm was hooked, but no, I don't think it should have been DPI (it was very close though). I think it was an outstanding play by the defender. The way I saw it, he effectively took one of Bowe's arms away just as the ball hit Bowe's hands. Maybe someone will produce a replay and we can double check it.

I'll agree that Cassel didn't throw the perfect pass to hit Bowe's outstretched arms in stride, but I think he was close enough on that play to call it a success on his part foiled by a really good defensive play.* It's not like Bowe had to stop to wait for it like his TD last week.


_______________
* (IMO, of course)

Why would you take out Lewis? He's been playing really well so far.

Do NOT want McGraw starting...

If Haley would have kicked a FG in the first half, perhaps Succop would have been more used to aiming in that wind, and he wouldn't have missed his first attempt :shrug:

Maybe.
If they take that three the game probably doesn't go to OT.

But if you try that kick in the 2nd quarter, it's kicking at the West End Zone.
The winning OT kick was in the East End Zone. Winds swirl different -usually its worse- on the east side, because the wind goes up a tunnel in the southeast corner of the playing surface.

Succop hit the game winner on the tougher end to kick. Kudos to him.

OK, if that was the tougher end to kick, when Buffalo won the toss for OT, why in the heck did we choose to go in that direction?

Well, I thought about that too. I think it's because the east end is where Succop was kicking all his warm up FGs during halftime. I think since that's the side he warmed up on, he may have wanted to kick that direction. Or, maybe the coaches didn't even think about it. Who knows? Plus, you can't tell when the wind is going to gust. The kick he missed got pushed like crazy. The winning kick went left too, but I don't think it went left as severely as the first kick. Just one of those things. Also, he was closer on the second kick than the first.

I played Soccer in my younger days. When I kicked a corner, I always threw a little grass up to check the wind direction. I always adjusted my kick direction to the wind. No coach told me to do it. I can't see why Succop or other kickers don't think this way. He looked surprised when the wind took the ball to the left. He should have kicked as if he was aiming to hit the right post.

Actually, Arenas was doing the grass in the wind thing all day for judging punts.

The wind at head level isn't as important as the wind at 40 ft in the air. You can't throw grass high enough to test those winds. I'm sure Succop doesn't need any advice from you or anyone else here on how to judge the wind.

Not totally true. If it's not a swirling type of wind it all goes in the same direction. I scored more than a few direct goals from the corner spot using that strategy. I really did.

Now you could have argued that the wind at Arrowhead was gusting and swirling. Your argument would have had more credibility.

I didn't have to argue that the winds were swirling because everyone (but you, apparently) already knew that. If you didn't get it from the CBS broadcast, you could have read it in gblowfish's post earlier in this thread:

Duh.

That may be the tougher end to kick in terms of a worse amount of wind, but isn't the wind on that end actually easier for a right footed kicker, because it hooks left. If they were going the other direction at the end of the game, he'd have had to kick at the left upright and hope for the wind to break it back to the right. Is that right? (I don't know for certain, I'm not nor have ever been a kicker...)

Ask Frankie. He's a kicking expert.