DG176

If you are an NFL team that begins a season by losing its first 2 games, you are already in deep trouble. And if you start with 4 straight losses? Well, history says you might as well pack it in and start getting ready for the next season, because ... Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule (up from 14) in 1978, there have been 118 teams that began the season 0-4 and only one of them went on to reach the playoffs that year. So you can imagine the tension and desperation in the air in a game where the teams on both sidelines are 0-4 .....

It was Sunday, October 8th, Week 5 of the 2017 NFL season. Warm and humid weather greeted the 0-4 Los Angeles Chargers after making the 2,400-mile, cross-country flight to face the 0-4 New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Jokes were made about the matchup being the "Game of the Weak" or "Game of the Meek". If it had been between most other 0-4 teams, CBS would have done whatever possible to broadcast the game to as few people as possible; but since it was between teams representing the two largest television markets in the nation, the game was televised live to millions more than it should have.

Actually though, despite their records there were a couple of things that made the game very much worth watching. RB Melvin Gordon (photo above) had his first 100-yard rushing game of the season and scored the winning touchdown for the Chargers; it was the second NFL meeting between old Muck City rivals Travis Benjamin and Janoris Jenkins; and, rather incredibly, not one, two, or three, but four Giants wide receivers were knocked out of the game due to injury. And oh, right, there was one other thing too: the dreads.

You may recall that in my 2017 Dread Focus sections the Chargers were the only team in the league that I gave an "A" grade for their dreads; and the Giants were one of only two teams to get an "A-". So even though it was early in the season, there (arguably) wasn't going to be any other game the rest of the season with better dreads than this one. 18 players with dreads were in uniform - 9 for each team - including at least 4 that would make the Top 10 list of players with the longest dreads in the league. And when I started saving photos from the game, there were enough good ones that it quickly occurred to me that this game deserved a dread gallery all of its own. So here in DG #176, almost two years after the game was played, we'll finally take a look at some of those photos.

There are five YouTube videos I watched to help me determine the exact parts of the game each photo was taken. You are welcome (and recommended) to watch them in their entirety (on the links below, listed as V1, V2, etc.). But if you don't want to do that, I'll include the exact times of the videos at which the plays in the photos posted can be seen.

V1 - game highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNcl1MIH4iw
V2 - Philip Rivers highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGUiu_sMngQ
V3 - Melvin Gordon highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7bL8ksTHq0
V4 - Janoris Jenkins and Travis Benjamin mic'd up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAdDPrVuxfI
V5 - game Sights and Sounds (from Giants' website): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET29kHwAy60
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1. Little does he know it as he warms up before the game, but WR Roger Lewis is going to see much more action than he expects. Due to all the injuries suffered by the Giants' receivers in the game Lewis ended up playing what to that point was a career high 45 snaps on offense. With his dreads too short to be seen with his helmet on, this is the only photo of him you're going to get. But if you want to see his 29-yard reception for his 1st TD of the season to put the Giants ahead 16-10 midway through the 3rd quarter, it's at the 3:00 mark of V1 and the 2:49 mark of V5. It was his only reception of the day.

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2. As is his custom at Chargers games LB Chris McCain (on right in left photo) treats a youngster to spend some time on the field with him during early warmups. Here he introduces a Chargers fan (well, at least he's a Philip Rivers fan) to Melvin Gordon. McCain would play 19 total snaps in the game and finish with 1 tackle (1-0). In the right photo Gordon puts his autograph on the LaDainian Tomlinson Hall of Fame cap of a Chargers fan before the game. For Chargers fans in the NYC area this was the first of two visits by the Chargers in 2017 (they played the Jets in Week 16) and their first since 2012.

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3. After spending parts of his 2015 rookie season and the 2016 season on the practice squads of the Ravens, Falcons, and Cardinals, DE Nordly "Cap" Capi finally got on the field in 2017. Cut by the Cardinals at the end of the preseason, Capi was signed to the Giants practice squad the next day. And a week after making his NFL debut at Tampa in Week 4, he gets in some stretching before playing in the 1st home game of his career. 

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4. WRs Dwayne Harris and Odell Beckham and CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie say their prayers before the game. If they asked for good health, Harris and Beckham didn't get the answer they were hoping for. Little do they know it, but for the two of them this would be their last game of the season.

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5. Over in the other end zone the pregame prayers come from the bowed heads of several Chargers players, including four of them with dreads. The easy one to spot, with his dreads almost touching the ground, is S Tre Boston. Less obvious are S Rayshawn Jenkins (#25, on the right), WR Travis Benjamin (#12, with black shoes), and S Jahleel Addae (#37, on the left). All four are Florida natives.

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6. On the 3rd play of the Giants' opening drive Jahleel Addae makes his 1st tackle of the game, as he and LB Jatavis Brown stop WR Brandon Marshall at the NY 31-yard line after a catch for a gain of 3. But the 3 yards were enough to convert a 3rd and 3, and the drive continued.

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7. Three plays later Jahleel Addae gets credit for his 1st and only PBU of the game, as the short pass to TE Rhett Ellison on 2nd and 10 is incomplete on the NFL logo at the 47-yard line, with LB Hayes Pullard also defending. Two plays later the drive ended with a punt, and Dwayne Harris downed it at the 4-yard line.

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8. After going three and out on their first possession, the Chargers go three and out again on their second - out of the end zone, that is. As OT Joe Barksdale blocks DE Avery Moss on 3rd and 7 (in background in photo above) he has no idea of the disaster unfolding behind him. The ball is snapped before QB Philip Rivers is ready, and it deflects off of him and into the end zone. Melvin Gordon watches helplessly as Rivers scoops up the ball and quickly (before anybody can hit him) flings it out of the back of the end zone for a safety to put the Giants in front 2-0 with 8:53 remaining in the 1st quarter. This play can be seen from three different angles at the 0:10 mark of V1, at 0:44 of V4, and at 0:19 of V5. Moss, by the way, finished with 0 tackles and 1 PBU in his 29 snaps on defense.  

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9. On the first play of the Giants' possession following the safety WR Sterling Shepard slams on the brakes after making the catch as he tries to elude Tre Boston; but he can't shake Boston, who tackles him at the NY 46-yard line after a 9-yard gain.

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10. Two plays later DE Melvin Ingram (#54) and DT Darius Philon (#93, dreads not visible from the front) look on from behind the play as RB Wayne Gallman makes the catch on 1st and 10 and gains 7 yards before being tackled at the LA 42-yard line. S Adrian Phillips and Jahleel Addae get credit for the tackle, not DT Damion Square (#71). The Giants punted 3 plays later after a sack by DE Joey Bosa on 3rd and 3.

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11. The Chargers then go three and out again on their 3rd drive, despite Melvin Gordon's typical herculean effort to pick up the 1st down on 3rd and 8. After Gordon catches a checkdown pass in the left flat, CB Ross Cockrell grabs his foot while trying to stop him 4 yards downfield at the 16-yard ,line; but Melvin breaks the tackle and stays on his feet .....

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12. ..... But just as he fully regains his balance Gordon finds S Landon Collins in his path; and despite the stiff-arm, Collins hangs on and gets him on the ground a yard short of the 1st down marker. You can see this play at 0:10 of V3.
The Chargers punted on 4th and 1, and .....










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13. ..... It's not every day that you see the two players with the longest dreads in the league in the same shot. In 2015 I ranked Dwayne Harris and Tre Boston at numbers 4 and 5 on the list of the NFL's longest dreads. But with Ricardo Mathews and Rashean Mathis no longer in the league and with Reggie Nelson's dreads a bit shorter, by 2017 Harris and Boston arguably moved up to the top 2. Harris unfortunately has his dreads slightly reduced, so they are not as awesome as they could be as he eludes the diving attempt of Boston to stop him near the 25-yard line on the punt return. Actually I'm not 100% sure when this play happened. It might have been a little earlier in the quarter when Harris returned the kickoff following the safety 30 yards from the 7-yard line to the 37. But the caption said this was a punt return; and if that's true, then these indeed are shots of Dwayne's 17-yard return from the NY 19-yard line to the 36 with 4:35 to play in the 1st quarter. Sorry, but I couldn't find a video of it.

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14. It's not every day that you get tackled by the two safeties with the longest dreads in the league; but RB Orleans Darkwa gets that honor on the 3rd play of the Giants' next drive. After taking the handoff on 1st and 10 and getting good blocking, Darkwa has so much of a head of steam going that although Tre Boston and Jahleel Addae hit him at the 31-yard line, they don't get him down until he's at the 28. The run for a 15-yard gain was the second biggest gain of the day for Darkwa, who led the Giants in rushing with 69 yards on only 8 carries.
See the play at 0:57 of V1 .....

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15. ..... Darkwa's biggest gain of the day came two plays later. After taking the handoff on 2nd and 5, Darkwa again breaks through the line. Jahleel Addae gets blocked by Sterling Shepard (#87) and by the time he bounces off the block Darkwa is already past him 5 yards downfield at the 18-yard line (photo above); Jahleel then makes a diving lunge at Darkwa at the 15 (right photo); but it's just a waste of his effort, and he ends up with turf pellets in his face for his trouble .....





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16. ..... Tre Boston and Hayes Pullard continue the pursuit, but they have no chance to make the tackle either, and all they do is watch Darkwa run into the right corner of the end zone for the game's first touchdown. The 23-yard run ups the Giants' lead to 9-0 with 2:16 remaining in the 1st quarter.
V1 - 1:10 and V5 - 0:50

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17. The Chargers' offense finally gets going on their next drive, and on the first play Travis Benjamin gets his 1st touch of the game. After coming in motion behind the QB and circling out into the left flat, Benjamin catches the pass just past the line of scrimmage and near the left sideline, turns upfield, and finds CB Janoris Jenkins in his way. Travis usually just runs straight out of bounds when he's near the sideline; but he knows a hit from Jenkins isn't going to hurt him, so he lets Janoris knock him out of bounds at the 29-yard line for a gain of 6.
V4 - 1:23
This was Janoris' 1st tackle of the game; and although the two had some close encounters, it was the only time he tackled Benjamin.
A month after the game NFL Films, which produced V4, produced another video featuring the two. On the 10th anniversary of the famous 2007 Muck Bowl (in which both teams entered with 9-0 records) Jenkins and Benjamin reminisce about that game from their senior year in high school. I'm not recommending you watch this video, I'm demanding it! lol. So unless you've already seen it, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSeoOd_TgX8 ..... Notice that back then Benjamin's dreads were much longer than Jenkins'. But since then Jenkins' dreads have continuously gotten longer, while Benjamin, out of fear of having his dreads grabbed at while he carries the ball, hasn't let them get much longer than they were 10 years ago.

Now, back to the game .....

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18. Five plays later the game is now in the 2nd quarter, and the ball is already at the NY 14-yard line. Melvin Gordon runs up the middle on 3rd and 1 and picks up the 1st down but can't get the TD, as CB Eli Apple grabs onto his leg at the 9-yard line and holds on until help arrives. Help is in the form of S Darian Thompson (#27), who helps Apple get Gordon on the ground at the 6 after an 8-yard gain.
V3 - 0:34

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19. Two plays later on 2nd and goal Melvin Gordon runs an out route out of the backfield and easily beats LB B.J. Goodson, makes the catch at the 2 and takes it to the house to get the Chargers on the board. The 6-yard TD is Melvin's 2nd TD catch and 4th TD overall on the season, and it cuts the Giants' lead to 9-7 with 13:01 to play until halftime.
V1 - 1:46, V2 - 0:00, V3 - 0:43, and V5 - 1:40





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From there the 2nd quarter turned into a punting contest, with the teams combining to punt on 7 straight possessions, with a total of only 3 first downs made on those 7 possessions. But the second of the Giants' four possessions turned out to be disastrous .....

20. The Giants started at their 45-yard line after a 6-yard return by Dwayne Harris; and on the first play a short pass is out of the reach of Sterling Shepard and falls incomplete with 9:29 on the clock. And Shepard does not survive the landing after he gets hit by Jahleel Addae .....








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21. ..... Tre Boston and Melvin Ingram look on as Shepard gets up grimacing and holding his left ankle. The injury (sprained ankle) forced Shepard out for the rest of the game and the Giants' next 2 games as well .....  

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22. ..... Four plays later Brandon Marshall tries to catch a deep pass on 2nd and 5 (he caught the ball but was out of bounds when he did), and he doesn't survive the landing either. With his dreads almost but not quite starting to peek out from under his helmet (actually if you save the left photo, it's large enough for you to barely see a couple of his locks), Marshall is helped to the sideline for the rest of the game too with 8:12 on the clock. He suffered a broken ankle and went on IR 2 days later.

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23. The Chargers went three and out on their next two possessions, and Travis Benjamin had the biggest gain of the 6 plays. Unfortunately it came on a 2nd and 26. After an intentional grounding penalty moved the ball to the 4-yard line, Benjamin runs a short out route from the slot and is wide open as he makes the catch at the 9 and turns upfield. He makes it to the 16 before being knocked out of bounds by Ross Cockrell for a gain of 12. The Chargers punted two plays later. 
V2 - 0:19 and V4 - 1:21

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24. After scoring their TD the Chargers' deepest penetration on their next three drives was their own 27-yard line; but after a 9-yard punt return by Travis Benjamin plus a 5-yard penalty on the Giants, the Chargers' next drive began at their 49-yard line with 2:42 to play. On the 6th play of the drive, on 1st and 10 from the NY 29-yard line, Janoris Jenkins looks on in horror from the other side of the field  as a blown coverage by the secondary has left Benjamin totally uncovered on a deep route down the middle. The Giants dodge the bullet, however, as Philip Rivers' pass is barely overthrown and just beyond Benjamin's fingertips with 1:17 on the clock. This would be Travis' best chance to score a touchdown all day.

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25. On the next play Melvin Gordon, after catching a short pass underneath the coverage, cuts back to the middle to elude two defenders; but DT Jay Bromley, who began the play rushing the QB, hustles back and dives at Gordon at the 25-yard line before making the tackle at the 21, as Avery Moss also pursues from behind. Moss, by the way, played 29 snaps and finished with 0 tackles and 1 PBU.
V3 - 1:13

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26. On the next play Melvin Gordon takes the pitch on 3rd and 2 on a sweep to the left. Janoris Jenkins does a good job avoiding a block by OT Russell Okung, but by the time he does he has no time to prepare for the impending collision with Gordon .....

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27. ..... The collision occurs at the 22-yard line, with Gordon delivering a very stiff stiff-arm to Jenkins' face. Janoris has a chance to knock the ball out of Gordon's hand, but he goes for Melvin's dreads instead .....  

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28. ..... Gordon's stiff-arm knocks Jenkins off his feet, but Janoris ain't letting go of those dreads ... yet ..... 

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29. ..... Eventually though, Jenkins loses his grip as Gordon knocks him to the ground .....


















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30. ..... With Jenkins finally off of him, Gordon sticks out his arm to regain his balance at the 21-yard line and starts moving forward  .....

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31. ..... As Gordon gets away from him and gets the first down, Jenkins takes a moment to put his helmet back on straight .....

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32. ..... Jenkins gets back to his feet and begins a futile chase, while Gordon speeds down the sideline contemplating his next move.
His next move would be to bounce off another defender at the 9-yard line before he was finally knocked out of bounds at the 6 for a 15-yard gain. It would have been nice to hear what Janoris had to say about this play, but unfortunately it was strangely absent from V4. But you can view it at 1:25 of V3 and at 2:16 of V1.
Also unfortunately Gordon's effort on the play was pretty much wasted, as the Chargers settled for a FG (they were already in FG range before the play) 4 plays later to take a 10-9 lead at halftime.

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Now before we take a look at 2nd half action, here are a couple of bonus photos I thought I needed to show.

33. DT Damon Harrison was on the field for 45 of the Giants' 78 defensive snaps in the game, but I couldn't find any decent photos of his dreads. In this shot Harrison takes on rookie G Dan Feeney as he unsuccessfully tries to pressure Philip Rivers on a pass attempt during the 2nd quarter.

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34. Wherever Tre Boston plays, fans have no trouble at all seeing his dreads when his helmet is on. And here before the game he treats everyone to a look at his dreads when his helmet is off. Fans looking from behind no doubt got a better view than this one from the front. When his helmet was on, Boston played all 69 snaps on defense for the Chargers, plus 10 more on special teams.

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35. While focusing only on Chargers RB Andre Williams, Getty Images crops these shots too much and misses the chance to show all of Dwayne Harris' long locks. WTF? The captions for these were no help in determining which play this was. All we know is that Harris broke the attempted tackle (because Williams was credited with no tackles in the game). Dwayne was busy on the 15 snaps he played on special teams, finishing with kickoff returns of 30, 16, 13, and 25 yards and punt returns of 17, 6, and 15 yards. That's a total of 122 all-purpose yards. He also was credited with downing 2 punts, both inside the 5-yard line. After Sterling Shepard and Brandon Marshall got injured in the 2nd quarter, Harris was forced into action on offense too, playing 8 snaps with no passes being thrown to him. Dwayne was all set to play a lot in the 2nd half; but that never happened because he too was injured, suffering a season-ending broken foot while returning the 2nd half opening kickoff.
And that was all she wrote for Harris as a member of the Giants, as this turned out to be his final game in a Giants uniform. With $7 million still remaining on the final 2 years of his contract, the Giants decided to release him and find a less-expensive kick returner. Dwayne, as you probably know, played for the Raiders in 2018.

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36. After a Melvin Ingram sack for a 13-yard loss on 3rd and 5 ends the Giants' first drive of the 2nd half after 3 plays, Travis Benjamin - for the only time all day - finds significant running room on one of his punt returns, taking this one back 19 yards from the LA 32-yard line to the NY 49 with 13:35 remaining in the 3rd quarter .....

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37. ..... After the play is over Cap Capi gets a chance to show off his dreads, as he is helped off the field after (somehow) getting injured. Whatever the injury was, it did not keep him out for the rest of the afternoon. Cap played a nearly full load of 25 special teams snaps (but none on defense).

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38. On the 2nd play of the Chargers' 2nd half opening drive Travis Benjamin gets the ball again. After lining up in the left slot, Benjamin comes around and takes the handoff on a reverse to the right. The play works, but not as well as he wanted. Benjamin first needs to outrun Darian Thompson; but as he gets to the 20-yard line, Thompson dives and barely trips him up (right photo), and Travis stumbles out of bounds at the 17 after a gain of 14. Had he stayed on his feet the only man left to tackle him was Janoris Jenkins, and it looks like Jenkins had already shed the block of WR Keenan Allen and likely would have made the tackle.
V1 - 2:30 and V4 - 1:14
It was all for naught though. 3 plays later, after a false start penalty on Melvin Gordon on 3rd and 2, the drive ends without any points on an interception in the end zone on 3rd and 7.

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39. Late in the 3rd quarter yet another player with dreads leaves the game. This time it's Joe Barksdale, on his way to the locker room (probably to get an IV) after leaving with cramps on the 9th play of the Chargers' next drive. Three plays after his exit, the drive ends with a touchdown, putting the Chargers back in front 17-16 after Roger Lewis had his TD catch on the Giants' preceding drive. Barksdale missed 9 snaps but was back on the field for the Chargers' final two possessions of the game.

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40. After gaining a total of 14 yards on the first two plays of their next drive, the Giants get 15 more on the third play, with Tre Boston tackling RB Wayne Gallman near the left sideline at the LA 46 on the first play of the 4th quarter. The Giants rushed for 152 yards in the game, averaging 6.1 per attempt.

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41. Two plays later Tre Boston shows a look of disgust at CB Casey Hayward while behind him WR Odell Beckham begins the celebration after scoring on a 48-yard reception to put the Giants right back in front. With the Chargers blitzing on 2nd and 12, both Boston and Hayward are expecting a quick, short pass; Hayward bites on Beckham's fake slant route, and Boston charges forward to cover Roger Lewis on a route barely past the line of scrimmage. But when QB Eli Manning avoids the blitz (and you can thank CB Desmond King for that) Hayward gets burned as Beckham turns upfield and runs deep, and Boston is in no position to help him. OBJ has Hayward beaten by 7 yards as he makes the catch at the 18-yard line and takes it to the house for his final TD of the season.
V5 - play begins at 3:48, exact point of this photo at 4:06 .... also V1 - 4:47
The 5-play, 75-yard drive gave the Giants a 22-17 lead, but the 2-point conversion failed (incomplete pass to Beckham), keeping the lead at 5.

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42. On their next drive the Chargers throw deep on 2nd and 22 and almost succeed. But Keenan Allen can't quite catch the ball cleanly, and then Janoris Jenkins gets his hand in there to make sure Allen can't catch it on a second effort either. Jenkins got credit for a PBU on the play, his only one of the game. He also finished with 4 tackles (3-1), playing 76 (of 78) defensive snaps.
The Chargers punted 2 plays later; but the Giants, with the lead and the ball, went three and out, with an 11-yard sack by Darius Philon on 3rd and 6 (at 5:13 of V1) ending the possession. And on the punt on 4th and 17 ..... 

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43. ..... Travis Benjamin, after catching it at the 32-yard line, starts upfield; but with defenders on the left, front, and right of him, he knows he's had it for this return and goes down at the 39 before somebody hits him hard. Cap Capi gets a hand on him first and gets credit for his 1st tackle of the day (and his last ever in a Giants uniform). Looking on from the sideline in the jacket and shorts and with his dreads in a bun is WR Geremy Davis, who would love to have played against his former team but who at this point of the season is still on the practice squad.
The 7-yard return was Benjamin's last touch of the afternoon. He finished with 14 yards rushing on 1 carry, 2 receptions for 18 yards, and 3 punt returns for 35 yards for a total of 67 all-purpose yards.

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44. On the 2nd play of the ensuing drive, after Melvin Gordon takes the handoff on 2nd and 5 and runs around right end, Damon Harrison moves outside to try to stop him but gets there barely a bit too late and ends up on the turf at the LA 47-yard line as Gordon speeds ahead past him. From this point Melvin went for 10 more yards before being tackled at the NY 40 after a 16-yard run.
V3 - 2:34
On Gordon's 20 rushing attempts in the game Harrison tackled him 3 times. Damon finished with 5 tackles (4-1), including 1 TFL.
The Chargers' drive reached the NY 8-yard line before they settled for a FG to pull within 22-20 with 4:50 to play.

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45. Odell Beckham is the fourth Giants WR to go down with an injury; and although Tre Boston didn't make the hit that caused the injury, he certainly has a up-close view of it. On the 2nd play of the Giants' next drive Beckham can't make a leaping catch of a short pass on 2nd and 7, and on the way down he is tackled by Casey Hayward, causing his ankle to twist as he lands. Actually his ankle did a lot more than just twist. As he is carted off OBJ knows better than anyone how serious his injury is. It turned out to be a broken ankle, leaving the Giants without their best player for the rest of the season .....
V1 - 5:37 and V4 - 2:02

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46. ..... And if that wasn't bad enough for the Giants, well, when it rains it pours. On the very next play Darius Philon and Melvin Ingram run a stunt on the left side of the D-line on 3rd and 7, with Ingram coming up the middle; and when G D.J. Fluker fails to pick up the stunt, Eli Manning barely has time to set up before Ingram comes in unblocked and begins to wrap him up .....

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47. ..... Manning moves to his right trying to elude Ingram, but Melvin hangs on and begins to drag him down at the NY 12-yard line .....













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48. ..... But as he goes down, Manning doesn't touch the ground, instead landing on Ingram's stomach. Then he makes matters worse by fumbling the ball .....










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49. ..... Ingram quickly gets back on his feet and joins Philon in pursuit of the loose ball, as Eli looks on in horror. That's Fluker in the background, with no chance to recover the fumble after stumbling off balance toward the middle of the field after attempting to block Ingram .....

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50. ..... Tre Boston doesn't wait for the officials to let everyone know the Chargers have recovered the fumble. Philon had first crack at the recovery but missed before Ingram dove into the pile and beat a couple of O-linemen to the ball to get the FR at the 11-yard line. Melvin got up and tried to take the return to the house but almost immediately went back down after being tackled by Fluker.
V1 - 5:50 and V5 - 4:46
For Ingram it was his 1st FF and 1st FR of the season and upped his sack total for the season to 7.5 already. Philon finished with a season high 5 tackles (3-2) and 2 TFL, including his 2nd sack of the season .....

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51. Even though it won't be a touchdown, Ingram takes the ball to the house anyway after the play, while Jahleel Addae follows him to join the celebration .....

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52. Melvin then approaches some Chargers fans in the end zone seats and tosses them a nice souvenir, while the classy Giants fan in the #10 T-shirt gives him the finger, lol .....




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53. ..... Finally Ingram rejoins happy teammates Tre Boston and Jahleel Addae before heading to the sideline after forcing the Giants' 1st turnover of the game with 3:46 remaining. 

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54. Leading by 2 and starting at the 11-yard line, the Chargers would much rather get the TD and go up 5 rather than the FG; but after the first two plays gain a total of only 1 yard, it looks like they might have to settle for the FG. Then on 3rd and 9, on a play similar to the one that got them their first touchdown ... WR Tyrell Williams runs a crossing route to the middle and Travis Benjamin runs his route into the end zone, removing all the defenders from the right side of the field and leaving Melvin Gordon one-on-one against a linebacker. Melvin makes the catch in the right flat at the 9-yard line, turns upfield, and .....

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55. ..... just as he did in the 2nd quarter, easily outruns the defender - this time it's Keenan Robinson - to the corner of the end zone for the touchdown that gives the Chargers the lead .....

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56. ..... Gordon gets a lift from C Spencer Pulley, first to arrive, before other teammates join in the celebration after his 2nd TD of the day and 5th of the season makes the score 27-22 with 2:58 remaining. For Gordon it was the last of his 26 touches on a season high 65 snaps on offense. He was the only player in the game to make the dread stars list, finishing with 105 yards rushing on 20 carries and 6 receptions for 58 yards. This play was included in all 5 videos, with V4 being the one I recommend the most.
V1 - 6:33      V2 - 2:25      V3 - 2:47      V4 - 2:35      V5 - 5:01


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57. With Roger Lewis the only healthy WR remaining, the Giants have three TEs on the field for their final possession, not exactly ideal when you need a TD and there's only 3 minutes left. In 10 plays they inch their way from their 24-yard line to the LA 48. Then on 4th and 10 with :49 on the clock, after a pass intended for TE Evan Engram is tipped by a D-lineman, Tre Boston goes up and makes the interception at the 33-yard line. Yes, on 4th down it's usually smarter to just knock the ball down; but in this case, with so much traffic around him, it was better that he made the catch .....

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58. ..... However, after making the catch, in this case - with the Giants having only 1 timeout left - it was not better and in fact was unacceptable and incredibly stupid of Boston to decide to return the ball. Just get on the ground and stay there. After pulling away from Lewis, Tre goes for 15 yards - ironically exactly back to the line of scrimmage - before it occurs to him to go down .....
V1 - 6:49




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59. ..... Jahleel Addae is the first with the glad-hand for Boston before other teammates join in after his 1st INT in a Chargers uniform leaves them 40 seconds away from their 1st win of the season .....

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60. ..... OK. So now we know why Tre didn't just knock the ball down. You can't do your whole, prolonged celebration if you just knock the ball down. You got to get the pick. As Tre drops to a knee, Addae starts to take off his helmet .....

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61. ..... Addae's helmet is now off, but Boston's celebration is still on - all the way to the sideline, where smiling rookie S Rayshawn Jenkins waits to congratulate him. Jenkins played 27 snaps on special teams and had 2 tackles (1-1). Addae played all 69 snaps on defense and finished tied for the team lead with 8 tackles (4-4), including 1 TFL, and 1 PBU.

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As snakebit as the Chargers were during their first 4 games of the season, it wouldn't have been surprising if they had somehow turned the ball back over to the Giants during those last 40 seconds; but they managed not to, escaping from New York with a 27-22 victory.

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62. Even though it's only his 2nd career NFL game, Cap Capi doesn't miss the chance to participate in the traditional jersey exchange after the game, swapping with Chargers LB Jatavis Brown - a couple of Florida boys who were teammates in college for one season in the MAC at Akron (2014, when Capi was a senior and Brown a junior).

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63. After making 6 tackles (4-2) - 2 of which were sacks - as well as the biggest defensive play of the game, Melvin Ingram takes time to pray with TE Jerell Adams after the game. The two just missed being college teammates. Ingram was a senior at South Carolina in 2011, while Adams was a freshman in 2012.

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64. Tre Boston hollas at someone in the crowd as he makes his exit. In addition to his interception Tre finished with 5 tackles (4-1).
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As they dropped to 0-5, the Giants equaled their loss total from the entire 2016 season, when they went 11-5 and made the playoffs; and indeed their season was over. Now two years later they still really haven't recovered from this defeat. They've gone 8-19 since then.
On the other hand the Chargers used this victory to jump start their season. They finished 2017 with a 9-7 record and were a tiebreaker away from making the playoffs. They've gone 20-7 ever since winning this game.
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No, that is not all, folks, for DG176. We still have one more game to go ......

Entering Week 14 with a 6-6 record and with a trip to New England still on their schedule, the Buffalo Bills could ill afford a defeat as they arrived at New Era Field, especially since the team on the opposite sideline was the 3-9 Indianapolis Colts. But as they practiced in the days ahead of the game, little did they know that the Colts would not be their only opponent that afternoon.

With my location being about 12 miles from the western shore of Lake Michigan, I am no stranger to lake effect snow; but with the way the wind usually blows, lake effect snowstorms don't happen here as nearly as often as they do on the eastern shore of the lake. The same is true of the other Great Lakes. Those of you who aren't too geographically challenged know that Buffalo's location on the eastern shore of Lake Erie (especially the south side, where New Era Field is) puts it in prime position to get nailed frequently by lake effect snowstorms. These storms are hard to forecast because you never know where exactly the heaviest snow is going to hit or exactly how heavy the heaviest snow is going to be.

The forecast for the day of the game - Sunday, December 10 - did call for a lot of snow. But nobody expected so much snow to fall so fast. Indeed the stadium was directly in the path of the heaviest snow that afternoon, and during the 3 hours 15 minutes it took to play the game nearly 8 inches accumulated. Mercy! To say the least this made things challenging for the two teams - and made for some interesting photos ......

65. All seemed fine on the morning of the game. The field was dry after the snow from the previous storm was removed. Two days earlier the Bills were paying $11 per hour to anyone who came to the stadium and helped shovel snow out of the seating area, and anyone who worked at least 4 hours also got a free ticket to the game. From the looks of things, however, not enough people showed up to do the job; but at least the field was clear.





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66. Healthy enough to play for the first time since injuring his knee in the 1st quarter in Week 11, WR Kelvin Benjamin gets set for his first ever game in snow, with the snow just starting to fall during early warmups. Kelvin went to the same high school as Travis Benjamin and played in college at Florida State. And although he played in the Panthers' frigid road game against the Vikings (12 degrees, wind chill -7) during his rookie NFL season in 2014, the teams he's been on have never had to play during a snowstorm.

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67. Then a little later as Kelvin Benjamin participates in the full-team warmup period just before the start of the game, the snowstorm is on, full blast, with snow already starting to stick on the field.

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The link below is to the highlights of the game. Several of the photos I saved are from plays included in the video. But you're on your own figuring out which plays those are because I'm not going into as much detail as I did for the Chargers-Giants game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4-Ino9ytmk

68. Kelvin Benjamin makes the first reception of the game, coming on the 9th play of the game's opening drive. After catching a short pass on 3rd and 12, KB breaks the tackle attempt of CB Quincy Wilson; but CB Nate Hairston hits him just enough to knock him off balance, and he goes down at the Colts' 38-yard line after gaining 9 yards. The drive ended on the next play on an incomplete pass on 4th and 3 with 9:43 remaining in the 1st quarter. With the snow coming down at its heaviest during the 1st quarter, there were no other passes attempted by either team until 8:25 remained in the 2nd quarter.



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69. The dreads in these shots are coming out of the helmet of none other than DE Cap Capi - that's right, the same Cap Capi who played in the Chargers-Giants game two months earlier. After being released by the Giants in November, he was signed to the Bills' practice squad, and this is his first game in a Bills uniform.
After RB Marlon Mack breaks through the line untouched on a run up the middle on the 8th play of the Colts' opening drive, Capi joins the pursuit and gets in on the tackle at the Bills' 18-yard line after a gain of 20. Cap did not get credit for the tackle on this play but did finish with 2 tackles (1-1) during his 23 snaps on the field on defense. The 20-yard gain was by far the Colts' biggest gain of the day. The drive ended 4 plays later with a missed 33-yard FG attempt.

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70. After picking up a total of only 2 first downs on their next three possessions and advancing no further than the Colts' 38-yard line, the Bills' offense suddenly explodes on a drive that begins with 1:42 remaining in the half. After back-to-back runs of 23 and 25 yards by RB LeSean McCoy, the Bills are at the Colts 29; and on 3rd and 7 Kelvin Benjamin makes the Bills' 2nd reception of the game, using his 8-inch height advantage over CB Kenny Moore to pull in a pass on the right sideline on a fade route and come down with both feet inbounds .....

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71. ..... Moore gets credit for the tackle as Benjamin knocks him over and then falls on top of him out of bounds at the 8-yard line .....











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72. As KB enjoys his 21-yard reception, Moore stays down too next to him; but Moore is down only because he's shaken up. Hey, you might be shaken up too if you weighed 190 pounds and someone who weighed 245 fell on your chest. Moore left the game, and that turned out to be significant because .....

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73. ..... It puts Chris Milton on the field for his 1st (and only) defensive snap of the game, and he's not up to the task. Benjamin runs another fade on 1st and goal on the next play; and after Milton misplays the ball all he can do is turn and watch KB go up and make the easy catch .....











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74. ..... for the touchdown, as Kelvin gets both feet inbounds (yes, his right foot landed inbounds too) and hangs onto the ball as he hits the ground. It's his 3rd TD of the season and his first ever in a Bills uniform .....











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75. ..... LeSean McCoy (photo above) and more of his teammates (right photo) arrive to celebrate with KB after his 8-yard TD catch caps a 7-play, 80-yard drive to put the Bills in front 7-0 with 27 seconds remaining until halftime.











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76. As Kelvin Benjamin blocks LB Barkevious Mingo from behind (legally apparently), LB Jabaal Sheard tries to RB Mike Tolbert. The caption said that this was a TFL in the 3rd quarter. But that can't be, because Tolbert had gains on 5 of his 6 carries and no gain on the other. That no gain came in the 3rd quarter, but DT Grover Stewart got credit for that tackle, not Sheard. Jabaal tackled Tolbert just one time, when he and Kenny Moore stopped him after a 3-yard run late in the 2nd quarter; but this certainly doesn't look like that.
Bottom line is I have no idea what this play is, but I included the photo so you could get a look at Sheard's dreads.

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77. Cedric Thornton was on the field for 25 snaps at DT for the Bills, on this one taking on the block of G Joe Haeg. In 2017 Thornton's dreads were long enough (barely) to be seen with his helmet on, but they were a no show for this game due to the balaclava he has on over them. Cedric had 1 tackle (1-0) in the game.

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78. This is the only photo I could find of S Trae Elston; and, snow or no snow, it's hard to see his dreads from the front. Here Elston congratulates S Shamarko Thomas, very likely after Thomas made the tackle on the kickoff return following the Bills' TD near the end of the 1st half. Elston played 16 snaps - all on special teams - but did not record any stats.                                         

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79. Even in the poor visibility it was tough not to see the dreads of CB Lafayette Pitts. Of the 11 players with dreads in uniform (6 for the Bills, 5 for the Colts) Pitts' dreads were the longest. This looks like a shot of Pitts blocking the gunner, Nate Hairston, on one of the Colts' 7 punts in the game.

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80. No doubt S Clayton Geathers' dreads look better from the back, but I couldn't find any photos of them better than this one. Gametime temperature was 32 degrees, so wearing short sleeves was not a problem. Playing in his 3rd game of the season (after being activated off the PUP list in November), Geathers finished with 1 tackle (0-1) in 24 total snaps (17 defense, 7 special teams) on the field.

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81. Now here are a few shots of dreads with snow on them, beginning with Jabaal Sheard after a play in the 2nd half. Jabaal played 56 snaps on defense and finished with 3 tackles (2-1).

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82. Another pregame shot here of Kelvin Benjamin. After scoring his touchdown before halftime, KB was very quiet after halftime, as he missed some time after aggravating his knee injury. He ended up playing 41 (of 67) snaps on offense and finished with 3 catches (on 8 targets) for 38 yards. The 38 receiving yards were the most by anyone on either team. For the afternoon the Colts finished with 69 yards receiving, while the Bills had 92.  

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83. Jersey, helmet, dreads. You name it, Lafayette Pitts got snow on it as he is congratulated by WR Andre Holmes, probably after either one of the 2 punts he downed or one of the 2 tackles (2-0) he made in his 16 special teams snaps on the field. 

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84. Longest dreads by anyone in a Colts uniform were on the head of S Matthias Farley, here having a word with Coach Pagano during the 1st quarter. In this shot it looks like while the snow sticks to the upper part of his dreads, the dyed tips at the bottom are somehow snow resistant.

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85. Matthias Farley looks like someone exiled on a snowy, windswept desert on some frigid planet elsewhere in the galaxy as he waits for play to resume. On the left near the bottom of the photo it looks like there is part of an air blower being used to keep the yard lines visible. And with the Colts wearing all white, the bottom half of Farley's legs have disappeared. Matthias was on the field for 60 of the Colts' 67 defensive snaps and led the team in tackles.

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And now, we return to game action from the 2nd half.

86. It's one of a safety's worst nightmares - Mike Tolbert, the 243-pound bowling ball of a running back, breaking through the line up the middle untouched and heading straight for you; and it's where Matthias Farley found himself late in the 3rd quarter. After the teams' first 5 possessions of the 2nd half all resulted in punts, on 2nd and 10 on the 2nd play of the Bills' 3rd drive Tolbert broke loose. Rather than running to daylight, Tolbert is always looking to run somebody over; and he makes contact with Farley approximately 10 yards downfield nearly the Buffalo 30-yard line, knocks him off his feet, and keeps on going. Matthias can take satisfaction with the fact that even though he didn't stop Tolbert, he slowed him down a bit, and that allowed his teammates to catch him from behind and strip him of the ball at the 45-yard line, with the Colts recovering the fumble at the 49.

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87. After LeSean McCoy carried on the first 3 plays of the Bills' next drive, he gets a breather and Travaris Cadet gets the ball on the 4th play - and goes nowhere. Matthias Farley fights off a block by WR Deonte Thompson and helps DE Margus Hunt tackle Cadet at the Bills' 41-yard line after a 1-yard gain on 1st and 10. While McCoy accounted for nearly half of the Bills' 319 total yards, Cadet found no success on his 4 carries, which went for 1, -3, 1, and 3 yards. The drive ended with a punt 3 plays later, and the Colts took possession with 11:09 remaining in the 4th quarter .....




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88. On the 8th play of that possession Cap Capi makes his 2nd and last tackle of the day, as he and LB Matt Milano stop RB Frank Gore at the Indy 41-yard line for a gain of 1 on a run up the middle on 2nd and 15. But 2 plays later the Colts converted a 4th and 4 on a 10-yard reception by WR T.Y. Hilton, and the drive continued.

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89. While all the other players with long dreads did not restrict their dreads, T.Y. Hilton did, keeping his almost entirely hidden by his balaclava. Here Hilton, after making his first 2 catches of the game on the 6th and 10th plays of the drive - converting a 3rd and 10 and a 4th and 4 - makes another one on the 16th play of the drive, going out of bounds at the Bills' 20-yard line after gaining 9 yards on 2nd and 11. This one didn't count, however, because the Colts accepted an illegal use of hands penalty against the Bills instead to get an automatic 1st down with 2:57 to play. T.Y. played just 48 snaps (his second lowest number of the season) and finished with those 2 catches for 20 yards.
On the 19th play of the drive the Colts finally got into the end zone, taking 9:53 to go 77 yards. And after a successful 2-point conversion was nullified by a penalty, K Adam Vinatieri incredibly made the 43-yard extra point to tie the game with 1:16 remaining.

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90. Things get even worse for the Bills on the 2nd play of their ensuing drive, as Matthias Farley intercepts a pass intended for TE Charles Clay at the Bills' 37-yard line .....


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91. ..... and brings the return back 9 yards to the 28 before LeSean McCoy shoves him out of bounds. It's Farley's 2nd INT of the season - and the last of his career with dreads (unless he decides to grow them back sometime in the future, which does not seem likely) .....

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92. ..... As Farley happily runs across the field to the Colts' sideline, Jabaal Sheard ends up with a faceful of snow. Don't know if Jabaal fell down while congratulating Farley or if he just wanted to do some snow angels. Whichever, the pick gave the Colts the ball already in FG range with 52 seconds remaining.
With no timeouts left and not wanting to throw the ball, the Colts had time for just one running play, and it gained 3 yards to the 25, before attempting the FG. This time Vinatieri missed from 43 yards out, and the Bills' playoff hopes - for the moment, at least - dodged the bullet.

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93. On the first play from scrimmage in overtime LeSeay McCoy takes the handoff and cuts to the outside; but Matthias Farley, anticipating the play, avoids a block by Deonte Thompson, comes forward quickly, and, despite the stiff-arm, knocks McCoy off his feet for a 1-yard loss.
The Bills converted on 3rd and 10 two plays later, however, and the drive continued. Five plays after that .....

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94. ..... McCoy and Farley have another close encounter. After taking the handoff on 2nd and 12 and breaking a tackle in the backfield, McCoy heads around right end and finds Farley and S T.J. Green in his path about 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. He cuts back to the left and nearly eludes them both; but as he avoids the hand of Farley trying to trip him up, he loses his balance and falls forward, with LB Antonio Morrison being given credit for the tackle 3 yards further downfield at the Indy 44-yard line after an 8-yard gain.
I didn't include any photos of Morrison because you can't see his dreads in any of them (because they're too short). He had 7 tackles (6-1), including 1 TFL, in the game. Farley finished with 9 tackles (7-2), including 1 TFL, and 1 INT.
On the next play Travaris Cadet carried for a gain of 3, but the Bills then (conservatively) punted on 4th and 1 with 4:13 remaining.

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95. Deonte Thompson, another Bills WR from Muck City, doesn't have dreads like Kelvin Benjamin; but I include these photos because he made the biggest play of the game. After the Colts punted back to the Bills with 2:25 to play, the Bills face 3rd and 6 on the first play after the 2-minute warning. QB Joe Webb, give him credit, puts his pass on target 35 yards downfield, and Thompson, beating Kenny Moore, makes the catch with his hands away from his body and keeps the ball above the snow to show the officials he still has possession of it. The 34-yard reception was by far the biggest gain by either team, and it moved the ball into FG range at the Colts' 27-yard line.



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96. Three plays later LeSean McCoy gets the handoff on 3rd and 4 and runs through a hole up the middle. It's a do or die tackle for Matthias Farley just past the line of scrimmage, and he doesn't even get a hand on McCoy, who cuts right past him and heads to the end zone. Antonio Morrison (#44), who was blocked on the play, creating the hole, gives chase, but all that does is give him (along with two teammates) the best view in the house of McCoy's game-winning score. The 21-yard TD run comes with 1:33 on the clock and gives the Bills a vital 13-7 victory.




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97. After the mob of teammates congratulating him clears away, McCoy finds Kelvin Benjamin launching a snowball at him. WTF, KB? This is how you treat the player of the game?

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98. A little later during the postgame celebration, Kelvin Benjamin takes the microphone from the CBS reporter and decides to do his own impromptu interview of Joe Webb. After replacing injured QB Nathan Peterman in the 3rd quarter and nearly losing the game with his interception, Webb starred in overtime, scrambling for a pair of 3rd down conversions and then completing the only pass of the game on a ball thrown more than 20 yards downfield.
As for Benjamin (and for everyone else who played, really), he'll have quite a story to tell his grandkids some day.
As for the Bills, they indeed did lose to New England in Week 16. But this win, plus wins over the Dolphins in Weeks 15 and 17, allowed them to finish with a 9-7 record and clinch their first playoff berth in 18 years.