the nfl playoffs this year were not as interesting or as much fun without the participation of the baltimore ravens. but this isn’t a woulda, shoulda, coulda post. actually, yeah it is. it’s full of hypotheticals. but rather than bellyache (complain, yes bellyache can be a verb 🙀 ) let’s talk about an exciting moment from earlier this season; in fact the nfl named it the moment of the year!
justin tucker moments after the nfl moment of the year (usa today)
week 3 was not thanksgiving, but the ravens were playing in detroit and clifton brown reported on baltimore ravens.com that the team was…
thankful to have a great kicker who let them off the hook
thankful means u want to say thank u, grateful. the feelings of gratitude (appreciation) for ravens kicker justin tucker were because he won the game by hitting a 66-yard field goal– the longest in nfl history. we say tucker let them off the hook because despite making mistakes and missing opportunities to win the game easily, there were no consequences — the ravens still won the game.
letting a fish off the hook. the idiom comes from fishing 🪝🐟 (scoutlife.org)
clifton brown explains that the ravens found themselves in trouble because…
marquise “hollywood” brown dropped three passes that could have been touchdowns.
drop means not catch. and could have been is the first example of many that we will see of past modals. it is used to talk about hypothetical situations in the past and consists of a modal auxiliary verb (would, could, should, might, may, must or better), have and a past participle.
drop the ball is an idiom that means fail, miss an opportunity
the article says that the first drop…
should have been a 25-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, when [quarterback lamar] jackson threw a perfect pass to brown who was streaking across the end zone. however, the ball slipped through brown’s hands and forced baltimore to settle for a 39-yard field goal that opened the game’s scoring.
should have been is another past modal example. should used in this structure (aka should in the past) frequently indicates a mistake. threw is the irregular past tense of throw. streak means run fast. end zone is the area at each end of the field where players must enter to score a touchdown. however is for contrasting ideas– like but. settle means that baltimore really wanted a touchdown (6 points) but they accepted a field goal (3 points). slip through (his) hands is another way to say drop. it is often used metaphorically as well to refer to a failed relationship, like in this song by labrinth. listen at 3:25 for…
as i sink in the sand, watch u slip through my hands
oh, as i die here another day, cause all i do is cry behind this smile
had brown made the catch, it would have been a 76-yard touchdown play
if brown had caught either pass, they likely would have gone into the half with a 17-0 lead.
streaking also means running naked in public 🙈 (ross land/getty images)
that coulda been a dagger right before halftime
dagger is actually a violent idiom. it gives the idea of a dagger to the heart
had bowser caught the ball cleanly, it would have been an interception that he may have been able to run in for a pick-six.
pick six is football vocabulary. it’s an interception that the defense returns for a touchdown. the record for the longest pick 6 in nfl history is held by ravens legend ed reed.
the ravens were ready to move on (forget about, continue) from the mistakes against the lions immediately. clifton brown wrote that…
tight end mark andrews, who played with [marquise “hollywood”] brown at oklahoma, has no doubt the talented wide receiver will bounce back.
bounce back means return to normal after a bad moment, be resilient. indeed hollywood bounced back the next week at denver. against the broncos he had four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.
mark andrews signaling that he picked up the first down. he was the all-pro tight end in 2021. (associated press)
quarterback lamar jackson commented…
people like me and marquise, we’re going to be talking to each other the whole day like, ‘i effed up,'” but we’re not worried about that. that happened, that’s over with. we won the game.
effed up (or f’ed up) is a nice way to say fucked up, i.e. played bad.
the coyote caught the roadrunner? damn, that’s effed up
it must be said that seconds before justin tucker kicked the longest field goal in nfl history, the ravens picked up (got) a first down on 4th and 19. jackson connected with wide receiver sammy watkins for 36 yards. one final hypothetical because if jackson hadn’t found watkins, justin tucker wouldn’t even have had the opportunity to try the kick.
when u are watching football on tv, the virtual yellow line shows how far the offense needs to go to pick up the first down.
so in addition to being the longest field goal in the history of the nfl, tucker’s clutch kick was a walk-off gamewinner! from 66 yards away, tucker bounced (hit and it went up in the air) it off the crossbar (the bar that connects the posts, it’s horizontal to the ground) for the victory. when a measurement is used as part of an adjective phrase, like it is in the title of the gif below 👇🏽that measurement (yards in this case) becomes singular. thus, a 66-yard field goal. a yard is slightly more than a meter.
@richyrocksenglish richyrocks.con #english #vocabulary #englishpractice #englishcoach #englishteacher #englishlesson #englishclass #ingles #superbowllvi #nfl ♬ Money Trees – Kendrick Lamar
