I Actually Feel Bad For Cody Parkey Too… But the Tipped Ball Doesn’t Make Up For It
Cody Parkey might have just cemented himself into Wild Card Weekend HISTORY with his missed field goal at the end of the Eagles-Bears game that most likely murdered 20 middle-aged Chicago men with high cholesterol via heart-attack.
First of all, what a weekend of football. I don’t care that half of the games had no scoring and people who bet the over were crumbling before our eyes because we had some good football, broken bones, fist fights in the stands and fainting mascots. AKA, the perfect Wild Card Weekend.
It was written in the stars. The Eagles scored to put them up one as time ticked down with just under a minute left. Mitch Trubisky made some key passes that gave the Bears life. They were going deep and connecting down the right sideline and ended up fighting to get Chicago WELL into field goal range.
I was excited because I picked the Bears to win this game and honestly, I might have picked them to go to the Super Bowl. I’m not going to say whether or not I did but I mean, there’s a chance that there was some money on the line.
The Bears were making a miraculous drive to finish off this game and stop Nick Foles dead in his tracks. That slimy, postseason son of a bitch. But then I remembered who was kicking for Chicago… Cody Parkey.
The guy was a stud when he played for Philadelphia. But he’s had one hell of a year for the Bears. As soon as the camera pointed to him warming up on the sideline, my heart sank. I’m honest when I say, I don’t think a single person believed this kick was going to be good. And, well, just watch.
And the entire #Bears season came down to Cody Parkey doing what he does best… Bouncing the ball off the post. #Eagles #WildCardWeekend pic.twitter.com/Oqb9LcvV79
— Couch Guy Sports Podcast (@CouchGuyPodcast) January 7, 2019
That second bounce off of the bottom post was the biggest tease I’ve ever witnessed. It made every inch of my body curl up. When that thing bounced into the air I thought it went through. But then, the Bears mascot told the whole story.
Cody Parkey killed the Bears’ mascot #PHIvsCHI pic.twitter.com/p7h8qA7jsR
— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) January 7, 2019
Death by Parkey. And now listen, I feel bad for the guy. I usually don’t feel bad for athletes but the way that the Bears fans booed him off the field, tastefully, and the way that he took full blame made me actually react like Pat McAfee did.
…
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 7, 2019
Heartbreaker #ForTheBrand pic.twitter.com/VvzRv4WdQI
I honestly think a lot of people reacted like this because they kind of expected it. This is just what Parkey’s done all season. Before that kick, he missed 10 through the regular season and could NOT stop hitting the upright. But this is my beef, I’ve seen this video passed around a ton now since a little after last night’s game.
Here’s a frame-by-frame look that clearly shows the Parkey kick was tipped by Treyvon Hester (Hester confirmed to @Bo_Wulf he tipped it). pic.twitter.com/6dOXui7Yyp
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) January 7, 2019
Great, beautiful. And the NFL has officially changed this ruling to a blocked field goal attempt. The ball was tipped as you can see in this video. And if you can’t see it here, there are plenty of other videos showing the same thing. It was definitely tipped. But guys, come on. Part of the kicker’s job is to get the ball to a point where the defensive front can’t touch it.
Now don’t get me wrong, it was an awesome play by the defender. But I’ve read all day long on Twitter that this ball was tipped like that’s some kind of defense to get Parkey off of the hook.
We’re fishing here guys. Again, it’s part of the kicker’s job to get this ball up and over the defense so they can’t touch it. If a defender comes off of the edge and makes an amazing play to get in front of that ball, then sure, that was just a great play by the defender. But if a defender who’s just leaping gets his fingers on it, I gotta put that on the kicker.
They broke through the line a little bit but not nearly enough to use that as a full blown excuse.
I get it, people are trying to let this guy free but let’s call it for what it is, Cody Parkey screwed up.
And I’ll finish up by saying that the Bears’ offense absolutely blew it too. The Eagles only put up 16 points and had plenty of opportunity and they just blew it. Chicago had that game wrapped up and the football Gods were having NONE of it.
-Nick Quaglia (@NickQuag)