The 2020 NFL Week 13 Roundup | Desert Nights
Through Tragedy are Born Introspection and Reinvention
It was by all accounts supposed to be a momentous and memorable declaration to the World that Formula One racing was BACK and ready to elbow-aside Covid and the 8 month delay caused to its competitive schedule. WELL, things didn’t quite unfold as planned. Instead, The 2020 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix became notable for all the wrong — and breathtaking — reasons. AND one fortuitous proof-of-concept.
Talk to anyone who’s been fortunate enough to laze about in the Middle East and you’ll be regaled with innumerable tales of all that can go awry in the chasmic voids of the Desert Night. And so conforming to this broad ironclad template, November 29th — just 11 days ago — unfurled with all the glistening pageantry and jubilant fanfare the FIA (Formula 1’s governing body, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile ) could envision. It was a temperate and seasonable 75 degrees as masked families of the drivers and support crew clustered into socially distanced gaggles in the empty stands. Meanwhile, FIA officials hosting select corporate blue chip sponsors including Rolex, Amazon Web Services and Pirelli gathered excitedly in the glassed-in media Gallery. This perch sported terrific 360 degree vantage points and offered unimpeded visual access to racing’s premier sport, qualities that will quickly turn mortifying in a matter of minutes. In a classic Shakespearean climate of foreboding, The air of anticipation was tense and charged with nervous excitement. Down on the race track, drivers were seated securely in their open-air cockpits as temperate breezes mixed with hot engine exhaust to noxiously and angrily greet nostrils alike. One by one, each driver firmly flipped his helmet visor SHUT and tightly gripped their carbon fiber steering wheels as the racing clock steadily ticked down. At precisely 5:10pm, they were OFF. The throttles were PUNCHED and the fluttering of the steering-wheel-mounted gear shift paddles giddily punctuated the cockpits of the 20 F1 cars in competition. The gas fumes by now were suffocating and billowing invisibly as black gravelly bits ticked off of driver helmets, a unique sensation that drivers can positively attest to. It’s inexplicable to the layperson other than to say that it’s all part of an all-encompassing 360 degree, all-immersive, all-sensory experience that invigoratingly charges the competitive atmosphere uniquely adhering the driver to the Culture of Sport.
Immersed in this pall of miasma and tiny debris; his cockpit open to the desert night, French-Swiss driver Romain Grosjean winced involuntarily. He was unhappy with his self-critiqued sloppy start. Already sinking to the back of the pack, Romain knew that he’d have to step up his game if he were to be a credible challenger to word-beater #1 ranked Brit Lewis Hamilton. And so Romain aggressively took advantage of pinpoint openings and jabbed aside competing drivers in the initial straightaway. He executed his first turn with flawless precision slinking up two positions. Same for another wonderfully accomplished turn two whisking into his rearview mirror yet two more competitors. For Turn three Romain expected and demanded more of the same. And it was with illusory magical preordained inspiration that Romain exited the course’s third turn and glimpsed into his tiny, stuttering sideview mirror and spotted a crucial opening with no one in it. He fully took advantage of it, confidently double-clicked down two gears with his left paddle shifter and floored the accelerator. And that’s when Romain’s world instantly disintegrated. It began with a bump that wildly upended his Haas-Ferrari racecar’s trajectory that had in its sights disaster. F1 sidecar mirrors are notoriously known throughout the sport to be as laughably insubstantial as they are information bearing. But spec is spec and drivers learned to adapt and make do with what FIA considered sufficient. And that’s precisely where that laughably insufficient part comes careening into Romain’s plight. Romain’s side mirror was accompanied with a mammoth blind spot that hid the entirety of Russia’s Daniil Kyvat’s AlphaTauri Honda. This was the point of no return. Romain’s fat right-rear Pirelli racing tire bopped over Daniil’s left front end at nearly 155 mph with motored momentum pivoting then flinging Romain’s Ferrari hard-right into a grisly collision course with the guard rail at an impact speed of 137 mph and the force of 56 Gs (highest roller coaster g-force: 6; re-entry from Space: 4.5) . Romain’s collision with the stainless steel Armco barrier came with such force and violence that the Ferrari was completely sheared in half. The 1.6-liter turbocharged hybrid-electric powerplant was ripped free from the chassis and tumbled thunderously down the motorway in a shower of plastic and metal shards. The racecar’s main fuel line was completely sheared causing liters of fuel to spray the wreckage with accelerant that set ablaze the quickly deteriorating scene in a firey glow of despair. From footage of the race, all seemed hopelessly grim and irrevocably lost. Safety staff quickly descended upon the wreckage and feared for the worst.
In the seconds it took for Romain to glance from Daniil’s sticky left-front tire to the crash barrier, Romain girded himself for that fateful walk into that fabled and eternal Desert Night. There was no theatric mid-air twirling. There was no fantastic smoke-filled spin-out. There was no Hollywood-style broadside tumbling. In their place was a head-on impact with the guardrail. It played out so quickly that Romain to this day remembers little of it. But he does remember the 28 seconds just after his Ferrari was arrested from 137 mph to a stop in an instant. Romain was securely restrained in the confines of his safety cocoon and protected with layers of safeguards decades in the F1/FIA making. The fact that Romain survived the impact — conscious — is testament to their effectiveness. But at this point, Romain had no time to reverse-engineer F1 safety protocols. He had to get OUT. 28 seconds. 28 Seconds is how long it took for Roman to struggle for escape. The release of his 6-pont harness turned out to be the easiest and least time-consuming part of his exit ordeal. Drenched in a gasoline-fueled firestorm, Romain knew he had only moments to escape before his fire-rated suit began to weaken. But he was hopelessly pinned in the cleaved wreckage. At first his instinct was to await rescue because he couldn’t move being that the remains of his racecar were pinned right up against the guardrail. Unable to gain leverage and ever-weaker, Romain gave up and slunk into his seat accepting of his fate of being incinerated, tears streaming down his quivering cheeks. But then images of his children and their voices demanding a father echoed before him. Energized and emboldened, Romain pulled his stuck leg and his foot escaped his hopelessly marooned racing shoe. It was at this point that his yellow helmet visor began to melt from the intense heat. With a free leg, Romain was able to push himself out the right side of the wreckage which by this time was white-hot. His pushing off of the metal chassis caused his racing gloves to catch fire. Immediately recalling his safety training that warned of skin bubbling and fusing with melting gloves, Romain ripped his gloves from his hands and looked up tearfully. He looked up and fell into the awaiting arms of rescuers. With the assistance of his guardian angels, Romain walked off the race track of his own power and into F1 infamy and stardom for having survived the unthinkable.
While this whole ordeal resulted from an “everyday” blind spot (read: Professional Race Car Drivers — They’re JUST like you and me), looking on valiantly in protecting all F1 participants and ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice is an arsenal of safety equipment (some track-born, some car-based) that FIA to its credit mandates for all its sanctioned events. Perhaps the star player in Romain’s fateful and smile-soaked outcome is the so-called Halo device. Halo devices are Y-shaped titanium bars that attach crucially at three points to the vehicle’s frame: a forward primary connection in from of the driver’s head and two aft connections that rise and splay from there to the steeply elevated monocoque body on both sides of the racecar. This Halo completes the encasement of the driver in a structurally sound safety cage. It’s chief purpose is to protect the driver’s head. Halo devices were mandated in 2018 after a fatal crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix claimed the life of French racecar driver Jules Bianchi. In that horrific incident, a rain-splattered track caused Jules’ vehicle to spin out into the track’s run-off area where Jules slid beneath a tractor crane with such force that the tractor crane was uplifted in the air before it smashed down violently upon the racecar. His racecar’s primitive — and non-connecting — roll bar was destroyed in the collision leaving Jules’ head to bear the brunt of the trauma. As is said, through tragedy comes introspection and reinvention. The Halo device was thusly conceived and fully implemented four years later. It was met immediately with unanimous disapproval and oodles tossed popcorn. Drivers complained of exaggerated and dangerously obscured sightlines. Racing companies griped of bureaucratic red tape, unnecessary complexity and grievous weight burdens to vehicles tasked with going as fast as possible. Both groups decried F1’s further straying from the Sport’s driver-road foundation and fortifying ethos. No one is complaining now.
The Armco barrier deployed at the Bahrain Grand Prix is a proven safety barrier that keeps vehicles in the general intended path of travel. These barriers, or guardrails, have been protecting drivers all around the world successfully for generations. The barrier Romain careened into is about meter in height and is comprised of a continues run of stainless steel trisected into 3 horizontally-mounted tightly spaced one foot guardrails. Computer simulations in the course’s design phase predicted only glancing blows with vehicles along this stretch of the raceway. What designers could not envision was a racecar piercing the barrier at a perpendicular angle. That’s just what Romain’s Ferrari did at more than 130 mph. The bottom two guardrails were blown out by the impact. The top rail — at head level — remained stubbornly intact. But as the vehicle forcefully slid under the affixed top rail, the racecar’s Halo device forced the rail up and over keeping Romain’s head out of harm’s way. If not for the Halo device, Romain would have been decapitated. Simple as that. The Halo device allowed for Romain’s quick and fortuitous survival, however harrowing and traumatic. It at the same time underscores how resistant to change human nature can be, to our own peril. But in the sweep of the journey, we evolve, learn, adapt and thrive. It’s a lesson that Romain will not soon forget. He’s currently tending to minor burns on the back of his hands and a broken ankle back home in Switzerland. The Bahrain Gran Prix was set to be his last race in a 17 year racing career. The race, much like his professional arc, concluded triumphantly with a bang and a literal blaze of terrified glory. A tale to tell, it’s to be Magnified and made all the more salient with the help of a Halo forged in sorcery and aglow with principle in the chasmic void of that deep Desert Night.
From Desert Nights to late-Autumn football, the NFL’s regular season wobbles to a close in the waning weeks of December. The stratification of the triumphant and the comical is becoming less nuanced and more pronounced. Week 13, FINALLY wrapped up with a nice pretty bow on top, helped to indelibly Sharpie that dividing line. Case in point: NOLA at Falcons. The Saints, now nearly a month without Drew McRib Brees, sailed into Atlanta with the trade winds of an 8 game winning streak pushing relentlessly at their sails. They ultimately pulled out of port with another victory, 21–16, extending their cast iron streak to 9 wins. Backup Utility NOLA QB Taysom Hill turned in his best performance yet (particularly in the first half) and like FedEx proves he can deliver in the air and on the ground. A late game Falons comeback push was not enough to unbury their shallow grave. The ATL fall further from contention at 4–8 while the Saints clinched the first playoff berth of the Season. Laissez les bons temps rouler! Inversely, Raiders at forlorn Jets continued New York’s fine Season-long art of perfecting laughable disappointment and stinging embarrassment. For the better part of Sunday’s game, it actually looked as if NYJ QB Sam Darnold and his compadres were going to pull off the upset of upsets rendering the Raiders ultimate loser to Losers. But Lady Luck had other things in mind. Naturally. Ahead by 4 points with 35 seconds remaining in the 4th, the Jets in real time starred in their own early December blooper reel coughing up such poor Defensive strategy and coverage as to allow the connection of an audacious Vegas 46 yard pass and with it the Game, 28–31. The Jets, now laden with a 0–12 Record, slink into the off-season to a soundtrack of sad trombones and clown horn-honks. Oh the antics of the Jets, definitely the ultimate gift that keeps on tanking.
Over in LA, the collapse of the Chargers now looks fully complete. The Pats made a Sofi housecall and promptly shut them out, 0–45. It was an LAC excruciating loss that highlighted LA’s crippling Offensive/Defensive problems stem from the Front Office and perhaps beyond. This time, troubles could even be sensed with rookie sensation Justin Herbert. Just ugly, mistake-ridden gameplay on the discard menu. The SS Belichick chug out Tinsletown energized with their second victory in succession and a decent Cam Newtown showing. Playoff hopes for both teams are grim to nonexistent. Up at Lumen Field, another implosion unpacked before SEA’s disbelieving eyes where horror-of-horrors they were outmuscled by the newly resurgent Giants. The Best of the NFC Least slid into Sunday on the heels of a three game winning streak and took advantage of SEA’s gravitationally weak Defense to sketch out a winning outcome even Bob Ross would adore, 17–12. NYG, freshly hot off of 4 Ws, power into December with (in)credible post-season legitimacy. Much credit to HC Adam Gase. AS to the Seahawks, thing aren’t exactly terrible but then things aren’t exactly great either. But When prolific superstar Russell Wilson is painted with a subpar QB Rating of 78 there’s much ado about something in an ultra-competitive NFC West. The Rams and Cards meanwhile, looked on in sheer Schadenfreude delight. And lastly, Monday’s astonishing game that witnessed WAS destroying Steel City’s spotless record was as unexpected as it as soul-crushing to Steelers fans. It’s one thing to throw up an L in a season overflowing with Ws. It’s quite another another for said defeat to come at the hands of the lowly Washington Footballers. Indignity of indignities. Kind of like getting drunk off of a case of White Claw; sure it may happen but you’ll not want to fess up to it such is the depth of embarrassment. But that’s just what occurred at Heinz Field where the Steelers were felled by a million tiny mistakes. A newly reinvigorated, leg-fortified and comeback kid WAS QB Alex Smith powered his Team to a comeback WIN thoroughly knocking Big Ben and Co back on their black and yellow heels. In a week where they were expecting a post-season coronation, the Steelers were treated to a cold shower and a plethora of tough toenails. That coronation will have to wait. WAS for their part enter into a rugged bakeoff with the Giants for supremacy in the newly action-packed NFC East.
In this week’s Round Robin, lo and behold the Brownies are playoff-bound with their trouncing of the Bills, 41–35. CLE QB Baker Mayfield enjoyed a particularly sweet outing (25/33 334 4TDs) in a game that brought CLE’s record up to 9–3 and demonstrated to naysayers around the league that are the real deal. NOT the real deal by any stretch of the avian imagination are the Eagles who were naturally eviscerated by the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers, 16–30. Philly starting QB Carson Wentz, so exceptional in years past, has seemingly forgotten how to play coherent football in what can only be described as an exceptional fall from grace. He was so bad, he was yanked in the 3rd quarter. 2nd round draft pick Jalen Hurts was put in but the damage had already been done. The Packers march on to the post-Season while Aaron burnishes his 2020 MVP street cred. Back in the NFC West, the Rams crushed the Cards, 38–28, and hand them their 3rs loss in a row. Upstart QB Kyler Murray’s wings have been clipped and his ground game has been halted. At the same time, Rams QB Jared Goff rebounded masterfully from last week’s SF disaster to lead the Rams back to the top of the standings (with SEA). KC offed the formerly Covid-afflicted Broncos, 22–16, in a game that exposed a somewhat softened KC QB Patrick Mahomes and puzzling Red Zone inefficiency. Hope they get that sorted out before the Super Bowl. The Jags suffered their 11th Loss in a row, this time to the Vikings, 24–27, while the Lions with new interim HC Darrell Bevell outlasted Chicago, 34–30. The Bears have now lost a half dozen games in succession and are headed straight to the bottom of icy Lake Michigan. And lastly, you’ll be happy to learn that Tua Tagovailoa’s thumb has healed quite nicely and helped to fuel a Fin victory over the Cincy, 19–7. Pay no attention to the messy bench-clearing brawl and 5 player ejections that punctuated this game. Because Tua didn’t in delivering his strongest performance yet. The Dolphins are headed to higher aspirations next Season, if not this post-season, while he Cleve at 2–9, are headed to the Draft.
