Game of the Week
New Orleans Saints 37 v. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 - Yes the teams have combined for only 5 wins (including this game), but boy was it exciting. The Saints scored 11 points in the final quarter to earn overtime, and then scored a touchdown in overtime. Also exciting because at least 4.3 million people selected the Saints in their survivor pools.
Best Team Performance
San Diego Chargers - Yes it was the Jets, but the Chargers' defense pitched the only shutout of the weekend and San Diego did score 31 on the Jets normally stout defense. The Chargers are a Super Bowl contending team this year.
Least Impressive Team Performance
New York Jets - This is too easy given the above, but the performances of both Geno Smith and Michael Vick seal this award for the work. I feel like even typing this is a waste of time.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)
Peyton Manning, QB - Denver Broncos. He was 31-47 for 479 yards and 4 Touchdowns as the Broncos more than doubled-up the Cardinals. Even more importantly, his two touchdown strikes to Demaryius Thomas finally may have woken Thomas out of his slumber. Once again DeMarco Murray with an honorable mention.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)
Marcell Dareus, DT - Buffalo Bills. Dareus had a monster game with 5 tackles, 3 sacks and a forced fumble. It will be hard to find a defensive tackle that has such an impactful performance the rest of the year.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)
Stephen Gostkowski, K - New England Patriots. He kicked 5 filed goals in 5 attempts, plust he made 4 extra points. If you include kickoffs, that means Gostkowski was on the field for 19 plays!
Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)
Sunderland. Scored early and late to defeat Stoke 3-1 and move out of relegation range - for the moment at least
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)
Petr Cech - Chelsea. One of the top 5 or 6 goalies in the world, who lost his first team spot to one of the top 3 or 4 goalies in the world, is rushed into emergency duty after Thibault Courtouis suffers an apparent concussion due to the reckless play of Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez in the 24th minute. All Cech did was shake of the rust and keep the clan sheet against the Gunners.
Goat of the Week
Matt Forte, RB - Chicago Bears. His horrible fumble coast the Bears an easily winnable game at home against the Carolina Panthers, one in which the Bears committed turnovers on each of their last three possessions to give Carolina the win, and move the Bears to 0-3 at home this season.
Goat of the Week (Premier League)
David Nugent, Leicester City - After coming into the game against Burnley in the 63rd minute, Burnley held a 2-1 lead late into the game when Nugent commits a fouls just outside the box that earns him a yellow card and gives a free kick to Burnley, which Ross Wallace promptly converts in the 6th minute of extra time to steal a point. Nugent's foul definitely cost Leicester 2 points for the win.
Hit of the Week
Geno Smith, QB - New York Jets - The blow to his ego must have obliterated him.
Breakthrough Performance
Austin Davis, QB - St. Louis Rams - Finished with 375 yards and 3 Touchdowns (with 2 fumbles), in a 34-28 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. That being said, we cannot look at Davis as a wide-eyed inexperienced backup anymore. Davis can play. He might make some mistakes, but he can play.
Finally
Buffalo Bills - For finally giving Kyle Orton a chance. Say what you will about Orton, but he has been around the league and will not be frazzled when thrust into a game situation. Orton finished 30-43 for 302 yards and 1 touchdown, and more importantly, the Bills won, defeating Detroit 17-14.
Impact Injury
Reggie Bush, RB - Detroit Lions. Buffalo really took control of the game once Bush went out, and his versatility as a runner and as a receiver out of the backfield will be missed if he is out significant time.
Team Rising
Green Bay Packers - Two division wins in a row, and more importantly, two wins in which the Packer offense has looked unstoppable.
Team Falling
Chicago Bears - The Bears are 0-3 at home, and have lost two games that easily should have been wins except for late turnovers. If you cannot close out games you are winning, you are not going to win a lot of games.
Best Teams
1. Seattle Seahawks
2. San Diego Chargers
3. Denver Broncos
4. Philadelphia Eagles
5. Indianapolis Colts
Worst Teams
(All winless teams will be bottomed ranked teams until none are left - then the rankings will be the result of my true thoughts and not just records)
32. Jacksonville Jaguars
31. Oakland Raiders
30. New York Jets
29. Tennessee Titans
28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Middle Teams
15. Detroit Lions
16. Houston Texans
17. Kansas City Chiefs
18. Atlanta Falcons
Preview - Game(s) of the Week
4. Chicago Bears v. Atlanta Falcons - Not because the teams are so great, but because this game is incredibly important for both 2-3 teams to win. Chicago and Atlanta were both pre-season playoff contenders, and the loser of this games likely drops out of the hunt. Interesting stat is that the Bears are undefeated on the raod so far this year while the Falcons are undefeated at home. Obviously one of those is going to end this week.
3. Carolina Panthers v. Cincinnati Bengals - Two very good teams looking to earn a statement win; Carolina to keep pace in the NFC and Cincinnati to show last week's shellacking at the hands of the Patriots was an anomaly.
2. New York Giants v. Philadelphia Eagles - Two high-octane offenses in a battle of division contenders? Yes, please!
1. Dallas Cowboys v. Seattle Seahawks - Winner has early control of the tough NFC.
Trivia
Peyton Manning passed the 500 touchdown barrier this week, becoming the second quarterback in history to do so (after Brett Favre). Against what team has Manning thrown the most touchdowns, and who has caught the most of Manning's touchdown passes?
Sports Bar Review of the Week
I am behind by about one review, as I went to a couple of bars (1 for college and 1 for NFL a couple of weeks ago), so this is my catch up review from the one Monday Night Football game I went out to watch earlier this year.
Sports Page Bar and Grill, 535 25th Street, West Palm Beach, FL
This was last year's local Bears viewing bar, but since then new owners have taken over so it felt like a completely new bar - even though not one thing cosmetically or substantively has really changed from the previous owners.
Ambiance, the bar itself - literally the bar - is really amazing as the back trough behind the bar is frozen daily, so you can sit your drink in the ice to provide a really cold coaster. It is old, with a great feel to it.
The sports feel is good, but not as great as it should be for having as many televisions as it does. There are a lot of obstructed views of televisions, with taps, or bottles or other items in front of some of the televisions. Even though it is not optimal, it is still pretty good, and each table has its own television to view if you are not in the bar area.
Food is all over the place; from traditional bar food to italian to seafood to you name it. I would like to see the menu streamlined so that it might be easier for the kitchen to concentrate on a food type, but generally the food tastes pretty good. We had conch fritters and the buffalo chicken sandwich. on this occasion, but have had nachos and wings and other items in the past. The presentation leaves a lot to be desired - especially on the buffalo chicken sandwich - but it tastes pretty good. Not great, but good.
The beer selection is small, consisting primarily of your domestics with a handful of popular imports (Heinekin, Amstel, Stella, etc.) and a couple of local crafts - primarily Due South's Caramel Cream Ale. They do have bucket specials during football games - which is nice.
Service was slow, but more deliberate than dawdling. On this occasion the entire bar was slow (maybe 8 people total), so that may have had an effect on the listless service. Nice service, not particularly versed in the menu or the drinks, but nice.
Service - AFC North
Drinks - NFC East
Food (Presentation) - AFC East
Food (Taste) - AFC West
Cleanliness - NFC North
Sports Accommodations - NFC North
Overall - Kansas City Chiefs (third in AFC West)
Rating System Best to Worst: NFC West, NFC North, NFC South, AFC West, AFC North, AFC South, NFC East, AFC East
Trivia Answer
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