Professional Football Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 11 of the NFL season.

Game of the Week

Cleveland Browns 21 Pittsburgh Steelers 7,  This game earns this award for everything except the actual play on the feel. Cleveland sent 2 Pittsburgh receivers - JuJu Smith-Schuster and Dionte Johnson - to the locker room because of helmet-to-helmet hits, -including one ejection.  Then, with time almost out, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett hits Mason Rudolph way late, holds him up for a couple of seconds and then slams him to the ground with his entire body weight.  Interestingly, this results in none of the actual 3 penalties that Garrett committed.  Rudolph reacts by trying to rip Garrett's helmet off, and when that doesn't work, but kicking Garrett in the nether regions trying to get Garrett's body weight off of him.  Garrett responds by actually ripping Rudolph's helmet off, and then swinging, and connecting, with the now helmetless noggin of Rudolph.  Markice Pouncey then comes him, hits Garrett a couple of times, shoves him to the ground, and with another Steeler on top of Garrett, kicks Garrett.  Rudolph - at this time yelling and screaming behind Pouncey, Cleveland Browns lineman Larry Ogunboji comes running in and shoves Rudolph to the ground from the back.  Garrett suspended indefinitely, but no shorter than the rest of the season, Pouncey for 3 games and Ogunboji for 1.  Pouncey likely would not have been suspended until he started kicking.  These teams play in two weeks. 

Best Team Performance

Baltimore Ravens.  For the second consecutive entry (the last one was week 9), the Ravens gave the best team performance, pummeling the Houston Texans 41-7 as Lamar Jackson cemented his place in the MVP race by throwing for 222 yards and 4 scores, and rushing for 86 more yards, as Houston had no answer for the mercurial Jackson.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Carolina Panthers.  The Panthers were absolutely obliterated by the now-resurgent Atlanta Falcons 29-3.  Christian McCaffrey showed some fight with 191 total yards, but this game was never close, not even at 0-0.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Dak Prescott, QB - Dallas Cowboys.  Trying to ensure that Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson do not run away with the MVP race, Prescott threw for 444 yards and 3 TDs, as the Cowboys defeated the Detroit Lions 35-27.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Maxx Crosby, DE, Oakland Raiders.  Crosby had 4 - YES 4 - sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals as the Raiders defeated the winless Bengals 17-10.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Jason Sanders, K - Miami Dolphins.  Only because he recovered only the second successful onside kick in the NFL this year.  Yes, HE recovered it.  Sanders kicked the ball along the ground before him in the second quarter with the Dolphins trailing the Buffalo Bills 16-7, and jumped on it as soon as the ball traveled 10 yards.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Off for international duty.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Off for international duty.

Goat of the Week

Myles Garrett, DE - Cleveland Browns.  You can't swing a helmet at another player, especially if that player is already helmetless and you swing at his head.  A long suspension is warranted.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Off for international duty.

Hit of the Week

Myles Garrett, DE - Cleveland Browns.  See above.

Breakthrough Performance

Bo Scarborough, RB - Detroit Lions.  The humongous running back out of Alabama finally got the opportunity to play after being re-called from the practice squad, and he gained 55 yards on only 4 carries and 1 TD, as the Lions lost to the Cowboys 35-27.  Taking advantage of the injury to Kerryon Johnson, and despite rumblings to the fact that two separate other backs were going to be featured by the Lions, Scarborough came in and showed why he was such a force for the Crimson Tide.

Finally

Deebo Samuel, WR - San Francisco 49ers.  Taking advantage of injuries in the receiving corps, Samuel caught 8 balls for 134 yards, showcasing his speed along the way.

Impact Injury

James Conner, RB - Pittsburgh Steelers.  Conner, who was supposed to be healthy for the Browns game after coming off a previous shoulder injury, was not and he was pulled early by Mike Tomlin and the rest of the coaching staff.  The Steelers are going to need Conner to advance to the playoffs. 

Team Rising

Atlanta Falcons.  Listen, I know that the Falcons are a long, long way off.  But, we cannot overlook two straight intra-divisional trouncings that they have put on rivals New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers in consecutive weeks, including their 29-3 win at Carolina this week.  .

Team Falling

Jacksonville Jaguars. After some intriguing performances by Gardner Minshew II in relief of Nick Foles, the Jaguars have proven only that they are not very good no matter who is behind center right now, after falling to 4-6 after a 33-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.  More indicative of the Jaguars value is that they have not beaten a team with an over .500 record this season.

Best Teams

(All teams will be ranked by record, even if teams with more losses may be better than a team with fewer losses, since Bill Parcells always said that you are what your record says.  The inverse is true for the Worst Teams rankings.) (Yes, I know that you could have a worse record and be better, see e.g., Baltimore Ravens, but we are working off record.)

1. San Francisco 49ers

2. New England Patriots

3. Baltimore Ravens 

4. Green Bay Packers

5. Seattle Seahawks

Worst Teams

(All winless teams will be ranked here until all teams have at least 1 win, then I will rank them based upon which teams I think are the worst, regardless of record.)

32. Cincinnati Bengals

31. Washington Racists

30. New York Giants

29. Miami Dolphins

28. Denver Broncos

Middle Teams

15. Pittsburgh Steelers
16. Philadelphia Eagles
17. Tennessee Titans

18. Carolina Panthers

Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer

Last Entry's Trivia Questions were:

In Week 7, Aaron Rodgers passed for 400 yards and 5 TDs, while also rushing for a TD.  What other quarterbacks (2) have done that in the history of the NFL?

Answer:  Norm van Brocklin and Mark Rypien.

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers v. Atlanta Falcons.  Not because this game is important or has playoff implications, but the Buccaneers offense is prolific (2 of the top 3 receivers right now in the NFL), and the fact that the Falcons have been playing great makes this a must-watch.  

5. Dallas Cowboys v. New England Patriots.  Two playoff-contenders with serious flaws, but huge fanbases.  Both will likely learn what their respective teams really are.  Would be ranked higher if it wasn't cross-conference.

4. Seattle Seahawks v. Philadelphia Eagles.  We know the Eagles are not what they have been the past couple of years, but a win against the Seahawks could very likely change the course of their season.  Seattle - especially Russell Wilson - is playing great right now, so this game should be really good.

3. Manchester City v. Chelsea.  Two of the four teams at the top of the table battle at the Etihad.  The fourth and third ranked teams respectively seem to be going in opposite directions as City have a loss and a draw in their past two matches across all competitions (albeit the loss was to table-leading Liverpool), and Chelsea have won 2 and drew one across all competitions.  Manchester City is riding old favorites Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne, while Chelsea has been relying on newcomers Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic.  This battle should be great - if everyone is healthy.

2. Baltimore Ravens v. Los Angeles Rams.  This Monday night matchup is fantastic as Lamar Jackson is a much watch.  Not ranked number this week simply because the Rams' offense has been stagnant.  

1. Green Bay Packers v. San Francisco 49ers.  With a combined record of 17-3, this is easily the best matchup of the weekend, and could be a battle for home-field advantage.

Trivia

As the lone remaining winless team, the Cincinnati Bengals have the inside track to selecting first in the 2020 NFL Draft. Name the three players in Bengals history that were selected with the number 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.  (Hint:  There were 3).

Sports Bar Review of the Week

Nectar
Seminole Casino - Coconut Creek
5550 NW 40th Street
Coconut Creek, FL  33073

I did not watch the games in a sports bar this week because I was attending the Third Eye Blind concert in the Seminole Casino - Coconut Creek in Coconut Creek, Florida.  We did, however, go to one of the bars in the casino to watch part of the night game.  This is a review of that bar - Nectar.

Nectar is technically classified as a lounge, and serves sushi and pizza.  We, however, had food before we went to the concert so we did not eat.

We ordered some drinks, which were mostly subpar.  Three of us ordered dirty martinis, which had absolutely NO dirtiness to them at all.  The double Patron on the rocks, however, was exactly as ordered (which should always be the case).

The atmosphere was really cool.  Loungy, but not douchy.  It had some couches around the edges, but had some booths and high top tables that made it look less bougie and more like an upscale bar.  Not a lot of televisions, but enough were you could see the game from anywhere (since there was only 1 game on at the time - and yes I know the goal of Nectar is not to be a sportsbar).  But, it worked.

Now, all of the minuses listed above (or N/As as to the food) are well limited by the AWESOME music played by the DJ.  She concentrated strictly on 80s and 90s R&B and hip-hop.  Yes, it had songs like the predictable but always enjoyable Jump Around, but it also played lesser-played (at clubs that is) songs like Too Close by Next and what I call the 90s ladies, Jade, SWV, and the like.  There was a small dance floor off to one side of Nectar, but that did not matter as everyone was out of their respective seats and just danced in all of the aisles.  This place was BUMPIN'.

Given that we were not expecting this lively atmosphere since we just wanted a couple of last drinks and a view of the game, this place was awesome.  Drinks and the fact we did not want food keep it from being rated a Russell Wilson or Lamar Jackson, so Nectar's rating is:

DAK PRESCOTT.