Professional Football Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 13 of the NFL season.

Game of the Week

Baltimore Ravens 20 - San Francisco 49ers 17.  This game established supremacy (for now at least) for the Baltimore Ravens at the top of the NFL heap.  By defeating San Francisco, Baltimore showed that it is currently the best team in the NFL.  This game had Lamar Jackson in all his Lamar Jacksonest, the San Francisco defensive line at its defensive liniest, and ended when the NFL's all time most accurate kicker Justin Tucker kicked a 49 yard field goal as time expired.  Despite sloppy weather conditions, this was the best game of the weekend, and I could take this as a Super Bowl matchup.  (Seattle defeating Minnesota 37-30 was not far behind.

Best Team Performance

Kansas City Chiefs.  Kansas City, in a game that would determine first place in the AFC West, just thoroughly annihilated the Oakland Raiders 40-9, and in the process undid all confidence that Raiders may have had that they could or should  make the playoffs.  Kansas City asserted itself near the top of the AFC.

Least Impressive Team Performance

New York Jets.  Coming off 3 consecutive wins, and an impressive win at home over the Raiders, the Jets laid an absolute egg against the formerly winless Cincinnati Bengals 22-6.  Sam Darnold only threw for 239 yards (and 0 TDs), and leading ruser Le'Veon Bell carried the ball for a whopping 32 yards.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Jared Goff, QB - Los Angeles Rams.  Goff had an incredible game as the Rams destroyed the Arizona Cardinals 34=7.  He was 32-43 for 424 yards and 2 TD as the Rams scored 34 straight points through three quarters.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Cameron Jordan, DE, New Orleans Saints.  Jordan had 6 tackles, 4 of the sacks to pace the New Orleans defense as the Saints beat their division rival Atlanta Falcons 26-18, and regain some respect after falling to the Saints 3 weeks ago.  Honorable mention to Ed Oliver, who had 2 sacks as the Bills beat the Dallas Cowboys.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Justin Tucker, K - Baltimore Ravens.  The most accurate kicker in NFL history, who has made 1,235,947 consecutive field goals under 40, uncorked a 49-yard game winner as time expired, propelling the Ravens to a 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Tottenham Hotspurs.  Behind new boss Jose Mourinho, Tottenham defeated Bournemouth 3-2 to propel themselves into 6th in table.  Tottenham got an brace from Dele Alli as he scored his two a half hour apart, and third, and decisive goal from Moussa Sissoko was assisted by the most underrated player in world football - Heung-Min Son.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Virgil Van Dijk, D - Liverpool.  The central defender scored a brace in a six minute span, both on headers off set-pieces, including one corner, as Liverpool maintained its lead in the Premier League table with a 2-1 defeat of Brighton and Hove Albion.  Both goals were crucial as BHA scored a 79th minute goal after a 76th minute straight read to Liverpool goalkeeper Allison.

Goat of the Week

Nick Foles, QB - Jacksonville Jaguars.  Nick Foles was 7-14 for 93 yards and 1 TD in the first half of Jacksonville's 28-11 loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before being pulled for Gardner Minshew II - for the remainder of the season.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Allison, GK - Liverpool.  How many yellow a red cards can one goalkeeper receive in a year.

Hit of the Week

Did not really see too many great hits this week, so no response this time.

Breakthrough Performance

Zach Pascal, WR - Indianapolis Colts.  Indianapolis, desperately looking for offense from somewhere during their 31-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans, found Pascal for 7 catches for 109 yards in what could be the start of something really important for the Colts.

Finally

James Washington, WR - Pittsburgh Steelers.  Washington, only receiving maximum playing time due to the injury of JuJu Smith-Schuster, utilized his speed to catch 4 balls for 111 yards and 1 TD in Pittsburgh's 20-13 victory over Cleveland.

Impact Injury

Dalvin Cook, RB - Minnesota Vikings.  Cook was removed from this week's 37-30 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks with an apparent shoulder injury. Should Cook not be able to play in any of the last 4 games, the NFC playoff race becomes much more muddled, especially since Minnesota is fighting for the NFC North division title and/or a wildcard. 

Team Rising

Chicago Bears.  By defeating the Detroit Lions 24-20 on Thanksgiving Day, the Bears have gotten themselves back to a 6-6 record. This is important because 3 wins could get them back into the playoffs this year, especially if Dalvin Cook misses multiple games for the Vikings.  The Bears schedule though is Dallas, Green Bay, Kansas City and Minnesota.

Team Falling

Dallas Cowboys/Philadelphia Eagles.  Both NFC East rivals lost this week; Dallas 26-15 to the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia 37-31 to the Miami Dolphins.  The downfall of the Cowboys (6-6) and Eagles (5-7) has kept the Washington Racists (3-9) and the New York Giants (2-10) technically alive for a division title.

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. Baltimore Ravens

2. San Francisco 49ers

3. New Orleans Saints 

4. Seattle Seahawks
5. New England Patriots

Worst Teams

32. Cincinnati Bengals

31. New York Giants

30. Washington Racists

29. Atlanta Falcons

28. Miami Dolphins

Middle Teams

15. Oakland Raiders
16. Chicago Bears
17. Dallas Cowboys

18. Cleveland Browns

Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer

Last Entry's Trivia Question was:

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).

Answer:  Dan Wilkinson (Ohio State - 1994), Ki-Jana Carter (Penn State - 1995), Carson Palmer (USC - 2003)

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

6. Tennessee Titans v. Oakland Raiders.  This game has big playoff implications for both teams, although to paraphrase the entire Dan LeBatard show - Tennessee is destined to finish 8-8.  

5. Dallas Cowboys v. Chicago Bears.  The Thursday night matchup is incredibly important for both 6-6 teams involved, although Dallas has the opportunity to win its divisions whereas the Bears only chance is to win 3 (or 4) of their tough last 4 games to have an opportunity to win a wildcard birth.

4. Kansas City Chiefs v. New England Patriots.  By record this game should be amazing, except everybody sees that New England's offense has serious problems.  The question is, can the New England defense contain the potent Kansas City offense?

3. Manchester City v. Manchester United.  This is traditionally a highly charged rivalry matchup, lessened only by the fact that Manchester United is 10th in the table.

2. Seattle Seahawks v. Los Angeles Rams.  See above for Goff's numbers last week, but let's see what numbers he can put up against a Seattle Seahawks' team that is playing its best football of the season.  

1. San Francisco 49ers v. New Orleans Saints. Two 10-2 teams, ranked 2 and 3 in my NFL rankings, with the winner making a huge stride toward home-field advantage in the NFC (with the Seahawks in contention as well).  This game should be fantastic to watch.

Trivia

Ridiculous trivia, but being Thanksgiving I didn't really pay attention to anything that could be a good trivia question.

Earlier this year, Frank Gore passed Curtis Martin for fourth place in the all-time career rushing yards.  He is now closer to third place than he is to fifth place Martin.  Who is in third place, and how many yards behind third place is Gore?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

I was driving home from the UF-FSU game on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so needles to say, I did not get to watch any games from a sports bar.