You know that it is a good week when the two best games on paper turn out to be the two best games in actuality - and yes, I am talking about San Francisco - Seattle and Buffalo - Los Angeles.
Game of the Week
Buffalo Bills 37 Los Angeles Rams 34. This game edges out the San Francisco 49ers - Seattle Seahawks game because: (1) it went to overtime; and (2) the dramatic ending of the blocked field goal by Buffalo before Tyler Bass's game-winning 45-yard field goal, all of which was prefaced by a James Cook rushing touchdown with 1:39 left to take a 7-point lead which was countered by a Kyren Williams rushing touchdown with 5 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. Josh Allen did Josh Allen things; Matthew Stafford threw for 383 and 3 TDs, Puka Nacua had 17 catches, James Cook rushed for 111 yards - man this game had all the things!
Best Team Performance
New England Patriots. Answered the question after last week's upset over the Buffalo Bills of, "Is this a fluke, or did the Patriots return to last season's team?" resoundingly, with a 45-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders that frankly, wasn't even that close. Drake Maye is back (26/34 - 374 yards, 4 TDs, 1 rushing TD), and even caused Fernando Mendoza to appear, who went 6-8 for 28 yards in his NFL debut.
Least Impressive Team Performance
Chicago Bears. Words cannot express how awful the Bears played in Green Bay against their biggest rival, and on a day in which they should have been honoring the toughness of Mike Ditka. Green Bay won 31-7 and showed that you can throw deep against this defense, and that Tyson Bagent is not the backup most people thought he was.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)
Puka Nacua, WR - Los Angeles Rams. Drake Maye could have been here, but that game was so lopsided it didn't matter. The Rams needed every bit of Nacua's 17 catches and 138 yards, with a touchdown. Jaylen Warren deserves mention as well.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)
Quincy Williams, LB - Cleveland Browns. Williams had a monster game in Cleveland's 17-12 loss to the New York Jets, compiling 7 total tackles, 3 forced fumbles and 95.7 PFF grade.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)
Gregory Rousseau, EDGE - Buffalo Bills. Had a very quiet game defensively in the Bills overtime victory over the Rams. VERY QUIET - No tackles or assists at all. But he showed up HUGE when it mattered most; blocking Harrison Mevis' game-winning 48-yard field goal attempt in overtime, which Buffalo then converted into a win with their own field goal by Bass.
Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)
Chelsea. The Blues came out firing against Bournemouth defeating the relegation-facing team 5-1 at Stamford Bridge behind braces from Jordan Henderson and Joao Pedro, with Morgan Rogers adding an early goal as well. And when I say "came out firing," I mean it as Chelsea scored goals in the second and third minutes of the game.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)
Jordan Henderson, M - Chelsea. Henderson was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time this season, and this offense looked like it was on cruise control the entire game. In addition to his two goals, Henderson assisted on Rogers' goal in the third minute, and put the entire Premiership on notice that Chelsea could be a contender THIS YEAR!
Goat of the Week
Tyson Bagent, QB - Chicago Bears. Just an awful performance by Bagent, who threw 2 INTs and was sacked twice while only going 12/21 for 87 yards before he was replaced by Case Keenum, who honestly should have replaced him a quarter earlier and entered after halftime. Bagent was exposed by the Packers' defense, and it is a good thing for the Bears that Caleb Williams could be back this week.
Goat of the Week (Premier League)
Chris Kavanagh, Referee. His second half yellow card to Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch was soft, and being Gravenberch's second resulted in his dismissal. Manchester City wasted no time whatsoever in capitalizing, scoring through Erling Haaland 3 minutes later, and through Jeremy Doku 2 minutes after that, on the way to a 3-nil victory in City's first game after the EPL announced it was guilty on 114 out of 115 financial fair play improprieties. To quote Men in Blazers' Roger Bennett, this is like Lance Armstrong mixed with the L.A. Clippers, mixed with Milli Vanilli.
Breakthrough Performance
Jalon Daniels, QB - Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The numbers do not necessarily show the impact that Daniels made in the Buccaneers 24-16 win over the Cowboys. He was just 19/25 for 189 yards and 1 TD, but he also scrambled for 23 yards and the undrafted free agent out of Kansas looked like he actually belonged on an NFL field as he secured his first win in the league as a starting QB.
Finally
C.J. Stroud, QB - Houston Texans. Yes it was against the Tennessee Titans, but Stroud looked like the old Stroud, throwing for 261 yards on 26/34 passing with 1 TD and 0 INTs as Houston manhandled the Titans 26-3. Although the defense deserves a lot of the blame for the Texans' bad start, Stroud has to shoulder his share of the responsibility for this too, and this could show that Houston is not done with this season just yet.
Impact Injury
Michael Penix, Jr., QB - Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons have not notified the public about the seriousness of Penix's ankle injury - and it is possible that he is back this week against the Chicago Bears - but we have seen the difference in this team between the first two weeks (without Penix) and the next two games (with Penix) and it is astronomical.
Team Rising
Team Falling
Los Aneles Rams. Despite actually being a very good team, they are down to 2-3 on the year, and they are in the most competitive division in football, with San Francisco and Seattle ahead of them.
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, but we are working off record.)
1. San Francisco 49ers (5-0)
2. Minnesota Vikings (5-0)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0)
4. Buffalo Bills (4-1)
5. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-1)
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. Tennessee Titans (0-5)
31. Miami Dolphins (0-5)
30. San Diego Chargers (0-5)
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-4)
28. Arizona Cardinals (1-4)
Middle Teams
15. Chicago Bears (3-2)
16. Las Vegas Raiders (3-2)
17. Cleveland Browns (3-2)
18. Carolina Panthers (2-2)
18. Carolina Panthers (2-2)
Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer
The Bears had a 42 minute and 15 second time of possession against the Jets. What team had the longest recorded time of possession in an NFL regular season game, and how long was that possession?
Answer: 48 minutes and34 seconds, by the Houston Oilers on November 10, 1991, in a win over Dallas.
Preview - Game(s) of the Week
6-4. This weekend's matchups stink. NONE!
3. Everton v. Chelsea. These two teams sit at 5th and 6th in the Table (albeit tied on points for 4th place). A big matchup to push the victor - if any - into Europe next year!!! Brentford v. Liverpool is also important.
2. Buffalo Bills v. Las Vegas Raiders. This game has lost some of its luster since the Raiders loss this weekend to the New England Patriots, but it is about as good as we can get.
1. Seattle Seahawks v. Denver Broncos. Easily the best game of the week, but it is on Thursday night. Denver can show us if they are really going to be a contender this year or not, and Seattle is a great opportunity for them to do just that.
Trivia
Inspired by Puka Nacua's 17-catch game just one week after Cee Dee Lamb had the same, who has the record for most receptions in a single game, and how many did he have?
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