Professional Football Wrap-Up

Exciting Week 2; made even more so by my boy Ortega's birthday.  Lots of people, fun and games.  And my birthday present to him was that the Bears took Khalil Mack off of the  hands of his beloved Raiders.  You're Welcome!!!  Once again, none of the patrons stood for the anthem, Anyway, here are my thoughts from Week 1 of the NFL season.

Game of the Week

Minnesota 29 - Green Bay 29.  Two playoff-contending teams battling it out on the not yet frozen tundra.  Bad calls (the Clay Matthews roughing the passer call - although since he is Clay Matthews he deserved it) and bad kicking decided this sister-kisser.  Other contenders could have been Jacksonville over New England 31-20, but New England was never in this game, or Kansas City defeating Pittsburgh 42-37, but this was never really that close.

Best Team Performance

Jacksonville Jaguars.  Only an 11 point win in the AFC Championship game rematch, but the Jaguars thoroughly dominated New England.  The defense held New England to only 316 total yards, including only 82 yards rushing.  They sacked Tom Brady twice, including a sack, strip, fumble recovery by Dante Fowler, Jr., and Blake Bortles was 29-45 for 377 yards and 4 TDs - against only 1 interception, in Leonard Fournette's absence.  A dominating performance by your new favorites to win the AFC.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Arizona Cardinals.  Second week in a row, but much deserved.  Decimated by the Los Angeles Rams 34-0, and it wasn't even that close.  Sam Bradford threw for only 90 yards (17-27) with an interception, and the entire team only rushed for 54 yards.  They did sack Jared Goff twice and intercepted him once, , but they gave up over 40 yards rushing to Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown, and at least 6 receptions and 60 yards to Cooper Kupp (6/63), Robert Woods (6/81), and Brandin Cooks (7/159).  It is a fight between Arizona and Buffalo for the worst team in the NFL.  Is it time to see Josh Rosen?

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Patrick Mahomes, QB - Kansas City Chiefs.  He annihilated Pittsburgh's secondary so bad that you would have thought that Vontae Davis was not the only defensive back to retire at halftime.  He was 23-28 for 326 yards and 6 TDs - and no interceptions.  You read that correctly, Mahomes had more touchdown passes than incompletions!

Honorable Mention goes to Ryan FitzMagic of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who went 27-33 for 402 yards and 4 TDs in Tampa's 27-21 victory over the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, his second consecutive game over 400 yards!

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Darius Leonard, LB - Indianapolis Colts.  Leonard finished his week 2 game with 18 tackles, 1 sack and a forced fumble in the Indianapolis Colts' unlikely 21-9 win at Washington.

Honorable Mention to Shaquill Griffin of Seattle, with his 2 interceptions in a losing effort against the Chicago Bears.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Brandon McManus, K - Denver Broncos.  McManus kicked 2 extra points and 2 field goals, the last from 36 yards with only :06 remaining as the Broncos defeated the Oakland Raiders 20-19.  If you want to know why we celebrate mundane kicking performances, go ask the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns, both of which cut their kickers yesterday.

Least Impressive Individual Performance

Zane Gonzalez, K - Cleveland Browns.  Gonzalez missed both of his extra point attempts, and missed 2 field goals, any of which would have won the game as the Browns fell to the New Orleans Saints 21-18, as Will Lutz showed Browns fans what a kicker is by nailing a 44 yard field goal with :21 left to win the game.

Honorable Mention to Daniel Carlson of the Minnesota Vikings who missed all 3 of his field goal attempts, though he did hit all 3 of his extra points, in the Vikings tie with Packers.  Loses this honor to Gonzalez only because Gonzalez cost his team last week's win as well.

Both kickers were cut yesterday.

Most Surprising Team Performance

Indianapolis Colts.  After losing pretty handily at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, the Colts went into D.C. and defeated the Racists 21-9, holding Washington to only 65 yards rushing, with 43 of those yards to quarterback Alex Smith and wide receiver Jamison Crowder.  Andrew Luck was not sharp, but closed this game out with a fourth quarter TD pass to T.Y. Hilton for the final margin of victory.  Both teams are now 1-1.

Most Disappointing Team Performance

Pittsburgh Steelers.  Expecting a bounce-back performance after a week 1 tie with Cleveland, Pittsburgh laid an egg against the Kansas City Chiefs, losing 42-37 in a game that was never that close.  Pittsburgh's secondary still has yet to make an appearance in the ball game.

Most Surprising Individual Performance
Matt Breida, RB - San Francisco 49ers.  Breida, who was slated to be the 49ers backup running back until Jerrick McKinnon went down, rushed 10 times for 138 yards a 1 TD in San Francisco's 30-27 defeat of the Detroit Lions.

Most Disappointing Individual Performance

Kickers.  See above regarding Zane Gonzalez and Daniel Carlson.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Chelsea 4-1 over Cardiff City.  Chelsea gave up an early goal in the 16th minute before running off 4 straight, including the winner just before halftime.  Chelsea parlayed 77% possession into 18 shots (7 on goal) in annihilating Cardiff City to remain a perfect 5-0 (along with Liverpool) at the top of the table.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Eden Hazard - Chelsea.  Hazard, the engine that makes the Chelsea offense drive scored a natural hat trick with goals in the 37th minute and 44th minute (both from Giroud) and a penalty kick in the 80th minute after Willian drew a foul in the area.

Goat of the Week

Zane Gonzalez, K - Cleveland Browns.  Not to beat a dead kicker, but he lost two games for the Browns now.  And, he is cut.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Harry Kane - Tottenham Hotspur.  The usually prolific scorer Kane managed just 2 measly shots as the Spurs fell 2-1 to Liverpool.  Now losing to Liverpool in and of itself is no shame as they do sit at the top of the table, but Kane has to be more involved in the offense if the Spurs are to challenge for a UCL spot next year (they currently sit in 6th place).

Breakthrough Performance

Brandin Cooks, WR - Los Angeles Rams.  Cooks caught 7 of his 9 targets for 159 yards.  Although Cooks' big play potential has been known, this week's performance shows that he has easily replaced the departed Sammy Watkins in the Rams offense, and is possibly an even better weapon for Jared Goff than even Watkins was.

Comeback Performance

Nathaniel Hackett, OC - Jacksonville Jaguars.  Having learned from the pathetic, stagnant second half in the AFC Championship game, Hackett opened up the offense and let Blake Bortles throw, and this caught the New England Patriots completely by surprise.  In turn, the Jaguars dominated the defending AFC Champions, with the offense playing just as well as the defense.

Finally

Allen Robinson, WR - Chicago Bears.  Robinson flashed lots of potential in his 4 years with the Jaguars.  He only "flashed" because he was often injured.  With 10 catches on Monday night (out of 14 targets), Robinson showed that he can be the big target needed by young Mitchell Trubisky.  Robinson was key on third down converting 4 third downs with his catches to keep drives alive, and the clock moving.

Impact Injury

Joe Mixon, RB - Cincinnati Bengals.  He is only have his knee cleaned, but his speed is incredibly important in the revival of the Bengals offense, and by making the safeties respect the running game, A.J. Green is finding himself more space in which to operate.  Giovanni Bernard is a true veteran backup, but he does not have Mixon's pure speed.

Team Rising

Miami Dolphins - All of a sudden they are 2-0 and in first place in the AFC East.  Yes it is early, but Tannehill has been efficient, and the running game is 6th in the NFL  behind a combination of Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore, who is now fourth on the All-Time rushing list.  With Oakland next at home, they have a good shot to enter New England 3-0.

Team Falling

Seattle Seahawks - They are nowhere near the presence of recent vintage, and it clearly showed as Russell Wilson was running for his life most of the game and the offense could barely muster any drives until the very end of the game..

Best Teams
(All undefeated teams will be ranked in the top 5 until there are less than five teams, and then the rankings will consist of my true thoughts and not just records).

1. Los Angeles Rams
2. Jacksonville Jaguars
3. Kansas City Chiefs
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5. Cincinnati Bengals

Worst Teams
(All winless teams will be bottomed ranked teams until there are less than five teams, and then the rankings will consist  of my true thoughts and not just records)

32. Buffalo Bills
31. Arizona Cardinals
30. Oakland Raiders
29. New York Giants
28. Detroit Lions

Middle Teams
(Middle teams based on records until the teams play a significant amount of games to gauge their true ability).

15.  Baltimore Ravens
16.  Chicago Bears
17.  Atlanta Falcons
18.  San Francisco 49ers

Statistic That May Interest Only Me

I mentioned it earlier, but Patrick Mahomes had more touchdown passes (6) than incompletions (5) in the Chiefs victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  For the year Mahomes has 12 incompletions and 10 touchdown passes.

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

4. Pittsburgh Steelers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Not because this is going to be a good game between great teams, but because this game is going to be fun.  The Steelers defense is 25th in yards against and they basically have no secondary, and Tampa Bay is 1st in total yards and passing, with 482.5 total yards (405 passing) per game.  Likewise, Tampa Bay is 31st in total defense and passing defense with Pittsburgh being second in both offensively.  Can somebody say "Shootout"?

3. Denver Broncos at Baltimore Ravens.  Denver is 2-0, and Baltimore is 1-1, with Joe Flacco carrying a 93.5 passer rating.  Denver is second in the NFL in rushing and first in third down defensive percentage.  Baltimore  counters with the 7th best passing offense (8th overall) and the second best total defense (third in passing defense).  This is a game between two teams that will likely be battling for playoff position late in the season.

2. Cincinnati Bengals at Carolina Panthers - Another game that could be very important come playoff time.  Cincinati is 4th in the NFL in scoring.and third in rushing defense.  Carolina is 5th in rushing offense and 7th in passing defense.  A big matchup for both teams; can largely determine which one is the most legitimate.

1. Los Angeles Chargers at Los Angeles Rams - A potential Super Bowl preview.

Trivia

Ben Roethlisberger, with his 452 yards passing against Kansas City, moved into 7th place all time in passing yards with 51,852.  In fourth place in that list is Tom Brady.  Brady, drafted in 2000, is in his 18th season in the NFL.  Who is the only other player drafted in 2000 still active in the NFL?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

Today's review is of Duffy's Sports Grill, 225 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach, FL

Part of a local chain that originated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Duffy's on Clematis was chosen as it is the local spot for my boy Ortega, who turned 53 on Sunday.  His birthday, his choice.  Lots of people, drinks, food and football.

Ambiance is simply generic-themed sports bar.  Lots of televisions, but they are arranged so that you can really only watch one or two at a time.  There does seem to be a constant neck stretch as you turn from one set of cheers to another to see what is going on.  Enough coverage for all the games, but something just isn't great in the setup.

The sports feel/vibe is good.  A ton of Buffalo Bills fans, New York Jets fans and Miami Dolphins fans congregate at this location.  A smattering of almost every other team as well.  All football on Sundays.  This is good.

I ate before I went to Duffys's, but have eaten the food here many, many times.  Very good for a sports bar.  Known for their wings, I find them OK, at best, but the burgers, salads, ribs, and flatbreads are first rate for bar fare.  They serve a fantastic Caribbean chicken with beans and rice, as well.

The beer selection is OK.  Some craft beers, but caters to your bud light/miller lite bucket crowd.  Very few crafts on tap.  More in bottles, but they don't qualify for the two for one special, or at least that is what I was told (even though every other time I have been to any Duffy's they did - so this was weird).  Started with  Bud Light to hydrate, but when I tried to move to the Terrapin Hopsecutioner, I was told that they were not allowed to serve that to me in the 22oz draft because they didn't have enough glasses, and that the small drafts didn't count for two for ones (also weird).  I didn't want the large beer because I am a drunkard, but because we had a party of about 30, and our server had a number of other tables keeping him busy; I didn't want to have to refill as much.  This was a problem.

The server - Nick - himself was awesome.  He hustled the entire time, working up a sweat for sure.  Due to the large size of our party, timing of things wasn't perfect, but that was mostly because of us.  Nick earned his tips for sure!

The bathrooms are tiny, and often the women's room would develop a line in the small hallway leading to the bathrooms.  Rooms are clean though.

Service - Aaron Rodgers (Awesome)
Drinks - Ryan Tannehill (Perfectly adequate)
Food - DeShaun Watson (historically good to date, but unknown on this week)
Cleanliness - Matt Ryan (good, steady, nothing bad)
Sports Accommodations - Matt Stafford (initially looks pretty good, but something is just a little off)
Overall - Joe Flacco (Good, better than most, not quite as great as others)

Rating System Based Upon Career of QBs chosen:  Meaning, even the rating system is subjective.

Trivia Answer

Last Week's Question was:  Chicago Bears LB Khalil Mack had a sack, forced fumble, fumble recover, interception, and touchdown in the first half of Sunday nights' game against the rival Green Bay Packers.  As widely reported, Mack was the first player since Lawrence Taylor in 1982 to record all of those statistics in one half.  Who was the last player in the NFL to accomplish this in a full game?

Khalil Mack - 2016!

Check back in next week.

NFL Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 5 of the NFL season, based purely on what I was able to see.  I watched a lot this week, so I have a pretty good sample size.

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

The last time that the NFL actually had interesting games or teams in London was ... NEVER!

NFL Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 3 of the NFL season, based purely on what I was able to see.  I finally was able to secure a spot at a local watering hole with lots of friends and lots more football fans, so I was able to take in portions of almost every game!

Game of the Week

Miami Dolphins 38 v. Oakland Raiders 14 (in London).  Only because the NFL requires me to make this the Game of the Week due to its being played in London.  Just kidding, the NFL lets us all do what we want to do.  Right?

San Francisco 49ers 26 v. Philadelphia Eagles 21.  Two playoff-looking teams in a dogfight, with San Francisco just needing (and wanting) it a bit more.  San Francisco held the vaunted Eagles offense scoreless in the second half, to come back from a 21-13 deficit to win the game.  I don't think San Francisco is as good as they have been the past two years, but if they can survive until Game 10 (when Aldon Smith returns) they could make some waves late in the season.

Best Team Performance

New York Giants.  In a game between two teams that looked like the had finally turned the corner coming in, the Giants absolutely annihilated the Washington Whatever their Name is Eventually Going to Be.  Eli Manning looked, dare I say, "Elite" in carving up Washington's secondary, and Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams both had their way with the defense as well.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Tennessee Titans.  Normally there would be nothing wrong with losing a game on the road to the Indianapolis Colts, but the Titans looked like they didn't even show up.  Perhaps it was because they had to play the entire game with Charlie Whitehurst at quarterback, but having Whitehurst lead the team in rushing also evidenced just how unimpressive this performance was by Tennessee.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Phillip Rivers, QB - San Diego Chargers- Another total annihilation of the Jaguars, in large part because Rivers went 29-39 for 377 with 3 TDs.  Yes the Jaguars are horrible, but Rivers did exactly what you are supposed to do to bad teams.  Honorable mention to Demarco Murray of the Cowboys.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)
Husain Abdullah, FS - Kansas City Chiefs. He did some of everything on the defensive side of the ball for the Chiefs in their defeat of the New England Patriots.  He had 8 tackles, 3 passes defensed, a QB hit and the interception that he returned for a touchdown.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Dustin Colquitt, P - Kansas City Chiefs.  Once again, his booming punts kept filed position in the Chiefs' favor all game.  Averaged 45 yards a punt, only two of which were returned - for a total of 10 yards.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Chelsea.  Defeated Aston Villa 3-0 to maintain their place at the top of the Premier League Table with 5 wins and a draw in 6 matches.  In addition, Chelsea managed to get 3 goals passed Brad Guzan, the goalie that most experts believe had been playing the best to start the season.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Edin Dzeko - Manchester.  Dzeko scored a brace against Hull City, the second being the go-ahead goal as City defeated Hull 4-2.

Goat of the Week

Brad Wing, P - Pittsburgh Steelers - After the Steelers were unable to gain a game-winning first down after getting the ball back up 4 with 1:44 remaining in the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brad Wing shanked a 29 yard punt giving the Buccaneers the ball at Pittsburgh's 46 with 40 seconds left, which Tampa used to score the game-winning touchdown.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Wayne Rooney, Manchester United - After scoring an opening goal, Rooney proceeded to earn a straight red card, which also results in him missing this weekend's clash at home against Everton.

Hit of the Week

Jason Garrett, Coach - Dallas Cowboys - For his hits on Cowboy Wide Receiver Terrence Williams after Williams caught his second TD pass of the game.

Breakthrough Performance

Travis Kelce, TE - Kansas City Chiefs. After showing promise earlier in the year, Kelce broke out with an 8 catch 93 yard performance that included a touchdown.  Much more important than just the stat line was that Kelce looked like the type of tight end that could be a primary receiver, catching the ball, creating mismatches, running after the catch and making people miss.

Finally

Jacksonville Jaguars - They lost, and badly, but they finally gave the start to rookie Blake Bortles, who looks to have the skills and demeanor to be a real quality quarterback in the NFL.

Impact Injury

DeAngelo Williams, RB - Carolina Panthers.  To a team that relies primarily on running the ball and its defense, this injury really hurts, especially when added to the list of other injured running backs, Jonathan Stewart, Mike Tolbert and Fozzy Whittaker.

Team Rising

New York Giants - Perhaps the problem with the Giants was not that they were terrible, it may just have taken time to get used to the new offensive coordinator and his system, but boy have they ever.  They host the Falcons, and are at divisional rivals the Eagles and Cowboys before the bye week, so we will learn a lot about the Giants in October.

Team Falling

New England Patriots - Every sports talk show was asking if the Belichick-Brady dynasty is over.

Best Teams
(All undefeated teams will be top ranked teams until none are left - then the rankings will be the result of my true thoughts and not just records).

1. Cincinnati Bengals
2. Arizona Cardinals
3. Seattle Seahawks
4. Philadelphia Eagles
5. San Diego Chargers

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. Tennessee Titans
29. Cleveland Browns
28. Washington Whatever their New Name is Going to Be

Middle Teams

15.  Kansas City Chiefs
16.  Green Bay Packers
17.  New York Giants
18.  Chicago Bears

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

Bonus Game (since last week most of the match up sucked, this week, we have ore interesting games) - Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos.  The undefeated Cardinals bring their stellar defense on the road against the Broncos' vaunted offense.  If Arizona can win this game, they will definitely make a statement to the rest of the league.

4.  Kansas City Chiefs v. San Francisco 49ers - If we get both teams that played last week, this will be an exciting and very tough game to watch.

3. Atlanta Falcons v. New York Giants - Assuming that the Giants' offense has in fact gelled together, this could be the best offensive scoring game we have seen in a long, long time.

2.  Houston Texans v. Dallas Cowboys - The battle for Texas is also the battle to go 4-1!

1. Baltimore Ravens v. Indianapolis Colts - The Colts continue their tough opening schedule after their brief respite against the Titans last week.  The Ravens have looked downright dominating at times.

Trivia

When was the last time that the NFL actually had interesting games or teams in London?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

As stated earlier, I was at a Sports Bar this Sunday, so that is the bar that gets the review.

Duffy's Sports Grill, 225 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach, FL

I must confess that I have been to this place too many times to count, as well as many other locations within this growing Florida chain.  Generally, I like Duffy's, but this review is strictly about this past visit at this one location, and not about my normal overall thoughts and other locations.

The place was packed, but not overly so, a little bit surprising considering that the Dolphins (local team), Bills (huge local following), Bears-Packers (big rivalry) and other games were on.  Our waitress was named Jessie, and she came immediately upon us sitting at the table and ordered our drinks..

This is a generic sports bar, in that its menu is exactly what you would expect; wings, burgers, salads, entrees, appetizers.  But what makes this place great is it is on a very busy downtown corner, with sight-lines down both streets to see the activities, and lots of televisions facing in every direction.  From practically any seat you can have a great view of 4 different televisions, and you can see more, just not as direct.  Lots of planning is done prior to Sunday to make sure all of the games are accurately spaced-out so that each patron can view many different games should they choose to do so.

The food is what I would consider very good bar food.  Normally I would get the wings, but for some reason I wanted to try something different, off the "football menu" - the buffalo chicken sliders.  However, the name is a bit of a misnomer, as this was not mini-buffalo chicken sandwiches.  This was chicken meatballs, stuffed with blue cheese (which was piping hot and delicious), and then shaken in a wing sauce of your choice.  My choice was the spicy garlic, which is outstanding.  We also had an order of chicken nachos, which are good, but exactly what you would expect.

In addition to the standard food fair, Duffy's has pretty standard beer selection, with some craft beers being present on the menu as well, but nothing outside of the ordinary.  After realizing I had settled down for some long football watching, I had boring Bud Light, while others in our group had Stella Artois.  Duffy's does also have a full bar, which some in our group may - or may not - have taken advantage of.

A pretty good time (except for the outcome of the football game I was watching) until the end.  Jessie was great and pre-delivered separate checks to our party.  She knew because she had waited on several of us on a number of occasions previously.  All the tabs were paid, except for one guy who simply questioned the amount of beers placed on his tab.  He was charged for 5 beers, which does not seem like a big deal so I will break it down for you.  Duffy's has 2-for-1s, so that meant he had 10 if he was charged for 5.  Again, not so bad for watching an entire set of early games, except for the fact that Duffy's also has large beers, which is what was ordered at our table.  So that means he actually had 20 regular beers.  This is over the course of just over 3 hours.  So basically he was finishing a beer every 10 minutes.  Mathematically this does not make sense for someone at a restaurant (at a party, at home, the beach, at the tailgate, maybe, but not in the restaurant).  When he questioned his tab, Jessie rightfully summoned the manager over, who was entirely and completely argumentative from the start.  He said those were the beers that were ordered, and we were going to pay for them or he was going to have security escort us out to the cops.  (Downtown West Palm Beach has a private security company that patrols the area - paid for by the City).  Now, the bill was not that high, the cost was not the issue, we were just questioning the number on that one particular tab.  The manager said that it had to be correct because nobody else was drinking Bud Light.  Now I know that was not true because I was, and so was the guy sitting next to me.  So basically, what was a simple question about the potential for extra drinks being on a bill - which has happened to me before at this establishment so I believe it to be a possibility in this case - turned into a tremendous overreaction from the manager and about 12 people who no longer want to go to this establishment.

Too bad the manager didn't know that I write this review section up weekly.  Let's just hope that the readership of this blog rises enough to make a difference.

I want to be clear, I have no problems with our waitress Jessie.  Perhaps she made a mistake in ringing up beers, perhaps not.  Perhaps one of  my beers ended up on my friend's tab - in which case I would have paid it no problem.  Who knows?  But, she was a good waitress, and when the issue presented itself she went to the manager.

He, however, was nothing but argumentative and never wanted to even listen to us speak - much less listen to my mathematical breakdown as detailed above.  At least ACT like you are listening to your customer.

Service (during the games) - NFC North
Service (management) - AFC East
Drinks - AFC South
Food - NFC South
Cleanliness - NFC West
Sports Rating - NFC West
Overall (not including management) - Minnesota Vikings (3rd in the NFC North)
Overall (including management) - Pittsburgh Steelers (3rd in the AFC North)

Rating System Best to Worst:  NFC West, NFC North, NFC South, AFC West, AFC North, AFC South, NFC East, AFC East

Trivia Answer

In the game against the Eagles, Pierre Garcon had 138 receiving yards and DeSean Jackson had 117 receiving yards.  The last time the Redskins had two receiver over 100 yards in the same game was 2003.  The receivers were LAVERANUES COLES (180 yards) and ROD GARDNER (118 yards) on September 13, 2013 against Atlanta.