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
Houston Texans 34 Jacksonville Jaguars 31 Lots of action from Webley Stadium as the teams traded blows, complete with Travis Hunter intercepting a pass as well as catching a TD from Trevor Lawrence. Cam Little nailed a 60-yard field goal to tie the game with 2:00 remaining only to see Ka'imi Fairbairn hit a comparatively short 49-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining to propel the Texans into the victory lane. Both Lawrence and Houston QB C.J. Stroud threw for over 300 yards to make this game exciting for the Brits that attended as well as the American fans that traveled to London for the game.
Best Team Performance
Kansas City Chiefs. Easily handled a Los Angeles Chargers team that is in complete disarray. Not only do we know that Jim Harbaugh is going to be fired this season, now there is talk of trading Justin Herbert and completely dismantling the team. But enough about the losing squad in this game, KC dominated, holding the Chargers to only 277 yards of total offense, while sacking Justin Herbert 4 times. Kenneth Walker piled on a 128-yards rushing on a very efficient 19 carries, hitting the end zone twice. I know the hype is on Brock Purdy and Josh Allen, but let's give some love for potential MVP to Walker.
Least Impressive Team Performance
Los Angeles Chargers. Ugh!
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)
Caleb Williams, QB - Chicago Bears. Making his return from a hamstring injury that produced more questions about what grade it was than whether or not Williams was ready to return (he was). He finished 3036 for 305 yards a 1 TD while cruising to a 31-7 fourth quarter lead before the Bears pulled their defensive starters to ultimately win 31-23.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)
Kyler Gordon, CB - Chicago Bears. Another player that made his highly-anticipated return to the field for the Bears after being much-maligned for his training and treatment off of it was Kyler Gordon. The slot corner was expected to shore iup the secondary, which he did, but he also had three sacks blitzing off the corner and forcing Michael Penix, Jr. to fumble twice.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)
Ka'imi Fairbarn, K - Atlanta Falcons. Game-winning kick in London against Jacksonville the week after Cam Little did the same for the Jaguars is a pretty special story.
Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)
Brighton & Hove Albion. Absolutely decimated Crystal Palace 5-0, behind four separate goal scorers (Diego Gomez; Yasin Ayari; Charalampos Kostoulas; Jack Hinshelwood) plus an own goal. BHA is a serious contender for the Premiership title this year, as they find themselves in third place with a 5-1-1 record and a +18 goal differential.
Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)
Diego Gomez, M - Brighton & Hove Albion. In another week it could have been Erling Haaland of Manchester City or Pedro Neto of Chelsea for their respective braces, but it has to be Gomez because of this THIS GOLAZO!!!
Goat of the Week
Front Office and Coaching Staff - Philadelphia Eagles. They allowed Jalen Hurts to fly across the Atlantic with blood clots in his calf and lungs!!! What were they thinking?
Goat of the Week (Premier League)
Yehor Yarmolik, M - Brentford. You are already playing Liverpool in a tight battle when your teammate puts you up 1-0 just before half in the 44th minute. What do you do? In extra time you get a straight red. And, after being shorthanded, Brentford concedes two goals in an 8-minute span in the second half to fall 2-1.
Breakthrough Performance
David Bailey, Edge - New York Jets. When you are drafted #2 overall, an immediate impact is expected. Sometimes, though, there is an adjustment period, and Bailey experienced that for the first quarter of the season. He exploded with 9 QB pressures and 3 sacks against the Browns, and this week against the Patriots he only had 1 total tackle, but another pressure and 2 forced fumbles!
Finally
Houston Texans. A last-minute drive for a game-winning field goal against division leading Jacksonville Jaguars means that Houston (which started 0-4, but is now 2-4), hasn't given up on this season and could still make the playoffs where - with this defense - they could always make some noise.
Impact Injury
Jalen Hurts, QB - Philadelphia Eagles. Out for the season with blood clots; and dare I say possibly his career?
Team Rising
Team Falling
Los Aneles Rams. Even after claiming this spot last week, they fall to 2-4. In the NFC West, they might be done.
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 (6-0)
2. Kansas City Chiefs (5-0)
3. Minnesota Vikings (5-0)
4. Buffalo Bills (5-1)
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2)
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. Los Angeles Chargers (0-6)
31. Miami Dolphins (0-5)
30. Tennessee Titans (1-5)
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-5)
28. Washington Commanders (1-4-1)
Middle Teams
15. Cincinnati Bengals (3-2)
16. New York Giants (3-2-1)
17. Seattle Seahawks (3-3)
18. Las Vegas Raiders (3-3)
18. Las Vegas Raiders (3-3)
Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer
Question: 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?
Answer: Brandon Marshall with 21 for the Denver Broncos against the Indianapolis Colts on December 13, 2009.
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
The Los Angeles Chargers sit at 0-6 on the season. Who was the Chargers starting quarterback the last time the Chargers started 0-6?
