Professional Football Wrap-Up

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

Game of the Week

San Francisco 49ers 48 - New Orleans Saints 46.  I finally have seen a game that compares to the 1982 divisional playoff game in which the Miami Dolphins defeated the San Diego Chargers 41-38. That game featured two separate 400 yard passers (Dan Fouts 406 and Don Strock 403), and the offenses were virtually unstoppable.  This game had both quarterbacks (Drew Brees and Jimmy Garappolo) throw for 349 and both team's leading rushers (Raheem Mostert and Latavius Murray rush for 69 yards.  Both teams also had a receiver go well over 100 yards; for San Francisco it was Emmanuel Sanders with 157 and 1 touchdown and for New Orleans it was Michael Thomas with 134 and 1 TD - on 11 receptions.  Of course the game ended on a last minute drive with Drew Brees throwing a game-winning TD pass to Tre'Quan Smith with :53 left on the clock (but the 2 point conversion failed.}  Except it didn't.  San Francisco took the ensuing possession down the field, aided by a 39 yard George Kittle reception in which he plowed through the Saints defense and was only tackled by his facemask - resulting in 15 more yards.  The ever-reliable Robbie Gould kicks the winning 30 yard field goal as time expired.

Best Team Performance

Tennessee Titans.  Not only playing themselves into a potential wildcard spot, the Titans are now challenging for the AFC South title, a division in which they play the Houston Texans twice in the next (last) 3 games.  Tennessee handily defeated fellow (former) playoff contender Oakland 42-21, led by the dual threat of Ryan Tannehill's 391 yards passing and Derrick Henry's 103 yards rushing.  

Least Impressive Team Performance

Jacksonville Jaguars.  I have rarely seen a team just blatantly give up as bad as this team.  They lost 45-10 at home to the Los Angeles Chargers and made Philip Rivers look like he only had 3 kids.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Jameis Winston, QB - Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Winston was 33-45 for 456 yards and 4 TDs (but 3 Interceptions) as the Buccaneers defeated the Indianapolis Colts 38-35.  In most cases this would have been the game of the week.  Also in most weeks Austin Ekeler of the Los Angeles Chargers would have won this award, except he played the Jaguars.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Ryan Tannehill, QB, Tennessee Titans.  Huh?  How does this make sense?  Well, he had one of the most important defensive plays of the season.  Yes, Joey Bosa's tackle in the backfield on Alvin Kamara was singularly impressive, but Ryan Tannehill's square tackle and drive to the ground hit on Maurice Hurst after throwing an interception that Hurst returned 55 yards, with a convoy, is the type of play that fires up a defense around a quarterback that previously had questions marks.  This Titans team is now - if they weren't before - solidly behind Tannehill both as a QB and as a football player.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Jason Sanders, K - Miami Dolphins.  Sanders was 7-8 on field goals (Yes, 8 attempts), including a 53 yarder, as the Dolphins fell to the Jets 22-21.  Honorable Mention to Deonte Harris of the New Orleans Saints who had 194 return yards on 5 kickoff returns and 2 punt returns, constantly switching the field with his dynamic runs.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Everton.  With a new manager at the helm, Everton looked very impressive, and played extremely hard, and well, putting pressure on Chelsea at every turn as Everton won 3-2 to escape the bottom of the table and move up to 14.  Relegation is no longer an issue as long as Everton continues to play with this type of fire and passion.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Diogo Jota, F - Wolverhampton.  Jota's first-half brace, including the equalizer in the 44th minute, allowed Wolverhampton to steal a point on the road and remain near the top of the table in 6th place, losing out of 5th place by only 3 goals to Manchester United, who also had a big weekend defeating Manchester City at the Etihad.

Goat of the Week

The entire Jacksonville Jaguars.  They have quit.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Kepa Arrizabalaga, GK - Chelsea.  Let in a soft goal which started the scoring for Everton, and then a horrible pass out of the goal to Kurt Zouma was intercepted which led to an easy goal, Everton's third.  Second really bad goal scored by a Chelsea opponent late in the game because of a bad pass out of the back by Kepa.

Hit of the Week

Ryan Tannehill on Maurice Hurst.  It was almost as if he had been playing linebacker his entire life.

Breakthrough Performance

Tyler Higbee, TE - Los Angeles Rams.  We have seen flashes from Higbee this season, but as the backup we have not seen how valuable he can be.  Earning the start this week against Seattle, Higbee caught 7 balls for 116 yards, and definitely opens up the field for the Rams' other weapons as Los Angeles won 28-12.

Finally

Ryan Tannehill, QB - Tennessee Titans.  This is the type of performance the Miami Dolphins wanted out of Tannehill in the past few years.  Tannehill was 21-27 for 391 yards and 3 TDs, to go 6-1 as a starter for Tennessee.

Impact Injury

Roquon Smith, LB - Chicago Bears.  There were a lot of injuries this week, but none worse that Smith's, who tore his pectoral muscle while trying to make a tackle on Ezekial Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys.  Smith, the Bears' leading tackler, will be missed as Chicago ends the season with Green Bay, Kansas City and Minnesota.

Team Rising

Tennessee Titans.  Now at 8-5, the Titans have pulled into a tie atop the AFC South with the Houston Texans, two games ahead of the Indianapolis Colts (with three to play).  As stated earlier, Tennessee and Houston play twice in the last three games, including in Nashville this weekend.

Team Falling

Carolina Panthers.  In a free-fall.

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. Green Bay Packers
5. Seattle Seahawks

Worst Teams

32. Cincinnati Bengals

31. New York Giants

30. Washington Racists

29. Miami Dolphins

27b. Detroit Lions
27a.  Arizona Cardinals 

Note - The Lions and Cardinals have identical 3-9-1 records, and actually tied each other when they played, so they might as well be tied on this list.

Middle Teams

15. Philadelphia Eagles
16. Indianapolis Colts
17. Cleveland Browns
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Note - all of these "middle teams" have sub-par records of 6-7, along with Dallas and Oakland, which I rank lower right now.

Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer

Last Entry's Trivia Question was:

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?

Answer:  Barry Sanders - at the time I wrote the question.  Gore has since passed Sanders and leads Sanders by 37 yards.  He is 1,420 yards behind Walter Payton.

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

6. Denver Broncos v. Kansas City Chiefs.  By record, this isn't a special game to watch, except for the fact that Denver has been better, and more exciting, in the two games that Drew Lock has started.  So, that makes this game a potential offensive explosion.  

5. Buffalo Bills v. Pittsburgh Steelers.  This game may be traditionally boring, but it is incredibly important for the playoff race, as right now, these two teams hold the two AFC wildcard spots.  This game is incredibly important.

4. Minnesota Vikings v. Los Angeles Chargers.  Minnesota is only 1 game behind the Green Bay Packers for the division lead, but 2 ahead of the Chicago Bears with 3 to play.  Green Bay and Chicago play this week, and Minnesota and Green Bay play next week, with the Bears and Vikings closing out the season.  This game is incredibly important for Minnesota.  The Chargers looked great last week, albeit against the Jaguars.  Can they keep it up?

3. Arsenal v. Manchester City.  Manchester City is in a bit of a rut and Arsenal look much improved as of late.  This game is vital for Manchester City to try to gain ground in the table on Liverpool, and important for Arsenal if they think they can make Europa League next year.

2. Chicago Bears v. Green Bay Packers.  The greatest rivalry in football is important as Green Bay shoots for a bye and possibly home field advantage while the Bears are barely hanging on for a possible playoff spot.

1. Houston Texans v. Tennessee Titans. The resurgent Titans have tied the Texans for the division lead.  This is the first of two times these teams will play in the final three games of the season, and would obviously give the winner a leg up for the division crown.

Trivia

Phillip Rivers has 63 career losses of 3 points or less in his career.  He is tied with this other current starting NFL quarterback.  Who is it?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

My usual crew was somewhat busy, so instead of a sports bar, I headed out to a cigar bar of mine that has televisions - Sunset Cigar Lounge in Jupiter, Florida.  Not sportscentric at all, but on Sundays they did show 3 games, with the sound on the New Orleans - San Francisco game, which turned out to be the best one.  Not super crowded, mostly regulars, but all really nice - albeit interesting people.  The bar/cigar tenders Dawana and Tiffani are always fabulous, and given that it wasn't busy - super attentive (which they usually are anyway). I had never been there on a Sunday before so I do not know if this is usual, but they had several pizzas and pastas, which was free for whomever wanted it - that was a nice perk, although I did not partake because I had already eaten.  Also because I wanted a lowkey day, I only drank Bud Light, but the whiskey selection is great for as small a bar as it is, and it has Clase Azul tequila, one of the bellweathers of the tequila world as far as I am concerned.  I had a couple of light, easy Padron cigars with my day, and it was great.

Now, the bar did have to call the cops on an unruly customer, as she was getting incredibly out of control yelling and cursing at other customers, that were all regulars, and the cops escorted her out at about 2:00 p.m. (she came from somewhere else already drunk), but other than that, it was a good place to watch the games.  Being a smaller location, everybody was talking and arguing the games with everyone else, which was fun.

The only real knock is that they don't have all the games - which isn't really a knock on the place as much as my choice of venue -but it does get downgraded as a sports bar

Sunset Cigar Lounge
251 South U.S. Highway 1
Jupiter, FL 33477
561/203-2096

Final Rating: Philip Rivers - a little old and flawed, but still very consistently good with occasional greatness.

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.

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.

Professional Football Weekly Round-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 9 of the NFL season, which coincidentally also marks the half-way point of the season!

Game of the Week

San Francisco 49ers 28 at Arizona Cardinals 25,  This game earned bonus points for being on a Thursday night, which are traditionally HORRIBLE.  San Francisco holding off a game Arizona Cardinals team lead by rookie Kyler Murray (241 yards passing, 2 TDs, 34 yards rushing) and newly arrived Kenyan Drake (110 yards rushing, 1 TD, 54 yards receiving) to stay undefeated, and, as the weekend unfolded remain the only undefeated team in the NFL.  Jimmy Garappolo threw for 317 yards and 4 TD, buoyed by the newly arrived Emmanuel Sanders (7 receptions, 112 yards, 1 TD). 

Best Team Performance

Baltimore Ravens.  The Ravens hosted the New England Patriots (and their supposedly vaunted defense) on Sunday night, and sent the Patriots home with a 37-20 defeat. Lamar Jackson threw for 163 and a score, and rushed for 61 more with 2 TDs, and handed the ball off to Mark Ingram II for another 115 yards - thus announcing a Baltimore challenge to New England supremacy in the AFC.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Jacksonville Jaguars.  The darlings of London traveled to their second home only to get easily handled by the Houston Texans 26-3.  Gardner Minshew II's 3 turnovers and otherwise lackluster performance (albeit aided by a number of drops by the Jaguars wide receivers) will make his way to the bench as the recovered Nick Foles resumes the starting role after next week's bye week.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Russell Wilson, QB - Seattle Seahawks.  In what many expected to be an easy game, the Seahawks needed every bit of Wilson's 29-43 for 378 yards and 5 TDs as Seattle defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 40-34.  Wilson has cemented himself as one of the 4 MVP candidates of the half-season (the others being Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffrey and Aaron Rodgers).

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram III, Nick Bosa, DEs, Los Angeles Chargers.  Bosa and Ingram totaled 1 1/2 sacks each against Aaron Rodgers, but were even more impressive as they harassed the Packers' offensive line all day, not giving Aaron Rodgers enough time to set up and pick apart the defense, as he finished only 23-35 for 161 yards.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Dustin Hopkins, K - Washington Racists.  Not really important, but he hit all 3 of his kicks and scored the teams only 9 points during a 24-9 shellacking at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Sheffield United.  Sheffield United had the most dominating performance this weekend, dropping Burnley 3-0 at home.  behind a brace from midfielder John Lundstram.  The 3 points pulled Sheffield United up into 6th place in the table, only a point behind Europa League qualifying.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Sadio Mane, F - Liverpool.  Trailing 1-0 to Aston Villa, all Mane did was assist on the game-tying goal in the 87th minute and score the game-winner in the 90+4 minute.  Honorable mention to the Chelsea youngsters Tammy Abraham, who scored his 9th league goal good for second in the Premiership, and Christian Pulisic, who coming off a hat trick scored again for his 4th goal in the last 2 games.

Goat of the Week

Gardner Minshew II, QB - Jacksonville Jaguars.  Perhaps it was the pressure of playing for his job in the face of Nick Foles returning from injury, perhaps it was just the NFL getting some tape on him, or perhaps it was just Minshew regressing to the mean, but his 3 turnovers (despite over 300 yards passing), and overall lackluster performance in a 26-3 thrashing had Londoners ('ites?) wishing for Blake Bortles.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Heung-Min Son, F - Tottenham Hotspur.  Son, who I believe is the most underrated soccer play in the world and whose offensive abilities are often overshadowed by club teammate Harry Kane (think Evgeni Malkin), instead earned a red card for a literal ankle breaking tackle on Everton midfielder Andre Gomes  The send-off occurred with Tottenham leading 1-0 in the 79th minute.  Of course, 18 minutes later Everton scored the game-tying goal through second-half substitute Cenk Tosun.

Hit of the Week

Heung-Min Son, F - Tottenham Hotspur.  Son, who I believe is the most underrated soccer play in the world and whose offensive abilities are often overshadowed by club teammate Harry Kane (think Evgeni Malkin), instead earned a red card for a literal ankle breaking tackle on Everton midfielder Andre Gomes  The send-off occurred with Tottenham leading 1-0 in the 79th minute.  Of course, 18 minutes later Everton scored the game-tying goal through second-half substitute Cenk Tosun.

This is not a cut-and-paste error, this is also the hit of the week.

Breakthrough Performance

Devin Singletary, RB - Buffalo Bills.  Partly because the team is interning him behdind Frank Gore, and partly because of an early season injury, Singletary is slowly being worked into the primary back role for the Bills.  Sunday, against the Washington Racists, Singletary was the primary back, carrying the ball 20 times for 95 yards and 1 score, while also garnering 3 receptions for 45 yards.  Now, a lot of Singletary's carries came after the game was well-in-hand so there was no use to subject Frank Gore to injury, but the youngerster is showing why the Bills have him in their present and future plans.

Finally

Dwayne Haskins, QB - Washington Racists.  This finally really goes to the team, who finally decides to start their first round draft pick Haskins despite the fact that they have been horrible all year, even if Case Keenum and Colt McCoy are better.  At some point you have to let the kid loose to see what you have.  The Racists finally did that.  Even if they don't like what they find in Haskins, they need to know if he is their quarterback of the future, or if they need to select one in what everyone says is a quarterback heavy draft in 2020.

Impact Injury

Adam Thielen, WR - Minnesota Vikins.  The All-Pro played only 9 snaps and saw only 1 target before being removed in this week's 26-23 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs because of a hamstring injury.  Coach Mike Zimmer would only say that Thielen will play whenever the doctors say he is ready.  Losing a receiver of this caliber hurts the team in general, but especially Stefon Diggs, as defenses can roll safeties and double coverages toward the mercurial Diggs. 

Team Rising

Los Angeles Chargers.  The Chargers rise to 4-5 after a 26-11 victory over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.  A 4-5 record may not seem like the team is "rising", but with this performance and the gradual return to health of all of their players, combined with Melvin Gordon being almost fully phased into the lineup after an early season holdout, and the team is poised to make a possible run toward the playoffs.

Team Falling

Chicago Bears. Ugh!  Matt Nagy and Mitchell Trubisky are on a short list.

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.)

1. San Francisco 49ers

2. New England Patriot

3. New Orleans Saints 

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 Jets

29. Atlanta Falcons

28. Miami Dolphins

Middle Teams

15. Philadelphia Eagles
16. Pittsburgh Stelers

17. Oakland Raiders

18. Detroit Lions

Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer

Last Entry's Trivia Questions were:

1.  With Josh Rosen now starting for the Miami Dolphins, there are now 3 quarterbacks to make starts for 2 different teams in their first two seasons in the NFL.  Who are the other two?

Answer:  Spurgeon Wynn (Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings); and Jacoby Brissett (New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts).

2.  With New England's most recent victory over Buffalo in Buffalo, Tom Brady now has the most wins of any quarterback in the NFL in Buffalo this century (since 2001).  Who has the next most?

Answer:  Drew Bledsoe and Tyrod Taylor (14 wins)

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

6. Los Angeles Rams v. Pittsburgh Steelers.  Pittsburgh at 4-4 has a legitimate shot at the playoffs, and they host the surging Rams, who themselves are chasing both the 49ers and Seahawks in the NFC West.  

5. Los Angeles Chargers v. Oakland Raiders.  As noted earlier, the Chargers are now healthy and surging.  Oakland is playing much better than expected.  Can Oakland run against the stout Charger defensive line?  The answer to that question likely holds the winner of this game.

4. Liverpool v. Manchester City - This is the LSU v. Alabama of the Premiership.  The top two teams clash against each other, in a divisional battle (for those that don't know - the Premier League is just one big division).

3. Carolina Panthers v. Green Bay Packers.  Green Bay is coming off an embarrassing loss at the hands of the Chargers, and Carolina is playing better with Kyle Allen behind center.

2. Minnesota Vikings v. Dallas Cowboys.  A game with huge playoff implications.  This will be a fun one to watch.  Even though Dalvin Cook and Ezekial Elliott will not actually be facing each other, this will be a de facto "best running back in the NFL" fight (with apologies to Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey).  

1. Seattle Seahawks v. San Francisco 49ers.  NFC West supremacy at stake.  Yes, if the Seahawks win they are still in second place, but a win would make it clear that Seattle is the best team in the division. If San Francisco wins, the 1972 Dolphins will have to wait at least another week to pop champagne.

Trivia

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?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

I was traveling home from the Artist Formerly Known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, so no sports bar to review this week.

Professional Football Weekly Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 3 of the NFL season, based purely on what I was able to see.  For the first time this season (thanks Irma) I watched a lot of football, so I have a pretty good sample size.

Game of the Week

Seattle Seahawks 30 v. Los Angeles Rams 29 - Wow, an exciting Thursday night game.  We hardly ever get those.  Russell Wilson threw the last of his four TDs to Chris Carson on 4th and goal to take a one-point lead over the Rams.  Jared Goff (and his 395 yards passing) then leads the march downfield until usually reliable Greg Zeuerlein missed a game-winning field goal from essentially extra-point distance.  Fun back-and-forth game wherein both teams played well on both sides of the football.

Best Team Performance

Green Bay Packers - A masterful 34-24 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on the road cements Green Bay as true contender in the NFC.  It also pushes the Cowboys down a peg, as they suffer their second-straight loss, despite Dak Prescott throwing for 463 yards.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Cleveland Browns - I would love to say the New York Jets, but they are still missing Sam Darnold.  Likewise, the Washington Racists are contenders, but they did play the juggernaut that is the New England Patriots.  So, Cleveland, which was absolutely decimated by the San Francisco 49ers 31-3, especially coming off two pretty good performances.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Christian McCaffrey, RB - Carolina Panthers.  Mr. Do-Everything for the Panthers had a stellar day, gaining 176 yards and 2 TDs on the ground, and 61 yards and a TD on 6 receptions in Carolina's 34-27 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

AND

DeShaun Watson, QB and Will Fuller, V, WR - Houston Texans - This is a joint award because we cannot have one without the other. Watson finished with 426 yards passing and 5 TDs, 217 yards and 3 TDs of which were hauled in by Fuller.  This prolific passing attack led to Houston's 52-23 victory over the hapless Atlanta Falcons.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Nick Bosa, DE, San Francisco 49ers - Continuously harassed Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield and it showed up in the stat line.  Bosa finished with 4 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 5 quarterback hits.  The San Francisco defensive line was the single most potent position on the field throughout the entire game.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Zane Gonzalez, K - Arizona Cardinals.  The Arizona kicker confidently and easily kicked a game-winning 31 yard field goal as time expired to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals for their first victory on the season, and the first victory in Kyler Murray's short career.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

Wolverhampton - The Wolves went on the road to the Etihad and defeated Manchester City 2-0 behind a brace from Adama Traore, ending the scoreless draw in the 80th minute and putting the game on ice in the 94th minute.

Brighton & Hove Albion - The Seagulls share the honor with the Wolves as they soundly defeated the struggling Tottenhom Hotspurs 3-0 at home behind a brace from Aaron Connolly and an opening goal from Neal Maupay.  Albion was decidedly the better team throughout, and earned their three points.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

Matthew Longstaff, M - Newcastle United.  The 19 year old wunderkind made his English Premier League debut against perennial power Manchester United and scored the winning (and only) goal in Newcastle's 1-0 upset win.

Goat of the Week

Freddie Kitchens, Coach - Cleveland Browns.  No game plan at all to try to protect Baker Mayfield as the Browns' quarterback was annihilated by San Francisco's swarming defense.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

Marc Albrighton, M - Leicester City.  Albrighton fouled Liverpool's Sadio Mane in the penalty area (confirmed by VAR), in the 90th minute allowing James Milner to score the game winner on the resulting penalty kick.

Hit of the Week

Daniel Snyder, Owner - Washington Racists.  Fires head coach Jay Gruden on Monday after the Racists fell to 0-5 after their Sunday loss to the New England Patriots.  The hit? Calling Gruden into the office to fire him at 5:00 a.m.

Breakthrough Performance

Aaron Jones, RB - Green Bay Packers.  In a very important intra-NFC game, Aaron Jones controlled the game with 107 yards rushing and 4 TDs, to go with 75 yards receiving.

Finally

Kirk Cousins, QB - Minnesota Vikings.  Just one week after being called out by both of his star receivers, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, Cousins goes 22-27 for 306 yards and 2 TDs, both to Thielen.  But, as we all know, consistency has always been Cousins' problem

Impact Injury

Kyle Juszczyk, RBT - San Francisco 49ers.  The perennial Pro-Bowl fullback dominated this game as the lead blocker for Matt Breida (114 yards on 11 carries, including an opening play 83 yard touchdown), Tevin Coleman (97 yards on 16 carries), and even Raheem Mostart (34 yards on 7 carries).  Juszczyk even contributed in the box score with 2 catches for 20 yards (both first downs).  His presence will be missed for the next 4 to 6 weeks. 

Team Rising

Indianapolis Colts - The Colts, despite the late preseason retirement of Andrew Luck, have started 3-2, including this week's 19-13 defeat of the previously undefeated Kansas City Chiefs.  The Colts are definite contenders in the AFC South, if not the AFC itself.

Team Falling

Cleveland Browns - I could have put the Chicago Bears here after their 24-21 loss to the Oakland Raiders in London, but that was an organizational problem, deciding to travel to London on Thursday.  The Bears did not wake up until the second half, which they then dominated, so it will have to go to the Cleveland Browns after being annihilated 31-3 by San Francisco on Monday Night Football to fall to 2-3 on the season.  Plus, their offensive line, which was already a known weakness, became even more exposed.

Best Teams

(All teams will be ranked ahead 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.)

1. New England Patriots

2. San Francisco 49ers

3. New Orleans Saints

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. Washington Racists

31. Cincinnati Bengals

30. Miami Dolphins*

29. New York Jets

28. Atlanta Falcons

*Please note that the Dolphins are the worst team so far this year, but they have the luxury of a bye already, so their record is slightly better than Cincinnati and the Racists.

Middle Teams

15. Oakland Raiders

16. Minnesota Vikings

17. Carolina Panthers

18. Detroit Lions

Last Week's Trivia Question/Answer

Last Entry's Trivia Question was:  Tom Brady begins his 20th season with the New England Patriots.  How many players have played at least 20 years with only one team throughout their careers, and out of those players, who has played the most years (and with which team)?

Answer:  3 Players - Darrell Green (Washington Racists) and Jackie Slater (Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams) 20 years; Jason Hanson (Detroit Lions) 21 years.

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

6. Washington Racists v. Miami Dolphins - The two actual worst teams in the league battle for the choice to choose Tua Tagavailoa (or Jake Fromm, or Justin Herbert, whomever they want), as the tanking continues.

5. Detroit Lions v. Green Bay Packers - Ranked this highly primarily because not a lot of exciting games are taking place this week, but this is Monday Night Football, and it is for the NFC North division lead.  

4. Premier League is off on national team duty this weekend.

3. Philadelphia Eagles v. Minnesota Vikings - Two teams that may have flaws, but are generally playing pretty well and are both definite playoff contenders.  This head-to-head matchup could have big playoff implications either as the first playoff tiebreaker or as a common NFC opponents

2. San Francisco 49ers v. Los Angeles Rams - I am matchup between two exciting teams, one on offense with great players on defense (the Rams) versus one with a great defense with some really good players on offense (the 49ers).  This game should be a fun one to watch, and is one that the Los Angeles would need to keep from falling 3 games behind San Francisco.

1. Houston Texans v. Kansas City Chiefs - Two high-flying, exciting offenses orchestrated by young quarterbacks (not named Mitchell Trubisky).  This is easily the matchup to watch this week, and it comes at 1:00 on Sunday.

Trivia

Since I missed a couple of weeks, there are multiple questions today.

1.  With Josh Rosen now starting for the Miami Dolphins, there are now 3 quarterbacks to make starts for 2 different teams in their first two seasons in the NFL.  Who are the other two?

2.  With New England's most recent victory over Buffalo in Buffalo, Tom Brady now has the most wins of any quarterback in the NFL in Buffalo this century (since 2001).  Who has the next most?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

I watched this week's games from the same place as week 1, so no new review, other than to say our server Michael was amazing, and they took away the stupid games that took up perfect bar-top table space, and we sat at the new bar-top tables.  Thanks Ariel!

Duffys' Sports Grill
225 Clematis Street
West Palm Beach, FL
561/249-1682

Professional Football Weekly Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 3 of the NFL season, based purely on what I was able to see.  For the first time this season (thanks Irma) I watched a lot of football, so I have a pretty good sample size.

Game of the Week

New Orleans Saints 30 v. Houston Texans 28 - A two play 75 yard drive by the Texans to take the lead, only to be outdone by a picture-perfect final last second drive by Drew Brees (who was 3-5 on the drive; the 2 incompletions being spikes to stop the clock), culminating in a career-best 58-yard field goal by Will Lutz.  Two amazing quarterbacks showing their wares the entire game along with big plays by many on both sides.  GREAT game.

Best Team Performance

Baltimore Ravens - They dominated the Miami Dolphins so thoroughly that this game was over with 6:50 remaining in the first half, and that was before the Ravens scored again to take a 42-10 lead into halftime.  Just a dominating performance, scoring a franchise-record 59 points.  The defense performed too, only giving up 10 points, while sacking the Dolphins' quarterbacks 3 times, and intercepting them twice.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Cleveland Browns - Obviously Miami was the worst performance, but it is too easy to pick them here (as I am sure I will have multiple opportunities to do so in the future).  Cleveland came into this season with all the hype of their offseason acquisitions (more than just Odell Beckham, Jr.), and they absolutely laid an egg in their 43-13 throbbing by the Tennessee Titans, and team that was supposed to be in decline this year.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Lamar Jackson, QB - Baltimore Ravens.  The run-first quarterback ended up the game with the sixth-highest rushing yards on his own team, even being out-gained on the ground by Robert Griffith, III 9-6.  What Jackson did do was throw the ball; 17-20 for 324 and 5 TDs (with no interceptions).  It was just the Dolphins, but he looked like he has evolved from just a run-only quarterback.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)

Roy Robertson-Harris DT/DE, Chicago Bears - His stats don't jump completely off the page (1 sack, 2 tackles for loss, 3 total tackles), but as a interior defensive lineman, he controlled this game as the Bears held the Packers to a total of 47 yards rushing. And, it wasn't that Aaron Rodgers dominated, throwing for only 203 yards.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Will Lutz, K - New Orleans Saints.  After narrowly missing a 56-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, Lutz stepped up and calmly hit a career long 58-yarder to win the game as time expired in the second half.  Teammates said they knew it was good after hearing the thunderous explosion of Lutz's foot hitting the ball, as it just sounded like a solid kick with distance.

Most Impressive Team Performance (Premier League)

The Premier League was off this weekend for national team duty.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Premier League)

The Premier League was off this weekend for national team duty.

Goat of the Week

Antonio Brown, WR - Oakland Raiders/New England Patriots/Who Knows?  I am not going to recount all of his shenanigans that led to his release by the Oakland Raiders and the signing by the New England Patriots, but in a week in which he lost $20 something million, and could not play, the Patriots trouncing of the Steelers 33-3 showed that the Patriots don't NEED Brown, and the Raiders 24-16 defeat of the Denver Broncos shows that they don't need him either.  And this was all before the federal lawsuit filed against him alleging sexual battery, rape, invasion of privacy and false imprisonment.

Goat of the Week (Premier League)

The Premier League was off this weekend for national team duty.

Hit of the Week

Myles Jack, LB - Jacksonville Jaguars.  His punch at Sammy Watkins led to him being thrown out of the game.  

Breakthrough Performance

Josh Jacobs, RB - Oakland Raiders - Perhaps the Raiders don't need Antonio Brown because they have a running game. Jacobs, the rookie first round pick out of Alabama, gained 85 yards rushing with 2 TDs, and added 28 yards receiving.  He is the first running back with 100 total yards from scrimmage and 2 TDs in his first game since LaDanian Tomlinson.  Honorable Mention to Marquise Brown and T.J. Hockenson.

Finally

Mark Ingram, II, RB - Baltimore Ravens - Now Ingram has had much success in the NFl, but he has finally settled into a starting, power-back role that suits his skills.  Even with Lamar Jackson throwing the ball all over the field, Ingram made the most of his 14 carries, gaining 107 yards and scoring 2 TDs.

Impact Injury

Tyreek HIll, WR, Kansas City Chiefs.  Hill, the speedster that opens up everything else for the Chiefs offense, is out for 4 to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury sustained against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  At least the Chiefs have Travis Kelce as a primary receiving target and Sammy Watkins to play out wide.  In that same game, Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles broke his clavicle and is out indefinitely, but at least 8 weeks.  Gardner Minshew III, a rookie out of Washington State, replaced Foles and went 22-25 for 275 yards and 2 TDs, with 1 interception, in the Jaguars 40-26 loss to the Chiefs. 

Team Rising

Tennessee Titans - Obliterated the Browns, who were supposed to be this year's darlings.  They are not among the best teams, but they are rising.

Team Falling

Chicago Bears - Yes, a 10-3 loss to the Packers is not terrible, as the Packers are a really good team.  The problem is how they looked on offense, which was borderline horrid.  And, they travel to Denver for week 2.  This could get ugly, fast.

Best Teams

(All undefeated teams will be ranked ahead of all others until all teams have at least 1 loss, then I will rank them based upon which teams I think is best, regardless of record.)

1. Baltimore Ravens

2. New England Patriots

3. Kansas City Chiefs

4. New Orleans Saints

5. Los Angeles Chargers

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. Miami Dolphins

31. Cleveland Browns

30. Pittsburgh Steelers

29. Atlanta Falcons

28. New York Giants

Middle Teams

15. Buffalo Bills

16. Detroit Lions

17. Arizona Cardinals

18. Houston Texans*

*  Please note, I think the Texans are much better than this, but my criteria is, at least until several games in and the undefeateds and winless have sorted themselves out, to make my ranking based upon record first.  In this case, the Texans are the best team that lost this week.

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

5.  Kansas City Chiefs v. Oakland Raiders - Obviously Kansas City will be the overwhelming favorite.  But, if the Raiders can keep it close, squeak one out, or even look good at home this week, their entire season changes.

4. Chicago Bears v. Denver Broncos - Both playoff contenders were upset (although the Bears defeat at the hands of the Packers can hardly be called an "upset") in week one, meaning the loser starts off in a hole of 0-2.  Very important game for both teams.

3.  Tottenham v. Crystal Palace - The Spurs host surprising 4th place Crystal Palace in a battle that should see Tottenham vault closer into the Top 4.  A Crystal Palace win or draw in London could go a long way in showing us they might be for real.

2. Minnesota Vikings v. Green Bay Packers - The two 1-0 squads in the NFC North meet in week 2, with the Packers having the opportunity to not only start 2-0, but to start 2-0 in the division.  Dalvin Cook looks to be a more dangerous running game than the Bears showed last week against Green Bay, so we can see exactly how much the Packers focus actually improved their defense in the offseason.

1. New Orleans Saints v. Los Angeles Rams - Easily the best game of week 2, the NFC Championship rematch should be exciting as both teams come into the matchup off a win, New Orleans looked much better than the Rams, but have to travel to LA for this one.  If you are a football fan, this is the game to watch.

Trivia

Since we are beginning a new season, a multi-part trivia question.  Tom Brady begins his 20th season with the New England Patriots.  How many players have played at least 20 years with only one team throughout their careers, and out of those players, who has played the most years (and with which team)?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

(Hint:  Ratings based upon a week-to-week analysis of QB Play, not their career, so the scale varies from week-to-week.)

Duffys' Sports Grill
225 Clematis Street
West Palm Beach, FL
561/249-1682

Duffy's is a large, local chain, having actually started in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and have grown to 34 locations statewide, from Lake Mary in the north, to Kendall in the south, to Tampa and Sarasota in the west.  It is what you expect a sports bar to be when you arrive, and has a fairly typical sports bar menu, although that menu has expanded and changed over the years.

As far as game watching, their are a ton of televisions in this location (enough so that all games are running simultaneously), although you can really on focus on 2 or 3 depending upon where you are sitting.  The televisions are pre-labeled with min-pennants of the teams that will be showing on each tv, so that you can plan where to sit.  Duffy's is the official sports bar of the Miami Dolphins, so you can expect that the sound will be on the Dolphins game so long as they are playing.  This was to all of our detriment, but that is the fault of the Dolphins, not Duffy's.  This location did eliminated about 4 or 5 bar hi-top tables to put in kids carnival and video games (claw anyone?), but we were told by the new General Manager (who is very nice), that she was going to eliminate most of those (probably keeping Golden Tee).  This will allow for more tables, and thus more people and better football watching atmosphere.  Even without the extra tables, the place was full, but not crowded - unlike usual.  Several factors could play into this:  (1) the Dolphins were home (only 1 hour down the street); (2) the Patriots were the night game (they are usually a bid draw); and (3) lots and lots of construction on the streets surrounding Duffy's.  In any event, I have been in this Duffy's with a lot more action going on.  Nevertheless, good for football watching, for your team or your fantasy team.  Parking can be a problem, but I ubered
Atmosphere Rating:  Philip Rivers

Having eaten at Duffy's many, many times before, I did not have to sample much of the food to know what I was getting.  Neverheless, we did have buffalo wings - hot (traditional sports bar food), and the sesame-encrusted ahi tuna with soba noodles (non-tradiional sports bar food).  The wings are good, but the hot is not super-hot.  So, if you do look hot wings, order the Florida Heat Wave or Atomic Ghost Chili.  I generally prefer the Spicy Roasted Garlic (delicious), but others in my group wanted to traditional hot.  As far as the ahi - it is nowhere close to as great as you will get at a seafood restaurant or sushi joint, but it is AMAZING for a sports bar.  The sauce on the soba noodles is delicious, and the cucumber salad is fantastic as a small side.  Although not in this trip, I can recommend the burgers, among other items, as well.
Food Rating:  Carson Wentz

As far as drinks, Duffy's has a full bar.  As we were settled in for a long day of watching football, we were not out to get drunk, but with a small variety of beer choices (normal and craft), a full array of liquor choices, but a limited wine menu, Duffy's is exactly what you would expect from a sports bar.  The 2-4-1 specials make it well worth the trip.
Drink Rating:  Matthew Stafford

The server was new to me, and although it took him a bit to warm up to our boisterousness and humor, he was timely with his service and always available.  To me, this is GREAT.  He even put up with all of our separate tabs, which at least we warned him about ahead of time.
Service Rating:  Dak Prescott

As Duffy's is a general service restaurant/bar, and not a specialty bar, it's menus cater to the general public, and have a little bit of everything, and not a ton of variety in some things.  This pleases most people, but won't everybody.  That being said, we got exactly what we came for and expected.  A very good day of watching football at a very good place.  We will be back.
Overall Rating:  DeShaun Watson

Trivia Answer

None this week.  Tune in next week.