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.
