The Dugout - October 9
Image: AP via Huffington Post
NFL Week 5
One game stood out above all others this week. It had 99 points, over 1000 yards of offense, crucial turnovers and quarterback mastery. Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos are a known commodity, but not many expected The Dallas Cowboys to keep up with them. On the back of a truly elite performance by Tony Romo, however, they did just that, rallying from 15 points down in the third quarter to take an incredible 48-41 lead. Their maligned defence couldn’t hold it though, and Romo threw a late interception allowing Denver to kick the winning field goal and move to 5-0. Here are the talking points:
- Denver joins Kansas City and New Orleans as the only unbeaten teams left. There had been a record 5 teams yet to lose after 4 weeks, but Cincinnati managed to keep the ball away from Tom Brady in the pouring rain for a 13-6 win, and Indianapolis made one heck of a statement by outplaying Seattle.
- Michael Vick could miss up to a couple of weeks with a hamstring issue. Luckily for them, Nick Foles looked more than assured (for once) in holding off Eli Manning’s Giants in Vick’s absence. Philadelphia moved to a tie for first in the NFC East, despite being 2-3. In what is really quite a weak, yet evenly matched division, inter-divisional games like this will be crucial in making the playoffs.
- QB Brian Hoyer is done for the season. Having sparked an unlikely run of results for Cleveland Browns, he tore an ACL, so it’s Brandon Weeden moving forward. (Moving backward more like).
- EJ Manuel will miss another couple of weeks with an LCL strain. Which means it’s Tuel Time in Buffalo! … Jeff Tuel that is.
- Keeping with the pattern of QB injuries, Blaine Gabbert is potentially set for a long spell on the sideline after suffering a hamstring injury. But, let’s be honest, the way he way playing, he was due to be standing on the sideline sooner or later anyway.
- And Green Bay wrecking ball Clay Matthews has pulled up hurt too. He’s broken his thumb and could miss a whole month of play. The injury occurred as Matthews sacked Matt Stafford for a 12 yard loss.
- A couple of interesting transactions to note: Josh Freeman, having been dumped by Tampa Bay, has signed a one year deal with Minnesota. He’ll reportedly sit this week but in the long run will be competing with Matt Cassel for the starter’s job. Kinda rough on Cassel, who was pretty good against Pittsburgh, but Vikes fans, having had over a year of Christian Ponder, will be beaming at the relative luxuries of having two (TWO!) ever-so-slightly above average starters. The other news to note is that Matt Flynn has been cut by Oakland. He was never a good fit there, but was unlucky definitely to be axed after one start, where he wasn’t even that bad. 'Unlucky' seems to be a word that follows Flynn around, having only made three career starts, yet been released by Seattle, Oakland and Green Bay (where he was Aaron Rodgers’ back up for a few years) all in the space of a year and a half.
- Here is the historic moment when Peyton Manning was intercepted for the first time in 2013 (having already thrown 20 TDs). Morris Claiborne got the pick, which must have been redeeming, after he was (rightly) criticized for his performance last week against San Diego. The second year corner was much improved in this game, but after the Dallas D gave up over 400 passing yards for the second week straight, there's still a long way to go yet:
MLB Playoffs
The Wildcard games were decided last week, and both went as The Niche Cache predicted. Tampa Bay took care of Cleveland in a 4-0 shutout, thanks to a strong pitching effort from Alex Cobb, while the Pittsburgh Pirates won their first playoff game in 21 years against Cincinnati by a score of 6-2, former Yankees catcher Russell Martin homering twice.
The Tampa Bay Rays now have their work cut out against Boston, who lead them 2 games to 1, in the best of 5 series. A Jose Lobaton HR kept the Rays in the series yesterday, and they play game 4 today in Tampa. The other American League series is just as tight, with Oakland taking a 2-1 lead yesterday over Detroit with a 6-3 win, which included a bench clearing kerfuffle towards the end. Detroit will rely on SP Doug Fister to get them home today and force a decided in Oakland on Friday (NZT).
Over in the National League, Pittsburgh is keeping it interesting against St Louis, who rode a brilliant pitching effort from Michael Wacha to tie the series at 2. Pirates’ rookie sensation Gerritt Cole will look to shut down St Louis in the decider. The Cardinals are 7-1 in win-or-go-home games since 2011. And the LA Dodgers wrapped up a 3-1 series victory over Atlanta yesterday, a Juan Uribe 2-run HR (see below) overturning a late Braves lead, and Kenley Jansen closed it out for the save. The Dodgers will play the winner of the decider between Pittsburgh and St Louis (Thursday NZT) for the NL Conference Title and a place in the 2013 World Series.
Good Week:
- Indianapolis Colts – In case you weren’t already sure, these Colts are for real! Andrew Luck was superb throwing the ball downfield, and this against what had been the best secondary unit in the league in Seattle. Definitely a team to watch out for.
- Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) – He’s back, baby! It’s only preseason, sure, but seeing the former MVP take the court after over 500 days out injured was a great sight for basketball fans everywhere.
- Peyton
Manning (Denver Broncos) – In amongst all the drama and action of the
Denver vs Dallas game, what was lost was that Peyton passed Dan Marino for the second
all-time most career passing yards. He trails Brett Favre by 10461 yards. The
way he’s going, he could almost do that this season!
Bad Week:
- Matt Schaub (Houston Texans) – The first player in NFL history to throw a Pick-6 in 4 consecutive games. He just looks like a broken man. Hopefully the Texans give him time, though. They’re not gonna find anyone better midseason.
- Tom Brady (New England Patriots) – Tommy Terrific had his 52 game TD pass stretch broken in the Pats’ 13-6 loss to Cincinnati. The rain was torrential, but that’s no excuse for a player as good as Brady. He was just 2 games short of tying Drew Brees’ record streak (which was set and snapped last year). Brady’s QBR in this game was his second lowest since the start of 2006.
- Atlanta Falcons – They’ve already lost more games in 2013 than they did all of last season. Losing at home to the NY Jets was the worst of them all. It’s not like they’re being blown out, they just keep losing close games. Maybe if they had a running game they’d be able to close ‘em out. Maybe if they took field goals instead of losing fourth downs. Maybe they need a pass rusher. With a bye week next, and already 4 games behind New Orleans, it’s a long road back for the Falcons.
Thought of the Week:
You know what? Peyton Manning may just be the greatest quarterback of all time. Sure, his stocks are high at the moment, but the numbers are there to back him up. 2nd all-time passing yards, 3rd in career passer rating, he trails Dan Marino in 1st by just 1 game winning drive in his career, his career completion rate is over 65%, and better than Steve Young, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Brett Favre or Terry Bradshaw. Then there’s that consecutive game streak, which only Favre can claim to have beaten as a QB. It’s tough to judge guys during their career, and there are also people who for nostalgic reasons would never even consider a rival to Joe Montana (or whoever). But Peyton has to be in the conversation, and I think, with a couple more productive seasons, his legacy will be unmatched.
The Full Disclosure Award For Tellin' It Like Ya See It:
LeShawn McCoy sparked some controversy when he tweeted his true feelings about rival NFL running back Knowshon Moreno this week. The beef probably arises from Moreno unexpectedly being picked much higher than Shady McCoy in the 2009 draft. McCoy has since deleted his twitter account, but the evidence is floating in cyberspace for all to see.
(The Peyton Manning Honourable) Player of the Week:
Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys) – Screw you all who disagree! Romo was absolutely brilliant. One of the best single game performances I’ve ever seen. He matched fire with the Broncos Offense (which is statistically turning out to be one of the most potent in the history of the game) and kept the Cowboys in it till the end. Sure he threw that interception, but to blame him for the loss is shortsighted. Without Romo the Cowboys weren’t in this at all. Denver was expected to win easy. And by that point, Romo already HAD led Dallas on a go-ahead drive. They were up by 7 with less than 5 mins to go. If you wanna blame anyone, blame the Dallas D that let in 51 points. Romo was superb with 506 yards, and 5 TDs. He made plays from impossible positions. He was clever and assured, and deserves PoW honours this week. This play was one of the most mind-bending things I’ve ever seen:
Upcoming Dates (NZ Time):
October 23 – MLB World Series Begins
October 30 – NBA regular season begins
December 30 – Final day of NFL regular season