NFL Week 10 Recap

The Saints sure pummelled the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. The game was as good as over when Cowboys defensive generalissimo Sean Lee went off hurt (he’ll miss at least 2 games), leaving Drew Brees to pick and choose receivers at will over the middle. Breesy finished with 392 pass yards, 4 TDs from 34/41 attempts.

Dallas meanwhile falls back to 5-5, tied with Philly for the NFC East. They, mercifully, have the bye next week so their many injured soldiers can rest up and be ready for an important game against the New York Giants. The Cowboys schedule is easier on the back end, so you’ve gotta think, already at 3-0 vs division opponents, that they remain playoff likelihoods. But if they can’t learn to break up a pass or tackle a runner, then we may see something similar to what we just saw in the postseason. Then again, if Dez Bryant gets his hand on the ball and Tony Romo gets some protection…

Huge win for the Lions over the Bears to put them in the box seat in the NFC North. Once more they proved that all they have to do to score is throw the ball anywhere in Calvin Johnson’s general direction, and their defence can cover the slack. Chicago loses Jay Cutler for next week as they try to outlast the equally bashed up Packers in the playoff hunt.

Green Bay is working out Matt Flynn, not surprisingly. Flynn has been released from bloody well everywhere recently, but it wasn’t that long ago that he was shining Aaron Rodgers’ boots at Lambeau. He’ll be a definite improvement at QB while Rodgers recuperates.

The Baltimore Ravens managed to squeeze out an overtime win, but it never should have come to that. Up by 7 as time expired, Bengals QB Andy Dalton throws the big Hail Mary. The ball bounces clear off a pile of leaping players, and over to a Ravens defender, who instead of batting the ball down or dead to end the game, instinctively tries to catch it, only for it to bounce off his hands to a disbelieving AJ Green. PAT successful – game tied. Luckily for the Ravens, the Bengals couldn’t complete on short yardage.

The Carolina Panthers are in it for the long haul with that defence. Luke Keuchly and co. shut down San Francisco for a crucial and morale boosting win. The Cardinals and Eagles also had key wins to throw their names into the playoff threat hat. It’s a big hat at this stage in the season.

Somehow St Louis destroyed Indianapolis, and, woah, wouldn’t ya believe it, the Jacksonville Jaguars won a game! They managed to outlast Tennessee (after Titans QB Jake Locker was injured again), and get themselves their first W of the season. Tampa Bay was the only winless team remaining, but then they managed to win at home to Miami, despite blowing a 15 point lead. Fair to say this was the most unpredictable week in the NFL for a long time.

MLB Award Season

The Gold Gloves were handed out last week (for fielding excellence). Here’s how they went.

Earlier this week two very deserving Rookies of the Year were announced. Jose Fernandez got the nod in the National League. The Miami starter went 12–6 with a 2.19 ERA and 187 strikeouts in his first year, edging out Dodgers spark plug Yasiel Puig (.319 19HR 42RBI). And over in the American League, Tampa Bay’s Wil Myers (.293BA 13HR 53RBI) was the clear winner.

Managers of the Year went to Terry Francona for his reconnaissance job in Cleveland, taking the unflavoured Indians to the playoffs with a 92-70 record. Francona narrowly edged out (my pick) John Farrell, who took the Red Sox from last to first, and then on to a World Series title. The postseason isn’t really judged in these things, but the turnaround this season was so drastic. Funnily, it was Francona that had the Sox when they were last winning championships. Over in the NL, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was the runaway winner, taking the Pirates to their first winning season in 20 years.

And predictably, the CY Young Awards were presented to Matt Scherzer (Detroit Lions) who racked up 21 wins (the only 20 win pitcher this season) and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, who at 25 becomes the youngest lefty to win multiple CY Young awards.

The MVPs will be announced this afternoon. Expect Miggy Cabrera and Andrew McCtuchen to get the nods.

Good Week:

Indiana Pacers – Still undefeated, baby! Paul George, Roy Hibbert and the rest of ‘em (Lance Stephenson had a triple-double yesterday) have laughed at those of us (sorry…) who said they couldn’t top last year’s efforts. Right now they’re the form team in the NBA.
Tavon Austin (St Louis Rams) – All preseason we’ve heard how good this rookie was gonna be, but it took until now to see why the Rams jumped up the draft board to get this guy. He only caught two passes, but both were touchdowns for a combined 138 yards. Plus he added a 98 yard kick return TD. Damn, son.
Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) – It’s been said.

Bad Week:

New York Knicks – The NY Knicks without Tyson Chandler is like a bull without its horns. Non-threatening. Sure, it can still charge you and stomp you with Melo, but it won’t do any damage to the bigger animals until those horns are fixed.
Miami Dolphins – Aside from the bucket of steaming, rancid PR disaster that is Richie “The Classroom Bully” Incognito, they also went and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccs, who really have no business winning football games.
Monte Kiffin (Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coordinator) – Kiffin’s team gave up over 600 total yards to the Saints, breaking the franchise record which his guys set a couple weeks back against Megatron and the Lions. Jerry Jones must be sharpening his Cowboys-branded axe.

Potentially Racist Opinion-Based List:

Top 5 White Guys in the NBA:

1. Kevin Love

2. Dirk Nowitski

3. Pau Gasol

4. David Lee

5. JJ Reddick

Chandler Parsons and Ricky Rubio are on the rise. It’s a couple years too late for Steve Nash or Manu Ginobli.

Player of the Week:

Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) – He’s had at least a double-double in every game this season. Averaging 26.9/14.4, it’s pretty clear that K.Love is not just good-good, but seriously, legitimately, honestly MVP-good.

Upcoming Dates (NZ Time):

December 30 - NFL Regular Season Ends

February 3 - Superbowl XLVIII

February 17 - 2014 NBA All-Star Game