Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Best And Worst NFL Week Eleven

Not sure what it was about week eleven in the NFL, but something was amist around the league. There were quite a few games that went down to the wire, and even had a few going into overtime. And at the same time, there were a couple of lopsided games as well, so this week had a little bit of everything. Week eleven saw some great performances, like the one Kenny Stills had against Tampa. Then you had some awful performances, like Nathan Peterman against the Chargers (that was just plain bad). Dallas and Green Bay look to be in real trouble, while Philly, Minnesota and New Orleans keep rolling right along. With all that being said, here's some of the best and worst of the week that was in the NFL.

Best:
Kenny Stills, Wide Receiver Miami Dolphins
Yes it came in a losing effort, but still what an effort it was for Kenny Stills on Sunday. Tampa beat Miami 30-20, but Stills had himself quite the day. He had seven catches for a league best 180 yards and a touchdown. This was the first time that Stills had cracked the 100 yards mark in a game this season, which is a bit of a surprise considering how good of a receiver he is. He pulled out  all the stops on Sunday against Tampa, only to see his Finns fall short because the rest of the team couldn't get up to his level and play as well as he did. They put up a fight, with Stills leading the charge in one hell of a football game.

Worst:
Nathan Peterman, Quarterback Buffalo Bills
Can somebody out there please try and explain this decision to me. Buffalo, who's above .500 and has a chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999, decide to bench Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman. Buffalo got run over 54-24 by the Los Angeles Chargers, and Peterman was a big reason why Buffalo was getting their rear ends handed to them. His stat line was just horrible. He was 6 of 14 passing for 66 yards and his five picks. No, you didn't read that wrong, Peterman threw five picks in the first half of what was a dive bomb of a performance on Sunday. He was the first player in NFL history to throw five interceptions and no touchdowns on fewer than 15 passes. How does that happen? What was Sean McDermott even thinking for allowing him to even start is mind numbing.

Best:
Leonard Fournette, Running Back, Jacksonville Jaguars
This showed a little bit of guts on the part of Fournette. There was some thought that he wasn't going to play in Cleveland on Sunday due to dealing with ankle stiffness and it being cold in Cleveland. Well not only did he play, but he played pretty well too. Jacksonville walked away with a 19-7 win and did it with decent play from Blake Bortles. So it was up to Fournette to keep the offense chugging along, doing just that, rushing for 111 yards on 28 carries, throwing in two receptions for good measure.

Worst:
Brett Hundley, Quarterback Green Bay Packers
Hundley had himself a pretty good week last week. He threw for 212 yards and looked decent in getting the win over the Bears. Now, this week, Green Bay wasn't as lucky, falling 23-0 to the Baltimore Ravens, the first time that the Packers have been shutout in a game since 2006. He opened the game with two straight interceptions and finished with three as Green Bay turned the ball over a total of five times. He finished 21 of 39 for 239 yards and no touchdowns. The running game wasn’t much help, either, as Jamaal Williams managed just 57 yards on 18 carries behind Green Bay’s injury ravaged offensive line. Still it was a bit of a tough outing for Hundley, who I do actually have some holding hope for as he could possibly try and keep the Packers in the fight until Rogers gets healthy.

Best:
Matt Prainter, Kicker Detroit Lions
Field Goal kicking has been getting more notice as of late, and for good reason. NFL teams have been relying more on kickers late in games this year. All that really matters in the kicking game is whether or not it goes over the crossbar for three points. Matt Prainter understands this and was able to do the job on Sunday. Detroit came away with a 27-24 win over the Bears on the strength of his leg. He came up huge, drilling a 52 yard field goal to seal the win for Detroit. This helped power the Lions to their 3rd straight win and keep them within two games of Minnesota for the Division title.

Worst:
Connor Barth, Kicker Chicago Bears
While Matt Prainter had a good day in the Lions win, Chicago kicker Connor Barth had a bad day. There was eight seconds left on the clock, and Detroit had a three point lead. Connor Barth not only missed a game tying field goal, he missed it by a wide margin. It was so far out there it would have made Bob Uecker blush. If somebody reads the box score it will appear as a missed field goal kick all the same. But you tell that to a Bears fan or even management of the Bears, and they will tell you something totally different. Barth flat out embarrassed himself with the kick on Sunday, it was that ugly.

Best:
Larry Fitzgerald, Wide Receiver Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals didn't have the ending to the game they wanted. Houston beat the Cardinals 31-21, but Larry Fitzgerald had himself a decent day and moved up a little higher into the history books in the NFL. During the loss to Houston, Fitzgerald hauled in nine passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. In the process, the legendary receiver moved into fifth place all time for most career receiving yards. Fitzgerald now has 15,157 yards in his fantastically great career. Now Fitzgerald sits just 52 yards away from passing Isaac Bruce for 4th place on the all time list. By the time the season is over (he needs just 136 yards to do this) Fitzgerald will end up passing Randy Moss for 3rd place on the all-time list.

Worst:
Todd Gurley, Running Back Los Angeles Rams
This has a bit of a strange feel to it. Los Angeles, who has the 9th best rushing attack in football this year, was held in check by Minnesota, as the Vikings walked away with a 24-7 victory. Yes Minnesota has the 7th best rushing defense in all of the game, and they looked the part against the Rams this week. Gurley, who's been a stud most of the year, was kept quiet, rushing just 37 yards on 15 carries. Though, he did keep his fantasy owners happy with three catches and a rushing touchdown on the game’s first drive. This showed me that the Rams running game can't handle playing against a tough run defense. Yes they've had a solid run this year, but Gurley needs to get it going against tough defensive teams if they are to really make any noise whatsoever in the post season.

Best:
New Orleans Saints
The winning streak has now hit eight games. New Orleans pulled out a 34-31 win over the Redskins. Washington had a lead in this game too and looked like they might be the team to snap the streak. They had a 15 point lead with about six minutes left in the game, after Cousins threw his 2nd TD pass on the afternoon. Then New Orleans took over, responding with two straight touchdown-scoring drives that went 12 plays in total for 162 yards. The final drive was vintage Drew Brees, hitting Alvin Kamara with an 18-yard touchdown catch and the two-point conversion. After forcing the Redskins to punt in overtime, Mark Ingram put the Saints in field goal range with two runs that went 51 yards. With the Saints playing this well, they're going to be a tough team to beat down the stretch.

Worst:
Denver Broncos
My how this team has fallen. It was just a few short years ago, they won a Super Bowl and looked to be one of the more dominant teams in recent memory. Now, the Broncos look like a shell of themselves, falling to the Bengals on Sunday 20-17. Denver’s defense was its usual self, holding Cincinnati’s offense to just 12 first downs, 192 total yards and 49 rushing yards. The offense was moving OK as a whole, racking up 341 yards and 20 first downs, but were hopeless when it came to actually putting points on the board. Denver still found a way to lose this ballgame. They have no threat at quarterback. Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch have all proven that they can't really find their mojo in helping Denver put points on the board.

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