Best & Worst Of NFL Week Twelve

We've gotten through the first twelve weeks of the National Football League season, and the playoff picture is really starting to take shape. There's teams that are still on the outside looking to get in, like the Steelers, Broncos, Bucs, Vikings and Saints, just to name a few. There's teams that, at this point, are pretty much a lock for the playoffs, like Dallas, Seattle, New England and Oakland. You have a team like the Rams, who aren't going anywhere, but they got hope in the form of Jared Goff, who threw his first three touchdowns of the season (and his career). That's one of the pluses from this week. Then you look at the other end of the scale and a guy like Brock Osweiler, who is still underperforming and threw the game away against San Diego. Tom Brady got himself in the record book with his 200th career win (combined regular season and playoffs), we saw players score their first career scores, while others still found different ways to score. A lot went down on the field in week twelve. So here's a look back at some of the best and worst from the week that was.

Best:
Tyreek Hill, Wide Receiver Kansas City Chiefs
When you get your name put into the record books, and you manage to do it in an overtime win no less, then you know you had yourself a good day. That's what happened to Tyreek Hill of Kansas City, in their 30-27 overtime win over the Denver Broncos. Hill becomes the first player since Gale Sayers in 1965 to score on a run, a pass and a kick return in the same game. Hill accounted for all the offensive touchdowns for the Chiefs in this football game, which was a game that the Chiefs really needed to win to stay in the playoff hunt in the AFC. He scored by returning a kick for 86 yards, rushing for a three-yard score and receiving a three-yard touchdown pass. He may not have had the fantastic numbers as say Emmanuel Sanders (who had 7 catches for 162 yards to lead all receivers this week), but Hill was a huge reason why Kansas City came away with the win.

Worst:
Brock Osweiler, Quarterback Houston Texans
For all the money Brock got to play quarterback in Houston, he really hasn't been living up to his end of the bargain yet. Now you look at what Houston had against San Diego this week, it was a game that they could and probably should, have won. But thanks to Brock Osweiler laying an egg, San Diego walked away with a 21-13 win. Osweiler finished the day going 22 of 37 for 246 yards. That looks like an OK stat line right? Keep reading the line, as the threw three interceptions, including the final one which came on the final play of the game on a Hail Mary attempt. But his first two were inexcusable. One was on a late throw, while the other one was an overthrow. This was the ninth time this season that Osweiler threw at least one interception and was his third multi-interception game. Houston has been able to win a few games this year in spite of Brock under center, but if they want to go deep in the playoffs, he needs to start playing a lot better

Best:
Drew Brees, Quarterback New Orleans Saints
Brees is out to prove to the entire football watching world that he's still got plenty left in the tank to compete at this level. He went up against a very tough LA Rams defense and lit them up like a cheap cigar. Brees finished the day going 28 of 36 for 310 yards and FOUR touchdowns. FOUR! It was good enough to lead the Saints to a 49-21 win over the Rams. There's times where the Saints look out of it, but in every win that the Saints have this year, ones that have managed to be able to keep them in this playoff race, Brees is the direct reason why New Orleans is still very much in this hunt. He may not be getting any mention for MVP in the NFL, but Drew Brees still has plenty left in the tank and is just as important to the Saints offense as any other passer in the entire league.

Worst:
Russell Wilson, Quarterback Seattle Seahawks
When you hear the name Russell Wilson, you think of one of the steady quarterbacks in all of professional football. This past week however, wasn't one of his better days. He was largely kept in check by Tampa’s defense as he completed just 51.5 percent of his passes for a meager 151 yards with no touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions and taking six sacks. His final line was 17 of 33 for 151 yards. It was a disastrous performance as the Seahawks managed to score just five points on the afternoon. The line was no help to Wilson what so ever, as it seemed he was left out to dry on a lot of his dropbacks. Oh and Wilson was hit a total 11 times during the game along with those sacks, so he was really left out to dry. Bad day all around for the Seattle offense. At least Seattle can take maybe a little comfort in knowing that the rest of the division lost on Sunday as well.

Best:
Jason Pierre-Paul, Defensive End New York Giants
It might now be safe to say that he's back, or as close to as fully back as possible for a guy in his situation. Jason Pierre-Paul had himself a solid day against the Browns on Sunday. He was a big reason why the Giants walked away with a 27-13 win over Cleveland. JPP's final stat line was pretty good I'd say. He finished with three sacks, two QB hits, five tackles, two assists, oh and that little forced fumble recovery that he ran back for a 43 yard touchdown to seal the victory. JPP stepped up big and because of that, the Browns are still winless on the season and could remain like that the rest of the way.

Worst:
Phillip Gaines, Cornerback Kansas City Chiefs
Talk about a rough night. In a battle of two of the top defenses in all of football, Gaines was picked on by Trevor Siemian and company Sunday night. Sure Kansas City got the win, but Phillip Gaines wasn't a reason why. In fact, he was lit up like a Christmas Tree. His stat line isn't good. He was thrown to eight times, and receivers caught six passes for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns. YIKES! He looked lost at times during the game, not having a clue where the football was being thrown. Maybe it was just a bad night. I think its safe to say that, even though some people may not have heard of him before this game, they may not forget his name for a while now because of it. Sorry kid.

Best:
David Johnson, Running Back Arizona Cardinals
Talk about a solid running back, David Johnson has been all that and then some for the Cardinals. On Sunday, Arizona did come up short against Atlanta, falling 38-19 to the Falcons and not really helping themselves out for a playoff push in the NFC. But Johnson had himself a day. He accumulated 160 all-purpose yards and one touchdown. Johnson managed to pull that off on 13 carries for 58 yards and 8 catches for 103 yards.  It was part of a history making effort for Johnson, as he has now recorded 11-straight games of gaining more than 100 yards from scrimmage. Johnson is only the second player to accomplish such a feat, joining Edgerrin James who did it twice, once in 2000 and again in 2005. Sadly, it wasn't enough to help Arizona get the win over the highest scoring team in the league, but still it's a good week when you get your name put into the NFL record books. 

Worst:
Chicago Bears Wide Receivers
On paper, it looked as if the Bears might have had a chance to pick up their 3rd win of the season. It looked like a very winable game. But it wasn't the case as the Titans walked away with a 27-21 win over Chicago. A big reason why the Bears came up short was, flat out, their wide receivers. In total, Chicago dropped ten passes, including two touchdowns on the game’s final offensive possession. Receiver Deonte Thompson had the ball right in his hands on the final offensive play of the game for Chicago, but couldn't hang onto it. At that point, the Bears were down by six, and the play should have given the Bears a chance to win. The drops weren’t the only reason Chicago lost. Matt Barkley threw two interceptions. But at the end of the day, Chicago failed to execute on the most basic things in a football game and it cost them a win. Seems to be that's the way things kinda have gone for the Bears this year isn't it.

Best:
Justin Tucker, Kicker Baltimore Ravens
Lets face it, the game between Baltimore and Cincinnati on Sunday was a sloppy one to watch. Both quarterbacks, Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco weren't playing very well. It all really came down to the trusty leg of Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, to help Baltimore secure a 19-13 win over their division rival. Tucker had been perfect on the year so far, and he stayed that way against the Bengals. Tucker was a perfect four for four on field goal attempts and a converted extra-point attempt. Three of his four made field goals were over 50 yards, making him the second kicker in NFL history to accomplish such a feat in one half. Tucker was so crucial to this game that he had a hand in 13 of the 19 points the Ravens scored on Sunday, which was a breath of fresh air after seeing the kickers have an awful week last week.

Worst:
Gary Kubiak, Head Coach Denver Broncos
Can somebody please help me figure this one out. Alex Smith had been quiet most of the day then all of a sudden comes alive and leads the Chiefs to force overtime against division rival Denver. We go to overtime, and Denver QB Trevor Siemian drove Denver into Kansas City territory late in the overtime period but could not quite move his team into normal scoring range. On 4th-and-10 at the Kansas City 44-yard line, Gary Kubiak got gutsy and called for kicker Brandon McManus to attempt a game-winning 62-yard field goal. Not surprisingly, McManus missed, pulling it wide left as he attempted to drive it hard. Um, why are you going for a 62 yard field goal? Wouldn't it make more sense to punt the ball, pin Kansas City deep and let your defense do its thing, which had been working quite well all night? Clearly Kubiak didn't think that way. Kansas City took the ensuing great field position, drove down the field and Cairo Santos made the 34-yard field goal to win the game for Kansas City, 30-27.  Denver has now lost two of its last three games and finds itself sitting outside the playoff picture.

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Eleven

Week Eleven saw things really start to take shape around the National Football League. The bigger, better, more powerful teams, really started to establish themselves this week. One of those teams, the Dallas Cowboys, had quite the test on Sunday at home against the Baltimore Ravens and passed with flying colors. Dallas has come on as one of, if not, the biggest surprise teams in the league so far this year. Then, you have teams at the other end of the spectrum, like the Cleveland Browns, who ones again prove how inept a team they are. Cody Kessler may be done for the year after getting hit with another concussion. The Browns can't find anybody steady who wants to play quarterback for that franchise. Green bay has really hit the slide, as they got rolled over for the 2nd week in a row, last week by Tennessee and this week by the Washington Redskins. Seattle is beginning to reasert itself in the NFC, and the Rams still can't find an answer. With all that being said, here's more of the best and worst from the week that was in the NFL.

Best:
Landon Collins, Safety New York Giants
You want to talk about a comeback player, here's the prefect example of it. Landon Collins has been a standout for the Giants defense this year, look at what he did in the Giants 22-16 win over the Bears on Sunday. He had six tackles and the game sealing interception in the 4th quarter. The pick now gives him five interceptions in the last four games. Oh yeah and he broke up two more passes against the Bears as well. He was thrown at five times as the primary coverage defender and allowed just one catch for 23 yards to Josh Bellamy, but Jay Cutler had a passer rating in the single-digits when throwing in Collins’ direction. That's playing shut down defense if I've ever seen it. Collins has been one of the biggest reasons that the Giants are playing as well as they are on D. Not to take anything away from JPP who had a good day Sunday against the Bears, with two and a half sacks, Collins still had the better overall game

Worst:
NFL Kickers
This is a bad week to be a kicker in the NFL. Before the season started, the PAT line was pushed back to the 15 yard line. That has really caused a problem for kickers in the NFL this season, none more noticeable then this week. Kickers league wide missed 12 missed extra points, and on top of that six kickers missed field goals during the week. It was a shocking day at the office for almost all the leagues kickers. Nobody really knows exactly why kickers are missing so many extra points this year. Sunday was the first week of really bad weather for a lot of games, which was a factor no doubt, but having seen kickers be so automatic within 40 yards in past years and now struggle is a very strange sight. Maybe it’s the loss of the super-easy chip-shots that they used to have may have something to do with it.. Maybe a handful of early misses have simply rocked the confidence of the kickers and thus more pressure has been put on them. Whatever the reason is, the game has gone from “potentially being won on a late field goal” to “being lost by a missed extra point in the first quarter”, and that's not good.

Best:
Le’Veon Bell, Funning Back Pittsburgh Steelers
There's no denying the fact that both Ezekiel Elliott and David Johnson have been tearing things up this year. Both have been fantastic running backs this season. However, I think that Le"Veon Bell may have something to say about that. Bell made the point that he is still the best running back in the game this week with a monster performance in Pittsburgh’s 26-9 win over the Browns. Bell was the top rusher in the league this week with 146 rushing yards on 28 carries and a touchdown. Oh yeah and he had to break six tackles to pick up that many yards. To make matters better for Bell, he added another 55 yards through the air on eight receptions. He beat six different Browns defenders for catches, which is saying a lot, as some receivers can't even really do that at times. Yeah I think Bell is hitting his stride again, and if that's the case, the Steelers may be a very tough team to beat.

Worst:
Blake Bortles, Quarterback Jacksonville Jaguars
Bortles-Mania may be running out of steam in Jacksonville. He's having an awful season in Jacksonville this year and look no further then the Jags 26-19 loss to the Lions on Sunday. He had some bad plays on Sunday. Bortles threw a pass to a wide-open Marqise Lee, but the pass so far behind him that he tipped it up to Lions safety Tavon Wilson for the interception. Bortles had no pressure on him when he threw it. He still was nowhere close on the throw to a receiver the Lions weren’t even defending. Bortles has been terrible this season, and that moment summed it all up. Facts are he really hasn't been in much of a good groove this year, a year that Jacksonville was expected to take their game to another level and possibly make a playoff push. But Bortles has regressed and doesn't look comfortable at all under center.

Best:
Kirk Cousins, Quarterback Washington Redskins
Cousins had himself a pretty good day on Sunday, leading the Redskins to a 42-24 win over the Packers, and he was able to do it on the strenght of a massive 20 point 4th quarter. Yes, Green Bay is a shell of their former self, but out-playing Aaron Rodgers is no easy task. Cousins finished the day going 21 of 30 for 375 yards and 3 touchdowns. He finished the day with a 145.8 passer rating. Those numbers were all tops among quarterbacks this week, which is a pretty good stat. To make it even better was the sound bite of Cousins yelling "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT" on the field after the win. Beating up on the Packers and hanging 45 points on Green Bay for the 2nd week in a row isn't easy to do, but the Redskins did it.

Worst:
Martellus Bennett, Tight End New England Patriots
Since Rob Gronkowski hasn't been playing too well this year, he didn't play on Sunday against the 49ers due to an injury, New England had been able to get excellent play out of Bennett already this season. Which has been a nice surprise. Only problem is, against the 49ers it just wasn’t there. Bennett’s blocking was particularly poor in this game, struggling both in the run game and as a pass-blocker. All of that could have been forgiven, had he been an impact player as a receiver, but he finished the day with just 14 receiving yards and a single catch. This was one game where the Patriots could have done with Rob Gronkowski, or even the real Martellus Bennett. Neither happened. Thankfully the Patriots were able to overcome that and walk away with the win. That's what the good teams are able to do when some of their players don't show up, they can make up for it. But if New England wants another shot at a title this year, they need Bennett to play better, whether Gronk is in the lineup or not.

Best:
Bobby Wagner, Linebacker Seattle Seahawks
Philly had been playing a solid offensive game the last couple of weeks. It made for a tight race in the NFC East this year. That was until the Eagles were grounded by the Legion of Boom. Seattle came away with a 26-15 win over Philly, and a large part of that was the play of linebacker Bobby Wagner. Wagner lead the NFL in tackles in week 11, with 15 total. Luke Kuechly had 14 versus the Saints before his marbles got loosened with a concussion. Wagner was hitting everything in sight on Sunday and really had the Eagles thrown off of their game plan. He was in full blown beast mode on Sunday and Philly had no answer for it. Masterful job by Wagner on Sunday.

Worst:
Cincinnati Bengals
It seems like its all coming down at once for the Bengals. Not only did the Bengals playoff hopes get snuffed out by a disappointing 16-12 defeat to Buffalo, but AJ Green went down early with a hamstring injury and could potentially miss the rest of the season. Green was one of the few bright spots in a poor season and now he could be gone, just like the playoffs.

Best:
Mike Evans, Wide Receiver Tampa Bay Buccaneers
There's no doubt that mike Evans is becoming one of the top flight receivers in all of football. He's got great speed and height and a good set of hands. That was on full display on Sunday against Kansas City. Tampa came away with a 19-17 win over KC and Evans had himself a big day. m Evans caught six passes for 105 yards, with 65 of them coming against Steven Nelson, who gave up six inches in height to the big receiver, and who knows what in catch radius. Evans had some impressive receptions at key times in the game. He wasn't able to find the endzone but still was able to really help get the Buccaneers into scoring range.

Worst:
Seattle Seahawks Running Game
Just when the Seahawks seemed to be getting things rolling, they suffered another huge injury in the running game. Thomas Rawls is now back in the Seattle backfield, but C.J. Prosise could be on his way out. Prosise has a scapula injury, so who knows how long he'll be out for. Prosise had given the offense a much-needed spark, like the 72-yard touchdown run on Sunday in a win over Philadelphia. Seattle is now having depth issues at tailback. The Seahawks looked great again on Sunday, and perhaps Rawls can immediately resume full-time duties and stay healthy. But if anything derails the Seahawks in the NFC, it could be because the running game ends up failing. Sure Rawls is good but if he can't stay healthy and Proise is out for the year, then Seattle's run game is in deep trouble.

MLB Awards Winners

It's that time of the year for Major League Baseball. Each year, in the middle of November, the league honors the best players for the year that was in Baseball. Major hardware has been given out to the best in the game since the first MVP award was given in 1910, when the Chalmers award was given out to the MVP in baseball. Since 1931, the award winners in baseball have been decided on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The MVP award is the leagues oldest, first being awarded in 1910 and now under this format since 1941. Other awards handed out are for the Cy Young (first awarded in 1956 and decided on by the BWAA since 1967), Rookie of the Year (first awarded in 1947) and Manager of the Year (first awarded in 1983). All award winners claim their prize based on what they did during the regular season (playoff numbers don't matter) and voting for the awards is completed by the baseball writers by the end of the season. So here's how the awards broke down for the 2016 Major League Baseball season.

Manager Of The Year
National League: Dave Roberts, Los Angeles Dodgers
American League: Terry Francona, Cleveland Indians

Roberts walked away with 108 votes, including 16 first place votes. Talk about a good year for a first year manager. He leads the Dodgers to an NL West crown, their 4th straight NL West title. He won Manager of the year and The Sporting News' National League Manager of the Year. The last Dodger to win the BBWAA Manager of the Year award was Hall of Famer Tom Lasorda, who did it in 1983 and 1988. Roberts also is the first rookie Dodgers manager to win a division title since Lasorda in 1977. Los Angeles took on a rough go of it this year, being hit by a ton of injuries. During the course of the year, the Dodgers put 28 players on the disabled list, including ace Clayton Kershaw, the most in at least the last 30 years. The 30 victories by rookies were the most for the club since 1952. When you have as many injuries as the Dodgers did and they still managed to win the West, that's due to impressive coaching. Dave Roberts did just that. Other managers receiving votes: Joe Maddon of the Cubs (70 total), Dusty Baker of the Nationals (66 total), Terry Collins of the Mets (24 total), and Don Mattingly of the Marlins (2 votes).

Terry Francona collected 128 total votes, including 22 first places votes, to become AL Manager of the Year. Francona took home Manager of the Year honor for the 2nd time in his career and the 2nd time in four years in Cleveland. Winning those two awards makes him the eighth multiple-time winner since the award began in 1983. Francona won the award in 2013, his first season in Cleveland. The only other Indians manager to ever win was Eric Wedge in 2007. And why shouldn't he have won the award, he lead the Indians to a division title for the first time since 2007 and a 90+ win season for the first time since 2013. Oh yeah, and he managed to do this with a team that had its own share of injuries. Not quite what Dave Roberts had to deal with in Los Angeles, but still he had a few key players like Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar all missing time with injuries. Other American League Managers receiving votes: Jeff Banister of the Rangers (64 total), Buck Showalter of the Orioles (44 total), John Farrell of the Red Sox (28 total), Joe Girardi of the Yankees (5 total) and Scott Servais of the Mariners (1 total).

Rookie Of The Year
National League: Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
American League: Michael Fulmer, Detroit Tigers

Corey Seager of the Dodgers takes home the NL Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote, finishing the year with a .308 batting average, clubbing 26 home runs and 72 runs batted in. Seager is the 17th winner of the award to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers (a record). He's the first Dodgers shortstop to win it and their first winner since Todd Hollandsworth in 1996. He's the first shortstop to win the ROY award since Hanley Ramírez won it in 2006. Seager is the third unanimous Dodgers Rookie of the Year, joining Raul Mondesi and Mike Piazza, who won it back to back in 1993-94. Seager put up otstanding hitting and power numbers, his 72 RBI's were the 4th most in the NL by any shortstop, he had the best batting average among shortstops and hit more home runs among shortstops except for Trevor Story. It was by far the best numbers in the league that any rookie had put up. Other NL players to receive votes: Trea Turner of the Nationals (42 total), Kenta Maeda of the Dodgers (37 total), Trevor Story of the Rockies (24 total), Aledmys Diaz of the Cardinals (14 total), Jon Gray of the Rockies (1 total), Steven Matz of the Mets (1 total0, and Seung-hwan Oh of the Cardinals (1 total).

Michael Fulmer of the Tigers took home the top rookie award in the American League, collecting 142 total points, including 26 first place votes. Fulmer is the Tigers' fifth Rookie of the Year, joining Verlander, Lou Whitaker in 1978, Mark Fidrych in 1976 and Harvey Kuenn in 1953. As the year went on, Fulmer really started to blossom into a fantastic pitcher, which is something that the Detroit Tigers are known for getting and developing. Fulmer delivered a 33-inning scoreless streak from late May into June, and he gave up one run or none in eight consecutive starts. Detroit won seven of those outings, three of them when scoring four runs or fewer. The Tigers won six one-run games with Fulmer on the mound. Those numbers are a big reason why the Tigers were able to hang around in the AL Central race for most of the year. Other AL players to receive votes: Gary Sanchez of the Yankees (91 total), Tyler Naquin of the Indians (20 total), Chris Devenski of the Astros (7 total), Edwin Diaz of the Mariners (4 total), Nomar Mazara of the Rangers (4 total), and Tim Anderson of the White Sox (2 total).

Cy Young
National League: Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals
American League: Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox

Scherzer took 25 first place votes and 192 votes overall to claim the NL Cy Young award. And why not. He went 20-7 with a 2.96 ERA and 284 strikeouts. This is the second career Cy Young Award for Scherzer, who also won in 2013 while pitching for the Tigers. He became just the sixth pitcher in baseball history to win the award in both leagues, joining Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay. Scherzer led the Majors with 284 strikeouts, including tying a Major League record for a nine-inning game with 20 strikeouts against the Tigers on May 11. He averaged 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings and posted the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the NL at 5.07. Max may not have had the lowest ERA in the league, but he had a much higher WAR then most other pitchers in the league this year. Mad Max has now started to really pull it all together and given the Nationals every penny's worth of that huge contract they gave him. Other pitchers receiving votes in the NL: Jon Lester of the Cubs (102 total), Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs (85 total), Madison Bumgarner of the Giants (46 total), Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (30 total), Johnny Cueto of the Giants (19 total), Jose Fernandez of the Marlins (18 total), Noah Syndergaard of the Mets (15 total), Jake Arrieta of the Cubs (2 total) and Tanner Roark of the Nationals (1 total).

American League Cy Young voting was dead close between Porcello and Justin Verlander of the Tigers. The five point difference was the 2nd closest race in history, but in the end, Porcello gets the nod and wins the Cy Young award. Porcello went 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA and 189 strikeouts. Porcello joins Jim Lonborg (1967), Roger Clemens ('86, '87, '91) and Pedro Martinez ('99, 2000) as the only Red Sox pitchers to win a Cy Young Award. This marks just the third time a Cy Young Award winner did not have the most first-place votes. It also happened for Atlanta's Tom Glavine in 1998 and San Francisco's Tim Lincecum in 2009. In 27 of his 33 starts, Porcello allowed three earned runs or fewer. In nearly half of his starts, 16 to be exact, he allowed two earned runs or fewer. And on nine occasions, Porcello gave up one earned run or fewer. Durability was another separator for Porcello. There were just three starts when Porcello went fewer than six innings, and he didn't go fewer than five in any of those. Justin Verlander did have the better numbers, except in the wins department. It probably should have gone to Verlander, but because one baseball writer submitted his Cy Young votes a week early, it cost Verlander the award. Other AL pitchers receiving votes: Justin Verlander of Tigers (14 1st place votes, 132 total), Corey Kluber of the Indians (98 total), Zach Britton of the Orioles (72 total), Chris Sale of the White Sox (40 total), J.A. Happ of the Blue Jays (14 total), Aaron Sanchez of the Blue Jays (6 total), Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees (6 total), Andrew Miller of the Indians (3 total), Michael Fulmer of the Tigers (1 total), and Jose Quintana of the White Sox (1 total).

Most Valuable Player
National League: Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
American League: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Talk about a year to remember if your Kris Bryant. Her's coming off winning Rookie of the Year in the National League last year. Now this year he helps lead the Cubs to the best record in baseball, wins the World Series and now claims the MVP award. He also finished the year hittin .292 with 39 home runs and 102 runs batted in. Twenty players have won the top rookie honors and been named MVP, but Bryant joins Dustin Pedroia (2007-08), Ryan Howard (2005-06) and Cal Ripken Jr. (1982-83) as the only players to win the awards in back-to-back seasons. A Cubs player has won the award 10 times, including twice by Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. Sammy Sosa had been the last to do so in 1998. He led the NL in runs scored, ranked third in homers, was fourth with a .939 OPS and a .554 slugging percentage, and sixth in RBIs. He was the only player in the Majors with at least 35 homers, 35 doubles, 100 RBIs, 100 runs scored and 75 walks. Talk about prolific numbers. Bryant was a giant reason why the Cubs had as great a year as they did. Don't get me wrong, Anthony Rizzo was also a big part of that season the Cubs had, but I think Bryant's overall game and numbers were better and had a greater impact on the team then Rizzo. Other players to gain MVP votes: Daniel Murphy of the Nationals (245 total), Corey Seager of the Dodgers (240 total), Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (202 total), Nolan Arenado of the Rockies (199 total), Freddie Freeman of the Braves (129 total), Joey Votto of the Reds (100 total), Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets (45 total), Justin Turner of the Dodgers (44 total), Max Scherzer of the Nationals (39 total), Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks (18 total), Brandon Crawford of the Giants (15 total) Jean Segura of the Diamondbacks (14 total), Buster Posey of the Giants (11 total), DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies (8 total), Madison Bumgarner of the Giants (7 total), Jeurys Familia of the Mets (6 total), Wilson Ramos of the Nationals (6 total), Addison Russell of the Cubs (5 total), Noah Syndergaard of the Mets (5 total), Christian Yelich of the Marlins (5 total), Yasmani Grandal of the Dodgers (4 total), Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs (2 total), Ryan Braun of the Brewers (2 total), Yadier Molina, Cardinals (2 total), Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies (1 total) and Johnny Cueto of the Giants (1 total)

Mike Trout walked away with AL MVP, despite the fact that the Angels had a bad year in the AL West this year. Trout finished the year hitting .315 with 29 home runs (lowest full season total of his career) and 100 runs batted in. Trout made history on his way to his second AL MVP Award since 2014. He's the first player to finish in the top two in MVP voting in each of his first five full seasons in the Major Leagues. Trout also joined Barry Bonds as the only players in baseball history to finish in the top two in MVP voting in five straight years. Trout, a five-time All-Star who also won the AL Rookie of the Year prize in 2012, is now the sixth player to win two MVPs before his age-25 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, along with Johnny Bench, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Hal Newhouser. Trout hit .315 with 32 doubles, five triples, 29 home runs, 100 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. He led the Majors in runs (123), walks (116) and on-base percentage (.441), while his .991 OPS ranked second in the AL. Trout was fourth in the AL with a .550 slugging percentage, and he tied for second in steals (Altuve and the Royals' Jarrod Dyson also had 30). He also had a better WAR then any other player in the AL. Sure the Angels missed the playoffs, but Trout is further establishing himself as the best overall player in the sport. Other players receiving votes: Mookie Betts of the Red Sox (311 total), Jose Altuve of the Astros (227 total), Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays (200 total), Manny Machado of the Orioles (150 total), David Ortiz of the Red Sox (147 total), Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (135 total), Robinson Cano of the Mariners (79 total), Francisco Lindor of the Indians (56 total), Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (56 total), Zach Britton of the Orioles (11 total), Kyle Seager of the Mariners (10 total), Brian Dozier of the Twins (9 total), Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays (7 total), Nelson Cruz of the Mariners (6 total), Chris Sale of the White Sox (3 total), Jose Ramirez of the Indians (2 total), Justin Verlander of the Tigers (2 total), Adam Eaton of the White Sox (1 total), Corey Kluber of the Indians (1 total) and Evan Longoria of the Rays (1 total)

Best & Worst of NFL Week Ten

Week Ten in the National Football League has come and gone and things are really starting to take shape in the league. This week in the league had a little bit of everything. Look no further then the game of the day, Dallas and Pittsburgh. Both teams left it all on the field, but in the end it was Ezekiel Elliott who stole the show for Dallas. While Dallas has been riding high, winning eight straight, the Vikings are hitting the schnide, having lost four in a row (after starting the year with five straight wins). It was a bad week for trying to hit two point conversions. The Dolphins and Giants have now won four straight, while Kansas City has won five in a row. Jacksonville and Pittsburgh are now on four game losing streaks, San Francisco has lost eight in a row and the Browns still haven't won a game yet. Not only did teams have a good week, so did some players. With that, here's some of the best and worst performances from week ten.

Best:
Ezekiel Elliott, Running Back Dallas Cowboys
This seems like its been a theme here, putting Zek Elliott on this list, but its been happening. Lets not misconstrue the facts the big three right now in Dallas, Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott and Dez Bryant, actually managed to out play the Steelers big three of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. Of the big three in Dallas, Ezekiel Elliott stole the show out of everybody. Zek rushed for 116 yards on 21 carries, scoring twice on the ground, including the game-winner with just seconds remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter, on a fantastic play. He also caught two passes for 95 yards, including an incredible 83-yard touchdown on a screen pass, his first NFL receiving TD. It doesn't hurt that the Cowboys have the best line in the league. But I think with all the talent this guy has, he can be special all by himself.

Worst:
Jay Cutler, Quarterback Chicago Bears
One of the biggest things that was a plus for Jay Cutler is that he has fantastic arm strength. He can make plays that some other Quarterbacks can't make at all. Which is why he's hung around as long as he has in the NFL. At the same time, he also has terrible judgement. Think about this, since entering the NFL as a rookie out of Vanderbilt in 2006, Cutler has averaged more than one interception per game. Sunday, it wasn't a good day against the Bucks, as Tampa downed the Bears 36-10. The real Jay Cutler came to play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before halftime, he had already thrown two interceptions…on consecutive drives. The second interception resulted in six points the other way as Chris Conte took a terrible throw by Cutler to the end zone for a touchdown Here's what the day looked like for Chicago on Sunday. Punt, INT, INT TD, FG, Fumble, Fumble, Punt, Hail Mary TD, Punt, Punt, Safety, Punt, End of Game. Not a good day for Jay or the Bears.

Best:
Ryan Matthews, Running Back Philadelphia Eagles
Its been a very weird year in Philly this year, more so when it comes to the running back position. That's been a revolving door, who knows who's going to be taking the handoffs. This week, Philly went back to Ryan Matthews. He had 19 carries for 109 yards and two touchdowns in Philly’s 24–15 win over the Falcons, which was a huge victory for the Eagles. He added a key two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, and looked every bit the part of the lead back in the Eagles offense. Matthews had the hot hand this week, because he ran with explosiveness and vision, carrying the ball up the gut and bouncing it outside when nothing opened up in the middle. Will he go back to taking the ball next week? Who knows. But at least this week he was feeling it against Atlanta.

Worst:
Phillip Rivers, Quarterback San Diego Chargers
Rivers is a good quarterback. I'll even go so far as to say he maybe even a hall of fame quarterback. But every once in a while, a great quarterback has an off week. That's what happened to Rivers this week. It was nowhere near as bad as the week that Jay Cutler had, but still it was a bad week. He had 326 yards and three touchdowns. That was good. Now here's the bad. Rivers threw four interceptions in the fourth quarter, all of which sunk the San Diego Chargers in a 31-24 loss. His worst play was a pick-six to linebacker Kiko Alonso in the final two minutes of a tie game. Alonso showed blitz before the snap, dropped into coverage, and Rivers never seemed to see Alonso before he broke on a short pass to Tyrell Williams. Alonso went 60 yards for the game-winning score with 1:01 left. With this loss, the Chargers now sit at 406 and with how tough their division is, it may make it almost impossible for them to make the playoffs.

Best:
Marcus Mariota, Quarterback Tennessee Titans
Some people start to wonder about the play of Mariota this year. Sometimes his inconsistencies passing the ball have shone through, but this weekend he was FEELING it right from the word go. He completed 19 of 26 passes against a good Green Bay defense for 295 yards and four touchdowns while keeping his rushing to a minimum. All four touchdowns came at big moments in the game as the Titans rolled over the Packers. It was a display more of what he can be than what he has been so far. If it can continue then the Titans offense, which is already one of the better rushing attacks in the NFL, could become truly deadly. Mariota has finally started to show a little bit of why he was a top five pick in the draft. Now can he keep it going over the coming weeks? Only time will tell

Worst:
New Orleans Saints
You talk about a rough way to get beat, look no further then Sunday between Denver and New Orleans. This is on this list not for what the Saints did, but for what happened to cose them to lose the game. It was late in the game. Drew Brees threw an unbelievable pass to Brandin Cooks, who made a great catch in the end zone, and all the Saints needed was the extra point to go ahead with 1:23 left. And then before the celebration over Cooks’ touchdown could even die down, the Broncos were taking a blocked extra point the other way. According to reports, this is only the third time an extra point has been returned for two points by the defense. That rule went into effect in 2015. It was the first time in NFL history that a returned extra point accounted for the winning points in a game. On top if it all, it looked like Broncos defensive back Will Parks stepped out of bounds on the return, but his white cleats near the white sideline provided enough doubt that the call on the field wasn’t overturned. Talk about a very crappy way to lose a game.

Best:
Kansas City Chiefs Defense
For three quarters, the Kansas City offense was stumbling. The Panthers had dominated the game. That's why the NFL plays four quarters and not just three. Down by 11 points in the final stanza, Kansas City’s defense roared to life. All-Pro safety Eric Berry got things started when he picked off Cam Newton and miraculously took the ball 42 yards to the house for a touchdown. Then the offense took over. Alex Smith hit Travis Kelce on the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to three points. Then the offense scored its second field goal of the fourth quarter shortly afterwards to tie the game at 17-17. Once again the Defense came up big thanks to Marcus Peters. Newton hit receiver Kelvin Benjamin in stride for a first down. Peters ripped the ball from Benjamin, setting up the Chiefs in field-goal range. Three plays later, the game was over after Cairo Santos drilled a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give the Chiefs an incredible three-point road win. That win helped keep KC in the hunt in the AFC West.

Worst:
New York Jets vs Los Angeles Rams
Horrible, horrible football game. Los Angeles came away with a 9-6 win over the Jets in a game in which New York scored the only touchdown. In half of the Rams’ wins this season, they didn’t score a touchdown. Los Angeles got three field goals on Sunday in a truly awful game. The Rams became the first team since the 1997 Buffalo Bills to win two games with just three field goals in each. Jets quarterback Bryce Petty got his first NFL start and he looked overmatched. Rams quarterback Case Keenum wasn’t much better, and even with the Rams win, it wasn't enough as Jared Goff will get the start this week. There were 15 combined points and 15 combined punts. If you sat through this game, I’m sorry

UFC Invades NYC

One of the most popular sports in America is about to hit one of America's biggest cities. Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to make its debut in the Worlds Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, for tonight's loaded card for UFC 205! In what has already been a very impressive year for the UFC, this card tonight is projected to blow everything else out of the water. This card marks the UFC's first visit to New York City and comes just eight months after the state passed a bill lifting a ban on mixed martial arts that dated back to 1997. This also marks the second ever event in the state of New York, with the first one being UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo, which took place on September 8, 1995, at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. This is the first time ever that the UFC and MMA will hold an event in NYC. Headlined this event is UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, as he has his first title defense against 145-pound champion Conor McGregor. According to UFC President Diana White, UFC 205 will break Madison Square Garden's record gate of $13.5 million, set in 1999 by a heavyweight boxing unification match between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield. That would mean it would also break the UFC's all-time gate record at UFC 129 in 2011.

So lets get right down to it. Here's how the Card shapes up. We will break down and predict each of the fights on the card.

Middleweights: Rafael Natal (21-7-1) vs. Tim Boetsch (19-10)
Should be one of the good opening fights on the card tonight. Natal is 95-1 in the UFC, which means he's got a bit of experience under his belt with the company. He had won four straight fights before losing to Robert Whittaker back in April, so he'll be looking to rebound in this fight. Natal has 36 takedowns in UFC competition, most all-time in middleweight division. Meanwhile Boetsch comes in at 19-10 record (10-9 UFC). The guy knows what he's doing in the cage, as 14 of his 19 wins have come by stoppage. On average, Boetsch lands 53 percent of significant strikes in UFC middleweight fights, which is sixth-highest among active UFC middleweights. And Boetsch is coming off a big win in his last fight over Josh Samman back in July. Boetsch has a good deal of one-punch knockout power, which is going to keep Natal back on his heels during this fight. Natal is durable and will probably have an advantage with judges simply because he does more.

Winner: Rafael Natal!

Welterweights: Vicente Luque (10-5-1) vs. Belal Muhammad (10-1)
This is a bit of a homecoming of sorts for Vicente Luque, who stepped in for Lyman Good, who was removed from the event after being flagged for a potential doping violation. Luque was born in New Jersey and lived there until the age of six, but visited New York City on a regular basis. Luque is 3-1 in UFC fights, and riding a three-fight win streak. Michael Graves was the last guy to beat Luque, that coming back in 2015 during the Ultimate Fighter. Nine of the ten fights that Luque has won, he has done so by stoppage (four by knockout, five by submission), so he can beat you in many different ways. Meanwhile, Muhammad is 10-1 in his career and 1-1 in UFC fights. In fact, six of his ten wins come by way of a decision. Muhammad has also had five takedowns in two UFC fights. Muhammad is a busy boxer-wrestler who mixes in both attributes well enough. But he's going against Luque, who is a heavy hitter, with a fight-changing right hand and a solid repertoire of knees and elbows from his Muay Thai background. He's definitely more dangerous.

Winner: Vicente Luque!

Lightweights: Khabib Nurmagomedov (23-0) versus Michael Johnson (17-10)
If Nurmagomedov can defeat Johnson tonight, he will have won eight consecutive fights inside the Octagon. He has already vowed No. 9 will be for nothing less than a lightweight title. Nurmagomedov has a right to be a bit of a grouch going into this fight. According to reports, Nurmagomedov says the UFC sent him two bout agreements for a title fight against Eddie Alvarez, only to turn around and book Alvarez to a title defense against Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov suggested, in a recent radio interview, that he would never fight in the UFC again if it were to deny him a title shot after this fight. For the time being, however, he is focused on the task at hand. Nurmagomedov has had 23 fights, including seven in the UFC, and he has never lost a fight yet. He's scored a takedown in 5 of 7 UFC fights, including UFC-record 21 against Abel Trujillo. Meanwhile Johnson, who is 9-6 lifetime in the UFC, has nine knockdowns landed, which is the most in UFC lightweight history. Johnson has lost six of his ten career losses come by submission. Johnson's hand speed rivals that of any opponent, and an 81 percent takedown defense in his UFC career jumps off the page, especially in this matchup. But he's going up against a guy who has let to lose a fight, and I don't see that changing tonight.

Winner: Khabib Nurmagomedov

Featherweights: Frankie Edgar (20-5-1) versus Jeremy Stephens (25-12)
Frankie Edgar was hoping, before the year was out, to get another shot at Conor, but he hasn't been able to get that chance. So now its on to facing Jeremy Stephens. I don't think Edgar minds, he's just looking for a good fight. Edgar is 14-5-1 in the UFC, and is 5-0 in non-title featherweight fights. He's also got a ton of striking ability. Edgar's 1,871 total strikes landed in UFC competition are the fifth most in UFC history. But lets not get the facts mixed up, Jeremy Stephens is no slouch. Sure he's 25-12 lifetime in MMA fights, but he's just 12-11 when he steps inside a UFC cage. He does have one thing going for him though, in that 17 of his 25 wins have come by knockout. Stephens has struggled a bit as of late, allowing six takedowns in past four UFC fights. Stephens' reputation is very much tied to his knockout power and although he has put in work to elevate the other areas of his game, it's no secret that power is his best attribute. But Edgar is much quicker, and his wrestling backround should give him an edge. Edgar has the footwork and timed shots advantage, which will be big in this fight.

Winner: Frankie Edgar

Women's bantamweights: Miesha Tate (18-6) versus Raquel Pennington (8-5)
This is going to be a fun one to watch, as both Tate and Pennington are pretty evenly matched. Tate has been on her game, for the most part, as of late. She's 18-6 record, and 5-3 in the UFC. Tate had a 5-fight win streak snapped in loss to Nunes back in July at UFC 200. So she's going to look to rebound in this fight. Oh and Tate has scored takedowns in 6 of 8 UFC fights (9 total takedowns). She's not afraid to take this fight to the ground, where she can excel. Raquel Pennington is 8-5 lifetime, including going 5-2 in the UFC. Pennington is riding a 3-fight win streak, her last loss coming to Holly Holm back in February 2015. Pennington has a +71 significant strike differential in UFC fights (356-285). Pennington has an all around game, without much a definitive style. Tate figures to have a grappling advantage, especially if she's able to create scrambles with regularity. Tate has always flourished when a fight falls under a little chaos.

Winner: Miesha Tate

Welterweights: Kelvin Gastelum (12-2) versus Donald Cerrone (31-7)
This fight has been removed from the card because Gastelum missed weight.

Middleweights: Chris Weidman (13-1) versus Yoel Romero (11-1)
Another hometown kid comes to his backyard for a fight. Chris Weidman, a native of Baldwin New York, gets a shot to fight on a very big stage in his backyard. Weidman put in hours and hours of work into the UFC's lobbying efforts to legalize MMA in New York. His dream finally came true tonight and he's on the card. Weidman almost missed the fight due to a herniated disk in his neck. But his health came to fix itself out, so here he is. Weidman is 9-1 lifetime in the UFC, this fight tonight being first non-title fight since July 2012. Weidman has a 56 percent takedown accuracy, which is the second highest among active UFC middleweights. he's going up against Yoel Romero, who is 11-1 in his career and a perfect 7-0 in UFC fights. in fact, nine of the eleven wins Romero has have come by knockout Romero has a 78 percent takedown defense, which is the fifth highest among active UFC middleweights. This one is a little tough to predict. Weidman will pressure and should have success doing so, but his guard needs to be up at all times. Romero is good but Weidman is better.

Winner: Chris Weidman

Strawweight championship: Joanna Jedrzejczyk (12-0) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-0)
Battle of unbeatens for the Strawweight title! A battle of wills to see who has the best in the business today. Jedrzejczyk is unbeaten at 12-0 and is 6-0 in the UFC. This is her fourth defense of UFC women's strawweight title and she has outlanded opponents 575-195 in significant strikes in her UFC title fights. Meanwhile her opponent, Karolina Kowalkiewicz is 10-0, and is 3-0 in UFC fights. She has won her past five fights by decision Kowalkiewicz has a +95 significant strike defense in UFC fights, which could make things very tough for Joanna. Kowalkiewicz can be very, very efficient with her knees in the clinch, which could zap the energy of a Jedrzejczyk (who cuts a good amount of weight to fight at 115), but Jedrzejczyk's offensive firepower still wins out.

Winner: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Welterweight championship: Tyron Woodley (16-3) vs. Stephen Thompson (13-1)
A very solid fight between these two guys should be on the slate for the night. Woodley is 16-3 lifetime and 6-2 in UFC fights. Five of the ten previous champions have defended welterweight title at least once. Woodley has a 68 percent significant strike defense, which is best among active UFC welterweights. He's going up against Stephen Thompson, who's 13-1, while going 8-1 in UFC fights. Thompson has a seven-fight win streak. His last loss came at the hands of Matt Brown at UFC 145 back in April of 2012. Thompson has a 4.7 strikes landed per minute rate, which is sixth-highest among active UFC welterweights. Tyron Woodley has a background in wrestling, since he did it in college. Here though, I don't think it will be much help, because Thompson has not surrendered a takedown since 2012, which was also the last (and only) time he suffered a loss. Thompson's size and style creates so much real estate between himself and an opponent, which will be a big edge in this fight.

Winner: Stephen Thompson

Lightweight championship: Eddie Alvarez (28-4) vs. Conor McGregor (20-3)
This is the big one. its the fight that everybody has been talking about leading up to tonight, and for good reason. Its a battle of two of the very best in the business. With all his talk, its easy to see why Conor McGregor is the man in MMA right now. He can run his mouth, which makes for great TV, and he can back it up in the cage as well. Eddie Alvarez is coming to this fight to try and shut McGregor up for good. McGregor is 20-3 in his career and 8-1 in the UFC. he is seeking to become just the third man ever to win UFC titles in two divisions, with Randy Couture and BJ Penn being the other two. McGregor has earned 17 of 20 wins by knockout, six of which have come in the UFC, which is tied for most since 2013. Eddie Alvarez is no slouch. He's 28-4, with a 3-1 UFC record. oOf note, none of the previous seven lightweight champions lost in their first title defense. Oh and Alvarez has earned 15 of his 28 wins by knockout. So many have doubted McGregor's ability to handle a well-conditioned grappler. The inevitable matchup has been given its own name: "The wrestler question." This should get answered one way or another.

Winner:  Conor McGregor

(Stats and info provided by ESPN.com)

MLB Gold Glove Winners

Ah the Gold Glove award. Handed out every year at the end of baseball season. This prestigious awartd is given out every winter to the players. In order to win the award, players are judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National and American League, as voted by the managers and coaches in each league. Managers are not permitted to vote for their own players. Additionally, a sabermetric component provided by Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) accounts for approximately 25 percent of the vote.

So here are the winners of the Gold Glove Awards for the 2016 Major League Baseball season.

National League
Catcher: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants (1st Gold Glove)
1st Base: Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs (1st Gold Glove)
2nd Base: Joe Panik, San Francisco Giants (1st Gold Glove)
3rd Base: Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies (4th Gold Glove)
Shortstop: Brandon Crawford, Giants (2nd Gold Glove)
Left Field: Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates (2nd Gold Glove)
Center Field: Ender Inciarte, Atlanta Braves (1st Gold Glove)
Right Field: Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs (4th Gold Glove)
Pitcher: Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondbacks (3rd Gold Glove)


Anerican League 
Catcher: Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals (4th Gold Glove)
1st Base: Mitch Moreland, Texas Rangers (1st Gold Glove)
2nd Base: Ian Kinsler, Detroit Tigers (1st Gold Glove)
3rd Base: Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers (5th Gold Glove)
Shortstop: Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians (1st Gold Glove)
Left Field: Brett Gardner, New York Yankees (1st Gold Glove)
Center Field: Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay Rays (2nd Gold Glove)
Right Field: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox (1st Gold Glove)
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros (3rd Gold Glove)

So there you have this years Gold Glove winners! Did they get it right?

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Nine

We've just cleared the halfway point of the National Football League season, and its already starting to help clear up the playoff picture around the league just a little bit. Some teams are starting to pick up steam after slow starts. Miami has won three straight games and are now back at the .500 mark. The New York Giants have also won three straight games, now sitting at two games over .500 and are only two back of first place in the division. On the other end of the spectrum, we’re seeing teams that started hot taking turns for the worst, like the Minnesota Vikings, who have now lost three in a row after starting the season unbeaten. Then there's the Philadelphia Eagles who have lost two straight and have fallen to .500. Week nine also meant a good week for some of the mediocre teams in the league, like the Panthers, Lions, Colts and Ravens all picking up some measure of respectability. Here's just some of the best and worst of week nine in the NFL.

Best:
Jason Witten, Tight End Dallas Cowboys
Well well well, look who finally decided to show up. Jason Witten has been known throughout his career as one of the best pass catching tight ends in the game. This year, he had been quite for the most part, except for a decent game against the Giants in week one. Well in week nine, a Cowboys 35-10 win over the Cleveland Browns, Witten had his best game of the year so far. He had eight catches (on just 10 targets) for 134 yards and a touchdown. That’s more yards than he’s had in any two games combined this season. Oh and also more catches than in all but one game this year. I know it was against the Cleveland Browns but still those are solid numbers no matter who was catching the passes. Witten can do a little bit of it all all and had himself a week and showed that he can still be a very effective pass catcher.

Worst:
Travis Kelce, Tight End Kansas City Chiefs
Under normal circumstances, you might not consider Kelce to make this list. But with what happened this week in the Chiefs win over the Jaguars. Kelce got so mad at a referee for failing to call what he thought was pass interference that he was flagged, causing him to yank a towel out of his back pocket and throw it at the referee. That earned him another flag (although the referee had already used his flag, forcing him to use his hat) and ejection from the game. Kelce had to leave the field, will probably get fined, and, worst of all, he got made fun of by the Jaguars as he left the field. You'd think that a guy with that kind of talent level, who had a pretty good week last week over in London, he'd be able to keep his cool and stay on the field to be able to help out his football team. Didn't happen this week, and Kelce was kicked out of the game because he wasn't able to use his head.

Best:
Mark Ingram, Running Back New Orleans Saints
It's been no secret around the league that Mark Ingram is a very solid running back. He's become one of the stars in this league at the running back spot and Sunday in the Saints 41-23 victory over the 49ers, you saw why. Ingram had 15 carries for 156 yards and a score in the victory. Sure, he's not as flashy as a guy like say for example Adrian Peterson, but Mark Ingram can produce in his own right. His stat line from Sunday is a very good indication of that. Ingram had the 2nd most rushing yards of any running back in the league in week nine, the only back who ran for more yards was Melvin Gordon of the Chargers (he ran for 198). Ingram is a good back and should not be taken for granted. Now lets see if he can keep this kind of play up next week against a very tough Denver defense.

Worst:
Carson Wentz, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
When the season started, Carson Wentz looked great through the first three weeks of the season. The second overall pick from this years draft came out like a house of fire at the start, looking like he might blow off the doors in Philly and make that team his outright. Well. since then, Carson has seemed to hit the wall. He's thrown five picks the last five games, including two in the Eagles 28-23 loss to the Giants. The worst aspect is that his two interceptions came on consecutive drives, and both led directly to touchdowns for the Giants. It was just an ugly game for the rookie, who appears to be overthinking things midway through the season instead of playing without a care in the world. He has the talent to make a great QB, he's got eight TD's on the year but he really has seemed to slow down the past few games.

Best:
Dallas Cowboys Offense
We already talked about a part of this offense before with Jason Witten. Let us not forget the other two bigtime players that had a major hand in the Boys big win over the Browns on Sunday. First, there's Ezekiel Elliott, who had a strong day against the Browns. Zek finished with 92 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 18 carries. This kid continues to make the most out of every opportunity Dallas’ amazing offensive line gives him. Then there's the Cowboys other surprise strar rookie, Quarterback Dak Prescott (feels like I've been saying this a lot lately). Dak Prescott was nearly flawless Sunday, finishing with 247 yards, while going 21 of 27 to go along with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He rebounded nicely after struggling in Week 8. Dallas has been one of the top teams in the NFC and with the way the Boys have been playing as of late I see no reason to make any player changes unless somebody gets hurt.

Worst:
Jacksonville Jaguars Offense
Lets face facts, the Jaguars offense really has stunk up the Joint the last couple of weeks. Jacksonville came up short in a 19-14 loss to Kansas City. Blake Bortles threw an early interception that lead to quick points by Kansas City. He's not the only one to make mistakes on this day for the Jacksonville offense. Chris Ivory, Bryan Walters and T.J. Yeldon all coughed up the ball, resulting in three recovered fumbles for Kansas City’s defense. Jacksonville now sits at 2-6 on the season, and there is not a single reason to believe Bortles is going to turn his season around, and head coach Gus Bradley, who now has a career coaching record of 14-42, has never given us any reason to trust he knows how to help the franchise become a winner.

Best:
Odell Beckham Jr, Wide Receiver New York Giants
OK I know he's had people on his case because he's been more of a diva this year then a superstar wide receiver. Don't get me wrong, this guy has all the talent in the world to be the best in the game. He showed up this week in a big way against the Eagles. Beckham didn’t explode with a huge game yardage-wise, as he finished with four catches for 46 yards, but half of his catches were for touchdowns. In the process, he made some history by becoming the first player since 1967 with 30 receiving touchdowns in his first 35 games. It wasn't the biggest yardage day of his career, he had one of those earlier this year against Baltimore. But his two scores came at a big time and helped the Giants, who were without Victor Cruz, to their third straight win. New York’s offense has the potential to become one of the most dangerous in the NFL from week to week. We got a taste of what it can accomplish in Week 9 against a very good Philadelphia defense. Now they just need to keep it rolling against the Bengals on Monday night.

Worst:
Chris Boswell, Kicker Pittsburgh Steelers
Boswell is a decent kicker, but he's horrible when it comes to on-side kicks. On Sunday, Pittsburgh came up short against the Ravens, falling 21-14. Boswell had the worst onside kick attempt in history. No, really, in all of football history. I defy you to find a worse decision to one, try this soccer trick, then find worse execution of any athletic move in any sport. It went viral after the mishap and I really don't think he's going to be trying that silly move again anytime soon.