Year In Sports 2016!

2016 has been a crazy year in the world of sports! We've seen a little bit of everything. People saying stupid stuff, a major slump getting busted, interesting stuff coming from Rio, a major upset in premiere league. All of that and so much more has gone down in 2016! Just in case you missed anything, we've got you covered. Below is a full list of every important championship that was won during the calender year 2016.

College Football Playoff National Championship:
Alabama defeated Clemson 45–40

Super Bowl 50:
Denver Broncos beat Carolina Panthers 24-10

World Series:
Chicago Cubs beat Cleveland Indians 4 game to 3

College World Series:
Costal Carolina beat Arizona 2 games to 1

NBA Finals:
Cleveland Cavaliers beat Golden State Warriors 4 games to 3

NCAA Basketball:
Men: Villanova beat North Carolina 77–74
Women: UCONN beat Syracuse 82–51

Golf:
Masters Tournament Winner: England's Danny Willett 
U.S. Open Winner: United States Dustin Johnson 
Open Championship Winner: Sweden Henrik Stenson
PGA Championship Winner: United States Jimmy Walker

Hockey:
Stanley Cup: Pittsburgh Penguins beat San Jose Sharks 4 games to 2
College Hockey National Champions:
Men: Minnesota beat Boston College 3-1
Women: North Dakota beat Quinnipiac Bobcats 5–1

NASCAR:
Sprint Cup Series: Jimmy Johnson
Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin
Coca-Cola 600: Martin Truex Jr.
Brickyard 400: Kyle Busch

Tennis:
Australian Open
Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles: Angelique Kerber
French Open
Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles: Garbiñe Muguruza
Wimbledon Championships
Men's Singles: Andy Murray
Women's Singles: Serena Williams
US Open
Men's Singles: Stan Wawrink
Women's Singles: Angelique Kerber

In Memoriam:
-Monte Irvin (96)
-Dave Mirra (41)
-Andy Bathgate (83)
-Muhammad Ali (74)
-Gordie Howe (88)
-Arnold Palmer (87)
-Jose Fernandez (24)
-Rick MacLeish (66)
-Dennis Byrd (50)
-Joe McKnight (26)
-John Brophy (83)
-Kimbo Slice (42)
-Dennis Green (67)
-Buddy Ryan (82)
-Pat Summitt (64)
-Craig Sager (65)
-John Saunders (61)
-Ed Snider (83)

That was the year that was 2016! Here4's to 2017!

College Football Playoff Preview

The time has arrived. Four teams are left standing to be considered the best in all of College Football. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. These four schools are all that's left to try and figure out who really is the best college football team in the entire nation in 2016! There are some question marks going into the weekend. Will Alabama run the table by dispatching of Washington in the Peach Bowl and move on to the national title game? Will Ohio State prove it actually deserved to be the home team in the Fiesta Bowl by taking down a once-underwhelming but suddenly hot Clemson team? Only time will tell. Since kickoff for the title run begins today, let's break down the two big bowl games.

First up, we have the Peach Bowl, which will pit the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide going against the #4 Washington Huskies. Kickoff for this game is slated for 3PM on ESPN. This marks the 49th ever playing of the Peach Bowl, this being the first appearance for both Alabama and Washington in the Peach Bowl. This will be the fifth meeting between the schools, with Alabama having won all four previous ones. The most recent meeting was the 1986 Sun Bowl, where the Crimson Tide defeated the Huskies 28–6. This will be the first bowl game between a Pac-12 team and an SEC team (or a predecessor conference) since the 2011 BCS National Championship Game when Auburn beat Oregon.

Alabama is the only unbeaten team left in the college football playoffs, standing here at 13-0. Nick Saban has his Crimson Tide ready to rock and roll, as they are once again the heavy favorite to come out of this game and play for the national title. This could be the best Bama team that Saban has coached, and he's already won four national titles with them. The Crimson Tide rank first in the nation in scoring defense, averaging 11.8 points per game. The Tide rolled on offense as well. They churned out a 10th-ranked 41.3 points per game during a regular-season campaign that saw them blitz SEC competition with remarkable ease. The only game that Alabama played this year in which they didn't score at least 30 points in a game was on November 5th, a 10-0 win over the 15th ranked LSU. Sure, the offense in Alabama is very good, but what is really the strength of this team, a lot like the Denver Broncos in last years Superbowl, is their defense. They will knock you around and not even feel the slightest bit of guilt about it.

Washington is no pushover. Washington is averaging 44.8 points per game, which is good enough to be ranked third in all of the country. They can score, there's no doubt about it. Washington's only loss of the season was on November 12th against USC. That was the only time this year that Washington failed to score 30 or more points in a game. One of the big reasons that Washington is where they are this year is because of quarterback Jake Browning, wide receiver John Ross and running back Myles Gaskin. To prove that Washington is rolling at the right time was the 41-10 thrashing of the Colorado Buffaloes' vaunted defense in the Pac-12 title game. Washington has been putting up big numbers all year, and based on the numbers, they do deserve to be playing in this football game.

A lot of what Washington was able to do this year is based off their running game. If Washington even wants to have a chance in this football game, they need to get the running game going, and get it going fast. But lets say, for the sake of argument, that Washington can't really get the running game going. That means that Browning, as good of a quarterback as he is, will be forced to drop back and sling the ball to try and get his team in it. And as we've seen all season, that's not a winning formula against a Crimson Tide defense that can turn a single mistake into seven points in a matter of seconds.

Prediction: Alabama 34, Washington 27

Next, we have the Fiesta Bowl, which will pit the #2 Crimson Tigers going against the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes. Kickoff for this game is set for 7PM on ESPN. This game is the 46th playing of the Fiesta Bowl, it marks the first time ever that Clemson is playing in this game, and the 9th time ever that Ohio State is playing in a Fiesta Bowl. This will be the third meeting between the schools, with Clemson having won both of the previous matchups. The most recent meeting was the 2014 Orange Bowl, where the Tigers defeated the Buckeyes by a score of 40–35.

The only blemish on the record for the Buckeyes this year came against Penn State on October 22nd, it was a 24-21 loss, that's been it. They've had a few other games this year that have been nail bitters, like the overtime wins over Wisconsin back in October and a double overtime win over Michigan in late November. You can also add into that a one point win over Wisconsin in early November as well. Ohio State is no push over, they can score at will. Don't believe me? Look at these numbers. Ohio State led the Big Ten in scoring offense (42.7 points per game), total offense (479.5 yards per game) and rushing offense (258.3). Junior quarterback J.T. Barrett is 26–3 as a starter. But Ohio State has sputtered against stout defenses, yielding six sacks and 11 tackles for loss to Penn State and eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss to Michigan. Any hopes of a national title in Columbus center on fending off perhaps the country's two best defensive lines, Clemson's and Alabama's.

Meanwhile, for Clemson, the only loss the Tigers had was a one point loss to Pitt on November 12th. That loss may have been a bit of a wakeup call for Clemson, at least on defense, because they've been able to hold stead fast the rest of the way. Oh yeah, it also doesn't hurt the fact that you've got the Heisman Trophy winner in your lineup, in the form of Quarterback DeShaun Watson, who had a fantastic season for the Tigers. Clemson has been a top four school in the coaches polls in every week this year except four times, so they know what they're doing. if they weren't in the top four, they sat at 5th, so the Tigers are ready to rock and roll this year in the playoffs. And lets not take anything away from their defense. The Tigers enter the playoff with the #6 overall defense, thanks in large part to 112 tackles for loss, which is tied for third nationally. Their top three linemen, senior Carlos Watkins, sophomore Christian Wilkins and ACC defensive rookie of the year Dexter Lawrence, each weigh more than 300 pounds but have disruptive speed and agility. No shock that they combined for 32 tackles for loss and 15 quarterback pressures alone, because most offenses can't budge or elude all of them at once.

If your looking for drama in the College Football Playoffs, this game is going top be sure to provide plenty of it, especially with the battle of quarterbacks that's going to take place. Clemson quarterback and Heisman finalist Deshaun Watson will square off against Ohio State signal-caller J.T. Barrett in an epic clash, and the result may very well come down to how well Barrett handles pressure. I'm not too sure how well he's going to be able to, lets be honest here. The Buckeyes are armed with enough talent to push Clemson until the final horn, but Watson's experience on the big stage coupled with the physicality of the all-feared front should thrust the Tigers back into the championship game for the second year in a row.

Prediction: Clemson 33, Ohio State 30

Clinching Scenarios Week Seventeen

We're at the cusp of the playoffs in the National Football League. Its the final weekend of the regular season in the NFL and there's still quite a bit to be decided around the league, as far as playoff contention goes. So here's what it looks like for teams to clinch playoff spots this weekend.

AFC
CLINCHED: New England -- AFC East and first-round bye; Pittsburgh -- AFC North; Houston -- AFC South; Oakland, Kansas City, Miami -- playoff berth

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (at Miami Dolphins, Sunday)
New England clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs if the following happens:
-NE win or tie OR
-OAK loss or tie

OAKLAND RAIDERS (at Denver, Sunday)
Oakland clinches AFC West title and a first-round bye if the following happens: 
-OAK win or tie OR
-KC loss or tie

Oakland clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs if the following happens:
-OAK win + NE loss

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (at San Diego, Sunday)
Kansas City clinches AFC West title and a first-round bye if the following happens:
-KC win + OAK loss

NFC 
CLINCHED: Dallas -- NFC East and home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs; Atlanta -- NFC South; Seattle -- NFC West; New York Giants -- playoff berth

ATLANTA FALCONS (vs. New Orleans, Sunday)
Atlanta clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-ATL win OR
-ATL tie + SEA loss or tie OR
-SEA loss + DET loss or tie OR
-SEA tie + DET loss

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (at San Francisco, Sunday)
Seattle clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-SEA win + ATL loss or tie OR
-SEA tie + ATL loss + GB/DET tie

DETROIT LIONS (vs. Green Bay, Sunday night)
Detroit clinches NFC North title if the following happens:
-DET win

Detroit clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-DET win + SEA loss or tie + ATL loss

Detroit clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-DET tie OR
-WAS loss or tie

GREEN BAY PACKERS (at Detroit, Sunday night)
Green Bay clinches NFC North title if the following happens:
-GB win or tie

Green Bay clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-WAS loss OR
-WAS tie + TB win + GB clinches at least a tie in strength of victory tiebreaker over TB*

WASHINGTON REDSKINS (vs. New York Giants, Sunday)
Washington clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-WAS win + GB-DET game does not end in a tie OR
-WAS tie + GB loss + TB loss or tie

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (vs. Carolina, Sunday)
Tampa Bay clinches a playoff berth with: TB win + WAS tie + GB loss + TB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over GB

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Sixteen

We are so close to the start of the playoffs in the National Football League season, the playoff picture is almost fully set. The AFC has seen everybody lock up a playoff spot, so they are all set. Meanwhile, the NFC is still working out a few things that will need to be decided on the last day of the season. Christmas weekend football told a lot of stories. The Cleveland Browns won a football game for the first time in about a year, Oakland likely lost its starting quarterback, Derek Carr, for the rest of the season. Some saw a bounce back week, while others still decided that they weren't going to be at there best this week. Oh the taste and smell of playoff football is in the air and its a beautiful thing. As we do each and ever week, here are some of the best and worst performances and performers from week sixteen in the NFL.

Best:
Aaron Rodgers, Quarterback Green Bay Packers
There's a reason why he's one of the elite quarterbacks in all of football. This, after a slow start for  Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense. They looked out of sync for a while at the start of the season, but now it appears that they have found there groove again. Green Bay came away with a 38-25 win over Minnesota over the weekend, allowing them to stay on pace with the Detroit Lions for the NFC North crown! Rodgers was back to his mercurial best against the Vikings, completing 73.7 percent of his passes, despite three drops from his receivers. He finished the day going 28 of 38 for 347 yards and four, yes four, touchdowns. Under pressure, his passer rating was 139.2. Oh yeah, it was Rodgers third time this year that he has thrown for four touchdowns and his 13th multi-scoring effort of the year. He will take on the Lions in week 17 as he tries to march Green Bay into their eighth consecutive postseason appearance.

Worst:
Matt Barkley, Quarterback Chicago Bears
People have been really believing in Matt Barkley to help turn the Bears around after what was going on with Jay Cutler. Well, I'm sorry to have to say it but it looks like the Matt Barkley hype train came skidding off the rails in spectacular fashion in Week 16. Barkley’s touchdown-to-interception ratio this year has always been a little harsh on his performance, given the play of his receivers, but this week, it was entirely fair, as he threw five picks. Yeah, that's not good. He finished the day going 24 of 40 for 323 yards and two touchdowns to go along with those five picks, in a Bears 41-21 loss to Washington. There was the occasional flash of nice play, but this was the poor game that he had previously avoided in his run of starting games this year, and probably removes any shot he had at fighting for a starting spot in 2017.

Best:
David Johnson, Running Back Arizona Cardinals
If you didn't know it already, David Johnson of the Cardinals is kinda good. For the 15th straight game, he racked up 100 or more yards from scrimmage in the Cards 34-31 win over the Seahawks in Seattle, which is a very tough thing to be able to do. Johnson had a huge day once again, finishing with 136 total yards on the day. He had 28 carries for 95 yards and three touchdowns. To make his day better, he added 4 receptions for another 41 yards. Johnson is the first back since Barry Sanders in 1997 to total 100 yards in 15 games and the only player to do it in 15 consecutive. Last week Johnson topped Edgerrin James’ 13-game streak, setting an NFL record with 14 such performances in a row, and with Saturday’s performance, he added his 15th.

Worst:
New York Jets
There's no real easy way to say this but here it goes. The New York Jets flat out and out suck. They get blasted by the New England Patriots 41-3 and showed no life what so ever against New England. It was an embarrassing thing to really look at. New York got no really offense at all in this football game, finished with 136 passing yards and 111 yards on the ground. Tom Brady finished with 214 yards passing. he came up 33 yards short of the entire Jets offense all by himself, which is a sad statement to make if your the Jets. That game was just embarrassing and something needs to be done with this Jets team because this clearly isn't working

Best:
Cleveland Browns
It's only happened once in the history of football. The 2008 Detroit Lions were the only team ever to go winless on the year, finishing the season 0-16. Cleveland came into the game on Sunday against the Chargers, sitting at a record of 0-14. But that's where the winlessness stopped. Cleveland picked up their first victory of the season, pulling out a 20-17 win over the San Diego Chargers. The Browns narrowly avoided infamy as Chargers’ kicker, Josh Lambo, pushed a kick wide right in the closing seconds of Saturday’s contest. With the celebration that ensued, it was as if the Browns were headed to the Super Bowl. They will try for their second win of the year when they close out the season in Pittsburgh.

Worst:
Minnesota Vikings Defensive Backs
Not only did the Vikings’ secondary get picked apart by Rodgers and Nelson, it was of their own volition. Rodgers threw for 347 yards, while Nelson caught 154 of those yards. Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer had a game plan in place for this one against the Packers, but the defense collectively decided to stick to their sides, instead of their assignments. Nelson shredded the Vikings’ secondary for 145 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. In what was supposed to be a whole game of Xavier Rhodes shadowing Nelson, turned into just the second half, in which he was held to just two catches for nine yards. By the time the Vikings made an adjustment, the damage had been done. The concern is growing in Minnesota, leading many to question, “What is going on?”

Best:
Adam Thielen, Wide Receiver Minnesota Vikings
As a whole, this week wasn't exactly a very fun one for the Minnesota Vikings. There was one big bright spot for the Vikings was Adam Thielen, who went off in the Vikings loss to the Packers. Thielen was thrown at 14 times, catching 12 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns against a porous Green Bay secondary. Those 202 receiving yards were tops for any pass catcher in the league this week, 31 more then the next top receiver, Doug Baldwin of the Seahawks. Thielen spent the day victimizing Quinten Rollins, in particular, destroying the second-year corner with a succession of double moves to get open. He was also overthrown in the end zone by Sam Bradford on what could have been a third touchdown score. Yeah that's a pretty good day.

Worst:
Quarterback Injuries
Talk about a bad week to play Quarterback in the National Football League. Two of the NFL’s best, and most promising, young arms suffer season ending injuries. Oddly enough, both Derek Carr of the Raiders and Marcus Mariota of the Titans, were forced from their respective games on Saturday with broken fibulas. Matt Cassel took over for Mariota in the Titans’ loss to the Jaguars and is expected to start in Tennessee’s season finale with Houston. With Carr out, Matt McGloin came in and held the Raiders’ lead over Indianapolis. McGloin is expected to fill-in under center for the Raiders in week 17 and throughout the postseason. The injury to Carr is seen as a major hit to Oakland’s chances of winning in the playoffs.

Best:
Jay Ajayi, Running Back Miami Dolphins
He started his career off like a house of fire, then seemed to cool off a bit. Now Jay Ajayi is back to those dominating ways once again. Miami's new stud back went off in a 34-31 win over the Buffalo Bills. This was the most evident case of him carrying the Dolphins on his back this season. Not only did Ajayi rack up 206 rushing yards on 32 carries, but 143 of those yards came after contact. Oh yeah, Jay came up big when the team needed him to save this game from reaching a seemingly inevitable tie in overtime. Ajayi rattled off another big gain deep in overtime before forcing his way for another couple of good carries to set up the easy winning kick.

Worst:
Tracy Porter, Cornerback Chicago Bears
Lets face the facts here, its been a tough year for the Bears this season. Chicago got spanked 41-21 by the redskins and Tracy Porter was a big victim in this ballgame.  Porter surrendered four catches for 157 yards, meaning, on average, he was beaten for almost 40 yards per reception by Washington receivers. Porter was also flagged for defensive pass interference on a deep ball intended for DeSean Jackson in order to prevent another huge gain that would have made those numbers look even worse, and he missed a pair of tackles after the catch. That my friends is a day to forget.

Merry Christmas!

From all of us here at Solly On Sports to all of you, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas! As is the tradition with us, we present The Twelve Days of Christmas, only with a twist!

Up first, its the 12 Days of Rick Jeanneret!



Next up, we present the 12 Days of Mike Lange!


And last, but not least, we present the 12 Days of Hockey!


Merry Christmas to one and all!

Grayson Allen Needs Help

Well this kind of seems like a recurring theme here now doesn't it. I wrote an article last year about how Grayson Allen of Duke was quickly becoming one of the most hated players in College Basketball. Well not only has that not changed, this latest incident may have made that case even worse.

Wednesday night, Duke was playing Elon. During the ballgame, Elon guard Steven Santa Ana was tripped up by Allen when attempting to coral a loose ball. Allen received a technical foul in the first half after he extended his right leg to deliberately trip Santa Ana. Then, to make matters seem almost worse for himself, Allen was seen throwing a small temper tantrum on the bench! Here's what the foul and tantrum looked like:


If this had been just a one time thing, then it would have died off right then and there. But because this isn't the first such incident for Allen, it has been made a story. There's that and the fact that the next day, Thursday, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski announced Thursday that junior guard Grayson Allen has been suspended indefinitely.

This leaves two questions asked. One what does this do for Duke? Two, what is this going to do for Grayson Allen?

Lets start with Duke as a team. They sit at 12-1 going into Christmas weekend. They were considered one of the clear favorites to win the National Title this season, and Allen has been a solid contributor to this team. Allen averaged (16 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists a game. He is one of five Duke players to average double figures in scoring this year. Duke has been getting contributions from Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, and Marques Bolden, so I don't really think this is going to end up hurting Duke really long term.

Now for the big story here, and that's Grayson Allen and his attitude. Coach K even went to say that Allen's actions were "unacceptable and inexcusable” and that couldn't be more accurate. Allen has an attitude and an edge to his game, which is what makes him so effective and such a good basketball player. But there are times where that edge can go a little too far. Allen has all the tools, but he needs to work on controlling his emotions better during games. As much as it hurts him to be sitting out of games, it really is his own undoing.

He has all the talent in the world but needs to get his attitude under control if he's going to have any success!

NFL Playoff Clinching Scenarios Week Sixteen

Week Sixteen has arrived and is already getting underway. As is usual around now in the National Football League, the playoff picture starts getting a little muddled. So that's where we come in and help out. Here is what the playoff clinching scenarios for this week. It will be a little confusing I know, but please hang in there. It will be easy to figure out. So here's what the clinching possibilities are for week sixteen.

AFC 
CLINCHED: New England – AFC East and first-round bye; Oakland – playoff berth

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (vs. New York Jets Saturday)
New England clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs if the following happens:
-NE win + OAK loss or tie OR
-NE tie + OAK loss

OAKLAND RAIDERS (vs. Indianapolis, Saturday)
Oakland clinches AFC West division title and a first-round bye if the following happens:
-OAK win + KC loss or tie OR
-OAK tie + KC loss

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (vs. Baltimore, Sunday)
Pittsburgh clinches AFC North division title if the following happens:
-PIT win

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (vs. Denver, Sunday night)
Kansas City clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-KC win or tie OR
-BAL loss or tie

HOUSTON TEXANS (vs. Cincinnati, Saturday night)
Houston clinches AFC South division title if the following happens:
-HOU win + TEN loss

MIAMI DOLPHINS (at Buffalo, Saturday)
Miami clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-MIA win + DEN loss or tie OR
-MIA tie + BAL loss + DEN loss + HOU loss or tie OR
-MIA tie + BAL loss + DEN loss + TEN loss or tie

NFC 
CLINCHED: Dallas – playoff berth; Seattle – NFC West

DALLAS COWBOYS (vs. Detroit, Monday night)
Dallas clinches NFC East division title and home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs if the following happens:
-DAL win or tie OR
-NYG loss or tie

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (vs. Arizona, Saturday)
Seattle clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-SEA win + DET loss + ATL loss or tie

NEW YORK GIANTS (at Philadelphia, Thursday night)
New York clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-NYG win or tie OR
-DET loss or tie OR
-GB loss or tie OR
-TB loss or tie OR
-ATL loss

DETROIT LIONS (at Dallas, Monday night)
Detroit clinches NFC North division title if the following happens:
-DET win + GB loss or tie OR
-DET tie + GB loss

Detroit clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-DET win + TB loss or tie OR
-DET tie + TB loss OR
-DET tie + TB tie + ATL win OR
-WAS loss or tie + TB loss + ATL win or tie

ATLANTA FALCONS (at Carolina, Saturday)
Atlanta clinches NFC South division title if the following happens:
-ATL win + TB loss or tie OR
-ATL tie + TB loss

Atlanta clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-ATL win + ATL clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over DET OR
-ATL win or tie + GB loss or tie OR
-ATL win + DET loss or tie OR
-ATL tie + DET tie OR
-WAS loss or tie + GB loss OR
-WAS loss or tie + GB tie + DET loss

GREEN BAY PACKERS (vs. Minnesota, Saturday)
Green Bay clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-GB win + WAS loss or tie + TB loss + ATL win or tie + GB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over TB

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (at New Orleans Saturday)
Tampa Bay clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-TB win + GB loss + DET loss + WAS loss OR
-TB win + GB loss + DET loss + WAS tie + TB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over DET

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Fifteen

Week Fifteen is in the books in the National Football League. During this past week, teams and players really stepped up big as the playoffs inch their way closer. Case in point, the Oakland Raiders clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2002. And at the other end of the scale, we have the Minnesota Vikings, who may have just played themselves right out of the playoffs with a loss to the Colts. And Indy is still alive in the AFC South race, because Houston decides to bench its starting quarterback, of all people, in a game that they needed to stay alive in the hunt for another playoff birth and possible division crown. We've not only got the Rams looking for a new head coach for next year, Jacksonville can be added to that list as well after firing their coach after this latest loss Sunday. New Orleans pulled out a tight one in a high scoring affair with Arizona,  Cleveland is still winless and Kansas City got upended at home. All in all, it was a very exciting week around the league. Here's some of the best and worst from the week that was in the NFL.

Best:
Oakland Raiders
Raiders fans rejoice! It's been quite a while since the Oakland Raiders made the playoffs. Oakland ended the drought this week, thanks to a 19-16 win over San Diego, the Raiders clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2002! This week, Derek Carr lead the Raiders to a big fourth quarter comeback win in San Diego, leading a big drive to come away with the win. Its the first playoff appearance for the Raiders since 2002, a year in which the Raiders also won the division. Thanks to a Kansas City surprising loss to Tennessee, the Raiders took over first place in the West. They play Indy and Denver over the final two games, so its not out of the relm of possibility that Oakland can win the division.

Worst:
New York Jets
This team is just plain bad. They aren't Cleveland Browns level bad, but they are bad. The Jets get blasted by Miami, to the tune of a 34-13 Dolphins win. Jarvis Landry had three catches for 108 yards and a touchdown, which shows how truly bad the Jets secondary has been this year. New York threw three picks, they lost two fumbles, the quarterbacks were sacked three times. It was a truly horrible game to watch.

Best:
Carson Palmer, Quarterback Arizona Cardinals
Arizona at this point in the season, almost seems like they might be out of playoff contention. But don't tell Carson Palmer that, who showed flashes of his 2015 self this week. He was a force to be reckoned with on Sunday's 48-41 loss to the Saints. Sure it was all on the defense, who let up 48 points to the Saints, but Palmer did everything he could in this ball game to help try and get his team a win. Palmer was excellent, completing 70 percent of his passes, going 28 of 40 for 318 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Hell if anything, he was short-changed by those numbers because three drops from his receivers cost him at least 67 yards (plus ample run-after-catch opportunity). Palmer really was in a great groove on Sunday, I just almost feel bad for him because he wasn't able to get the win on Sunday because of that defense.

Worst:
Carson Wentz, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Well, goopd things can't always last forever can they? What you saw from Wentz at the start of the year may have been a blip on the screen, because he hasn't been really seen steadily since. Wentz performance in the Eagles 27-26 loss to Baltimore may have been the worst game of his season so far. Wentz completed just 52.4 percent of his passes, and while for the season, his passer rating when pressured drops into the 30s from one in the 90s when kept clean, in this game it plummeted to just 8.3 when the heat was applied, and he completed passes for just 24 yards on those plays. He finished the day going 22 of 42 for 170 yards and a pick. Games like this make the highs of his season seem a long way away.

Best:
Ty Montgomery, Running Back Green Bay Packers
Talk about a guy really coming into his own. That's what happened to Ty Montgomery this week, in Green Bay's 30-27 win over the Bears/ Up until that point, he hadn't really gotten much of a worklaod, but due to injuries, he did get his shot and he went wild with it. Montgomery rushed for 162 yards on 16 carries, which was good enough for the best rushing numbers of any running back in the league this week. Now out of those 162 rushing yards, 160 of them came after first contact, and he broke seven tackles to get that far. Montgomery looked like a legitimate running back in the win for the Packers. Green Bay has been known for having a solid running game in their history, but Eddy Lacy hasn't shown that the last couple of years, due to injuries. Now they may have something with Montgomery in the backfield. If that's the case, the Detroit Lions better watch out, because Green Bay is coming for them and the division title.

Worst:
Kenneth Farrow, Running Back San Diego Chargers
Sometimes filling in for a star player, or even a really good player, can be a hard thing to do. Having to replace an injured Melvin Gordon is going to be a tough ask, and Kenneth Farrow drew that task this week in the Chargers 19-16 loss to the Raiders. Sure, Farrow did have a couple of nice flashes, he finished with 15 carries for 39 yards, he committed the cardinal sin for a running back. Farrow put the ball on the ground, not once but twice. As both a receiver and a running back, Farrow coughed up a fumble, and ended the game with just 53 yards from scrimmage on 17 touches. By contrast, Ronnie Hillman, a perennial cast-off at running back by this point, gained 34 rushing yards on just seven carries.

Best:
Brandin Cooks, Wide Receiver New Orleans Saints
One thing that the New Orleans Saints have had to deal with all year is the fact that they haven't had a true number one wide receiver all year. Going into Sunday's 48-41 win over the Cardinals, it made things interesting for Cards Patrick Petterson, as he had no one guy to cover. Since there was a mixed bag of defenders going against any one receiver, Bradin Cooks had the most success. He finished the day with seven catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Oh yeah, he managed to do this while being targeted eight times in this game.. He beat five different players for catches, including Peterson, although just 10 of the yards and one catch came against Arizona’s best coverage defender. You sir, had yourself one hell of a day.

Worst:
Denver Broncos Running Game
Part of the reason the Broncos were able to win the Super Bowl last year is because they had a top tier goalie to make up for not having a solid running game come playoff time. This year, they don't have that top tier quarterback, which is now starting to hurt them since they don't have much of a running game. It showed in the Broncos 16-3 loss to the Patriots. Trevor Siemian had to threw the ball 40 times. That's because the Broncos as a team rushed the ball just 17 times, gaining 58 yards. This isn’t a one-time thing, either. Last weekend, the Broncos had nine rushing attempts for just 18 yards against Tennessee. Both the Patriots and Titans feature top run defenses, something that is commonplace among most playoff contenders. Denver has now lost three of its last four and four of its last six games.

Best:
Devonta Freeman, Running Back Atlanta Falcons
He was in quite a groove on Sunday in the Falcons 41-13 win over the 49ers. Freeman was in one fantastic groove against San Fran. He finished the day with 20 carries for 139 yards and three touchdowns. Sure, he did fumble the ball once, it was the first time he fumbled the ball all season, and it came in the red zone no less, which is a little bit of a scary thought. But at the same time, when you look at the numbers that Freeman put up last week, he had six yards on six carries for the Falcons, and then you look at the numbers he put up this week, it's a nice bounce back week for one of the better running backs in the league. Welcome back Devonta!

Worst:
Tyrell Williams, Wide Receiver San Diego Chargers
Williams had a rough go of it this week when they fell 19-16 to the Raiders. Williams was targeted eight times by Philip Rivers and caught just four of them for 20 yards. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he dropped three, for significantly more yards than the four passes he managed to bring in. San Diego has had some big games from Williams this season, but this represents one of the worst performances of his season, and the second time this season he has been held to 20 yards or lower.

Playoff Clinching Scenarios Week Fifteen

Well here we go again. We are at week fifteen in the National Football League season. With the playoffs getting closer and closer, its getting tighter to figure out who's going to clinch what as far as playoff spots go. We are here to help. The following are all the possible playoff clinching scenarios for week fifteen.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (at Denver Sunday)
New England clinches AFC East division if the following happens:
-NE win or tie OR
-MIA loss or tie

New England clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-NE win or tie OR
-MIA loss or tie + PIT loss or tie
-MIA loss or tie + KC win

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (vs. Tennessee Sunday)
Kansas City clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-KC win OR
-KC tie + MIA loss OR
-KC tie + DEN loss or tie OR
-DEN loss + BAL loss or tie OR
-DEN loss + PIT loss or tie

OAKLAND RAIDERS (at San Diego Sunday)
Oakland clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-OAK win OR
-OAK tie + MIA loss OR
-OAK tie + DEN loss OR
-OAK tie + MIA tie + DEN tie OR
-OAK tie + MIA tie + KC win OR
-MIA loss + PIT loss or tie + DEN loss OR
-MIA loss + PIT loss or tie + KC win or tie OR
-MIA loss + BAL loss or tie + DEN loss OR
-MIA loss + BAL loss or tie + KC win or tie

DALLAS COWBOYS (vs. Tampa Bay Sunday night) -Clinched a Playoff Birth
Dallas clinches NFC East division and a first-round bye if the following happens:
-DAL win + NYG loss or tie OR
-DAL tie + NYG loss

Dallas clinches home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs if the following happens:
-DAL win + NYG/DET tie

DETROIT LIONS (at New York Giants Sunday)
Detroit clinches NFC North division if the following happens:
-DET win + GB loss or tie OR
-DET tie + GB loss + MIN loss or tie

NEW YORK GIANTS (vs. Detroit Sunday)
New York clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-Giants win + WAS loss + MIN loss or tie + GB loss or tie

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (vs. Los Angeles Thursday night)
Seattle clinched NFC West division with 24-3 win

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Fourteen

Well, well, well, here we sit once again. We are through week fourteen in the National Football League and the playoff picture gets tighter and tighter week by week. Some teams showed they can handle it well, like the Steelers and Lions. Then there are others, like Andrew Luck of the Colts, who had a little bit of trouble getting a handle on things. And there was plenty of other excitement to go around. Jets went to overtime in a big comeback win, Dallas winning streak came to an end, the Rams got blown out and ended up firing their coach. Plenty to talk about from the week that was in the NFL, so here's a look back at some of the best and worst from this week.

Best:
Le'Veon Bell, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
Talk about having yourself a day. Pittsburgh took on the Buffalo Bills in a snow covered game in Pittsburgh. Ben Roethlisberger wasn't as his best in this football game. That's OK because Le'Veon Bell more than made up for it. Bell had himself a memorable day, rushing the ball 38 times for 236 yards and three touchdowns Oh yeah, he also added four catches for 68 yards. Those numbers combined for 298 yards from scrimmage for Bell, an insane number. While almost single-handedly leading the Steelers to victory over the Bills, Bell’s 236 yards set a team record while his three rushing scores tied another franchise mark. He has now rushed for more than 100 yards in four straight and has caught at least four passes in every game he’s played in this season. You could say that he was in a good groove on Sunday, and you'd be right.

Worst:
San Francisco 49ers
Its been a rough go of it for football fans in the Bay Area this year. The 49ers’ dropped their 12th consecutive game on Sunday, falling 23-17 in Overtime to the Jets. After building a 17-3 halftime lead, San Francisco was shutout the entire second-half, while the Jets scored 23-unanswered and walked away with just their fourth win of the season. Two-missed field goals from Phil Dawson really hurt the 49ers’ efforts as they failed to score on their final eight possessions of the game. Considering they had a 14-point lead and Carlos Hyde rushed for a career best 193 yards in the contest, one is left to wonder if maybe San Francisco hasn’t packed it in for the season. The way things are looking right now for the 49ers, it could turn out to be that way.

Best:
Matthew Stafford, Quarterback Detroit Lions
Talk about a big time impact player on his team this year, look no further then Matthew Stafford of the Lions. He came into Sunday's game against the Bears with seven game winning drives in the fourth quarter. Wouldn't you know it, he did it again against Chicago, leading the Lions to a 20-17 win. Things didn't look so hot for the Lions early in the 4th quarter, as Stafford threw two picks, one into the end zone early in the fourth quarter, and then again throwing a pick-six to rookie Cre’Von LeBlanc midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Bears a 17-13 lead. Stafford more than made up for it, as he marched the Lions right down the field on the next possession, finishing it off with a rushing touchdown that stood as the game’s final score. Oh yeah, and he did all of this after he separated a finger on his throwing hand and tearing ligaments in that finger. This eight four quarter game winning drive set a new NFL record, and the big kicker is, there are still three games left to go in the season!

Worst:
Russell Wilson, Quarterback Seattle Seahawks
I like Russell Wilson I do. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite quarterbacks in pro football to watch. The last couple of weeks, however, haven't exactly been kind to Russell. He had an off week two weeks ago against Tampa bay, throwing for only 150 yards. Well this week, in the Seattle 38-10 loss to Green Bay, he may have been worse now then he was then. Going up against the Packers, Wilson went 22 of 39 for 240 yards and one touchdown, which are decent numbers. What really messes with your head is the alarming five interceptions Wilson threw. Yikes. It was a disastrous showing from Wilson who struggled in the cold weather of Lambeau Field. He finished with a miserable 43.7 passer rating and was held out of the end zone until the fourth quarter. Amazing in all of this is that despite the loss, the Seahawks still remain comfortably on top of the NFC West and in line for their fifth straight playoff berth.

Best:
Jadeveon Clowney, Defensive End Houston Texans
For a guy who was taken number one overall in the draft, he hasn't had much of an impact during his career. But as of late, Jadeveon Clowney has started to look that way. Don't believe me? Look no further then what he did on Sunday. On third-and-goal at the Houston 3-yard line late in the third quarter, with the Colts trailing 19-10, Clowney showed off the explosion that made him the top pick. Clowney beat tight end Dwayne Allen’s block, strip-sacked Andrew Luck, and the Texans recovered. That play was enormous in a 22-17 win. It was a big win because it pushes the Texans’ divisional record to 4-0 this season. They’ve clinched the tiebreaker over the Colts and Titans based on their divisional record and season sweep of Indianapolis. So if Houston can hang on and make the playoffs, look back at that big play as why!

Worst:
Andrew Luck, Quarterback Indianapolis Colts
Indy had a chance to really possibly take hold of the AFC South on Sunday, but they came up short against the Texans, watching Houston come away with a 22-17 win. Luck had a rough day against the Texans defense. Luck threw two interceptions and lost a fumble on a gorgeous sack by Jadeveon Clowney (see above). His three turnovers resulted in nine points. to put that into perspective, Houston only had one turneover, a pick by Brock Osweiler, but no points came of it. To be fair, you can't put all of the blame totally on Luck, as he hasn't gotten much protection this year from his line. But at the same time, he's tried to force plays a lot this year, something that was on display against the Texans and it cost the Colts a game.

Best:
Steve Spagnuolo, Defensive Coordinator New York Giants
Talk about a close football game. That's what you got Sunday night between the Giants and Cowboys. Dallas had an eleven game winning streak heading into that football game, that was snapped Sunday by the Giants, who walked away with a 10-7 victory. A big winner in this football game was Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants defensive coordinator. Big Blue never let Dak Prescott get settled. Spagnuolo sent blitz after blitz after blitz at Prescott, and while the rookie QB rarely panicked he was sacked three times, completed less than half of his passes and was picked off twice. It was a game plan that held the vaunted Cowboys offense to just 1-of-15 on third down and only seven points. Is it the blueprint for defeating them? It might be, because the only two losses this year that Dallas has suffered have come at the hands of the Giants. This one was signed by the Giants defense. They stole the show and also managed to keep Ezekiel Elliott in check in the second half.

Worst:
Dez Bryant, Wide Receiver Dallas Cowboys
When you hear that name, what's one of the first things that comes to mind? For most, its top flight wide receiver. Usually, Dez is one of the more reliable and best wide outs in all of football. Well, he didn't really look like it on Sunday against the Giants. Dez was held in check for most of the night, catching just one pass on nine targets for 10 yards, before fumbling his only reception away. Bryant was largely frustrated by Janoris Jenkins as the Cowboys fell to the Giants for the second time this year. It may just come as a small blip on the screen right now, but its something to really pay attention to down the road if the Cowboys struggle, or even if they possibly face the Giants again in the playoffs.

Playoff Clinching Scenarios Week Fourteen

Its that time of the year, we are oh so close to the playoffs in the National Football league. We know its a little hard keeping track sometimes, of who can clinch what playoff spots and when. So we are here to help. each week, leading up through the end of the season, we will break down who can clinch what playoff spots when. So with that being said, lets get it started.

The following are the playoff clinching scenarios for week fourteen in the NFL.

AFC
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
New England clinches AFC East division if the following happens:
-Patriots  win + MIA loss or tie OR
-Patriots tie + MIA loss

New England clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-Patriots win + MIA loss or tie + PIT loss or tie

OAKLAND RAIDERS
Oakland clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-Raiders win + MIA loss or tie OR
-Radiers win + DEN loss OR
-Raiders tie + MIA loss + BAL loss or tie OR
-Raiders tie + MIA loss + PIT loss or tie

NFC 
CLINCHED: Dallas – playoff berth
DALLAS COWBOYS 
Dallas clinches NFC East division if the following happens:
-Cowboys win

Dallas clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-Cowboys win + DET loss or tie OR
-Cowboys win + SEA loss

 Dallas clinches home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs if the following happens:
-Cowboys win + DET loss or tie + SEA loss

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Seattle clinches NFC West division if the following happens:
-Seahawks win + AZ loss or tie OR
-Seahawks tie + AZ loss

There's your clinching scenarios for week 14!

Best & Worst NFL Week Thirteen

We've now got ourselves a month to go in the NFL Season. This is around the time of the year in the NFL when things really start to heat up and playoff pictures really begin to take shape. I mean just look at what happened last week around the league. A number of quarterbacks struggled, some making many costly mistakes, while others went off, leading their teams to much needed victories. It was a week in which some teams were able to further their postseason quests while others lost valuable ground as their playoff chances begin to slip away. New England and Oakland joined Dallas as the only double digit win teams in the league right now, while Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay start to really heat up and make a push for the wild card sports. There was still a lot of good action on the field over the weekend. So here's some of the winners and losers from the week that was in the NFL.

Best:
Eric Berry, Safety Kansas City Chiefs
You wanna talk about a feel good story in the National Football League this season, look no further then Eric Berry. Just two years ago, he was battling cancer. Last year, he made a big comeback to the game he loves, and became a pro bowler. Now, in a homecoming of sorts, Berry made the play of the day for Kansas City. Berry, who's from Fairburn, which is just outside of Atlanta, came to his home state and made the play of the day. It was a crucial road game for the Chiefs, a game that they needed to win in order to stay in the race in the AFC West. Berry made the biggest play of the day, picking off a Matt Ryan pass on a two-point conversion and returning it for two points for his team. The Chiefs won 29-28. It brought a tear to your eye that it was the guy who won the biggest fight of his life, comes home and makes the play of the day to keep his team in the hunt.

Worst:
Colin Kaepernick, Quarterback San Francisco 49ers
He has been under fire most of the year for what he's been doing with the whole political statement that he's made during training camp and the start of the season. Now he's coming under fire again, but this time its for his horrible play on the field. Look at what happened on Sunday. It's bad enough that the 49ers got trounced 26-6 by the Bears. Kaepernick was horrible. His week 13 stat line will go down as one of the worst in NFL history. Through three quarters he had completed one of five pass attempts for a meager four yards. Kaepernick’s first completion did not come until midway through the second quarter and finished the half with -14 yards passing. He was eventually lifted in the fourth quarter in favor of Blaine Gabbert who wasn’t much better. Kaepernick was sacked five times on the afternoon for a loss of 25 yards and finished with a passer rating of just over 39. He had seemed to play a little better as of late, but this performance just put all of that decent work right down the tubes.

Best:
Travis Kelce, Tight End Kansas City Chiefs
Think it might be safe to say that Kelce has found his game again, and it showed on Sunday in the Chiefs 29-28 nail biting win over Atlanta. Kelce was targeted eight times Sunday and he caught every pass, racking up 140 receiving yards. To make this day better, 82 of those 140 yards, came after the catch. He didn’t get into the end zone for a score, but Kelce beat five different Falcons defenders for catches and QB Alex Smith had a passer rating of 118.8 when throwing the ball in his direction. He was a big reason why the Chiefs offense was able to do what they did against the Atlanta defense and kept the Falcons on their toes. Kelce was in the zone on Sunday and it was a big reason why Kansas City walked away with a big win and stayed in a tight race in the AFC West.

Worst
New York Jets
I'm sorry but I had to put them here, with how bad they played. The Jets were blasted on Monday Night Football, falling 41-10 to the Colts in an embarrassing fashion. I mean think about it, you give up two touchdowns in the opening minutes to the Colts, TY Hilton has a field day with 146 yards receiving on nine catches. Bryce Petty replaced Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second half, the defense couldn't stop a beach ball in this game, they got run over by the Indy offense. New York could do nothing right in this football game. Richie Anderson, who did have a touchdown catch, had a couple of drops. The offense couldn't get going at all, it was just a bad day overall for the Jets. They've found a way to outdo themselves on Monday night, which was a worse performance then what they put in against Arizona back in October.

Best:
Andy Dalton, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
Yeah, I thought the same thing too. A. J. Green wasn't available due to injury, it would have made things tough on Dalton to find a groove. But that's what good quarterbacks do, they still find a way to make it work without their best weapons at their disposal. Not only did Cincinnati pull out a 32-14 win over the Eagles, but Dalton had himself a good game. We got to see a glimps again of how good Dalton can really be, as he finished the day going 23 of 31 for 332 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Those throwing totals meant that Dalton completed 74.2% of his passes, which was nearly flawless on the afternoon. The Eagles didn’t get much pressure, but on the eight snaps they did hurry Dalton, he completed six passes for 103 yards and had a passer rating of 116.7. No pressure and plenty of time make Dalton's job easy and he took advantage of what he was given.

Worst:
Paxton Lynch, Quarterback Denver Broncos
This is what some would call growing pains for an NFL QB! It also goes to show that the stat of quarterback wins could be a little bit misleading. Denver had more punts in this football game then they did first downs. They had eleven punts, compared to just ten first downs. Sure Lynch had a solid day, going 12 of 24, but he threw for just 104 yards. He “won” because the other quarterback, Blake Bortles of the Jacksonville Jaguars, was even worse. Lynch did what he had to do to get by on the skin of his teeth in this football game. He started because Trevor Simian is dealing with a foot issue. Lynch's other start this year, against the Atlanta Falcons, didn't go so well either. Lynch hasn’t shown anything that would lead the Broncos to groom him next offseason to start on opening day over Siemian. Lynch has had two chances to impress the Broncos this season, and it’s hard to believe the team feels great about how those starts went.

Best:
David Johnson, Running Back Arizona Cardinals
You wanna talk about a guy who's been heating up, look no further then David Johnson. He's beginning a major assault on the record books in the NFL now. Johnson managed to accumulate 172 total yards from scrimmage against the Redskins on Sunday, walking away with a 31-23 victory for the Redskins. It was his record breaking 12th straight effort as he’s now gained more than 100 yards from scrimmage in every game this season. Johnson joins Edgerrin James as the only other player in NFL history to accomplish this feat. Johnson finised the day with 18 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown, to go along with nine cathces for 91 yards and a touchdown. He racked up 172 total yards and scored twice, helping the Cards try and hang around in this playoff race in the NFC. He’ll go for number 13 this week when the Cardinals travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins. Will he get it? We shall find out on Sunday.

Worst:
Ron Rivera, Coach Carolina Panthers
You would like to think that this would be a better move. Normally Ron Rivera makes smarter decisions then what he did this week. Carolina got blasted by the Seahawks, falling 40-7. That was bad enough, but what kicked it off was the poor decision by Rivera at the start of the game. Rivera decided to bench Cam Newton for the opening possession of the game, which was a bold move. The reason for the benching was becfause Newton wasn't wearing a tie, which was a violation of team rules. Sadly, it backfired with a INT in the first play leading to a Seahawks blowout win. The story of how far the Panthers have fallen this year has been shocking and Rivera deserves a good bit of the blame.

Best:
Jordie Nelson, Wide Receiver Green Bay Packers
When you think about the best wide receivers in football, Jordie Nelson's name is up near the top of a lot of lists, or at least in the top five on a lot of lists. This year, after recovering from a major knee injury last year, he's still be trying to regain his top flight form. Well you saw flashes of that on Sunday, in Green Bay's 21-13 win over Houston. Nelson scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, but that wasn’t his biggest play Nelson had. With the Packers facing third-and-6 at midfield with less than six minutes left, Aaron Rodgers threw one up to Nelson, who made a phenomenal catch over cornerback Kareem Jackson for 28 yards and an enormous first down. The Packers scored a key touchdown at the end of that drive and won the ballgame. Nelson finished with 118 yards. Yeah he's starting to return to form and that's huge for the Packers, who have now managed to claw back to 6-6 and stay in the race with Detroit and Minnesota in the NFC North.

Worst:
Quarterbacks Throwing Picks
It was a rough week to play quarterback in the NFL. But I have a question. What do Drew Brees, Ryan Tannehill and Carson Wentz all have in common? They each threw three interceptions as their team’s lost on Sunday. Brees fell to Detroit 28-13, Tannehill fell 38-6 to Baltimore, and Wentz lost 32-14 to Cincinnati (see above with Dalton). Each signal caller threw for one score and three picks as the trio combined for just three touchdowns compared to nine interceptions. All three quarterbacks attempted at least 40 passes as they were forced to air it out with their teams down big, not one scoring more than 14 points on the day. Wentz was the busiest of the three, having to throw the ball sixty times in the Eagles loss to the Bengals. SIXTY! That's an insane number of passes.

2016 Bowl Games Announced

It's that time of the year once again, Bowl season in college football has finally arrived. In total, there are 34 bowl games set to take place between December 17th and January 9th/ But with that being said, let's just skip the fluff and get right in to it., Here's the full list of every bowl game on the docket for this year in College Football.

Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016 
AFR Celebration Bowl NC Central vs. Grambling State Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA Noon / ABC
Gildan New Mexico Bowl UTSA vs. New Mexico University Stadium Albuquerque, NM 2pm / ESPN
Las Vegas Bowl Houston vs. San Diego State Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas, NV 3:30pm / ABC
AutoNation Cure Bowl Arkansas State vs. UCF Camping World Stadium Orlando, FL 5:30pm / CBSSN
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl Toledo vs. Appalachian State Cramton Bowl Montgomery, AL 5:30pm / ESPN
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Southern Miss vs. UL Lafayette Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA 9pm / ESPN

Monday, Dec. 19, 2016
Miami Beach Bowl Tulsa vs. Central Michigan Marlins Park Miami, FL 2:30pm / ESPN

Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016 
Boca Raton Bowl Memphis vs. WKU FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL 7pm / ESPN

Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016
San Diego County CU Poinsettia Bowl BYU vs. Wyoming Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA 9pm / ESPN

Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016 
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Colorado State vs. Idaho Albertson's Stadium Boise, ID 7pm / ESPN

Friday, Dec. 23, 2016
Popeyes Bahamas Bowl Old Dominion vs. Eastern Michigan Thomas Robinson Stadium Nassau, Bahamas 1pm / ESPN
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Louisiana Tech vs. Navy Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX 4:30pm / ESPN
Dollar General Bowl Ohio vs. Troy Ladd-Peebles Stadium Mobile, AL 8pm / ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016
Hawai'i Bowl Middle Tennessee vs. Hawaii Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI 8pm / ESPN

Monday, Dec. 26, 2016
St. Petersburg Bowl Miami, OH vs. Mississippi State Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL 11am / ESPN
Quick Lane Bowl Boston College vs. Maryland Ford Field Detroit, MI 2:30pm / ESPN
Camping World Independence Bowl NC State vs. Vanderbilt Independence Stadium Shreveport, LA 5pm / ESPN2

Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016
 Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl Army vs. North Texas Cotton Bowl Stadium Dallas, TX Noon / ESPN
Military Bowl (24) Temple vs. Wake Forest Navy-Marine Corps. Stadium Annapolis, MD 3:30pm / ESPN
National Funding Holiday Bowl Washington State vs. Minnesota Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA 7pm / ESPN
Motel 6 Cactus Bowl Baylor vs. Boise State Chase Field Phoenix, AZ 10:15pm / ESPN

Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 
New Era Pinstripe Bowl Northwestern vs. (23) Pittsburgh Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY 2pm / ESPN
Russell Athletic Bowl Miami, FL vs. (16) West Virginia Camping World Stadium Orlando, FL 5:30pm / ESPN
Foster Farms Bowl Indiana vs. (19) Utah Levi's Stadium Santa Clara, CA 8:30pm / FOX
AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl Kansas State vs. Texas A&M NRG Stadium Houston, TX 9pm / ESPN

Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016
Birmingham Bowl USF vs. South Carolina Legion Field Birmingham, AL 2pm / ESPN
Belk Bowl (22) Virginia Tech vs. Arkansas Bank of America Stadium Charlotte, NC 5:30pm / ESPN
Valero Alamo Bowl (12) Oklahoma State vs. (10) Colorado Alamodome San Antonio, TX 9pm / ESPN

Friday, Dec. 30, 2016 
AutoZone Liberty Bowl TCU vs. Georgia Liberty Bowl Memphis, TN Noon / ESPN
Hyundai Sun Bowl North Carolina vs. (18) Stanford Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX 2pm / CBS
Franklin Amer. Mort. Music City Bowl Nebraska vs. (21) Tennessee Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN 3:30pm / ESPN
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl Air Force vs. South Alabama Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ 5:30pm / ASN/CI
Capital One Orange Bowl (11) Florida State vs. (6) Michigan Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, FL 8pm / ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl (20) LSU vs. (13) Louisville Camping World Stadium Orlando, FL 11am / ABC
TaxSlayer Bowl Georgia Tech vs. Kentucky EverBank Field Jacksonville, FL 11am / ESPN
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (4) Washington vs. (1) Alabama Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA 3 or 7pm / ESPN
PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (3) Ohio State vs. (2) Clemson U. of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, AZ 3 or 7pm / ESPN

Monday, Jan. 2, 2017
Outback Bowl (17) Florida vs. Iowa Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL 1pm / ABC
Goodyear Cotton Bowl (15) Western Michigan vs. (8) Wisconsin AT&T Stadium Arlington, TX 1pm / ESPN
Rose Bowl Game (9) USC vs. (5) Penn State Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA 5pm / ESPN
Allstate Sugar Bowl (14) Auburn vs. (7) Oklahoma Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA 8:30pm / ESPN

Monday, Jan. 9, 2017
CFP National Championship Semifinal Winner vs. Semifinal Winner Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL 8:30pm / ESPN

There3's your Bowl schedule so start making arrangements now!

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)