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)

Best & Worst of NFL Week Ten

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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