GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
NFL Week 10 observations: Bridgewater's return highlights exciting slate of games
Nov 14, 2017, 10:07 am
Teddy Bridgewater did not play, but he returned to the field. Minnesota Vikings courtesy photo
Week 10 of the NFL season saw some interesting season trends continue, and some come to an end. There were some blowouts, crazy finishes, and unexpected outcomes. Water is beginning to find its level as the true contenders are emerging.
The Good
-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was back in uniform and active. Bridgewater suffered a torn ACL and knee dislocation on August 30, 2016. He missed all of last season and half of this season recovering. He may not have his starting job back, but at least he’s still able to play and try to live up to his potential.
-Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey is looking like he’s going to live up to the hype, barring injury. While his 8 touches only yielded 50 yards, he scored twice. With him on the field, he’s already become an X Factor for the Panthers and must be accounted for. As a rookie, he’s currently in top five of receptions. He’s looking like what Reggie Bush started off like. Here’s to hoping he can keep it up because he’s a joy to watch.
-There are 11 teams now with at least six wins. The league’s best record lies with the Philadelphia Eagles at 8-1. While some of the teams that were preseason favorites are still in contention, the league has the type of parity it has longed for. Slightly pass the midway point, there are still debates made as to who is the best team in the league.
The Bad
-New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo is a dead man walking. After losing to the winless San Francisco 49ers, most thought he was going to be fired. Instead, he got the dreaded “vote of confidence” from team owners. This is usually a pink-slip precursor. At 1-8, the Giants are a complete joke.
-In a battle of journeyman quarterbacks, Ryan Fitzpatrick “led” the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Josh McCown and the New York Jets 15-10. The score was 9-3 deep into the 4th quarter before each team traded touchdowns beginning with about six minutes left in the game. The quarterbacks combined to go 40/73 for 400 yards and an interception each.
-The Pittsburgh Steelers only managed 316 yards and 20 points against the Indianapolis Colts. Why is this significant? The Colts normally give up nearly 400 yards and 28 points a game. To add to it, the Steelers needed a game winning field goal with 35 seconds left to pull out the win. From a team with arguably the best running back, best wide receiver, and a top tier quarterback, this performance was abysmal.
The Ugly
-Chicago Bears running back Benny Cunningham appeared to score a game tying touchdown in the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers, but was called out and the Bears had a first and goal. Head coach John Fox decided to challenge the play. The ref ruled that Cunningham did in fact stay in bounds, but lost control of the ball diving for the pylon and ruled it a touchback.
-The Jacksonville Jaguars and San Diego Chargers both tried to give each other the game. A series of interceptions, taunting penalties, a roughing the passer penalty, and general boneheadedness, the game was eventually won by the Jags on a tipped field goal attempt that found its way through the uprights by Josh Lambo, who was cut by the Chargers.
-Seattle Seahawks all-pro cornerback Richard Sherman tore his Achilles Thursday night and will miss the rest of the season. Sherman, amongst others, are already an outspoken opponent to Thursday night games due to the high risk of injury;this will only add fuel to the fire. However, with the amount of money, and length, in the television contracts for it, it’s not going anywhere any time soon.
-With starting left tackle Tyron Smith out, the Dallas Cowboys gave up eight sacks to the Atlanta Falcons, including 6 to Adrian Clayborn. The vaunted Cowboys offensive line looked more like a directional FCS school offensive line going against the Falcons. They are single-handedly responsible for triggering a bonus clause for Clayborn.
-There were some truly great performances in week 10. But the one that has caught the attention of many was by Marquise Goodwin of the 49ers. He played and scored on an 83 yard touchdown hours after he and his wife lost their baby boy after a premature birth around 4 a.m. that same morning. He immediately dropped to his knees after scoring. His teammates surrounded him on the field in a show of love and support. The show of raw human emotion and his ability to play after such a tragedy was unbelievable. His teammates rallying around him, along with him and his wife’s willingness to be so open and vulnerable was humbling. My allergies tend to act up at times like this because I had to watch my mom bury my brother. It’s not an easy thing to go through. Those moments of humanity, support for a fellow teammate, and genuine love in the moment of competition are some of the many reasons why I love sports.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.