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.
With overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s this week in Houston, it seems good timing to have the warm thoughts of baseball being back, at least spring training games. The Astros have more shakiness about their squad than they have had in nearly a decade, but the Astros still have a nucleus of an American League West contender. With the exits of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, it’s just a notably different nucleus than in recent years.
Jose Altuve is the last remaining mainstay of the greatest era in Astros’ history, and he is one of the biggest stories of their preseason as he for the time being at least is left fielder Jose Altuve. By every indication he is embracing the challenge with class and energy. The obvious impetus for test driving the move is the soon-to-be 35 years old Altuve’s defensive deterioration. It can be tough for the player himself to notice that his range has declined. The voiding of defensive shifts after the 2022 season shined a brighter light on Altuve’s D decline. Still, last season Altuve made his ninth All-Star team and despite also displaying some offensive decline remained the clearly best offensive second baseman in the American League. It’s part of the tradeoff of reducing the defensive workload on Yordan Alvarez, and hoping to upgrade defensively at second with some combo of Mauricio Dubon, Brendan Rodgers, or other.
The natural comparison in Astros’ history of a franchise icon losing his defensive spot and making a late-career position change is to Craig Biggio. Biggio’s All-Star days were behind him when the Astros moved him from second base to center field for the 2003 season because of the signing of free agent Jeff Kent. It spoke to the athlete Biggio was that at 37 years old he could make the move at all. After not quite a season and a half in center, Biggio moved to left when the Astros traded for young stud center fielder Carlos Beltran. Both Kent and Beltran left in free agency after the 2004 season, and Biggio moved back to second for the final three seasons of his career.
Second basemen are often second basemen and not shortstops in part because of their throwing arms. Altuve’s throwing arm will be an issue in left field. Even though Daikin Park has the smallest square footage of fair territory in Major League Baseball because of its left to left-center field dimensions, Altuve’s arm will be a liability. In understandably wanting to put an optimistic spin on things, manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have talked of how Altuve will be able to get momentum behind throws more so than when playing second. That’s true when camping under a fly ball in the outfield. That is not true when Altuve will have to cut off balls hit toward the left field line, or cutting across into the left-center field gap. There will be balls that would be singles when hit to other left fielders that will become doubles when Altuve has to play them, and baserunners will go from first to third and second to home much more readily. As an infielder Altuve has always been outstanding at running down pop-ups, so there is reason to believe he’ll be solid tracking fly balls in the outfield. However, the reality of a guy who is five feet six inches tall (in spikes) is that there will be the occasional fly ball or line drive that is beyond his grasp that more “normal” sized outfielders would grab. Try to name a good outfielder who stood shorter than five-foot-nine...
Here’s one: Hall of Famer Tim Raines (also originally a second baseman) was (and presumably still is!) five-foot-eight.
Here's another: Hall of Famer Hack Wilson was five-six. Four times he led the National League in home runs topped by a whopping 56 in 1930 when he set the still standing record of 191 runs batted in for a single season.
And another: Hall of Famer five-foot-four “Wee” Willie Keeler. Who last played in 1910.
Just a bit outside
Another element new to the Grapefruit League in Florida (and Cactus League in Arizona) this year is the limited use of what Major League Baseball is calling the Automated Ball Strike System. The ABS is likely coming to regular season games next year. This spring will be our first look at its use in big league games. Home plate umpires making ball and strike calls will not be going the way of the dinosaur. Challenges can be made until a team is wrong twice. Significantly, only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge and must do so within two seconds of the pitch being caught. No dugout input allowed. No time to watch a replay.
The Astros’ spring park in West Palm Beach is not among the 13 facilities set up with ABS cameras. That seems silly given that the Astros share the place with the Washington Nationals. More use would be gotten from, and more data collected there than will be from a park with half the spring games played in it.
The countdown to Opening Day is on. Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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