NFL Week 7

Just as Darth Vader defeated Obi-Wan, Andrew Luck can now start writing his own legacy, having toppled Peyton Manning. Hopefully he doesn’t turn the Colts into an evil empire, but hey, even if he does, he’s earned it. This is HIS team now. Here are the stories from the week in the NFL:

The loss to Indianapolis really highlighted a number of faults in the Denver Broncos which their unstoppable offence had been plastering over. Above all, it’s their defence. It’s been talked about before – Dallas exposed them – but this is the first time that they haven’t been able to cover. Their offensive line is shaky at times, and Peyton took 4 sacks, but that is more due to injuries. It remains to be seen if they can hold off the very best teams in the postseason.
A quick note of congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs - still defying all expectations in starting 7-0. The only unbeaten team left. It wasn’t pretty, but they did the business against Houston.
Case Keenum probably did enough to hold onto the Houston Texans starting QB job for the near future. He was very solid, throwing a TD and managing the game in that narrow loss to Kansas City. Most important for the ailing Texans fans: 0 INTERCEPTIONS!
Unfortunately for Houston, they also had a couple of key injuries in that game. Arian Foster is questionable for the time being, with the diagnosis on his aggravated hamstring still unpublished. Plus LB Brian Cushing has a broken leg, and will probably end up on IR.
More injury news: St Louis Rams QB Sam Bradford is done for the season with a torn ACL. Rams are trying out a few different QB options, but Tebow/Vince Young are not among them.
Buccs RB Doug Martin will definitely miss the week 8 game against Carolina, and could possibly miss the season, though Tampa is denying this. His injury means that they’ll probably be taking on the Panthers with rookie QB Mike Glennon and rookie RB Mike James starting.
Green Bay TE Jermichael Finley suffered a horrible neck injury against Cleveland, and not only could he miss the season, but he may never play again if tests don’t go his way. He’s been in ICU having assessments, though initial reports seem positive.
Future Hall of Famer WR Reggie Wayne is done for the year. He was hurt against his long time QB Peyton Manning and the Broncos during Sunday Night Football. 34 year old Wayne’s 189 consecutive games started streak will end. It was the longest current streak among active players.
Jay Cutler went down in the second quarter against Washington, and he’ll stay down for at least 4 weeks. It’s a big loss for the Bears, who had been relying on Cutler’s arm to offset their struggling defence (which was just torched by Washington).
And in happy injury news, Rob Gronkowski is back! Gronk caught 8 passes for 114 yards on his return, though the Pats lost inexplicably to the Jets after a late (but correct) special teams foul overturned a missed field goal.

Here are some other things that happened:

Peyton acknowledges the Indy fans pregame

Troy Polamalu jumps the gun - and the defensive line

MLB Playoffs

It is decided. The Boston Red Sox will take on the St Louis Cardinals for the 2013 MLB World Series. To be honest, it’s the opposite of what I was hoping for from the Division Championship matchups, but it should be a wonderful series nonetheless. Stay tuned to The Niche Cache for The Wildcard’s preview…

Of the divisional losers? The Detroit Lions are licking their wounds once more, after failing to make good on a championship quality side. But as usual, their bullpen let them down, the final hammer blow being Shane Victorino’s 8th innings go-ahead grand slam in game 6. They’ve got the batting lineup, they’ve got the starting pitching, they just miss that one link to bring it all together. The LA Dodgers on the other hand look set to dominate for years. If Don Mattingly doesn’t get a long term contract extension, after the way he managed this team of misfit, talented underperformers into the challenging team their potential suggests, then I’m starting a twitter riot (@thenichecache). Plus their young talent, notably Yasiel Puig, aint going nowhere. Clayton Kershaw and Zach Grienke are the single most dominant 1-2 starting pitching pair in baseball.

Good Week:

New York Giants – Finally, a win! I suppose G-Fans think they’re headed for the Superbowl now.

Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals) – Hell, yes. That’s more like it. He went 24-34, 372 yds, 3 tds in the win over Detroit. More of that and the Bengals can run away with the AFC North.

NBA Fans – Just one more week...

Bad Week:

Minnesota Vikings – So, obviously the Josh Freeman thing has started badly. He was so awful yesterday that it’s beyond the realms of the written word to do justice to his performance. But I’m putting the blame on the shoulders of the coach/offensive coordinator(s) who thought it made sense to give a guy, with only 12 days of learning this new playbook and system, 53 passing opportunities and only run the ball 13 times. Against the Giants. With Adrian Peterson on your team. This theory is so mind numbingly moronic that it makes all other bad weeks look good. Except for one…

My NFL Fantasy Team – Quick humble brag, I was 6-0 coming into this week. Drew Brees is on a bye, so I pick up Jay Cutler against the leaky Washington secondary. Cutler throws an interception and is carted off in 2Q. He scored -0.88 points. I literally would have been better off starting Brees on a bye. Ultimately though, I lost by just 3.5 points because of the dumbasses who kept the ball out of Adrian Peterson’s hands. Feel free to laugh, I deserve it. But at least I’m not gonna threaten to kill the guys.

Weekly Pondering:

Magic Johnson’s legacy as a player falls just short of Michael Jordan’s, but it’s fair to say he’s a much better team owner than Air Jordan. Sure, Magic is able to throw the chequebook at his LA Dodgers team - no salary cap and all - but that doesn’t take away from his achievements, nor does it excuse Jordan’s failures. Mike clearly, as is often the case with players of such natural skill, seems to be terrible at judging talent. And the Bobcats have only got worse since he took over. Magic 1-1 MJ.

Player of the Week:

Andrew Luck (Indianapolis Colts) – Emerging from the shadows of his predecessor, Andrew Luck is a force to be reckoned with. He gets this award not so much for his numbers this week, but the meaning of what he did, outdueling Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, something many have tried to do, and few have achieved – none under these circumstances. But Luck and Indianapolis are making a habit of big wins. They’ve now taken down Seattle, San Francisco (in San Fran) and Denver, three teams with a combined 2013 record of 17-4. A deep playoff threat?

The Dugout - October 23