Peter King: MMQB - 11/2/15

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These are only excerpts from this article. To read the whole thing click the link below. All butt-kissing of the Patriots, Brady, and Belichick has been and always will be excluded. :mad: Any mention of the Rams is posted first to save you the time and trouble looking for it because that's the kind of guy I am. :mrburnsevil:
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/02/denver-broncos-defense-aaron-rodgers-green-bay-packers-week-8-nfl

I think this is what I liked about Week 8:

c. Todd Gurley: 20 for 133. For him, that’s downright mediocre.

d. The Rams are 3-1 since handing Gurley the starting job four games ago. His performances: 146 yards, 159, 128 and 133. And the 159 came in a loss at Green Bay.

I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 8:

g. Reggie Bush slipping on concrete at the Ed Jones Dome and hurting his knee. What, precisely, is exposed concrete doing near the boundaries of any NFL field?

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Sorry, *** ***** and Eli Manning and Peyton Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. and Todd Gurley and Jameis Winston (for the biggest win of his eight-game career at formerly 6-1 Atlanta) and Russell Wilson (for the final 17-play winning drive in Dallas), all of whom could be lauded in this space. I thought two men stood above all.

Drew Brees, quarterback, New Orleans. For having one of the best days a quarterback has ever had. The numbers are other-worldly: 40 of 50, 511 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, in the Saints’ 52-49 win over the Giants … and he did it on All Saints Day. “I visualized this,” he said after his career-best yardage day. “But it wasn’t quite this big.” No. How could it be?

Derek Carr, quarterback, Oakland. Well, we thought the Jets had an outstanding defense. Sunday was a debacle of a day for that unit, in part because Carr was on fire for the first 28 minutes of the game. He threw his four touchdown passes in the first half and on the first drive of the second, scoring on throws of five, 36, 49 and 59 yards. For the game, he was 23 of 36 for 333 yards, with the four scores and no picks, in Oakland’s 34-20 win.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Kwon Alexander, linebacker, Tampa Bay. He stands above all defenders after his game in Atlanta. The 21-year-old rookie middle linebacker was playing with the heaviest burden after his 17-year-old brother, Broderick Taylor II, was shot dead in a fight in Alabama on Friday night. Alexander decided to play, and came up with the best game of his young career. After an end zone interception of Matt Ryan and a long return was negated by a penalty early at the Georgia Dome, he still had two very big plays to make.

He stripped Julio Jones of the ball in mid-sprint, then returned it 20 yards, leading to a field goal. And late in the first half, he picked Ryan (and it counted), returning the ball 15 yards to midfield, and setting up Jameis Winston’s only touchdown pass of the day. Alexander led all Bucs and Falcons with 11 tackles. “What this guy did today was something special,” said Logan Mankins, in presenting Alexander with the game ball after the Bucs’ 23-20 overtime win.

Alexander wept as Mankins, with his arm around the rookie, spoke. “I got a lot of respect for what you did today.” Alexander paid tribute to his brother thusly: “All he wanted me to do was ball. I gave this game to him. I came out here and dedicated this game to him.” Someone asked Alexander if he thought of his brother out on the field during the game. Said Alexander: “Every play.”

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

David Irving, defensive lineman, Dallas. He very nearly saved the Cowboys’ season with one of the clutch blocked kicks of the year. With the Cowboys ahead 12-10 midway through the fourth quarter, he swatted down Steven Hauschka’s 47-yard field-goal try, preventing Seattle from taking the lead. Great play at the perfect time—even if the Cowboys did allow Seattle to drive the length of the field for the winning field goal minutes later.

Kai Forbath, kicker, New Orleans. Imagine the score is 49-all, you’ve never attempted a field goal for your new team, you’re asked to boot a 50-yarder on the last play of the craziest game of the 2015 season, and you know your career in New Orleans is hanging on a thread as this week’s itinerant kicker of the week for the Saints. And you drill a 50-yarder. “Brees had seven touchdowns and we told him the game ball is going to the kicker,” said coach Asshole Face. “Outstanding! It was his first kick, right? That’s as big a kick as you can have with a new team.”

Justin Tucker, kicker, Baltimore. Somebody had to win this game—allegedly. And Tucker was huge for the Ravens, making all five of his field goal tries (48, 29, 48, 45 and 39 yards), the final one with three seconds left to win an exhausting game at home.

COACH OF THE WEEK

Bruce Arians, head coach, Arizona. Carson Palmer told me an incredible thing after the Cards’ 34-20 win in Cleveland: He said Arians’ play-calling was the best of any coach at any level of football in any game he’s ever played. “B.A. was just on fire for four quarters,” he said. “The runs were right on. The passes, we had guys open on everything. It was special.” The Cardinals were a phenomenal 13 of 16 in third-down efficiency—on the road, on a windy day on Lake Erie—and ran for 119 yards and threw for 372. It would have been a rout if the Cardinals didn’t turn it over four times. What a relationship Arians and Palmer have, the kind that can take a team far in January.

GOAT OF THE WEEK

Geno Smith, quarterback, N.Y. Jets. Smith spent the afternoon reminding Jets fans why he hasn’t been missed. Late in the first half he floated an ill-advised pass down the left sideline that was intercepted by Charles Woodson. Worse was his game management in the fourth quarter, taking multiple sacks when he could have easily thrown the ball away, and generally operating the offense with no sense of urgency as the Jets tried to mount a comeback in Oakland.

Anyone left standing?

A partial list of the players who left Week 8 games, injured:

Calvin Johnson, Darius Slay, Josh Wilson, Andre Fluellen, Joe Haden, Donte Whitner, Le’Veon Bell, Ray Maualuga, Carlos Dunlap, Andre Smith, Khiry Robinson, Larry Donnell, Orleans Darkwa, Jacquies Smith, Desmond Trufant, Robert Alford, Ricardo Lockette, Greg Hardy, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Geno Smith, Brandon Marshall, Chris Watt, Chris Hairston, King Dunlap, Jason Verrett, Keenan Allen, Corey Liuget, Ladarius Green, Stevie Johnson, Steve Smith Sr., Matt Forte, Eddie Royal, Duane Brown, Kurtis Drummond, Kendall Wright, Reggie Bush, Sam Shields, Quinten Rollins, Cam Wake, Garrett Celek and Jadeveon Clowney.

Just in case you forgot what you were watching.

I don’t know if this is high for a midseason week, but I do know the names could fill half a Pro Bowl roster. Or more.