I have been terrible about updating this site, so I decided to try a weekly favorite players/favorite wine of the week project to make myself post more regularly.

My favorite NFL players from Sunday are…

Dare Ogunbowale Running Back/Emergency kicker

If you hadn’t heard of Ogunbowale prior to last Sunday, you aren’t alone.  He has had 2 carries this year for 4 yards.  He has been in the league since 2017 & has 130 carries for 426 yards.  He was a 4 sport athlete in high school playing football of course, but also soccer, basketball and track.  The soccer experience came in handy on Sunday.

Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn is a tremendous kicker who led the league in scoring in 2018 & has made over 86 of his field goals in his professional career.  Unfortunately he suffered a quadriceps injury in the first half of the game against the Buccaneers & was ruled out of the rest of the game.

For most teams, this would mean that the team’s punter would assume kicking duties.  That can be a mess since the punter is often the holder for kicks, so it means changing positions for 2 players.  The Texans’ punter is a former rugby player & hasn’t trained on field goals.

That meant that Dare Ogunbowale, former soccer player, was the next man up. He kicked off to start the 2^nd half with the ball going to the 4 yard line.  When the team scored, they went for 2 rather than risking him kicking the extra point.

With the game tied at 30-30 the Texans faced 4^th & goal from the 11 yard line.  I thought they would go for it since they didn’t trust Ogunbowale on an extra point.  Instead the sent him out to kick a a 29 yard field goal & he drilled it!  That made Ogunbowale the first non-kicker or punter to make a field goal in an NFL game since Wes Welker did it for the Patriots in 2004.

That’s coming through in the clutch.  It put the Texans in the lead, but it didn’t finish off the Buccaneers.  That was up to my second pick for the day.

C.J. Stroud Texans QB

Stroud was about as good as I have ever seen for a rookie quarterback yesterday. He had a great game, but what was most impressive to me was how he finished the game.  The Buccaneers came back to take the lead 37-33 with under a minute to play.  With 40 seconds & 75 yards to go, Stroud led the team down the field & threw a 26-yard touchdown to Tank Dell with 6 seconds left to win the game.  That was the cherry on top of a day where he threw for a rookie record 470 yards & 5 touchdowns with no interceptions.

It was impressive & now the Texans have won 4 of 8 games compared to winning 3 games all year last year.  There are quiet a few players & coaches who have helped change things around in Houston, but Stroud really stands out & looks like the rookie of the year half way through the season.

Josh Dobbs Vikings QB

Josh Dobbs’ story for Sunday might be weirder than Ogunbowale’s.  He started the pre-season in Cleveland but was traded in late August to the Cardinals where he ended up starting 8 games.  He played well despite missing the entirety of training camp.  He was traded to the Vikings on Tuesday at the trade deadline.  The Vikings needed someone to back up their rookie quarterback Jaren Hall with Starter Kirk Cousins & backup Nick Mullens both on injured reserve.

Because Hall hadn’t started a game in the NFL, he got all of the 1^st team practice reps during the week while Dobbs stayed late to learn at least part of the playbook.  The plan was that Hall would play & Dobbs would learn more the next week.  That plan lasted less than a quarter before Hall was knocked out of the game with a concussion.  Dobbs was up.

He didn’t get off to a promising start.  He lost 2 fumbles & was sacked for a safety.  If there had been any alternative quarterback, he probably would have been pulled.  There wasn’t any alternative though & Dobbs played much better as the game went on.  He made some great scrambling runs including a touchdown.  While his 158 passing yards & 5.3 yards per pass average won’t look good in the box score, he was clutch.  He threw a 2 yard touchdown to Alexander Mattison in the second quarter & completed a 2 point conversion pass to Trishton Jackson in the third quarter.  With 22 seconds to play, he threw a 6-yard pass to Brandon Powell to win the game.  He had never even thrown a practice pass to those receivers.

His ability to even function in a new offense with only 4 days to prepare was incredible!  He might not start many more games this year for the Vikings, but he proved that they made the right decision to trade a 7^th round pick to bring him to Minnesota.

Kenny Moore II Colts Cornerback

There are plenty of defensive players who never score a touchdown.  Moore scored 2 on Sunday.  He picked off Bryce Young in the 2^nd quarter & returned it 49 yards for the TD.  Then in the 4^th quarter he snagged another one & this time took it 66 yards for the touchdown!  Moore’s 2 picks would have been enough to win the game, which was good since the offense managed under 200 yards for the game.

Maxx Crosby Raiders Defensive End

Crosby had 3 sacks against the Giants.  The Giants are terrible, but 3 sacks in a game is still impressive!

Wine of the week

Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2020  Maipo Chile

92% Cabernet Sauvignon from a singe vineyard 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot  14.6% ABV About $150.00

Fermented in stainless steel then aged for 15 months in 70% new French barrels. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel.

There are still people who only think of Chile as home to inexpensive wines that taste a bit like bell peppers.  There are certainly examples of those wines at your local grocery store.  There are, however, some serious wines that can stand with any of the great wines of the world.  This Cabernet is one of those wines.  It had great depth of flavor with blackberry, herbs, & cassis.  It’s a big wine, but it isn’t blowsy or overblown.  The acidity is crisp & balances the ripe fruit.  The tannins were drying but are still integrating.  With some age, the wine will taste less overtly oaky & there is enough fruit here for long term aging.  This wine tastes fantastic now but will be better in 5 years.

While this is certainly a wine that can be enjoyed by itself, perhaps sitting in front of a fire on a cold evening, it will be excellent with food.  It would be a great steak wine, or could go well with a smoky mushroom dish.

We’ll see how long I can keep a regular schedule!