My favorite players the week were…

Lamar Jackson

As is frequently the case, his passing numbers don’t jump off the page, but he made the key passes when he needed to do it.  He completed 16 of 22 passes for 152 yards & 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.  He also led the team in rushing with 11 rushes for 100 yards and & another 2 touchdowns.  His rushing yards per carry at 9.1 actually topped his yards per passing attempt at 6.9.  He just always seemed to make a critical play at the crucial time.  One of the announcers (I forget who) said that no team puts as much on a quarterback as the Ravens do on Jackson.  I agree.  It’s an unusual system & part of me feels like it won’t last as Jackson gets older, but it sure is working now.

Jared Goff Lions quarterback

Goff showed again why he was drafted so high in the first place.  He was 30 for 43 for 287 yards & 2 touchdowns.  He got lucky on a dropped interception, but he consistently made the right decision with the ball.

Christian McCaffrey 49’ers running back

On a day where Brock Purdy wasn’t as sharp as usual, & Deebo Samuel was injured, the team leaned on McCaffrey.  He ran 17 times for 98 yards (5.8 average) with 2 touchdowns.  He also caught 7 passes for another 30 yards, primarily as an outlet receiver when Purdy had to dump the ball off quickly.

Mike Evans Buccaneers receiver

He had a couple of drops for the second week in a row but was still impressive.  He caught 8 passes on 12 targets for 147 yards (18.4 yard average) with 1 touchdown.  If this was his last game as a Buccaneer, it was a solid effort.  I’m interested to see where he signs next year.  He’s a ten year veteran & it seems like there is an expectation that his skills will decline at this point.  I haven’t seen it.  This was his 3^rd highest yardage total of his career as he set the NFL record for most 1,000-yard seasons to begin a career.  I think he is still one of the best deep threats in football.

Josh Allen Bills quarterback

Patrick Mahomes is probably the easy choice here.  He threw for 215 yards & 2 touchdowns with a passer rating of 131.6 & his team won by 3 points (is there anything more painful to Bills fans than hearing “wide right” in the playoffs again).  I’m going to be contrarian though & pick Allen because I think he shouldered more of the burden of carrying the team.  He completed 26 of 39 passes for 186 yards & a touchdown.  He was also the team’s leading rusher with 12 carries for 72 yards (6.0 average) & 2 touchdowns.  His importance to the Bills is similar to what Jackson’s is to the Ravens.

Dre Greenlaw 49’ers linebacker

One thing that had been really impressive about Jordan Love over the last half of the season was the way he protected the ball & didn’t throw interceptions.  Greenlaw managed to pick him off twice Saturday.  The second pick sealed the win with the Packers trying to get into field goal range & force overtime or win outright.  I’ll admit it was a terrible throw, but Greenlaw made the play at the crucial time. 

Jamal Dean Buccaneers cornerback

I won’t say that losing Dean was the difference in the ballgame for the Buccaneers, but it was a huge blow.  Prior to him injuring his back, he was having an excellent game.  He had 5 tackles, & 3 passes defensed & 3 allowed for only 17 yards.  He did drop an interception though, which could have made a big difference.  Once he went out, the Buccaneers secondary was exposed.

Steven Sims Texans returner

The Texans offense couldn’t do much on Saturday, but Sims did his best to keep them in the game.  His 67-yard punt return up the middle of the field for a touchdown was electric.  Watching the replays, it was just amazing that he didn’t go down.  It was the bright spot in an otherwise brutal ending to an unexpectedly good season for the Texans.

My favorite wine of the week was…

Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria 2021

100% Zibibbo AKA Muscat of Alexandria 14.5% ABV  197 g/l residual sugar! 7.2 g/l total acidity  $45 for a 375 ml bottle.

“Ben Ryé” is Arabic for “Son of the wind.”  The name makes sense when you learn that a percentage of the grapes are left to dry in open air.  These raisinated grapes are the key to the intense flavor of this wine from Sicily.

The grapes are hand picked with most set aside to dry. The picking process last about a month which means that there are fresh grapes picked when others have already turned to raisin.  This allows them to ferment the fresh grapes & slowly add the raisins to the must without causing stuck fermentation.  Dried grapes have a higher percentage of sugar since the water has evaporated.  High sugar can slow fermentation.  The dried grapes are destemmed by hand prior to being added to the must.

This takes place in a temperature controlled stainless steel tank & it is a slow maceration & ferment, over a month.  After fermentation the wine is aged in stainless steel for 8 months & then after bottling the wine sits in glass for another year before being released for sale.

The result is a wine with intense pure fruit & baking spice.  I had the 2021 on Sunday the 21^st & it showed intense peach & apricot on the palate with a lush floral nose.  This is a wine that tells you what you are going to get from the moment you smell it.  It’s going to be sweet & will have intense pure fruit.  I was going to write that it is fruity, but that would do it an injustice.  It is dense & lush & mouthwatering rather than just “fruity.” It tastes almost like pure nectar!

What it isn’t is cloying.  You might expect a wine that has 197 grams per liter of residual sugar to be almost too sweet (that’s almost twice as much sugar as a Coca Cola).  However, the 7.2 grams per liter of total acidity make this almost a crisp wine.  The acid cleans the palate & leaves you wanting another sip.

You can pair this with desserts like almond cookies or chocolate, but I really like it with blue cheese or pâté.

This is a wine that is built to last.  While typing this I have been sipping on the last of the of a bottle of the 2017 vintage.  I bought it in September of 2020 & used a Coravin to sample from it several times over the last 3 years.  It is still tasting great, with perhaps more apricot & less peach than the 2021.  The producer says that it will last 30 years & I wouldn’t be surprised if it could last even longer.