My favorite players the week were…

Offense

Jared Goff Lions quarterback

18 of 18!  Goff only threw 18 passes Monday night, but he made them count, completing all 18 for 292 yards & 2 touchdowns.  It is the first time in NFL history that a quarterback has completed 100% of his passes with more than 10 attempts.

Goff even caught a pass from Amon Ra St. Brown for a touchdown as the Lions put up 42 points on the Seahawks.  Seattle had allowed only 43 points total in their first 3 games.

Derrick Henry Ravens running back

It felt weird to type Ravens after Henry’s name.  He was a Titan for 8 years, but they didn’t bring him back once he hit 30 years old.  The Titans rushing attack hasn’t been terrible.  They are ranked 16^th with 445 yards in 4 games.  Henry leads the league with 480 rushing yards.  After a slow start to the season, he has rushed for 151 & 199 yards over the last 2 games.  On his first carry against the Bills, he took the ball 87 yards & a touchdown.  He ended up with 199 yards on 24 carries along with 10 yards on 3 catches and a receiving touchdown.

Geno Smith Seahawks quarterback

Despite the lopsided score, Smith performed at a high level.  He threw for 395 yards & added another 38 on the ground for 433 yards of total offense.  He had 1 touchdown & 1 interception.

Defense

Aidan Hutchinson Lions

Hutchinson had 9 pressures on Geno Smith.  On those 9 plays Smith went 2-of-6 for 17 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception and a sack.  Part of that was because he was going against a backup tackle (Stone Forsythe), but it’s still impressive.

Troy Andersen Falcons linebacker

Andersen had 17 tackles in the Falcons’ 26-24 win over the Saints.  He also returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown on a day when the offense didn’t score a touchdown.

Special teams

Nick Folk Titans kicker

Folk was perfect on 5 field goals & 2 extra points.  At 39, Folk became the oldest player to make 3 kicks of 50 yards or more in a single game.

Corey Bojorquez Browns punter

Bojorquez punted the ball 84 yards from his 16.  That is the longest punt in the NFL this year.  His average punt was 63 yards with an average net of 50.4 yards.

My favorite wine of the week is…

Famiglia Castellani Vermentino 2022 $14 Toscano IGT        

100% Vermentino 12.5% ABV

For the second week in a row m y wine of the week is an unusual Italian white wine.  This one isn’t unusual because of the grape.  Vermentino is a fairly common grape in Italy.  The complexity for the price was the surprise to me.  This is a simply made wine with complex flavors.  It is fermented at low temperatures in stainless steel to preserve floral aromas.  There’s no aging & it doesn’t appear to have undergone malolactic conversion.

The wine shows the classic lemon & herbal notes of Vermentino.  It also has the expected high acidity.  What I really liked about it was an unexpected smoky character & a nice mineral touch.  The wine has complex flavors of green apple, lemon, herbs, saline, mineral, & smoke.  It seems to linger on the palate for 10 minutes or more. 

If you’re looking for a crisp inexpensive but complex white wine on a hot day (it’s 101 F/38.33C here now), you should give this a try at $14, it’s hard to go wrong.