My favorite players the week were…

Offense

Another week, another argument for paying or at least making a reasonable offer to your elite running back if you have one.  In free agency the Giants let Saquon Barkley leave, the Titans did a farewell video at Derrick Henry’s last game & didn’t make him an offer, & the Raiders let Josh Jacobs leave. Those 3 teams are a combined 7-26 so far this year while the 3 running backs are now on teams that are a collective 24-9.

Saquon Barkley Eagles running back

While the Giants managed 245 total yards of offense & 1 touchdown in an embarrassing loss to the Buccaneers, Barkley set an Eagles record with 255 rushing yards.  That’s the 9th most in NFL history. He ran for 2 long touchdowns, 70 & 72 yards.  He also caught 4 passes for 47 yards.  That made his total 302 yards for the game, the first Eagles player over 300 yards in a game & only the 12th all time.  He leads the league with 1,392 yards rushing.  As a team, the Giants have 1,275 yards rushing.  Maybe paying Daniel Jones instead of Barkley was a mistake.

Derrick Henry Ravens running back

This wasn’t Henry’s best game of the year, but he still had 140 yards on 24 carries for a 5.8 yard average.  He’s up to 1,325 yards for the year, trailing only Barkley & almost 400 yards ahead of Josh Jacobs who is in 3^rd place. 

Defense

Chop Robinson, Dolphins linebacker

Robinson had 28 pass rushing snaps & generated pressure on 10 of them including 2 sacks.  It was against the terrible Patriots offensive line, but that’s still impressive.

Myles Garrett, Brown defensive end

Garrett came up big against the rival Steelers with three sacks and a forced fumble in Cleveland’s upset win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Special teams

The Cowboys/Commanders game might have been the weirdest special teams game I have ever seen.  It had amazing plays, terrible plays, & at least 1 play that looked good, but wasn’t smart.

The teams combined for 2 missed extra points, 2 kickoffs return touchdowns & a blocked punt.  That’s a first in the Super Bowl era.

Brandon Aubrey had only missed 2 field goals all season before Sunday.  He was 24 of 26 which is a 92% rate.  Sunday, he shanked one kick & had another blocked.

KaVontae Turpin had a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after bobbling the ball near his own endzone.

Austin Seibert missed an extra point that would have tied the score in the final minute, forcing the Commanders to try an onside kick.  Siebert had missed the last 2 games with a hip injury, so he was struggling.  He missed one field goal but made 2 others including a 51 yarder in the 4^th quarter.

Junayeh Thomas fielded the onside kick on the hop & returned it 43 yards for a touchdown with 14 seconds left.  That meant that the Cowboys had to kickoff & the way the game had gone, there was a chance it could have been returned for a touchdown.  Thomas should have gone to the ground near the goal line & the Cowboys would have kneeled for the victory.  It’s hard to pass up an easy touchdown though.

KaVontae Turpin, Cowboys wide receiver

His 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown is the kind of play that will live on YouTube & ANFL Network forever.  It was dazzling.  It wasn’t his only good return though.  On 4 returns Turpin managed 179 yards including the touchdown.  He repeatedly gave the Cowboys good field position.  He also caught a pass for 8 yards.  If the Cowboys can get him the ball in space, he is hard to stop.

Wil Lutz, Broncos Kicker

Lutz was 5 of 5 on field goals with 2 over 50 yards.  He also converted both of his extra point attempts.

Coby Bryant, Seahawks safety

Bryant had 6 tackles in the game, but his biggest moment was intercepting Kyler Murray & returning the ball 69 yards for the game clinching touchdown.

My favorite wine of the week is…

Yalumba Antique Tawny Barossa Valley $25 for a 375ml bottle

Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Touriga Nacionale, Tinta Cao, Tinta Molle and Muscadelle 19% ABV

Barbaresco & Barolo in the Piemonte (or Piedmont) region of Northwest Italy are undisputedly the best growing regions for Nebbiolo in the world.  Gaja, founded in 1859, is one of the best producers in the region.

Australia has a long history of making Port style wines.  For years they were labeled as Port & the last time I checked the Wine.com website, this wine was listed as Yalumba Antique Tawny Port.  It isn’t Port of course because it isn’t from Portugal.  It also isn’t made from only the classic Port varietals.  That might be one of the reasons I like it so much though.  The Shiraz & Grenache add additional complexity to the blend.

Australia was originally planted primarily with grapes common to France.  Yalumba made a version of this wine originally with Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Muscadelle. Beginning in 1985, they began to add classic grape varietals Touriga Nacionale, Tinta Cao and Tinta Molle to the blend.

There are some similarities and differences from Port in production.  Grapes are fermented on skins for several days, whereas Port tends to ferment for only 36-48 hours before fortification.  One key similarity is that fortification is done with brandy.  This gives the wine some of the brown sugar note that is almost a signature of Port as opposed to fortified wines made with higher alcohol percentage neutral spirits.

The wine is then aged for some time in small older oak barrels.  When deemed ready, the wine is blended with older aged wine in large format hogsheads and barriques.  The wine spends 12 years on average where it develops complex flavors & aromas.

There was a distinct aroma of roses when I first smelled the wine.  On the palate there was that classic brown sugar note along with more roses, red fruit, spice, hazelnut, walnut, crème brûlée, a hint of chocolate & some light oak.  The wine is sweet with 198 g/l of residual sugar, but it doesn’t taste syrupy.  It has 6.4 g/l of acidity to balance that sweetness.  It has weight but seems just a bit lighter than most Tawny Ports except for the extremely old examples.  The wine has an extremely long finish that isn’t cloying, but pleasantly lingers on the palate.

This would be a perfect dessert wine to accompany all of the holiday pieces and cakes that are coming.  I think it would be killer with a pecan pie.