My favorite players of the week were…

Offense

Damon Pierce Texans running back.

I know that 92 of Pierce’s 176 yards on 19 carries came on one play, but I’m not holding that against him!  With Joe Mixon sitting out after the first series, Pierce got an opportunity to show that he has every down back potential.  He did a good job getting the hard yards up the middle against the Titans.

Joe Milton III Patriots quarterback

The Patriots lost by winning.  They slipped from the #1 pick in the draft that they could have traded to a quarterback needy team for a slew of picks down to #4, which won’t have nearly as many options.  On the other hand, they now know that in addition to their franchise rookie quarterback, they have a backup who can be counted on if he has to play.

Milton completed 22 of 29 passes for 241 yards & a touchdown.  He also had a touchdown on the ground & consistently scrambled to set up a pass. PFT credited him with 3 big time throws & named him their rookie of the week.  It was an impressive performance.  The Patriots fan boards are already talking about trading him for a high pick or letting him compete for the starting job.  Neither are likely to happen but knowing that you have 2 solid quarterbacks on rookie contracts frees up money to improve the offensive line & to try & find a #1 receiver.

Bijan Robinson Falcons running back

Robinson showed why he should be an important part of the Falcons plans for next year after they came up short of the playoffs this year.  He had 170 yards on 28 carries, a 6.1-yard average.  He also scored two touchdowns.  92 of his yards came after contact & he forced 9 missed tackles.

Bo Nix, Broncos quarterback

Nix completed 26 of 29 passes for 321 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions for a 152.4 passer rating.  His 89.7% completion rate is the highest single game completion percentage for a rookie in NFL history (minimum 25 attempts).  He also led the team in rushing with 47 yards  in the Broncos’ 38-0 win over Kansas City’s B team.

Justin Herbert, Chargers quarterback

Herbert connected on 28 of 36 passes for 346 yards & 2 touchdowns.  That’s a 77.8% completion rate.  He was also the second leading rusher for the team with 42 yards on 10 carries.

Drake London, Falcons receiver

It’s weird to have 2 members of the losing Falcons on my offensive list, but it had to be done.  Of course, usually when you put up 38 points, you win.  London had 10 catches for 187 & 2 touchdowns in the loss. 

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

On a day where Jared Goff didn’t play his best, Gibbs powered the Lions offense.  He had 139 yards on 23 carries (6 yard average) & scored 3 touchdowns on the ground. He added 5 catches for 31 yards & another touchdown.

 Gibbs has proved that he can be a lead running back as he has carried the load with David Montgomery out the last 3 games.  Montgomery will be back for the playoffs & it will be interesting to see how they divide carries.

Defense

Derek Barnett, Texans defensive end

I’m kind of surprised that Barnett wasn’t the AFC defensive player of the week.  He had a dominant game.  The exclamation point for the game for him was his fumble recovery return for a 36-yard touchdown.  Who doesn’t love to see a 300+ pound guy running for a long touchdown? It was impressive for a number of things.  The first was that when Bryce Oliver muffed the handoff, Barnett hit him & knocked him back so that he could scoop up the ball.  Then he rumbled down the field & broke tackles from several players who had a shot at him.  It looked like he carried Titans receiver Mason Kinsey on his back for the final 12 yards.

That wasn’t all he did in the game.  He had 2 tackles for loss including a sack.  He had 3 quarterback hits.

Micah Parsons, Cowboys linebacker

Parsons has finished the year strong after missing 4 games.  He had 4 pressures & 3 sacks against the Commanders quarterbacks.  He finished the year 5th in sacks with 12 despite playing in fewer games than anyone else in the top 15. 

YaYa Diaby, Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker

Diaby had 5 tackles against the Saints, 4 for loss with 1 sack.  That helped the Bucs beat the Saints & clinch the division.

Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end

Hendrickson had 3.5 sacks on Russel Wilson.  That pushed his total for the year to 17.5 which led the NFL.  Watching that game, I think most people who aren’t Steelers fans would think that the Bengals would have a better chance in the playoffs than the Steelers.

Special teams

Josh Blackwell, Chicago Bears cornerback

Blackwell returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown as the Bears beat the Packers for the first time in years 24-22.  DJ Moore faked returning the ball on the other side of the field & fooled the Packers coverage team.  Someone seems to pull this trick every couple of years & it usually works.

My favorite wine of the week is…

Remo Farina Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso DOC 2019 $27

70% Corvina, 15% Corvinone, 10% Rondinella, 5% Molinara 14% ABV

Valpolicella is a type of wine made in the Valpolicella region near Verona. It is known for the light reds that make up the bulk of the production & for Amarone, a world-class, complex red wine that can be massive, structured, & expensive.  Ripasso versions of Valpolicella are a bit less well known, but can be excellent wines at a much more affordable price.  There’s a reason they are often called “Baby Amarone” or “poor man’s Amarone.”

Here’s the basic production process.  Grapes for Valpolicella are a blend with Corvina usually the primary component.  At harvest, some of the grapes are dried in lofts above the winery for 4 months, sometimes on straw mates.  These grapes are used to make Amarone & Recioto.  In the meantime, the rest of the grapes are pressed as usual & made into basic Valpollicella Classico wine.

At the end of January or first of February the raisinated grapes in the loft are pressed & fermented with grape skins.  After long skin contact for color, the wine is drained & the Amarone or Recioto goes off for oak aging.

The skins still have unfermented sugar in them due to their raisin like nature.  The basic Valpolicella wine is poured in with the skins.  The sugar in the skins starts additional fermentation.  This raises the alcohol & tannins of the wine & provides complex flavors similar to Amarone.  Ripasso means to “review”, or to “go over again” & this second fermentation is the wine going over the fermentation process again.

Once the second fermentation is finished, it is a Ripasso.  In this case the wine spends one year in 50% large Slavonian oak barrels of 20 and 30 hectoliters and 50% in traditional barrique.  The wine has a bit of sweetness, in this case 6 g/l of residual sugar, but the acidity is high enough to keep it from really tasting sweet.  IN this wine, the acidity is 5.6 g/l, making it fairly high for a red wine.

The result is a wine that has the freshness of a Valpolicella with some of the structure & flavor of an Amarone.  It’s generally more expensive than a Valpolicella due to the extra effort required, but it’s much cheaper than an Amarone. 

The Remo Farina Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso is made from 35-year-old vines from the Montecorna Vineyard located in San Pietro in Cariano Province of Verona about 68 miles west of Verona.

The wine is extraordinarily complex showing chocolate, coffee, vanilla, dried herbs, a hint of leather, & deep red fruit, yet retains a fresh crunchy aspect to the fruit.  It’s delicious.  The wine has enough tannin to pair with red meat, but not so much that it overpowers it.

This would be good with stews, or with grilled meat.  It would be an excellent accompaniment to a mushroom-based pasta or risotto dish.  If you like red wine with chocolate (& who doesn’t?), try this with a dark chocolate truffle.