The Houndie: Week 11
The highest honor in the NFL.The Houndie is an award formerly known as the Buckeye NFLer of the Week. After 2 years of existence, we searched for a catchier name, so with the help of a well placed typo and the ensuing 11W comments, the current title was created.
Outright, undisputed champions of the Big Ten. So what if 2 certain Ohio based professional teams failed to live up to their end of the bargain in the most gut wrenching fashions possible? This was a hell of a weekend for Ohio football regardless as an Ohio State victory over Michigan over shadows all else.
Week 11 in the National Football League meant the bye week has come and gone in 2009, and it’s time to buckle down, and play some football (brief aside: have you ever noticed how every professional color guy drops ‘football’ as a positive qualifier atleast a half dozen times per quarter? i.e. “This guy is one heck of a football player!!”, “this young man’s football IQ is just off the charts”, “this kid just knows how to play the game of football.” This football writer digresses). Former tOSU great Nate Clements most notably is still recovering from an injury, but virtually all other notable Buckeye alum were at in an exciting Sunday afternoon and evening of pro ball.
Longtime goat (and not of the greatest of all-time vernacular) Bobby Carpenter continues to play the best season of his young professional career, contributing two solo tackles and one assist in the Cowboys’ dramatic defensive keyed victory over rival Washington 7-6. Former Silver Bullet battery mate A.J. Hawk saw added playing time with Aaron Kampman done for the season, chipping in an identical line of two solo tackles and an assist in the Packers’ more comfortable than it appeared 30-24 victory over the Niners. Packers teammate but Buckeye predecessor Ryan Pickett added a tackle in the effort.
Staying on the defensive side of the ball, Donte Whitner chipped in a modest two tackles in a frustrating 18-15 loss for Buffalo to Jacksonville. Former ally in the Buckeye secondary Malcolm Jenkins had a break out game with his playing time increased due to various injuries. Jenkins had a career high five tackles, an interception, and two assists in New Orleans’ 38-7 demolishing of Tampa Bay. Teammate and fellow former Ohio State great Will Smith continued a great year with two tackles and an assist.
To the skill position players, Cardinals rookie halfback Beanie Wells followed up a career day a week prior by rushing 74 yards on 14 carries, including the decisive touchdown, a hard fought 1 yard effort in a 21-13 victory over division rival St Louis. From a former Steelers coordinator turned head man to the Steelers themselves, defending Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes had himself an afternoon, recording 7 catches for 87 yards in a 27-24 overtime defeat at the hands of Kansas City.
Finally to this week’s runner-up for the most prestigious award in all of sport: while this may sting close to the heart of some 30-40% of our readership, take solace that in the Bengals heart crushing 20-17 defeat at the hands of the Raiders, former Buck Jay Richardson put together one of the most productive afternoons of his career. Richardson totaled six tackles and an assist, not to mention getting in Bengals QB Carson Palmer’s face all afternoon. While Richardson’s performance deserves the obligatory hat tip, the pro-Buckeye baller du jour is none other than Little Animal. JL racked up an absurd 16 tackles in a losing effort for the aforementioned Rams. Aside from one bad angle which resulted in a sizable gain for Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin, the-beast-who-once-occupied-#33 was all over the field on virtually every play for St Louis, showing just why the first year linebacker is a front runner for the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year, an award that would undoubtedly measure close behind his Week 11 Houndie. Don’t ever change, JL.
I couldn’t see from the nfl.com highlights, but was it JL that Beanie ran over on his touchdown?
I wouldn’t say it that way, but essentially yes. There wasn’t anything JL could do from that angle.
Wasn’t necessarily in an embarrassing fashion for JL (I think Beanie got past someone else who really should have made the stop) but it had to be a little strange for both of them.
hehe, and i believe JL got to feel the beanie stiff arm as well in that game. :)
Didn’t Jenkins have an INT as well? Had a few pass breakups too I think.
He did… Completely slipped my mind, thanks.
I had him on my bench for my fantasy team… shoulda started him he had like 22 pts as a defensive player, insane!
Individual defenders is the only way to play fantasy. I cut Malcolm after week 3 :’(
i started john beason… measly 10 points…. lame.
Ironically Charles Woodson single handedly won me a game Michigan week. 22 points FTW
did you throw up in your mouth a little?
RE: the “football” qualifier digression
I hate it when the TV folks say “That was one heck of a football play.”
My personal pet peeve is when they throw out the word “athlete” or its variant “athletic”, as in “this guy is really athletic”. Well duh, he’s a football player for cryin’ out loud! But the worst of all is when they use the absurd term “athleticism”, to describe a play where they could just have easily have said “he’s really fast” or “he can jump really high”. It must make the former jocks feel like they’re intelligent if they use a 5-syllable word in place of a simple 3-word phrase.
my favorite has gone away recently. i love the “football move” conversations.
What about in basketball and football when they say SCORE THE BALL? I hate that.
I’ve never heard that… it sounds really stupid though.
I also hate the term Walk-Off in baseball. So stupid. I’m surprised it hasn’t gone to footbal with over time games like the Walk-Off Field goal against Iowa.
I really enjoy it when when they add the extra syllable to the word athlete (ath -uh- leet).
Bucknut & David: I answered back, sorry for the delay, let me know.
Everyone Else: Need a Buckeye Basketball writer, let me know by commenting back. Football opening undecided until i hear answers from bucknut and david. Basketball gets you a guarenteed spot.
Ian, shoot me an email and let me know the expectations. Sounds like a good time.
are you a basketball writer?
and what’s your email.
If by basketball writer you mean writing about basketball, no. Unless you count carving my name in the middle school bleachers. I do have knowlege of the game, and strong opinions regarding Buckeye hoops, but I honestly was not aware you were looking for a professional. The closest I came to writing was hosting a radio show at Central Michigan. Music does most of the work in that media. Not to mention it was at 2:00 in the morning. I could have made fart noises instead of playing songs and no one would have noticed.
On a side note, I met Charles Macon at the BW3 on CMU campus after he ‘transfered’. What a bummer that guy was. He didn’t even offer me a smoke.
no no, i don’t mean a professional. Just a guy who knows what he’s talking about if he covers basketball for us. Is that what you can do?
I just watched my DVR recording of the USC game. I was at the game and this is the first I could bring myself to watch it. Wish I wouldnt have…how did we loose that game!?!
A lot of people ask that and will for a very long time. But to tell you the truth, even though I was not at that game, I did hear the atmosphere was literally off the wall. I don’t know how good though, like 06 1 vs. 2 good or better? I’ve only been to a spring game there and it was last spring. I honestly would love to see the atmosphere I witnessed on TV again in that stadium. I think its pretty powerful and sends a message to any visitor in our stadium when it gets that loud and hostile. I’d love it if we can have an environment that MEAN at least 1 game a season.
no no, i don’t mean a professional. Just a guy who knows what he’s talking about if he covers basketball for us. Is that what you can do?
i meant steve, sorry