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.
Hopefully for most of you, your fantasy playoffs are right around the corner, but if you're like me, they're not and the Buckeye alum are the only thing that keep you watching the NFL.
AJ Hawk got things rolling on Thanksgiving by leading the Packers in tackles with 10, in their 34-12 win over the Lions. Ryan Pickett chipped in with a couple assist, as the Packers have now won 3 straight, creeping back into the NFC playoff race at 7-4.
In the Turkey Day afternoon game, Jay Richardson recorded 3 tackles in Oakland's 24-7 loss to the Cowboys, while his college teammate Kenny Peterson had 1 solo stop and 3 assists in Denver's big 26-6 win over the Giants.
On Sunday, the Panthers took a tough 17-6 loss to the Jets, essentially squashing any potential playoff aspirations. Na'il Diggs registered 4 total tackles and Chris Gamble got his second pick on the year, while adding just a tackle. Gamble now has 39 tackles on the year, which is way off his career high 93 last season.
In Atlanta, Michael Jenkins may want Chris Redman to stick around, as he set season highs with 7 catches for 80 yards in the Falcon's come from behind 20-17 victory over Tampa Bay. Santonio Holmes caught a 33-yard TD in the second quarter, en route to a 6 catch, 74 yard performance in the Steeler's 20-17 OT loss to the Ravens. Holmes now has at least 6 catches in each of the last 4 games and 59 on the year, but his TD on Sunday was his first since week 1.
The 2 receivers down in Miami didn't fare as well, combining for 5 catches for 54 yards. You can't fault them too much though, they do have Chad Henne throwing to them these days. Hartline did reach the end zone for the second time this season, giving the Dolphins a 7-0 lead in the second quarter.
The other offensive rookie, Beanie Wells saw his recent production slip a bit, toting the rock 8 times for 20 yards and catching a pass for another 21 yards. The Cardinals rushed the ball only 20 times in their last second 20-17 loss to the Titans.
Little Animal continued his excellent season, posting another team high 9 tackles, while also recording his first professional sack. JL has moved up to 12th in the NFL with 85 total tackles and if you just take his 75 solo stops, it ranks him 4th in the entire league. He has an outside chance for Rookie of the year, but Brian Cushing (99 Tackles) and Jairus Byrd (8 picks) might have a slight edge.
In the Monday night game, Malcolm Jenkins and Will Smith played major roles in the Saints moving to 11-0, with their 38-17 win over New England. Jenkins lead the Saints with a career high 8 tackles, taking advantage of a banged up secondary and giving him 15 of his 25 tackles in the last 2 games. Will Smith continued his All Pro season with another 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles. Summertime now finds himself 3rd in the league with 10 sacks on the season, just .5 sacks shy of his career high, set back in 2006.
Obviously there were some worthy candidates this week, but one player has returned from injury recently and helped his desperate team win a much needed game. Donte Whitner returned last week after missing 5 of the last 6 games, but put up a modest 2 tackles, this week however, he recorded a team high 10 total tackles, including 7 solo stops and also snagged his first INT since week 2 in Buffalo's 31-14 win over Miami. Whitner's pick came late in the 4th, with the Bills clinging to a 24-14 lead. He returned it 28 yards to the Dolphins 26 yard line and Fred Jackson took it in 3 plays later to seal the victory.
Comments
Good to see Whitner back, one Buckeye I would have loved to see stick around for another year.
Update on the YSU job since I saw it posted on the Good Shizzy and I mention Hazell's name. Hazell is out of the running for the job because he was going to take some OSU assistants with him and Tressel wasn't real happy with him taking that many guys, so he is sticking around in Columbus.
Mark Stoops has until later this week to decide what he wants to do, so if he does go ahead and take it he will not coach in the bowl game.
I know this is an OSU board, but with a guy like Hazell possibly being mentioned, I wanted to clear it up since I am out in the Youngstown area.
Great to see Donte back. As a Bills fan, it's good to see him have this kind of game given the emergence of Jarius Byrd. Seeing a permanent move to FS though, but all in all, very happy for him.
Also loved watching Will Smith put on a show for the Saints last night given his injury last season. Pro Bowler atw. Oh, and I. Hate. The. Patriots. So all the better for me :) Thanks for gettin Jiggy wit it.
I guess I could bore you with all my observations of Buckeyes this weekend (saw everyone but Little Animal play), but I will just leave you with this:
Where the eff was this Brian Hartline last season?
On The Todd's shoulder, sobbing profusely.
If by shoulder you really mean "male appendage" then +1
He also picked off Chad Henne
he was busy dropping balls in the middle of the field while wide open.
Minor typo - its "Jairus Byrd" not Jarius
Thanks Patrick, I guess double checking doesn't work a day after a weekend in Vegas, next time, I'll have to triple check.
When i watched the bills game, i messaged my buddy "I wonder how many different buckeyes have picked off Chad Henne now, cause Whitner just added to the list"
That'd be an interesting trivia fact to know.
Careful, I expressed my feelings about Brian Hartline on here one day and several peopel ripped me a new one. I personally feel like the guy was a crybaby and I'm glad he took off
I don't think it was any of the writers for 11W, we couldn't agree with you more.
Are you and I the same person? I could have sworn that happened to me too. Anyway, screw Hartline.
I think all Carlos Dunlap needs is a stern lecture from Tim Tebow. That'll set him straight.
Does anyone else think Les Miles is a terrible coach? I think the program has gone down hill since he took over. Yea, I know, MNC. But those really were Saban's guys, and Miles has recruited well, but they are real close to being 7-5.
Yea really, dude was a WR but his biggest play was a special teams tackle........
Brian Hartline, straight up wanksta
Sounds familiar. A lot of folks say Tress won the MNC with Coop's recruits and that he can't coach-up his own 4 & 5 stars. I really look for Miles to repace Dick Rod after next season. He'll take the scUM job next time because of the heat he's taking this year. Good coach? Above average.
It was on the first or 2nd houndie I think. I said I didn't care if he got it because I don't even consider him to be a Buckeye because of all the trouble he brought to the locker room last year. Anyway, I thought it would be a popular opinion but I got ripped hard for it.
Yeah but Tressel's teams have been really good. I think people forget about the years after the National Championship and before the Florida debacle. I mean I know there was an Alamo bowl in there, but they had some damn good teams. Even this team is pretty good. He's consistently rebuilt were LSU was bad last year and lucky to have a weak schedule this year.
Yeah, Tress has put some good teams out there, and as much as we've all said it and heard it but that lay off VS UF killed us. That team at the end of the regular season was dominate, and to say otherwise is just moronic. This was supposed to be a down year and yes the offense can be anemic at times but over all he's done a great job considering how young the team is. And a year where his bread and butter(kicking game) was BAD at best.
On a side note, lets go B10 in the ACC/B11 challenge tonight. Hopefully this is the year we finally win.
Did anyone else think that "We Got That B Roll" link in the good shizzy was Brian Rolle related before they clicked on it? I was almost hoping to be B-Rolled again...
heh, that's exactly what i was hoping for. Still funny though
So I'm watching the OSU-Michigan replay on Big Ten Network and noticed we tried to run at the goal line with Jake Stoneburner blocking Brandon Graham. Fucking shoot me.
That was one of the few annoyances of the scUM game for me, Poe. All week long I told anyone who would listen ( all 3 of them ) that we better have a TE and a full back (or SOMEONE) to double-team Graham on every play. Yet he's free near the goal line (the play prior to the screen pass, TD)!?!?!
I honestly don't think it was the amount of time they layoff was, as it was all the players doing the award tours during the layoff. All the schmoozing and eating at awards dinners gave them big heads and fat asses. I just think they were distracted by much more than Florida going into that game. That and oh yeah, 60 days of everyone telling them they were going to kill Florida.