At one point in time, this award was known as the Buckeye NFLer of the Week. Thanks to a typo and the ensuing LOLsession from the commentariat, it was renamed as the Houndie. Same intent, but now with a better name.
The funk that hung over West Lafayette Satuday, spread to the former Buckeyes on Sunday, making this past weekend one you erase from the memory fairly quickly.
I don't know the exact reason, my guess is for Veteran's Day, but the NFL took a week off from byes, which will resume for the final four teams this weekend.
As it's been the last few weeks, we start down in the 'Nati, where the Bengals were looking for their 6th straight win and the division lead, but once again, the Steelers had a different idea.
For the 8th time in their last 9 meetings at home, the Bengals lost to the Steelers, 24-17. Nate Clements helped the Bengals D with 3 solo stops, while Nugent hit his only FG attempt of 43 yards and connected on both his XP's.
Both Cam Heyward and Will Allen saw action for the Steelers, but neither registered any stats. The Bengals travel to Baltimore this weekend, with the winner tying the idle Steelers for first.
Perhaps the most exciting game of the week was down in Atlanta, where the Saints pulled out the 26-23 OT win. Malcolm Jenkins had an active day, going for 7 solo tackles and an assist, while Will Smith chipped in with a solo stop. The Saints enter their bye week a full game up on Atlanta, as the Falcons host Tennessee this Sunday.
In Indy, Jim Tressel and the Colts fell to 0-10, with a 17-3 loss to Jacksonville. Brian Roboskie wasn't active for the Jaguars, while Anthony Gonzalez once again didn't receive any looks for the Colts. Browns fans, are you ready for a McCoy/Gonzo combo next year?
Someone please explain to me how Tim Tebow is 3-1 as a starter in Denver and has them one game behind the Raiders for the division lead. The kid completes 2 passes, but takes down the Chiefs on the road, 17-10. Donald Washington played, but didn't record any stats and the Chiefs may have lost Matt Cassel for the year.
Down in Miami, the Dolphins won their second straight, a 20-9 win over Washington, but the disappearing act of Brian Hartline continued. Hartline did catch one pass for 6 yards, but that was his first catch in the last 3 games and he has just 3 for 35 yards in the last 4.
One of the surprises on the weekend was the Cardinals going into Philly and taking down the Eagles, 21-17. I was hoping Beanie would have a big day against the Eagles struggling run D and he was given every opportunity to, but the yards weren't there. Wells toted the rock 23 times for 62 yards, with a long of 12 and now has just 82 yards on 33 carries in his last 2 games, putting him 15th in the league.
For the mysterious Eagles, Kurt Coleman lead the way again with 11 tackles, including 8 solos and 1 for a loss. Brian Rolle was active, but didn't record any tackles in the loss.
In Carolina, the Panthers dropped to 2-7 with a 30-3 loss to Tennessee. Chris Gamble had a quiet day tackle wise, making just 1 tackle, but had his second pick of the year, while Jermale Hines made a special teams tackle.
The only silver lining of this weekend for me was the Bears taking down the Lions, 37-13, to pull into a second place tie and put themselves in playoff contention. With the return of Earl Bennett and Sam Hurd recovering from an early season injury, Dane Sanzenbacher's chances have diminished in a hurry.
In fact, I don't know if Dane has received any chances since he dropped an easy pass last week in the first half. He doesn't have a catch in his last 2 games now. For the Lions, Rob Sims started at LG again and Bobby Carpenter added a tackle.
Another great game was out in San Fransisco, where the 49ers imprived to 8-1 with a 27-20 win over the Giants. Defending Houndie winner Jake Ballard had 3 catches for 35 yards, as the Giants let the Cowboys pull to within a game of the division lead.
Meanwhile, San Fran has almost sealed their division up, as Ted Ginn caught 3 passes for 39 yards, while also returning 2 kicks for 55 yards and making his first ever career tackle. I didn't see it, but I'm sure the player fell in front of Teddy and he just had to tap him for the credit. Donte Whitner made 7 legit solo tackles and defended a pass, while Larry Grant made a special teams stop.
In this week's primetime games, the Raiders defeated the Chargers, 24-17 way back on Thursday night. Chimdi Chekwa was active for the Raiders, while TP was not. Chekwa didn't record any stats, but Na'il Diggs returned for the Chargers to register 7 total tackles, 5 of which were solos.
On Sunday, Santonio Holmes finally lead the Jets in receiving, with 6 catches for 93 yards, but the Jets fell to the Patriots, 37-16 at home. The Jets are still only a game behind NE for the division lead, but seem to be one of the more inconsistent teams in the league.
On Monday night, Green Bay stayed perfect by destroying Minnesota, 45-7. Michael Jenkins had 3 catches for 49 yards and Antoine Winfield returned from injury to make 5 solo stops and a sack.
For the Packers, A.J. Hawk was third on the team with 7 total tackles, including one for a loss, while Ryan Pickett added a solo stop.
As you can see, this week wasn't the best for the Houndie, but 11W is proud to present James Lauranaits with his second Houndie of the year. The Rams went into Cleveland and with the help of a bad FG snap, came away with a 13-12 road win, their second on the year.
Little Animal once again lead the Rams D with 10 total tackles, including 6 solo stops and a sack, while also defending a pass. James now has 10 tackles and a sack in 2 of his last 3 games.
We also want to give a special shout-out though to Jake McQuaide, who is still holding down the LS spot in St. Louis. As mentioned, the Browns lost on a bad snap and with the Rams offense struggling this year, every snap is important on FG chances.
