Outstanding Individual Performances on MNF• Monday Night Football is a staple of many schedules every fall but few games match the outstanding performances put forth this past Monday. The New England Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-24 on the back of a scintillating day by quarterback Tom Brady. Brady threw for 517 yards, which is the 4th most since the merger of the AFL and NFL (which is widely considered the beginning of modern football).
• Assisting him in this mark was wide receiver Wes Welker. Welker caught a 15 yard pass and ran all the way to the end zone. The remarkable part of this is that the play started on the opposition’s 1 yard line. This ties the record for the longest play from scrimmage at 99-yards. Obviously this record cannot be broken (as a football field is 100 yards), but this feat has only been accomplished only 11 times. Interestingly enough, one of those times was by quarterback Ron Jaworski, who is now a TV commentator and was commenting on this game.
• Not only did Brady have an astonishing game, but Chad Henne, the Dolphins QB, threw for 416 yards which combined with Brady's total set an NFL all-time record for passing yards in a game. Those weren't the only passing records, check it out here if you want to read about the rest.
• The final record tied was during the other Monday Night game (there are 2 Monday Night games during the first week of the season). The Oakland Raiders defeated the Denver Broncos 23-20 in Denver but the real news was made by Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski who hit a 63-yard field goal, becoming the third player in NFL history to make one from that long. Interestingly enough the second time this mark was achieved was also in Denver (the ball can go farther in the thinner air of the Mile-High City) by Jason Elam. The record was initially set by Tom Dempsey, who had his own aid while kicking the record setter in 1970.
Djokovic wins another major
• Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal on Monday's U.S. Open final, winning his third major of the year. Djokovic has already set a record for winnings in a calendar year with $10.6 million and still has a couple months left to increase that total before the tennis season ends.
• John McEnroe is calling it the greatest season ever and many agree with him. One person who stopped just short of that is his brother, Patrick McEnroe, a tennis analyst who said: “Just as a single season, I think Djokovic’s season is the best since Rod Laver in 1969.” Laver, who the Australian Open's courts are named after, was the last to win all 4 majors in the same calendar year.
• Even though Djokovic lost to Roger Federer in the French Open, what he's done this year is staggering. He's defeated Rafael Nadal 6 times in a row, all in finals, including the shellacking at the U.S. Open where Nadal had only lost a handful of sets over the past 2 years. Facing a deficit in the 5th set against Roger Federer, Djokovic returned a serve hard across the court, narrowly landing the ball inside the line despite the fact that if he'd missed, the match would be over. Federer, one of the greatest tennis players ever, was shaken and eventually lost the match.
• A couple years ago Nadal was seemingly taking the mantel from Federer with Djokovic a distant 3rd. But after this season the demonstrative Serb has put the entire tennis world in his rear view mirror (all while pulling out some funky dance moves).
Wednesday Spotlight: Justin Verlander
• Its one of the most interesting debates in baseball; Should a pitcher be allowed to win the Most Valuable Player award? Individual awards matter more in baseball than perhaps in any of the other sports, and the MVP award is the cream of the crop. There is another award specifically for pitchers called the Cy Young award (named after the man with the most wins as a pitcher). The arguments are plentiful, but generally the MVP is won by a position player and not by a pitcher.
• This year, there is a serious argument for a pitcher to be named an MVP for the first time in almost 20 years. Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers has been on an absolute tear. He has a chance to be the first pitcher to win 25 games in a single season since 1990 on a team that is likely to win their division. Verlander has been unhittable at times this year (literally), and has put the Tigers on his back. One of the things helping him is the fact that the rest of his team isnt really that good, especially the other pitchers, yet his team is probably going to win their division.
• Another factor helping Verlander is the lack of another credible candidate. Many other players have arguments, but without delving into them, all of them have major chinks in the armor. I will not go into the incredible stat line Verlander has put up this year, but if you are curious as to the argument for him winning MVP, you can read it here.
