Any given NFL season is often determined by a war of attrition. Teams that can stay the healthiest will often find themselves playoff contenders, while the injury bug can bring otherwise strong teams to their knees. Both the Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings will enter Sunday’s contest without their star running backs, but the Vikings will also be showcasing a quarterback that wasn’t even on the team three weeks ago in Sam Bradford. In addition to that, their starting veteran left tackle, Matt Kalil (you might know his older brother... Ryan? I want to say it is Ryan.) has been placed on Injured Reserve.

Despite all of that... the Minnesota Vikings are a team to be respected and never underestimated. Regardless of their ills, they were able to beat the Green Bay Packers last week in a nail-biter, with Sam Bradford showing out quite well. The Vikings defense is still tough, but they will face the best offensive unit in the NFL this week in Charlotte and some size mismatches they may not be well-equipped to handle.

The Carolina Panthers need to come out and play a good clean football game. Unforced errors last week gifted the 49ers thirteen points, which could have easily been more if not for some solid defensive stands on a short field. They also need to put the distractions currently surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina out of their minds, and focus 100% on the task of winning this football game. Anything less than their best on Sunday could easily result in a hard loss to swallow, because I do believe that on paper, the Carolina Panthers are the better team and certainly the healthier one.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the hot and cold players from last week’s performance who either need to keep the train rolling or step their game up big time.

Weekly Specials

Kelvin Benjamin - Heat Rating: The “Kelvin and Hogs” Pork Nachos Supreme

When Peyton Manning says he’ll “make nachos” there is no way these are the chips he had in mind. You could spend your life searching for the perfect pile of nachos, but you’ll certainly have a hard time finding any like the “Kelvin and Hogs” served up by chef Ricky Proehl. A pile so high, so dense, and so damn good... not even you and a whole 49ers defensive backfield could finish it. The best part? Even the main nacho tower is surrounded by a base of tortilla chips, so even the toppings that are supposed to hit the ground, are just caught by more nachos. Here we see 49ers DB Jimmie Ward enjoying a tower of his own...

... notice that it looks like that big ole ball of porkskin is going to hit the ground, but the Kelvin nachos end up catching it anyway. Jimmie Ward extends his arms in disbelief. What an incredible dish.

Hot Plates

Cam Newton - Heat Rating: The “Moon over my Cammy” Sandwich

Cam Newton sure loves it when the home crowd eggs him on, and he doesn’t mind being a bit of a ham and cheesing it up for the camera. The Panthers signal-caller and all-time franchise great set the record for most passing touchdowns in team history last Sunday at the young age of 27. When the announcement came over the stadium PA, Cam engaged the crowd, urging them to get louder and help him revel in his latest achievement. Beyond all the talent he brings to the field, it is great to see Cam Newton continue to be a bright light for having fun out there, even after a week at Denver where I dare say another team intentionally targeted him to try and make him pay for it. You can’t stop SuperCam... His Happy is better.

Fozzy Whitaker - Heat Rating: The “Wakka Wakka Waffle”

The humble and under-rated waffle, usually relegated to side dish duty, comes front and center here to make a much needed carb-laden splash. After an early exit by Jonathan Stewart, and with Cameron Artis-Payne inactive, Fozzy was asked to step into a feature back role against the 49ers. He battered them to the tune of 100 yards rushing on 16 carries for a fluffy 6.2 yards per carry average. While he did Leggo the Eggo on one fumbly occasion, for the most part the Ketogenic 49ers had a hard time gobbling him up for anything less than big gains.

James Bradberry - Heat Rating: Hashbrowns, Smothered, Covered, Bradberry’d

While Bradberry may be new potatoes, his hashbrowns are perfectly crispy on the outside, loaded with toppings, and never burnt at the edges. It hasn’t been a 100% perfect start for him, but in the game against the 49ers he snagged his first career interception, did well in run support, and stuck close to his man most of the day. While it is true he did give up one touchdown, I think fans and coaches are pretty happy with the 2nd round picks performance so far given that it was just his second NFL game.

Cold Salads

Kony Ealy - Heat Rating: Cold Toast covered in Jam

In what many figured was to be a continuation of his success last year, Ealy has been almost a total non-factor on defense. Ealy has failed thus far to generate much in the way of pressure off the edge, and in general is failing the eye test. He just can’t seem to break off his blocker at the line. Hopefully he is just getting his engine warmed up, because the team is counting on him to be more successful at getting to the passer.

Ted Ginn Jr - Heat Rating: The pancake that didn’t quite flip cleanly, but is otherwise OK

You can’t send it back, because it tastes totally fine... but its kind of ugly. They didn’t really care about the presentation aspect of it when they brought it to you, and on some level that bothers you, but you shrug... pour your syrup, and power through. I can’t help but feel the same way about Ted Ginn’s day against the 49ers. He had a couple of big catches in some key situations, he nearly hauled in an extremely difficult touchdown catch in the end zone, and he had some nice plays in the return game... but that kickoff. The totally botched one. It is just gnawing at me what the heck was running through his head as that was happening... Did he have a senior moment? Maybe we should start calling him Ted Ginn Sr. Either way, it could have led to a total disaster, but instead, the team showed some resilience and put the game away despite it.

Tater’s Gameday Food of the Week

In the spirit of hopefully playing a more clean game than we did last week, and at the request of Walker who called me out in the Monday Morning Optimist, this week we are making...

Bacon Wrapped, Not So Sloppy Joe’s

Ingredients

6 slices THICK cut bacon (can’t emphasize THICK enough)

2 pounds ground sirloin

1 large onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped, reserve the adobo sauce (about 2 tbsp)

1 ⁄ 2 cup grape jelly

⁄ cup grape jelly 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup tomato sauce Salt and pepper to taste

6 Kaiser or Potato rolls

OPTIONAL: Dill Pickle slices, sliced cheese

You will also need a 6 muffin pan, turned upside down and covered in aluminum foil, and a larger edged baking sheet that can fit beneath it to catch the grease.

Directions

Prepare all ingredients as directed above Preheat Oven to 400 F Line the underside of the muffin pan with aluminum foil and place in baking sheet to catch bacon grease Wrap one slice of bacon around each muffin cup, making what looks like a bracelet Cook in oven for about 10 minutes until the bacon holds it shape and is just turning a bit brown and crispy. Do not burn. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with a bit of cooking oil. Once hot, add the ground sirloin and cook for about 4-5 minutes, breaking it up while cooking. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, and cook, stirring every now and then for 3-4 minutes, until the onions and peppers start to get a little tender. In a small mixing bowl, combine the grape jelly, Worcestershire, tomato sauce. Add sauce to skillet and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until the sauce thickens up significantly. You want the sugars in the grape jelly to caramelize a bit and bind the meat mixture together. Remove from heat and allow sauce to further thicken. While meat cools a bit, remove bacon rings from muffin pan, and get another skillet nice and hot (preferably cast iron, if you have it) with a bit of the bacon grease from the baking pan Once pan is hot, place rings in the hot skillet (depending on size, you may need to do 2 batches) narrower side down. Pack the rings with the sloppy joe meat mixture, mashing down into the rings without breaking them. Sear the sloppy joe rings, caramelizing each side for about 90 seconds. Be careful when flipping the rings to do it very quickly. When searing the second side, you can drape your cheese over the top, if you are wanting to go for the full heart-attack. At this point, you should have something resembling a bacon wrapped hamburger, and should be ready to serve it up on a bun with some sliced dill pickle to add just a bit of a zesty cut to offset the sweet sauce.

There you go Panther fans. I hope this is one of the more original and delicious sloppy joe recipes you have seen. It may be more complex than your average Joe, but I guarantee it is worth it for a unique eating experience. Enjoy your lunch, settle in for the game, and as always...

KEEP POUNDING.