Best & Worst NFL Week Six

Week six is in the books in the NFL and an interesting week it was. There's a lot to take in from this past week. Philadelphia took a blow with Hurts now being out for the rest of the season. Them and the Cowboys are falling behind the New York Giants, and even they are struggling. Then the AFC North is all having winning records, including one of the biggest surprises being the Cleveland Browns. We also had a couple of players make history, and others still have bounce back performances. With all that being said, lets take a look at some of what was. Here's some of the best, and worst, of the week that was in the NFL.

Best: Patrick Mahomes, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
Move over Brady, you've got company in the record books. Kansas City rolled to a 22-6 win over the Chargers on Sunday, and with that win, Patrick Mahomes went into the record books. The performance itself was solid. Mahomes went 23 of 30 for 272 yards and a pick. The game was won mostly on the back of the running of Kenneth Walker. But for Mahomes, the win was his 100th as a starter in the NFL. It was his 131st career start. It tied him with Tom Brady for the fastest to 100 career wins as NFL starting QB. The only other QB in history to hit 100 wins in under 104 starts was Joe Montana, who's third on the list at 139 starts to 100 wins.

Worst: Backup Quarterbacks
This week, we saw four backup quarterbacks make starts in the league. Yes, you read that correctly. Four backups got starts in the NFL this week. The combined record of those four quarterbacks was 0-4 on the week. We had Jalon Daniels have a roller coaster of a day in just his third NFL start in the Bucs OT loss to the Steelers. Two other backup starters, Tyler Huntley in Baltimore and Jameis Winston of the Giants, have been around longer and had higher expectations. Baltimore was favored to beat Cleveland. But the Browns kept Dereck Henry in check and forced Huntly to create offense, which he wasn't able to do in the Browns win. Winston was so bad in the Giants loss to the Saints he got benched in favor of former Vikings QB JJ McCarthy. Last there was the bad luck to fall on Tanner McKee, who's now got to take over for Janel Hurts who's out for the year in Philly. McKee, who was making his third career start, had to drop back nearly 50 times because the Eagles had no run game.

Best; Travis Hunter, Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Jacksonville Jaguars
Since the NFL merger with the ALF in 1970, there's a very short list of players who have an interception on defense and a touchdown on offense in the same game. In fact, there's only three names on it. Roy Green did it with the Cardinals in 1981. Brian Dawkins did it with the Eagles in 2002. and Now Travis Hunter has done it with the Jaguars this past week. Yes, the Jaguars lost to Houston 34-31, but it wasn't for lack of effort on Hunter's part. Most of Hunter's time in the NFL prior to this year was on the defensive side of the football. Now the Jags are starting to use him more on offense as well. Sunday was a good day on both sides for Hunter, He had three tackles and the pick on defense. On offense, he finished with four catches for 59 yards and that touchdown. That was a day for the ages for the young receiver. If that was what he did this week, he could have a very bright future going forward on both sides in Jacksonville.

Worst: Zachariah Branch, Kick Returner Atlanta Falcons
Special Teams are just as critical in the game of football as offense and defense. When you are a kick returner, your job is to be able to get the ball and set your offense up in good field position. Your main role in during this is being able to hang onto the football. Somebody forgot to tell kick returner Zachariah branch that. His butter fingers moment lead to the Bears walking way with a 31-23 win over the Falcons. He not only muffed a punt on the day, but he also fumbled a ball during a kickoff return. Both of those muffes lead to Bears scores, allowing them to build on a 31-7 lead. Atlanta almost pulled off the comeback, which would have been a miracle in its own rights. But the end of the day, those two mishandles turned out to cost the Falcons the game.

Best: James Cook, Running Back Buffalo Bills
Last week seemed like an off week for Cook, who had two fumbles on the day. Normally he's a lot surer handed than that. So, this week, he needed to have a bounce back game. And he got it. This week, Buffalo walked away with a 33-30 win over the Raiders, and Cook was a solid part of hit. He finished with 22 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown. There was only two guys to hit the hindered or more rush yards this week (Kenneth Walker and Chuba Hubbard). Buu the performance by Cook got him back on his game. Oh, and that touchdown turned out to be the go ahead score in this game. Josh Allen is what makes the Buffalo offense really go, but he needs help for the Bills to go anywhere. Cook showed that he can be that guy to be able to take the pressure off Allen so he doesn't have to be Superman.

Worst: Jim Harbaugh, Head Coach Los Angeles Chargers
Jim Harbaugh has been a winning coach almost everywhere he went. In fact, during his coaching career, between the NFL and College, he's had two seasons in which he's finished at .500 or lower. He went 5-7 at Stanford in 2008 (as well as 2-4 at Michigan in 2020 but that was the Covid year) and 8-8 in his last year in San Francisco in 2014. Otherwise he's had winning records. This year, he's going to have a losing record. The Chargers are now 0-6 on the season, following the 22-6 loss to Kansas City we talked about earlier. It was a poor start to the season, along with injuries taking hold, and it's getting to the point where this is borderline unwatchable. Harbaugh has to take his share of the blame for it. Having Mike McDaniel run that poor offense is on him. It's going to be tough out in Califnoria to watch this team.

Party In Tampa Bay

The party is on in the city of Tampa, Florida! For the third time in their history, the Tampa Bay Rays are playing for a world championship! It took six games to knock off the Cleveland Guardians, but the Rays have won the pennant for the third time in their history. And this one of the three World Series appearances the team has had, could be the sweetest of all.

They haven't won the big one yet, we will know that by Halloween the latest, which is when game seven would be played if the series goes the distance. So we have a little over a week to figure out a champion, and we will have our series preview a little later in the week. But for this writing, just the fact that the Rays are playing in the series is sweet.

Just look at what the team has gone through the last couple of years. This time two years ago, the roof of Tropicana Field wasn't a thing. Hurricanes came through and destroyed the roof of the Trop, causing the Rays to play at Steinbrenner Field last year. And last season was a disappointing one, a year in which the Rays missed the playoffs, and finished seven games under .500.

Then things started to change. Stu Sternberg is finally out as owner. Patrick Zalupski came in and got the team started to straighten out. They got the plans in place for a new ballpark in Tampa. Then the season goes along on the field. it's the first year back at the Trop. They had winning months, or at least .500 months, every month all seasons long. They played good baseball at the right times.

Then the playoffs started. It was a sweep of the Yankees in the divisional round. Then they had to prove themselves in the league championship series. Hit a couple of speedbumps, but the best players had the big moments at the right time. Now here we sit, in the World Series, four possible wins away from a title!

Best & Worst NFL Week Five

Week five has come and gone in the NFL. It started off with the Bucs finally getting off the slide and upsetting the Cowboys for their first win of the season. Jacksonville and Philadelphia turned into a slugfest in London. We had a tie this week too between the Giants and Commanders, a game which looked like nobody wanted to win. There were a ton of good performances on the weekend, and at the same time that really made you scratch your head. So let's get into it. Here's the best, and worst, from week five in the NFL.

Best: Cam Little, Kicker Jacksonville Jaguars
This was a case of getting saved by the skin of your teeth. Jacksonville walked away somehow with a 19-17 win over the Eagles. Cam Little was a big reason for it, but could have also been the goat for it as well. He missed an extra point kick late in the 4th quarter that left the door open for the Eagles. But then, just seconds later, Little got a chance to redeem himself. And He did. The snap on the extra point was too high which is why it was missed. The one on the game winning kick was a little high but it was accurate enough to allow Little to hit the 57 yard kick to win the game for the Jags.

Worst: Nick Sirianni, Head Coach Philadelphia Eagles
Talk about a bad day at the office. This one ties into what we talked about just above. Cam Little left the door wide open for the Eagles, which Philly took advantage of. After the missed extra point, the Eagles came down the field and set up Jake Elliott to hit a 48 yard field goal to put the Eagles up 17-16. Then Sirianni made the baffling decision to give the Jags a returnable kick instead of kicking it away. Jacksonville took the kick back 53 yards, taking the ball all the way down to the Eagles 39 yard line. That lead to the Cam Little kick that we just talked about. Had Sirianni not kicked it right at Ameer Abdullah who returned it to set up the winning kick.

Best: Drake Maye, Quarterback New England Patriots
For a guy who finished second in MVP voting last year, Maye got off to an ice cold start this season. Yeah, Drake found his game again this week, in the Patriots 45-17 dominating win over the Raiders. The stats are impressive. He went 26 of 34 for 374 yards and four touchdowns through the air. He added seven carries for 25 yards and another touchdowns. Those five touchdowns was the second time in his career he's had five in a game. This kind of performance could be a sign that the Patriots found their form from last season. The last two wins over the Bills and this one over the Raiders are signs that they could be back. Maye performance was a big reason for this.

Worst: Tua Tagovailoa, Quarterback Atlanta Falcons
At one point in time, Tua was seen as to be the next face of the Miami Dolphins Quarterback. Now he's fallen so far down the charts he's behind Michael Penix in Atlanta. Falcons lost 30-23 to the Ravens on Sunday and Tua issues at the start of the day lead to some of these issues. Penix had done well at the start of this game, but ended up picking up a rib injury in this tilt, forcing Tua into the game. This would have been his chance to shine and get back into the good graces of the Falcons and show the entire football world that he was that guy again. instead, he telegraphed a pass that the Ravens Kyle Hamilton easily jumped and picked off to seal the win for the Ravens. Yeah, good luck for Tua trying to get back to being king fish in this league again.

Best: David Bailey, Linebacker New York Jets
There were signs that the New York Jets knew what they were doing when they took David Bailey with the 2nd overall pick in this years draft. He had his first big impact game this weekend in the Jets 17-12 win over the Browns. Sure, the over 100 yard games from garret Wilson in the pass game and Baelon Allen 116 yards on the ground were a big plus on offense, but it was Bailey day on the other side of the ball that was just as big a day. Bailey had three sacks and a forced fumble on the day. He had a total of five solo and seven tackles overall. It was a dominating performance and it makes you realize how scary good this kid could be, because he's only 23 years old. He can stay healthy he's going to be really, really good.

Worst: Chicago Bears Offense
On a weekend that was going to be an emotional one for the Bears, there offense went ice cold. Chicago went limp against Green Bay, with the Packers coming away with a 31-7 win. Going into the week, the Bears looked like they might set an NFL record for points scoring. But the Chicago offense scoring just seven points lead to Tyson Bagent getting benched for Case Keenum. It's also worth noting that not having Caleb Williams and Kyle Monangai (who had that big week last week). With everything not clicking, Chicago produced a season low of 246 yards of total offense, and both quarterbacks ended up throwing picks. Those were two of the five turnovers the team had. Yeah it was a bad weekend for Da Bears.

NFL Legend Passes

The Chicago Bears are one of the NFL's oldest franchises, having been around for 106 years. They have had many great names and faces come through that organization in their history. One of the names that comes to mind quickly when the Bears get mentioned is Mike Ditka. Ditka's name will forever be connected to the game, whether it's through his playing days as a tight end, or his coaching days in the Windy City. He had an impact on the game that won't ever be matched. The legend passed away yesterday at the age of 86.

First there was the playing career. He was drafted by the Bears 5th overall in the 1961 NFL draft. Ironically he was also taken 8th overall in the ALF draft the same year by the Houston Oilers, but decided to sign with the Bears. He played with the Bears from 1961 to 1966, then for Philadelphia in 1967 and 1968, and finally in Dallas from 1969-72. His first year in the NFL he had 1,076 receiving yards and 12 TD's, one of only five tight ends in league history to every have those kind of numbers in the same season, the others being Todd Christensen (Raiders 1983), Rob Gronkowski (Patriots 11 and 14), Jimmy Graham (Saints 2013) and Travis Kelce (Chiefs 2022). After his time in Chicago, his reputation for a blocking tight end had grown, as his pass catching days were more in Chicago. He won an NFL championship with the Bears in 1963 and a Super Bowl in Dallas in 1971.

When his playing career ended in Dallas in 1972, he was immediately hired as an Assistant Coach by Tom Landry to stay. He stayed in Dallas as an assistant head coach and special teams coordinator from 1973-81. During that time, Dallas won six division titles and made the playoffs eight total times. Then once Dallas was done, it was onto the head coaching job he became known for in Chicago. During that ten year stretch from 1982 to 1992 Ditka was 106-62 as the Bears coach. During that time, Chicago missed the playoffs three times. The rest of his tenure saw the Bears win one Superbowl and reach the NFC title game twice more. After his time in Chicago he had gone into retirement, before coming back to coach the Saints for three years from 1997 to 1999.

Both is playing and coaching careers were hall of fame worthy. He was officially inducted into the Hall in 1988 as a player, with 427 catches for 5,812 tards and 43 touchdowns, making him the first tight end ever to get induction in the Hall. Once his career on the field was totally done, coaching included, he went into broadcasting and became one of the most valuable talking heads to cover the sport ever. Having done and seen it all in the game, Ditka left a legacy that will forever be remembered. He left a mark on the game that will never be touched.

League Championship Preview

Now we are down to four. The League Championships have arrived in Major League Baseball! On one side we got a team that's looking for its 3rd pennant and first ever world title, playing a team that's looking for its 7th world series appearance. On the other side, one team is the two-time defending league champion, who is taking on a team that's looking to go to the series for the 2nd time in their history.

So lets get into it. here's how we see the League Championships going.

National League Championship
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers
We start it off with the NL Central winning and best record in the National League Milwaukee Brewers taking on the National League West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers come in as the two time defending NL pennant winners, taking on a Brewers team that hasn't been in the Series since their lone appearance in 1982 (When they were still in the American League).

Milwaukee won the Central with a 103-59 record, and they beat the Padres in the divisional round in four games to get here. They take on the Dodgers who won the West with a 100-62 record, and they beat the Braves in four to get here. This is a rematch of last year's NLCS, a series in which the Dodgers swept. This is the 4th meeting between the two teams in the playoffs, with the Dodgers having won the previous three meetings (2018 NLCS, 202 Wild card series and last years NLCS).

This is going to be a heavyweight fight for the NL Pennant. Both teams are evenly matched coming in, so this is a little harder to predict than first thought. The Dodgers hitters had been hot coming into this series, but so has Milwaukee pitching. It has been well know that good pitching always beats good hitting, and this time of year it amplifies that more than any other time of year.

Dodgers will get a couple of games, but the Brewers have been just a step above them all year and this is no different.

Pick: Brewers in 6!

American League Championship
Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays
This one is a battle of the AL Central winning Cleveland Guardians taking on the best team in the AL the East winning Tampa Bay Rays.

Cleveland got here by winning the Central with an 85-77 record, then beat the White Sox in five games in the divisional round. As for the Rays, they won the East and finished with the best record in the AL with a 98-64 record and swept the Yankees in the divisional round. Tampa has been to the series twice, 2008 and 2020. Meanwhile Cleaveland hasn't been to the series since 2016 and have won the AL three times total. This marks the third playoff meeting between the teams, having split the two previous matchups (Rays won the 20134 wild card game, Cleveland won the 2022 wild card game).

This series might not be as hard to predict. Cleveland had to come back from down two games to none against the white sox. They've had to play a little more baseball. That may help them just a tad at the start of the series, given the fact the Rays had a few more off days. But the Ryas have had the better overall team as this season has gone on. The big guys at the top of the lineup haven't slowed down. The role guys have been having moments as the season grew late.

Pick: Rays in 6!

Best & Worst NFL Week Four

We are now a month into the NFL season, and it was a wild ride in week four! We have teams that have been overachieving to this point. Looking at you New York Giants. We also had big weeks from a Bear, a Panther and a Cowboy. At the same time, there were disappointments from Denver, Houston and Washington. All in all, week four provided a wide buffet to choose from. That being said, here's some of the best, and worst, of week four in the NFL.

Best: CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver Dallas Cowboys
There was having a day, then there was this performance. Dallas came away with a 34-30 win over Houston, and it was because of the fantastic day from CeeDee Lamb. He had a career high 17 catches for an awesome 189 yards and a touchdown. This turned out to be a big game for Lamb, who had two games in his entire career that were better than this one. One was 191 yards in Philadelphia (11.5.23) and 227 yards against Detroit (12.30.23). The 189 against Houston was a big emotional boost for Dallas as well. it helped power their record to 2-2. If they had fallen to 1-3 it would have been a rougher go for Dallas going forward. Oh and the only guy who had a better day than Lamb did was Tetairoa McMillan of Carolina who had 192 yards.

Worst: Klint Kubiak, Head Coach Las Vegas Raiders
Vegas came into this game with the same unbeaten record as Kansas City and a first-place spot atop the AFC West on the line. When it ended, they had a loss and fell to second place. Kansas City came away with a 30-27 win, and a lot of that was thanks to the 177 rush yards and two touchdowns from Kenneth Walker. It was coaching decisions that cost Vegas here. Thanks to Matt Gay hitting a field goal on a 4th and 7 to take a 16-10 lead to start the second half, Vegas took a gamble. Kansas City got called for illegal formation and led to a 4th and 2 for Vegas later in the game. Vegas decided to go for it instead of taking the chip shot kick and the points. Kansas City blew the paly up, forcing Cousins to a check down which went nowhere and gave Kansas City back. He also mishandled a 4th and 1 late in the game. Two fourth down mismanaged calls lead to KC coming away with the win. One play he took points off the board when he shouldn't have. Then he had a chance top a field goal when he had a shot to convert on 4th and 1. It was poor play calling.

Best: Kyle Monangai, Running Back Chicago Bears
Have yourself a day young man. Chicago was going in against a Jets defense that hadn't given up a ton of big plays this year. Sunday in a 23-12 loss to the Bears, they did. And a lot of it was thanks to the running of Kyle Monangai. He as the 2nd man on the Bears depth chart at running back, he went to have himself a day. D'Andre Swift fumbled at one point and was limited to just 5 carries because of it. Kyle got more touches and made the most of it. Monangai ended up getting 30 carries for 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Those 146 yards were the second-best running performance in the league this week, behind only the 177 yards from Kenneth Walker III of Kansas City. Those 146 yards for Kyle were his new career high mark. For a second round pick, it was the 2nd time this year he's ran for 100 or more yards. He's really making a name for himself and making it a pretty even balance with him and Swift getting touches.

Worst: Beno Smith, Quarterback New York Jets
We just touched on this above with the Jets loss to the Bears. Sure, Monangai had himself a day, but the Jets defense managed to be able keep the Jets in the game. it was the offense that failed the Jets here. Mostly Geno Smith. What the Jets had seen out of Geno the first three weeks kind of reminded the fans why the Jets took him in the 2nd round and showed flashes that he could be a solid QB. What we saw against the Bears was a different story. To be fair, not having Breece Hall and a solid running game didn't make this day any easier. But Geno didn't show those same flashes we saw the first couple of games. He went just 8 of 15 for 119 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown, which was a 58 yard strike to Isaih Willaims when the game was already out of hand, accounted for a big chunk of his passing yards on the day. Look the Jets weren't expected to be good this season, but if they don't want to look like total garbage, Geno needs to return to the first three weeks form.

Best: Will Reichard, Kicker Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota managed to stay undefeated this week, beating the hapless Dolphins 15-10. In a game that featured a solid performance from TJ Hockenson having 119 yards on 13 catches, he wasn't able to find the endzone. The big story of this day was Will Reichard, the Vikings kicker. He provided all the scoring for Minnesota on this day, going five for five kicking field goals. The longest one of the day was from 50 yards out. Oh yeah, Reichard has accounted for 35 of the Vikings 47 points since week two. And to make this better, he hasn't missed a kick since October of last year. That was having a day and helping keep the Vikings at an unbeaten record.

Worst: Cincinnati Bengals Running Game
It seemed like only one part of the Bengals offensive gameplan decided to show up on Sunday. Cincinnati fell to Jacksonville 22-17, dropping their record to 2-2 on the year. Joe Burrow did all that he could to keep the Bengals in the game. he threw for 428 yards. At the same time he had to throw 54 passes, completing 39 of them. Why is that? Because the Bengals running game did NOTHING. As a team, the had 15 carries for 23 yards. Burrow completed more passes than the Bengals had rush yards. There was barely using the run game, and then there was this. It was total abandoning the run game. There's a lot of potential in Cincinnati to do something this season, but if that is to be realized, they have to use the running game more.

Great Eight Makes His Mark

We all knew this kind of announcement would come. It's just a matter of when. That when is now. Capitals captain and the NHL's all time leading goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, has announced this is it. Ovechkin said that he's retiring at the end of the season, this will be the final year of his career.

Ovechkin put it out on social media today, through the team and in a letter to the fans. The statement reads as follows:

That letter came via the Washington Capitals X account.

When Ovie is done at the end of this season, no matter if its after the regular season or a Capitals playoff run, it has been one hell of a career. Over 900 regular season goals and counting for the former #1 overall pick. He will go down as the greatest goal scorer of this or any generation, until somebody comes along and breaks his records. He's got a cup, his name is all over both the Capitals and NHL record books. His play speaks for itself.

We will have more of a career wrap up for the great eight by the time he finishes his last game. Until then, lets just enjoy this wild last ride.