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.

Best & Worst NFL Week Three

Week three has come and gone in the NFL. It turned into an interesting one for sure. We still have five teams left that are unbeaten, while five more teams are still in search of their first wins of the season. Injuries continue to pile up for quarterbacks around the league. Four other quarterbacks also had monster days, but it was in losing efforts. Dallas can't seem to get out of its own way in the 4th quarter. So lets dive right into it. Here's some of the best, and worst, from week three in the NFL!

Best: Backup Quarterbacks
Being a backup QB in the NFL seems like its a thankless job. You're stuck on the sidelines most weeks hoping to get playing time. Whenever you do, for whatever the reason, you hope to make an impact. Week three, two of them made said impact. Jameis Winston of the Giants and Marcus Mariota of the Commanders are two prime examples of backup QBN's making the most of their time. With Dart out Winston stepped in for the Giants and lead them to a 12-7 win over the Titans. He was 14 of 22 for 1128 yards, no touchdowns and no picks. Sure he was sacked three times, but he held onto the ball and made the right plays when he needed to in order to set up all those field goals. Mariotta was filling in for Daniles in Washingtons 33-31 upset win over Seattle and he was good. 19 of 31 for 183 yards and three touchdowns. He wasn't totally on point but made the big throws when he needed to. Even Case Keenum in Chicago had a big day filling in for Caleb Williams in the Bears 27-7 win over the Eagles.

Worst: Christian Parker, Defensive Coordinator Dallas Cowboys
There had been some hope in Dallas this season that having Parker in as the new defensive coordinator would be able to get the Cowboys back on the right track. Sunday against Baltimore, that didn't happen. Tie game, seven seconds left and Parker called a scheme that somehow left the Ravens best receiver Zay Flowers wide open for a 27 yard completion. Baltimore was able to stop the clock with one second left, plenty of time to kick the game winning field goal in Baltimore 34-31 win. You'd like to think that in a tie game with that little time left you wouldn't give Baltimore a shot to hook up with its best receiver with a chance to win the game. Dallas needs to get its defense figured out going forward, if they want to be able to have a chance of doing anything in this division this season.

Best: Travis Hunter Defensive Back Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville hosted the defending AFC champions on Sunday and came away putting a whooping on them. Jacksonville walked away with a 3507 win at home over New England and had quite a few big performances on the day. One guy who had an impact was Travis Hunter, the two way star who now got more snaps on the defensive side of the ball. He had his first pick in the NFL while making a play in the end zone. He was barley used on defense the first two weeks. now that he got more reps this week, he made an impact. 

Worst: Los Angeles Chargers Offense
There had been some high expectations for the Chargers this season. But seeing them starting the year off going 0-3 is well below that expectation. Now they go into Buffalo on Sunday and face a Bills team that has allowed exactly 31 points in each of its first two games. Buffalo managed to keep the Chargers in check, with the Bills coming away with a 24-16 win. And Mike McDaniel is the one to point the finger at here. This team had every chance to put up big numbers against Buffalo and totally failed to do so. Los Angeles has scored 44 points all season long, third lowest in the NFL (only New England and Miami have scored less). The Chargers kept a Super Bowl hopeful in check but couldn't capitalize on it. This is going to be a bigger uphill climb for the Chargers, as they have to play Seattle, Denver, Kansas City and the Rams over the next month.

Best: Minnesota Vikings Defense
You going into a game on Sunday against a Tampa Bay offense that has been struggling the first couple of games. And the Vikings defense made it worse on Sunday in their 23-16 win in Tampa. They held the Buccaneers in check all day long. They shut down Tampa run game, holding them to 57 rush yards on 21 carries. Oh and they also knocked around Baker Mayfield pretty good, sacking him six times and, sadly, the last one caused him a dislocated thumb. This, according to the Vikings PR department, was the sixth straight week that Minnesota has recorded at least four sacks. They were showing flashes of the old Purple People Eaters that terrorized NFL fields during the late 60s and early 70s.Oh and Minnesota has allowed just 13.7 points a game this season, the second fewest in the NFL this year. That's kind of good.

Worst: Cam Ward Quarterback Tennessee Titans
Even Cam Ward kind of said it himself after the game. He's bad. Those aren't the exact words he's used but we are changing that for the purpose of this article. We touched on it a little earlier with the Giants getting the 12-7 win against the Titans, and Ward had a bad day in this one. Ward went 23 for 36 for just 181 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Ward averaged 5 yards a pass on the day, the second time he's done that this season. The other time was the opening week loss to the Jets. For whatever reason, he isn't very good against the New York teams this year. To be fair, Ward does need a lot of help from his supporting cast, and he isn't getting it. He has gotten good protection from his line. So the play is all on him, and he even said so in the post game. He for whatever reason seems to have taken major steps backwards this season in his progression.

2026 MLB Wild Card Predictions

Postseason baseball has arrived! The 2026 Major League Baseball postseason is getting underway with the wild card round. There's quite a few stories going into this wild card round. Tampa Bay, Cleveland Milwaukee and Los Angeles all got opening round bye, right to the divisional round. Everybody else has to play three game series, if it goes full three games.

It's a marquee matchup in one round with the Sox and Yankees, both Chicago ballclubs have made the playoffs this year, the fourth time ever that's happened (1906, 2008, 2020 and this year). We have another big divisional matchup in the wild card with Atlanta and Philadelphia facing off on the NL side of things.

So here's how we see the wild card series going down,

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves (September 29th-October 1st 2PM start times)
NL East battle between the Braves and Phillies start things off, the 4th time ever both teams have squared off in the post season. Philly had won all three previous meetings. During the regular season, Atlanta won 9 of the 13 meetings. Have to give full credit where its due to the Phillies for being able to even make the playoffs after getting off to a ten game losing streak early in the season and changing managers. Sure they played good ball at the right time at the end of the year, but they are facing a Braves team that had been running the East from wire to wire this year. It will go the full three games but Atlanta has the more balanced lineup to take the series and move on.

Pick: Braves in three!

Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres (September 29th-Ostober 1st 10PM start times)
For the second time ever, the Cubs and Padres square off in the playoffs. San Diego won the first meeting in 1985 and the Cubs won the series last year. During the regular season this year, the Cubs won five of the six meetings, including two of the three games in San Diego. Yes, San Diego had the better record this year and had a great month of September. Chicago had stumbled a little bit going down the stretch which makes one nervous going into it. Even with PCA playing at the MVP level he played at this season, its going to come up short.

Pick: Padres in three!

Chicago White Sox vs. Houston Astros (September 29th-October 1st 5PM start time)
For the third time ever, Houston and Chicago are squaring off. Chicago won the 2005 world series, Houston won the 2021 ALDS. Chicago is one of the feel good stories in baseball. They made the playoffs for the first time since the 2021 series we talked about. This was the first time that the White Sox have had since 2022, and considering the losses they've racked up the last three years this is an awesome story. We all know the playoffs are a totally different animal than the regular season. Houston won the division with a .500 record, while Chicago got in six games over .500. Both teams stumbled a little down the stretch, but its the playoffs and its a different animal. Houston has the deeper playoff experience than this White Sox club, but Chicago is going to make it interesting.

Pick: Astros in three!

Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees (September 29th-October 1st 8PM start times)
One of the oldest rivalries in baseball square off again in the post season. This will be the 7th playoff meeting between the teams. New York won seven of the thirteen meetings between the two during the regular season. This is probably the most even matchup of the playoffs with both teams having no problem being able to drive in runs. What its going to come down to is the pitching staff, and the starters for the Yankees are just disgustingly good.

Pick: Yankees in three!