Welcome to another week of Sportsball. Today our list of extensive coverage of the week 3 NFL season, a week four preview and a final look at our MLB playoff race with MVP predictions in both the NFL and MLB.
Starting off week three of the NFL season on Thursday night was the Jets vs the Patriots. In Aaron Rodgers first home game where his Achilles was not shredded the Jets dismantled the Patriots 24-3. A random stat I would love to highlight is that Aaron Rodgers TD pass to Garret Wilson was the very first one Rodgers has thrown to a former first-round draft pick. It really makes you think what could have been in Green Bay doesn’t it? For reference, even without this help Rodgers won 4 MVP’s and a Super Bowl in Green Bay.
We had two very unexpected teams win as well in week three with those being the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos. The Giants beat the Clevland Browns after an abysmal performance by known women respecter Deshaun Watson in a gross 21-15 victory. The Broncos, after looking horrible the first couple of weeks under Bo Nix surprisingly beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by a resurgent Baker Mayfield, who had a dud of a performance 26-7.
Two of the more commanding wins were led by the Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills, The Vikings, who were expected to be terrible this year are led by failed first-round quarterback Sam Darnold after JJ Mcarthy went down with a season-ending injury and are definitely the most surprising 3-0 team after beating the Super Bowl Darkhorse Texans 34-7. The Bills absolutely demolished the Jacksonville Jaguars 47-10 with Josh Allen looking like an early MVP favorite.
The Titans and the Raiders, two teams without many expectations or exciting players both lost on Sunday. However, the Raiders loss was much, much worse than the Titans. The Raiders lost to the winless Panthers, the worst team in the NFL over the past 3 seasons. The Panthers success can be attributed to the benching of Bryce Young who over his career so far has a sub 60% completion percentage, more interceptions than touchdowns, and a putrid 70 (70!!!) quarterback rating. In his place was the veteran Andy Dalton, who in case anyone forgot is a three-time pro bowler. The Titans lost in a revenge game 30-14 against their former QB Malik Willis who was a Titans draft pick and was traded to the Packers before the season. While Willis is only starting in the place of the injured Jordon Love he has been efficient while leading the Packers to 2 wins in Loves absence.
In a battle of two de facto rookie QB’s (Anthony Richardson only played in 4 games last year) the Colts led by Richardson notched a win over the Bears 21-16 giving them their first win of the year. Another rooking quarterback Jayden Daniels squeaked past the 0-3 Bengals 38-33. Speaking of those Bengals did you know since 1990 only 2.5% of teams to start 0-3 made the playoffs. Now, the Bengals are one of those 2.5% back in 2021 so they have been here before.
Two teams with Superbowl aspirations, the Taylor Swift Chiefs and the Detroit Lions both won on Sunday. The Lions barely scraped by the Cardinals 20-13 behind a strong defensive 4th quarter. The Chiefs had a much more interesting game versus the Big Kirk “Chains” Cousins barely winning 22-17 behind a quite questionable pass interference non-call in the end zone on Kyle Pitts. However in the end none of this matters as Taylor Swifts boyfriend moves to 3-0.
Two of the more sloppy boring games were won by the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles. Starting off the Seahawks flattened the Skylar Thompson-led Miami Dolphins 24-3, the Dolphins are only in this position after a terrifying concussion to Tua Tagoviola that has many in NFL circles calling for his retirement. The Eagles, taking on the Red Hot New Orleans Saints who were red hot through 2 games winning by a combined 70 points, won 15-13 in a sloppy penalty-filled game.
The San Frisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, and the Baltimore Ravens are four of the most well-known teams throughout the country and they all played each other on Sunday. First, the Ravens looked to be walking away from the Cowboys leading 28-3 entering the fourth quarter but almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory giving up 3 touchdowns to eventually win 28-25. Whereas the Ravens held on to win after a fourth-quarter comeback attempt the 49ers were not so lucky losing to the LA Rams 27-24 after giving up 20 points in the second half. Both these teams were missing key contributors, with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp being out for the Rams, and Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samual and Brandon Ayiuk out for the 49ers. This led to some interesting stat lines like Juwan Jennings catching 11 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns. Both these teams have real playoff aspirations entering the year, but the 49ers just made the Superbowl, so they have much more weight on their shoulders than the Rams who are trying ti make it back.
Next, I’m going to highlight three good-looking games for week 4 of the NFL Season. Starting off is the Buffalo Bills versus the Baltimore Ravens. Two MVP candidates in Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are squaring off in Baltimore for Sunday night football hopefully leading to an explosive game. Let us not forget about King Derrick Henry and his 2000-yard rushing season a few years ago, he’s a threat. Next the Minnesota Vikings versus the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings have started 3-0 and the Packers are not far behind at 2-1. The intrigue of this matchup comes down to whether or not Jordon Love is playing due to his knee sprain in week one. This NFC North matchup has the potential for plenty of fireworks with plenty of offensive threats on both sides of the ball. Lastly a classic rivalry game in the NFC South with the Falcons playing the New Orleans Saints in one of their patented rivalry games. This rivalry is currently tied 55-55 with whoever wins this Sunday taking the lead in wins over the lifetime.
Over in the MLB the season ends on Monday the 30th of September with a doubleheader of the Braves versus the Mets with very real playoff implications. Outside of the playoff race is pretty much set. Over in the NL the Phillies and the Dodgers are both going to secure first-round byes in the one and two seeds, with the Brewers following right behind in the 3rd seed. The wild card picture is a bit muddy but the race is very fun right now. It’s a lock that either the NL West or the NL east will have 3 teams competing in the playoffs The Padres are locked in already having cliched a spot but as of right now the Braves Mets and the Diamondbacks are fighting for the last 2 wild card spots leading to some potentially extremely important games on the last day of the MLB season.
Over in the AL the playoff race is a bit more secure with 4 teams having already locked up playoff spots with only the would card and the AL East title remaining. The Yankees and Orioles have both clinched spots in the playoffs, the only thing remaining is whoever wins the AL East title and a first round bye. The wild card has some potential to get interesting with 4 (yes 4) Al central teams competing for the playoffs at the moment with the Kansas City Royals sitting in second and the Detroit Tigers sitting in the final wild card. However, sitting right behind them half a game back is fellow AL central Minnesota twins. This could all lead to quite the exponential conflagrations as the season ends. Finally in a close race between Bobby Witt Jr and Aaron Judge for MVP in the AL, I have to go with Aaron Judge who is putting up a season we haven’t seen since Barry Bonds was sucking down steroids in the early 2000s. Judge is having an absolutely monster season slashing .324/.460/703 with over 140 RBI’s and 57 home runs, along with a 10.6 war season which for comparison is only .5 war behind Babe Ruth’s greatest seasons as a Yankee. This is all going to lead to a tight MVP race for the voters in the AL. Over in the NL there is no race with Shohei Ohtani leading in every measurable way. Ohtani leads in every conceivable category, with one of the biggest being his 50-50 season with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. This has never been accomplished before in history and pretty much guarantees Shoehi winning the MVP.
