NFL news around the league

With one quarter of the NFL season done, there’s already been some movement around the league and teams are already adjusting to their likely outcome for the season. Let’s go through some of the biggest shake ups in the league thus far through the first five weeks.

First let’s start off with the Carolina Panthers, who fired head coach Matt Rhule in just his third season with the team, Rhule started this year 1-4 and overall Rhule’s time with the organization has been rather disappointing Rhule’s 11-27 record over his three years with the team was unacceptable in the eyes of Panther owner David Temper who hired Rhule out of temple in 2020, the Panthers gave Rhule a seven-year $62 million contract to rebuild the Panthers organization and culture. The new interim head coach for the Panthers will be defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.

Speaking of the Panthers Baker Mayfield will miss at least the next game and potentially a few more games with a high ankle sprain that he suffered and Sundays lost to the San Francisco 49ers, Baker and the Panthers have really struggled this year to get the offense going as Baker has produced one of his worst seasons of his career with a passer rating of 71.9 and a 4-4 touchdown to interception ratio, the Panthers also have one of the worst offenses in the league who are the first five weeks.

Pro bowl linebacker Deion Jones has been traded to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 2024 sixth round, the Browns will receive Jones and a 2024 seventh round pick. This is a great trade for both teams as the Falcons look to retool their defense and gain draft picks while the Browns look to bolster their linebacking core and defense overall. Jones is coming off a shoulder surgery, but still has flashes of stardom when he was playing in 2021 the Browns will owe Jones $1.39 million over the rest of the season while the Falcons now have a $12.14 million dead cap hit in 2023 from this trade.

Recapping the Chiefs Raiders game

The Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas raiders faced off on Monday night football and what a show it was. With these two teams having played well against each other for the last half decade, we all knew this was going to be a shoot out. 

With the Chiefs coming off flat in the first half they really found their groove in the late second quarter and trail the Raiders 10-20 going into halftime, the Raiders in the first half did what they needed to do at the line of scrimmage and get pressure on Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes on every other snap. The Raiders did an excellent job forcing Kansas City in 3rd in long situations, including back to back three and outs and short drives.

The Chiefs completely turned around their second half scoring 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to take a 24 to 20 lead to start the fourth, with both teams not scoring a touchdown in the fourth. This game came down to field position and field goals, With Patrick Mahomes doing spectacular things once again, Mahomes threw four touchdowns and also rushed for 28 yards. The concerning thing is the Chiefs defense gave up over 150 yards to raiders running back Josh Jacobs.

As a Raiders fan, you have to feel awful. As every game you watch the season has come down to the final possession, and all have been one score losses as the Raiders drop to 1-4 their playoff chances are looking slimmer and slimmer after every week. Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams was visually frustrated after the loss and pushed a cameraman, Davante was fined $100,000 and apologized after the game, with tempers getting high and losses piling up this raiders team is potentially one of the most underachieving teams thus far.

NFL Sunday my 3 biggest takeaways

Week five in the NFL was nothing short of spectacular, some underdogs won and some teams are still on fire. Let’s go through my three biggest takeaways from Sunday’s games and why they should or shouldn’t be worried about their season.

        Is the NFC East good? 

With three of the four teams in the NFC East having a 4-1 record or better this division has been one of the most shocking talking points of the season thus far, with the Philadelphia eagles, looking like the best team in the NFL at 5-0 and the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants both being 4-1 this division looks like it’s going to be a top three division in the league this year. Despite the Washington commanders being 1-4 there’s still a very good team weekend and week out. The Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys beating the defending champion Los Angeles Rams. This division will have at least two playoff teams coming out. 

        Surprising teams this season

The NFL has had many surprising teams thus far from the New York Jets to the Seattle Seahawks in many other teams having winning records some other teams in the league have had surprising starts to the year, but not a good ones from the Tampa Bay buccaneers to the Tennessee, Titans, and Indianapolis Colts who have all looked bad on offense, these teams seasons are all circling, the drain rather quickly.

        Rams, Packers in deep trouble 

    The Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams look to be in trouble as both teams are really struggling to start this season, with the Rams and Packers both losing yesterday to NFC East teams the Rams drop to 2-3 and the Packers drop to 3-2 and you may be think they don’t have bad records why are they in trouble? 

Well in the Rams case their offense has looked like a bottom 10 offense in the league as they can’t seem to get any running game going, outside of Cooper Kupp this receiver core looks underwhelming for opposing defenses, leaving all of the offensive load on Matt Stafford and Kupp to make key plays every drive. In the Packers case they also are having offensive struggles especially in the wide receiver room as well, rookies Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs aren’t getting targeted enough cause Aaron Rodgers isn’t comfortable throwing to skill players that aren’t veterans in this league.

NFL Sunday week 5 picks

Today is the best day for a NFL fan, as every Sunday is considered NFL day during the football season. Let’s look at each game in time order being played on Sunday, predict the scores and outcomes. 

    Green Bay Packers vs New York Giants

    When: 9:30 AM ET

    Score: 24-21 Giants win

    Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 31-20 Buffalo wins

    Los Angeles Chargers at Cleveland Browns

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 27-24 Chargers win

    Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 21-17 Jaguars win

    Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 24-14 Vikings win

    Detroit Lions at New England Patriots

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 28-24 Detroit wins

    Seattle Seahawks at New Orleans Saints

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 21-20 Seattle wins

    Miami Dolphins at New York Jets

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 24-20 Miami wins

    Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

    When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 20-17 Tampa wins

Tennessee Titans at Washington Commanders

When: 1:00 PM ET

    Score: 21-20 Commanders win

San Francisco 49ers at Carolina Panthers 

When: 4:05 PM ET

    Score: 24-17 49ers win

Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals 

When: 4:25 PM ET

    Score: 28-21 Cardinals win

Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams

When: 4:25 PM ET

    Score: 20-21 Rams win

Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens

When: 8:20 PM ET

Score: 28-27 Cincinnati wins

NBA GM survey recapped and my thoughts

The NBA released their yearly survey asking all 30 NBA general managers fifty questions including Most valuable player, defensive player of the year, coach of the year, who will come out of each conference…so on and so forth. Let’s go through some of the poll results and give me takes on whether I agree or disagree with the results from the survey. I will put the official survey at the bottom of the article if you’d like to look at all the survey results. 

    Which team will win the 2023 NBA Finals?

1. Milwaukee Bucks – 43% 

2. Golden State Warriors – 25%

3. LA Clippers – 21%

4. Boston Celtics – 11%

My thoughts: Milwaukee should be the overwhelming favorites to win the chip, I believe the Clippers are too high considering injury history to Kawhi and Paul George and whether or not they can stay healthy, Golden State and Boston I agree on where they rank.  

Who will win the 2022-23 Kia MVP?

1. Luka Doncic, Dallas – 48%

2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee – 34%

3. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia – 14%

4. Stephen Curry, Golden State – 3%

My thoughts: I don’t think Luka Doncic should be the overwhelming favorite but he should be number one, I agree with numbers one and two on this list but I think Embiid and Curry should not be on here due to the fact they both can’t seem to stay healthy for 70 of the 82 games. 

Which team made the best overall moves this offseason?

1. Cleveland Cavaliers – 41%

T-2. Minnesota Timberwolves – 17%

T-2. Philadelphia 76ers – 17%

T-2. Utah Jazz – 17%

My thoughts: This list is pretty close to perfect, I don’t think the Timberwolves should be this high on the list due to how much they gave up for Rudy Gobert but overall good list. 

Which one player acquisition will make the biggest impact?

1. Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland – 59%

2. Rudy Gobert, Minnesota – 31%

3. Jalen Brunson, New York – 7%

4. P.J. Tucker, Philadelphia – 3%

My thoughts: My only change with this would be Malcolm Brogdon should at least replace P.J Tucker as Brogdon will make a big impact for the Celtics with ball handling. 

Which team will be most improved in 2021-22?

1. LA Clippers – 41%

T-2. Cleveland Cavaliers – 17%

T-2. New Orleans Pelicans – 17%

4. Minnesota Timberwolves – 10%

My thoughts: I simply agree with the list 

Who will win the 2022-23 Rookie of the Year?

1. Paolo Banchero, Orlando – 79%

2. Keegan Murray, Sacramento – 17%

3. Jabari Smith, Houston – 3%

My thoughts: With Chet Holmgren out for the season it makes sense Paolo is the overwhelming favorite and from what we’ve seen from Keegan Murray in the summer league he should be number two. 

Who is the best defensive player in the NBA?

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee – 48%

2. Draymond Green, Golden State – 24%

3. Rudy Gobert, Minnesota – 10%

My thoughts: This list is perfect, Giannis is the overwhelming favorite as he should be and while Draymond’s defense doesn’t show up in the box score his presence is what makes Golden State as a team way better on the floor. 

Who is the best head coach in the NBA?

1. Erik Spoelstra, Miami – 52%

2. Steve Kerr, Golden State – 22%

T-3. Gregg Popovich, San Antonio – 7%

T-3. Monty Williams, Phoenix – 7%

5. Tyronn Lue, LA Clippers – 5%

    My thoughts: I agree with the list but I would change up where people rank, Erik Spoelstra is by far the best coach in the NBA but Tyronn Lue is way too low on this list, Lue should be top three or at least tied with Greg Popovich and Monty Williams. 

Official GM survey: https://www.nba.com/news/2022-23-gm-survey

Recapping the Broncos, Colts Thursday night game

The Thursday night NFL primetime game of the week was definitely one to forget, looking on social media last night to see how many fans and media members disliked this game and matchup in general. 

The Indianapolis Colts beat the Denver Broncos 12-9 in a battle of the bad offenses, with the game coming down to the last play Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson had a chance to win the game if he threw the ball to a wide open K.J Hamler in the endzone but ended up throwing a pick to Stephon Gilmore when attempting to throw to another receiver, Hamler looked visually frustrated and hit his helmet multiple times off the ground after the play, this Broncos team overall is starting to get very frustrated with Wilson and head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

    Penalties really cost the Broncos last night with their first six third downs all being 3rd and 17, 16, 15, 12, 10 and 7. With the Broncos offense looking this poor between bad coaching and Russell playing subpar this is getting out of hand rather quickly and unless something changes relatively fast this team could be changing up real quick. 

    Like Russell Wilson, the talk around the league is Matt Ryan looking cooked, Ryan has looked good for stretches of games but the overall consensus is the former MVP might be “washed” Ryan in five games this season has eighteen total turnovers including seven interceptions and eleven fumbles, which didn’t help his case last night as matty ice had four more turnovers last night which cost the Colts points. 

At the beginning of the year this was the matchup of the potential two best teams in the AFC but adversity is hitting these teams very hard as both quarterbacks are playing well below their standards and in the Broncos case their head coach looks way over his head and might be looking for a new job in the coming future. The Broncos will look to bounce back against the Chargers as the Colts get back to above .500 and will look to face the Jaguars next week.

Previewing the Broncos, Colts Thursday night game

The Denver Broncos will face the Indianapolis Colts on Amazon Thursday night football for a AFC showdown, these two struggling offenses will fight for an eventual playoff spot at the end of the year as most media members assume both teams will be in the mix. With both teams coming off brutal losses, each team is looking to have a bounce back a week and get in the win column, last week Broncos lost to the now 1-3 Las Vegas Raiders and the Colts losing to the helpless Tennessee Titans. 

        Let’s go through the key matchups for these two teams, and what they can both do to win this game. First, let’s start off with the Denver Broncos, the key for the Broncos to win this game is for Russell Wilson to scramble out of the pocket and force the Colts to have a spy defender and pass on mid yardage routes, with Javonte Williams suffering, a torn ACL, and missing the season. This Broncos offense will have to be more creative with the run game and in the short yardage passing.

        For the Titans, this all comes down to forcing Russell Wilson and the Broncos offense out of the end zone, with the Broncos, being one of the worst red zone offenses this season, this Colts team should definitely look to make Denver take three points instead of seven. The Colts have really  struggled on offense this year, but with key losses on both sides of the ball for the Broncos, with Javonte Williams, Randy Gregory, and others all missing time. This Colts team should work to get back on track and force Denver’s defense to stay on the field for an extended period of time. 

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Tyler Herro, Heat agree to massive extension

Miami Heat star Tyler Herro has agreed to a massive four year $130 million dollar extension that will lock Herro into the Heat organization through the 2026-2027 season. Herro has been a young improving player since being drafted in the first round by the Heat in 2019, Herro has quickly become one of Miami’s biggest stars behind all stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

Herro is the reigning six man of the year averaging 20.7 points, 5 boards and 4 assists in just 32 minutes of action in the regular season. Herro has been steadily improving throughout his time in Miami and has quickly become a solid contributor to this team since entering the bubble during the 2020 season, Herro was a huge part of why the Miami Heat made it all the way to the NBA finals during the bubble in Orlando.

You may have heard of Tyler Herro off the court with some of the things he does while not playing basketball and some would say there are distractions but with Herro’s play getting better and better every year what can Heat fans say? Even though Tyler is a great young star in this league he still has some holes in his game that he needs to improve on like defense, Herro has proven to be a huge defensive liability while he’s on the floor and if Tyler can get to be a average defensive player he has a really high ceiling in this league.

The only other flaw in Herro’s game right now is his play in the playoffs, while in the regular season Herro has averaged 16.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists his stats dip in the playoffs across the board, including a horrendous run in the 2021 playoffs were Herro only averaged 9.3 points on 31% shooting.

Recapping the Rams 49ers Monday night game

Monday night football is always a treat and last night was nothing less than that, with the Los Angeles Rams taking on the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco this has quickly become one of the greatest rivalries in today’s NFL football with Rams head coach Sean McVay and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and once again Shanahan beat McVay.

The San francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams in a convincing 24-9 fashion with the 49ers making some spectacular plays, with niners star receiver Deebo Samuel breaking tackles to bust open a 57 yard catch and Samuel finished with a total of six catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, but the story of this game was the 49ers defense led by defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans who looks like the next great defensive coach in this league and if the 49ers defense keeps looking like this, Ryans could be up for a job in the next coaching cycle next offseason. 

Switching to the Rams, they have to be somewhat worried about this team due to the fact that in the majority of their games thus far the Rams have given up five plus sacks due to losses on the offensive line last offseason with the star center and left tackle departing from the team last offseason, this Rams offensive line looks like it’s in complete shambles. What’s more in shambles than the Rams offensive line you might ask? The offense in general, the Rams last night didn’t score a touchdown and was held to a total of 257 yards last night, between the O-Line, lack of run game and the once a stacked receiver core is now a weakness of the team with only Cooper Kupp being the only reliable wideout on this team. 

The Rams now fall to a disappointing 2-2 while the 49ers are looking good with their 2-2 record.

NFL Sunday my 3 biggest takeaways

Week three in the NFL was nothing short of spectacular, some underdogs won and some teams are still on fire. Let’s go through my three biggest takeaways from Sunday’s games and why they should or shouldn’t be worried about their season.

        Skill positions matter more than ever

      With skill positions mattering more and more in the NFL, particularly wide receivers and quarterbacks, a couple teams have a defined ceiling and it’s very noticeable, first two teams that really stood out were the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers who clearly are very limited at the receiver position and struggling to put up points offensively. The Indianapolis Colts are also the perfect example as to why quarterbacks and receivers are more important than ever with the Colts being so good at all the other positions on both sides of the ball but since they don’t have the quarterback and a truly great number one receiver they have a very defined ceiling. 

      Phili looks like the best team in the NFC 

      The Philadelphia Eagles look head and shoulders above all the NFC teams with beating the Jacksonville Jaguars by eight points, and Jalen hurts looking very good. Thus far, the Eagles look like the best team in the NFC for the fact that there’s no other team in the NFC that looks like they’re on the same level as Philly. The Jags are a very good team this year and the fact that Philadelphia beat them by over a touchdown shows how good this Eagles team is.

      Battle of the AFC beasts 

The best two teams in the AFC faced off in the early 1 o’clock window yesterday, the Buffalo Bills, edged out the Baltimore Ravens, 23-20. With the Bills being down by two scores, going into the second half they really showed that they can win these close games, this isn’t take anything away from the Ravens but the lack of consistency in which the Ravens offense operates, won’t last in the postseason, and we’ve seen that time and time again.