Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Interesting college football spreads this week:
— USC (-5.5) @ Michigan
— Utah @ Oklahoma State (-2)
— Tennessee (-7) @ Oklahoma
— Kansas State (-6.5) @ BYU
— Florida (-6) @ Mississippi State
— Arkansas @ Auburn (-3)
Quote of the Day
“I’ve kind of been in every scenario. I’ve come up as a rookie, I’ve had some success. I’ve been a veteran who’s been more of a leader, and I’ve kind of been a guy who’s struggled with injuries and seen his play decline. I’ve gone through the whole gauntlet of what a player could go through. So I feel like I can understand where all the guys are at mentally and what they’re thinking.”
White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore
Wednesday’s quiz
In the history of the NFL’s Chargers, who caught the most passes?
Tuesday’s quiz
Kirk Cousins played his college football at Michigan State.
Monday’s quiz
In the movie Moneyball, Philip Seymour Hoffman played A’s manager Art Howe.
***************************************
He drove the Falcons 70 yards in six plays, throwing the game-winning TD pass against the Eagles with 0:34 left in a 22-21 Atlanta win in Philadelphia Monday night.
Cousins was 20-29/241 passing, with two TD’s. Very clutch performance
— Miami Dolphins put QB Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) on IR; he is out until at least Week 8- they signed QB Tyler Huntley off of Baltimore’s practice squad.
— There are 16 games on the Week 3 NFL schedule; 10 of the 16 games are AFC-NFC matchups, which seems like a lot. NFL likes to hoard the glitzier divisional games until later in the season, or into their Amazon package.
There are also two Monday night games this week, which is unusual; no idea why, but Jaguars-Bills, Commanders-Bengals are on the docket Monday.
— Weeks 2-6, the Thursday night Amazon NFL game is a divisional rivalry; then in Week 7, it is Denver at New Orleans, Sean Payton’s return to Bourbon Street.
— Carolina Panthers are benching 2nd-year QB Bryce Young, will start veteran Andy Dalton this week in Las Vegas against the Raiders.
Young is 2-16 as an NFL starter; he needs to sit-watch-learn for a while. Carolina hasn’t led in the 4th quarter in any of its last 20 games, the 2nd-longest streak ever.
Dalton is 36 years old, is 83-78-2 as an NFL starter; he started once for Carolina last year. His glory days were with the Bengals, where he played for coach Marvin Lewis, who is now an assistant coach with the Raiders, Carolina’s opponent this week.
— Let’s review the 2023 trade between the Bears/Panthers:
Carolina got:
The #1 pick in the draft- they took QB Bryce Young
Chicago got:
WR DJ Moore
1st round pick in 2023 (OL Darnell Wright)
2nd round pick in 2023 (CB Tyrique Stevenson
2024 1st round pick (QB Caleb Williams)
2025 2nd round pick
Carolina Panthers are owned by hedge fund trader David Tepper, the wealthiest owner in the NFL. Tepper sent the Panthers’ GM packing last year; we’ll see how fast they can clean up the mess that guy left behind.
— Not only are the Tennessee Titans off to an 0-2 start, they’re first team since 2012 to have a punt blocked in each of their first two games. Tennessee is also minus-4 in turnovers; they’ve been outscored 38-7 in the second half of their games.
— Famous birthdays, September 18th
Frankie Avalon, 84
Billy Gambrell, 83
Billy Sims, 69
Ryne Sandberg, 65
Holly Robinson Peete, 60
Toni Kukoc, 56
Jason Sudeikis, 49
Kevin Dotson, 28
Andre Pallante, 26
— From 2005-23, Pitt Panthers trailed 72 games by 10+ points in the 4th quarter; they lost all 72 of those games.
So far this season, Pitt trailed both Cincinnati/West Virginia by 10+ points in the 4th quarter, but won both games, behind QB Eli Holstein, whose thrown for 939 yards in three games.
— In Week 1, Cincinnati was the most popular pick in the Circa survivor pool in Las Vegas; they lost. 4,895 of the 14,206 people in the pool got KO’d when the Bengals lost
In Week 2, Baltimore was the most popular pick; they lost too. 2,304 people got knocked out when the Ravens lost. After two weeks, half the people are out of the pool already.
Handicapping the NFL is difficult; underdogs were 8-7 SU/10-4-1 ATS in Week 2.
— Packers at Tennessee game this week has an unexpected interesting subplot; QB Mailk Willis was a 3rd round pick by the Titans in the 2022 draft, out of Liberty (he had been a backup at Auburn before that).
Willis played in 11 games for the Titans, starting three (1-2); he completed 53% of his passes, with no TD’s, 3 INT’s. He ran the ball 32 times for 144 yards and a TD.
Last month, Willis was traded to Green Bay for a 7th round draft pick; 27 days after the trade, he is starting against his old team. Should be interesting.
— Kansas City Chiefs are bringing back RB Kareem Hunt; he spent the last five years with the Browns, after running for 1,327/824 yards in his first two NFL seasons, with the Chiefs. With Isiah Pacheco out injured for a while, Chiefs needed another RB.
— Astros 4, Padres 3
Jose Altuve fouled a ball off his toe, but the umpire called the ball fair and Altuve was out. He took his shoe/sock off to show the umpire that his toe was hurt— he got ejected.
Josh Hader got four outs for Houston; he never pitched more than an inning for San Diego.
This was San Diego’s 52nd sellout this season.
— Reds 6, Braves 5
Atlanta led 5-1 in 4th inning, 5-2 in 6th inning.
Reds used seven pitchers to get 27 outs.
— Marlins 11, Dodgers 9
Jesus Sanchez was 5-5 with three RBI.
Shohei Ohtani hit his 48th home run.
Dodgers lead in NL West is down to 3.5 games.
— A’s 4, Cubs 3
Shea Langeliers homered twice, has 28 for the season.
A’s were 50-112 last year; they’re 66-86 this year.
— Tigers 3, Royals 1 (10)
Detroit is 24-10 in its last 34 games.
Royals were 56-106 last year; they’re 82-70 this year.
— Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 2
Ezequiel Tovar was 3-5, with two runs, 2 RBI
Arizona lost four of its last five games.
— If the baseball playoffs starter today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Diamonfbacks-Mets
AL: New York, Guardians, Houston. Wild Cards: Orioles-Royals-Twins
Mets lead Atlanta by two games for the last NL playoff spot.
Twins lead Detroit by 1.5 games for the last AL playoff spot.
Interesting college football spreads this week:
— USC (-5.5) @ Michigan
— Utah @ Oklahoma State (-2)
— Tennessee (-7) @ Oklahoma
— Kansas State (-6.5) @ BYU
— Florida (-6) @ Mississippi State
— Arkansas @ Auburn (-3)
Quote of the Day
“I’ve kind of been in every scenario. I’ve come up as a rookie, I’ve had some success. I’ve been a veteran who’s been more of a leader, and I’ve kind of been a guy who’s struggled with injuries and seen his play decline. I’ve gone through the whole gauntlet of what a player could go through. So I feel like I can understand where all the guys are at mentally and what they’re thinking.”
White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore
Wednesday’s quiz
In the history of the NFL’s Chargers, who caught the most passes?
Tuesday’s quiz
Kirk Cousins played his college football at Michigan State.
Monday’s quiz
In the movie Moneyball, Philip Seymour Hoffman played A’s manager Art Howe.
***************************************
Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….
— Falcons 22, Eagles 21- Atlanta QB Kirk Cousins makes $45M a year; Monday night, he showed why he’s worth that much.He drove the Falcons 70 yards in six plays, throwing the game-winning TD pass against the Eagles with 0:34 left in a 22-21 Atlanta win in Philadelphia Monday night.
Cousins was 20-29/241 passing, with two TD’s. Very clutch performance
— Miami Dolphins put QB Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) on IR; he is out until at least Week 8- they signed QB Tyler Huntley off of Baltimore’s practice squad.
— There are 16 games on the Week 3 NFL schedule; 10 of the 16 games are AFC-NFC matchups, which seems like a lot. NFL likes to hoard the glitzier divisional games until later in the season, or into their Amazon package.
There are also two Monday night games this week, which is unusual; no idea why, but Jaguars-Bills, Commanders-Bengals are on the docket Monday.
— Weeks 2-6, the Thursday night Amazon NFL game is a divisional rivalry; then in Week 7, it is Denver at New Orleans, Sean Payton’s return to Bourbon Street.
— Carolina Panthers are benching 2nd-year QB Bryce Young, will start veteran Andy Dalton this week in Las Vegas against the Raiders.
Young is 2-16 as an NFL starter; he needs to sit-watch-learn for a while. Carolina hasn’t led in the 4th quarter in any of its last 20 games, the 2nd-longest streak ever.
Dalton is 36 years old, is 83-78-2 as an NFL starter; he started once for Carolina last year. His glory days were with the Bengals, where he played for coach Marvin Lewis, who is now an assistant coach with the Raiders, Carolina’s opponent this week.
— Let’s review the 2023 trade between the Bears/Panthers:
Carolina got:
The #1 pick in the draft- they took QB Bryce Young
Chicago got:
WR DJ Moore
1st round pick in 2023 (OL Darnell Wright)
2nd round pick in 2023 (CB Tyrique Stevenson
2024 1st round pick (QB Caleb Williams)
2025 2nd round pick
Carolina Panthers are owned by hedge fund trader David Tepper, the wealthiest owner in the NFL. Tepper sent the Panthers’ GM packing last year; we’ll see how fast they can clean up the mess that guy left behind.
— Not only are the Tennessee Titans off to an 0-2 start, they’re first team since 2012 to have a punt blocked in each of their first two games. Tennessee is also minus-4 in turnovers; they’ve been outscored 38-7 in the second half of their games.
— Famous birthdays, September 18th
Frankie Avalon, 84
Billy Gambrell, 83
Billy Sims, 69
Ryne Sandberg, 65
Holly Robinson Peete, 60
Toni Kukoc, 56
Jason Sudeikis, 49
Kevin Dotson, 28
Andre Pallante, 26
— From 2005-23, Pitt Panthers trailed 72 games by 10+ points in the 4th quarter; they lost all 72 of those games.
So far this season, Pitt trailed both Cincinnati/West Virginia by 10+ points in the 4th quarter, but won both games, behind QB Eli Holstein, whose thrown for 939 yards in three games.
— In Week 1, Cincinnati was the most popular pick in the Circa survivor pool in Las Vegas; they lost. 4,895 of the 14,206 people in the pool got KO’d when the Bengals lost
In Week 2, Baltimore was the most popular pick; they lost too. 2,304 people got knocked out when the Ravens lost. After two weeks, half the people are out of the pool already.
Handicapping the NFL is difficult; underdogs were 8-7 SU/10-4-1 ATS in Week 2.
— Packers at Tennessee game this week has an unexpected interesting subplot; QB Mailk Willis was a 3rd round pick by the Titans in the 2022 draft, out of Liberty (he had been a backup at Auburn before that).
Willis played in 11 games for the Titans, starting three (1-2); he completed 53% of his passes, with no TD’s, 3 INT’s. He ran the ball 32 times for 144 yards and a TD.
Last month, Willis was traded to Green Bay for a 7th round draft pick; 27 days after the trade, he is starting against his old team. Should be interesting.
— Kansas City Chiefs are bringing back RB Kareem Hunt; he spent the last five years with the Browns, after running for 1,327/824 yards in his first two NFL seasons, with the Chiefs. With Isiah Pacheco out injured for a while, Chiefs needed another RB.
— Astros 4, Padres 3
Jose Altuve fouled a ball off his toe, but the umpire called the ball fair and Altuve was out. He took his shoe/sock off to show the umpire that his toe was hurt— he got ejected.
Josh Hader got four outs for Houston; he never pitched more than an inning for San Diego.
This was San Diego’s 52nd sellout this season.
— Reds 6, Braves 5
Atlanta led 5-1 in 4th inning, 5-2 in 6th inning.
Reds used seven pitchers to get 27 outs.
— Marlins 11, Dodgers 9
Jesus Sanchez was 5-5 with three RBI.
Shohei Ohtani hit his 48th home run.
Dodgers lead in NL West is down to 3.5 games.
— A’s 4, Cubs 3
Shea Langeliers homered twice, has 28 for the season.
A’s were 50-112 last year; they’re 66-86 this year.
— Tigers 3, Royals 1 (10)
Detroit is 24-10 in its last 34 games.
Royals were 56-106 last year; they’re 82-70 this year.
— Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 2
Ezequiel Tovar was 3-5, with two runs, 2 RBI
Arizona lost four of its last five games.
— If the baseball playoffs starter today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Diamonfbacks-Mets
AL: New York, Guardians, Houston. Wild Cards: Orioles-Royals-Twins
Mets lead Atlanta by two games for the last NL playoff spot.
Twins lead Detroit by 1.5 games for the last AL playoff spot.
