Monday Morning Coffee

That was a big time statement win by the Rams yesterday at SOFI over the Bucs. Matt Stafford continues to look amazing in Sean McVay’s offense, and the defense kept delivering big hit after big hit. Tom Brady hasn’t taken that kind of punishment since Gisele scolded him for not taking out the trash. 3-0 is a very nice start for this team, but one that I’m not terribly surprised at. This team is very good. Whether or not they are a Super Bowl team might depend on whether they can get home field in the playoffs, in a wildly competitive NFC, especially NFC West. I’m sure come November, the Bucs are going to be a lot better as well, and in the mix for home field too. For now, the Rams biggest concern should be San Francisco, who has owned them for the last few years. They won’t have to play them until November, and now the Cardinals and Seahawks are up next.

The Chargers really almost found a way to blow it against the Chiefs.  It turns out Brandon Staley  is actually a mad man, opting to go for a touchdown on 4th down, instead of running the clock down and trying a game winning field goal.  Maybe nobody told him he was playing against Patrick Mahomes.  To be fair though, it’s a bottom line business, he took a gamble, and it paid off.  Of course the Chargers missed that PAT.  Where do the Bolts find these kickers? It’s like they only want to sign kickers who suck.   Justin Herbert is on his way to being a star, and for now, the Bolts are an opportunistic 2-1.  Some of the close games are going their way, but the fact the Chiefs lost the turnover battle 4-0 yet were in it until the last play suggests they might be the better team in the long run.

Elsewhere around week 3 in the NFL, I think I want to see the Raiders and Broncos play a few more games before declaring them elite. They are each 3-0, but the teams they have beaten are a combined 0-9! Cliff Kingsbury thinks he’s playing PlayStation and is attempting 68 yard field goals in the Cardinals win over the Jags.  Only the Lions would lose a game on a 66 yard field goal that bounces in. Ryan Tannehill remembered how to play quarterback in the Titans win over Colts.  Big Ben suddenly has a wet noodle as a throwing arm, as the Steelers got pounded by the Bengals. I guess Aaron Rodgers also isn’t mailing it in anymore, since the Packers took down the 49ers yesterday.

To college football, where USC got dismantled by Oregon State over the weekend.  The last time the Trojans lost to the Beavers at home, JFK was hooking up with Marilyn Monroe.  Donte Williams should probably start cleaning up his LinkedIn profile for his next gig after a blowout like that.  This was another game where the Trojans had way more talent than their opponent, yet they made their opponent look like an NFL team.   That’s how important coaching is in college football, and there is none at USC.  There’s also no tackling, no discipline, and Kedon Slovis is nothing close to a Heisman Trophy candidate that people thought he was.  The good news is that barely anybody was at the Coliseum to watch it, and that will probably be the case for the rest of the season

The Bruins got back in the win column with a win over Stanford.   I don’t know if I would call this an impressive win, but you’ve gotta give Dorian Thompson-Robinson credit for being tough and coming back after a shoulder injury.  He came up with a big 75 yard TD pass.  It still feels like Bruin fans are stinging from their loss to Fresno State last week.  However, they still have a great chance to be an elite Pac-12 Team.  We’ll see if Chip Kelly lives up to thatnhype because this is his last chance as far as most UCLA fans are concerned.

Elsewhere around college football, Notre Dame crushed Wisconsin at Soldier Field.  Brian Kelly became the winningest coach in school History for the Irish, and for him to don it in a game where he needed his backup QB is the most Brian Kelly thing ever.   6 other ranked teams lost, so it’s going to be fun pretending like it’s wide open and someone other than Alabama will win the title this year.  Clemson lost to NC State, and their CFP chances lasted about as long as the rap career of Vanilla Ice.  I think it’s been all downhill for the Tigers since Dabo appeared on Tik Tok.  

Let’s be real….the Dodgers aren’t winning the division.  They had their chances but the Giants win more often than Andrew Friedman updates his computer software.  However, now they should be worried because the St Louis Cardinals might never lose again.  They are hotter than the sun, running away with the 2nd wild card spot in the NL, and suddenly pitching like Greg Maddux is on the mound for them every night.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers offense can disappear on any given night, and so can their defense, which happened over the weekend.  Now their pitching looks vulnerable too, with Scherzer, Buehler, and Kershaw getting knocked around like bowling pins in their last few starts.  Dodger fans might as well be preparing for imminent doom, because most of us can see how this season ends.

Finally for the the Angels, the last few weeks they’ve been fielding a lineup of Uber drivers and Shohei Ohtani.  Joe Maddon basically called out Perry Minasian and Arte Moreno for not spending money on pitching in a very tactful way last week.  However, pitching isn’t all they need.  They need their highest paid players like Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, and Justin Upton, to be healthy and playing at an elite level.  They don’t have enough depth for them not to be.  There is pitching available this off-season, but I still don’t believe the Angels can outspend teams to get it.  They’ll need to get creative or else it will be rinse and repeat for another year.

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