September 23, 2024
What a rally by the Rams yesterday against the 49ers! Nothing can be more satisfying for Rams fans to see all those snobby Bay Area Niners fans that wasted their money at SOFI to see them choke the game away. Kyren Williams really stepped up and made some huge plays, scoring three touchdowns for a Rams team that have been ravaged by injuries. In fact, considering both teams were hit hard by injuries, it was a pretty well played game. Matt Stafford is so unbelievably underrated, this game was a reminder of that, and the special teams were the difference. Now instead of being 0-3, the Rams are a much more manageable 1-2 and headed to Chicago next week. They really just have to figure out how to get to the bye week, when hopefully they will get much healthier.
As for the Chargers, they fell to the Steelers on the road, and suddenly they are looking more and more banged up. Justin Herbert came into the game with a high ankle sprain, and reinjured it, so had to come out of the game. Considering the Steelers have been playing elite defense, that’s not a great time to lose your starting quarterback. Even Jim Harbaugh might not be able to change the Bolts bad injury luck. Joey Bosa injured his hip on the first defensive play of the game, and he’s starting to look like Mike Trout in football pads. I won’t be shocked if this guys days are numbers as a Charger when the season is over. The real bummer for the Bolts is that they had a chance to go 3-0, and have to settle for 2-1 with Kansas City coming to town under less than ideal circumstances. Nevertheless, you can only keep your faith in Harbaugh.
Elsewhere around week 3, the Chiefs keep winning football games that are tighter than a Beyonce jumpsuit. The Cowboys lost again, and I haven’t seen them play that bad since last week. Apparently nobody told the Vikings they aren’t supposed to be good because they are 3-0. If Bryce Young’s confidence wasn’t at zero after being benched, then watching Andy Dalton torch the Raiders will. The Dolphins have been losing so many games and quarterbacks, they might need to ask Snowflake if he can take snaps next week. The Packers beat the Titans, but I have no idea how Jordan Love is a week away from playing. It’s like Oral Roberts healed him.
To College Football, where USC lost a tough one to Michigan on Saturday at The Big House. That game was absolutely there for the taking, but some poor play calling, and inability to stop the big plays cost the Trojans. It’s a little disappointing for USC that they couldn’t win a game against a quarterback with a wet noodle for an arm. However, they should feel good about the fact they went on the road in a tough environment, and are showing signs of having a championship level quarterback and defense. I never really thought that Miller Moss could step up the way he has, yet here he is making big time plays in big time games. It’s an adjustment period for USC. They showed they could make those adjustments in the 2nd half, but it wasn’t enough for the win this time. They will continue to get better within these conference matchups, the question is if it will be in time to make the playoff.
As for UCLA, they can actually feel pretty good about being competitive against LSU, despite the loss. This is basically all Bruin fans can hope for right now. To play hard and respectable football every week. For a hot second I thought that the Bruins might pull it off, but LSU just has too much talent for them, even if they are a bit overrated. Overall, the two things that are destroying the Bruins are a lack of a pass rush, and lack of a running game. These are probably two of the most fundamentally critical elements a football team needs to compete in the Big 10, but right now, UCLA doesn’t have the talent in those areas. At some point this season, they will need to give recruits something to feel good about other than NIL money, if they hope to turn it around.
For the love of Touchdown Jesus Marcus Freeman……..please change your quarterback. Every single Notre Dame fan is begging you to not throw this season away, and start Steve Angeli as your quarterback. Riley Leonard just isn’t cutting it. We can all see it. He can run, but he can’t throw. This idea that he might be able to throw is about as meaningful as Uncle Rico telling you he can throw a football over ‘dem mountains. The Irish are up to #16 in the AP, but it’s only a matter of time before they falter again with Leonard as their QB, looking like a very one dimensional football team.
To baseball, where it wasn’t pretty, but the Dodgers took 2 out of 3 from the Rockies over the weekend, and are clinging to a 3 game lead with 6 games left to play. Shohei Ohtani is worth every penny of that $700 million contract, and I don’t care if he ever throws another pitch. His 6-6 game with 10 RBI may be the greatest game ever. He hit a clutch homer to tie it in the 9th yesterday, before Mookie hit a walk-off. And his 50/50 season is something that nobody else has done, and if you come at me with some “Jose Lindor should be MVP because he plays defense” argument you’re a fool. With that being said, the Dodgers starting pitching is in shambles. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is back, but he’s not used to pitching every 5 days. In Japan he was pitching every 6 or 7 days, so he may not always look sharp, like in yesterdays game. Jack Flaherty can strike guys out, but he’s by no means a shutdown pitcher. After that, you gotta just hope for health and effectiveness from Walker Buehler, and perhaps Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw. If the Dodgers are forced to play in the Wild Card round with these guys on short rest, they are toast. I think they can survive a 5-game series against the Brewers or Mets, but I wouldn’t feel great going up against the D’Backs, and most definitely not the Phillies or Padres in a 7-game series where you need arms. The bottom line is if the Dodgers are going to make any noise, they need to hit every night, and their bullpen needs to be lights. Anything less than that and they are going home early.
Finally, for the Angels, if they go 3-3 in their last 6 games, they will have achieved their worst season in franchise history. That’s actually unbelievable considering how bad some of their teams have been in the past, as well as their ownership. However, it just goes to show you just how bad it has become with Arte Moreno. He may not be the worst owner in all of baseball, but he’s damn near close. I really can’t imagine that much is going to change. Is he really going to spend any money this off-season? I doubt it. His pockets aren’t deep enough to outbid the teams that actually spend on talent. However, it’s shameful that teams like the Royals and Tigers can have the player development and scouting in their franchise that can put those teams back in the playoffs multiple times, before the Halos even sniffed a postseason appearance in the last 10 years.