November 1, 2021
Things might actually be looking up for the Lakers. It’s sort of like when you feel bad about yourself, but then there’s always that friend you can talk to that’s living a miserable life and complaining all the time so you feel way better about yourself. That’s how it feels with the Lakers right now. After last night’s win over Houston, they’ve won 4 of their past 5 games. They may be against crummy teams, but that’s ok because they need to bank wins right now while they iron out their chemistry. The same can’t be said for teams like the Nets and Bucks, who are supposed to be title contenders, but they are struggling to start the season as well. Kevin Durant is throwing the ball into the stands in frustration, while Kyrie Irving acts like he’s solving some type of world peace by not getting vaccinated. It’s that type of circus that actually makes the Lakers look semi-normal. Russell Westbrook is slowly getting more comfortable, but more than anything, the Lakers just need to get healthy and stay healthy. That will make us feel much better about things.
Meanwhile, the Clippers are just 1-4 and they are looking for offense the way Kawhi Leonard looks for chicken wings everyday. There’s nobody on the team that is proving reliable offensively other than Paul George. They’ve been held to under 100 points in consecutive games for the first time in 41 games. At this point without Kawhi, I don’t know what is considered success for this team. Is it just staying within striking distance of a playoff spot? Or is it actually being in a playoff spot? Whichever one it is, they need to start getting some wins or else Kawhi might as well take the rest of the season off.
To the NFL, where the Rams destroyed the Texans yesterday, and moved into a 1st place tie with the Arizona Cardinals. It turns out that Sean McVay doesn’t actually hate Robert Woods after all, and is suddenly finding creative ways to use him in the offense again. The Rams must have been drinking in that fourth quarter though, because they gave up 22 unanswered points to the Texans, which was largely because of sloppy special teams play. I’m sure there were gamblers screaming at the top of their lungs when their parlays were wrecked because the Texans scored some garbage points. That’s the life of a gambler. The Rams are no doubt in the mix as one of the best in the NFC, but they’ve got stiff competition from the Bucs, Packers, and Cardinals right now. They’ll also get some stiff competition from the Titans next Sunday night at SOFI, who are a monster to deal with as well. However, reinforcements are on the way, with the Rams trading for Von Miller this morning. Von Miller, Aaron Donald, and Jalen Ramsey on the same defense? Yes please! I have no idea how the Rams still have any picks left to deal, but Les Snead is finding a way. The honeymoon part of the schedule is over, but the Rams should be up for the challenge.
As for the Chargers, they have turned back into the pumpkin we know them as. They lost at home to a very average Patriots team that simply outsmarted them. Now it suddenly feels like teams are starting to figure out Justin Herbert, and it’s costing the Bolts on third downs. Herbert and the coaching staff will need to figure out how to adjust to defenses moving forward, especially as they take away the deep threat, and are content to just give up yards on the ground. This wasn’t some late game choke job like we’ve been seeing over the years, but with the Chiefs struggles right now, the Bolts are blowing a huge opportunity to seize control of the AFC West.
Elsewhere around the NFL in week 8, only Kirk Cousins could lose a game to Cooper Rush, as the Cowboys got by the Vikings on SNF. RIP to my fantasy team and yours if you have Derrick Henry, as well as the Titans season. AJ Green decided to retire on the last play of the game vs the Packers in the Cardinals loss on TNF. The Bengals should be demoted to the CFL after losing to the Jets. Baker Mayfield and the Browns broke Odell Beckham Jr. No wonder the Bears are losing, Justin Fields is out here wearing thong under wear.
USC took down Arizona on Saturday afternoon in a meaningless homecoming game that I’m not sure anybody actually watched. However, the story of the week is the fact Mike Tomlin’s name came up regarding the Trojan head coaching vacancy. Tomlin then scolded reporters like they were 5 years old when he got asked about it. I’m kind of hoping that LSU or USC step up and double his current salary so he has to go back to his wife and explain why he is turning down a college job, especially since he claimed “there is no blank check big enough” to get him to leave the Steelers. I don’t see Mike Tomlin leaving, but the story is pretty hilarious, and so was his reaction. I still think when it’s all said and done, USC is going to be James Franklin’s job, or Luke Fickell’s.
Finally, they still let Chip Kelly coach football? Haven’t we seen enough of this madness already? This is the best product we’ve seen from Chip Kelly at UCLA, and it’s still terrible. In a year where he has plenty of experienced players that he recruited, and where USC is down, they can’t even seize control of the Pac-12 South. They give you moments of optimism, followed by moments where they just look completely unprepared. That’s exactly how it looked over the weekend against Utah. That’s a team they should have handled, and instead they got run over by Utah’s running game. This program might as well be burning money with what they are paying Chip Kelly to lose football games for them. At this point, it looks like the best you’re going to get out of Chip Kelly is an appearance in The Jimmy Kimmel Bowl.
