Latest / Unicorn Football Talk / Reaction: NFL Week 3 + College Week 4
Transcript
- Emily: It is time for us to come back and talk about NFL week three and college week four. I wanted to start by saying this is a weird reaction one for me, maybe for both of us. I was traveling Saturday and unavailable to watch football on Sunday. So it was just not a football weekend for me. I had to catch up on articles that I read or videos that I watched of highlights. So Except for Thursday night and Monday night, I didn't watch any games. What about you, Hilary? Hilary: I had a busy weekend too, Emily, and I'm glad to be back talking with you this week. Saturday, I covered a lot of ground with the college games on Saturday, including a really awful loss by my home team Huskies at home to Minnesota. So that's all I'm gonna say about that. Let's move on. Emily: Yeah, let's move on. I'm sorry. Yeah, we haven't talked about yeah. Okay, moving Hilary: move on. It's all right. Yeah. Emily: on. Let's talk big picture. Let's start with the NFL, looking at the three and and and three teams. the list is a little shorter than last week. The three and teams, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Raiders, the Vikings, and 49ers. I think the Raiders are still the one that's a little bit, huh? That's interesting. Hilary: That's a surprise to me. Emily: it's still early. you know, things could still go south for them, but that's one to watch for sure. The ON3 teams, Dolphins, Titans, Chargers, Texans, and Bucks. I think the highlight ones there are still as of last week, just like last week. The Chargers, Texans, and Bucks. Hilary: I agree. I think I might be done talking about the Chargers. They looked again disjointed, out of sorts. I'm losing faith in that one. Up n up Yeah. Emily: Well, let's hope they keep that streak this weekend. Hilary: Up next for them, the Seahawks and I believe the Broncos Emily: Yes. Hilary: after that. Emily: Yep. Okay. let's look at the quarterback situation in the NFL. Again, it's just been pretty bleak. I I didn't do any digging to compare this year as compared to other years, but it just feels bad. but on the good news, Kyler Murray was back with the Vikings, Sam Darnold was back for the Seahawks, and Michael Penix was back for the Falcons and got them their first win on Thursday night football. Hilary: Yeah, I thought he played really great for his first game back. Emily: Same. All right, out. We got Caleb Williams for the Bears, not for the season, but Case Keenum. Wow, he looked good last night on Monday Night Football. Next man up, did a great job. Jackson Dart out for the season. Jameis Winston in. We'll talk a little bit later about how they're adding to the QB room. And Daniels is still out for the commanders and Marcus Mariota was in last weekend. Hilary: Yeah, and Marcus Mariota did a good job. You know, I think he's probably one of the most seasoned and successful backups in the league right now. Just my take on that. Emily: yeah, I mean Drew Locke looked pretty good for the Seahawks, but yes, Hilary: Yeah, he yes, he did. Emily: he looked pretty good. All right. newly out Baker Mayfield out for a few weeks, and they're getting an undrafted free agent rookie, Jalen Daniel from Kansas, Hilary: Okay, can I jump in with a comment on that here? Baker, he hurt his thumb. Is that right? His thumb or finger. Did he get lucky and sign his contract before the start of the season? You know, there was all that talk about how he was gonna bet on him himself and have the season of a lifetime and stuff. I Emily: Yeah. Hilary: think it's probably probably pretty good he signed beforehand. Emily: Very good. I know. yes, that's what he said, and they're 0-3, and now he's out for a few weeks. So it's not going well in Tampa. All right, let's talk about what caught our eye in college. As I said, I didn't watch any games. but because I circled the old Miss Florida game last week, I was talking about that game. I did check in on that score and see how it went. And boy, boy, Ole Miss got a whooping. wow, they lost 23 to 52 to Florida. I don't know if that's more of a reflection of Florida or Old Miss, but I was kind of wondering if this would be a letdown game. curious to see if they rebound. Hilary: Yeah, and you know, you pointed out something to me when were talking before we jumped on air here that their next game isn't until the tenth of October, so they're going into an off week Yeah. Okay. I watched a lot of college this weekend, and can I just say there is karma in football? Michigan losing to Iowa in the last two seconds because of a clock stoppage. I loved it. Final score 2019. Iowa. The Hawkeyes are four and And because of that win, game day's going to Iowa City for the matchup with Ohio State next week. Go, Hawkeye. Emily: Amazing. Yes, so happy. I think most people were very happy to see that karma. I don't know how often game day shows up at Iowa. So I'm happy for those fans and the school. Hilary: I think it's been a while since Iowa gets the coverage as the host team for game day. Okay. Game I had circled was Oregon versus USC. Oregon 41, USC 27. And I got a little bit of a fun fact on this one. Did you know that Dan Lanning and Lincoln Riley both took over those programs the same year, 2022? Yeah. Emily: No, no I didn't. Hilary: And at the time, Riley had a whole lot more hype. But over that period, Lanning has really been the more successful one in developing Oregon. And it looked like Oregon was in control for most of this game. Even though they played backup Dylan Riola. Who was fantastic by the way? after the injury to Dante Moore in the second quarter. Oregon hung five hundred and four yards on USC and USC still doesn't know like they know how to tackle. Oregon heads to an off week. It's USC versus Washington next Saturday. Emily: Ooh. Is that at home? Hilary: Yeah. Ooh. That is at home for USC. Emily: okay. Hilary: Okay. And then my North Dakota State Bison had the week off. So I'm going to call out the UMass Minutemen who play in the MAC conference. And they started their season with some hype and some notice because they had a huge upset win over Rutgers. And they beat Sack State this last weekend. They're four and Emily: Cool. Hilary: There you go. and okay, one more thing in college football. I don't think we can ignore the fact that this week was a really bad look for college football and sportsmanship. Emily: Yes, it was. I did not watch any of the games, even my Tennessee game. I could only follow the play by play. But I went back and watched the videos of the USC game, the Texas Tennessee game and South Carolina game, each incident. So I guess we should probably expand on that. boy, that hit in the USC game was scary, terrifying. long, long delay to get the Oregon QB off the field. But it was the celebration of the USC player that targeted the organ player Hilary: Yeah. Emily: that was just, I mean, I can kind of forgive the hit if it was a bang bang play or whatever. I won't get into that. But he should have been solemn and concerned and he had none of that. Hilary: Correct. And I the end result of that he was ejected from that game and he received a one game suspension for the targeting call. Emily: Yeah, that was that was shocking. and in the Texas Tennessee game, the Texas player pretending to urinate on the field, or maybe it was on our QB I mean, it's just like I don't know where that comes from. Like I know that's there's some intensity on the field, but come on. Hilary: Yeah, and he got an unsportsmanlike conduct call for that a penalty, is that right? Emily: I would hope so. Yes. That's what I hear. Hilary: Yeah. Yeah. Emily: and then the last one's a South Carolina player punching a player from Alabama. one game suspension from the NCAA and the team I read today has suspended him indefinitely. Hilary: Yeah, I think that's for that penalty and also some on field issues in addition to that call. But I have to say at this point, I think that the South Carolina coach Shane Beamer is showing far more responsibility in leadership than either Sarkeesian or Riley. I I'm not a big celebrations person in general. I think the celebrations should be for the extraordinary play. You scored points. You had the sack. the win at the end, right? But for every single play, for every single pass defended, all that stuff, I'm like, hey, come on, you made a great play, high-five your teammates and move on. I I don't know how you feel about the celebratory stuff, but my last thought on that is honestly, especially with Nil now, and I'm gonna apply this to both college and NFL, you're getting paid to do that job. So you don't get to celebrate for every time you do your job. Emily: I'm I'm with you. emotions are high when you're playing, but I don't like it at all. And I know that we've seen this kind of thing before, but to see some really visible major things like that last week was disappointing. Hilary: I agree. I again I celebrate with your teammates and celebrate the goodness with your teammates, not derogatory towards your opponent. That's where I'm gonna go with that. Emily: and I will add I agree on the coaches. I saw Shane Beamer, you know, just ripping him a new one on the sideline for the punch and I didn't see the same from the other coaches. So Hilary: Yes, and Sark gave a very wandering, meandering press conference kind of sorta saying that Texas doesn't do that kind of thing, but there's been no further comment or disciplinary action on Texas's part that I'm aware of. Emily: Okay, let's move on. let's Hilary: Yeah, move on. Emily: talk about the NFL. I said I didn't see a lot of games, or very few games. So I'm gonna highlight a couple of like noteworthy stories from the last week. JJ McCarthy, QB number three for the Vikings, was traded to the Giants. That was pretty surprising to me. he was the 10th overall pick just two years ago. and The Vikings gave up a fourth and fifth rounder to move up to get him 10th overall. he played a total of 10 games in Minnesota. And there's been only three other quarterbacks in the last 25 years that have played so few games as a first round quarterback pick. Paxton Lynch in 2016 for the Broncos started four games. Trey Lance for the 49ers. started four games and Johnny Manzel started eight games in Cleveland. So it's pretty noteworthy that he fizzled out so quickly and they moved on so quickly. Hilary: Yeah, I think it's really interesting too that even though the Giants were willing to trade for him, they didn't name him the starter. And I'm kind of wondering what first of all, why the Giants reacted that quickly. And then I had a thought come up too is there a little bit of brotherly Harbaugh going on here? I don't know if you remember, but he was coached by Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, and now we've got John Harbaugh at the Giants. I don't know. Just wondering. And J J was the tenth pick in twenty twenty four. He's twenty three years old. I've got some injury concerns. I I I'm not sure how the Giants are gonna play this one out. I I don't I don't know that this was a good choice. Emily: I think that was some good dot connecting there with the Harbaugh reference. I'm sure that had something to do with it. Hilary: Well, we'll see. next man up, right? Emily: Next all right. And then I got just a couple other like note of noteworthy things for the NFL for me. Drake May, I don't know what's going on. He came up second in the MVP voting last year. I remember watching him, luckily live at the Super Bowl thinking MVP. Like he just didn't seem anything special to me. but he's started the first three games with six interceptions, I think, and one touchdown. I don't know if his shoulder is still a thing and either keeping it secret or what, but it'll be really interesting to see where he goes the rest of the season. Hilary: It just seems to me like there's some decision-making regression going on there, too. He's putting the ball in harm's way when he doesn't need to. And great for the Seahawks, but that pass that he made at the end of the game for the Seahawks into the end zone, which ended in the interception, he didn't need to do that, right? Like, Emily: No. Hilary: and I think there were a couple of plays this past Sunday, too, where his choices were were costly to the Patriots. Emily: Okay, we'll see if you can turn it around. all right, Last topic for me. I want to talk about the London game. There's a London game this week. Commanders and Colts. the game has not sold out, or at least as of today when I was reading a story. And the NFL has slashed prices by like at least a third for the lowest ticket. the international fans that paid full price are not super happy about that. but the NFL wants to sell out. And so this man named Andy Burrows was named, I guess, the International Fan of the Year. I've no idea what it takes to be named the International Fan of the Year. He was interviewed by the Associated Press and he was mad about the price slashing because he paid full price and he said. Quote, they don't care about the fans. As long as that place sells out and it looks good on TV, the NFL won't care about us. And I'm not alone. I speak to NFL fans every day. The reason I highlighted this is this is a thread I started pulling on in our state of the NFL when we first launched the podcast. And I come back to this theme a lot with the NFL is that they don't seem to care about fan sentiment. It hasn't really hurt them massively yet, but it's just something I continue to have my eye on. Hilary: Yeah, that's really interesting about the London game because I watched some clips and stuff from the Cowboys versus the Ravens in Brazil, and that was sold-out game with a record-breaking crowd of close to 73,000 fans in Maracana Stadium, which is their historic football soccer stadium. So do you think there's just been too many games in London and there just aren't enough? fans or casual fans who are willing to pay the price. Emily: Yeah, I'm guessing the novelty of the NFL is wearing off in London. And I don't know that European fans are used to paying the prices that we pay. I was thinking about that during the World Cup when the prices were really high over here. That was something we were used to. So yeah, Hilary: Could be. And I want to jump back because moving into that Brazil game, those fans were treated to a heck of a show. That was the Cowboys versus the Ravens. Final score 34 31. Lamar Jackson looked like a star. And I know he's a favorite player for you that you watched during the season. And he showed up and showed out. And quite honestly, the Cowboys looked kind of inept at The end. And I'm just going to give the quick recap. I don't know if you saw this, but there were 14 seconds left, and the Cowboys kicked the tying field goal. Okay. Tied up. now less than 14 seconds left. And for some reason, on the kickoff, they kicked it through the end zone as a touchback. And that brings the ball back out to the 35-yard line for the Ravens. And then they kind of doubled down, I guess, on their mistake, if you're going to call it that. Dallas chose to play man coverage for their defense with seven seconds left. Lamar Jackson to Zay Flowers for 27 yards, took a timeout with one second left, and Tyler Loop kicks the game-winning field goal from 56 yards to win it. So I don't know what happened there for Dallas, but some play calling there and clock management. that was some costly mistakes for them. And By the way, I'm gonna call that a redemption kick for Tyler Loop. I don't know if you remember, but he missed one at the end of last season that in essence ended the Ravens season and they missed the playoffs. Emily: I remember that, yes. I'm happy for him Hilary: Yeah. Emily: that he had that kick and I wish I could have watched the end of that game because yeah, Dallas is a team I root against and Baltimore's a team I root for, and to see them lose in that spectacular fashion would have been really fun. Hilary: Little bit little bit of sports kind hate there is what we're gonna call that. Okay. Emily: Hate. That's that's right. That's a little bit of sports hate. Okay. So let's wrap up Hilary: Okay. Emily: by talking about what we're gonna watch for the weekend. Like what games are we circling? What are we excited about? Let's start with college. And I'm gonna say I haven't circled any game. I looked at the schedule. I will turn on college football, but there wasn't something that jumped out for me. What about you? Hilary: Well, after the beatdown of Ole Miss, I'm gonna tune into the Florida versus Missouri game. Florida is now 4-0 with their new coach, John Summerall. And he's formerly with Tulane. And I didn't know very much about Florida this year. But they seem to kind of be on the sports media darling radar right now with the way they've started their season. I know they have a new transfer in quarterback, but a lot of their roster is the same. There wasn't a huge overhaul from last year. And so I'm wondering what the new coach can do that Billy Napier couldn't. I'm I'm interested enough to tune in and see. Emily: Well, I'm not happy to hear all this because Tennessee and Florida used to have like a rivalry. And in general, I'm just not a Florida fan. So I'm kind of disappointed to hear that they're back on the rise. I'll tune in for that one and hopefully Missouri can pull off the upset. That's what I'll be rooting for. all right, so I saved my picks for the NFL. I think there's some interesting games this week, starting with Thursday night football, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Which is like Cleveland. Why am I interested? Well, Cleveland's two and one. I haven't seen Hilary: Yeah. Emily: either team play this season. and I'm just a little I'm just intrigued. I'm intrigued to see what happens in this game. Hilary: Okay. Okay, I'll give you that one. Emily: All right. the next one, sorry, I'm taking a lot. I'm a I'm a circling four. Dallas, Houston. I I like Houston. I would like to see them get their first win and do me a favor and beat Dallas. Would also be just sweet and awesome. two other games, 49ers, Broncos. Broncos did us a favor and beat the Rams. Can they do it again? We would owe them so much. So please beat the 49ers. And then the last one I'm circling. it's not because I'm a homer, but Chargers Seattle. I think it's a really interesting matchup because the Chargers O and three, I think we all expected more from them and we just came from a pretty tough loss. And so I'm curious to see us bounce back. Hilary: Okay, let's hope so for the Seahawks. I am circling Bengals Jaguars. You know I'm a Joe Burrow Bengals fan. The Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence are on a roll. And I'm I think these teams are actually pretty closely matched up. And I'm interested to see if Cincinnati's improved defense can stop Trevor and the Jacksonville offense. So that's on my radar. Emily: Yeah, that's a good one. All right. Well, thanks for chatting with me about NFL week three plus college. And I'll talk to you next week. Hilary: Yeah, Unicorn Football will be back next week. See ya soon, Emily.