Week 4: Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

By Ross Mazin

Oh boy is this gonna be an interesting game. Two teams that are usually favorites to reach the Super Bowl. The Bucs and the Chiefs it really doesn’t get much better than this. Brady vs Mahomes. This will be the sixth time the two quarterbacks are playing against each other Brady holds the edge 3-2 including Super Bowl 55 which saw the Bucs beat the Chiefs 31-9. 

Let’s dive headfirst with the visitors in the Kansas City Chiefs. They’re coming off an ugly loss at Indianapolis 20-17. Patrick Mahomes was 20/35  for 262 yards. He had one touchdown and one interception. Through three games Mahomes has thrown for eight touchdowns and just one interception. With Tyreek Hill now in Miami, Travis Kelce has become the go-to guy for Mahomes. Kelce through three games has 17 receptions for 230 yards and two touchdowns. With Kicker Harrison Butker out, Matt Ammendola missed a field goal and an extra point in the loss. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They’re coming off a loss at home against Green Bay 14-12. Tom Brady was 31/42 for 271 yards and a touchdown. The Bucs were down their top three receivers in the loss with Julio Jones and Chris Godwin both injured and Mike Evans serving a one game suspension due to a fight in the game against the Saints. Through three games the Bucs are averaging 17.0 points per game. The Bucs defense has been great to start the season. Devin White has three of the team’s 11 sacks, Jamel Dean has two of the team’s five interceptions. Plus the defense hasn’t given up more than 14 points in a game yet. 

Both teams this week are looking to bounce back after ugly losses. I feel that Mahomes will be the better quarterback this weekend.

My prediction is Chiefs 35- Buccaneers 10

Week 4: New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers 

By : Ross Mazin

The Steelers take on the Jets this Sunday in Pittsburgh. The Jets are coming off an ugly loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Steelers are coming off an ugly defeat to the Cleveland Browns last week. This is the matchup of the young quarterbacks in Zach Wilson and Mitch Trubisky. 

Let’s start with the New York Jets. They are coming off an ugly loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Flacco was 28 for 52,  threw for 285 yards and two interceptions. But the Jets are getting former number two overall pick Zach Wilson back. Wilson hurt his knee during preseason. Last year in 13 games Wilson had a 55.6 completion percentage, 2,334 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He added four rushing touchdowns. With all of the additions the Jets have made on offense they need their second year quarterback to take a step forward.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a disappointing loss against the Cleveland Browns last week. Mitch Trubisky was 20 -32 for 207 yards and had a rushing touchdown. The Steelers had a really good win in week one over the Bengals, but have dropped their last two games against the Patriots and Browns. Head Coach Mike Tomlin has continuously said Trubisky is the starter, but how long is the leash? The Steelers defense will be without TJ Watt who is still suffering from a pec injury. 

I hope for a very exciting matchup this weekend as I will be there in person.

Prediction : Jets : 23 –  Steelers:  10

Brewing Hade

By : Mike Rifkin

On August first, the Milwaukee Brewers led the NL Central by three games over the St. Louis Cardinals. On Tuesday the Brewers lost to the Cardinals, in which the Cardinals clinched the NL Central. Now the only way Milwaukee can make the playoffs for a fifth straight season is by getting to the third wild card spot in which they are currently 2.5 games behind the Phillies. 

When baseball came back from the lockout, the league pushed the trade deadline back a few days. One of the major moves made was when the Brewers traded All Star Closer Josh Hader to the San Diego Padres for Padres closer Taylor Rogers, Reliever Dinelson Lament and two prospects. Hader is a free agent after next season and has had his struggles for both Milwaukee and San Diego but he is still an elite closer. Now if the Brewers were to shop him during the offseason that would make sense, or if the Brewers weren’t a contender this season. Rogers has a 5.91 ERA since joining Milwaukee and an 8.10 ERA in September. Rogers has given up six home runs in 21.1 innings pitched since joining the Brewers compared to one in 41.1 innings pitched for the Padres. Lament was placed on waivers after the trade and claimed by the Rockies. 

Now I understand that certain teams have to operate in a certain way when it comes to paying players. The Brewers thought with Devin Williams and Rogers their backend of the bullpen would still be solid. But the message it sends throughout the clubhouse is not a good one and why should players trust the front office to make the right move. I’m not saying the Cardinals wouldn’t have overtaken the Brewers with Hader but they were more fearsome with him and now there is a chance the Brewers miss the playoffs entirely. Then the blame game will begin.

Welcome To The Jungle

By : Mike Rifkin

On Thursday night the Miami Dolphins will put their 3-0 record on the line as they take on the reigning AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals. This is the first time that Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa are playing each other in the NFL. Both quarterbacks were in selected in the top five of the 2020 draft. In 2019 one of the best College Football games featured these two quarterbacks when LSU defeated Alabama 46-41. Joe Burrow threw for 393 yards and three touchdowns in the victory while Tua threw for 418 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. 

The Dolphins are coming off a 21-19 victory over division rival Buffalo. The win was the Dolphins first over the Bills in their last eight meetings. One of the keys to the victory over Buffalo was the pressure the Dolphins defense had. They had four sacks but were in Allen’s face throughout the game. One area the Bengals have struggled is protecting Joe Burrow.

The reigning AFC champs are coming off their first win of the season, a 27-12 win over the New York Jets. Joe Burrow threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns .The Bengals defense sacked Joe Flacco four times and forced four turnovers. 

Both teams have very dynamic receivers, so whoever limits the amount of big plays down the field might be the key to the game. Two of the best teams in the AFC will duke it out on prime time.

Here Come The Mariners

By : Mike Rifkin

The Seattle Mariners currently hold the third Wild Card spot in the American League looking to break the longest current playoff drought in the four major sports. The Mariners have not made the playoffs since 2001. But the Mariners have made moves where they are thinking in the long term, not just about 2022.

Over the weekend the Mariners announced they have signed starter Luis Castillo to a five year 108 million dollar contract extension. Since the Mariners acquired Castillo from the Reds at the trade deadline he has a 3-2 record with a 3.34 ERA. Adding Castillo to a rotation that added last year’s CY Young Award winner Robbie Ray who signed a five year 115 million dollar contract over the winter. Ray is 12-10 with a 3.60 ERA and is currently eighth in the AL with 201 strikeouts. The Mariners rotation then fills out with young pitchers Logan Gilbert and George Kirby. Gilbert leads the team with 13 wins and a 3.29 ERA. Gilbert also has 170 strikeouts. Kirby in his rookie season has seven wins, a 3.30 ERA and 124 strikeouts. 

Offensively the Mariners are led by AL Rookie Of The Year frontrunner Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez has 27 home runs, 73 RBI, 25 stolen bases, and a slash line of .280/.342/.502. Earlier this season Seattle signed Rodriguez to a massive 12 year contract extension worth 210 million dollars, but with incentives could be even more money. The Mariners are currently 10th in MLB in home runs with 184. Led by Eugenio Suarez who like Castillo was acquired from the Reds leads the team with 31. The Mariners have six players currently who have double digit home runs and a few who are right there. 

With the rotation that is signed long term and an offense that can mash. Overall the Mariners have a young nucleus and are starting to make waves in the American League. Don’t be surprised to see a World Series take place in Seattle soon.

Week 3: Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets

By Ross Mazin

This is the Sunday afternoon game I’ve been looking forward to all season. Both teams are looking for their second win. The home crowd will be really into the game.

Let’s start with the home team in the New York Jets. They are coming off a thrilling win against the Browns last weekend. They trailed by 13 points with less than 2 minutes left. Joe Flacco had 26/44 for 307 yards and had 4 touchdowns. Rookie Garrett Wilson had over 100 yards and his first two touchdowns. 

Now with the visitors in the Cincinnati Bengals. They are coming off an ugly loss to the Cowboys.  Joe Burrow was 24/36 for 199 yards and a touchdown. They are now 0-2 on the young season The offensive line that they thought they had fixed has struggled once again

My prediction is Jets 22- Bengals 15

Matchup Of The Greats

By : Lawrence Lang

Heading into Sunday the Packers got a nice bounce back win after they beat the Chicago Bears in Sunday Night Football 27-10 moving to 1-1 on the season heading into week 3. Overall the Packers looked a lot better then they did in week 1. The combination of the run game with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon looked great getting 192 total yards rushing between the two. The receiving game looked great as well, getting a total of 234 receiving yards and two touchdowns and Aaron Rodgers looked like he was back to his old self going 19/25 234 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Now for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers things are looking rough for the Packers. Wr’s Randal Cobb and (R) Chrstian Watson are both questionable for the game along with TE Marcedes Lewis and LT David Bakhtiari and WR Sammy Watkins is out for Sunday’s game. If  Bakhtiari, Cobb,Lewis and Watson are ruled out by Sunday’s game it means the Packers are going to have to rely on Back up LT Yosh Nijman and WR’s Amari Rodgers, Romeo Doubs and (R) Samori Toure will have to step up and help Allen Lazard who will probably be the #1 for the game if Cobb were to be ruled out.  If anything this would be a great time to try and maybe pull an OLD SCHOOL playbook and do the run game plan like  Vince Lombardi did with the Packers in the 60’s. Jones and Dillion are a great one two combo that is one of the best in the league when it comes to one two combos for the run game. 

For The Buccaneers they have their own injuries and a suspension that is affecting their roster. First for injuries RB Leonard Fournette is questionable along with WR’s Russell Gage and Breshad Perriman. TE Cade Otton, and LT Donovan Smith are doubtful. WR Chris Godwin, and LDE Akiem Hicks are ruled out for the game, and WR Mike Evans is Suspended for Sunday’s game. He is serving a one game suspension for his involvement in last Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints when he got into an altercation with Saints Cornerback Marshon Lattimore. If these WR’s were to be ruled out for Sunday’s game The Bucs just added WR Cole Besealy from the active roster for Sundays game. They would also have Jaelon Darden and Kaylon Geiger available for Wr’s. Julio Jones is also questionable for the game after missing last week. Another case in point where we could see a run game type offense because of the situation they might be in come Sunday’s game time. 

This could also be the last time we see AR and TB face each other since this could be Brady’s last year in the league. Yes there’s a chance at the playoffs where they could face one another but that’s not the case right now. It will be interesting to see what the QB’s game plans will be come Sunday time if they are both out with their top WR’s but that’s the fun part about these two they always find a way to get the job done when it’s game time. Rodgers and Brady both have the accuracy to get the ball to their  receivers and it’s just on the receivers to catch the ball cause if they find you open you better catch it cause if you drop it it’s on you and you will hear about it from your head coach but you will definitely hear from your QB. 

Sunday’s game should be interesting regardless it will just be fun to watch two of the greats go at it one more time.

Bills Titan Up

By: Lawrence Lang

The Buffalo Bills easily cruised to a 2-0 start to the season after a Monday Night Beatdown on the Tennessee Titans winning 41-7 in their home opener. 

The Bills got the party started early with a 12 play drive for a touchdown. The touchdown occurred when quarterback Josh Allen completed a pass to fullback Reggie Gilliam for an 11-yard touchdown. 

The Titans would respond right after with their own touchdown with a nine play drive ending in a Derrick Henry two yard touchdown run. After this it was all Buffalo the rest of the night. 

The Bills would add a field goal and one more touchdown before the half. Allen’s second passing touchdown happened after he completed a two yard pass to Wide receiver Stefon Diggs to put the Bills up 17-7 at half time. The clincher of the game was after quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw his second interception of the game being picked off by Linebacker Matt Milano for a 43 yard touchdown return making the score 41-7 and sending Highmark Stadium and Bills Mafia into PANDEMONIUM!!!.

The Bills looked deadly in this game. Allen was 26/38 and had 317 passing yards and four touchdowns, three of which went to Diggs who had 12 receptions and 148 receiving yards. The Bills run game was a little underperforming but still managed to get over a 100 total rushing yards 53 of which came from James Cook on 11 carries. Plus that #1 defense stepped up big time not only picking off Tannehill two times also sacking him two times plus forcing three fumbles two of which they recovered. 

This is definitely a statement win for the Bills especially after what happened last time they faced the Titans when Henry lit them up all by himself. They shut down Henry this time only allowing him to get one touchdown and holding him to 25 rushing yards on 13 carries and that’s a statement shutting down one of the best right now in the league. 

The Bills will look to start the season 3-0 when they head to Miami to take on their division rival Miami Dolphins who are coming off their comeback against the Baltimore Ravens where Tua Tagovailoa went and had himself a career day going 36/50 469 passing yards six touchdowns and two interceptions. They way both teams are playing we could be in for a high scoring affair in Miami.  

Guard-ing The Central 

By : Mike Rifkin

We are coming down the stretch of the Major League Baseball season the Cleveland Guardians have made a massive statement. Starting last Thursday the Guardians had nine games against the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox the two teams trailing them in the AL Central. All the Guardians did in the nine game span was go 7-2. They lost a makeup game to the White Sox at home, before taking four of five from the Twins at home and sweeping the White Sox on the road ending their season series with both. The Guardians went 13-6 against the Twins and 12-7 against the White Sox. Amed Rosario hit .376 with four home runs and 19 RBI’s against the Twins. Jose Ramirez hit .263 with two home runs and six RBI against Minnesota. Ramirez drove in 15 runs against the White Sox despite hitting .217. Rookie Steven Kwan, who should get a lot of consideration for Rookie Of The Year hit .329 against the Twins and hit .363 against the White Sox. Triston Mckenzie who has had a really solid season for the Guardians went 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in four starts against Chicago. Ace Shane Bieber went 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in four starts against the Twins.

Every expert had the White Sox run away with the division. The White Sox were banged up all year and never really got going, the Twins were in first place the bulk of the year, but the Guardians eventually took over and with their recent surge the Guardians now have a seven game lead over the White Sox and 10 game lead over the Twins. The Guardians magic number to clinch is at five. Unless something awful happens the Guardians will win the AL Central and once they do in my mind Terry Francona should win his third American League Manager Of The Year. Especially after having to step away last season citing health reasons, but with Francona at the helm the Guardians are on the cusp of another postseason berth.

Bouncing Back

By : Mike Rifkin

After getting beat by a division rival in week 1, the Packers responded by beating a division rival in week 2, defeating the Bears 27-10. Aaron Rodgers who last season claimed “he owned the Bears” was 19-25 for 234 yards and two touchdowns. But to be an effective offense the Packers need to utilize their running backs and on Sunday night that’s what they did. Aaron Jones 170 total yards and two touchdowns ( 1 rushing, 1 receiving). In the loss to the Vikings Jones had eight total touches, compare that to Sunday night where he had 18 touches. AJ Dillon had 19 touches for 67 yards. It was also a welcome return to the lineup for Allen Lazard, who missed week one with a ankle injury, he had two catches for 13 yards and a touchdown. The Packers as a team ran the ball for 203 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry.

For Chicago Justin Fields was 7-11 for 70 yards and an interception. He did have a rushing touchdown and came very close to a second one. Fields was sacked three times by the Packer defense. Chicago did run for 180 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. David Montgomery had 122 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per carry. The Bears went seven plays for 71 yards and scored a touchdown on their opening drive, but after that were held to a field goal the rest of the game. See a lot is made of the Packers young receivers and how their connection with Aaron Rodgers is developing, but who is Justin Fields throwing to? The Bears need to figure out who on the outside will make plays for their quarterback. Next week the Bears will play the Houston Texans and former coach Lovie Smith. While the Packers take a trip to Tampa Bay and play Tom Brady and the Bucs.