Week 5: Miami Dolphins at New York Jets 

By Ross Mazin 

Oh boy was the Jets win over the Steelers a thrilling one. Trailing by 10; they found a way to win. They now face the Tua Tuavoglia-less Dolphins Sunday afternoon. They are only a 3 point underdog heading into this weekends matchup. They need to have a better opening half than last weeks at Pittsburgh. 

The Jets came away with a huge win on the road last weekend against the Steelers . They are looking to build off that with a win against the Dolphins after losing their quarterback in Tua. Zach Wilson was 18 for 36 for 252 yards and had one touchdown and two interceptions. Wilson also caught a touchdown on a pass from receiver Braxton Berrios. 

The Dolphins are coming off a tough loss against the Bengals. They are certainly looking to bounce back this weekend. Teddy Bridgewater came in to replace Tua Tagovailoa who suffered one of the scarier injuries I have seen.  Teddy Bridgewater was 14 for 23  for 193 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The Jets defense will have to try to contain the speed of Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill.  

My prediction is Jets 22-Dolphins 7

METS GET WILD CARD

By Mark Halpern

      After being in first place for 175 games, the Mets got swept by the Atlanta Braves in a crucial series at Citi Field this past weekend. Like the Yankees, the Mets held control of first for the longest time. The team was on cruise control, but just like the Yankees, things started to happen. 

     The end of the summer slumps began, and not only the offense but the pitching was all over the place. Consistency is something a ball club has to have. I am not talking about Scherzer and DeGrom, as they pitched unbelievable. I am talking about the rest of the Mets Pitching staff, which consists of Bassitt, Carrasco, Walker, MeGill (who was injured most of the season), and Peterson’s play fell off. It began costing us wins, and little by little, we began to lose control. Atlanta did what they had to (and usually) do put on a surge, and just caught the Mets, and it came down to the final series in NY in which the Mets’ Pitching and Hitting was a no-show.

    Now the Mets’ offense has been hot pretty much the whole season. Even when injuries began to pile up, players who were brought up from the minors or were received in trade did their jobs and hit in crucial situations, and the Mets kept on putting runs on the board. However, if you put up ten runs in a game and your pitching staff can’t hold the other team, and they score eleven, it doesn’t matter how good the offense is (if Statistics is what you are looking for, please Read Mike Rifkin’s Article he breaks it down)

    During this season, a lot of the talk brewing was in the Mets minor league system on which one of the young stars would get the call first. Many fans, sportscasters, and writers predicted Francisco Alvarez. The weakest position offensively was the catcher. The Mets tried different combinations, but between McCann, Nido, and Mazeika, they barely hit their weight. Their Defense is fantastic but having a guaranteed out in a lineup (especially with the DH now) is a problem. However, the position that saw the most injuries was third base, and the question began whether it would be Baty or Vientos. Brett Baty got the call, hit a home run in his first at-bat, and played a great game. Unfortunately, the injury bug hit Baty as he tore some ligaments in his wrist and was shut down for the rest of the season. With the last week of baseball approaching, the Mets called up their other two superstars, Alvarez and Vientos, and they both made immediate impacts and carried their play from the minors to the big leagues, and the rest of the teams in the MLB are taking note. These young stars are going to be part of this organization for a long time to come.

  The Mets landed the Wild card spot and drew the San Diego Padres as their first opponent on their path to winning the World Series. The Padres won the regular season matchup 4-2, which isn’t encouraging, but the Mets will have the home-field advantage for this series which begins Friday at 8 pm est. The Mets can’t play meticulously against this hot-hitting team at all. The Padres, even without superstar Fernando Tatis Jr (Suspended for PED), have played all season amazingly with constant hitting from Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth, just to name a few. The Mets will have all pitchers available, and the Best bet is for Jacob DeGrom to pitch game one on Friday, Max Scherzer to pitch Saturday, and Bassitt or Carrasco to pitch Sunday if needed. If the Mets win, the road to the World Series doesn’t get easier as the Los Angels Dodgers, the best team in baseball, will be waiting for them. This wildcard series will be a great playoff matchup, and come check us out on YouTube on our SIN (Sports Insanity Podcast) channel and watch along with us; it will probably get insane.

Embracing History

By : Mike Rifkin

On Tuesday night, Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season establishing a new Yankee and American League record. The record overtakes the 61 hit by Roger Maris in 1961. But this is nothing against Judge he bet on himself this season and had arguably one of the greatest seasons in the history of Baseball and he will get paid by someone this winter.

My issue is with people who are calling 62 the Major League record. It’s not the record Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001. Now Bonds is one of the many faces of Baseball’s steroid era, but for a game that loves to talk about the history of it, how can people ignore the steroid era? In 1998 the greatest thing during the summer was the race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. 

Now none of those three Bonds, McGwire and Sosa are no longer on the Hall Of Fame ballot and the only way they can get in is by a Veterans Committee. But here is where Baseball really has a double standard the Commissioner at the time Bud Selig is in the Hall Of Fame. As is former Red Sox Designated Hitter David Ortiz who got in this year, his first on the ballot. Ortiz was mentioned in the Mitchell Report for illegal PED use. Again not attacking Ortiz I think he is a Hall of Famer as are Bonds, McGwire and Sosa. If you want to put an asterisk next to their names in Cooperstown that’s fine, but to act like these guys didn’ achieve anything when you reward others in the era of which they played is insane to me. 

To ignore the entire steroid era to me is stupid. Yes, I grew up during the steroid era and yes I am against cheating, but to totally ignore what these guys did is comical especially when you honor the guy who was at the helm during the era. Aaron Judge set an American League and Yankee record, but not the Major League record.  So whether you agree with me or disagree the steroid era happened and you cannot scrub that from history.

Swept Away

By: Mike Rifkin

The New York Mets entered Atlanta with a one game lead in the NL East and if they won one game they controlled their own destiny. But worst case scenario happened as the Braves swept the Mets and not only lead the division by two games, but their magic number to clinch is one meaning one more Braves win or Mets loss and Atlanta wins the division for a fifth consecutive season. 

The Mets lined up their top three starters Jacob DeGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to pitch in the series and the three combined to go 14.1 innings pitched giving up 17 hits, 11 earned runs, 3 walks, 17 strikeouts, and 6 home runs. That is a ERA of 6.91 for your top three starters. But to only blame the starters is wrong, the offense has to share in the blame as well. The Mets two stars at the plate Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso went 5-23 with two walks in the series with 0 extra base hits. Outside of Jeff McNeil and Daniel Vogelbach (Sunday night) the Mets offense was awful. The Braves hit seven home runs in the three game series including Dansby Swanson and Matt Olson hitting one in each game, the Mets hit three. THE METS OFFENSE SCORED SEVEN RUNS in the entire series, the Mets scored the same amount of runs as the Braves hit home runs. 

The Mets based on win percentages were supposed to have a easy September schedule. But they went 6-8 against the Marlins, Cubs, Nationals and Athletics. That is where they lost the division, but the cherry on top is in a series fans thought it was impossible to get swept in they got swept. Now a team that could’ve used the first round bye to the Division Series now has to play a Padre team that is starting to figure somethings out. Plus if they had the bye the Mets could’ve lined up their pitching anyway they wanted. 

There are a lot of words to describe the Mets series in Atlanta. Unacceptable, pathetic, etc.. But know with Atlanta basically clinching the division the Mets can use the next four days to give guys like Lindor, Alonso, Nimmo days off to get ready for what the end goal is and attempt to make a run in the playoffs. Once the season is over is when you can point fingers at whoever you want, but the Mets will still be playing in the playoffs despite a terrible weekend in Atlanta. 

RUSH DOSEN’T HAVE TO RUSH ANYTHING

By Mark Halpern

     I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan for 39 years now (Thank you, I apricate the condolences), and I have seen it all from down in the dumps to being the world’s champs. Dallas fans not only want to win it all but also want consistency in our team, and the backup quarterbacks we had for our $40 million star Dak Prescott just don’t thrill you. When you hear the name Cooper Rush as your back up QB you head sinks in to your hands.; However, Cooper Rush isn’t rushing to any conclusion that he is the prime number 1 Quarter Back in Dallas behind Dak Prescott. He knows that when Dak returns, he will return to the bench, but the way Rush has been playing, he knows he will start until Dak returns from the broken bone in his throwing hand heals. His play over the first 3 weeks has been solid as the head QB.

    Over the last few years, we have had some changes in and around the backup quarterback position, from Andy Dalton to the horrible Ryan Leaf. It’s a position that comes with a ton of responsibility, but you won’t hear the good things you do unless you are error free and you win the game. Only the poor play that you had will be brought up. Dak has been the sole #1 Quarter Back in Dallas since 2016, and though we have had teams that should have gone onto the Super Bowl, we as a Cowboys Nation have gone home like the New York Yankees to watch other teams win the Championship. Dak broke a bone in his throwing hand on a pass attempt against Tampa Bay. Rush couldn’t help the Cowboys do much when he came in the fourth quarter, and we were down by three scores with eight minutes left. Dallas dropped the opener 19-3, but over the last two games, Rush has gotten the job done against the Cincinnati Bengals by going 19-31 235 and a touchdown. The big key is no interceptions on the day. The Bengals have a good defense (It took them to the Super Bowl last year), and they played well but not well enough to beat the Dallas Defense as the Cowboys went on to win 20-17. With the high expectations for the Bengals this year, this win by the Cowboys with no Dak as Field General surprised us all. Cooper was very efficient in moving the ball around to all players. Even with Cee Dee Lamb in the one spot, Noah Brown has become Rush’s favorite target over these past two games. The Cowboys left and were headed to take on the 2-0 New York Giants.

    Anytime the Cowboys play the Giants, the game is usually a nail-biter as both teams usually come and get ready to play their best and own bragging rights for another year. The Giants are last year’s version of the Panthers and needed the Cowboys to take them down a step and get their first loss like the 3-0 panthers did to the 2-1 Cowboys last year at this time. The Giants looked horrible on all fronts except for Saquon Barkley, who is back to his rookie year form and is leading the league in rushing. Rush knew the meaning of this game and came out in prime QB1 form. Rush threw for 215 yards on 31 passes on 19 completions and one touchdown. The key in Rush’s stats is that he didn’t throw an interception or create a turnover in this game. Rush had help on all fronts, though; while the Giant’s offensive line seemed to leak like a sieve and gave Quarterback Daniel Jones no time to throw, the Cowboy’s offensive line created a ton of holes, giving Zeke Elliot and Tony Pollard more room to run. So all facets of the Cowboys team played a crucial key in the team’s last two wins.

     As I said earlier, Rush doesn’t need to rush anything as he has stuck his claim as the team’s backup QB, and with Dak’s injury problems, it isn’t such a bad spot to be in. Rush looks comfy out there and is taking his time and being a Great Field General; that is how the old man sees it.

Searching For Answers

By: Mike Rifkin

One of the best rivalries in Football if rekindled on Sunday as the Denver Broncos travel to Vegas to play the Raiders. Both teams are still searching for consistency after making big offseason moves.

The Broncos somehow are 2-1 and coming off a 11-10 win over the 49ers on Sunday night. The Broncos offense has been struggling to start the season. Quarterback Russell Wilson has a 59.4 completion percentage, 743 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Wilson has been sacked nine times through three games. The Broncos are averaging 14.3 points per game. The new Quarterback and Coach combination of Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett has yet to work. The Broncos are 1-7 in the Red Zone which is last in the NFL. The Broncos defense has been tremendous so far giving up 12.0 points per game. They have nine sacks through three games. 

The Raiders are 0-3 on the season and have lost each game by one possession. Things are bad in Vegas that after Sunday’s loss to the Titans, first year Coach Josh Mcdaniels had a closed door meeting with owner Mark Davis. The big addition they made offensively Davante Adams who played with Quarterback Derek Carr at Fresno State has 17 receptions for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Carr at times has looked good and other times he hasn’t but has a 60.8 completion percentage, 850 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions. Carr has been sacked seven times already this year. The Raider defense has struggled to say the least. They give up 25.7 points per game. They have two sacks and two turnovers so far this season. They brought in Chandler Jones to help the pass rush and that hasn’t panned out yet, their corners aren’t great. This season so far looks like a gamble that hasn’t paid off.

Two teams still searching for answers go at it on Sunday to renew a great rivalry. Maybe a win can springboard one of them into contention in the AFC West.

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.