Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are presently preoccupied with reciting tales of how good they once were at ruling the seven seas …
Once.
A look at the NFL this time through. The marquee matchup on October 13 was one no one going into the season could have possibly guessed, as the Baltimore Ravens held off Jayden Daniels and the upstart Washington Redskins Commanders 30-23. One can make an argument that the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson is demonstrably the second-best quarterback in the NFL, trailing only Jake from State Farm’s BFF Patrick Mahomes out in Kansas City. Jackson can and will beat you with his arm, legs, and smarts. He is one of the rare must-watch athletes in any sport, and after some early season blahs — an opening night loss in Kansas City followed by a half-hearted letdown loss against the Raiders — Baltimore has straightened up and flown right. Having a veteran but still potent Derrick Henry in the backfield has helped, but make no mistake. The Ravens are Lamar’s team, and barring injury, they are likely headed to a second bout with the Chiefs in January 2025 to see who will get a shot at going to Disneyland on the house.
That all said, a moment of appreciation for the Commanders is in order. We know what can happen when a moribund franchise swings and misses on a franchise quarterback, the most recent example being Bryce Young’s struggles, to put it as mildly as possible, with the Carolina Panthers. When a team gets it right, though, good things happen. Washington absolutely got it right with Jayden Daniels. Although he’s not keen on the comparison, his game is much like Jackson’s, combining precision passing with power running to where he is rapidly ascending the charts of NFL defensive coordinators’ reasons for not sleeping at night. Daniels does not have nearly as strong a supporting case as Jackson, and Washington’s defense is definitely a work in progress that occasionally lapses into being a piece of work. That said, compared to where the Commanders have been the past few years, things are definitely on the up.
Now, going into the season, it looked like the game of the week this past weekend would be the Detroit Lions visiting the Dallas Cowboys. The new kids on the block, power football-wise, versus America’s Team. Jared Goff versus Dak Prescott. And on and on. Must-see TV, right?
Let’s just say that the Lions gave Detroit fans, who are still lamenting the Tigers’ loss in the ALDS, a reason to smile. Detroit humiliated Dallas 47-9. It wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. The Lions were so dominant that by the end of the third quarter, Roary had rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another. Maybe this will give Jerry Jones the hint he should possibly hire a real general manager and stop pretending he can assemble a winning professional football team … oh, who am I kidding? The only downside for Detroit was losing stud defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson for the year with a broken tibia.
Elsewhere, apparently there was a memo declaring October 12-13 Athletes Behaving Badly Weekend. It started on Saturday, October 12, with Oregon wide receiver Traeshon Holden ejected from his team’s game against Ohio State for spitting on Buckeyes cornerback Davison Igbinosun. Dude, seriously? Not to be outdone by the NFL’s de facto minor league, the pros on October 13 featured Oakland Los Angeles Oakland Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Maxx Crosby shoving Raiders linebackers coach/run game coordinator Mike Caldwell on the sidelines. Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley shot off his mouth after failing to show up and show out on the field against the Indianapolis Colts, who won 20-17 behind supersub QB Joe Flacco. Not to be outdone, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni got into a verbal dust-up with some home fans who were apparently upset that the Eagles beat the woeful Cleveland Browns by only four points instead of 400. Probably still bitter over the Phillies.
Have a marvelous Monday (if possible), everyone.
