Weekend winners
Daniel Jones. Well, we all nailed that one right? Yes, it's one game, but in that one game the No. 6 overall pick from Duke became the first NFL rookie to throw for more than 300 yards with two passing and two rushing TDs since 1970. Also of note, Jones rallied the Giants to their first win of the season after trailing by 18 points, and he did it without Saquon Barkley, who suffered a high ankle sprain. If you were wondering, Eli Manning is 0-44 when trailing by 18 or more; Jones is now 1-0 in such scenarios.
Speaking of quarterbacks, man, there are a slew of young QBs about to enter the draft, and none of them are playing better than Joe Burrow. Yes, LSU had Vandy - impressive showing by the purple-clad fans in Nash-Vegas too - but Burrow was awesome in his awesomeness. Side note: Coolest story from LSU's 66-38 win over the Commodores came from the concourse. Apparently, the beer stands ran out of cold ones around halftime and made a call to the bullpen for more Co-Colas. The long line filled with LSU fans - LSU fans like Co-Colas? Who knew? - and they gave the beer vendor a standing O when he showed up with reinforcements.
Gus Malzahn. In the second-best game of the college football weekend, Malzahn had Auburn ready to play beforehand and made sure they were going to be intense throughout Saturday's win at Texas A&M. I have been a harsh critic of Malzahn at times, but his fire Saturday afternoon was palpable and pretty awesome to be honest. Those of us who are college football fans need to see our head coach - especially the ones who make crazy, insane money - remind us in big moments like Saturday that they care as much as we do. I know the fire-and-brimstone approach can't be used in every instance or it becomes the "Coach who cried wolf," and no one wants any coach to put hands on a player. But at times the passionate, vein-on-the-forehead-throbbing reaction to a stupid penalty is welcome, and needed. And Saturday felt like that time for an Auburn team that is now No. 7 in the polls, with dates against three of the six teams ranked ahead of them. As for the actual football part of it, Malzahn called a whale of a game, and if Bo Nix had hit one of any of the four wide-open receivers streaking behind the A&M defense, well, that one could have been even more one-sided.
"Game of Thrones." In a fitting farewell to an all-time great series - it is easy to forget how amazing it was because of how frustrating at times the end became - GoT earned a record-tying 12 Emmys. The only other dramatic TV series to get 12 statues in a single Emmy show? Yep, "Game of Thrones."
Patrick Mahomes. Dude is on pace for some seriously historic numbers - like more than 6,300 passing yards and a gazillion TDs. (Yes, the last one was hyperbole, but the 6,300 yards is actually the number.) Also of note: Mahomes is only the second player in NFL history to have three straight games of 300-plus passing yards, three-or-more TDs and zero picks. The other? Tommy Brady in 2007.
Bonus pick: All the 3-0 teams, yes, even San Francisco and Buffalo. Stats say that since the NFL playoffs expanded, 3-0 teams make the playoffs 76 percent of the time. And after San Fran's win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, if we told you before the season that after the game one team would be 3-0 and the other would be 0-3, how many are getting that one right?
Weekend losers
Coach Khaki. Jim Harbaugh, at one time, was one of the top three or four most-coveted head football coaches anywhere, on any level, and that includes names like Saban and Belichick. Now, even the most ardent Harbaugh backer has to wonder if his fit with the Blew and Maize is going to work. Speaking of work, that's what happened to Michigan on Saturday in Wisconsin. It got worked.
Dan Quinn. Wow, does that Super Bowl run feel more like 2006 than 2016, right? The outrageously bad first half - and the 16 penalties - make you wonder if the Falcons practiced last week. And Quinn's defense is a shell. And do not give me injuries either, because no matter how important you think Grady Jarrett or even Keanu Neal may be to Quinn's defensive blueprint, I can assure you they are not more important that Drew Brees is to Sean Payton's offense in New Orleans, and the Saints did not miss a beat with Brees mending a surgically repaired thumb. Speaking of the 2016 Super Bowl run - coupled with San Francisco's 3-0 start - you really have to wonder who was the biggest part of that near-championship success, Quinn, Matt Ryan or 49ers coach and former Falcons OC Kyle Shanahan.
The Cubs. Locked dead in the heat of a playoff race with arch-rival St. Louis coming to the friendly confines for four games seems like the perfect place to springboard into October. Uh, nope. The Cardinals swept four games - each by a single run - and completely demoralized Chicago by hammering the Cubs bullpen, especially closer Craig Kimberly, who handed out homers like a Greek librarian.
Everyone involved in the Antonio Brown situation. Where do we begin? By now, everyone this side of the Great Wall knows Brown was cut by the Patriots on Friday after news came out that he threatened a second female who is accusing him of sexual assault. The Patriots were playing with fire signing him - and playing him - so the egg on their face is self-inflicted. Then Brown takes to Twitter, says he's done with the NFL and blasts Pats owner and massage parlor regular Robert Kraft and former AB teammate/frenemy/antagonist Ben Roethlisberger, who has less than a stellar history with women. And as much as we all may want this story to be over, know this: It is really only beginning, because the court cases are about to start flowing. There will be the civil case with the first accuser. There likely will be some legal issues coming. And Brown is assuredly going to sue for parts of his guarantees - from the Raiders and the Pats - and the NFLPA is going to have to support him. That's hardly the perfect description for a poster boy for any public fight, you know?
Cam Newton. Wow, the Carolina offense looked pretty awesome with Kyle Allen behind center in a 38-20 win over Arizona that allowed the Panthers to save their season. Saw this on Twitter: In Carolina's last six games, Cam Newton has had four starts and zero TD passes; Allen has two starts and six TD passes. Oh my.
Bonus pick: Denver coach Vic Fangio. Dude was the "architect" of last year's dynamic Bears defense. He has Von Miller and Bradley Chubb to create pressure. Still, Denver is the first team in NFL history to start a season with three games without a sack or a turnover.
UT mess
Well, it was a tough weekend for Johnny Vols Fans everywhere.
Before we get going, here's a scathing review that puts the entirety of the UT mess on Phillip Fulmer's desk. (Side note: Pete Thamel, the author of that blast job, is a renowned clickhound in college football circles, so take it with a grain of salt.)
Without getting into the behind-the-scene workings of the completely broken UT football operation, let's review what we saw on Saturday.
> Jarrett Guarantano is bad, and his continued return to the field only points to how bad the rest of the names on that depth chart must be. (You have to think that with all the transfer QBs going everywhere else, that UT should have ponied up some $100 handshakes for one of them. Gang, let's all remember that one grad transfer - and $180,000 - was the high-water mark for Auburn football since Pat Dye's days.)
> The finger pointing has more back and forth than a French Open women's final. Players-coaches. Previous coaches-current coaches. Roster lacking talent-program lacking leadership. Let's just hit it with a 'yes' and offer some admissions. This roster is less-than-qualified to compete with the upper echelon of the conference, but it's not THAT bad either. There are a half-dozen NFL players on this team, at least. And as much respect I have for Jim Chaney as a play-caller, it's puzzling that this team has practiced almost daily since early August, and they do not have a single go-to option for Guarantano. And it's even more puzzling considering that two of those future NFL players are receivers Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway.
> If there was one thing UT fans could bank on with the hiring of Jeremy Pruitt it was a defense that could be dynamic and disruptive, especially in the secondary, considering his time working for Saban and Kirby, and how each of those dudes a) punish drop-back passers, b) make world-class in-game adjustments and c) have secondaries that play the ball in the air better than most NFL teams. Well, that appears to be a bill of goods, considering that the secondary is getting mauled and Pruitt's game plan against a pass-first Kyle Trask, who was making his first career start since his freshman year in high school, literally picked UT apart.
In the end, this is on Pruitt.
The season-opening loss to Georgia State was inexplicable.
Given the chance to rewrite the narrative of his all-important second season, Saturday's loss in the Swamp was embarrassing.
And I'm not sure which adjective is worse for Pruitt.
This and that
- Speaking of the Antonio Brown thingy, hey, Bill Belichick, we all know you are amazing at your job, but can you at least be a decent human being? We know everyone can get super PC about whatever their cause or fight may be. Twitter went lit Sunday afternoon because Belichick gave a "death stare" to a female reporter who asked a perfectly fair - and pertinent - question about Antonio Brown. Yes, it was jack-wagony. And tired. And so Belichick, Popovich, Saban and so many others. But the outcry turned into a question of how female reporters are treated, and that's completely unnecessary and downright laughable. All of those said coaches are totally equal opportunity jack-wagons, regardless of race, sex, religious orientation or show size. Be upset that we consistently allow those coaches to treat other professionals like that, because it's indecent and a terrible example. But please not feel the need or follow the lead of too many who feel compelled to put an ism on every possible interaction.
- Speaking of Antonio Brown, get ready for the narrative that is coming - and it is coming and it should be asked of the owners of the NFL - that you can be this big of a total dirt bag - and as we said before, the NFLPA cannot be amped to use Brown as the poster boy of fair contractual terms - and still get multiple chances. If you are the face of the take-a-knee-during-the-anthem movement and threaten the TV ratings, you are officially blackballed. Because, let's be clear, if/when this Antonio Brown things gets cleared, he'll want to get back in the league and if he has anything left in the tank, there will be interested teams.
- For all the talk about officiating and "getting calls right" during the offseason after the end of the Saints-Rams NFC title game, you have to wonder how much the NFL cares about the calls being right or the backlash from the public. Because, according to Adam Schefter, holding penalties were drastically less common Sunday after the league held a conference call with refs on Saturday. Week 3, there were an average of 2.9 holding calls per game; in the 33 games before Sunday, the average was 5.7 per game, according to Schefter's Twitter.
- Speaking of college football, Georgia won and Notre Dame lost - and thank goodness that rash of "injuries" the Irish suffered in the second half turned out to be minor - but you can make an argument that the public opinions are meh for Georgia and impressed by Notre Dame. (You have to remind folks that Notre Dame's first half TD drive was about the same length of my trip from my chair to the fridge.) That said, it was an entertaining show, and the Georgia crowd was AWE-some. The overnights were the highest of any college game this season, and it was the highest-rated game on CBS since Alabama played at Texas A&M in 2013. (Here's more on the Dawgs from TFP college football guru David Paschall, and, as DP notes, this is a pretty perfect week for Georgia to have an open date considering the emotion from Saturday night.)
- The Dolphins are staring a historically bad season in the face. This is not breaking news. But the fact that the Dolphins are a 17-point underdog against a 1-2 Chargers team - in Miami mind you - is simply stunning.
- My football side interests had missed results. The college picks went 4-3, but it felt like they should have been better since a) I did not follow my own rule and find the worst and bet against them, and the worst right now are UMass and Akron (sorry Coach Arth), and b) had Air Force in a dog fight Friday night at Boise until the Air Force option QB rolled his ankle. The NFL picks continued to be pretty stout, going 3-1 heading into tonight's game (we were on the under at 42.5 late last week), which means we are 25-12-1 on NFL picks. The college picks are at a less-than-entertaining 16-18. So there's that. As for my fantasy team, well, we fell to bagel-and-3 because the other team rallied with Russell Wilson's awesome fourth quarter and Cooper Kupp's crazy Sunday night game. Alas.
- Alabama flipped the No. 2 dual-threat QB in the country from USC because, well, because they are Alabama.
Today's question
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Speaking of the Emmys, which of the four main entertainment prizes - Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Grammy - has the coolest trophy? Not which one is the best one to win, which is the coolest?
On Sunday, "Baywatch," the iconic TV series about lifeguards that turned David Hasselhoff into a pop star and launched a thousand swimsuits across the country, turned 30. Yes, "Baywatch" debuted on Sept. 22, 1989.
Happy birthday to Bruce Springsteen. The Boss is 70 today.
"The Jetsons" debuted on this day in 1962.
Let's go there, would the Jetsons make the Rushmore of cartoon families? (And yes, "The Simpsons" are far, Far, FAR left.)