Good morning! It’s October 14th, and it may not have been a Hail Mary, but the Commanders/Bears series continues to excite with another game-winning score as time expired, while the Bills dropped their second in a row. Today, we are covering Baker Mayfield and his tale of two halves, Curt Cignetti and his Indiana Hoosiers (who are officially here), all you need to know from week 1 of the NHL season, and all you need to know for the MLB championship series.
The Game Plan:
The Must Knows
NFL
The Titans have fired head coach Brian Callahan after a 4-19 record, continuing a recent trend where the last four quarterbacks taken first overall have all seen their first head coach fired during their rookie season.
The NFL suspended Lions defensive back Brian Branch for one game after he slapped JuJu Smith-Schuster following Detroit’s loss in Kansas City on Sunday night.
Three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Za’Darius Smith announced his retirement from the NFL after 11 seasons.
MLB
The Mariners beat the Blue Jays 10-3 to take a 2-0 ALCS lead. Jorge Polanco made history as the first player ever with a go-ahead hit in the 5th inning or later in three straight postseason games.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 series lead with a 2-1 win over the Brewers. Blake Snell was dominant as he faced the minimum through 8 innings, the first to do it in the postseason since Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956.
NBA
The Milwaukee Bucks signed Alex Antetokounmpo to a two-way deal, joining his brothers Giannis and Thanasis. It was the first time in NBA history that three brothers were on active roster contracts with the same team.
NHL
The Montreal Canadiens agreed to an eight-year, $70.8 million extension with reigning Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson. The deal for the defenseman begins in the 2026-27 season and carries an average annual value of $8.85 million.
World Cup
For the first time ever, Cape Verde qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, becoming the second smallest country to ever reach the tournament. The nation of just over 500,000 people clinched its spot after a 3-0 win over Eswatini.
NFL Football
The Two-Minute Drill
Baker Mayfield: A Tale of Two Halves
By: Danny Rothenberg
Another week in the books, and there were not a ton of close ones. Through Sunday, we have only seen six one-score games, the lowest number to this point in the season. In the games that were close in score, there were a pair of game-winning field goals: one coming from Dicker the Kicker himself, lifting the Chargers over the Dolphins, and then Ryan Fitzgerald for the Panthers, dropping the Cowboys to 2-3-1 on the season. The poor Brits spent their hard-earned money to watch the Jets lose to the Broncos in an ugly game that was the lowest-scoring London game since the Saints beat the Dolphins 20-0 in 2017.
Baker Mayfield: A Tale of Two Halves
Baker Mayfield has established himself as an MVP candidate early in the season after an unbelievable start to the year, getting four wins on game-winning drives. But I won’t lie to you, it was the fantasy manager in me that noticed each week when I checked on him at halftime, I was always a little disappointed. The tale of two halves is a real thing for Baker. This comparison is pretty cool because Baker has almost the exact same pass attempts in each half through six weeks of the season: 99 attempts in the first half and 96 in the second.
Baker Mayfield 2025 passing stats by half through Week 6:
1st Half: 67/99 (67.7%), 627 Yards, 5 TD, 0 INT
2nd Half: 62/96 (64.6%), 912 Yards, 7 TD, 1 INT
(And if you want to take it a step further, Baker only has 1 TD pass in the first quarter this season and 1 TD in the second quarter outside of the final 3 minutes.)
On slightly less completions and attempts, Baker has almost 300 more passing yards, and it doesn’t stop at passing.
Baker Mayfield 2025 rushing stats by half through Week 6:
1st Half: 8 Rushes, 30 Yards
2nd Half: 14 Rushes, 128 Yards
Baker is on a tear in the second half and has earned himself the MVP chants that roared from the crowd on Sunday. So just know when watching the Bucs, if it doesn’t look bright in the first half, they have the right guy for the second.
Fans of the AFC North
Joe Flacco made his Bengals debut on Sunday, falling to the Packers 27-18 in what for a second looked like a comeback story waiting to be written. Flacco has now officially started for three AFC North teams, leaving some Ravens-Flacco supporters, just fans of the AFC North. Flacco became the first QB since Ryan Fitzpatrick to start a game for at least 3 teams in a single division. As cool as that is, it is still short of J.T. O’Sullivan who appears to be the only QB who managed to play for every single team in a single division, the NFC North (2004-2007).
Yesterday's NFL Recap:
BUFFALO BILLS 14 @ 24 ATLANTA FALCONS
Bijan Robinson's electrifying 81-yard touchdown and a career-high 238 yards from scrimmage, propelled the Falcons to a 24-14 victory over the Bills, whose have now lost two in a row.
Michael Penix Jr. (ATL): 250 YDS (20/32), 1 TD
Josh Allen (BUF): 180 YDS (15/26), 2 TD, 2 INT
Bijan Robinson (ATL): 19 ATT, 170 YDS, 1 TD, 6 REC, 68 YDS
Drake London (ATL): 10 REC, 158 YDS, 1 TD
CHICAGO BEARS 25 @ 24 WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
In a thriller that came down to the wire, the Bears edged out the Commanders 25-24, thanks to Jake Moody's 38-yard field goal as time expired, after a major mistake by Jayden Daniels who fumbled the game sealing handoff to Jacory Croskey-Merritt, handing the ball to the Bears.
Caleb Williams (CHI): 252 YDS (17/29), 1 TD, 1 RUSH TD
Jayden Daniels (WSH): 211 YDS (19/26), 3 TD, 1 INT, 52 RUSH YDS
D'Andre Swift (CHI): 14 ATT, 108 YDS, 2 REC, 67 YDS, 1 REC TD
The Hook and Ladder
By: David Keller
The Hook: Indiana has arrived, James Franklin Fired, and Simpson Shines for the Tide
Indiana Has Arrived
Last year, Indiana’s critics were quick to point out that only two of their games in the 2024 season were against ranked opponents, both of which were decisive losses. The critics also pointed out that their 63-10 dismantling of Illinois came as a result of the Illini being overrated.
On Saturday the critics were silent as #7 Indiana stormed into Eugene, OR and knocked off the #3 Oregon Ducks 30-20. Head Coach Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers showed that last year was far from a fluke, and for the first time in history, Indiana is a top 3 ranked team.
James Franklin Fired
Unranked Penn State hoped to recover from their road loss to UCLA with a home game against Northwestern this week, but the Wildcats had other plans. Less than a month ago, Penn State was the #2 team in the country and looked set to avenge their CFP semi-final loss. Now at 3-3 (0-3 in the Big Ten), HC James Franklin has been fired.
With the firing, the University owes Franklin $49 million in buyout money, enough to purchase 100 pints from Penn State’s famous Berkey creamery for each person in State College, PA.
Simpson Shines for the Tide
Ty Simpson was 50-1 to win the Heisman after Alabama’s loss against Florida State. Now after 200 yards and 3 TDs through the air in a 27-24 road win against #14 Missouri, he’s just behind Miami’s Carson Beck as the favorite (+360 and +370 on DraftKings for Beck and Simpson respectively). There’s still a lot of the season left, but it looks like 2025 will be the first year ending in 5 in which the heisman isn’t awarded to a running back. RIP (potentially) to a great stat.
The Ladder: Curt Cignetti and the Case for the Villain
Great stories need great villains.
In my opinion, Darth Vader is a much more epic character than Luke Skywalker, Batman isn’t Batman without the Joker, and Michigan’s 2024 Rose Bowl win carried more weight due to it being against Alabama.
In the most recent era of college football, Nick Saban’s Alabama teams were the clear heels of the sport. They had a run of sustained success that may never be replicated in the post-transfer portal/NIL era of the sport. Saban’s retirement after that Rose Bowl has not only left an obvious power vacuum for college football’s top dog, it also left one for college football’s villain.
This past weekend I think the latter was finally filled.
NHL Hockey
Lighting the Lamp
What a Start it Has Been
By: Jacob Rothenberg
What a start it has been
Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Seattle Kraken remain the last undefeated teams. (Yes, for some reason Boston and Seattle are on that list).
It's only one week into the season, calm down
Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks are still looking for their first win. (Yes, for some reason Tampa is on that list).
Exciting Youngsters
Rookies Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders) and Zeev Buium (Minnesota Wild) both tallied the first goals of their NHL careers on Saturday.
Still doing it
Brent Burns became the 23rd player, 8th defenseman of all-time to reach 1,500 games played as the Avalanche played the Stars on Saturday night in Denver.
Games of the week
Ducks vs Sharks - The greatest sport on ice has a bright future as this West Coast Showcase featured 13 goals, overtime, and so many young superstars in the making.
Ice Age Game - In what has been dubbed the first inaugural “Ice Age Game” with the Utah Mammoth visiting the Nashville Predators, Dylan Guenther scored in overtime to get his second point of the game and put his team in the win column.
Player of the week
Pavel “Scorofeyev” Dorofeyev - The Sin City Scorer tallied a league-high five goals in the first three games of the season, including a hat-trick in the opener against the Los Angeles Kings.
Team of the week
Boston Bruins - As expectations were historically low for the Boston Bruins this year, they were one of the first two teams to make it to 3-0 on the young season. This team will endure a tall task over the next five games as they play Tampa Bay, go to Vegas, go to Colorado, go to Utah, and then face the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Panthers.
Worth the Money
Jack Eichel (7 points, 1st in league) and Kirill Kaprizov (6 points, tied for 2nd in league), who both signed huge contracts right before the season, are living up to their dollar figures as they take October by storm in the points department.
College hockey shoutout
Penn State hockey has much to be excited about besides projected NHL #1 overall pick Gavin McKenna as Charlie Cerrato (Carolina Hurricanes prospect, 11 points) and JJ Wiebusch (10 points) lead the NCAA in points through four games.
Between the pipes
New York Rangers Goaltender Igor Shesterkin boasts the best GAA (goals against average) (.67) and save percentage (.976) in the league in the first week.
History in the making
Nathan MacKinnon passed Joe Sakic for most points in Colorado Avalanche history with his assist to Martin Necas on opening night against the Los Angeles Kings. Sakic had the previous record with 1,015 points for the Colorado Avalanche.
Today's NHL Games:
MLB Baseball
Turning Two
By: Spence Millrood
The NLCS and ALCS have both gotten off to thrilling starts. Here’s everything you need to know to prepare yourself for tonight’s Game 2 in Milwaukee and tomorrow night’s Game 3 in Seattle, as the Mariners return to T-Mobile Park, looking to capitalize on their amazing home-field advantage.
Dodgers @ Brewers
Game 2 in Milwaukee sets up as a prime pitching matchup, with Milwaukee’s SP Freddy Peralta taking Dodgers SP, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Both of these stars had lackluster starts in their last outings, with Peralta giving up a 3-run bomb in the first inning of Milwaukee’s eventual Game 4 loss, and the Phillies jumping on Yamamoto for 6 hits and 3 earned runs. It will be exciting to watch these two rebound as both have dazzling strikeout stuff and an ability to generate whiffs at an extremely high rate. If Peralta can avoid getting into trouble early, he has the tools to take over an entire game. For Yamamoto, it’s somewhat of the opposite because tends to start hot, but sometimes loses control in the later innings.
Ohtani, albeit with a small sample size, has had some success against Peralta in just 9 at-bats, hitting two homers against him. However, he struggled immensely during the NLDS series. Whether that was just the Phillies pitching him well or his own internal struggles remains to be seen. Contrastingly, the hottest hitter in the Dodgers lineup by far, Mookie Betts, has not fared well against Peralta, with a matchup average of just .083 in his career. Expect a low-scoring, hard-fought game with these two on the mound, with neither of them willing to give an inch.
Yesterday's MLB Recap:
SEATTLE MARINERS 10 @ 3 TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Series Score: Mariners 2 Blue Jays 0
Logan Gilbert (SEA): 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 K, 1 BB
Trey Yesavage (TOR): 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 3 BB
Julio Rodríguez (SEA): 1 H, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Jorge Polanco (SEA): 2 H, 1 HR, 3 RBI
LOS ANGELES DODGERS 2 @ 1 MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Series Score: Dodgers 1 Brewers 0
Blake Snell (LAD): 8.0 IP, 1 H, 10 K
Aaron Ashby (MIL): 1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 BBCollege Football
Today's MLB Games:
NBA Basketball
7 Days Until Tipoff
