Happy Friday everyone!
Let’s cut to the chase.
Hello everyone, but especially to…
BAKER MAYFIELD AND THE LOS ANGELES RAMS
On Tuesday, a team from across the NFL wanted Mayfield Baker. On Thursday night, he picked up one of the most remarkable wins you’ll see in a long time for this same team.
Mayfield led two touchdowns in the fourth quarter – and capped the second with a touchdown pass at Van Jefferson with 10 seconds remaining – to rally Rams after the Raiders17-16.
- The Rams were the only team to file a waiver request for Mayfield — was waived by Carolina — tuesday. He arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening after beginning to study the playbook on the plane ride, although Jean Wolford started the game.
- Mayfield took over on the second possession and never looked back. He was playing pretty well considering the circumstances, but then he hit a whole new level in the last two practices.
- Trailing 16-3, Mayfield led a 17-play, 75-yard drive that lasted over nine minutes. Cam Akers capped it off with a one-yard touchdown dive. Then, down 16-10 with less than two minutes left and no timeouts, Mayfield took the Rams 98 yards in eight plays, finishing with the absolutely perfect pass at Jefferson.
- According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Rams’ 98-yard run was the longest touchdown run that started in the final two minutes in the past 45 seasons.
- Remember, this is a player who was unemployed three days ago!!!
Every once in a while we hear stories like this in other sports, like emergency goalie in hockey. But it’s hard to find anything comparable for an NFL quarterback, who must lead an 11-man operation. Many new team quarterbacks need months to get things working; it took Mayfield hours.
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If someone told you a few months ago — or even days ago — that Mayfield would end the six-game losing streak of the defending Super Bowl champion Rams, you’d be very confused. Even Hollywood couldn’t write that script. But the NFL stands for “Not For Long,” and while we usually associate players with falling quickly, in this case it applies in another sense: a player bouncing back from being waived for the first time in his career. with a win he and the Rams won’t soon forget.
Honorable mentions
And not such a good morning for…
DANIEL SNYDER
More than a year after it began its investigation, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee published its findings with regard to the Commanders‘ workplace culture — and how the NFL handles it — with a 79-page report on Thursday.
Among the key findings were…
- Team Owner Daniel Snyder “allowed and participated” in the toxic work environment.
- Snyder also hampered the congressional investigation with several strategies, including testifying that he could not remember answers to basic questions.
- Former President of Washington Bruce Allen alleged commanders were behind ex-Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s leaked emailswhich led to Gruden’s resignation.
- Allen also said Snyder sent private detectives to his home and that Snyder has discussed doing the same with others, including the NFL commissioner Roger Goodel.
- The report also falls hard on the NFL for not addressing Snyder’s interference in the Beth Wilkinson investigation and burying the conclusions of this investigation.
Commanders remain under investigationand Snyder hired Bank of America for “potential deals” regarding the team, including the sale of the franchise. You can see more details in the report of the monitoring committee here.
Not so honorable mentions
NFL Week 14 Picks: Purdy faces Brady in first start; Tagovailoa, Herbert duel 🏈
If you want intriguing, high-stakes quarterback matches, week 14 is for you. What would you say Brock Purdy and the 49ers accommodation Tom Brady and the Buccaneers? Here are their career numbers:
- Purdy: 0 starts | 2 touchdown passes | 276 passing yards
- Brady: 377 starts | 726 touchdown passes | 100,901 passing yards
Damn, Purdy was just three and a half months old when Brady was drafted. But Purdy is already been compared to a hall of fame by a teammate, and another Hall of Famer says Purdy can win a Super Bowl…this year. Now our senior NFL writer Pete Prisco says Mr. Irrelevant can beat Brady.
- Price: “The Bucs made an incredible fourth quarter comeback on Monday night to beat the Saints, but the attack struggled for most of the game. That’s never a good thing against the 49ers defense. The 49ers will start Brock Purdy at quarterback, but he will play well. The 49ers take it. Take: 49ers 26, Bucs 17“
One thing to note: Brady is 6-0 against first-start quarterbacks. We’ll see if Purdy can change that.
As for quarterbacks who entered the league at the same time, two members of the outstanding quarterback class of 2020 face, with Tua Tagovailoait is dolphins to visit Justin Herbertit is Chargers. There are major implications for the playoffs here, with Miami currently seeded sixth and Los Angeles on the outside looking for ninth place in the AFC. Our NFL Guru, John Breech expects Chargers’ rocky season to continue:
- Cylinder head: “If I know one thing about the Chargers it’s that they love to tease their fans and a big tease would be to beat the Dolphins this week only to lose all that momentum by losing next week so that’s exactly what I will say arrive. The pick: Chargers 30-27 vs. Dolphins“
Here are all the picks from our experts:
Pete Prisco | John Breche | TylerSullivan | Jordan Dajani
Losing Bogaerts shows us not to take the Red Sox seriously ⚾
Xander Bogaerts was a local star for the Red Sox…
- Four-time All-Star
- Two-time World Series champion
- Fivefold Money Slugger
- Top-12 MVP in three of past four seasons
Now it’s a Father of San Diego thanks to an 11-year, $280 million contract.
Where were the Red Sox during these negotiations? Well they came with a six-year contract this our MLB expert Mike Axisa described as “not serious”, especially in light of Judge Aaron‘s (nine years, $360 million) and Trea Turner‘s (11 years, $300 million).
It wasn’t just the loss of Bogaerts that made this offseason a failure. While the Red Sox have added Masataka Yoshida and some relievers, they missed several big names, which makes Mike wonder what’s going on behind the scenes.
- Axis: “Maybe Chaim Bloom & Co. misread the market on several occasions. Maybe ownership isn’t all that is committed to earning. Maybe free agents have identified Boston as a place they don’t want to play. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong here, but I have a feeling something is wrong. … Only four years ago, the Red Sox won the World Series and possessed one of the most enviable core teams in the sport. Now pretty much all of those core players are wearing other uniforms as Boston tries to get out of the AL East basement.”
The World Cup returns today with Croatia-Brazil, Netherlands-Argentina ⚽
After a two-day break, the World Cup is back with quarter-final matches today and tomorrow. (Here is the program.)
All four games promise plenty of intrigue – as any World Cup quarter-final should – and today’s contests should be great. Reigning runner-up Croatia take Brazilthe betting favorite to win it all and the team at the top the World Cup power rankings of our football scribe James Benge.
- Benge: “All that was missing from those two dominating victories in possession and territory over Serbia and Switzerland to start the tournament was the kind of thrashing on the scoresheet that…sends a message to their rivals. It came under an emphatic form Neymaragainst South Korea, but while he and the frontline grabbed the headlines, don’t overlook a defense that conceded just 0.38 expected without penalty goals (npxG) per game.”
Today’s second game should also be a sizzle, with the Netherlands focused towards Lionel Messi and Argentina.
As for everything else…
Explaining the long journey to bring Brittney Griner home
As we wrote in Thursday’s newsletter, Britney Griner finally comes home via prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia. It is important to understand the full context of the difficult journey Griner had to endure – and the challenges the United States had to overcome in its quest to free her – and we have a full timeline and explainer here.
What we’re watching this weekend 📺
⚽ We watch the World Cup. Here is the program.
Friday
🏀 Lakers to 76ers7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Dollars at Mavericks10 p.m. on ESPN
Saturday
🏈 navy vs army3 p.m. on CBS
🏀 No. 8 Alabama at No. 1 Houston3 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 10 Arizona vs. No. 14 Indiana7:30 p.m. on Fox
🏀 Celtics at Warriors8:30 p.m. on ABC
Sunday
🏈 Here’s the NFL Week 14 schedule.
🏒 Avalanche at the Blues3 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 6 UConn at No. 20 Maryland3 p.m. on ABC
🏀 No. 13 Maryland vs. No. 7 Tennessee4:30 p.m. on FS1