Mason Crosby came up big this time. Evan Siegle/packers.com
Week 6 saw some trends continue (the Rams remain undefeated) and some come to an end (the Falcons slide, maybe). We also saw a quarterback duel between a hot upstart and the grizzled G.O.A.T. Enough of the fluff, let’s get to the substance:
The Good
-The aforementioned quarterback duel was between the Chief’s Pat Mahomes and Pats’ Tom Brady. Brady’s side won 43-40 on a game winning field goal as time expired. Mahomes had 352 yards passing and four touchdowns, while Brady had 340 yards and a touchdown. Mahomes held up when most thought he would for sure crumble under the pressure of going against Brady and Bill Belichek.
-Chargers fourth year running back Melvin Gordon is having a good season. He had 150 yards on 20 touches and three touchdowns (all rushing) in Sunday’s 38-14 win over the Browns. He’s currently third in the league in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. The Chargers are 4-2 and look like a contender partially due to Gordon’s breakout season.
-Jets’ rookie quarterback Sam Darnold outdueled his Colts counterpart Andrew Luck en route to his team’s 42-34 win. But this spot is reserved for the guys that often get overlooked unless they screw up. Jets’ kicker Jason Meyers made an NFL record seven field goals! Kickers deserve more love than what they normally get. Here’s to you, Jason Meyers.
The Bad
-The Jags dropped to 3-3 on the season after losing 40-7 to the Cowboys. They’ve gone from chic Super Bowl favorite, to in danger of not even making the playoffs. Their offense was so bad, they never reached the red zone. That vaunted defense gave up over 200 yards rushing. Trouble is brewing.
-Panthers rookie receiver DJ Moore’s two fumbles may have cost his team the game. Both led to Redskin scores in the 23-17 loss. The first came on a punt return that set up the Skins’ first touchdown. The second set up a field goal that gave the Skins a commanding 17-0 lead five minutes before halftime. Turnovers are one thing. But turnovers that lead to points are a killer.
-This portion of “The Bad” is brought to you by the Rams. Sure they won 23-20 over the Broncos, but the bad comes from all of us who lost because they allowed the Broncos a backdoor cover via a late touchdown. -7.5 was a safe bet, especially with them up 23-13 with about three minutes left…until it wasn’t. Stupid Rams.
The Ugly
-The Titans managed only 106 yards of offense against the Ravens in their 21-0 loss. When you look at the per play average (40 plays run), they averaged only 2.65 yards per play. The worst stat of all: they didn’t commit a single turnover! This was the kind of performance not even family members could stand to watch.
-The Bucs’ defense has been so putrid, they fired defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Their defense ranks last or near the bottom in several key defensive categories. Deserved? Maybe. But that offense has taken a step back as well. This won’t fix their defensive woes.
-The league lost one of the greatest owners, philanthropists, and one of the greatest people in Seahawks owner Paul Allen. Allen, 65, died from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The Seahawks have enjoyed their best success since Allen purchased them in 1997, including 12 playoff appearances, three Super Bowls and one Super Bowl victory. He will be truly missed.
Earlier, I gave Jets kicker Jason Meyers some love. On Monday Night Football, Packers’ kicker Mason Crosby went 4 for 4 including the game winner as time expired. After missing four field goals and an extra point last week, this was poetic justice. This kind of stuff makes the league so much fun to watch. Week after week, you never truly know what you’re going to get.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.