🏈 Previewing TNF: Dolphins & Bills, Records Being Broken, Players Complaining, and More!

Good Morning!

Summer is starting to wind down, but all that means is playoff baseball, more football, and that the NBA and NHL are right around the corner. Week 2 of the NFL season gets under way tonight with a great matchup between the Dolphins and Bills. Remember when we all used to complain about these Thursday Night Games? The NFL seems to have finally fixed something. Plus, they seemed to have fixed the kickoff issue (for now - until every team decides to kick touch-backs). Watchout now they’re on a roll!

Any who, we have a few interesting top stories, TNF preview, and a lot of important baseball games. So let’s kick things off!

🏀A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces set a new WNBA single-season scoring record with 956 points, surpassing Jewell Loyd's previous record of 939 points. Wilson achieved this milestone during a game against the Indiana Fever, where she scored 27 points in the 86-75 victory. Wilson is on track for her third MVP award, averaging 27.3 points per game this season.

• 🔥 Take: The highlight above was not what I was expecting. No theatrics, the announcers didn’t even say anything. Just a regular bucket, hustle back on defense, ‘we have a game to win’ mentality. I absolutely love it. She seems like a great teammate too. Tip of the cap, I’m a fan, congrats A’ja!

🏈 After the New York Jets' blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers, QB Aaron Rodgers revived his famous "R-E-L-A-X" advice, urging calm amidst the panic over the team's 0-1 start. “It's a long season… it's more like a nice, slow Bolero, where we're just swaying with the music and reacting to whatever comes to us and through us, just trying to not get too high with the highs or too low with the lows… there's just so much more coverage [and] there's so much more opportunity for overreaction"

• 🔥 Take: Firstly, I definitely knew what a ‘Bolero’ was and did not have to look it up. Secondly, I do find it interesting that players like Rodgers will criticize the added attention/media coverage and overreaction/passion of fans. But they aren’t too concerned about that attention when they have cameras following them around for a Netflix documentary or that the extra exposure/fan passion is the main reason they’re able to sign a 3-year/$112 million dollar deal. Seems like a simple, ‘we didn’t play well, we’ll do better next week’, is a much easier route… But I’m just a simple man, that drops ‘Bolero’ in casual conversions, so what do I know?

🏈 Baltimore Ravens LB Kyle Van Noy criticized the Kansas City Chiefs' medical staff for their handling of his eye injury during the season opener. Van Noy described the delay in medical attention as "unacceptable" and "unprofessional," noting that it took an entire quarter for the staff to address his injury. He suffered a fractured orbital bone while rushing Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes. Van Noy also pointed out that the Chiefs' training staff had received an "F" grade in a recent NFL Players Association report, aligning with his own negative experience.

• 🔥 Take: I’m a fan of Van Noy, but… I don’t know how many people are going to relate to you on this one. Ever been to a hospital? You’re upset you had to wait “an entire quarter”? If I went to the ER and got to see an actual doctor before an entire 4-hour NFL game finished I’d be happy. Plus, you’re in a visiting stadium, you’re ruled out, the treatment for your injury is rest and ice. It’s not like they left you with your eye out of your socket (if they did I profusely apologize, that would be messed up).

Thursday Night Football Preview

Game: Bills @ Dolphins (8:15 EST)

Why we’re watching: Two AFC East favorites duking it out in the Miami heat (and humidity, it may rain). As the season wears on, teams are banged up, they’re on short rest, and you can almost throw everything out the window for these Thursday night games. But this will be a prime time national TV game with a playoff atmosphere and everyone should still be fresh and ready to go after week 1. Miami’s speed, Buffalo’s… well Josh Allen-ness. Should be a fun one to watch!

Key Matchup: Dolphins WRs vs Bills secondary - Despite being a close game in week 1, the Dolphins WRs and QB Tua Tagovailoa found their groove in the second half. Tua finished with an NFL best 338 yards passing, while both stud WRs Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle put up over 100 yards receiving. But that was against a banged up Jags defense. The Bills defense held QB Kyler Murray to 162 yards passing, and sacked him four times (DE Greg Rousseau contributing three of those). With Bills CB Taron Johnson being ruled out, will the rest of the secondary step up to the challenge or become another victim of the Dolphins air raid?

TNF Prop Bets: Jean (0-1) - Jaylen Waddle over 62.5 yards receiving; Keith (0-1) - Josh Allen over 1.5 TDs passing.

D-Man (1-0) “The guy that actually knows how to gamble” Pick: Dolphins -2.5 → The offense was affected/distracted by the Tyreek arrest and looked slow out of the gate. That won’t happen again. Tua is 9-3 at home when favored by under a field goal.

• Red Sox 5, Orioles 3: Tyler O'Neill continues to mash, this time hitting a walk off home run in front of the Fenway faithful. Side note, I sometimes forget how absolutely yoked O’Neill is.

• Guardians 6, White Sox 4: Lane Thomas’ 3 hits and 4 RBIs secure the win for the Guardians. Games should really only be 8 innings if the Guardians are up because Emmanuel Clase came in and delivered his 44th save, his ERA and WHIP are now both an incredible 0.67.

• Mets 6, Blue Jays 2: Jays pitcher Bowden Francis carried a no-hitter into the 9th inning before, giving up a solo HR to Francisco Lindor. Francis would then be pulled and Toronto would go on to let up 5 more runs and spoil the strong outing from Francis.

• Tigers 7, Rockies 4: Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene combined for 6 hits and 3 RBIs. The Tigers weren’t able to make up any ground in the Wild Card chase of the Twins as they beat the Angels.

• Mariners 5, Padres 2: Bryan Woo continued his strong sophomore season improving his record to 8-2, after firing 6 2/3 innings and allowing 2 runs. The Mariners continue to stay in the hunt with a win against a strong Padres team, they’re now 10-8 since firing their manager.

• Yankees 4, Royals 3: Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the Yankees walked it off in the 11th. Almost an incredible play by Bobby Witt Jr. on a diving play to save the game. Chisholm continues to produce since being traded to the Yankees slashing: .300/.344/.567.

• Dodgers 10, Cubs 8: A wild back-and-forth game, with Tommy

  Edman playing hero once again. For the second night in a row Edman hit two home runs, this time driving in four. He’s fitting right in, in LA.

See the full MLB scoreboard here and the current standings here.

On this day in 1930, Al López hits the last recorded “bounce home run”. A bounce home run was a home run that went over the outfield fence after hitting the field. The rule was changed in 1930, and today they are considered to be automatic doubles or ground rule doubles.

Yesterday’s Trivia Time Answer

What is the only team in the NFL to not participate in or host a Super Bowl?

A. Cleveland Browns - Sorry Browns fans! The Lions, Jaguars, and Texans all have not been to a Super Bowl either, however, their cities have hosted, with Detroit hosting in 2006 (and will host again in 2028), Jacksonville in 2005, and Houston most recently in 2017 (as well as 2004 and 1974).

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's trivia question and more info!

P.S. Have a good trivia question you want to share with us? Send them our way!