NEWSLETTER
Another glorious Sunday of football is in the books. I spent the day watching football, cleaning my golf clubs, and enjoying a nice cocktail and a cigar after a long week. Oh, and yelling profanities at my television as Justin Fields stunk it up against the Texans. I can’t forget about that. We’ll have that well-covered this week, so let’s talk about non-Bears football this morning.
Dolphins Upend the Bills
The Buffalo Bills looked like a clear-cut Super Bowl favorite in the first two weeks, destroying their opponents in prime time. Miami looked like a fun story of an upstart team winning a pair of closer games. So, while both came into Sunday’s divisional battle with 2-0 records, it still seemed like a tall task for Miami to send the Bills packing with a loss.
Tua Tagovailoa completed 13-of-18 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown, nothing like his Week 2 performance against the Ravens, but good enough to get the job done on Sunday. There was a concerning moment in this one where Tua had a tough time gathering himself after a hit.
The NFLPA is requesting an investigation into the alleged successful conclusion evaluation administered before Tagovailoa returned to the game.
Josh Allen threw the ball a whopping 63 times in this one, completing 42 of them for an even 400 yards and two touchdowns in the losing effort.
Miami’s defense was the story in this one, bending but not breaking and refusing to allow Josh Allen and the Bills beat them. Buffalo ran 90 offensive plays compared to Miami’s 39, out-gained Miami 497 to 212, and doubled their first downs (31-15) and time of possession.
Tua, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, the defense, Mike McDaniel’s swag … Miami has it all working right now, and they’re the most fascinating story in the NFL the first month of the season.
Well, except for the punter …
Sunday Night Snooze-Fest
Listen, Sunday Night Football has sucked this season. Dallas laid an egg in Week 1, ditto for the Bears in Week 2, and then NBC’s primetime broadcast delivered us possibly the worst game you’ll watch this season last night.
At one point, it looked like a baseball game had broken out in Denver, with the 49ers leading the Broncos 7-5 in the third quarter after Jimmy Garoppolo went Dan Orlovsky on us and stepped out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
After San Francisco added a field goal to make it 10-5, the Broncos would score a touchdown (and miss a two-point conversion attempt) to take an 11-10 lead with less than five minutes to play, and yeah, that’s where it ended.
Garoppolo threw for 211 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, while Russell Wilson threw for just 184 yards and no touchdowns. No rusher or receiver went over 100 yards, and I’m sure everyone who bet anything on this game is digging a little deeper into their pockets for their morning coffee today (I know I am).
A silver lining for Sunday Night Football; Week 4 features Mahomes and the Chiefs taking on Brady and the Bucs.
Adiós Pro Bowl
It’s no secret that the NFL Pro Bowl has been a garbage product for years, and try as they might have, none of the tweaks they made could fix it. No one is interested in watching unmotivated players play two-hand touch seven-on-seven drills on the Sunday before or after the Super Bowl.
In their latest move to fix their broken All-Star game, the NFL has scrapped the game entirely and will instead host a week of skills competitions between the players who would have played in the contest, answering two fan requests in one swift move!
Oh, and if you’re one of the weird people who still enjoyed the game, you’re in luck because there will be a flag football game, which is essentially the same thing.
Extra Points
