Mickey Togs

The New York Giants came into Seattle riding a four-game winning streak and a 6-1 record. The Seahawks were also hot, winning three of their last four and sitting atop the NFC West.

The weight of the winning streak (and their depleted roster) were too much for the Giants to overcome this week as they fell to the Seahawks, 27-13.

In front of a rowdy Lumen Field crowd, both defenses controlled the  game early. Each side came up with some big stops, clutch tackles and forced turnovers.

Coming out of halftime, the Giants were in familiar territory down three points. And similarly to previous weeks, they kept the game within a single score entering the fourth quarter.

After tying things up midway through the final frame, the Giants defense finally broke and put the undermanned offense in a hole. Special teams miscues only compounded issues and unlike their five comeback wins earlier this season, Big Blue couldn’t rebound this time.

Jets quarterback Zach Wilson threw three interceptions, John Frankin-Myers committed a critical penalty and Gang Green blew a halftime lead in a 22-17 loss to the Patriots. It was New England’s 13th straight win over the Jets and ended a four-game winning streak for the Jets.

Wilson started off strong but then became a turnover machine. Wilson had gone three consecutive games without a turnover but gave the Patriots three of them Sunday. In their first game without running back Breece Hall, the Jets struggled to move the ball.

Patriots quarterback Mac Jones was not much better than Wilson, but New England played ball control in the second half and erased a 10-3 Jets lead with 19 unanswered points. Jones completed 24 of 35 passes for 194 yards with a touchdown and one interception. Wilson completed 20 of 41 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns, but also the three interceptions.

Former Jets kicker Nick Folk booted five field goals for the Pats.

To say that the offseason was a whirlwind for the New York Giants would be an understatement.

The team conducted an entire overhaul of its front office, followed by its coaching staff. There is almost as much change on the field as there was off of it.

With those changes, the Giants became the fourth-youngest NFL team in 2022. Only the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars have an average age that is younger than the Giants. Their average ages are as follows: 25.3 years (Browns), 25.42 years (Lions), 25.57 years (Jags) and 25.58 years (Giants and Dallas Cowboys).

On top of this youth, the Giants currently have more injuries than any other team in the league, which brings the average age of available players down even further.

There is a bright side to this, though. Younger players are easier to mold, and the Giants have a brand-new coaching staff and front office crew. They will have the ability to develop these players to their way of doing things, which could potentially create longevity in the locker room.

The players’ ability to make a scheme work is key to winning, and longevity means that scheme becomes rote. Hopefully it translates into winning seasons going forward.

Bray Wyatt is back in the WWE in an epic return.

Wyatt, who was surprisingly released by the company in July 2021, made good on the weeks of teases and returned to WWE at the conclusion of Extreme Rules pay-per-view at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night.

After Matt Riddle submitted Seth Rollins in the Fight Pit main event, the lights went out as he walked back to the stage with special referee Daniel Cormier as Michael Cole was signing off on the broadcast. Wyatt’s voice could then be heard sing his signature “He’s got the whole world in his hand” and spotlights hit people dressed as each of his former “FireFly Funhouse” character and Wyatt’s former Fiend character. 

As the crowd started to buzz a door appeared and a video package of a ransacked FireFly Funhouse was shown as its theme music played. A TV in the room started to buzz and white-masked figure appeared on the screen. The door in the arena was then shown and opened to a blue light. The figure emerged holding Wyatt’s signature lantern, before removing the mask to revel himself to chants of “Holy s–t!”. Wyatt then blew out the lantern and a logo similar to the one he uses as his Twitter profile hit the screen just to further confirm who it was. 

For the fourth time in the last six years, the Houston Astros are American League champions. Sunday night the Astros finished their authoritative ALCS sweep of the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium (HOU 6, NYY 5). It is the third time in the last six years and the fourth time in the last eight years the Astros have eliminated the Yankees in the postseason. 

The Astros were unable to stifle the Yankees’ offense like Games 1-3, and instead had to rally from early 3-0 deficit in Game 4. Starter Lance McCullers Jr. bent but did not entirely break, and the Astros hung around long enough until they could capitalize on another defensive miscue by the Yankees. Houston outscored the Yankees 18-9 in the four games. 

The Philadelphia Phillies dispatched the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLCS earlier Sunday, so the World Series matchup is set. It’s Astros vs. Phillies.

The red-hot New York Jets defeated the Denver Broncos 16-9 at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday, improving to 5-2 with their fourth straight victory. The Broncos dropped their fourth straight game and fall to 2-5.

Both offenses started off slowly, but the Jets’ Breece Hall ended that with a 62-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, but Hall would later go down with a knee injury and was lost for the remainder of the game. The Jets reportedly suspect an ACL injury.

The Broncos started Brett Rypien at quarterback with Russell Wilson injured. He led a long drive that ended in a two-yard score from Latavius Murray, but  a missed extra point.

The Broncos made a 44-yard field goal to take a 9-7 lead in the second quarter. The Jets later hit three fields goal of their own and the Jets defense shut down the Broncos to seal the win.

Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley led another comeback in the final period to get New York to 6-1 on the season after beating the Jaguars 23-17. The Giants rushed for 236 yards in the win — 100 each from Barkley and Jones — as they paced New York in a dominant fourth quarter to win their fourth straight game. 

New York had a scare in the final seconds when Christian Kirk caught a Trevor Lawrence pass inside the 1-yard line with seconds left on the clock, but Fabian Moreau and other defenders prevented him from scoring what would have given Jacksonville the lead with a score and an extra point. Kirk was stopped inside the 1-yard line, and the Giants held on for the win since Jacksonville had no time left on the clock.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll on Daniel Jones: “He played good again. He played the way we needed to play.” 

Jones finished 19 of 30 for 202 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions (94.0 rating) while rushing for 107 yards and a score in the win. He had his fifth game-winning drive of the season as well. 

There are sure to be several MLB managers losing their job in the very near future. Who are the names frequently being discussed for manager positions? 

Potential candidates include Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, Braves bench coach Walt Weiss, former Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, former Jays manager John Gibbons, Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren, Braves third-base coach Ron Washington, and White Sox interim manager Miguel Cairo. 

Other candidates include Mets third-base coach Joey Cora, former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, former Giants manager Bruce Bochy, Cubs bench coach Will Venable, A’s bench coach Brad Ausmus, former Mariners exec Dave Valle, WBC manager Mark DeRosa, former Cubs/Angels manager Joe Maddon, former Rangers manager Chris Woodward, Padres coach Skip Schumaker, Cubs coach Mike Napoli and MLB exec Raul Ibanez.

The Yankees have kept their hopes for a World Series alive, beating the Cleveland Guardians 5 to 1 in Game 5 of the American League Division Series.

The win moves them into the ALCS and a matchup with the Houston Astros.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a 3-run homer in the first inning and Aaron Judge went deep an inning later to power the Yankees offense. Nestor Cortes threw 5 innings of one-run ball for the win.

Gerrit Cole is undeniably the ace for the Yankees, and he did exactly what he’s supposed to in this division series. Cole may not have been the absolute best starter for New York this season, but he is their most talented, and the one they will always lean on when he’s needed the most. They needed the world from Cole in the ALDS, and he delivered.