Date: Wednesday August 30, 2023

Writer: Anthony Iles

The 2023-2024 NFL Season is about to begin. It is going to be a fun season.

Aaron Rodgers is now a Jet…..how will he perform? Russell Wilson in year 2 at Denver……will he play better? Lamar Jackson signed a long-term deal with Ravens as he was threatening to leave…..Beckham joins as WR for 1 season….. How will Ravens do? Browns have QB Watson to start the season…..will they get better or expectations haunt them……..the Bengals reloaded and the core is back with great draft picks and free agents. Can the Bengals get to the Super Bowl and win it in year 4 with JB9….I believe 🙂 How will the Chiefs do with having a new offensive coordinator? Not much has been said about that but look for a different feel to their offense this season. Will the Bills win their division this year?

Get ready for a fun season!!

Message me your thoughts about this upcoming NFL season!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!!!

Who Dey!!!

Date: Wednesday May 10, 2023

Writer: Anthony Iles

The quarterfinals matchups in the NBA Playoffs are intense. So far, it has been a good NBA playoffs this season,

In the Eastern Conference we have the #5 New York Knicks vs #8 Miami Heat and #2 Boston Celtics vs #3 Philadelphia 76ers. The Heat are up 3 games to 1 on the Knicks. If the Heat close out their game vs Knicks tonight they will make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. I think the experience of the Heat will help them accomplish that. It is nice to see the Knicks finally make the playoffs but if you are a Knicks fan you must be disappointed they have fallen down 3-1. The Celtics vs 76ers is a close matchup with 76ers leading the series 3-2. They play Thursday night. If the Celtics win they will force a game 7 vs 76ers. If the 76ers win they will make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the Wester Conference we have the #7 Lakers vs #6 Warriors. The Lakers have taken charge of the series and lead 3-1. They play tonight. If the Lakers win they will make it to the Western Conference Finals. If the Warriors can lock don on defense in the 4th quarters of these games they would be ties 2-2. The defending champs need to play their A game to get the W and get the series to 3-2 and add pressure on the Lakers. The other matchup is the #4 Suns vs #1 Nuggets. Denver leads this series 3-2. The Suns have had their opportunities but every other game they give it away. They play tomorrow night and will need the W to force game 7. Based off how the series is going so far, the Suns will win to get to game 7.

This is an exciting week for these playoffs. Every team remaining except for the Celtics and Warriors have a “UK” player on their playoff roster:

Knicks: PF Julius Randle & SG Immanuel Quickly

Miami: PF Bam Adebayo & PG Tyler Herro

Boston Celtics: 0

76ers: PG Tyrese Maxey

Lakers: PF Jarred Vanderbilt & C Anthony Davis

Warriors: 0

Denver: PG Jamal Murray

Suns: SG Devin Booker

*Other notable NBA teams having UK players that were in the playoffs were:

Timberwolves: C Karl-Anthony Towns

Thunder: PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & C Olivier Sarr

Kings: PG De’Aaron Fox; PF Trey Lyles; & SG Malik Monk

Date: Wednesday May 3, 2023

Writer: Anthony Iles

The 2023 – 2024 NFL has begun. What a kickoff to the upcoming season. Multiple trades have occurred and the draft was good for a lot of teams.

Aaron Rogers finally got traded to the Jets after a couple of weeks of negotiating. Today, Rogers best bro, Randall Cobb, signed a 1-year deal to play with the Jets. Nathaniel Hackett is the offensive coordinator for the Jets now. He is Rogers former OC when they were Packers. Before QB 8 (Rogers college number) joined the Jets he had a meeting with them and he had a wish list of people he would like to join the team if he signed with them. WR Lazard (Packer with Rogers); WR Cobb (Packer with Rogers); TE Mercedes Lewis (Packer with Rogers); and WR Beckham (coming back to NFL after his 2nd ACL tear in knee). Two of the 4 wish list people came true. Free Agent Packer WR Lazard signed with Jets and Free Agent WR Cobb signed a 1-year deal with Jets, TE Lewis is unsure if he will play in NFL this upcoming season or retire. WR Beckahm signed a 1 year deal with Ravens 2 weeks ago. The Jets will be better than last season because of having a steady QB. Former starter for Jets, Zach Wilson, is still on the team and listed as QB 2. This will surely be the beginning of the end for his tenure as a Jet.

Lamar Jackson finally agreed to the Ravens 3rd offer. It was less than their previous offer and with Lamar not having an agent it reflected in how he went about the negotiating process with the Ravens. WR Beckahm will be the #1 WR and WR Bateman will be the #2. They drafted WR Zay Flowers from Boston College. He will be their #3 WR along with TE Andrews lining up with them. Backup QB Pro Bowler Tyler Huntley signed to be the backup again.

The Bengals drafted well with first few rounds going with defense. Below are their picks:

1st round #28t Bengals chose DE Myles Murphy from Clemson.

In the 2nd Round at pick #60 they got a dynamic player in CB DJ Turner II from Michigan.

The 3rd Round pick at #95 is Safety Jordan Battle from Alabama.

The 4th Round pick at #131 they chose WR Charlie Jones from Purdue. He is a solid WR and will be the 4th WR on the depth chart and also compete for kick return and punt return duties.

The 5th round pick #163 is RB Chase Brown for Illinois. He fits the Bengals running style.

In round 6 pick #206 they selected WR Andrei Iosivas from Princeton. He has a lot of potential and has great upside to be a dangerous weapon. Stay tuned.

In the 6th round again at #217 Bengals chose Punter Brad Robbins from Michigan. This will be a good challenge for current punter Drue Chrisman who took over during the season for long time Pro Bowl punter Kevin Huber.

The 7th round (final round) at pick #246 Bengals chose CB D.J. Ivey from Miami (FL).

All of these picks fit the Bengals well. With this draft and their free agent upgrades to the offensive line and at TE the Bengals are going to be even better and make another run to the Super Bowl.

We will know in June if RB Mixon takes a pay cut to stay on the team as the starting RB or if he gets released. Stay tuned with that.

Titans drafted UK QB Levis in the 2nd round 2nd pick of 2nd round. He was disappointed during the first round that he never got picked but he got very excited Titans got him. He can be the successor to QB1 Tannehill as he is on his last year of his contract which he has had since 2019 when Titans got him from a trade they did with the Dolphins and it rejuvenated his career and has been a solid QB for them until last year as injuries and production dipped.

Get your popcorn ready !!! This is going to be a fun NFL season!!

WHO DEY!!!!

Date: February 6, 2023

Writer: Anthony Iles

Last week the Bengals played the Chiefs in Round 4 of their recent matchups with the Bengals leading the record 3-0. It is hard to beat a team 4 times in a row and this time Bengals had the AFC title game on the line at Arrowhead Stadium.

This game was similar to the other games against one another. It was low scoring being 3-0 at end of the first quarter Chiefs leading. Bengals momentum started shifting towards their way going into halftime. Chiefs led 13 – 6 at halftime with Higgins getting a TD in the 2nd quarter. Going into the 3rd quarter Bengals got a TD and so did the Chiefs. Score is 20 -13 Chiefs going into the 4th quarter. Bengals answer back with a TD and tie the game. 6 Minutes left….who will take the lead or will it go into OT?

During this game Mahomes had the high ankle sprain. If he was a RB or WR he would not be able to play, however, he is a QB and you can still throw and not have to sprint and run everywhere. He had to be careful on planting and throwing as well as rolling out of the pocket and running. Mahomes played solid enough to give the Chiefs a chance to win. Burrow also played solid to give the Bengals a chance to win. With 6 minutes left Bengals had the ball but were unable to get in scoring range and had to punt. Then the Chiefs had the ball and some questionable calls from the refs went towards the Chiefs way……luckily Bengals were able to withstand it and forced them to punt.

With under 3 minutes left the Bengals have the ball. There was a questionable intentional grounding call on Burrow that fortunately didn’t affect the drive as Burrow nailed Hurst on 3rd and 16 to get a huge 1st down. Now the Bengals are one medium throw away to be at the 50 yard line and with a few plays later could have McPherson kick a game winning FG once again to send the Bengals to the Super Bowl 2 years in a row……….

That scenario almost came to life but the Bengals were not able to move the ball close enough to get a first down and to the 50. They were forced to punt with 44 seconds remaining. Instead of doing a directional punt to have it go out of bounds or stay down the sideline the ball was punted down the middle……Chiefs ran it back 35 yards and near the 50 yard line with 40 seconds remaining. Bengals defense had played solid and kept the Chiefs in check. On a 2nd and 4 play with 36 seconds left Mahomes was forced to scramble to the right and as he was stepping out of bounds gaining 5 yards to get the 1st down at the 45 yard line DT Ossai barely touched Mahomes and Mahomes did a good flop to make sure the refs call the penalty. With about 16 seconds left the Chiefs gained 15 more yards on the penalty getting into field goal range for a 45 yard try. If there would have been no penalty the field goal attempt would have been over 60 yards……if that would have happened I think it would have been a hail mary play. Chiefs kicker Butker kicked the FG try and made it giving the Chiefs a 23-20 lead with 3 seconds remaining. Bengals go the kickoff but nothing happened and Chiefs win the game finally beating the Bengals.

It was a great AFC Championship matchup. I wish Burrow and the Bengals could have pulled it off to get back to the Super Bowl 2 straight years. Bengals had a 10 game win streak going into this game which was a Bengals franchise record of consecutive game win streak. Year 3 of the Burrow era was impressive and the Bengals are riding in the right direction. This team will be back and I believe they will be back in the AFC Championship game next season. Maybe they will be the #1 seed and get home field advantage for the playoffs and then get back to the Super Bowl. This Bengals group is destined for a Super Bowl victory. Just not this year.

I look forward to next season and see Burrow lead these Bengals back to the Super Bowl.

Who Dey!!!

Date: Tuesday January 17, 2023

Writer: Anthony Iles

This first round playoff game on Wild Card weekend was a classic AFC North battle between the Bengals and Ravens. It was the 3rd time this season playing against one another and it was the second time in back-to-back weeks going head-to-head. the first game this season when Bengals played at Ravens the offensive line of the Bengals were still learning their chemistry. Bengals got the lead late by 1 but the Ravens had about a minutes left and Tucker kicked a 50 yard FG to win by 2 winning 19-17. In game 2 last week the Bengals faced the Ravens and their 3rd string QB as 2nd string QB Huntley was injured. Bengals won 27-16.

This 3rd matchup had more at stake as it was the first round of the NFL Playoffs for the Wild Card Round. Ravens 2nd string QB Huntley was able to play in this game as Lamar Jackson continued to sit our because of his pcl sprain in his knee. This was a classic AFC North battle. They are always tough as the defenses are top defenses in the league and the teams know one another so well. Bengals were focused and knew the game would be a grind-out game. Ravens would run a lot with some play action plays. This style drains the clock and limits the possessions each team will get. Bengals were down 10-9 at halftime because there was a missed extra point at the beginning of the game. At the end of the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th Bengals and Ravens would be tied at 17 -17. The scenario now is who can play the best and capitalize in the 4th quarter. With Joe B and company along with the defense there was no doubt in my mind the Bengals would prevail.

In the 4th quarter the biggest play of the game came when the Ravens moved the ball and got to the 4 yard line. On 3rd and goal Huntley tried a QB sneak and jump over the top of the defense. That was a bad decision as the defense held Huntley upright with Pratt in the middle stonewalling him and Wilson punched the ball out causing a fumble. The ball landed in Hubbard’s hands. He took the ball and ran it back 98 yards for the longest fumble recovery touchdown in playoff history!!! This will go down as one of the best defensive plays in Bengals history. Bengals now have the lead 24-17 with 11 minutes remaining. Ravens had to begin passing more as it did not work out well as the Bengals defense locked in and forced Ravens to punt. Bengals were not able to score but were able to put Ravens in tough field positions after punting 2 more times. At the very end Huntley had a chance of a Hail Mary but they came up short and the Bengals win in a classic hard fought AFC North battle.

Next up for the Bengals will be the matchup many have been waiting for, Bills vs Bengals on Sunday at 3:00 P.M. on CBS. Bengals are on a 9 game winning streak now. This will be a great game and the Bengals will have a good game plan to get the W and get back to the AFC championship game. The Chiefs will host the Jaguars at 4:30 P.M. on Sunday on NBC. If the Jaguars are able to get the W and the Bengals get the W the Bengals will host the Jaguars at home for the AFC Championship game! If the Chiefs win and Bengals win then the Bengals will head back to Arrow Head Stadium like last season to play the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.

Let’s go Bengals!!

Who Dey!!!!!