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“NFL NOTEBOOK”
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A wild weekend of stories and lots of items from my notebook:

TOM BRADY-VS-MEDIA…All this time, all these opinions about Tom Brady-broadcaster and Tom Brady-minority Raiders owner and what is legal-illegal about the roles he is filling.  All this yapping back and forth because he was sitting in the Raiders coaching booth in the Monday Night loss to the Chargers.  Connecting all the dots to his job as a Fox TV analyst and the fact the NFL does not allow him access to other team’s facilities, nor allows him to meet with the GMs-Coaches or players of the teams he is going to broadcast that weekend.  Like they fear he gets some inside information?  C’mon now-he gets coach speak at best and he can draw his own conclusions based on his own video study.  What a waste of energy.  What he knows about football is enormous.  What he can supply the Raiders about opponents is no different than what Pete Carrroll can gleam from his sources and from video.  Much-ado-about nothing-me thinks-as Shakespear would say.

MIAMI MESS..They keep losing and Tyreek Hill throws another tantrum on the field on a bad overthrow from Tua Tagovailoa. Implosion coming for sure.

JAGUARS JUNK…Liam Coen is trying to say the right things about Trevor Lawrence, but there are issues about throwing to the wrong reads and about the QB decisions.  The surprise on Sunday was Coen screeching at Lawrence and Lawrence waving him off-ignoring him stepping to into the huddle.

BENGALS BUSINESS..Joe Burrow is gone with a terrible foot injury, surgery coming, out 3-to-5 months.  It’s his fifth major injury of his career playing for a Mike Brown-led organization that drafts poorly, feuds with players over contracts, and makes mistakes in free agency.  Wasting a great player’s career.

GIANTS GRUESOME…What a bad outing for a young offensive lineman, four penalties on one series, including a brutal head slap.  Brian Daboll has lots of problems to deal with, but the video was beyond brutal.  OT-James Hudson-might have been the worst day I have seen an NFL lineman have.

DENVER DOINGS..A bit of a surprise of ups and downs for Bo Nix and Sean Payton to start the season.  Strange playcalls.  Not much of a running game.  And alot of pressure on Nix.

CHIEFS CALAMITY…An (0-2) start plagued by bad plays, roster troubles and Travis Kelce tantrums. His raging exchanges with teammates in the opening day loss to the Chargers, was followed by a helmet throwing incident after a tipped pass led to a pick that cost the Chiefs a critical TD.  Things are not going well in KC.

BAD NEWS BEARS..Caleb Williams is playing too much freelance football, scrambling, taking big sacks, turning the ball over, and just not being trust worthy to put scoring drives together.

EAGLES..Video surfaces showing the ‘Tush-Push’ goal-line and first-down plays, and the video shows the Eagles interior offensive line continually lining up off side (helmets over the line of scrimmage) and no penalty flag calls from the NFL refs.  Now that it is out there on social media, does it change going forward-in terms of flags?

RAIDERS WRECKAGE..That was a pretty poor Monday night outing by QB-Geno Smith, freaked out by a Chargers pass rush and the coverages.  Alot of work to be done by the Raiders offense, lack of run game, and lack of protection packages, and on defense, too many penalties.  Work in progress for Pete Carroll.

Here comes week three and there will be lots more stories coming.

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“AFC-WEST…NEW LEADER
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Looks who is in first place in the division.

The Chargers have beaten two rivals in the AFC-West already, in two road games.

Justin Herbert is off to a blazing start at quarterback, but the real hero at the start of the season is the defense.

What they did to slow down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, was topped by the choke hold effort in suffocating everything Geno Smith attempted to do with the Raiders.

Jesse Minter took everything Chip Kelly had in the Raiders playbook and shredded it.

3-interceptions.  3-sacks.  5-QB-hits.  9-pressures.

It got so bad, star tight end Brock Bowers was more a pass blocker than a receiver.  As tough a runner as Ashton Jeanty has shown to be, the holes were few and far between.

Smith, coming off a 362-yard passing day in New England, panicked all night long, threw lollipops up for grab, was chased sideline to sideline.

How hard was it?  Justin Herbert completed 14-passes in a row after a slow start, and finished with 10-and-60 yard TD strikes.  Smith engineered a 19 play drive but could not get into the end zone, settling for a field goal.

The win cost the Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack with a hyperextended elbow on a friendly fire hit.  The Bolts were everywhere, hitting everything.

Think about this.  The Chargers next stop will be vs Denver.  That might be a defensive war too, but if so who cares.  A win next weekend would put the Chargers at (3-0), with all the wins coming against the enemy in the division.

The Raiders?  Alot of work to be done-patching the defense and protecting their quarterback.  The Chargers exposed them all over Allegiant Field on Monday.

1st place-Chargers.  Right now, pretty good, because they have earned it.

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“UCLA–ALL TIME LOW”
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They have played football at UCLA since 1928.

There have been spectacular seasons, some disappointing seasons, but nothing in modern day football like the disgrace we have just witnessed.

UCLA’s coaching ledger stretched from Bill Barnes to Pepper Rodgers, to the greatness of Terry Donahue, the short venue of Dick Vermeil, the ups and downs of Rick Neuhisel, the dynamics of Bob Toledo and the good old boy Tommy Prothro.

It also contains the fallout from the expected success, but the failures of Chip Kelly, here today, gone tomorrow.

But no one has seen what we have just seen in the last three game stretch at the Rose Bowl.

Yes there has been an odd awful fall, a (2-7-1) under Rodgers.  A (3-7-1) season with Donahue.  Neuhisel staggered to a (4-8) campaign.

Kelly, with all his accolades, went (5-8) and (4-9) to start a rocky road, that is now littered with a death like financial deficit gripping the athletic program.

All that has been bypassed by the arrival-and-failure of ex Bruins running back DeShaun Foster, who had limited coaching experience, was never a coordinator anywhere, and yet was given the job after a 72-hour window of interviews.

An awful start in 2024 was followed by a disgrace beginning in 2025.  Sandwiched in the middle was the firing of 9-assistant coaches, after only 9-months on the job, all hand picked by Foster.

It got worse and worse in year two.  3-blowout losses in a row to start this fall.  A defense torched in all 3-games.

The arrival of Tennessee QB-Nico Iamaleava, who bailed from UT in a dispute over NIL money, showed up and announced he would play one year and then likely go to the NFL.  No one else wanted him and his attitude, but Foster took him, and his play has been erratic.

Attendance has plunged in the Rose Bowl.  Season ticket support has cratered.

And Foster picked a war with the working media, closing practices, banning interviews this year too.  How’d all that work out?

And now with the firing of Foster on Sunday, hours after the horror show loss to New Mexico, comes this nugget.  His players now have a 30-day window ‘right now’ to enter the transfer portal.  And four top recruits-decommitted within hours of the firing.

So we sit here now with a poor roster, the beginning of the Big 10-schedule, and an Athletic Director who still has his job, despite all of Martin Jarmond’s decisions.

He is the one who hired Foster,and  also delivered the disaster that was Chip Kelly, and all the transactions that have left the Athletic Department (216M) in the red.

Off the field, social media has been vicious.  A year ago, the Men of Westwood said they would no longer fund Bruins football if Kelly was retained.  He was told to leave.

Then as the losses bled into more losses this year-came this social media slam ‘We regret to inform you the season ticket holders are entering the Transfer Portal.

And the weekend gem after the loss to New Mexico, ‘Congrats UCLA, you are now in last place in the Big 10-Big 12 and Mountain West Conference.  Ouch.

Firing an unqualified head coach is the right move.  That’s not the only firing that should have taken place at UCLA this weekend.

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“NFL WEEKEND #2..PICK EM PAL
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You won’t be able to top what we saw on the opening weekend of the NFL-the great matchups and the blockbuster TV ratings for a couple of games.  Now we settle in with some good games and some you won’t probably watch.

CHARGERS-RAIDERS..Jim Harbaugh-Pete Carroll..last seen yelling at each other on opposite sidelines…Two very different personalities and styles.  Could be a throwing contest, Justin Herbert vs Geno Smith.  Could be two defenses under duress.  How do the Bolts cover Brock Bowers-Jakobi Myers-Mike Mayer.  At the  same time, do the Raiders have enough people to deal with Herbert’s pass catching brigade (McConkey-Allen-Johnston and the TEs).  The unknown, both OL have unsettled situations.  Herbert single handedly bdat the Chiefs.  Geno went wild (362P) in a road win.  Might be a (39-37) game?

CHIEFS-EAGLES..Could you imagine Andy Reid’s team being (0-2) by Sunday night?  Might happen.  Week two has to be different than the opening loss.  The Chiefs have to get the ball down the field.  Have to protect Patrick Mahomes.  Have to survive the test of manhood they will get from Saquon Barkley.  Have to contain Jalen Hurts.  The Eagles-vs-Mahomes-they will chase him alot.  Eagles to win.

TAMPA BAY-HOUSTON…Pretty good matchup-Baker Mayfield’s firehouse passing attack against a Texans pretty fierce  pass rush.

ATLANTA-MINNESOTA…Young guys QB matchup.  Michael Penix coming off a (298Y) outing vs JJ McCarthy who lit it up with 3TD drives in the fourth quarter in their win..Lots of firepower on both sides of the ball.

LIONS-BEARS…Detroit will create chaos for Chicago QB-Caleb Williams, and he was running for his life last weekend.  Likely turnovers, sacks and some ill-will too.  This Bears offense is a great mystery as is where Caleb is along the learning curve with new coach Ben Johnson?

RAVENS-BROWNS..Baltimore’s defensive collapse was epic-bet you don’t see that again.  Bet they bring the heat on Joe Flacco.  Lamar Jackson-vs-Myles Garrett-will be pretty cool QB-DE pass rush matchup too.

COWBOYS-GIANTS…Dallas and Dak Prescott come off a pretty good first game, even it was a loss.  The Giants did not have a good first game, and unless Russell Wilson does better, he might lose his starting job to rookie Jaxson Dart.  The only bigger cry in NY, aside from Dart, is to fire Brian Daboll.

SEATTLE-PITTSBURGH..Aaron Rodgers debut infront of the Iron City Beer drinking crowd will be wild.  So will Pittsburgh’s pass rush.  Sam Darnold had a really poor opening debut in Seattle colors.  This could be messy.

BILLS-JETS..Josh Allen takes this high wire act on the road.  Justin Fields will need to make more plays than a week ago.

BENGALS-JAGUARS..A bizarre weekend win, when Joe Burrow won, despite throwing for (113Y).  The Jaguars think there will be more catches and yards for Travis Hunter after a so-so debut last week

PATRIOTS-MIAMI…Big trouble brewing in Miami Gardens, after a dismal first weekend.  Can you believe, the Dolphins had (43Y) in offense at halftime, a team with Tua and Tyreek on the field.  Now Hill has off field problems on top of a wrist injury, and mess with the roster.  New England was sloppy in Mike Vrabel’s debut, but Drake Maye will make things happen.

49ers-SAINTS…The injury toll keeps growing, now Brock Purdy and George Kittle are out.  Mac Jones starts at quarterback.  The Saints have to be better than the 13-penalty filled loss last weekend.  How long before Tyler Shough gets the starting call at QB.

ARIZONA-CAROLINA…Kyler Murray needs to stack good starts on top of good starts.  Bryce Young and his coach Dave Canales, the jury is really out on this tandem.

DENVER-COLTS…Bo Nix had an odd-turnover-marred game so things will get better.  Daniel Jones played really well in his Colts debut, as did his do everything tight end-full back-H back-Tyler Warren.  Keeping RB-Jon Taylor on the field-healthy is important

RAMS-TENNESSEE…Oh boy-Cam Ward.  If he thought last week’s (112Y) passing day was hard- wait till he gets a load of the Rams defense.  And Matthew Stafford has lots of weapons to use.  Could be a bad blowout in Nashville.

PACKERS-WASHINGTON…Micah Parsons, Jordan Love, the Packers pass rush and big play receivers-just way too much for Jayden Daniels to deal with in that Thursday night game.
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“PENNANT RACE = CHAOS”
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Two weeks out from the end of the pennant race, and so much is undecided, so much turmoil everywhere.  A close up look at questions you might consider:

DODGERS..Might have the biggest payroll, might have a Gold Standard rotation, but whom in the bullpen are you going to trust in postseason.  LA has relief pitchers, all with veteran closer’s experience on their resume, with ERAs between (4.21-and-4.78) and you are going to give them the ball?

PADRES..They think they fixed the bullpen, but they have not fixed the rotation beyond starter Nick Pivetta.  Do you really believe you are safe if you give the ball to Darvish-Cease-Vasquez in the playoffs?  And what about Manny Machardo, hitting just (.193) since August 1st?  A by-the-way, #29 in home runs this year.  And as you read this, they are (5-11) the last three weeks.

METS..The year long pitching issues are resurfacing, and despite a batting order led by names like Soto-Alonso-Lindor, New York might not make the playoffs, even with that big payroll.  At last check this week, they had 3-rookie pitchers in the starting rotation.

YANKEES…What a poorly constructed team, with a thin bullpen, and a team flawed by really bad defense.  If Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton don’t hit home runs, can they win?  Outscored (23-3) last two games.

HOUSTON..All you need to know, awful lot of pitching injuries, and 25th in runs scored.

CUBS..Great season but now Kyle Tucker and Peter Crow-Armstrong are ailing and they are not hitting.  Wrong time of the year for this to happen.  They are now #26 in runs scored.

TORONTO..Bats have cooled, Bichette just went on the DL, and the bullpen is erratic.

SEATTLE..Big Dumper-Raleigh, plus Suarez-Naylor they can hit, but they are fading at the bad time, on a (6-15) skid.

DETROIT..Two extended losing streaks leads to a basic question.  Who aside from ace Tarik Skubal do you believe in on this rotation now?

PHILLIES..Need the lineup to get hot.  Now Trea Turner is hurt.  There is no Zach Wheeler.  Might an all lefthander rotation survived in the playoffs?

MILWAUKEE…Even the Brew Crew has cooled off.  On pace to 100-wins, they have gone thru a (6-8) spell.

Two weeks to go, and a bunch of teams have issues.
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