BVSA Sports Show: Episode 13

BVSA Sports Show: Episode 13

Joe – With that said, let’s finally get to the main event. Let’s get to the NFL, let’s get into the games. Let’s start. It’s only right to start with the Buffalo Bills, and it’s only right to continue to spread the great news about Damar Hamlin. A couple of weeks removed now from that game, he was released from Cincinnati, the Cincinnati hospital. Not sure of the exact term but he was in the Cincinnati hospital, he went home, got tests with Buffalo medical staff at a hospital. I believe he’s been released from there as well, so I think he’s home, he’s good, thank God. And we can now hone in on the games this weekend, and I would love to kind of go off of that with the Bills and the Bengals. Let’s just fast forward to next week’s Bills-Bengals game, because the Bills are playing the Dolphins at home, no Tua, right? Just worked out that they’re going to play the third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson, who has shown absolutely nothing. And then you have the Bengals playing Baltimore, probably without Lamar Jackson, still not practicing. 

Virg – Just beat them this past week. 

Joe – Just beat them in the exact same situation. I think JK Dobbins is going to play or Gus Edwards, one of them or both of them, whatever one of the running backs who sat out last week in preparation for this game is the big difference, which he will help. But there’s no scenario where Skylar Thompson and the Dolphins upset the Bills, and there’s no scenario where Tyler Huntley or Anthony Brown, for that matter, upset the Bengals, which means those two teams will automatically play each other next week, regardless of what happens in the other game. Because the Chiefs are the one, Bills are two, Bengals are three, two will play three, and we will get the game that it’s… I don’t say it in a negative way, but we were robbed of that game under very rightfully so circumstances, but we were robbed. It was supposed to be the game of the year that we did not get to see. We will get next weekend in Buffalo instead of Cincinnati. 

Virg – Except if Any Given Sunday comes true, and Baltimore and Miami just come out of nowhere. 

Joe – I don’t see it. 

Virg – I completely agree with you, but could you imagine that we wake up Monday morning and we’re looking squarely at Baltimore having advanced and Miami having advanced? 

Joe – There is absolutely no way. And the bigger question is, who do the Chiefs play? And then we could fast forward again to the AFC Championship game, and you can give me Chiefs against the winner of that Bills-Bengals game. But without getting ahead of ourselves, the one game that does matter in my opinion in the AFC this weekend, Jags and Chargers. You answer first, and then I’ll go into that game a little bit, but who wins that game? 

Virg – I think the Chargers. I think Justin Herbert gets to go on full display of everything that he’s been criticized all year for by every person across ESPN, on Twitter, on Tik Tok, whatever it is. Everybody loves to go after Justin Herbert like he’s the problem, that he hasn’t done enough winning, that he hasn’t done enough to prove himself. I get their record is very Jeff Fisher-esque. It’s very 500 over someone that we’ve flaunted over since he came into the league, but his passing yards have been amazing. He’s been hit with the injury bug this year. His offensive line was hit with the injury bug. His receiving core was hit with the injury bug. Every aspect of his team has dealt with adversity, not just this year, all three of his years, but specifically this year. And squarely looking at it, we’re looking at as healthy of a Chargers roster as we’ve had all season. And towards the stretch of the season, when they were getting healthier, he was only getting better. Having Keenan Allen, having Mike Williams out there, having Carter and having Palmer, both having now experience, you have a real receiving core to throw to. You have Ekeler in the backfield that’s just a game-changer across the board. So the fact that he wasn’t named to the Pro Bowl team or the All-Pro, whatever, joke anyway, like, is mind-boggling because every one of his stats just jumps off the page ahead of everyone else. So looking at that offense and then looking at how scary that defense can be with JC Jackson, Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa as their drafted guy, who I named third out of all of that. But, that is a scary team that is not going to like that the Jags already beat them once this season. I’m pretty sure in Jacksonville too, smoked them.

Joe – No, opposite, Jacksonville smoked the Chargers in LA 38 to 10. I was with you thinking the same thing, and then we talked to Taylor yesterday, we looked it up, and it was like, well that was a mistake. But Jacksonville smoked them in LA 38-10, but it was like… it was week two, but yes.

Virg – But either way, a loss is a loss, and that’s not going to sit well with any of the Chargers to let that happen. Yeah, and they’re going to go in with a different energy, different level, where I think… I think you asked yesterday about highest-scoring, all that. I think that has the chance to be the highest-scoring game of the weekend, only because I think the explosiveness of what the Jaguars offense has turned into, that if Etienne gets used right, if Lawrence can move the ball, if the receivers get open, like, it’s a great defense on the other side, but it’s got its holes. You might be looking at a score in the high 40s, 50s, even into the 60s if both teams have some 34 to 27 type score. Yeah, you’re looking at… you’re looking probably one of the more fun games to watch as far as back and forth. 

Joe – I think this will be the best game of the weekend, um, definitely the best game of the AFC, just given what we just talked about with backups and third-string quarterbacks. Here’s what scares me about this game. Chargers, Mike Williams, got hurt last week. I think he’s going to play, but I don’t know if it’ll be 100%. I hope I’m not contradicting myself when we talked a couple of weeks ago about the Jaguars, and I was talking about how, like, everyone’s talking about the Lions and their run, no one’s talking about Jacksonville, and it looked like Trevor Lawrence and Etienne and everybody else, they figured it out. Doug Peterson is a Super Bowl-winning coach. They’re about to go be a scary team in the playoffs. They can win this game against the Chargers, but last week they basically played a playoff game at home against the Titans. Granted, third-string quarterback, and it took a controversial incomplete pass/fumble from that third-string quarterback, Joshua Dobbs, for the defense to pick up and return for a touchdown as the only reason why they’re playing in this game and not Tennessee. Tennessee’s defense is far better than the Chargers. I’ll give them that. I don’t see Jacksonville putting up the points that you see them putting up. I don’t see the Chargers putting up the points that you see putting up. I think this is a low-scoring, defensive battle, which is sad to say that I just called it the most exciting game of the weekend, but I just… granted everything else, yeah, it’s exciting in that and everything else we’re going off. I’m looking at right now, it’s just gross. I think the Chargers win 23-13. 

Virg – I’ll say this based on what you just said, I might be going on a bit of a limb because Brady is Brady, but the Jags remind me of what the Bucs are in the NFC, at least for this first home game and what they might do if they win it. Like, Jacksonville is that scary underdog team that nobody’s thinking about. Like, obviously, there’s a different aura with the Bucs and Brady, but they’re in the same general situation. And as I was reminded by one of my friends last night talking about the Chargers and, like, what action to take on them, they find a way to screw you either way. You could bet them to win, you could bet them to lose, you could do whatever across any part of that game. It’s just they’re the Chargers, they’ll find a way to mess with you. Yeah, so like, Jags might be the guys for this game, and then it makes it kind of a little more interesting in the AFC if there’s a clear way for them to get there and upset the Chiefs. That’s the other problem. The winner of this game is going to play the Chiefs most likely, right? I think both of them have next to no chance of beating the Chiefs.

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