Welcome to the “Casual Fan” section of The Show Notes! This is where I talk about sports. Certain aspects of what you read here, such as the depth of the analysis and amount of objectivity, will vary depending on a number of different factors. I promise to always be entertaining, though. Typos and grammatical errors are a direct reflection of my hatred of generative AI. If you like this, check out my show!

We are back for yet another week of NFL Winners and Losers! We certainly could have had a couple of repeat offenders in either category, but I’m committed to mixing things up early in the season. Breathe easy, Los Angeles Chargers! Luckily, a lot of stuff to choose from. Let’s get to it!

This one hurts. Ward became a big hit in the Silvers household as a result of his appearance on Netflix’s Quarterback. His personality combined with his meteoric rise from FCS Incarnate Word to the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft made him easy to pull for. However, Titans fans would argue his performance through twenty games has made the opposite true. Sadly, it’s kind of hard to argue with them after Sunday’s loss to the Jameis Winston-led Giants (more on that shortly).

The Tennessee offense managed just 7 points all day, but still had a chance to come away with the win. With 24 seconds left and two timeouts, it was 1st and Goal for the Titans at the Giants’ seven-yard line. As Ward dropped back to pass, a lane opened up on the left side that could have given him a couple of yards with a chance to get out of bounds and hold onto both timeouts. He started rolling that direction, but decided to try and fire a pass into the corner of the endzone that was picked off. It damn near killed Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was facing the Giants for the first time since they fired him as their head coach last season. I’m still very much Team Ward, but that was a tough one.

It took just 10 starts for McCarthy to lay waste to the idea of Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell as a certified QB whisperer. Turns out it’s much easier to whisper to quarterbacks who have displayed some semblance of talent. If I had to guess, O’Connell probably came to the realization shortly after this:

That’s not an NFL quarterback. That’s a poor audition for a CW reboot of Friday Night Lights. Minnesota can probably find a better option with the 2027 5th-round pick that the Giants gave them in exchange for McCarthy’s services. Why is New York doing this? Well, Jameis Winston has been that bad.

Jacksonville Jaguars DB Travis Hunter snagged his first career interception yesterday, but lost the ball in the midst of his celebration. Luckily for him, teammate Josh Hines-Allen was paying attention and approached the ball boy who had picked up the ball to retrieve it for Travis. Unfortunately for Hines-Allen, this particular ball boy had rabies:

First of all, do we still call them ball boys when they have beards? Secondly, qWHITE hilarious to yell “YOU CAN’T TOUCH ME!” while hitting another man, then go crying to someone about it. Hand over the ball, pal. As a former ball boy myself, I’m disappointed at what he’s done to our image. I denounce these actions.

International games have typically been hit or miss, but Sunday’s Cowboys-Ravens matchup in Rio de Janeiro delivered. The star-studded matchup came down to the wire, with three scores in the final 90 seconds. The game appeared headed for overtime, but a Lamar Jackson 27-yard completion to Zay Flowers with a second left set the Ravens up for a fitting ending in a soccer-mad country. K Tyler Loop, who we last saw missing a 44-yard to send Baltimore to the postseason, snuck in a 56-yard bomb here as time expired.

Michael McCorckle “Mac” Jones was drafted by the Patriots as the heir apparent to Tom Brady. For a season, it looked like he might be. As a rookie, Mac led New England to the postseason after a regular season where he threw for 3801 yards and 22 TDs. However, Mac regressed in his next two seasons until the team parted ways with both him and legendary coach Bill Belichick.

Enter Drake Maye.

Maye’s rookie season wasn’t as good as Mac’s, but he took off last year under coach/philanderer Mike Vrabel, throwing for 4394 yards and 31 TDs while leading the Pats back to the Super Bowl for the first time since Brady left. While Maye looked discombobulated in their loss to the Seahawks, hopes were high heading into this year. Well, he stinks. Through 3 games, Maye has thrown just 1 touchdown to an NFL-leading 6 interceptions as the Patriots have scuffled to a 1-2 record. Maye threw 2 of those picks and added an embarrassing fumble to the mix in yesterday’s blowout loss to the Jaguars. Maye blamed the fumble on his center cosplaying Johnny Depp’s character in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Poor Mike Vrabel can’t even vent to his mistress about any of it.

Look, there’s a lot of season left, but approximately 0 people thought the Raiders would be 3-0 through 3 games. They have already matched their win total from last season, and look like legitimate AFC West contenders. How wild would that be? In 35 years, they’ve had as many different homes (3) as they’ve had AFC West titles. 38-year-old QB/future cool youth pastor Kirk Cousins, who was brought here to mentor #1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, currently leads the NFL in TD passes with 9. The last time the Raiders won the AFC West, they were led by 37-year-old QB Rich Gannon, who also won league MVP honors. A lot of season left, but imagine Kirk rolling up on stage to claim his award with his Kohl’s Cash chain. We need it. We deserve it.

Alright, that will do it for Week 3! Be on the lookout Thursday for the world’s greatest weekly sports watch guide, Screen Shots! MLB and WNBA playoffs are here, and there’s simply no better way to keep track of it all. See you then!