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!

Another week of NFL action in the books! Who stunk it up and who didn’t?

I’ve made a real effort to see how long I can go without having repeat choices in here, but the Chargers’ situation is simply too terrible to ignore. This team won 11 games in each of head coach Jim Harbaugh’s first two seasons. The addition of alleged football genius Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator was supposed to vault them to Super Bowl contender status. This season’s MVP was QB Justin Herbert’s to lose!

Instead, Sunday’s 44-22 loss to the Texans dropped them to 0-8, and they are somehow even worse than their record would have you believe. The much-anticipated McDaniel-led offense? Dead last in the NFL in points per game. MVP candidate Justin Herbert? In the midst of the worst season of his career. WR Ladd McConkey might be good, but we’ll never know because his body is made out of wet toilet paper.

The offense has been so terrible that you barely notice the defense is one of the worst in the league, too. This is an absolute dumpster fire of a team. And it hits so much harder because they are the rare combination of talented and bad. Blow it all up! Including the Herbert jerseys my wife bought for both herself and my son.

Oh, hell yes! What a shit week for an absolutely deserving person. First, the NFL’s Sophie Cunningham had to watch his beloved Republican Party get blown the fuck out at the polls on Tuesday. Then, he trotted out to attempt a 56-yard field goal during Sunday’s game against the Jets, and, wouldn’t ya know it, he missed. Luckily for Butker, a Jets’ penalty gave him another shot, this time from 51 yards. Unluckily for Butker, he missed that one, too, and jogged off the field as Kansas City fans booed him mercilessly.

It only got worse at the post-game press conference as head coach Andy Reid said in pretty clear coachspeak that he’ll probably be cutting Butker. That’s kinda what happens when you miss more kicks than anybody else since the beginning of last season. Perhaps it’s just time for Butker to put his own career aspirations aside and focus on his family.

I guess we should be used to this, but what’s going on, guys? We’re nine weeks in, and nobody in the division has more than 3 wins. The optimist in me would like to point out that nobody has fewer than 3 wins either, but they appear to be headed to a second consecutive season without a team finishing above .500. At what point do we just disband the entire division?

The NFL Trade Deadline (4:00 pm ET today, by the way) is normally pretty chill in comparison to other major sports. My theory is that it’s harder to switch schemes and make an impact, so it’s not really worth the trouble to make a move. Apparently, the Jaguars disagree. Jacksonville, which already looks like a lock to win the AFC South, decided to make some moves to solidify themselves as Super Bowl contenders.

They acquired massive DL Jordan Davis in a blockbuster deal with the Eagles, All-Pro S Jessie Bates III from the Falcons, and another run-stuffing DL in Davon Godchaux from the Saints. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing teams take big swings like this. Will anybody else join them?

The Corgi race at halftime of the Panthers-Broncos game took quite the turn when one of the participants decided it was a great time to audition for the Air Bud: Golden Receiver sequel. Check out his moves. Prime Barry Sanders. The Chargers should reach out. My dog swears he could do this, but he’d certainly get distracted by all of the food smells. He does make NFL picks, though, so check them out!

In a world where Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins exist, Golden and Watson managed to be the most productive WR duo this week. The Packers receivers burned the Patriots for 17 receptions for 335 yards and 2 TDs. According to ESPN, it was the first time the Packers have had two receivers with 150+ yards and a touchdown each since 1942. Yes, 1942. The pair are both on pace to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark, which would be the first time Green Bay has had two receivers do that in the same season since 2014. I probably should have led with that stat, because it sounds much less impressive compared to the 1942 one. Anyways, these two are both really good!

Thank you again for reading! Need a way to keep up with all of the NFL games every week? Subscribe to the world’s greatest sports watch guide, Screen Shots! Every Thursday morning, I tell you which games to watch and why. It’s awesome. Check it out!