This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you for stopping by today.
Four years ago, if I’d told you Jared Goff was not only one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but he’d also manage to have one of the most unique games in NFL history for arguably the league’s best offense, you’d have probably told me I was nuts.
Yet, here we are.
Goff threw a perfect game against the Seahawks on Monday Night Football. He went 18-for-18, which qualifies as the most passing attempts without an incompletion in NFL history. Goff had more receiving touchdowns (!!!!) on Monday than incompletions, which is also a sentence nobody ever thought they’d be typing. But I guess that’s the thing about Jared Goff these days. He specializes in doing the unpredictable.
His success to this point was unfathomable just four years ago. It was inarguable that the Rams needed to trade Goff and upgrade at quarterback. He just wasn’t good enough to get the job done. Los Angeles put together one of the most offensively toothless Super Bowl performances ever in 2019, which was the beginning of the end for him in that town.
Now we’re in year 3 of the Goff-to-Detroit experiment so far and, well, it’s hard to believe things are what they are. Goff is breaking every convention we thought we knew about him. The man went from being an unwanted quarterback to being the guy who holds everything together for the Lions’ offense. The Lions! Careers used to go to Detroit to end. His career was supposed to.
That’s why this perfect game is so awesome. It’s not the fact that Goff did it, though that’s obviously a feat in itself. It’s the fact that you feel like he wasn’t supposed to be able to do something like this. If the Lions were ever going to win anything, it was supposed to be despite him — not because of him.
Instead, he’s pulling off perfection and making plays we’ve never seen him make before. How? I don’t know. He’s just doing it.
And you’ve got to love it.
The MLB field is set
After a final doubleheader between the Mets and Braves on the very last day possible for the MLB regular season, baseball’s playoff field is finally set.
The Mets and Braves split the doubleheader, giving the two NL East rivals the final Wild Card spots in the National League. With that, here’s what we’ve got:
- National League: Los Angeles Dodgers (No. 1), Philadelphia Phillies (No. 2), Milwaukee Brewers (No. 3), San Diego Padres (No. 4), Atlanta Braves (No. 5), New York Mets (No. 6).
- American League: New York Yankees (No. 1), Cleveland Guardians (No. 2), Houston Astros (No. 3), Baltimore Orioles (No. 4), Kansas City Royals (No. 5), Detroit Tigers (No. 6).
All of the playoff action starts tonight. Charles Curtis has more on the Wild Card matchups and the schedule for you here.
Obviously, the Dodgers and Yankees will be the favorites going into things. But the gaps between these teams are not that big. We saw a lot of upsets last season and, while it probably won’t be as drastic, there’s a solid chance we see something similar again this season.
Stay tuned, folks.
Davante Adams, you are a Chief … maybe?
Well, not yet, I guess. And maybe not ever. But it sure does seem like the Raiders’ wide receiver is destined for a move somewhere else outside of Las Vegas.
Antonio Pierce liked an Instagram post about Adams potentially being on the move.
Interesting … look who liked this post. pic.twitter.com/svAwY30rDc
— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) October 1, 2024
Here’s Charles with more on what it could mean:
We don’t know what this means, but if Antonio Pierce really did smash the “like” button on Instagram for a post talking about a report that Davante Adams may have “already played his last snap with the Raiders,” then … is that true?
Apparently, Pierce rescinded the “like” but you can read into the tea leaves all you want. Adams, for what it’s worth, is injured right now, and the Las Vegas Raiders may want to deal him to a contender like the Kansas City Chiefs.
But maybe it was an accidental like. A tongue-in-cheek like. A like meant to throw us all off the scent. Who knows?”
It’s hard to tell these days. It’s probably nothing. But, man. If this is something? Whew, boy. Things could get interesting in these next few weeks.
Quick hits: RIP Dikembe Mutombo … RIP Pete Rose … and more
— The NBA world mourned Dikembe Mutombo after he died on Monday at 58 years old. He meant so much to the game, man. Robert Zeglinski has more.
— Pete Rose also died on Monday at 83 years old. The baseball world mourned him, despite how complicated (and criminal) a figure he was. Cory Woodroof has more.
— Tyler Netunno is here with his weekly winners and losers for Week 5 in College Football.
— Here are Robert Zeglinski and Christian D’Andrea’s weekly NFL power rankings heading into Week 5.
— Cory says the Dolphins should call Ryan Tannehill to be their backup QB moving forward.
— Dan Campbell, somehow, didn’t give Goff the game ball despite his perfect game. Insane.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️