Your Vancouver Canucks are taking on the best team in the NHL the Winnipeg Jets at 5:00 tonight in Winnipeg. The Canucks played one the their best games of the season Saturday in Toronto and are going need to build off that to beat the Jets. Vancouver has their work cutout for them. Connor Hellebuyck has had a career year in goal for the Jets. He the same amount of losses as shutouts. The jets also have some elite forwards in Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. You can’t forget about Josh Morrisey on the backend. This will definitely be a tough game for the Canucks.
Vancouver does get some good news however, Filip Hronek returns to the line after missing 21 games. Boy, did the Canucks miss Hronek. The Canucks defense has looked abysmal without him. Thank goodness for Quinn Hughes am I right?. Last years Norris Trophy Winner is looking to repeat that. He’s single handedly carried the team with Thatcher Demko, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller all missing time this year. Hughes hasn’t been healthy himself either but the Canucks still hold on to the final wild card spot in the west.
This is a turning point in the Canucks season. Does Vancouver make this push or do they continue with the inconsistent play? I think they definitely turn it around. Finally for the first time all year all of the top players are in the lineup. Elias Pettersson received high praise from head coach Rick Tochett and his teammates last game, which gives me encouragement that hes on he right track.
One of the biggest story this year has been the goalie and will Demko finally be healthy. I think if you can Demko to at least 80% you got a good team. Kevin Lankanien has held the fort down, but its time for Demko to take over. What better time than tonight than one of the top teams. Does Vancouver get in done I think so, but we’ll have to wait and see.
2025 Wild card weekend is officially over and we got a lot to go over. While every game didn’t come down to wire as you like as a football fan. There were still some great games and some great storylines as well. So without further ado let’s jump into it.
Houston Texans 32: Los Angeles Chargers :12
Even though Houston was the home team, this was totally opposite how most people though this game was going to go. After starting the season 5-1 the Texans were not the powerhouse people thought they were going to be. C.J. Stroud struggled mightily his sophomore season and Houstons big offseason trade acquisition Stefon Diggs was out for the year. A long with Tank Dell. Meanwhile for the Chargers Jim Harbaugh turned the team around like he was supposed to. By running the football and playing good defence, but this is the playoffs anything can happen.
Both teams started out flat and then Houston’s defence took over. Justin Herbert threw four interceptions, two of them to Derek Stingley Jr. Herbert only threw three interceptions all season.
Nico Collins had 7 catches for 122 yards and a touchdown and Joe Mixon also went over the century mark with 106 yards and a touchdown in the Texans dominating victory. However, there was a bright spot for the Chargers was that Ladd McConkey broke the rookie receiving record in a playoff game with 197.
Baltimore Ravens: 28 Pittsburgh Steelers :14
This was the game I was personally looking forward to the most during wildcard weekend. This rivalry is always so close, these games can go anyway. Apparently not this time. Derrick Henry ran wild. Rushing for 186 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Russell Wilson tried to bring the Steelers back but Baltimore didn’t budge and seems poised for a superbowl run.
Buffalo Bills : 31 Denver Broncos : 7
If you were one of the people that thought this game was going to be close, I gotta ask why? Josh Allen is playing the best football of his life and his on track for MVP this season. Bo Nix delivered a 43 yard bullet to the end zone for Troy Franklin on Denver’s first drive. After Will Lutz missed a chipshot field goal at the end of the half it was pretty much curtains. James Cook ran all over the Broncos defence and Bills steamrolled to the divisional round.
After these teams put on a show in week one in Brazil I was expecting the same thing in the playoffs. Unfortunately the injury bug bit the Packers hard. It liked every play a starter would go down for the Packers. It didn’t help that Jordan Love threw three interceptions.. The Eagles proved to be too strong for the Pack and cruised to the divisional round.
Washington Commanders : 23 Tampa Bay Buccaneers :20
This was easily the best game of wild card weekend. Jayden Daniels has turned around the Commanders franchise and became the 4th rookie quarterback to win a playoff game on the road. This game was a great back and forth game that came down to the wire. Commanders kicker Zane Gonzalez looked like a nervous wreck as he doinked a 37-yard field goal off the right upright propelling the Commanders a date in the Motor City and the Lions.
Los Angeles Rams: 27 Minnesota Vikings : 9
Sam Darnolds cinderella story of a season ended in brutal fashion. Just two weeks ago the Vikings had a chance to earn a first round bye. Now they’re sitting on a beach somewhere wondering what happened. He looked like New York Jets Sam Darnold, losing his pocket presence and accuracy. Darnold was sacked nine times and couldn’t get in any rhythm. With the wildfires going on in LA you could tell this game meant something for the Rams, as this game was held Arizona due to the fires. The Rams dominated from the start and earned a matchup with the Eagles.
The Vancouver Warriors are picking up this season right where they left off in the second half of last year. Vancouver’s come out the gate swinging, starting out 3-1. It’s been impressive to see the strides the team has made since the beginning of last year.
It isn’t just one player carrying the bulk of the work either. The Warriors are playing as a complete team on both ends of the ball. They are getting timely saves and big goals when they need it. In lacrosse, your success as a team is usually based off how good your goalie is. Luckily for Vancouver, it has a great one in Aden Walsh.
Going into the game vs the San Diego Seals, Walsh had won eight of his last 11 games dating back to last season when he took over the starting job. Walsh is now second in the NLL in goals against average and is tied for second in wins. His teammates know they have a great netminder as well. Following a 11-9 win over the Seals, forward Keegan Bal had high praise for his 23-year-old goalkeeper.
“He’s playing amazing, he’s shutting the door when we really need him. (I) can’t speak highly enough of how he’s playing.”
Bal also touched on the confidence Walsh brings to the team. “He’s making very timely saves. He just brings a confident energy to him and he’s a fighter. He’s not scared of the moment, (and) he’s not scared of any shooter – he’s willing to take anyone on one-on-one”.
Walsh is in his third year with the team and has improved in every game he’s played. His first career win came against the back-to-back NLL champion Buffalo Bandits and Walsh hasn’t looked back since. Following Friday’s win, Walsh brushed aside any notion of pressure despite how young he is.
“No, each game comes with more experience and you get more comfortable out there so it’s definitely easier as each game goes on, (I’m) definitely feeling more confident each game.”
Vancouver has only made the playoffs once in franchise history and that’s something destined to change this year. The Warriors have built a very solid core up front with Bal, Adam Charalambides, and Ryan Martel. They also have one of the league’s top defence corps, headlined by captain Brett Mydske and Ryan Dilks.
Warriors head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky knows how important having good goaltending is in the NLL.
“You can have all the defence you want and if the (goalies) are letting in shots from 50 feet or squeakers, you’re not going to be successful, but our guys (Walsh) is making the saves he needs and then some.”
Walsh is the backbone of this current Warriors squad and it’s going to need him to continue that the rest of the season. He’s currently on pace to break the Warriors single season record for saves. The individual accolades are nice but there’s no doubt he’s hoping to the end the season with an NLL championship.
Usually when we talk about the MVP race in any sport its between 3 guys but only one has a legitimate chance of winning. What if I told you there’s potentially seven players that could win the hart trophy. Nathan Mackinnon, Quinn Hughes, Connor Mcdavid, Leon Draisaitl, Connor Hellebuyck, Nikita Kucherov and Kirill Kaprizov all have legit shots at taking home the most coveted award in hockey.
With still four months to go this race will come down to the wire. This MVP would mean so much to all of these players legacies. Either adding to an already great one or helping them make their hall of fame case even stronger. Lets take a closer look at the candidates that I think have the best shot at taking home the hardware in part one of this article.
Hart Trophy check in… Who do you think will take it? 🏆 #NHLAwards
Nathan Mackinnon: A career high 140 points helped take home his first hart trophy last year. Some fans might say this was long overdue as Mackinnon was the runner up in 2018 and 2020. He’s picking up right where he left off as Mackinnon is currently leading the NHL in scoring and the Avalanche have been plagued with injuries and goaltending issues since the beginning of the season. Mackinnon is putting the team on his back once again and isn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon.
Connor Mcdavid: In this day and age you can’t talk about the hart trophy race without bring up Connor Mcdavid. The three-time winner and five time scoring champ is looking to add to his already elite resume. Even with missing three games Mcdavid is sixth in NHL scoring. He did start off the season slow and like Mcjesus always does he turned it on like the flick of a switch. Typical Mcdavid. Its looking like he will easily finish in the top three in scoring making him a prime hart trophy candidate.
Leon Draisaitl. Mcdavid’s running mate is putting up quite a season himself. Draisaitl is second in the league in points and first in the NHL in goals. If you think its because of Mcdavid you’re not looking close enough. Draisaitl has been carrying in his own weight and putting up great defensive numbers for the first time in his career. The 2020 hart trophy winner his looking for MVP number two and for any casuals who wanna see he’s a “Mcdavid merchant” are just false.
It’s lacrosse season! The Vancouver Warriors wrapped up their preseason on Saturday, November 23rd in a 14-13 shootout loss to the Calgary Roughnecks. Now it’s time for the regular season, Vancouver opens their season in Colorado facing the Mammoth. Unlike the last few years, this season feels different. In 2023-24 and the first year under head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky, after starting out 2-8, the Warriors clawed back by winning 6 of their last 8 games, fishing 8-10 and just missing the playoffs.
This season has a much different feel to it. The goal is to make the playoffs, but is it unfinished business from last year for Vancouver? “Not really, we’ll take away the good things that we did from last year and the things that didn’t make us successful we will learn from them, it’s a whole new season a whole different group of guys we’re 0-0 and we’ll go start in Denver in a week,” said Malawsky post-game after Saturday’s game against Calgary.
Vancouver is bringing back superstars Keegan Bal and Adam Charalambides as well as reigning NLL defensive player of the year Ryan Dilks. The Warriors brought in more firepower on offence, signing record-breaking goal scorer Payton Cormier from the University of Virginia in the NCAA. They also bolstered the backend by signing Coquitlam native Jeff Cornwall from the Roughnecks. Defender Matt Beers explained how both the new and old players are going to need to be resilient and stick to the process for Vancouver to be successful.
“ For us its resiliency we have a lot of new faces we have some faces from last year that were a part of the grind but seeing how if we stick to the process we have a lot more success taking it five minutes as a time that Curt (Malawsky) always preaches and just kinda getting to know each other a lot of the new guys integrated into the system so preseason was a success I think we started treading into the right direction and we’re ready for next week.
Malawsky has changed the culture of the Warriors and you could see that, especially in the second half of last season during Vancouver’s 5 game winning streak. Everyone is committed to the program that Malawsky is building and that’s one of the pillars that he always talks about. The Warriors have a great combination of veteran and young players who will all be difference-makers in many aspects. If Vancouver wants to make the playoffs, they can’t afford to have another slow start explained Beers.
“We have to start on the right foot the first couple (Preseason) games we started to get into it at the five-minute mark. We play a good chunk of our season with a few byes to start, we wanna make sure we get those first wins the first two weeks that’s gonna be big for us, going into the bye weeks you don’t want to be chasing it down 0-2 early in the season. We gotta make sure we start strong”.
The playoffs are a very achievable goal for this team and if they play like they did the second half of last season they could be a dark horse team for the championship. However, that is still a way away, the Warriors first focus is a matchup in Denver facing the Colorado Mammoth in Denver Friday night.
In case you didn’t know amazon released the Inside the NHL documentary on Friday, and if you’re a hockey you have to check it out. It follows NHL stars like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl William Nylander, David Pastrnak as well as Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes. Hockey fans have been waiting for a documentary like this as the NHL hasn’t had something like this, unlike other sports. The NFL had a major success when they released “Quarterback” in 2023 and followed it up with “Receiver” this year. Formula One increased its audience with their Netflix series “ Drive to Survive”
Inside the NHL is every hockey fan’s dream. You get an exclusive look behind the scenes of some of the best players in the entire league. Something that I really liked and what I thought was unique was that it starts around playoff time. So you get to see the players during the intensity of the playoffs. It also follows mainly all of the star players, so you can get an inside look at what separates them from the rest.
The show also some us some legendary clips and sound bites. I’m going to start with the big one. The Amazon cameras were in the Oilers’ locker room and caught the raw emotion of Edmontons game seven loss in the Stanley Cup final. We got to the the silence of the team following the biggest losses of the players careers. Including Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in tears following the loss. Something that I never thought you would ever get footage of, we got to see in this documentary. If you’re a fan of the 31 other teams you gotta see it. ( Especially Canucks and Flames fans). We also got to see McDavid super animated after losing game two yelling at his teammates. Giving you a look at the type of leader he is. Another one is we finally get to see what William Nylander said on the bench to teammates Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner during game four of their first round series against the Bruins.
We got to see some unique parts of players lives. Such as William Nylanders friendship with David Pastrnak. The two are rivals on the ice but have been friends since they 16. We get a great backstory of their friendship and how Nylander helped Pastrnak with his english.
“I honestly think once we got together on the team and started playing together as a line it was like instant chemistry between us,” Pastrnak said. “I didn’t speak that much English so I think on ice playing on the same line, the chemistry was the big part. We became good friends because we liked playing with each other and we understood each other on the ice. That was important.”
“He was always trying to help me,” Pastrnak said, “especially when I used a simple word instead of using the right word, he would try to tell me the right word for finishing the sentence.”
One of the players covered is Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche. Landeskog hasn’t played since the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022, and I was confused on why he was picked for the documentary. Once I him in the episode I was hooked on his story and I think you would be too. He talks about his injury and how hard its been for him not playing. He also talks about being a dad and having this time with his kids, and how valuable it is for him. You could tell from the emotion how much it was killing him not being able to play. Landeskog commented on his injury after the season.
“It’s just kind of a slow form of torture,”You want to be there to support them and just kind of go through all those things with them, whether it’s the ups or downs.”
As a Canucks fan I was so excited when I heard that Quinn Hughes was going to be in the documentary. It was also bitter-sweet because I knew I was going to have to relive the devesting loss to the Oilers in game 7, but there was a part of me who wanted to see the behind the scenes of that. We know how reserved and quiet Quinn is so it was nice seeing his life in Vancouver outside of hockey. You get to see him out grocery shopping and be a regular person like you and I. Everyone knows about Quinn superstar family and younger brothers Jack and Luke who play for the Devils. You also get to see great family of the Hughes’s and we learned that Quinn calls his dad for a pep talk before everygame.
I’ve been glued to this documentary and can’t get enough. I really hope theres another season next year and maybe they would cover the whole season not just the playoffs. If you’re a hockey fan this is something you muse see!
It’s almost that time of year again, aren’t you excited? It’s almost hockey season. I can’t remember the last time there’s been this much buzz about the Vancouver Canucks heading into the season, and rightfully so. The Canucks are looking to build off a season where they finish sixth in the league and captured the pacific division title. It’s going to be hard to top, but I think that they can do it. The Canucks added to a roster which had five all starts with some key additions in free agency.
They gave a seven-year 5.5 million dollar contract to Jake DeBrusk. They hope DeBrusk is the scoring winger who fits the mould to play on a line with superstar Elias Pettersson. They also added Langley B.C. native Danton Heinen from the Bruins, Heninen provides a great skill set. He can play up or down in the lineup and play center and winger. A player who I’m personally thrilled is a Canuck now is Kiefer Sherwood. Canucks fans saw a lot of Sherwood in the first round last year when he was playing for the Predators. Sherwood is a super physical player tallying 337 hits over the last two seasons. I think he will fit perfectly on Vancouver’s bottom six, as he’s another physical presence along with Dakota Joshua.
A player that’s going to be put under a microscope by a ton of Canucks fans is Elias Pettersson. Pettersson’s 8-year 92.8 million dollar contract that he signed last March is kicking in this year. During the second half of last year and throughout the playoffs, it didn’t take a rocket science to tell that Pettersson was clearly playing through an injury. He revealed that he had been playing through a knee injury since January. Pettersson recently commented on the talk surrounding his contract and his knee.
“I feel recharged,” Obviously, it was a lot of noise (last season), but it was expected. It took a long time to sign, and then I signed and signed a big dollar and was not performing as I wanted. But that’s behind me now and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.
“I still feel it (tendinitis) sometimes, but it feels good now — better than where we left off last season. We had to work around it in the off-season training, but, yeah, I feel good and I feel better on the ice. It gave us more time to work on conditioning and work on speed. Everything is fine.”
Another massive question mark for Vancouver and probably the biggest is the goaltending situation. Thatcher Demko was a massive part of the Canucks success last season. He finished as the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy and was poised to be the Canucks backbone in the playoffs. That all took a turn following the game one win against Nashville. Demko hasn’t played since due to a mysterious knee injury. Demko finally spoke on the matter a few weeks ago.
“When I first injured myself in the playoffs, it was such a rare case, such a unique injury, that we didn’t really have a lot of readily available research or case studies, or really any information to have a concrete timeline, We were told this might be a situation that we might find ourselves in, the one we’re in right now. “
“When I first felt the injury, obviously I wasn’t too sure what it was, but as we dived into some research and some things, it was a little bit ambiguous. It’s been a bit of a frustrating summer just trying to get some answers. Obviously, we’ve talked to all the specialists we can around the world… and this is the information we’ve gathered. Myself, the staff, and the organization are fully confident that we’re on the right track.”
As a Canucks fan that’s not stuff you want to hear. Reports are coming now that Demko might be out until December. Demko is one of the best goalies in the world and if the Canucks want to be serious contenders they are going to need him to be 100%. However, there is some silver lining. The Canucks have playoffs star Artrus Silovs in goal. Silovs was a massive reason the Canucks got to the second round of the playoffs without Demko. Vancouver’s going to need the 23 year-old Silovs to be lights out again between the pipes in the regular season as well to keep the Canucks in playoff contention before Demko comes back.
So how do I think the Canucks are going to do this year? I know its going to be hard to top last season, but I think this team can get in done. The core is still here and has another year of experience under their belt. The team is still led by Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes on the backend, who is poised to have another great year. One of the league’s best center duos in Pettersson who we have already talked about and J.T. Miller who is coming off a 103 point season. As well as 40 goal scorer Brock Boeser. Who is looking to avenge a blood clot which caused him to miss game seven vs the Oilers.
I definitely think this team can meet the high expectations that they have well earned. We saw first hand how vibrant the energy in this city is when the Canucks are winning. I think the additions Vancouver brought in on the defence are great fits. They are already starting to show in the preseason. The bottom six has me super excited. I can’t wait to see Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland build on their seasons, as well as youngsters like Aatu Raty and hopefully Jonathan Lekkermaki.
We have a great team here in Vancouver and Canucks nation has every right to be excited.
I’m hoping you’re coming from my previous article recapping the NFL season to this point. On this one we are doing something pretty similar, I’m going to be recapping the fantasy football year till this point. If you’re a football fan and aren’t one of the 29.2 million people who play fantasy football I pose the question, why not? Drafting and managing pro football players. It’s just like being a real general manager but without the pressure of an entire fanbase and no consequence of being fired. It’s amazing!
This year has been pretty wild and I know I have to start off with this. The consensus first-overall pick Christan McCaffery hasn’t played a single game so far this year. I really hope you picked up Jordan Mason off the wavier wire, if you didn’t your team is probably in pretty rough shape. McCaffery injured his achilles in training camp and everyone thought that he would be 100% for the start of the season. He was still ranked first overall in across all platforms even with an injury designation. He was ruled out just an hour before the 49ers season opener against the Jets infuriating a lot of fantasy managers. This is what head coach Kyle Shanahan said about McCaffery’s injury post-game.
“The Achilles is tendinitis and that stuff comes and goes. When it is acting up, it’s something you’ve got to be very careful about. Christian’s very diligent about that stuff. If it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me he believed he could go. But when you hear that type of stuff and it’s not a playoff game and it’s Week 1 and especially when you’re dealing with the lower extremities like that, it was a tough decision, but hearing all the words in the long run, it made it easy.”
A couple of days later McCaffery was placed on injured reserve for the next four games. So I don’t believe that statement entirely. One stat that I find very interesting is that in the last few years the consensus first overall pick hasn’t lived up to the expectations. Did you know that? Also maybe it’s a lesson for next year not to take the first player coming off the board.
49ers RB Christian McCaffrey has Achilles tendinitis in both of his legs, per @MaioccoNBCS
In McCaffery’s absence, Jordan Mason has filled in the shoes exceptionally being the fifth-best running back in points per game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like things are getting better for McCaffery fantasy owners as the running back had to go to Germany to speak with a specialist regarding his injury.
Let’s talk about the tight ends, this is something I have a personal gripe with. For the last two years I’ve drafted Kyle Pitts as my tight end. To say it wasn’t great is an understatement. So this year I made it a priority to draft a tight end early to be secure at the position. So I drafted Mark Andrews in the fifth round. I thought to myself “Perfect one of the best tight ends in the league, someone whos super reliable and is a top target on his offence”. You’re probably laughing your head off reading that because I couldn’t have been more wrong.
So how bad has Andrews been? He’s had two games with 0 points and is 39 among all tight ends in points per game with 3.1 in PPR scoring (Points per reception). I wish I was kidding. Also, remember what I said about Andrews being a top target on his offence? He’s only been targeted nine times in four games. He was the third tight end off the board in most drafts. I’m convinced I could average more than 3.1 points per game and I have never played a down of football in my life. I’m sure you could too. This is what head coach John Harbaugh said about Andrews’s play so far this year.
“Mark Andrews is going to definitely have big games here catching the ball, “We’re going to have a big passing game coming up here at some point in time soon. It’s hard to predict when it’s going to be because the games go where they go, and the ball goes where it goes and it’s just a competitive deal.”
I can’t be too mad because it isn’t just Andrews, the whole position has been awful this year. The top two tight ends off the board this year were Travis Kelce and Sam Laporta. They are sitting 12th and 15th in PPR. Not even close to living up to their third and fourth-round draft capital. Let me go back to Kyle Pitts. He was finally getting a good quarterback in Kirk Cousins this season and everyone thought this was finally going to be the year he shows why he was drafted fourth overall in 2021. He sits 16th among tight ends averaging 6.1 points per game. Which for Pitts is an upgrade over the last two years, but still isn’t very good.
Ok, enough with the bad news let’s switch over to some good stuff. Did you draft Nico Collins? I really hope you did. There was a lot of chatter after the Texans traded for Stefon Diggs that he would be the wide receiver one and take a lot of targets away from Collins. Tons of fantasy advisers were saying to stay away from Collins, especially since his ADP (Average draft position) was so high. If you didn’t listen to them your team is probably doing really well, as Collins is the best receiver in fantasy football right now averaging 22 points per game.
The current formula of drafting is taking receivers early, but this year three of the top receivers were taken after the fifth round. Who are Malik Nabers, Jayden Reed and Chris Godwin. A few guys who you wouldn’t have been expecting to the top five a quarter of the way through the season. All of these guys are averaging north of 19 points per game.
Every fantasy season there’s always those wavier wire wonders. Those guys that win you you’re leagues you get completely for free because nobody wanted them. This year there hasn’t been that one guy that’s taken that title just yet since we are still early. In the lead, however, is a pair of 49ers. Jordan Mason and Juan Jennings. As I mentioned before Mason is filling in for Christan McCaffery and has already had two games over 20 points. The timetable for McCaffery isn’t clear and if McCaffery is out long term Mason could finish as a top-five running back. The 49ers have been beat up at receiver with Deebo Samuel and tight end George Kittle missing games. Jennings has stepped up in a big way including a massive 46-point game in week three.
Remember, this it’s still only week four so if your fantasy team is 1-3 it’s not over. My words of wisdom are to try to be super active on the waiver wire and don’t be afraid to make a big trade either. It could work.
I know it might be hard to believe, but we are already heading into week five of the NFL season. It seems just yesterday we were waiting for opening kickoff, now we are a quarter of the way through. So much has already happened and we are starting to get a clear picture of how each team is shaping up. While some things are going as projected others are not. Let me break all of it down for you.
The reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs are 4-0. You’re probably thinking boring everyone saw this coming. What if I told you that they aren’t playing well either?
Patrick Mahomes is among the league leaders in interceptions, Travis Kelce hasn’t scored a touchdown all year and only has 15 catches and 158 through four games. Also, they have been hit hard by the injury bug. Isiah Pacheco is out for 6-8 with a fibula injury. With Taylor Swifts’ boyfriend not playing ‘All Too Well’ Rashee Rice has been picking up the slack in the receiving department but he tore his ACL in a week four win against the Los Angeles Chargers. Their record isn’t telling the full story they’re Isaiah Likely being a shoe size smaller and a couple of calls going the other way from being 1-3.
If I told you that the Sam Darnold led Minnesota Vikings were also undefeated there’s no chance that you would have believed me. Well, I’m here to tell you it is true, the Vikings are 4-0. Kevin O’Connell has helped revive the career of Darnold and get this, he’s also leading the league in touchdown passes. Most people didn’t have high hopes for the Vikings heading into the season anyway. Especially after rookie J.J. McCarthy got hurt in the preseason and was ruled out for the whole season. Any hopes Vikings fans had went down the drain. I don’t blame them. After beating the Giants in week one they shocked the world by beating the 49ers and they went into Lambeau Field in week four and upset the Packers.
SAMTEMBER!!
Sam Darnold has been named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for September.
A Lot of talk was built around the Chicago Bears heading into the season and rightfully so. They made a ton of acquisitions in the off-season and surrounded first-overall pick Caleb Williams with tons of weapons including all-pro wide receiver Keenan Allen. The Bears have started off 2-2 and Willams has been solid, but nothing to write home about, but enough can’t be said about the second-overall pick Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders. Washington is leading the NFC East at 3-1 and Daniels is a massive reason for that. Daniels had 3 touchdown performance (2 passing 1 rushing) upsetting the Cincinnati Bengals in week 3.
Another team that was super hyped up was the Houston Texans. After trading for Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon, adding to an offence with Nico Collins and Tank Dell. Everyone thought the Texans were headed for big things. Well, they were right C.J. Stroud is 4th in the league in passing yards and Nico Collins is leading the league in receiving yards. The Texans are 3-1 but have their biggest tests ahead of them as they are set to play the Bills, Lions and Cowboys in the next seven weeks.
Looking at the league leaders there are definitely a few surprises, especially on the receiving end. The current top five leaders in receiving yards are Nico Collins, Chris Godwin, Malik Nabers, DK Metcalf and Juan Jennings. I don’t think anyone would have predicted any of these guys in August right? So how are the top receivers doing? Justin Jefferson is just outside the top five at number six and Ceedee Lamb is at ten. After a couple of rough games, Ja’Marr Chase continues to climb up the leaders at 12, but here’s where things get interesting. Tyreek Hill is 31st and is behind players like Ray-Ray McCloud III, Tutu Atwell and Alec Pierce. You can’t blame Tyreek completely because his quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa) was concussed in a week two game vs the Bills. However, the Dolphins were projected to have one of the most dynamic offences heading into the season, as of currently they sit at 1-3 and last in the AFC East.
Tyreek this season:
First two weeks — Last two weeks — 10 Receptions 7 Receptions 154 Yards 63 Yards 1 Touchdown pic.twitter.com/eyj0Yz0j9q
This off-season we had so many big name players changing teams, especially the running backs. So far, they all seem to be panning out. Derrick Henry is leading the league in rushing yards and has looked as advertised in his first four games in a Ravens uniform. Saquon Barkley left the Giants to go to the rival Philadelphia Eagles and has been everything they’ve hoped for. Making plays running and catching the ball, he’s currently third in rushing yards and all-purpose yards. Sixth in rushing is someone who may surprise you. It’s J.K. Dobbins. With the Chargers hiring Jim Harbaugh everyone thought they were going to run the ball more but not to this much success. Seventh and eighth are Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones. The two running backs swapped teams and have looked great. Jones has been doing it on the ground and in the receiving game, while Jacobs provides the rushing and the great pass blocking for the Packers.
On the topic of big name free agents, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the 180 million-dollar man Kirk Cousins. Going into his age 36 season and an achilles injury there were a ton of question marks about the Falcons offence. So far to start the season they are ninth in yards per game. Cousins has finally started to utilize the pass catchers in Drake London and Kyle Pitts, a week 2 upset win proved that with Cousins leading a game-winning drive.
This season has been so chaotic and the fun’s just getting started. If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the Christan McCaffery situation yet, I’m going to discuss that more in my article recapping the fantasy football season this far. For this season though, we still have 14 weeks to go but we are getting a good look at how things could shape up in January.
Growing up we all had our favourite TV shows. If you grew up in the late 2000s or early 2010s like me you were a part of the golden age of Disney and Nickelodeon. Shows like, ICarly, Victorious, Wizards of Waverly Place, Jessie and so many more were a part of your childhood. These shows have a very special place in our hearts, as they were a huge part of us growing up.
Anytime we see clips or someone references one of these shows it’s hard not to reminisce to the time where we would watch these shows regularly. For me, anytime I hear even just the theme song for one of my favourite childhood shows, I feel like I’m shot into a time machine and I’m watching one of them again while eating a fruit roll up.
When these shows started to reach their finales I think we all started to feel a bit sad. For me, I remember the ICarly finale vividly. There was an ICarly marathon leading up to the finale episode, which was called IGoodbye (which I’ve always thought was very fitting) and they premiered the series finale of a lot of ours favourite show on a Saturday night at prime time. In the episode during the final ICarly webcast, Carly and Sam said “ This isn’t goodbye” . Even though I knew it was there was always a part of me about less than one percent at least, that hoped it wasn’t and that ICarly would come back. I never thought that it would happen, until in did.
In December of 2020, it was announced that ICarly was getting rebooted and was getting picked up by Paramount. The kid in me was excited this was a dream come true. However, I was in grade 12 and like most kids who watched the show when it was aired were in college or were about to be. I thought to myself “Why is it getting rebooted now”. Soon after the reboot was announced two of the most beloved characters of the show wouldn’t be returning either. Jennette McCurdy wouldn’t be returning as Sam and Noah Munk wouldn’t be returning as Gibby.
Sam and Gibby were iconic characters so having ICarly without them wouldn’t feel like true ICarly. In my opinion, if they weren’t going to have all of the cast returning they shouldn’t have done the reboot at all. After watching the first few episodes I thought to myself “Who was the intended audience”. Was it the kids who watched it originally, or were they trying to bring in a new audience? The conclusion I came to was both, but it didn’t feel like the ICarly I grew up watching and loved.
The thing is, ICarly isn’t the only show to get rebooted over the last few years. The Thundermans, Gossip Girl, Dynasty and many more have been rebooted recently. Which ponders the question, why? Can nobody make any new TV shows anymore? Does every “new” TV show have to be just a reboot of an older show? I don’t know about you, I don’t like it.
Reboots / revivals currently in the works:
• Harry Potter (TV show) • Twilight (as an animated series) • Wizards of Waverly Place • Totally Spies! • Phineas and Ferb • Chronicles of Narnia (TV show) pic.twitter.com/rAvhKE9j9w
I wish we could have original ideas for shows now. I don’t want to see a show that hasn’t aired for over ten years get a reboot. Personally, I think it ruins the original show as well. The meaning of nostalgia is “a sentimental yearning for the past that evokes feelings of pleasure with occasional notes of sadness. I feel that, that’s what a lot of these reboots are built off of. When we hear about shows like ICarly are coming back the inner kid in us comes out again. We think back to the time were we would watch it and it unlocks so many childhood memories. The thing is we aren’t kids anymore. We aren’t into the same shows as we were as kids. We don’t wanna watch these old Disney shows anymore, that ship sailed about a decade ago. The nostalgia still might be there, but that’s what Disney+ is for to re-watch the original. The reboots aren’t as good and just seem like a money grab.
The reboots aren’t just rebooting them as TV series they are also rebooting them as movies. They did this with Zoey 101 and called the movie Zoey 102 how original. After watching the trailer I had high hopes for it. The original series had some good storylines that could have been picked up in the movie. Instead, it just felt like a giant reunion. Maybe it was because the movie was about Quinn and Logan’s wedding, but I think they could have done so much more.
However, I think the sequels are much better than the reboots. I much rather prefer shows like Girl Meets World, Fuller House and Cobra Kai. These are much better than shows that try to hang onto the past. These shows add new storylines with the original cast and create a new show out of it. That’s what the people want to see. The sequels aren’t as recycled and are a taste of fresh air. Some are fantastic and are worth a watch.
Fuller House follows DJ Tanner as she raises her three sons and gets help from her sister Stephanie and best friend Kimmy. The premise is the same as the original show but just reversed. A lot of fans were disappointed that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (me included) the show still brought back all of the original stars. From Danny to Uncle Jessie to Joey all of the fan favourites were there. Also, the show still felt like the original from the writing to the music and everything in between. It didn’t feel brand new but it also did at the same time which was perfect.
That 90s show debuted in 2023 the spinoff of “That 70s Show”. While the first season had some hiccups it’s started to take off. I think the downfall of the first season was that not enough of the original cast returned. Topher Grace, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher made brief cameos in the first episode, and Wilmer Valderrama appeared in a pair of episodes as Fez but that was it. I feel that in this case, they needed to rely on nostalgia for at least the first season. The second season proved me wrong the character development was great, the writing felt like the original series and the jokes were hilarious. Season three just aired on Netflix in late August and I have high hopes for this show.
I know we can be feeling nostalgic quite a bit, but that’s part of growing up. It doesn’t mean to mess with the classics but at the end of the day the kid inside me has a massive smile on his face. Knowing that the universe of his favourite shows continues to live on.
