Episode 2 Nico's Sports Insights Podcast

Welcome to Nico's Sports Insights. The 49ers lost to the Eagles due to injuries, including their quarterbacks. The Eagles dominated the game in every stat. The Bengals lost to the Chiefs due to a late penalty and had a disappointing season. There are quarterback talks in the Jets, Green Bay, and New England. Tom Brady's future is uncertain. The Dolphins had a rollercoaster season with their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, and need better protection for him. Injuries can greatly affect a player's career. Welcome to Nico's Sports Insights. Today we have a very special edition with lots to talk about. What are we going to talk about today Nico? I think we should start with the NFL. Lots happened this weekend. Tell us what you thought. Okay so beginning on last week's predictions I was wrong on both. So to start it off the 49ers got defeated by Philadelphia Eagles 31 to 7. It was mostly down to the 49ers injuries. Third string quarterback Brock Purdy got out of the game with an elbow injury in the first quarter after he fumbled the ball. So then they were down to their fourth string quarterback. Then that fourth string quarterback also got knocked out of the game with another elbow injury an inch away from being the exact same play. Though Brock Purdy did come back for a few snaps later in the game and so did the fourth string. He was mostly down to their running back to be the quarterback because he had actually thrown a touchdown earlier in the season but he only threw one pass that was an incomplete pass. So it was mostly down to the running game which failed after the Eagles smothered their running game. So the Philadelphia Eagles running offense was shocking. Four touchdowns won by Jalen Hurts his 15th rushing touchdown of the season as a quarterback and he also did not throw a single touchdown. He ran for more touchdowns and he threw for touchdowns. Then too many touchdowns were scored by Miles Sanders. Miles Sanders was running the ball very well and then the defense showed up many times. Though they did not intercept the 49ers they did force a fumble and they stopped them on downs twice. So this game was really everything pointed towards the Eagles. The Eagles dominated the game in every single stat. Everything. Well it's very difficult without a quarterback. That's true. Isn't that the fault of the offensive team to protect their quarterback? That is part of it but it's also that the Eagles have the best defensive line. One of the best defensive lines in the country and the best offensive line in the country. The best. So it was very difficult to get to Jalen Hurts and it was quite actually easy to get to Brock Perry, Johnson and McCaffrey. That's what I'm saying. So the offensive line. I mean they do have they do have the best left tackle in all of football but he got ejected after he after a play grabbed a guy from the back and slammed into the ground. That turned out to be a double ejection as one for the Trent Williams left tackle and one for an Eagle linebacker after throwing a punch. So it was kind of a scuffle and it turned out that it did not work. It just made it worse for the 49ers. Well the game is a psychological game too. You have to have your head screwed right otherwise you cost your team mistakes. Which reminds me of the second game. The game that just ended. Tell us about that. So the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 23 to 20 as a Bengals season and for the second year in a row on a 23 to 20 loss in either the conference championship game and the Super Bowl. So this has been very sad as they cannot make it when it's 23 to 20. A late penalty with eight seconds to go killed absolutely killed the Bengals. Mahomes was only was it was gonna be a one yard loss. It would have been around a 57-58 yard field goal. Instead it was a 45 yard field goal because of a unnecessary roughness pushing the player well pushing after Mahomes was already out of bounds. But it was clearly unintentional. He was clearly just running but he just ran into Mahomes. You can tell. I think he I think that's a again a psychological mistake. He got frustrated maybe. And then he also had an emotional breakdown after the game. You could see him in the replays he was weeping. And well Bengals season ends there. It was a very sad way to end. Joe Burrow threw two interceptions to one touchdown. And really it was the rushing game that kept them in the game really. Jamar Chase limited 75 yards of catching in the entire game. Tee Higgins had the only receiving touchdown though. Which was actually a pretty good catch. But that was really pretty much it for except Perrins rushing touchdown to her rushing touchdown after Jamar Chase catches one to the five yard line on fourth and six. But from there on out it was really nothing positive. They punted it. The mistake. Field goal. And then what was Taylor doing? He he had many open people behind him to lateral it. Instead he let himself go down. The players on the other side they had an open end zone. They could have got in but just had no time. And well I guess that cost them their season. So how does it feel to be so wrong about how the two Super Bowl teams were gonna be? Very funny. This pronostication business is difficult isn't it? What else do you want to talk about? Quarterback talks. Many teams are having an issue with their quarterbacks. What are their options? Let's start off with the New York Jets. They have been in a tussle with Zach Wilson who was the second overall pick in 2020. He is disappointed this season. They have bounced around from White himself and Joe Flacco. They have bounced around from quarterback to quarterback. None of them has succeeded though. So what is the quarterback talks are very difficult right now. Your opinions? I have none. I'm here to learn from you. Well there is also a quarterback talk in Green Bay. Do you still keep starting Aaron Rodgers or do you give Jordan Love a chance? Because Aaron Rodgers has come back. He has decided that he will come back for possibly one more season. Maybe two. How old is he? He is 39. Do you consider that old for a quarterback? No. I mean the average quarterback retires at like age 37-38. Right now the oldest in the league is Tom Brady at age 46. And Tom Brady, oh speaking about Tom Brady, Tom Brady still has not made his decision and that he still does not want all the questions. So for now we have no news of if he will come back or if he won't come back. And back to Green Bay. Remember the quarterback controversy around 2008-2009 when Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre, two all-time greats, were fighting for the spot. I think Aaron Rodgers is gonna have to take it himself with Jordan Love. So it's gonna be probably a quarterback controversy next season. When was that controversy? 2007-2009 really. When were you born? 2015. So that was before your time. Yeah. I just found out about it. I'm searching things up. And then again there is New England. Matt Jones filling in for Tom Brady has been an average quarterback. I mean if Bailey Zappi is your backup and he at one point is competing with you then you're probably not that good. So what I'm saying you need somebody new. I don't know why you traded Tom Brady but that's what you get for trading Tom Brady. Do you think Tom Brady would be still good if he was playing in New England? Probably not though because they don't have a good receiving core. They only have like running backs really. They have really no good receivers. Though in Tampa they have overrated wide receivers. They have wide receivers that are good, average, but people say that they're like the best wide receivers in the league, one of. They're extremely overrated. Chris Scott went okay this guy is average. He's good. He's not amazing. Neither is Mike Evans. So I just think Tom Brady might be going to the Raiders actually. To the Raiders? Yes. That's what he's, if he's coming back that's what he's saying. He might go to the Raiders. And speaking about the Raiders, Derek Carr has decided to terminate his contract himself because he heard he was getting benched against the 49ers in week 17. Though their fill-in quarterback Jarrett Stidham actually made it closer than the 49ers expected. They lost 34 to 27 which is not that bad given that the 49ers were a good team, not today, but no. Jarrett Stidham, if Tom Brady doesn't end up in Raiders, in Raider Nation, it's gonna be Jarrett Stidham. I mean Jarrett Carr is a free agent now. That's probably a top option for maybe like the Jets. Then go the Dolphins. They thought they had a franchise quarterback into a tool Valgoa earlier this season. They started 3-0. Then he got a concussion. They lost three games. Then he came back. They won five games. Then he was still playing. Then they lost five games in a row. And then they won one game in a row. And then they lost one game in a row in the playoffs. It's back and forth. At one point they were 8-3 and they were the best team in their division. Then they ended up being second front but way behind the Buffalo Bills. I think coming back from a concussion is a pretty difficult recovery so maybe that's affecting their game. But then how did they win five games after he came back from the concussion? And then they lost five games getting a concussion in the mix of those five games. In like the third game against the Green Bay Packers. So he had two concussions this season. Oh my gosh. A three game winning streak, a three game losing streak, a five game winning streak, a five game losing streak, a one game winning streak, and a one game losing streak. A rollercoaster season. But if I'm the Dolphins I think you need somebody who isn't so injury prone. And you need to protect Tua Tua Valdez. The reason being you do not want him to turn into Carson Wentz. He was a very good player until he started getting injured. Because now he is at the bottom of the league. He won a Super Bowl actually with the Eagles in 2017. Now he's a second string quarterback in Washington. So that's pretty disappointing. And six years gone from winning a Super Bowl to being the second string in the Commanders. That's disappointing. Injuries. Injuries can cause that. Can bring a game down. Psychologically affect the player. Carson Palmer learned that the hard way. He learned it the hard way as pretty much his career, well he came back, well but he pretty much had a torn ACL and torn MCL on his left knee starting an 80 yard touchdown pass against the Steelers in a game around 2014. He came back but he never was the same again. He was the best player in the league at the time. Then he went down with an ACL and MCL tear. And there was no penalty call because there was no rule for that. Then luckily the next season they made a 15 yard penalty for hitting the quarterback below the knees. Thankfully that's a new rule. But besides that, really, the new rule was put in play in 2015 I think. Hitting the, tackling or hitting the quarterback below the knees results in a 15 yard penalty. Okay. Because of what happened to Carson Palmer. Because pretty much the league's best young star fell out because there was no no rule for it. So injuries can actually kill great careers. Absolutely. Yeah. There is also another thing. The LA Rams who last season won the Super Bowl are now one of the worst teams in the league, literally. They are having quarterback problems, injury problems, as Cooper Cupp got injured against the Cardinals earlier this season. He was out for the season. Addie Stafford also got injured. Resulted that at one point they were down to their third string quarterback until they got their second string. And then they bought Baker Mayfield from the Carolina Panthers, who we will talk about later. And Baker Mayfield performed the first game as they won 17-16 against the Raiders in LA. But from there they had one more win, which was against the Broncos. It was a blowout actually. But besides that, nothing really went well for them. They narrowly lost against the Seahawks in Week 18, 16, and 13, but that made no difference on their season. So do you buy somebody new? Do you hope that Matthew Stafford is the same from 2021? Or do you stay with Baker Mayfield? Or do you try and trade Baker Mayfield and get some cash and buy somebody else? Or do you stick with your second string? I mean there are a lot of decisions to be made there over in LA. As Cam Akers also earlier in the season was demanding to be traded. But he did though stay with the Rams. But there's a lot of stuff going over there in LA. Not though with the Chargers. Justin Herbert, second in the league in passing, hurts only to Patrick Mahomes by 500 yards. But Justin Herbert is secured as the Chargers quarterback next season. On the other hand, the Panthers are down to Sam Darnold as their new quarterback. This man never proved himself. They lost Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers. So their two best players were shipped out for not a lot of cash. Half of what they had to pay to get both of them. Really? They lost money on the trade? Yeah, half. Half of what they paid. It was disappointing. So it was, I feel like there is something to be done in Carolina. You need somebody. Maybe you can get Tom Brady in some trade, maybe. But besides that, there's really nobody available. I mean you can get Derek Carr, I guess. What about the new guys coming on from college? We have to talk about college football. There's a lot going on in that area. Georgia, after they won the National Championship, has messed up many times. Three Georgia players have been arrested ever since they won the National Championship. Recently, Stetson Bennett, Georgia quarterback, was arrested last night. The quarterback? The quarterback was arrested for drunk driving. And now three of them have been arrested. Georgia were the favorites. Now they're meagerly in like seventh in the favorites. Stetson Bennett was going to enter the draft. We'll see if he's available by then. Who was going to enter the draft? Stetson Bennett, the quarterback. Okay. Is he any good? He is very good. In all four playoff appearances, he has one offensive player in the game. He is very good. He was fourth in the Heisman voting. Fourth best player in college football this season, in all of college football, which is pretty good. And well, besides that, CJ Stroud is entering the draft. Which NFL team do you think should get that player, the Georgia quarterback, if they can? Stetson Bennett. Yeah. If he's even at the draft. Yeah, he will be at the draft. That's one thing. He cannot go undrafted. That's one thing that's for certain, unless somebody passes up on him. But I think maybe the Denver Broncos would maybe get Stetson Bennett. They have the fourth pick in the draft. And speaking about Denver, Russell Wilson, oh my god, you just traded the mother load for now nothing. You traded half of all your good players, no, like two-thirds of all your good players, a second round pick, the fourth pick of the, well, you got the fourth pick of the draft in Russell Wilson. You sent over the sixth, like the 22nd pick in the first round. Their second round pick, and another first round pick. They traded three picks and around ten players, and they got two players, and one, and one. Well, they traded over a quarter, many quarterbacks they traded. They only got one player, Russell Wilson, and one pick. Russell Wilson had more interceptions than he had touchdowns. This guy was one of the best players in the NFL just a few seasons ago. This guy just, oh my god, Russell Wilson, what a disappointment. You need somebody new. Speaking about that, Nathaniel Hackett thankfully has left the coaching job. He has done a terrible job as a coach. So I think either CJ Stout or Stetson Bennett is going to be there. Either Stetson Bennett or CJ Stout must go to Denver, and if somebody else gets him, you'll have to engineer a trade to get him, because or else you're stuck with a losing team for a long time. They traded the motherlode for Russell Wilson. The motherlode. That's just disappointing. At least that they have the fourth pick in the draft. That's one thing. The Chicago Bears actually have the third pick in the draft. Justin Fields, though, was 61 yards short of tying the NFL quarterback record for rushing yards, only to Lamar Jackson in 2018. He was very good, though, this season, but just not good enough. They had the worst record in the NFL, 3-14. Three wins to 14 losses. Half a game below the Texans, who at one point were 1-13-1. Then they won their last two games of the season miraculously. But from there on out, really, the Bears and the Texans are the two teams that need something. They were the two worst teams in the league. You know what? The New York Giants, the reason I'm not going to put them in is because they have officially decided to keep Daniel Jones in it. They are going to give him another chance after what he did against the Vikings. They give him one more chance. So right now, I think that's pretty much all the quarterback talk. It sounds like the NFL, as soon as the Super Bowl is over, there's going to be a lot of turmoil and a lot of negotiations and trading based on all this. There is also, Dallas has the biggest problem in the NFL. Dak Prescott threw a league-high 16 interceptions after coming back from his thumb injury in Week 9. 15 interceptions in 9 games. That's the most in the NFL. He just was throwing too many interceptions and it cost them a lot. Seems like all the teams are having... And then there's the problem that he's going to be a free agent this summer. Pretty much their starting running back, Tony Pollard, is also a free agent. All their starters are free agents and if they re-sign them, their projected salary cap is going to be negative $7.6 million. Do they get penalized for that? I think they just can't re-sign one of them, two or three of them. So there's some decisions to be made. If you don't re-sign Dak Prescott, that's like $100 million back in your pocket. Because they paid him like $70 million in his extension, which is over this offseason. So, I don't know. Dallas isn't a bad situation. They have that cater situation and now they have the salary cap and keeping good players situation. That should be very interesting. There's a problem in Dallas. I look forward to your updates on all these trades and negotiations and strategy after the season is over. Should we move now to the NBA? Yes. NBA Rivals Week. Answer. The Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks dueled it out. The Milwaukee Bucks came out on top though, saving the Celtics though, the day after they lost against the Miami Seats. And then again on Saturday, the rivalry. Celtics-Lakers in Boston. Jason Tatum. Well, not Jason Tatum. Jalen Brown showed up in overtime. Though, LeBron missed the game-winning layup as time expired. And then he actually threw a fit on the floor because he thought he had gotten fouled. And then after that, he was screaming at the ref. And then he grabbed a camera, one of the Laker players, and showed it at the ref. He grabbed one of the cameras and showed it to the ref. Was there a foul? No. So it went to overtime and Jalen Brown just went on fire. And the Boston Celtics ended up coming out on top 18-14. And Boston, best team in the NBA, still. Still the best team. That's excellent. Let's talk about soccer now. I went to a game this weekend. Oh, first, there was a game this weekend here in Los Angeles at the LA Galaxy Stadium in Carson, where Columbia played against the United States. Do you have any comments on that game? Let's just say, I think Hoppy, the USA striker, has a bright future ahead of him. He is, he has a lot of potential in him. He, I think he can play well for a long time. It's just he hasn't been allowed to play a long time. On the other hand, Columbia has a lot of problems going on. Their strikers, their starters, I mean, are like the best players. If one of them gets injured, the entire team is doomed. Because every, their substitutes are like just, they're just not good. They're just not good. And there's a problem with that. But Chicharang was one of the substitutes. Chicharang was pretty good. That's true, but he did not perform on Sunday. He did not. He did not perform. In the MLS, he does perform very well. He performed against LA Galaxy in the bank, and he scored the game-winner as they won in the conference semifinals. Were you at that game? No, but I was in my Annie that day. It was 12 midnight that day. And then the other game, the other soccer game this weekend I saw was the Fire Dragons against the Ninjas, and that was a pretty good game. Do you have any comments on that game? Based on it, I myself believe that Ashley played very well in that game. I mean, I scored three times and made one assist. I actually think that we played a really good game. That we had that one penalty save earlier in the first half, I think that was a really big difference. And then it was also the mistakes that were made by the other team's goalie. A lot of mistakes. I mean, at first he was taking a long time. I actually think he should have gotten penalized many times because he was holding the ball and he was outside the box. The ref didn't call it. Oh well. And then he did not know, but he dropped the ball and then he picked it up again. Resulted in an indirect kick, which I scored. And well, I think we just, we have a good foundation 2-0 to start. I think we're going to have a really good practice on Tuesday. Now, back to basketball. NBA Rivals League. Again, the Denver Nuggets lost again on Saturday. It was very disappointing after they had pretty, they had been a really good team, but Nikoli Jokic lately has not been what he was earlier this season, the triple-double machine. On the other hand, Luka Doncic, oh my god, this guy is going to win MVP by a long shot. 33.6 points a game. The highest in the NBA. He averages almost a triple-double. The only person to ever do that is Russell Westbrook back in his MVP year. Also, Luka Doncic is being, he's been, he has around like, I don't know, eight triple-doubles. Only behind Nikoli Jokic who has nine, I think. But besides that, Nikoli Jokic is also a very good player. He just hasn't performed lately, but he is still one of the runners for MVP. That we can say for certain. Because the Denver Nuggets, second best team in the NBA. Now take a look at John Morant. He started off the season very, very well, but lately, the past four, six games, they just haven't been on track, the Grizzlies. They haven't been the Grizzlies that we saw earlier this season that were tied with the Nuggets for the first in the West. Now they're like, I don't know, four and a half games back. But the Memphis Grizzlies, yeah, they have a good team in their hands. They have a good team. But now, Stephen Curry has just got to start hitting good shots now. Now it's not only Klay Thompson like we said last video, it's everybody. Everybody is now like making them lose games. Now they need to get everybody up. Even the coach, Steve Kerr. So, from now on, for the rest of the season, it's not only you need a big man. You need somebody that is going to replace Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, all their veteran players that were dominant in 16, 17, 15, with somebody that will replace them soon. Because their time, they're probably going to retire soon enough. They're declining. They're very declining. Very, very fast. On the other hand, LeBron James is a little over 100 points from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's point record. A little over 100 points away. I actually believe he can get the record before the All-Star break. I'm sure. I mean, LeBron James is... Five more games. Five more games is going to take him pretty much. If he doesn't get it by the end of the season, it's probably going to be that he has some type of back injury. But I just hope that doesn't happen. The King James is going to just keep going. Until he beats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yeah. And, well, let's not end there because there are more basketball talks to keep going. Remember how I told you the Sacramento Kings were a good team? They are third in the West now. They are a really good team now. The Montessor Bonus, like we said last episode, has been just so, so good. The Aaron Fox is hitting pretty much everything. And pretty much everyone else. On the other hand, the Pacers who received the Halliburton trade and all those other players and Buddy Heald are also doing good. Buddy Heald most made three-pointers this season. And Tyrese Halliburton is a solid role player who can make any shot whenever you need him to. I think these two teams, again, are going to be very good teams going forward. And then you look at the Miami Heat Super Team that does not have over 500 records. How is that even possible? Jamie Butler, Bam Adebayo, everyone else that they have, and they don't have a winning record? That's just impossible. And then there is the Trailblazers. They were, I don't know, the two seed in the West two months ago? Now they're like the, I don't know, the nine, ten seed? And now they have a losing record. What is going on, Damian Lillard? I thought you were a really good player. I thought you could hit pretty much any three. They call you Lola Lillard for a reason. So, really, the Trailblazers need somebody else besides Nurkic, Grant, and Lillard. That's the only people that can support him. Who else? Who else? Who else is going to help him score? Sure, he has some other good scorers, but that was against the Lakers. Now, take a look at the Milwaukee Bucks. They have been winning games one after another, but they can't beat the Celtics. They can't beat the Celtics. They have just been, they just can't beat the Celtics in games. So you think the Celtics are going to win this season? The East, probably. The East. And, well, that depends on how healthy they are. Giannis was injured for some time. That cost the Bucks some games. Curry was injured for like, I don't know, two weeks? That cost the Warriors a lot. Like, I don't know, like seven games? LeBron was injured a little bit. A.D. actually was really, was really something bad and was something good. A miracle, actually, in disguise. And now that A.D. is back, he's only made a little bit of a difference. Not a lot of a difference, but they're still a good team. And what I actually think is that the L.A. Lakers are not going to make the playoffs. They are not going to make the playoffs. The problems that are going on in L.A., you try and surround LeBron with somebody. Don't surround LeBron. Surround somebody else, not LeBron. You need somebody else. They are both veterans. They are both on the decline. They need somebody new. Somebody young that is going to make points. Besides Thomas Bryant, who can score 25 points a game and then the next day score 4. He's inconsistent, but if he's consistent he can be good. I'm just saying, you need somebody that's good. Besides Thomas Bryant. So that's something to watch for. And besides that, there's many other underrated teams that are on the rise. So watch out for all these teams. See you in the next one. See you in the next one. Until next time.