1. Let me get this out of the way for the unintelligent people out there, or, as I like to call them, the dopes on Twitter.
Pointing out one awful call in a game does not mean there weren’t other awful calls in the game. Explaining that one call was worse than all the others doesn’t mean the other team didn’t get screwed by other calls.
I also don’t give a flying fudgesicle about the Patriots or Commanders, so I have no agenda here.
Now that I got that out of the way, I want to show you the worst roughing-the-passer call of the 2023 season.
It was called against the Commanders’ KJ Henry, who sacked the Patriots’ Mac Jones on Sunday and got flagged for a 15-yard penalty.
Here was Henry’s “infraction.”
This was called roughing on KJ Henry. Scandalous pic.twitter.com/0c87J1zCaD
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) November 5, 2023
There is absolutely positively zero roughing-the-passer here. You actually can’t sack the quarterback any better than that.
Here was the ridiculous explanation from the official who threw the flag after the game.
The explanation from officials on the controversial roughing call against Commanders DE KJ Henry: pic.twitter.com/seE3shsfdp
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 5, 2023
Actually, no, Henry did not sack Jones with his full body weight. Henry actually let up a little bit and turned his body to the right when bringing Jones down to the ground.
I’m also so sick of the refs being defended by the rules analysts on TV, who love to say, “This is how the NFL wants it called.” If the ref didn’t throw a flag on that play, there would be zero fallout. Hell, the Patriots wouldn’t have even complained that there should’ve been a flag.
So the call was horrific and the explanation was wrong. But what else would you expect from the refs this season. The league should be embarrassed that we are in this place where just tackling the quarterback is a 15-yard-penalty.
If the league does not add reviews for penalties like this in the offseason, they are doing an enormous disservice to their players.
2. The best moment of Sunday’s NFL action came when Texas RUNNING BACK Dare Ogunbowale successfully nailed a 29-yard field goal against the Bucs after Houston kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was injured earlier in the game.
Texans ST coordinator Frank Ross couldn't have been any happier with Dare Ogunbowale 🥲 pic.twitter.com/cNLesNTBLk
— NFL (@NFL) November 6, 2023
3. In that Bucs-Texans game, rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud threw for 470 yards and five touchdowns. Somehow, That Other Pregame Show analyst Kyle Long predicted Stroud would go for 400 earlier in the morning.
Yesterday morning on @CBSSports ….. pic.twitter.com/wguWhwnqAL
— kyle (@Ky1eLong) November 6, 2023
4. CBS’s NFL Today host James Brown had a great hot mic moment Sunday when he was caught calling himself “Big Chocolate.” We later learned that Brown’s cohost, Nate Burleson, gave him that nickname.
James Brown can thank Nate Burleson for his nickname pic.twitter.com/dgAUKaIqXL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 6, 2023
5. Two great betting notes.
One, you better get on the under bandwagon when it comes to NFL prime-time games.
With the Bengals-Bills game staying UNDER 50.5, prime-time unders are now 21-7 (75%) this season
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) November 6, 2023
Two, we told you that last week’s Iowa-Northwestern game opened with an over/under of 30.5, the lowest total in FBS history.
This week’s Rutgers-Iowa game has opened with a total of 29.
Rutgers-Iowa over/under: 29.
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) November 6, 2023
6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast features two interviews.
First up is Robert Griffin III, who is a college football color commentator for ESPN, one of the analysts of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown and the host of a new podcast, RG3 and the Ones.
Griffin discusses his various roles in broadcasting, how and why he decided to get into sports media after having no interest in it during his playing days, and what the ultimate goal is for his media career. He also talks about navigating social media and handling all his own social media, finding himself in the middle of a controversy, what NFL players are saying about the league’s officiating problem, a surreal Halloween moment and much more.
Following RGIII, Peter Schrager from Good Morning Football and Fox joins the podcast to talk about his recent appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy!
Was he nervous? Did he practice? How did he stick to his NDA? Was the experience everything he hoped it would be? He also discusses how Jeopardy! led to a connection with Debbie Gibson.
Following Schrager, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss my day at Sal’s house for an NFL Sunday that was filled with Sunday Ticket glitches on YouTube, the terrible World Series ratings and the death of Matthew Perry.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Some random person on the internet recently went viral for creating a ridiculous list of places that you should not go to on a first date. The Inside the NBA crew has reacted to said list.
