1. It's such a treat when a postgame interview isn't the typical cookie-cutter, “We believed in ourselves and executed” nonsense.
Sports are supposed to be fun, so more players should attempt to have more fun with their postgame interviews, just like stud Ravens kicker Justin Tucker did Sunday night.
Before we get to the interview, we need to point out that Tucker gave us a great moment during the game when he had this reaction to nailing a 58-yard field goal in the third quarter.
Tucker gave Baltimore a 19-17 win when he drilled a 43-yard-field goal with three seconds remaining.
This, of course, was nothing new for Tucker, who will end up on Canton one day because of his clutch kicking.
Tucker talked about the game-winning kick immediately afterward and gave us one hell of a breakdown of every aspect of the play.
NBC’s Melissa Stark asked Tucker, “Do you love it when it comes down to you?”
“I love it and I hate it and everything in between,” said Tucker. "I’d be lying to you if I said every time I go out there, I’m not just a little bit nervous. I’m not thinking about worst-case scenario, but it's really important to me and to us to take those 1.3 seconds between the snap, the hold and the kick and just focus on the nuts and bolts of what’s gonna make the kick. My feelings don’t matter. What matters is seeing the ball snapped with 12 o’clock laces from Nick Moore, seeing the ball spotted cleanly from Jordan Stout, his first first career game-winning hold and then from there I’m just a system kicker. The ball kicks itself at that point.”
What a summary! That had to be the first time in NFL history that anyone has dropped “game-winning hold” during an interview. That alone would've made the interview noteworthy, but then he took things over the top by mocking the “system quarterback” phrase and referred to himself as a “system kicker.”
Just a tremendous night on and off the field for Tucker.
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2. Here are your broadcasting crews for the MLB division series:
- Guardians-Yankees, TBS: Bob Costas, Ron Darling, Lauren Shehadi
- Mariners-Astros, TBS: Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur, Matt Winer.
- Phillies-Braves: Fox/FS1: Joe Davis, John Smoltz
- Padres-Dodgers; Fox/FS1: Adam Amin, AJ Pierzynski
3. Aaron Rodgers wasn’t happy with teammate Jaire Alexander for saying he isn’t worried yet about the Packers’ defense, but he would worry if Green Bay loses to the Jets this week.
Last week, after the Packers squeaked past the Patriots, Rodgers said Green Bay’s ways of winning weren’t sustainable.
Then the Packers lost to the Giants. Was this manifestation?
4. The biggest controversy Sunday was the absurd roughing-the-passer penalty called on Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett in the fourth quarter of the Falcons’ game against the Bucs.
The call was so bad analyst Daryl Johnston couldn't stop ripping it on Fox.
On the bright side, the terrible call gave us this tweet.
We also need to acknowledge Tom Brady’s masterful performance after the game, when he was asked about getting the very generous call.
5. I've seen a lot of people criticize the Mets for having Edwin Díaz do his routine bullpen entrance, complete with the Timmy Trumpet song, when the team was down 4–0 to the Padres on Sunday night.
I think that’s an unfair criticism, but what is valid is that the Mets’ troubles started when Jerry Seinfeld called out the team for embracing Timmy Trumpet a little too early.
The lesson here is that Jerry knows all.
6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features an outstanding conversation with combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani.
The longtime MMA reporter, who also covers professional wrestling and boxing, explained how he's carved out a successful sports media career after leaving ESPN, the challenges he faced covering MMA while working at Fox and ESPN, why he ended up leaving ESPN, his tumultuous relationship with Dana White, the art of interviewing WWE superstars, what he tries to get out of interviews and much more.
Following Helwani, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week Sal talks about going viral after declaring that the Mets had the NL East wrapped up in June, I reveal my favorite story of the day, and we give out our weekly NFL best bet.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
