The Seahawks are toast in the NFC West, plus Randy Arozarena is already the story of the MLB playoffs again

Greetings sports fans, it’s Chris Bengel guiding into the weekend once again. Is this the best time of the year when it comes to sports? I think so.

Both the college football and NFL seasons are in full swing and now the MLB postseason has gotten underway. Oh yeah, and the NBA and NHL start over the next two weeks. We honestly get spoiled during this time of the year, but the baseball theater might be the most thrilling. If Wednesday’s chaos between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals is any indication, we’re going to be in for a wild postseason.

Anyway, let’s dive into the news and get you ready for the weekend!

📰 What you need to know

1. Rams edge Seahawks as Russell Wilson goes down with injury 🏈

Thursday night’s game highlighted the NFC West as the Los Angeles Rams were looking to rebound against the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams were able to do that with a 26-17 victory over the Seahawks behind a terrific performance from quarterback Matthew Stafford. 

However, the biggest story coming out of this contest was the fact that Russell Wilson was forced out of the game in the second half. Early in the third quarter, Wilson’s hand connected with Rams star pass rusher Aaron Donald and Wilson couldn’t continue playing. In Wilson’s place, the Seahawks were forced to roll with Geno Smith as their quarterback, who actually didn’t play too poorly despite his not-so-stellar track record. Smith did toss a touchdown to D.K. Metcalf in the fourth quarter to keep the game close, but then threw an interception in the final two minutes that helped the Rams record the win.

Stafford turned in a strong game in which he threw for 365 yards and a touchdown. One of the biggest reasons for Stafford’s success continues to be the play of his spectacular wideouts. Robert Woods caught a mind-boggling 12 passes for 150 yards while Cooper Kupp added seven receptions for 92 yards to help pace the Rams offense. Stafford was able to find tight end Tyler Higbee in the end zone late in the third quarter for his lone touchdown pass.

Midway through the third quarter, the Rams put together a six-play, 73-yard drive that allowed them to take a 23-14 lead that they would never relinquish. Here’s a look at a few key plays from that drive:

• On 2nd-and-9 at their own 28-yard line, Stafford connected with Woods for a 24-yard gain
• On the very next play, Stafford floated a pass to Kupp for 33 yards. If not for Kupp being forced to make a sliding catch on the play, it could’ve been a touchdown down since he was wide open
• Sony Michel capped off the drive with a two-yard touchdown run

For more on the game, check out what our CBS Sports NFL scribes had to say about the action.

2. MLB postseason roundup: Rays’ Randy Arozarena is already showing off again ⚾

The Major League Baseball Wild Card Games are officially in the books and the Division Series are underway. On the American League side, the Houston Astros hosted the Chicago White Sox while the Tampa Bay Rays took on the Boston Red Sox in a pair of a very intriguing Thursday matchups.

The White Sox were one of the most impressive stories throughout the regular season as they won the American League Central. Chicago possesses a lineup that features the likes of Jose Abreu, Eloy Jiminez, and Luis Robert and that’s enough to give any team trouble. However, the Astros weren’t phased one bit. Houston came away with a dominant 6-1 win over Chicago in Game 1 and looked like an absolute juggernaut. 

Here’s a few reason why the Astros were able to cruise to a victory in Game 1:

• Astros starter Lance McCullers tossed 6.2 shutout innings and only gave up four hits while striking out four batters
• Yordan Alvarez and Michael Brantley went a combined 4-for-7 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Alvarez hit the lone home run of the game
• Lance Lynn continued to struggle against the Astros as he gave up five runs in just 3.2 innings

Meanwhile, the Red Sox were looking to replicate some of the magic that made them so successful against the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Game. The Rays were looking to build off of their regular season momentum and they did just that. Tampa Bay ended up recording a 5-0 win over Boston in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

• Rays starter Shane McClanahan threw five shutout innings while striking out three
• Rays left fielder Randy Arozarena continued his stellar postseason play as he went 1-for-2 with a home run, three runs scored … oh and he stole home plate in the seventh inning
• Rookie Wander Franco became the youngest player to record a postseason RBI since Bryce Harper did it at 19 years old back in 2012. Franco went 2-for-4 in the Rays win

My biggest takeaway? The Rays are such a fun team to watch. Arozarena kept up his insane heroics in the postseason while Franco may already be establishing himself as one of the top players in the sport. Tampa is a dangerous team.

3. Week 5 NFL picks: Chiefs vs. Bills highlights interesting week 🏈

The NFL season is moving right along and we’re starting to separate the contenders from the pretenders. Most teams have shown signs of life (except for the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars).

It’s boggling my mind how bad the Jaguars have looked under Meyer. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect a ton of success when Meyer was hired, but this is insane. College coaches that make the leap to the pros don’t often have a ton of success. Chip Kelly, Lane Kiffin and many others have tried their hand at running an NFL team and it’s been a colossal failure. In my opinion, if Nick Saban couldn’t make it work, then almost no one can.

As for the Week 5 slate … woof. Some of these games may be worse than watching paint dry. However, there are a few that are extremely intriguing. The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t had the start to the season that many envisioned, but their offense dismantled my Philadelphia Eagles last week. Seeing the Chiefs and Bills go head-to-head will be a lot of fun in the primetime window. Also, are the Cincinnati Bengals must-see TV now? It seems insane, but Joe Burrow has looked sensational so far this season. The Ja’Marr Chase/Burrow connection has been fun to watch, but they’ll have a true test against the Green Bay Packers this week.

CBS Sports NFL scribe Will Brinson tried his hand at forecasting this week’s games with his Week 5 picks. Below are a few that I like:

• Bengals 31, Packers 28: “Aaron Rodgers recently admitted he doesn’t like playing in Cincinnati, for whatever reason … The Bengals currently profile as the fifth-best defense in football by DVOA and are particularly stout against the run. I think they can limit Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon. Additionally, when Joe Mixon is out — and he should be here — Cincy morphs from an early-down run offense to a more pass-friendly unit. Get Joe Burrow cooking against a secondary without Jaire Alexander and with Tee Higgins back in the fold and we could see some fireworks. I’m backing AMERICA’S NEW TEAM THE CINCINNATI BENGALS to win this game OUTRIGHT.”
• 49ers 31, Cardinals 28: “The Cardinals are for real, no doubt about it. Kliff Kingsbury should be the COY leader and Kyler Murray should be the MVP frontrunner. Veteran additions like A.J. Green and J.J. Watt are paying off for GM Steve Keim. But in a divisional matchup of two teams within a reasonable skillset level, this is just too many points. The Cards probably aren’t bothering to prepare for Jimmy Garoppolo, knowing the chatter about him playing was likely a smokescreen. Preparing for Trey Lance isn’t easy, though … I think the 49ers pull off the upset on the road here and we see some magic out of Lance on the offensive side of things.”
• Chiefs 41, Bills 35: “Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen could put up some big-time numbers in this game, even with the Bills playing some really good defense (No. 1 in DVOA) lately. It’s hard to imagine their best effort nullifying the Chiefs, although Buffalo winning wouldn’t shock me. Given the stakes and the stage and the home-field advantage, I’ll still take the Chiefs here. But this game is just going to be awesome. Sit back and enjoy it.”

4. Dan Marino, Brett Favre among quarterbacks who played too long 🏈

Let’s end with a fun one today. When you think about some of the NFL’s all-time greats at the quarterback position, you assume they were spectacular during their entire professional careers. However, that’s not always the case.

In my book, Brett Favre is a modern culprit of this. Favre put together a storied career with the Green Bay Packers and will go down as one of the greatest signal callers in franchise history. However, Favre was trying way too hard to keep his career going once his Packers tenure came to a close. In his lone season with the New York Jets, Favre tossed 22 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Now, I will admit that Favre had a very strong year with the Minnesota Vikings the following season, but his final NFL campaign saw him throw just 11 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

There comes a time where you just don’t have it anymore. CBS Sports NFL scribe Bryan DeArdo took a closer look at several quarterbacks that played a little too long.

• Johnny Unitas: “Unitas split time with Earl Morrall the following season before an 0-5 start in 1972 led to a coaching change and Unitas’ benching. His last hurrah as the Colts quarterback came in Week 2, when Unitas threw for 376 yards and two touchdowns against the New York Jets in a rematch of Super Bowl III. Traded to the Chargers during the 1973 offseason, Unitas was benched after four games. In his final start, Unitas was 2 of 9 with two interceptions. He was replaced by rookie Dan Fouts, who went on to enjoy a Hall of Fame career.”
• Dan Marino: “Marino decided to come back for a 17th season after suffering a 38-3 loss to the Broncos in the divisional round of the playoffs the previous season (1998) … Despite his 5-6 record as a starter, the Dolphins made the playoffs with a 9-7 record … Marino was unable to hide his aging arm and lack of mobility … Facing a fast, aggressive Jaguars defense, Marino completed just 11 of his 25 attempts and threw two interceptions … The Dolphins ended up losing, 62-7, and Marino retired that offseason.”
• Favre: “Favre returned for a 20th season after falling just short of reaching the Super Bowl in 2009. But as good as the ’09 season was for Favre and the Vikings, the 2010 season was the complete opposite. Minnesota fired coach Brad Childress after a 3-7 start. Favre saw his record of 297 consecutive starts come to an end in Week 14. He then watched the final game of his career in street clothes, as the Vikings lost a meaningless game in Detroit. Favre lost both of his matchups that season against Rodgers and the Packers, who went onto win the Super Bowl.”

📝 Odds & Ends

• Eighteen former NBA players have been charged in New York federal court for their involvement in an alleged $4 million health insurance fraud scheme. Among the players included are Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Sebastian Telfair, Tony Allen, Darius Miles and Shannon Brown
• Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal announced that star running back CJ Verdell will miss the remainder of the season due to a lower-leg injury. Verdell suffered the injury in the third quarter of Oregon’s 31-24 overtime loss to Stanford last Saturday
• Everybody’s favorite sports bettor is at it again. Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has placed a $2 million bet on the Houston Astros to win the 2021 World Series

📺 What to watch this weekend

Friday

🏈 Temple vs. No. 5 Cincinnati, 7 p.m. | CIN -29 | TV: ESPN

⚾ Red Sox vs. Rays, 7:02 p.m. | TB -130 | TV: FS1

⚾ Dodgers vs. Giants, 9:37 p.m. | SFG +105 | TV: TBS

Saturday

🏈 No. 6 Oklahoma vs. No. 21 Texas, 12 p.m. | OKLA -3 | TV: ABC

🏈 No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 18 Auburn, 3:30 p.m. | UGA -15.5 | TV: CBS

🏈 No. 4 Penn State vs. No. 3 Iowa, 4 p.m. | IOWA -1.5 | TV: FOX

Sunday

🏈 Browns vs. Chargers, 4:05 p.m. | LAC -2 | TV: CBS

🏈 49ers vs. Cardinals , 4:25 p.m. | ARI -5 | TV: FOX

🏈 Bills vs. Chiefs, 8:20 p.m. | KC -2.5 | TV: NBC

🏅 Best thing I saw on the internet

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League Wild Card Game in dramatic fashion on Wednesday. Chris Taylor slugged a two-run home run to lift the Dodgers past the St. Louis Cardinals and it was absolute chaos. Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer, who started the game, was quite excited about the win. Following the game, Scherzer could be seen celebrating shirtless and rather intoxicated with his teammates. In fact, one of his former Nationals teammates, Juan Soto, was even in attendance at Dodger Stadium.