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When the NFL schedule was released there was a lot of anticipation for the Week 9 match up that had the Green Bay Packers at the Kansas City Chiefs. Unfortunately for football fans there have been a couple of things that have taken the shine off of this game.

Surprisingly coming into this game the Chiefs are just a .500 team at 4-4. There could be a lot of reasons for Kansas City’s slower than expected start and most people seem to think that the other NFL teams have figured Patrick Mahomes out, but yet no one has actually explained what that means; so I’m not sure I buy that as an actual reason. Now Mahomes has had his issues this season. Through 8 games Mahomes has thrown 10 interceptions and has fumbled the football 5 times; so that 15 turnovers Mahomes is responsible for this season, but is that figuring him out?

Is it possible that the fact that the Chiefs have almost no running game at all that might be a bigger issue. I know it sounds like an easy explanation and with Mahomes being a big name in the NFL you want to out the blame on him in some way, shape or form, but he can’t win games by himself and with zero support from the running game that leaves a lot on his shoulders.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire is actually the Chiefs leading rusher with 304 yards even though he’s only played in 5 of the teams 8 games this season. Edwards-Helaire was Kansas City’s 1st round draft pick last season and was looked at as a player who would be able to provide a solid running game for the Chiefs, but unfortunately he’s been unable to stay healthy in his first two NFL seasons. Edwards-Helaire is clos to returning from his injury, but you have to wonder just how long it will be before he gets hurt again and misses playing time.

Without Edwards-Helaire Darrel Williams has taken over as the Chiefs main running back, but hasn’t found much success. Williams has carried the football 65 times through 8 games and has scored 4 rushing touchdowns, but he managed just 230 yards and is averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Williams is in his 4th season; all with the Chiefs, but this is the most he’s ever carried the football. Getting Edwards-Helaire back is obviously a good thing for the Chiefs, but it would also help Williams who couldreturn to his role as more of a change of pace running back.

On Monday ight against the New York Giants the Chiefs found some success in the running game behind Derrick Gore, but it’s difficult to tell if or what that might mean going forward. Gore had the first 11 carries of his NFL career against the Giants. He ran for 48 yards and scored a touchdown. Gore also caught 1 pass for 7 yards in that game. If Edwards-Helaire is unable to comeback this week against Green Bay maybe Gore can give the Chiefs some type of ground game for the Packers to have to look at.

Of course the elephant in the room for this game is the current situation with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. I’m sure you know by now that Rodgers tested positive for Covid-19 and won’t be playing in this game. There’s been a lot of talk about this situation since it was announce and Rodgers himself finally said more about it yesterday on the Pat McAfee show, but after listening to his side it seemed as though he was just making excuses for himself. You’ll have to go and find it online and see what you think about what Rodgers had to say.

No matter what you think about being vaccinated or not Rodgers has put his team in a terrible position and it may cost them a game. It’s one thing to decide not to get the vaccination, but when you have quite a few other people depending on you it might be something you’d want to do for them and to avoid a situation like this. With Rodgers being who he is you know that none of his teammates will come out against him, but behind closed doors there might be some different feelings about this situation.

With Rodgers out that means that Packers fans will get to see their future starting quarterback as Jordan Love will be Green Bay’s starting quarterback against the Chiefs tomorrow afternoon.

Don’t forget that during the off season drama with Rodgers he and the Packers worked it out so this would be his last season under contract with them and in that agreement the Packers aren’t allowed to use the franchise tag on him. It’s almost 100% guaranteed that if Rodgers decides to play next season he’ll be taking snaps for a different NFL teams next season.

As for Love he was the Packers 1st round pick in the 2020 draft; a move that bothered Rodgers as well. Love appeared in the first game of the season for the Packers and did go 5 of 7 for 68 yards in Green Bay’s blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, but tomorrow will be the first time he’ll be a starter.

The Packers vs. the Chiefs has a scheduled 3:25 p.m. start time and you’d have to think that Fox will show the game nationally; so that means that will get Joe Buck and Troy Aikman calling it. If that’s the case it will be interesting to see how many times they manage to work Rodgers name into their call.

The betting line for this game changed greatly after it was announced that Rodgers wouldn’t be playing. The last line I saw had the Chiefs favored by 8 points and the over/under on the game being 48 points. Now I don’t know how accurate these lines will be when you read this as they change almost minute to minute, but that’s what I saw a little earlier this morning.

So let me know how you think this game will go tomorrow. If you where betting on this game would you take the Packers and those 8 points? Or do you see the Chiefs winning by more than that? I’d also be interested to know how you think Love will do in his first NFL start.

Remember the Sports Time Radio podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you can’t catch the podcast live you can swing by TuneIn.com and listen whenever you want to.

You can also look me up on Twitter. I’m @Burketime

With the Atlanta Braves wining Game 6 of the World Series last night the Major League Baseball season officially came to an end. The off season has technically started, but don’t expect much to happen. With the Collective Bargaining agreement coming to an end on December 2nd there won’t be any player movement and I doubt will even see players re-sign with their own teams. I think the best thing we can hope for is that the owners and the players association are both smart enough to realize that there can’t be a delay in the season because of this.

Now there are same decisions teams will have to make before the current agreement expires though.

November 3rd is the beginning of a five-day period where teams and players must decide whether to exercise or decline contract options and opt-out clauses for the 2022 season. Eligible free agents cannot sign with anyone but their current team for five more days.

November 7th is the deadline for teams to issue qualifying offers to eligible free agents. For a breakdown of the draft choices teams would forfeit by signing a qualified free agent. The qualifying off is $18.4 million dollars for the 2022 season.

November 8th is when free agency officially opens and from November 8th until November 11th is the general mangers meetings in Carlsbad California.

November 17th is the deadline for players tagged with a qualifying offer to accept or reject the qualifying offer.

Then November 19th is the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man roster to keep them from selection in the Rule 5 draft.

Now there are deadlines that teams have in December, but with the collective bargaining agreement expiring it’s currently unknown if teams will have to make those decisions or if they’ll be delayed until a new deal is in place between the owners and the players.

If there isn’t a new agreement reached the owners could impose a lockout which would freeze a teams ability to make any transactions until a new agreement is reached between the two sides.

Unfortunately until there is a new agreement in place it’s probably the only baseball news we’re going to get and that’s too bad. There are quite a few interesting players headed into free agency especially at the shortstop position, but they’ll have to take a backseat as all we hear about is money and the other changes both sides what to make.

Baseball struggled to recover after the last work stoppage and they’re still recovering from the Covid-19 induced 60 game season hat they played two years ago. you have to hope that this would lead the sides to a quick solutions or possibly just continue to play under the current agreement while they tried to negotiate a new one.

Now you know money is going to come up as both sides are going to want a bigger piece of the pie. As well there are always other technical issues that will come up and I’m pretty sure that two of the changes will see will be an adjustment to the arbitration process and will have a universal designated hitter added. Other than that I’m not sure what else will come up as these negotiations move along.

What do you see happening with these labor talks? Do you think will get a quick resolution? Or are we going to see these talks drag on and impact the start of next season? I’d also be interested to know what if any changes you’d like to see made during these negotiations?

If you’d like to look me up on Twitter you can find me @Burketime.

Now due to what was an illness the Sports Time Radio podcast hasn’t been airing as scheduled, but hopefully starting today they’ll be back on their regular schedule. They air live Tuesday and Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and then the Friday podcast airs from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. You can listen to the podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you can’t catch the live edition of the podcast you can still listen by heading over to TuneIn.com where the podcast is available to you anytime you want to listen to it.

Do you know who the longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball is? It took me three or four guesses before I finally got the right manager. If you guessed Bob Melvin you are correct.

Melvin has been the manager of the Oakland A’s for the last 11 seasons. The A’s have a record of 853-764 and have been to the playoffs six times in the 11 years Melvin has been their manager.

Next season Melvin will still be the longest tenured manager in Major League baseball, but he won’t be in the Oakland dugout next season. It was announced this week that Melvin will be the new manager of another California team as he signed a three year deal to manage the San Diego Padres.

The Padres will be the fourth team that Melvin has managed, But San Diego will be the first team he’s managed that has spent big money on free agents. Melvin managed the Seattle Mariners for two seasons. Then he spent four full seasons and parts of a fifth as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks before ended up with the A’s.

Now the Mariners, Diamondbacks and especially the A’s aren’t known to go out onto the free agent market and sign players t long term big money deals, but the Padres currently have multiple players signed long term for big money. Fernando Tatis Jr.is signed until 2034 and his contract is for a total of $340 million dollars. Manny Machado is in the third year of a 10 year deal worth $300 million dollars. Add in Yu Darvish who is signed for two more seasons. Darvish will make $20 million dollars next season and then $19 million dollars in 2023. You can even throw Eric Hosmer into this mix even though there where a lot of reports that San Diego would like to trade him. Hosmer has four years left on an 8 year $144 million dollar deal. Don’t forget that Will Myers is scheduled to make $22.5 million dollars next season and then the Padres have a club option on Myers for 2023 at $20 million dollars. Then there’s Blake Snell who will make $13.1 million dollars next season before his salary jumps to $16.6 million dollars in 2023.

It should be interesting to see how Melvin handles a team that is carrying high salary players compared to how he managed the A’s. Just for comparison the A’s highest paid player headed into next season will be Elvis Andrus who is scheduled to make $14 million dollars, but almost $7 million dollars will be paid by the Texas Rangers.

Now the Padres where a disappointment last season as they where trendy pick to possible win the National League West or end up with one of the two National League wild card spots. In the end San Diego finished four games under .500 at 79-83 and manager Jayce Tingler was let go after the season.

If the Padres can just stay healthy next season especially in the starting rotation they should improve just because of that, but you have to wonder if they’ll be looking to add this off season.

Melvin has shown that he can guide small market low salary teams into the playoffs and now he’s got a chance to manage a big money team. Will he be able to lead the Padres into contention in the National League West? The Los Angeles Dodgers should still be the favorite and will have to see if the San Francisco Giants can continue to surprise and contend again next season.

Do you like the hiring of Melvin by the Padres? If you don’t let me know who you think they should’ve hired instead. I’d also be interested to know if you think this will help the Padres contend next season.

Albert Pujols isn’t ready to retire and will play winter ball for the Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Professional Baseball League. Pujols turns 4 years old in January and this will be his first season playing winter ball in the Dominican. Pujols said “I said I was going to play here before I retire. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to retire yet. My time to retire hasn’t arrived yet. Why do I have to retire because someone tells me to? I’m going to do it on my terms and when I feel I can’t play anymore.”

Pujols played in 109 games last season as a member of the Los Angeles Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pujols hit .236 with 17 home runs last season and has 679 career home runs. If Pujols plays in the majors next season there’s a good chance that he’ll reach the 700 home run mark for his career. If Pujols reaches the 700 home run mark he’ll be just the fourth player in history to hit 700 career home runs.

Do you see a team out there that might sign Pujols? There’s been some talk about him ending his career where it started with the St. Louis Cardinals, but with Paul Goldschmidt entrenched at 1st base Pujols playing time would be very, very limited. You’d think that he’d be a better fit for an American League team, but if the designated hitter is put in throughout baseball then he could be a fir for any team as a designated hitter and fill in 1st baseman.

Okay, let me know if and where you see Pujols next season.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Now if you happen to miss the live edition of the podcast don’t worry. All you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

The Green Bay Packers face of against the undefeated Arizona Cardinals this Thursday. So not only is it a short week for both of these teams, but the Packers are going to go into the game short handed do to Covid-19.

On Monday it was announced that Green Bay’s top wide receiver and one of the top wide receivers in the NFL Davante Adams tested positive for Covid-19 and was placed on the NFL’s reserve/Covid-19 list. Then yesterday the Packers announced that one of their other wide receivers Allan Lazard would be joining Adams on the NFL’s reserve/Covid-19 list as he tested positive yesterday. .

Adams is the Packers leading receiver with 52 receptions for 744 yards and 3 touchdowns. Now it’ not a big surprise that Adams is the Packers top receiver, but Lazard is actually the Packers second leading wide receiver with 15 receptions for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns.

It looks like the Packers will have to go into Arizona to face the Cardinals without their top two wide receivers. There is a sight chance that Adams and Lazard could be available. They would need to have two consecutive negative Covid-19 tests and be asymptomatic to be eligible to play Thursday night, but there’s a very slim chance of that actually happening.

So without Adams and Lazard; what does that leave the Packers? Well Randall Cobb returned to the team this off season and has 14 receptions for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns this season, but after Cobb it’s pretty thin unless Marquez Valdes-Scantling is healthy enough to be activated off of injured reserve for Thursday nights game.

Valdes-Scantling appeared in three games before he was sidelined with a hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve. Valdes-Scantling had 6 receptions for 76 yards and 1 touchdown in the three games he played in this season, but if he can return it would be a big help to the Packers depleted wide receiver corps.

The Packers also have Equanimeous St. Brown, but Brown has just 3 targets and 1 reception for 0 yards in the 5 games he’s played in this season. Of course if Adams and Lazard are out and Valdes-Scantling isn’t healthy enough to return St. Brown could see more snaps and should get more targets and some receptions Thursday night.

Since it looks like the Packers will be without Adams and Lazard for Thursday nights game look for players like Aaron Jones, Robert Tonyan and A.J. Dillion to get more targets from Aaron Rodgers. There’s been a lot of talk about Dillion’s ability in the passing game and this may be an opportunity for him for show those skills.

Oddly Adams has missed six games the past couple of seasons and the Packers have actually went 6-0 in those games. Now it’s up to head coach Matt LaFleur, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and passing game coordinator Luke Getsy to put together a game plan for Rodgers and the receivers he has healthy to try and beat the NFL’s only remaining undefeated team on Thursday night.

While Adams and Lazard are two players the Packers will be without. It also appears as defensive coordinator Joe Barry will also miss Thursday nights game as he has also tested positive for Covid-19.

With the players the Packers are going to be without as well as it being a short week to get ready for this game it’s difficult to pick against the Cardinals, but Green Bay does have one of the best quarterbacks in all of the NFL. I’d be interested to know who you’re picking to win this game. Do you have Arizona staying undefeated? Or do you see Green Bay handing them their first loss?

Now don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Now I’m sure you remember all the drama between Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers this off season. In the end the two sides where able to work out a deal where this will be Rodgers last season under contract with the Packers; so he can choose where or if he wants to continue his football career next season.

Now after a Week 1 loss where the Packers looked terrible they have run off four straight wins and are leading the NFC North with a 4-1 record.

Interestingly before just about every game Rodgers has been very complimentary about that weeks opponent. This had lead to speculation just about every week that this could be a team Rodgers would be interested in playing for next season. Well that’s not going to be the case this week.

Rodgers and his Packers are in Chicago this week to take on the Bears in a Week 6 match up. Now earlier this week Rodgers mentioned that there was one team that he could never see himself playing for and that team just so happened to be the Bears. Rodgers statement make sense since the teams have pretty much been rivals sine the start of professional football. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I believe that these two teams have faced each other more than any other teams in NFL history; so you can understand why there’s some animosity with Rodgers and the Bears.

Now to be fair even though Rodgers would be an upgrade over what the Bears have at the quarterback position right now they’re hoping that Justin Fields will be their quarterback for many years to come. The Bears moved up in the draft to get Fields and he has recently taken over as their starting quarterback; so the idea of them paying Rodgers this off season wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

So with Rodgers and the Bears looking like a poorly matched blind date there’s no reason for Rodgers to be nice and say complimentary things about his opponent this week. As the season goes on and Rodgers moves closer and closer to becoming a free agent it will be interesting to see what he has to say about the Packers opponents.

It seems as though most people believe that Rodgers will end up with the Denver Broncos when everything is said and done, but we still have quite a few weeks left in this current season plus an entire off season to go through; so there could be quite a few changes before Rodgers reaches the free agent market.

For the last two seasons Christian McCaffrey has pretty much been the consensus #1 fantasy football pick. Well last season do to injury McCaffrey played in just three games and so far this season it loos as though fantasy owners aren’t going to get much out of McCaffrey again.

McCaffrey has played in three games this season, but has missed the last two with a hamstring injury and there where reports that he would be returning this week or next week. Well as it turns out those reports where way off as McCaffrey has been put on injured reserve and now won’t be eligible to return until Week 9.

McCaffrey is probably the biggest duel threat in the NFL with his combination of rushing and receiving skills. Of course he has to be healthy for people to see this skills and for the last two seasons he hasn’t been able to show those skills off. Since McCaffrey didn’t miss a game in his fist three NFL seasons you have to wonder wat has hanged that he seems to be getting injured constantly these last two seasons.

Obviously McCaffrey and his tea the Carolina Panthers don’t care about fantasy football, but the Panthers started off the actual NFL season 3-2 through the first five weeks nd with a easy schedule they could actual contend for a playoff spot.

Now since the Panthers share a division with the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers it’s doubtful that Carolina would win the division, but they could find themselves in a good position to grab a wild card spot, but they’ll need their best offensive player healthy and productive to help them accomplish that.

McCaffrey will miss the next three games which is a home game this week against the Minnesota Vikings as well as two road games. Week 7 on the road against the New York Giants and Week 8 on the road against the Atlanta Falcons. McCaffrey would be eligible to return for the Panthers Week 9 game at home against the New England Patriots.

Oddly with McCaffrey in the lineup these could all be looked at as winnable game for the Panthers, but with McCaffrey now guaranteed to be out for these games it looks as though these games could be toss ups.

When or maybe we should say if McCaffrey returns will he be able to help the Panthers make a push for the playoffs? Or will it be too late by the time McCaffrey is finally back and healthy?

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast. The podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Now if for some reason you happen to miss the live edition of the podcast don’t panic. All you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

Feel free to look me up on Twitter; I’m @Burketime.

The NBA regular season starts next week. As you know I’m not the biggest fan of the NBA, but there are always some odd stories that deserve some attention and this whole issue with Kyrie Irving is one of them.

Irving is looked at as one of the top players in the NBA, but he’s had some injuries though his career and then last season he seemed to miss quite a few games for personal. Now it looks like he’ll be missing games because of a choice he’s making.

Irving has decided to not get vaccinated for Covid-19. Now there are some states that have instituted laws about unvaccinated people in areas where there are a large number of people gathered. New York is one of those states and Irving plays for the Brooklyn Nets who are located in New York.

What does that mean? Well right off the bat Irving would automatically miss the 41 home games the Nets will have this season. After that it would depend on what state the Nets would be playing in on if Irving would be available for that game or not.

In the end Irving would play very few games this season; so yesterday Nets general manager Sean Marks came out and said that Irving won’t play or practice for the Nets until he’s fully eligible to. While I’m sure this was a difficult decision for the Nets to make in the end this is the best choice because it will end the circus of if Irving will be able to play or not.

While I’d like to see everyone get vaccinated I fully support people being able to make their own choice, but in this case Irving refusing to not get vaccinated hurts other people who depend on him; his teammates. The Nets should be a contender for the NBA title and with Kevin Durant and James Harden ready to go they still might be, but if Irving was vaccinated and playing it would give the Nets an even better chance to win a title.

Now I’m not close enough to this situation to know, but if seems as though Irving is being selfish and I don’t believe he’s even mentioned his reason for not want to get vaccinated. I’m also a little surprised with how well his teammates seem to be taking this. I thought for sure that we’d get a couple of players come out and try to get him to change his mind through the media, but so far that hasn’t happened.

Irving is due to make just a little under $35 million dollars this season, but I don’t believe that the Nets will have to pay him if he misses games because of not being vaccinated. It wouldn’t be like he was injured and couldn’t play; he’d be missing games by choice.

Now there was a similar situation with Andrew Wiggins who plays for the Golden State Warriors. Wiggins asked the NBA for a medical exception for religious reason, but was turned down. As far as I know Irving hasn’t asked the NBA for any kind of an exception, but I don’t think he has grounds to ask for one. I doubt they’d grant him an exception because he didn’t want to get vaccinated. Now as it turned out Wiggins got vaccinated; so he’ll be able to play this season, but I have a feeling we won’t see Irving play in a game this season do to him being unvaccinated.

Now the Nets will still be a very formidable team and should still be one of the favorites to win the NBA title, but those odds would be better if they had Irving in uniform, but as of now that’s not going to happen.

Brooklyn opens it’s season on the road for the first two games this season. They play the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks to open their season On Tuesday October 19th. Then the Nets head to Philadelphia for a game on Friday October 22nd against the 76ers. Brooklyn’s first home game will be Sunday October 24th and they’ll host the Charlotte Hornets.

Now it’s your turn to tell me what you think will happen with Irving and the Nets as well. Do you see Irving actually getting the vaccination and coming back to play games? Or do you think he’ll sit out the entire season in protest? I’m also interested to know how you think the Nets will do this season. Do you see them winning the Eastern conference and an NBA title? Or do you think that they’ll fall short this season?

Have you been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast. If not you should. The podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you can’t catch the podcast live you can still listen. All you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast ay time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter; I’m @Burketime

On Thursday night the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks 26-17. With the win the Rams improved their record to 4-1 while the loss knocked the Seahawks down to 2-3 on the season, but there was a bigger story to this game than just who won.

On a pass attempt in the middle of the 3rd quarter Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson injured the middle finger on his throwing hand when he made contact with Aaron Donald on his follow through. Wilson left the game and was never able to return in the Seahawks loss.

As it turned out Wilson suffered a ruptured tendon and a comminuted fracture-dislocation to his finger. He had surgery on Friday to repair the finger and is expected to miss between four and eight weeks of the season.

That should mean that Geno Smith will be the starting quarterback for the Seahawks going forward. Smith replaced Wilson after the injury on Thursday night and completed 10 of his 17 pass attempts. Smith threw for 131 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

This is Smith’s second season serving as Wilson’s back up and Thursday night was just the second time he has seen in game action with the Seahawks.

I’m sure many people remember Smith as the starter for the New York Jets, but that was back in 2013 and the 2014 seasons. Smith hasn’t started an NFL game since 2017 when he was a member of the New York Giants.

Now the NFC West is turning out to be a tough division and may actually be the best division in the NFL; so Smith is going to have to find a way to keep the Seahawks playoffs hopes alive as Wilson recovers from his injury.

Smith will make his first start next Sunday on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then if Wilson only misses the minimum four weeks Smith will face the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaquars at home before going back on the road to play the Green Bay Packers.

It looks like these could be winnable games for the Seahawks with Smith under center, but you never know how someone is going to play until they’re actually on the field.

With the injury to Wilson, Smith is the only quarterback on the Seahawks roster; so they’ll obviously need someone to come in and back Smith up. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I heard multiple media members clamoring for the Seahawks to sign Colin Kaepernick as their back up, but dos that really make sense?

Kaepernick hasn’t taken a snap in the NFL in over five years now; so why would it make any kind of sense for the Seahawks to sign him as their back up quarterback. For the first time in a few seasons Kaepernick’s name didn’t come up to start a season, but I guess the media saw this as a chance to throw his name out there and see what happens with it. I think the media has to come to terms with the fact that Kaepernick’s NFL career is probably over no matter how much they bring his name up.

When thinking about a back up quarterback I think it’s going to come down to what the outlook on Wilson is. If it looks like he’ll be able to return in that four week time period they Seahawks can bring in a younger quarterback to look at as their back up. Now if that timeframe is going to be closer to the eight weeks we’ve heard Seattle may want a veteran back up quarterback.

Now it’s possible that the Seahawks may make a trade to acquire a back up quarterback, but the first name that came to mind for me was Cam Newton.

Newton, Wilson and Smith are al mobile quarterbacks; so you think that might help Newton transition into the Seahawks offensive system.

I haven’t heard any rumors on who the Seahawks might be looking at to bring in as a back up quarterback, but like I said Newton was the first name that popped into my head. I did hear that teams where checking in on Josh McCown, but I don’t know if Seattle was one of those teams.

Who do you think the Seahawks will sign as a back up quarterback for Smith?

Now unfortunately Schaumburg Stu had a rough week with his picks last week as he went 0-4. Now this week he’s already off to a better start as he had the Chicago Bulls winning their pre-season games last night against the New Orleans Pelicans and they did 121-85.

Now the rest of Schaumburg Stu’s picks are on Sunday. Schaumburg Stu likes the Houston Astros to sweep the Chicago White Sox in Game 3 of their American League Division series. Then Schaumburg Stu has the Las Vegas Raiders covering the 5 1/2 point spread against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Also in that game Schaumburg Stu is going with the point total for both team to be under 45.

You can check in every Friday to hear Schaumburg Stu’s picks live on Sports Time Radio podcast. Of course you should also listen to the podcast the other days of the week live on BlogTalkradio.com. Now if you miss the live edition of the podcast all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

The Major League Baseball playoffs started last night with the American League wild card game. Surprisingly it didn’t turn out to be a very competitive game as the Boston red Sox easily handled the New York Yankees 6-2.

Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning with a 2-run home run to centerfield. In the bottom of the 3rd inning Kyle Schwarber added a run to that Red Sox lead with a solo home run to to rightfield. Anthony Rizzo was finally able to get the Yankees on the board with a solo home run in the top of the 6th inning. Alex Verdugo then drove in the next three runs for the Red Sox. In the bottom of the 6th inning Verdugo got the run back by doubling home Bogaerts and then in the bottom of the 7th a single by Verdugo drove in the final two runs of the game for the Red Sox. It was a 6-1 game heading into the top of the 9th inning when Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo home run for the Yankees, but it was too little too late s the Red Sox bullpen closed out the Yankees for a 6-2 win.

The Yankees looked to have a slight advantage when it came to starting pitching in this wild card game, but Gerrit Cole was terrible and couldn’t even get out of the 3rd inning. Cole line on the night was 2 innings pitched; he gave up 3 runs on four hits two of which where home runs; he walked 2 and struck out 3. Not the kind of outing the Yankees needed from a player who is considered on of the better starting pitchers in baseball.

Even though the Yankees seem to have a slight edge in starting pitching it wasn’t much of one as Nathan Eovaldi has been very good for the Red Sox this season. The issue you’re always going to have with Eovaldi is he’s not going to give you a lot of length when he starts. Even last night Eovaldi threw just 71 pitches, but only lasted 5 1/3rd innings. I get that this is the new way starting pitchers are handled, but this is the playoffs and you need a starter who can stay into the game through that dreaded third time through an opponents line up.

Now the only run Eovaldi gave up was the solo home run to Rizzo, but that was enough for Red Sox manager Alex Cora to turn to his bullpen; which let’s face it has had it’s issues this season. Luckily last night Boston’s bullpen was right on. The Red Sox bullpen covered 3 2/3rds innings giving up just the solo home run by Stanton. They also allowed just one other hit while striking out 3 and not walking anyone.

You never know; maybe it was the fact that the Red Sox relievers knew they had some runs to play with or if they have found their roles in the bullpen, but it’s the kind of relief work they’re going to need as they head in the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Eovaldi’s official pitching line saw him throw 5 1/3rd innings; he gave up just 1 run on 4 hits and he struck out 8 without walking anyone. He also picked up the win for Boston.

With the win the Red Sox advance to the ALDS which is schedule to Start on Thursday night in Tampa Bay.

Tonight we get the National League wild card game which has the Los Angeles Dodgers hosting the St. Louis Cardinals. Max Scherzer makes the start for the Dodgers while the Cardinals will start Adam Wainwright.

Now you’d think that the Dodgers would win this game and advance easily since they had 106 wins in the regular season and the Cardinals only had 90, but don’t forget how well St. Louis has played down the stretch. The Cardinals went 19-3 to close out the season and two of those three loss where after they had clinched a wild card spot. Let’s hope that this makes for an interesting game tonight.

Tonight’s game is scheduled for a 7:10 p.m. start on TBS. With multiple networks carrying playoff game they can be hard to find from time to time; so now you know where you can watch it.

Now before the wild card game starts tonight why not listen to Sports Time Radio podcast and hear what Dan the Man and The Big Jack think about tonight’s game. You can listen to Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

The San Francisco Giants have been one of the biggest surprises in Major League Baseball this season. Now the Giants are guaranteed a playoff spot, but they still need either one more win or one loss by the Los Angeles Dodgers to clinch the National League West division. Now with just two games left in the regular season it appears as though the Giants will go into the playoffs as a division winner and will have home field advantage for as long a they’re in the playoffs.

As for the Dodgers they are also guaranteed a playoff spot, but will have to go into the playoffs as a wild card team. That could mean that even though the Dodgers won over 100 games in the regular season they could out of the playoffs after just one game. I that actually happens the media will be in a complete uproar; so I’ll let them deal with that if it does happen.

What may actual be the bigger question for the Dodgers right now is how they’ll set up their pitching rotation for the playoffs after the wild card game. The Dodgers have always been looked at as a team with deep pitching, but did they just take a serious hit to that depth last night?

Clayton Kershaw left his start last night against the Milwaukee Brewers after a recurrence of a  left forearm injury kept him out for nearly three months. Kershaw was making his fourth start since July 3rd, but lasted just 1 2/3rds innings against the Brewers last night.

Now since his return the Dodgers have been monitoring Kershaw’s innings. Kershaw hasn’t pitched more than 5 innings since returning from the IL. He’s 1-1 in those four starts, but he’s struggled in his last couple of starts. He gave up 3 run last night in his shortened outing and 4 runs in the start before last nights.

Now obviously when you look at the Dodgers record they’ve managed to do pretty well even with Kershaw missing a chunk of the season, but will that carry over into the playoffs? Even though Kershaw has had his ups and downs in the playoffs we’re still talking about a pitcher who went 2-0 with an ERA of 2.31 in his two World Series starts last year. Kershaw has made 30 post season starts and has appeared in 37 post season games. That’s a lot of experience that the Dodgers look like they’re going to be missing come playoff time.

The Dodgers made the big trade for Max Scherzer at this years trade deadline adding him to a playoff rotation that will also have Walker Buehler and Julio Urias in it for sure, but who do the Dodgers turn to after those three?

Now there was a time when teams would go through the playoffs with just three starting pitchers, but that’s no longer done; so it appears the Dodgers will need at least one more starting pitcher if they get past the wild card game.

The Dodgers do have a couple of options. Tony Gonsolin made two post season starts for the Dodgers last season, but he has also had some injuries issues this season. Gonsolin missed about a month and a half of the season with an injury, but has made five consecutive starts for the Dodgers. Just like Kershaw the Dodgers seem to be monitoring Gonsolin’s innings. Gonsolin has pitched just 20 innings in those five starts since returning from the Il. That makes you wonder if Gonsolin is stretched out enough to give the Dodgers quality playoff innings.

The Dodgers also have former Cy Young award winner David Price who has made 11 starts for them this season as an option. Now Price hasn’t started a game since August 22nd and hasn’t pitched more than 1 2/3rds innings in his last five appearances. That would beg the question on if Price could go more than just a couple of innings if he was called upon tp start.

The Dodgers have had 12 other pitchers start at least one game for them this season, but none of them have made more than five starts for them.

So what do you think the Dodgers do if they can get past the St. Louis Cardinals in that wild card game? It seems to make sense that they go with a four man rotation in the playoffs and just watch Gonsolin’s innings as they go along. Or do you think they have a fifth starter in mind? and if so who do you think that would be?

The only other question we have as baseball’s regular season comes to a close this Sunday is; who’s going to end up playing in the American League wild card game?

Going into today the New York Yankees hold the first wild card spot while the Boston Red Sox are in the second wild card spot. The Yankees have a one game lead on the Red Sox while the Red Sox have a one game lead over the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately none of these teams are playing each other this weekend, but it will make this weekends games quite interesting.

The Yankees have the toughest match up this weekend as they are playing the Tampa Bay Rays. It seems as though the Red Sox and the Blue Jays have the easiest match ups as Boston is playing the Washington nationals and Toronto faces the Baltimore Orioles. The Mariners match up is kind of middle of the road as they are facing the Los Angeles Angels.

It’s definitely possible that when this weekend is over we could see a game 163 or even a game 164 having to be played before we even get to a wild card game.

Let me know what you think. Which two teams do you see actually getting into the American League wild card game? Two teams get in and two teams miss out; so who do you have getting in?

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Now if you happen to miss the live version of the podcast all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

We’re three weeks into the NFL season and is there anybody out there who had the Kansas City Chiefs starting the season 1-2? I’m going to say no to that one. Now there’s no reason to panic as there are 14 weeks left in this season and the Chiefs will get their ship righted and be a contender by the end of the season.

With the Chiefs getting off to a slow start it seems that most if not all of the experts have turned to the Buffalo Bills as being the best team in the AFC, but even the Bills have lost a game this season and sit at 2-1.

Now for me it’s too early to try and figure out who the best team is right now since by the time the season ends it could be a completely different team, but the consensus seems to be that the Los Angeles Rams are the best team in the NFL.

On Sunday the Rams had a match up with the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and looked great. The Rams won the game 34-24 as their new quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that a top tier quarterback was the piece the Rams where missing and Stafford seems to have filled that void through three weeks. I haven’t heard anybody go so far as to say that the Rams will go 17-0 this season and that would be difficult to accomplish since they’re probably in the toughest division in the NFL, but they’re definitely a playoff team and that’s where will have to see how Stafford plays.

After spending 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions Stafford was traded to the Rams. Los Angeles sent their quarterback Jared Goff along with two 1st round picks and a 3rd round pick to Detroit to get Stafford. Now in those 12 seasons with Detroit Stafford has only been to the playoffs three times 2011, 2014 and 2016. Stafford doesn’t have a playoff win in his career as the Lions lost all three of the playoff games they got into while Stafford was with them.

While it’s obvious that you need to win your games in the regular season it’s the playoffs that are really going to matter and we haven’t seen a lot of Stafford in the playoffs; so do we know what the Rams are going to get out of him when it comes to those games?

After Sunday’s win over Tampa Bay the Rams are now the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl which shouldn’t come as a surprise, but like I said earlier; there are fourteen weeks left in the regular season.

Through three weeks there are five undefeated teams and there are five teams that are looking for that first win. Now I’m not sure if anyone had the Las Vegas Raiders and the Denver Broncos starting 3-0, but here they are, They’re joined by the Carolina Panthers, the Arizona Cardinals and the Rams. While the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaquars, Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants and the Lions still trying to get that first win.

Now sooner or later the Raiders or the Broncos and the Rams and the Cardinals will lose a game while the Jaquars or the Colts will win a game since they play in the same division and will have to face each other twice this season. I guess there is the possibility they could tie those games, but has there ever been six tie games in an NFL season?

After Sunday’s loss to the Rams Tampa Bay went looking for help in their secondary. Yesterday the Buccaneers add a cornerback who should end up in the Hall of Fame when his playing career is over in Richard Sherman.

Sherman spent his fist seven seasons in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. After Seattle released him Sherman signed with the San Francisco 49ers and played the last three seasons there.

Seattle and San Francisco along with Carolina where all in the running to sign Sherman, but he chose to sign a one year deal with Tampa Bay. About signing with Tampa Bay Sherman said “I went with the best offer I had, the best opportunity to go out there and put some great tape on, to lead another group”, “I feel comfortable and confident in my abilities to go out there and execute and help that team win.”

Sherman is 33 years old and has 36 career interceptions, but only played in five games last season due to injury. It appears as though it will take Sherman a week or two to get ready to play in a game and hopefully he’s completely healthy after being limited last season.

There have been some people who don’t believe Sherman will help the Buccaneers. What I’d like t know is where do you stand on his signing. At one time he was the best cornerback in the NFL, but injuries and age have slowed him down some. Do you like this signing?

Remember to listen to the Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you just so happen to miss the podcast live all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime