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Aaron Rodgers looks solid against the 49ers, plus the latest on Deshaun Watson

Vaseline September 10, 2024

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Good morning! We have Scorpio in NFL Week 1. What a life.

While you were sleeping: Aaron Rodgers is fine

Aaron Rodgers played a football game last night. Did you hear? It actually happened, in perhaps the most anticipated matchup of Week 1, a 32-19 Jets loss to the 49ers.

Both teams have to be okay with this. Two takeaways:

For the Jets, Rodgers is healthy and showed great enthusiasm despite a mediocre stat line (13-of-21, 167 yards with one touchdown and one interception). Perhaps the bigger problem is the struggles of the run game (68 yards rushing). They also missed newly acquired pass rusher Haason Reddick, who is still holding out.
For the 49ers, the bad off-season appeared to be over. Brock Purdy was efficient. Christian McCaffrey didn’t play, but the unknown Jordan Mason did his best CMC impersonation with 147 yards rushing and a touchdown. This team should be atop the NFC standings until further notice.

Check out Week 1 of Zak Keefer as we prepare for Thursday. We also had two (almost opposite) Rodgers news items yesterday:

Netflix will release the docuseries “Aaron Rodgers: Riddle” in December after describing the lost season of last year. More details here.
You know who isn’t too concerned about Rodgers’ controversies? His birthplace Chico, Californiawhere he made an incredible difference for almost everyone. Zack Rosenblatt traveled to Chico to tell the story. It’s worth reading this morning.

Furthermore:

Zoinks: Big Number Watch is on

This is the time of year when baseball (perhaps unfairly) takes a back seat as football gets underway. Our gaze drifts to the field as a marathon season on the field comes to a close. Feels wrong, right?

We’ll have more on the upcoming playoff races later this week. Today, we turn the spotlight over to the Big Number chasers:

Aaron Judge is trying to break his own AL home run record of 62, which he set two seasons ago. He now has 51 dingers with 18 games left. At his current pace, he’ll finish with 57 homers. New York’s remaining opponents: Kansas City, Boston, Seattle, Oakland, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. I hope he comes close for us.
Shohei Ohtani, meanwhile, is trying to become the first 50-50 player in MLB history. He stole a base last night in the Dodgers’ 10-4 loss to the Cubs, giving him 46 home runs and 47 steals with 18 games left in the season. I think he’s going to make it.

Big Number Watch continues.

News to know

Watson accused of sexual abuse in new lawsuit
A Texas woman filed a lawsuit against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson yesterday alleging sexual assault, sexual battery and emotional distress. The alleged incident occurred in October 2020, around the same time as Watson’s previous alleged sexual misconduct. Two dozen women have filed a lawsuit against the quarterback. The new lawsuit includes disturbing details, and the woman says she was discouraged from coming forward after seeing how previous accusers were treated. Read our full report here.

MLB prospects get the call
Top Yankees prospect Jasson Domínguez went 1-for-4 with a single in New York’s 10-4 win over the Royals last night. It was his season debut, and one that has been long-awaited, if you ask pundits and fans. On the other side of the country, Texas drafted star farmhand Kumar Rocker, a two-time first-round draft pick who will make his MLB debut on Thursday. Rocker had an, ahem, bumpy road to the majors, but has been as tough as nails since returning from Tommy John surgery.

Hanson apologizes for Brady singing
NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson said he regrets his criticism of Tom Brady on Sunday, when Hanson said Brady should “get more excited than that in the booth” after the Cowboys toyed with the idea of kicking a 71-yard field goal. Hanson called the potshot “tongue in cheek.” More context here.

More news

The repetition: Wait, how much was FSU’s NIL budget?

Welcome back to The Replay, where The Athletics‘S Yifan Wu comes back to a story you may have missed.

Last week this story about Florida State’s NIL Budget became my Roman Empire. Our own Bruce Feldman reported that the Seminoles spent nearly $2 million on their starting lineup from a team budget of 12 million dollars.

The math, to me, isn’t mathematical. Conventional thinking says a bigger budget equals a better roster. Yet preseason No. 10 Florida State’s record is 0-2 after losing to Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, and then losing to Boston College in Tallahassee, the Dublin of northwest Florida.

The nuances of NIL science may be too complex for me or Dabo Swinney to understand. But after taking a few lessons from the brian kelly school of week 1 existential crisesI want to report that my Big Ten buddy Oregon could have avoided a surprise thanks to NIL mathSpoiler alert: Two weekends ago, the Ducks had a bigger budget, and Idaho was confronted with the realities of college football in 2024.

What have we learned? You’re going to have to spend, so spend it wisely, I guess.

Thanks as always Yifan. We are now adjusting the Pulse NIL budget.

Watch and listen

📺 MLB: Orioles at Red Sox
7:10pm ET on TBS
Both teams have playoff implications here. Baltimore remains locked in a tight battle with the Yankees for the AL East crown, while Boston sits three games behind the final AL wild-card spot.

📺 WNBA: Lynx at Dream
7:30 p.m. ET on NBA TV
Minnesota has secured its playoff spot, but Atlanta is one of three teams battling for the eighth and final spot with five games left in the season. Drama brewing.

Stream games like this here and get tickets here.

🎧 The Windup hosted Joey Votto for what was an insightful conversation about his retirement, the state of the game and more. I listened to basically everything with Votto. Check it out here.

Pulse picks

Arizona — yes, Arizona — has a superstar quarterback-wide receiver duo. They helped the Wildcats to a 10-win season last year, but both considered leaving after the departure of former coach Jedd Fisch. Brian Hamilton has the story of how Noah Fifita And Tetairoa McMillan decided to stay, thanks to a close friendship and a Panda Express fortune cookie.

Chris Vannini is back with his arrangement of college football teams no. 1-134. Texas is back.

Always worth reading: Mike Sando’s weekly Pick 6 columnwhat was particularly illuminating yesterday at the debut films of Jim Harbaugh And Jerod Mayo.

Jake Ciely has fantasy football recommendations for waiver wire for week 2. An invaluable resource.

Do you want to buy one? Aaron Rechter map? We have a complete guide to the wide range of optionsfrom rookie cards to… pieces of corn stalks. Sure.

Our hockey team ranked NHL rebuilds And selected which non-playoff teams from last year could compete for the Stanley Cup this season. See where your team finished.

Most clicked on in the newsletter yesterday: Our Story About Kendrick Lamar get the Super Bowl halftime show.

Most read on the website yesterday: Andrew Marchand’s story about Tom Brady’s shaky debut.

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(Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

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Aaron Rodgers looks solid against the 49ers, plus the latest on Deshaun Watson