Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Monday, September 23.

NFL

Two very different football fames took place last night. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills absolutely destroyed the Jacksonville Jaguars. It as 34-3 at halftime, the final score was 47-10. The highlight of the game was the first career interception by Bills safety Damar Hamlin- an incredible accomplishment after Hamlin’s comeback from the life-threatening hit he suffered two years ago. Game two, however, requires a deeper dive:

• For the first time since 1940, an NFL game was played with no punts or turnovers. Every possession of Commanders vs Bengals ended in points, a missed field goal, or time expiring. So yeah, it was pretty entertaining.

• The star of the night was Washington’s rookie QB Jayden Daniels. Daniels was 21 of 23 for 254 yards and two touchdowns passing. That’s a new rookie record for completion percentage. He also tacked on 39 yards and a touchdown on the ground. It’s still early, but it looks like last year’s Heisman winner is the real deal.

• Cincinnati is in real trouble– they lost a shocker to the Patriots in week one and a heartbreaker last week in Kansas City. Now, Joe Burrow and the Bengals are 0-3 and in real danger of missing the playoffs. The problem for Cincy was on defense, where they had no answer for the Commanders.

• With the game on the line, Jayden Daniels found Terry McLaurin for the play of the game. The final score of this one was Washington 38, Cincinnati 33:

MLB

Just four games yesterday, so we get to spend a moment with each of them:

• The Red Sox stayed alive in the AL wild card race, beating the Blue Jays in a must-win game 4-1. The odds are against Boston, who likely need to go 5-0 this week to make the postseason.

• Seattle began their series in Houston with a massive 6-1 victory over the Astros. Bryce Miller threw seven shutout innings for the Mariners, who are 1.5 games out of a wild card spot and just four back of Houston in the AL West. The Astros are playing without superstar DH Yordan Alvarez, who is out right now with a sprained knee.

• San Francisco played the role of the spoiler, stealing a win from their divisional rival Diamondbacks. Matt Chapman led the way for the Giants with an inside-the-park home run.

• Finally, the Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL East with a 6-2 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. It’s their first division title in 13 years– you can see how much it means to Bryce Harper and the gang:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon announced his retirement yesterday. Blackmon spent his entire 14-year career in Colorado, where he made four all-star games and finished top-five in NL MVP voting in 2017. Congratulations to the Rockies legend on a great career!

The US Men’s National Team announced that new head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge of the team will be played in St. Louis, MO on November 18. The opponent is still to be determined, but no matter who the US plays, I know the St. Louis crowd will be a great one.

In the middle of a jam-packed wild card race, the Detroit Tigers have called up top prospect Jackson Jobe to join their bullpen. Jobe is the top pitching prospect in the Tigers organization, and one of the top ten prospects in all of baseball. There’s no doubting his arm talent. We’ll see how he handles the pressure of the playoff push.

Oklahoma has benched QB Jackson Arnold in favor of freshman Michael Hawkins. This follows a rough performance by Arnold and the Sooners against Tennessee last weekend, where the sophomore quarterback was benched midway through the game. Hawkins will get his first college start this weekend against Auburn.

After adding four members last month, the Pac-12 is continuing their aggressive pursuit of new member schools. There have been a lot of conflicting reports and inside sources and statements of commitment over the last 24 hours. At this moment, I believe the only actual new move that’s been made is Utah State joining the Pac-12 and leaving the Mountain West. Both conferences are now at seven teams, one short of the NCAA requirement for bowl-elgible conferences to have eight. This is turning into a season of Love Island, just a lot less interesting and tougher to follow.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

WNBA: Two game twos in round one of the WNBA playoffs tip-off tonight:

• Atlanta Dream @ New York Liberty, 7:30 PM on ESPN (NY leads 1-0)

• Seattle Storm @ Las Vegas Aces, 9:30 PM on ESPN (LV leads 1-0)

MLB PLAYOFF RACE: The schedulers knew what they were doing when they set up these matchups… we’re basically getting an extra week of the playoffs. Below is every team still alive in the playoff race, including the three division titles still up for grabs:

MLB HISTORY: Los Angeles Angels @ Chicago White Sox, 7:40 PM

• The White Sox have 36 wins and 120 losses on the year. One more defeat to forever live in infamy.

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall” –The Great Gatsby