SportsWrap, 11/8/2026

Hi, folks. We are live at our Fox 11 studios, and we are ready to wrap up another big weekend in the NFL. It's all straight ahead here on SportsWrap. He's got two sacks, and he's returned. The NFL's reigning defensive player of the year returns to give the Rams a lift as they look to climb over that 500 mark in D.C. We've got highlights and postgame reaction. Well, new week, same old story for the Chargers as they drop their eighth straight to start the season. We are at SoFi with a full report. Opportunity for them to start in an auspicious debut as Cousins throws an interception. Jaden. And the Raiders can't get out of their own way and the 49er D makes life even more miserable. We'll head up north for a full recap. This is Sports Wrap. We begin right now. Fox 11 Sports Wrap. And hi again to you everybody. Thanks for joining us here for this latest edition of Sports Wrap. Happy Sunday, week nine of the NFL season. We've got it all for you right here over the next hour. I'm Kyle Kraska. He is the brains of the operation. He is Ron Pitts. We watched this game together today. The Rams and the Commanders from D.C. Welcome back, Miles. Finally. This is the guy we've been waiting for like, what, maybe a month now? Yeah. And he did not disappoint. He came out, got to the quarterback. Quarterback in this type of game, a tight game like this. He made a difference. He made a big difference. So let's get right to the highlights earlier today from our nation's capital. A welcome sight as Miles Garrett suits up after missing several weeks recovering from knee surgery. Start of the second, tied at 3-all, Jaden Daniels dumps off to Rashad White. He hits the sidelines with a head of steam, then a nice little cutback right there, shakes off a couple of tacklers. Forty-five yards later, he is finally brought down. Next play out of the gun, Daniels with the throw to a cutting Van Jefferson. Touchdown for the former Rams draft pick, Commanders take a 10-3 lead. Let's go to the second quarter, Garrett now in the game and makes an impact as he strips Daniels of the football and Ron, the Rams recover. And there it is, that's that presence inside. He's able to get a hand on that ball as Daniels is trying to escape the pocket. And it turns into a big turnover for the Rams. Much needed. Unfortunately, the Rams settle for a field goal. They head to the locker room down 10-6. Game tied at 13 into the fourth. Stafford to Puka Nacua at the corner of the end zone. Makes a terrific catch for the touchdown. And the Rams go on top 20-13. Now let's go to the fourth, late fourth quarter. Same score, Commanders in Rams territory. Garrett breaks through the middle of the line, drops Daniels for his second sack of the game. Commanders would give the football up on downs. Last play of the game now. Commanders with a final shot from the Rams 31. Daniels gets it to Chig Okonkwo, shakes the tackler, tries to lateral backwards. And you know, that really never works, does it? Rams recover the fumble. They hang on for the 20-13 victory, taking them over that 500 mark for the first time this season at 5-4. I thought our guys did a great job being able to find a way. You know, there was a lot of opportunities that, you know, we missed offensively to make plays, extend drives, but they did enough. I love the way that Matthew responded after the turnover where he leads us down the field at a bunch of gutsy conversions. It was a total team win. We'll take it. There's no style points. There's a lot that we can learn from to be able to clean up. But finding a way is ultimately what it's about, and it's a really tough football team, and I'm proud of our group. It was a weight off my shoulders. Now just getting back to who I am, even I'm nowhere near where I want to be as far as my performance and the things I know I can do and how I can move. But this is a confidence boost for sure. Just try to boost the confidence of the guys around me as well. Well, that is a scary thought for opponents, right? He's nowhere near where he expects to be. So the Rams get the win today, so they keep pace with the division. The 49ers also winners. The Seahawks also winners. Let me ask you this, Ron. For a guy like Garrett to be out of the game for the last seven weeks recovering from knee surgery, for him to come back and look this good, three sacks and a forced fumble. What? Yeah, yeah. Now, keep in mind, they're playing Washington, and Washington isn't a great team. But still, he was making some moves and making some plays that, yeah, only all pro Hall of Fame type guys can make. This was huge because the Rams stumbled coming out of the blocks. And even though, Kyle, as you mentioned, they got just three points out of this, it was a much-needed turnover in what ended up being a close game. It looks like he's got some of his quickness back, and more importantly, that explosion off of the snap. That is what really gives opposing offensive linemen an issue. Now, that's that cross-country move or cross-the-nation move. I can't remember the name of it, but that move inside is deadly. He was able to do it outside, inside, around the corner. It didn't matter. That's what you pay the money for, and that's what we've been talking about since training camp. What kind of impact? Is Myles Garrett going to make? Well, you saw it today. And like I said. That was a one-possession game, and they needed that. That was big time. Doesn't he call that the Eurostep? There it is. Good job. You're an international traveler. You know the Eurostep. That's right. Let's talk about the offense, because the offense today was Puka Nacua. He had 14 of Matthew Stafford's 26 completions, 150 yards. It makes me nervous that he is essentially the entire offense, but, man, what a performance. He is, right? You get that feeling because they just keep pumping the ball to him. But you know what? He is the guy, 19 targets, 14 catches for 150 yards, and you say to yourself sometimes, okay, at what point is the opposing defense going to put a double on this guy, or maybe even a triple? Bottom line is, they don't, they didn't, and he keeps coming up big. You gotta remember how the Rams started this game, a slow start, field goal, punt, punt, halftime, it was 6-10 Washington. Yeah. So again, this is kind of what Sean McVay alluded to in his press conference here. We can't stumble like this coming out of the blocks. We're not always going to be able to get saved by great performances and 19 targets by guys like Puka Nakua. We should mention on the last play for the Rams, Nakua injured his knee. He seemed to kind of brush it off in the postgame news conference. He will have an MRI tomorrow to be sure. It makes you very concerned to think that Nakua could possibly miss time because it seems like Matthew Stafford relies so exclusively on Nakua. Stafford did not have a great game. He threw his ninth interception. By the way, he had eight interceptions all of last season. We're only halfway into this when he's already surpassed that. Right. You saw Corum in there, and I get the feeling Corum is becoming slowly a bigger part of this offense in terms of the running back position. Williams was there. They got the tight ends going and all that kind of stuff. And they lost Steve Avila. At the left guard position, that was big because you saw the pressure start to increase on Stafford. But at the end of the day, defense. And I'm not going to just talk about Garrett. I want to say something about Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald was chasing a guy down the sidelines. And I'm thinking, how is this guy doing this? At 35 some years old, he's literally a step behind a receiver, a running back. But Now you see that's the kind of energy that they're bringing. Well, they say in road games, bring your special teams and your defense, and they brought them today. Yeah, defense travels in the NFL. Defense travels, exactly. I don't really want to do this, but we have to do this. Oh, I know. We have to move on now to the Chargers. To the Chargers, yeah. The winless Chargers, ouch, hosting the Texans here at SoFi Stadium earlier today. Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel coaching from the box for the first time. A new approach. In search of a win, it was the Texans' offense striking first in this one, opening drive for Houston. Stroud finding Xavier Hutchinson in the end zone, a 17-yard TD to get the fun started. Texans up 7-0. The Charger offense could only manage field goals. What else is new? Houston up 10-9 in the second. Stroud lofted the deep ball to Tank Dell, and he takes it to the house. After a tough couple of years, that 63-yarder is Dell's first touchdown since 2024. Tank Dell was a force for this team. He was much needed. But he got the ball to Booty. He got the ball to Collins. He got the ball to Schultz. Just about everybody on the team. Well, Stroud would add another before the half. So, Bolts down 24-9. And the third trying to make something happen. But Justin Herbert is picked off instead. That is his 11th interception of the season. It leads the NFL. And the Chargers, 35th straight possession without a touchdown. Can that be real? Yes, it is. Stroud and company make them pay in ensuing possession. He throws this one to Nico Collins, who makes a ridiculous catch. One of the best of the year, getting in the end zone somehow. I have no idea how he got in there. Stroud's stats, well, he was big today. Stroud, five touchdown passes, ties a career high, 44-22. The Bolts fall to 0-8. Our Gerard Moncure is at today's game and joins us now with more. Gerard? A disappointing season got a lot tougher to swallow for the Bolts today. They never led against the Houston Texans and didn't win one statistical category. You need to come up big in to get a W on Sunday. About the only thing that did go right, the offense finally scored a touchdown after 37 consecutive drives of coming up empty dating back to the Week 5 game in Denver. As you can imagine, that locker room full of despair after another loss. 37, honestly, you get so present, when you're losing, we're 0-8 now. And you have to be, it's so hard mentally and emotionally to be present. I didn't even know that we had scored that long, I was just present. I take a lot of pride in my craft, and to be a part of an offense that's struggling so mightily, it hurts the soul. It certainly does. I mean, I know this group, I know this offense, and I know the guys are going to go look at themselves first, and they're going to improve individually. I'm going to start with myself and look at what I've got to get better at, and we've all got to get better, because obviously the scoreboard doesn't reflect how we want to play. So we've got to just continue to get better, improve, and just keep chasing that first one. I can't think of any loss that's not a bitter pill to swallow. And, uh, but that's, uh... Pick yourself back up and go back to work and fight out. You know, obviously you want to go out there and give it your best. And, you know, as competitors, everyone in that room, they want to win. And, you know, not to be in that position at all this year is obviously very tough on everyone. But the way everyone continues to fight and show up and not point fingers, you know, it's going to make everyone tougher in the long run. What do you say to your team to help you try and keep pushing through this? Yes. You never get too low, man. But you also never get too high, man. You got to stay even-keeled. But it's a week-to-week league, and you can turn it around one play at a time, but you just got to focus on that one play at a time. So as you heard, just really not a lot to say. Bolts fall to 0-8, their worst start since the 2000 season, where they finished 1-15. At SoFi Stadium, Gerard Moncuray for Fox 11 Sports Wrap, guys. All right, Gerard, thanks so much. As I see some of those interviews and Khalil Mack, I wonder, with the NFL trade deadline coming up on Tuesday, is he still a charger on Tuesday? Great point. The Bears have made it very clear they want him back, but it seems every time that Jim Harbaugh is asked about that, he's not ready to give up on this season yet. I mean, really? Like 0-8? The ship has sailed. We know Jim Harbaugh. We know he's going to be that way until the bitter end. I was okay until Charlie Kolar started speaking, man, and I got kind of depressed. Anyways, yeah, but this is where they're at right now. Nothing is working. And Mike McDaniel moves up to the press box for a better view, a change of scenery. I don't know. You do anything to make things work when you don't have a win, and nothing's working. No pass game, 177 yards passing. They can't find the end zone. And finally, after 37 drives, they get into the end zone. But you can see it in the quarterback's face. You can see it in the faces of guys on the sideline. There's just no continuity, no rhythm. You hate to be in a position like this. They're just stuck and they can't get out of it. Yeah, when you look at Herbert, you mentioned he looks lost. Even when they showed him on the sidelines, when they came off the field, when he was sitting on the bench, It looked like he was staring off into space. Of course, then at the end of the game, injured that left hand. He kind of looked at it a little bit. He went into the tent. Jim Harbaugh, after the game, said that he could have gone back into the game and wanted to go back in the game, but obviously the game was out of hand, so why not exercise caution and leave him on the sidelines? But, I mean, Herbert, 11 interceptions, leads the NFL now. But today he was sacked eight times. What can you expect out of a quarterback that gets sacked eight times? You can expect absolutely nothing. And you can't even run the football to protect him. That's what's got me. Usually, no matter what the situation is, when the quarterback is struggling, you find a way, either you go to three tight ends, 13 personnel, 12 personnel, two tight ends, whatever, you run the ball and kick the ball out of his hands until you fix this. But they're not even doing that. And on the other side, Houston now starting to catch their stride, okay? They're second place in the division, chasing Jacksonville, got a couple games to go. But C.J. Stroud, 348 yards, passing five touchdowns. I mean, he was literally on a roll coming back home to the area, to the hometown. I get all kinds of crazy stats. How about the fact that Stroud, five touchdown passes today. Justin Herbert has six all season. Six all season. All season. Right, right. And you brought up an interesting point about Khalil Mack possibly, like you said, getting traded. Hey, listen, this season's over. You need to start thinking about the future, and you need to plan for that. Right. Now let's look ahead to next week, okay? Chargers go to Baltimore to play the Ravens. Yeah. You know who's going to be the quarterback next week for the Ravens? It's going to be Jacoby Brissett, who is just finalizing the trade from the Cardinals to the Ravens. That means Jacoby Brissett has Has an opportunity to beat the Chargers twice this season as the quarterback for two different teams. That's only happened once in NFL history. Jack Kemp back in 1962. Wow. Two. Amazing. Yeah. Who, by the way, quarterbacked the Chargers. The Chargers, right. And the Buffalo Bills. No pun intended. Yeah, right. Okay, we got all kinds of crazy cookie stats that we can just continue to share with you. But we're not. We're going to try to move on here. Much more still ahead on SportsWrap. Do not go anywhere. The 49ers. Look to get back in the win column after a loss to Atlanta, a bad one, and a bye week. They're hosting the Raiders, and we'll have that and a lot more, so stick around. But first, we have this. Poll of the Day is brought to you by Spectrum. It's internet, mobile, and streaming TV, all from one place. It's only everything. This is your opportunity to get involved in our show. It is our poll question of the day, and we're asking you this. Which of these NFL teams do you think ends up with the worst record in football? Of course, the Chargers are the clubhouse leaders right now. And they're leading in our poll with 60% of the vote. But we also have the Dolphins, Titans, Colts, Saints, and Jets. You can weigh in right now simply by going to foxla.com slash vote. We'll have the results of our poll later in the show, and we'll have more sports wrap right after this. Fox 11 Sports Wrap brought to you by Morongo Casino, Resort, and Spa. Conveniently located along the I-10. Less than 90 minutes away from wherever you are. Morongo. Good times. Sports Wrap. Fully loaded schedule. Sponsored by your Toyota dealers. We make it easy. Welcome back to the show. We are already looking ahead to week 10 of the NFL season. The Rams will be in Arizona to face off against the Cardinals, while the Chargers, as we mentioned earlier, will be in Baltimore next Monday night. The 49ers and Cowboys square off in Dallas, and the Seahawks hit Vegas to visit the Raiders. That's the difference. Stafford falling. It's Kuka Nakua for a ram. In case you missed it earlier today, the Rams holding off the Commanders to win their third straight. 20-13 was the final from D.C. Puka Nacua had a big day, 150 yards on that touchdown you just saw. He also rushed for another 20 yards on two carries. Up next for L.A., as we just mentioned, the Cardinals at home. At the Cardinals' home, that is, next weekend. And then a trip to Lambeau Field for a date with the Packers. And with that, we welcome you back inside our Fox LA studios. I'm Kyle Kraska. He's Ron Pitts. You ready for some more highlights right now? Yes, sir. Let's go. Let's get right to it. The rest of the NFC West in action this afternoon. We're going to begin with the Raiders and the 49ers. Great old NFL rivalry renewed in Santa Clara. Niners drive 69 yards in their opening possession, and Christian McCaffrey finishes it off with the touchdown. Seven straight games with a rushing TD from McCaffrey. Niners lead at 7-zip. They would go up 14-7 in the second, and then McCaffrey, wide open for Brock Purdy, dances across the line for his second of the game. Niners took a 21-10 lead into the halftime locker room. Start of the third, Kirk Cousins with a big mistake. Bobbles drops the ball, then throws it right to Jaden Duggars, who returns it 35 yards for the pick six and an 18-point 49er lead. Raiders and Cousins just kept shooting themselves in defeat all afternoon. Early fourth, Vegas on the doorstep trying to cut the lead. Cousins throws for the end zone. Instead. Green leaps up for the pick. Cousins, second of the afternoon, he would finish with three. And that was just about that as the Niners take this one 38-17. More highlights. Cardinals and Seahawks from Seattle. Seahawks leading 7-3 right before the half. Threatening again, Drew Locke firing a dart to A.J. laCour in the end zone. laCour's second touchdown of a half, and the Seahawks lead it 14-3. They would extend that lead to 17-3 in the fourth. Arizona trying to make a game of it, fourth and goal at the two. Gardner Minshew looking for that magic. His pass to Trey McBride, though, is broken up. Turnover on downs from the Cardinals, and the Seahawks win it by a final of 17-3. So here's a look now at the updated standings in the NFC West. Really, nothing changed today, Ron, because the Niners won, the Rams won, the Seahawks won. The only thing that changed is the Cardinals fell even farther into the basement. Exactly. And the Seahawks now, the Seahawks getting some people healthy. Zach Charbonnet back in the mix. And Locke, he's running the show now again. He might be the guy from here on out the way this is working. All he does is not make mistakes and win. You are already giving up. I'm already on that. I'm already on that. The guy's a Super Bowl MVP run. I know, but they don't know that right now. They're just going with who's winning. He's running the offense. The 49ers are the first team to get to 7-1. Coming up on Monday Night Football, you've got the Vikings and the Bills. One of them will also get to 7-1. They forced a lot of turnovers today. The three picks were mentioned by Kirk Cousins. They also forced three fumbles. They recovered two of them. Their defense stood up big time. That was the difference in this game. This right here is Duggar's pick six. And this came at a crucial time because the Raiders were trying to get going. And this was really... The backbreaker for the Raiders. Bowers gets the ball knocked out there by Stout. And it's a turnover, and then the huge interception that you just showed, that's Renardo Green, who's had a great year going up for interception number four, if you can believe that. But this is the type of defense that the 49ers have been playing all year. And one guy I want to give credit to that people don't really talk too much about, and we're talking about Raheem Morris. Remember Raheem Morris? Well, he's up there in San Francisco as a defensive coordinator, and he has been dialing up. There's no loss of energy or statistics or power or anything. The only bad thing that happened to these guys is Grayson Halton, the defensive tackle, had a huge play earlier in the year up in Seattle. He went out on a cart with an injury. They will miss him. I thought they pulled the trigger on him a little early in Atlanta, but I won't go there. Yeah, no, I don't disagree with you. Let's talk a little bit about the Seahawks and their defense today. Gardner Minshew getting the starting nod after that great, Fourth quarter performance a week ago, but there was no Minshew magic today. The Seahawks took care of this. No, they hit him, okay, and he got hit like several times in the pocket. I believe right there they got to him. They weren't believing what they saw on TV last week in the film with the Dallas game. They said, you're still the same Minshew, and we're still coming after you. And that was big. I think offensively they were able to do some things that really put a lot of pressure on this team. You know, not a big scoring game. Okay, slow scoring game, low scoring game, but Drew Locke came in, he was simple, he was efficient, 19 of 28, 175, yeah, I know the numbers will bore you, but no interceptions, and they got, like I said, Zach Charbonnet came back in, he only had 77 yards rushing, but at 4.8 a crack, he was able to help keep. The down-and-distance manageable, and that was big in a game like this. Minshew is just one of those quarterbacks, right? You're going to get the magic one week, and then the next week is going to be— Yeah, crickets. It's just tragic. That's right. Right? In fact, it kind of reminds me of Ryan Fitzpatrick. It was either magic or it was tragic. Yeah, and he brags about how he hangs out on the top of his motorhome in the offseason and plays pickleball with the older women in the park. But that's, you know, you take the good and the bad, and they couldn't find Trey McBride, and they were bad in the red zone, and so there you go. You go home with the L. Yeah, see, they need to make a sitcom. That'd just be a great sitcom, right? Running right here on Fox. Yeah. Why not? All right, we're going to take another time out here on Sports Wrap. We're still to come. Quite the finish in New Orleans today between the Browns and the Saints. We're going to take a look at that one and a lot more still here when Sports Wrap continues. Welcome back to Sports Wrap. Broncos on the road against the Panthers today. Carolina down 26-21, under two minutes to go in the fourth. Bryce Young trying to turn the drive into a touchdown. But he is hit by Nick Bonito, causing the fumble. Bonito recovers it as well, and that is the ball game. First place Broncos win 26-21 for their fifth straight victory. And with that, we welcome you back inside our Fox 11 studios. We are live. He is Ron Pitts. I'm Kyle Krasko. Let's get right back to the action from week nine today. The Jets and the Chiefs going toe-to-toe in Kansas City, trying to get back to their winning ways and snap a two-game slide. Chiefs trailing in this one, 9-7 in the second, capitalizing off the Jets' turnover. Patrick Mahomes, it's Kenneth Walker on the screen pass, and he takes it 25 yards for his second touchdown of the day. KC leads 25. 14-9. And then Walker makes it a hat trick in the third of 21-12. Punches it in from two yards out. That's a second career game with three total touchdowns. The Chiefs defense sacks Geno Smith five times. They win 35-12 thanks to a big day from Walker both on the ground and through the air. There. He's coming for Carolina. Yeah, he's getting better and better at it. I mean, he has the talent, and he can catch the football. And so it's just about giving him more opportunities to go out there and show that. And so we've done that this year. He's shown that he can do it. And he had a great game in multiple ways. I mean, running the football, catching the football, blocking, doing what it takes to be a great running back in this league. And we'll keep doing that as we go forward. Back to the highlights. We go Browns and Saints in a thriller. Goes to overtime. Cleveland down 23-16. Shedeur Sanders facing pressure on third and seven. Gets it to Harold Fannin Jr. who does the heavy lifting here. Shedding defender after defender on his way into the end zone. 39 yards on that TD. Head coach Tom Mankins deciding to try for two and the win. So here we go. Browns hoping to head back to Cleveland on a high note. But Sanders cannot find anybody open. And his pass falls incomplete. That flag is a hold against the Browns. So it stands. The Saints win it in overtime. 23-22 the final. A few more scores to pass along. The Cowboys hold off the woeful Colts for a 27-23 victory. Dak Prescott with a pair of TDs. 335 yards through the air. Cowboys still a game under .500. And the Lions go to 6-2 with a 19-9 win over the Dolphins as that NFC North remains a remarkably competitive division midway through the season. So let's discuss some of what we saw. I want to talk about Shedeur Sanders, 19 of 31, 297 yards, Ron. Not a bad day for him. Two touchdowns, no interceptions, so really no mistakes. Subbing in for Deshaun Watson. Like you said, he was impressive. He was solid. He took control. He showed a lot of confidence, which is no surprise for that family name. But it's starting to transfer to the field. Concepcion here with a nice catch run and a touchdown. They got down there at the end, and they had to make some decisions. He took some hits, too. They went after him. You know, opposing teams don't like to hear guys talk too much. Errol Fannin, man, making some big moves. Now you know why Njoku was... sent packing out here. Boy, Fannin taking control of everything, getting in the end zone. That was big time. I like the decision, though, by Mankins. You know, a lot of people thought, well, why didn't they just keep playing, you know, wait for a better opportunity? No, you're away from home. You're with your backup quarterback. You're down there. Go for it. He was showing confidence. He was showing that he could do it and get it done. And they just came up short. He learned that sometimes you've got to take the L. Let me ask you about the Kansas City Chiefs and what you make of them. They bounce back from losing two consecutive games. They sacked Geno Smith five times. And, of course, that running game that they got going is remarkable as well. Yeah, 5.7 yards a crack. But here's the guy. This is Chris Jones. Now, he's been under some fire because everybody wants to know, well, where are the sacks? Where are the sacks? Well, he got his sacks today, too, to be. Exact on that one and pressure on Geno Smith. He never had a chance to get anything done. And that made life a little bit easier for Mahomes. Mahomes took a shot to the shoulder, so he went out for a little bit, came back. But I think the bigger issue with Kansas City, Harrison Butker, He missed back-to-back field goals at the half. So now they've already brought in Justin Tucker, and we're just going to wait and see when this other shoe drops here. Don't we go through this with Butker seemingly every year? I guess we do, yeah. When you go through these little phases where he just can't even hit an extra point? Yeah, but he better not let this phase go much longer because he might be packing. I'll tell you what, the Chiefs could be scary. I mean, they've bounced back really well this year, so we'll see how that plays out. They've got Walker. They've got another power back. Finally, Andy Reid has that power back that he's been seeking for so many seasons, right? All right, we'll take another quick timeout here, but coming up next, we have hit the mid-season mark of the NFL season, so we're going to talk about the highs and lows of what we've seen so far with Fox play-by-play man Chris Myers. Stick around for that. Sports Wrap returns after this. Welcome back to Sports Wrap as we approach the end of week nine. These are currently the top records in the NFL. The 49ers, the first team to seven wins, although the Bills or Vikings are going to join them because those two teams meet on Monday Night Football. The Bears, 6-2. They're playing right now against the Buccaneers, and they lead big in the second quarter. Fox's play-by-play announcer Chris Myers joined me earlier this week to talk about some of the best and worst of the NFL so far. In your opinion, who's the best team in the NFL right now and why? Wow, wide open. Nearing the halfway point, there's a lot that will unfold a little different than what we... I thought the Rams would be leading the NFC and the NFC, that North division. You know, Chicago and Detroit look like they're hitting their stride at the right time. But I don't know if I'd call them the best. I think I'd word it this way. I think in the NFC, you know, I think we're going to get three teams out of the West and three teams out of the North that are going to make the playoffs. And then you'll have a winner, you know, in the South and in the East. As far as the AFC side, I mean, Buffalo looks great. Denver is coming on lately. But, you know, Josh Allen leading is still kind of a rookie head coach there. And I don't know if their defense is Super Bowl enough or best enough. But at this point, I would say it's hard to beat a Buffalo team. You know, at the beginning of the year, I think I said Rams-Buffalo. So tell me about the teams, good or bad, that have surprised you the most this season. And let's leave out the Chargers because, let's face it, everyone's shocked by what's going on there with the Chargers. But what else has surprised you? Yeah, I mean, that is a surprise. I'm surprised that, you know, maybe New Orleans isn't a little better, but they didn't surround their quarterback with enough play. I'm surprised that Dallas is not a better team. You know, we always do great in ratings. They get a lot of national games, and yet they just fail miserably. A pleasant surprise is not that they're running away with things, but the Giants and the way that John Harbaugh has had an immediate influence on that team, winning some close games, handling really losing Losing a starting quarterback, Jameis Winston, you had a veteran, but they realized he wasn't going to take them further, or at least as far as they thought they could go, and so they make the trade for J.J. McCarthy, which I'm surprised, Minnesota, where they picked him, then to give up on him, when I don't think they have a very strong quarterback situation, and have, you know, a guy in there like McCarthy, who's more like Jackson Dart when he's healthy, either at the end of the year or next year, so to me, that's a pleasant surprise. Chris, let's talk MVP. We've got a couple of guys up here in our studio. Josh Allen is the frontrunner right now. I can't stop watching what Caleb Williams is doing with the Bears. Brock Purdy, obviously, having a great year. Who's your MVP? Yeah, at least at this point of the season of those three, and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. You know, I almost think by how it ends up at the end of the year, I think Caleb Williams and the Bears will win that division. I think Buffalo will probably win the division as well. So that goes a long way in how guys play. You know, Josh Allen's tough to go against him, the way he runs and throws. But I would put Caleb Williams. And I don't think you can count out, you know, Matthew Stafford, he won't get it because he won it last year and things are a little bit different there. And he doesn't have Davante Adams for a while. But I don't think it overlooks his downfield passing, how well he's been protected, how well, especially recently, touchdown passes in the red zone, some impressive numbers. So he should be in the mix. But I would go Josh Allen 1, Caleb Williams 2. I think that's at least how it'll end up, or one of those two should end up winning it. All right, and my thanks to Chris Myers. He, of course, called the Rams-Commanders game today from our nation's capital. Always fun to talk a little football with him. You know, we've talked about this a lot this season, Ron, how surprising the whole season has been in general by the way things are kind of panning out. The surprise teams, like the Vikings at 6-1, certainly a surprise. For me, though, like, you look at the divisions and you look at Carolina. Uh, and Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay is currently what three and five and they lead, they lead their division at three and five. And then, then you get the Packers and they're six and three and they're dead last of the NFC North. So like he said, you know, will it be the Packers that emerge in that, in that division? Will it be the bears? You just never know. This season has been wildly unpredictable and go figure the Packers, right? Today, they go up and beat New England, and it looks like New England... They didn't beat New England. They demolished New England. Right, and New England was on a little bit of a run here. They were starting to get it together. You saw May starting to get comfortable and so on and so forth. So you can't figure that one out, and then you look at the NFC East. Well, the Giants are sitting on top of the NFC East, but my gosh, sometimes they're a train wreck, okay? You talk about... You're talking about the MVPs. Well, I would have to go Caleb Williams at this point. Really? Over Josh Allen? Yeah, I do. Because I don't see Josh Allen make the throws off-platform that Caleb Williams makes. And he can run. If he can just keep his hamstring together, he'll be fine. The NFC South is a train wreck, like you said. The NFC West, we all got that one wrong, right? San Francisco, they got over their power grid issue up there near their stadium and all that stuff. And they come out of the tunnel flying. They've even beaten Seattle once. So they're more than three games up on Seattle. Thank you very much. Minnesota, I don't believe Minnesota. I don't believe Minnesota because I think Minnesota is doing it all on defense. And it has nothing to do with the offense. And they can't get the ball to Jefferson. And that's why Wentz is in the game. Well, we're going to find out if they're for real or not Monday night when the Vikings take on the Vikings. Also, 6-1 Buffalo Bills. All right, we're going to take a quick timeout here, but when we come back, we're going to check in on the collegiate ranks. UCLA notching another big Big Ten victory, keeping their unbeaten streak cooking Minneapolis yesterday. We'll get into that. Of course, Ron's alma mater coming up next. Go anywhere. Top Fantasy Players is sponsored by the Hyundai Getaway Winter Sales Event. Get a deal so right, it almost feels wrong. Don't miss out. Get to your local Hyundai dealer today. Welcome back, you fantasy aficionados. Here are the Week 9 fantasy leaders so far. Of course, still with about a game and a half to play. The Packers' Jordan Love is the top quarterback. He went crazy today up in New England. Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker, the third, leads all players, scoring three times against the Jets. The Rams' Puka Nakua leads all receivers with his 150 yards and that touchdown. And the Panthers' Darren Waller is the top tight end. Let's roll. The Bruins had all the answers when they needed them yesterday in Minnesota with a 34-20 victory over the Golden Gophers. Ty Dieffenbach and Aiden Mizell hooking up for not one, but two 75-yard touchdowns in the victory. The Bruins and Bob Chesney now 9-0 on the season. November football, it's what we anticipated it to be. It was physical like we hoped for, and our guys battled. And even when it got to the tied game going into halftime, they never wavered. They understood what it was. They knew what the third and fourth quarter mean, and the fourth quarter in November means more than any other fourth quarter that's out there up to this point in time. The air keeps getting thinner and thinner and thinner as you climb to the top of this mountain and they have to understand that. And they did a really good job of understanding that and putting in the extra work, putting in the extra effort, putting in the things that they had to do to be perfectly on the same page. Yeah, that air getting super thin now because there are only three teams higher on that mountain now than UCLA. The rankings came out today. They're number four in the country. First time since 1998, Ron, that they are 9-0. It's remarkable. Fourth time in program history. What do you make of your UCLA Bruins? Well, so far, so good. That's what I make. Because as well as they've done, the way the schedule is set up and the way the whole format works, You could have a couple bad weeks and end up with absolutely nothing. But right now, they're humming along. And I love his quote, talking about the air is thin. Yeah, the air is thin. And every week, you're not just playing a good team here or there. You're getting everyone's best shot. And I actually thought Minnesota was going to be the one to storm the field at the end of this game. But UCLA pulled out some tricks there. They got the ball going down the field. And that guy there, Diepenbach. Man, he's coming in as a backup quarterback. No one saw this coming. And UCLA pivots in this game. They decide to start really bombing away. And I don't know what Minnesota's defensive backs were doing, but Ty Dieffenbach has been the answer. And in today's world, whether it's NFL, whether it's college, you've got to have more than one quarterback ready to go. And if your second guy is a bust, you're going to pay for it. And so far. UCLA is humming along because of their backup. Well, he only completed eight passes in this game, but he threw for over 300 yards thanks to those two 75-yard bombs I talked about. He throws that deep ball really nicely and accurately. Yeah, he puts it on the money, but they've got the run game. See, that's something UCLA hasn't had for a while. The full complement. They can run it. They can throw it. They're playing great defense. They're in the top five in the country. Big problem, though, they lost two starting offensive linemen in that game. We'll see if that affects him from here on out. Got a big game coming up against Illinois. That's Friday night, and you can watch it right here on Fox 11. All right, we're not quite finished just yet. We're going to be right back to wrap up this edition of Sports Wrap next. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back. Here now are the results of our poll question of the day. We asked you earlier in the show which of these NFL teams will end up with the worst record in all of football. The Titans don't have a vote, which is somewhat surprising to me, but that's okay. The Chargers have all of the votes or at least 60% of them. Chargers now, what are they? What are they, 0 and 9, is that what it is now? I've lost track. Yeah, I'll battle chargers. Oh, that's right. That's right. They lost again today. They fall to 0-8 now after a 44-22 loss to C.J. Stroud. And the Texans going off on that Chargers defense in his homecoming. The Rancho Cucamonga High alum threw for 384 yards and five touchdowns. The Bolts get blown out 44-22. And again, they fall to 0-8. Yeah, just got to keep fighting, you know, as tough as it is, there's nothing else that we can do other than go out there and give our best effort throughout the week, understand that, you know, it's only us in that locker room that can do anything about it, and obviously not where we want to be, but, you know, I appreciate and respect those guys showing up every day, giving their best effort. I'm not sure if you can hear me. You know, we'll have to figure it out and keep looking and doing our best to keep getting better because it hasn't been good enough yet. Yeah. My apologies to the Chargers. I already gave them another L for next week at Baltimore because now they have to play the... The Ravens, and I mentioned earlier in the show, Jacoby Brissett has now been traded to, or is about to be, it's finalized right now, probably by tomorrow, a final trade to go to the Ravens. He's already beaten the Chargers once as a quarterback for the Cardinals. He could become the second quarterback in history to beat the same team twice in the same season, quarterbacking for two different teams. Oh, that'd be, yeah, pretty crazy. Yeah. You wonder, okay, where does the help come for the Chargers? What is it going to take? And unfortunately, I think they're stuck in this Cycle and once you're stuck in it, it's hard to get out but we're talking about some of the other AFC teams and mention Cincinnati Yeah, Cincinnati is a team that with the way Joe Burrow is playing. Yeah, they are loaded and they're rolling I haven't seen Ja'Marr Chase play with this kind of energy before it's almost like he's trying to prove something that yeah I know he's a great player and he's had great moments, but looks different Yeah, you know, he's really going out there and extending himself making crazy plays And Higgins jumps on. This team, I think you've got to keep an eye on the Cincinnati team. Joe Cool, Joe Burrow, has got his groove back. Yeah, he does. He's now up to 20 touchdown passes this season. That leads the NFL. So they're rolling right now. Let me ask you this. Give me another team. I talk about the Bills, but they seem to break your heart every time you get to the postseason. Who comes out of the AFC? And, you know, I'm not going to jump on the train and say Denver. That's too easy. I tell you what. I'm going to give you this one. And I know I shouldn't, but I'm going to... Jacksonville. No. Pittsburgh. Yeah, I'm just going to give you Pittsburgh. Because Jacksonville is too easy. Yeah, I like Jacksonville too. But let's say Pittsburgh does it. They'll survive through attrition. That's what will happen. All right. All right. Buffalo was my pick to win the Super Bowl before the season started. How many years? I'm sticking with it. You're sticking with it. Okay. I've been doing the same thing for years now, and it just seems to feel right. All right. We're done, right? That's it. That's it. That's the show. All right. Go enjoy the rest of your Sunday night. He's Ron Pitts. I'm Kyle Kraska. We appreciate you hanging with us on Sports Trap, everybody. We'll see you next time.