1. Most people would say that this piece of magic from Patrick Mahomes was the play of the day on Sunday.
Obviously, that play is just ridiculous, and I love Mahomes, but I saw another play Sunday that deserves even more credit. And all it was was an eight-yard completion.
Let me set the scene: Lions up 31–23 against the Vikings. Detroit with a third-and-7 at Minnesota’s 41-yard line with two minutes left, looking to close out the victory.
What was the Lions’ play call? Put 6-foot-5, 335-pound right tackle Penei Sewell in motion and then throw him the ball.
Now, we’ve seen offensive lineman catch passes before, but 99% of the time, it happens at the goal line or in the end zone.
Sewell caught a pass with his hands in the open field and turned up field to dive for the first down. AND IT WAS FREAKIN’ AWESOME!
What a thing of beauty. It's actually art. From the execution to the finish to the call by Fox's Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma. Just a wonderful 30 seconds football.
Vilma was all of us as he expressed his shock over the play call. “Wowwwww, are you kidding me?” asked Vilma. “I could not figure out why Penei Sewell was sitting there going in motion. I’m like, ‘What is going on? Why is this big athletic freak going in motion?’ Nobody expected that.”
After the game, Sewell had a colorful explanation for Dan Campbell’s play call.
2. Congrats to the NFL, Roger Goodell and referee Scott Novak for giving us the single-worst call of the season during Sunday night’s Dolphins-Chargers game.
3. Speaking of penalties, while sharing his confusion that the Bills weren't called for a late hit on this play, Jets wideout Garrett Wilson shared a funny story about what he learned as a rookie from one ref.
4. Niners linebacker Dre Greenlaw picked off Tom Brady in San Francisco’s 35–7 blowout win against Tampa Bay on Sunday. After the game, Greenlaw asked the GOAT to sign the intercepted ball. Bold, yet respectable, move.
5. I don't think I’ve seen a player more excited for a teammate scoring a touchdown than George Kittle. After rookie quarterback Brock Purdy (he was Mr. Irrelevant, in case you haven't heard that anywhere) rushed for a two-yard score, Kittle paid tribute to Purdy's NSFW nickname and then went wild.
6. A brand-new SI Media Podcast dropped this morning, and this week’s guest is The Athletic’s sports media reporter, Richard Deitsch. Topics covered include:
- Fox's World Cup coverage
- Jon Heyman whiffing on Aaron Judge
- Adam Schefter doing PR for Deshaun Watson
- Is TNF on Amazon a success?
- Athletes as podcasters
- Good Morning America scandal
- ManningCast
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I need to close out Traina Thoughts by mentioning the shocking and tragic passing of immensely popular soccer journalist Grant Wahl. To get the full sense of what Grant was all about, you need to read this piece from Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim.
On a personal note, I was colleagues with Grant for many, many years, and he was always so kind to me. We always had fun with the fact that I'm not a soccer person, and he was the authority on soccer.
I was always blown away that Grant was the guy who wrote the famous SI ”Chosen One" cover story on LeBron James. But as everybody knows, Grant was all about soccer. SI's soccer editor, Avi Creditor, told me that of all the ambitious projects Grant worked on over the years, the one he was most proud of was his “Exploring Planet Fútbol” video series. Please check it out.
