This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.
Guys, look. I know the NFL MVP award has always been a quarterback’s trophy. And, honestly, I’m not mad at that.
The quarterback is, by default, the most valuable player on the field. The position handles the ball more than any other. A quarterback is a distributor. The player must be the straw that stirs the drink. An elite quarterback is an MVP-worthy player.
But, folks. I’m sorry. That can’t be how it works this year.
Not after we just watched Saquon Barkley trample all over the Rams for 255 yards. Nope. Sorry. Nuh uh. I’m not going to act like I didn’t just watch that happen. That might be the best offensive performance we’ve seen from anyone this season, regardless of position.
Again, 255 yards. 303 all-purpose yards. Two touchdown runs of 70-plus yards. That’s insane.
THANK THE BIG GUYS: Saquon thanked the Eagles’ offensive line after his masterful performance
Even if you take away those two big runs, Barkley still would’ve finished with 24 carries for 113 yards. That’s a great day at the office for most backs in the NFL.
Not this guy, though. That’s your MVP.
It’s been 12 years since a non-QB won the MVP award. It was Adrian Peterson in 2012. He couldn’t be denied. He ran for 2,097 yards and 12 touchdowns. That’s the second-highest single-season rushing total ever behind Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 yards in 1984 — one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.
Here we are, 12 years later, and it feels like history is repeating itself.
After Barkley rushed for 255 yards against the Rams on the road, he’s on pace to finish with 2,154 yards this season. He’s already got 10 rushing touchdowns this year.
Will he get there? No idea. But, honestly, he doesn’t have to. It’s not the gaudy yardage totals that make him the MVP. It’s the impact. The moments. Who else is doing reverse hurdles, y’all? He’s been the best player on one of the best teams this season. The team he left is down in the dumps and looking for direction.
You can make arguments for other names. Lamar Jackson is awesome. So is Derrick Henry. But, man. Nobody is impacting their team as much as Saquon is right now.
THE CHANCES: Here’s a list of running backs who’ve won the NFL MVP award.
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All good things must come to an end
That includes South Carolina’s 43-game winning streak. UCLA just handed Dawn Staley’s team its first loss since Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes knocked them out of the Final Four in 2023.
Yes, it’s been that long.
And the loss wasn’t close, either. Lauren Betts and the Bruins dominated South Carolina. Here’s Meg Hall with deets:
“The Bruins beat South Carolina on the boards (41-34), held four starters to under five points, and *checks notes* not a single starter went to the free-throw line. UGLY STUFF.
Furthermore, five UCLA players scored in double figures, including Londynn Jones, who was sensational from the line with five 3-pointers, and star center Lauren Betts, who had 11 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. WHEW.
Postgame, Betts raved about her team and how proud she was, but she also sent a direct warning to college basketball. “If you’ve been sleeping on UCLA,” Betts said. “You need to stop right now.”
The real story here is less about South Carolina having its winning streak snapped and more about how good UCLA is.
The Bruins are the real deal. We should all take Lauren Betts’ advice: Don’t sleep.
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Chaos. Pure chaos.
Division rivalry games are always chaotic. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like what I saw during Sunday’s Commanders-Cowboys showdown.
The last minute of this game was stupid. Silly. Outrageous. All of the above.
So, starting from 2:49 left in the 4th quarter, we had:
- A 99-yard kick return from KaVonte Turpin to put Dallas up 27-17 (2:49 left to play)
- A 51-yard field goal from Austin Seibert to cut the lead to 27-20 (1:40 left to play)
- An 86-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels to Terry McLaurin to cut the lead to 27-26 (0:21 left to play)
- A MISSED extra point on that McLaurin touchdown (0:21 left to play)
- A 43-yard onside-kick return from Juanyeh Thomas to push the lead to 34-26 (0:14 left to play)
Then, finally, Daniels through his last interception of the game to end it all on a Hail Mary attempt. It was insane. ESPN’s win probability chart looked broken throughout that final stretch.
Never seen anything quite like this, man. Probably never will again.
AN EXTREMELY BAD BEAT: Prince Grimes shows us how terrible this was from a betting perspective
Quick hits: It’s time to worry about CJ Stroud … Capture the Flagg … and more
— Christian D’Andrea says it’s time to worry about CJ Stroud in his latest column on week 12 of the NFL season.
— Prince Grimes shows us how the Hawks are the worst kind of bad team in the NBA: One that’s bad, but not quite bad enough. The Spurs are loving it.
— Malik Nabers might be the only guy defending Daniel Jones at this point. Robert Zeglinski has more.
— Nick Sirianni isn’t the kid from Elf, but it’s a meme. Charles Curtis explains.
— The F1 Grand Prix returned to Vegas and went well. Here were all the celebs in hand for the event.
—Justice for Ryan Williams. Cory Woodroof has more here.
That’s a wrap, folks. Happy Monday. Thanks for reading! Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
