HAPPY FRIDAY! We’ve got a weekend full of golf, football, and more football. Let’s check in on Thursday Night Football, the Ryder Cup and we’ll mix in some MLB talk.

Thursday Night Football

Detroit Lions 34, Green Bay Packers 20

The Detroit Lions looked like they might recreate some Dolphins magic after dominating the Green Bay Packers in the first half of last night’s NFC North matchup. The Lions led at half 27-3 and it was an offensive and defensive special. Jared Goff threw a touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown in the first quarter, and David Montgomery ran for 2 touchdowns, 1 in the first quarter and 1 in the second. The Packers, who had a depleted offensive line, couldn’t give QB Jordan Love more than 2 seconds to drop back and throw and it was a rough first half for the Packers offense.

Green Bay looked better in the 2nd half but it was too little too late. Love would get the ball moving a bit better and Green Bay would at least score 17 points in the 2nd half.

Overall, Green Bay was sacked 5 times and had 27 rushing yards (including the sack losses). This would make the passing game much more difficult which resulted in Love throwing 2 picks.

The Lions are clearly playing at a high level but there is one thing they need to clean up. Penalties. This is something that plagued them last year at crucial times and last night they had 8 flags for 70 yards.

Here are two interesting stats. Montgomery rushed for 121 yards on 32 carries last night and totaled 3 rushing TDs. The Lions haven’t had a 100-yard rusher with 3 TDs in a game since 2000.

Here’s another Montgomery stat. He played with the Bears for 4 seasons and never beat the Packers during that time, so he can check that item off his list. That’s not the stat though. The interesting stat is that last year for the Bears he had 5 touchdowns through 16 games played. This year on the Lions, he has already equaled his 5 TD count and is almost 1/3 of the way to his rushing total in just three games.

Sick of emails and want to watch highlights? Check them out here.

Opening Round Of Ryder Cup

Well the USA was on the receiving end of a terrible beatdown in Rome, but you were probably snoozing so maybe it won’t sting as bad. Team Europe swept the alternate shot foursome 4-0 in the Friday morning session and didn’t let the US hold a lead during any of the matches.

Two takeaways from the match so far?

1. The Europeans came ready to play and they were playing great from around the green. Viktor Hovland is doing what he does best, chipping in from all over the place and the rest of the Europeans are also on target.

2. Team USA has missed a few key putts that could win some holes, and these are ½ inch misses, which hurt just a little more than the big misses.

Team USA will need to fight back in the afternoon session because you really don’t want to go into the 2nd day of the Ryder Cup down 8-0. It’s a game of inches and all the US needs is a small shift in momentum by the end of the day. We’re excited to see what happens.

MLB Update

Orioles Clinch AL East

The Baltimore Orioles clinched the AL East with a 2-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox last night. The O’s grabbed their 100th win of the season and this is their first division title since 2014.

Braves Grab Home Field Advantage

The Atlanta Braves finished a sweep of the Chicago Cubs and have clinched the best record in the MLB for 2023. This gives the Braves a bye and home-field advantage throughout the entire playoffs and World Series.

Bryce Harper Ejected For Being Right

Of course, this ejection came from everyone’s favorite ump, Angel Hernandez (sarcasm). Harper was ejected after Angel Hernandez signaled that Harper completed a swing on a 3-2 pitch count in the bottom of the 3rd. You can watch it unfold here.

What To Watch Today

You’ve got Ryder Cup action on the USA Network until 12 p.m. ET today.

Looking for some college football on Friday night? We’ve got 4 games including a top 25 match up.

• Louisville @ NC State, 7 pm ET on ESPN

• Louisiana Tech @ UTEP, 9 pm ET on CBSSN

• Cincinnati @ BYU, 10:15 pm on ESPN

• #10 Utah @ #19 Oregon State, 9 pm ET on FS1

  • It’s another week where Utah’s QB1 Cam Rising likely won’t return to action. If Utah can get through this week, they’ve got 3 full weeks before they enter a brutal 4-week stretch of their Pac-12 schedule. It might just be enough time for Rising to be 100% from his ACL tear.

Enjoy them happy hours today.

Cheers,

The Daily Breakroom