NFL Week 5 Recap & Rams / Bills Bombs! Recap
CJ Sullivan (@CJSullivan_) runs through the NFL Week 5 recap, from the ridiculous Giants and Washington tie to a four and one Circa Millions week, then drops his Rams vs. Bills bombs for Monday Night Football and closes with Mike Ditka stories.
Bills Plus The Points On Monday Night
CJ Sullivan opens with the Monday night game at SoFi, and the play is Buffalo plus 3.5 against the Rams. The line opened at 3 and got pushed out because the Rams were a sharp play. But he isn’t buying it. The Rams have looked decent once all year, against the Giants after Jaxson Dart got knocked out. Then they blew a lead in Denver and needed the Eagles to collapse in Philly. Also, dogs keep cashing in prime time, and Josh Allen is coming off a loss. So the Bills get the points, even with the worst defense on the field. The total sits at a huge 54.5.
The props build around the same game. Puka is back, and he expects a monster night, so Puka over 92.5 receiving yards goes on the card. The touchdown board is mostly chalk with no value. Keon Coleman is the exception at +235 anytime, with a sprinkle on two touchdowns at 17-1. DJ Moore is out, so Coleman should be Buffalo’s top wideout next to Dalton Kincaid. Then there’s Dawson Knox at 35-1 for the first touchdown, because Allen loves him at the goal line. And after swearing off ladders, he builds one anyway on Coleman’s receiving yards, with 100 yards at +780 and 110 at +1060. He also co-signs a chat play of one interception for each quarterback at +240, since Stafford already has six.
The NFL Week 5 Recap Starts With Survivor
The Survivor entry rolls on. Luke the Young Sharp took Houston, and the Texans handled Tennessee easily. The field started at 25,000 and is down to roughly 2,900 after five weeks. Tampa Bay beating Dallas on Thursday knocked out about 42% of it by itself. Then the Eagles nearly helped even more in Europe. Philly kicked the field goal with eight seconds left, and Jacksonville had no timeouts. So kick it into the end zone, guard the sideline, and another 600 entries go away. Instead Nick Sirianni found a way to lose. That makes consecutive games the Eagles blew while higher than 97% to win.
But Washington and the Giants topped it. Harbaugh kept running plays in overtime instead of kicking, and Scarbrough fumbled. Then Washington got the ball back with a minute left and kept calling plays too. Jayden Daniels didn’t know they were out of timeouts and blamed the coach for not telling him. So the game ended in a tie, and the Giants celebrated it. No NFC East team won all weekend, even with two of them playing each other. Also, one poor survivor player had both Washington and the Giants on one entry, figuring one of them had to get through.
There’s also a side bet to settle. Molly the Hudge, a Surviving CJ finalist, was sure she was a better choice than Luke, so they bet on who lasted longer. She went out a couple weeks ago when Seattle lost to Marcus Mariota in Washington. And she paid up with an apology video that includes Malort and an adult bookstore. Then the Packers destroyed her Bears the same weekend Mike Ditka died. Jordan Love launched bombs all game, and Marshawn Lloyd was trucking people. He wanted Green Bay but didn’t have the courage to put it on the contest card.
Four And One In The Circa Millions
The Circa Millions card finally broke through at 4-1 against the spread. Wins came on the Steelers, Jets, Patriots and Ravens. The only loss was Arizona plus 5.5 against Detroit. The process felt right, too. He originally had the Saints and Chargers in, then talked himself out of both after deeper analysis. Baltimore and Arizona replaced them and split, so the swap went 1-1. Arizona even held Detroit to three-and-outs on its first three drives and led 7-0. Then the Lions scored every time they had the ball after that and made every fourth down, Dan Campbell style.
The Chargers were the one he was glad to dodge. Justin Herbert kept handing the ball to Denver, and the Broncos still only kicked two field goals off it. Four rookies on the offensive line and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as the top receiver are reasons, not excuses. Meanwhile, Adam Schefter reported the Cardinals were trading Marvin Harrison Jr. without saying where. So he calls Schefter shifty and wonders about that predictive markets contract. Then the Texans coach revealed the destination himself. Harrison is headed to Houston, which should help them as they go to Europe to face the Jags.
Steelers, Ravens And Tua Being Tua
Pittsburgh was the play of the week on a rest spot, though it took a fourth-down conversion while up two. After Mike McCarthy’s day of reflection, Pat Freiermuth hinted that a quarterback calling everyone names wasn’t helping morale. Aaron Rodgers apparently listened, then hit Freiermuth for two touchdowns. Jaylen Warren also went off, and he’s been good for three weeks now. The Jets win over Cleveland was wet and awful. The Patriots flipped the switch on the Raiders. That’s why he keeps saying there are seasons within seasons in this league.
Then Baltimore plus 3.5 won outright on Sunday night in overtime, one of his favorites. He thought the Ravens were the better team all night, but they kept helping Atlanta. Mark Andrews dropped a touchdown on the opening drive. Later he put the ball on the ground, and Atlanta scooped and scored. But Penix got hurt late, and in came Tua. So Tua did what Tua does and threw an interception in the end zone. Baltimore took the gift and cashed the ticket.
Niners Win The Game Of The Week
San Francisco at Seattle was the best game of the week, a 32-29 Niners win on the road where both defenses still dominated. George Holani fumbled in the end zone right before halftime and was a mess all day. Greenlaw also got tossed for headbutting someone without a helmet. Then it came down to fourth-and-10, and Cooper Kupp dove with the ball stretched out. Because his feet were in but the ball was out of bounds, it got spotted short. He just wants consistent rules, since a toe-tap catch with the ball outside the line still counts. Also, Darnold was bad early before playing well late, and Purdy wasn’t great either.
Rays To Win Game One And The Series
Baseball closes the betting. Cleveland goes with a bullpen game behind Foster Griffin against Drew Rasmussen, Tampa Bay’s ace. The Rays carry a big 171 number, with a +129 run line and a total of seven. He thinks Tampa Bay is the best team in a bad AL. Cleveland won three straight against the White Sox, but that burned through its pitching. So the plays are the Rays tonight and the Rays in the series at -170. If you don’t want to eat the chalk, Tampa Bay to win game one and the series pays +115. He also likes the Rays minus a game and a half, winning it in five or six.
Man In A Box: Iron Mike Ditka
The Man in a Box segment goes to Mike Ditka, who died Friday. He lived in Chicago for 15 years and is headed back this weekend for a Saturday show at the Hamburg Club for Pat Bryce’s foundation. First comes the Jim Nantz story. On CBS weekends in New York, Ditka paid for everything with $100 bills and never wanted change. He brought $5,000 a weekend for 20 weekends, so $100,000 to have fun. Ditka also took on Obama for Senate in Illinois over the smoking ban, then pulled out. And he testified about customers who just spent $300 on a steak.
The best story is his own. He and Sean Flannery punched up a live reading of the Superfans movie script at the Park West Theater, written by Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel. The first show ran two and a half to three hours. So backstage, everyone scrambled to cut pages for the sold-out second show. Then Ditka put his jacket on and headed for the door. He told them they had a second show, sweetheart, because he had a metal hip and was going home. Nobody tried to tackle Mike Ditka. Van Horne filled in, George Wendt calmed the crowd, and the show went on.
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Podcast Chapters
0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
1:19 Welcome To Bottom Line Bombs
4:50 Rams Vs. Bills Monday Night Bombs
19:39 Survivor, Eagles, Giants Tie & Molly the Hudge Bet
28:31 Circa Millions Four and One Week
31:31 Schefter, Marvin Harrison Jr. & Chargers Mess
33:20 Steelers, Patriots, Ravens & Tua
38:14 Game of the Week Seattle & San Francisco
42:28 Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays Series Plays
48:04 Man in a Box: Iron Mike Ditka Stories
59:44 Sign-Off & Socials
