1. Joe Flacco mocks himself in surprisingly good Pepsi/Tostitos ad.
For a Super Bowl winning quarterback, Flacco does surprisingly few national commercials. (Locally, he’s got that Mother’s account on LOCK DOWN, though.) That’s partly because he isn’t exactly—how shall we put this gently?—the life of the party. It’s that very quality that Pepsi and Tostitos are gently teasing in this clever ad. The best part is that Joe totally plays along and is actually funny! On purpose! And, while we are on the subject, are we the first to notice that Joe Flacco has gotten kind of…hot lately? With Tom Brady still embroiled in “Deflate Gate” is it possible we are seeing the new face of the NFL?
2. Manny reels Schoop in.
Look, there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about lately in Birdland (understatement), so let’s focus on a very cute moment between Jonathan Schoop and his bro Manny Machado on Wednesday night. After Schoop hit a mammoth two-run home run against the Royals to put the Orioles ahead once and for all, Manny excitedly reeled him back into the dugout. These two are so dang cute together!
3. John Urschel and Ravens have (playful) Twitter spat.
It started with the Ravens posting a picture of linebacker (and mathematician!) John Urschel as the Incredible Hulk.
Urschel responded like this:
A team drafts you, and you think they respect you. Then they do this… Real cool, @Ravens ;p http://t.co/g3M8QqIELW pic.twitter.com/gVwvvbOFtC
— John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) August 28, 2015
And then the Ravens responded like this:
.@MathMeetsFball The hulk is a genius and also a beast. We felt it apt.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 28, 2015
Your move, Urschulk.
4. A bad week for the Orioles may have just gotten worse.
Last night, the Orioles slump continued with a 5-3 loss to the Royals. To add injury to insult, so to speak, Orioles All-Star Adam Jones left the game after crashing into the center-field wall while diving to make a catch in the third inning. He was down for several minutes and even tried to stay in the game, before being replaced in the lineup by Paul Janish. In true Jones form, he thinks he’ll be ready to play Friday night against the Rangers. As of now, they’re saying it’s whiplash, but not a concussion. We love what a gamer Jones is, but frankly we’d prefer he take a few days off to heal rather than come back too soon risking further injury. (The pessimist in us says, whether he plays or not doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference these days…Sigh).
5. Terrell Suggs hit on Sam Bradford deemed legal.
In the Ravens 40-17 preseason loss to Philadelphia (do not panic, people; it’s the preseason), linebacker Terrell Suggs was charged with roughing passer Sam Bradford. Suggs immediately argued that it was a legal hit, as Bradford was not passing, but running the “read option,” where a quarterback chooses to hand-off the ball or run himself. As Suggs put it later in his inimitable way, “You’ve got to know the rules. If you want to run the read option with your starting quarterback that’s had two knee surgeries, that’s on you.” Of course, Suggs, a true student of the game, was right. The NFL later acknowledged that Suggs should not have been called for a penalty.