10/16/23 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Monday
16 October 2023 Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 16 points, Damian Lillard had 14 in his Milwaukee debut, and the Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 108-97 on Sunday night in a preseason game.
Lillard, part of a three-team blockbuster trade that sent him from Portland to Milwaukee, finished 3-for-10 shooting including 2 for 7 from 3-point range. Lillard’s night ended with 4:41 left in the third quarter. He played 22 minutes. Antetokounmpo, who shot 7 for 10, played 15 minutes.
Anthony Davis scored 16 points for Los Angeles in 19 minutes. Davis also had seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. LeBron James did not play.
The NBA regular season starts on October 24th.
The Packers will be back on the practice field this week as they prepare for Sunday’s game in Denver against the Broncos.
The long time off between games has given the coaching staff and players time to reflect on their 2-3 record. One of those players is Jordan Love.
Five games into Love’s first season as a starter, it’s still hard to tell if he’s a long-term solution. But his last couple of performances have provided cause for skepticism.
“I’ve got to be better,” Love said on multiple occasions after throwing three interceptions Monday night in a 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Love has extra time to learn from his mistakes and regain the promise he showed at the start of the season.
Love was leading the NFL in passer rating through the first two weeks of the season, but he now ranks 28th in that category.
The 2020 first-round pick from Utah State has completed just 55.6% of his passes, the lowest percentage for any starting quarterback this season. After throwing six touchdowns without an interception in his first two games, Love has been picked off six times while throwing just two touchdown passes over his past three games. During those three games, the Packers have averaged just 17 points and have been outscored 54-6 in the first half.
In the first of those three games, Love helped the Packers score 18 straight points in the final 11 minutes of an 18-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints. They followed that up by losing consecutive games to the Detroit Lions and Raiders.
“We’ve just got to find a way to get going faster, get a rhythm going,” Love said. “And I’ve got to find a way just to be better, get some completions going and move the ball.”
Packers coach Matt LaFleur noted that there’s plenty of blame to go around for the offense’s recent struggles..
“I think there’s definitely some plays that we’d all like to have back,” LaFleur said. “Just like there’s some calls that I’d like to have back as well. And quite frankly, all the spotlight’s going to be — or the majority of the spotlight’s — going to be placed on the quarterback.”
Love is throwing primarily to a collection of rookies and second-year pros at receiver and tight end while directing an offense missing its two most proven performers.
Left tackle David Bakhtiari is out of the season after playing just one game as he prepares to undergo a fifth surgery on his left knee since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament on Dec. 31, 2020. Running back Aaron Jones has missed three of Green Bay’s past four games because of a hamstring injury, though the Packers are optimistic he could return after the bye week.
The Packers cleared the way for Love to take over as starting quarterback when they traded Rodgers to the New York Jets.
Shortly after that trade, they signed Love to a contract extension running through the 2024 season.
That gives the Packers a couple of years to determine whether he’s a worthy successor to Favre and Rodgers, who each won a Super Bowl title with Green Bay while winning a combined seven MVP awards.
Love’s fast start offered hope that the Packers might have struck gold on a quarterback again. Then defenses adjusted and started holding Love in check and forcing him into mistakes.
Love says he just needs to do a better job of making the right decisions and taking care of the ball.
In the NFC North Sunday Minnesota hung on to beat the Bears at Soldier Field 19-13. Bears quarterback Justin Fields (right hand) was ruled out in the third quarter of Sunday’s game versus the Vikings. Fields suffered a dislocated thumb and will have an MRI Monday to determine the additional damage, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per sources. Head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters that Fields’ X-rays did not show a break.
The Vikings upped their record to 2-4.
In the other game in the NFC North the Lions won at Tampa Bay 20-6. Detroit improves to 4-1.
In Sunday Night Football the Bills held on at home to beat the Giants 14-9.
In Monday Night Football the Los Angeles Chargers host the Dallas Cowboys.
In the American League Championship Series Texas won at Houston over the Astros 2-0 and lead 1-0. Game two is tonight.
In the NLCS Arizona plays game one at Philadelphia.
Leshon Williams scored the game’s lone touchdown on an 82-yard breakaway and finished with 174 yards rushing Saturday to lead Iowa to a 15-6 victory over Wisconsin, which lost quarterback Tanner Mordecai to a hand injury.
Iowa (6-1, 3-1) has sole possession of the Big Ten West Division lead. Not bad for a team that entered Saturday gaining just 249.2 total yards per game, the lowest average of any Football Bowl Subdivision team.
The Hawkeyes didn’t even reach that mark Saturday as they were outgained 324-237. It didn’t matter.
Iowa has beaten Wisconsin (4-2, 2-1) in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2008-09 and gets to maintain possession of the Heartland Trophy, the 72-pound brass bull that goes to the winner of this annual matchup.
Wisconsin is at Illinois Saturday.
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