The Scoreboard with Tanner Lehtinen (Oct 10-14)

Change in the NFL is few and far between. Wild card teams come and go, champions rise and fall, but the first 5 weeks of 2022 NFL play have shown otherwise. Whether it be the dominating performance from the New York Jets against an injury-ridden Miami Dolphins team or the stifling defense of the Buffalo Bills against the inexperienced Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL landscape has substantially changed from previous seasons. 

New York football has been lacking in talent in previous years due to multiple different reasons. With the horrible coaching of Adam Gase of the New York Jets and the endless carousel of previous New York Giant coaches, New York football fans haven’t had much to cheer about. That was until this year. Behind rookie of the year candidate Breece Hall, the Jet’s offense finally gets a dual-threat capability that they have lacked in previous years. A few bumps in the road have occurred over the past few weeks with various injuries not only in New York but across the NFL. Sophomore Drake Lambertsen stated, “A lot of the 2nd String Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers are really having to step up.”Now, much of the pressure put on aging quarterback Joe Flacco can be redirected to the running game to keep defenses on their toes. Along with a fair share of luck, this year’s New York Jets team has the opportunity to possibly have their first wild card berth in 12 years. 

As for the team the Jets share MetLife Stadium with, the New York Giants season has been nothing but spectacular. With the second-best running back in the league in Saquon Barkley, the Giant’s run game has been nothing short of excellent. Although Daniel Jones hasn’t had a great season, only passing for 848 yards through 5 games, he still has managed to make the offense work under the new leadership of head coach Brian Daboll. For the first time in years, New York football has returned to greatness.

In Ames, unrest is brewing. Iowa State, currently the second-worst team in the Big 12, may have its season in jeopardy after crushing losses to Kansas State and Baylor. When asked about how he feels about Iowa State’s football season so far, junior Grant Putze stated “I feel like they’re not playing up to the level they could be but overall I’m happy with it so far.” A root of some of Iowa State’s issues lies in quarterback Hunter Deckers. Deckers, only passing for 11 touchdowns throughout the first half of the season, has had multiple games where he performed poorly or mediocre like the Baylor and Kansas games. Along with a subpar running game led by Jirehl Brock and Deon Silas, this year’s Iowa State football team season may be in serious jeopardy. 

However, Iowa is not safe from this date either. Currently, the worst team in the Big 10 west, Iowa’s season may be in jeopardy due to a variety of reasons. Quarterback Spencer Petras has only thrown for 2 touchdowns this season along with 3 interceptions, along with this a stagnant running game has accumulated with the worst offense in the Big 10. The only redeeming quality for this year’s hawkeyes is their stellar defense. With leading tackler in the Big 10 Jack Campbell, and Interceptions leader Cooper DeJean, this top 15 defense is a formidable foe, to say the least. 

Meanwhile, in the MLB postseason, Manny Machado and Trent Grisham led the Padres back to a tied series versus the Dodgers as they enter game 3 of the NLDS. Machado, having 2 home runs and 6 hits this postseason, has managed to help the Padres come back and tie the series Wednesday night with a final score of 5-3. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, the Phillies and Braves are tied at 1-1 in the series as the braves came back to tie the series after a commanding performance on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, in the ALCS, the Astros escaped after a close call with the resurgent Mariners on the back of Yurdan Alvarez. Yurdan Alvarez was the star of the show Tuesday night as he hit a 3-run home run in the 9th inning leading to a final score of 8-7 in favor of the Astros. Meanwhile in Cleveland, the Yankees take an early ACLS lead after a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night led behind a 2-run home run by Anthony Rizzo. 

Throughout the past week of sports, a variety of changes have occurred. With a resurgence of New York football, the jeopardy in Iowa sports, and exciting MLB postseason action, It will be important to stay updated, so stay informed and keep checking the Scoreboard.