Hey all, I am modestly sick and I wanted to use this opportunity to stump for every athlete who has ever been listed questionable with “illness.”

“Illness?” you say. “Just play through it!” But here I am, with a C-tier cold (no throwing up or anything, just some headaches, chills, and a gross cough), and putting together a newsletter has felt like climbing Everest. I have no idea how anybody plays in a pro sports game with anything worse than “sniffles.”

The newsletter is slightly shorter than usual because focusing on the screen makes my brain hurt. Enjoy!

– Rodger Sherman

I would like to formally retract last week’s NFL newsletter headline, “J.J. McCarthy is the worst.” Although I Iaid out myriad statistics demonstrating why McCarthy was, at that point, the worst quarterback in the NFL this season, I had no idea how bad things would get when the Vikings turned to McCarthy’s backup.

McCarthy was diagnosed with a concussion after last week’s two-interception performance against the Bears, sidelining him for Sunday’s daunting matchup against the Seahawks. Rookie Max Brosmer, an undrafted free agent who impressed Vikings fans in the preseason, was the next man up. (Brosmer’s popularity was helped by the fact that he played his final college season at Minnesota, giving him some credit as a hometown hero.)

Brosmer’s day can be summed up in one word: Peterman-esque. Brosmer’s performance will probably be remembered for this play, when he failed to escape a sack and decided to wildly fling the ball directly to a Seattle defender. (You know it’s bad when the announcer screams, “OH NO!”)

The Broz was hopeless out there, throwing four interceptions and zero touchdowns.

In his defense, Brosmer was starting against one of the best defenses in the NFL. But even after accounting for level of difficulty, he played a uniquely poor game. Of the 14 undrafted quarterbacks who had rookie debuts since 2000, he had the worst passer rating, the fewest yards per attempt, and he was the only one to throw three interceptions, let alone four. (I recommend clicking that link; some great Guys to Remember in there.)

I have two takeaways from Brosmer’s performance (two less than the Seahawks’ defense had):

Playing QB in the NFL is simply different: Brosmer has played QB effectively all his life. He was an FCS All-American at New Hampshire, and looked decent last year at Minnesota. But playing QB in the NFL requires a different level of talent. You need to make decisions more quickly and throw the ball more accurately. The defenders you ran away from in college will tackle you in the pros. Brosmer seemed to learned that in real time Sunday, and it was brutal to watch.

It can always get worse. No matter how bad you think your team’s starting QB is … they’re playing in the NFL. That fact alone implies that there are thousands of players worse than them. McCarthy still isn’t the answer for Minnesota … but the guy behind him definitely isn’t the answer.

The greatest football innovation of our time has to be the sticky gloves that make ridiculous one-handed catches easier. They’re just like the enhanced K-balls that have made everybody’s field goals a little bit longer this year, except in this case, there has been no weird public backlash to the improved equipment. (Probably because an absurd catch is more fun to watch than a booming field goal, no offense to kickers.)

First up we have Puka Nacua of the Rams, who made a one-handed catch using the hand of Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson to help stabilize the ball. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before:

Poor MJ: He got his hand on the ball and didn’t get a PBU. (He had a pick-six earlier, which does help make up for it.)

Next up we have Brock Bowers, who scooped the ball inches above the turf while essentially getting tackled by Cam Hart:

And then, on Sunday Night Football, Treylon Burks pulled off a carbon copy of Odell Beckham Jr.’s famous one-handed SNF catch over Broncos cornerback Riley Moss.

A rare Mossing of a Moss. (No relation to Randy, although you could probably figure that out.)

I’m ranking Bowers third, Nacua second, and Burks first. The Nacua catch is clearly the most improbable, but you have to be a little lucky to catch the ball that way, while Burks made his play with full intention. Also, Burks is celebrated less frequently than Puka or Brock. Let’s give him this one!

Something like 75 percent of NFL analysis is pointing at a team that’s good and saying “this team is good,” or pointing a team that’s bad and saying “that team is bad.” (Another 10 percent is pointing at a team that’s good and saying “that team is bad.” That’s how you get clicks, baby.)

But what to make of the Carolina Panthers, the most hot-or-cold team in recent memory? The Panthers have alternated wins and losses since Week 7, giving us almost two months of chaos. It’s easy to find the longest winning streaks and losing streaks in league history, but the Panthers have to be approaching the on-again, off-again record. They’ve won a game 30-0 one week and lost by almost 30 the next. They lost to the two-win Saints just one week after beating the Packers.

The Rams entered the week on a six-game win streak and with Matthew Stafford firmly in control of the NFL MVP race. Everybody around the NFL seemed to agree they were the best team in the league. Unfortunately, they played a Panthers team that had lost the week before. They never stood a chance, losing 31-28.

The Panthers’ fickleness begins with Bryce Young, the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Young seems to always bust out his best performances at the exact moment when people universally agree he’s a bust. He looked awful as a rookie, was benched in 2024 before finishing the season strong, and now flip-flops between playing like Steve Young and Vince Young depending on the week. (Pro Vince, not college Vince.)

In Week 10, Young threw for 124 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. In Week 11, he had 448 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. On Sunday, he looked like the clutchest guy in the league, throwing two beautiful second-half touchdowns:

The Panthers are not Super Bowl contenders, because that requires winning multiple games in a row. But they’re a half-game out of the NFC South lead. I’m pulling for them to lose Week 18 so they can win a stupid game in the postseason.