Gridiron Girls: Episode Three

Story posted October 11, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Sports Staff

Football analysts Carolyn Sistrand and Ariel Simpson discuss week five of NFL play, as producer Steph Naranjo hosts CommRadio’s first all-girl football podcast, Gridiron Girls:

Tom Brady reached his 500th career touchdown pass as the New England Patriots find themselves back on top of the AFC East, beating Indianapolis Colts 38-24 on Thursday night. The 500th pass was to the Patriots’ new wide receiver Josh Gordon, making him Brady’s 71st receiver to catch a touchdown pass from him. Julian Edelman returned, catching seven for 57 yards. James White and Sony Michel continued to rotate seamlessly in the running back position, each putting up a touchdown. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who had missed all last season with a shoulder injury, has a touchdown pass in 28 consecutive games. However, the Colts offense is still struggling to string wins together as the team fell to 1-4.

Reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles fell to the Minnesota Vikings 23-21. Kirk Cousins redeemed himself with a clutch win after ending week five with a record of 2-2-1. The Eagles, which beat the Vikings in the NFC Championship game last season, struggled offensively and the team was flagged three times for illegal formations. Defensive tackle Michael Bennett was called for a roughing the passer penalty to add to the increasing number of roughing penalties seen this season. With Jay Ajayi now out with a season-ending torn ACL, will the Eagles continue to struggle even with Carson Wentz leading the charge?

The New York Giants came close but still fell to the Carolina Panthers 33-31. Saquon Barkley had 15 carries for 48 yards, with a 15-yard diving touchdown that would put the Giants up with a 1:08 to go. Still, Carolina’s kicker Graham Gano made a career-long 63-yard field goal with one second left to win it for the Panthers, saving a struggling Cam Newton Sunday.

Pittsburgh Steelers rolled over the Atlanta Falcons 41-17. Antonio Brown had six receptions and put up 101 yards, scoring two touchdowns in the second half. Rookie James Conner seems to be filling in nicely for the absent Le'Veon Bell, scoring two touchdowns. Matt Ryan was sacked six times, as the Falcon’s offense struggled to penetrate the Pittsburgh defense, which focused their coverage on Ryan’s main target, Julio Jones.

Talks of Bell trade offers are still up in the air. With Ajayi now out for the rest of the season, some are speculating that Bell could stay in state and head to Philadelphia, with the restructuring of Fletcher Cox’s contract leaving a $6.5 million in cap space for the season according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen. Schefter adds, however, that the Eagles have not pursued Bell.

Buffalo Bills took down the Tennessee Titans in another game that ended with a decisive field goal in the final seconds of the game. Stephan Hauschka hit the 46-yard field goal that now puts the Bills at a record of 2-3. Coming off a critical week four win against the Eagles in overtime, Marcus Mariota put up 129 yards and an interception. Finding the end zone was hard for Mariota and the Titans offense, as they crossed the field four times and each try resulted in a field goal.

Drew Brees surpassed Peyton Manning’s NFL record for passing yards on Monday night, heading into the matchup against the Washington Redskins needing 201 yards. Brees ended the first half with 250 yards and two touchdowns, putting up 363 yards by the end of the game.

More week five game recaps, MVP and Diva picks along with week six predictions all on this episode of Gridiron Girls.

 

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Carolyn Sistrand is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and history. To contact her, email carolynsistrand@gmail.com.

Stephanie Naranjo is a senior majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, email stenaranjo4@gmail.com.

Ariel Simpson is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email arielserisimpson@gmail.com.

About the Contributors

Carolyn Sistrand's photo

Carolyn Sistrand

Senior / Broadcast Journalism, History

Carolyn Sistrand is a senior from Framingham, Massachusetts double majoring in Broadcast Journalism and History and is a certificate candidate in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. For CommRadio, Carolyn works as a co-editor on the management team as well as contributing content for the sports department. Her roles include: being a writer, an analyst, an on-air personality on talk shows and podcasts, live play-by-play, as well as production. She is a co-founder for CommRadio’s first all-girl’s NFL podcast, Gridiron Girls, which is now a live all-sports talk show airing Friday’s from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Outside of CommRadio, Carolyn has had professional experience as a multimedia journalism intern for The Metrowest Daily News (Framingham, MA) and AccuWeather Headquarters (State College, PA). She is currently covering Penn State softball as an intern for GoPSUSports.com (University Park, PA). To contact Carolyn, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).