AILSA CHANG, HOST:
OK, about a quarter of the NFL season is over, and it seems football fans have seen a little bit of everything already - epic collapses, a former DoorDasher catching touchdown passes. Also, one team, the Washington Commanders, even ran the clock out on itself, which resulted in a tie, much to the rage of its fans. I mean, this weekend's bizarre endings gave Jason Gay so much material, we have invited him on just to vent about it. He's a sports and humor columnist at The Wall Street Journal. Welcome back to the show, Jason.
JASON GAY: Thank you. You know, sometimes I watch these NFL games, and I feel they are made just for me, so...
CHANG: (Laughter) Let's talk about that. All right, which games from just this past weekend still have you going what was that?
GAY: Gosh, I mean, we have to start with Washington versus New York. This is an NFC East rivalry game. It went into overtime. Both teams struggled to score the ball. Washington recovered a fumble, was in the space to kick a winning field goal, and they let time expire. They have run out of time.
CHANG: (Laughter).
GAY: They seem to have lost all sense of where they were on the clock, and the game just expired into a tie.
CHANG: Womp-womp (ph).
GAY: The odd part of it is that you actually had a team celebrating. New York was thrilled to tie because they thought they were staring at a big L.
CHANG: Yeah.
GAY: Washington, of course, now the repercussions are severe. Everyone's wondering what the heck? What happened?
CHANG: Well, can we just talk more about the Commanders because earlier this year, during training camp, weren't players, like, speaking about how smart, how connected, how physical they were as a team, and they were, like, totally hyping themselves up, like, bragging about themselves over the summer? How is it that their self-perception seems so out of sync with reality? I mean, does it seem that way to you?
GAY: Well, there's a practical answer, which, of course, is some sort of disconnect between the actual talent on the field and the coaching talent on the sideline. But the more paranormal explanation would be that this team is forever cursed...
CHANG: (Laughter) Aw.
GAY: ...And will be forever. And I'm worried about that. Honestly, you watch something like Sunday. That is a situation that NFL teams can counter all the time, and they know exactly what to do. They spike the ball. They get the ball out of bounds. They take that kick. It is a very well-practiced routine, and suddenly, it became a foreign language to them.
CHANG: (Laughter).
GAY: And I - you wonder, really, is there something afoot in the universe which is preventing this team from success?
CHANG: Yeah, like, you had this, and you let it go. Well, is there one player that you've been noticing more because of injuries, one you're rooting for especially now?
GAY: You know, it's hard to not look at a team like Kansas City where Patrick Mahomes, who was, of course, a...
CHANG: Yeah.
GAY: ...Super Bowl MVP, somebody who has, you know, been in the lexicon of the NFL for quite a long time, has now come back from a severe injury at the end of last season, and to see him recover and be the kind of guy he once was, I think, has been quite an interesting twist of the early season.
CHANG: Well, Kansas City Chiefs is one of three teams who have not lost at all thus far. And then there are also three teams who haven't had any wins yet. From what you've seen, who do you think has the best chance of keeping up their winning streak at this point?
GAY: Kansas City, you know, this is an experienced team, might be a bit of a surprise, but they've been there, done that. In the NFC, you have the 49ers, 5-0, also a perennial contender, a Super Bowl runner-up. And then, lastly, you have Minnesota, which is 5-0. And if you live in Minneapolis, you know to not get too carried away with a 5-0 Vikings start. This is a team that is breaking hearts for generations now, and I don't know if we can trust it just yet.
CHANG: OK, well, for the teams that have not gotten any win at all, any advice for them, or does it look kind of hopeless at this point?
GAY: My advice for them would be to take up lacrosse or something else as a professional outlet.
CHANG: (Laughter) Ouch.
GAY: Tennessee, you know, no one's terribly surprised to see them 0-5, Miami also definitely in a rebuild (ph), new quarterback, 0-5 there. The shocker of those 0-5 teams are the Los Angeles Chargers, who began the season with a great deal of hype around their quarterback, Justin Herbert. They have this (ph) experienced coach, Jim Harbaugh. That is the one that has really surprised people across the league.
CHANG: Jason Gay, columnist with The Wall Street Journal, thank you again so much for joining us.
GAY: Thank you so much for the opportunity. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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