By: Lucas Kochevar

        The Bulls are a project, but they're on the right path with their front court. They drafted Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. to bolster their PF/C combo. Today I will be highlighting the play of Wendell Carter Jr. He stands undersized at 6'10 and 255 lb. Luckily for him, the NBA is shifting away from the big man so he wont have to deal with a Shaquille O'Neal or a Hakeem Olajuwon. The league values shooting and spacing. He only appeared in 44 games last year due to injury, but he has shown flashes of being a borderline all-star. 

        Carter Jr. averaged 10.3 points, 7 rebounds on 48%. The positives on him include his rim protecting and his positioning around the post. His shot blocking ability is underrated as he can get up to block some bigger players and he can move from one side of the basket to the other. He excels in rotations when he has to. He averaged 1.3 blocks in his time on the floor this year. He showed an ability to read where others are going.

        Another strength of Carter's is that he is a short time into his career and already talented in post moves. During the draft process this was his strength. He already had a good feel for the ball close to the basket. I can only see this skill getting more refined and stronger. He has the ceiling of a Joel Embiid when it comes to post moves. Another effect this can have is that Markkanen or others could get more open from three if defenders collapse on him. He can really provide a different dimension to the Bulls offensive sets. 

         A part of his game that can be drastically improved is his three-point shooting. He showed a small sample size over the course of his 44 games. He tried to provide a pick-n-pop element but ultimately was inefficient. Luckily for him, shooting comes more so with practice so therefore if he works as hard as he should, this part of his game can change the type of player he is. If, and this is a big if, he can add this element then I can see him turning into a player similar to Al Horford. Watch out for Wendell Carter's development and how he will fit with Markkanen and newly drafted PG Coby White. I am looking forward to catching a few Bull games on NBA TV. 

By: Lucas Kochevar

        The NFL Draft has come and passed. The draft held some very exciting picks as many quarterbacks were selected along with some players that could be essential to the future. The first ten picks went something like this:

1. CLE - Baker Mayfield, QB Oklahoma
2. NYG - Saquon Barkley, RB Penn State
3. NYJ - Sam Darnold, QB USC
4. CLE - Denzel Ward, CB Ohio State
5. DEN - Bradley Chubb, DE NC State
6. IND - Quenton Nelson, G Notre Dame
7. BUF - Josh Allen, QB Wyoming
8. CHI - Roquan Smith, LB Georgia
9. SF - Mike Mcglinchey, T Notre Dame
10. ARZ - Josh Rosen, QB UCLA

          These picks are all very impactful and can change the shape of the future. The first pick was Baker Mayfield out of Oklahoma. There was much speculation about who the Browns would select such as Darnold and Allen. In the end, however, they went with the former Heisman winner. The Browns selected Mayfield due to the fear that the Patriots would trade up to the #2 pick and select him. The second pick was the best player on my board in Saquon Barkley. Barkley is the most talented running back to come out since Adrian Peterson. Barkely should provide some very talented plays and take pressure off Eli Manning. 

         The franchise QB at number 3 was Sam Darnold. Darnold was thought to be the best QB in the draft, but I believe that he is the second best, but he has the highest ceiling. Darnold is the highest draftred QB for the Jets since Mark Sanchez, Darnold should be a very nice building block as he does need more weapons around him in order to unleash his full potential. The other QB selected was Josh Allen. Allen was a very intriguing prospect as he has all the tools, but his accuracy could be an issue heading forward. He has the strongest arm in the draft and should be an interesting player heading forward. The other QB was Josh Rosen. Rosen is the other QB that has the potential to be franchise changing. Rosen has all the smarts to be an NFL QB and he was my most NFL ready QB. He has the potential to bring back Arizona to relevance. He has some talented tools with Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson

          Some other interesting moves include the Saints movement to the fifteenth pick. They drafted monster D-lineman Marcus Davenport. Davenport was the most high risk, high reward player as he comes from a small school and is very unknown. Learning under Cameron Jordan could prove to be very beneficial for him. Another interesting pick was S Derwin James from Florida State slipping all the way to the Chargers. The Chargers loaded up their already fantastic secondary. More picks include WR D.J. Moore to the Panthers and Calvin Ridley to Atlanta. These teams add some offensive power as Cam has a new WR and Matt Ryan adds Ridley to his arsenal of dangerous weapons. The first round concluded with Lamar Jackson finally being selected by the Baltimore Ravens as he will most likely be the successor to Joe Flacco as his career has started to slip. 

           The NFL Draft is always a fun time as many kids dreams come true and this year was no exception as dreams were fulfilled.

By: Lucas Kochevar

​    U.S. Banks Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the site of Super Bowl LII, where the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles are playing. The Patriots punch their ticket to the Super Bowl for the second straight year. The Eagles clinch their first Super Bowl since 2005.


     The Eagles are going into the game as massive underdogs as for the third straight game. The Eagles have had a great year. MVP candidate QB Carson Wentz led the Eagles to the first seed in the NFC, but he went down with an ACL injury. Nick Foles is the guy to replace him as he has led Philly to wins against Atlanta, 15-10, and Minnesota, 38-7. The Patriots are very familiar with the Super Bowl as they have been to the big game seven times. They have won five out of the seven, including two in the last three years. Head Coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady lead the very experienced Patriots.


The Eagles started off the game by driving right down the field, but New England stopped them and held them to a field goal. The Patriots answered immediately by marching the field and scoring a field goal as well. The Eagles had another impressive small drive that ended in a bomb to Alshon Jeffery. Luckily for New England, the Eagles missed the extra point. The Eagles managed to stop New England and on next drive Philly had  break-off run from LaGarrette Blount. The Patriots would score on back to back possessions as they scored a field goal and then a James White rushing touchdown. The score was 15-12 as the half started to come to an end. The Eagles, however, were not ready for the half to end and stormed down the field. The Eagles were not able to punch it in and it was fourth-and-goal. Eagles HC Doug Pederson decided that he would go for it and they ran a trick play that ended up with Nick Foles catching a touchdown pass. The play call will be remembered for years to come as Philly was winning 22-12.


In the second half, New England came out firing and fed TE Rob Gronkowski as he would catch a touchdown to cut the deficit. The Eagles came back and capped off an eleven play drive with a dime from Foles to RB Corey Clement. New England would not fold as they scored another touchdown with Tom Brady to Chris Hogan. In the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Eagles kicked a field goal to keep their lead 32-26. The Patriots were looking to take the lead on their next drive as they went to Rob Gronkowski again for his second touchdown of the game. The Patriots finally had their first lead with 9:22 left on the clock. It looked as if the Patriots defense had finally caught some momentum as the Eagles were held to a fourth down, but with the heroics of Foles and Zach Ertz, the Eagles converted and kept their season alive. The Eagles would continue down the field and eventually set up the game-winning touchdown to Ertz. Sadly, the Eagles left two minutes for Tom Brady.


The Eagles looked adversity in the eyes and prospered as the defense came up with the biggest play of the game as Brandon Graham had a strip sack that made Brady fumble and Philly recovered. The Eagles would kick the field goal after taking time off the clock and the Pats needed a miracle. The miracle would never come as Philly would hold on for the win, 41-33. This is the Eagles first Super Bowl as the city will celebrate and embrace them. A celebratory parade is being held today and it is reported that there are four million people in attendance. Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles on a well-earned victory.

By: Lucas Kochevar

       The Super Bowl match up is set as both championship games took place this last Sunday. The first game was between the Patriots and Jaguars. The Jags were up most of the game and played nearly perfect, but Tom Brady was Tom Brady and he came back and won the game 24-20. This is the Pats second straight year as they look to repeat.

        The Eagles played against the Vikings in Philadelphia and people really believed that this game was going to be very close and the Vikings were the favorites. However, the Eagles came out and bludgeoned the Vikings and rode the domination to a 38-7 victory. Nick Foles looks to defy the odds and win the Super Bowl with a superb play makers and a dynamic defense. 

       This game will either be a tight contest or an absolute blowout. It all depends on the play of Nick Foles. The Eagles will need to play similar to the Jags but take a couple more chances. Philadelphia should keep it close on D as they are exceptional in the trenches with DT Fletcher Cox. My score prediction for the game is 24-13. The X-Factor will be Dion Lewis and he will win the SB MVP. Hopefully, Tom Brady will retire after this, but I doubt it. Good luck to both teams and lets hope for a great game.

By: Lucas Kochevar

      The Falcons went up to Philly to play the Eagles and many thought they were the favorite going. The Falcons did a tremendous job on defense and stopped the Eagles and went and score another field goal. The Eagles did respond to the Falcons drive with a touchdown drive, but Atlanta came back as well. They scored their touchdown from a crazy play with Matt Ryan passing to Devonta Freeman. The Falcons looked like they were going to go into halftime 10-6. The Eagles, however, responded with a field goal after an insane set of circumstances and they would go 10-9. 

     The second half was EXTREMELY dull, but the Eagles scored two field goals to go up 10-15. The Falcons did drive all the way down the field. Sadly, they had a couple of terrible play calls and they couldn't convert. At that point, the game was over. The Falcons end the season 10-6 and won one playoff game. The Falcons will search for answers and try to to figure out what went wrong. 

By: Lucas Kochevar 

      The Falcons played in the Wild Card weekend against the LA Rams. The Falcons seemed like underdogs against the young, surging Rams. However, Atlanta showed that they are a team that can make a run with the amount of talent they have. Atlanta won the game 26-13.

     The game started with Atlanta jumping out to a good lead with a couple of Rams special teams errors. Atlanta capitalized and scored everytime they got the ball back from turnovers. The Rams would comeback after a couple of great plays from Jared Goff. At halftime the score was 13-10. The Falcons came back out and hit a couple of more field goals from "Money" Matt Bryant. A touchdown pass from Matty Ice to Julio would really put the Falcons in a commanding lead after a Rams field goal. Atlanta moves on to the divisional round against the Philadelphia Eagles, who a lot of people are writing off early since the injury to MVP candidate Carson Wentz. The Eagles will still be challenging with some good offensive weapons and an underrated defense.

By: Lucas Kochevar

      The Falcons played Tampa Bay in another primetime game. Atlanta would come out running the ball heavily. They would have great success in doing this. The Falcons would score midway through the first quarter. Jameis Winston would answer and he would hit O.J. Howard for a 30 yard touchdown. Atlanta came back and scored the only two times during the second quarter and they scored a touchdown and a field goal. The Bucs would comeback and score another touchdown in the third quarter. The Falcons looked like they were going to collapse again but they persevered and Devonta Freeman would score the touchdown that would be the dagger. Freeman finished with over 100 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. The Falcons are closer to a playoff berth as they are in if they beat the Saints Sunday, which will be a tall task.

By: Lucas Kochevar

​      The Falcons battled against Drew Brees and the Saints on a Thursday night. The Falcons and Saints are one of the biggest rivals in the league and the game provided some very entertaining plays. The Falcons started off slow and could not stop the Saints, but an injury to RB Alvin Kamara took the air out of the Saints and their offense. The Saints and Falcons would exchange blows throughout the half and both teams were tied 10-10. The Falcons came out and let the Saints take the lead as Matt Ryan threw an interception that bounced off Austin Hooper's hands. The Falcons trailed until the beginning of the fourth quarter when Matt Ryan hit Mohammad Sanu. The Falcons would also hit a field goal and the lead would be 20-17 for Atlanta. The Saints did get the ball at the very end of the game and they were easily in the redzone and MLB Deion Jones came up clutch and intercepted Drew Brees. The Falcons are back in the playoffs and they play Tampa Bay next week. 

By: Lucas Kochevar 

     The Falcons played the Minnesota Vikings Sunday. This was sure to be a battle as the Vikings hold the top spot in the NFC. The Vikings have one of the best defenses in the league and it was for sure going to be a great match up. 

      The Vikings controlled the ball most of the first half and left Atlanta with only two filed goals. The Vikings did have a touchdown before halftime as the score was 7-6. The Falcons still were not able to get anything going as they kicked one more field goal in the second half. Minnesota would score another touchdown. This would be the final score as it ended 14-9

       This lose really hurt the Falcons as they pretty much have to finish off the season perfect. They dropped out of the wild card as Seattle jumped them. The Falcons need to find a way to get a victory today against the Saints as they need to win out. The big keys to winning this game is to stop the Saints lethal run game with Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. On offense they need to find Julio and feed him the ball. Against Minnesota he only had two catches on six targets.  Six targets is entirely too low for the best receiver in football. Lets hope that these Falcons can get it together. 

By: Lucas Kochevar

       The Atlanta Falcons played the Dallas Cowboys, who were without star RB Ezikiel Elliot. The Falcons came out sluggish with Matt Ryan throwing an interception that hit Mohammad Sanu in the hands. The Cowboys would take advantage of that with Dak Prescott roll out to the right. The Falcons would kick a field goal to end the quarter and make it 7-3. Atlanta would drive the whole field and would score a touchdown from a Tevin Coleman 1 yard run. This would be one of three touchdown drives. The Falcons were unstoppable on offense as they could drive down the field whenever they waned to. Dallas was shut down as Adrian Clayborn absolutely obliterated Dallas LT's Chaz Green and Byron Bell. Clayborn finished the day with six (!!!) sacks. He broke an Atlanta team record. Atlanta would hit another field goal to make the final score 27-7.

       Atlanta looked like Atlanta finally as this can be a good foundation for a streak. Atlanta is third in the division at 5-4 and they play Seattle on Monday Night Football.