Tony’s Take | Imagine | Seasons | Lockout | Edition 119 

By Tony Duckworth, [email protected]

Imagine.  Falcons fans have grown accustomed to setting infamous records.  No, I’m not going to recap the Super Bowl. 

The wide-open NFC South gave Atlanta a chance to stretch its wings in a downpour Sunday in Tampa Bay.  Well, the Buccaneers are more accustomed to moisture than the Falcons, and that played out on the turf this past weekend. 

Imagine telling someone a team would win a 2026 NFL game while completing no passes in the pass-happy league.  Well, it happened.  Yes, ZERO pass completions and the Bucs shut out the Birds. 

Per ESPN, “The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made NFL history on November 1, 2026, by defeating the Atlanta Falcons 16–0 in a torrential downpour at Raymond James Stadium without completing a single pass”. 

I have another one for you.  The Cardinals entered Sunday’s game at Jerry’s World having won 8 of their last 9 contests against Dallas.  Well, sadly for Cowboys fans like me, they have now won 9 of their last 10.  Arizona is undefeated since Cowboys Stadium opened with a stellar 5 – 0 record. 

Imagine telling someone you their NFL team would lead 17 – 3 late in the 3rd quarter and lose the game in OT at home.  Enter the Cardinals’ backup QB, and he led his squad to four consecutive TD’s on the road in Dallas.  

Dallas has a knack for showcasing back-up QB’s.  NFL .com reports “The last time a backup quarterback accomplished a similar second-half or late-game four-touchdown rally was on December 15, 2013, when Matt Flynn of the Green Bay Packers led five consecutive touchdown drives in the second half to erase a 23-point deficit and beat the Dallas Cowboys 37–36 at AT&T Stadium”. 

My reaction to the way Dallas fell, I tweeted (X): “The @dallascowboys 2nd half / 4th quarter D against a @AZCardinals backup QB was atrocious. However, the D forced a punt in OT and it is more telling that the Cowboys O, with the best PK in the @nfl, went 3-and-out when it mattered most”. 

Seasons.  Each year as Halloween approaches; we begin feeling Fall in the air.   Cooler mornings, mowing the lawn is winding down, and the leaves begin turning. As a former college basketball coach turned college and h.s. hoops official, roundball is in the air.   

Football America remains focused on watching their favorite college and NFL teams represent their colors and communities, but basketballs are bouncing on the hardwood.  The WNBA playoffs recently ended, the NBA is beginning its season, while college and high school basketball is tipping off.  

No sport in the country has more anticipation than college football season.  There is something about the summer that lends itself to the anticipation of toe meeting leather in late August.  College Basketball is the opposite.  There is no sport in the USA that anticipates and participates in March Madness playoffs like men’s college basketball.  The overlap of the gridiron and the hardwood is always refreshing to me as the march towards the holidays are in full swing. 

Lockout.  MLB fans need to brace themselves for a lockout.  Vegas predicts with 100% certainty that players of pro franchises will be locked out of their facilities beginning December 1.  Markets predict there is a 90% probability the lockout will continue into March and April, jeopardizing spring training.   Prediction platforms are as high as 80% that the 2027 MLB season will be delayed. 

The owners and players association are at an impasse.  The owners want a salary cap like the NBA, NFL, and NHL, but the players association sees this as restricting player earnings.   

Enough about baseball’s future.  

As for this amateur sports columnist, I will enjoy the changing of the seasons. 

Super 6 + 1.  #2 UGA @ #10 Miss | #9 byu @ #3 UTAH | #7 TEXAS @ #18 Mizzou| Arkansas @ AUBURN | #5 Bama @ #14 LSU | #23 Oregon @ #12 OH STATE | #6 Kentucky @ # 13 TENN | Record 35 – 21 

Tony Duckworth is a Macon native and President and CEO of the Albany Area YMCA. Tony worked in intercollegiate athletics for thirty-one years. He served as an NCAA Division II Director of Athletics at three universities after ten years as head men’s basketball coach at two colleges. eMail Tony Duckworth at [email protected].