Page 33 - Florida Sentinel 9-16-22

Sports News
The Year Of The Black Quarterback? Here Is What 11 Black Gunslingers Did During Week 1 Of The NFL Season
Bubba Wallace Silences Haters With Another NASCAR Win
GENO SMITH
The 2022 NFL season is fi- nally here, which meant fan bases across America got to get their first official look at the out- look of their team, defense, coach and most importantly, quarterback.
But this season, quarterback rooms across the league looked a little more melanated thanks to the record amount of non-white QBs who started at the position. Once thought to not be smart enough to play the position, a plethora of Black and other non- white quarterbacks have become stars in the league and have seen it be reflected in their bank ac- counts.
For the first time in NFL his- tory, 13 non-white quarterbacks started for an NFL team, 11 of those quarterbacks were Black, including Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Kyler Murray, Patrick Ma- homes, Jacoby Brissett, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, Jameis Winston, Geno Smith and Russell Wilson. Smith and Wilson played Monday Night, with Smith and the Seahawks winning, 17-16.
The other non-white QBs who started on Sunday are of Samoan decent and include Miami Dol- phins Quarterback Tua Tagov- ailoa and Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Marcus Mariota.
RUSSELL WILSON
iota threw for 215 yards and ran one in for a touchdown.
The Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers played against each other in a monsoon in the Windy City. Both teams were starting young Black quarter- backs from the 2021 NFL Draft class. Justin Fields came out on top throwing two touchdowns on 121 yards passing. Trey Lance on the other hand strug- gled in the rain throwing one in- terception and 164 yards passing.
Another matchup of young Black QBs came in the game be- tween the Arizona Cardinals and the Kansas City Chiefs. While both teams played, only one showed up. The Chiefs kicked the ass of the Cardinals winning 44-21. Patrick Mahomes threw for 360 yards and 5 touch- downs. Kyler Murray threw two meaningless touchdown passes on 193 yards passing.
The NASCAR Cup Series raced at Kansas Speedway last week. The 1.5-mile track hosted the Playoff event and brought in a non-playoff winner.
Bubba Wallace suffered from a loose wheel early in the race. He rebounded and found himself toward the front of the field in the final stage.
Just a few laps later, Wallace closed to the bumper of Alex Bowman and the battle for the lead was on. Wallace ran be- hind him for several laps, look- ing for a way by. Bowman got loose off turn four, allowing Wallace to drive under him and take the lead away.
Wallace led all of the re- maining laps with a green flag pit stop between them. He held off a late race charge from his car owner, Denny Hamlin.
It’s the second win of his
BUBBA WALLACE
NASCAR Cup Series career. The 28-year-old last visited victory lane at Talladega Superspeed- way in October 2021.
After climbing from his car on the front stretch, Wallace walked right up to the camera with his finger to his mouth. A sibliminal message for his doudters, who at times, can be a
bit loud.
“So proud of this team. Just
thankful for the opportunity. I took this idea from a text from Denny, you know, before any of it even happened and he was ready to get the deal done,” Wallace told NBC Sports.
“And thankful, to shut the hell up for a lot of people.”
Many of these players per- formed well, others played poorly. Here is the rundown of how all of the Black QBs per- formed during their first game of the season.
Tua Tagovailoa played well in his season opener against the once-dominant New England Patriots, thanks to the Cheetah (a.ka. receiver Tyreek Hill) whom they signed this off-sea- son. The Dolphins won the game 20-7 as Tua threw for one touchdown on 270 yards pass- ing.
Jalen Hurts, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, got off to an impressive start, scoring the first touchdown of the season for the Eagles on a run play. He ended with 243 yards passing and a win in a 38-35 thriller.
Jacoby Brissett, a stand-in at quarterback until Deshaun Watson finishes serving his 11- game suspension, won his first with the Cleveland Browns, throwing for one touchdown on 147 yards passing against the Carolina Panthers.
Jameis Winston and Mar- cus Mariota match up against each other in a classic NFL south slugfest against the Atlanta Fal- cons and New Orleans Saints, who are heated rivals. In normal Falcons fashion, the Dirty Birds blew a 10-26 lead and allowed the Saints to come back to win 27-26.
During the final game of Sun- day, Dak Prescott went up against the Tampa Bay Bucca- neers and it was not a pretty showing. Before he was taken out of the game, Prescott threw one interception on 134 yards passing. It was reported by ESPN that Prescott had surgery on his right thumb, sidelining him for up to eight weeks.
Which Black quarterback will come out on top?
Winston threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns while Mar-
Despite not signing a new contract, which is crazy, Lamar Jackson showed out in his per- formance against the lowly New York Jets, throwing three touch- downs on 213 yards passing.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY PAGE 13-A