Sam Howell's Girlfriend Takes Command, Aaron Rodgers Makes The Liberal Media Explode & Russell Wilson Uses A Blocked Number

The sun is out, the humidity is down, I wore a damn sweatshirt this morning and we have Sam Howell (and Chloe Barbu) vs. Justin Fields staring us right in our fat, football-loving faces in just a few hours.

Oh yeah -- I'm staring at a makeshift pumpkin patch in my front yard right now, courtesy of the First Lady, and even strung a few orange & purple lights on the house earlier this week.

Usually I wouldn't do that, but we're in a new neighborhood this Halloween and I want them to know exactly who they're dealing with.

You have to set the tone early or risk getting steamrolled at the next HOA meeting. It's coming up and I'll be locked and loaded.

Whew.

And on that note, welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps! Good to be back in charge after a few days on the sidelines, because I've got plenty to talk about.

Hey, Rays fans -- you guys are a joke. An embarrassment. A disgrace. The team should leave that miserable part of Florida ASAP and never look back. #BringBackTheExpos!

We'll get to the pink-hats in Tampa in a bit. Along the way we'll get you ready for tonight's Commanders-Bears game with Sam Howell's girlfriend, Chloe Barbu, and then do some gambling.

What else should we tackle this Thursday evening? The liberal media absolutely EXPLODING over Aaron Rodgers making fun of Travis Kelce over his Pfizer commercial? Of course.

Nobody and I mean NOBODY sticks up for the useless COVID jab quite like the people who once vowed never to get it because the mean orange man helped push it through.

We'll also check in with bathing Sofia Vergara and talk about how much Marshawn Lynch hated Russell Wilson AND celebrate Barry Bonds hitting Nos. 71 & 72 on this day 22 years ago.

Put him in the Hall, you frauds.

Settle in. It's a Nightcaps Thursday!

Let's all welcome Sam Howell and girlfriend Chloe Barbu to class

Let's just get to it so we can start our weekends strong. Yep, don't forget -- Thursday is the official start of the weekend during the fall.

On paper, tonight's game ain't great. Frankly, most primetime games this year have STUNK. I mean, who's bright idea was it to put Seahawks-Giants on MNF earlier this week? Someone really saw that game and thought, yep, this is it. This is perfect for primetime. Idiots.

Anyway, I think tonight's game is actually gonna be good. The Redskins are maybe decent and Justin Fields actually played well last week. Also, Chicago is such a disaster that you almost have to watch just to see the fire.

I mean, Matt Eberflus really called up Chase Claypool last weekend and told him to stay home like a high school football coach reprimanding his player because he got detention. Poverty franchise.

In any event, Sam Howell has been decent this year and I'm starting him on my fantasy team tonight (great!), so here's his girlfriend, Chloe Barbu, to hopefully provide some good luck:

The usual suspects are irate at Aaron Rodgers for 'Mr. Pfizer' jab at Travis Kelce

Welcome to Nightcaps, indeed! I think one Chloe Barbu is gonna fit in just fine around here.

As for tonight's game, I like the over (44.5) and both overs on the quarterbacks for touchdowns passes (0.5 for Fields and 1.5 for Howell). I think we're gonna get some scoring, which means it'll be a 10-6 final. Great.

Now, let's check in with Aaron Rodgers on the Disney-owned ESPN network earlier this week!

Hilarious. I cannot STAND Travis Kelce. He's the worst. That stupid commercial played 100 times last weekend and it makes me wanna puke. What a sellout. Enjoy your booster, Travis. Glad you're fake-protected against a cold.

Anyway, Aaron Rodgers despises the COVID jab. He's more of a alternative medicine guy, if you haven't heard. His views on the useless vaccine have long sent the liberal media spiraling (hello, Nancy Armour!) and his latest crack had their stupid heads exploding once again.

Enjoy!

Let's check in with Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson

I mean, just chaos. They're all just despondent over Aaron Rodgers bashing the piece of crap vaccine. Can't fathom it.

That last one is my favorite, because it comes from my former company. They're truly terrible, by the way, but you already knew that.

Anyway, here are a couple clips from it. Buckle up, because it's just awful:

Aaron Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks we’ve ever seen pick up a football, but the dude can be such a dork sometimes, man. It’s such a shame.

Usually, we get a full helping of all that dorkiness whenever he chooses to pop up on The Pat McAfee Show. Because, of course, right? I mean, who else would let him spew nonsense on a weekly basis?

We all know how he feels about vaccines. We also know how he feels about information, too. Get on YouTube and do your own research, fam.

It’s an extremely obtuse thing to say on national television. But, hey, man. It’s Rodgers. Extremely obtuse feels like the baseline for him.

Huh? Who talks like that? "Fam." "Obtuse." "Dork." What? Be normal for me one time. Enjoy your booster! Mask up, fam. It's flu season, you know.

Marshawn, how we feeling?

Serious question: why are the Rays staying in Tampa?

I know it's six minutes long, but I'd highly recommend watching that entire second clip. You can last six minutes, come on.

Fascinating stuff from Marshawn Lynch, who clearly knows Russell Wilson is as weird as I've been telling you for a year now.

I mean, calling you from a blocked number? And what did he say when Marshawn called him?! We need to know.

Did he just bust out into his Mr. Unlimited rant? Did he talk about his shitty Subway sandwich? Whatever it was, it had Marshawn SHOOK.

Mr. Unlimited vs. Mr. Pfizer ... who ya got?? Talk about a real Sophie's Choice.

Let's head on down to my beautiful state and check in on the Tampa Bay Rays, who hosted a pair of playoff baseball games this week for those who missed it.

And ... it appears pretty much every one did.

Barry, Manny, the Phils and directing traffic

Embarrassing. And you know what? Don't you dare use the "it was during the day on a work/school day" excuse. That won't work on me because I lived in Boston for four years, including during the Red Sox's 2013 World Series run.

Go back and take a look at some of those game times, both in the ALDS and ALCS. Plenty of afternoon starts during the week. And you know what real fans did? We skipped school/work and got our asses in the seats by first pitch.

Again, poverty franchise.

You wanna see what real fans look like?

There's a reason the Phils are in the World Series every year recently and the Rays can't get a run in the playoffs.

OK, let's stick with the baseball theme as we hurl towards Sofia Vergara in a bath tub.

On this day 22 years ago, Barry Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season HR record. Electric:

I can remember that time period like it was yesterday. Just constant live cut-ins from ESPN and ESPN 2 whenever Bonds came to the dish. For weeks. It was awesome. That was the absolute peak of Major League Baseball.

I don't think we'll ever get back to it, but I'm sure glad I was there to see it.

Speaking of peak baseball, here's Manny Ramirez hitting maybe the furthest homer I've ever seen in my life 16 years ago today to walk-off the Angels in the ALDS:

Both of those above guys, by the way, belong in Cooperstown. Shouldn't even be a discussion. God, I miss 2000s baseball. Now we get the Rays hosting playoff games in front of 19,000 fans.

What a fall from grace.

Finally, here's maybe the most innovative football fan of all-time:

Sofia Vergara takes a bath and takes us into Sam Howell vs. Justin Fields

Genius. What a legend. Postgame parking lot traffic is the worst. This move is 100% acceptable, I don't care what the pissed off lady says. Hey, lady, you should've thought of it first. Enjoy the view for the next three hours.

Speaking of enjoyable views, here's naked Sofia Vergara scrubbing off after a long day.

See you tomorrow.

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).

Is Sam Howell's girlfriend Chloe Barbu a star? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.

Written by
Zach grew up in Florida, lives in Florida, and will never leave Florida ... for obvious reasons. He's a reigning fantasy football league champion, knows everything there is to know about NASCAR, and once passed out (briefly!) during a lap around Daytona. He swears they were going 200 mph even though they clearly were not.