NFL Fans Couldn’t Get Enough of Davis Mills, but It Had Nothing to Do With His Play: TRAINA THOUGHTS

1. Going back to my Hot Clicks days, I have written a lot of ridiculous things over the years for SI.com, but today may take the cake because I’m about to write a column about someone’s neck.

With Thursday night’s Panthers-Texans game being unwatchable, the star of Thursday Night Football became Davis Mills’s monstrous neck.

Most NFL fans were not familiar with Mills because he’s a rookie, but with the Stanford grad making his first pro start, America quickly became mesmerized by his neck, and quite frankly, how could you not be?

What took the interest in Mills’s neck to the next level was that at one point in the game Texans coach David Culley wrapped his hands around the body part when Mills came back to the sideline after a play.

This led to Twitter doing what it does best: serious analysis of a ridiculous topic ... also jokes.

My colleague Mitch Goldich perfectly summed up the hysteria about Mills’s neck:

2. This was a pretty great thread, prompted by Sam Darnold’s strong play with Carolina, by NFL writer Kevin Clark on former Jets and Dolphins head coach Adam Gase.

3. There have been approximately a billion changes to sports media over the past 20 years, but one constant has been ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. The show is celebrating the big anniversary with a special Tuesday night.

4. Marshall pulled off a tremendous fake kickoff return for a TD against Appalachian State on Thursday night.

5. I forgot to post this Thursday, but on Wednesday, SiriusXM's Chris “Mad Dog” Russo went completely nuts—the man was literally screaming into a couch–while comparing NFL defenses of today with those from the ’70s and ’80s, and it was glorious.

6. A brand-new SI Media Podcast with two guests dropped this morning.

First up is wrestler Bryan Danielson, formerly known as Daniel Bryan. Danielson talks about jumping from WWE to AEW, what he's most looking forward to in AEW, his relationship with Vince McMahon, why Vince was overprotective of him and much more.

Following Danielson, New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand joins the podcast to talk about the success of Monday Night Mannings, Al Michaels headed to Amazon, the strong ratings for the NFL and college football, Gus Johnson’s return to the NFL and more.

The show closes with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment featuring WFAN's and SNY’s Sal Licata. This week, we talk about the NFL’s emphasis on taunting, a must-see wrestling show and why Sal hates laptops.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 45th birthday, Stephanie McMahon. During the Attitude Era, Stephanie was not afraid to mix it up with the guys and took stunners, chokeslams and Rock Bottoms. 

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.