The Eagles, Vikings And Titans Are Trendy Picks — But Are They For Real?

Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s episode (Sept. 5, 2017), ESPN’s Mina Kimes drops by to discuss her recent profile of Aaron Rodgers, including what it was like to have the Green Bay Packers quarterback in her living room. We also preview the NFL as the regular season gets underway and try to make sense of which of the “hipster” teams getting a ton of pundit love might live up to the hype. Plus, a significant digit on the U.S. Open.

Here are the stories we discussed this week:

• Be sure to check FiveThirtyEight later this week for our NFL predictions.
• Ezekiel Elliot will reportedly play in Week 1, despite his six-game suspension being upheld.
• Significant Digit: 50, the percent of the U.S. Open quarterfinal field made up of American women. As of our taping Tuesday afternoon, CoCo Vandeweghe, Madison Keys, Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens all remained in the U.S. Open, keeping alive the possibility of an all-American semifinal showdown.