Tragedy in Indianapolis

Perry Tole is an older man around 70 working to make sure that his family can stay afloat. He's a truck driver who’s doing his weekly rounds delivering new supplies and food to a hotel in Indianapolis. All is going normally until Perry hears the sound of his door opening to his right. The smell of a drunken man overtakes the car. Despite sputtering and slurring his words, his point becomes clear. “You have got to move your truck” Shocked at what's just happened, Perry replies, “Can you leave my car, sir?” The man doesn’t move, and Perry gets desperate, leaving his truck and beckoning over the security of the hotel, but the man is persistent that Perry must move. He even blocks Perry from his vehicle until finally the man gets physical and Perry has no choice but to defend himself, using pepper spray on the man. Still, the man doesn’t leave, so as a very last resort Perry pulls his pocket knife on the man, causing both of them to receive lacerations and scars and sending them to the hospital.

Beyond some narrative exaggeration, these events truly happened in Indianapolis on the night of October 3rd, 2025, leaving severe injuries on Perry Tole and hospitalizing him for several weeks to come. Video footage has since come out of the incident, providing obvious evidence against Perry's attacker, but this evidence was not needed to prosecute the man. That man was Mark Sanchez, former NFl player and FOXSports analyst, scheduled to announce a game between the Colts and Raiders the next day. 

In 2009 one of the most promising young quarterbacks of the previous college season entered his name into the upcoming NFL draft. Mark Sanchez ranked number 1 coming out of high school among all quarterbacks in the country, and became a prolific college player, winning a Rose Bowl at USC, one of the most prestigious games to win. It looked like his life and career were heading to fame and prosperity, but once drafted 5th overall by the Jets, the flower of his life began to wilt. After a career of struggles, he was able to find some success after retirement as a sports analyst for FOXSports, but Mark Sanchez threw it all away after the event in Indianapolis, finding himself facing a level 5 felony charge with 6 years in prison awaiting him if the court proceedings go as expected. All of these events, along with other stories and major events happening in cities like Indianapolis or our own city, portray an eerily similar story of rising violent crime that needs to be addressed and discussed. 

Mark Sanchez’s Shortcomings and Rise as an Analyst

Mark Sanchez was drafted 5th overall to the New York Jets, where he immediately struggled to find his footing in the league. Mark Sanchez was still struggling 3 seasons into his career to even maintain his starting job for the Jets, as in 2011 his QBR was 42.1, while the league average was 84.3. QBR stands for Quarterback Rating, which is an advanced metric that is used to determine efficiency on a scale calculated based on the stats of the quarterback. It incorporates all the ways in which a quarterback contributes to a win, taking passes, rushes, turnovers, and penalties into account. QBR is also a situational stat, as it considers the player’s team's overall success or failure on each play according to ESPN. Mark Sanchez only continued to decline in the following years, ultimately tallying more interceptions than touchdowns. He eventually found himself on the Philadelphia Eagles from 2014-2015 where he was moved to a backup role behind Nick Foles, a new and aspiring young quarterback of the time. Mark Sanchez then went to the Dallas Cowboys and later the Washington Redskins, where he retired after years of not being signed to a single contract in the NFL.

After retiring from the NFL Mark Sanchez started to work at ESPN, joining in 2019 and becoming a college football analyst contributing to shows like College Football Live and Get Up!—however, he only spent 2 years working for ESPN. Following his time at ESPN, Mark Sanchez got hired by FOXSports in 2021, where he became a game analyst. This role had him providing commentary for NFL games, including his most recent assignment where he was scheduled to commentate the Colts-Raiders game for week 5 of the NFl. As a result of the incident that took place in Indianapolis, he was removed from his role for a short time due to his arrest and the potential felony charge. However, he has not been officially fired from Fox Sports, despite the fact that Mark has been removed from all upcoming broadcasts he was set to announce and it seems all but certain that his career as an analyst is done. 

Crime in Louisville and Indiana Cities

If you remove the name and the face of someone as famous as Mark Sanchez from this incident it becomes nothing more than another statistical tally in the record books of Indianapolis crime. Indianapolis finds itself ranked a 3 out of 100 on a scale of safety according to NeighborhoodScout, which is a website focused on calculating rates of violent crimes and other information about cities around the country. A 3 out of 100 means that Indianapolis is ranked below 97% of cities in the United States for public safety from violent crimes over the past several years. But Indianapolis is not alone—Louisville finds itself in the exact same position despite Louisville’s crime being marginally lower. This reveals fundamental issues with the safety of these cities. Rather than dwell on the currently overwhelming outlook of the safety in these cities, it's important to look into what can be done to improve the safety and prevent incidents such as this one from happening going forward.

Currently the biggest and most notable reasons often pinned for these cities' high violent crime rates are substance abuse, poverty and poor healthcare for the residents of these cities. According to WDRB news, a resident of Louisville said, "I guess compared to other cities, it could be worse." Another neighbor said, "I think drugs are probably the number one cause. You know, everybody wants to get somebody else, or take everybody else's piece of the pie." Louisville has seen consistent struggles with substance abuse throughout the city over the last several decades and this rise is certainly a notable cause behind this rise of violent crime. In Indianapolis 15% of residents are below the poverty line, 4% above the national average for poverty in the United States according to the Economic Innovation Group. On a fundamental level poverty results in higher crime rates, as it can often lead residents to find themselves needing to make desperate efforts to stay alive and keep their family safe. Louisville finds itself in a worse position with 16% of its citizens below the poverty line, and all of these factors combined with the rising expenses of healthcare and basic needs around the country has put these cities in awful positions when it comes to public safety. However, the outlook is not totally bleak.

Both Indianapolis and Louisville have remarkably seen decline in violent crime in recent years. Despite the numbers remaining high, according to NeighborhoodScout the crime rates in Indianapolis dropped 29% compared to the previous year so far in 2025, and an impressively similar rate of 30% occurred in Louisville. We need to focus on what is working to decrease these rates and if it can be replicated on a higher scale to make these cities safer for the future. 

Conclusions

The recent trend of crime decreasing in Indianapolis and Louisville can be attributed to a few major factors. Plans by the law enforcement to be much more responsive to high crime rate areas along with plans to help better rehabilitate repeat offenders has resulted in rates nearing back to pre Covid-19 levels. If these efforts can continue to be sustained, along with new movements and effort by the communities in both cities such as Cure Violence Global, who aim to interact with the community and make peaceful change, a much more positive outlook may befall the cities in the future. Ultimately, both Indianapolis and Louisville are still dangerous cities, and incidents like this recent one with Mark Sanchez happen daily without the news coverage of this particular incident, but there is hope for the future of safer cities to live in. 

Sources 

Beck, Margery A. “Truck Driver Sues Mark Sanchez, Fox after Violent Fight.” AP News, 7 Oct. 2025, apnews.com/article/mark-sanchez-stabbing-lawsuit-fox-3b1baf3a3bd68770857fbcbfcd6e478b.

Baer, Jack. “The Latest on Mark Sanchez after Former QB Pleads Not Guilty, Alleged Victim Released from Hospital.” Yahoo Sports, 9 Oct. 2025, sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-news/article/the-latest-on-mark-sanchez-after-former-qb-pleads-not-guilty-alleged-victim-released-from-hospital-192434429.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

“Indianapolis Crime Rates and Statistics - NeighborhoodScout.” Www.neighborhoodscout.com, www.neighborhoodscout.com/in/indianapolis/crime.

Meiners, Addie. “Data Team: Louisville’s Homicide Rate Ranks 15th Nationally.” WLKY, 10 Sept. 2025, www.wlky.com/article/louisvilles-homicide-15th-nationally-data/66042045.

“Mark Sanchez Career Stats - NFL - ESPN.” ESPN, 2015, www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/12482/mark-sanchez. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

Provenzano, Justin. “Neighborhood Poverty Project - Indianapolis, IN.” Economic Innovation Group, eig.org/neighborhood-poverty-project/indianapolis-in/.

AFC and NFC Championship predictions for this current season are Buffalo Bills vs. Jacksonville Jaguars on the AFC (American Football Conference) side, and on the NFC (National Football Conference) side we have the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The NFL playoffs system consists of 14 teams:, 7 in the AFC and 7 in the NFC. Teams with the best records are put into a bracket, and play a maximum of 4 games if they make it to the Super Bowl. 

AFC

The Buffalo Bills finished last year 14-3 and made the AFC championship, but were eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs who are the reigning Super Bowl champions. 

The Bills still have their reigning MVP (Josh Allen), kept their star running back (James Cook), and tried improving their defense by signing Joey Bosa, defensive end who previously played on the Los Angeles Chargers. The Bills also drafted rookie Maxwell Hairston, cornerback for UK. The Bills current record this season is 8-4 as of now, week 1 win at home vs the Baltimore Ravens 41-40, the Bills this game were down 15 with five minutes to go and had a late comeback to win the game, it is said to be the game of the year. Week 2 away win vs the New York Jets 30-10 and a win at home vs the Miami Dolphins 31- 21, week 4 win at home vs the New Orlean Saints 31-19. The Bills are 4-0 at the moment in the season but in week 5 Buffalo faced their first loss at home vs the New England Patriots 23-20 and then on Monday night football in Atlanta, the Falcons upset the Bills 24-14. The Bills bounced back the very next week in Panters territory and defeated them 40-9, the very next week the Bills played the Chiefs at home to win 28-21 for a big win against their rivals. The next week though didn't go as planned and lost to a fellow AFC East team 30-13, the dolphins upset the Bills. Fans said it was a wake up call for the team and it definitely worked as the Bills beat the Bucs 44-32 the very next game. Week 12 rolled around and the Bills were matched up against the Texans and the Bills didn't play their best ball that day and lost 19-23. At this time people were questioning if we were good or not because one week we would blow a good team out and rack  up 40 points and the very next week we would do nothing. All this questioning came back on Joe Brady, Offensive coordinator for the Bills. He was blamed for the lack of offensive plays working and now being the 7th seed in the AFC. The Bills though the very next week get a big away from home in Pittsburg winning 26-7. A lack of defense and sometimes a lack of offense are  being put onto head coach Sean Mcdermont.  He is being questioned if he is the right man for the job. Despite all the problems on the offense and defense, we think the Bills can pull it together like they do every year.  Their most promising aspect is their offense led by their QB Josh Allen who is third in the power rankings at the moment. The Buffalo Bills have made the playoffs for several years  in a row making it to the  AFC championship  in 2020. The Bills are notoriously known for losing Super Bowls. In the 90’s, the Bills lost four straight finals and were given the name “Boy I Love Losing Super Bowls”. Can the Buffalo Bills finally get over the hump and win it all for the first time in franchise history? 

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a terrible season last year finishing with a record of 4-13. They failed to make it into the playoffs ending their season 3rd in their division. They kept their QB Trevor Lawrence and tried improving both their defense and offense in the most recent draft. The Jaguars located in Florida have a current record of 8-4, a week 1 win at home vs the Carolina Panthers 26-10, week 2 first loss being at the Cincinnati Bengals 31-27, week 3 they beat the Houston Texans at home 17-10, week 4 away win against the San Francisco 49ers. At this point in the season fans and players were hyped up because of the improvement they have made since last season at now being 3-1. Week 5 they beat the 3 back to back to back superbowl contender Kansas City Chiefs 31-28, and had their 2nd loss this year at home to the Seattle Seahawks 20-12 and falling to 4-2 Some of these wins have given hope to the Jaguars that they might actually be a decent team this year. But the very next week the Jags get blown out by the Rams 35-7 but they bounce back with a close win 30-29 against the raiders. Week 10 the Jags lose to the Texans 36-29. At this point in the season fans are now questioning if they're good or not because they have these big wins but the very next week they have a bad loss. But then the Jaguars go on a three game winning streak beating the Chargers, Cardinals and the Titans. Now if the Jaguars keep up on what they're doing and win their 1st ever Super Bowl this year it would be a huge shock to millions of football fans around the country.  The Jaguars have not won more than 10 games in a single season since 2017, the year they made the AFC championship. Over all, there is still lots of time for the Jaguars to continue their great performance or to lose their chance of making it to the Super Bowl.

NFC

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year finished with a record of 10-7, a solid season enough to get in the playoffs but were eliminated by the Washington Commanders in the wild card round. The Bucs have been a developing team since Tom Brady retired, the Bucs made it to the playoffs four years in a row, but their division is not the strongest containing the New Orlean Saints, Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons who have all been on a slump for the past couple of years. Thus, it doesn't take much to get to the playoffs for the Bucs solid roster. The Buccaneers are 7-5 at the moment in the new season beating the Atlanta Falcons 23-20 on the road, losing to the Houston Texans 20-19 on the road beating the New York Jets at home 29-27, beating the Seattle Seahawks 38-35 on the road and winning at home vs the Sanfransisco 49ers 30-19. But the very next week the Bucs lost badly to the Detroit Lions 24-9 but then in week 8 the Bucs bounced back and beat the Saints 23-3 but then lost once again back to back to back losing to the Patriots and Bills and Rams to now fall to 6-4. From going to an unbeatable looking team to now not winning for weeks in a row. But the Bucs do bounce back in week 13 barely winning against the Cardinals 20-17 and falling to 7-4. Every game the Bucs have played has been down to the wire, but the Bucs have come through and have come back a majority of their games to win in the final moments. Their fans and the media have high hopes for the Bucs starting QB Baker Mayfield, though he has declined in the second half of the season. In the beginning of the season he led the league in least interceptions and first on most passing touchdowns and was second in the league in most throwing yards but now has obviously declined throughout the last couple of weeks. Overall, the Bucs have a strong offence and decent defence, and we think they could potentially make it far this season and win a third Super Bowl. 

The Philadelphia Eagles are the returning Super Bowl Champions with a previous record of 14-3. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs who were going for a three peat in Super Bowl 59. This season the Eagles kept  last year's Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts and the running back who had the most rushing yards last year, Saquan Barkley. The Eagles are currently 8-4 having beat the cowboys 24-20 at home week 1, week 2 they beat Kansas City Chiefs 20-17 away, week 3 they beat the Las Angeles Rams 33-26 at home, week 4 they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-25 away, and they lost their first game in week 5 to the Denver Broncos 21-17 at home, and they also lost their second game week 6 to the New York Giants 34-17 away. The very next week the Eagles and Giants put up a good defensive fight but it wasn't enough for the Giants and the Eagles won 10-7 and the next week beat the Lions 16-9. The Eagles record was now at 8-2, top of the NFC and high hopes for the team. But then the Eagles decline and lose to the Cowboys 24-21 and the Bears 24-15. The Eagles lost the 1 seed and now fall to 8-4. Overall, the Philadelphia Eagles have done well the first part of the season and have a high chance of making it to the playoffs and possibly to their 2nd Super Bowl in a row but will they get their act together. 

Our picks for the Super Bowl game are Bills vs Eagles and we think the winner of the 2026 Super Bowl will be the Bills. What do you think?  Who will take it all this year?