Week 7 in the NFL gave us plenty to talk about. Two of three undefeated teams went down. The Seahawks held Kansas City to three points. The Cowboys rolled through Philadelphia. The Lions won a heart-stopper against the Packers, and Laura's 87-year-old mother is reportedly still recovering.
But this week on Girlfriends + Football, the most important moment had nothing to do with the NFL standings.
Meet Imogen And Her Mom Sharon
If you've been on social media lately, you may have already seen Imogen's story. She's eight years old. She plays wing. She loves to tackle people because, as she told the show in her own words, "it gets my anger out." She wears pink socks, pink cleats, and pink gloves. She was the only girl on her Catholic school developmental football team in Erie, Pennsylvania, and she was pretty good at it.
Her team started playing in July. They went undefeated through six games. They were four days out from the playoffs when Imogen was called into the coach's office and told she couldn't play anymore. An anonymous complaint had been filed, citing an old 1996 Diocese of Erie rule that said girls aren't allowed to play tackle football.
Here's the thing that makes this even more frustrating: Imogen's team isn't even in the Diocese of Erie. They play in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which allows girls to play. There are other girls on other teams in that very same league.
Sharon, Imogen's mom, came home furious. She made a Facebook post. It went viral.
What Happened Next Was A Lot
Within 24 hours, the Erie Catholic school system had suspended the entire football program, citing that coaches didn't have their clearances. The result: Imogen's developmental team had to forfeit their playoff game. The JV team, also undefeated, lost their shot at the championship too. Seventy-one players across developmental, JV, and varsity levels were affected. Sixteen volunteer coaches. All the families.
The diocese then canceled team pictures and the football banquet.
And when the varsity boys honored Imogen by making her honorary captain and wearing pink accessories to their championship game, the Diocese sent out a letter calling her a spectacle, saying she had stolen the spotlight and was a distraction.
She's eight.
Sharon is now actively working to fight the discrimination and get the rule overturned. She connected with women from the WFA (Women's Football Alliance), which she hadn't known existed before this. She's ready to keep going.
When the Girlfriends asked Imogen what she'd change if she had a magic wand, she didn't hesitate: "Probably the rule that girls can't play tackle football."
That's the perfect answer.
The Boys Showed Up Too
One of the most quietly powerful parts of this story is what Imogen's teammates did throughout all of it. When they found out she was being benched, several of them cried. They told her they were going to fight whoever had been mean to her. They said they were going to win the playoff game for her.
They didn't get the chance to, because the game was forfeited. But the way those kids responded matters. As Dezi said on the show, whatever else came out of this situation, there are now seventy-one boys who know firsthand that this kind of treatment isn't right. They treated her as a football player who happened to be a girl, and they had her back.
That's not nothing. That's actually a lot.
Meanwhile, On the Field
The week's football had some genuine surprises worth raising a glass for. The Seahawks held the Chiefs to three points, which nobody saw coming. Sam Darnold threw for 257 yards, Jaxon Smith-Njigba put up 150 receiving yards, and suddenly Seattle is a team people need to take seriously. The Giants pulled off an overtime win against Houston. The Cowboys dominated the Eagles 38–21, and Philadelphia is starting to look like a team with bigger problems than just the scoreboard.
Laura's Lions beat the Packers 20–17, in a game that required Jahmyr Gibbs to stop himself short of the end zone twice on purpose to keep the clock running. Clock management has not historically been Dan Campbell's strong suit, but that Lions offense knew exactly what it was doing. Dezi's Niners lost to the Falcons and it was ugly, with Brock Purdy throwing two interceptions and Christian McCaffrey leaving with an injury. Beth's Bills had the week off, which means she had zero fourth-quarter situations to survive, and she used the time wisely.
This Week's Drink: The Halloween Beertail
In keeping with October's beertail theme, Laura brought a Halloween special this week, a drink she found from a bar in New York City and had never tried before. She made it a week ahead to take the photo and loved it so much she's calling it one of her favorites of the season.
The cocktail is bourbon, cold brew coffee (just a half ounce, so it won't keep you up), burnt sugar simple syrup (maple simple syrup or brown sugar simple syrup as alternatives also work beautifully), and stout. Dark, smoky, just a little spooky. Johnny Cash vibes, as someone on the show put it.
The mocktail swaps the bourbon for a zero-spirit alternative and uses Guinness 0%, which holds up surprisingly well in this format and tastes great on its own. You could also use a strong black tea in place of the bourbon if you prefer.
It's the perfect drink for Halloween weekend. And since the clocks fall back, you'll technically have an extra hour to enjoy it.
Go Get 'Em, Immy
The show wrapped the Imogen segment the way it started: focused on the little girl at the center of it, and what she deserves.
Girlfriends + Football exists because women love football, and have always loved football, and were never given the same opportunities to play it. Imogen is eight years old and already fighting a battle that shouldn't exist. Sharon is fighting it with her. The boys on her team have her back. The WFA has her back.
So do we.
Keep fighting for her, Sharon. We're watching, we're cheering, and we want all the updates.
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