NFL Power Poll
OK, we are seven games into. Teams are circling through bye weeks and looking around for last-minute additions.
The trade deadline is a week from today, and while the Amari Cooper fleecing the Raiders pulled over the Cowboys is getting the headlines currently, the biggest difference-maker on the market may be Patrick Peterson, the All-Pro corner who wants out of Arizona.
And considering the high-powered offenses that dominate the list of the teams dominating the NFL, a supreme shutdown DB could be the extra piece that lifts a KC or New England or even a New Orleans to the next level.
It also is worth watching if the Jaguars make some sort of move to help an offense that has been awful - and that's on their good days.
The Jags have a Super Bowl-worthy defense, but the window of those great young contracts for superstars like Jalen Ramsey, Tevin Smith and Myles Jack on offense and tackle Cam Robinson and oft-injured power back Leonard Fournette are running out. The time to win is now. The time to move on from Blake Bortles was last year, but if the Jags are going to make the most of two of the better back-to-back drafts in recent NFL memory, they have to act now.
Call Cleveland, see what the Browns would take for Tyrod Taylor. Heck, call the Eagles to see what they would take for Nick Foles and turn the page. The time is now, otherwise Jacksonville's all-time arc will be the AFC title games that got away, because let's face it, not many monster-name free agents are headed there.
You play to win the game, as Herm Edwards told us. Well, you should lead an organization to win the Super Bowl. Period. The rest is moving pieces and fantasy football, because the NFL BID-ness model is guaranteed to make money.
So make moves and roll the dice to give your franchise a chance to contend when that chance is reasonably in its grasp. Like strippers, AP college football writers on Sunday and Santa on Dec. 26 say, let's get to the pole.
Powerful
L.A. Rams (7-0). Yes, the high-scoring teams are again the high-ranking teams. The Rams, despite some bumps and bruises to its high-powered receiving corps, is third in the NFL in points per game at 33.6 a contest. And you know how we mentioned going for it when you have the chance? Has any team in recent memory embraced the affordable rookie QB contract and seized a chance like these Rams, who re-signed franchise building blocks Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley as well as adding corners Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in free agency and trading for Brandin Cooks in the offseason. Heck, the Rams were trying to get in on the Khalil Mack conversation but did not have enough draft picks to participate. And you know why? Because the Rams are playing to win the Super Bowl.
Kansas City (6-1). Yes, they are a step ahead of the team that handed them their only loss, but the Chiefs continue to impress. If we had a seven-week MLV vote, Patrick Mahomes edges Gurley, right? And again, this is another team that pushed their chips into the middle. They dealt Alex Smith, who led them to a 12-4 record last year, because they believed in Mahomes. They acquired Sammy Watkins. Now, if the Chiefs added a big, physical corner like Peterson, well, that's a huge lift to a defense that is allowing 316.6 passing yards per game. (Only the Bucs are worse in that category.)
New England (5-2). Sometimes, the "You are what your record says you are" is flawed, right? The Pats lost two - including a gruesome setback at Detroit - in their first three but have won four straight as they get more and more of Tom Brady's toys back into the lineup. Speaking of firepower, well, Sony Michel's knee issues will be worth watching - and worth adding James White in your fantasy league if you could - and the Pats have an extra first-round pick from the Brandin Cooks deal. So, making a move for Peterson could be quite doable. And how much could the Pats use Peterson? Well for a team that is always contending, these Pats are the eighth-worst in the league in passing yards allowed per game and second-worst in sacks.
New Orleans (5-1). The Saints are really good. Any team with a quarterback as efficient as Drew Brees is going to be strong in this pass-happy league that has become filled with big-stat days and games decided by red-zone touchdown efficiency. Everyone moves between the 20s like a debutante through the Cotton Ball. Converting 7s rather than 3s is a monster difference-maker.
Los Angeles Chargers (5-2). This is an excellent time for the Chargers to have a bye, considering a) Melvin Gordon has a sore hammy; b) they just played in London in a game that kicked off at 6:30 a.m. in the L.A. body-clock time; c) that game was after a trip to Cleveland, which means the Chargers went from L.A. to Cleveland, stayed in the midwest before flying to London and has not been back home since Oct. 12. And know this: As teams are looking to add pieces to address needs, the Chargers are hoping for pass-rushing menace Joey Bosa to return to the field after the bye week.
Powerless
Buffalo (2-5). If the choice is Nathan Peterman or Derek Anderson, here's hoping the question is, who is a better accountant and not a better quarterback. Egad. And now we enter the part of the show in which every team listed should do everything possible to lose every game. Seriously. And even for a team like Buffalo or Arizona - teams that spent lofty first-rounders on quarterbacks last year - the power of the No. 1 overall pick this year may be even more valuable because of the scarcity of franchise QBs.
Oakland (1-5). Well, Chuckie is slashing the entire roster. Khalil Mack, gone. Amari Cooper, gone. In return, the Raiders have five first-rounders in the next two drafts. And for you conspiracy theorists out there, that makes some sense for the following reasons: When the Raiders head to Sin City in a couple of years, they need buzz. Five first-rounders in the hard-salary-cap era gives you an amazing foundation. That said, if you are a Raiders player in that locker room and your best overall player (Khalil Mack) and your best young offensive player (Cooper) and your most productive offensive player (Marshawn Lynch who is now on IR with a groin injury) are all gone, man it'd be pretty tough to go out there and sacrifice years off your life for a team that has very little chance for success.
New York Giants (1-6). Man, that was a puzzling set of circumstances that led to a very painful back-door cover in the Giants' (+4) 23-20 loss to Atlanta. The Falcons bogged down in plus-territory multiple times. The Giants were running a three-blind mice approach in the red zone. Then there was the N.Y TD that cut the Falcons lead to 20-12 and the Giants went for two. Hmmmmmm. Down 23-12 - and clearly needing two scores - the Giants had no timeouts and ran the QB sneak twice for no yards from the 1 and wasted roughly 30 seconds before scoring a TD and the 2 for a backdoor cover with 0:05 on the clock. And man, Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr. are slap dudes on the field and for that team to only score 20 against a Falcons defense that before Monday night had allowed 29, 41, 37 and 43 points in their previous four games.
San Francisco (1-6). Ah, San Fran. And we all know about the issues that can happen when you nine-figure quarterback blows out a knee in week one. But, as big a deal as we like to make about the high-powered offenses dominating the top third of the NFL, the truly trash defenses are littered throughout the bottom tier of the league. San Fran has allowed at least 24 points in each of its seven games this season. Egad.
Arizona (1-6). Part of that defensive malaise for the league's truly stinky teams comes down to effort. And when you know you're 1-5 and the season is all-but done, the spread on some of these games is only going to grow. Think of it this way: In Week 7, here was the match-ups between the teams with hope and those that are hopeless: Rams 39, 49ers 10; Vikings 37, Jets 17; Broncos 45, Cardinals 10; Indy 37, Buffalo 5; Oakland was off and the Giants were down 11 in the final 5 seconds before a cosmetic TD. Gang, the bottom six-to-seven teams in the NFL are about to take a lot of spankings.
College statements
This will be Urban Liar's last season at THE Ohio State. Overstatement, but not as much as most may think. This is a great conversation point about a dude that is having a rotten - and well-deservedly rotten - stretch since Big Ten Media Days. We all know about the debacle that was the Zach Smith lies and illegality. Then there was the Bosa family story in which Nick - a preseason All-American - WDs from school to get ready for the draft. (And while that may be the first in a new trend, it still seems surprising. Could you imagine someone leaving Clemson, Alabama ot any other elite program that has national championship aspirations and world-class facilities? Me neither.) THE Ohio State has at least six seniors/underclassmen likely to explore draft options on offense this year. And then the questions about ol' Coach Liar slipping after the beatdown at Purdue on Saturday night.
Alabama would be minus-6.5 against an all-SEC team. Statement. And if you were leaning overstatement, and we said that we'll put the over/under on Alabama players on the first- and second-teams of the All-SEC picks in six weeks at 11.5, you'd lean toward the over. That means half the Alabama starters are right there as the best at their position in the league, and it likely would be more if not for the voter-fatigue factor and guys voting for players on the teams they cover. And serious talk, looking around the SEC right now, how many players at the other 13 league schools are for sure starters for Alabama. The Tide has arguably the best two QBs in the league. And Chas we love Benny Snell, but are we sure he's better than the Harris Brothers and Joshua Jacobs. (He's more productive for sure Chas, and Bennie is doing it through defenses stacked to stop him, but those Alabama backs are dudes too.) Maybe A.J. Brown could be a starting wide out. There may be an offensive lineman - Greg Little maybe - or Texas A&M tight end Jace Sternberger maybe. (Although Irv Smith Jr. is a dude too, he just does not get as many chances as Sternberger.) And defensively, there are some legit defensively linemen in Starkville and Auburn. Josh Allen is a monster off the edge for UK. Devin White is a future NFL linebacker and corners Greedy Williams and DeAndre Swift are first-round NFL picks at corner. But the simple fact that we are wondering how many other players from a conference that has five other ranked teams - and four in the top 9 - could start for Alabama is staggering.
UCF is getting jobbed by the system. Overstatement. Is their winning streak impressive. Yes. Yes it is. (And stupid Auburn gave the Knights a hallmark win to hang their helmets on last January. And yes, we could ask how motivated was that Auburn bunch since they were in the Peach Bowl after their worst game of the season in the SEC title game cost them a shot at the playoff, but we would be called a homer.) UCF has won 20 straight, and that's cool.
World Series look ahead
Game 1 of the World Series is tonight, and we are all in.
But, because baseball has backtracked in the national conversation, we know our all-inness (it sounded like a word in my head and you know what I mean, Spy) is because we are vested long time in the Dodgers.
Yes, we were there, and crying our eyes out when the Yankees ripped us in '77 and '78. Those are some of our first hard sports memories. We celebrated at the payback over those same Yankees after the strike-shortened 1981 season. And yes, we left school early for that Monday Game 5 in Montreal in which Rick Monday homered off Steve Rogers in the ninth of a 2-1 win to win the NL pennant. (And the Dodgers won that five-game series 3-2 and scored 10 of their 15 runs in the eighth and ninth innings.)
We took a victory lap around Chad Lagomarsino's house when Gibson did the impossible in 1988. (Chad had an older brother named Vince who had a boss fake ID and parents who did a ton of traveling, so there was a lot of activity at their house.)
And that was it. So in a lot of ways, being a Dodgers fan was the inverse of being a Red Sox fan for those of us of a certain age. From a World Series appearance in 1974, the to the 1988 title - that would cover the ages of 4-to-18 for me - the Dodgers were always relevant.
Since, there have been moments of success that were dashed by bitter disappointments. Be a game 7 like last year vs. Houston or the head-scratching postseason issues of Clayton Kershaw to everything in between, it has been 30 years between titles.
Which brings us to tonight. Game 1, 8:09 on Fox and on ESPN 105.1 the Zone radio locally. Chris Sale for Boston. Kershaw for the Dodgers.
And, normally we are an eternal sports optimist. Even with the Auburn Tigers.
But we fear the worst tonight and over the next 10 days.
Boston is amazing. They are balanced and powerful. They have a lit of eye-popping starting pitchers. Their line-up is the best in baseball and the best in baseball's recent memory. (How good: The Astros pitching staff set the record this year for the fewest runs allowed in the post-DH era, and Boston simply hammered them in the ALCS.)
This is not Kershaw of a decade ago, when he would blow hitters away and his curveball - which is still a plus-plus pitch - looked as unhittable as Randy Johnson's slider or Mariano Rivera's cutter because he mixed in a 97-mph heater.
Now, he simply does not have that smoke. (And Sale does.)
For the Dodgers to win, they desperately need Game 1, and they will need at least three homers tonight to get it done.
Will it happen? Not sure, but we will be watching. For sure. (Prediction: Boston in 6; MVP: Mookie Betts, who will hammer left-handed junkballers Kershaw and Ryu and will get bonus points for playing second base in the L.A.)
This and that
- Speaking of L.A., man LeBron gagged away a chance for the Lakers first win on Monday night. Dude missed two FTs up a point in the final 10 seconds of a 142-141 overtime loss. No matter what way in the world MJ misses both of those. Not in a playoff game, a regular-season game, a preseason game or a pre-practice shootaround.
- Speaking of the Amari Cooper trade, we think this deal was a good one for the Raiders all things considered. We also think part of the rationale of the Cowboys paying such a lofty price is the necessity of getting Dak Prescott worthy weapons as they decide whether Dak is Da' Man for Da' Cowboys.
- Speaking of the World Series, here's an interesting point from ESPN BID-ness reporting ace Darren Rovell Tweeted this, saying that the low price for tickets at Boston for tonight's Game 1 could be championship fatigue in Bean Town. Say it so, Spy.
- According to the interweb, former Pittsburgh fullback Merrill Hodge has written a book called "Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football." The sequel will be "The Flat Planet" and that will be followed by "Roger Goodell: The Leader's Leader." Oh my.
- The AP poll was released Monday. Here it is with Kansas at 1, UK at 2, the Zags at 3 and Duke at 4. Tennessee is No. 6.
Today's questions
True or false, shall we? We say true.
True or false, Oklahoma's offense makes the Sooners the only team in college football with a legit chance to beat Alabama.
True or false, Boston wins the Series in six games or fewer.
True or false, if Tua entered next spring's draft - he is ineligible, sadly for the rest of college football - he would be the No. 1 overall pick.
As for today, Oct. 23, well it is Ryan Reynolds' birthday. He's a likable dude.
It also is national talk host day, because it is Johnny Carson's birthday. It's also national slap your irritating co-worker day. As if we could do that in today's PC world.
"Dumbo" was released on this day in 1941. And yes, it's a little dusty in every room that Dumbo has ever been shown. Joe Carter's Series-winning walk-off homer was 25 years ago today.
Rushmore of favorite Canadians. Go. (And yes, we know Joe Carter is not Canadian but roll with it.)