Defending champion Elina Svitolina got the better of world number two Karolina Pliskova in an 18-minute first set tie-break before sealing a 7-6 (14-12) 6-4 win at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.

Both players broke each other early in the opening set before the marathon tie-break which the Ukrainian clinched when the Czech's backhand landed wide.

Svitolina's break in the seventh game of the second set proved decisive.

It was the world number eight's seventh successive win in the WTA Finals.

Svitolina said: "That was probably one of the longest tie-breaks I have played.

"I was just trying to be ready for her big serves today. I tried to move quickly and react quickly. The slightly slower surface gave me a bit more time.

"It's a big privilege to return to this event. I still can't believe I won it last year."

US Open champion and world number four Bianca Andreescu of Canada takes on Romania's world number five Simona Halep in Monday's late match.

The WTA Finals event sees the world's top eight players compete in two round-robin groups of four, with the winners and runners-up advancing to the semi-finals.

Svitolina is in the Purple Group alongside Pliskova, Halep and Andreescu. The Red Group features Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty, Petra Kvitova and Belinda Bencic.

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – This week, for the first time since Nov. 20, 2016, Tony Stewart will be back in a stock car.

On Thursday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Stewart will strap back into his No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Mustang from Stewart-Haas Racing to make a demonstration run on the 3.426-mile, 20-turn track in advance of the United States Grand Prix.

Unlike any other time he drove in the NASCAR Cup Series in a career spanning 18 years that included three championships, 49 points-paying victories and more than 12,800 laps led, Stewart’s Ford Mustang will be outfitted with a passenger seat as he will show Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen how to wheel a 3,200-pound race car around America’s only purpose-built Formula One track.

“It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s been three years since I last drove a stock car, but seeing some of these road-course races – especially the Roval at Charlotte – have piqued my interest a bit, so this is a good way to sort of satisfy that hunger,” said Stewart, whose racing exploits earned him membership into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020, where he will be officially inducted on Jan. 31. “I’ve never been to COTA. All I know about it is what I’ve seen on TV and on my iRacing simulator. I kind of like that. Even after two decades in NASCAR, there’s still new stuff to experience. I haven’t driven that race track and Kevin and Romain haven’t ever driven a stock car. We’ll figure it out together.”

While Stewart retired as a NASCAR driver following the 2016 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he did not retire from racing.

The 48-year-old from Columbus, Ind., has returned to his first passion – sprint car racing. Stewart has won 16 sprint car races in various series since 2017, including 10 this year in a schedule that has Stewart in a sprint car for nearly 100 races.

“People sometimes say, ‘We miss seeing you behind the wheel,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, you’re going to the wrong places now’,” Stewart said. “I’m racing 100 times a year. You’ve just got to come watch me in a different car.”

It was in a sprint car where Stewart last served as a driving coach to Haas F1 Team when he showed Magnussen how to handle a 1,350-pound sprint car with 750 horsepower.

“I found my feet in that sprint car last October pretty quickly thanks to his advice, and also thanks to him jumping in the car and showing how it’s done before I got in,” said Magnussen prior to last year’s United States Grand Prix when he stopped by Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, N.C., for his dirt-track tutorial. “I had a great time with Tony. He’s a great driving instructor and he knows his way around these things. His experience and knowledge when it comes to stock cars is probably just as impressive.”

When it comes to driving a race car with a roof and fenders, both Magnussen and Grosjean have limited experience.

Grosjean drove a Ford GT1 in the 2010 FIA GT1 championship while Magnussen drove a GT2 car once and tested a DTM car, but he knows there’s a stark difference between those cars and a stock car.

“A DTM car is very aerodynamic,” Magnussen said. “They have a lot of downforce. A stock car hardly has any downforce. So, I don’t have any idea how it’ll be. I’ve never driven a NASCAR before. I’m pretty certain it’s going to be very different to the other car I drive around COTA. It’s going to be a very interesting experience. A NASCAR is such an iconic race car. I’ve always been eager to try one. Of course, it’s usually in its element on an oval, but they do race on road courses, as well. It’ll be interesting to have a go and have a bit of fun.”

Despite his lack of stock-car experience, Grosjean is well aware of how different a stock car will feel, particularly when it comes to slowing it down.

“I think we just need to slam the brakes a bit earlier than we do with a Formula One car,” Grosjean said. “We’ll see how the engine responds to throttle application. I can’t wait. The sound of it’s going to be great. I think it’s going to be a good experience. I think having Tony Stewart helping us and giving us advice is going to be bloody amazing.”

When Stewart’s work at COTA is completed, he’ll jet over to Fort Worth, Texas, where by day he’ll be a NASCAR team owner and at night a sprint car driver.

Stewart co-owns SHR with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas, hence the connection to Haas F1 Team. SHR’s four NASCAR Cup Series drivers – Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suárez – are competing in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

SHR also fields two NASCAR Xfinity Series teams for drivers Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe, who will race on Saturday at Texas in the undercard O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

Before any of those cars turn a wheel on the 1.5-mile oval, Stewart will turn left to go right on the .4-mile Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.

“It’s the best of both worlds for me,” said Stewart, who will compete Thursday and Friday night in the Texas Sprint Car Nationals. “I get to be with our NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series teams during the day, but each night I get to go over to the Dirt Track. It’s fun for our crew guys too. They’re racers who have dirt-track blood in their veins. They come over and watch the race. It just makes for a perfect weekend.”

It’s part of an intense four days in the Lone Star State beginning with Stewart’s stock car return at COTA on Thursday and includes an induction into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame on Saturday.

“It does mean a lot to me,” said Stewart about this most recent accolade. “It’s nothing you think about as a driver. It’s not your aspiration while you’re driving to be in the Hall of Fame. When you’re a driver, all you want to do is win big races and win championships, and to still have that opportunity and still be able to race and compete at the same time as we’re joining the Hall of Fame is pretty cool.”

La Liga has announced that the official pink ball used for the first time at the weekend in Spain's top two divisions will now only feature in games where there are "adverse weather conditions."

The Puma pink ball was unveiled last week by La Liga and, as stated by the league, was going be used between Oct. 24 and Feb. 23 2020, replacing the traditional yellow ball.

However, in its first weekend of use there was criticism of the ball on social media from journalists and fans, who claimed they could not see the ball while watching games from the stands or on TV.

A La Liga statement read: "La Liga and Puma want to clarify that the new pink colour La Liga ball unveiled last week was used in all the La Liga Santander and La Liga SmartBank matches from the last round, because it was the first since being presented.

"From now on it will be used solely in those games played under adverse weather conditions, as was first intended."

On the weekend that the clocks went back in England, it was timely that Christian Pulisic offered a glimpse towards a brighter future at Chelsea by scoring his first goals for the club with a hat trick in Saturday's 4-2 victory at Burnley.

Until his trip to Turf Moor, the United States winger had endured a difficult start to life at Chelsea following his £58 million ($74.5m) summer arrival from Borussia Dortmund. Not only had the 21-year-old failed to score a goal for Frank Lampard's team during the opening two months of the season, he had begun to look like an expensive misfit, with his new manager displaying more faith in home-grown youngsters Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

- Pulisic Watch: U.S. star's moment finally comes
- Pulisic forgot to claim match ball after hat trick
- Weekend review: Emery, Xhaka losing fans fast at Arsenal

Pulisic went public with his concerns over a lack of game time, claiming it was "very frustrating" to be repeatedly overlooked for a starting spot following the Stamford Bridge win against Brighton at the end of September. Lampard responded -- diplomatically, but with a blunt edge -- by making it clear that his only barometer for team selection was a player's performance in games and on the training pitch and that Pulisic, like everyone else, would be measured to the same standard. The Chelsea manager was also quick to point out that, with Pulisic having a shortened summer break because of Gold Cup commitments with the U.S., the youngster would need time and space to adapt to his new surroundings at Stamford Bridge and in the Premier League.

But there was certainly no panic at Chelsea during the early weeks of the campaign, when Pulisic was struggling to make an impact. Eden Hazard made a similarly slow start to his Chelsea career when, as a 21-year-old, he arrived from Lille in the summer of 2012 with all the pressure on his shoulders that came with a big-money move. Hazard scored just two Premier League goals in his first two-and-a-half months at the club before scoring in a 5-4 League Cup victory against Manchester United on Oct. 31.

That goal sparked the Belgian into life at Stamford Bridge and the rest is history, so with United due to visit in the Carabao Cup again this week (stream live on ESPN+ in U.S. on Wednesday at 4:05 p.m.), has Pulisic arrived at a turning point at the same stage of his Chelsea career or should his Burnley hat trick be taken in isolation, with a healthy dose of realism thrown in?

Reality is never a bad thing when a player is over-hyped and Pulisic, by virtue of being the biggest star in U.S. soccer, is perhaps measured to an impossible standard back home. Succeeding in Europe is a huge challenge, but the Premier League is a step up from the Bundesliga and Pulisic is still finding his way in England. But it is nothing new for a highly-rated forward to struggle in the Premier League immediately after arriving from Germany.

Roberto Firmino, now regarded by many as one of the best forwards in the world, scored just once in the first half of his debut season at Liverpool after arriving from Hoffenheim for £29m in the summer of 2015 and his signing initially appeared to be a costly mistake. Leroy Sane was used sparingly by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and had to wait until December for his first goal, following his £37m switch from Schalke in August 2016, but the German eventually became a key cog in the team at the Etihad. And, across town at Manchester United, both Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan found the going too tough in England after arriving from Dortmund.

Kagawa's struggle for consistency at Old Trafford prompted internal concerns about the move for Mkhitaryan in 2016 because of the belief at United that German football does not prepare players for the Premier League. One United source told ESPN FC that the more technical game in Germany led to a "game without tackling" that resulted in a culture shock for Kagawa and Mkhitaryan when they started out at Old Trafford.

Physically, Pulisic continues to show signs that he has some catching up to do before he can handle the weekly rough and tumble of the Premier League. But the workload is also much greater in England and that is another reason why he should be grateful for Lampard's decision to gently introduce him into the team at Chelsea.

Last season, Dortmund played just 45 games in all competitions, with Pulisic appearing in 30 of those and starting just 17 of them. Already this season, Chelsea have played 15 games -- a third of Dortmund's fixtures last term -- and the season is still just over two months old. Pulisic has appeared in 10 of those games. By the end of the campaign, Chelsea could contest well over 50 games and it would still seem a light workload compared to the 63 they played in all competitions last season.

Pulisic will get his opportunities, that is without doubt, but while the doom and gloom was not quite as bad as it may have seemed a month ago, it would also be foolish to suggest that he is now on a path to being a first-team regular under Lampard.

His treble at Turf Moor and impressive performance against Ajax as a substitute last week are positive signs, but as Firmino, Sane, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan and others have shown, it takes time and patience to succeed in the Premier League. Some get there, but many don't.

Bismah Maroof hit a career-best 70 not out off 50 balls as Pakistan women beat Bangladesh women by 15 runs to take a 2-0 lead in their three-match T20I series in Lahore.

Maroof came in to bat at 35 for 1 in 4.4 overs, and stayed till the end to drive Pakistan to 167 for 3. Bangladesh put up a good fight, but could muster only 152 for 7 at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.

Maroof's 10th T20I half-century comprised nine fours and one six, and was the centrepiece of Pakistan's innings, with Javeria Khan lending good support with a 44-ball 52 at the top of the order. The two shared a 95-run stand for the second wicket in just 11.5 overs to put Pakistan on course for a winning total.

Bangladesh's best bowler was right-arm medium pacer Jahanara Alam, who took 2 for 27 in her four overs, accounting for Javeria and Iram Javed. The only other wicket-taker was Lata Mondal.

Bangladesh's chase was crippled by left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal, playing only her second T20I. Sadia took a career-best 3 for 19 in her four overs as the middle order crumbled. Sanjida Islam, batting at No.3, held the first half of the innings together with 45 off 32 balls, but lacked top-order support.

Bangladesh had begun poorly by losing a wicket in the second over. They kept losing wickets and had sunk to 93 for 6, with 75 needed off 39 balls as no batter in the top five could string together a partnership with Sanjida. The lower order then hit out to eventually bring the margin of defeat down. Fargana Hoque at No.6 made 30 off 19 balls while Alam hit two sixes and a four in her unbeaten 18 off just 5 balls.

Maroof was player of the match in the first T20I too, when Pakistan defended 126 for 7 by keeping Bangladesh to 112 for 7. The third and final T20I of the series will take place on Wednesday, and will be followed by two ODIs.

Surrey have confirmed the signing of Reece Topley, the left-arm seamer, on a two-year deal.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Topley will also be available for selection in red-ball cricket, despite his primary focus being on white-ball cricket.

Topley will be based at The Oval for all his cricket next season, having been signed by Oval Invincibles in the inaugural draft for the Hundred last Sunday.

He was subject of interest from several other counties, and Sussex released a statement which made reference to the fact the club's medical and coaching staff had helped him back to fitness before he had signed for them. He was the club's leading wicket-taker in the Blast, and took six wickets in two end-of-season Championship games.

Topley said he was "honoured" to sign for Surrey. "The set-up here is renowned for being excellent," he said, "and I can't wait to work with the players and coaches and aim to win some silverware."

Alec Stewart, the club's director of cricket, said that Topley's signing was a "massive boost".

"Being able to add an international bowler of Reece's ability is a massive boost to the squad," he said, "and we look forward to seeing all his skills on view next season and beyond."

Topley last played international cricket in early 2016, but remains highly regarded by England's selectors despite his regular injury problems. He was selected for an England Lions tri-series last summer, and it is possible that he might feature in their squad to tour Australia this winter.

The 2019 New England Patriots defense just completed one of the most shocking half-seasons of football most of us have seen in our lifetimes. You might think that's hyperbole. I disagree. After dominating opposing offenses across the first seven weeks of the season, the Patriots hit 8-0 by stifling the Browns in a 27-13 victory. In the process, they became the first team since 2012 to force takeaways on three consecutive plays. Linebacker Dont'a Hightower's fumble return marked the fifth time they have scored on defense or special teams this season.

What makes this so surprising is that there was no rhyme or reason to see this coming. This wasn't the 2007 Patriots offense, which rebuilt its receiving corps by adding Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donte' Stallworth. It wasn't the 2018 Chiefs, who swapped out Alex Smith and Albert Wilson for Patrick Mahomes and Sammy Watkins. We didn't expect those teams to be as dominant on offense as they turned out to be, but there was a plausible path for them to make massive improvements.

This Patriots defense had -- and really has -- no obvious claim to getting significantly better. It was great in Super Bowl LIII, but it finished seventh in points allowed per drive and 16th in defensive DVOA last season. During the offseason, the Pats lost their best pass-rusher in Trey Flowers and replaced him with Michael Bennett, who is no longer on the team. Their top defensive pick was second-rounder cornerback Joejuan Williams, who has played 21 defensive snaps. They lost defensive playcaller Brian Flores to the Dolphins and still haven't actually named an official defensive coordinator or playcaller.

And yet, after eight games, the Patriots' defense has scored as many touchdowns (four) as it has allowed to opposing offenses. In an era in which the rules have made it easier to score than ever before, the Patriots are historical outliers. This is a defense that has been about as dominant as that legendary 2007 Patriots offense was 12 years ago.

As I've written about in the past, that 2007 Pats attack eventually rewrote football in its image. I'm not sure this defense will be quite as influential, if in part because there's no single clear factor driving its success. The Patriots aren't doing anything revolutionary. As easy of an excuse as it has been for detractors, they haven't just faced an easy slate of opposing passers, either. They are out-executing the rest of the NFL. Their version of the future is to be a smarter, faster version of the present.

Let's run through what the Pats have done and how they've pulled this off, as well as what might change in the weeks to come:

Jump to a question:
How has this defense been built?
How dominant is it now?
Wait ... who is in charge?
Is Belichick ahead of the curve?
NE has played bad QBs ... right?
Will it make a long-term impact?
Can it really keep this up?

How dominant is this defense?

Start with keeping things as simple as possible. When you strip out the three return touchdowns the Patriots' offense and special teams have allowed this season, this defense has allowed 43 points over eight games. That's 5.4 points per game. The data can get a bit iffy moving backward, but if we look back toward the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, no NFL defense had ever allowed fewer than 6 points per game through the first eight weeks of the season.

The Patriots are also doing this in a very scoring-friendly era. If we standardize New England's performance, its defense is three standard deviations below the mean in terms of points allowed per game. That's the simplest definition of a historical outlier, and it's the best any defense has ever posted since the merger over the first eight weeks of the season. No team has outplayed the league's other defenses more than these Patriots have through Sunday's victory.

In my blind comparison column from Thursday, I used standardized score to compare the Pats' defense to the 2007 Patriots' offense. Week 8 was arguably the best game of the year for those Pats, a 52-7 win over Washington. After that game, the 2007 Patriots were 3.1 standard deviations above the mean on offense. Only three post-merger offenses outperformed that offense through eight weeks, and two of them came after 2007.

I'm not going to spend the entire column running the numbers on the Pats' defense. Here's the last thing I'll throw out there, a short list of some of the many categories in which New England's defense leads the league this season. I'll also include the league average for the category:

• Passer rating: 40.6 (average: 92.1)

• Interception rate: 7% (average: 2.3%)

• Pressure rate: 32.1% (average: 27.1%)

• Yards/attempt: 5.1 (average: 7.4)

• Points/drive: 0.5 (average: 1.9)

• Score percentage: 7.6% (average: 35.1%)

• Red zone TD percentage: 14.3% (average: 54.9%)

• Third-down conversion percentage: 15.6% (average: 39.3%)

• Sacks: 31 (average: 18.8)

• Interceptions: 19 (average: 5.9)

What has spurred the success on the personnel side?

One often-overlooked factor for team success is health. The Patriots have ranked in the middle of the pack for defensive adjusted games lost across four of the past five seasons preceding 2019. The one exception was 2016, when they were the league's healthiest defense. In the process, they held opposing offenses to just 15.6 points per game. Among New England defensive regulars, the only players to miss time via injury are Hightower and safety Patrick Chung, who have combined for three absences. Hightower alone had missed 25 games in his eight-year career before 2019. (Linebacker Kyle Van Noy missed the opener because his wife was giving birth.)

Some teams would use their healthy start to the season to justify keeping the same players on the field for more than 90% of the possible snaps on their side of the ball. The Rams, as an example, basically wanted to run the same 11 players out on every offensive snap in 2017 and 2018, goal-line situation aside. Most defenses around the league will run their secondary and top linebackers onto the field for every single snap or close to it. Buffalo's excellent defense, as an example, has had five players suit up for 93% or more of the snaps this season.

Owing in part to their leads, the Patriots haven't let a single defender play more than 90% of the snaps. Only two defenders have topped 80% of New England's snaps, star cornerback Stephon Gilmore and veteran safety Devin McCourty. Twenty-one players already have racked up 100 or more defensive snaps for the Patriots. Most teams would only hit that figure by midseason if they were riddled with injuries. The Patriots are doing it by choice, and their emphasis on rotations is working.

The team's third-most used defender has to be the biggest surprise for this Patriots defense. He also has been their most valuable addition of the offseason by a considerable margin. Jamie Collins was unceremoniously shipped out of town by the Pats in 2016 amid reports that the linebacker was prone to bouts of freelancing and wanted a significant contract. Collins got that deal with the Browns, struggled to stay healthy and then lost his role as a three-down linebacker before being released this spring. He spent two months on the free-agent market before New England signed him to a one-year deal worth up to $3 million if he hits all of his incentives, which includes making the All-Pro team. The 30-year-old might very well be on his way.

Collins has turned around his career in New England, excelling at virtually everything they have asked him to do. They have employed Collins as a blitzer and thumping run defender, and he has responded with six sacks and three tackles for loss against the run. He already has a career-high three interceptions, and as the nearest defender in pass coverage, NFL Next Gen Stats have Collins allowing a passer rating of just 41.7 to opposing quarterbacks, the second-best mark in the NFL among linebackers with 100 or more coverage snaps behind San Francisco's Kwon Alexander. Alexander has been phenomenal, but the 49ers are paying the former Bucs starter just over $14.5 million this season. Collins has been one of several Defensive Player of the Year candidates on this roster at a fraction of the cost.

Continuity and experience within the scheme have really helped the Patriots. Each of New England's 15 most-frequently used defensive players has spent multiple seasons with the team. Ten of those 15 have spent at least three years in New England. Most of the newcomers were along the defensive line, where the responsibilities of playing in Bill Belichick's complicated coverage schemes are minimal. The only defensive back new to the organization who has played more than 5% of the defensive snaps is backup safety Terrence Brooks.

Who is in charge, exactly?

Well, you know the answer. Belichick is in charge, although the Patriots seem loath to admit it. After Matt Patricia was hired as Lions coach during the 2018 offseason, the Pats promoted Brian Flores to defensive playcaller. Flores lasted one season before volunteering his services to whatever the Dolphins are doing this season. It seemed likely that the Patriots were going to hire longtime Belichick confidant Greg Schiano and install him as their defensive coordinator, but Schiano resigned from the team's staff in March.

After Schiano's decision, the Patriots never ended up announcing who, exactly, was going to be their defensive coordinator. That's not necessarily a surprise, given that Belichick has gone through seasons in the past without naming an offensive or defensive coordinator. Usually, though, it's pretty clear to see who is calling plays for a team on either side of the football.

The Pats have gone to great lengths to obfuscate their playcaller's identity, with Belichick and his players repeatedly refusing to answer the question in interviews. The two defensive coaches with play sheets on Sunday against the Browns were safeties coach Steve Belichick, Bill's son, and former standout linebacker Jerod Mayo, who is in his first season as Patriots inside linebackers coach.

Players admitted Mayo made some of the calls during the preseason, and both the younger Belichick and Mayo have relayed calls into the defense at different times. Mayo could turn out to be a fantastic coach, but it's not likely that Belichick has turned over the defensive decision-making to Mayo in his first year as a coach at any level. My guess -- and the most common opinion I heard in asking both coaches who have played against the Patriots and media members who cover the team -- is that Belichick is making most of the decisions here.

The easy story would be to imagine that he has focused his efforts on building a dominant defense, turned the offense and the personnel decisions mostly over to longtime confidants Josh McDaniels and Nick Caserio and built some absolutely breathtaking force of nature in the process. There's probably some slim truth to the premise, and any defense is going to be better with Belichick solving its problems, but if his attention were all the Patriots needed to field the best defense in football, it would have happened a long time ago.

Has Belichick installed concepts to get the Patriots ahead of the curve?

I reserve the right to be told I'm wrong by one of the many people on this planet who know more about defense, but I don't think there's anything about this defense that hasn't been seen in the annals of professional football. The talent, experience and communication Belichick has been able to rely upon has allowed him to be more creative and daring with his decisions, and that has helped this Patriots defense create takeaways.

A great example here is Belichick's ability to threaten opposing quarterbacks with Cover Zero looks, which means that the Patriots will be in man coverage with no safety playing zones behind. They have been able to crowd the line of scrimmage, fill up the box to take away the numbers advantage for running opportunities and then either send a big blitz or drop off into coverage while sending selected pressure to where the opposing protection is weakest. If a defense convinces the opposing quarterback that it is sending six rushers and then sends three he was expecting and one he wasn't, the defense ends up with a quarterback who might just be seeing ghosts.

As ESPN's Louis Riddick pointed out during the beatdown of the Jets, though, Belichick isn't reinventing defenses here. Simulated pressures and Cover Zero blitzes are nothing new to the NFL. Belichick isn't even using them as frequently as some other teams around the league. I can use NFL Next Gen Stats as a proxy here and note that New England has lined up without any high safeties on 75 pass plays this season, which is the fourth-highest total in the league, behind the Ravens, Chiefs and Vikings.

The difference between the Patriots and those defenses is that they almost never get burned without safety help deep. The Pats have allowed a passer rating of just 23.5 in zero-high coverage in a league in which no other team is below a rating of 50.0 and the league average is 104.4. No team has blitzed more frequently without safety help, which has led to eight sacks and 17 hurries out of the look, second behind the Vikings.

Belichick can do all of this, of course, because he has supreme confidence in his secondary. No other team has Gilmore, who is the consensus best cornerback in football; he's allowing a passer rating of just 35.8 in coverage this season despite often covering the opposing team's top receiver. Only three cornerbacks have been targeted more frequently, suggesting that Belichick tries to steer opposing quarterbacks into throwing at his best defensive player. It doesn't go well.

Cornerback Jason McCourty has improved in his second year with the Patriots, while Jonathan Jones -- who was on the bench for most of the second half of 2018 -- has surprisingly turned into one of the league's best slot cornerbacks. In Chung, Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon, the Patriots have a trio of safeties they trust in coverage. More than anything -- and I realize how soul-crushingly on-brand it is to say this -- Belichick trusts his defensive backs to do their jobs without blowing any assignments. Snap after snap, they do.

The biggest play they've allowed this season was the 64-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate in the Giants game, and that was on solid coverage from Jones in the slot. Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones made a great throw, Tate did the veteran thing of waiting for the last moment to try to catch the football, and Jones just didn't get turned around quickly enough.

If a team doesn't have Belichick's secondary or some close approximation, it can't trust its defensive backs to hold up without safety help 10 times per game without getting burned frequently enough to regret it. What we're likely to see, though, is defenses continuing to blend and blur the line between man and zone coverage to try to trick quarterbacks who are depending on differentiating between one or the other pre-snap to make post-snap decisions. Belichick, unsurprisingly, was at the forefront of building pattern-matching coverages that can play like zone or man depending on the route combinations the offense tries to run, having built one such tactic with Nick Saban when the two were on the Browns staff in the 1990s.

Everything has to work together. Take Sam Darnold's first pick in Week 7. The Jets come out in an empty set, and the Patriots respond by showing man coverage across the board with no safety help while crowding the line of scrimmage. Darnold tries to diagnose the blitz that's coming, but a late move by Collins inside of John Simon blows up the Jets' protection and ends with Collins coming in as a free runner.

Darnold knows he wants to go to his hot read, which is going to be Jamison Crowder on a quick out against Jason McCourty. Throwing a quick out against a big blitz in man coverage isn't a new idea; the Packers hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a long touchdown on a hot route against a big blitz the day before. If you watch Devin McCourty, though, he's never even playing man coverage. He doesn't run with Le'Veon Bell on a go route because he knows Darnold's going to face an unblocked pressure and throw to his hot read. When Darnold's throw is off-target, McCourty has an easy pick.

Without the well-timed pressure, Darnold doesn't have to throw hot and might not sail the throw. Without McCourty's experience, he's going to run with Bell, and that throw falls harmlessly incomplete. Put everything together and you create an interception. The Patriots have put everything together 19 times in eight games.

Well, aren't they just beating up on bad quarterbacks?

Yes, the Patriots have played an easy slate of opposing passers. They've faced, in order, a possibly compromised Ben Roethlisberger, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Rosen, Luke Falk, Josh Allen, Matt Barkley, Colt McCoy, Jones, Darnold and Baker Mayfield. Any defense is going to look better against that group of quarterbacks. If you're using that list to mildly discount the Patriots' performance, that's one thing. To disqualify the Patriots from contention as a dominant defense because of that schedule, though, is naive.

Plenty of teams play bad quarterbacks. This is probably not the worst slate of quarterbacks any team has seen since the merger, and yet, the Patriots have topped every other defense over that time frame by standard score.

To prove that the Patriots aren't simply taking advantage of bad quarterbacks, I built a simple example. I took every one of those quarterbacks above, measured their performance against teams who aren't the Patriots this season, and then plugged in that prorated performance to serve as a baseline for how they should have performed against the Pats.

Instead of Allen's 28 dreadful pass attempts for 153 yards and three picks against the Pats, the baseline for Allen's non-Patriots performance across the rest of the season includes a much more efficient performance, with him going 17-of-28 for 192 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Each quarterback has a similar line thrown into the "Expected" column below. In the case of Barkley and McCoy, who have only suited up against the Patriots this season, I just stuck with their numbers against Belichick's defense.

The difference shouldn't require much interpreting:

Against everyone who isn't the Patriots, these quarterbacks have been pretty bad, playing something like Jay Cutler's final season with the Dolphins in 2017. Against the Patriots, they've collectively turned into Nathan Peterman. These two things are not the same. If you're writing off this defense because of the quarterbacks it has faced, you're not paying attention.

Will this defense be as influential as the 2007 Patriots offense?

It will be hard to really shift the league as much as that Patriots offense did in the following years, if only because teams are smarter now. Even a bad offense could benefit from passing the ball more frequently and trading inefficient running plays for low-risk completions, something that was obvious to both the nascent analytics community and anyone who watched college football. There isn't the same sort of obvious trade-off at hand with this New England defense.

In a few ways, though, I wonder if this will end up either as an example of trends that already exist or as an indirect argument for other ideas. The league is already becoming more and more trade-happy, and I wonder if other teams will forgo the traditional draft-and-develop model to focus more on alternate paths of player acquisition. Belichick's propensity for using draft picks on defensive backs who don't develop is a punchline at this point, but he has gathered talent on defense through other routes. Van Noy, Jason McCourty and nose tackle Danny Shelton were acquired via trade. Gilmore was a big-ticket free agent, but Collins, Chung, Simon and defensive lineman Shilique Calhoun were signed on the cheap after struggling elsewhere.

Studies have also begun to suggest that pass coverage is a more reliable and productive way to stop opposing passing attacks than the pass rush. My own research has suggested that a pass rush's success rate in the first half of the season has little relationship to its performance during the second half of the season.

The Patriots have repeatedly been comfortable moving on from stars like Flowers and Chandler Jones while simultaneously investing in their secondary, both with big contracts and through the draft. The edge-rushing market has continued to rise in recent years, but the top end of the cornerback market has been relatively flat since Josh Norman signed with Washington in 2016. Teams could follow the Patriots' lead and focus their investments in the secondary as the league continues to grow more and more pass-happy.

With those passing games becoming more successful, the NFL is different than it was 10 years ago. Even while some coaches remain stuck in the old days, field position has never meant less and possession of the football has never meant more. Punting from midfield to try to force Patrick Mahomes to go 95 yards is a waste of time and just gives Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman more space to run go routes.

In 2006 -- the final year before the 2007 Patriots rebellion -- offenses went three-and-out 36% of the time and scored on just under 31% of their possessions. In 2019, those numbers have flipped; offenses are going three-and-out 31.1% of the time while scoring on 35.1% of their drives. Many of the league's more analytically inclined teams have noticed the shift and begun to go for fourth downs deep inside of their own territory, even before their backs are against the wall.

While there's an impact on game management, the changing league might also influence how teams plan their defenses. With interceptions harder to come by and more valuable -- given that they flip possession -- than ever before, teams might value players differently. The Rams built their secondary with a similar focus, and the Patriots already have been tagged as a bend-but-don't-break philosophy when that's a myth, but I wonder if New England will encourage teams to pay for defensive backs with ball skills.

Can this defense keep it up?

It's difficult to imagine any defense being this good over a full 16-game season. Even the 2007 Patriots offense wasn't quite as dominant during the second half of the season; Tom Brady & Co. averaged 41.4 points over the first eight games and fell off to a lowly 32.3 points per game over the final eight contests.

The Patriots will deal with injuries, because those are inevitable. I mentioned that pass rushes are wildly inconsistent from one half of a season to the next, and the Pats rank first in pressure rate (32.1%) and second in sack rate (9.9%). Both of those marks are likely to decline over the second half. History suggests they also probably won't intercept 7% of opposing passes. Everybody drops interceptions, including Gilmore, who said he wouldn't be able to sleep Sunday night after letting a would-be Mayfield pick slip through his hands.

The quarterbacks will also get tougher. Over the next few weeks, New England will go up against some of the league's best young quarterbacks. Belichick will have to field a more physical defense against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. After the bye, it will go up against Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson and Mahomes. That's a brutal five-week span, and even if you think the Patriots will hold their own and drag those quarterbacks down from lofty heights, their baseline is still a lot higher than those of Fitzpatrick or Falk.

The Pats probably won't be extreme outliers over the second half of the campaign on defense. They're still likely to rank among the league's best defenses, though, and the offense might be able to make up for any slips. The Pats' offense ranks a middling 20th in points per possession over the past five games, and there doesn't appear to be any second gear coming from Sony Michel, but Belichick addressed a point of weakness by trading for Mohamed Sanu, and the likes of receiver N'Keal Harry and offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn should be coming off injured reserve in the weeks to come.

Brady has not been impressive over that stretch -- his passer rating (83.8) and Total QBR (45.3) are both behind that of Gardner Minshew since Week 4 -- but the Patriots have a habit of figuring things out on offense as the year goes along. Wynn's return is critical for an offensive line that hasn't been able to reliably protect the 42-year-old Brady. The Patriots might also dip back into the trade market before Tuesday's deadline.

With competitors such as the Chiefs and Texans slipping up in recent weeks, the 8-0 Patriots are basically locks to stay home throughout the AFC playoffs. With no one-loss team in the conference, ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) gives the Pats a 92.5% chance of finishing with the top seed in the AFC.

According to FPI, the Patriots are more likely to go 16-0 (9.3%) than fail to come away with the No. 1 seed in the conference (7.5%). And after years of relying on Brady and a transcendent offense to carry them through the postseason, Pats fans have been able to enjoy one of the best defenses in league history for the first half of the 2019 season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have continued their offseason shake-up by firing general manager Neal Huntington on Monday, according to multiple reports.

An official announcement is expected later Monday, according to reports. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported Huntington's dismissal.

The Pirates had already fired president Frank Coonelly last week and manager Clint Hurdle on Sept. 29.

Pittsburgh finished last in the NL Central this season, going 69-93 and missing the postseason for the fourth consecutive year. The Pirates were 42-43 on July 3 and only three games out of first place in the division at the time.

Huntington, 50, had served as general manager of the Pirates since replacing Dave Littlefield after the 2007 season. He had two years remaining on his contract.

After Hurdle was fired, Pirates chairman of the board Bob Nutting gave a strong endorsement to Huntington.

"I strongly believe Neal Huntington and the leadership team that he has assembled are the right people to continue to lead our baseball operations department," Nutting said at the time.

Travis Williams has been hired to replace Coonelly as president. The team has not hired a new manager.

In addition, the Pirates had fired pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince following the season. The team said all other members of the major league coaching staff are candidates to remain with the team pending the outcome of the managerial search.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Automobile Club of Southern California completed competition at Auto Club Famoso Raceway on Sunday crowning not only event winners but also champions in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series.

For the second consecutive year, Mendy Fry raced her High Speed Motorsports dragster to victory with a run of 5.526 seconds at 264.91 mph in the Nostalgia Top Fuel final against Pete Wittenberg who red lit at the starting line. The 2019 NHRA Heritage Series World Champion was also the low qualifier of the event.

“This was just the most emotional roller coaster I think I’ve been on,” said Fry. “Because I thought I lost on a holeshot. He (Wittenberg) beat me to the stripe, and I should have known to look up (to see if the win light was on). So I thought I lost on a holeshot and then I found out that I won! I cannot say enough about this team for giving me a car that is the car to beat every time. It’s just incredible.”

In Nostalgia Funny Car, Bobby Cottrell landed in the winner’s circle when he ran a 5.675-second pass at 249.90 mph in his 1969 Camaro bettering Tony Jurado‘s pass of 5.859 seconds at 233.80 mph. Cottrell also clinched the NHRA Heritage Series World Championship in the category for the second year in a row.

“This day’s been very hectic. We hurt a lot of parts. Anybody that hung around our pits between rounds knows we didn’t back into this. We worked our you-know-what’s off. I can’t thank this crew enough. To win (the championship) back-to-back is just a dream come true. I didn’t even think we’d have half the success we have had in the past few years but I’m very thankful to Bucky (Austin, owner / crew chief) and the whole Austin / O’Brien team. I’m really, really happy. I couldn’t have asked for a better team.”

Other winners included Jason Richey in Fuel Altered, Shayne Stewart in A / Fuel, Brad Woodard in Junior Fuel, Brad Denney in 7.0 Pro, Dan Schrokosch in Nostalgia Eliminator 1, Eddie Lucas in Nostalgia Eliminator 2, Darren Hopkins in Nostalgia Eliminator 3, Brian Rogers in A / Gas, Brent Handley in B / Gas, Mike Rabener in C / Gas, Don Fournier in D / Gas, Howard Anderson in AA / Gas, Mike Maggio in Pro Mod, Bob Patten in A / FX, and A.J. Thomas in Hot Rod.

The 2019 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series champions are Mendy Fry in Top Fuel, Bobby Cottrell in Funny Car, Drew Austin in A / Fuel, Brad Woodard in Jr. Fuel, Steve Faller in 7.0 Pro, Dave Lawson in Nostalgia Eliminator 1, Eddie Lucas in Nostalgia Eliminator 2, Don Morris in Nostalgia Eliminator 3, Casey Treuer in A / Gas, Neal Westbrook in B / Gas, Mike Rabener in C / Gas, Bill Norton in D / Gas, and Henry Roberson in Hot Rod.