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:
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:
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.
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Belichick joins a pair of legends with 300 wins
Bill Belichick earns his 300th win on Sunday, joining the likes of Don Shula and George Halas. Mike Reiss details his winning career thus far.
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.
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.
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – Never count out Stewart Friesen.
The native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, had to take a winner’s provisional just to make the field for Sunday’s Eastern States 200 big-block modified feature at Orange County Fair Speedway, meaning he would start 44th in a stacked field.
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship contender went right to work and marched through the field to win the event for the second-straight year, earning the $40,000 winner’s share in the process.
Using the outside line most of the night, Friesen took the lead for the final time on the 129th circuit after overtaking Billy Decker. Once out front Friesen pulled away, beating Matt Sheppard to the checkered flag by more than five seconds.
Decker finished third, followed by Danny Johnson and Larry Wight.
The finish:
Stewart Friesen, Matt Sheppard, Billy Decker, Danny Johnson, Larry Wight, Jimmy Phelps, Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie, Billy Dunn, Mat Williamson, Erick Rudolph, Pat Ward, Anthony Perrego, Marc Johnson, Peter Britten, Mike Gular, Mike Mahaney, Craig Mitchell, Jessica Friesen, Tyler Boniface, Dillon Steuer, Billy VanInwegen, Danny Creeden, Jeff Strunk, Rich Eurich, J.R. Heffner, Bob Hentschel, Jack Lehner, Rick Laubach, Brett Hearn, L.J. Lombardo, Matt Janiak, Michael Storms, John Ferrier, Max McLaughlin, Jimmy Horton, Matt Hitchcock, Andy Bachetti, Kenny Tremont Jr., C.G. Morey, Jeff Heotzler, Ryan Godown, Tommy Meier, Jerry Higbie.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- This is a weekly overreactions column, but you still want to be careful and make sure you're overreacting, underreacting or simply reacting appropriately, and sometimes you need to see things with your own eyes to be sure. So I came out here to check out the undefeated 49ers, thinking, all right, Carolina's a good team, this'll be a good game.
It was not.
It was a thumping. An assertion of dominance. A straight-up flex. The Niners beat the Panthers 51-13 on Sunday, and it never felt much closer than that score indicates. They rushed for 232 yards. They sacked Kyle Allen seven times. They made twice as many first downs as Carolina did. Nick Bosa had three sacks and an interception, and more or less ate the souls of the two Panthers offensive players who tried (and, barely, succeeded) to prevent him from scoring on the return. Tevin Coleman touched the ball 13 times and scored four touchdowns. The Niners were physically dominant and brilliantly creative, and they did this all to a team with a 4-2 record fresh off its bye week.
"It feels great," linebacker Kwon Alexander said. "7-0 feels great, nothing but great, and I'm ready to be 8-0."
They'll get that chance soon, as they have a game Thursday night in Arizona. The 49ers are getting healthier, and there's a chance starting left tackle Joe Staley will return for the game. They're flying as high as any team in the league and see no reason this can't continue.
"Our run game, it's unbelievable," tight end George Kittle told me. "Our style is different from anyone else's in the league. We're out there moving people. The tight end, the fullback, the running back, we're going. We're not duck walking. We're full sprinting off the ball, right from the get-go, and that's different from the way most teams do it. And I love it, because it gets the defense on its heels and we just take it from there."
Take it they did, and given the caliber of opponent it may have been the best any NFL team has looked all season. So, because this is an overreaction column -- for more, check out NFL Live at 2:30 p.m. ET Monday on ESPN and the ESPN app -- I figured we'd start right there:
The 49ers are the best team in the NFL
The verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION. And before you come at me, yes, of course the 8-0 Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions and have earned the right to be considered the league's best team until someone beats them. I'm not sitting here saying the 49ers are better. I'm saying it's not an overreaction to say the 49ers are better. As in, you could make a convincing case.
San Francisco's offense certainly looks better (and healthier) than New England's. And while its defense doesn't score as many touchdowns, it's right there with the Patriots statistically this season. The Niners will have to keep their foot on the gas with Seattle and the Rams right behind them in the NFC West, while the Patriots' nearest challenger is a Buffalo team that got knocked down to earth on Sunday by the backs-to-the-wall Eagles. So we'll find out.
But right now, Kyle Shanahan's bunch is doing everything right and in position to be the team that gets a shot to take down Bill Belichick's in Miami in early February.
Earlier in the day, the Bears lost to the Chargers to fall to 3-4, which means they've already lost as many regular-season games as they did all of 2018 and it's not even Halloween yet. And yeah, they lost on a missed field goal, which is its own huge, haunted thing in Chicago these days. And yeah, Trubisky did move them down the field to get into position for that potentially game-winning field goal. But man, did Chicago's third-year quarterback look bad prior to that.
Trubisky was 23-for-35 for just 253 yards, so 7.2 yards per attempt, which isn't impressive. He threw an interception and lost a fumble and continues to look like a mess from a footwork and timing standpoint. This was supposed to be a big year for Trubisky, and so far he's a big part of the Bears' problem.
The verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION. What the future holds for Trubisky in Chicago remains a mystery. He has one year left on his rookie deal after this, and the team will hold a fifth-year option for 2021, which at this point you have to think they may not exercise. (FUN FACT: Since Trubisky was a top-10 pick, his option salary will be higher than Deshaun Watson's!)
But the point here is about the now, and this is a season that is about to slip away from the Bears if it hasn't already. They came in with massive hopes, a still-mighty defense and (though it's hard to remember right now) plans to run the ball and win grind-it-out games. Based on what Trubisky has shown this season, Chase Daniel might give them a better chance to get back to that formula and try to stay within shouting distance of Green Bay and Minnesota in a tough NFC North.
It may be too late, but it may not, and sticking with Trubisky through this developmental roadside ditch could cost them a chance to find out.
At least one of this year's rookie head coaches will be one-and-done, Steve Wilks-style
Looking at you, Freddie Kitchens. And don't laugh, Adam Gase. Things are getting ugly out there for the first-year guys, and teams aren't very patient these days.
Matt LaFleur is 7-1 with the Packers, but the other seven teams that changed coaches in the offseason are a combined 10-40-1. In the group, Arizona's Kliff Kingsbury has the best record at 3-4-1, while Cincinnati's Zac Taylor has the worst at 0-8. (Miami's Brian Flores is 0-6 heading into Monday Night's matchup with Pittsburgh.)
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Clark calls Browns' performance this season 'puzzling'
Ryan Clark, who picked the Browns to win the AFC North, admits that he at least expected the Browns to perform at baseline, whereas instead they're coming in below their averages.
The verdict: OVERREACTION.
Miami is in a rebuild and likely to stick with Flores unless something wild happens (like Jim Harbaugh deciding to leave Michigan). Taylor's Bengals are a wreck, but it's hard to see them making a change after one season. (Taylor's predecessor, after all, lasted 16 years.) Arizona just did this last year, so you have to think they won't do it again. So that leaves Vic Fangio in Denver, Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay, Kitchens in Cleveland and Gase with the Jets.
Gase has assumed even more power since getting the job, so you have to think he's safe. Arians isn't likely to get fired and doesn't seem like the type to pack it in after only one year. Fangio could be in some trouble, I guess, if they draft a QB and want a coach to develop him. And Kitchens is the most at-risk of the group because of the potential for things to unravel in an ugly way in Cleveland.
But owners and GMs don't love admitting they were wrong, and the one-and-done thing with coaches usually requires some unusual circumstance. At this point, it's too early to know if anything heinous enough is going to transpire in any of these places to warrant this.
The flip side to the 49ers' offensive outburst Sunday was another dominant performance by their defense, which delivered Kyle Allen his first loss as Carolina's quarterback. Allen was 19-for-37 for 158 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions in the loss, took those aforementioned seven sacks and posted a miserably low Total QBR of 17.5.
The Niners defense has been making a lot of quarterbacks look bad, and Carolina's line had no answers for Bosa & Co., but there was no way to sugarcoat this performance by the previously very impressive Allen.
The verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION, mainly because everything I was told prior to the game indicated that the plan was to go back to Newton once he's healthy.
The Panthers don't know when that will be, but Newton made the trip here and looked spry running around on the field before the game. Had Allen played well and won the game, it might have been tougher for the Panthers to sell a return to Newton, who has lost his last eight starts. But there's no question the ceiling is higher with Newton, and the Panthers are still in contention. If he's healthy enough to play Sunday against the Titans, it wouldn't be a shock to see him out there.
"Cam's in the middle of a rehab thing with the trainers," Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner told me before the game. "There's a process he has to go through to get ready to play, physically, first, and it's not in anybody's best interest to even have a conversation about it until he's ready to go.
"Cam's been an MVP, he was playing at an MVP level last year when he got hurt, and I would expect him to do that again. The history is incredible, and you can't base a decision solely on that, but early last year, he was rolling pretty good, and he's capable of doing that again."
The Bengals are worse than the Dolphins
Cincinnati fell to 0-8 on Sunday with a 24-10 loss to the Rams in London. On defense, the Bengals made the curious decision to not cover Cooper Kupp, who went for 220 yards on seven catches. On offense ... well, at least they were better than they were last week, and they didn't turn it over. They actually had more yards and more time of possession than the Rams did, but again, just the 10 points.
They've scored more than 17 points in a game just twice all season. They've allowed at least 21 in every game. It's their worst start in 11 years, and again, this is the Bengals. Worst anything in 11 years is significant when you're talking about the Bengals.
The verdict: OVERREACTION. Hey, the Bengals have a terrible team this season -- don't get me wrong. But the only way anyone can claim a 2019 team is worse than Miami is on a day in which Miami didn't play.
The Dolphins play the Steelers on Monday Night (8:15 ET on ESPN and the ESPN app) and the strong likelihood is that everyone will feel silly for thinking even for a second that they aren't the worst team in the league. For goodness' sake, they've been outscored by an average of 25 points per game.
But in case you doubt me, in case you want proof of which of these teams is worse, there is good news! The Bengals and the Dolphins will play each other in Week 16.
Cardiff athlete clocks 31:34 in Leeds on a busy weekend which also includes the Valencia half-marathon, Dublin Marathon and IAU 24H World Championships
A report on the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, won by Valary Jemeli Aiyabei and Fikre Tefera and featuring a Scottish record by Steph Twell, can be found here, while other recent highlights are below.
Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash, October 27
Charlotte Arter ran 31:34 for the fourth best ever legal British 10km time behind Paula Radcliffe’s 30:21, Liz McColgan’s 30:39 and Wendy Sly’s 31:29. Gemma Steel has clocked 31:26 but that was achieved on an overall downhill course.
Cardiff’s Arter claimed victory in Leeds ahead of Abbie Donnelly in 32:00 and Beth Potter with 32:05. Jess Judd was fourth in 32:11.
Presentations at the Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash 10km with wins for Charlotte Arter and Omar Ahmed pic.twitter.com/4BY0wRfPua
The men’s race was won by Omar Ahmed as he clocked 28:38 to finish one second ahead of Ross Millington. Adam Craig was third in 28:45 as nine athletes went sub-29 minutes and 29 went sub-30:00.
Valencia Half Marathon Trinidad Alfonso EDP, Spain, October 27
There was an Ethiopian double as Yomif Kejelcha won the men’s race and Senbere Teferi the women’s.
Kejelcha won in 59:05, a couple of seconds ahead of Kenya’s Benard Kipkorir Ngeno, with Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer third and Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton fourth.
Norway’s Sondre Nordstad Moen was eighth in 60:14, while Isle of Man’s Ollie Lockley ran a PB of 63:01 for 31st and his fellow Brit Jack Gray was two places back in a PB of 63:15.
After leading the women’s race through 5km in 15:19, Sifan Hassan – who had an eye on the world record – suffered a heavy fall and was four seconds behind Senbere Teferi and Joan Chelimo at 10km, as the pair passed that point on world record pace of 30:43.
Teferi and Chelimo went through 15km in 46:16, with Hassan 16 seconds back, but the Dutch runner worked her way back to second, clocking 65:53 behind Teferi’s Ethiopian record 65:32. Chelimo was third in 66:09.
USA’s Molly Huddle was seventh in 69:35, while Britain’s Lily Partridge was 11th in 71:58 as she continues her marathon preparations and Ireland’s Emma Mitchell ran a 72:28 PB one place behind her.
KBC Dublin Marathon, Ireland, October 27
Morocco’s Othmane El Goumri, who was banned from 2016-18 due to biological passport irregularities, won the 40th edition of the event in a course record of 2:08:05.
Stephen Scullion ran the race of his life to finish second in 2:12:01, breaking the Northern Ireland record just three weeks after finishing 43rd in the World Championships marathon.
‘Best day of my life’ Stephen Scullion in second overall and national champion in 2:12:01 pic.twitter.com/mmtkncqX6S
Motu Gedefa (2:27:48), Mesera Dubiso (2:28:29) and Denbali Chefo (2:29:51) claimed an Ethiopian clean sweep in the women’s race, with Britain’s Natasha Cockram finishing fifth in 2:30:50 for a PB and Welsh record.
IAU 24H World Championships, Albi, France, October 26-27
USA’s Camille Heron won the women’s world 24-hour title in France, improving her world record to 270km (167 miles).
Leading Brits were Jessica Baker (227km) in 16th, Catherine Simpson (220km) and Wendy Whearity (217km).
Aleksandr Sorokin of Lithuania won the men’s title with 278km (172 miles) as Paul Maskell was top Brit in 15th with 251km. James Stewart ran 250km and Dan Lawson 244km.
USA gained gold in both team events. Their men achieved 799.754km ahead of Hungary’s 782.241km and France’s 779.076km, while the women achieved 746.132km ahead of Poland’s 721.124km and Germany’s 696.846km.
Britain’s women were fifth and men sixth.
Lindsays Scottish National XC Relays, Cumbernauld, October 26
Central AC made it seven wins in eight years in the senior men’s race and Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds made it four-in-a-row with senior women’s gold.
Callum Hawkins returned to his cross country roots, racing for the first time since his fourth place finish in the world championships marathon, helping his Kilbarchan AAC team to silver. Inverclyde AC were third.
Cameron Milne and Conan McCaughey flew in from Holland and Ireland respectively to help Central AC’s cause and they had their team in second at the halfway stage. Alastair Hay duly pushed them into first and did well only to concede five seconds to Hawkins before Jamie Crowe brought it home.
Edinburgh Uni were seventh after the opening leg from Rebecca Johnson – with Fife AC’s Jenny Selman and Eloise Walker of Glasgow Uni out in front – but Constance Nankivel brought the students into a lead they never relinquished via third leg runner Eilidh Jaffray and Holly Page.
Edinburgh AC were second in the senior women’s event and Giffnock North third.
Giffnock won the young males race, while Fife claimed victory in the young females race.
British Masters Cross Country Relay Championships, Long Eaton, October 26
Salford Harriers dominated the younger men’s age groups as they took both M35 and M45 five-stage titles, writes Martin Duff.
Their Carl Hardman and Mark Russell were fastest in the M35 and M45 races respectively over a slightly shortened course that was waterlogged and with one flooded section where the water came up to the shorts of some runners.
Photo by David Griffiths
Lucy Elliott was fastest among the women as she led Winchester to the W45 title and the 53-year-old ran two seconds quicker than top W35 Chrissie Dover of Derby. However, it was Bristol & West who narrowly won the W35 event.
Elsewhere among the women, Steel City took the two oldest age groups while Barnet relieved Oxford City of the M65 title but Stan Owen was again the fastest in this group.
Loughborough, October 25
World T38 long jump champion Olivia Breen warmed up for the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai with a best leap of 4.70m.
World T44 champion Stef Reid recorded a best mark of 5.19m.
Zak Skinner achieved a best of 6.40m and Luke Sinnott 5.19m.
Ljubljana Marathon, Slovenia, October 27
Kelkile Gezahegn of Ethiopia won the men’s race in 2:07:29, while Kenya’s Bornes Chepkirui set a women’s course record of 2:21:26.
Huawei Venice Marathon, Italy, October 27
Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Anbesa Lencho and Kenya’s Judith Korir won, running respective PBs of 2:10:49 and 2:29:20.
Roger Federer has withdrawn from this week's Paris Masters in order to "pace himself", with next month's ATP Finals in London on the horizon.
The 38-year-old is playing in his 22nd season on the ATP Tour and won a record-extending 10th Swiss Indoors championship title on Sunday.
"I am extremely disappointed to have to pull out," Federer said.
"I want to play as long as possible on the Tour. I'm sorry for my French fans who I'll see at Roland Garros in 2020."
The world number three has already secured a spot in the ATP Finals, which start on 10 November at the O2 Arena.
World number one Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the other five to have guaranteed a place, with the Paris Masters set to determine who clinches the final two spots.
England flanker Tom Curry will have a special visitor in the build-up to the World Cup final in Yokohama - twin brother and Sale Sharks team-mate Ben.
Eddie Jones' side face South Africa in a repeat of the 2007 final on Saturday, a day after Ben was set to play for Sale against Bristol.
But, following a social media campaign #GetBenToJapan, the club have given him a few days off to fly out in support.
Sale said it was a "once in a lifetime experience" for the 21-year-old.
Ben, also a flanker, has been capped for England at Under-20 level and was called up to the senior squad for the tour to Argentina in 2017, but did not make an appearance.
Sale fan Elliot F said in response to the campaign: "You should see if you can swap him in for Tom without anyone noticing".
Meanwhile, Alan Jones tweeted: "He's in my fantasy team... I'll lose points."
Jason Williams added: "Nice one Sale Sharks, doing the right thing. Ben Curry enjoy the final and good luck Tom Curry."
North West Tonight met the identical twin brothers in 2017 after they had first broken into the Premiership side.
Alex Ovechkin doesn't just believe his team's No. 1 defenseman, John Carlson, should win his first Norris Trophy. The Washington Capitals captain kicked off an all-out blitz campaign as the team toured Western Canada this week. It began with Ovechkin declaring, in Calgary, that he had a preferred hashtag: #Johnny4Norris.
"That's the hashtag right now," Ovechkin said. "Let's keep it going."
Carlson's take on the extra attention from his teammates?
"They're all over me all the time about it," Carlson said in a phone interview this week. "I can't say I like the attention, but I appreciate everyone standing up for me."
Ovechkin's campaign has its merits. The 29-year-old Carlson is blazing through October at a historic pace. "I've seen some pretty hot starts," reigning Norris winner Mark Giordano told NHL.com this week, of Carlson. "But I've never seen something quite like this."
Carlson not only leads defensemen, but he's second among all skaters, with 21 points through 13 games. He's on pace for 132 points this season. For context: in the last 30 years, the highest-scoring defensemen were Paul Coffey and Al MacInnis, both with 103-point seasons.
Carlson is also just four points shy from matching MacInnis' 1990-91 record for points by a defenseman in October, with one game left (Tuesday at the Maple Leafs) to do it. Sixteen of Carlson's points are assists; most of his production is at even strength, too. Only six of his points are from the power play.
"I've been playing well the last couple years," Carlson said. "I don't know if this year is too much different. I'm just getting good fortunate bounces, getting lucky a couple times. I think I made a lot of good plays, but this year the good plays that I make, the guys seem to be scoring on."
Carlson isn't necessarily shooting more; he's on pace for about 177 shots; he had 185 last season and his career-high is 237, set in 2017-18. However, the quality of his chances may have improved thanks to a new system brought in by coach Todd Reirden. If you've watched the Capitals this season, they've looked a tad different than years past. "We've changed our style a bit," Carlson said. "We're in the learning process right now and we're getting caught a little bit here or there, as expected, but overall everyone is sticking to it really well. We're playing a little more up-tempo -- a speed game that fits our team right now."
As for how it affects the offense, well, they're a bit more aggressive, for starters.
"We have a pretty specific attack in how to score goals in the offensive zone -- never mind off the rush, that's pretty cut and dry across the league," Carlson said. "In the zone, we're a little more aggressive with the D. We never really pinch down as much as we do now, pretty much in my whole career -- except maybe when Bruce [Boudreau] was here, it was a little more aggressive. So that's a big change. I think that brings us four or five feet closer to the net and opportunities to shoot or have a dangerous shot."
One thing that constantly comes up in meetings: not harping on the quantity of shots, but rather the quality of shots.
"We talk about that all the time as a team," Carlson said. "So sometimes that means passing up on certain shots that will have no effect on the goalie and maybe increase his confidence."
Carlson has been one of the best defensemen in the league for some time. So it feels a bit unsavory that only now is he getting Norris attention because of his eye-popping offensive totals. Carlson says he's not dismayed by it.
"It's the constant debate that I hear when it comes to the Norris," Carlson says. "This guy is only offensive, this guy is only defensive. In reality, it should be the best defenseman; take any team in the league, if they could choose a defenseman, that's who it should be."
When asked what he likes best about his game, he said: "I take pride in doing everything. I take pride in killing penalties and in what I do on the power play and at five-on-five. I play against a lot of top players on other teams, so that's what I think of going into every game."
I talked to Carlson on Friday afternoon before the team's game against the Canucks that night. I bring this up, because the timing is important -- and it makes Carlson look smart. I asked Carlson if he's noticed any league-wide trends a few weeks into the season. Here's his response: "Things feel more offensive. I don't know statistically if there's more goals, but it does feel like scoring has been up a little bit. Everyone is in every game, whether that is the first place team versus the last place team, or throughout a game the back-and-forth lead changes feel like it's been a little more wide open than in years past. Anything can happen at any time against any opponent. That's how I feel." What happens later that night? The Capitals overcome a four-goal deficit against the Canucks to win in overtime. Pretty wild. Also wild: the Capitals had lost their previous 50 games when trailing by at least four goals.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Washington became the second team with a four-goal comeback this season -- the Jets did it against the Devils on Oct. 4 -- which marked just the fifth four-goal comeback win in the NHL in the last 10 seasons.
I asked Carlson, upon reflection, how real the Stanley Cup hangover was. He admitted last year's training camp was a bit more difficult to get through -- and the team felt like they were "catching up a little bit."
"But as the season went on, I didn't feel any different," Carlson said. "By opening night, I felt just as good as I would on any opening game. I really didn't feel less energetic or less motivated. I don't buy into the whole hangover thing; if anything, it gives you a little bit more momentum. Also, for our team, especially with having Ovi and the top guys we've had my whole career, we're always getting everyone's best effort every night. We were never sneaking up on teams over the last seven, eight, nine, 10 years."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was a terrific guest on ESPN on Ice this week. I highly recommend you check out the entire interview, but I found this to be a very honest answer on the Bruins' goaltending split -- and if teams need to rely on two goaltenders to win in the modern NHL. "I don't know if you have to," Cassidy said. "We do it that way because the data's told us that Tuukka [Rask] has a certain workload where he's performed better. It's a lot closer to 50 games than it is to 65. The other part of it is that we have a really good backup. We trust him. It started with [Anton] Khudobin, who was good for us, and then [Jaroslav] Halak. Part of it is that. If your team doesn't have confidence in the guy going in 35 times a year, then that's a problem. So we're lucky that way. That's how we go about it, and we're not going to change. The game is harder on goalies. It's faster, more physical around the net. I think their workload is harder than it was in the past."
At the espnW summit in Newport Beach this past week, Kendall Coyne Schofield and John Langel spoke on a panel about equal pay. Langel, the attorney at Ballard Spahr who is working with the 200-plus women's players boycotting professional hockey this year, explicitly called out the NHL to get involved with women's professional hockey.
"We haven't been too secretive about it," Langel said. "The WNBA has the NBA alongside it. The National Women's Soccer League is formed by U.S. Soccer -- well-heeled, smart, soccer people. They engage MLS teams; half the teams are owned by MLS franchises. Our league, the WUSA, had Comcast, Fox Communications, Time Warner, Discovery all behind it, putting in millions of dollars, but they weren't soccer-savvy. For the women's team league to survive, they need the established identity that hits the ground running and knows how to run the sport. And we've not been secretive about it. We think the one viable option is the WNHL. And that's what we're moving towards."
Coyne Schofield was as strong as I've ever heard her on the topic of professional women's hockey.
"I think we want to go to where the WNBA is today," Coyne Schofield said. "Now we have to go over 20 years back, and that's where hockey is today. We don't have a professional league that's sustainable. There's a few professional leagues -- one folded in April this year, one is still going -- but they are simply being labeled as professional. They're not acting as professional. There's not one thing that's been professional about the league. The product, the treatment of the players, the pay."
Along that topic, I spoke with WNBA players union president Nneka Oguwmike at the summit. I thought these comments about the WNBA/NBA relationship were especially interesting, if you think about the NHL getting involved with a woman's league.
"Without the NBA, we wouldn't be here," Ogwumike said. "I think that it is true: We do need the support of men's leagues, to be honest. I was talking with Kendall [Coyne Schofield], and she was saying, we just need the NHL to buy in. Quite frankly, that's a big reason why we're successful: because we have a brother league that helped get us started and helped sustain us. I think that maybe complacency with initial success has kind of slowed things down, progressively, for us. I think that as the game grows, we have to grow the business. We find ourselves in a moment where we can't continue to do the same old thing. That same old thing may work to get a league started as the women in hockey are looking to do. But to sustain it, you have to invest in it as much as you have in the men's league."
The Predators' offense looks fantastic right now (leading the league with 4.09 goals per game) but let's not overlook Rinne's strong play. The Nashville goaltender won his two starts this week, stopping 52 of 53 shots for a .981 save percentage.
The Bruins had a strong week -- defeating the rival Maple Leafs, blanking the Blues in a Stanley Cup rematch then thrashing the Rangers on Sunday night. Brad Marchand was a big part of that, tallying three goals and five assists in three games last week.
The Blues are still working out some early-season funks, and they could be without Vladimir Tarasenko, who missed this weekend's games with an upper-body injury. Lucky, the newly extended Schenn has stepped up offensively, with four goals in four games.
#NHL commissioner Gary Bettman asked about playoff format at #HeritageClassic event: "We think the format we have works extremely well ... unless you're a Leafs fan."
This play by Predators goalie Pekka Rinne -- to shovel the puck above Eric Staal's head, to avoid a delay of game penalty after skating far outside his crease -- is quite creative, and well-executed.
Interesting story on the Blue Jackets website about a team-wide sleep study. I recommend you read the whole thing. This quote from Pierre-Luc Dubois, though, is all-time beauty: "Sometimes you start watching 'Love Island' and you don't want to go to bed because you are like, 'Oh, what is going to happen next?' You stay up for another hour, and then you're not tired anymore. It's just being mature about it."
We congrats Daniel Sedin for running his 1st long-race, the TCS Amsterdam Marathon the other day. Only 2% of all marathoners ever runs a sub-3 Mara. Danny finished his first marathon race in 2.57...?? Simply amazing, if not unique. I am sure Henrik soon will try to match that. pic.twitter.com/1LravR2Ry9
Concerned and monitoring the situation around Vladimir Tarasenko, who stayed home from the Blues' recent road trip, including a rematch of the Stanley Cup final with a visit to the Bruins. The star winger (10 points in 10 games so far) will be re-evaluated on Monday after suffering an upper-body injury versus the Kings on Thursday night.
You have to feel for 19-year-old Flyers rookie Joel Farabee. He appeared to have scored his first NHL goal on the road in Chicago this week -- only to have it called back for offsides. He then appeared to record his first NHL assist. Again, it was called back for offsides. Both times, linemate Kevin Hayes was the culprit. Farabee did get his first assist later in the game. Naturally, it was Hayes who scored.
Rangers rookie Kaapo Kakko is awesome when he's confident and happy. We don't like hearing these quotes from sad Kakko, who endured a bit of a slump as the Rangers endured a five-game losing streak. "Hockey isn't very much fun for me right now," Kakko told Finland's Eastside Media earlier in the week, according to a translation from reporter Pasi Tuominen. "Things haven't been working out, and sometimes I feel like I could be on the ice a bit more. It would be cool to get a chance on the first line at some point. I understand that it hasn't been realistic so far, since I haven't really showed much."
See if John Carlson can match Al Macinnis' record for points for a defenseman in October! But also see some exciting, wide-open hockey. These are two of the top four scoring teams in the league.
Don't look now, but the Stars could be climbing their way out of the early mess, winning three of their last four. The Avs are the team to beat in the West, especially after a thrashing of Vegas last week.
Quote of the week
After the Blue Jackets beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime, John Tortorella had a message for those who doubted his team this season:
#CBJ coach John Tortorella: "We're supposed to suck this year."
Pep Guardiola has questioned whether Manchester City can continue to cope with their lengthy injury list.
The champions are without Aymeric Laporte, Leroy Sane, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Rodri, and coach Guardiola has said the number of absentees is a becoming a concern as they attempt to chase down league leaders Liverpool.
"The problem for the short term, we can handle it. For a long time, I don't know," Guardiola said.
"Of course, against top, top, top, top teams when you don't have players playing in their own position, I don't know what's going to happen."
After beating Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday, City are back in action against Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
As well as the players sidelined through injury, Guardiola will be without Fernandinho after the Brazil international was sent off against Villa.
"We don't have Fernandinho for the Carabao Cup, we have to play another one," Guardiola said.
"We have an academy and we have other solutions, and when the spirit is correct and you want to help, always you go through. It is what it is.
"These situations exist in football, especially in one season, one long season."
City face Southampton twice in the space of five days this week with Ralph Hasenhuttl's side back at the Etihad Stadium in the league on Saturday.
The Carabao Cup tie is Southampton's first game following their 9-0 mauling by Leicester at St Mary's on Friday and Guardiola is wary of a team be believes will be keen to bounce back quickly.
"It's not easy, but they are incredible professionals," he said.
"The manager will be sad for a moment, for one night, but after that they have to move forward.
"They will try to do their best so I am not going to judge them on or prepare to play against them based on what happened against Leicester, so it's a little bit strange."
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