INDIANAPOLIS – Award-winning country music superstar Luke Bryan will headline the Firestone Legends Day Concert on May 23, the day before the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

The concert, which also will feature additional acts to be announced, starts at 3:30 p.m. on the Firestone Stage inside turn four of the IMS oval.

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. ET on Nov. 1 at IMS.com, by calling 800-822-INDY or 317-492-6700, or by visiting the IMS Ticket Office at the IMS Administration Building.

Fans can get early pre-sale access by joining the mailing list at IMS.com/LegendsDay.

General admission tickets start at just $35. A limited number of concert pit tickets are available starting at $75. For the first time in 2020, a limited number of tickets in a new temporary grandstand are available starting at $115, including concert pit access.

A very limited supply of exclusive VIP platform tickets also is available for $250, including pit access, snacks, two complimentary drinks and dedicated bars. Ticket prices will increase as the concert draws closer, so fans are encouraged to buy now.

All concert tickets include admission to the concert and all Legends Day presented by Firestone activities that day at IMS, including autograph sessions with current and past Indianapolis 500 drivers, the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge public drivers meeting, historic race car laps and more.

“The Firestone Legends Day Concert continues to attract the top names in country music every year, and 2020 will be no exception with Luke Bryan headlining the show,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “Luke’s high-octane performances will charge up our fans for Race Weekend, and we know they’ll sing along with hit after hit. This show will be a perfect match for ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'”

This will be Bryan’s second concert at IMS, and first in a decade. He performed as a rising young talent in the Pagoda Plaza on Brickyard 400 weekend in 2010. Since then, Bryan has emerged as one of the biggest stars in the history of country music.

Bryan is a two-time Academy of Country Music and a two-time Country Music Ass’n Entertainer of the Year, a five-time host of the ACM Awards, a celebrity judge on ABC’s “American Idol,” a NSAI Artist/Songwriter of the Year and was named a CMT Artist of the Year six consecutive years.

He has more certified digital singles than any other country artist, with 46 million tracks and 12 million albums with 4 billion music streams. Bryan has now placed 23 singles at No. 1, 12 of which he co-wrote.

In May 2019, Bryan launched his “Sunset Repeat Tour” with special guests Cole Swindell and Jon Langston and played for 50,000 fans during its opening weekend. He followed that success with a sold-out show in Boston’s Gillette Stadium, bringing his career headline stadium concert tally to 35.

Last summer, Bryan also opened Nashville’s only six-floor entertainment facility in the heart of Music City, Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink. The name was inspired by Bryan’s childhood home near Route 32 Bridge in Lee County, Ga.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Historic Sportscar Racing confirmed Thursday three popular and high-profile race cars that will participate in the HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA, Nov. 13-17.

Two-time HSR Classics winner David Porter and GMT Racing bring to Daytona a 2007 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP that achieved the majority of its career success in the U.S. earlier in this decade.

Chassis number 10, and one of the final 908 HDi race cars built, Porter’s Peugeot scored the last of its three race wins in its prime in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2011 with Team Oreca Matmut.

The Peugeot closed out its career later in 2011 with a second-place finish at Petit Le Mans, and Porter acquired the car a few years ago.

“I love both HSR Classics at Daytona and Sebring,” Porter said. “We spend the winters in Florida, I like the place, and both of the tracks are so unlike anything you get anywhere else. This car, having won Sebring, we have the factory settings, I am not worried about that at all. Daytona is a little bit different because we have to get the car right, make sure we don’t have too much camber and all this type of stuff.

“It is going to be a marvelous experience driving this car at both tracks.”

Porter tested the 908 HDi, which has been readorned in its original 2010 Peugeot factory livery, at Daytona a few weeks ago and is set for a solo drive in this year’s Classic 24-Hour race. He previously won the 2016 HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour co-driving with 24 Hours of Le Mans race winner Richard Bradley.

The following year, Porter took the HSR Classic Daytona victory partnering with three-time 24 Hours of Daytona overall winner Joao Barbosa.

“I have won both HSR Classics in the past, but with professional drivers doing half the time,” Porter said. “I really want to do it myself now, and I think this car is quick enough to do it. We will find out!”

A returning prototype entry looking to improve on last year’s podium finish is the 1985 Porsche 962C prepared by Amalfi Racing for car owner and driver Angus Russell.

The Kremer Racing/Leyton House liveried Porsche was co-driven to a third-place overall Group C finish by Russell and former 24 Hours of Daytona overall and class winner Jim Pace in 2018.

“I am teaming up again with Jim Pace, my partner last year when we came in third in our class in the Classic 24,” Russell said. “We are coming back to defend our position, see if we can podium again and even move up a spot or two. It’s a great event; these cars were built for this track in Daytona, so I am really excited about coming back again this year.”

Russell’s 962 is chassis number 114 and was a factory-built privateer customer car raced in both the Interseries in Europe and in Japan. Such notables as James Weaver, Volkert Weidler and the late Jo Gartner drove the 962 in its prime.

Russell chose to restore the car to its 1988 Leyton House livery after purchasing the Porsche in 2011.

“When the boost kicks in on this car, it is just like warp drive being engaged,” Russell said. “Then you have got fireworks going off in the middle of the night. You are driving around the track, punching the gears, the turbo boost kicks in and there is just no other feeling in the world like it for me.”

Matteo Ferrer, a 24-year-old Italian driver who won a pair of races in his HSR debut last May at the Barber Historics, returns to the wheel of Amalfi Racing’s unique 1976 No. 5 Porsche 935/K1 for his first HSR Classic Daytona start next month.

Ferrer swept both Group 9 WeatherTech Sprint races in the 935/K1 in his first visit to Barber Motorsports Park in May. Earlier this month he clinched a 2019 FIA Masters Historic Formula One championship in Europe in the post-1978 division at the wheel of a Ligier JS11/15.

Ferrer will be back in the No. 5 Porsche for the Classic Daytona, set for a solo drive in what will be the debut race for both Ferrer and the rare 935/K1 at the World Center of Racing.

Amalfi debuted the 935/K1 at the HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour in 2016 and battled for the Group B win throughout the 2017 Classic Sebring before being just edged for the victory on the last lap of the final heat.

Free Bio Kim?

Not quite.

The Korea Professional Golfers’ Association announced Wednesday that Kim’s suspension was reduced from three years to one after a meeting of the tour’s board of directors, according to the Yonhap News Agency. Kim will still be fined $8,350 and ordered to complete 120 hours of community service.

The tour’s money leader this season, Kim will be eligible to return in 2021.

Kim made worldwide news Sept. 29 when he lost his temper after a fan’s cellphone camera shutter went off during his downswing. Kim turned and flipped off the fan, then slammed his club into the ground. He went on to win the event – his second title of the season – and apologized afterward for his outburst.

It wasn’t enough to save his job, as the KPGA slapped him with a three-year ban, saying that he had “damaged the dignity of a golfer with (an) etiquette violation and inappropriate behavior.” Following the announcement, Kim was shown kneeling in front of a row of television cameras, begging for forgiveness, but he ultimately accepted his penalty and said that he wouldn’t appeal the decision.

At the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Kevin Na was among those who stood up for Kim, saying the three-year ban for making an obscene gesture was “ridiculous.” His caddie, Kenny Harms, sported a “Free Bio Kim” hat.

“You’re taking a man’s job for three years,” Na said at the time. “Yes, he was unprofessional and there should be consequences for it, but don’t take a man’s job away for three years.”

MS Dhoni's days as India wicketkeeper seem to have ended, going by the statements of MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors, today while announcing India's T20I and Test squads for the Bangladesh series at home. Dhoni did not feature in the T20I squad - he's already retired from Tests - and while Prasad didn't say Dhoni had been dropped, his answer was unambiguous: "This is our clear thought process that post World Cup we are focusing on Rishabh Pant only."

When prodded again - he was asked the Dhoni question four times - Prasad said: "I made it very clear post the World Cup that we are moving on. We are giving opportunities to youngsters and see that they establish themselves in the side. With Rishabh Pant doing so well and even Sanju Samson coming into the side [as back-up wicketkeeper], I am sure you must be understanding our thought process."

Prasad also said that Dhoni had been spoken to about his future and the former India captain "also endorses our view of backing youngsters".

When asked if Dhoni could make a comeback by returning to domestic cricket, Prasad did not give a conclusive answer again. "That is purely his personal call," Prasad said. "Going into domestic cricket, getting his touch back, or thoughts about retirement, everything is purely his personal [decision]. We've already laid the roadmap for future, I'm sure you can see in the way we are selecting the teams."

"We are very very confident that he will come out successful and this is our clear thought process that post World Cup we are focusing on Rishabh Pant only" MSK Prasad

Prasad's comments came after the selection committee meeting at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, which was also attended by the board's newly elected president and secretary, Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah. Also present at the meeting were India captain Virat Kohli and his deputy in the limited-overs formats, Rohit Sharma.

Although Prasad's panel is already focused on Pant, Ganguly has said he will speak to both Dhoni as well as Kohli on the matter. Upon taking charge as BCCI president yesterday, Ganguly pointed out that "champions" like Dhoni "do not finish very quickly".

Incidentally, this could be the last time Prasad's selection panel picks a team, with the contracts of some of the selectors including Prasad running down.

There was speculation that Dhoni might retire post the World Cup, but he didn't. But questions about his future continued to do the rounds as he opted out of the West Indies tour in August and was then missing from the T20I squad that played South Africa at home last month. The lack of conclusive answers from the selection committee did not help matters. After picking the squad for the West Indies tour, Prasad had said Dhoni had "expressed his unavailability" and "when he is fit and available, then we'll see".

A few days later it emerged that Dhoni was going to spend two weeks with the Indian Army in the first half of August.

The next time Prasad's panel met, to pick the T20I squad for the South Africa games, they chose not to hold a press conference, which added to the speculation around Dhoni.

Meanwhile, Pant played all three formats in the Caribbean and the T20Is against South Africa, though he too sparked debate over his shot selection and batting methods following a run without substantial scores. India's new batting coach Vikram Rathour said, "Of course he needs to sort out his game plans a little more; bring a little bit of discipline to his game." Head coach Ravi Shastri said that Pant had "let the team down" with his shot selection and captain Virat Kohli suggested his decision making needs to improve.

Prasad confirmed that India will stick with Pant, though. "Post World Cup I've been very very clear on this, that after the World Cup we started backing Rishabh Pant and we will still back him and see that he progresses well," he said. "Of course, he might not have had the best of the matches that we expected of him, but still we can only make a player by backing somebody. We are very very confident that he will come out successful and this is our clear thought process that post World Cup we are focusing on Rishabh Pant only."

Surrey have signed Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan and Australia opener D'Arcy Short for the 2020 Vitality Blast. Shadab will be making his first appearance in county cricket, while Short moves south after impressing with Durham in the Blast last season.

The signing of Short will go some way to making up for the loss of Aaron Finch, who has played regularly for Surrey since 2016 but is expected to be involved in Australia's limited-overs tour of England next summer, affecting his availability. Short finished as the fourth-leading run-scorer in this year's competition, with 483 at a strike rate of 139.59, despite Durham failing to make it beyond the group stage.

Shadab, 21, has played all three formats internationally but came to prominence in T20, during the 2017 Pakistan Super League. He has since played in the Big Bash and Caribbean Premier League, amassing 121 wickets in 98 games, with an economy of 6.81.

Described by Surrey's director of cricket, Alec Stewart, as "one of the most exciting spin bowlers in world cricket", Shadab will spend much of the 2020 summer in the UK, having also been signed up for the Hundred - although his participation in that competition will depend on his involvement in the Test set-up. The full county fixture list for next year has not been announced but the Blast is expected to take place from May to July.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity to play county cricket for a long time and T20 cricket at the Kia Oval is a great place to start," Shadab said. "I'm honoured to be following in the footsteps of some great Pakistan cricketers and will do my best to make both my new team and the Surrey fans proud."

Short has played 20 T20Is and four ODIs for Australia, although he was left out of the series against Sri Lanka starting later this week. The left-hander, who also bowls useful wristspin, has been the leading scorer in each of the last two editions of the Big Bash, and has also featured in the IPL.

Stewart said that finding a replacement for Finch, who was Surrey's leading run-scorer in 2019, was behind the move. Short had been offered a new two-year contract to stay at Durham, with the club last week announcing their disappointment that he would not be returning.

"We're delighted D'Arcy will join us for next year's Vitality Blast," Stewart said. "With Aaron Finch unavailable, it was vitally important that we replaced him with a powerful batsman at the top of the order. D'Arcy was highly impressive with both bat and ball in this year's competition and we look forward to seeing him build on that in the 2020 season."

Short said: "I enjoyed my time in the Blast in 2019. To have the opportunity to come back in 2020 and play in front of full houses at one of the best grounds in the world is brilliant. I am already looking forward to joining up with the boys and I thank all involved for the opportunity."

Three players competing at the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier have been suspended from bowling with immediate effect after a panel ruled their bowling actions to be illegal.

"Selladore Vijayakumar of Singapore, Tom Sole of Scotland and Abiodun Abioye of Nigeria have been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after the Event Panel of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier confirmed that they use illegal actions," the ICC said in a statement.

Vijayakumar was reported by match officials during Singapore's game against Scotland last Friday, Sole in Scotland's match against Kenya the following day and Abioye during Nigeria's match against Canada on Monday.

The Event Panel, comprising members of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, viewed video footage of the players bowling in the tournament and concluded that all three employed bowling actions that exceeded the allowed 15 degrees of tolerance. As a result, they were immediately suspended from bowling in international cricket in accordance with ICC regulations.

Sole was previously cleared of having an illegal action during the 2018 World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.

Bangladesh allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin's back injury has ruled him out of next month's T20I series against India. According to the BCB, multiple scans have suggested that the player's recovery will take more time, and he will continue with rehab for now. Physio Julian Calefato said that Saifuddin will have more time to strengthen his body, by taking this break.

"Due to a recurring back injury, Saif will be rested from the India tour this year, giving him an opportunity to consolidate his recovery over a longer period of time," Calefato said. "He now will also have the opportunity to spend more time strengthening his body and his situation will be reviewed by the medical team again in the upcoming weeks for further updates."

Saifuddin had recently said that he was keen to bear the pain to play in the T20I series against India. Bangladesh are yet to name his replacement.

Bangladesh squad for T20I series: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Aminul Islam, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam

Who doesn't love a good blind statistical comparison? As I look through the numbers and put together my columns for ESPN each week, I inevitably run into simple comparisons between players or teams that surprise me. Some of those end up in columns or tweets. Others get penciled in as future ideas, most of which get written off when the comparisons no longer apply.

Today, though, I'm throwing out an entire column of blind comparisons. I'll list two players or teams that have similar statistics by several key measures and then reveal who they are. In some cases, we'll be making comparisons between teams and players from 2019 and the past; in others, I'll contrast players and teams from this current season to contextualize their ongoing campaigns. In fact, let's start with one of those:

Jump to an interesting blind comp:
'Not bad for a running back'
Inside the most dominant defense ... ever?
One struggling QB, one improving QB
Can the Browns really win like this?
Serious MVP candidate | Underrated WR

Player A: 61.8% completion percentage, 7.0 yards per attempt, 7 INTs

Player B: 62.4% completion percentage, 7.0 yards per attempt, 7 INTs

Let's start with a straightforward comparison. Player A is Jared Goff's 2019 season so far, with the Rams quarterback hitting these relatively mortal numbers only after getting to face the free parking space that is the Falcons' defense last Sunday. Goff should continue his return to form against the Bengals in Week 8, but the former first overall pick will have to contend with the likes of the Steelers, Bears and Ravens after Los Angeles' subsequent bye.

Player B is Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who has unquestionably improved as a passer after a moribund rookie season. If anything, he deserves a bit of a boost given that he has played the Patriots, which is his only truly dreadful performance of the season. The Bills have surrounded Allen with a better infrastructure and receivers than the replacement-level talents he worked with in 2018, and his numbers have rebounded by asking him to throw deep less frequently. Throw in Allen's distinct advantage as a runner (190 rushing yards and 13 first downs, to 16 yards and three first downs for Goff) and you could very well argue that Allen has been the more productive player this season.

Of course, we're telling different stories about these players because they look to be on different paths. Goff, who played like a franchise quarterback for most of last season, appears to be taking steps backward. Allen, who looked to be in over his head as a rookie, is on the way up. They're both roughly in the same spot as below-average quarterbacks, with Goff and Allen ranking 27th and 29th, respectively, in Total QBR. Goff's track record of NFL success suggests that he's more likely to improve, but who can be sure?

Player A: 21 tackles, 4 sacks, 20 QB knockdowns, 3 tackles for loss

Player B: 20 tackles, 4 sacks, 14 QB knockdowns, 3 tackles for loss

Player A is Texans star J.J. Watt, who flew into the league lead in quarterback hits after knocking down Jacoby Brissett six times on Sunday. Watt isn't having a monster sack season by his standards, but this is the closest we've seen him get to his 2012-15 peak, when he racked up 190 quarterback knockdowns over a four-year span, 90 more than any other defender over that same time frame. The future Hall of Famer is on pace to finish with 46 hits this season.

You might already have been able to guess Player B's identity, but it's proof the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Steelers pass-rusher T.J. Watt is tied for second in the league with 14 knockdowns and was tied with his older brother before Pittsburgh's bye week. The fellow Wisconsin product broke out with a 13-sack, 21-knockdown season in 2018, and he's tracking to top that knockdown total by Week 10. T.J. has helped keep the Steelers afloat without Ben Roethlisberger, as Pittsburgh's pass rush ranks third in adjusted sack rate.

Player A: 29 catches, 436 receiving yards, 55.8% catch rate, 11.0 air yards/target, 212 routes run

Player B: 25 catches, 439 receiving yards, 54.3% catch rate, 10.0 air yards/target, 210 routes run

These are two players who find themselves in very similar situations. Player A is new Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who hasn't quite hit the lofty heights fans expected after the stunning trade that sent him to Cleveland in March. Player B is teammate Jarvis Landry, who has virtually identical statistics after six frustrating games.

Beckham has 52 targets to Landry's 46, but we're basically dealing with something close to a 50-50 split in terms of usage between the two former LSU stars.

Is this the best way for the Browns to use their two expensive wide receivers? It's hard to say. I expected that Landry might see targets slightly more frequently, but that those targets would come on shorter passes than the throws Beckham would see. Instead, we're really seeing the two wideouts playing around the same depth, although Landry has made 19 catches out of the slot, and Beckham has only four.

I wonder if rookie head coach Freddie Kitchens plans to make changes to his offense coming out of the bye, although Cleveland's 10-game close to the season starts with the juggernaut Patriots defense on Sunday.

Player A: 127 carries, 618 rushing yards, 7 rushing TDs

Player B: 135 carries, 602 rushing yards, 6 rushing TDs

Player C: 30 catches, 306 receiving yards, 5 receiving TDs

Player D: 35 catches, 305 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs

This is another one you might be able to see through. Player B is Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, and Player C is Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton, but Players A and D are the same guy: Christian McCaffrey, who is engendering serious MVP consideration as he has carried the Panthers to a four-game winning streak.

The 2017 first-round pick has fielded more than 56% of Carolina's offensive touches so far while playing 96% of the offensive snaps. Though Kyle Allen has impressed since taking over for an ailing Cam Newton, Allen has thrown only six passes for 26 yards without his star halfback on the field.

Would the combination of Elliott and Hilton be worth an MVP? I'll get into a longer discussion about McCaffrey's MVP chances when I file my midseason awards ballot in a couple of weeks, but McCaffrey is on pace to approach nearly 2,500 yards from scrimmage over a full season. I don't think I would say either Zeke or Hilton are having particularly great seasons by their own standards, so while the combination of the two is pretty impressive, McCaffrey probably has to be the best rusher in the league before he attracts significant MVP attention.

You could make a strong case for Dalvin Cook as the league's top runner this season, leaving receiving out of the equation.

Player A: 57.1% completion percentage, 6.8 yards per attempt, 3.4% INT rate, 77.1 passer rating

Player B: 60.1% completion percentage, 6.7 yards per attempt, 2.8% INT rate, 77.9 passer rating

This one's just here to contextualize how much the NFL has changed over the past 20 years, and how important it is to put stats in context. Player A is the collected passing performance of the NFL during the 1999 season; though that includes work by backups and the occasional trick play, this is essentially what average quarterback play looked like 20 years ago.

Player B is Andy Dalton's 2019 season so far. I understand if you haven't really been paying close attention to an 0-7 Bengals team, but Dalton ranks 28th in passer rating and Total QBR. An average quarterback from 1999 -- a passer like Steve McNair or Jeff Garcia, by the numbers -- would be barely playable by the numbers in 2019.

Kurt Warner's debut season as a starter came in 1999 when the future Hall of Famer took the league by storm and won MVP. His passer rating that year was 109.2. Three quarterbacks have a better passer rating this season than Warner had then, and one of them is Kirk Cousins. The No. 2 quarterback that year by passer rating was Steve Beuerlein, who was nearly 15 points behind Warner at 94.6. Fourteen quarterbacks have a better passer rating this season than the former Panthers starter. The game is very different.

Player A: 243 catches, 379 targets, 14 drops, 3,681 receiving yards, 15 TDs

Player B: 243 catches, 362 targets, 14 drops, 3,153 receiving yards, 15 TDs

Let's contrast a superstar everyone takes for granted and one who doesn't always get the same sort of recognition. Player A is Falcons receiver Julio Jones' cumulative statistical line over the past three seasons. While there was a stretch of time in which the Falcons star seemed bizarrely incapable of crossing the goal line, a thankfully healthy Jones has been as dominant as anybody in football over the past three seasons, averaging 94.3 receiving yards per game. About the only hole you poke in Jones' game -- and it might just be Atlanta's philosophy in keeping him on the field -- is that the star wideout typically plays about only 75% to 80% of the Falcons' offensive snaps when most No. 1 receivers play closer to 95% of their team's snaps.

Player B is a guy who gets fantasy recognition without necessarily getting best-wideout-in-football hype. It's the 2017-19 combined line for Chargers receiver Keenan Allen, whose numbers put him in a similar ballpark to the Falcons' star. Jones does average right around 1 more yard per target than his Chargers counterpart, which is valuable, but Allen's catch rate is about 3 percentage points higher. Jones is the better receiver, but there's less of a difference between the two than you might think.

Player A: 14 games, 238 carries, 1,341 rushing yards, 5.5 yards per carry, 61 rushing first downs, 12 TDs

Player B: 14 starts, 230 carries, 1,271 rushing yards, 5.5 yards per carry, 75 rushing first downs, 8 TDs

This one might not be obvious at first glance. Player A is Adrian Peterson's rookie season. Heading back to 2007, the seventh overall pick made an immediate impact as a runner, racking up four 100-plus yard games in his first five outings. In November of that season, Peterson set the single-game NFL rushing record by going off for 296 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over the Chargers. The only other running backs who carried the ball at least 10 times in 2007 and are still in the league besides Peterson are Frank Gore and Darren Sproles.

Player B is Lamar Jackson's production as a runner since entering the league. Jackson was used in sub packages while backing up Joe Flacco last season, but after 14 starts, his numbers are eerily similar to Peterson's debut campaign. Peterson has more touchdowns, and Jackson will never get the running volume to produce a 296-yard game, but the Ravens' starter has moved the chains more frequently and been a more consistently impactful runner.

Oh, there's something else he can do ...

Player A: 61.0% completion percentage, 7.4 yards per attempt, 6.39 adjusted net yards per attempt

Player B: 65.0% completion percentage, 7.2 yards per attempt, 6.35 adjusted net yards per attempt

Player A is Lamar Jackson's performance as a passer over the past two years. Player B is Matthew Stafford's performance over that same time frame, and Stafford has the largest cap hit of any player in football.

Adjusted net yards per attempt weighs touchdowns and interceptions in a more realistic way than passer rating while also incorporating sack yardage; after you do all that, Jackson has been just as effective of a passer as his far more expensive counterpart. As Jackson said earlier this season, "not bad for a running back."

Player A: 228 completions, 373 attempts, 61.1% completion percentage, 2,764 passing yards, 7.4 yards per pass attempt, 16 TDs, 8 INTs, 89.3 passer rating

Player B: 198 completions, 360 attempts, 55.0% completion percentage, 2,673 passing yards, 7.4 yards per pass attempt, 17 TDs, 9 INTs, 84.2 passer rating

I know what I said a minute ago about comparing quarterbacks across eras. Indulge me for a second. Player A is Lamar Jackson's passing numbers across his first 14 starts. Player B is Steve McNair's passing numbers across his first 14 starts.

The Oilers started McNair only six times in his first two seasons before moving to Tennessee and handing him the full-time job, so these numbers actually stretch into McNair's third season. By the time McNair started his 14th game in the league, Jackson could have as many as 26 starts under his belt. They're certainly not the same sort of quarterback, but it's fun to see the similarities between a former Ravens standout and Baltimore's current star quarterback.

Team A: 66 possessions, 0.86 points per drive, 18.2% of drives ending in turnovers, 50% three-and-out rate

Team B: 63 possessions, 0.83 points per drive, 20.6% of drives ending in turnovers, 49.2% three-and-out rate

Let's make a defensive comparison here. Team A is the season-to-date output for the San Francisco 49ers, who have allowed 10 points over the past three weeks while comfortably handling the Browns, Rams and Washington. The Steelers are the only team to score more than 17 points against the 49ers this season, and that came in a game in which Kyle Shanahan's offense turned over the ball five times. Richard Sherman & Co. have absolutely stifled opposing passing attacks.

That's why it's so interesting that these numbers compare so closely with the last five weeks of the 2013 regular season for the Seattle Seahawks, who are Team B. That was a defense which will likely send three players to the Hall of Fame in Sherman, Earl Thomas and Bobby Wagner, let alone a second tier with guys such as Bruce Irvin, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett and Kam Chancellor.

After this five-game stretch, the Seahawks rode that legendary defense to a blowout victory over the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. We're still a long way away from that for the 49ers, but for a team that intercepted two passes across all of 2018, it's incredible to think that we could make viable comparisons to the Legion of Boom after six games this season.

Player A: 561 pass attempts, 11 drops

Player B: 109 pass attempts, 10 drops

This is a reminder of just how important it is to end up with the right people around quarterbacks. Player A in this grouping is Jared Goff's 2018 season, which the Rams quarterback spent under the tutelage of Sean McVay and with a bevy of talented receivers. Player B is Josh Rosen's 2019 season with the Dolphins, in which his receivers have dropped a staggering 9.2% of his passes.

To put that in context, no other quarterback with 100 pass attempts or more this season has been subject to a drop rate of more than 5.5%. The last time a quarterback struggled with a drop rate this high over a 100-plus attempt season was Blaine Gabbert in 2012.

Rosen's numbers through two seasons are awful. There's no denying that. It's also difficult to imagine a quarterback who has been dealt a worse hand in terms of supporting casts than the former Cardinals first-round pick, who has played behind the league's worst offensive line in each of his two pro seasons. After this season, Rosen will likely be replaced by the first overall pick in the 2020 draft and either consigned to the bench or traded as a distressed asset to another team, likely as a backup. Goff, who spent a year flailing under the final year of the Jeff Fisher administration in Los Angeles, can probably sympathize.

Player A: 52.3% completion percentage, 4.2 yards per attempt, 9.2% INT rate

Player B: 50.8% completion percentage, 5.0 yards per attempt, 7.8% INT rate

Player A is quarterback Nathan Peterman, who was badly overmatched in his four starts with the Bills from 2017 to '18. The fifth-round pick posted a passer rating of 32.5 on 130 pass attempts; when you adjust for era using Pro Football Reference's index statistics, Peterman is the second-worst quarterback in the history of football with 100 or more pass attempts.

Player B isn't really one player; it's the collected line of all the quarterbacks who have faced the New England Patriots' defense this season. Those quarterbacks have combined to post a passer rating of 35.6, just 3.1 points better than Peterman's mark. I get that the Patriots haven't played a tough slate of opposing quarterbacks, but they've still gone up against veterans such as Ben Roethlisberger and Colt McCoy and highly touted young players such as Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones. Bill Belichick's defense has reduced them to collectively performing about as poorly as the worst quarterback of the past 80 years.

Team A: 3 total TDs, 18 INTs, one passing TD

Team B: 4 total TDs, 18 INTs, one passing TD

You can probably sense a theme here. Team A is the 2019 Patriots defense and what it has allowed in the first seven games. The Pats have allowed as many touchdowns on offense (three) as they have on defense, which would be crazy if it weren't for the fact that they've scored as many touchdowns on defense (also three) as they've allowed.

Team B is a seven-game run from Weeks 5-11 from the 1969 Minnesota Vikings' season. It's the last time a defense posted a similar-or-better touchdown-to-interception ratio to this Patriots team over any seven-game stint in any season. For whatever you want to say about their quality of opposition, there have been plenty of great defenses that went up against terrible quarterbacks over the past 50 years. None has been as dominant as the Patriots.

Of course, the Vikings also pulled this off in an era in which it was much easier to post these sorts of numbers. In 1969, opposing offenses averaged 20.9 points per game and threw 1.4 interceptions per contest. In 2019, NFL teams average 22.5 points per game while throwing interceptions nearly half as frequently, averaging 0.8 picks per game. There's a strong argument that this is the best defensive run we've ever seen from any team in post-barnstorming football history.

Team A: 2.94 standard deviations above the mean, 36.4 points per game

Team B: 3.05 standard deviations below the mean, 37.1 points per game

Let's finish with more of an indirect comparison of greatness. Team A is the 2007 Patriots offense and its points scored (excluding defensive and special-teams scores) through the first seven games of the season, when they laid waste to the NFL. Teams eventually caught up in the second half and began to slow down the Pats, but after a 49-28 dismantling of the Dolphins in Week 7, the Pats had scored 255 points, 39 more than any other team and nearly 120 more than the league average.

By standardizing the Pats' performance, we can compare them across eras. Three standard deviations above the mean is the simple definition of an outlier, so the 2007 Patriots come very close to that standard.

As you can probably guess, Team B is the 2019 Patriots. By the same measure, they've allowed a total of 30 points across touchdowns scored by the opposing offense, field goals and extra points. The second-placed 49ers have allowed 58 points in six games; prorating that to seven games gets them to 67.7 points. I've gone through the other teams who have had a bye and similarly adjusted their totals.

The Patriots' defense is 3.05 standard deviations below the mean in terms of points allowed. The cool thing about standardizing scores is that you can easily translate them across different measures, so given that the Pats' defense is 3.05 standard deviations below the mean in 2019, we can figure out what an offense that is 3.05 standard deviations above the mean would have looked like in 2007. As it turns out, if an offense were 3.05 standard deviations above the mean over the first seven games of 2007, it would have scored 37.1 points per game, a little under one point per contest more than the Patriots actually did during their incredible start to the season.

If all of that's too math-y for you, let me put it as simply as I can: The 2019 Patriots defense has been more dominant than the 2007 Patriots offense through seven weeks.

IT'S 60 MINUTES before the Golden State Warriors' second-to-last preseason game of the year, and Staples Center is quiet.

Stephen Curry, who has just finished his pregame shooting routine, gives D'Angelo Russell a pat on the chest and stops to sign a handful of autographs before entering the visitors locker room. Curry makes his way to the far left end, typing some messages on his phone.

The two stalls next to Curry are empty: Draymond Green is in the training room getting some treatment, and rehabbing swingman Klay Thompson has yet to appear.

Andrew Harrison sits six stalls away with headphones in his ears and stares into his phone. On the other side of the room, jammed together: Kavion Pippen, Marquese Chriss, Jacob Evans and Alen Smailagic. Juan Toscano-Anderson rests his head on a foam roller on the floor.

This is not the Warriors' famed Death Lineup.

A few minutes later, rookie Jordan Poole enters and takes a portable speaker to the center of the room. With "FlatBed Freestyle" by Playboi Carti pumping, Poole breaks into some pregame dance moves.

A season ago, there was no music in the locker room. Veterans Kevin Durant, Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala dutifully went about their routines as players and staff members filed in and out. Curry, at 31, is not only the oldest player on the roster. He and Green are also the veteran sounding boards for a room full of guys who grew up watching them perform.

"They'll be watching the news," Poole says. "I'll be watching 'SpongeBob.'"

Acclimating new, younger faces to a team fresh off a run that included five straight NBA Finals and three championships won't be easy. But other issues -- lack of depth in the paint, questions on the wings, Thompson's uncertain return timetable from a torn ACL -- leave Golden State in uncharted territory as the franchise moves across the Bay to San Francisco's Chase Center.

There's buzz surrounding Curry to deliver an inspired performance this season. The lead Splash Brother, though, is no cure-all for what ails this version of the Warriors.

A SEASON AGO, Golden State's biggest questions revolved around Durant and his future. Wins were expected; so were championships. Regular-season games were almost an afterthought. Some nights the Warriors showed up, and some nights they didn't, but there was little urgency because of the talent gap Curry and his superstar teammates enjoyed. Now, that gap is gone, and a group of young players takes its place.

At the head of that new group is 23-year-old D'Angelo Russell.

For as much pressure as Curry and Green will be under this season to produce and lead, there might be no member of the Warriors' roster under more of a microscope than Russell. He is the player the Warriors moved quickly to acquire after losing Durant to the Brooklyn Nets, and he's the one who carries a max contract going forward on a team still carrying several future Hall of Famers.

Russell has the offensive ability to help bridge the gap until Thompson returns, but he must take another step in his defensive development. "There's a lot of things on the defensive end that I want to get better at," he said.

Russell ranked 44th among 84 qualified point guards last season, with a minus-0.57 defensive real plus-minus. That was an improvement from the 2017-18 season, when Russell finished 69th out of 74 qualified point guards at minus-2.65.

Russell broke out offensively for a career-high 21.1 points per game last season with the Nets, and playing alongside Curry will lessen the pressure to produce. But it will amplify the importance of defensive improvement.

"We don't expect him to go out there and be Patrick Beverley or Kawhi Leonard. It's just not who you are. We're not expecting [Russell] to reinvent the wheel," Green said, adding that Russell has shown in camp, despite a reputation as a less-than-average defender, that he can contribute on that end of the floor.

"I told him that will be the expectation moving forward," Green said. "Sorry, buddy, you showed it, but that's what we expect now."

Warriors staff members have been impressed by Russell's maturity in his brief tenure with the team, and they are optimistic about his ability to fit into the system. However, all parties involved understand that if Russell doesn't find his rhythm with the group, there is a strong chance that he might play elsewhere next season.

GM Bob Myers tried to assuage those concerns after the sign-and-trade became official, saying that the Warriors didn't sign Russell just to move him, but that remains the prevailing feeling throughout the league. Not only do the Warriors have Russell's deal, but they also have a trade exception expiring next summer worth more than $17 million, which was created after they sent Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies. With Russell on the team, Golden State faces severe hard-cap restrictions for this season, limiting how much Myers can try to improve the roster.

For Russell, the chatter is just part of the business of basketball.

"It's just fun," Russell said. "Whatever people are talking about, whatever people have an opinion on, it's fun."

Russell is one of nine players on the roster age 23 or younger, and head coach Steve Kerr says he isn't concerned about the 2019 All-Star's fit.

"I don't think the transition will be that difficult because he's such a good player," Kerr said before training camp began. "And D'Angelo played a style with Brooklyn where the floor was spread, a lot of high pick-and-rolls, lot of dribble handoffs. We'll do a lot of the same stuff for him.

"The bigger question is how we incorporate everybody else and what the team looks like."

Those questions don't have easy answers.

Glenn Robinson III earned a spot as the starting small forward on opening night, but the Warriors are his fourth team in five seasons. With Kevon Looney (hamstring) and Willie Cauley-Stein (foot strain) out for most of camp, Marquese Chriss has emerged to snag a spot in Kerr's rotation. Chriss is on his fourth team in four seasons.

Veteran Alec Burks was supposed to provide stability in the rotation but has been plagued by an ankle sprain throughout training camp. Rookies Poole and Eric Paschall have shown flashes, yet it remains unclear how much Golden State will rely on either player early.

The flaws previously hidden by overwhelming talent and steady veterans are much easier to see now.

IT'S RARE THAT an NBA team is outside the top 30 in anything, and Kerr won't miss a chance to point that out.

"We've got to rebound better," Kerr said of his team's preseason to date. "There's been 37 teams that have played exhibition basketball in the NBA so far -- the 30 NBA teams plus like seven international teams -- [and] we're 36th in opponent's offensive rebounds.

"So I told the guys yesterday, 'I'm confident that if we box out better, we can maybe catch [Maccabi] Haifa and hopefully maybe even get past the Shanghai Sharks if we put it together for a couple games.'"

The Warriors, finishing the first of three straight practice days at UCLA, are preparing for the second of four preseason meetings with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kerr's concerns manifest themselves on the court hours later.

Dwight Howard, who came to Lakers camp on a non-guaranteed deal, racks up 12 points and 13 boards in 22 minutes, looking like the dominant big man who ruled the league at the beginning of the decade, not the 33-year-old who couldn't find a job a couple of months ago.

The Lakers outrebound the Warriors for the second straight game, scoring almost half of their 104 points in the paint. What makes it even more frustrating for Kerr is that his team is beaten up and down the floor by a Lakers group that is jet lagged from a recent trip to China and playing without stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

A glimpse into the Warriors' new future reveals itself late in the first quarter. With Green, Russell, Looney and Cauley-Stein all out, the pressure falls on Curry to pick up the slack. After watching former teammate JaVale McGee throw down a dunk, Curry races down to the other end of the floor and misses a 3-pointer.

McGee gets the rebound, eventually bullying his way into the paint for a bucket on a hook shot. On the ensuing Warriors possession, Curry turns the ball over as the Lakers start to build control.

Although Curry's best weapon against an easy layup remains a 25-footer of his own, there is only so much that the two-time MVP can do.

Two days later, the Warriors get worked even more by the Lakers, who pick-and-roll Kerr's young group to death. L.A.'s veteran bigs have their way with Chriss -- he finishes a minus-34 on the night -- as all the other young Warriors big men try to find their way.

Kerr knew the preseason was going to be challenging, but the mixture of frustration and dejection he wears on his face after a third straight loss to the Lakers is hard to ignore.

"They're one of the biggest teams in the league, and they've kind of overwhelmed us with their size in the frontcourt," Kerr said. "So for us to play them without Looney and Willie Cauley-Stein, it's tough.

"There are just times where we're in the right position, and we just get overwhelmed."

Throughout their championship reign, the Warriors made a habit of filling the roster with quality veteran bigs. At first it was Andrew Bogut, David Lee and David West. Then came McGee and Zaza Pachulia. Last season it was DeMarcus Cousins and another tour from Bogut to go with Green, who was never afraid to log some minutes amongst the trees. The Warriors ranked eighth league-wide in rebounding rate last season and first in blocks per game with 6.4. Now, the depth that got them there is gone.

"[We are] a team that really has to define itself over the course of the year," Kerr said, "and that's especially true at the center position."

In the midst of the 34-point beatdown by the Lakers, a fan in the left corner of Staples Center stands up to yell at the Warriors bench.

"The Warriors are done," the man barks. "Your legacy is f---ed!"

As the clock winds down on the game, the same fan continues to verbally pelt the Warriors bench. Finally, a red-coated security staff member escorts the man out of the arena, but not before he turns for one final salvo.

"It's over!"

WITH THE TEAM wrapping up at UCLA, Thompson leaves the main practice floor and walks up a flight of stairs to continue his rehab. Kerr stands 20 feet away, discussing with reporters just how difficult it has been to go through training camp without Looney and Cauley-Stein. And the coach can't help himself.

"Klay, we don't really need at all," Kerr says, just loudly enough for his injured shooter to hear.

"Not at all," Thompson responds, overhearing the exchange as he ambles up the stairs with a member of the Warriors' training staff. "A redshirt season."

Kerr milks the joke for all it's worth: "Trying to get him bigger and stronger. Get him used to campus life. Academically, he's got a ways to go to catch up."

It's a light moment in an otherwise tenuous preseason for Golden State.

Thompson is around the Warriors just enough to remind everyone that he's still on the team, but both Kerr and Myers have made it clear not to expect him to magically appear anytime in the near future.

The general consensus within the organization was always that Thompson would return at some point after the All-Star break, but Kerr tamped down those expectations earlier this week by saying in an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area that it was "unlikely" Thompson would play at all, only to backtrack on that statement a couple of days later.

As badly as the Warriors want Thompson on the floor and as badly as Thompson wants to play, they won't rush the process for a franchise cornerstone who signed a $190 million max contract in the offseason.

"In my head, he's not playing at all this year. And if he comes back, then that's a bonus," Green said. "Now who's going to step up and try to fill that role? It won't be one guy to do that, but I think that has to be your mindset as a player if you're going to have any type of success."

If there is one player who could do it, it would be Curry. Merely having the Splash Brother on the court historically has been enough to create a scary contender. Dating back to Curry's first MVP season in 2014-15, the Warriors have posted absurd net ratings, surpassing any other team in the league with Curry on the floor. And they've consistently lost the minutes he has spent on the bench.

But even Curry admits how unusual the preseason has been for him, playing without his longtime running mate.

"It's different, man," Curry said while talking to reporters in front of Thompson's locker. "He's such a unique player and such a huge part of our DNA. You get used to a certain look, but we got to adjust as NBA players and keep it moving until he gets back."

For the first time since Thompson was drafted in 2011, Curry won't have his personal security blanket next to him. With Thompson out for an undetermined amount of time, Curry is on his own in a variety of ways that he hasn't been since he came into the league. Green will be there to provide support and guidance for the group, but he won't be able to bring the same offensive lift as Thompson or Durant.

The Warriors are confident that Russell can fill some of the gaps, but the overarching point remains the same: Even if Curry goes off on one of his patented runs this season, his talent alone might not be enough to carry the Warriors.

"We all know what Steph's capable of," Green said. "But we're not about to expect him to go out here and give a heroic effort where he's got to carry everybody. Obviously, he's going to be the focal point of our offense and for our team, but we're all going to go out and do our piece and what we got to do to win games."

Kerr remains optimistic about the possibilities. He and his players are hopeful about this new challenge and are embracing the underdog mantle that they haven't carried since before their first run to a title in 2015. But all the positivity can't hide the look on Kerr's face when the idea of losing Curry crosses his mind.

As he stands in the Staples Center hallway after a final preseason loss to the Lakers in which Curry rested, Kerr is asked if that game underscores the issues the Warriors might face if their leader were to go down with an injury. Kerr interjects before the question is even finished.

"I'm not going to think about that."