Sri Lanka spinner Akila Dananjaya has been banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months due to an illegal bowling action. Dananjaya's suspension is a result of the ICC's automatic penalty for bowlers who have twice failed an assessment inside a two-year period.

The offspinner can, however, bowl in domestic cricket conducted by SLC, with the consent of his board.

Dananjaya was assessed after he was reported for a suspect action for the second time in 10 months, following the Galle Test against New Zealand last month. He subsequently underwent an independent assessment on August 29 in Chennai, which found his bowling action to be illegal.

ALSO READ: Akila Dananjaya: Resilience, guile, and a bit of elbow grease, by Andrew Fernando

"As the latest report constitutes the player's second report within a two-year period, the first of which led to a suspension, he is automatically suspended from bowling in international cricket for a period of 12 months," an ICC release said. "Dananjaya will be entitled to approach the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action after the expiry of this one-year period."

Dananjaya was initially suspended from bowling in November 2018, before undergoing remedial work which allowed him to resume bowling earlier this year.

Since Dananjaya was not as effective in ODIs when he returned after the suspension, he missed out on a World Cup berth in the summer. The Galle Test in August was his first since his suspension last year and he took an impressive 5 for 80 in the first innings. He did not feature in the second Test against New Zealand but played the subsequent three T20Is, taking 2 for 28, 3 for 36 and 1 for 30 to finish as the second-highest wicket-taker in the series, behind Lasith Malinga's tally of seven wickets.

The one-year suspension is a big blow for Sri Lanka as they are scheduled to play their next five Tests in Asia.

Kent 482 for 8 dec (Stevens 237, Billings 138, Olivier 5-108) and 337 for 7 dec (Billings 122*, Robinson 97) beat Yorkshire 269 (Fisher 47*, Milnes 5-87) and 117 (Stevens 5-20) by 433 runs

Darren Stevens claimed a five-wicket haul as Kent put the finishing touches on a record-breaking 433-run victory over Yorkshire at Headingley and kept alive their hopes of finishing third on the County Championship Division One table.

Yorkshire, chasing a target of 551 - a world record had they achieved it - started day four in tatters at 44 for 6, and they were bowled out for 117 shortly before lunch.

It was Kent's biggest victory in terms of runs in their first-class history and Yorkshire's heaviest runs defeat. It was also the fourth-heaviest in the history of the County Championship.

Kent claimed a maximum 24 points from their fifth win of the season and moved up to fourth on the table, two points behind third-placd Hampshire. The two sides meet for a final-round clash at Canterbury next week.

Yorkshire's fourth defeat of the campaign yielded five points and saw them slip from third at the start of the week to fifth. They are 10 points behind Hampshire, having suffered their second successive defeat, and end the season against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. All final-round fixtures start on Monday.

Stevens, with four wickets overnight, claimed his fifth in the second over of the morning when he had Tim Bresnan caught behind. In claiming his 50th Championship wicket of the season. Felllow Kent seamers Matt Milnes and Harry Podmore also reached the 50-wicket mark for the season in Yorkshire's first innings.

Top-scorer Jonny Tattersall and Matthew Fisher held Kent up by sharing 35 inside 17 overs before Podmore had the latter brilliantly caught behind one-handed diving to his right by Ollie Robinson as Yorkshire fell to 81 for 8. Another spell of defiance came as Tattersall and Duanne Olivier united to put on 35 runs before Daniel Bell-Drummond bowled the latter.

That wicket came as lunch was extended in an attempt to finish the game, and it was when Bell-Drummond had Tattersall caught at second slip for 41 in the next over.

A number of notable records were posted in this match.

Stevens' 237 on the first day helped him become only the fifth player in history to score a double hundred and take 10 wickets in first-class cricket beyond the age of 43 after Stevens took 10 wickets in last week's win at Nottinghamshire. W.G. Grace is on that list, as is former Kent allrounder Frank Woolley, who achieved the feat in the 1930s.

Stevens, aged 43 years and 142 days, is the second-oldest player to score 200 and take five wickets in an innings in a first-class match. Grace is the oldest having done it for Gloucestershire in 1895 aged 46 years and 303 days. Here, Stevens finished with 5 for 20 from 18 overs in the second innings and claimed match figures of 7 for 70 from 38.

"I've just seen that (stat on W.G. Grace), only because Mitch (Claydon) was taking the mickey saying we look pretty similar," Stevens said. "I was very tired this morning, and I was praying for that early wicket. Luckily it came. To be fair, I was pretty done in after that spell last night, 13 overs. But the early wicket got me going.

"I can't really put it into words. If you'd have asked me at the start of the season, I would have said that I'll have a decent year, but not like this.

"It was a bit frustrating early season with a few catches going down, and it didn't really happen with the bat. Then, the last part of the summer has been pretty special. A lot of hard work's gone in, and it's starting to pay off now."

Stevens shared 346 with captain Sam Billings in the first innings to help Kent recover from 39 for 5 to 482 for 8 declared, their partnership being the highest for the sixth wicket at Headingley.

Billings hit 138 and 122 not out, becoming the first man to score two hundreds in a Championship game at Headingley and the first Kent player to post two hundreds in the same fixture since Martin van Jaarsveld did it in 2008.

Ed Joyce, the former Ireland and England batsman, has been named as permanent head coach of Ireland women on a two-year contract. Joyce took over as interim coach in June, but his players were unable to secure a spot at the next T20 World Cup during last month's qualifier.

Cricket Ireland opted to let the previous head coach, Aaron Hamilton, leave before his contract was up, after a poor run of form that saw them lose eight T20Is in a row. Joyce was installed ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier in Scotland, but while Ireland managed to reach the semi-finals, defeat to Bangladesh ended their prospects of playing in the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia.

Ireland had reached the previous three Women's World T20s but came second in their group to Thailand, who went on qualify for the final against Bangladesh and reach their first major tournament. Ireland's next major focus will be in attempting to reach the 50-over Women's World Cup in 2021, with the qualifier to be held in Sri Lanka next year.

Joyce said he had "no hesitation in accepting the role", pointing to the introduction of Ireland's first part-time contracts for women earlier this year, Cricket Ireland's investment in facilities, and "the rise in profile of women's cricket and women's sport in general" as reasons for encouragement.

"While we were all obviously disappointed to have missed out on qualification for the T20 World Cup, what impressed me about the squad was the players' commitment to learn and the talent that began to emerge as the games came along," Joyce said.

"It wasn't just the senior players that stood up, but a number of the newer players to the senior team showed what they can offer. I was particularly happy with the fight the team showed in difficult positions against both Thailand and Bangladesh. Our fielding and bowling in both was outstanding and that character, being shown by a very young team, is going to be very important going forward.

"The standard of women's cricket amongst the top tier nations has grown immensely in the last five years, and we know that to remain competitive that we need to continue to build our domestic structures, and invest in skills and fitness levels. In addition, we will be working over winter on individual game plans for the players. We have experimented a fair bit over the last few months with roles and positions within the squad, and with more time we will start to see the benefits of this come through."

Joyce played 78 ODIs and 18 T20Is, before concluding his international career last year after featuring in Ireland's maiden Test. His sisters, Isobel and Cecelia, also represented Ireland for almost two decades, retiring after the 2018 Women's World T20 in the Caribbean.

He subsequently moved into coaching, working with the Ireland men's, women's and performance pathway teams. His new role will also take in responsibility for the women's academy - although Ireland are expected to appoint a deputy to help in this area.

Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland's performance director, said: "We are delighted that Ed has accepted the role on a permanent basis. When he took on the interim head coach role three months ago, I said it was great to have such a world-class cricketer and budding international coach available to call upon. That applies just as much now, and we had no hesitation in offering him the opportunity. The calmness he brings, and the sense of togetherness within the team, was evident to all who saw the side in action in Scotland earlier in the month.

"With the home season coming to an end, and the Qualifier completed, Ed will now have the opportunity to further develop the skillset and mindset of the wider squad, and start to focus on 50-over cricket ahead of the World Cup Qualifier in Sri Lanka next July. He will additionally oversee the Shapoorji Pallonji Women's Academy - and to support this work we hope to soon appoint a new role to work underneath Ed that will focus on those players, the girls under-age talent pathway, and coaching support to the national team.

"We wish Ed well in the role, but we know that if he can bring a fraction of the skill, knowledge and personal determination he developed as a player to this role, then we will be very fortunate to have his leadership and influence guiding the women's squad in coming years."

Glamorgan 435 (Cooke 96*, Patel 66, Lloyd 66, Wright 5-64) and 251 for 5 dec (Brathwaite 103*) beat Leicestershire 263 (Wright 60, Patel 4-58) and 132 (Salter 3-6) trail by 291 runs

Glamorgan gained the maximum 24 points by defeating Leicestershire by 291 runs to keep their slim hopes of promotion alive, but they will need to beat Durham by a similarly resounding margin at Chester-le-Street next week and hope that Gloucestershire or Northants- who play each other in the final game - drop sufficient points.

Leicestershire's only hope was to battle for a draw, but apart from Mark Cosgrove, who faced 158 balls for his 28, no one could master an accurate Glamorgan attack, where both seam and spin triumphed.

The visitors, who required a massive 424 to win, resumed on 33 for 2 on a glorious final day of the season at Sophia Gardens, were soon in trouble against Michael Hogan, who took two wickets in his opening spell.

Hassan Azad was the first to go, when he was undone by a perfect yorker from Hogan that left the batsman on his hands and knees, then four overs later George Rhodes was bowled by a beauty that pitched middle and hit the off stump.

Harry Dearden then joined Cosgrove, and he played some handsome strokes through the offside, but was out shortly before lunch when he played down the wrong line at Andrew Salter and was adjudged leg before for 37.

Leicestershire were 101 for 5 at lunch, but the end came quickly after the interval as they lost their last five wickets for 31 runs in 23.4 overs .Harry Swindells was caught at slip when he edged one that turned from Samit Patel, and was followed by Cosgrove, whose vigil ended when he was run out. He pushed the ball to short leg, and although Billy Root had the ball in his hands, Cosgrove set off, realised his mistake, but by then Root had underhanded the ball onto the stumps.

Chris Wright, who had top scored in the first innings did not last long, also edging a catch to slip off Salter, then from the next ball Will Davis, sensing that were six men crouched around the bat, tried to launch the ball into Cathedral Road, only to spoon a catch to cover point.

When Gavin Griffiths gave David Lloyd his third catch at slip for Patel's second wicket, and Salter, at the other end, had finished with 3 for 6 from 10 overs, Glamorgan had won with ample time to spare.

Lancashire 259 (Livingstone 84, Croft 55*) and 347 (Jennings 97, Livingstone 68, Cummins 4-77) beat Middlesex 337 (Simpson 167*, Sowter 52, Bailey 5-78) and 165 (Andersson 83, Bailey 5-41) by 104 runs

Lancashire's cricketers were able to celebrate the presentation of the Second Division Championship trophy in some style late on Thursday afternoon after they had completed a 104-run defeat of Middlesex at the end of the best game of four-day cricket seen at Emirates Old Trafford this season.

Needing 270 to win, Middlesex were bowled out for 165 with Tom Bailey taking 5 for 41 in the innings to complete a match return of 10 for 119. But the visitors' fine contribution to this game continued on the final day when Martin Andersson's career-best 83, also his maiden first-class fifty, prolonged the contest almost an hour into the final session.

Yet the visitors' pursuit had begun atrociously when they lost three wickets for one run in eight balls and were thus 3 for 3 after 23 balls of their innings.

The first batsman dismissed was Nick Gubbins, who was bowled for one playing no shot to Bailey, and Max Holden was leg before wicket to the medium-quick bowler's next ball. Although Dawid Malan saved the hat-trick, the Middlesex captain collected a pair next over when his attempted clip to leg off Graham Onions only gave a catch to cover fielder Bailey off a leading edge.

Saqib Mahmood conceded 16 runs, all in boundaries, when Andersson cashed in on four over-pitched deliveries but Onions restored Lancashire's dominance when he had Sam Robson lbw for 14, leaving Middlesex on 55 for 4 at lunch.

The only batsman dismissed in the afternoon session was John Simpson, who was leg before wicket to Matt Parkinson for five, and Middlesex entered the final session needing 144 off 36 overs, albeit with only five wickets in hand but with both Andersson and James Harris batting competently.

However, any prospects of victory were ended in the five overs after the resumption. Predictably, Bailey struck the first blow when he had Harris caught behind by Dane Vilas for 38, thus ending his 81-run stand for the sixth wicket. Two overs later the same bowler had Toby Roland-Jones lbw for five and just five balls later Nathan Sowter was caught at slip by Keaton Jennings off Parkinson for a single.

Bailey was not to be denied further success. His dismissal of Cummins, caught behind by Vilas for nine, completed the ninth five-wicket haul of his career, five of which have been secured against Middlesex. But the honour of taking the last wicket to fall at Old Trafford this season fell to Mahmood, who bowled Andersson when the batsman inside-edged the ball onto his stumps to end his 167-ball innings and preserve Lancashire's unbeaten record.

In the first 45 minutes of the day Lancashire had added 56 runs in 9.5 overs, Parkinson making a career-best 14 and Steven Croft contributing 40 off 67 balls before losing his middle stump to James Harris. Parkinson had earlier been caught behind by Simpson off Roland-Jones but Lancashire had found run-scoring relatively easy, especially when Miguel Cummins offered Croft several short balls.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- New York Jets safety Jamal Adams, fined $21,506 for a roughing the passer penalty against Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield on Monday night, blasted the NFL on social media Wednesday night.

Adams posted a video clip of the play from the Jets' 23-3 loss, saying: "This league is a damn joke! ... I signed up to play football not two hand touch. Bulls---! I don't give a damn about these soft rules protecting QBs. I'm gonna play MY brand of football everytime I step on the field."

It was a chippy game between the Jets and Browns.

Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett was penalized for roughing Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian, who tore ankle ligaments on the play. He will have season-ending surgery. It's not known whether Garrett was fined.

Adams is known as a hard-hitting player, but he hasn't been heavily penalized or fined in his career.

He had only one previous fine -- $9,115 for taunting in his rookie season of 2017, according to Spotrac. In 2018, he was penalized only twice for 12 yards.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos have tried patience, constructive criticism and a sliver of tough love for penalty-prone left tackle Garett Bolles. And now, after another rash of yellow flags in the Broncos' first two games, the clock is ticking on the former first-round pick's place in the lineup.

Teammates have tried to help Bolles. Denver hired one of the best offensive line coaches in football, Mike Munchak, to, among everything else on his to-do list, help out the former first-round selection.

Bolles, the 20th pick of the 2017 draft, is really the only one who can fix it.

"Obviously it hurts us [Sunday] at different points in the game. ... You know a lot of times, even though we overcame a couple of them, they're a drive-stopper,'' Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. "We've got to be able to block our guy without holding.''

Even the guy who drafted Bolles and has been one of his biggest supporters -- Broncos president of football operations/general manager John Elway -- has had enough.

"Well, it's got to stop. Period,'' Elway said on his weekly appearance on KOA NewsRadio. "There are no more excuses for it. He's had 26 holding penalties in the last two years and two games, so it's got to stop. The bottom line is if he thinks he's getting singled out, he is. He's got to understand that. He's got to understand what he's doing. And that was my question [Sunday], 'Does he know what holding is?' Does he know what he can and can't do?' If he thinks he's getting targeted, he's got to realize he isn't. We'll keep working for it and he's still a talented guy. He cannot do that because it's beating us.''

Bolles has indeed been flagged for 26 holding penalties in 34 career games, including four times in the Broncos' 16-14 loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday. And this is certainly not a new issue with Bolles, who was highly penalized player in his one year at Utah.

He was flagged 15 times overall (three were declined) as a rookie in 2017, 14 times overall in 2018 (four were declined) and five times already this season (three have been declined). That's 34 penalties and almost 450 yards walked off against the Broncos' offense.

There is some feeling in the Broncos' complex that if Elijah Wilkinson, who is Bolles' backup and who worked with the starting offense plenty in training camp, was not already filling in for the injured Ja'Wuan James at right tackle, a move would have already been made in the Broncos' lineup.

When asked Monday if Bolles could be taken out for a series or two in games at times when he was clearly struggling, Fangio said: "With our depth the way it is at this point, that's probably not an option.''

James has missed the Broncos' first two games with a knee injury and has not yet returned to practice. The Broncos initially expected his return to take four to six weeks, so that may now be the time frame Bolles has to figure out a solution before Wilkinson moves to left tackle.

Some also took notice Bolles seemed to point the finger at the officials after Sunday's game instead of at his own play.

"It was frustrating," Bolles said. "I've built a reputation for myself in this league of holding. I disagree with it, to be honest. There are some calls I disagree with, and there are some things that I understand. ... But I have the best O-line coach in the National Football League with Coach Munchak. ... I'm going to turn this around. I promise you all that. I promise Broncos Country that. I promise my teammates that. That was just unfortunate that they keep coming after me, but it is what it is."

Bolles added he thought he had done a "phenomenal job'' improving from last season and that while he could improve his technique with his hands and footwork, he is "not going to change my physicality, I'm not going to change my mindset.''

Former Broncos guard Mark Schlereth, who is a co-host on a morning radio show in Denver and worked Sunday's Broncos game as an analyst for Fox Sports, has repeatedly cited Bolles' "stubbornness'' in changing his technique and offered earlier this week on his show that Bolles "flat-out can't play.''

Many players have tried to help Bolles in the past, including Broncos linebacker Von Miller, and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said this week that "everybody's trying to talk to him.''

"Obviously, I'm going to keep trying to talk to Bolles and see if we can get him right and understanding what he's doing wrong, because obviously to say that he'll been all right is not OK,'' Sanders said. "He needs to understand that he is doing something wrong because they keep throwing the flags on him and he keeps holding. I'm going to talk to him and hopefully we keep breaking down the film and just see him make that jump and get that debt off his back, because it's been happening for like two or three years.''

First he lost his helmet deal. Now New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown has lost his shoe deal.

The Boston Globe on Thursday reported Brown no longer represents Nike.

"Antonio Brown is not a Nike athlete," a company spokesperson told the newspaper, which also reported the spokesperson declined to comment on why, or the timing of the decision.

Brown joined the Patriots Sept. 7, after essentially forcing a trade by the Oakland Raiders. On Sept. 10, Britney Taylor, Brown's former trainer, filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court in Miami, accusing Brown of three incidents of sexual assault or rape in 2017 and 2018, in Pennsylvania and Miami.

Days after that lawsuit was filed, Xenith, a football helmet manufacturer, said it was ending its relationship with Brown, who had announced earlier in September he would wear the Xenith Shadow helmet this season. He chose the Xenith helmet after losing two appeals with the NFL to allow him to wear a helmet no longer certified by the league.

In 2018, Brown appeared in a video called "Antonio Brown Goes Sneaker Shopping with Complex" on YouTube. In the video, Brown talks about his passion for sneakers, especially Nikes, and says he's "getting a huge Nike deal."

In February 2019, before the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Brown to the Raiders, Nike sold a $100 "Nike Tech Trainer Antonio Brown" shoe, according to the newspaper. The gold-trimmed shoe featured a pattern of Brown's No. 84 and one of his phrases, "Business is Boomin," on the tongue of the shoe.

As of Thursday morning, the shoe was no longer available on Nike's website, though several Steelers and Raiders Brown jerseys were still available.

No NFL team plans to start 0-2. Every organization likes to, at the very least, fall in love with a scenario in which it ends up making it to the postseason. Falling to 0-2 is a great way to free up the calendar for January. Since the league went to its current schedule and playoff format in 2002, just 16 of the 140 teams that have started 0-2 went on to make the postseason. That's 11.4%, or roughly one out of every nine. Wouldn't you know that we have nine 0-2 teams in the NFL this season?

Teams don't have to look too far into the recent past to grow hopeful. Last year, two 0-2 teams advanced into the postseason, and when I wrote a version of this column then, one of them was atop the list. I had the 0-2 Houston Texans as my favorite to overcome the odds and advance into the playoffs, which they did even after losing the third game of the season. The bad news is that the team I had as my second favorite was the New York Giants, who beat those Texans in Week 3 and then proceeded to lose five straight. The Seattle Seahawks were the other team to make it out of the basement and into the postseason.

I'll run through the nine winless teams and try to identify what has cost them victories over the first two weeks of the season; if I have any hope they'll turn things around, I'll also detail why. I'll even throw in each team's estimated current chances of making it to the playoffs from ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI). Let's start with the team I have as the least likely to make it to the postseason and work our way up:

Jump to a team:
CAR | CIN | DEN
JAX | MIA | NYG
NYJ | PIT | WSH

9. Miami Dolphins

FPI chance to make the playoffs: Less than 0.1%

You probably could have guessed how this list might start. The Dolphins have been outscored 102-10 so far. That minus-92 point differential is tied with the 1973 Saints for the worst by any team through two games in NFL history.

It's one thing to point out that the Dolphins are the first team since 1949 to lose consecutive games by 40 or more points. It's another to point out that they've lost those two games at home. No team had ever lost two home games by 40 or more points in a single season. The Dolphins pulled that feat off in consecutive weeks.

The Dolphins are bad, which is fine; they clearly aren't trying to win games. Is it scary to think that they might get worse as the season goes along? Injuries will hit, and after trading away cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick, it's not difficult to imagine the Dolphins shopping players such as receiver Albert Wilson, running back Kenyan Drake and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in the weeks to come. I'll write about the Dolphins at length later on this season, but they're safely ensconced as the worst team in football. FPI projects the Dolphins with a 5.9% chance of finishing 0-16.

8. Washington

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 1.8%

Washington pieced together a great half to start the season, as it led the Eagles 20-7 in Philadelphia after 30 minutes of Week 1. From that point forward, Washington has been outscored 56-28, and that includes two garbage-time touchdown passes from Case Keenum. You might give Jay Gruden's team some credit for going up against a pair of 2018 playoff teams in the Cowboys and Eagles, but this defense simply isn't playing well.

Both Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz ripped apart the Washington defense throwing downfield. Through two games, Washington has allowed passers to go 7-of-12 for 230 yards with three touchdowns on deep passes, producing a QBR of a perfect 100. The incompletions include an overthrow of an open Nelson Agholor by Wentz and a pair of drops, including a would-be touchdown Michael Gallup seemed to lose in the sun. Two of the three touchdowns have come with Josh Norman as the closest defensive back in coverage, though it looked as if he was expecting help on the 51-yard Devin Smith touchdown in Week 2.

In likely related news, Washington isn't getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. It has faced two excellent offensive lines so far, but Ryan Kerrigan & Co. rank 29th in sack rate (2.8%) and 31st in pressure rate (15.3%) through eight quarters of football. Losing Jonathan Allen has hurt, but Washington has invested too much in its front seven with Kerrigan, Matt Ioannidis, Ryan Anderson and three consecutive first-round picks. If it wants to contend for a postseason berth, the push has to come from this front seven.

Washington also needs to get back star left tackle Trent Williams. The offensive line leads the league with eight holding penalties through two weeks. Donald Penn, who is filling in for Williams, has three penalties already. Williams had only three penalties over entire seasons in 2016 and 2017. Washington's tactic during his holdout has essentially been to pretend he doesn't exist. It hasn't worked.

Its schedule is about to get easier -- three of its next four games are against the Bears, Giants and Dolphins -- but this is a team built to win by controlling the line of scrimmage. Right now, it simply isn't.

7. New York Giants

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 0.6%

The Giants finally made their move Tuesday and benched quarterback Eli Manning for first-round pick Daniel Jones, who will make his debut Sunday against the Buccaneers. It's a logical time to insert Jones into the lineup, given that the Giants face a pair of subpar defenses over the next two weekends in Tampa Bay and Washington.

At the very least, Jones should offer the Giants an added element of mobility and keep defenses from stacking the box against running back Saquon Barkley. Remember the fourth-and-1 bootleg the Giants didn't convert against the Cowboys in the red zone in Week 1? Manning simply didn't have the speed to threaten the Cowboys, and when they took away his passing options, he was drowned by a sea of Dallas defenders. One of them even ripped the ball out of his hands on the way down. Jones will make mistakes, but he would have had a viable shot of running his way into a first down there.

Honestly, though, I'm more concerned about the Giants' defense through two weeks. Janoris Jenkins blamed the pass rush after the Bills loss by saying he couldn't cover receivers for 10 seconds, but the rush isn't the only problem.

First-round pick DeAndre Baker has looked absolutely lost on the field in his first two games, and the secondary has blown too many assignments. I covered the unit's dismal performance against the Cowboys when I wrote about Dak Prescott, but it wasn't much better against the Bills. Jones isn't going to fix that, and until the Giants stop blowing coverages (or develop a ferocious pass rush overnight), they're going to be a disaster on defense.

6. Cincinnati Bengals

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 3.6%

Let's start with the good: Zac Taylor's offense has mostly looked impressive through two weeks, although penalties and subpar offensive-line play killed the Bengals against the 49ers. They scored on their second possession, but across the ensuing five drives, they kicked a field goal, threw an interception and faced three third downs with 15 or more yards to go. By that time, the 49ers were up 34-10. The Bengals finished the day with six offensive holding calls during a week in which the NFL threw more flags for holding than any point since the beginning of 2012.

It would be nice to see Taylor's offense with the offensive line the Bengals planned heading into the season, but first-round pick Jonah Williams is on injured reserve and Cordy Glenn is recovering from a concussion. Star wideout A.J. Green remains out indefinitely, and while the popular timeline suggested he would miss six to eight weeks after surgery in late July, he repudiated that estimate this week.

Taylor has inherited former boss Sean McVay's habit of staying in 11 personnel -- nearly 81% of Cincinnati's offensive snaps through two games have come with one running back, one tight end and three wideouts on the field -- and he has managed to unlock multiple long touchdowns for third-year receiver John Ross. Replacing undrafted free agent Damion Willis in those sets with Green could turn this into one of the league's most devastating passing attacks.

Ben Roethlisberger's season-ending injury helps Cincinnati's chances of making a run in the AFC North, but its slate over the next few weeks is difficult. With no timetable for a Green return, Cincy has road games against the Bills, Steelers and Ravens, plus a home game against the Rams before their Week 9 bye, albeit with winnable home games against the Cardinals and Jaguars. If the Bengals can win those two and snatch two victories on the road, they'll be in play for a second-half burst at 4-4, especially if one of those road wins comes against an AFC North rival.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 6.9%

The Jaguars actually have the third-best odds of any team on this list, but it's tough to feel like they're heading in the right direction. While rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew was excellent in relief against the Chiefs and nearly led the Jaguars to a comeback win over the Texans last week, the Mustachioed One went 23-of-33 for just 213 yards, an average of 6.5 yards per attempt, and posted a Total QBR of 30.6. While he completed more than two-thirds of his passes, the Washington State product was running a remarkably conservative scheme. NFL Next Gen Stats predict that a typical quarterback who threw the same passes as Minshew last Sunday would expect to complete 70.9% of those throws, slightly ahead of Minshew's 69.6 mark against Houston.

With Nick Foles on injured reserve, the Jaguars have to get by with Minshew for the next two months. They also might not have Jalen Ramsey on the roster for much longer, given that the wildly talented cornerback asked for a trade from the organization this week. Ramsey, who showed up to camp in a Brinks truck with a hype man, has yet to receive the new contract he desires and got into a shouting match with coach Doug Marrone during the Texans game.

Ramsey is a curious fit for a team led by Tom Coughlin. He's also as good of a cornerback as there is in football, and there's no reason for the Jags to get desperate and accept a lowball offer in a Jadeveon Clowney-style trade. Ramsey is still two years removed from a possible franchise tag. The Florida State product can try to force his way out, but the Jags hold most of the cards here, at least for now. (Given that this is 2019, he's probably going to get traded by Sunday.) It would also be a lot easier for the team to find another person who can coach as well as Marrone than it would be for it to find another cornerback as good as Ramsey.

Every other AFC South team is 1-1, which helps Jacksonville's chances of making a run. It also has gotten its game against Kansas City out of the way, and it will face the Saints without Drew Brees in Week 6. If the Jags can start forcing takeaways against a schedule that includes Marcus Mariota, Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton and as many as three backup quarterbacks over the next six weeks, they could push their way into contention. They'll need Minshew to look more like the quarterback from Week 1, and, as much as Marrone and Coughlin won't want to hear it, they'll probably also need their wantaway cornerback to stick around.

4. Denver Broncos

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 6.6%

The Bears would be on this list if it weren't for the last-second heroics of struggling quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and new King of Chicago Eddy Pineiro. The Bears had a win expectancy of just 6% when they took the ball back trailing Denver 14-12 with 31 seconds left, but a roughing the passer call and a fourth-and-15 completion to Allen Robinson set up kicker Pineiro for a game-winning 53-yard field goal. It's hard to imagine Vic Fangio looking any more deflated than the Broncos coach did after seeing his old charges steal a victory in Denver.

Fangio's defense was more impressive in his second week at the helm than it was in Oakland in Week 1. His offense can't say the same. No unit is going to look great against the Bears, and Denver is already down free-agent addition Ja'Wuan James at right tackle, but Garett Bolles is on the verge of becoming a punchline. The 2017 first-round pick was flagged four times for holding on Sunday, which makes five on the year and 26 since entering the league. No other offensive lineman has topped 15 holding penalties over that same time frame. New offensive line coach Mike Munchak needs more than two games with his new left tackle, but the Broncos can't keep running Bolles out there while sticking Joe Flacco in third-and-long all game.

Owing in part to both his middling offensive line and his innate Flacconess, the former Super Bowl MVP has averaged just 5.9 air yards per pass this season, which ranks 30th out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks. Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello's scheme was supposed to be an offshoot of the Mike Shanahan attack, but Flacco has just 10 play-action pass attempts over two weeks, and those passes have generated a total of 34 yards. It's unclear whether Scangarello has any faith in his line's ability to keep Flacco upright long enough to successfully execute play-action. More distressingly, it's not clear whether the new offensive coordinator should have any faith.

The Broncos are also the only team in football without a sack through their first two weeks, although they've faced two teams that went out of their way to get the ball out of their quarterbacks' hands quickly. History tells us that Bradley Chubb and Von Miller will get theirs as the season goes along. With the Jaguars, an injury-riddled Chargers team and the Titans coming up over the next three weeks, now would be a good time for the star pass-rushers to get hot.

3. New York Jets

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 3.2%

The Jets? The team that looked abysmal on Monday Night Football and is a 23-point underdog against the Patriots this weekend? This line would make the Jets just the ninth team since 1978 to enter a game as an underdog of 20 points or more. Given that the Patriots have looked virtually unbeatable and the Jets will start third-stringer Luke Falk at quarterback, it's almost a sure thing that they will start 0-3. Even if they get Sam Darnold back during the bye week, New York has a trip to Philadelphia before home games against the Cowboys and Patriots. FPI projects that the Jets have close to a 38% chance of starting 0-6. No team has ever started 0-6 and made the playoffs.

Two teams have made it into the postseason after starting 1-5, though, and that list includes the 2018 Colts. You can also infer that FPI believes the Jets are going to pull one upset over that four-week span, with the home game against the Cowboys as the most likely culprit. If they can get Darnold back at close to 100% after their Monday night game against the Patriots in Week 7, they're going to be more competitive than their record suggests.

Why? Consider that the Jets have the second-easiest schedule in football over the final 14 games of the season, and that includes what looks to be a hellish upcoming four games. What does that tell you about the last 10? They will have two games against the Dolphins, a rematch with the Bills, home matchups against the Giants, Raiders and Steelers, and road trips to face the Jags, Bengals, Ravens and Washington. Three of those teams have already made quarterback changes, and it wouldn't be shocking to see three more of those games come against backups by the time New York faces Miami and Washington.

It would be foolish to project the Jets to win all of those games, but crazier things have happened than a team going 8-2 or 9-1 against bad opposition. There are one or two teams that make the playoffs with that sort of run every year, with the Colts and Cowboys as the closest examples from a year ago. It would be easier to make this sort of run in a division in which the Jets had a plausible path to a division title, and it really would have helped if Adam Gase's team had held onto its lead against the Bills in Week 1, but as ugly as the Jets are about to look, their season will come down to what starts happening a month from now.

2. Carolina Panthers

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 4.3%

I wrote about Cam Newton after Week 1 and thought the quarterback was still struggling with his preseason foot injury and battling new mechanics. In Week 2, we saw a quarterback who was injured struggle his way through a loss to the Buccaneers. Newton aggravated his foot injury during the game and couldn't complete simple throws. As The Athletic's Joe Person noted, Newton was 7-of-8 against the Bucs before seemingly reinjuring his foot. The former league MVP went just 18-of-42 afterward.

It's difficult to imagine the Panthers making it to the postseason without a healthy Newton, and we've yet to see the old Cam this season. The good news, I suppose, is that the offense should be working. There are open receivers here. When you look at the expected completion percentage figures from NFL Next Gen Stats, Newton has completed just 56.2% of his passes against an expected completion percentage of 65.5%. The 9.3% difference between those two marks is the largest in football through two games.

Enter backup Kyle Allen, and while I doubt that the quarterback who once fended off Kyler Murray at Texas A&M has Newton's upside, the Panthers would benefit from having a healthy quarterback who can hit open receivers right now. We saw Newton's floor in the Bucs game, and that guy was barely playable. Allen's floor is likely to be higher sheerly through his health.

The Panthers' defense is playing pretty well when you consider that they've faced 26 drives so far, second only to the Packers. Carolina's pass defense has allowed just 6.2 yards per attempt through two games, which is impressive considering that it has faced the Rams and Bucs. It is probably going to force more than one takeaway every two weeks, too. Opposing teams have recovered five of the seven fumbles in Panthers games this season.

The Drew Brees injury and the slow start each of the NFC South teams has gone through also help the Panthers, although they've now lost two home games to start the season and don't get to play the Saints until late November, when Brees will likely be back in the lineup. Four of Carolina's next five games are on the road, but its upcoming slate includes the Cardinals, Texans, Jaguars, Buccaneers, 49ers and Titans. It should be able to come out of that run with a few wins.

If the Panthers can get a healthy Newton back into the fold, they should still be in the NFC South race come the second half of the campaign.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 7.1%

This has not been a fun week to be a Steelers fan, but I'm not trying to throw them a bone by putting them at the top of these rankings. Nobody could have anticipated that Pittsburgh would start 0-2 and lose Ben Roethlisberger for the rest of the season, but I still think the Steelers have a viable shot at pursuing a postseason berth in the AFC. As horrifically as these first two weeks have gone, this team is too talented to give up on with so much of the season left to go.

My decision here has little to do with Mason Rudolph, who I'm valuing as a below-average starter, given his draft status and height. (As I mentioned in my Roethlisberger piece on Tuesday, if a 6-foot-5 quarterback has NFL-caliber talent, he doesn't fall into the third round.) My hope is that the Steelers have surrounded Rudolph with enough talent on offense to get by, likely with a heavier dose of their running game. It helps that tailback James Conner's Week 2 injury has turned out to be relatively minor. And if the team moves on from wide receiver Donte Moncrief, the move could turn out to be addition by subtraction.

I also simply find it tough to believe that a defense that ranked 13th in DVOA in 2018 and addressed its two biggest weaknesses (cornerback and inside linebacker) this offseason is going to be the league's fourth-worst defense by DVOA moving forward. I don't love the trade for cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick as a use of a first-round pick, but he's going to be a valuable addition as the Steelers replace Sean Davis, who hit injured reserve this week. Don't give up on this defense just yet.

Five of Pittsburgh's next seven games are at home, which should give Rudolph time to develop in front of a friendlier crowd. One of those games comes in Week 5 against the Ravens, who lead the Steelers by two games in the North. Losing that game would be deleterious to the Steelers' chances of winning the division. Given that the Ravens are 6.5-point underdogs at the Chiefs this week and then play Cleveland in Week 4, the Steelers could pick up a vital tiebreaker if they beat their archrivals.

Baltimore's defense looked great against Miami in Week 1, but it shed five starters during the offseason and has already lost starting cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Tavon Young to injuries. Kyler Murray averaged 8.7 yards per attempt against the Ravens in Week 2, and better passing teams are going to test Baltimore in the weeks to come. If Rudolph can exceed expectations quickly, the Steelers could be back on track quicker than it seems now.

USA Basketball has kept its No. 1 spot in the FIBA world men's rankings, even after a disappointing seventh-place showing in the World Cup that ended earlier this week.

It's now nine years and counting in the top spot for the U.S., which has held the No. 1 ranking since winning the 2010 world championship. World Cup champion Spain stayed No. 2, Australia leaped eight spots to No. 3, World Cup finalist Argentina rose one spot to No. 4 and World Cup bronze medalist France fell two slots to No. 5.

The FIBA rankings take results from the most recent eight years into account -- which means the U.S. is still reaping point benefits from the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medals and the 2014 World Cup title.

"In this day and age, basketball in other countries is not a secret," U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said after the Americans completed their run in the World Cup. "So it's not like there's an epiphany or a revelation to be made. There are wonderful teams and wonderful coaches all over the world. You go compete and the best teams win."

It's now expected that the U.S. will retain the No. 1 ranking going into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Several top NBA players, including Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Damian Lillard, have said in recent days that they intend to play for the U.S. in Tokyo, where the Americans will try to win a fourth consecutive gold medal.

Most top U.S. players declined to be part of the World Cup team.

"I'm expecting them to be so strong next year,'' Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said.

The new rankings confirmed that European champion Slovenia -- which didn't earn a spot in the World Cup field after many of its top players couldn't take part in qualifying, since those games conflicted with the NBA and EuroLeague schedules -- will still have a chance to compete in the Olympics. So will seven other teams that found out they're headed to playoffs next year.

Angola, Senegal, Mexico, Uruguay, China, Korea and Croatia also still have Olympic hopes. Those last eight playoff spots awarded Thursday went to the top two teams from Africa, Europe, Asia-Oceania and the Americas regions who hadn't either already clinched Olympic berths or spots in the last-chance playoffs.

Japan is automatically qualified for the 12-team Olympic tournament as the host country. The U.S., Argentina, Nigeria, Spain, France, Iran and Australia clinched Olympic spots at the World Cup by finishing as the best teams in their respective FIBA regions -- the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

That leaves four unclaimed Olympic berths, and 24 teams to compete for them in playoffs next year. There will be four six-team tournaments held from June 23-28, 2020 -- winner-take-all, all in this case meaning an Olympic berth. Bidding for sites is expected to begin shortly, FIBA said.

The other 16 playoff spots were awarded based on World Cup placing. They went to Serbia, Lithuania, Greece, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Puerto Rico, Turkey, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Germany, Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland, New Zealand and Tunisia.