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Trending: Bears will be without three offensive starters for MNF vs. Chargers. (See the football section for Bears updates).
Trending: Kane, Panarin power Blackhawks to win over Oilers. (See hockey section for Blackhawks updates).
NFL Scoreboard 11/08/2015.
Cincinnati Bengals 31
Green Bay Packers 29
Carolina Panthers 37
Green Bay Packers 29
Carolina Panthers 37
Washington Redskins 10
New England Patriots 27
Tennessee Titans 34
New Orleans Saints 28
Miami Dolphins 17
Buffalo Bills 33
St. Louis Rams 18
Minnesota Vikings 21
Jacksonville Jaguars 23
New York Jets 28
Oakland Raiders 35
Pittsburgh Steelers 38
New York Giants 32
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 18
Atlanta Falcons 16
San Francisco 49ers 17
Denver Broncos 24
Indianapolis Colts 27
Philadelphia Eagles 33
Dallas Cowboys 27
Chicago Bears Monday Night's Game
San Diego Chargers 11/09/2015
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Langford-for-Forte not the real issue for Bears offense.
By John Mullin
The concern over how Jeremy Langford will pick up the Bears’ running game with Matt Forte down with a knee injury is only natural. Langford is a rookie and his biggest load filling in for Forte has been 12 carries for 46 yards in the loss to Minnesota. Comparisons don’t really mean much, but for perspective’s sake, by this time in his rookie season, Forte had started every game of the 2008 season. Langford was third-string until Jacquizz Rodgers was lost for the season with a fractured arm.
"You know I think he's naturally pretty good and I think the maturity of him is you know he's wiling to learn,” said coach John Fox. “He doesn't think he has it all yet so he's still always trying to become better no matter what part of his game. It's one thing to have talent; it's another thing to develop skills and usually your really good players have the combination of both."
But the real issue isn’t Langford, who stands to be the successor to Forte based on what he produces in Forte’s stead. The bigger issue is the Bears’ running game, with or without Forte.
Not since week two in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals have the Bears rushed for a combined 100 yards, even with Jay Cutler’s totals from scrambles thrown in. They haven’t averaged four yards per carry since the opener against Green Bay and have slipped to 24th in rushing average.
The commitment has been exactly what coach John Fox and coordinator Adam Gase laid down at the outset of the season. The Bears have not rushed fewer than 25 times (vs. Minnesota) in a game this season in spite of trailing going into the fourth quarter in six of their seven games (winning two).
“We’re always trying to make sure we stay with the run game,” Gase said. “I think that’s my biggest challenge always, is I’ve always been able to just move away from it if it wasn’t working and just start throwing the ball, and that’s not what we’re trying to do. It’s making sure we stick with it, stay in a rhythm, don’t go away from it and make sure that we’re in position in the fourth quarter to have a chance to win the game.”
The constant flux on the offensive line is the one obvious reason.
“I think with the amount of pieces that we’ve shuffled around, we’re improving in that area, especially from one week to the next,” Gase said. “I know the numbers don’t say it, but there is a lot of things that we’re doing well. We just have to make sure we get more guys doing the right things consistently. We were having one or two guys here and there kind of either bust or not finish, and we just do a better job of finishing.”
And the winner is … .
Teacher and pupil approach Monday night from similar difficult circumstances: the Bears at 2-5, the San Diego Chargers standing 2-6, losing four straight. Coach John Fox and Chargers coach Mike McCoy, who was on Fox’s staffs in Carolina and Denver, share a common contributing factor, that of coaching injury riddled teams.
McCoy saw 12 different players come out of last Sunday’s San Diego loss to Baltimore, capping an injury run that quarterback Philip Rivers described as “just crazy.” That has included wide receiver Keenan Allen, on pace for one of the best pass-catching seasons in Chargers history, now done with a knee injury.
The Bears won’t have wideout Eddie Royal (knee) and will have had Royal and Alshon Jeffery active for the same game just three times in eight games. They lost their projected field-stretcher Kevin White before even training camp started when the rookie suffered a stress fracture to his lower right leg. They will be starting their fifth different offensive line in the span of eight games on Monday night.
The Bears were in position to win each of the last four games, escaping with wins over Oakland and Kansas City but losing the division games to Detroit in overtime and Minnesota on a last-second Vikings field goal. The Chargers are just 2-2 at home, with their only wins coming over Detroit (1-7) and Cleveland (2-6). They’ve lost their last four straight, by four, seven, eight and three points.
Neither team is likely to pull far away from the other (San Diego amasses huge yardage but without points to show for it. In the end,
Moon's Prediction: Bears 19, Chargers 17
Bears will be without three offensive starters for MNF vs. Chargers.
Alshon Jeffrey (Photo/csnchicago.com)
The concern over how Jeremy Langford will pick up the Bears’ running game with Matt Forte down with a knee injury is only natural. Langford is a rookie and his biggest load filling in for Forte has been 12 carries for 46 yards in the loss to Minnesota. Comparisons don’t really mean much, but for perspective’s sake, by this time in his rookie season, Forte had started every game of the 2008 season. Langford was third-string until Jacquizz Rodgers was lost for the season with a fractured arm.
"You know I think he's naturally pretty good and I think the maturity of him is you know he's wiling to learn,” said coach John Fox. “He doesn't think he has it all yet so he's still always trying to become better no matter what part of his game. It's one thing to have talent; it's another thing to develop skills and usually your really good players have the combination of both."
But the real issue isn’t Langford, who stands to be the successor to Forte based on what he produces in Forte’s stead. The bigger issue is the Bears’ running game, with or without Forte.
Not since week two in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals have the Bears rushed for a combined 100 yards, even with Jay Cutler’s totals from scrambles thrown in. They haven’t averaged four yards per carry since the opener against Green Bay and have slipped to 24th in rushing average.
The commitment has been exactly what coach John Fox and coordinator Adam Gase laid down at the outset of the season. The Bears have not rushed fewer than 25 times (vs. Minnesota) in a game this season in spite of trailing going into the fourth quarter in six of their seven games (winning two).
“We’re always trying to make sure we stay with the run game,” Gase said. “I think that’s my biggest challenge always, is I’ve always been able to just move away from it if it wasn’t working and just start throwing the ball, and that’s not what we’re trying to do. It’s making sure we stick with it, stay in a rhythm, don’t go away from it and make sure that we’re in position in the fourth quarter to have a chance to win the game.”
The constant flux on the offensive line is the one obvious reason.
“I think with the amount of pieces that we’ve shuffled around, we’re improving in that area, especially from one week to the next,” Gase said. “I know the numbers don’t say it, but there is a lot of things that we’re doing well. We just have to make sure we get more guys doing the right things consistently. We were having one or two guys here and there kind of either bust or not finish, and we just do a better job of finishing.”
And the winner is … .
Teacher and pupil approach Monday night from similar difficult circumstances: the Bears at 2-5, the San Diego Chargers standing 2-6, losing four straight. Coach John Fox and Chargers coach Mike McCoy, who was on Fox’s staffs in Carolina and Denver, share a common contributing factor, that of coaching injury riddled teams.
McCoy saw 12 different players come out of last Sunday’s San Diego loss to Baltimore, capping an injury run that quarterback Philip Rivers described as “just crazy.” That has included wide receiver Keenan Allen, on pace for one of the best pass-catching seasons in Chargers history, now done with a knee injury.
The Bears won’t have wideout Eddie Royal (knee) and will have had Royal and Alshon Jeffery active for the same game just three times in eight games. They lost their projected field-stretcher Kevin White before even training camp started when the rookie suffered a stress fracture to his lower right leg. They will be starting their fifth different offensive line in the span of eight games on Monday night.
The Bears were in position to win each of the last four games, escaping with wins over Oakland and Kansas City but losing the division games to Detroit in overtime and Minnesota on a last-second Vikings field goal. The Chargers are just 2-2 at home, with their only wins coming over Detroit (1-7) and Cleveland (2-6). They’ve lost their last four straight, by four, seven, eight and three points.
Neither team is likely to pull far away from the other (San Diego amasses huge yardage but without points to show for it. In the end,
Moon's Prediction: Bears 19, Chargers 17
Bears will be without three offensive starters for MNF vs. Chargers.
By John Mullin
No real surprise after a week of not practicing, but running back Matt Forte, center Hroniss Grasu and wide receiver Eddie Royal have all been ruled out of Monday’s game at San Diego, officially placing rookie running back Jeremy Langford as the starter in the backfield of a team committed to win by running.
Forte and Royal are down because of knee injuries suffered in the loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Grasu injured his neck several weeks ago and missed Week 8 against the Vikings, as he was replaced by guard Matt Slauson.
Nickel cornerback Bryce Callahan has been fully cleared under the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Linebacker Pernell McPhee, given time off during the week to rest a sore knee, is listed as questionable but fully expected to play against the Chargers. Linebacker Shea McClellin (knee) also is officially questionable. Linebacker LaRoy Reynolds and wide receiver Cameron Meredith are both probable.
Chances growing that Bears lose OC Adam Gase after this season.
By John Mullin
The Bears have lost coaches, specifically coordinators, even in-season, to head-coaching jobs, albeit not always to NFL jobs. Dick Jauron’s offensive coordinator, Gary Crowton, left with games remaining in the 2000 season to take the head job at BYU, even though the Bears were an anemic 3-10 at the time. And they didn't especially miss Crowton, either; interim John Shoop abandoned "razzle-dazzle," loaded up on the run and the Bears won two of their last three. (Ironically, one of the Shoop's wins was over the New England Patriots. Crowton had been the second choice for the Patriots' top job before that season, but Bill Belichick was able to get out of his contract with the New York Jets and take the Patriots job. Otherwise...)
George Allen went from his post as George Halas’ defensive coordinator, highlighted with the 1963 NFL championship, to head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, but not without a lawsuit muddying the process. Papa Bear won the lawsuit then freed Allen anyway, having made his point. Buddy Ryan went from defensive coordinator to Eagles head coach, where he lost all four of the games he coached against the Bears. But at the NFL level, teams look at successful coordinators to fill head-coaching jobs.
Going into this season, the distinct possibility existed that this would be the one and only year for Adam Gase as Bears offensive coordinator, and further that it could be the only year that he and quarterback Jay Cutler work together as members as the Bears organization. Best guess is that no lawsuits would be involved.
The scenarios:
If the Bears do well, Cutler’s performance is presumably part of that, and would presumably have been such that it reflected well on Gase’s stewardship. Job offers would follow for Gase, who was interviewed for head-coaching jobs last offseason and that was before his work with Cutler.
That scenario would make Gase the first NFL offensive coordinator to work with Cutler and not get fired. Gase also would be the first of that group to move on to become an NFL head coach.
Under Gase, Cutler has begun morphing away from the turnover machine the NFL saw him as. And he has managed respectability behind a patchwork offensive line and without anything close to elite receivers – a situation that too often unhinged him in seasons past.
If the Bears did poorly, and Cutler presumably was a large part of that, then the quarterback likely would be elsewhere.
Of course, this Bears’ season was never going to be as simple as pass-fail, so varying degrees of in-season success would mean varying levels of interest in either quarterback or coach. The Bears could be just OK, and both stay; or Gase simply doesn’t get one of the inevitable open jobs because of fit or whatever. (See: Rivera, Ron).
Going into 2015, seven teams hired new head coaches, including the Bears with Fox. Seven new ones also were hired the offseason before, including Ken Whisenhunt by the Tennessee Titans, who fired Whisenhunt last Tuesday after 20 games (17 of them losses). A sign of the changing times.
“I’m not sure you get a fair evaluation in a year and six games, for anybody,” said coach John Fox, on of the seven this year. “But it’s what we deal with.”
But with the Whisenhunt experience as a backdrop/context: Whether it’s fair to evaluate Gase as a potential head coach based on one year (Denver) and seven games as an offensive coordinator would be a valid question.
But Gase’s primary pupil has formed an evaluation.
“I think he’ll make a great head coach,” Cutler said (with Gase sitting not all that far away). “I think he proves that daily out here just in his detail. Being around Fox the last three, four or five years or however long they’ve been together, he’s seen how to do it the right way. He’s been around a lot of really, really good coaches. He’s taken bits and pieces from each one.
“Offensively, I think he’s one of the best in the league, too. If he does get his shot, it’s gonna be well-deserved.”
Predictably, Gase’s mind was on his current job, not his possible next one.
“That stuff's so far away,” Gase said on Friday. “We need to focus on winning games. That's the furthest thing from my mind right now.”
Gase is not in or on the market for in-season jobs, and few are expected to open the way the Tennessee job did. Jim Caldwell survived a purge of GM and team president with the Detroit Lions.
Teams would need the Bears’ permission to interview Gase and Fox said he is far from that stage of any head-coaching search. But Fox has seen his coordinators go on to top sideline jobs – Mike McCoy to San Diego, Jack Del Rio to Oakland – and understands the attractions that come with winning.
“I just pride myself in having success and then watching guys get rewarded for it,” Fox said. “Much like players; if you’re team does good, your coaches do good and your players do good. A lot of times, team success warrants some of the individual attention people get.”
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Kane, Panarin power Blackhawks to win over Oilers.
By Tracey Myers
Corey Crawford makes a save in front of Oilers right wing Teddy Purcell during the second period. (Photo/Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)
The combination was fantastic from the start, the very skilled Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane and, as Panarin called big center Artem Anisimov, “the missing piece.”
When it went a little quiet, coach Joel Quenneville broke them up, sending a deserving Panarin to the top line. But that didn’t work so well, so the score-happy trio was reassembled heading into Sunday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
Guess how that turned out?
Patrick Kane had a a goal and three assists, Panarin had two goals and an assist and Anisimov had a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks beat the Oilers 4-2.
Corey Crawford had a strong rebound game, stopping 34 of 36 shots. Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson had an assist each.
And on offense it was another show by the Blackhawks’ second line. While the Blackhawks would certainly like their other lines to join in that trend, on Sunday, they happily took the second line’s contributions.
“We wanted to try him with Jonny [Toews], see how that line would look together. It was just OK. And that group together has been fun to watch,” Quenneville said of the second line. “I’m sure they’re happy to be back together again and got it going right off the hop; so good night for that line. They continue to be, a lot of nights, the only form of production we’re getting.”
Panarin’s goals, both of which came in the first period, were his first since Oct. 10 against the New York Islanders. Kane is now on a 10-game point streak, the longest of this young NHL season. Anisimov garnered his 200th career point when he assisted on Kane’s goal – the game winner – and added a power-play goal with 5.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
“Yeah, we have some chemistry,” Kane said. “I think all three of us, the way we want to play, is very similar. We do a good job of supporting the puck, hanging onto the puck, trying to make plays. We went stale there before they broke us up there. It was nice to get back together and have a good night.”
And when the second line wasn’t doing its work, Crawford was doing his. After giving up six goals against St. Louis and three first-period goals against New Jersey – he was pulled after those first 20 minutes – Crawford was strong again. He was at his best in the second period when the Oilers, determined to erase the 2-0 lead Panarin had set in the first period, fired 22 shots at him. He stopped them all.
Crawford usually likes those busy periods.
“I mean, when you're stopping 'em, yeah,” Crawford said with a laugh. “That many shots, you know, you don't really want too many scoring chances. You give too many, teams are going to take advantage. But that was a good one. That was a good one for me to get back into it, and that was a big win for us.”
The Blackhawks didn’t play their greatest game of hockey on Sunday night but they found a way to take one at home, where they’ve been very successful this season. Crawford did his part on one end and the successful second line did its on the other.
“It kind of seemed like eventually they would be back together at some point,” Crawford said. “That was an awesome game by those three and another big goal by Kaner. It just seems like he comes up with those every other game or so, and we definitely needed that one tonight, that goal by him.
“Again, the team, they came back after we get the lead. They kind of come back and make it interesting,” Crawford said. “But after two tough losses, that's a good win for us.”
Lackluster night for Blackhawks in loss to Devils. (Friday night's game, 11/06/2015).
By Tracey Myers
The Blackhawks weren’t happy with how they responded to their 5-2 first-period lead to the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Their finish wasn’t there.
On Friday their start wasn’t there, either.
Patrick Kane scored his ninth goal of the season and Tanner Kero scored his first career NHL goal, but it was an otherwise forgettable 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils. It was another rough road outing for the Blackhawks, who are now 1-5-0 away from the United Center this early season.
Artem Anisimov suffered a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return. Coach Joel Quenneville said Anisimov’s injury wasn’t serious, and the center could play Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers. The Blackhawks were already without Duncan Keith (right knee), who’s still out a few more weeks, and Marian Hossa (lower body), who could also return on Sunday.
The Blackhawks weren’t using injuries as excuses; they’ve been through that before and always found ways. But on Friday it was rough from the beginning, as bad plays and bad passes put the Blackhawks in an early hole from which they couldn’t recover.
“You could tell prior to them scoring there were holes everywhere,” Quenneville said of the Blackhawks. “We were sleepy in the first period and down 3-0; (we) created that gigantic hole and tried to get back into it.”
An errant Niklas Hjalmarsson pass led to the Devils’ first goal, with Lee Stempniak scoring for a 1-0 lead just 3:48 into the game.
“I obviously started with a really bad play, first period there, and it gave us an uphill battle. And we just have to find a way to get better on the road,” Hjalmarsson said. “It’s been, I think, five in a row now we’ve lost on the road, so we’re playing decent at home but we have to find a way to play better on the road.”
Corey Crawford allowed two more goals in the first — to Kyle Palmieri off the faceoff and to Travis Zajac 26 seconds later — before getting pulled in favor of Scott Darling to start the second. Crawford, who got off to a great start this season, has now allowed nine goals in the last four-plus periods, including overtime against St. Louis. The Blackhawks have now allowed 20 goals in their last five games, a surprising number for the normally defense-first team.
“The last stretch of games here, we need defense and goaltending to be better,” Quenneville said.
Jonathan Toews got into a fight with Adam Henrique in the first period. Considering how the Blackhawks were playing at the time, it seemed like it was a move Toews was using to spark his teammates.
“Not necessarily,” Toews said. “I think it was just a play that developed where both players got a little worked up there; kind of a reaction thing. Usually it’s not necessarily my thing, as we all know, to try and spark the team that way. I’d rather be on the ice making things happen in the offensive zone. It’s one of those things that happens, I guess.”
What’s happening right now with the Blackhawks is a departure from the last few seasons. They’ve giving up quite a bit, and the road, where they’ve usually been so strong in the past, has been rough. It’s still early, and the Blackhawks went on a winning streak last November after a so-so start. But the Blackhawks know they have to be a lot better than they’ve been in recent outings.
“It takes a while for us to panic. We’ve been around for a long time, a lot of guys in here. There’s no panic at all,” Hjalmarsson said. “But the league is so even nowadays ... we can’t get too far behind. We have to find a way to get points in pretty much every single game. The league is so good nowadays. We have to find a way quick.”
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session...When it went a little quiet, coach Joel Quenneville broke them up, sending a deserving Panarin to the top line. But that didn’t work so well, so the score-happy trio was reassembled heading into Sunday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
Guess how that turned out?
Patrick Kane had a a goal and three assists, Panarin had two goals and an assist and Anisimov had a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks beat the Oilers 4-2.
Corey Crawford had a strong rebound game, stopping 34 of 36 shots. Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson had an assist each.
And on offense it was another show by the Blackhawks’ second line. While the Blackhawks would certainly like their other lines to join in that trend, on Sunday, they happily took the second line’s contributions.
“We wanted to try him with Jonny [Toews], see how that line would look together. It was just OK. And that group together has been fun to watch,” Quenneville said of the second line. “I’m sure they’re happy to be back together again and got it going right off the hop; so good night for that line. They continue to be, a lot of nights, the only form of production we’re getting.”
Panarin’s goals, both of which came in the first period, were his first since Oct. 10 against the New York Islanders. Kane is now on a 10-game point streak, the longest of this young NHL season. Anisimov garnered his 200th career point when he assisted on Kane’s goal – the game winner – and added a power-play goal with 5.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
“Yeah, we have some chemistry,” Kane said. “I think all three of us, the way we want to play, is very similar. We do a good job of supporting the puck, hanging onto the puck, trying to make plays. We went stale there before they broke us up there. It was nice to get back together and have a good night.”
And when the second line wasn’t doing its work, Crawford was doing his. After giving up six goals against St. Louis and three first-period goals against New Jersey – he was pulled after those first 20 minutes – Crawford was strong again. He was at his best in the second period when the Oilers, determined to erase the 2-0 lead Panarin had set in the first period, fired 22 shots at him. He stopped them all.
Crawford usually likes those busy periods.
“I mean, when you're stopping 'em, yeah,” Crawford said with a laugh. “That many shots, you know, you don't really want too many scoring chances. You give too many, teams are going to take advantage. But that was a good one. That was a good one for me to get back into it, and that was a big win for us.”
The Blackhawks didn’t play their greatest game of hockey on Sunday night but they found a way to take one at home, where they’ve been very successful this season. Crawford did his part on one end and the successful second line did its on the other.
“It kind of seemed like eventually they would be back together at some point,” Crawford said. “That was an awesome game by those three and another big goal by Kaner. It just seems like he comes up with those every other game or so, and we definitely needed that one tonight, that goal by him.
“Again, the team, they came back after we get the lead. They kind of come back and make it interesting,” Crawford said. “But after two tough losses, that's a good win for us.”
Lackluster night for Blackhawks in loss to Devils. (Friday night's game, 11/06/2015).
By Tracey Myers
The Blackhawks weren’t happy with how they responded to their 5-2 first-period lead to the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Their finish wasn’t there.
On Friday their start wasn’t there, either.
Patrick Kane scored his ninth goal of the season and Tanner Kero scored his first career NHL goal, but it was an otherwise forgettable 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils. It was another rough road outing for the Blackhawks, who are now 1-5-0 away from the United Center this early season.
Artem Anisimov suffered a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return. Coach Joel Quenneville said Anisimov’s injury wasn’t serious, and the center could play Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers. The Blackhawks were already without Duncan Keith (right knee), who’s still out a few more weeks, and Marian Hossa (lower body), who could also return on Sunday.
The Blackhawks weren’t using injuries as excuses; they’ve been through that before and always found ways. But on Friday it was rough from the beginning, as bad plays and bad passes put the Blackhawks in an early hole from which they couldn’t recover.
“You could tell prior to them scoring there were holes everywhere,” Quenneville said of the Blackhawks. “We were sleepy in the first period and down 3-0; (we) created that gigantic hole and tried to get back into it.”
An errant Niklas Hjalmarsson pass led to the Devils’ first goal, with Lee Stempniak scoring for a 1-0 lead just 3:48 into the game.
“I obviously started with a really bad play, first period there, and it gave us an uphill battle. And we just have to find a way to get better on the road,” Hjalmarsson said. “It’s been, I think, five in a row now we’ve lost on the road, so we’re playing decent at home but we have to find a way to play better on the road.”
Corey Crawford allowed two more goals in the first — to Kyle Palmieri off the faceoff and to Travis Zajac 26 seconds later — before getting pulled in favor of Scott Darling to start the second. Crawford, who got off to a great start this season, has now allowed nine goals in the last four-plus periods, including overtime against St. Louis. The Blackhawks have now allowed 20 goals in their last five games, a surprising number for the normally defense-first team.
“The last stretch of games here, we need defense and goaltending to be better,” Quenneville said.
Jonathan Toews got into a fight with Adam Henrique in the first period. Considering how the Blackhawks were playing at the time, it seemed like it was a move Toews was using to spark his teammates.
“Not necessarily,” Toews said. “I think it was just a play that developed where both players got a little worked up there; kind of a reaction thing. Usually it’s not necessarily my thing, as we all know, to try and spark the team that way. I’d rather be on the ice making things happen in the offensive zone. It’s one of those things that happens, I guess.”
What’s happening right now with the Blackhawks is a departure from the last few seasons. They’ve giving up quite a bit, and the road, where they’ve usually been so strong in the past, has been rough. It’s still early, and the Blackhawks went on a winning streak last November after a so-so start. But the Blackhawks know they have to be a lot better than they’ve been in recent outings.
By KEVIN MASSOTH
While the Chicago Bulls can't quite find their footing, the Philadelphia 76ers are slipping in what might turn into another dismal season.
The winless 76ers will try to catch themselves Monday night against a visiting Bulls team they haven't beaten in two years.
Chicago has won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including six in a row since Nov. 2, 2013, and come out on top in five of its last six trips to Wells Fargo Center.
Success for Chicago through the opening seven games this season has come and gone. The Bulls (4-3) seemed to regroup from an ugly 130-105 loss at Charlotte last week by showing some hustle and energy in a 104-98 home win over Oklahoma City on Thursday.
However, the club again looked lethargic during a 102-93 overtime home loss to Minnesota on Saturday in which it went scoreless during the extra five-minute period.
"I don't know how we play with as much energy as we did (against Oklahoma City) and then just show up the next (game) just expecting to win," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "It's tough to fathom how that can happen."
Derrick Rose scored a season-high 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting against the Thunder but made just 3 of 13 shots against the Timberwolves to finish with 11 points and five turnovers. His postgame take was rather simple.
"It's all about effort," Rose said.
Effort is something Chicago prided itself on during the Tom Thibodeau era, but it's been hit or miss so far under Hoiberg - most notably on defense. The Bulls ranked ninth last season with 97.8 points allowed per game but are giving up 101.4 this season.
The Bulls were outrebounded 58-50 by Minnesota, marking the fifth time they've lost the battle on the boards - another rarity in past seasons. An offense that was expected to be dynamic under Hoiberg missed 19 of its final 20 shots against the Timberwolves.
We get 82 opportunities to put on a jersey and go out to play for your team; we need to do everything we can to win," Hoiberg told the team's official website. "We have to fix it. Our team needs to play extremely hard no matter who we are playing against."
Even the lowly 76ers (0-6), who have picked up right where they left off last season. Philadelphia's winless start has come on the heels of losing its final 10 games of 2014-15, and another would match the 17 consecutive defeats it opened with last season.
Some frustration set in during a 105-97 home loss to Orlando on Saturday when Nerlens Noel was ejected following a tussle with Jason Smith. After Smith drew an offensive foul by elbowing Noel in the ribs, Noel took a swipe at Smith's head and earned a flagrant-2.
Noel also could have injured himself when he punched something on his way to the locker room, which would have been of little help to a 76ers team that ranks toward the bottom of the NBA with 92.0 points and 18.2 turnovers per game.
"It's the small things that are going to win you those close games, "Nik Stauskas said. "And so far we just haven't been doing that. But it will come. It will come."
Another alarming loss leaves Hoiberg in foul mood. (Saturday night's game, 11/07/2015).
"I don't know how we play with as much energy as we did (against Oklahoma City) and then just show up the next (game) just expecting to win," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "It's tough to fathom how that can happen."
Derrick Rose scored a season-high 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting against the Thunder but made just 3 of 13 shots against the Timberwolves to finish with 11 points and five turnovers. His postgame take was rather simple.
"It's all about effort," Rose said.
Effort is something Chicago prided itself on during the Tom Thibodeau era, but it's been hit or miss so far under Hoiberg - most notably on defense. The Bulls ranked ninth last season with 97.8 points allowed per game but are giving up 101.4 this season.
The Bulls were outrebounded 58-50 by Minnesota, marking the fifth time they've lost the battle on the boards - another rarity in past seasons. An offense that was expected to be dynamic under Hoiberg missed 19 of its final 20 shots against the Timberwolves.
We get 82 opportunities to put on a jersey and go out to play for your team; we need to do everything we can to win," Hoiberg told the team's official website. "We have to fix it. Our team needs to play extremely hard no matter who we are playing against."
Even the lowly 76ers (0-6), who have picked up right where they left off last season. Philadelphia's winless start has come on the heels of losing its final 10 games of 2014-15, and another would match the 17 consecutive defeats it opened with last season.
Some frustration set in during a 105-97 home loss to Orlando on Saturday when Nerlens Noel was ejected following a tussle with Jason Smith. After Smith drew an offensive foul by elbowing Noel in the ribs, Noel took a swipe at Smith's head and earned a flagrant-2.
Noel also could have injured himself when he punched something on his way to the locker room, which would have been of little help to a 76ers team that ranks toward the bottom of the NBA with 92.0 points and 18.2 turnovers per game.
"It's the small things that are going to win you those close games, "Nik Stauskas said. "And so far we just haven't been doing that. But it will come. It will come."
Another alarming loss leaves Hoiberg in foul mood. (Saturday night's game, 11/07/2015).
By Vincent Goodwill
Fred Hoiberg was in no mood to discuss the minutia of the Bulls’ puzzling overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that had “trap!” written all over it, a game Hoiberg was curious about in terms of seeing how his team would respond after Thursday’s exhilarating win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
There wasn’t much to say considering the Bulls went scoreless in overtime for the first time in their 50-year history and after the 6:33 mark of the fourth quarter, missed 19 of their last 20 shots in their 102-93 loss at the United Center.
He could’ve pointed to getting outrebounded 58-50, or the 19 turnovers, or giving up seven 3-pointers to a team that doesn’t like shooting them.
It wasn’t an eye-popping loss like earlier in the week against Charlotte, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone associated with the Bulls to say the team put forth the necessary concentration Saturday afternoon.
The smooth veneer worn by Hoiberg looked more like a sneer when he met with the media, equally puzzled and frustrated in having to explain what everybody has seen twice in a very young season.
“We get 82 opportunities to put on a jersey to go out and play for your team,” Hoiberg said.
In two of the seven, the efforts have been alarming, particularly against teams not expected to be in the playoff hunt come April.
“I can’t understand how we play with as much energy as we did the other night and then show up the next night just expecting to win the game,” Hoiberg said. “It’s tough to fathom how that can happen.”
Some would point to last season as the start of a trend, leading Derrick Rose to say the time to be alarmed is “right now”.
“It’s all about effort. At some point we’ll get tired of getting our asses whupped. One day,” Rose said. “It’s all about bringing that championship caliber effort. We gotta stay more consistent, we have to stay more together while we’re out there.”
Instead it was the young Timberwolves who played with cohesiveness, taking every opportunity the Bulls gave them from start to finish and played with remarkable poise down the stretch while the Bulls seemingly self-destructed.
“We get 82 opportunities to put on a jersey to go out and play for your team,” Hoiberg said.
In two of the seven, the efforts have been alarming, particularly against teams not expected to be in the playoff hunt come April.
“I can’t understand how we play with as much energy as we did the other night and then show up the next night just expecting to win the game,” Hoiberg said. “It’s tough to fathom how that can happen.”
Some would point to last season as the start of a trend, leading Derrick Rose to say the time to be alarmed is “right now”.
“It’s all about effort. At some point we’ll get tired of getting our asses whupped. One day,” Rose said. “It’s all about bringing that championship caliber effort. We gotta stay more consistent, we have to stay more together while we’re out there.”
Instead it was the young Timberwolves who played with cohesiveness, taking every opportunity the Bulls gave them from start to finish and played with remarkable poise down the stretch while the Bulls seemingly self-destructed.
Rose, Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic built a house of bricks with bad shooting and tentative play, and the game very well could’ve ended in regulation until Pau Gasol tipped in an errant Mirotic miss with 21 seconds left to tie the game at 93, setting up overtime.
Rose shot 3-for-13, Butler was 4-for-15 which included missing all of his seven 3-point attempts and Mirotic struggled again, getting in foul trouble and missed seven of eight shots in 17 minutes.
His last three games, Mirotic has totaled 11 points with 12 rebounds on just 4-for-24 shooting. For the night, the Bulls shot 36 percent, but in the second half and overtime, shot 26 percent (14 for 54).
“We got off to a fine start, but then we missed four layups out there,” Hoiberg said. “We need to manufacture some good looks and get the ball moving.”
But they weren’t equipped for the final five minutes, going scoreless and not even getting good shots, as Karl-Anthony Towns rebounded from early foul trouble to score 17 points and 13 rebounds, including a thunderous swat of a Rose layup in overtime, and Andrew Wiggins led all scorers with 31 points, including four 3-pointers.
Wiggins’ spin and dunk with 55.5 seconds left tied the game at 91, and Prince’s running hook with 27 seconds left gave them a lead before Gasol’s timely tip-in.
Wiggins was wearing Butler and the Bulls out early, with 22 in the first half before cooling off late, but the Bulls weren’t able to run away and hide in the fourth, leading by six after a Tony Snell corner triple.
The Timberwolves kept coming, despite shooting just 41 percent from the field, were able to play sound defense to stay in it to scrap themselves into an overtime affair.
Many of the Bulls warning signs were abound.
Missed rotations defensively.
Coming up empty after easy opportunities were squandered.
And those darned turnovers, after a one-game reprieve, reappearing like a rash that refused to go away.
“I wish I knew why that happens,” Hoiberg said. “I would like to think when I played this game a million years ago, one thing I did was break through a wall every time I stepped on that floor. We have to fix it.”
Rose echoed his coach’s sentiments, believing part of the problem is a matter of familiarity but also being troubled by the sporadic efforts.
“Coach is doing a good job of putting us in different groups and lineups,” Rose said. “This is the worst you’ll see us play and hopefully in a couple days you’ll see the difference.”
Cubs jump into free agency looking for big-time pitchers.
By Patrick Mooney
This isn’t the NBA, so the Cubs didn’t have to put the full-court press on once the free-agent marketplace opened on Friday at 11 p.m. Chicago time. But the Cubs planned to be aggressive and contact the agents for some of the game’s best pitchers, knowing they could only be a few pieces away from constructing a World Series winner.
“We have our targets,” general manager Jed Hoyer said. “We know who we’re going to look to talk to right away.”
The Cubs are going to be linked to seemingly every free agent on Twitter and MLB Trade Rumors, but it’s clear they’re going to pour most of their resources into pitching this winter.
David Price wants to come to Chicago, play for Joe Maddon again and try to be part of the team that would live forever by ending the century-and-counting championship drought.
Price is left-handed, Vanderbilt University-educated and viewed as an outstanding teammate and clubhouse influence. He won a Cy Young Award with Maddon’s Tampa Bay Rays in 2012. He won’t cost a draft pick after a midseason trade from the Detroit Tigers to the Toronto Blue Jays.
But the search for pitching won’t start and end with Price, especially if the Los Angeles Dodgers essentially hand him a blank check.
The Cubs are open to signing a free agent tagged with a qualifying offer, viewing Zack Greinke as an intriguing option who should age well over time after opting out of a contract that would have guaranteed him three more years and $71 million.
The Cubs had concerns about Greinke’s ability to handle the Wrigley Field fishbowl when he became a free agent after the 2012 season, and they weren’t prepared to hand out a megadeal at that point in the rebuild, anyway.
By then, Greinke had spent almost his entire career with the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers and dealt with social anxiety disorder and depression.
But Greinke erased those doubts with three outstanding seasons in Los Angeles, reinforcing his reputation as a baseball gym rat fascinated by the art of scouting, someone who likes to go watch prospects and hang out in draft rooms.
There’s also some level of mutual interest between the Cubs and Jeff Samardzija and Jordan Zimmermann, two pitchers with strong roots in the Midwest who will cost a draft pick.
Samardzija won’t return to the White Sox after a disappointing season and will decline the one-year, $15.8 million offer. The ex-Cub has a good relationship with pitching coach Chris Bosio and loves pitching on the big stage in front of the bright lights.
Zimmermann came out of a Division III program – the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point – and made himself into a two-time All-Star with the Washington Nationals.
“The qualifying offer is a consideration,” Hoyer said. “But at the same time, 2016 and beyond are very important years to us. We have a really good core now of young players. We’re clearly a team that is poised to win.
“That’s the most important factor we’re going to consider in free agency: How does this player effect our ability to win in the near future?
“The draft pick’s important, (but) when you’re in kind of a winning window, I do think you have to look at that consideration different than you might have when we were building.”
John Lackey has those Boston Red Sox connections with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and remains good friends with Jon Lester, the $155 million lefty atop the Cubs rotation.
Lackey – who made 33 starts and put up a 2.77 ERA during his age-36 season with the St. Louis Cardinals – is another qualifying-offer case. The Cubs could also be in position to recoup a draft pick if outfielder Dexter Fowler leaves after a great walk year.
“It’s a factor,” Epstein said. “But we’re going to be picking down at the bottom of the first round, which is where you want to pick. You want to pick 30th if you can. That’s not nearly as valuable as surrendering, say, the 11th pick in the country or the 12th pick in the country.
“Sometimes you get those picks back, too, if you signed a free agent who requires a qualifying offer to a one-year deal and then he makes a really significant contribution. Maybe you get that pick back the next year when he leaves as a free agent.
“So where we are now as an organization – where we hope to stay as an organization – it’s not quite as big a factor as it was in the past. The draft still is as big a factor. But the importance of preserving that high first-round pick isn’t quite as (important).”
After winning 97 games and making it to the National League Championship Series, the Cubs are going to be a team people talk about when the general manager meetings begin on Monday in Boca Raton, Florida, right back in the middle of all the action again.
White Sox extend qualifying offer to Jeff Samardzija.
By Dan Hayes
They didn’t receive much on the field, but the White Sox are still hoping to get some value from Jeff Samardzija.
The White Sox extended a qualifying offer to the pitcher on Friday, which ensures they would receive a compensatory draft pick were he to sign with another team after free agency kicks off at 11:01 p.m. CST.
Samardzija — who went 11-13 with a 4.96 ERA for the White Sox — has until next Friday to accept the club’s one-year, $15.8-million offer. However, the right-hander is expected to decline, as he should receive considerable interest on the open market this offseason.
The New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cubs are believed to be among a number of parties interested in Samardzija, who was acquired by the White Sox from the Oakland A’s last December in exchange for four players.
Samardzija never quite lived up to the hype as he pitched for the team for which he grew up rooting. The Northwest Indiana native allowed five earned runs in an Opening Day loss to Kansas City, one of 11 starts in which he yielded at least as many earned runs.
While Samardzija was fantastic in five July starts leading up to the trade deadline, he failed miserably after the White Sox opted to hang on to him. Samardzija lost six straight starts after July 31 and eight of nine overall, including a disastrous effort Sept. 15 in which he gave up 10 earned runs and 11 hits in three innings.
Still, teams are expected to line up for the Notre Dame product, who has low mileage on his arm despite the fact he’ll be 31 on Opening Day 2016. Samardzija only has 1,501 innings pitched as a pro pitcher, including 991 2/3 in the majors.
No player ever has accepted a qualifying offer. The White Sox would receive a compensatory pick after the first round if Samardzija signs elsewhere as expected.
Golf: I got a club for that..... Russell Knox wins first PGA Tour title at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
The New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cubs are believed to be among a number of parties interested in Samardzija, who was acquired by the White Sox from the Oakland A’s last December in exchange for four players.
Samardzija never quite lived up to the hype as he pitched for the team for which he grew up rooting. The Northwest Indiana native allowed five earned runs in an Opening Day loss to Kansas City, one of 11 starts in which he yielded at least as many earned runs.
While Samardzija was fantastic in five July starts leading up to the trade deadline, he failed miserably after the White Sox opted to hang on to him. Samardzija lost six straight starts after July 31 and eight of nine overall, including a disastrous effort Sept. 15 in which he gave up 10 earned runs and 11 hits in three innings.
Still, teams are expected to line up for the Notre Dame product, who has low mileage on his arm despite the fact he’ll be 31 on Opening Day 2016. Samardzija only has 1,501 innings pitched as a pro pitcher, including 991 2/3 in the majors.
No player ever has accepted a qualifying offer. The White Sox would receive a compensatory pick after the first round if Samardzija signs elsewhere as expected.
Golf: I got a club for that..... Russell Knox wins first PGA Tour title at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
By Ryan Ballengee
With a two-shot victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions, Russell Knox made it 4-for-4 for first-time winners on the 2015-16 PGA TOUR. (Photo/Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Russell Knox picked up his first PGA Tour win on Sunday, taking the WGC-HSBC Champions by two shots over Kevin Kisner.
Knox, who first finished his third round early on Sunday with a closing birdie to tie Kisner, shot 4-under 68 in the final round to outmatch Kisner's 70 to finish on 20-under 268.
"China is now my favorite place in the world," Knox said. "I can't wait to come back here. For me, this now my favorite golf course and I'm over the moon."
The win marks the first for a Scot in a World Golf Championships event and only the second time in WGC history that a winner earned their first PGA Tour title in a series event. Knox said afterward that he saw it coming, just didn't know when.
"It sounds unbelievable," he said. "I always kind of thought I was going to win a big one, for some reason, as my first one."
Englishmen Danny Willett, who closed with a tournament-best 10-under 62, and Ross Fisher ended up tied for third at 17-under par.
Dustin Johnson and Branden Grace tied for fifth at 16 under, while Jordan Spieth, who shot 63 on Saturday to jump into contention, could only manage 70 on Sunday to get into a four-way tie for seventh with Patrick Reed, Matthew Fitzpatrick and 20-year-old Li Haotong, who recorded the best PGA Tour finish by a Chinese-born player. Spieth's finish is good enough to leapfrog Jason Day and again become the top-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking.
"With the amount of preparation I put into it, I'm extremely pleased," Spieth said. "I feel like I got the most out of the week."
Rory McIlroy closed with 66 to finish on 14 under par, in a tie for 11th. Combined with Willett's T-3 finish, the European Tour's Race to Dubai is tighter. McIlroy's lead is now just 74,213 points (McIlroy has played in 11 events to Willett's 21), with Willett playing in next week's BMW Masters while McIlroy rests. The Ulsterman is resigned to potentially losing his edge heading into the season finale in Dubai, where he has locked up the season-long points race two of the last three years.
"He's playing next week and I'm not, so no matter what happened today, he has a good chance to maybe overtake me next week," McIlroy said. "I'm just with the mind-set that I need to go to Dubai and win and whatever happens from there, that's all I can do."
First-time winners have swept the start of the PGA Tour season.
By Ryan Ballengee
The start to this new PGA Tour season is unprecedented.
For the first time in Tour history, four first-time winners have won the first four events of the season: Emiliano Grillo at the Frys.com Open, Smyliie Kaufman in Las Vegas, Justin Thomas at the CIMB Classic and Russell Knox on Sunday at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
Going back to 1960, there had never been more than two first-timers to win in the first four events of a PGA Tour season, back in 1980 and 1990. The '80 season was the only prior season in that span where the first two events were won by breakthrough champions.
Even with this never-before-seen start to a season, there's still a long way to go before this year could topple the record 18 first-time winners in 2002. However, the beginning quartet of the 2015-16 season is reminiscent of a trend toward more and more first-time winners. Since 2010, there have been double-digit first-time winners during the PGA Tour season, except in 2012, with 11 maiden champions last season.
While the Scot Knox continues the streak of newbie winners, he also breaks another sign-of-the-times streak. At 30 years old, Knox is the first PGA Tour winner outside of his 20s in the last eight tournaments, dating back to when Jason Day kicked off the FedEx Cup playoffs with a win at The Barclays.
NASCAR: Johnson passes Keselowski late for 4th Texas fall win in row.
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
Jimmie Johnson raced to his fourth consecutive Texas fall victory, overcoming Brad Keselowski's dominating Chase-contending car with three laps to go Sunday.
Keselowski led a track-record 312 of 334 laps after starting off the pole. He worked hard to hold on to the lead after the final restart with 18 laps left in a race he felt he needed to win to get one of the four spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship finale in two weeks.
''I'm not sure exactly how to feel about it at the moment,'' Keselowski said.
With the already-eliminated Johnson winning, three spots are still up for grabs at Phoenix, the last race before the Nov. 22 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The only championship contender set is retiring four-time champion Jeff Gordon, the Martinsville winner last week and Johnson's teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.
Kyle Busch leads the points race for at least two of the spots, ahead of defending Chase champion Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. Carl Edwards is next, followed by Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano.
Johnson led only six laps to get his fifth win of the season, his first in 20 starts. The No. 48 Chevrolet also won the spring race at Texas, and won the previous three fall races at the high-banked, 1 1/2-mile track.
Kyle Busch leads the points race for at least two of the spots, ahead of defending Chase champion Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. Carl Edwards is next, followed by Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano.
Johnson led only six laps to get his fifth win of the season, his first in 20 starts. The No. 48 Chevrolet also won the spring race at Texas, and won the previous three fall races at the high-banked, 1 1/2-mile track.
After the final restart, Keselowski and Truex were side-by-side, and even bumped at one point before Truex went in front very briefly.
Keselowski almost as quickly got back in front, and Johnson went charging past Truex as well into second place and right on the leader's tail. Truex lost his power steering in those closing laps.
Johnson kept pushing and on the backstretch on lap 331, he went to the bottom and was able to get around for the lead. Johnson went on to win by more than a second.
''I did everything I could to hold him off but he was way faster that last run,'' Keselowski said. ''As I sit right now, and maybe I'll change my mind, I don't know what I would have done differently, or could have done differently.''
''I did everything I could to hold him off but he was way faster that last run,'' Keselowski said. ''As I sit right now, and maybe I'll change my mind, I don't know what I would have done differently, or could have done differently.''
Harvick finished third, even after he twice had to come in to replace punctured tires after running over something on the track, and having to drive one-handed for a long stretch when he was having to hold on to the shifter to keep his car from popping out of gear.
Logano, Keselowski's teammate at Team Penske, got knocked from first to last among the eight championship contenders after being intentionally wrecked by Matt Kenseth at Martinsville a week ago. Logano's title shot took another huge hit when he had a blown tire after only 10 laps at Texas, where he finished 66 laps back in 40th place.
Logano kept the No. 22 off the wall after spinning on the backstretch, but there was still significant damage to the rear fender and the inside of the car. He was 64 laps back when he returned to the track.
Logano kept the No. 22 off the wall after spinning on the backstretch, but there was still significant damage to the rear fender and the inside of the car. He was 64 laps back when he returned to the track.
''The left rear tire came apart and shredded everything inside the car,'' Logano said. ''It did a lot more damage than just the tire blowing apart.''
The only one of the title contenders who finished outside of the top nine at Texas, Logano will have to win next week to get to the finale with a championship shot for the second year in a row.
The only one of the title contenders who finished outside of the top nine at Texas, Logano will have to win next week to get to the finale with a championship shot for the second year in a row.
Kenseth was absent serving the first of his two-race suspension from NASCAR after his appeals were denied. That ended Kenseth's streak of 571 consecutive starts, which was the second-longest active streak behind the Gordon's 795 in a row. Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman have each started 502 consecutive races since the 2002 Daytona 500.
Camping World Truck Series points leader Erik Jones took over in Kenseth's No. 22 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, and the 19-year-old finished 12th.
Patrick felt she had to get the retaliation that led to fine.
AP - Sports
Danica Patrick (10) runs into the back of David Gilliland (38) during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Don Petersen)
While bummed about having to write a $50,000 check for her penalty, Danica Patrick says she was doing what she felt she had to do when she wrecked another driver in retaliation.
''(NASCAR) felt like they needed to do what they did, and as drivers out there, we do what we feel like we need to do,'' Patrick said Saturday, when Cup practices were canceled and the only high-speed driving she did was when helping present the first customer-purchased sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro.
Patrick was fined and docked 25 points but not suspended after intentionally wrecking David Gilliland last weekend at Martinsville.
''When you're racing, and you have to demand respect from somebody based on actions on track, I think that no matter what as a driver, you're going to find yourself in a position to defend yourself,'' she said. ''It's racing. You've seen wrecks and retribution throughout all of history of racing.''
It was also at Martinsville when Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked race-leading Chase contender Joey Logano. Kenseth was suspended for two races, and his appeals were denied.
Patrick said nobody knew what to expect from NASCAR.
''That's probably why there was so much news about it all week, is that you weren't really sure what NASCAR was going to do,'' she said.
After Cup practice was called off because of a wet track, Patrick was sitting in the driver's seat of the new 2016 Camaro SS when Alican ''Turk'' Boyacioglu of Wichita, Kansas, first saw his new car.
Patrick then took the Boyacioglu for a few high-speed drags in the Texas Motor Speedway parking lot, though she ''didn't want to be too hard'' on the $47,000 car with 455 horsepower since it wasn't hers. She said the car accelerated and drove smoothly.
SOCCER: US championship results.
While bummed about having to write a $50,000 check for her penalty, Danica Patrick says she was doing what she felt she had to do when she wrecked another driver in retaliation.
''(NASCAR) felt like they needed to do what they did, and as drivers out there, we do what we feel like we need to do,'' Patrick said Saturday, when Cup practices were canceled and the only high-speed driving she did was when helping present the first customer-purchased sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro.
Patrick was fined and docked 25 points but not suspended after intentionally wrecking David Gilliland last weekend at Martinsville.
''When you're racing, and you have to demand respect from somebody based on actions on track, I think that no matter what as a driver, you're going to find yourself in a position to defend yourself,'' she said. ''It's racing. You've seen wrecks and retribution throughout all of history of racing.''
It was also at Martinsville when Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked race-leading Chase contender Joey Logano. Kenseth was suspended for two races, and his appeals were denied.
Patrick said nobody knew what to expect from NASCAR.
''That's probably why there was so much news about it all week, is that you weren't really sure what NASCAR was going to do,'' she said.
After Cup practice was called off because of a wet track, Patrick was sitting in the driver's seat of the new 2016 Camaro SS when Alican ''Turk'' Boyacioglu of Wichita, Kansas, first saw his new car.
Patrick then took the Boyacioglu for a few high-speed drags in the Texas Motor Speedway parking lot, though she ''didn't want to be too hard'' on the $47,000 car with 455 horsepower since it wasn't hers. She said the car accelerated and drove smoothly.
SOCCER: US championship results.
Reuters
Nov 9 - Results from the US championship second leg matches on Sunday.
Western Conference Semifinal
Western Conference Semifinal
Monday, November 9, second leg
First leg: Portland Timbers - Vancouver Whitecaps 0-0. Portland Timbers win 2-0 on aggregate.
FC Dallas - Seattle Sounders 2-1 (halftime: 0-0, 90 mins: 2-1, penalty shootout: 4-2)
First leg: Seattle Sounders - FC Dallas 2-1. FC Dallas win 4-2 on penalties after 3-3 on aggregate.
Eastern Conference Semifinal
Sunday, November 8, second leg
Columbus Crew - Impact Montreal 3-1 (halftime: 1-1, 90 mins: 2-1) AET
First leg: Impact Montreal - Columbus Crew 2-1. Columbus Crew win 4-3 on aggregate.
New York Red Bulls - DC United 1-0 (halftime: 0-0)
First leg: DC United - New York Red Bulls 0-1. New York Red Bulls win 2-0 on aggregate.
Three things we learned from Arsenal vs. Tottenham.
By NBC Sports
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 in the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Harry Kane‘s first half strike was canceled out by Kieran Gibbs‘ late leveler, as two Londoners were on the score-sheet, and the honors were even in an end-to-end derby between two bitter rivals.
Here’s three things we learned from an enthralling derby at the Emirates.
COOL KANE RED-HOT
Time seemed to stand still as Danny Rose‘s clipped ball over the top skipped off the perfect surface at the Emirates and Kane had nobody around him. Spurs’ main man was through on goal. The lad from north London had a glorious chance to put his team ahead and, unlike earlier this season when his confidence in front of goal evaded him, he took it with aplomb. With Per Mertesacker dropping off and Laurent Koscielny stepping up, Arsenal’s defense was at sixes and sevens and Kane took advantage of it. The England international, 22, has now scored five goals in his last three Premier League games which comes after a run of just one in his opening nine games of the campaign. Slowly but surely the PFA Young Player of the Year who scored 31 times last season in all competitions has reemerged. Kane’s confidence is sky-high.
We know that Spurs are solid at the back and Mauricio Pochettino has built a side capable of pressing high, not allowing other teams to dictate the tempo. That will keep them in most games this season and Kane’s goals will win them plenty. With Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela buzzing in around Kane, Spurs’ solid defensive unit has plenty of targets to hit when they get on the ball. As for Kane, he’s back to his best and hitting the target and scoring goals. Arsenal’s late show denied him being the hero in a north London derby for a second-straight season.
SPURS PERSONAL DUELS
Spurs’ came so close to winning the north London derby not solely because of Kane’s cool finish but because they won personal duels all over the pitch. In midfield the trio of Mousa Dembele (who was magnificent), Dele Alli and Eric Dier dominated Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin with the former being subbed out at half time by Arsene Wenger, such was his subdued first half. In central defense the Belgian duo of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen marshaled Olivier Giroud in open play, even though the Frenchman hit the bar and came inches away from scoring with another header from set pieces in the second half. That’s an area they must work on. In the first half a flash-point arrived as Giroud first fell to the ground when tussling with Vertonghen and the French striker got to his feet before flailing an arm which caught Vertonghen in the face, who also hit the floor. Spurs’ high energy antagonized Arsenal all game long and until Gibbs’ late equalizer, Spurs could have easily extended their lead with Kane, Eriksen and Alderweireld all being denied by Petr Cech and Arsenal’s defenders who threw themselves at everything. Pochettino has got his team well-organized and they look dangerous in the final third. Only five points off the top, Spurs can perhaps dream of more than a top four finish this season.
ARSENAL RALLY DESPITE SHAKY DEFENSE
Substitute Gibbs grabbed Arsenal a point — just 181 seconds after replacing the hard-working but ineffective Joel Campbell — and in truth, it was probably what they deserved after a second half where they dug deep and peppered the Spurs box with high-crosses and teasing passes. After a week which has seen them first beat Swansea City away and then take a midweek pasting at Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, it was an admirable fightback after a subdued first half performance. Throughout the game there were numerous defensive mistakes from the Gunners. We’ve already highlighted Koscielny and Mertesacker’s miscommunication for Kane’s goal and in recent games the Gunners center backs have suffered from stepping up and leaving a forward in acres of space (see: Gabriel pushing up to let in Lewandowski).
Then in the 57th minute a monumental mistake from Cech almost let Lamela and Spurs in to make it 2-0. Arsenal’s goalkeeper, who saved superbly from Eriksen and Alderweireld in the second half, tried to dribbled out of the back after a miscommunication with his defenders. If Arsenal are genuine title contenders, and their overall play and grit to rally late on against a top six team proves they are, they have to cut out silly defensive mistakes which will cost them dear in the long run. As it is, Mesut Ozil’s sublime cross to the back post picked out Gibbs and the Gunners sit joint-top in the PL after almost a third of the season gone.
NCAAFB: Top 25 Ranking, 11/08/2015.
bleacherreport.com
| AP | Coaches | S&P+ | Massey | |
| 1 | Clemson (31) | Ohio State (34) | Clemson | Clemson |
| 2 | Ohio State (26) | Clemson (21) | Alabama | Alabama |
| 3 | Alabama (2) | Baylor (5) | Michigan | Ohio State |
| 4 | Baylor (2) | Alabama (3) | Ohio State | Notre Dame |
| 5 | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma | LSU |
| 6 | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Stanford |
| 7 | Stanford | Stanford | Baylor | Baylor |
| 8 | Iowa | Iowa | LSU | Oklahoma State |
| 9 | LSU | LSU | Florida | Oklahoma |
| 10 | Utah | Florida | USC | Iowa |
| 11 | Florida | Oklahoma | Florida State | Florida |
| 12 | Oklahoma | TCU | Ole Miss | TCU |
| 13 | TCU | Utah | TCU | Utah |
| 14 | Michigan State | Michigan State | Stanford | Michigan |
| 15 | Michigan | Michigan | West Virginia | Michigan State |
| 16 | Houston | Houston | Oklahoma State | USC |
| 17 | North Carolina | North Carolina | Navy | North Carolina |
| 18 | UCLA | Florida State (T-18) | NC State | Navy |
| 19 | Florida State | UCLA (T-18) | UCLA | Mississippi State |
| 20 | Mississippi State | Mississippi State | Iowa | Houston |
| 21 | Temple | Temple | Washington | Ole Miss |
| 22 | Navy | Wisconsin | Mississippi State | Florida State |
| 23 | Wisconsin | Navy | Western Kentucky | Wisconsin |
| 24 | Northwestern | Northwestern | Utah | UCLA |
| 25 | Memphis | Memphis | Bowling Green | Memphis |
No. 6 Michigan State falls 39-38 to Nebraska in last seconds.
By ERIC OLSON
This time one went Nebraska's way, and now Michigan State's playoff hopes are in jeopardy.
Tommy Armstrong drove Nebraska 91 yards in the final minute, hitting Brandon Reilly with a 30-yard touchdown pass that withstood a video review with 17 seconds left to hand the sixth-ranked Spartans a devastating 39-38 loss on Saturday night.
Starting at his own 9, Armstrong hit Jordan Westerkamp for passes of 28 and 33 yards. Two plays later, he threw the winner to Reilly, who had gone out of bounds and come back in to make the catch. Officials ruled it was legal because cornerback Jermaine Edmondson forced him out.
''Controversial play at the end,'' Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said. ''They should have never been down there in the first place.''
Armstrong, who missed last week's embarrassing loss at Purdue because of a foot injury, rallied the Cornhuskers (4-6, 2-4 Big Ten) from 12 points down in the last 4 1/2 minutes for the largest fourth-quarter comeback in program history.
''This team is better than our record seems,'' Armstrong said. ''We had a couple upsets, games come down to the last seconds. But we know how to win games. We kept believing. Being down two scores with four minutes left, we saw guys leaving the stands. We didn't worry about it. We kept moving forward.''
He ran for a short touchdown with 1:47 left to make it 38-33. After Michigan State (8-1, 4-1, No. 7 CFP) went three-and-out, he led the drive that defines his career so far.
''We're going to collect ourselves and understand that our destiny is in our hands,'' Dantonio said. ''We control our own fate in terms of winning the (Big Ten) East and that's the thing we've got to focus on.
''Disappointing the way it worked out at the end, of course, and it shouldn't have, I guess.''
The Spartans got a final chance, but Connor Cook passed out of bounds from the Nebraska 41 as time ran out.
Nebraska's sideline cleared, a season full of pent-up frustration playing out with players and coaches at midfield dancing as the music blared. The Spartans walked slowly toward their locker room. The Huskers kept partying on the field.
Nebraska's sideline cleared, a season full of pent-up frustration playing out with players and coaches at midfield dancing as the music blared. The Spartans walked slowly toward their locker room. The Huskers kept partying on the field.
''I don't know if you call it justice or not,'' first-year Nebraska coach Mike Riley said when asked if the Huskers were due for a break. ''The kids earned this win tonight. It's like every game we lost that came down to the wire. Those things are so haunting. We made the plays to win the game and, boy, were those big plays.''
The win came at the end of a tumultuous week that followed the 55-45 loss at Purdue that gave Nebraska its worst nine-game record since 1960. On Monday, athletic director Shawn Eichorst responded to fan angst by giving Riley a vote of confidence. Two days later, Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman voiced his support for Riley, who took over this year for Bo Pelini, who never won fewer than nine games in his seven seasons.
The first five of the hard-luck Huskers' six losses came by a total of 13 points, with the initial one against BYU on a Hail Mary.
The Huskers played strong throughout against the Spartans, but it didn't look as if it would be enough. Cook threw for 335 yards and matched his career high with four touchdown passes, and Michigan State used a drive that lasted almost 9 minutes of the fourth quarter to go up 12 points.
The Huskers weren't done.
Riley had a knack for upsetting top-10 opponents over his 14 years at Oregon State, and he said on Thursday that he had faith the Huskers could beat Michigan State. It was the first time an unranked Nebraska team beat a top-10 opponent since 1977.
Imani Cross ran 18 times for 98 yards, and Armstrong completed 19 of 33 passes for 320 yards. He ran for two touchdowns and passed for two.
Imani Cross ran 18 times for 98 yards, and Armstrong completed 19 of 33 passes for 320 yards. He ran for two touchdowns and passed for two.
Cook completed 22 of 35 passes for 318 yards and Holmes ran 20 times for 115 yards. His four TD passes gave him a school-record 68 for his career, two more than Kirk Cousins had from 2008-11.
The Spartans, who came into the game off an open date, had not been very sharp in winning its first eight games. They beat two of the weakest Big Ten teams, Purdue and Rutgers, by narrow margins and needed the play of the year from Jalen Watts-Jackson to beat Michigan on a last-second botched punt. Even in its previous game, a 52-26 win over Indiana, Michigan State led just 28-26 entering the fourth quarter.
This time they couldn't finish.
Linebacker Darien Harris said the officiating didn't cost the Spartans the game.
''We can only control what we can control, and that's making plays out there, and what the refs call whether it's in our favor or not is out of our control,'' Harris said.
''We can only control what we can control, and that's making plays out there, and what the refs call whether it's in our favor or not is out of our control,'' Harris said.
College Football Today.
By The Associated Press
STARS
-Derrick Henry, Alabama, ran for 210 yards and three touchdowns in the No. 7 Crimson Tides' 30-16 victory over No. 4 LSU. Tigers star Leonard Fournette had 31 yards on 19 carries.
-Tommy Armstrong, Nebraska, led a 91-yard drive in 38 seconds, hitting Brandon Reilly with a 30-yard touchdown pass that survived a video review with 17 seconds left to hand No. 6 Michigan State a 39-38 loss.
-Brandon Allen, Arkansas, threw for 442 yards, ran for a 2-point conversion in overtime after his sixth TD pass to lead the Razorbacks to an improbable 53-52 overtime win over No. 19 Mississippi.
-Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State, passed for 352 yards and five TDs, leading the No. 12 Cowboys to a 49-29 upset against No. 5 TCU.
-Chris Swain, Memphis, ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns and Navy upset No. 15 Memphis 45-20, ending the Tigers' winning streak at 15 games.
-Luke Falk, Washington State, threw for 497 yards and five TDs to help the Cougars beat Arizona State 38-24 and become bowl-eligible for the second time in coach Mike Leach's four years with the program.
-Marquise Williams, North Carolina, threw for 404 of his school-record 494 yards by halftime and accounted for five touchdowns to lead the No. 21 Tar Heels to a 66-31 rout over rival Duke.
-DeShone Kizer, Notre Dame, threw for 262 yards and five TDs in leading the No. 8 Irish to a 42-30 win over Pitt.
-Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati, threw for 523 yards and four TDs in a 33-30 loss to No. 18 Houston.
-Troy Mitchell, Western Carolina, accounted for 360 yards and five TDs in a 48-10 win over Furman.
-Michael White, Marist, threw for three TDs and rushed for two more in a 49-14 win over Stetson.
-Kyle Bolin, Louisville, threw for a season-high 362 yards and three TDs in a 41-17 rout over Syracuse.
-Brandon Doughty, Western Kentucky, threw four TD passes and added a scoring reception in a 35-19 victory over Florida Atlantic.
-Donald Liotine, Stony Brook, ran for 204 yards two TDs in a 14-9 win over Howard.
CLEMSON RALLIES
Clemson had to rally in its first game as No. 1 in the College Football Playoff ranking.
Deshaun Watson threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Deon Cain and Wayne Gallman came through with a game-sealing score as No. 3 Clemson held off No. 17 Florida State and Dalvin Cook for a 23-13 victory Saturday to clinch the ACC Atlantic Division.
The win came on the first Saturday after the Tigers were chosen No. 1 in the initial CFP ranking.
Clemson trailed 10-6 at the break, going without a first-half touchdown for the first time this season. But Watson led three long scoring drives in the second half for the Tigers' first win over the Seminoles since 2011.
Greg Huegel had three field goals, the last a 34-yarder in the fourth quarter to put Clemson ahead for good. Clemson's defense took over from there, stopping the speedy Cook on fourth-and-1 with the Seminoles driving.
Cook had 194 yards rushing, but only 37 came in the second half.
COWBOYS RIDE
Oklahoma State has strengthened is case for a College Football Playoff with a big upset.
Mason Rudolph passed for 352 yards and five touchdowns, and No. 12 Oklahoma State tried to strengthen its case for a playoff spot in a 49-29 upset against No. 5 TCU.
James Washington caught five passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns for the Cowboys, who have felt overlooked all season, despite their unbeaten record.
The Cowboys have won their first nine games in a season for just the third time in school history.
TCU's Trevone Boykin, who has generated Heisman buzz all season, passed for 445 yards and ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns. But he also threw a career-high four interceptions. TCU gained 663 yards, but the Horned Frogs were held scoreless in the red zone twice.
TCU's Josh Doctson, the nation's leader in receiving yards, left the game in the second quarter with a left wrist injury and did not return.
Shaun Nixon had career highs of nine catches and 146 yards, and KaVontae Turpin added seven catches for 107 yards for the Horned Frogs.
NUMBERS
12-Sacks by Stony Brook against Howard, most in the FBS this season.
21-Touchdown passes by Florida International's Alex McGough, a school record.
32-Career victories by Stanford's Kevin Hogan to break Andrew Luck's school record.
Missouri protest is a sign of players' involvement as students, and that's good.
By Dan Wetzel
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel tweeted this photo of the team locking arms in unity. (Photo/Yahoo Sports)
The University of Missouri cancelled all football activities on Sunday, hours after coach Gary Pinkel tweeted out support of his players who are refusing to practice or play until school president Tim Wolfe is "no longer in office."
The issue centers on what some Missouri students believe is a slow and inconsequential response to some racially motivated incidents on the Columbia campus. One student is on a hunger strike. Others are camping out on Carnahan Quadrangle.
Folks on all sides of the debate are taking additional action, including 32 black football players (now backed by what appears to be all of their teammates) who decided late Saturday to do what they can. The Tigers' game Saturday against BYU is in jeopardy.
"The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe 'Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere, " the group said in a statement. "We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students' experiences."
Pinkel, for one, supports his guys. He tweeted out a picture Sunday of black and white players, arms linked.
"The Mizzou Family stands as one," Pinkel wrote. "We are united. We are behind our players."
This is a good thing.
Good that the players feel they can act like college students should – free to participate in campus protest if they choose.
And it's a good thing their coach is willing to support them, that they aren't just hired guns, and winning games isn't their sole purpose for being in school.
So far the University of Missouri has not heeded the demands of the protesters. Its Board of Curators have not fired President Wolfe, nor has Wolfe resigned or indicated he will.
"It is clear to all of us that change is needed, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness and passion which have gone into the sharing of concerns," Wolfe said in a statement. "My administration has been meeting around the clock and has been doing a tremendous amount of reflection on how to address these complex matters.
Clearly, we are open to listening to all sides, and are confident that we can come together to improve the student experience on our campuses. We want to find the best way to get everyone around the table and create the safe space for a meaningful conversation that promotes change. We will share next steps as soon as they are confirmed."
This, too, is a good thing.
Good that a university isn't immediately kowtowing to a high-profile protest. Good that the university isn't all of a sudden caving to a dramatic act like a hunger strike, or because football players are involved, or because of the threat of a cancelled game has turned this into a massive national media story.
"Our universities cannot be run by individuals' making demands or using extreme actions," Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is running for governor, said in his own statement. "The Board of Curators is in place to make informed decisions and govern, and they must be free to do so. Otherwise chaos ensues, and no student is served by that."
This is absolutely true. You can't run anything that way – schools would be changing course by the day. College students, almost by definition, are inexperienced, impassioned, impatient and impractical. They have a million ideas. Some of them are inspired. Some of them are terrible.
Is removing President Wolfe inspired or terrible? Don't know. Don't know the man. Don't know enough about the situation on campus or what specifically the office of the president could have done to prevent it.
The issues are, no doubt, alarming and troubling when conveyed through media reports. They are also likely nuanced and complicated in real life. It's difficult to say. Many believe, with stunning certainty, that they know, one way or the other – that the president must go, or the players must be stripped of their scholarships. This is how America tends to work these days. Everything is hyper-partisan.
Yet there is nothing wrong or weak about saying you aren't sure, or that more needs to be discovered, or that just firing figureheads (or pulling football scholarships) is the only solution.
Maybe Wolfe is the worst guy in higher education. Maybe he isn't. Maybe the protestors have a point. Maybe they are missing it. Maybe the solution rests somewhere in the middle.
All of that is for the Missouri community to figure out, by careful and thorough analysis and investigation and reasoning, not because of howling students.
Which isn't to say those protests shouldn't occur. Those students have brought considerable attention to a serious issue: the remnants of racism that still exist on campus, which, ideally, should be free of such ignorance.
"Our colleges and universities must be havens of trust and understanding," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon stated.
This situation may be particularly bad at Mizzou. It might be that way because of school leadership. Again, don't know.
Protestors have put the spotlight on Missouri and what it has done, hasn't done and, most important, will do. They've dragged the issue front and center. Whatever the path is toward calm and comity, Missouri's football players feel enough a part of the community to speak their mind.
At too many places, athletes like them are sheltered away from everyone else, living in specific dorms, taking specific majors, spending most of their time in the football facility where they can be segregated from other students, blissfully playing video games in plush lounges or lifting weights in mammoth facilities, all built for coaches to control their every movement in pursuit of victory and little else.
The Missouri players are part of the fray, part of the place. They may be right. They may be wrong. They may be imprecise. They may one day look back with pride. They may one day look back with embarrassment.
It doesn't matter because that's college. That's exactly what college is supposed to be, even if you're a big-shot football player. Maybe even especially.
NCAABKB: Should NCAA drop initial eligibility standards?
By Gary Parrish
Cheick Diallo is still waiting to be cleared by NCAA. (Photo/USATSI)
The NCAA still hasn't cleared Kansas freshman Cheick Diallo for initial eligibility, and there's no guarantee anything will be resolved before KU opens the regular season next Friday night against Northern Colorado. Needless to say, this has restarted a national debate, at least in basketball circles, about whether the NCAA should be in the initial eligibility business at all, and, I for one, think it's a reasonable question to ask.
I mean, who benefits from the NCAA's initial eligibility academic standards?
The only prospects ever affected, with few exceptions, are prospects from poor school systems and or foreign countries. And what's the point of keeping those types of kids from using their athletic ability to further their education and possibly break a cycle?
Answer: There isn't one. Or, at least, there isn't a good one.
So my suggestion is this: Let Stanford enroll and initially clear whichever prospects it feels comfortable enrolling and initially clearing, and let Florida State and Illinois State and Southern Miss and everybody else do the same. Then, once the players are on campus, they'll either prove capable or incapable of doing the work, and we'll go from there. And doesn't that seem like a better way to handle things? Isn't that so much more inclusive?
With this plan, every kid at least gets a shot to prove himself as a capable college student as long as there's a college willing to enroll him. And the NCAA, already overwhelmed with amateurism cases, would then be able to use its resources to focus completely on things that actually unlevel the so-called playing field -- like, for instance, agents and shoe company executives using influence to guide elite prospects to preferred destinations.
Best I can tell, that's a win-win.
Now we just need the decision-makers in college athletics to recognize it.
Why firing second-year coaches is the new NFL normal.
Ken Whisenhunt was the hottest coach around two seasons ago. Now he's out of work. (Photo/USATSI)
A week after ownership sent down word of the need to shake up the coaching staff in Detroit, longtime president Ton Lewand and GM Martin Mayhew were let go in-season. We've had coordinators fired in two other places as well, with it all starting just a month into the season with the Dolphins whacking Joe Philbin and much of his staff.It's unsightly and it's not the way things used to be done and it's not a good look. If ownership and management can't use a six-month offseason to make these decisions, then that's a failure on them as much as the coaches.
Philbin was fired by an absentee owner (Stephen Ross resides primarily in New York). Whisenhunt met the same fate from his owner, Amy Adams Strunk, who only recently became the controlling partner. The Lions' overhaul was led by a new faction of ownership that had remained largely silent for like five decades.
All of these organizations have been plagued by toxicity in their facilities and by leadership voids and infighting. And, in every case mentioned but Miami, by the uncertainty of how they will operate long-term and who the owner will be. That seeps into all corridors, even the locker room, and if you want to evaluate why so many teams win all the time and so many others seem to generally be at the bottom of the standings, well, start at the very top.
After watching another week of football that featured no shortage of bad teams, you best believe that there will be more carnage before we reach the holidays. It's become almost too easy now.
With the divide between the haves and the have-nots seemingly greater than ever, it's hard to know where to start. The Browns, Lions, Colts, Texans, 49ers, Redskins, Dolphins (interim coach Dan Campbell isn't the answer, folks) and Titans all could be looking for new head coaches. Others will be hiring new general managers or both and, from what I've been gathering from the early returns among some coaches in their first year with their new teams, by this time next year guys like Rex Ryan could be right back on the front burner should their teams not make significant strides.
That's how it is out there on these coaching streets. The tenor has changed and I'm not sure it's going back any time soon, especially with so many people signing the paychecks who haven't been in this position before and are maybe only there because circumstances forced them to be. It takes some degree of time to cultivate an organization and for many men around the league, the clock ticks louder and faster than ever before. Three years may start looking more like a dream than a baseline.
Will Jay Gruden get a third year in Washington? (Photo/USATSI)
On
Memoriesofhistory.com
1861 - The first documented Canadian football game took place at the University of Toronto.
1952 - Maurice "The Rocket" Richard became the NHL's leading goal scorer with his 325th career goal. He later sent the puck to Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within the scope of federal antitrust laws.
1961 - The Professional Golfer's Association (PGA) eliminated its "Caucasians only" rule.
1965 - Willie Mays was named the National League Most Valuable Player.
1971 - The NHL announced that it had granted a franchise to Atlanta.
1972 - John Bucyk (Boston Bruins) scored his 1,000th NHL point.
1982 - Sugar Ray Leonard retired from boxing. In 1984 Leonard came out of retirement to fight one more time before becoming a boxing commentator for NBC.
1984 - Larry Bird and Dr. J. got into a fight during a game. They were both fined $7,500.
1991 - Roman Anderson (Houston Cougars) became the first player in NCAA history to surpass 400 points when he kicked a 32-yard field goal.
1952 - Maurice "The Rocket" Richard became the NHL's leading goal scorer with his 325th career goal. He later sent the puck to Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within the scope of federal antitrust laws.
1961 - The Professional Golfer's Association (PGA) eliminated its "Caucasians only" rule.
1965 - Willie Mays was named the National League Most Valuable Player.
1971 - The NHL announced that it had granted a franchise to Atlanta.
1972 - John Bucyk (Boston Bruins) scored his 1,000th NHL point.
1982 - Sugar Ray Leonard retired from boxing. In 1984 Leonard came out of retirement to fight one more time before becoming a boxing commentator for NBC.
1984 - Larry Bird and Dr. J. got into a fight during a game. They were both fined $7,500.
1991 - Roman Anderson (Houston Cougars) became the first player in NCAA history to surpass 400 points when he kicked a 32-yard field goal.
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