Thursday’s quiz
Who threw the first no-hitter in Arizona Diamondbacks’ history?
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie
Someone to Watch Over Me, Tom Berenger is a New York City cop assigned to protect a woman who witnessed a murder. Mimi Rogers played the witness.
Tuesday’s quiz
In the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jameis Winston has the most passing yards.
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How last 20 defending
Super Bowl champs did in Week 1 the next season; 15 of the last 16 opened at home:
2003: Buccaneers (+3) W17-0 @ Philadelphia
2004: Patriots (-3) W27-24 vs Indianapolis
2005: Patriots (-7.5) W30-20 vs Oakland
2006: Steelers (-1) W28-17 vs Miami
2007: Colts (-5.5) W41-10 vs New Orleans
2008: Giants (-4.5) W16-7 vs Washington
2009: Steelers (-6.5) W13-10 vs Tennessee
2010: Saints (-5) W14-9 vs Minnesota
2011: Packers (-5) W42-34 vs New Orleans
2012: Giants (-5) L17-24 vs Dallas
2013: Ravens (+7.5) L27-49 @ Denver
2014: Seahawks (-5.5) W36-16 vs Green Bay
2015: Patriots (-7) W28-21 vs Pittsburgh
2016: Broncos (+3) W21-20 vs Carolina
2017: Patriots (-8) L27-42 vs Kansas City
2018: Eagles (-1) W18-12 vs Atlanta
2019: Patriots (-5.5) W33-3 vs Pittsburgh
2020: Chiefs (-9) W34-20 vs Houston
2021: Buccaneers (-8) W31-29 vs Dallas
2022: Rams (+2.5) L10-31 vs Buffalo
2023: Chiefs (-4.5) L20-21 vs Detroit
(11-7-3 ATS, 0-3 ATS last three years)
— 17 of the 32 offensive coordinators are in new jobs this season; makes it difficult to handicap Week 1, not much idea what to expect.
— Steelers brought in Russell Wilson AND Justin Fields this year, as they totally re-made their QB room. Wilson is 124-79-1 with a Super Bowl ring, but he was 17-27 the last three years and he will be 36 years old in November.
Fields is 10-28 as an NFL starter, heading towards suspect more than prospect. Will they use him in goal line/short yardage situations?
— Pittsburgh OC Arthur Smith was the Falcons’ head coach the last three years, going 7-10 all three seasons, so they fired him; Steelers open up in Atlanta Sunday.
Think that game is a little personal for Smith?
— Deshaun Watson has already gone thru two years of his guaranteed, five-year $46M/year contract, but he’s only played in 12 of 34 games for the Browns so far. Cleveland went 11-6 last year, with four different QB’s earning a win- that isn’t sustainable- they need Watson to play like a QB who deserves $46M a year.
— Eagles started 10-1 last year, then lost six of their last seven games, then changed both of their coordinators— it came out that QB Jalen Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni aren’t exactly the best of buddies, which puts the focus on new OC Kellen Moore, who spent eight of the last nine years with division rival Dallas.
This is a franchise that let Andy Reid/Doug Peterson walk; is Sirianni on thin ice?
— Aaron Donald retired; when a team loses one of the best defensive players ever, it puts their defense in question, especially with a new defensive coordinator (Chris Shula).
—
Famous birthdays, September 5th:
William Devane, 85
Billy Kilmer, 85
Michael Keaton, 73
Willie Gault, 64
Dennis Scott, 56
Austin Corbett, 29
Jarren Duran, 28
Steven Kwan, 27
Mac Jones, 26
— Jets’ QB Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles on the 4th play last season; his health is obviously a big key as the Jets try to make the playoffs for the first time since 2010. Jets have five prime-time games and a Europe game in their first nine contests; someone in the league office thinks Gang Green is a contender.
— Chargers QB Justin Herbert battled a plantar fascia injury all summer; he was in a walking boot for two weeks. Chargers recently traded for Taylor Heinicke to back up Herbert; Heinicke is 13-16-1 as an NFL starter.
— Last five years, Buffalo Bills are 58-24 in regular season, only 5-5 in playoff games; Bills have problems with the salary cap these days, the way a lot of contending teams do, so their roster may be a little thinner this season than it has been.
— It is difficult for me to process that Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll are no longer NFL coaches; did they suddenly become incompetent? Hopefully Carroll will surface on TV somewhere; with his enthusiasm, he’d be a great teacher on TV.
Belichick seems like he is kind of boring; hopefully I’ll be wrong about that, but we’ll see.
— Should rookie QB’s start right away? Patrick Mahomes didn’t start until the last game of his rookie year; watching for a while can be a help.
Bears/Commanders are going with rookie QB’s right away; we’ll see how that works out.
— How last 20
Super Bowl losers did in Week 1 the following season:
2003: Raiders (+3) L20-25 @ Tennessee
2004: Panthers (-3) L14-24 vs Green Bay
2005: Eagles (-1) L10-14 @ Atlanta
2006: Seahawks (-6) W9-6 @ Detroit
2007: Bears (+7) L3-19 @ San Diego
2008: Patriots (-16) W17-10 vs Kansas City
2009: Cardinals (-5) L16-20 vs San Francisco
2010: Colts (-1.5) L24-34 @ Houston
2011: Steelers (+1) L7-35 @ Baltimore
2012: Patriots (-5) W34-13 @ Tennessee
2013: 49ers (-5) W34-28 vs Green Bay
2014: Broncos (-7.5) W31-24 vs Indianapolis
2015: Seahawks (-3.5) L31-34 OT @ Rams
2016: Panthers (-3) L20-21 @ Denver
2017: Falcons (-6.5) W23-17 @ Chicago
2018: Patriots (-6.5) W27-20 vs Houston
2019: Rams (-1.5) W30-27 @ Carolina
2020: 49ers (-7) L20-24 vs Arizona
2021: Chiefs (-5.5) W33-29 vs Cleveland
2022: Bengals (-7) L20-23 OT vs Pittsburgh
2023: Eagles (-3.5) W25-20 @ Philadelphia
(5-16 ATS, 3-3 ATS last six years)