Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Interesting spreads, Week 8
— Bills (-3) @ Seattle
— Bears (-3) @ Washington
— Panthers @ Denver (-7.5)
— Chiefs (-10) @ Las Vegas
— Cowboys @ San Francisco (-4.5)
— Giants @ Pittsburgh (-6)
Quote of the Day
“We’re all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn’t matter anymore. So there’s zero pressure. You have an opportunity to carry the organization forward, to double down on the tradition and history of what this organization has. And what else would you expect than someone expecting you to win all the time?”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, talking about Boston repeating as NBA champs
Tuesday’s quiz
Arizona Cardinals have played in one Super Bowl; who was their QB in that game?
Monday’s quiz
Green Bay Packers are a publicly-owned team; of the other 31 NFL owners, Bengals owner Mike Brown is the least wealthy.
Sunday’s quiz
Barry Bonds was walked intentionally 120 times in 2004, the most of any player ever; other than Bonds, Willie McCovey (1969) has received the most intentional walks in a season. He had 45 intentional walks that year.
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Baltimore won/covered last five games, scoring 28-35-41-30-41 points.
First seven drives, Ravens ran 40 plays for 379 yards, 34 points.
RB Henry carried ball 15 times for 169 yards.
Ravens are 10-4 ATS in last 14 games as a road favorite.
Over is 6-1 in Baltimore’s games this year.
Both of Buccaneers’ star WR’s (Evans/Godwin) left with injuries.
Tampa Bay led 10-0 after the first quarter.
Buccaneers scored 33-30-51-31 points in last four games.
Tampa Bay is 2-5 ATS last seven games as a home underdog.
Buccaneers are 4-9 ATS in last 13 games vs AFC teams.
— Cardinals 17, Chargers 15
On their first drive, Chargers fumbled on Arizona’s 2-yard line.
Chargers wound up kicking five field goals on their eight drives.
Last four games, on 17 2nd half drives, Chargers have no TD’s, 4 FG’s.
Chargers scored 22-26-23 points in wins, 10-10-15 in losses.
Chargers are 3-12 ATS in last 15 games with spread of 3 or less points.
Arizona drove 56 yards, kicked game-winning FG at the gun.
Cardinals are 17-12 ATS last 29 games coming off a loss.
Chargers were 6-14 on third down, Arizona 2-7
Murray’s 44-yard TD run put Cardinals ahead 14-9.
Cardinals are 8-5 ATS last 13 games as a home underdog.
— OK, let’s say you’re voting for who gets into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Let’s take a look at the blind resume for two candidates (both QB’s):
Player A: 117-117 regular season W-L, 8-4 playoffs.
Won two Super Bowls
Player B: 72-72 regular season W-L, 8-2 playoffs.
Won two Super Bowls
Who gets in? Both? Neither? Just Player A? Just Player B?
Both won two Super Bowls, with a .500 regular season record. Seems logical that both of them should get in, or neither one, right?
— Cleveland Browns are planning on building a domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, which apparently will be privately funded.
— Giants’ QB Daniel Jones is the only starting QB since 2000 with no passing TD’s in six consecutive home games.
— When the Lions play in Green Bay on November 3rd, it’ll be their first game outdoors this season, their eighth game this year.
— Famous birthdays, October 22:
Christopher Lloyd, 86
Wilbur Wood, 83
Jeff Goldblum, 72
Jamie Quirk, 70
Luis Zendejas, 63
Ichiro Suzuki, 51
Carmen Ejogo, 50
Robinson Cano, 42
Corbin Burnes, 30
There will be scapegoats:
— Oklahoma has lost three of its last four games, is 132nd in the country in offense; they fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell Sunday.
Littrell was North Texas’ head coach from 2016-22; he was an analyst at Oklahoma last year, was promoted to OC this year when Jeff Lebby left to become Mississippi State’s head coach.
— Oklahoma is an underdog of 20.5 points vs Ole Miss this week; it would be the first time since 1997 that the Sooners were an underdog of 20+ points- 348 games ago.
— Utah Utes offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned (was fired) Sunday; Utah lost its last three games, scoring a total of 36 points. Mike Bajakian was promoted to QB coach/offensive coordinator (on an interim basis).
Bajakian joined Utah this year as an analyst after spending four seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwestern, a school exactly known for offense, but he was also a QB coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs from 2015-18.
— East Carolina fired football coach Mike Houston after their 3-4 start; Houston was 27-38 in 5+ seasons coaching the Pirates, getting to bowl games in 2021, 2022, but ECU lost its last two games, giving up 100 points to Charlotte/Army. Not good.
— USC has led in the 4th quarter of all their games this season, but they’re 3-4; over the last 20 years, only one other team has led in the 4th quarter of their first seven games, and been under .500 (Utah State in 2011).
— Movie of the Day: One on One (1977)- A small-town basketball star goes to college and tries to impress his tutor, teammates, and coach.
Robby Benson is the star; lot has changed since this movie was made (I was in high school, for example) but some of it still holds up. Annette O’Toole is his tutor and a very young Melanie Griffith has a cameo at the start of the movie.
One on One was filmed at Colorado State; I think they still use that arena.
— In September, parlays accounted for 32.3% of sports bets in New Jersey, 72.5% of their gross revenue. Parlays are a casino’s very good friend.
— Do NFL coaches get drug tested? I’m wondering this because Detroit coach Dan Campbell does some weird stuff— he takes chances, reckless chances at times.
First possession Sunday, Lions tried a fake punt in Minnesota; it failed badly, but the Lions were good enough to win anyway, kicking a field goal at the end. Couple of years ago against the Rams, Detroit tried an onside kick/fake punt in the first half….of the same game!!!
— 2016 Atlanta Falcons had five coaches on their staff who are currently NFL head coaches:
Dan Quinn, Washington
Raheem Morris, Atlanta
Mike McDaniel, Miami
Jeff Ulbrich, Jets
Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco
— Oh, by the way, the two quarterbacks up above?
Player B is Jim Plunkett
Player A in Eli Manning
Interesting spreads, Week 8
— Bills (-3) @ Seattle
— Bears (-3) @ Washington
— Panthers @ Denver (-7.5)
— Chiefs (-10) @ Las Vegas
— Cowboys @ San Francisco (-4.5)
— Giants @ Pittsburgh (-6)
Quote of the Day
“We’re all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn’t matter anymore. So there’s zero pressure. You have an opportunity to carry the organization forward, to double down on the tradition and history of what this organization has. And what else would you expect than someone expecting you to win all the time?”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, talking about Boston repeating as NBA champs
Tuesday’s quiz
Arizona Cardinals have played in one Super Bowl; who was their QB in that game?
Monday’s quiz
Green Bay Packers are a publicly-owned team; of the other 31 NFL owners, Bengals owner Mike Brown is the least wealthy.
Sunday’s quiz
Barry Bonds was walked intentionally 120 times in 2004, the most of any player ever; other than Bonds, Willie McCovey (1969) has received the most intentional walks in a season. He had 45 intentional walks that year.
******************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..
— Ravens 41, Buccaneers 31Baltimore won/covered last five games, scoring 28-35-41-30-41 points.
First seven drives, Ravens ran 40 plays for 379 yards, 34 points.
RB Henry carried ball 15 times for 169 yards.
Ravens are 10-4 ATS in last 14 games as a road favorite.
Over is 6-1 in Baltimore’s games this year.
Both of Buccaneers’ star WR’s (Evans/Godwin) left with injuries.
Tampa Bay led 10-0 after the first quarter.
Buccaneers scored 33-30-51-31 points in last four games.
Tampa Bay is 2-5 ATS last seven games as a home underdog.
Buccaneers are 4-9 ATS in last 13 games vs AFC teams.
— Cardinals 17, Chargers 15
On their first drive, Chargers fumbled on Arizona’s 2-yard line.
Chargers wound up kicking five field goals on their eight drives.
Last four games, on 17 2nd half drives, Chargers have no TD’s, 4 FG’s.
Chargers scored 22-26-23 points in wins, 10-10-15 in losses.
Chargers are 3-12 ATS in last 15 games with spread of 3 or less points.
Arizona drove 56 yards, kicked game-winning FG at the gun.
Cardinals are 17-12 ATS last 29 games coming off a loss.
Chargers were 6-14 on third down, Arizona 2-7
Murray’s 44-yard TD run put Cardinals ahead 14-9.
Cardinals are 8-5 ATS last 13 games as a home underdog.
— OK, let’s say you’re voting for who gets into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Let’s take a look at the blind resume for two candidates (both QB’s):
Player A: 117-117 regular season W-L, 8-4 playoffs.
Won two Super Bowls
Player B: 72-72 regular season W-L, 8-2 playoffs.
Won two Super Bowls
Who gets in? Both? Neither? Just Player A? Just Player B?
Both won two Super Bowls, with a .500 regular season record. Seems logical that both of them should get in, or neither one, right?
— Cleveland Browns are planning on building a domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, which apparently will be privately funded.
— Giants’ QB Daniel Jones is the only starting QB since 2000 with no passing TD’s in six consecutive home games.
— When the Lions play in Green Bay on November 3rd, it’ll be their first game outdoors this season, their eighth game this year.
— Famous birthdays, October 22:
Christopher Lloyd, 86
Wilbur Wood, 83
Jeff Goldblum, 72
Jamie Quirk, 70
Luis Zendejas, 63
Ichiro Suzuki, 51
Carmen Ejogo, 50
Robinson Cano, 42
Corbin Burnes, 30
There will be scapegoats:
— Oklahoma has lost three of its last four games, is 132nd in the country in offense; they fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell Sunday.
Littrell was North Texas’ head coach from 2016-22; he was an analyst at Oklahoma last year, was promoted to OC this year when Jeff Lebby left to become Mississippi State’s head coach.
— Oklahoma is an underdog of 20.5 points vs Ole Miss this week; it would be the first time since 1997 that the Sooners were an underdog of 20+ points- 348 games ago.
— Utah Utes offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned (was fired) Sunday; Utah lost its last three games, scoring a total of 36 points. Mike Bajakian was promoted to QB coach/offensive coordinator (on an interim basis).
Bajakian joined Utah this year as an analyst after spending four seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwestern, a school exactly known for offense, but he was also a QB coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs from 2015-18.
— East Carolina fired football coach Mike Houston after their 3-4 start; Houston was 27-38 in 5+ seasons coaching the Pirates, getting to bowl games in 2021, 2022, but ECU lost its last two games, giving up 100 points to Charlotte/Army. Not good.
— USC has led in the 4th quarter of all their games this season, but they’re 3-4; over the last 20 years, only one other team has led in the 4th quarter of their first seven games, and been under .500 (Utah State in 2011).
— Movie of the Day: One on One (1977)- A small-town basketball star goes to college and tries to impress his tutor, teammates, and coach.
Robby Benson is the star; lot has changed since this movie was made (I was in high school, for example) but some of it still holds up. Annette O’Toole is his tutor and a very young Melanie Griffith has a cameo at the start of the movie.
One on One was filmed at Colorado State; I think they still use that arena.
— In September, parlays accounted for 32.3% of sports bets in New Jersey, 72.5% of their gross revenue. Parlays are a casino’s very good friend.
— Do NFL coaches get drug tested? I’m wondering this because Detroit coach Dan Campbell does some weird stuff— he takes chances, reckless chances at times.
First possession Sunday, Lions tried a fake punt in Minnesota; it failed badly, but the Lions were good enough to win anyway, kicking a field goal at the end. Couple of years ago against the Rams, Detroit tried an onside kick/fake punt in the first half….of the same game!!!
— 2016 Atlanta Falcons had five coaches on their staff who are currently NFL head coaches:
Dan Quinn, Washington
Raheem Morris, Atlanta
Mike McDaniel, Miami
Jeff Ulbrich, Jets
Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco
— Oh, by the way, the two quarterbacks up above?
Player B is Jim Plunkett
Player A in Eli Manning
