Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Interesting NFL spreads for Week 15:
— Chargers @ Las Vegas (-3)
— Vikings @ Cincinnati (-3.5)
— Steelers @ Indianapolis (-2.5)
— Broncos @ Detroit (-5)
— Jets @ Miami (-10.5)
— Falcons (-3) @ Carolina
Quote of the Day
“This is the best decision for me and my future. It was my lifelong dream to play quarterback at North Carolina, and I get a chance to check off another dream and play quarterback in the NFL.”
North Carolina QB Drake Maye, who is skipping his college team’s bowl game
Tuesday’s quiz
What team won the first two Super Bowls?
Monday’s quiz
Alex Smith was the Chiefs’ starting QB before Patrick Mahomes.
Sunday’s quiz
Cal-Irvine’s basketball team is known as the Anteaters.
**************************************************
Giants drove 57 yards, kicked game-winning 37-yard FG with 0:02 left.
Giants won their last three games, all as an underdog.
Giants gained 367 total yards, their most since Week 2.
Last nine games, Giants are +14 in turnovers.
Last five games, Green Bay gave up 170.4 rushing yards/game.
Packers are 2-8-1 ATS last 11 games as a road favorite.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.
Right now, there are five teams tied for the last playoff slot in NFC.
— Titans 28, Dolphins 27
Dolphins led 27-13 with 3:00 left in the game.
Titans then scored two TD’s in 0:53 span, on drives of 75-61 yards.
Titans are minus-7 in turnovers (9-16) so far this season.
Opponents’ team total: over 7-3-3
Miami’s first TD was an awful pick-6 by Levis.
Dolphins’ two offensive TD’s were on short drives of 7-12 yards.
Miami is 2-4 when it scores less than 31 points.
Right now, Miami is #2-seed in AFC, leading AFC East by two games.
— I’m a fan of these Monday NFL doubleheaders, think they’re preferable to Thursday night NFL games- football wasn’t meant to be played on three days’ rest, but Thursday games must bring in major TV $$$, and $$$ always wins out.
— We mentioned how Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700M contract last week; well it turns out, $680M of that money will be paid in deferred payments from 2034-43, lowering the Dodgers’ payroll and potential tax burden right now.
Ohtani makes around $40M a year in endorsements, so he doesn’t need the $$$ right now, and deferring the payments makes it easier for the Dodgers to assemble a winning team next year.
— By way of comparison, according to FanGraphs, Oakland A’s total payroll last season was a paltry $58,505,484, meaning Ohtani is going to make more $$$ than the whole Oakland team made last season. Awesome.
Would be kind of funny if after all this talk about Ohtani, the Angels made the playoffs in 2024, since they never made the playoffs with Ohtani.
— Pacers 131, Pistons 123- Detroit has lost 20 games in a row; they’re 6-14 against the spread in those 20 losses.
— Pet Peeve of the Day- At least three QB’s with NFL aspirations are skipping their teams bowl games: USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman.
Williams/Hartman transferred to their current school, are now skipping out on them too, so the word “loyalty” is apparently an anachronism now.
— Word of the Day: Anachronism- a person, thing, or idea that exists outside of its time in history, Something that is conspicuously old-fashioned.
— College quarterbacks on the move:
Baylor QB Blake Shapen transfers to Mississippi State.
Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel bolts to Oregon.
North Texas QB Chandler Rogers moves on to California.
Michigan State QB Sam Leavitt transfers to Arizona State.
Boise State QB Taylor Green jumps from Boise State to Arkansas.
— NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder is off to a fast 15-7 start; their last winning season was four years ago, so they appear to be a franchise on the rise.
Here’s the thing: over the next seven years, Oklahoma City has 37 draft picks!!!! What the hell will they do with all of them? Teams only have 15 guys on their roster; if you have a good team, your roster will be pretty well set. Will be interesting to see how they handle all that.
— There are seven unbeaten teams left in college basketball.
— Troy State football coach Jon Sumrall is moving on to Tulane; Trojans are 11-2 this season, are playing Duke in the Birmingham Bowl, but their coach is moving up the financial ladder. Tulane coach Willie Fritz has bolted to the Houston Cougars.
— Vikings’ 3-0 win in Las Vegas Sunday was the 7th NFL game in the Super Bowl era to end 3-0, but this game was indoors- the others were all played in cruddy weather.
— By my count, 54 different quarterbacks have started an NFL game this season, and that count will rise this weekend, with 3-4 more teams likely to start a new QB, due to injuries.
— Major league pitcher Marco Gonzales had a weird week last week:
Last Sunday, he got traded from Seattle to Atlanta.
Two days later, he got dealt to Pittsburgh.
Good news is that he’s probably the Pirates’ #2 starter.
More good news, he’s going to make $12M in 2024.
Bad news is…….well, he’s on the Pirates instead of a good team.
Interesting NFL spreads for Week 15:
— Chargers @ Las Vegas (-3)
— Vikings @ Cincinnati (-3.5)
— Steelers @ Indianapolis (-2.5)
— Broncos @ Detroit (-5)
— Jets @ Miami (-10.5)
— Falcons (-3) @ Carolina
Quote of the Day
“This is the best decision for me and my future. It was my lifelong dream to play quarterback at North Carolina, and I get a chance to check off another dream and play quarterback in the NFL.”
North Carolina QB Drake Maye, who is skipping his college team’s bowl game
Tuesday’s quiz
What team won the first two Super Bowls?
Monday’s quiz
Alex Smith was the Chiefs’ starting QB before Patrick Mahomes.
Sunday’s quiz
Cal-Irvine’s basketball team is known as the Anteaters.
**************************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..
— Giants 24, Packers 22Giants drove 57 yards, kicked game-winning 37-yard FG with 0:02 left.
Giants won their last three games, all as an underdog.
Giants gained 367 total yards, their most since Week 2.
Last nine games, Giants are +14 in turnovers.
Last five games, Green Bay gave up 170.4 rushing yards/game.
Packers are 2-8-1 ATS last 11 games as a road favorite.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.
Right now, there are five teams tied for the last playoff slot in NFC.
— Titans 28, Dolphins 27
Dolphins led 27-13 with 3:00 left in the game.
Titans then scored two TD’s in 0:53 span, on drives of 75-61 yards.
Titans are minus-7 in turnovers (9-16) so far this season.
Opponents’ team total: over 7-3-3
Miami’s first TD was an awful pick-6 by Levis.
Dolphins’ two offensive TD’s were on short drives of 7-12 yards.
Miami is 2-4 when it scores less than 31 points.
Right now, Miami is #2-seed in AFC, leading AFC East by two games.
— I’m a fan of these Monday NFL doubleheaders, think they’re preferable to Thursday night NFL games- football wasn’t meant to be played on three days’ rest, but Thursday games must bring in major TV $$$, and $$$ always wins out.
— We mentioned how Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700M contract last week; well it turns out, $680M of that money will be paid in deferred payments from 2034-43, lowering the Dodgers’ payroll and potential tax burden right now.
Ohtani makes around $40M a year in endorsements, so he doesn’t need the $$$ right now, and deferring the payments makes it easier for the Dodgers to assemble a winning team next year.
— By way of comparison, according to FanGraphs, Oakland A’s total payroll last season was a paltry $58,505,484, meaning Ohtani is going to make more $$$ than the whole Oakland team made last season. Awesome.
Would be kind of funny if after all this talk about Ohtani, the Angels made the playoffs in 2024, since they never made the playoffs with Ohtani.
— Pacers 131, Pistons 123- Detroit has lost 20 games in a row; they’re 6-14 against the spread in those 20 losses.
— Pet Peeve of the Day- At least three QB’s with NFL aspirations are skipping their teams bowl games: USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman.
Williams/Hartman transferred to their current school, are now skipping out on them too, so the word “loyalty” is apparently an anachronism now.
— Word of the Day: Anachronism- a person, thing, or idea that exists outside of its time in history, Something that is conspicuously old-fashioned.
— College quarterbacks on the move:
Baylor QB Blake Shapen transfers to Mississippi State.
Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel bolts to Oregon.
North Texas QB Chandler Rogers moves on to California.
Michigan State QB Sam Leavitt transfers to Arizona State.
Boise State QB Taylor Green jumps from Boise State to Arkansas.
— NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder is off to a fast 15-7 start; their last winning season was four years ago, so they appear to be a franchise on the rise.
Here’s the thing: over the next seven years, Oklahoma City has 37 draft picks!!!! What the hell will they do with all of them? Teams only have 15 guys on their roster; if you have a good team, your roster will be pretty well set. Will be interesting to see how they handle all that.
— There are seven unbeaten teams left in college basketball.
— Troy State football coach Jon Sumrall is moving on to Tulane; Trojans are 11-2 this season, are playing Duke in the Birmingham Bowl, but their coach is moving up the financial ladder. Tulane coach Willie Fritz has bolted to the Houston Cougars.
— Vikings’ 3-0 win in Las Vegas Sunday was the 7th NFL game in the Super Bowl era to end 3-0, but this game was indoors- the others were all played in cruddy weather.
— By my count, 54 different quarterbacks have started an NFL game this season, and that count will rise this weekend, with 3-4 more teams likely to start a new QB, due to injuries.
— Major league pitcher Marco Gonzales had a weird week last week:
Last Sunday, he got traded from Seattle to Atlanta.
Two days later, he got dealt to Pittsburgh.
Good news is that he’s probably the Pirates’ #2 starter.
More good news, he’s going to make $12M in 2024.
Bad news is…….well, he’s on the Pirates instead of a good team.
