Tuesday?s 6-pack
Six interesting spreads for Week 4 NFL games:
? Denver (-3) @ NJ Jets
? Indianapolis (-2.5) @ Chicago
? New Orleans (-4) @ Detroit
? Arizona (-3.5) @ Carolina
? Jacksonville @ Cincinnati (-3)
? Cleveland @ Dallas (-4.5)
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 204,905
Please wear a mask when you go out.
Quote of the Day
?What makes him unusual is that he thinks he?s normal and everyone else is nuts.?
Former Phillies manager Danny Ozark, talking about the late Jay Johnstone, the ex-big league outfielder who passed away this week, at age 74
Tuesday?s quiz
There are two starting QB?s in the NFL whose fathers played major league baseball; who are they?
Monday?s quiz
Of the 32 starting QB?s in the NFL, five played college football in the Pac-12.
Sunday?s quiz
Marv Levy is known for winning four AFC titles in Buffalo; he also coached the Chiefs, before he coached in Buffalo.
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Tuesday?s List of 13: Nobody asked me, but??.
13) Chiefs 34, Ravens 20;
? Chiefs won their first three games, scoring 34-23 -34 points.
? KC kicker made two 58-yard FG?s last week; he missed a PAT and a FG in this game.
? Last 4+ years, Chiefs are 11-2 ATS as a road underdog.
? Chiefs won last four series games, by 20-3-5-14 points.
? Lamar Jackson is 0-3 against the Chiefs, 21-1 vs everyone else.
? Baltimore converted 3-9 on third down, Kansas City 10-13.
? Ravens are 9-16 ATS in last 25 games as a home favorite.
12) Tennessee Titans are 3-0 this season, but they haven?t covered a spread yet; their three wins are by a total of six points. Titans have turned ball over only once, are +4 in turnovers.
11) I?m not a big fan of NFL teams trading star players for draft picks:
? Houston traded WR DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona, they?re 0-3, scoring 19 ppg.
? Arizona is 2-1, scoring 29 ppg.
? Minnesota traded WR Stefon Diggs to Buffalo; they?re 0-3, despite scoring 25 ppg. Vikings have converted only 9-25 third down plays.
? Buffalo is 3-0, scoring 31 ppg.
10) Nick Foles will be Chicago?s starting QB when the 3-0 Bears host Indianapolis Sunday; he came off the bench Sunday and led the Bears to a 30-26 comeback win in Atlanta.
9) College football spread results in conference games so far:
? Home favorites 7-10-1 against the spread
? Home underdogs 7-5 against the spread
8) Arkansas landed Florida transfer Felipe Franks as its new QB this fall, ending a two-year debacle where eight (8!!!) different kids played QB for the Razorbacks- one of them is the grandson of Cowboys? owner Jerry Jones.
Arkansas has lost its last 20 SEC games; Franks needs a lot of help.
7) Sam Pittman is the new football coach at Arkansas; like a lot of football coaches, Pittman has lived a little bit of a nomadic existence. Here are the coaching stops he?s made:
1984-85: Pittsburg State (GA)
1986: Offensive coordinator at a high school in Oklahoma
1987-88: Head coach at a high school in Missouri
1989-90: Head coach at a different high school in Missouri
1991: Offensive line coach at a junior college
1992-93: Head coach at that junior college
1994-95: Offensive line coach at Northern Illinois
1996: Offensive line coach at U of Cincinnati
1997-98: Offensive line coach at Oklahoma
1999: Assistant head coach, Western Michigan
2000: Offensive line coach, Missouri
2001: Offensive line coach, Kansas
2003-06: Offensive line coach, Northern Illinois
2007-11: Offensive line coach, North Carolina
2012: Offensive line coach, Tennessee
2013-15: Offensive line coach, Arkansas
2016-9: Offensive line coach, Georgia
2020: Head coach, Arkansas
This man must be great at packing; he?s paid his dues. Have to root for the guy.
6) I try to keep politics out of this space, but seriously? Donald Trump supposedly spent $70,000 on personal hairstyling ?for television? and wrote it off on his taxes as a business expense. He paid $70,000 for that mess? I call BS on that.
As a bald man, I have to laugh; what a fraud he is.
5) Lakers-Heat NBA final is first time ever the NBA final is between two teams who both missed the playoffs the year before.
4) 5th-seeded Miami is lowest-seeded NBA team to make the finals since the 1995 Rockets, who beat Orlando in the finals that year.
3) If Seattle has a WNBA team, why can?t they have an NBA team? One of the great injustices in pro sports history was Seattle losing the SuperSonics- they supported the team, but they refused to build a new arena they didn?t need, so the league took their team away.
12 years later, Seattle has a new arena (they?re getting an NHL team); next time an NBA team needs to move, Seattle should be the first option.
2) Surprising news: LA Clippers told coach Doc Rivers to take a hike after seven years; Clippers lost to Denver in the playoffs, blowing a 3-1 series, when they led by 10+ points in each of those last three losses.
Rivers had a 356-208 regular season record with the Clippers , was 27-32 in playoff games; he won the 2008 NBA title coaching Boston. If he still wants to coach, he won?t be unemployed for long.
1) If the baseball playoffs started today (they do):
AL East: Tampa Bay, New York
AL Central: Minnesota, Cleveland
AL West: Oakland, Houston
AL wild cards: Chicago, Toronto
NL East: Atlanta, Miami
NL Central: Chicago, St Louis
NL West: Los Angeles, San Diego
NL wild cards: Cincinnati, Milwaukee