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    • NFL teams streak and an intro to the MLB offseason
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    NFL teams streak and an intro to the MLB offseason

    Umito Posted on

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    Good morning! We hope you ate too many gummy bunches this weekend.

    NFL Sunday: Lions And Saints very different streaks

    Lately, there has been a lot of philosophizing about the dynamics of sport. Is it real? Is this important? Is it simply a narrative that helps us make sense of results that have little to do with each other? Who knows.

    Football is perhaps the most difficult sport to evaluate. All we know about you is who you are from just a few games, just a handful a month.

    Coincidentally, yesterday we had a few games that served as arguments on which teams have the best and worst momentum at that time, if the momentum is real. For example:

    • Three NFL teams entered the weekend with winning streaks of at least four games. Two of them were facing each other, when the Lions stifled their division rival The packers consecutive victories while extending theirs to six in a row.
    • With the best point differential in the league (+110), Detroit’s 7-1 continues to look like the best of NFC – and the main threat to take down the team no one has beaten yet, the Chiefs. (Information below on the defending champions’ game tonight.) Not hard to imagine Detroit winning five more in a rowon the way to a home confrontation against Buffalo (7-2 after escape against 2-6 Miami yesterday).

    On the reverse side:

    • Four teams entered the weekend with losing sequences of at least four matches. Yes, two of these slumpers faced each other yesterday. And the Saints, who started 2-0, are now tied for the worst record in the league. after losing to the brand new 2-7 Panthers. Hot-seat status in New Orleans: “This whole situation may be started by Dennis Allen just this second“, says Larry Holder.
    • As for the other icy teams, the Raiders shot first-year offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and two other assistants after their fifth straight loss yesterday 41-24 L vs. Cincinnatiand the 2-7 Giants returned to the “Tankathon” falling to the Commanders 7-2.

    Then there’s the other version: two teams passing each other in opposite directions. THE Eagles6-2 after resisting 2-7 Jaguar yesterday, can achieve five consecutive victories by beating Dallas next week. That would be just about enough for the 3-5 Cowboys, who lost their third straight game yesterday, 27-21 in Atlanta, while also suffering a wave of injuriesincluding one Dak Prescott’s hamstring situation awaiting evaluation.

    Speaking of Eagles, Saquon Barkley did something that doesn’t even exist in any football video game. This looks more like a Super Mario move:

    Who even thinks about doing that, let alone achieving it?? Minds were blown.

    Elsewhere, since I probably haven’t mentioned your team, be sure to read yesterday’s takeaways on the AFC elites running the business, consider Mike Sando on whether Detroit should go all-in at the Tuesday trade deadline and listen to “The Athletic Football Show” break the dominant Baltimore and resurface Joe Burrow.

    Afterwards :

    Primers: 3 questions to prepare for the MLB offseason

    It took less than a day to MLB the offseason to take action, so we barely had a chance to regroup after the World Series and mentally prepare for the offseason news. But here we are, a weekend later, and things are only getting better. We therefore turned to Liquidation scribe Levi Weaver to set the stage with a Q&A:

    Let’s eliminate Soto. As we enter the offseason, do you have any idea where he will end up?

    Soto was adamant during the World Series that he would be “available for the 30 teams“, but let’s be serious, the Pirates are not signing him (to be clear, they absolutely shouldHowever). The truth is there are only a handful of teams with the financial clout to land Soto. Two of them are in New York. It would be really funny if the Dodgers used some of that Ohtani deferred money to step up. But my gut tells me it’s either the Yankees or the Mets.

    There is many more free agents. Who do you think has the biggest impact besides Soto?

    I’m really interested to see what happens with Alex Bregman. The Astros had a pretty long tradition of letting their stars go when it came time to pay up, but between Jose Altuve’s extension and Josh Hader’s contract, there are perhaps signs they might be more willing to write checks more important. Bregman has been a central part of the dynasty and a huge leadership presence in the clubhouse. Wherever he lands, it should have an impact beyond his on-field contributions.

    Give us a team that is a move or two away from contending for a title next year.

    Can I come full circle and say Pirates? If they are able to expand their squad a little. It won’t be Soto, but if they could step in somewhere in the Ha-Seong Kim/Anthony Santander lineup, it could go a long way in supporting a pitching staff that is blossoming.

    Thank you Levi! Subscribe to The Windup to receive a more comprehensive offseason guide in your inbox later this morning.

    News to know

    KD Fresh Beef vs. Stephen A.
    After Stephen A. Smith highlighted Kevin Durant’s leadership abilities in a “First Take” segment last month, our Doug Haller spoke to the Suns star one-on-one this weekend. Durant didn’t hold back: “Yeah, Stephen A., I don’t even understand how people listen to Stephen A. I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I have never seen Stephen A. at a training session, a film session or a shoot. I’ve never seen him anywhere other than on television talking about players. …He’s a clown to me. He has always been a clown. More here.

    More news

    • Two WNBA head coach hires starting this weekend: Fever brought back Stephanie Whitewho was part of the team from 2011 to 2016, while the Sky hired a former Aces assistant Tyler Marsh.
    • Abdi Nageeye and Sheila Chepkirui stunned the stars New York Marathon fields with upset victories yesterday. Read a recap.
    • Oregon became the first unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 for the last three regular seasons.
    • THE NWSL Quarterfinals scheduled for next weekend: Pride vs. Red Stars, Spirit vs. Bay FC, Gotham vs. Thorns and Current vs. Courage. Full schedule and match previews here.

    Statistics to melt your brain: The card boom is still going strong

    So you found a box of trading cards in the basement during the pandemic card boom and you’re still planning to get them graded…welcome to the club, apparently. Some statistics that we found striking excerpt from Michael Salfino’s latest article:

    • We are on track to 16.8 million cards to note each year by PSA only, which controls most of the ranking market.
    • In October alone, 1.45 million cards – sports and non-sports – were graded.
    • Victor Wembanyama, who is in his second season, already has 2,505 card types and nearly 400,000 rated. (For comparison: Wilt Chamberlain issued 22,700 graded PSA cards during his 14-year career.)

    Ken Griffey Jr. has, by far, the highest-rated PSA cards; baseball still dominates the industry. Now for the quiz: Who are the highest rated athletes in basketball, golf, football, hockey and tennis? Bonus points if you can guess the correct card. Answers here.

    Look at this

    NBA: Dollars among the Cavaliers, 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV
    The 7-0 Cavs protected their undefeated start with a one-point win over the Bucks (1-5) in Milwaukee on Saturday. The teams do it again tonight, this time in Cleveland, before the NBA takes off tomorrow for Election Day.

    NFL: Buccaneers at Chefs, 8:15 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN
    The other Bucs are also facing a 7-0 team – fun! In this one, a win would go a long way in the race for the division. Tampa Bay (4-4), who is trying to turn things around after losing two games in a row.

    Get tickets to games like these here.

    Pulse selection

    Andrew Marchand and Scott Dochterman have a thoughtful and in-depth story about the decades of work that went into Caitlin Clark phenomenon possible. It’s worth your time today.

    THE NBA season is less than two weeks old, but that’s enough time for our staff to have noticed some trends. To begin, they identified the characteristics of each team biggest surprise so far.

    Inside THE NHLin the meantime, we have identified the biggest concern of every team after a month of playing.

    Before the first of Tuesday 12-team College Football Playoff standings reveal, verify Stewart Mandel And Austin Mock’s final screenings in installments.

    Most clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our news on the Jason Kelce Status.

    Most read on the site yesterday:

    Do you like the pulse? Check out other newsletters from The Athletic.

    (Top photo: Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

    Umito
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