MLB: World Series, Giants Sweep Tigers // NFL: Broncos Beat the Saints, Other Week Eight Results.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

MLB:     THE San Francisco Giants won a fourth straight game against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, securing the World Series title for a second time in three years, having won in 2010.

And, the Giants accomplished its WS victory after coming back from a 3-1 game deficit versus the St. Louis Cardinals (last year’s WS winner) to grab the National League Championship Series title.

We’re talking a post-season seven game winning streak for the NL West Giants, a remarkable and unusual feat in any sport.

            The shock to the system in Detroit is that the Tigers came to the WS after sweeping the New York Yankees, winning the American League Championship Series; they were expected to do better against the Giants.

For many baseball analysts and fans, two questions have surfaced above others, “What was it that empowered the Giants for each of the team’s four WS wins?” And, “What was it that held the Tigers back from performing as they had vs. the Yankees?”

            Of course, the team delivering from the larger array of game winning attributes is likely to prevail over an opposing ball club, and the Giants seemed to be an example of this during WS games one through four, among those attributes, a starter rotation throwing from the full gamut of possible pitches against known vulnerabilities of the Tigers line-up, preventing even triple-crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, and super hitter, Prince Fielder, from executing the RBI at-bats that they provided in the regular season and earlier in the post-season. It seemed that for the Giants hurlers each at-bat up was a new ballgame, that starters and relievers pitched “correctly” against the information that they had on individual batter competencies, undoing batters by adjusting throws to fit what they knew and understood about the eyes and arms of the batter they faced. If this wasn’t so, then the Giants starters were just plain lucky, choosing the right throws randomly from among the different options available to any pitcher. Moreover, the Giants relievers were fully capable of sustaining leads, even a shut-out, and the Giants had a perfect closer.

Also, the Giants infield and outfield performed as though supporting the guy on the mound was their only reason for living, no! their means of survival. And, the Giants had “Game-changers,” players that stood out in ways causing observers to think that it was really their show, not that of the rest of the team, e.g., Giants second baseman, Marco Scutaro, third baseman, Pablo Sandoval, and reliever, Tim Lincecum, also closer, Sergio Romo.

            No matter the endeavor being looked at, it’s a lot easier to find the causes of victory than to uncover why failure occurred. Perhaps the Tigers super-reliance on hurler, Justin Verlander, to win games, and on hitters Cabrera, Fielder, Jhonny Peralta and Delmon Young to outfox the Giants starter rotation + relievers is a factor behind the Tigers being defeated so mercilessly, and maybe the momentum lost during a rest after winning the ALCS became a factor behind the Tigers inability to sustain game initiative, struggling from behind almost continuously.

Possibly poor readings of the damage that the Giants intrepid and scrappy Scutaro could inflict from the plate, is another reason for the Tigers defeat. Same re. misplaced ideas about how to pitch against Sandoval (this powerful hitter banged out three home runs in a single game, joining Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols as the only MLB players to do so).

            A team that can focus on performing from its strengths and suppressing its vulnerabilities wins often against the team that relies only on its top of the list strengths without focusing sufficiently on suppression of its vulnerabilities: the Tigers were certainly of the weaker mound control in each of the four WS games, and of the weaker infield and outfield throughout the WS---its best ball crunchers couldn’t offset that.

NFL:    IT was Peyton Manning’s game from the get-go, the Broncos 34-14 win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, pinning the suddenly 4-3 Denver franchise to the NFL/American Football Conference West’s first place position over the now 3-4 San Diego Chargers, Denver also carrying the fourth place position within the greater AFC, though tied with three other 3.4/.571 teams---the Miami Dolphins (2d place, AFC East), the Pittsburgh Steelers (2d, AFC North) and the Indianapolis Colts (2d, AFC South).

            But surely it was QB Manning’s game only to a point. No quarterback succeeds without the kind of timing and speed executed by Broncos receivers, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, for the deep and short Manning throws resulting in three touchdowns, or the rushing from running back, Willis McGahee, for the Broncos fourth TD.

Manning was exceptionally accurate getting rid of the football, completing 22 of his 30 passing attempts for 305 yards (Saints QB Drew Brees completed 22 of 42 for 213 yards). Denver’s total net yards achieved against the Saints was greater than 530, while the Saints couldn’t surpass 252 net yards gained.

A payoff from Denver’s aggressiveness were 29 first downs, compared with the Saints 14 first downs. Denver’s possession oft the ball exceeded 35 minutes, New Orleans had the ball under 25 minutes.

The Saints pass rush failed to stop Manning in the pocket, largely due to improvements in Denver’s pass protection (no Manning sack).

Particularly noteworthy were the fast circumvention tactics employed by Decker and Thomas for openings for the Manning pass, the best timing exhibited by the two since the year’s pre-season, underlining likelihood that Manning and his receivers have been practicing between games to ad nauseam. Should this timing become a strong habit, Denver’s chances for the post-season will expand greatly during Weeks Nine through 16.

Noteworthy, too, and different from previous games since September, was that the Broncos scored early in the first half and dominated the field throughout most of the rest of the game.

And kudos have been delivered to the Denver defense squad, especially for the fast-thinking, physical speed and nuances activated by the squad’s cornerbacks, namely veteran CB, Champ Bailey.

Denver is now among the six 2012 NFL teams that are over .500, thus each of the six is a winning franchise, but below the nine teams that are currently .600 and above. Within the nine, all are of two or more wins above their number of losses, among them, the 5-3/.625 New England Patriots (1^st place, AFC-East), the 5-3/.625 Minnesota Vikings (2d, NFC North), and there are six teams at .750 and higher, the 5-2/.750 Baltimore Ravens (1^st, AFC North), the 5-2/.750 San Francisco 49ers (1^st, NFC West), the 6-2/.750 New York Giants (1^st, NFC East), the 6-1/.857 Houston Texans (1^st, AFC South), the 6-1/.750 Chicago Bears (1^st, NFC North), and the only franchise that hasn’t lost a 2012 game so far, the 7-0+ one tie/1,000 Atlanta Falcons.

Bottom of the 32 NFL teams with but one win during the NFL’s 16 game season are the Carolina Panthers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs, each .250 or below, yet four NFL teams that are at or just below the Broncos 3-4 record of just last week (Week 7) are at the very bottom of their divisions, the 3.5/.375 New York Jets (AFC East), the 3-5 /.375 St. Louis Rams (NFC West), the 3-5/.375 Washington Redskins (NFC East) and the 3-4/.429 Detroit Lions (NFC North).

Of course, those eyes preferring to be on teams that can reach the post-season will focus on the 6.0 and above franchises. Those eyes distracted by moderate odds will be watching the 4-3 Miami Dolphins (2d, AFC East), the 4.3/.571 Pittsburgh Steelers (2d, AFC North), the 4-4/.500 Arizona Cardinals (2d, NFC West), the 4.3/.571 Indianapolis Colts (2d, AFC South), and analysts + fans seduced by long-shot odds will probably be keeping a close watch on  the 3-5/.375 Washington Redskins.

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NFL: Week Eight, the half way mark; Broncos and the Saints  // MLB: World Series, Games 1 and 2.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   WHAT are we to make of the NFL’s halfway point during a 16 game race among 32 teams, each vying for a post-season billet, if not that a winning and honorable record at the finish line?

An overarching answer to the above is that Week Eight can provide a clearer view of teams likely to stay out of a post-season race, short of that turnabout that causes us to believe in miracles.

Furthermore, that Week Eight can also provide a clearer picture of franchises already leading the pack.

Week Eight is definitely a bend in the river, from where a future can be guessed at rationally from some crystal-balling of the upcoming weeks, in that scheduling can be an asset for any team, or a hindrance.

For example, during the eight upcoming games for four of the NFL’s top five franchises, i.e., the Atlanta Falcons (6-0), Houston Texans (6-1), Chicago Bears (5-0), and the Baltimore Ravens (5-2), neither will face teams of the same or greater caliber more than twice. All of their remaining challenges will be against franchises that are presumed weaker from their having four or fewer wins.

Yet between now and Week 16, those NFL teams with two or fewer wins as Week Eight commences (1-5 Carolina Panthers, 1-6 Cleveland Browns, 1-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, 1-5 Kansas City Chiefs and the 2-4 Detroit Lions), they will be facing franchises that at Week Eight can boast twice as many, or more, wins than they have had.

So, a 2012 NFL season reality check advises that it will be easier for Week Eight’s teams at the top to keep advancing, than for teams at the bottom of the league to climb out of their deep hole. Salt on the wounds of the currently losing teams is that of the 6-0 Falcons remaining contests, two will be against the 1-5 Panthers and the 2-4 Lions, and NFL’s second place team, the 6-1 Texans, they will be playing the much weaker Lions and the 3-4 Titans, having beaten the Titans, 38-14, September 30.

            Still, no NFL team has more than six wins as Week Eight begins, which means that no NFL team, not even the Falcons, is a guaranteed winner today---it takes eight wins to be locked into the .500 or better category, nine to guarantee a record of more wins than losses, even if a 9-0 franchise loses each of the season’s remaining seven games.

            Technically speaking, until an NFL franchise wins nine games, there’s no guaranteed winning record. All that Week Eight can point to, then, are trends that can keep those teams now out front still out front, and those now occupying the rear still to the rear. Week Eight is much less a throw of the dice than Week One can be, but it’s still a throw of the dice.  

            Broncos vs. Saints   ---  The Broncos have proven to be a super second half comeback team, as if a first half were rope-a-dope time, consisting of sacrificed rounds during which the Broncos could study an opposing team’s capabilities and limitations, then maneuver to make mince meat of opponents by attacking the discovered vulnerabilities during a second half. There could be a small degree of truth in this, since Denver’s quarterback Peyton Manning is a master at reading nuances of an opposing defense, and that could take several first quarter/first down attempts. But more than likely, Denver’s first half offense and defense performances have lacked the strategic and physical qualities shown in third and fourth quarters for no other reason than each squad unable to call up the best that is in them. To keep this simple, call it “the slow start,” and whatever is causing it has to be eliminated if the currently 3-3 Broncos are going to deliver a hammering blow to the suddenly advancing 2-4 New Orleans Saints this Sunday, and from the win maintain first place within the NFL’s American Conference West.

A point to be taken here is that the amazing fourth quarter comeback plays spun by Denver’s QB Peyton Manning haven’t been recovery enough in all of the team’s games played to date. A team can suddenly appear better than its opponent but at that two-minute warning there’s another competitor---“time.” Analysts have repeated that in two of the Broncos losses, another minute or so of play would have meant a winning TD for the Broncos.

Too, Denver head coach John Fox and QB Manning will admit that the team’s fourth quarter comeback brilliance hasn’t been from early-on design, instead out of necessity, and that it’s the transferred dynamism and skills that emerge from necessity, e.g., running a first quarter as if slightly behind with a minute to go in a fourth Q, is preceisely what the Broncos need not only against the Saints but during all of its remaining 2012 games.

Specifically, and especially re. the Saints, a big difference for Denver can evolve from pass rushes limiting the throw options for Saints QB Drew Brees, and Denver’s cornerbacks being astute enough to spoil whatever is tossed to New Orleans deeper receivers. And, the Saints will be aiming to reduce the number of effective handoffs to Denver’s running backs for first down attempts if they fail to undo QB Manning in the pocket.

But---if the improving defenses of both teams succeed at negating QB options, it’s a toss-up as to which will win, this page envisioning either team out-gaming the other by only a field goal, a 10-7 win by one or the other, excluding the possibility of another fourth quarter TD by Denver’s Manning-led offense, less than half a minute of play left.

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            MLB   ----   IT’s been said that around 65 percent of the time, a team winning the first two games of a World Series takes the entire package, whether from a four game sweep or after seven games. But that’s history and history is “back then.” This is now, and the Detroit Tigers swept the N.Y. Yankees recently, “and unexpectedly,” to get to the WS, and the San Francisco Giants reached the WS “unexpectedly,” after a 3-1 situation.

Yes, favoring the Giants for games three and on is that the team’s best hurlers for starting haven’t been to the mound yet, and Cy Young award winner, Tim Lincecum, seems unstoppable as a reliever, as does super closer, Sergio Romo. Add, the level that Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro has been playing, and the slugging available from third baseman, Pablo Sandoval (three home runs in a single game) and the extra-base hits that Hunter Spence and Buster Posey are capable of. This said, the next two WS games will be at Detroit, and Detroit’s manager may be the canniest in baseball for the comeback, plus there’s a Detroit lineup that, except for the two WS games lost to the Giants, has shown greater on-base + RBI consistency during the post-season---we’re talking Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Jhonny Peralta. Then there’s Detroit hurler Justin Verlander, stunned and drummed out mostly by Sandoval’s homers the other night, still capable of a comeback win.

A sweep by the Giants? Maybe, maybe not!

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NFL: Week Seven, An Assessment // MLB: World Series.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   A loudspeaker could have delivered that familiar Sunday afternoon refrain, “It aint over ‘til it’s over” as the NFL’s New York Giants completed a “back at ya” against the Washington Redskins during their Week Seven contest, the latter a team that seconds earlier scored a fourth quarter touchdown, leading the Giants, 23-20. With one minute and 32 seconds left to play, New York’s quarterback, Eli Manning, threw a deep and caught pass, creating a Giants victory over the Skins, 27-23.

Skins QB, Robert Griffin III, was leaving an impression that maybe he and that other rookie QB, Andrew Luck, of the Indianapolis Colts, weren’t ready for fourth quarter NFL game-restructuring. RG-3 was grounded four times by the Giants pass rush in the second half. Redeemed suddenly by his TD pass that gave the Skins their brief lead, the QB of last year’s Super Bowl winning franchise took it away from him, pushed him back into the throes of uncertainty. QB Luck of the Colts was luckier than RG3 on Sunday, grabbing a 17-13 win vs. the Cleveland Browns.

Other teams that are headed for Week Eight with a 5-2 record are the Baltimore Ravens, (AFC North, first place), the San Francisco 49ers (NFC West, first place), and the Minnesota Vikings (NFC North).

Still leading all teams of both conferences are the 6-0 Atlanta Falcons, the 6-1 Houston Texans close behind.

Four franchises have won only one game since the NFL 2012 season started, the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West), the Browns (AFC North), the Jacksonville Jaguars (AFC South) and the Carolina Panthers (NFC South).

Eleven franchises are still below .500, each with two or three wins to date, one of these a back from Zombieland story: the New Orleans Saints reached another step up from the bottom of the NFL after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, 35-28. Led by QB Drew Brees, the Saints won oddly, in that they achieved less in almost all play categories than the Buc’s had, e.g., being fewest in number of first downs attained, in net yards gained, in rushing and passing attempts, and with less time in possession of the football; the difference was QB Brees completing 27 of 37 passes for 377 yards and “four TD’s,” versus the Buc’s 420 yards for three TD’s.

A big question as the NFL season starts toward its halfway mark at Week Eight, is, “Will the 3-3 Denver Broncos keep its narrow AFC West leading position with a win over the NFC South’s Saints (Peyton Manning vs. Drew Brees), even if the AFC West’s second place 3-3 San Diego Chargers defeat the AFC North’s 1-5 Browns, the measure coming from points equation comparisons re. performance categories.

Too, “Could the Falcons finally lose a game, and to the NFC East’s 3-3 Philadelphia Eagles?”

Also, “Might the Texans lapse in power during a Bye week and then, on November 4 (Week Nine), go to a 6-2 record, losing to the now 3-4 Buffalo Bills (doubtful),” placing on the board whether the Ravens will be chasing the Houston franchise for the AFC leadership position, thus have a clearer shot for Super Bowl contention. Note that the Ravens will also be in Bye week this Sunday and will play the much weaker Browns during Week Nine/November 4.

And, “Which of the seven 3-3/.500 franchises will reach upward, signaling probability of an above-the-margin winning record before the season finishes?” In addition to the 3-3/.500 Broncos holding first place of the AFC West, four of the seven are holding second place of their respective divisions---the Chargers (AFC West), Miami Dolphins (AFC East), the Colts (AFC South), and the Eagles (NFC East).

MLB:   The World Series commences Wednesday, pitting the Detroit Tigers, which won the year’s American League Championship from a four game-sweep vs. the N.Y. Yankees, against the San Francisco Giants, a ball club that won the National League Championship last night vs. the St. Louis Cardinals after seven games played.

So, some baseball history: last year, the AL’s Texas Rangers lost the WS to the NL’s St. Louis Cardinals, and the Tigers and the Yankees were also AL post-season contenders, the Giants finishing second place of the NL West behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wednesday, October 24, will mark the Tigers first trip to the WS since 2006, and the Giants third of the current decade, losing the WS to the Los Angeles Angels (Anaheim) in 2002, winning the WS in 2010 vs. the Rangers.

The WS is an event that’s been taking place in America since 1903, both the Tigers and the Giants being multiple WS winners, the former since the mid-1920’s, the latter since 1962.

Teams with multiple visits to the WS from year 2000 on have been the AL’s Yankees (4X), Tigers (2X), the Rangers (2X), and the NL’s Giants (2X), the Cards (2X), the Philadelphia Phillies (2X), suggesting rough parity among the two MLB leagues, also reflected by each league having won the WS six times since 2000.

Two of this year’s three bottom-of-the pile franchises have been to the WS since 2000, i.e., teams under .400 with more than 95 losses---the Colorado Rockies, and the Houston Astros.

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NFL: Week seven & breaking away // MLB: LC Races, an update.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:     THE NFL season is almost half over for most of the league’s competing franchises. Moving toward another Super Bowl, some franchises are thinking collectively, “Have we broken the sound barrier?” That would be ahead-of-the-curve teams like the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and the San Francisco 49ers. Others, like the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers, are wondering, “Are we there yet?”

            Winning speeds things up; losing can slow everything down.

Few humans know about how fast or slow time can seem better than professional athletes, coaches, team owners, staff and fans, which brings us to that notion, “You gotta stop to smell the roses,” or, as many in professional sports might say, “Gotta stop to smell the money.”

Anyway, forget roses and greenbacks, instead stop to ask, “Where the heck are we?”

            As of today, there’s only one NFL team that hasn’t lost a game, the 6-0 Falcons, and two that are at 5-1, the Ravens and the Texans; and, there’s one team that’s 5-2, the 49ers. Six franchises have won four games so far, and there are 11 3-3/.500 teams, plus six that have won but two games, and six with only one win. Of the NFL’s 32 franchises, 20 are at or above .500, and 12 below .500. In other words, the league isn’t sick, as a whole it’s mostly above the line that separates winners from losers.

            Though the Ravens and the Texans are tied at 5-1 for numero uno of the NFL’s American Football Conference, and are also leaders of their divisions (AFC North and South, respectively), it isn’t necessarily a 6-0 or 5-1 record that positions a team as leader of any of the NFL’s eight divisions. Two of the AFC’s four divisions are leading from 3-3 records, the Denver Broncos (AFC West) and the New York Jets (AFC East). Yet the Buffalo Bills, a 3-3 franchise (AFC East), is in last place of the AFC East, and the Saint Louis Rams, another 3-3 team, is last in the National Football Conference West. Still, going into Week Eight a 3-3/.500 franchise is post-season capable (an existing fluke of the season is that all four teams within the AFC East are at 3-3/.500, subject to change dramatically during Weeks Eight and Nine).

 While the NFC’s leading team, the Falcons, are obviously atop the NFC South, leading the NFC’s other divisions are the 5-2 49ers (NFC West), the 4-2 N.Y. Giants (last season’s Super Bowl winner/NFC East), and the 5-1 Chicago Bears (NFC North).

Teams that will be struggling during Weeks Eight and Nine to reach .500 and then hope to rise up further are those of a 2-3 cluster---the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC North), the Indianapolis Colts (AFC South) the Dallas Cowboys (NFC East), the Detroit Lions (NFC North), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC South).

Way back and down are the 1-4 Oakland Raiders (AFC West), the 1-5 Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West), the 1-5 Cleveland Browns (AFC North), the 1-4 Jacksonville Jaguars (AFC South), the 1-4 Saints (NFC South), and the 1-4 Panthers (NFC South).

*~*~*

MLB   ---  IT’s easy to marvel and applaud the N.Y. Yankees when they win a pennant, such is homage to a team that has led in number of won pennant races throughout baseball history, a reason why it’s easy NOT to experience sadness and pity when the Yankees lose a pennant race, as they did on Thursday, swept by the Detroit Tigers. After all, the N.Y. team has “been there” more than 35 times since 1921, including six times since 1998.

To be appreciated is that the Tigers achieved four knockouts in a row without any kind of vengeful determination to prove that they are a better ball club than the Yankees (which they are), but to play the best baseball that they could under a constraint that ironically remained the freedom that empowered the pennant win, specifically Detroit manager Jim Leyland’s noticable insistence on match-up rostering and a four-man starter rotation that he kept buddying up with the right relievers and closers, also Leyland knowing exactly when to "green light" his long ball and strategic hitters for out of the park RBI-home runs and extra-base hits. It’s what the Tigers will be bringing to the World Series against either the St. Louis Cardinals or the San Francisco Giants.

The Cardinals are ahead of the Giants in games, 3-1, so tonight’s contest could be the clincher for the Cards, or it could establish a 3-2 NL-LC standing and the possibility of a sixth, maybe seventh game deciding the year’s NL champion.   

It is this page’s thinking that yesterday’s 8-1 Detroit win over N.Y. showed clearly how both the NL and AL post-season games can turn quickly and forcefully from the good or bad actions of only one or two players in a single inning, e.g., in the fourth inning N.Y. hurler C.C. Sabathia giving up two 2-run homers, one each to Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera and to Jhonny Peralta, leaving Detroit’s manager to select field defense and tight relief pitching/closing as a follow-on win imperative.

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NFL: Week Six Results, an Analysis; Broncos vs. Chargers---Could be listed as “NFL Game Of The Year!” // MLB: Brief Wrap, League Championship Series

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL   ---   WEEK Six of the NFL’s 16 game season is rarely “the tell” about which teams will compete during post-season play, though it sends signals about those likely to reach that point by, say, Week Eight or Week Nine. However, Week Six’s completion does suggest which teams will probably finish the season at .500 or higher, though even a 6-0 franchise could start losing frequently and end up 6-10 as the season closes. And, there have been 0-6 franchises finishing the year at 9-7 and 8-8. Right now, 11 NFL franchises are at .500, which can be a continuing number through December---the number is five fewer than half of all of the NFL franchises.

The NFL’s bottom five are those with but one win since the season began: the New Orleans Saints (National Football Conference South), the Carolina Panthers (NFC South), the Jacksonville Jaguars (American Football Conference South), the Cleveland Browns (AFC North), and the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West). This being so, sports miracles do happen every year; we can’t say for sure that these teams will be the NFL’s bottom five at the end of the season.  

Ahead of the entire 32 team league with five or more wins to date stands the NFC South’s leading franchise, the 6-0 Atlanta Falcons, and the AFC South’s leading team, the 5-1 Houston Texans, also the AFC North’s 5-1 Baltimore Ravens. Right now, these three are the season’s Brahmins---bettors are laying down money that they will be Super Bowl candidates.

And, there are six teams with four wins since the start of the season, all within the NFC, three within the NFC West---the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers, the Seattle Seahawks, fourth being the NFC East’s New York Giants.

So, there is a fat middle, today consisting of more than 15 NFL teams that are 3-3, 2-4 and 2-3. What chance have they for a victory finish come December, for a shot at the Super Bowl? At first glance, you might say, “No Way, Jose!” But leading the AFC West are the Denver Broncos, a 3-3 franchise barely ahead of the 3-3 San Diego Chargers, and atop the AFC East sits the 3-3 N.Y. Jets, almost of a tie with the 3-3 New England Patriots. Division leaders matter, in spite of low win/loss records. What’s that? Yes, all four AFC East teams are approaching Week Seven at 3-3/.500.     

We could therefore comment safely after Week Eight that a 4-4 football team could continue its win/loss trend and face Week Eight’s 8-0 Atlanta Falcons or Week Eight’s 7-1 Houston Texans at the Super Bowl, providing that the latter two also keep up their win/loss trends.

But it’s not Week Seven yet---the NFL standings are still more of a crapshoot than certainty.

Broncos vs. Chargers----  IT took less than a second half’s 18 minutes during the Denver Broncos 35-24 comeback win against the San Diego Chargers for answers to questions about the Broncos to shift dramatically.

Yes, the team put together by Denver’s VP John Elway and John Fox can be a post-season contender.

Yes, Denver’s quarterback Peyton Manning will be the leading factor for a Denver offense capable of outperforming rivals and sustaining double-digit wins, especially via high fourth quarter gains close to being a trend.

Yes, the Denver offense can spoil an opposing team’s pass rush abilities, giving Manning the time and space required for his pass and rush pursuits.

Yes, while it may take Manning somewhat longer than in his past to read an opposing team’s defense nuances, his accurate readings of the most accomplished defense squads are still best in the NFL and can serve to expand attack attributes in a game’s second half.

Yes, the Broncos wide receivers, tight ends and running backs can be in sync with Manning’s fast and hard pass and handoff attempts (in the second half vs. the Chargers, Manning completed 12 passes inside of nine minutes, the coordination with receivers Eric Decker and Brandon Stokley as timely as could be).

Yes, Denver’s defense can turn aggressive, enhance its mobility, strike from screening, and disrupt a QB and cause fumbles and intercepts, then score.

But---the possibility of the above affirmations about the Broncos was dissolving fast during the first half vs. the Chargers, as San Diego’s offense ripped through the Denver defense for 24 points, while the Denver offense couldn’t score, impaired by special team errors, an intercept resulting in an 80 yard run for a Chargers touchdown and a receiver’s accidental fall when a caught pass would have put Denver back in the game.

Starting with the third quarter, it was as if the Denver offense decided angrily “We won’t take it anymore,” Manning and his pass receivers and runners suddenly driving the ball forward through a weakened and puzzled Chargers defense for three touchdowns, the first from an eight play/85 yard drive, while later Elvis Dumervil, Von Miller and Derek Wolfe of the Broncos defense intervened with attempts by Chargers QB Phillip Rivers to move the football forward effectively, causing San Diego fumbles that Denver’s cornerback Tony Carter picked for a 65 yard run and a TD, soon a turnover, leading to points above those gained by Manning’s offense.

Viewers may have been astonished that reality was outdoing Hollywood moviemaking---did they really just see the Broncos score five touchdowns in a second half against a team that seemed in the first half to be withdrawing them from post-season contention, sending them to their locker room, sullen, behind (ugh!), 24-0?

The Broncos hit the fourth quarter’s two-minute warning having made the history books from its up from zero win, about to put the Chargers asunder with an 11 point lead, having kept the Chargers as scoreless in the second half as the Broncos were in the first (Had emissaries from the football Gods sprinkled strange dust across the field? They’ve always liked those Manning brothers, haven’t they?).  

By game’s end, Manning had completed 24 of 30 pass attempts, his best throw/catch ratio of the season. Of the Broncos 366 yards, Manning threw for 309. Manning was not sacked during the game, Rivers ate grass four times.

The Broncos and the Chargers will face each other again on November 18. Prior to that game, the Broncos will be facing the now 1-4 Saints, the 3-3 Cincinnati Bengals and the 1-4 Panthers. If maintained is what was witnessed last night in the second half vs. San Diego, the Broncos could be 7-3 before its 11th game, with only one of its remaining games of the season vs. a team that today is above 3-3, the Baltimore Ravens.

*   *   * 

MLB: Briefs---  The NLCS series is tied at 1-1, San Francisco having beat the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday, 6-4, after losing to the Cards in an earlier game, 7-1. For the AL crown, the New York Yankees are behind the Detroit Tigers by two games, losing yesterday to the Tigers, 3-0, and in an earlier game to the Tigers, 6-4.

Noted in the 2012 post-season MLB games held so far is that the inning-by-inning leads, they seem to be more from sudden bursts of above-the-margin competencies exhibited by a few individual players rather than by teams as a whole, that is, not from consistent base-running resulting in RBI’s or super alert fielders supporting an effective starting pitcher and relievers, instead from, say, a home run by the Cardinals Matt Holiday or a rally begun by the Cards Marco Scutaro offsetting that, or from a game begun by Detroit’s Justin Verlander.

Of course, it’s too early to tell now what the outcomes for either league will be. New York transplants living “out west” now, and who remember the Giants being home-based at New York’s Polo Grounds, they are aching for a San Francisco/New York WS match-up.

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NFL:  Week Six, Possible Outcomes; Broncos vs. Chargers // MLB: the 2012 Division Series & League Championship Races

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:    THERE’s no way of knowing which of the NFL franchises that are leading their divisions today will be post-season competitors when the regulation 16 game season is over. NFL reality is about that which has gone down since the season started, plus that which tells us might happen in the next round of games, for example, during the current NFL season’s Week Six when two 5-0 and five 4-1 teams will be pressuring their Sunday and Monday challengers to give them one more win before the arrival of Week Seven.

So, will the American Footfall Conference’s leading franchise, the 5-0 Houston Texans (AFC South), defeat the National Football Conference North’s third place team, the 2-3 Green bay Packers, and will the NFC Conference’s number one franchise, the 5-0 Atlanta Falcons (NFC South), beat the AFC West’s third place team, the 1-3 Oakland Raiders? 

As for the Texans humiliating the Packers moment by moment, yard after yard, forget it! In spite of how the numbers have fallen, Green Bay is still a credible team led by a star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Last year, Rodgers led a team that finished the season, 15-1. The 2012 slowed-down Packers are a team with time enough and the smarts, skills, strength and endurance to pull ahead, and the team’s turnaround could be versus the Texans, doubtful though it could seem. That by halftime last week against the Indianapolis Colts, the Packers had managed a 21-3 lead, well, that says something, as does the fact that QB Rodgers has a pass attempt/completion record that stands up well against that of the Texans QB, Matt Staub.

But also telling is the fact that last week the Packers couldn’t hold its lead in the second half vs. the Colts, and lost, 30-27.

Without question, The Packers weaker defense will be a problem for them against the Texans. What’s a proper take, then, on the outcome? Because of injuries among Green Bay’s backs and a weaker defense, the Texans will probably defeat the Packers, but not by a wide margin.  

The Atlanta Falcons, however, they can embarrass the Raiders coolly and without mercy. If they do on Sunday, it’ll be the final game of a Falcons sweep vs. the entire AFC West (40-24 against the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-21 vs. the Denver Broncos, 27-3 vs. the San Diego Chargers). Adding to this Atlanta’s 2012 wins against the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Redskins, the Falcons have accumulated high end among teams of four or more wins during Weeks One through Five---148 points. 

The Falcons defense, while not the more strategic and mobile in the NFL, is barrier-strong, comprising quickly placed logjams hard to escape through---it is this that will confound the Raiders offense, defining the Raiders as a low-scoring team, while Falcons QB Matt Ryan and his offense could be touchdown-heavy from the greater share of the Falcons first downs after numerous and necessary punts executed by the Raiders.

The Falcons could win on Sunday by as many as 17 points.

            Broncos vs. the Chargers (Monday night, October 15)    

IF the defense secondaries of either team are equally adept,  the Broncos will have an edge, being that the team’s QB, Peyton Manning, and his favored receivers, are more in synch for pass/catch plays and deep rushes than the Chargers QB, Phillip Rivers and company, but with one exception, this: the way in which San Diego linemen can execute the pass rush, it advises that Manning’s protectors in the pocket have to be more alert, tighter and swifter than in previous 2012 games, and Manning has to be “more deceptive” than in recent games (no “tells”).

Thus far in the season, the Broncos have accrued a total of 135 points, and given away 114, while the Chargers have accumulated 124 and dropped 102.

The Broncos lowest score of the season happened in its first regulation game, a loss to Pittsburgh---31-19. The Chargers lowest score from a game against the Falcons was a 27-3 loss. Each team has two wins from 30 or more points.

Whatever the number of TD’s and field goals on Monday, the final score will probably be close---this page’s pick, Broncos 24, Chargers, 21.

            *          *          *

            MLB:   Thursday’s bottom-of-the-ninth solo home run by Jayson Werth of the Washington Nationals (from a 3-2 count by the way), it decided a 2-1 Nationals win, keeping the Nat’s alive for the National League’s division championship and a chance to go for the year’s league crown. The Werth home run changed a 2-1 division series lead held by the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-2 tie of a five-game series, a great relief for Washington after an 8-0 loss to the Cardinals the day before.

Also among NL battlers, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3 on Wednesday, and again on Thursday, 6-4, a game that turned in San Francisco’s favor from a Buster Posey grand slam/HR (Posey is the NL’s batting champion). The five-game SF/Reds series went to the Giants after a two-game deficit, the Reds now eliminated from post-season contention.

American League post-season teams, they have held to tighter games, the New York Yankees beating the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2, on Wednesday, in a 12 inning game that included a ninth-inning Yankee HR turnabout, which put the Yankees ahead in its series vs. the Orioles, 2-1, with Baltimore creating a 2-2 N.Y./Baltimore series on Thursday with its 2-1 win vs. N.Y. after 13 innings of play.

And, the Oakland Athletics took down the Detroit Tigers, 4-3, on Wednesday, and in the same manner that the Nat’s broke the Card’s yesterday---a ninth inning game-winning HR that created a 2-2 series situation and Thursday’s fifth and final challenge of the A’s/Tigers series, won by Detroit, 6-0.

Within the NL, it’ll be either the Nat’s or the Card’s playing San Francisco for the LC, depending on which team wins game five of the Washington/St. Louis series.

Within the AL, it’ll be either N.Y. or Baltimore challenging Detroit for the ALC, depending on which team walks away with the N.Y./Baltimore five-game series.   

Most games so far in the post-season have remained low-score, interspersed with wide margin wins, e.g., that 8-0 takedown of the Nat’s by the Card’s. Several wins have been Hollywood endings (the Nat’s Jayson Werth as the hero of Robert Redford movie, The Natural). And, how about the N.Y. slugger Alex Rodriguez’ slump avoided by having a pinch hitter bang out the N.Y. HR that made the difference for the Yankees?

Too, we haven’t seen “sweeps,” yet, i.e., a shut-out series, though we’ve had shut-out games.

Thus far, the post-season has been more of a replica of the regular season than a period of games entirely different than the 162 played in order to yield division and league champions. There haven’t been an unusual number of high on base percentages, yet there’s been a number of game-saving HR’s, and games dominated more by strategic pitching than by 95 mph+ power-pitching “yet only for so long,” and closers have been “off game.” Still, the mound has had its hero, Detroit’s Justin Verlander, and the plate it’s numero uno, San Francisco’s Buster Posey.

If there’s a lesson so far from both the regular and post-season games, it could be that baseball is striving for an era of multiple and positive attributes, no longer being slaved to a power-hitting era or a decade of mound dominators. Maybe in 2013  “everything will matter,” all tools and weapons front and center, all strategic and tactical options on the table, baseball no longer suppressed and askew by power hitters and super-star hurlers. See it now: more singles and extra-base hits but still the game-winning HR, lots of base-stealing attempts, the clever bunt, the deliberately placed sacrifice fly, with the well-hurled knuckleball, cutter and elegant curve still feared.

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NFL:  Broncos Lose To The Patriots //  NFL---Week Five Wrap-up 

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:    THE Denver Broncos offense showed remarkable spirit and skill in the third and fourth periods of a game won by the New England Patriots on Sunday, score: 31-21, positioning Denver as a 2-3 and losing franchise approaching Week Six of the 16 game NFL season. Denver scored two touchdowns in that time frame. but there were also fumbles and drops in the fourth period, which killed hopes that a Broncos win could materialize.

In the first and second periods of the Broncos/Patriots game, the New England team’s defense kept Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, and the remainder of his offense, from gaining more than a TD and the follow-on point (QB Manning to tight end, Joel Dreessen), while the Broncos defense couldn’t stop the Patriots QB Tom Brady and company from successive first downs and, by mid-third period, from scoring four TD’s and a field goal, yet the Broncos defenders were finally savvy and resilient enough in the fourth period, sacking QB Brady, intercepting passes, preventing a TD after several Patriot first downs.

After three successful fourth period rushes by Denver’s running back, Willis McGahee, had his loss of the football and a later drop not happened, Manning may have forced up a game-winning TD + field goal, for in that fourth period his connects to wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, to WR Brandon Stokley and to McGahee were gaining the yards for a full and final attack---but the clock has no mercy.  

            New England deserved the win on many counts, accruing 35 first downs and 444 total net yards, the Broncos 22 first downs and 402 total net yards. The Patriots possessed the football for 35 minutes, the Broncos less than 25 minutes. The Patriots rushed for more than 250 yards, the Broncos 70; and, though Denver finished the game with more total net yards from passes than the Patriots had (332 vs. 193), the Denver yardage resulted in half the TD’s gained by the Patriots.  

            As for comparing quarterbacks, nothing in the game provides a definitive answer as to whether Manning has “more game” than Brady. Denver’s Manning completed 31 of 44 passes, Brady 23 of 31. That’s 13 Manning misses compared with eight Brady misses, but three of Manning’s completed passes led to TD’s, while three of the Brady-led TD’s were from rushes. From this, we could argue that, on Sunday anyway, Manning and Brady reflected differences in style, “pass vs. rush,” dictated by knowledge of the opposition and by circumstances afield, measured too close to show that the one QB would fare better than the other game after game.  .  .  Manning passed for 345 yards, making him fourth best QB passer re. NFL Week Five-2012, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints topping the list with 370 yards gained via throws. Against the Broncos on Sunday, Brady threw for much less---223. However, Brady’s style tells us that there’s a lot more to QB’ing than throw-attained yardage.

            Next week, the Broncos will meet the 3-2 San Diego Chargers, the team leading the AFC West as of today, the Broncos holding second place in the division, above 1-3 Oakland.

            NFL ---  Week Five Wrap-up    ---   THE Houston Texans (first place, AFC South) and the Atlanta Falcons (1^st, NFC South) are now the NFL season’s only unbeaten teams, while six franchises have four wins apiece---the Baltimore Ravens (1^st, AFC North), Arizona Cardinals (1st, NFC West), San Francisco 49ers (second place, NFC West), Minnesota Vikings (1st, NFC North), and the Chicago Bears (2d, NFC North). The 3-2 N.E. Patriots are leading the AFC East, the 3-2 Philadelphia Eagles the NFC East.

The Cleveland Browns are the only franchise without a win across the season’s five games, and five teams have but one win---the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West), Tennessee Titans (AFC South), Detroit Lions (NFC North), Carolina Panthers (NFC South), and the N.O. Saints (NFC South).

With 11 games left to the season for each of the NFL teams, significant changes in the standings will surely occur, likely among teams in the 4-1 and 3-2 rankings as the majority of franchises that are now 2-3 and 1-4 shift up or down only conservatively, a few jumping ahead dramatically, a few falling steeply.

But usually until Week Seven or Week Eight, picking conference winners and a Super Bowl outcome is more dream than reality. This said, a review of this season’s schedules suggest that the 5-0 Texans and 5-0 Falcons could continue their high percentage of wins, for example, after the Texans meet the Green Bay Packers and then the Baltimore Ravens in October, and the Falcons play against the Philadelphia Eagles in October, no team that either is scheduled to confront until the end of the regular season has shown to be skillful enough to take either down.

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MLB:  Colorado Rockies & “Going Forward”// NFL:  Broncos & the Patriots; Week Five (Projections)

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

MLB:    Well, they didn’t make 100---lost games, that is, a comfort for the Colorado Rockies, a club that slipped and slid as top players Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Jorge De La Rosa and others filled disabled lists and a starting pitcher rotation fell steeply from expectations.

Only the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros fared worse, all three downfalls visible since early May.

Of course, the past doesn’t always go quietly and swiftly into the night, it can hang around and dog owners, general managers, managers, coaches and players until all are confident that fixes have occurred and next season will be better, lots better.

So, for that satisfying moment that can surface for the Rockies during the final days of 2013 spring training at Scottsdale Arizona, what must happen?

For starters toward an answer, this page does not believe that firing manager Jim Tracy and his coaches is the answer. Tracy is among the more savvy leaders in baseball today, he and the Rockies coaches know full well that which it takes to win baseball games; in time, they can figure out how to get to a point where what they know translates into action and maintains.

In the roughly six months that the Rockies leaders and players have to create the needed turnarounds, a lot can happen for the best, but it isn’t going to happen without front office and owner support that is the right blend of intervention and non-intervention. Example: owner Dick Monfort knows that attempting to micro-manage his GM and Tracy is a bad idea and he probably couldn’t succeed at that anyway. He also knows that settling for a season “on the cheap” when it comes to acquiring new and better starting pitchers is a bad idea, further: that great pitchers are always at a premium and a team has to search deep, relentlessly and pay high in order to obtain “the star hurler,” and not only from within other MLB clubs via a trade but from scouting across the country at colleges, high schools and even local and makeshift sandlots.

Yet a team that isn’t one hundred percent behind the power of an effective farm system “development cycle” that in three or four seasons can transform potentially successful starting hurlers into, if not 20-game winners or cutter and knuckleball geeks, a set of starters skillful enough to attain small ERA’s, such indifference “kills.” Surely full attention to farm system development will remain a significant part of the winning owner’s equation, and it’s where the Colorado franchise is working to have more depth and could accelerate the effort---it’s the development segment that requires more emphasis from Mr. Monfort for making certain that the Rockies have special executives capable of building into minor league GM’s and managers the feverish and imaginative architectural work and better monitoring that creates success.

But appreciating and building on what a team already has within its pitching staff and its line-up is another imperative---there are times when you have to go to war with the best that you have at the necessary moment of departure, and for this the Rockies are, as this page has commented in earlier columns, a “work in progress” more than are other clubs. In spite of the Rockies 64/98 record for 2012 (the worst ever for the Colorado franchise), Tracy and his coaches have seen promise in a team that went afield as a club reconstructed almost overnight at midseason from necessity, rookie after rookie stepping onto the mound and at the plate, and several doing well---catcher Wiln Rosario, infielder Josh Rutledge. Add the more seasoned Chris Nelson, and outfielder Dexter Fowler, who finally poured consistency into his prowess for the extra base hit. Building up from this reconstructed assemblage makes sense, while using some of the better players as bargaining chips for a 2013 trade only makes sense if for that “star hurler.”

Also, though no Rockies pitcher has been high above the margin in 2012, no one of them a consistent winner, credible yet are Juan Nicasio, Jhoulys Chacin, De La Rosa, Jeff Francis (still), and Drew Pomeranz and Alex White as “trainables,” the potential is there, and Rafael Betancourt as closer (more than 30 saves in 2012).

The story told by the 2012 stats of enough Rockies pitchers, fielders and hitters underscore “next level potential.” 

Tracy and his coaches have to be expert builders, then, nurturing and polishing, seeing that the best of the Rockies is sustainable game after game, not an every now and then happening, among development themes “cohesiveness,” wherein hitters and fielders can offset a pitcher’s weak performance, on other days the opposite happening.

If there’s a breakout line from all of this, it’s “practice, practice, practice,” while a GM and scouts also seek to refresh the page, with luck “judiciously.”

*          *          *

NFL Week Five (Projections)   ---   CAN the currently 2-2 Denver Broncos defeat the also 2-2 New England Patriots during their NFL Week Five match being held at Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Sunday? Yes, providing that the game is defined early as a team versus team contest and not primarily a duel between Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and Patriots QB, Tom Brady.

Yes, this season is among the few left for Manning or Brady to appear one more skilled and more savvy, a question that has dogged fans, analysts and perhaps Manning and Brady equally, but Manning getting caught up in this question starting at kick-off can put he and his hard working offense off game, which personal rivalries often do by becoming the number one play-deviation priority. No doubt, the experienced Denver QB knows this, and he knows that Brady could be netted by the question, a plus for Denver. This page’s guess is that if either QB were vain enough to risk losing a game over who is a better captain of the offense, they wouldn’t be the QB’s that they are today, holding the records that each has amassed over the years.

So, expect a team versus team duel, the QB’s investing themselves in that fully, come what may. The buzz about the QB duel on Sunday will likely be hype masking a Denver offense unsure about how to outwit a Patriots defense that rearranges plays not only in accordance with the intelligence it has on opponents but innovates accordingly as it learns afield, moment-by-moment. Rigidity regarding play execution isn’t a Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gambit if something new is seen within the opposing offense. If Manning receives adequate protection during the Patriots pass rush and he and his receivers can repeat the timing and throw/catch and handoff synchronization shown during Week Four’s battle versus the Oakland Raiders, and if the Denver defense can again set up barriers consistently as was the case vs. the Raiders, then the Manning-led offense can finish ahead of the Patriots, possibly by a touchdown and a field goal. In other words, the above-cited Denver attributes can win for Denver, as long as the attributes are threaded with consistency, and defense "inconsistency" has been a major factor behind each of Denver’s losses this year, including the pre-season losses. If the Denver "inconsistency" dominates, it’ll be the Patriots ahead from numerous second half drives, the least difference in points that of a TD.

A condition favoring the Patriots slightly is that while the Broncos in two of four regular season games played to date have scored more than 30 points during each, and in the two remaining matches 25 and 21 points, the NE franchise has for its four games scored 52, 34 and 30 in three matches respectively, 18 in a loss to the 4-0 Arizona Cardinals. For maintaining a points advantage, Brady will have to be faster than in previous 2012 games in order to avoid Denver’s pass rush, namely sack-seekers Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller.

NFL Week Five (Projections) ----  UNLESS the improvement shown by the 0-4 Saints last week against the Green Bay Packers continues (they lost, 28-27), the team won’t be causing the 3-1 San Diego Chargers (Sunday’s New Orleans opponent) to worry about losing first place in the NFL’s American Football Conference West (Denver’s holding second place, AFC West).

If the 2-2 New York Jets lose to the 4-0 Houston Texans during their Week Five game, and the Patriots beat the Broncos on Sunday, the NE team could be number one of the AFC East going into Week Six, the Jets falling to second position, AFC East.

If the 3-1 Baltimore Ravens defeat the 1-3 Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, they’ll remain numero uno, AFC-North, and if the Texans do clobber the Jets (as expected) they’ll stay leader of the AFC South.

Last night, the 4-0 Cardinals lost to the St. Louis Rams, now 4-1, but the team will still be leading the National Football Conference West, when entering Week Six.

And the Philadelphia Eagles could be tied in Week Six with the Dallas Cowboys for first place of the NFC East, if they lose to the now 1-2 Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

The 3-1 Minnesota Vikings and the 3-1 Chicago Bears could be tied at first place of NFC North as they enter Week Six, if both win their Sunday games vs. the 1-3 Tennessee Titans and the 1-3 Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively.

Win or lose vs. the 2-2 Washington Redskin on Sunday, the now 4-0 Atlanta Falcons will still be leading the NFC South.

END/ml   

NFL:  Broncos Defeat of the Raiders; Week Four’s Results.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   WHEN a reasonable expectation intersects with what has just happened, well, that’s where happiness resides. It’s where hope invested in former Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Peyton Manning, and a 37-6 Denver Broncos win against the Oakland Raiders, joined and provided satisfaction at Denver, Colorado’s Sports Authority Field, Sunday afternoon, September 30.

It was an NFL Week Four win for the Broncos, a team that had lost two of three games since the start of the 2012 season, raining doubt upon a Manning-led offense and a defense that wasn’t measuring up any better than during 2011. More than metaphorically, the Broncos are now “race qualified” if we’re talking “post-season promise,” having reached .500 at the end of the first four-game package of the NFL’s regular 16 game season.

            For the strategists behind the amazingly balanced Broncos offense/defense that beat the Raiders on Sunday (former star QB John Elway, now a Denver Broncos VP, and Broncos head coach, John Fox), the victory was a lot more than a double-digit success; it demonstrated that QB Manning and his preferred receivers among wideouts, tight ends and running backs may have reached a point of no return when it comes to moving a football forward effectively against canny and strong adversaries, call it “applied precision.”

QB Manning completed 30 of his 38 passes during drives that included 26 first downs, delivering a gain of 338 yards. Denver wide receiver, Eric Decker, caught seven of nine intended passes, and running back, Willis McGahee, gained 112 of the Broncos 165 rushed yards, averaging 5.9 per rush, more than his usual 3.5.

Total net yards achieved by the Broncos---503, versus the Raiders less than half that, 237.

Noteworthy was the number of options open to Manning, evidenced by the four Broncos TD’s landed by four different players---Decker, McGahee, RB Lance Ball and tight end, Joel Dreeson.

Too, at no time during the game was Manning sacked, nor were any of his passes intercepted. No Broncos fumble contributed to Oakland points, and the Broncos hadn’t had to punt.  

Much to the credit of Denver’s defense, the Raiders had to execute seven punts to avoid likely short TD-attained drives by the Manning-led Broncos offense. Denver’s defense held the raiders to six points from the first quarter on, which speaks to the possibility of opponents rarely scoring during remaining games, punting, punting, punting---Denver’s defense savvy and skills, speed and strength were on display throughout the vs. Raiders game, with, of course, the Broncos defense coordinator and head coach hoping to add “consistency” to the list of the defense squad’s positive attributes.

Denver football possession lasted for more than 37 minutes, while the Denver defense was directly responsible for the Raiders holding the ball under 23 minutes. And, Raiders RB Darren McFadden, usually a land-grabber to be feared greatly, remained at the effect of Denver’s defense---by endgame, he’d totaled fewer than 40 rushed yards.

Maybe the best way to describe Denver’s Sunday defense is to say that it kept getting to the right places at the right time and in the right way. Add, Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller combining for three sacks of Raiders QB Carson Palmer, whom the Broncos defense held to 11 fewer completed passes than Manning had.

Next Sunday, the Broncos will face the New England Patriots, a game already touted as a duel among championship QB’s Manning and NE QB, Tom Brady, though neither of the two passed for as many yards as five other QB’s on Sunday, each of the five having thrown for 350 or more yards, New Orleans Drew Brees leading with 446 yards and three TD’s, in spite of the Saints having lost to the Green Bay Packers, 28-27 (the Saints are now 0-4---Brees will go up against Manning and the Broncos defense, October 28).

On Sunday, the Patriots reached a 2-2 record after defeating the Buffalo Bills by a much wider margin than expected, 52-28. Like Denver’s Manning, the Patriots Brady had an extremely successful second half but a better one than Manning’s re. accumulation of points, Brady having led six successive TD drives.

Yet the NE defense hadn’t pinned back the Bills on Sunday as effectively as Denver’s defense “numbed” the Raiders.

*          *          *

NFL: WEEK FOUR’s RESULTS  ---  The NFL teams that are yet to lose a game, and that are leading their divisions at 4-0, are the Houston Texans (AFC South), the Arizona Cardinals (NFC West) and the Atlanta Falcons (NFC South). Except for the 2-2 New York Jets (AFC East, first place), all other division leaders will be entering Week Five from 3-1 records, e.g., the San Diego Chargers are leading the AFC West now at 3-1, after beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Other 3-1 contenders are the Baltimore Ravens (AFC North, first place), the Cincinnati Bengals (AFC North, second place), the San Francisco 49ers (NFC West, second place), the Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East, first place), and the Minnesota Vikings (NFC North, first place). 

Still at the bottom of the 32 team NFL are the Cleveland Browns (AFC North) and the Saints (AFC South), both 0-4.

Four of the remaining six last place division teams are at 1-3, the Raiders (AFC West), Miami Dolphins (AFC East), the Tennessee Titans (AFC South), and the Detroit Lions (NFC North).  

Last season’s Super Bowl winner, the New York Giants, are at third place in the NFC East, 2-2.  

END/ml