NFL: WEEK 7, RESULTS & ANALYSIS; BRONCOS LOSE TO COLTS // MLB: WORLD SERIES.

SPORTS NOTEBOOK sports-notebook.blogspot.com 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 posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // NFL: WEEK 7, RESULTS & ANALYSIS; BRONCOS LOSE TO COLTS // MLB: WORLD SERIES . . . // NFL---THE only other undefeated franchise went down, leaving the now 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs at the very top of an NFL division, the NFL’s American Conference-West, also as number one within the AC and the entire football League. That other and no longer undefeated team, the AC West’s now second place 6-1 Denver Broncos, they lost to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, 39-33. Week 7 saw more upticks, among them, the National Conference West’s Seattle Seahawks advancing to 6-1, while holding the number one NC-West slot after busting the NC West’s currently 3-4 Arizona Cardinals, 34-22. The Seahawks are also second within both leagues, directly behind the Chiefs. Though still first within the AC East, the New England Patriots are 5-2, having lost to the New York Jets in overtime on Sunday, 30-27. The AC North’s Cincinnati Bengals, also keeping a division number one berth, moved up to 5-2 after undoing the NC North’s Detroit Lions, 27-24, and the Colts win over the Broncos maintained a Colts division leading post within the AC South. Atop the NC East today are the Dallas Cowboys, 4-3, having trounced the NC East’s Philadelphia Eagles during Week 7, 17-3; and on Sunday the NC North’s Green Bay Packers benefited from both a 31-13 win over the AC North’s Cleveland Browns and from Detroit’s loss to the Bengals, moving to division number one. The New Orleans Saints are 6-1 still, off of the team’s Bye-week, behind them at second the 3-3 Carolina Panthers. Three other NFL division second place teams have only three wins, the AC North’s 3-4 Baltimore Ravens, AC South’s Tennessee Titans and the 3-4 Eagles. From where darkness pervades, and still unable to get out from under, the AC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars were dumped by the AC West’s now 4-3 San Diego Chargers, 24-6, kneed for Week 8 at 0-7 (Ugh!), and now for Week 8 at 0-6 are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, having lost to the NC South’s 2-4 Atlanta Falcons, 31-23. But---the N.Y. Giants finally upgraded, now at 1-6, having unraveled the NC North’s now 1-5 Minnesota Vikings last night, 23-7. . . Overall, within the NFL eight AC and seven NC teams comprise the below .500 pack, and no division leading franchise has a lead over peer division franchises that is substantial enough to cruise easily over other franchises into post-season play, allowing ample room for upsets and turnabouts before Week 16 commences. . . //. . . BRONCOS/ COLTS---AS one of the more powerful, flexible, smart and skillful among this year’s NFL’s offense elements, the Denver Broncos driving attackers led by quarterback Peyton Manning have been a force to reckon with but without sufficient backup for remaining undefeated. A Broncos loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday could have been avoided had the Broncos defense matched the Broncos offense in power and number of skills. Though a defense better than many in the NFL, it couldn’t rise to where the QB Andrew Luck-led Colts offense prevailed during Sunday’s Broncos/Colts game. And, as an extension of this absence of defense-sufficiency, there’s the defense-sufficiency that must exist inside of an offense. In other words, against the Colts defense a prepared-to-win Peyton Manning hadn’t the pass protection that he’d had in previous games. Nor had Manning’s preferred receivers enough of the shielding necessary for them to always be of the near-perfect connectivity that existed between Manning’s arm and their receptions in past games, though seen at Indianapolis were some difficult and successful catches by WR’s Wes Welker and Eric Decker. More of the better shielding would have given time and space for prevention of the fumbles that led to the Colts subsequent and dominant scoring. But that the Broncos defense squad hasn’t been able to keep from allowing an opposing offense to score 19 or more points in any 2013 Broncos game so far, such has nearly doubled the Broncos offense challenge since September 5, with Manning’s A Team always having to pull the defense squad “out of the fire,” as has been said. For that, yes, the Broncos offense scored points in every quarter of the versus Colts game, and the Manning-led offense put up stats that reflected high performance football even though such was met effectively by the Colts stats, for instance, the Broncos accrued more first downs than had the Colts, and had more total net yards as the fourth Q ended, and a higher average gain in yards per play. But while Manning’s pass attempts were higher than that of Colts QB Luck, 49 over Luck’s 38, Manning completed less than 30, and Luck missed completing only seven. This was indicative of the game’s Broncos pass protection weaknesses and of an inability of Manning’s receivers to be free and clear enough for ball reception, while Luck’s superior pass completion-rate reflected weaknesses in the Broncos defense (read: pass rush inefficiency, LB Von Miller beneath expectations), illuminated by Luck rushing for his own TD. . . The Colts are 5-2 now; however, the Broncos are 6-1, and totaling up the Week 1 through Week 7 stats has the Broncos ahead in just about every category of football play, e.g., the Broncos averaging 44 points per game, the Colts 24. This said, the majority of NFL teams improve as a season progresses, and seven weeks of play is a lot of film for all teams to be able to watch and study. Surely, the Washington Redskins will be studying the Broncos/Colts game on film to ferret out both defense and offense vulnerabilities that can be exploited this Sunday when the Redskins will face the Broncos for what they hope will be a new Redskins direction for the second half of the current NFL season. Of course, Broncos head coach, John Fox, and QB Peyton Manning have been film buffs for many years. . . //. . . MLB: WORLD SERIES---IT begins tomorrow, the MLB World Series, an event held annually since 1903, from the American League the Boston Red Sox, from the National League the St. Louis Cardinals, each entering the esteemed event as a team that hadn’t won its respective 2013 LC series easily, each a roughly balanced blend of decent ERA and games-won pitching staffs and powerhouse hitters, promising a best of seven challenge “minus a sweep by either,” every game tight, low scores both sides of the plate. Deciding which team will win the year’s WS viscerally or because this or that team represents one’s home town can be just as effective as knowing all the stats and each club’s special nuances. All seven games lighting up one’s TV screen isn’t out of the question. Some WS history: The Red Sox faced the Cardinals for the WS title in 2004 and defeated the Cards, 4-0 (yes, a sweep), and in 2007 swept the Colorado Rockies for the WS title. The Cards returned to the WS in 2006, versus the Detroit Tigers, and won 4-1, returning again to the WS in 2011, defeating the Texas Rangers, 4-3. So, the Red Sox and the Cards have won the WS twice each since year 2000, implying a clash of the titans WS, if one happens to see baseball in such terms. The New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants are the only other two clubs that have been to the WS twice and won since year 2000, and had they met at the WS this year would have been of the same two wins status as the Red Sox and Cards. Noteworthy as a reflection of MLB diversity is that no WS winning team since year 2000 has reappeared at the WS the following year (think: last year’s WS winner, the S.F. Giants, being a below .500/last place NL-West club as the 2013 regular season closed). Predicting a winner at anything is a sport unto itself, and if one doesn’t like losing embarrassingly at that endeavor, why try? Oops! Loyalty to one league over the other is a powerful stimulus---we just can’t help it, maybe it’s an addiction: Cardinals over the Red Sox, 4-3. NO! Red Sox over the Cardinals, 4-3. YES! Cards over the... NO!... As restaurant-waiters and bartenders seem to be saying to all their customers these days, “Enjoy!” END/ml.