NFL: WEEK 8, ON TO MID-POINT; BRONCOS TO FACE THE REDSKINS // MLB: WORLD SERIES, BRIEF UPDATE.

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 leiner. . . // . . . NFL: On To Mid-Point, Week 8; Broncos, Redskins // MLB: World Series, Brief Update. . . // . . . NFL---AFTER seven weeks of play, last year’s mediocre American Conference West Kansas City Chiefs are the only undefeated 2013 NFL franchise (7-0), and the AC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars and National Conference South’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at the other end of the spectrum, both 0-7, while Super Bowl winner of two years ago, the NC East’s New York Giants, are surprisingly at 0-6, and just two franchises have but one loss, the AC West’s Denver Broncos and the NC West’s Seattle Seahawks, 6-1 each. Also, last year’s often dumped and now 5-1 NC South’s New Orleans Saints are fifth best in the league behind three teams that are tied at 5-2, the AC East’s New England Patriots, the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts, the NC West’s San Francisco 49ers. Consequently, this isn’t a movie that we have seen time and again, an impression that is further illuminated when you note that the AC North’s Baltimore Ravens, last season’s Super Bowl winner, are at 3-4 and therefore under .500 as Week 8 moves from last night’s NC South’s NOW 4-3 Carolina Panthers 31-13 win over the Buccaneers, placing the Panthers at second place behind the Saints. Too, teams that were far ahead of others throughout most of last season, and that were already post-season candidates as Week 8 then appeared, they are now way behind the power-curve, the AC South’s 2-5 Houston Texans and the NC South’s 2-4 Atlanta Falcons. Still, except for the Chiefs atop the AC West, the current division leading teams cannot be said to be where they are “surprisingly” for NFL season Week 8---AC East, it’s the 5-2 Patriots, AC North the 5-2 Bengals; AC South the 5-2 Indianapolis Colts, and within the NC West it’s the 6-1 Seahawks, NC East the 4-3 Dallas Cowboys, NC North the 4-2 Green Bay Packers, NC South the 5-1 Saints. Unlike last season, not one of these numero uno teams has a commanding lead today over the franchises in division number two slots, as examples, the AC West’s 6-1 Broncos being one only win behind the Chiefs, and behind the NC North’s Packers are second and third place teams with the same number of wins that the Packers have, four. . . Of course, this Sunday put into focus the other side of the 2013 race, it’s the start of the back end, where teams get a glimpse of what must be accelerated and improved upon over eight more weeks if they are to finish 2013 as NFL winners instead of as losers, that is, at or above 8-8/.500, better yet as candidates for a shot at the Super Bowl. This said, no crystal balls, please, for fair if not perfect guesses at what could exist as standings when Week 8 ends are best seen relative to the current 2013 win/loss records, such as those cited above, for instance, the data tells us that the 7-0 Chiefs will probably defeat the AC North’s 3-4 Cleveland Browns on Sunday, meanwhile the 6-1 Broncos finishing ahead of the NC East’s 2-4 Washington Redskins, while the 5-2 Patriots will likely defeat the AC East’s 3-3 Miami Dolphins, the 5-1 Saints the AC East’s 3-4 Buffalo Bills, the 5-2 49ers the 0-7 Jaguars (game is at London, U.K.), the 6-1 Seahawks the NC West’s 3-4 St. Louis Rams on Monday night. Yet the AC North’s 5-2 Bengals could be kneed by the AC East’s 4-3 N.Y. Jets, the 4-3 Cowboys could lose to the NC North’s 4-3 Detroit Lions, while the AC West’s 2-4 Oakland Raiders/AC North’s 2-4 Pittsburgh Steelers game could go in either direction. Note: for the Ravens, Colts and the NC North’s 4-3 Chicago Bears, Week 8 is their Bye. . . //. . . BRONCOS, REDSKINS---SINCE the start of the 2013 NFL season, the AC West’s 6-1 Denver Broncos have been a most transparent football team, while the NC East’s 2-4 Washington Redskins have appeared mercurial, complex, harder to pin down from outsider observations, this latter fact about the Redskins probably not deliberate, more than likely the result of Redskins players, head coach and tactical coordinators being both high and low upon the ladder of smarts, skills and power across Weeks 1 through 7. In other words, where the Broncos are of concern the Peyton Manning-led offense has been consistent since September 5, it has been a high above-the-margin offense outsmarting and outplaying opposing defense squads in almost every quarter played, always finishing games in double-digits, experiencing only one loss, that by just six points to the AC South’s 5-2 Indianapolis Colts last week, 39-33. Paralleling this, the Broncos defense hasn’t matched the Manning-led offense in capabilities and in limitations, it being at-the-margin only, allowing opposing offense squads to score 19 or more points per contest. Meanwhile, the Redskins have been roller-coaster on two tracks, upon Track One losing its first three games of the season, one of these three a blowout (vs. the NC North’s 4-2 Green Bay Packers, losing 38-20), then defeating the AC West’s now 2-4 Oakland Raiders, 24-14, next losing badly to the NC East’s 4-3 Dallas Cowboys, 31-16, followed by a win vs. the NC North’s 4-3 Chicago Bears, 45-41; Track Two, within either win or loss over the past seven weeks the Redskins have been offense-strong during one or two games while defense-weak, and then the opposite existed in other contests. There’s no telling which will come up stronger during a Redskins game, offense or defense? Clear, however, are the differences in performance values, Broncos vs. Redskins. While QB Manning has a pass completion rate above 70 percent, Redskins QB Robert Griffin III’s completion rate hovers at 60 percent. To date, Manning has passed for more than 2,500 yards, RG3 for less than 1,800, and though the Redskins have rushed for more than 845 yards and averaged more than 5 yards per rush and the Broncos for less than 800 and 3.8 per rush, the Redskins have turned this into seven touchdowns while the Broncos have converted rushes into 10 TD’s, signaling that the Broncos offense has superior economy-of-force and better end zone-to-TD attributes. Another example of this is the Redskins best RB rushing for a total of 472 yards throughout the season’s seven weeks at 5.2 yards per rush, while Broncos RB, Knowshon Moreno, has rushed for fewer yards, 413 and 4.3 yards per rush, a difference being that the Redskins top RB’s rushes accrued only three TD’s compared with Moreno’s eight TD’s. Comparing receivers, no Redskins receiver has achieved more than two TD’s up through Week 7, while Broncos WR Wes Wexler has caught for eight TD’s, tight end Julius Thomas for eight, WR Demaryius Thomas for five, WR Eric Decker for three. Should this data hold, an offense comparisons-only on Sunday could humiliate the Redskins. Still, and win or lose, in no game that the Redskins have played this year has its offense failed to score 27 or more points, the highest being 45 points against the Bears. If the Broncos defense can keep the Redskins to fewer than the 19 or more that it has given away each week, the Redskins will return to Washington as losers, 2-5 toward Week 9. This also means that to win vs. the Broncos, the Redskins will need to succeed at the pass rush so as to upset Manning’s timing and field-of-vision, at linemen smothering Broncos RB’s, at a defense secondary being fast and flexible enough to stay between the football and the Broncos WR’s, all of these anti-Bronco skills that which the Redskins haven’t demonstrated so far this year. The Redskins RG3-led offense could amass more than 20 points vs. the Broncos defense if the Broncos defense cannot deliver better than it has to date, but it’s likely that QB Manning and his fellow-attackers will put up much more than that. . . // . . . MLB WORLD SERIES--- FOR the 2007 WS victory, the American League’s Boston Red Sox swept the National League’s Colorado Rockies, 4-0, and in 2004 the Red Sox swept the NL’s St. Louis Cardinals, 0-4. Well, chances for the Sox to do that again disappeared last night with the Cardinals 4-2 win. And, for the 2011 WS championship the Cardinals beat the American League’s Texas Rangers, 4-3, and to take the 2006 WS title the Cards defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4-1. Either of the last two NL WS win outcomes is a possibility now for the NL’s Cards starting with home game advantage on Saturday, but also a possibility for the AL’s Sox in that whatever happens tomorrow will result in a 2-1 outcome, with neither the Sox nor the Cards yet in a WS situation including real insurance for a best of seven WS victory. “Go, Sox1” “Go, Cards!” END/ml