NFL---WEEK 10, ANALYSIS; BRONCOS DEFEAT OF THE CHARGERS, NEXT WEEK BRONCOS VS. THE CHIEFS // NBA---ESCAPING THE HERD.

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 10, ANALYSIS; BRONCOS DEFEAT OF THE CHARGERS, NEXT WEEK VS. THE CHIEFS // NBA---ESCAPING THE HERD . . . / / . . . NFL---EXCEPT for the now 5-4 Green Bay Packers falling from first to third position within the NFL National Conference North on Sunday, the first and second position teams within the seven other NFL divisions haven’t budged from their primacy, some adding another win, others maintaining the number of wins they entered NFL-2013’s Week 10 with, for example, the American Conference West’s Week 10/Bye-attained Kansas City Chiefs are still 9-0, while the AC West’s second place Denver Broncos lifted to 8-1, having defeated the San Diego Chargers, 28-20, on Sunday. The AC East’s leading team, the New England Patriots, are still 7-2, behind them the still 5-4 New York Jets, and the AC North’s 6-4 Cincinnati Bengals have remained atop the 4-5 Cleveland Browns, and the AC South’s 6-3 Indianapolis Colts have stayed above the 4-5 Tennessee Titans. Too, the NC West’s 9-1 Seattle Seahawks have continued as a division and conference leading franchise, second within the entire league behind the Chiefs, having defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 33-10, on Sunday. Behind the Seahawks (no change from Week 9) are the 6-3 San Francisco 49ers, in spite of a loss on Sunday to the NC South’s 6-3 Carolina Panthers, 10-9 (Ouch!). And, though having suffered Week 10’s biggest defeat, 49-17, to the NC South’s New Orleans Saints, the NC East’s’ Dallas Cowboys are tied at five wins with the Philadelphia Eagles regarding number of victories, still in the number one position from most wins at home and against NC and division franchises. Meanwhile, directly behind the NC North’s leading team, the 6-3 Detroit Lions, are the 5-4 Chicago Bears and the 5-4 Packers. The NC South’s number one team, that’s still the Saints, now 7-2 from defeating the Cowboys, behind them the Panthers, 6-3, after that one point win vs. the 49ers. . . But, which NFL team wins a Week 10 downslide slot when compared with expectations and last season’s performance records? That has to be the AC South’s now 2-7 Houston Texans, and the NC South’s 2-7 Atlanta Falcons, each having been a 2012 high-above-the-margin team. Both are facing Week 11 from fourth place within their respective divisions. As to upswings from the bottom, during Week 10 the Jacksonville Jaguars finally won a game, defeating the Titans on Sunday, 29-27, now 1-8, and last night the NC South’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally had a win, beating the AC East’s now 4-5 Miami Dolphins, 22-19. The Buc’s are also at 1-8 today, so there’s no longer a winless NFL-2013 franchise. And, the AC North’s last place now 3-6 Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the AC East’s last place/now 3-7 Buffalo Bills on Sunday, and the NC East’s N.Y. Giants rose from last to fourth place after Sunday’s 24-20 win vs. the AC West’s last place franchise, the 3-6 Oakland Raiders. The NC North’s last place currently 2-7 Minnesota Vikings also accrued a victory during Week 10, having beaten the NC East’s now 3-6 Washington Redskins, 34-27. But there’s no ultra division lead within the NFL today, best being the Seahawk’s three wins over the 49ers, while within the full NC the Seahawks are ahead of the Saints by just two wins. Within the AC, the leading conference team, the Chiefs, they are ahead of the Broncos by only one win, and the Patriots are but one conference win behind the Broncos. . . So, where’s the odd disparity now that Week 10 has drifted away? It’s the NC West’s Arizona Cardinals at third place with its five wins, and the NC North’s Packers at third with their five wins, while a third franchise, the Dallas Cowboys, are a division leading franchise from the same number of wins. And---of the 32 NFL teams, 16 will be entering Week 11 still below the margin, that is, beneath .500, with the AC hosting 11 of these teams . . . // . . . BRONCOS, CHARGERS---THE now 4-5 San Diego Chargers lost to the 8-1 Denver Broncos on Sunday, 28-20, and so have only half the number of wins accrued by the broncos during this NFL season, largely from the Broncos having the superior offense, led by record-breaking QB, Peyton Manning. As Week 10 approached and the two teams would face off on Sunday, the Chargers were quite aware that if the Broncos defense allowed them 20 or more points by mid-fourth quarter, the Manning-led offense would likely make up for the allowed numbers; it would probably offset the defense giveaway with a touchdown or two ahead of the Chargers, the emphasis within each Broncos drive forward being a QB Manning and receiver pass/catch connectivity that is near-perfection. What must the weaker team do, then, when the primary reason behind the Broncos 8-1 record has been Manning’s mostly pass perfection and an ability of his preferred receivers to catch the football and run for that TD. One option is from Football101: Have defenders always between the football and the Broncos WR’s, TE’s, RB’s. A second option is this: If you can’t interfere with what’s thrown to Broncos receivers Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Wexler, and handed off to RB Knowshon Moreno, then dismantle the QB to where his functionality is lowered significantly. If desperate enough, a team might think, “Rip the QB apart, get dirty if we have to,” and it seemed that way on Sunday when a Chargers defender went for Manning’s already weakened ankle and Manning came up limping. Implied here is that the only way for the Broncos to lose during Weeks 11 through 16 is for the Broncos defense to U-turn from steady game-by-game improvements, and from opposing teams being able to weaken the Broncos offense by “crushing” Manning, not just sacking the QB but “hurting, injuring, Benching” the QB, forcing a replacement QB on to the field. Signaled, of course, is that the Broncos “pass protection” has to “step up,” protect its QB as if he were the President and they the Secret Service, “take a bullet for him.” Yet QB Manning isn’t fragile, he’s arguably the active NFL QB closest to indestructibility, a fact likely to radiate throughout each of the Broncos next three games, each game pivotal within a Broncos desired spiral upward for best post-season positioning, i.e., versus the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs (November 17 & December 1), and vs. the 7-2 New England Patriots (Nov. 24). Both teams are adept at executing the more punishing “pass rush,” in ways that can hurt and dismantle but cannot be viewed as crossing over into illegality, not in the way that the Chargers defender went snake-like for Manning’s ankle on Sunday, thus maneuvers by the Chiefs and Patriots that can repeat more easily than could that Chargers bad and ugly shot. Countering any belief that Manning can be weakened significantly, maybe undone, by, say the Chiefs during Week 11, is that after Manning’s ankle started going bad from actions during Week 6 vs. the Indianapolis Colts, the Broncos QB managed to throw against the Chargers for four TD passes and accrue more than 300 passing yards, one of the TD’s occurring after the Chargers went for that sore ankle. Never mind that the Chiefs hold the 2013 record for most season sacks to date, because such when related to a QB who can (a) Maximize number of points gained per minute of ball possession, and (b) Do that while experiencing sacks and even some fumbles, it just isn’t significant enough for consistent and sufficient blitzing of Manning and his first down hunt + end zone efficient offense. The Chiefs will be hoping for a Broncos defense that can deliver to it the lion’s share of allowable possession minutes for end zone occupation and some points, meanwhile its defense gunning for Manning with the martial arts/black belt-10th degree intensity seen in Hong Kong fight movies. . . // . . . NBA---THE NBA team that has left the stall and raced ahead of all others with nearly one tenth of the 82-game NBA regular season almost gone, that’s the Indian Pacers, eight wins, no losses, leading the NBA and the NBA East by four wins and the NBA East’s Central Division by five wins above the 3-3 Chicago Bulls. Next best in the NBA today, that’s the Western Conference Southwest’s San Antonio Spurs, seven wins, one loss, leading the WC by two wins above the WC Northwest’s 5-1 Oklahoma City Thunder, the 5-2 Minnesota Timberwolves and 5-2 Portland Trail Blazers, plus the WC Southwest’s 5-3 Houston Rockets and WC Pacific Division’s 5-2 Phoenix Suns. Still in sad sack mode, that’s the Utah Jazz, the only NBA franchise that’s winless as of today---0-8. Surprisingly, the Memphis Grizzlies haven’t been the snap, crackle or pop of last season yet; they are 3-4 and last within the WC Southwest. Also back of the grid unexpectedly are the EC Atlantic’s New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, both at 2-4, the WC Northwest’s Denver Nuggets, also 2-4, and the WC Pacific’s 2-2 Los Angeles Lakers. END/ml.