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. . . Dec. 2 // FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO
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NFL---DURING NFL-2014’s
Week 13, the National Conference South’s now 5-7 Atlanta Falcons lifted to
division first place from a surprising 29-18 win over the previous week’s league-wide
and NC number one franchise, the NC West’s 9-3 Arizona Cardinals, but the
Falcons are but tied at NC South’s first slot with the 5-7 N.O. Saints. The NC
West’s Cardinals are still atop the NFL, but now tied with the NC East’s number
one franchise, the 9-3 Philadelphia Eagles and the NC North’s leading team, the
9-3 Green Bay Packers.
On Thursday,
the Eagles began Week 13 by defeating the team it was tied at first place with,
now second position team the NC East’s 8-4 Dallas Cowboys, and the Packers moved
ahead by beating the American Conference East’s 9-3 N.E. Patriots on Sunday,
26-21.
Yet from Week
13’s results the AC is still led by the N.E. Patriots, but now sharing the
position with the AC West’s leading team, the 9-3 Denver Broncos, which on
Sunday crushed the AC West’s third place 7-5 K.C. Chiefs.
Within the NC,
then, three of the conference’s four Week 12 division leading teams are the
leading teams from Week 13, with the NC South’s Falcons move into first position
being the exception. Moreover, from the AC’s Week 13 outcomes compared with
those of Week 12 we could say the same re. the AC, in that the AC North is
still led by the 8-3 Cincinnati Bengals and the AC South still by the 8-4
Indianapolis Colts, in addition to the AC East’s Patriots and AC West’s Broncos
still leading their divisions and the AC-entire.
Suggested at
first glance, then, is that during Week 13 there was little change at the top
of the NFL’s eight divisions.
Not so!
It is significant
change at the top that has characterized Week 13.
For instance,
three teams are now holding the NC’s number one spot, and two teams are tied
for the AC’s leading position, with no division leading team within either
conference having a commanding lead over teams in second place. Today, the only
two-game leads above second position teams belong to the Patriots above the 7-5
Buffalo Bills, and the Colts above the 6-6 Houston Texans---all other division
leading franchises are but one game above the franchise directly behind.
And addressing
the possibility of more change in the next two weeks and the start of NFL-2014’s
playoffs are Week 13’s upsets, the Falcons having defeated the Cardinals, and
the Patriots having lost to the Packers.
Too, the NC
West’s now second place 8-4 Seattle Seahawks 19-3 defeat on Thursday versus the
NC West’s now 7-5 S.F. 49ers reflects the possibility of a not too late surge
from the Seahawks for division leadership and for that shot at another post-season
billet.
Also, the
Broncos now being tied with the Patriots for the top AC slot after its Sunday
victory vs. the Chiefs, such speaks to the possibility of another
Broncos/Patriots duel for the AC championship and, yes, for another
Broncos/Seahawks SB if the Seahawks can leap ahead of, and then defeat, the
Cardinals while besting the Eagles and Packers from the latter two failing to
win upcoming matches.
But there’s a
sudden glitch for the Broncos, that of the AC West’s San Diego Chargers having
moved up to second from third position within the AC West after a Sunday 34-33
defeat of the AC North’s second place team, the 7-5 Baltimore Ravens, the
Chargers now just one win behind the Broncos.
As to Week
13’s top routing, an award for such would go to the NC West’s 5-7 St. Louis
Rams having crushed the AC West’s 1-11 Oakland Raiders on Sunday, 52-0.
Broncos, Chiefs--- SOMETIMES
the role of a QB is not to be Sunday’s hero but to exploit field situations so
that others can have that distinction, which is how it went during a Denver
Broncos Sunday defeat of the K.C. Chiefs, 29-16, from Broncos QB Peyton Manning
trusting Broncos RB C.J. Anderson for delivery of 168 yards and a TD, WR
DeMaryius Thomas for 68 yards + TD, and Broncos kicker Connor Barth providing
three field goals, this while Manning completed 17 of 34 pass attempts,
compared with the better completion record of Chiefs QB Alex Smith’s 15 of 23
attempts. Still, Manning’s CP’s were for 179 yards gained and 21 first downs, while
Smith’s CP’s accrued 151 yards and but 11 first downs.
And, QB Manning
going for the running game more than for the pass tactic, it paid off immensely---214
rushing yards from 45 rushing plays, vs. the Chiefs 45 rushing yards gained.
Also, observers
rarely notice the feat of sustaining time of possession while a game proceeds,
which a superb QB can extend, e.g., the Broncos offense accrued nearly 39
minutes of ball possession compared with the Chiefs less than 22 minutes of
possession.
We could say
safely from the data, then, that QB Manning was the game’s fourth hero, though
quietly, and there’s something heroic about making others the day’s stars.
Now appears a
fifth Broncos star, a collective, the Broncos defense, which held the Chiefs to
points under 22, so necessary it now seems in seven of the Broncos nine 2014
wins to date, in five of those seven to 17 points and below.
NBA---TWELVE of
NBA-2014/15’s 30 competing teams have double-digit wins after five weeks of
play, the NBA Western Conference Southwest Division’s Memphis Grizzlies atop the
list with 15 wins over two losses, the WC’s Pacific Division’s leading team,
the Golden State Warriors, second with 14 over two, while 12 teams have less
than half that number of wins, two of them less than half of seven wins, one
franchise at zero, the 0-17 Philadelphia Eagles.
Reflected
today is much inequality among teams above and below .500, though some surges
upward from the bottom and the middle seem to be occurring, for example, the
Denver Nuggets have been back from a losing streak to occupy second position
within the WC Northwest at 9-8, finally above .500 and behind WC Northwest
first place team, the 14-4 Portland Trail Blazers, which the Nuggets will face
this evening, hoping to join the double-digit wins club.
And though
5-12 and below .500, the WC Northwest’s OKC Thunder have risen from the division’s
very bottom to third position behind the Nuggets, but there’s been no forward
jump for teams expected to be higher in the standings, e.g., for the Eastern
Conference Central Division’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Thought in October and
November to exhibit a leap-ahead start from the LeBron James return, the
Cavaliers are currently 8-7 and division third.
Nor have the
Miami Heat, the N.Y. Knicks and the Indiana Pacers, each of sustained
leadership last season, reached double-digit wins yet, which last year’s NBA number
one team, the WC’s Southwest San Antonio Spurs have reached, now 13 over four, tied
at second with the Houston Rockets, two wins back of the Grizzlies.
END/ml
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