NFL: WEEK 4; GIANTS CRUSH REDSKINS// "the 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 4 of any NFL season is pivotal. By Monday, one-fourth of NFL-2014 regulation will be history, only a few among 32 football teams positioned where they preferred to be when the season began. And preparing to change their ranking today for the better are three NFL franchises that haven’t won a 2014 game yet, the American Conference West’s 0-3 Oakland Raiders, AC South’s 0-3 Jacksonville Jaguars, the NC South’s 0-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while six AC franchises are 1-2 today, the AC West’s K.C. Chiefs, AC East’s Miami Marlins and the N.Y. Jets, the AC North’s Cleveland Browns, the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans. In the National Conference, five teams are at 1-2, the NC West’s St. Louis Rams and the S.F. 49ers, the NC North’s Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, the NC South’s N.O. Saints. Meanwhile, atop the NFL with 3-0 records now and therefore pleased with their Week 4 entry slots are the AC North’s Cincinnati Bengals, NC West’s Arizona Cardinals and the NC East’s Philadelphia Eagles. Also, seven AC franchises are at 2-1 for Week 4, the AC West’s Denver Broncos and S.D. Chargers, the AC East’s Buffalo Bills and the N.E. Patriots, plus the AC North’s Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the AC South’s Houston Texans. Within the NC, six franchises are 2-1 today, the NC West’s Seattle Seahawks, NC East’s Dallas Cowboys, NC North’s Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears, the NC South’s Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers. So, a big question is will today’s 3-0 teams be 4-0 when Week 5 commences? Well, it’s not a trick question when it comes to the Bengals and the Cardinals, the two teams are at Bye Week during Week 4, but the Eagles could be 4-0 and still be leading their division should they defeat the 49ers as predicted. The 49ers are now the NC West’s last place team from being 1-2 and division worst in points. Some experts are saying that the 49ers could be ready to leap forward and anyway will lose to the Eagles but by no more than seven. Among the 2-1 franchises, the Broncos are also at Bye, and rival team, the Seahawks, yep, Bye Week. In addition, the Bills will be facing the Texans on Sunday. Both are division number ones, their likely final score either side but not by much considering that the defense of each has improved greatly. And, analysts expect the Patriots to take down the Chiefs on Monday by a TD and a field goal, the same analysts commenting that on Sunday the Cowboys will defeat the Saints by more than 10. Another consensus among experts is that the Lions will beat the Jets by 10 or more, and that the Falcons will probably defeat the Vikings also by around 10. Can the Bears undo the Packers? That’s anyone’s guess, though some analysts say yes but not by much, could be by three.  .  .  GIANTS 45, REDSKINS, 14. . .  WASHINGTON, D.C., fans will be blaming last night’s humiliating Redskins loss to the Giants on QB Robert Griffin III’s absence from the field due to ankle trouble, which discredits a skillful Giants offense and a smart and fast-reacting Giants defense that included superb pass rushes and fast and powerful coverage of the Redskins receivers and runners. Giants QB Eli Manning proved again that he is among the more versatile QB’s playing today; he can drive an offense forward relentlessly from different and accurate pass tactics as well as from various and cagey ground pursuits. We may be seeing a reconstituted Giants, they are now at 2-2, though until the team’s Bye on October 26 the Giants will be challenged by the NC South’s now leading franchise, the 2-1 Falcons (Week 5), then by the AC East’s now number one team, the 3-0 Eagles (Week 6) and then by the team that has been ahead of the Giants in the AC East, the now 2-1 Cowboys (Week 7).  .  .  NOTEBOOK---A MLB-2014 FACT, the American League West’s 98-61 L.A. Angels will finish the current MLB season as a division championship team playoff headed, now leading the AL West from an 11 game jump over number two team, the Oakland A’s. So, too, will the AL East’s 95-64 Baltimore Orioles complete the current season as a division championship team, today 14 games ahead of second place team, the N.Y. Yankees that won’t be playoff headed when 2014 regulation comes to an end. The Orioles winning edge is second best today in the AL, likely to stay that way. And, playoff slotted today are the AL Central’s leading team, the 89-70 Detroit Tigers, which can be reversed by the K.C. Royals, just two games behind the Tigers today. Within the NL, the NL East’s 93-65 Washington Nationals are the league’s leading team and third within both leagues behind the Angels and the Orioles. A division championship team surely, the Nat’s have the best division lead in either league, a 16 game edge over the NL East’s Atlanta Braves.  .  . THE NL WEST’S 66-93 Colorado Rockies have underscored the phrase, “Never Say Never.” After numerous losing streaks and at the bottom of the NL West, the Rockies have moved upward, winning game after game this month, now at fourth instead of last place within the team’s division. Though too late in the season to finish at .500 and also narrow an away-from-home 21-57 win-loss gap considerably, the Rockies can boast of a fine at-home record, 45-36, second best in the NL West, also just three at-home wins behind the NL East’s first place Nat’s.  .  .  THE DEREK JETER GOODBYE has been a New York extravaganza, an “eastern seaboard matter.” Big media is “east” and from its vantage point NYY shortstop Jeter is today’s All America Star. Yet American baseball’s central and western markets have never hooped and hollered over and for Jeter, in that the central and western portions of the nation have had their own heroes, some of whom if Yankees would have been media-hyped names from the east to L.A. and Seattle, example, the Colorado Rockies now retired 1B, Todd Helton. But Derek Jeter has been a highly above-the-margin ballplayer, deserving the praise that he’s been given. Okay, cynics, Jeter hasn’t offered accomplishments the likes of those delivered by Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Hank Aaron, instead Jeter’s been an all tools master, for which those baseball giants were not as highly regarded. Jeter is Hall of Fame headed from versatility and expertise “across the board of baseball skills,” landing him a reputation as fielder as well as hitter, as “Clutch King” when it mattered most, e.g., his walk-off single in the ninth inning of his last career game, pulling the Yankees ahead of the Orioles, 6-5. Moreover, Jeter has had more hits than any other ballplayer since the players strike of the mid-1990’s, and these hits have been across the spectrum of type singles, doubles, triples, HR’s, and then there have been those leaps above and the slides across the ground as baseball’s number one shortstop, plus what ought to be a best in the modern era award for a ballplayer handling fame and fortune consistently with grace and respect . . . NBA QUESTIONS are coming into focus as NBA 2014/15 regulation approaches. What we think about: Will the LeBron return to Cleveland yield a playoff slot for the Cav’s? Can the San Antonio Spurs repeat? Will it be proven that the Heat’s success was always more about James than about his partners in the “tres amigos” scheme? Can the Lakers prove that age and experience can outmaneuver enough of the young and finish a season better than last year and the year before? Will there ever be a Celtics team matching the Celtics greatness of the past if the strategies and tactics employed can differ positively from what has made the Celtics a lesser team? Can the Chicago Bulls enact a makeover in the same way? Will this be the year that the Thunder does it, becomes the NBA championship team? Can the Nets rise past last season’s record with their new head coach? Will the Phoenix Suns be the year’s big surprise and reach the playoffs? Will the Knicks get there, aided by a Carmelo Anthony best year and Phil Jackson helping to guide that? And, will the Nuggets prove that its spread of talent focused by HC Brian Shaw on teamwork over individualism can force the Thunder and the Trail Blazers, the Clippers, even the Spurs, to step back in the standings? Will the 2014/15 NBA season be defense over offense, of least number of at-the-post wins, the max being from those fast breaks and from above the key FG’s, from three-pointers and deep corner shots? If defense dominates, will it be from coordinated one-on-ones transitioning more speedily to zone and switching back, will it be because of the seven+.

END/ml