NFL: WEEK 5, RESULTS; BRONCOS VS. CARDINALS // "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 5, RESULTS; BRONCOS VS. CARDINALS  // “the NOTEBOOK.” . . . // NFL---THE eight NFL division leading franchises have won a total of 26 games as of today. Leading their respective conferences, the NC East’s 4-1 Philadelphia Eagles and AC West’s 4-1 San Diego Chargers own eight of these won games, the AC North’s Cincinnati Bengals and NC West’s Arizona Cardinals are lowest at three wins and one loss each, while the remaining top teams are in the middle with their three wins against two losses each. After Week 10, that number of division leading games won will be 52, and when the season ends at Week 16 more than 80 games will have been won by the eight leading franchises. As to the 32 NFL teams, at regulation’s end more than 300 games will have occurred. Given that around 60,000 to 70,000 fans are present at most NFL games, by season’s end the full NFL stadium attendance figure will exceed several million, and that’s small compared with games watched on TV. Who says we’re not sports nation? Of course, these are the NFL’s “knowns,” barring the rare strike and shutdown. Week 5 was the very opposite, it being of the “unknowns,” delivering more uncertainty than what could ever be labeled “sure thing.” These “unknowns” will be fact, though, come December when playoffs commence, when likely Super Bowl contenders appear. So, where’s the league after Week 5? Presently, the 4-1 Chargers have the best lead in the NFL, but precarious in that the AC West’s number two team, the Denver Broncos, are 3-1, one win behind after a Broncos thrashing of the NC + NC West numero uno, the now 3-1 Cardinals. Yes, the story could be quite different after a Week 6 Broncos/Chargers match. And, at the heels of the NC leading 4-1 Eagles are the Dallas Cowboys, which has the same win/loss record purchased by the Eagles. Also, the NC North’s leading team, the 3-2 Detroit Lions, they are shadowed closely by a team with the same number of wins and losses, the Green Bay Packers. Yes, these standings could reverse as Weeks 6, 7 and 8 give way, so, too, the 3-2 records shared today by the AC East’s numero uno, the 3-2 Buffalo Bills and second place holder, the N.E. Patriots, and the 3-2 records belonging to the AC South’s leading franchise, the Indianapolis Colts and number two team, the Houston Texans. A surprise is the Seahawks difficult win last night against the NC East’s Washington Redskins, 27-17. The Seahawks, at 3-2 and second position behind the 3-1 Cardinals, haven’t been matching the Super Bowl victor that they were in February. The singing of sad songs, that’s still for the 2-3 Redskins, more so for last-in-the-NFL team the AC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars---0-5 (Ugh!), the AC West’s 0-4 Oakland Raiders, AC East’s 1-4  N.Y. Jets and the NC South’s 1-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  .  . // BRONCOS, CARDINALS---THE AC West’s now 3-1 Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning throwing for a 503’d career touchdown pass on Sunday, and Broncos WR, Demaryius Thomas, receiving for 226 yards, this seemed to dim what QB Manning brought to the fore directly after the Broncos 41-20 victory over the now 3-1 Arizona Cardinals. Once again, QB Manning addressed football as a “team sport,” which is highlighted further from a comparison of accomplishments by Week 5’s Broncos against the Cardinals, example, the Broncos accrued more than twice the number of first downs than the Cardinals could obtain on Sunday, 24 over nine. Also, the Broncos delivered for 568 total net yards, the Cardinals but 215. Then there’s the 92 net rushed yards that belonged to the Broncos, the Cardinals just 37. Add the Broncos 3.3 yards gained per rush, the Cardinals but 1.9 per rush, and the Broncos 31 completions of 47 passes, the Cardinals 12 of 34. Of note, too, are the 35.1 minutes of ball possession attained by the Broncos, more than half the time of any football game, vs. the Cardinals 24.4 minutes of possession. All this broke the Cardinals winning record, but they will face the NC East’s Washington Redskins during Week 6, probably an easier challenge that the Broncos will have on Sunday vs. NFL leading team, the AC West’s number one 4-1 S.D. Chargers, unless Week 5’s Redskins vs. Seattle Seahawks game signaled a movie, “Redskins Rising,” but then the movie could have been “Seahawks Diving” in spite of the Seahawks having won Yet if reinforcement and moving ahead of the pack is to dominate in the weeks ahead, it’s within the Broncos reach should the team’s defense maintain the consistency demonstrated on Sunday against the Cardinals, which helped QB Manning have that greater than 30 minutes of ball possession time for the Broncos several TD’s and a lead at the end of each quarter. QB Manning will always admit that he could never say it enough---it takes a team.  .  . //  “the NOTEBOOK.” ---- MLB: THE Baltimore Orioles clinched an AL-LC series posting from a 3-0 (best of five) division series win over the Detroit Tigers, and a 3-0 (best of five) series defeat of the L.A. Angels is pointing in that direction for the K.C. Royals. Within the NL, the four teams seeking NL-LC playoff slots are still alive, the S.F. Giants ahead of the Washington Nationals, 2-1, in a best of five NL-DS, the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 against the L.A. Dodgers in a best of five NL-DS.  .  .   MLS:  SECURING playoff slots within the MLS Western Conference, that’s the Seattle Sounders and the L.A. Galaxy, and from the Eastern Conference, the D.C. United, close the N.E. Revolution. Stay tuned!  .  .  NHL: THE more reliable odds-makers have given 11 of the NHL’s 30 teams less than 20-1 odds for winning the next Stanley Cup, three of them being below having 10-1 odds, the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the pack with 6-1 odds, next the Boston Bruins, 8-1 and the L.A. Kings, also 8-1. Middle of the herd, that’s the 20-1 odds pasted on to the Colorado Avalanche, last the Buffalo Sabres having a 150-1 chance of taking the cup. Good luck with that, Buffalo Sabres!  .   .  TENNIS:  REMAINING ATP-2104 events will occur in nine different countries before the ATP season ends---China, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, France, the U.K., the U.S. if that is where the Davis Cup matches will be. In view surely is the ever-expanding internationalism experienced by the ATP, weakening the possibility that any one country’s players could dominate the game for very long, raising and thickening the wall that American male players will have difficulty re. climbing and penetrating toward top rankings in coming years---it may never be as it was for the U.S. men’s contingent in the last quarter of the last century, those McEnroe, Connors, Agassi, Lendl and Sampras years. END/ml