NFL: WEEK 6, STANDINGS; BRONCOS VS. JETS // MLB: the LC'S // "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 6, STANDINGS;BRONCOS VS. JETS // MLB: the LC’s // “the NOTEBOOK.”. . . NFL--- LAST night, the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts became the first winning team of NFL-2014 Week 6. They are now four wins and one loss, having defeated the now 3-3 Houston Texans, 32-28. The Colts are now among four NFL teams having won four of five regulation games to date. Two of these teams are leading their divisions, the AC East’s 4-1 San Diego Chargers, and the NC East’s 4-1 Philadelphia Eagles, with the NC East’s 4-1 Dallas Cowboys being second behind the Eagles. It’s a comeback story for the Colts, in that as the now AC South’s leading team they had lost their first two games of the season. But being challenged next week by the AC North’s currently 3-1 Cincinnati Bengals could slow the Colts progress, while the Week 6 Chargers versus 0-4 Oakland Raiders and Eagles vs. 3-2 Giants games could see the Chargers and Eagles among the year’s first teams to win five of six games.  .  .  Constituting an AC showdown on Sunday will be the AC East’s number one team, the 3-1 Buffalo Bills, vs. AC East’s second place franchise, the 3-1 N.E. Patriots, the winner hurled to the top of the division for Week 7. . .  Within the NC, a big query is whether the now 3-1 Seattle Seahawks will undo the 4-1 Cowboys on Sunday to tie or rise above NC West’s division leader, the now 3-1 Arizona Cardinals, and whether the NC North’s now leading team, the 3-2 Detroit Lions, will defeat the NC North’s 2-3 Minnesota Vikings, or will the NC North’s 2-2 Green Bay Packers beat the AC East’s 2-2 Miami Dolphins to determine a division leader, or will the Lions and Packers rise to 3-3 and 3-2. And, from its loss last week to the now 3-2 Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jacksonville Jaguars dropped to last place, both conferences, now 5-0, to face another bottom-of-the-list team during Week 6, the 1-4 Tennessee Titans, thus a chance for the Jaguars to rise up from zero.  .   .  BRONCOS VS. JETS---A Chargers loss to the 0-4 Raiders this Sunday, which is unlikely, could lift the now 3-1 Denver Broncos to the AC West’s number one position, this at 4-1 for Week 7, providing that on Sunday the Broncos defeat the AC East’s now 1-4 N.Y. Jets, which is likely to happen, especially if the Broncos offense and defense perform as well and as mutually supportive as during Week 5 vs. the NC West’s leading franchise, the 3-1 Arizona Cardinals. If we look to predict a winner here from the available data, the Jets look as if they are being sent to be slaughtered. As of now, the Broncos have gained close to 1,300 passing yards, the Jets around 995, Broncos QB Peyton Manning completing 105 passes, Jets QB 86, with total Broncos TD’s since the season started being 14, the Jets having accrued eight. Of note is that the Jets have been worse each week from its only win, Week 1 vs. the now 0-4 Raiders, giving 100+ points away to opposing teams. Week Five’s Jets loss to the Chargers was a sad 31-0. During Week 2, the Jets also handed over 31 points, to the Green Bay Packers. That all of the Jets losses to date have been from double-digits given away, such surely indicates multiple defense vulnerabilities, which a Broncos QB who last week threw for 479 yards and a Broncos receiver who accumulated 226 yards from eight passes could certainly exploit. Yet, and as good as the Denver defense has become this year, the Jets can still implement a better than just fair running game, which could enable other than a blowout, maybe a Broncos win by no more than 14 if the Jets can take its rushed-for first downs past red zone occupation for at least two TD’s .  .   . MLB---AND so it’s the Giants vs. the Cards for the NL-LC, and the Orioles against the Royals for the AL-LC, each LC a best of seven, the four a deserving lot even if the NL’s Washington Nationals and L.A. Dodgers and the AL’s L.A. Angels finished the 2014 MLB regular season with more wins, fewer losses and accumulatively an array of important stats, e.g., no MLB-2014 pitcher has equaled what the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw has achieved; and, none of the four teams competing for LC wins has the player with the highest NL or AL batting average, which belongs this year to the NL West’s Colorado Rockies 1B Justin Moreau ( BA, .319).and to the AL’s Houston Astros Jose Altuve (.341). And while the Orioles accumulated the most home runs during MLB-2014 regulation, the three other LC-2014 competing teams are nowhere close. Second to the Orioles re. HR’s are the NL’s Colorado Rockies---186 HR’s. Best MLB post-season BA so far, that record belongs to the Dodgers A.J. Ellis, .538, and the most HR’s are those of the Nationals Bryce Harper, three. Top MLB-2014 playoff ERA among pitchers? The Angels Huston Street’s 0.0.  Still, the four vying for LC wins are definitely not flukes, not teams that hadn’t any steam until September and then from favorable scheduling managed to slip into the playoffs. All four have been winning teams throughout much of the MLB-2014, their playoff wins hard-earned. The AL series begins tonight, the NL’s on Saturday. The Orioles pitching staff arrives at the AL-LC with a total post-season ERA around 3.3 vs. the Royals ERA of 2.9, the Orioles post-season BA at .330, to include 20 RBI’s and four HR’s, the Royals BA around .240, with 23 RBI’s and four HR’s.  .  .  “the NOTEBOOK”---DURING MLB-2014, three of the teams at the very bottom of the 30 MLB franchises accumulated more home runs than three of the four teams now competing for LC wins. The Rockies, Astros and the Cubs provided a total of 506 HR’s vs. the Cards, Giants and Royals having accumulated 332. And if you add the 111 HR’s of another bottom team, the Texas Rangers, and the 211 gained by now LC competing team, the Orioles, the bottom four still have more HR’s than all four vying for league crowns today, 617 HR’s over 543 HR’s, confirming as have previous years that the HR is increasingly of less importance when it comes to the W and reaching playoff status, but also that teams that finish a season at the bottom of the pack are not unworthy of MLB inclusion..  .  .  TENNIS has its American doing well on the global circuit. At the ATP Shanghai Masters, Jack Sock is upside viably along with top ranking players Spain’s David Ferrer, the U.K.’s Andy Murray and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.  .  .   NHL’s best season start, the Monteal Canadiens, 2-0, ahead of the 1-1 Boston Bruins and ahead of 11 teams that are at 1-1. Worst starts, the 0-2 Philadelphia Flyers and the 0-2 Colorado Avalanche.  END/ml