NFL: Week 10/11; Broncos Defeat of Raiders // NBA: First Run // the NOTEBOOK: F1 Motor Racing; Boxing-status.

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NFL--- SEVEN or eight games to go for NFL-2014’s 32 franchises before another NFL post-season dominates the American sports horizon, and it appears from Week 10’s results that NFL playoff competition for a shot at the Super Bowl will be super contentious, highlighted by three facts, (1) Week 10’s final scores were mostly double-digit for the losing as well as winning teams, implying improved teams that could rise in the standings; (2) In Week 10’s few low-scoring games the points differential remained meager, suggesting some close races for higher rankings in the coming weeks, and (3) There were only two runaway victories among all games played during Week 10, Denver Broncos against Oakland Raiders, and the Green bay Packers win over the Chicago Bears.

Summarizing Week 10, within the National Conference West the leading team, the 8-1 Arizona Cardinals, reaffirmed its position as the year’s more likely playoff occupant after defeating the NC West’s St. Louis Rams during Week 10, 31-14.  

Also in the NC, the NC North’s 7-2 Detroit Lions beat the now AC East’s third place 5-4 Miami Dolphins, 20-16, keeping a lead over division second place team, the possibly as formidable 6-3 Green Bay Packers, which defeated the now 3-6 NL North last place Chicago Bears on Sunday, 55-14.

And, in spite of its Sunday loss to the NC West’s 5-4 S.F. 49ers on Sunday, 27-24, the NC South’s 4-5 N.O. Saints are still the division’s number one, aided by Monday night’s Carolina Panthers loss to the NC East’s leading team, the now 6-2 Philadelphia Eagles, 45-21, leaving the Panthers as number two behind the Saints.

Within the American Conference, on Sunday the AC West’s now 7-2 Broncos defeated the AC West’s last place team, the Raiders, 41-17, holding on to division first place over the 6-3 K.C. Chiefs. The AC East numero uno, that’s the 7-2 N.E. above the 5-4 Buffalo Bills, which lost on Sunday to the Chiefs, 17-13. As for the AC  North, it’s the 6-3 Cleveland Browns on top, the 5-3 Cincinnati Bengals directly behind them, after the former punished the latter on Thursday, 24-3.

Within the AC South, leading team the 6-3 Indianapolis Colts maintained its edge over the 4-5 Houston Texans, both at Bye during Week 10.

So, surely the conservative guess from observing the results of Week 1 through Week 10 is that the Cardinals, Eagles and the Lions will be the front-runners for a go at the year’s NC title, and that the Broncos, Patriots, Colts and maybe the Browns will by vying for the AC title. BUT---Weeks 11 and 12 could alter thoughts about winners and losers quickly, e.g., the NC West’s Cardinals will be facing the Lions this Sunday and then will face a recovering NC West 6-3 Seattle Seahawks (the Seahawks beat the N.Y. Giants during Week 10, 38-17). The Seahawks are the number two NC West team behind the Cardinals.

Also during Weeks 11 and 12, the Patriots will be facing the comparable-in-strengths Colts, and then the hard-charging Lions, while the Denver Broncos will be facing less formidable competition, vs. the Rams and then the Dolphins. 

For more about NFL Weeks 11 and 12, see this page on Friday, Nov. 14.

Broncos, Raiders---WHAT appears to be an easy sweep, a game that the winning side could have sent in by UPS and gone to watch other NFL teams play, a win that looked as if the winning franchise could have won with its number two quarterback and an array of old timers, isn’t necessarily that, though a 41-17 score would indicate so. On Sunday, the Oakland Raiders, at 0-9 the only “winless” NFL-2014 franchise, lost to the Broncos from a fight they needn’t be ashamed of.

Yes, against the Raiders the Broncos put up five TD’s but the Broncos points that made the difference occurred in a single period, the Third Q. Were it not for that Q, the outcome could have been a game from which the Broncos would still be mulling over and wondering what went wrong, even if they still walked away as victors. In the first, second and fourth Q’s of Sunday’s Broncos/Raiders match, the Raiders showed that indeed the team can show up with sufficient respect from fans, focused and NFL-qualified, though ranked low.

More than one professional football analyst has said that the real NFL season happens between games, when each team examines what went wrong in the week before; further, that the teams that learn best and that can repair from its lessons has the best chance of gaining a playoff slot. Though the Raiders defense showed some improvement versus the Broncos on Sunday, it couldn’t react consistently enough to stop linkages between Broncos QB Manning and Broncos RB C.J. Anderson or a Manning-WR Julius Thomas duo. The Raiders have played one game nine times since NFL-2014’s Week One, a few degrees better on Sunday vs. the Broncos, while during Week 10 the ever-learning/ever-improving Broncos had lapsed some but recovered brilliantly and showed why the team will remain high-end contenders “beyond regulation.”

NBA---THE Denver Nuggets might have given away bonuses last year to be able to be listed side-by-side numerically in the standings with the San Antonio Spurs, NBA 2013/14’s championship franchise. Not so this year—so far. The Nuggets are at 1-5 and last place within the NBA Western Conference West, and the Spurs are at 2-3 and last place within the WC Southwest, which isn’t the only reversal of fortune showing up at this early phase of NBA 2014/15: the WC West’s 2-5 Oklahoma City Thunder are at fourth position just above the Nuggets, and within the Eastern Conference Central the 2-6 Indiana Pacers, a top team last season, are a last place holder.

Among teams that finished well in the past season and have been expected to do same this year are the WC Northwest’s 4-3 Portland Trail Blazers, WC Southwest’s 6-1 Memphis Grizzlies, WC Pacific Division’s 5-1 Golden State Warriors, and EC Atlantic’s 6-1 Toronto Raptors, EC Atlantic’s 5-2 Miami Heat and EC Central’s 6-2 Chicago Bulls, “all division leading franchises.”

Not surprisingly from the addition of Superstar and MVP Le Bron James, the 3-3 Cleveland Cavaliers are at second position within the EC Central, though three wins back of the Bulls. A surprise is the EC Southeast’s 5-2 Washington Wizards tied with the division’s number one team, the 5-2 Heat.

the NOTEBOOK---OF the 18 year-2014 Formula One Grand Prix motor races held since the F1 circuit began at Australia on March 16, 15 have been won by a single team, Team Mercedes, driver Lewis Hamilton at the lead for 10 of those races, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg for the remaining five. Winning team for the remaining three F1 races held, that’s Team Red Bull-Renault, with Daniel Ricciardo the driver for all three. Final race of the F1-GP season will be at Abu Dhabi this weekend, no doubt as to Mercedes and Hamilton being car and driver champions for the year, win or lose at Abu Dhabi. Winner of the F1-USA event held Nov.2 at Austin, Texas, that was Mercedes/Hamilton. Winner at the famous Monaco F1 GP, again Mercedes, this time w/Rosberg. At the British F1 race, again Mercedes/Hamilton, and at Russia’s first participation during the F1 circuit (at Sochi), Mercedes/Hamilton. . . BOXING---IN decades past, this Friday’s world championship bout among heavyweights being held at Hamburg, Germany, would have been on the minds of many sports fans. Today, it’s an event anticipated by few. Current world heavyweight boxer, Vladimir Klitschko, will be challenged for the title by Kubret Pulev (Who?). Also, a long ago popular welterweight boxing title will be sought at Westbury, New York on Thursday, the contenders Tommy Rainone and Carl McNickles (Of course, you’ve heard of both.). It’s been said that boxing promoters, fighters and their managers like less limelight than existed in the past, boxing analysts say it’s allowed for more quiet professionalism, there being less public pressure for boxers at the top of the rankings to add showbiz antics to their regimen, at the expense of training and preparation. But the impression is that the sport is going to leave the planet as MMA begins to take center stage in the body-contact/one-on-one realm---this may not encourage Golden Glove and Olympic winning boxers to pursue professional status. Only massive power-punchers like Klitschko, or windmill-throwers like so many of the current bantam and lightweight fighters have become, will fill the rings. Don’t know if it’s true or not, but from the vantage point of normal sports fans in America, there’s no next Ali, no next Sugar Ray Leonard, no master of the sport’s many skill-sets even on the far horizon.

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