Author: Dave Long

News Item: Inmates Running The Asylum

Doug Pederson loses a showdown with his owner because he wanted rookie Jalen Hurts to be Eagles QB going forward while owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted crybaby demoted starter Carson Wentz. So Pederson is out as head coach in the city that isn’t happy unless it’s unhappy three years after winning a Super Bowl without Wentz because the owner wants him despite reports he’s selfish and totally un-coachable. In Houston QB Deshaun Watson wants out over not being involved in selecting the Texans’ new head coach. Which might make normal people ask, who would be the boss, Watson or the head coach? Again in Houston, where there must be something in the water, overweight and out of shape James Harden just forced his way out of town because the team “wasn’t good enough,” to join the Nets for a ridiculous cost to the new franchise. And the team he joins in Brooklyn is dealing with Kyrie Irving missing five games because he didn’t feel like playing after the attack on the U.S. Capitol. That Irving didn’t have the courtesy to let new coach Steve Nash know he’d miss the first one until just before game time is par for the course of his beyond belief sense of entitlement. Which comes on the heels of trying to derail the NBA restart last spring over bubble issues, which actually was a players power play under the guise of a Black Lives Matters protest. That he’s still somehow being paid $400,000 per missed game is the capper to an incredible week of the inmates running the asylum.

News Item: NFL Playoffs Trudge On

The matchups are set for who’ll compete for a Super Bowl berth next weekend. In the AFC it will be Buffalo in their return to the top of the NFL heap after a nearly 25-year absence, vs. Kansas City, who’ll spend the week worrying about whether concussion protocols will keep Pat Mahomes sidelined after he got knocked loopy in the fourth quarter of their 22-17 win over Cleveland. The NFC features old-guard QB’s still playing at the top of their historic level when Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay face Tampa Bay and you know who. And speaking of great old-guard OB’s, we likely saw the final game of Drew Brees’ great career in the Saints’ 30-20 loss to TB. With a three-pick day he didn’t go out in style, but he retires as the all-time NFL leader in passing yards and completions and is second to Tom Brady in TD passes.

News Item: NFL Rule Change Ahead?

A cautionary tale to those who dive to reach for the pylon with the ball exposed in one hand as they are about to be hit came on Sunday in KC. And given the 22-17 final it was a game-changer when just before halftime Cleveland’s Rashard Higgins did it as he approached his goal line as he got drilled by DB Daniel Sorensen to knock the ball loose. Since it flew into the end zone before rolling out of bounds, by rule it was a touchback and went over to KC to prevent on-the-doorstep Cleveland’s chance to score. Aside from missing the obvious helmet-to-helmet contact by Sorenson which should’ve been a penalty negating the fumble, it was the right call of a bad rule that’s likely to spark a lively rules committee debate on whether offenses should retain possession at the point of the fumble since the defense neither recovered nor even touched the ball before it rolled out of bounds.

News Item: New Hall of Famers To Be Announced

The baseball Hall of Fame will announce its next set of inductees on Tuesday with the steroid issue still weighing down the candidacy of otherwise shoo-ins Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and others. That should help Curt Schilling in his next to last chance to be elected by the writers despite his whining that he’s losing votes over his constant yacking on unpopular political positions. The truth is with just 216 wins and a late starting career he’s a borderline choice that clears the bar due to his postseason excellence. As for the steroid issue, yes, it was cheating. But if the commissioner who presided over the entire era and purposely did nothing about it for baseball’s financial gain until Congress held his feet to the fire sailed in on his first try, how can you keep Bonds, Clemens and the others out? Just have the stat geeks finally do something useful by developing a steroid-era statistical index to level the playing field with previous eras and then vote.

News Item: Jacksonville Goes Urban in 2021

Urban Meyer knows the list of college coaches who tried and failed to conquer the NFL is a very, very long list, one that includes big-time guys who won national titles like Bud Wilkinson (author of Oklahoma’s 56-game winning streak), Lou Holtz (1980s), Steve Spurrier (1990s) and six-time national champion Nick Saban. Not to mention local lad Chip Kelly in Philly and during one disastrous season in San Francisco. A few like Bobby Ross, who spent nine years as a head coach with San Diego and Detroit in the ’90s, did OK, but the only pure college coach to win a Super Bowl (’93 and ’94) after leaving college behind was Jimmy Johnson in Dallas. Yes, Pete Carroll did in Seattle, but he’d already been headman for the Jets and Patriots before his exile to USC. So I like that Meyer is attempting to defeat what history says about college coaches moving to the NFL by taking over in Jacksonville. And what makes it more interesting is his transition is more pronounced than current ex-college guys Kliff Kingsbury in Phoenix and Matt Rhule in Carolina because he didn’t use an in-vogue NFL-ready passing game like they did at Texas Tech and Baylor before coming to the NFL.

Time to go to the mailbag.

Dear Dave: What are your biggest takeaways from NFL playoffs Week 1?Fred D. Mercury, Morristown, Florida

Dear Fred D: The reminder that being hot at the right time is more important than having the best record. The Steelers had the ’72 Dolphins nervous by flirting with an undefeated season into late November. But they suddenly somehow lost five of their last six to get badly run out on Sunday by Cleveland 48-37.

Dear Dave: How much do you think the Patriots will be harmed by Bill Belichick’s right-hand man in the personnel department, Nick Caserio, leaving to become the GM of the Texans? Randolph Scott, Peoli, Georgia.

Dear Randy: Can I call you Randy over the more stuffy Randolph? Don’t mean to pick on Saint Nick, but not much. Have you seen the Patriots’ drafts through most of the last decade? Now Bill may have been pulling the strings for all the ridiculous moves around the board on draft day, but to say the least the last five have not been very helpful. And even with some useful recent picks like Damien Harris and punter Jake Bailey in 2019, they’ve gotten no dominant players, partly because they’d had a number of big misses in high rounds like N’Keal Harry (1), Dominique Easley (1), Duke Dawson (2), Derek Rivers (3) and Cyrus Jones (2), where those players type generally come from. And even though he wasn’t a miss per se, perhaps most galling of all was using a 2017 No. 1 pick on the wrong roommate when they took oft-injured Sony Michel over Cleveland’s Nick Chubb five spots later, where he’s become one of the best and most durable runners in the NFL. So it’s the same thing I said when people were fretting over Matt Patricia leaving in 2017 as defensive coordinator: Thanks for the memories, but he’s not as good as you think and it’s time for new blood in the personnel department.

Dear Dave: The rumor mill says Deshaun Watson wants out of Houston. If so, what are the chances of the Patriots trading for him?Art Thom, Bradyville, Florida.

Dear Art: Washington gave up three first-round picks and a second for RG III in 2013 because they hoped he’d turn out as good as Watson actually has. So with that uncertainty eliminated any trade starts with the RG III price. I have a hard time seeing Bill giving up that much. However, if Watson’s his QB in 2020, he knows they probably beat Denver, Buffalo the first time and Houston (since he killed them in that one) and maybe Miami the second time. Possibly even KC, as that was a close, winnable game until they were undone by terrible QB mistakes. So if he’s the difference between seven wins and 11 or even 12 in 2020, he’s probably worth all those picks. Especially if you have a lot of money to spend in free agency to get him some weapons. Though his $40 million per cuts into their free agent cash. Unfortunately, Miami for one can offer more immediate help via their own top two picks, having Houston’s top two 2020 picks from a previous trade, to go along with any of their three 2019 first-round picks, including a young QB in Tua Tagovailoa to build around. So while I’d do it, they’ll get outbid.

Dear Dave: I saw Celtics rookie Payton Pritchard play out here while in college and I’m curious what your thoughts are about him. Alex P. Keyton, Pointgard, Oregon.

Dear Alex P: While I’m not reserving Payton’s place in the Hall just yet, I do like his court awareness, hustle and ways he can score – on the break, from deep and off penetration. But what coaches want most is night in and night out consistency. But if he’s consistently still doing all that 50 games in, with Payton manning the second unit, it will be better than expected.

Dear Dave: I’m very worried about the Red Sox. So, to paraphrase Vince Lombardi, what the heck is going on down there?Theo Hiumm, Bloom Is Off The Rose, Texas.

Dear Theo: Well, given the various bargain-hunting, hope-to-catch-lightning-in-a-bottle and stat-geek-directed non-moves from the first-time GM the sickening feeling it’s going to be a five year re-build is starting to creep in. So, since you like paraphrasing, I’ll do one from Bill Clinton: I feel your pain.

Dear Dave: How about the way Tacko Fall played on Friday vs. Washington in his first real NBA minutes? Manderin Maknewt, Bol, Connecticut.

Dear Manderin: I love Tacko’s story and thought from the beginning he could be a 15-minute guy you stick in a zone to take away shots around the rim. I said that after watching him run and from when Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett get anything inside eight feet in the NCAA Tournament. So I knew he was athletic enough and, getting a computer science degree in three years while navigating a second language, smart. What he needs is playing time, which given the logjam of bigs ahead of him will be tough.

By the way, do you pronounce the K, as in Ka-Nute Rockne, or is it silent? I’m going to go with silent K, as in Ma-Noot, until I hear differently.

Dear Dave: What do you make of Bill Belichick being awarded the medal of freedom on Thursday? Robert Abraham, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Dear Bob: Well, since Coach B was friends with Mr. Trump before he became president I understand him wanting to receive that great honor from him. But the timing is bad. I mean, enough people don’t like him already. If this were a month ago, go for it. But after what happened last Wednesday at the Capitol, it will likely come off as a well-earned but sadly tainted tribute.

It’s Jan. 7 and the Patriots are already on vacation. But that’s a problem to discuss another day. Instead we’ll concern ourselves today with some of the more interesting stats, questions and happenings of the regular season just concluded and a look into the NFL playoffs as they get underway this weekend. We’ll start with this: Can someone with an MIT degree in mathematics explain how a guy with league bests in TD passes (48), completion average (70.7 percent) and fewest interceptions thrown (a miniscule five) can be just the seventh-ranked NFL passer, as Aaron Rodgers was?

Stat of the Year: With strong competition from Tennessee freight train and my new favorite player Derrick Henry for having three 200-plus-yard rushing games and gaining 2,027 overall, it goes to Tom Brady. His second best in the NFL 40 TD passes were the second most in his career. How do you do that at 43? The only age-related thing that compares is 13-time 20-game winner Warren Spahn hitting his career high 23 at 42 in 1963.

NFL 101: This may be a little too easy, as if you’ve read about Henry’s exploits the other seven players to rush for 2,000 yards in a season were likely mentioned. But if not, name the other seven to do it.

Much has been made of Miami yanking veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick in favor of rookie Tua Tagovailoa at their bye week. But while Fitz did rescue them in relief vs. Oakland, er, Las Vegas two weeks ago he was 4-3 as the starting QB, while it was 6-3 with Tua. I’d call that a win for his experience going forward.

Not that I’ll be alone on this, but my vote for best game of the year was the one with the absolutely crazy fourth quarter on Monday Night Football a few weeks ago won by Baltimore 42-38 over Cleveland that saw TDs scored on the last three possessions.

But the absolute craziest final play in a major win was seeing Tennessee win the AFC South title with a 41-38 win over Houston as Covid-19-stricken Steve Gostkowski’s desperation replacement Sam Sloman’s about-to-choke 37-yard FG went doink off the upright and over the crossbar for the win. How the Texans allowed A.J. Brown to get the 52-yard reception to put them in position to win after tying the game with just 18 seconds left probably explains how they could finish 4-12 despite having a great QB in Deshaun Watson.

In case you’re wondering: Brown, who had 10 catches for 151 yards and a TD on Sunday, was still on the board when Coach B took N’Keal Harry 32^nd overall pick in the 2019 draft. He had 70 catches for 1,075 yards and 11 TDs in 2020 while for Harry it was 33, 309 and two TDs. Patriots Nation doesn’t want to know the two-year totals. Bill also took JoeJuan Williams, who barely played this year, before Brown went 51^st overall, and 30-catches-for-five-TDs-in-2020 Minnesota tight end Irv Smith Jr. went at 50.

Incidentally, if they expect to go anywhere, the Titans had better fix their D. It’s given up 38 or more points in three of its last five games and the other two were against Jacksonville (10) and Detroit (25).

The biggest blame-it-on-anyone-else crybaby outside of Washington, D.C., this fall was benched Philly QB Carson (wah) Wentz. Word is that he wants to be traded because the relationship between him and the coach who helped him get his mammoth contract is broken. Here’s a novel idea: If you want to play, stop being the worst player on the field.

Speaking of ingratitude, after he was cracking on the Pats’ loss to Miami a few weeks back someone should remind Kyle Van Noy that Bill and the defensive coaches saved his career after he was a second-round bust with Detroit, which directly led to last winter’s big payday.

Ditto for the ever barking Asante Samuel. I might listen to him if he hadn’t dropped that sure pick on the final drive to blow the 2007 SB vs. the Giants and the undefeated season. And they still give Bill Buckner grief.

The biggest nitwit was ex-Washington QB Dwayne Haskins, whose unmasked strip club jaunt got him cut to cost him about $2.5 million in guaranteed money. Hope the trip was worth it.

Tough call picking the MVP. My top three are Pat Mahomes, Josh Allen and Rodgers. But, in throwing for those 48 TDs, I pick the old guy because in leading the Pack to 13 wins he did more with less.

Easy call: Baker Mayfield repeatedly going through the Cleveland stadium metal detectors after leaving something in the locker room as the year’s best commercial. He also gets best player/actor in any NFL commercial since Peyton Manning.

NFL 101 Answer: Members of the 2,000 rushing yards in a season club, from when it was first accomplished to most recently, are OJ Simpson (2,003 in 1973), Eric Dickerson (2,105 in 1984), Barry Sanders (2,053 in 1997), Terrell Davis (2,008 in 1998), Jamal Lewis (2,066 in 2003), Chris Johnson (2,006 in 2009) and Adrian Peterson (2,097 in 2012). Simpson is the only one to do it in a 14-game season and it also should be noted that if Jim Brown had hit his 133 yards per game from his 1,863 in a 14-game season over 16 games, he’d have run for a best-ever 2,129.

Predictions for this Week: NFC – New Orleans over Chicago, Tampa Bay downs Washington, Seattle beats L.A. AFC – Buffalo over Indy, Browns beat Pittsburgh. Even though I’m rooting for Henry, Mike Vrabel and Malcolm Butler – Baltimore over Tennessee in the best game of Round 1.

Finally, nice job by the Dodger and the brass for beating the odds to pull the season off in a high-contact sport with nothing seriously bad happening. Well done.

With the year coming to a close, it’s time for the Hippo Sports unorthodox awards that annually focus on things big and small that no one else does.

Beat the Expectations: Tom Brady. I was not one of the many who thought he’d take the magic with him to Tampa Bay without missing a beat, as I’ve never seen a guy who looked old at 42 get better at 43. At least until now, because after initial acclimation issues, TB has already thrown for the third-most TD passes of his career and his team is playoff-bound with the offense hitting its stride. My one caveat to predicting another year of decline was saying it’s probably dumb to bet against TB-12. And it was.

Comeback Player: You could see Brady here for just-mentioned reasons, Ditto for LeBron after winning the title in Year 2 after his first year in L.A. was a disaster. However, both pale to what Alex Smith did by getting back on the field to play solidly after nearly losing his leg to a gruesome break 18 months earlier. But he’s just my runner-up to one-time Sox reliever Daniel Bard for making it back to the majors for the first time since 2014, when after finally solving his baffling control issues he struck out 27 in 24.1 innings while compiling a 3.67 ERA.

Didn’t Live Up To Expectations: L.A. Clippers. With their blockbuster trade for Paul George that helped reel in free agent Kawhi Leonard, expectations were through the roof. That they didn’t win was a fan letdown, but they earn the award for gagging away a 3-1 lead to Denver to prevent what every NBA fan wanted to see — a battle for L.A. Western Conference Final.

Dumbest Set of Expectations: While every person on local sports talk radio and the Football Night in America and Monday Night Football brass are in the conversation, it goes to Patriots Nation for its sense of entitlement assuming the Pats would be in the playoffs because they’re the Pats, despite losing seven key defensive players and their all-world QB. Particularly galling was how little appreciation was shown by the “what have you done for me lately” crowd during their first bad year after two decades of astonishing success.

Biggest Mistake – Player: Technically it was 2019, but since the suspension continued into this year, it goes to Cleveland DE Myles Garrett. He gets itfor being the first NFL player to conk someone on their head with their helmet since Raiders linebacker Matt Millen did it to Pats GM Pat Sullivan after New England upset Oakland in the 1985 playoffs. In this case the victim was Pittsburgh QB Mason Rudolph and it got Myles suspended until his 2020 reprieve.

Biggest Mistake – Coaching: This one wasn’t just the 2020 winner, it’s in the top three of all time along with Seattle passing instead of giving it to Marshawn Lynch from the one in SB 49, and Grady Little sticking with Pedro after the Jeter and Matsui doubles in 2003. It’s Kevin Cash yanking Blake Snell in the sixth despite his having allowed one measly hit and striking out 10 hapless Dodgers batters because the analytics said to. All that did was blow the World Series by opening the door to L.A.’s three-run rally and its 3-1 Game 6 win.

The New Boston Award: After winning NBA and MLB titles within days and in position to repeat, while having a pretty good football team playing in the planet’s sports mecca, it’s looking like Los Angeles this year will wrest away the title that has resided in Boston since 2001.

Biggest Name On The Hot Seat: With the Sox brass having fired GM’s twice within two years of winning a World Series since 2015, you’d think after last year’s unmitigated disaster it would be Chaim Bloom. But that was Year 1 and he got a pass. So after seeing him do what all in-trouble football coaches do, I’ll take Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh. That would be scapegoating someone else to bring the heat down on him, as he just did by firing one-time Plymouth State Coach Don Brown as Defensive Coordinator.

Sports Executive of the Year: Andrew Friedman basically had the same job Bloom has in Boston now when he arrived in L.A.: extract the Dodgers from the payroll mess caused by taking on three giant contracts from Boston in 2012. Then build a farm system to regularly produce high-end talent to have enough surplus talent available and the payroll low enough to pounce when a difference-making talent like Mookie Betts came on the market. Mission accomplished. All done while winning seven straight division titles, going to three series and being in position to keep doing the same.

Toughest Thing To See: The Mookie Betts trade. History eventually may show it was the right thing to do, but it was tough seeing my favorite Red Sox player ever lead L.A. to win the World Series immediately after being traded away from Fenway.

Best Thing To See – Misery Upon Others Department: Seeing Cash and Tampa Bay demonstrate to the baseball world in the worst and most painful possible way that analytics are simply a tool to be used in decision-making and not the gospel so many self-important stat geeks make them out to be.

Most Valuable Player: LeBron James, and not just by, as Brady did it, showing he’s still the best while leading the Lakers to Title No. 17 with a performance that kept Father Time on the sidelines, but also for his executive-of-the-year level move to (unethically) maneuver around tampering rules to be the catalyst behind Anthony Davis wanting out in New Orlean, which led to his trade to benefit LBJ in L.A.

Biggest Hope For The New Year: That things will get back to normal sooner than later.

Happy and safe new year to all.

The NBA season kicked off yesterday and goes into high gear on Christmas Day. With a late start, Covid concerns, no fans and a shorter schedule it’s not a typical year filled with holiday cheer. But with the Celtics re-mixed, drama impending in Brooklyn, many exciting young players and much movement among players and coaches there are a lot of stories to keep an eye as it unfolds and here are a few of them.

The Schedule:It weirdly will be announced at two separate times. The first 40 games leading to the All-Star break in early March are out. The second half of the 72-game schedule will be announced in late February to allow for a reset to make up games lost to Covid-19 postponements. It’ll also be more like baseball with teams playing many back-to-back games in the same building two days apart. That happens for the Celtics seven times — five on the road and two at home. So the question is, will that make home court advantage no big deal with fans either not there or in lesser numbers and travel fatigue less of an issue in the back end game?

The Big Trade That Wasn’t Really a Trade:The biggest off-season trade was Milwaukee sending a whopping three first-round picks along with guards Eric Bledsoe, who can probably be flipped for a fourth and George Hill to New Orleans for point guard Jrue Holiday. While I like Holiday a lot, that’s what you call wildly overpaying. So why did they do it? Because at least two of the first-round picks were surrendered in desperation to make sure Giannis Antetokounmpo felt good enough about the Bucks to re-sign this off-season. And since he just did so in a record-breaking deal, mission accomplished. However, if the Freak wasn’t on the line, they probably get Holiday for Bledsoe and just one first, or pass on the deal if that doesn’t get it done.

Will Warriors Return to a Golden State? Good question. Depends what they get out of Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre. But with Klay Thompson out for the year again, I don’t see it, as it seems like the magic they once had is gone. Maybe for good.

Are The Celtics Better or Did They Regress? The X-factor is Kemba Walker. If he’s not healthy, no. If he is, yes, because (1) they lost the skilled Gordon Hayward, but since they got virtually nothing from him in the playoffs and still went three rounds deep it’s survivable; (2) if you added Tristan Thompson’s size, rebounding and interior defense to the 2020 playoff team would it have helped? I say yes; (3) the Jeff Teague (more polished offensively) for Brad Wanamaker (more physical defender) swap is a wash. Overall, it makes them bigger, tougher and better. Though so are Milwaukee, Brooklyn, maybe Philly and even Atlanta, so the battle isn’t easier. Plus with the massive trade exception available they’re still under construction.

Next Step for Luka: With the hype machine on full throttle expectations for Dallas star Luka Doncic couldn’t be higher. So will the amped up pressure hinder the ascension of his Larry Bird like game into a spot in the NBA’s Top 5 players?

Full Year of Zion: Thanks to a knee injury we got just a glimpse of the exciting Zion Williamson last year. I hope this year we’ll get to see him play the whole season, which will be fun.

Another Full Year of Ja Ja: Zion got all the pub but Ja Morant dazzled all year after being taken second overall by Memphis. I missed him last year, so I want to see for myself when he faces the C’s on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

James Harden Saga:His wanting to be traded has dominated the news of late, but who cares? The aforementioned Holiday deal complicates what Houston is asking on the “if Nola got that for Holiday we should get double that for Harden.” Stat Man’s not worth whatever they’re asking but I’m with Charles Barkley — if the Nets will give up Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen and a first-round pick as rumored, I take it.

ESPN’s Surprises Top 100 Ranking: I wasn’t surprised seeing Jayson Tatum ranked 11th overall. But I was by Marcus Smart (34) ranked above Kemba (42), which I agree with. Throw in Jaylen Brown at 26 and it gives the C’s four in the Top 50.

Big Expectations in Brooklyn: With him appearing healthy I don’t know how you bet against Kevin Durant. But I wonder about the following. (1) With Durant becoming more thin-skinned in recent years, if things don’t go swimmingly how will he act when those New York writers turn on the team in a flash? (2) Will Steve Nash be the next great player to become a solid coach or will he join a long list who got by on previous playing deeds? (3) How long will it take Kyrie to under- mine Nash as he tried to do with Brad Stevens and did do with Kenny Atkinson?

Something I Wish the Celtics Had Done:They need a real point guard to let Kemba slide over and be a Ray Allen-like off-the-ball sniper. So instead of going for the huge trade exception in the Hayward deal with Charlotte I wish they had brought back Terry Rozier and a smaller exception. His final year in Boston wasn’t a good one. But when he started in place of Kyrie he ran the offense, played solid D and was a contributor on the boards. He’d have made them deeper and more versatile.

The Prediction: Despite losing Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard, the Lakers probably got better by adding Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell. So I hate to say it, but with LeBron and AD leading, they’re the favorites to win and go (gulp) past Boston for most titles won by a franchise with 18.

Happy holidays to all.

With the Patriots’ 10-day trip to Wallyworld hitting the high point of the season — a 45-0 beatdown of the San Diego, er, L.A. Chargers — and its low point four days later — being literally run over in a 24-3 loss to the Cleveland, er, L.A., er, Anaheim, er, St. Louis, er, L.A. (again) Rams — their chances to make the playoffs are basically over. Thus plans for this week’s column to talk about how the left coast trip boosted their playoff hopes are scrapped. Instead we’ll catch up on stories we’ll be following as the Patriots spend January watching the playoffs on TV for the first time in 13 years.

Having said that, who should we root for? I’m going with Bill Belichick’s coaching tree of Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, Brian Flores in Miami and, while it doesn’t look likely after Sunday’s loss, Joe Judge if the G-Men sneak in.

Sports 101: Of the NFL’s Top 20 career TD pass leaders, nearly half (nine) were either drafted below Round 1 or were street free agents. How many can you name? Hint: That list ranges from the all-time best 571 to 261.

Also rooting for Buffalo because I like seeing players who got abuse from the so-called experts prove them wrong like QB Josh Allen has with an MVP-caliber season. Plus, after 25 years of misery the city deserves a little football joy.

How come no on Tom Brady? (a) I don’t dig Bruce Arians’ finger-pointing act. (b) I haven’t particularly dug TB since he left either. (c) But mostly at a time when people and small businesses are being ravaged by Covid-19’s economic impact, we’ve learned that the company of a guy worth $200 million got nearly $1 million in PPP Cares Act funds and then showed how desperately TB-12 needed that money by spending $2 million on a new yacht not long after. Hard to root for a story like that, especially with he and Yoko about to make another $15 million on a So-Ho condo they’re selling. So hoping for an early playoff exit there.

Chaim Bloom surfaced Monday with big news; he signed masher Hunter Renfroe for $3 million per. Yup — a .156 hitter.

The hot stove league in baseball has been another casualty of the pandemic. Other than that, there has been zero buzz this off-season. And with the winter meetings being done by Zoom, I don’t expect that to change.

The chatter following the death of Phillies great Dick Allen sparked the classic “was he or wasn’t a Hall of Famer?” that always follows the death of someone on the outside looking in. The 351 homers and just three 100-RBI seasons are at the bottom end. However, he played in baseball’s greatest pitching era and his 10 best years had him among the best offensive players of his time. Then if you play the “if he’s in, then Dick should be in” game, I’ll take him over several, including Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Alan Trammell and Harold Baines. The best comparison may be contemporary Ron Santo, whose stats came in hitter-friendly Wrigley and who only got in after he died, when he couldn’t enjoy it. To the voters I say wake up, people.

Does Jets running backs coach Jim Bob Cooter have the greatest name in NFL history or what? OK, not better than Bronko Nagurski, but it does sound more like it should be for a NASCAR driver or the bass player for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Speaking of great nicknames, shouldn’t my new favorite player, bulldozing Titans running back Derrick Henry, have a good one? Some will say Adrian Peterson and/or LaDainian Tomlinson, butI’d say best pure NFL runner since the 1990s trio of Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith and Terrell Davis.

I’m in the chorus who think Danny Ainge overplayed his hand with a proposed sign and trade deal with Indiana in the Gordon Hayward affair. But achieving the off-season’s most critical task of signing Jayson Tatum to a five-year extension shouldn’t go unnoticed. Phew on that one.

I know my friend Dick Lombardi the insurance magnate will agree that the annual saga of an NBA star holding up his team to get traded to a locale of his choice is a reason to turn off the Association. This year it’s James Harden with internet wags transfixed on where he’ll go. My comment is, who cares?

Speaking of turn-offs, after hearing Aubrey Huff say in response to the president-elect’s plea for wearing them for 100 days after he takes office, “Joe Biden will have to make me wear a mask,” it’s not hard to see why the SF Giants don’t want Huff (and puff) around during alumni events.

Sports 101 Answer: The list of nine includes three of the top four, Brady (571), Drew Brees (565) and Brett Favre (508). Followed by 340, Fran Tarkenton (third round); 291, Warren Moon, and 290, Johnny Unitas (both undrafted); 273, Joe Montana, and 263, Russell Wilson (both third round), and 261, undrafted, Seahawks and Chiefs QB Dave Krieg out of football power Milton College.

Finally, from the “now I’ve seen everything” department, is Steve Kornacki parlaying his Kornacki-gate presidential map guru work on MSNBC into a gig mapping out NFL playoff possibilities for Football Night in America on NBC. The segment is pretty silly and almost like an SNL parody. But, what the heck, he seems like a likable dude and was a lot better than Dennis Miller was on Monday Night Football.