Author: Dave Long

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.

I’ve never been a professional athlete and certainly have never been involved with a business decision where I could get an additional $20 million if I took a new job. But, while I understand the entire business and playing situation, I must say the Gordon Hayward free agent defection to the Hornets for a boatload of dough after opting out of the final year of his contract with the Celtics really irked me.
That’s me the “fan” talking, not me the sports writer. The sports writer gets the business decision thing. Ditto for what should go through any Celtics player’s mind after how Danny Ainge and the brass kicked Isaiah Thomas to the curb after he put his earning power/career on the line after taking one for the team by playing through a severely deteriorating hip injury during the 2017 playoffs. Not to mention doing it while playing through the pain of his sister’s death in real time and a face plant that forced extensive dental surgery that would have been a season-ender for me-firsters like the guy he was traded for a few months later. He’s still trying to come back from the damage that caused, which probably cost him somewhere between $50 million and $100 million.
But for me the fan, it irked me because it’s a reminder why fans should treat players as they treat them – as disposable commodities. I could give a lengthy speech about why things were better back in the day, but it’s not relevant. Today is what it is. Red Auerbach held on to his Big 3 because he felt they earned the right to retire in Boston and I was OK with that. But that led to 22 years without a title. Conversely, I must also admit I was in the chorus singing Danny’s praises for not doing that with his Big 3 after the haul he got back produced Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and others to give much more promise to the future than Red’s approach.
The being irked part comes in because isn’t getting attached to favorite players part of being a sports fan? It always has been that for me. I like the winning, but I also want to like the players on that team. That’s one reason I was cool to bringing Cam Newton to the Patriots, as I wasn’t sure about him. Turns out he’s a good guy and he gets extra slack because of it.
Now, on to specifically why Hayward’s leaving irked me. It was two-fold. First, while his horrific broken ankle wasn’t his fault, people in these parts invested a lot in him and his recovery. That included, if you read this space, infinite patience by me repeatedly sticking up for him to critics who didn’t get how long it would take to physically and especially mentally come back from that terrible injury. Ditto for the Celtics brass, especially Brad Stevens, who took a lot of heat inside the locker room for playing him when he clearly wasn’t the same. That led to a tumultuous 2018-19 Celtics season and if you want to insert toxic for tumultuous feel free. When a guy everyone did that for just up and leaves it makes one say what’s the point? Though smarter, more realistic people might say grow up because that’s the way it is.
The second part is the bigger issue, and no it wasn’t that I was bothered he was leaving. After all they beat Philly and Toronto and made it to Game 6 of the conference finals vs. Miami with very little help from him after getting hurt (again) in Game 1 of the playoffs. Plus, somewhere in the middle of last season I’d decided he was the guy to trade to help them get to a higher level. That’s because while I liked how he played at point forward, he’s just not mentally tough enough for me.
What I didn’t like was that his abruptly leaving as a free agent for the aforementioned extra $20 million scuttled a sign and trade being lined up with Indiana. And while I wasn’t in love with getting Myles Turner back, as the rumor mill said was being proposed, I knew he could be flipped for a better fit later. Which certainly was better than the talent drain of losing Hayward without getting anything back, as players of his caliber are hard to replace for a capped out team as the rising Celtics are. That irked me because it left fans who stuck by him during the dark times holding the bag for a lesser team.
However, by turning it into a sign and trade (for a mere second-round pick) Danny got back a valuable $28 million trade exception instead. That lets teams over the cap make trades involving contracts up to that amount without having to give matching salaries back. That’s even better than having Hayward’s contract to trade because it can be broken up into separate deals to fill their multiple pressing needs for bench scoring, long-range shooting and a deeper overall team.
Which brings me to the point of this diatribe regarding fans investing emotion in players who don’t return the favor. I’m not sure if it’s being willing to give up a piece of being a fan to avoid being irked in the way I was over the ungrateful way Hayward bolted. Or hanging in there because all’s well that ends well as this one may turn out to be. The only thing I do know is it’s not going to end here. Hayward joined far greater players named Brady and Betts in the exodus out of town for greener pastures this year and since the system isn’t likely to change any time soon they won’t be the last ones to do it. So all I’ll say to players going forward is just be honest. Say, “I couldn’t pass up the extra $20 million.”
Because most fans respect that and almost all know the rest of it is BS.

The Patriots enter December in the very unfamiliar position of being on the verge of elimination from playoff contention. We haven’t seen that in 20 years, which is so long ago I can’t remember much from that year besides that it was Coach B’s first year, they finished 5-11 and weren’t must-watch TV at that point. Since, they’ve only missed the playoffs twice, and that was only on tie-breakers after for the lead jn the AFC East in 2002 and 2018 when Tom Brady missed all but 10 minutes of the season.

That won’t be the case this year, as after Sunday’s win over Arizona they’re three games behind division-leading Buffalo and, at 5-6, two games behind in the race for the last playoff spot. That makes this year a little different, so here are a few thoughts on how it’s shaking down.

At 10-0 as I write this Pittsburgh is the latest to make a run at an undefeated season. After a couple of down years and question marks about Big Ben’s arm, few saw this coming. They have what look to be tough games with Baltimore (which may have happened by the time you see this), and the Bills in Buffalo, before finishing with the 7-4 Colts and surprising 8-3 Browns who’ll likely be playing for a spot in the playoffs, or a home field game. So we’ll see.

Speaking of the Steelers, why can they keep coming up with speedy and productive wide receivers while the last receivers of note the Pats have drafted were David Givens and Deion Branch in 2002? Technically Julian Edelman was taken in 2009, but he was a wishbone QB and picked to be more of a return guy. Patriots flunkouts in that time include Bethel Johnson (2), P. K. Sam (5), Chad Jackson (2), Brandon Tate (3), Taylor Price (3), Aaron Dobson (2) and Josh Boyce (4). Malcolm Mitchell (4) wasn’t bad, but pre-existing knee conditions said he was not likely a long-timer, N’Keal Harry trending that way. Meanwhile Pittsburgh’s draft room has picked Hines Ward (3), Plaxico Burress (1), Antwaan Randle El (2), Santonio Holmes (1), Mike Wallace (3), Emmanuel Sanders (3) and Antonio Brown (6) in the same draft, Martavis Bryant (4), Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster (2), James Washington (2), Diontae Johnson (3) and Chase Claypool in the second round this year. Am I the only one who finds that galling?

One final thought on Pittsburgh. With the Lakers tying the Celtics for most NBA titles at 17 in October, it’s already been a bad year for franchise legacy in Boston. But if Pittsburgh wins the Super Bowl it breaks their tie with New England for most SB wins with seven.

However, my money is on Kansas City to win because with all due respect to Russell Wilson they have the best quarterback. And the weird thing about Pat Mahomes is he doesn’t really look that good — until you see more and more of him. He doesn’t appear to have great arm strength but makes ridiculously on target deep throws off his back foot, on the run and from so many different angles that he reminds me of Luis Tiant doing that out of his corkscrew delivery. I wouldn’t call him fast, but he was fast enough to get two critical first downs with his feet Sunday vs. Tampa Bay. He was Larry Bird-like there in seeing things two counts before everyone else to bolt from the pocket early because he knew he could make it to the sticks and that was more valuable than any larger play down field. Which is what his real edge is — his brain. Which is what he has most in common with vintage Tom Brady.

Incidentally those two are 1-2 in passing yards in the NFL.

Fox broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt isa dead sound-alike for Red Sox TV guy Dave O’Brien. Spent the whole game on Sunday wondering if it was O’Brien till they showed a booth shot that showed it wasn’t.

Bill Belichick Coaching Tree Updates After Sunday: (1) Brian Flores improved 7-4 Miami playoff chances with a win over the Jets. (2) Ditto for Mike Vrabel, whose Titans won their battle for first in the AFC South over the Colts behind a punishing 178-yard rushing day from Derrick Henry. (3) After an 0-5 start Joe Judge has been picking up fans by getting the 4-7 G-Men into first in the moribund NFC East. (4) Matt Patricia didn’t make it to Sunday as he and fellow Pats alum GM Bob Quinn got fired after being Houston’s meal on Thanksgiving Day. (5) Romeo Crennel is now 4-3 as interim coach in Houston after consecutive wins over Matty P. and Coach B. (6) Bill O’Brien is on vacation after being fired in Houston.

Who can forget David Caldwell saying upon getting the GM job in Jacksonville that signing hometown hero Tim Tebow would only happen over his dead body? Well, owner Shahid Khan should’ve taken the dead body, because with the Jags a complete mess Caldwell got fired on Sunday.

So what’s the problem in Tampa Bay? They’re looking good for the playoffs, but there’s still a lot of yacking going on. TB-12 has made his share of key mistakes, but I put it on Bruce Arians’ stubborn unwillingness to adapt his system to the talent he has at QB. When Brady went there I predicted his interceptions were going up to at least 15 (he has 11) after only being in double digits twice (11 each time) the last 10 years. That’s because TB throws deep down field and that’s never been his strength. It’s incumbent on the coach to adjust to reality, rather than making a 43-year-old do something he can’t do.

Plus, Arians stupidly laying it all on Brady in public brings to mind the other thing I said when he left Foxboro: The grass often isn’t as green on the other side of the fence as it may seem.

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Today is Thanksgiving and we traditionally give thanks to things big, small and less important we sports fans have enjoyed over the year. But during a year of worry, uncertainty and total disruption of the sports calendar we’ll focus this Thanksgiving Day column on some recent stories of greater importance than we usually do.

News Item: Thanks for Cracking That Glass Ceiling

The glass ceiling wasn’t only broken in politics with the election of Kamala Harris to be Vice President of the United States in November. It also happened in baseball, where Kim Ng becamebaseball’s first ever female general manager. Her resume includes being senior VP of baseball operations for MLB and stints as assistant GM for the Dodgers and Yanks, where a professional relationship was developed with current Marlins owner Derek Jeter. And with never-played stat geeks running teams all over baseball, the folks who say she shouldn’t get it because she didn’t play at a high level have no leg to stand on. So thanks for her well-earned progress, because it might help Concord’s Becky Bonner, the Orlando Magic VP of Player Development, get the same chance someday.

News Item: Thanks For No Harden Days and Nights at the Garden

This isn’t a 100-percent thing just yet, so it’s said with crossed fingers. But yeah-hoo news reports of the Celtics trying to trade for disgruntled Houston Rocket James Harden didn’t pan out. Don’t take it to mean I don’t know how talented the beard is. He’s the most effortless scorer I’ve ever seen. But he is also the anti-Larry Bird in that no one gets better playing with him because he only gives it up when all avenues to get his own shot are exhausted, usually with little time left on the shot clock. Plus, we’d be hearing green teamers defending the constant whining for calls, flopping on almost every shot, and that he doesn’t even try on defense by saying look at the stats he puts up. I say look at all the rings those stats have produced. Biggest of all is it would’ve turned me off the Celtics, because it would show Danny Ainge and the brass learned nothing from the Kyrie Irving experience, which showed you don’t win with ball hogs and selfish people. So thanks to the basketball gods for this averted catastrophe.

News Item: Thanks To Mr. Celtic

The late Tommy Heinsohn was an acquired taste for me. My first encounters with him came when this (then) Knicks fan moved behind enemy lines to go to college when he was Celtics coach, during the only time those teams were ever equal competitive rivals. And if you think he was rough on officials broadcasting games, you should have seen him on the sidelines. Also, he did too much cheerleading broadcasting Celtics games for me even after I’d become a fan. But then I kinda sorta worked with him at Fox Sports Net while doing a TV show on the C’s, where I kiddingly told him I sports hated him when he was the Celtics coach. Predictably that didn’t go over too well and I’m not sure why I thought it would. But it started to change while doing a story with him to promote an upcoming showing and sale of his paintings. He explained he did it every day, which was obvious as the pond with the weeping willow tree I saw amazingly morphed into a mirror image on his canvas. But what stuck with me from that day was the story he told about how he became a painter. It happened after his parents gave him a kit while growing up in New Jersey during World War II because no kids would play with him because he was German. The gruff Tommy started to fade as he told his poignant story and a different one emerged. After another story followed, this time on onetime teammate Bill Russell, showed how genuine his love for the Celtics was, my appreciation of him grew. The result was getting a growing kick out of the antics during games to finally missing him on broadcasts as his health held him out in recent years. So thanks to Tommy because after an unbroken 64-year string of devotion as a player, coach, broadcaster and team cheerleader he earned the title of Mr. Celtic. RIP.

News Item: Thanks for the Memories

It seemed like the baseball deaths just kept coming in 2020. With 91 down as I wrote this, there are far too many to name. Among them was all-name teamer Biff Pocoroba and maligned symbol of the Yankees dynasty decline Horace Clarke. There was also non-Famer Yankee Don Larsen, who delivered a Hall-worthy performance by hurling the only World Series perfect game in 1956 vs. Brooklyn. First among the baseball elites migrating to Mt. Olympus was the great Tiger Al Kaline, always a favorite because my first baseball mitt was a Kaline signature model. There was also Tom Seaver, the symbol of the Miracle 1969 Mets and eternal youth for New York baseball fans. Bob Gibson, the fiery competitor who didn’t need closers to finish games because he knew how to battle and win, especially in the World Series. Cardinals teammate Lou Brock – 3,000 hits, all those stolen bases and a World Series spark plug with nine hits vs. the Yanks in 1964 and 12 more against the Sox in ’67. Joe Morgan left us after always playing bigger than his pint-sized build said he should. Lastly was my guy Whitey Ford, the crafty Yankees lefty with the highest winning percentage ever, who passed Babe Ruth’s record for consecutive scoreless World Series innings in 1961 vs. Cincy, two weeks after teammate Roger Maris broke his single-season record of 60 homers – to which he said, “It was a tough year for the Babe.” RIP to all those greats from my youth and thanks for the memories.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

So what do we have here with the Patriots? After losing four straight for the first time since 2002, they’re now on a two-game winning streak. Given what we’ve enjoyed for two decades that’s hardly something to get excited about, but still it’s something. The question is what to make of it without getting out ahead of your skis as they are still just 4-5 after all. So here’s a look at how it’s gone down so far.

Criticism of Coach B: He’s taken his share. They include some curious clock management issues, the recent draft record, salary cap management and how he handled the QB position after you-know-who left. We’ll address them as we go along, but some are fair, some debatable and some over-the-top ridiculous from whiners who can’t see past two weeks at a time.

Draft Record: Coach B was a bit defensive about it last week. I’ve been in that chorus and stretched it back to 2013. But I went back over it and it’s not quite as bad as I thought, though it falls down badly at the receiving positions. They haven’t gotten anything out of their tight ends, which they badly needed. But with a team-high 12 tackles Sunday Kyle Dugger had his best game, ditto for Josh Uche playing his most snaps while picking up a sack, and with Michael Onwenu doing well at right tackle they’re getting some production from 2020 picks. And with Damien Harris having three 100-yard games in his five starts and Chase Winovich out of the doghouse vs. Baltimore, 2019 is looking a bit better. Not great but, better.

Salary Cap Mismanagement: Coach B got hammered for saying they’ve been hurt by lack of cap room after selling out to win in recent years. While I can’t say I ever heard him make anything close to an excuse like that, it doesn’t make it untrue. True, there have been some questionable calls, but I’d argue putting the $14 million franchise tag on Joe Thuney was not one of them. That’s a lot of cabbage, but with the running game emerging as the calling card now and a disaster last year it was necessary. And with about $100 million to spend next year in free agency, it’s a one-year thing so harping on it is ridiculous.

Biggest Surprises and Disappointments

(1) Damien Harris – After he didn’t play at all last year, I didn’t have great expectations. But he has zero Laurence Maroney in him, which is to say he runs with a purpose and decisively to make him a huge development.

(2) Jakobi Meyers – 12 catches last week, five more with a TD pass to boot this week. He’s definitely benefited from Newton’s attention after Tom Brady’s indifference to helping young receivers in recent years.

(3) Nick Folk – He missed a PAT Sunday, but he had to rush it because a block was missed on his right side. But he won the Jets game with a 51-yard FG and has been solid, which was a life-saver after fifth-round pick Justin Rohrwasser busted.

(4) N’Keal Harry – With just 19 catches and one TD after nine games last year’s top pick is on the not so great side. He’s what people are pointing to about Belichick’s drafting mistakes. Made worse considering game breakers Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, Mecole Hardman and especially D.K. Metcalf were all taken right after him in Round II.

(5) Stephon Gilmore – He’s been inconsistent, disengaged at times and missed three games with injuries. But there’s still time to get the focus back.

(6) Cam Newton – He’s a little of both. SF and Denver were terrible games and the fumble in Buffalo was a killer. But I think the biggest problem was he just didn’t know the offense well enough, which led to indecision as a passer. Plus Josh McDaniels wasn’t quite sure how to most effectively use him. But it seemed in better focus the last two weeks as Newton played much better. Though I need a better sample size for a definitive conclusion.

What to Make of the Jets Win: Yes, it was the Jets. Yes, it took a field goal as the game ended to beat a winless team. Hardly something to crow about. So how come Coach B called it one of the best two moments of his career? My guess is after four straight morale-killing losses he saw the season going south in a hurry. So seeing his much-criticized team with the pride to fight back from 10 down in the fourth period meant something more than just a W.

What to Make of the Ravens Win: It was improvement. That’s it. The hallmark of Coach B’s team has been that outside of 2015 and last year they always improve as they go along. While there have been glitches, that’s mostly been the case the last three weeks as they’ve demonstrated who they are offensively by rushing for 186, 156 and 173 yards: a grind-it-out, run-it-down-their-throat kind of a team that will pick its spots with a conservative passing game.

Where Do They Stand? When the schedule came out I did the W and L thing and had them at 4-5 after nine weeks. Though I had Denver a win and Baltimore a loss. So they’re where I thought they’d be, making the relevant question today, what will they be when it’s over? The pessimists (and naysayers) understandably say it’s hard to avoid the obvious issues during the first nine weeks. The optimists say if Newton gets in on the final play for Seattle and doesn’t fumble on that final drive vs. Buffalo they’re two plays away from being 6-3. There is truth to both views and only time will tell on what will happen.

Though my money goes on Coach B helping them get better as they go along.