Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – Pats Win AFC East: The Patriots blasted the Jets 42-10 Sunday. Then when the Bills’ failed 2-point conversion as time ran out made them 13-12 losers to Philly, it made NE the AFC champs! Who saw that coming in August? Not me.

Sports 101: Which college has won the most New Year’s Day Rose Bowl football games?

News Item – Jets Crash Land in Foxboro:

The Pats’ 42-10 wasn’t much of a game competitively. But they took care of business from the jump and Drake Maye was something to see.

Key Stat – Maye’s five TD passes. He was unstoppable going 19-21 for 256 yards in only 35 minutes played.

Improvement – Everyone: It was their most dominant game of the year.

Backslide – The Jets: Somehow they gave up a TD the first six times the Pats had the ball. And amazingly they gave up 12 first downs on the first 15 plays of the game as NE scored two TDs and averaged 9.1 per play.

Game Ball – Maye and Stefon Diggs – Again: Diggs had five large catches for 101 yards and Maye was sensational.

Next Up – Miami, 1 p.m. Sunday: A win combined with Denver losing to the Chargers makes them the No. 1 Seed in AFC playoffs.

News Item – Predictions for 2026:

• LeBron James and Travis Kelce retire.

• Bill Belichick gets fired by UNC. Showing again it usually ends badly for even the best coaches.

• The Jets do not go the entire 2026 season without an interception as they have so far this season.

• At least five more players, coaches or refs get caught in illegal sports gambling stings in 2026.

• It’s a repeat of Henry letting Kyle Schwarber walk to hit 46, 47, 38 and 56 homers in four seasons in Philly. And aggravatingly for the same money they gave Masataka Yoshida, who has hit 29 with Boston. This time Pete Alonso hits 52 homers with Baltimore after Henry passes on giving him the money he shed in the Rafael Devers trade. Instead, to play first base, they traded for a solid but aging 33-year-old ex-catcher, Willson Contreras, who averaged 19 bombs the last four years in big park St. Louis.

• The 2026 Season Champs: NBA – Houston Rockets. NHL – no idea. MLB – L.A. Dodgers’ money buys their third in a row. NFL – 2026 Patriots come all the way back, baby.

2025 Big Numbers:

1.1 – billion dollars in deferred payment for the buy-everything-in-sight-just-because-I-can L.A. Dodgers.

3 – players — Nick Kurtz, Eugenio Suarez and Schwarber — each hit four homers in the same game.

82 & 146 – combined wins and losses of the teams the Pats played in 2025.

… 2025 Of the Year Awards:

Thumbs Up – Stefon Diggs: Very quick recovery from the ACL tear, much better than expected, with none of the diva nonsense we were warned about. A most pleasant surprise.

Thumbs Down – John Henry: You almost had me when you dumped Devers. Then you put the money back in your pocket instead of trying to win by signing a big banger to replace his big bat.

Best Individual Game – Nikola Jokic: Scoring over 50 in an NBA game like he did with 56 in an OT win vs. Golden State last week is a big deal. But then throw in the 15 assists and 16 rebounds he had as well, and that his 17 points were the most ever scored in OT. That gives it to him over the three four-homer guys because that makes 21 who’ve done that.

Sports 101 Answer: USC has far and away the most Rose Bowl victories with 25 in 35 appearances. They’re followed by Ohio State with 10, Michigan with 9 and Stanford with 8.

Final Thought – Things I Hope Happen in 2026:

• While he’s earned a big sendoff, I hope LeBron does not go out a winner, as that will keep the Celtics’ all-time 18 title wins one ahead of the Lakers. Though they actually only won 12 of them as the L.A. Lakers.

• Henry sells the Sox to someone who cares enough about winning to spend to do it. Then he gets elected to the Hall for being the owner when they ended the Curse and won three more titles before he went cheap.

• After finally knocking off the petty crap to keep Bill Parcells out of the Patriot Hall, ditto for Bob Kraft and Canton. If for no other reason than so we’ll be free from his relentless campaigning to get in (and for the six titles won on his watch).

• The very likable Brian Scalabrine gets a clue to not say “we” when broadcasting Celtics games. Even the biggest homer of them all, Johnny Most, never did that.

• The reigning blowhard of sports broadcasting, Steven A. Smith, gets a four-month case of laryngitis that starts right before the NBA playoffs begin. Happy New Year to all.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story — Christmas: Today is the day for giving gifts. The Patriots got theirs a little early, by clinching a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021 with Sunday’s 28-24 win over Baltimore. And as they try to get ahead of Denver and Buffalo for AFC Top Seed and win the AFC East, they get another Sunday with the Jets on their holiday menu, followed by 6-9 Miami. Meanwhile for Buffalo it’s Philadelphia and the Jets, while Denver got Pat Mahomes-less KC on Christmas Day and closes it out with a tough one vs. the 11-4 Chargers.

Sports 101: Whose NFL fans in the 1970s booed Santa Claus on Christmas Day when he was shown on the Jumbotron making his rounds during the game?

News Item – Patriots Down Baltimore 28-24:

KeyStat – Drake Maye had his first career 300+ yard game when he was 31-44 for 380 yards and two TDs.

Improvement –Kyle Williams had another tremendous contested long TD catch (36 yards) and gained 29.7 on three key returns.

Brain Dead Call – MikeVrabel – The failed fake punt giving Baltimore FG position with them just down three with 20 minutes still left.

Backslide – Maye had three turnovers.

Game Ball – A Tie –Maye overcame the TO’s to lead his first fourth-quarter comeback when Stefon Diggs was vital to that with nine catches for 138 yards.

News Item – Holiday Presents: Time to see who’s been naughty and nice as we hand out our presents for 2025.

2025 Patriots – No home playoff games. If you haven’t noticed, they’re 5-3 at home and 7-0 on the road.

Jayson Tatum – a healthy return from the Achilles injury.

Celtics – a better collective bargaining agreement that doesn’t hurt fans by forcing teams to shred very good players to avoid onerous financial and player acquisition penalties.

Red Sox Nation – A New Owner: One willing to spend what it takes to acquire top-level talent like John Henry once did and the Dodgers now always do.

Patriots Owner Bob Kraft – Mystery Votes: Some fall his way in the Hall of Fame voting. Because getting the needed 80 percent of the 50 voters (who only have three votes each) to say yes, it’ll be a tough slog in his contributors/long retired players category to get in with him up against the “what took them so long” trio of SF running back Roger Craig, Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood, Cincy QB Kenny Anderson along with Bill Belichick in that group. He’s a distant fifth to them.

Coach B – Not Enough Votes: It won’t happen, but given how he went out of his way to make the media’s job harder, especially after losses, waiting a year seems appropriate penance for that nonsense.

Ryan Day – a second straight college football national title for the local lad to get him a step closer to legendary Woody Hayes’ Ohio State record of five national titles.

Coach B – Another: Since he already got a snarky one, we’ll give him another. Being the surprise hire for an open NFL job to let him keep trying to pass Don Shula’s record for most wins all-time.

2026 Patriots – Player Additions: Two studs added to the O-line and a major pass rusher in the draft and free agency.

Outside World

Lane Kiffin, Brian Kelly and Nick Saban (twice) – Coal in their Stockings: For walking out on their bowl-bound players to take the next job.

Notre Dame Football – More Idle Post Seasons: To college football’s most entitled whiners, a CD of Miami advancing to R-II by knocking out Texas A & M 10-3.

Al Horford – Success: With trade chatter already in the air, a better career ending than it’s looking like for the 39-year-old in Golden State, where he’s only played 13 times in 28 games as he’s shooting just 29.5 percent of his three-ball tries while averaging 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Major League Baseball – A Salary Cap: Because, to their credit, the Dodgers are making a mockery of their spending advantage over all but the five or six teams capable of playing big-money baseball.

Mike Vrabel – Coach of the Year: He already got his present Sunday in Baltimore. But, while he’s got real competition from Liam Coen and others, it would be a nice reward for the spectacular job he’s done in returning the great franchise to its accustomed place.

Drake Maye – MVP Award: Coming up big in the year’s biggest game definitely got him back in that race.

Sports 101 Answer: Who else but the never happy unless they have someone to boo fans in Philly would boo Santa on Christmas?

Final Thought:

Holiday wishes to all for a happy, healthy and prosperous year ahead.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Bill Comes Due for Pats: Well, they both had chances and neither could close the deal. For the Pats the AFC East title was there for the taking but they could not hold a 21-0 lead over Josh Allen and Buffalo, losing 35-31. It was a frustrating game with a number of penalties happening at the worst time and horrible officiating (for both teams). But they also had to lose sooner or later after 10 straight wins. Plus Denver won to take a two-game lead in the race for top seed in the AFC. However, if they beat Baltimore next week the Buffalo loss is just a blip. At least for now.

Sports 101: Name the top five lefthander scorers in pro basketball history.

News Item – Celtics Update: At 15-10 on Monday they are way ahead of expectations. Particularly, unlike the Patriots, eight of those wins are against teams that are above .500. Jaylen Brown (29.1, 6.1 and 4.8) is showing a team can be built around him.

News Item – Injured List – Major NFL Stars: Sad news that both Micah Parsons and Patrick Mahomes tore ACLs Sunday and are done for the year.

News Item – Hell Freezes Over: It was a done deal before Mahomes got hurt, but after their latest loss KC is 6-8 and out of the playoffs for the first time in the eight-year Mahomes era.

The Numbers:

0 – shots made in nine 3-ball attempts for Celtic, ahh, three-point bomber Sam Hauser in the Celtics’ 116-101 loss to the Bucks, which ended their modest five-game winning streak.

4 – after Sunday’s 52- and 64-yarders, the number of TD runs of 50+ yards for Pats rookie TreVeyon Henderson already this year.

5 – turnovers on four interceptions and a lost fumble by Jalen Hurts in the aforementioned Eagles loss to the L.A. Chargers.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Fernando Mendoza: His stellar season for 11-0 Indiana led their QB to be the first Hoosier to win the Heisman Trophy.

Thumbs Down – Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia: The week’s biggest sore loser gets it for using the f-word in a social media post to let all who voted against the Heisman runner-up know what he thinks of them.

Stat Sheet – Matthew Stafford: The ageless Rams QB took the lead in the MVP chase thanks to Sunday’s impressive win over Detroit. But it’s also tied to his crazy TD-interception rate of 37 to 5 after 14 games. For context: The best Tom Brady did was in 2016 when he had 28 TD and two picks in his abbreviated 12-game deflate-gate suspension season.

Play of the Week: It came from the Chargers’ 22-19 win over Philly in last week’s MNF game. It started with a Hurts interception followed by an Eagles strip of interceptor Da’Shawn (give him a) Hand, which Hurts then recovered before fumbling it himself, which was recovered by DB Troy Dye to end the three-TO play. It gave L.A. a first and 10 starting behind the original line of scrimmage. And it also made Hurts the first player to ever record two turnovers on the same play.

Question of the Week: When’s the last time a Patriots runner did what Henderson has done with those four long-distance runs in 2025? Not sure. But the last rookie to do it was the great Baltimore Colts runner/flanker Lenny Moore in 1956.

Random Thoughts:

When’s the last time the Kentucky men’s basketball team was not in the Top 25 rankings as they are now?

Would someone please teach Drake Maye how to slide? He’s going to get dinged if he keeps going down head first.

Watching Detroit-GB on Thanksgiving was a painful reminder of how much NE blew it by not getting into the Parsons trade derby. Their D would be deadly with a pass rusher like him. Which they badly missed on Sunday.

Sports 101 Answer: Top five lefty scorers are James Harden, David Robinson, Artis Gilmore (NBA-ABA combined), Gail Goodrich and Chris Mullin.

Final Thought – Sox Spit Spending Bit Again: It was the same old crap from ownership putting in a non-competitive three-year contract offer to let them say “we tried” for the power hitter they desperately need. Instead ex-Met Pete Alonso signed a real offer of five years for $30 million per to play against them in the AL East. Which (oh by the way) is exactly what Rafael Devers would’ve made per in the seven years remaining on his deal in Boston if he hadn’t been traded. So they had the money to sign him. Now the Sox will trot out pathetic yes man/team president Sam Kennedy for the umpteenth time to tell a SRO press conference of reporters who don’t believe him that the Sox will spend what it takes to win. Sure, Sam.

To be fair, baseball’s hot stove period isn’t over yet. So hold the boos for John Henry until then.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Bills and Pats Face-off: Sunday’s game in Foxboro vs. Buffalo has that old familiar feeling. That’s because it’s the biggest game for your New England Patriots since you-know-who took his talents to Tampa Bay. Thanks to their dramatic comeback win vs. Cincy last week it may not be the potential season-ender it appeared it might be for the Bills around 3:30 p.m. last Sunday. But if Josh Allen and company lose this one, New England takes the AFC East title back from Buffalo for the first time since 2020. It also would keep NE in the race with 11-2 Denver for the top seed in the AFC side of the playoffs.

Yes, it’s been a while since the Pats were in such a position, and a total surprise from where most thought they’d be in Week 14. But at the same time it also feels very familiar. So enjoy.

Sports 101: What one-time Celtic was an All Big 10 defensive back (as a freshman) for Indiana Football in the 1970s?

News Item – Sox Get Another Starter: Let’s just say getting the 6’6” 275-pound Johan Oviedo was not met with a universal feeling of approval. The dissent fell mainly into two camps: (1) John Henry is cheaping out again by taking a guy with big physical tools who has never lived up to that, or (2) by taking a guy like that, they once again think they are smarter than everyone else and they’re not. It reminds me of two other Red Sox instances – the big arm, no command issues sounds like what they said about Jordan Hicks after getting him in the Devers trade before he walked 12 in 18 innings and, ahhh, delivered an 8.20 ERA for his new team. The tools talk was also reminiscent of Theo Epstein trading a solid fifth starter in Bronson Arroyo for the vast power potential of Wily Mo Peña, who, despite a few heat-seeking missiles coming off his bat, came up a bust.

News Item – Fake News Story of the Week: The whining from New Yawkers (and some of their radio yackers) after the Giants-Patriots game, saying that Christian Elliss’s propelling Jaxson Dart off both feet on that big sideline hit was a giant cheap shot. Au contraire, the legal GIANT hit on Dart was clean and Dart’s doing alone by leaving himself exposed on the sideline rather than getting out of bounds. The most impressive part of the play was Ellis’s discipline to not get in one of the brawls the G-Men started that often takes the attacking team off the hook with a nullifying penalty. Instead he just tried to hold his ground and took the 15-yard penalty the NYG’s got instead. That’s the sign of a smart player, good coaching or both.

The Numbers:

-11 – receiving yards for Patrick Mahomes thanks to being tackled after he caught his own pass Houston deflected back to him in KC’s damaging loss Sunday to the Texans.

58 – years between when Indiana last won the Big 10 title and when they finally did it again with Saturday’s 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship game.

364 – passing yards thrown by the much maligned Shedeur Sanders, which is 70 more than Drake Maye has ever thrown for in any game.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – CFP: For denying Notre Dame a spot in the college playoffs.

Thumbs Down – Notre Dame: For those crybabies from South Bend, stamping their feet and taking their toys home by saying they’ll not accept any other lesser Bowl invitation.

Random Thoughts:

Watching Detroit-GB on Thanksgiving was a painful reminder of how much the Patriots blew it by not getting into the Micah Parsons sweepstakes. They’d be deadly with him.

Sports 101 Answer: The one-time Celtic who was a more highly touted footballer coming out of high school before attending IU was Quinn Buckner.

Final Thought – Maye vs. Brady: I’ll be charged with blasphemy for even uttering this: Statistically at least (with five more games to go), young Mr. Maye’s Year 2 has definitely been better than Tom Brady’s Year 2. But it’s true by every measurement except good QB sneaks, which Brady was great at right from the start. Take a look, Maye’s stats listed first and Brady’s second in this head-to-head comparison”

Completion Percentage – 71.5 to 62.1

TD passes to picks – 23-6 to 28-14

Passing Yards – 3,431 to 3,784

QB rating – 111.5 to 86.7

And most importantly, wins and losses – 11-2 to 9-7.

Plus Maye is going to the playoffs, which TB did not do in Year 2.

Bottom Line – I’m usually a pump the brakes kind of a guy on good young players after a fast career start. But I’ve seen enough. Don’t know if he’ll reach the heights TB-12 did. But this young fella has the same It factor Brady had.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Local Football Coaches: It was a great Day for Ohio State Football on Saturday as Ryan Day checked another box on his sparkling career resume when after four straight losses he finally got his first win vs. archrival Michigan with a 27-9 win.

On the other hand, his former OC Chip Kelly got fired by the Raiders.

Given that LV was 2-9 with chatter coming from both sides, it makes you wonder: was it the offense just not getting it done despite enough talent? Or did 74-year-old Pete Carroll need a scapegoat because he knew his coaching career could be over with a one-and-done in Vegas?

The good news is he’s still owed $12 million so he’ll be OK financially.

Sports 101: Name the first to kick a NFL field goal of 60+ yards.

News Item – Rafael Devers Trade Now Complete: The big concern about it just being a salary dump wasn’t true. Instead the Red Sox re-invested some of that big money in a trade with the Cardinals for starting pitcher Sonny Gray. Never been a big fan of his mainly because of how he shrunk from the pressure playing for the Yanks. But he did win 14 and 13 games for sub-.500 St. Louis and has averaged 175 innings the last three years. And they didn’t give up much in a 22-year-old with a mid-90s fastball and command issues (Brandon Clarke) and 2-4-with-Boston-last-year Richard Fitts.

News Item – Five Observations as NFL Enters December:

Last year Minnesota entered December 9-2 compared to 4-7 now. So did any team screw itself more than Minnesota did by letting QB Sam Darnold walk and going with J.J. McCarthy, who’d never taken an NFL snap?

It’s rare that a trade of high-profile players works as evenly it has in the 2021 trade of Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff. L.A. won a Super Bowl and Stafford is still playing great by leading the NFL with 30 TD passes, while Detroit’s team, mostly dormant since the late 1950s/early ’60s, came alive thanks to Jared Goff suddenly becoming what we expect from a first overall pick (2016) under new HC Dan Campbell, and after draft board maneuvering the boatload of picks they got were turned into Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta and speedster Jameson Williams.

Stefon Diggs is the Patriots’ first true slot receiver since Julian Edelman retired. It was a money-in-the-bank vital spot during the dynasty thanks to Edelman, Troy Brown and Wes Welker.

FG kicking is ridiculous today. A 50-yarder is the new 35 and seven guys have made them from 60 yards in 2025. At the top is Jacksonville’s Cam Little, who hit a record 68-yarder in October after drilling one from 70 in August.

The Numbers:

76 – All-time NFL record for most rushing TD’s by a QB reached by Josh Allen after he got tush-pushed from about the five in Buffalo’s win over Pittsburgh.

259 – rushing yards piled up on the Eagles by Kyle Monangai (130) and De’Andre Swift (125) in leading Chicago to its shocking 24-15 win over the defending champs on Friday.

800– career wins for Miami Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra.

… Of the Week Award

Bad Ending of the Week – Bill Belichick: They won’t write that it was a good first year for BB at UNC. The Tar Heels closed out their season with three losses to North Carolina schools including Saturday’s 42-17 pasting by NC State to end Year 1 at 4-7. Not what they were expecting.

Quote of the Week – Kenyon Martin: Not sure what started the war of words between the 2000 first overall pick and 21st-century cheap shot king Draymond Green. But Martin had the most accurate comment when he said, “you played 128 games without Steph … the record is 52-76, under .500.” Bam!

Best Weekend In L.A. – Cooper Flagg: The 18-year-old Dallas rookie became the youngest player to record 11 assists in a game, on Friday versus the Lakers, and score 35 in one, versus the Clippers on Saturday.

Sports 101 Answer: New Orleans kicker Tom Dempsey’s 63-yard FG in 1970 was the first 60+ kick in NFL history. The record lasted over 40 years. He did it with a kicking foot that had no toes on it due to a birth defect.

Final Thoughts – Red Sox Rumor Mill: Word on the street has Jarren Duran as most likely to go to fill their need at first or third. But despite being a gold glove fielder with the power of 25 homers a year I’d be more inclined to trade Wilyer Abreu. Because with his speed, Duran can do things offensively few can do and I value that more than the defensive difference between Roman Anthony and Abreu in right. Plus 22-year-old Jhostynxon Garcia, who hit 45 homers in his last two minor-league seasons, is at worst a year away from being ready to replace Abreu.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.