Category: News

With the Thanksgiving Day extravaganza in the books, the stretch run for the 2022 NFL season has begun. It offers all sorts of local and national story lines. Here’s a look.

The Playoff Picture: Almost every team is still in it somehow, though in some cases it has little to do with the accomplishments of teams in the race. Like Tampa Bay, where at 5-6 Tom Brady is under .500 at the latest point ever in his career. Yet even in TB’s year from hell he finds himself in first place because the NFC South is so bad.

There must be something about the water in the South, as continuing the under .500 story, only Tennessee is above water in the AFC South. But they’re not alone in that way, as only 8-2 Minnesota is over .500, with a three-game lead over the pack in the NFC North.

Then there is the east, where the water must be better with every team in the NFC and AFC over .500 and threatening to make the wild card weekend an intra-division event.

The Patriots Thanksgiving Calamity: They gave themselves no help by coughing up a winnable game in Minnesota (with help from a pair of big mistakes/misses by the zebras). Thanksgiving was actually a double whammy, as Buffalo appeared to be headed to a loss before surviving vs. Detroit in the early game. If the verdicts were reversed, as they easily could have been, the teams would be tied at 7-4. Instead Buffalo has a two-game lead ahead of their meeting on Thursday night. Then came wins on Sunday by all their wild card contenders — Bengals, Jets, Chargers — to drop them from the 5-seed to on the outside looking in at eighth.

Odds and Ends

Biggest Surprise – Philadelphia: While most thought they would be good, few saw them being the last team to lose a game and having the best record as December arrived.

Most Disappointing Team: That would be the 4-7 Packers, though not to me. I seem to be the only one in the country to realize the Pack is always picked for high achievement in pre-season and by the time the post season ends they never achieve it.

Has The Game Passed Him By Award – Bill Belichick: It seems absurd to suggest this. But his utter failure or unwillingness to recognize the growing importance of home run-hitting, deep-threat receivers in today’s NFL makes you wonder. They may have been afterthoughts when he won two Super Bowls with the power running Giants back in the day and the first three with the Pats, but today they’re to the NFL what deep shooters are to the NBA, once low-priority players who became vital as their games evolved.

Look no further than Mac Jones if you want a vivid example of why. After Miami traded for the dynamic Tyreek Hill to pair him with the Alabama speed Jaylen Waddle I said they needed to trade for a disgruntled home run threat like AJ Brown or DK Metcalf because the D’s were about to become an offensive power with those guys, just as Buffalo did after getting Stefon Diggs from Minnesota in 2021. Instead Philly paid the price in draft capital and salary needed to pair Brown with Waddle’s dynamic Alabama teammate DeVonta Smith.

The results are clear, as all three quarterbacks got immediately better with those dynamic receivers. Josh Allen was a given. But in one year the two QB’s who preceded Mac at Alabama have gone from a potential first-round bust (Tua Tagovailoa) and stand-in-until-something-better-comes-along Jalen Hurts to the highest-rated QB in the NFL and leading MVP contender respectively.

And the point of this diatribe is that when Mac played with Waddle and Smith he threw 47 TD passes and three interceptions as Bama won the national title, whereas now with Waddle, Hill, Brown and Smith, those two once questionable guys have shot by him because he’s saddled with slow, unreliable receivers and they have dynamite wideouts.

Best Tight Ever: I know Tony Gonzalez has the most career catches by a tight end, so maybe I’m a homer. But I have thought for several years Rob Gronkowski is the best TE ever. But the more I see Travis Kelce the more I think it’s a legit debate over who’s better. Kelce is not the blocker Gronk was and with a higher yards per catch average (15-12) and a lot more TDs (92-63) the big fella was a bigger downfield threat. But Kelce has more catches and career receiving yards. And in having missed just two games in nine seasons he’s a lot more durable than Gronk, who missed 30 in 11 years. Either way, that Kelce dude is teally good.

What Goes Around Comes Around Award – Patriots: It’s true the refs blew it missing the hold on Kyle Dugger during that back-breaking Kene Nwangwu TD kick return on Thanksgiving vs. Minnesota. But it’s ironic it came less than a week after a clip was missed on the Marcus Jones punt return that gave the Patriots a final-second win over the Jets. Didn’t hear many local complaints about that.

However, since the Patriots likely would’ve kicked a game-winning FG even with the penalty yards tacked on it wasn’t as damaging.

Super Bowl Hangover Award – L.A. Rams: Now 3-8 after Sunday’s loss to KC, few teams have had a worse season after a Super Bowl than the Rams have had this year. And they were stumbling before big injuries hit.

Team Killer Award – Carson Wentz: After going from Philly’s last MVP (2018) candidate, HH’s killed the Eagles, Colts and Commanders in consecutive years. Though Washington has gone 5-1 since he was benched in favor of Taylor Heinicke after a 1-4 start.

Finally, with Buffalo twice and Miami in the final six games the Pats had better play well, because their playoff hopes are in peril.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

If you are a Celtics fan you wake up this Thanksgiving morning thankful for how the season has started. That’s because without the game-altering shot-blocking of Robert Williams to be counted on until late December at best and with the team being led by an untested 34-year-old coach in the wake of the Ime Udoka disaster, you really had no idea what direction it would all take.

But with a seven-game winning streak in progress and an NBA-best 11-3 record as I write this for my early Thanksgiving deadline, things couldn’t have gone much better.

Here’s how it all went down.

Differences From Last Year: There was a lot of hand-wringing early on because the defense wasn’t as stingy as it had been in the run to the NBA Finals, when they had the top-ranked D in basketball. First, I don’t know why anyone expected them to match that with Lob it to Rob on the DL. But judging defense is also not solely done with points allowed, as that’s often a function of pace of play, because it reduces the number of possessions a team has to score. And with them leading the league in scoring at 120 points a game they are running more and thus the possessions are way up. A more reliable indicator is the shooting percentage by the bad guys because it shows how they are defending in each individual possession. It’s up a bit; not having Williams could account for that. So I don’t think the D is that off overall as the points allowed suggest.

What To Like Best: The passing has improved. Ditto for the ball movement in half court, which is different from find-the-open-man creative passing. Both of which speak to why the scoring is up. But what I like best is how well they are playing together. They’re tight. They know who’s open and get them the ball with no dilly-dallying and it doesn’t matter who it is. That’s a sign of a good team.

Leadership: Given the job, Udoka last year and the choice to replace him with a guy who was just 34 and had never been a head coach above Division 2 was a bit concerning. While I’m not ready to put him in the Hall of Fame just yet, I like what I have seen so far for two reasons. They have kept all the improvements that came last year from Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, like better shot selection and taking it to the basket being the first option. And they are running much more, which accentuates the athletic advantage Tatum and Brown offer. You really won’t be able to judge it until a bad stretch hits and the big games arrive. But so far so good on Joe Mazzulla.

The Stars

Jayson Tatum: Contrary to the gushing from the cheerleader (Scal) and Sean Grande, he hasn’t even been the best player those watching this year have seen. That would be Donovan Mitchell, who outplayed him down the stretch and in OTs in both losses to Cleveland. But he has clearly taken up a step over last year and is now legitimately moving up the list of the best Celtics. With the year he’s having, I might take him over Paul Pierce because he’s a better passer and defender.

Jaylen Brown: Extreme athleticism that lets him defend and rebound aside, what I like about him is how he adds something new to his game each year. This year it’s better passing and court awareness, which has made him even better.

Marcus Smart: He’s finally become a real point guard as opposed to a guy doing that because he’s the only one they have to play there. He now directs the action, gets the ball to people when they can do something with it, and has dramatically improved his shot selection, which has improved his three-point shooting. He also scores below the foul line on pull-up Js and post ups, which he’s good at because of his strength. And then there’s the reason I never would have traded him when others wanted to: his toughness.

Al Horford: I love this guy because he’s the most under-appreciated player in the NBA. A versatile defender who can cover anyone over 6’6”, who doesn’t need shots but can make them from distance when it counts. The backbone of the team.

The Depth: The 2016-2017 dumpster fire season’s depth hurt them because most of the players were even in talent with skills that duplicated each other and all thought they should play more. This bench is deep but constructed with guys who have specific roles and skills. The leader is Malcolm Brogdon, who I’d been begging Danny Ainge to trade for for four years. He is a consistent and clutch scorer who is great at getting below the foul line to score or dish. As much as I focus on what he’s not (not tall enough, limited offensively) Grant Williams is really reliable. What I should focus on is that he’s always in the right place, a versatile defender who does the dirty work and puts in the work needed to get better as his expanding offensive game shows. The other guys like Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet are looking for a chance to play and are happy when it comes.

Biggest Surprise: When newly signed Danilo Gallinari went down for the year this summer many wanted a quick trade. Rather than panic, Brad Stevens elected to see what the untested Hauser could do in that role, and it looks like he was right. Again, it’s just 14 games, so no HoF nomination until we see how he does when teams make it a priority to give him no room to shoot. But with him shooting them at 48.5 percent, the jolt he gives off the bench is a plus, even when targeted for a defensive mismatch.

Hopefully it all continues.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].