Category: Sports

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.