The Big Story – Pats Tied for Best Record in NFL: They remind me of the 2013 Red Sox, who had me saying all through the year, “how are they doing this?” And I kept doing it right up until they won the World Series. And even then, I still found it hard to believe they did it. And with The Pats 9-2, we’ll see if history can repeat itself.
Sports 101: You’ll see in The Numbers the whopping number of shots missed by Detroit’s Cade Cunningham in a game last week. Who was the last NBA’er to miss more than that?
News Item – Patriots Down Jets 27-14
Key Stat – 9-2: They’re now about two wins from making the playoffs.
Improvement – Winning While Not at Their Best: Maybe I’m back in 2001-2019 mode, but having done it three weeks in a row, the Pats are back to winning when they don’t have their A game.
Backslide: Since it’s happened seven times in 11 games it’s not a backsliding exactly, but what’s the deal with the bad guys scoring so often on the first possession of the game?
Game Ball: TreVeyon Henderson or Drake Maye. Hmmm. A three-TD performance and a so-so 69 rushing yards. Or a mistake-free game for 281 yards, one-TD game and another 70%-plus completion percentage game. It’s Maye because Henderson only got his after Maye took them up and down the field to put him in position to score.
Next Up: On to Cincinnati with all wondering if Bengals QB Joe Burrow will play.
News Item – Big NFL Stories as the Stretch Run Starts
Patriots Revival: Nobody, not even the all seeing Nostradamus saw a 9-2 start coming.
Jonathan Taylor: The Indy tailback leads the MVP chatter thanks to his league-leading 1,132 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry average and 15 TD’s after 10 games, which projects to 1,924 and 26 TD’s.
Chaos in New York Football: The Giants HC and Jets GM got fired in the same week. The stopgap QB the G-Men brought in got benched after two games, and the Jets traded/dumped their two best players at the deadline. In the words of the late great Vince Lombardi, who the Giants once let get away to GB, “What the hell is going on out there?”
Denver Broncos: Did not give much thought to now 9-2 Denver when the year started. But after watching them in Sunday’s win over KC, they’re really dangerous because (1) QB Bo Nix is the real deal, (2) their defense is really fast all over, and (3) with their most in the league by far 49 sacks (second best is 34) they can really rush the passer.
The Young QB’s From 2024 Draft: The play of Maye (3), Nix (12) Jayden Daniels (2, now hurt) and Caleb Williams (1) is saying no draft misses here.
News Item – Player of the Week – Josh Allen: Last year’s MVP put the struggling Bills on his back by running for three TD’s and throwing for three more in Buffalo’s 44-32 win over Tampa Bay.
The Numbers:
16 – jaw-dropping steals to go along with 44 points (on just 25 shots) by Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo in ND’s 85-58 trashing of Akron.
45 – Mark Ferdinando-like number of shots taken by Detroit’s Cunningham when he put a 46-12-11 triple double on Washington in a 135-132 OT win. Oh, in making just 14 shots he missed 31 for a 31% FG percentage.
500,000 – bail in U.S. dollars for Cleveland pitcher Luis Ortiz, on charges accusing him of game fixing, according to ESPN.com.
… Of the Week Awards
Alumni News: Yes, folks, that was ex-Patriot Kyle Dugger getting a 73-yard pick-six for Pittsburgh in its 34-13 win over Cleveland.
Rarity: Victor Wembanyama (31-15-10) and Stephon Castle (20-10-10) became the fifth NBA teammates to record triple doubles in the same game. But sorry, since Wemby’s final assist was a garbage time alley-oop with .02 seconds left in the Spurs’ 125-120 loss, it’s a bogus stat.
Random Thoughts
While baseball’s merchandising greed over tradition is vomit inducing, at least the Red Sox’ two city edition uniforms would be appealing for an expansion franchise. But what does the Pats wearing boring grey ones vs. the Jets have to do with Patriots football, Roger Goodell?
Sports 101 Answer: Cunningham’s missed 31 shots were the most since RickBarry went 17-50 in the 1966-67 game.
Final Word – Red Sox 2026 Decisions: If I were charged with untangling the Red Sox 2026 infield puzzle, I’d move Trevor Story to second and put Marcelo Mayer at shortstop. It doesn’t make sense to have the SS of the future playing out of position when the 33-year-old Story has demonstrated he’s a solid second baseman already. Then I’d go hard after Pete Alonso in free agency because they need a potential 50-homer bopper for the middle of the line-up a lot more than they do a return of the valuable but very overpriced Alex Bregman ($40 million per) at third.
Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.
