— NFL teams who get the highest %age of their first downs on 3rd down plays:
33.3%- Chiefs
30.4%- Dolphins
29.4%- Broncos
28.8%- Eagles
28.5%- Steelers
— NFL teams who get the lowest %age of their first downs on 3rd down plays:
20.6%- Packers
22.0%- Browns
22.0%- Falcons
22.9%- Lions
23.1%- Vikings
— NFL screwed around with the Week 17 (next week) schedule, moving some games:
Saturday December 28:
Chargers @ Patriots, 1:00
Broncos @ Bengals, 4:00
Cardinals @ Rams, 8:00
Sunday, December 29:
Falcons @ Commanders, 8:20
— Minnesota Vikings are 12-2, having a great year; are they really going to let QB Sam Darnold walk next spring? The franchise tag for a QB figures to be around $41M next year, which would be a crimp in Minnesota’s salary cap, but quarterbacks are really important, and Darnold is leading a 12-2 team this season.
Rookie JJ McCarthy hasn’t played yet; he’s already had two knee procedures. Will Minnesota really let Darnold walk and let McCarthy take over, with Giants’ reject Daniel Jones as the #2 quarterback? Tough decision they’ll have to face after the season.
— Falcons are benching QB Kirk Cousins, will start rookie Michael Penix this week against the Giants, giving the rookie QB his first NFL start.
Tennessee Titans are benching QB Will Levis; Mason Rudolph is the likely starter- Trevor Siemian is their other QB. Rudolph has a 9-6-1 record as an NFL starter, mostly with Pittsburgh.
Cleveland Browns are benching QB Jameis Winston, will start #3 QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson against Cincinnati. Bailey Zappe is Cleveland’s other QB. Thompson-Robinson was 1-2 as a starter for Cleveland last year.
— Memphis 42, West Virginia 37
Tigers led 28-17 at halftime.
West Virginia outgained Memphis, 534-474
Mountaineers ran ball for 206 yards, but were minus-2 in turnovers.
Memphis threw an 89-yard pass that wasn’t a TD; it was the longest pass play in the country this year that didn’t result in a touchdown.
— Ohio U is playing Jacksonville State in a bowl game in Orlando Friday; both teams have had really good years, so good that both head coaches have already bolted to greener pa$ture$.
Famous birthdays, December 18th:
Steven Spielberg, 78
Bobby Jones, 73 (basketball player)
Roy Howell, 71
Brad Pitt, 61
Charles Oakley, 61
Don Beebe, 60
Dan McGwire, 57
Byron Buxton, 31
Ronald Acuna, 27
Jayden Daniels, 24
— Chicago Cubs traded OF/1B Cody Bellinger to New York Tuesday, in exchange for P Cody Poteet- the Cubs are dumping most of Bellinger’s salary. Chicago will send $5M to New York as part of the deal, but Bellinger is going to make $52.5M the next two years, so the Cubs dump $47.5M in salary.
Bellinger hit 18 homers LY with a .751 OPS; his numbers figure to go up with the short right field fence in the Bronx.
— Baltimore Orioles signed P Tomoyuki Sugano to one-year, $13M deal; the 35-year old Sugano had a 1.67 ERA in 24 starts LY in Japan, but had only 111 strikeouts in 156.2 IP. Sugano has spent his entire 12-year pro career with the Yomiuri Giants.
— Bucks 97, Thunder 81
Milwaukee wins the NBA Cup championship; not sure what that means.
Lakers won its last year; they fired their coach after the season.
Bucks have won 11 of their last 13 games.
— WCC (Gonzaga’s league) is ranked #7 this year; this is the highest the league has been ranked in the last 25 years, partly because having Washington State/Oregon State for this year only has provided a boost.
Oregon State is 12-6, ranked #65; Wazzu is 11-7, ranked #72; they give the WCC more depth than it has had in quite a while.
Of course, Gonzaga is off to the Mountain West in a couple years, and Coogs/Beavers will be back in the Pac-12 then, so the WCC has darker days ahead.
— Florida 90, North Carolina 83
11-0 Gators outscored Carolina 13-3 over the final 4:03
Tar Heels were only 5-28 behind the arc.
SEC is 28-3 against the ACC this year, which is pretty amazing.
— South Carolina 91, Clemson 88 OT
Gamecocks led by 14 in first half; they shot 56% inside the arc.
Clemson led 69-67 with 5:09 left in the game.
Carolina has won five games in a row, after a 3-3 start.
— Drake 73, Kansas State 70 OT
Drake was up 29-9 in first half of this game.
K-State was up by a hoop with 1:19 left to play.
Drake is 10-0, with four starters who were playing D-2 ball last season.
— Dayton 66, UNLV 65
UNLV led 62-58 with 1:25 left in the game.
Dayton shot 63.3% inside the arc.
— Cal-San Diego 75, Utah State 73/
Tritons of Big West have won eight in a row, are 10-2.
Cal-San Diego shot 70% inside arc; they were 23-27 on foul line.
— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 1-0 SU/0-1 ATS
Big X 0-1 SU/1-0 ATS
MAC. 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
Sun Belt 1-0 SU/1-0 ATS
Favorites: 1-1 ATS
Totals: under 1-1
