Tag: Sports

The NBA In-Season Tournament might be Adam Silver’s best decision as commissioner

The NBA’s In-Season Tournament works. We’ve seen enough.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today! We appreciate you.

Adam Silver needs to call for an emergency press conference at some point today and just do the Gladiator thing the entire time. “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?” Because that man deserves to take a victory lap around the success of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.

Adam Silver has done a lot of good things for the NBA. Players are raking in obscene amounts of cash now. The league is making more money than ever before. He’s also managed to ditch not just one, but two, problematic owners through his tenure as commissioner.

But, as far as basketball goes, the In-Season Tournament has got to be Silver’s crowning jewel as a commissioner. Whenever he chooses to step down, this tournament will be the thing he leaves behind.

There’s something about single-elimination sports tournaments that just works so well. Every single time. There are automatically stakes and drama, even without an extra $500,000 on the line.

Oh, and by the way, enough with saying the players won’t care about that. Look at how excited some of these dudes on the Pacers’ bench are knowing they’re about to advance. Tell me they don’t care about that money.

The courts are wonky. The jerseys are goofy. But this basketball is good, man. It was great to watch Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers get excited about cooking against one of the best defenses in the league. It was fun to watch the Pelicans put together a complete win without an incredible game from Zion Williamson. That’s the stuff the fans need to see. It’s the most important function of this tournament.

RELATED: Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers just put the NBA on notice

Earlier in October when the season started, Adam Silver said he wanted to change the way the NBA is covered. There wasn’t enough talk about the game — at least not compared to all the fluff around it.

This tournament changes that. It brings the focus back to basketball again. Honestly, watching it has been extremely refreshing.

I don’t know how the rest of this thing is going to go throughout this week. But I’m confident enough in what we’ve seen already to say this: The NBA In-Season Tournament works.

When this is over, can we do this again in March? Please, NBA?

Jake Browning just earned himself a contract, didn’t he?

I had no idea who Jake Browning was before last night, but I absolutely know who he is now. And so does the NFL after his stunning performance against the Jaguars on Monday night.

RELATED: Here are all the NFL’s backup quarterbacks

Browning kept the Bengals’ playoff hopes alive in a 34-31 win over the Jags that came down to a last-second field goal. Browning was brilliant in this one, completing 32 of his 37 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown. He’s the first undrafted player to put up numbers like this at quarterback since 1967, per ESPN.

Like I said, the NFL knows who he is now. It’s just one game, so he’ll have to keep this up. But I totally expect this dude to get the Matt Flynn treatment down the line.

Speaking of backup QBs, the Jaguars seem to have a situation on their hands now with Trevor Lawrence spraining his ankle. C.J. Beathard is the current backup and seemed decent. But will he be able to keep the Jaguars afloat at the top of the division? We’ll see.

If not, here are other options presented by our Christian D’Andrea.

What’s up with the Jets?

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Apparently, the Jets want to name Zach Wilson the starting quarterback for the team. But, in a wild twist, he doesn’t appear to want the job? Even after Aaron Rodgers tried to convince him to take it, he said no.

It’s weird, man. Robert Zeglinski has more.

“The New York Jets made their bed. Zach Wilson thinks they should lie in it.

As the Jets’ 2023 season finishes spiraling down the drain, news that they wanted to turn back to Wilson as their starting quarterback caused a major fervor on Monday. The development was unsurprising given how poor Tim Boyle has been and that Aaron Rodgers really won’t play this year.

But Wilson — outside of contractual obligations, of course — owes the Jets nothing. Never mind that at seemingly every turn, they’ve been determined to undermine the former No. 2 overall pick: why would Wilson want to play and risk his personal health for a team that’s demonstrated it probably doesn’t care all that much about him?”

It’s hard to blame Wilson here, honestly. He stinks. We know that. Wilson playing won’t make a difference. His future isn’t with this team and we learned that when Robert Saleh went in a different direction with Tim Boyle. From Wilson’s perspective, that’s the choice the organization made and it’ll have to live with it now.

That’s tough, Jets. But, hey! Look on the bright side. At least Aaron Rodgers can practice again.

Quick hits: NFL Power Rankings are here … Put the Pacers on national TV more … and more

— Here’s Christian D’Andrea and Robert Zeglinski with your weekly NFL power rankings. The 49ers look like the real deal, man.

— NBA fans think Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers should be on national TV more and, yeah, I agree. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.

— Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t think FSU got a fair shake with the College Football Playoff. Cory Woodruff has more.

— Darvin Ham is speaking on the Ime Udoka and LeBron James beef and, yeah, you’ll want to hear what he has to say. Meghan Hall has more.

— Is…Is Jordan Love good now? Christian D’Andrea seems to think so.

— Here’s Tyler Nettuno with the takeaways from Conference Championship weekend in College Football.

That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading TMW today. We appreciate you. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

5 keys to Chargers securing an upset win over Chiefs

The Chargers will enter Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday looking for their first victory over the Chiefs in two years.

The Chargers will enter Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday looking for their first victory over the Chiefs in two years. They’ll also be trying to beat Patrick Mahomes in what would only be the fourth AFC West loss of his career.

It’s a short week for the Chargers, who come off their Monday night loss to Dallas in need of a rebound. Los Angeles’ playoff odds this season would dip to below 30% in most scenarios with a loss on Sunday. Let’s talk about the major storylines that could impact their chances of avoiding that fate.

Who is on Travis Kelce duty?

Derwin James vs. Travis Kelce is always the matchup of interest when the Chargers play the Chiefs. It’s been a relatively competitive rivalry over the years.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, James injured his ankle in practice on Thursday and is now questionable for Sunday’s game. If he does play, is the Chargers’ star safety likely to be 100%, considering the injury just a few days prior? Probably not.

As The Athletic’s Daniel Popper indicated via TruMedia Sports, the Chargers give up 4.66 more yards per route run to Kelce when James isn’t on the field. Kelce’s most explosive moments in Chargers’ games have generally come with James unavailable to play due to injury.

So, what’s the plan if James can’t go against the All-Pro tight end? Michael Davis has covered snaps against Kelce in the past with his lanky frame. In that scenario, the Chargers would also probably rely somewhat on veteran safety Dean Marlowe. Neither is a favorable matchup in 2023, obviously.

Finding solutions is probably circling the drain to some extent without James. Hopefully, for the Chargers’ sake, he can give it a go on Sunday.

The volume of penalties is unacceptable

On 3rd and 11+ in 2023, the Chargers are dead last in the league in conversions allowed when penalties are factored in. The overall 3rd down conversion mark with penalties factored in is also 32nd in the NFL.

Last week, the Chargers yielded field position and downs on two critical drives for the Cowboys. James took a roughing the passer penalty on the first Dallas field goal drive to give Dallas 15 more yards. Ja’Sir Taylor and Michael Davis committed penalties on 3rd and 19 during the Cowboys’ game-winning field goal drive.

Simply put, the Chargers have not played disciplined football defensively in critical moments. It goes without saying that Mahomes usually makes defenses pay when they don’t get him off the field on 3rd down. The Chargers can’t make life harder on themselves by giving the Chiefs free downs.

Featuring Quentin Johnston

The Chiefs have a legitimate top-five cornerback room this year. Trent McDuffie is PFF’s highest-graded cornerback so far in 2023. He’ll presumably be responsible for Keenan Allen for most of the game. L’Jarius Sneed is playing pretty well, allowing only a 75.3 passer rating when targeted.

Sneed probably brackets Joshua Palmer on the outside. In previous games this year, the Chargers haven’t needed rookie wide receiver Quentin Johnston to be a factor in the offense. With the state of Steve Spagnuolo’s secondary and the loss of Mike Williams, this is a game where the Chargers need to feed Johnston targets.

The Chargers must figure out how to get him involved, whether it’s some easy middle-of-the-field targets or less predictable screens. If they do, it makes their offense a lot less predictable, as the Chiefs will have Allen on their minds as their primary receiving threat.

The interior offensive line vs. Chris Jones

The Chargers have felt the loss of Corey Linsley on the inside. The offensive line has given up three consecutive weeks of increased quarterback pressures. Will Clapp, Jamaree Salyer, and Zion Johnson did not have their best games against Dallas.

Rashawn Slater has also given up an unusual amount of pressures by his standard as he deals with an ankle injury. Micah Parsons and Maxx Crosby had great games against the Chargers on an individual basis, but they also opened up a lot of quality pass-rushing opportunities for their teammates.

Since his return from a contract dispute, Chris Jones has had 21 pressures and seven sacks in five games. He’s always given the Chargers problems in the past. The Chargers’ interior must have their best showing without Linsley if they plan to slow down Jones for any span of the game’s four quarters.

Containing Isiah Pacheco in short-yardage situations

Using Arjun Menon’s The Scout tool to look at the Chiefs’ tendencies on short downs, Kansas City is running on short-yardage situations more than usual. On 2nd and 2 or shorter situations, the Chiefs have run the ball 11 out of 12 times. In a departure from recent seasons for Kansas City, they’ve also run the ball 83% of the time on 3rd and 1 scenarios.

Running back Isiah Pacheco has also increased his stranglehold on the Chiefs’ primary running back role throughout the season. His rush shares of Kansas City’s offense hit a season-high 89% last week.

The Chargers have been better against the run this year, but they’ll be tested in the short-game scenarios against the Chiefs. At his Wednesday media availability, head coach Brandon Staley called Pacheco the “engine” of the Chiefs’ offense. To prevent the extension of long drives and potential explosive plays, the defensive line must get in the backfield and contain the former Rutgers’ running back.

Chargers are hindering WR Quentin Johnston’s development

The numbers for Quentin Johnston are not nearly as pretty as some of his draft class contemporaries.

The numbers for the Chargers’ 2023 first-round pick Quentin Johnston are not nearly as pretty as some of his draft-class contemporaries. He has 44 yards on six receptions for the season. Against the Cowboys, Johnston had just one official target on Los Angeles’ final drive. That resulted in an interception and Johnston getting pushed over on a debatable pass interference call, but the refs tend to let players play in end-game situations.

Dallas was Johnston’s worst game of the season from a yards-per-route run standpoint. He didn’t seem entirely confident in his routes and ability to separate. That being said, it wasn’t all bad. Johnston did blow by Cowboys cornerback Jordan Lewis for what could’ve been a big play if Justin Herbert wasn’t hit as he threw. And again, while not every route was crisp in the game, the former TCU product has shown the explosiveness the Chargers drafted on reps that didn’t result in receptions.

Again, Dallas was far from Johnston’s best game, but it’s not as though he hasn’t been getting open. Brandon Staley talked about Herbert developing trust, and it seems like that will take time. Herbert has longer and more established relationships with receivers like Keenan Allen and Joshua Palmer.

But for Herbert to build that relationship with Johnston, Kellen Moore and Los Angeles’ offense must make getting him targets a focal point. Palmer’s relationship and development with Herbert partially accelerated last season because Mike Williams and Allen were out for several games, which forced him to be the No. 1 wideout.

The Chargers drafted Johnston as their yards-after-catch threat but aren’t using him in that role. Johnston has just two of his 12 targets over the middle of the field this season. The few screen attempts he’s gotten were fairly predictable play designs that got blown up in the backfield. One of Johnston’s 12 targets was a shovel pass forward directly into Christian Wilkins in the season opener against the Dolphins.

Has Johnston played without blame in all of these instances? No. As mentioned, there are moments where the route running could be crisper. He could stand to be more physical. But those things will come with time as he adjusts to the intensity of playing NFL defenses. For him to get acclimated, the onus is on the Chargers to integrate their first-round selection better than they are. And there hasn’t been much to show that the offense wouldn’t have similar issues in trying to bring along alternative offensive first-round selections to Johnston.

Also, what is the Chargers’ confidence interval in Johnston right now? Practice squad receiver Keelan Doss was playing multiple third-down snaps over him against Dallas in 11 personnel formations. How is Johnston supposed to be able to grow when you’re intentionally taking him off the field for practice squad players who are even more unlikely to be targeted?

The opportunities have been there for Johnston. It’s on Johnston to make the most of them when he gets them. But it’s also on Moore and Herbert to make a decisive effort to include him in the offense. A 48% snap share and one target aren’t enough. The lack of integration is on all parties, but it’s hard to watch the Chargers’ offense and think Johnston is the primarily one at fault.