Weekly Break In The Action: November 4th
Here in the first week of November, the NFL dominates as the only major sport currently in progress. But that doesn’t mean the other sports have remained quiet. Here is your weekly update:
NFL:
- The Pittsburgh Steelers remain the only undefeated team 9 weeks into the NFL season after they narrowly escape the Baltimore Ravens by a score of 28-24 this past Sunday. They remain first on ESPN’s power rankings for the second week in a row.
- The New England Patriots dropped their fourth straight game in a loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday scoring 21 points to the Bills 24. Cam Newton fumbled the ball 20 yards shy of the endzone on what could have been a game winning drive.
Cam Newton’s fumble ices the game for the Bills 😯
(via @nflbrasil) pic.twitter.com/6TEUnGmAUV
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 1, 2020
- The Green Bay Packers travel to San Francisco Thursday to play the 49ers. The Packers are coming off two straight losses, including last week’s surprising loss to the 1-5-1 Cincinnati Bengals. The 49ers look to bounce back after last week’s 10 point loss to Seattle Seahawks.
NBA:
- The NBA Players association is continuing talks with the Board of Governors on a potential Christmas time start to the 2020-2021 NBA season, per ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski. The NBPA is reluctant to begin playing that early, but the owners continue to push for the December start in order to prevent losing over $500 million in revenue.
- Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the New Orleans Pelicans are openly discussing trade talks that include guard Jrue Holiday. Charania reported that several teams are interested.
The New Orleans Pelicans are openly discussing star Jrue Holiday in trade talks and several contending teams are pursuing, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 4, 2020
- The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo reported on the latest episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” Celtics forward Gordon Hayward wants out of Boston. Hayward has one year remaining on his contract.The forward signed a max deal with the Celtics 2017, rejecting the offer to stay with the Utah Jazz which would have paid him over $170 million dollars over five years.
Everything Else:
- The MLB has announced that the 2021 season will begin in early April of 2021. It is unclear what types of social distancing and player protection measures will be taken into account.
- Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski told the Associated Press we can look forward to the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament. “We don’t know a lot of things,” Krzyzewski told AP, “But we know we’re going to have March Madness.” The 2020 March Madness tournament was canceled due to coronavirus.
- BYU football travels to Boise to take on the BSU Broncos on Friday, November 6th at 7:45pm. The Cougars broke into the top-10 of the AP rankings with a victory over Western Kentucky by a score of 45-10 last Saturday. The Broncos are ranked 23rd on the same poll.
What To Watch For:
- Antonio Brown will take the field this Sunday for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It is the first time Brown has appeared for the Bucs this season as the wide receiver completed the final game of his suspension in Week 8 when the Bucs played the New York Giants.
Antonio Brown: ‘I’ve been spending a lot of time, working on myself, being resilient. Even when times got hard, staying in shape, not listening to the naysayers, good people around me to stay encouraged. I tried to check every box to make sure I was ready to go’
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) November 4, 2020
“I’ve been spending a lot of time working on myself,” Brown told the Houston Chronicle.
Brown called lacing up for the Bucs “a blessing” and said he is “back on track” to play football this season. The star wide receiver will be a key target of quarterback Tom Brady, who has led his team to win six of their first eight games.
(For the latest on SUU sports, check out this weeks episode of Thundercast with Connor and Kelton)
