Bulls & Bears: Former teammates Brady and Garoppolo at the helm of last two undefeated NFL teams
Credit to Author: Paul Chapman| Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:31:40 +0000
It’s ironic that the former quarterbacking tandem of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo are at the helm of the two undefeated teams left standing in the NFL this season.
At an annual salary of US$35 million per year, the 42-year-old Brady and his New England Patriots are 7-0 while Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers are 6-0. In the second year of his five-year, $137.5 million contract that averages $27.5 million per season, Garoppolo, 27, has already cashed in on $74.1 million in guarantees and last year’s $35 million signing bonus.
Despite all of that star power and investment in the QB slot, both teams are where they are going into week eight because of their suffocating team defences.
In the opening week of the new NBA season, Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors made headlines, picking up where they left off as champions in June. The only difference is that Leonard is now making a splash with the Los Angeles Clippers, who are looking dominant after two double-digit margins of victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.
The Raptors will be hard-pressed to repeat last year’s first NBA title, but they enjoyed their night of championship banners and rings before an average national audience of 744,000, making their home opener the most-watched NBA regular season game in Canadian TV history. A total of 2.6 million Canadians tuned into at least some of the game, an overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Yet no one has been more bullish in the business of sport his week than the Washington Nationals. For the third consecutive week, the Nationals are dictating the tempo for Major League Baseball. Their 2-0 lead in the World Series is impressive. Yet when you consider they’ve now won a record eight straight in the post-season and 16 of their last 18 games, the Nationals are now favoured to win their first World Series, with a chance to do so at home this weekend.
It’s an unfamiliar position for the Nationals, who have been more associated with post-season heartbreak in their 15 years in Washington, D.C. and their previous 35 years as the Montreal Expos.
Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros reacts against the Washington Nationals during the ninth inning in Game Two of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas.
While this has been such a giddy ride for the Washington Nationals, the Houston Astros have gone from World Series favourites to World Series pariahs. Riding a 107-win regular season and arguably the most balanced roster in Major League Baseball, instead of honing in on their second World Series title in three years, the Astros have been mired in the PR nightmare created by an irrational locker-room rant by Brandon Taubman, their assistant general manager. It was a self-inflicted wound that has stained the reputation of the Astros organization.
Firing Taubman Thursday was a desperation measure — and a necessary one — to quell the distraction of the backstory around former Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna, who was suspended for 75 games two years ago for violating baseball’s domestic violence policy.
Despite that move and an apology to Stephanie Apstein and Sports Illustrated, Houston’s handling of the issue has been unfathomably bad. It will stick for years, especially if the Astros fail to realize the promise of an impressive season on the field.
Houston, we have a problem!
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