Monday Morning Coffee

October 28, 2019

It’s been three games and there’s more good news about the Lakers than bad. They look pretty good, especially at the defensive end. Lebron and AD look dominant with improving chemistry, and they are going to get Kyle Kuzma back soon. The bad news is that the offense is a little bit too much hero ball, KCP is garbage, and the Clippers have scary potential in a head-to-head matchup. Coming into Sunday, KCP had 1 point and no field goals in 48 minutes. This dude needs to change his name to Kentavious Caldwell “Poop”. Amazing that he’s on an NBA roster but Carmelo Anthony isn’t. Keep your fingers crossed the AD shoulder injury isn’t anything serious, and the train will keep moving and piling up wins.

Meanwhile, the Clippers looked impressive in their first two games, then wet the bed against the Suns. I’ll admit it. This team has the potential to be great, and it’s going to take some serious offensive discipline to break through their elite defense. That is of course when they decide to play defense, which they didn’t do on Saturday night. The NBA must have been so shocked the Suns are winning, they had to drug test DeAndre Ayton, resulting in his 25-game suspension. Also memo to Doc Rivers who thinks the Lakers shouldn’t be counting their Minneapolis Championships. In that case we shouldn’t count those bs Celtic titles before the modern era either, which would give the LA Lakers twice as many titles over Boston.

Bold strategy by the Bengals yesterday to not cover Cooper Kupp. I don’t think it worked out so well for them considering Kupp went off in London, and the Rams got another victory. It’s nice to see the Rams getting a couple of “get well” games against the Falcons, Bengals, and probably coming up against the Steelers. However, there are going to be some tough games ahead against the 49ers, Cowboys, and Seahawks. Where is Sean McVay coming up with these wild plays? It’s like he’s been studying the Madden playbook on Xbox. When we get into these tougher games, the difference is going to be how much the Rams can lean on Todd Gurley, which is still a big question mark at this point. For that reason, I’d like to see more of Darrell Henderson.

Then there’s the Chargers who finally played a team that blows it in the 4th quarter harder than them. Keenan Allen was dropping balls like it was New Years Eve in Times Square, and the Bolts were missing field goals like it’s a weekly tradition. Still, the Bears said “hold my beer” and failed to execute in the 4th, and missed the game winning field goal. The Chargers won, but this team is an even bigger flop in LA than they were in San Diego. At 3-5, I can’t see them beating out KC for the division, I don’t care how many healthy bodies they get back. They aren’t catching the Chiefs, and probably won’t even catch the Raiders either. The Bolts are impossible to trust in close game, and you can almost guarantee that will happen in the coming weeks in the most critical moments. It would almost be surprising if that didn’t happen.

Elsewhere around Week 8, the Patriots beat up the Browns, and Cleveland managed to throw an interception on a pitch in the process. That’s the most “Cleveland Brown thing” that I’ve heard. Sam Darnold threw three more interceptions for the Jets in the loss to the Jaguars, and should probably be working at the snack bar. The 49ers managed to hang 51 points on the Panthers, and nobody even notices how average Jimmy Garoppolo is. You know your football team is bad when you throw 4 touchdown passes and still lose to the Lions. Welcome to being a New York Giant Daniel Jones. Funny how the Raiders are missing a good pass rusher after trading Khalil Mack. “Knock on Wood” if your’e with me. Drew Brees is back and the Saints are still rolling. The Saints v 49ers game at the end of November is going to mean everything for home field in the NFC. The Broncos might actually be good if they had a quarterback, except, John Elway couldn’t find one if his life depended on it.

So if the Trojans make it to the Pac-12 Title game or even the Rose Bowl does Clay Helton keep his job? The question may not be all that unreasonable at this point. It was shocking enough that Helton kept his job last year. He has more excuses this year after the team is losing starters left and right, yet still winning. The Trojans got another win in the Pac-12 after beating Colorado on Friday night. The conference is dumpster fire, yet somehow, they are leading the Pac-12 South. If USC is morally above hiring Urban Meyer, then who else would take the gig that’s s clear-cut upgrade? It’s been fun looking at all these guys low on the depth chart for the Trojans. Hopefully for the sake of USC fans, they can find a coach there too.

As for UCLA, suddenly they’ve won two in a row after beating ASU. Even more shocking is the fact they control their own destiny in the Pac-12 South. Arizona State and Stanford are so embarrassed after losing to the Bruins, they are considering moving out of the conference. The strategy for UCLA must have been to shock ASU with a completely silent stadium, considering only 39,000 people showed up for the game. Even after two straight wins, I’m pretty sure UCLA had higher expectations than this when they brought in Chip Kelly.

For just a moment, I thought the Astros were cooked. I actually thought Houton was going to lose the World Series to a team whose logo was the same as Walgreen’s. Just knowing that the Nationals have won two games depresses me even further as a Dodger fan. The Boys in Blue can win 100 games over 162, but they can’t seem to win 11 games in a one-month stretch in October when the stakes are just a little higher? Nerd ball just doesn’t work in the playoffs.

Finally, a new episode of The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it so read no further if that is the case. Judith is slicing up Walkers like a California Roll. She’s clearly getting some good training from Michonne. Poor Negan. He’s saving everyone, but he’s still getting in trouble for no damn reason. Aaron used to be a little more likeable, but these days he’s being kind of a bitch that doesn’t deserve that awesome arm he has. How long are they going to make Lydia pay for being a part of the Whisperers at one point? It’s like she’s Michael Vick even after he went to jail. Daryl and Carol are moving a little bit closer to real love, except Ezekiel can feel it, which is why he’s making moves on Michonne. Unfortunately, when you start falling in love during the apocalypse you end up dying, so Daryl and Carol might not be long. The show is just getting good again, except now rumors are flying some key characters are leaving the show. Some combination of Daryl, Michonne, and Carol could be gone, which would be another crippling blow to the show. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.

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