Copyright Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
After the loss of Jayden Daniels in Sunday’s debacle, the Commanders have the look of a team that may be just one more embarrassing half away from playing out the string. Last season’s promise has given way to the reality that the NFL’s oldest roster needs more tweaking. Daniels’ injury and whatever the team might salvage from this season are a distraction from what awaits. Expect the return of the R-word. Not Redskins. Rebuilding. Keeping count: Kudos to Virginia for appearing at No. 14 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings. The 8-1 Cavaliers owe their November relevancy to those three overtime escapes. For now, the selection committee agrees that it’s not how, but how many. Wordplay: After trading for Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips, Eagles GM Howie Roseman cited his acquisition’s “freakability.” Hanging on: The Chiefs reaching the Super Bowl is a tougher sell now that they’re 5-4 and currently out of the playoffs. But I’ll stick with my call — or stab in the dark — from a few days ago. There’s no question, is there, that if they squeak into the playoffs, nobody will want to play them. True or false? For $325 million, the Dodgers got themselves a bargain in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Getting it straight: The Blue Jays lost their final two World Series games at home after the Dodgers dropped their final two games in L.A. More proof — as we saw throughout the postseason — that homefield advantage in baseball is a myth. Thrice stunned: There were 120 Fall Classics before this one, but it’s hard to imagine any team suffering three more excruciating Series losses than the Blue Jays did. Wrapup: In its biggest moments, baseball takes a backseat to no sport for drama and surprises. Filthy lucre: With a month remaining in college football’s regular season, the sums being paid out to fired coaches have reached nearly $185 million. Yet schools complain that there’s never enough money for the players. Keeping watch: This week’s trades give the Jets two first-round picks in 2026, three first-round picks in 2027 and two second-round choices in ’26. Can’t wait to see how they screw this up. Lunacy: LSU emergency AD Verge Ausberry shed more light on the psychosis inherent at too many colleges when he said that “LSU has to be in the playoffs every year in football.” Every year? No pressure then on the next coach in Baton Rouge. It’s a start: The NCAA says it’s investigating approximately 30 current or former men’s basketball players for potential betting violations. The tip of the iceberg, I’d guess. In the shadows: Of all our major team sports, none have a quieter opening than college basketball. Early look: For what it’s worth, the Lakers are 7-2 without LeBron James stepping on the court. Where they left off: At 8-1, the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder don’t appear to be suffering from complacency. Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.
