6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020
NFL THURSDAY NIGHT
Colts benefit
from
Titans’
Seahawks-Rams division
special
teams
battle tops NFL’s weekly slate
struggles
By Barry Wilner
AP Pro Football Writer
It’s pretty much impossible
to argue that the NFC West
isn’t the league’s best division,
even with the fading 49ers
plagued by injuries. Two of its
powers face off Sunday when
the fi rst-place Seahawks visit
the runner-up Rams.
These teams have been
a bit schizophrenic in 2020.
Seattle (6-2) can outscore
most opponents, and needs
to weekly because it has the
worst pass defense in the
league, giving up 362.1 yards
per game. Three quarterbacks
have thrown for more than
400 yards against Seattle this
season.
“We just have to keep com-
ing together and get this thing
really cleaned up,” coach Pete
Carroll says. “Unfortunately
the continuity has not been
a positive factor for us yet.
Hopefully we can fi nd a way
to fi t together and get our new
guys in there and get them
playing really well and error
free, to their nature, and uti-
lize their talents and all that,
and we’ll see a turn.
“This is the halfway point
and this is a marker. I would
really like to see us turn it.
You’ve seen us already adjust
some in how we’re doing calls
and stuff. We’re just trying to
fi t it together to maximize our
guys.”
While the Rams (5-3) have
been solid on defense, with
tackle Aaron Donald the
NFL’s most dominant player
on that side of the ball, their
offense has been inconsistent.
They are 21st in the NFL with
24.1 points per game — only
Chicago has a winning record
and scores less often.
Regardless, this is a top-
drawer matchup.
“We love these opportuni-
ties,” says Rams coach Sean
McVay. “These are great
competitive opportunities, but
every single game is like this.
Because you play them twice
a year, we have some more
familiarity with just some of
their schemes, because they
have had some continuity at
the coordinator spots on of-
fense and defense. And they’re
still doing a lot of similar
stuff, special teams-wise, even
though there’s been some
changes.
“It’s been great games
By Teresa M. Walker
AP Pro Football Writer
Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times-TNS, File Photo
Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley (30) turns the corner past Seattle
Seahawks linebacker Cody Barton (57) in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2019.
and we’re looking forward to
another one.”
Off this week are Dallas
(2-7), Atlanta (3-6), Kansas
City (8-1) and the New York
Jets (0-9).
Buffalo (7-2) at
Arizona (5-3)
A shootout in the Valley of
the Sun is highly likely.
Arizona’s top-ranked offense
is averaging 422 total yards
and has had at least 400 yards
six times. It’s defense has been
fi lled with holes, though.
Arizona’s Kyler Murray
and Buffalo’s Josh Allen are
the only two quarterbacks
who have thrown for at least
15 touchdowns and run for
at least fi ve touchdowns this
season.
“Well, I mean, Arizona, they
present their own problems,”
Bills defensive coordinator
Leslie Frazier says. “They’ve
got a terrifi c young quarter-
back as well, and an offense
that is ranked No. 1 in the
league. So we’re gonna have
our hands full with what they
do on offense.”
than 250 yards in his past fi ve
games. But the Chargers can’t
hold leads; their defeats are by
a combined 24 points.
Tagovailoa has won both of
his starts since replacing Ryan
Fitzpatrick.
Cincinnati (2-5-1) at
Pittsburgh (8-0)
The main question here
is the availability of Steelers
quarterback Ben Roethlis-
berger in the 100th regular-
season meeting. The Steelers
have dominated the series
in recent years, winning 10
straight meetings and 13 out
of 14, including playoffs.
But Big Ben is one of the
players the Steelers placed on
the COVID-19 list after tight
end Vance McDonald tested
positive following a victory
over Dallas. Roethlisberger
was required to self-quaran-
tine after contact tracing and
could not practice with the
team all week.
Cincinnati has no wor-
ries about its young QB. Top
overall draft pick Joe Bur-
row’s 221 completions are the
most by a rookie over the fi rst
Los Angeles Chargers
half of a season. Protection of
(2-6) at Miami (5-3)
Burrow will be a key against
Another enticing Kid QB
the sacks-happy Steelers: He’s
matchup: LA’s Justin Herbert, been sacked once in Cincin-
who went sixth in the April
nati’s two victories compared
draft, one spot after Miami’s
to 27 sacks in the other six
Tua Tagovailoa.
games. The Steelers lead the
Herbert has thrown for
NFL in sacks (32.
10 touchdowns and only
San Francisco (4-5) at
three interceptions in three
New Orleans (6-2)
road starts and has multiple
New Orleans has won fi ve
touchdown passes and more
Online sports makes
inroads during pandemic
After months in which
sports largely disappeared
from our televisions, the
games returned as we
witnessed the Los Angeles
Lakers win in the NBA
Bubble, the Los Angeles
Dodgers win a World Series in a shortened
MLB season and the NFL move into its 17-
week season.
But recently the news has been littered
with positive COVID-19 tests in the NFL and
college football, which already has its season
in upheaval. And of course we have been
seeing limited to no fan attendance at these
events.
Yet while traditional sports struggle, sports
in the virtual world have been able to thrive.
Just like the rest of the sports leagues,
ESports (also known as electronic sports)
immediately felt the impact of COVID-19. In-
person tournaments were canceled to protect
these professional gamers.
But after moving competitions online, the
virtual sports world hasn’t looked back.
“From a content and event perspective,
the beauty of esports is that it’s a digital fi rst
product,” Michele Attisani, CEO and co-
founder of the FACEIT competitive platform,
told Forbes.com. “Physical contact isn’t needed
between players, and they don’t even need
to be in the same country to compete. Live
events are canceled, and rightfully so, but
unlike other industries
the lockdown doesn’t
mean we and players
COREY
can’t keep producing
KIRK
content. Our priority is
providing the commu-
nity with our favorite
form of entertainment in these diffi cult time.”
In the past 8 months, ESports viewership
has been shattering pre-pandemic expecta-
tions. According to Sports Business Daily, ES-
ports has seen a 17% increase in viewership
of their content. We have seen top television
programs like ESPN and FoxSports airing
electronic sports tournaments. We have even
seen Jerry Jones and Michael Jordan invest
on professional Esports teams.
Even professional athletes took advantage
of the virtual playing fi eld when their regular
games were canceled.
We got to see the Tampa Bay Rays Blake
Snell beat every representative from the MLB
in their players league. In the NBA, Phoenix
Sun Devin Booker won a players tournament
and donated the $100,000 grand prize to a
charity.
Missing sports dearly, watching events like
that was a nice change of pace than having no
sports at all.
With no end in sight in regards to the
pandemic, Esports is capitalizing on its inher-
ent advantages and fi lling the void in sports
scheduling.
straight and leads the NFC
South, which it has won each
of the past three seasons.
Saints receiver Emmanuel
Sanders helped the 49ers get
to the Super Bowl last season,
and had seven catches for 157
yards and a touchdown, plus
throwing a 35-yard TD pass
against New Orleans. Sand-
ers had his third TD receiving
last week after missing the
Saints’ previous two games
on the COVID-19 reserve list.
The battered Niners did
discover a new playmaker in
a loss to Green Bay: Richie
James Jr. had three catches
for at least 40 yards in that
game, the fi rst player since
Tyreek Hill in 2017 to do
that, and the fi rst 49er since
some guy named Jerry Rice
in 1995.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Coming into this season, the
Tennessee Titans had only two punters since 1998. Now
they’ve gone through three, plus two long snappers, in as
many games.
All that instability showed Thursday night.
Trevor Daniel, signed to the practice squad last week-
end, managed only 17 yards on his fi rst punt days after
delivering packages for FedEx. He never had a chance
on his second as the Indianapolis Colts blocked the kick
and returned it for a touchdown in a 34-17 victory over
Tennessee.
Adding to the Titans’ special teams’ woes, four-time
Pro Bowl kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 44-yard
fi eld goal wide right as he worked with yet another
holder.
The loss dropped the Titans to 6-3 with their third loss
in four games, and coach Mike Vrabel promised every-
thing will be re-evaluated even as he defended special
teams coordinator Craig Aukerman.
“We’ll look at what we’re doing and try to do what’s
best for the team like we always do,” Vrabel said. “We all
have jobs to do, and we have to try to do them better.”
With the loss, the Titans fell into a tie with Indianapo-
lis atop the AFC South. Their fi rst goal coming into the
season was winning the division for the fi rst time since
2008 to earn a home playoff game.
Now, Vrabel said they will take a couple of days off
to heal up and fi gure out what’s going wrong on special
teams, why a high-scoring offense is suddenly sputtering
and how come the defense can’t get off the fi eld.
Gostkowski became the fi rst Titans kicker to miss
eight fi eld goals in a season since Joe Nedney in 2001 —
with seven games still remaining.
The Titans are already on their second long snapper of
the season, and Daniel became the third different punter
and holder, with three-time Pro Bowl punter Brett Kern
on injured reserve due to an injured wrist.
Tennessee led 17-13 at halftime. Then everything
turned.
In the second half, Daniel’s fi rst punt gave the Colts
the ball at the Tennessee 27. Later, after the Titans went
three-and-out, the Colts blocked Daniel’s next punt and
scooped up the ball for a TD. Gostkowski had the missed
fi eld goal, then the Titans turned it over on downs.
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