The Pulse: NFL Scare Index, Bronny James’ recruitment and Messi in Miami?

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Good morning! Do you think Messi has a Zillow search saved in Miami yet?

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Boo!

The other Sunday scaries

Happy Halloween! In the spirit of spooky fun, let’s do a scare index of Sunday’s NFL games:

Scary: When are the Eagles going to lose? The 7-0 Birds dispatched the Steelers with ease yesterday, A.J. Brown dominated, and a gaze down the schedule doesn’t reveal many obvious losses. Maybe December 11 at the 6-2 Giants? Maybe?

Almost as scary: The Bills. Clearly the best team in the AFC and a rare rival to the Eagles in terms of impressions seven games in. They beat the Packers, 27-17, in the late game Sunday without ever losing any sort of control. Mike Sando asks if the Packers can swing some trades today.

Terrifying because they’re figuring it out: The 49ers. Christian McCaffrey threw for a touchdown, ran for another and caught one more for good measure in San Francisco’s 31-14 win over the defending champion Rams, who were coming off a bye. He’s clearly already comfortable. The Niners are 4-4, but expect a run here if everyone stays healthy.

Scarily off-putting: The NFC South. The mighty 4-4 Falcons claimed first place in this putrid division with an overtime win against the 2-6 Panthers yesterday. The Saints — who finally looked competent against the fading Raiders on Sunday — and Buccaneers are one game back at 3-5. We’re going to have a 7-10 division winner, aren’t we?

• Bonus scary: The Raiders’ collapse. This team is, what, a top-8 roster in the league talent wise and they’re 2-6? They looked awful against a mediocre-at-best Saints team Sunday. Josh McDaniels’ first year in Las Vegas is a massive disappointment through eight games.

Spooky because it still doesn’t make sense: Geno Smith. The Seahawks are 5-3, sitting solo atop the NFC West standings behind the arm of Smith, who’s largely been a backup for much of the last decade. It is easily the most surprising story in the NFL this year — Seattle loses its star quarterback, Russell Wilson, and gets better. If you listen to Seahawks players every week, they seem glad Wilson is gone. Wild.

Need more scares? Check out the full weekend roundup here.

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Name Brands

Where is Bronny James heading?

College basketball coaches across the country — even the ones not in the running for his services — have been pondering a question for months now: What is any coach going to do with Bronny James?

The son of LeBron James is a rising high school senior and is a flashpoint in this year’s recruiting cycle. Dana O’Neil has a fantastic story up this morning about the younger James and how college coaches actually evaluate him, and the hoopla that comes with the four-star prospect with a five-star name.

Some key things to know:

• Bronny is a really good player. He’s a consensus top-100 recruit who belongs at an elite program. He’s just not otherworldly. Not yet.
• The timeline of LeBron and Bronny playing in the NBA together might not work. The elder James has said he wants to play his last season in the NBA alongside his son, but as it lines up now, that would mean Bronny leaves after one year of college. Scouts and coaches think Bronny could be an NBA player, but he might need two or even three years in college to get there.
• The James family wants Bronny to be treated like a normal recruit. By all accounts, he has. His list of suitors is rumored to include Oregon, UCLA, USC, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio State and Memphis. He could also play for the G-League Ignite or Overtime Elite.

The whole story is very much worth a read this morning.

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Briefs

Will the Nets take action on Kyrie this week?
Something to watch this week: Kyrie Irving’s employment. Controversy continues to swirl around Irving after a fiery press conference Saturday, in which he defended posting a link to a film considered by many to be anti-Semitic. Nets owner Joe Tsai fiercely rebuked Irving’s comments, which is notable, and could mean a suspension (or worse) is coming. The Nets, meanwhile, are a disaster at 1-5. Keep an eye out.

Michigan State suspends four
Spartans head coach Mel Tucker announced late Sunday that he suspended Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose, and Zion Young from the team, effective immediately, following an ugly brawl in the tunnel after the team’s loss to Michigan on Saturday. Tucker also said in his statement that the school is still “working with law enforcement” on the incident.

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Pulse Polls

You’re trick or treating tonight. You see a bowl with candy corn. Are you gobbling it up or leaving it for the next poor soul?

My opinion: Candy corn is gross and should not exist. Cancel me if you must. Cast your vote to make your voice heard.

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Things You Have to See

Ross Chastain rides the wall

It is a move that will go down in NASCAR history: Ross Chastain, sitting in 10th place on the 500th and final lap at Martinsville on Sunday, opted to accelerate and ride the wall, stunning the crowd and five other drivers along the way.

The whirlwind finish wasn’t just a one-day thing: It earned Chastain a spot in the championship of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Jordan Bianchi’s story from last week about Chastain’s aggressive style feels pertinent in retrospect.

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Pulse Picks

・Messi in Miami? That’s the buzz. Read up.

・The Philadelphia Union are heading to the MLS Cup final after beating NYCFC last night. Awaiting them: LAFC, which blanked Austin FC earlier Sunday to book its first MLS final appearance.

・The reports are true: The Lakers won a basketball game last night.

・Ken Rosenthal discovers how Alex Bregman got his groove back: family, health and horses.

・Former NFL defensive back Antone Exum Jr. found a new path after his playing career: music. The artist known as EXUM gained some perspective along the way, too. 

・The Royals have a new manager: Matt Quatraro, former Rays bench coach. He’s expected to bring some new ideas to a Kansas City club that could surely use them. 

・CFP rankings come out tomorrow. Our staff predicts the top four and Andy Staples has a really good ranking of the top 13.

・Louisville feted new coach Kenny Payne when he was hired. His first game as head coach? A loss to Division II Lenoir-Rhyne. 😬

 

(Photo: Eric Hartline/USA Today)