Things That Caught My Eye
Bad news, Philly
The New England Patriots have participated in 37 playoff games since 2001, losing nine of them. That alone is absolutely insane. Here’s the stat that should give Philadelphia pause: The Patriots are 15-0 when they hadn’t played the competitor at some point over the course of the season, as is the case with the Eagles. [FiveThirtyEight]
Waivered Jagr
Jaromir Jagr, current NHL old guy and the second-highest point scorer of all time, has been placed on waivers by his latest team, the Calgary Flames, a move that may signal the end of the 45 year old’s NHL career. He is 34 games shy of Gordie Howe’s record for most games played. [ESPN]
The reality behind “injury prone”
A Football Outsiders analysis has put some serious numbers to the idea of being injury prone: looking at 8,585 player-seasons from 2009 to 2016, 40 percent of players who played in Week 1 went on to miss one or more games due to injury over the course of the season. However, that’s high compared to players who did not have any injuries in the previous two years, only 26 percent of which missed a game or more. [Football Outsiders]
Try out our interactive, Which World Cup Team Should You Root For?
Nobody’s undefeated in the OWL
The new Overwatch League, an esports attraction that just ended its third week, has shown the kind of parity that even the NFL can only dream of. Each of its 12 teams — even the powerhouses in London, Seoul and New York — have at least one win and only one team (Shanghai Dragons) are still at 0-6. Indeed, the most exciting story of the young league may be the Houston Outlaws swinging from league worst 0-2 to fourth-place 4-2 in just two weeks. [ESPN, ESPN, OWL]
Golden Knights making the house lose
The Las Vegas Golden Knights are crushing it at home this season, and home just happens to be the only town in America where you can bet on the local team before walking to the arena. This means that not only are lots of people betting on Vegas — something like 10 to 15 times the typical NHL handle — but those gamblers are often winning. [ESPN]
Big Number
10 percent
Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic to win the Australian Open on Sunday, his 20th Grand Slam title. Here’s the cool part: Federer has now won 10 percent of all the men’s Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era since 1968. [ESPN]
Predictions
NFL
See more NFL predictions
NBA
See more NBA predictions