GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND

1) It's FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. If you missed who won the week, who leads the early season Top 20 and where Fins' Ryan Fitzpatrick lands, check out our NFL Week 2 QB Rankings. 2) The Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram. Follow us on both! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Pix 'n Fantasy Week 2 results, NFL Week 2 QB Rankings, Greg Cote Show podcast Episode 29 & more. 4) Join us on Twitter and Instagram.

Our NFL Week 3 picks: As we set sail on our 30th season of NFL picks in the Miami Herald, here are our Week 3 selections for our Game of the Week -- Chiefs at Ravens, Patrick Mahomes at Lamar Jackson -- our Upset of the Week and all the rest. We pick three big upsets including one in prime time. For all our latest game by game previews and picks visit NFL Week 3 Gems. Our picks appear Thursday afternoons every week online, and Fridays in print. (Our Thursday night pick appears Wednesdays online and Thursdays in print). We blew our start to Week 3. Had Jacksonville (minus-3) covering at home vs. Miami, but the Dolphins dominated. Lesson: Never again, under any circumstances, trust the Jaguars.

WE ALL WANT DOLPHINS TO UNVEIL TUA, BUT APPRECIATE THE RYAN FITZPATRICK WE JUST SAW: Miami Dolphins fans are in a hurry. I get that. Older Dolfans have passed down their frustrations with the franchise to their kids. Relevance has been a long time in reappearing. Every ounce of impatience is warranted. Now the thoroughbred is in the stall, ready to run. Ready to pass. Tua Tagovailoa, savior in waiting. The high first-round draft pick waiting to be unleashed. So everybody wants to jam down the fast-forward button and get to the future now. Understood. Take a second, though. Take a minute to appreciate the man who is minding the quarterback job while Tagovailoa is brought along with caution and diligence. Ryan Fitzpatrick? He was brilliant Thursday night, that’s all. His beard was brilliant, as always. His game kept pace. The Dolphins won for the first time in pandemic 2020, on the road, prevailing easily in Jacksonville, 31-13, and it was mostly because Fitzpatrick — at 37, with his eighth NFL team, a journeyman per se — was about as good as we have seen him. For my full latest column off Thursday night's big Fins win, please visit We All Want Dolphins to Unveil Tua, But Appreciate the Ryan Fitzpatrick We Just Saw.

G3: DOLPHINS 31, @JACKSONVILLE 13: FITZPATRICK, BIG DEFENSE LEAD FIRST WIN: One word. Oops! I totally blew this prediction, as you see in this game preview and pick. Original post: Have you been hearing those TV spots pimping Thursday’s game? “FitzMagic vs. Minshew Mania!” Gotta love the creativity of network publicists! It’s a tough sell nationally, this matchup only the state of Florida could love (and maybe not even then?) Of all the glamour quarterback duels possible in the NFL, not sure Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Gardner Minshew wiggles the must-see meter all that much. Unless the category is facial hair and it’s one’s epic Game of Thrones beard vs. the other’s ‘70s adult film star mustache. Fitzpatrick and Minshew are likely to produce fat stats and a shootout, but that’s mainly thanks to lousy defense on both sides. The question: Who’s D is lousier? The evidence says Miami’s is at the moment. Jacksonville was supposed to be deep among the NFL’s dregs but has played above expectations early on. Miami is clearly improved over last year (low bar to hurdle) but in mid-rebuild is nobody’s idea of playoff-good. Bottom line: A hot Minshew vs. a struggling Fins pass defense steers this pick. Minshew was 19-for-20 with three TDs in Jax’s opener and threw for 339 yards and three more scores last week, both against quality opponents. Now visits a Miami secondary battered for 417 yards last week by the Bills’ Josh Allen. And a banged-up secondary at that, with cornerback Byron Jones, the big free-agent get, likely out with a groin strain and fellow CB Xavien Howard (knee) questionable. I don’t wanna say Howard is injured a lot, but when he walks into the trainers room it’s like Norm walking into the bar on Cheers. Jags also will enjoy something of an actual home-field edge Thursday, allowing 25 percent of capacity in these pandemic times or around 16,800 fans. (Jax’s home opener drew 14,100). This is notable because Miami has lost 14 of its past 16 road games. Fins haven’t been real good in prime-time lately, either. They’re on a 5-15-1 skid under the lights. I’d love to see an upset here (and still can if I squint just a little), but based on early performance and health, Miami’s pass defense will not be having a fun night upstate. My pick: Jaguars (-3) over Dolphins, 30-24. Visit Week 3 Thursday Gem to see this capsule online. The rest of our NFL Week 3 picks will appear online Thursday afternoon and Friday in print.

[Column off Dolphins Game 2: Power Outage, Lightning Delay, No Pass Defense As Dolphins Drop Home Opener to Bills. Off Game 1: Dolphins Lose to Pats, But Win With No-Hurry Plan On Tua.

CONQUERING HERRO!: TYLER'S 37 HAS HEAT 1 WIN FROM NBA FINALS: And a little child shall lead them. That’s a Bible verse. It’s now gospel to Miami Heat fans. The Heat is one win from a spot in the NBA Finals because Tyler Herro — the 20-year-old rookie whose name really is pronounced “hero” — wouldn’t have it any other way Wednesday night. Miami beat the Boston Celtics 112-109 in Game 4 in the Orlando bubble to go up 3-1 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference finals — led by Herro’s career-high 37 points on 14-for-21 shooting including five three-pointers. Fifteen of Herro’s points came in the telling fourth quarter. The Heat can close out the series Friday night, or face a Game 6 Sunday. To call this an extraordinary time in sports would be a colossal understatement whether you were talking about it from an overarching national view or based solely on what’s happening in South Florida. All of the major sports are going on all at once, a crazy, scary, amazing all-you-can-eat buffet caused by the ongoing coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. It has delayed or truncated just about everything over the past six months, pushing some sports into “bubbles” and keeping all of most fans out of stadiums and arenas. It is a history-making situation the likes of which we will (hopefully) never see again. Inexplicably, it’s as if the anxiety and tumult have brought out the best in Miami sports — even though South Florida has been a hotspot for the virus threat through much of this. If it’s all a coincidence, it’s a merry one, a reason to cheer in a year when feeling happy has so often been a challenge. For my full latest column, please visit Conquering Herro! Rookie's 37 Has Heat 1 Win From NBA Finals.

[Column off Heat-Celtics Game 3: The Fun Starts Now As Heat's Joy-Ride Postseason Finally Hit a Bump. Off Game 2: Miracle Or Magic, Miami Heat's Stunning Postseason Run Continues. Off Game 1: Unexpected Playoff Run Makes Miami Heat the Most Fun Ride In Sports Right Now].

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE 29 OUT NOW!: Our Miami Herald podcast, "The Greg Cote Show With Greg Cote," debuted in March and new Episode 29 is out now! A new episode drops early every Monday morning on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 29 we've done so far RIGHT HERE for free. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review. (Start on Episode 1 and catch up!) In new Ep29 we welcome in special guest Izzy Gutierrez of ESPN to talk Heat and NBA playoffs, who's got the best restaurant bread and more. Greg and Chris also talk Heat-Celtics, Dolphins’ loss to Buffalo, Canes, Marlins’ playoff run and more. And Chris reveals something about Greg at a restaurant table that he finds annoying. Will you agree? Of course there's a new Mount Gregmore, too -- the L's. Hear all of that and more on the new Greg Cote Show podcast now!

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THE COTE ARCHIVES:

Our football special-section column troika: TUA TAGOVAILOA IS DOLPHINS' SAVIOR SENT TO BRING NEW GLORY ... IF PROPHECY IS TRUE / WHO'S SUPER BOWL-BOUND? WHERE DO FINS FALL? OUR 2020 NFL-IN-PANDEMIC TEAM RANKINGS / and FOR MIAMI & AMERICA, HERE COMES A COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON WE'LL NEVER FORGET

Other notable most recent columns: Dolphins Lose to Pats, But Win With No-Hurry Plan On Tua / 'If I Die, I Die.' QB Cousins' Shamefully Cavalier Attitude On Pandemic / Heat Beat Bucks In Game 1, In A Series Also About '21 Free Agency / Boycott Of NBA Playoffs Shows Nation That Injustice Is Bigger Than Sports Right Now / Having Fans at Dolphins, Canes Games A Bad Idea And Big Risk / Pat Riley's Grand Plan On Track As Heat Close In On Playoff Advance / For Marlins, A Home Opener -- And First Place -- In Mid-August / Fall Without Football: Big Ten, Pac-12 Set Moral Compass for NFL, Others to Follow / As Panthers Move on From Tallon, Who's Next Miami Team Executive on Hot Seat? / 'Perfect Storm For Virus Transmission': Why Football Is Struggling to Lift Off / Marlins Outbreak Worsens, Sports Should Rethink Playing Again in 2020 / Marlins Delaying Home Opener For COVID Outbreak a Scary Lesson For All Sports / Don Shula, 1930-2020, R.I.P. / What Shula Meant to a Father & Son. They Boy Was Me / Sports' Gradual Return Offers America Relief We Desperately Need / It Took George Floyd To Finally Wake Up White America / Goodell's NFL Response to Floyd Killing Is Hypocrisy At Its Most Ironic / and George Floyd Is Why Kaepernick & Sports Must Continue Fight For Social Justice

Other notable recent columns: Here's Why Nobody Should Rule Out Heat Reaching NBA Finals / Marlins and Dolphins, In a Race For Relevance, Offer Hope At a Time We Need That / When Will Dolphins Unleash Tua? Exploring the Timetable as Rookies Report / He Made a Mistake, But Miami Knows Who Dwyane Wade Is And Knows It By Heart / Marlins Captain Miguel Rojas On Pandemic And Playoffs As Baseball Returns / 'Redskins Is Racist Nickname Based On a Lie. Time For It to Disappear / Money Or Health? NFL and Major College Football Face A Decision / Tough Times All Around, But Rise Of Miami Sports Offers Hope / The Face Of Miami Sports in 2020: Our Top 20 And Who's No.1 / Time to Abort Season Restarts and Call Off Sports For Rest Of 2020 / Uh-oh. Cam Newton means Belichick and Patriots Are Back / Saving the National Anthem From Sporting-Event Extinction / Noose Left For NASCAR's Bubba Wallace's Only Grows Resolve to End Racial Hatred / and Team That Signs Kaepernick Will Be Champions Of the Street

Select columns from earlier in 2020: Amid Pandemic And Protests, 'America's Pastime' Is Letting American Down / Return Of Sports Promises Historic TV Smorgasbord / Homestead Is Test Lab As NASCAR Gradually Welcomes Back Fans / R.I.P. Kurt Thomas, an American Gymnastics Pioneer / MLB Players Demanding More Millions, Right Now, Is A Bad Look / Amid a Pandemic, An Outrage in Alamance County / Welcome to Sports Without Fans, the New Normal / As NBA, MLB Plot Return, We Miss Them -- Yet Sports Have Never Seemed More Trivial / Anticipation of Relevance, Excitement Is Tua's Gift to Miami / Hall of Famer Andre Dawson On Baseball and Owning a Funeral Home Amid COVID-19 / Dolphins Aim High, Win Big With Tua Tagovailoa Pick / Greg Cote's 2020 NFL Mock Draft / NFL Draft Will Offer Blunt Verdict on Canes' Talent / Ultimate All-Time South Florida Major Sports Trivia Challenge / Sports Should Stop Pretending It Will Resume Anytime Soon As Coronovirus Rages / How a Longtime Herald Sport Writer Came to Own a Top Contender in Florida Derby / Le Batard Show Deals with Coronavirus-Related Upheaval / Brady Leaving Patriots for Tampa. Will Belichick Be Proved Right In Letting Him Go? / Miami Sports Now Utterly Engulfed By Coronavirus Threat -- But Precaution Is Justified / Inter Miami Is Market's Sleeping Giant As Home Opener Nears / Jeter Arrives At Camp, Calls Marlins 'Layered With Talent' / Dwyane Wade, His Transgender Daughter And A Lesson In Love / Time For Anonymous Lone Voter Who Denied Jeter To Step Forward / Heat And Gloriously Impatient Riley Win In Trade For Iguodala / Return Of Ed Reed, Even If Mostly Symbolic, Leads Surge By Canes Football / Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His / Jimmy Johnson's Biggest Triumph? Knowing When To Quit -- And Why / Announcing Miami Dolphins' 2010-19 All-Decade Team / How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins and How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90

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Revisit this blog often because it updates regularly. The Associated Press Sports Editors writing awards ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category. Greg is also a regular on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on ESPN Radio. Finding Greg Cote: Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Columns. Podcast. Podcast on Twitter. Podcast on Instagram. LeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio) and The Ballad Of 1440 (video).