Things That Caught My Eye

Nick Saban’s tenure at Alabama brought the program their fifth college championship this decade on Monday after defeating a well-matched Georgia team in one of the best championship games Alabama’s had to play. Since at least 1988, the 10-year dynasty for Alabama — from 2008 to 2017 — is the best ever college football dynasty based on Elo ratings. [FiveThirtyEight]

The Atlanta Falcons won against the highly regarded Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, but they’ve got trouble ahead based on how this team compares to the NFC conference champions of 2017. They’re racking up fewer big plays — yards per game from 20+ yard plays are down 51 yards since 2016 — and their red zone touchdown percentage dropped from 62 percent and 50 percent this year. [FiveThirtyEight]

Tom Brady’s previous five games were one of the worst five-game stretches of his career based on expected points added. While the Pats were 4-1, his total EPA over the five games was only 22.16 which is the sixth lowest of his career. [FiveThirtyEight]

The Overwatch League, a competitive gaming esport, had its inaugural day on Wednesday, with games each night through Saturday. The league is backed by money from several NFL owners, and the slick presentation seen Wednesday — and the massive contract they inked with Twitch to carry the games — show they aren’t messing around. On day one, the Seoul Dynasty beat the Dallas Fuel 2-1, the Los Angeles Gladiators defeated Shanghai 4-0, and the Los Angeles Valiant defeated the San Francisco Shock 4-0. [ESPN]

Try out our interactive, Which World Cup Team Should You Root For?

The Army is suing the Las Vegas Golden Knights over their team name, claiming that it infringes on the name of West Point’s teams. This means that for now, both sides appear poised for combat of the legal variety: The hockey team said in a statment “we are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team,” which is A+ chirping. [SportsLogos.net]

For 24 teams in the league, the future is no longer a mystery. The draft ordering is set for two thirds of the league, with Cleveland pulling two picks in the top four and Oakland and San Francisco fighting for the 9th and 10th picks based on a coin flip alone. [ESPN]

Make sure to try your hand at our fun NFL game: Can you beat the FiveThirtyEight predictions?

Big Number

$17,157

The Cleveland Browns fans had their sad parade last weekend to commemorate the 0-16 season, but they did some serious good in the process, raising $17,157 for the Cleveland Food Banks and likely providing about 70,000 meals resulting from the shamefest. [Hayden Grove]

Leaks from Slack, Monday Night:

tchow [11:46 PM]

This game…

walt [11:47 PM]

i know who is arie gonna eliminate

wait wrong channel

Tagovailola is so good

i want the giants to draft him like now

tchow [12:01 AM]

Wow

That throw tho…

walt [12:03 AM]

I love football

Predictions

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