
Aaron Rodgers is always a top QB option. Andy Lyons
Week 1 is upon us, and everyone wants to start off the year with a win. Here are the positional rankings for Week 1:
QB
1. Aaron Rodgers vs. CHI
2. Cam Newton vs. DAL
3. Tom Brady vs. HOU
4. Deshaun Watson @ NE
5. Drew Brees vs. TB
6. Kirk Cousins vs. SF
7. Philip Rivers vs. KC
8. Russell Wilson @ DEN
9. Matt Stafford @ NYJ
10. Ben Roethlisberger @ CLE
11. Marcus Mariota @ MIA
12. Andrew Luck vs. CIN
13. Jared Goff @ OAK
14. Matt Ryan @ PHI
15. Andy Dalton @ IND
16. Jimmy Garoppolo @ MIN
17. Patrick Mahomes @ LAC
18. Alex Smith @ ARI
19. Dak Prescott @ CAR
20. Nick Foles vs. ATL
RB (standard scoring)
1. Todd Gurley @ OAK
2. David Johnson vs. WAS
3. Ezekiel Elliott @ CAR
4. Alvin Kamara vs. TB
5. Leonard Fournette @ NYG
6. Melvin Gordon vs. KC
7. Joe Mixon @ IND
8. Kareem Hunt @ LAC
9. Saquon Barkley vs. JAX
10. Christian McCaffery vs. DAL
11. Devonta Freeman @ PHI
12. Jordan Howard @ GB
13. Dalvin Cook vs. SF
14. Alex Collins vs. BUF
15. Kenyon Drake vs. TEN
16. Derrick Henry @ MIA
17. LeSean McCoy @ BAL
18. Royce Freeman vs. SEA
19. Jay Ajayi vs. ATL
20. Lamar Miller @ NE
21. Peyton Barber @ NO
22. Adrian Peterson vs. WAS
23. Rex Burkhead vs. HOU
24. Jamaal Wiliams vs. CHI
25. Dion Lewis @ MIA
26. Carlos Hyde vs. PIT
27. Marshawn Lynch vs. LAR
28. Chris Carson @ DEN
29. Kerryon Johnson vs. NYJ
30. James Conner @ CLE
31. Alfred Morris @ MIN
32. Jordan Wilkins vs. CIN
33. Isaiah Crowell @ DET
34. Tevin Coleman @ PHI
35. Matt Breida @ MIN
WR (standard scoring)
1. Antonio Brown @ CLE
2. DeAndre Hopkins @ NE
3. AJ Green @ IND
4. Michael Thomas vs. TB
5. Davante Adams vs. CHI
6. Julio Jones @ PHI
7. Keenan Allen vs. KC
8. Chris Hogan vs. HOU
9. Stefon Diggs vs. SF
10. Odell Beckham, Jr. vs. JAX
11. JuJu Smith-Schuster @ CLE
12. Larry Fitzgerald vs. WAS
13. TY Hilton vs. CIN
14. Tyreek Hill @ LAC
15. Adam Thielen vs. SF
16. Mike Evans @ NO
17. Golden Tate vs. NYJ
18. Jarvis Landry vs. PIT
19. Marvin Jones vs. NYJ
20. Demaryius Thomas vs. SEA
21. Corey Davis @ MIA
22. Amari Cooper vs, LAR
23. Emmanuel Sanders vs. SEA
24. Brandin Cooks @ OAK
25. Allen Robinson @ GB
26. Marquise Goodwin @ MIN
27. Doug Baldwin @ DEN
28. Robby Anderson @ DET
29. Nelson Agholor vs. ATL
30. Cooper Kupp vs. OAK
31. Devin Funchess vs. DAL
32. Robert Woods vs. OAK
33. Michael Crabtree vs. BUF
34. Will Fuller @ NE
35. Kenny Stills vs. TEN
36. Kenny Golladay vs. NYJ
37. Josh Gordon vs. PIT
38. Jamison Crowder @ ARI
39. Pierre Garcon @ MIN
40. Keelan Cole @ NYG
41. Mike Williams vs. KC
42. Sammy Watkins @ LAC
43. John Ross @ IND
44. Sterling Shepard vs. JAX
45. Rishard Matthews @ MIA
TE (standard scoring)
1. Rob Gronkowski vs. HOU
2. Zach Ertz vs. ATL
3. Travis Kelce @ LAC
4. Jimmy Graham vs. CHI
5. Kyle Rudolph vs. SF
6. Trey Burton @ GB
7. Jordan Reed @ ARI
8. Greg Olsen vs. DAL
9. Delanie Walker @ MIA
10. Evan Engram vs. JAX
11. Jack Doyle vs. CIN
12. David Njoku vs. PIT
13. Tyler Eifert @ IND
14. Austin Sefarian-Jenkins @ NYG
15. George Kittle @ MIN
D/ST
1. Baltimore vs. BUF
2. New Orleans vs. TB
3. Jacksonville @ NYG
4. LA Rams @ OAK
5. Detroit vs. NYJ
6. Denver vs. SEA
7. Minnesota vs. SF
8. Carolina vs. DEN
9. Pittsburgh @ CLE
10. LA Chargers vs. KC
11. Philadelphia vs. ATL
12. Tennessee @ MIA
13. Green Bay vs. CHI
14. NY Giants vs. JAX
15. Atlanta @ PHI
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SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Welcome to Chaos Week in the NBA. For some, anyway.
Going into Tuesday, there are 55 games left in the season — and 19 of the 20 postseason seeds still to be decided. Oklahoma City will be No. 1 in the Western Conference. Everything else is still at least somewhat up for grabs.
To give an idea, here's a breakdown of who can finish where when the regular season ends Sunday:
—East No. 1 and East No. 2: Cleveland (likely the No. 1) or Boston. The Cavs are four games up with four to play.
—East No. 3: New York has a three-game lead on Indiana.
—East No. 4: Indiana has a three-game lead on Milwaukee. The Bucks could get to No. 4, and New York could fall to 4.
—East No. 5: Milwaukee has a 1 1/2 game lead on Detroit. Indiana could fall to No. 5, and Detroit could get to 5.
—East No. 6: Detroit can’t fall past this spot. Milwaukee finishes 6th if the Pistons catch the Bucks.
—East No. 7: Orlando, Atlanta and Chicago could all finish here.
—East Nos. 8-9-10: Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami could all finish here.
—East Eliminated: Toronto, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Washington.
—West No. 1: It’s Oklahoma City.
—West No. 2: The Rockets will probably finish here. The Los Angeles Lakers can catch them, but it’s a long shot.
—West Nos. 3-4-5-6-7-8: Here’s true wackiness. Houston can’t fall past No. 3. The other six teams in contention here — the Lakers, Denver, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State, Minnesota and Memphis — could all still finish as high as third and as low as eighth. Endless possibilities.
—West No. 9: It’s probably Sacramento, maybe Dallas.
—West No. 10: It’s probably Dallas, maybe Phoenix.
—West Eliminated: Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans, Utah.
Add it up, and 21 of the 30 teams are still playing for something other than lottery odds with less than a week to go in the regular season.
Tuesday's games
Memphis at Charlotte: The Grizzlies need a win to climb out of play-in range.
Chicago at Cleveland: Bulls looking to move out of 9-10 game range, Cavs looking to clinch No. 1 seed.
Washington at Indiana: Pacers looking to wrap up home-court for Round 1.
Atlanta at Orlando: A huge matchup for East play-in positioning. Could be the first of three games between these two in an eight-day span.
Boston at New York: Celtics need 2-0 road finish to match NBA’s best road mark. Knicks looking to lock up No. 3 seed.
Minnesota at Milwaukee: Wolves trying to stay out of play-in, Bucks trying to move closer to No. 5 seed.
LA Lakers at Oklahoma City: Lakers seeking a two-game sweep of trip to OKC ... and then Luka Doncic goes to Dallas on Wednesday.
Golden State at Phoenix: Suns need a big finish to have any chance. Warriors hoping for home-court in Round 1.
San Antonio at LA Clippers: One thing to note; the Spurs’ Chris Paul is still on track to become the second-oldest player to start 82 games, which would be an amazing story.
New Orleans at Brooklyn: No playoff impact.
National TV schedule
Tuesday has a TNT doubleheader, with New York-Boston and Golden State-Phoenix. There's an ESPN doubleheader on Wednesday — Lakers-Mavericks for Luka Doncic's return to Dallas, followed by Denver-Sacramento.
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200), Cleveland (+500), then the Lakers (+1000), Golden State (+1200) and Denver (+1600). Nobody else has odds shorter than 35-1.
Key dates
April 11 — All 30 NBA teams play.
April 12 — No games.
April 13 — All 30 NBA teams play, end of regular season.
April 15 — The No. 7 and No. 8 finishers in both conferences play to start the play-in tournament. Winners are the No. 7 seed for the playoffs; losers will host play-in elimination games on April 18.
April 16 — The No. 9 and No. 10 finishers in both conferences play. Winners move on to April 18; losers are finished for the season.
April 18 — The April 15 game losers play host to the April 16 game winners. Winners are the No. 8 seed for the playoffs; losers are finished for the season.
April 19 — NBA playoffs begin.
Numbers watch
—The NBA record for total 3-pointers made in a season fell on Sunday. Boston also has broken the NBA's single-season records for 3-pointers made and attempted by a team.
—For the first time, the NBA could have three players make 300 3-pointers in a season. Detroit's Malik Beasley has 305, Minnesota's Anthony Edwards has 303 and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has 294. Edwards and Beasley are the fourth and fifth players with 300 3s in a season in NBA history. Curry has five seasons of 300 3s or more, James Harden has one and Klay Thompson has one.
—There have been four instances of teammates each having 250 3-pointers in a season: Curry and Thompson did it four times when they were the Warriors' “Splash Brothers.” Boston could have three players reach that number this season: Derrick White is already there with 258, Payton Pritchard has 246 and Jayson Tatum has 243.
Stat of the day
The Thunder are on the brink of setting an NBA record for point differential. They’re winning by an average of 12.5 points per game; the record is 12.3 by the 1971-72 Lakers.
Oklahoma City has outscored teams by 977 points so far; three teams — the 1971-72 Lakers (1,007), the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (1,005) and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (1,004) are the only teams to enjoy a 1,000-point differential over a full season.