This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading us today! We appreciate you. Hope you had a Merry Christmas if you’re celebrated and I hope your holiday season is going well.
Brock Purdy certainly seemed to be in the spirit of giving on Christmas Day.
If you were in a Christmas-induced food coma and missed it, Purdy threw four interceptions against the Ravens’ vaunted defense in the biggest game of the season yet for San Francisco. Some of them were unlucky. Some of them were just simply incredible plays (like this one from Kyle Hamilton). All of them were completely devastating for the 49ers offense that just couldn’t get going. The team had five total INTs on the day.
Hey, man. It happens. It doesn’t mean Brock Purdy isn’t a good player anymore or that he’s been “exposed,” or whatever it is the kids like to say these days. He just had a bad day. It is what it is.
It probably does mean he’s not MVP, though. Rightfully so.
Purdy is no longer the betting favorite to win the NFL’s MVP award, our Prince Grimes writes. His odds dropped pretty steeply. Lamar Jackson is now at the top of the ladder.
With that, the game of musical chairs as the MVP favorite continues, Prince writes.
“It was a massive drop for Purdy, whose previous odds made him the biggest MVP favorite all year. He appeared to be cruising to the award before San Francisco’s stunning loss. His drop continues a trend of quarterbacks treating the top spot like a game of hot potato, with Jackson becoming the fifth different quarterback to hold at least a share of the top odds in the last six weeks. That includes Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott.”
The not-so-well-kept secret here is that the MVP is usually just a quarterback award. It’s been that for decades now. The last non-QB to win it was Adrian Peterson in 2012. It’s been 11 years.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. This would be a perfect year to give it to someone like Tyreek Hill, who will probably get extremely close to 2,000 receiving yards this season. Maybe even Christian McCaffery, who Purdy himself has said is his MVP.
This is not to say Lamar Jackson — who is now the current favorite — shouldn’t win it. He’s been awesome this year with 24 total touchdowns (19 passing) and only 7 interceptions. If he won the award, it’d still be legitimate.
But if Jackson has a terrible day next week, who do we turn to? Are we just giving it to the next best quarterback even if it doesn’t feel deserving? Things shouldn’t be that way. But that’s how it feels we’ve been going all season long.
We shouldn’t feel the need to hand-deliver the award to a quarterback just because they’re a quarterback. There’s more than enough talent in the NFL deserving of it on both sides of the ball.
It’d be nice if they got a look for once.
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Steve Kerr is spot-on
Steve Kerr complaining about defense being “legislated” out of the NBA kind of comes off as sour grapes, doesn’t it? Especially after taking an L to the Nuggets on Christmas Day. He was partially just mad about Nikola Jokic shooting 18 free throws.
But…I feel like he’s kind of right. Here’s what he had to say after the game.
“I have no problem with the officials themselves. All across the league, we have really good officials. I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game. That’s what we are doing in the NBA. The way we’re teaching the officials, we’re just enabling to B.S. their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the second half of that game. It was disgusting. It was just baiting refs into calls. But the refs have to make those calls because that’s how they’re taught.”
Our Bryan Kalbrosky paints a clearer picture of it all here. Jokic is a destroyer of defenses. His drawing free throws shouldn’t be a shock.
But, overall, the NBA does seem to award fouls for the bare minimum to star players. It’s always been a thing, but it feels like it’s gotten worse.
Look at this play from Joel Embiid here.
10 minutes into the game:
2 fouls on Gobert
2 fouls on KATon calls like this: pic.twitter.com/WR8FCQSf7i
— BrickMuse (@BrickMuse) December 21, 2023
By the book, that’s a foul. KAT’s hands are in the cookie jar for a split second and Embiid is skilled enough to capitalize on that.
But, man. What are we doing? Is that the basketball that we want to watch? I’m not one to get on my high horse about the whole “ethical scoring” thing. I think players play the game according to the rules set before them. That’s what Jokic did on Christmas. That’s what Embiid does every night. James Harden made a Hall of Fame career out of it.
I just think the NBA needs to throw the defensive side of the ball a bit of a bone at one point or another.
A shot at avoiding history
The Detroit Pistons are desperate for a win. They’re on the cusp of breaking the NBA’s record for longest losing streak in a single season with 27 losses in a row as the team goes up against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Detroit is +500 against Brooklyn tonight.
The Nets aren’t going to just fold here, but the timing is perfect for Detroit. The two teams played a close game on the 23rd. Now, the Pistons will get Brooklyn in their house a day after Christmas on the road.
I think it’s happening, folks. The Pistons are going to win tonight. Detroit is going to avoid history. Tell a friend to tell another friend.
RELATED: Finding the Detroit Pistons next win
Quick hits: Another Chiefs meltdown…A miracle bet…and more
— Andy Reid prevented a Travis Kelce total meltdown on Monday, but it seems like things are unraveling in Kansas City. Here’s Andrew Joseph with more.
— Christian McCaffrey turned $5 into $489k for this better. This is wild. Ben Fawkes has more.
— Everything about this ref tripping Lamar Jackson is meme-worthy. Charles Curtis has more.
— Fans got Kobe Bryant themed t-shirts at the Crypto dot com arena yesterday and it was pretty cool. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.
— Good to see Jalen Brunson and the Knicks taking the 1A thing in stride. Here’s Bryan again.
— Prince Grimes has your Super Bowl odds here and the Ravens are creeping up.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate you taking the time. Have a fantastic Boxing Day if you’re celebrating that! Let’s chat again tomorrow.
Until then, we out. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
