SIGN ME UP FOR 30 DAYS OF FRESH COFFEE
CLICK HERE

By Marc Lawrence
Weekend, Oct 18-19

MLC

HOME OF THE 2025 PLAYBOOK
WISEGUYS CONTEST.
Get this week’s issue here.


I know the MLB games are ongoing right now, and we’ll focus on them during the World Series.

However, today I couldn’t look past the return of legendary NHL great Jaromir Jagr.

Yes, that’s right – the return of the 53-year-old Jagr.

If it seems as if the quinquagenarian is eager to play, he is.

If he does indeed play, it will be his first game of his 38th season as a professional hockey player.

Last season, Jagr played in 39 of Kladno’s 52 regular-season games, scoring five goals and adding 11 assists for 16 points with 16 penalty minutes.

It was widely believed at the time that the 2024-25 season, Jagr’s 37th in professional hockey, would be his last.

Nope. The Jaguar is not ready to hang up his skates. And we’re loving it.

Have a great weekend.

ON TODAY'S SCORECARD
Then and Now

MLC

One-third of the way through the 2025 NFL season season and Yahoo Sports has handed out each team a grade based on their performance. Let's see who got top marks and who's got room for improvement.

The key, though, is how much have these team either improved or regressed since the opening week rankings.

Here are the Week 1 Power Rankings of the Top 10 teams heading into the 2025 season with commentary by senior writer Frank Schwab:

10 Washington Commanders

Rookie seventh-round draft pick Jacory Croskey-Merritt had a meteoric climb in the preseason, leading to the team trading Brian Robinson Jr. Will it carry over to the regular season?

9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Very high on the Buccaneers this season. For right now, the Tristan Wirfs and Chris Godwin injuries are lingering. It’ll be a team that is much better by December than it is in September.

8 Denver Broncos

The Broncos are good. Their defense is elite. Their offensive line is tremendous. Everyone has raved about Bo Nix’s improvement. Denver's depth is impressive. A lot to like here.

7 Minnesota Vikings

Adam Thielen didn’t come cheap in a trade (a fourth-round draft pick for a 35-year-old receiver is a lot) but the Vikings are doing everything they can to set up QB J.J. McCarthy for success.

6 Green Bay Packers

Micah Parsons changes everything. However, the Packers also need a healthy Jordan Love and Jayden Reed, who dealt with injuries in August.

5 Buffalo Bills

The Bills tied up the one loose end that could have been a big issue, getting James Cook’s extension done.

4 Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs have six games without Rashee Rice, and it’s not an easy stretch. It could shape the AFC West race.

3 Detroit Lions

Detroit should still be considered a Super Bowl contender, but it first has to survive the gauntlet of the NFC North.

2 Baltimore Ravens

In Week 1, the Ravens play at the Bills, and in Week 4 they’re at the Kansas City Chiefs. Those two games will be massive in ultimately determining seeding in the AFC.

1 Philadelphia Eagles

Linebacker Jihaad Campbell is a player to watch early in the season. The first-round draft pick solidified his role, at least until Nakobe Dean returns.

Biggest risers: The Colts have vaulted 22 spots (25 to 3) since Week 1, the Patriots have risen 11 spots (21 to 10), the Falcons have risen 10 spots (23 to 13), the Seahawks have risen nine spots (18 to 9) and the Buccaneers have risen eight spots (9 to 1).

Biggest fallers: The Ravens have plummeted 19 spots (2 to 21), the Bengals have fallen 16 spots (12 to 28), the Vikings have fallen 12 spots (7 to 19) and the Commanders have fallen eight spots (10 to 18).


GRINDING OUT THE PROFITS
Carne de Onça

From the PLAYBOOK Football Newsletter

LA Rams over Jacksonville by 10 – London

England’s guest, the Jaguars, welcomes its adopted team, where Jacksonville makes its 14th appearance in the International series (Miami and Minnesota tied with second-most visits with six games), going 7-6 in these games, with victories in three of their last four. The problem is that the Jags are beginning to show signs of coming apart at the seams, riding a three-game ITS (In The Stats) losing streak entering this scrum after going 3-0 ITS to open the season. That’s a lot of hot and cold water, and unfortunately, Jacksonville appears incapable of turning off the spicket. In the meantime, the Rams are a better-balanced squad with an offense and defense each ranked inside the Top 10. They are also 6-0 ATS in this series and 5-0 ATS in games against the AFC South. With the Jags an inferior 1-6 ATS against the NFC West, we’ll be ordering up mutton with a side of ‘carne de onça’ (Jaguar meat) on the side.



MLC


TRENDING TODAY

New York Bros

MLC

There’s a clip from last week’s dramatic Giants win over the Super Bowl champion Eagles that perfectly sums up the new mentality taking root in New York’s locker room (see above).

Dart is a longhaired SEC-by-way-of-Utah first-round slinger who leaped into the starting job when it became clear in September that Russell Wilson wasn’t a fit. He’s treating NFL football like it’s a Friday night and he’s the God of the Gridiron, right up to and including high-fiving a ref after a touchdown.

Skattebo is a human Church Burp, pure id who seems to live his life by the simple mantra of “what would be the most kick-ass thing to do right this moment?” The Giants’ own scouting report called Skattebo a “carnage creator," which is pretty much the best assessment you could hope for. He’s become a meme too; search for “Skattebo runs like” on your favorite social media, or just watch him throw himself into defensive lines like they owe him money.

And their names! If you wrote a screenplay with a blonde quarterback named “Jaxson Dart” and a swerving bowling ball named “Skattebo,” you’d get it thrown back in your face for being too on-the-nose.

Statistically, Dart and Skattebo are still building their foundations. Skattebo’s 56.3 yards per game average ranks 19th in the league, though he is tied for fifth with 24 first-down runs, and third with five rushing touchdowns. He doesn’t get many yards, but the ones he does are important.

Dart’s progress has been slower, since the quarterback position is a scalpel to the running back’s sledgehammer. Since he took over as starter, the Giants are 2-1, dealing two playoff-contending teams — the Chargers and Eagles — their first loss of the season. But they’re bringing a spark that can’t be measured, not even by Next Gen Stats.

So why not give weirdness a chance? Why not lean into this strange brew of lunatic charisma for as long as it lasts? These two are wheelbarrows of social media clicks, if nothing else.

Whether that translates to football success remains to be seen, but hey, nothing else has worked lately, right?


BETCHA DIDN’T KNOW
NCAA, Week 8

We've got a season-high five matchups between ranked teams coming our way on Saturday, with Nashville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, South Bend and Provo playing host.

  • No. 10 LSU at No. 17 Vanderbilt (12pm ET, ABC)

  • No. 5 Ole Miss at No. 9 Georgia (3:30pm, ABC)

  • No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama (7:30pm, ABC)

  • No. 20 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame (7:30pm, NBC)

  • No. 23 Utah at No. 15 BYU (8pm, Fox)

Best of the rest: Louisville at No. 2 Miami (Fri. 7pm, ESPN); No. 1 Ohio State at Wisconsin (Sat. 3:30pm, CBS); Michigan State at No. 3 Indiana (Sat. 3:30pm, Peacock); No. 7 Texas Tech at Arizona State (Sat. 4pm, Fox); No. 21 Texas at Kentucky (Sat. 7pm, ESPN).

Happy surfin’.


QUOTE OF THE DAY

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

- Eleanor Roosevelt


STAT OF THE DAY

93

Second-year Indiana coach Curt Cignetti signed an eight-year, $93 million extension that will make him one of the highest-paid coaches in FBS. He has gone
17-2 since arriving in Bloomington and said he plans to retire as Indiana's head coach.



SONG OF THE WEEKEND

IF LOOKS COULD KILL

NO. 1 SONG THIS WEEKEND IN 1997


Click Here to See and Hear It Now.

It’s known as the “DAILY RACING FORM OF FOOTBALL NEWSLETTERS”
Click here to sneak a
peek free on us this week!

lock


The Coffee Club is a presentation of PlaybookSports.com
Feel free to share this e-newsletter with friends.

Online: PlaybookSports.com • follow @MarcLawrence •  email: coffee@PlaybookSports.com • Office: 954.377.8000


lock Privacy Policy
Playbooksports.com will never share or sell your information for any reason.No Spam. No Hassle. Unsubscribe Anytime.


Playbook (R) and Marc Lawrence's Preferred Picks (R) are registered trademarks of Preferred Picks Publications Inc. Copyright (c) 2025c) Playbook(R) Enterprises Inc. Contact Support: 1-954-377-8000. All information contained herein is for amusement purposes only. Any contrary of such information is specifically prohibited.

 

Coffee In One Hand. Confidence In The Other. The Coffee Club Way.


SIGN ME UP FOR 30 DAYS OF FRESH COFFEE DELIVERED DAILY TO MY INBOX
CLICK HERE



About Us Contact Us Log In Member Center Create An Account Privacy Policy Store

Copyright © 2025 © Playbook® Enterprises Inc.   Contact Support:  1-954-377-8000  All Logos © to their respective organizations.
This website does not endorse or encourage illegal gambling.
All information contained herein is for amusement purposes only. Any contrary of such information is specifically prohibited.