Weekly Takes - Monday, January 21 Edition (Retroactive to Jan 14)

1. My three stars from the Leafs sleepy lost to the Canucks on Saturday...

1. Philippe Myers

2. John Tavares

3. Bobby McMann

Tough getting to three stars in this one. As lacklustre of a performance as the Leafs have had all season.

2. My three stars from the Leafs loss to the Stars on Tuesday...

1. Mitch Marner

2. Myers

3. David Kampf

The Leafs played fine 5-on-5 but lost the battle on special teams like they have far too often this season.

The power play should be what separates the Leafs from other teams. That is indeed the case, but in the most negative way possible.

3. My three stars from the Leafs thrilling comeback win against the Habs on Saturday...

   
   

   1. Joseph Woll

   2. Oliver Ekman-Larsson

   3. Auston Matthews

4. Of course Roki Sasaki signed with the Dodgers, because why wouldn’t he?

   
   

   The Dodgers are the best team in baseball, have the analytics and scouting departments in baseball, have two Japanese superstars already on their roster, are a historic franchise, and play in a warm climate.

   
   

   It’s a no-brainer.

5. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, can offer a great city, the best spring training facility in the world, and a great, renovated stadium, but that is where it begins and ends.

Their roster is bleak, their prospect system is awful, they apparently have a limited budget, and their top two players are free agents a year from now.

Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins are perennial losers and need to be shown the door.

It’s a results business and they haven’t gotten any results.

6. The signing of Jeff Hoffman gives the Blue Jays an elite closer, but one they likely end up trading given how bad they are projected to be in 2025.

They are still two bats, a starting pitcher, and a left-handed reliever away from being taken seriously.

7. The Steelers flame out should not be surprising, given this is who they have been for half a decade.

They have not had a quarterback who can compete in the AFC since 2018, their defence -- with a defensive head coach -- underperforms every postseason -- and they always have a wide receiver on their roster causing them major issues.

Mike Tomlin is a good head coach and you can do a lot worse than him, but he needs to fire Arthur Smith and Teryl Austin and nail his two coordinating hires.

And Omar Khan needs to go and find a quarterback.

None of this will be easy, but it is a must, otherwise, we are just going to be talking about the same thing a year from now.

And if that is the case, a house cleaning will be in order. It is better to bottom out than to be stuck in the middle.

8. Sam Darnold cost himself millions with his performances in his last two games, but he simply did everyone a favour.

   
   

   The Vikings now know to move on from him and the rest of the NFL (I hope) knows not to pay him as a franchise quarterback.

   
   

   This was always going to be the likeliest outcome.

9. In a way, the Bucs were in the same spot with Baker Mayfield as the Vikings were with Sam Darnold this season.

Good enough to make the playoffs and perform at a high level, thanks to an offensive guru being at the helm, but never good enough to compete for a Super Bowl.

Tampa is the definition of average in the NFL.

10. You only get so many chances in a Super Bowl window -- and the Lions may lose Ben Johnson, which would add to the hurt -- but I am confident Detroit will be right in the mix against a year from now on.

Surely their injuries cannot be any worse.

11. Lamar Jackson did not hurt his legacy in his loss to Josh Allen and the Bills on Sunday, but he is going to have to accept one thing: He is clearly the fourth best quarterback in the NFL, behind Patrick Mahomes, Allen, and Joe Burrow.