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Technology

Xbox Game Pass Surprisingly Loaded To Start October 2022

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Screenshot: Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment

The spooky season is upon us and a lowkey stacked October for Xbox Game Pass is bringing the rat kings, H. R. Giger body horror, and twee trick-or-treating to celebrate. Whether you just want to go medieval against online strangers in Chivalry 2 or bask in the striking beauty of A Plague Tale: Requiem’s beautifully grim depiction of war-torn 14th century France, Microsoft’s Netflix-like subscription service has plenty to offer this month.

Here’s everything coming to and leaving Xbox Game Pass in the coming weeks:

October 4

Chivalry 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC)

October 6

Medieval Dynasty (Xbox Series X/S)

The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (PC)

The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC)

October 11

Costume Quest (Cloud and Console)

Eville (Console and PC)

October 13

Dyson Sphere Program (PC)

October 14

Scorn (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S)

October 18

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S)

Released last year, Chivalry 2 is a first-person multiplayer fighter where players swing, slash, and claw their way to victory on a medieval battlefield. It’s daunting but a lot of fun once you loosen up and give yourself permission to have fun and be silly. A perfect addition to the low-stakes Game Pass buffet. Scorn, meanwhile, is the debut release from Ebb Software about exploring a mysterious world full of stomach churning and fleshy phenomena. It’s been delayed a bunch and a flashpoint for Kickstarter drama, but hopefully it delivers.

I’ll try not to hold a pillow up in front of my face too much while playing Scorn.
Screenshot: Ebb Software

A Plague Tale: Requiem, on the other hand, is Asobo Studio’s follow-up to 2019’s disturbing rat infestation, A Plague Tale: Innocence. Hopefully everyone got a chance to check that out before it fell out of the Game Pass rotation last month. It was a moody adventure game that didn’t overplay its hand, and while Requiem seems slated to build out the game’s action, I hope it stays grounded. And if you have a PC, Dyson Sphere Program is one of 2021’s best spacefaring basebuilders.

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Game Pass is also losing some games in the next few weeks, but fortunately nothing too devastating. The following are all gone as of October 15:

  • Bloodroots (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Echo Generation (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Into The Pit (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Ring of Pain (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Sable (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • The Good Life (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Sable’s art style is one of the most striking in recent memory, and Bloodroots is a decent enough top-down beat ‘em up. I’ll be checking out Ring of Pain, which I’d never heard of before but is a card-based roguelike dungeon crawler. All of my Steam favorite tags are tingling.

Game Pass’ library has ebbed and flowed in recent months, but after a drier spell earlier in the year things are starting to pick up again. Most of 2022’s big blockbuster releases were delayed until 2023, but there’s plenty coming on Microsoft’s subscription service at least to stave off the drought.

   

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Business

Q4 off to shaky start as stocks stumble, but oil jumps

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LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) – The final quarter of the year got off to a shaky start on Monday, with world stocks languishing at their lowest levels since late 2020 – when the global economy was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oil prices jumped more than 4% as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, said it would consider reducing output, while sterling rallied after the British government said it would reverse a controversial tax cut that had rocked UK markets.

But sentiment across markets remained frail given worries that aggressive interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve and others raise global recession risks.

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European equity markets were a sea of red, with the STOXX 600 index down 0.4%, pulling back from earlier losses of 1.4% (.STOXX). Shares in beleaguered Swiss bank Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) fell around 10% in early trading, reflecting market concern about the group as it finalises a restructuring programme due to be announced on Oct. 27.

Asian stocks mostly fell in holiday-thinned trade although Japanese markets found support on strong energy and semiconductor shares (.N225).

U.S. stock futures were mixed and MSCI’s world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS) fell to its lowest level since late 2020.

News of the British government’s tax U-turn didn’t appear to lift broader sentiment but probably helps to calm market worries about fiscal excess, said Kallum Pickering, senior economist at Berenberg Bank in London.

“Markets seem to have lowered their expectations for the BoE bank rate while gilt yields have fallen further from their recent highs. Less tight financial conditions may ease the near-term shock on economic performance,” said Pickering.

MSCI’s 47-country world stocks index rallied 10% between July and mid-August. But aggressive Fed rate hikes soon came swinging back in, and that index has plunged 15% since, leaving it down 25% and $18 trillion so far this year.

Central banks in Australia and New Zealand meet this week and are expected to deliver further rate increases.

Oil prices rallied on reports what OPEC+ will this week consider cutting output by more than 1 million barrels a day, for its biggest reduction since the pandemic, in a bid to support the market. Brent crude futures rose more than 4% to almost $89 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 4.5%, at $83 a barrel.

UK RESPITE

Britain’s battered pound was up around 0.4% at $1.12085 and its government bond yields fell, pushing their price up, following the UK policy reversal , .

“From a market perspective, it is a good step in the right direction. It will take time for markets to buy the message but it should ease the pressure,” said Jan Von Gerich, chief analyst at Nordea. “Questions still remain and sterling will likely remain under pressure.”

London’s FTSE-100 stock index was down 0.5% (.FTSE), falling in line with other markets.

Japan’s yen meanwhile briefly fell as low as 145.4 to the dollar even as Japan’s finance minister, Shunichi Suzuki, said that the government would take “decisive steps” to prevent sharp currency moves.

It was the first time the yen has fallen through the 145 barrier since Sept. 22, when Japan intervened to prop up its currency for the first time since 1998.

Trade across Asia was generally subdued. South Korea had a national holiday and China entered its “Golden Week” break on Monday. Hong Kong is closed for a public holiday on Tuesday.

Gold was just 0.4% firmer to $1,665.79 an ounce .

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Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, additional reporting by Sam Byford in TOKYO; Editing by Hugh Lawson and David Evans

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Sports

Investigation found Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka used crude language in dialogue with female subordinate prior to start of improper relationship

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The independent law firm probe into Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka found that he used crude language in his dialogue with a female subordinate prior to the start of an improper workplace relationship with the woman, an element that significantly factored into the severity of his one-year suspension, sources told ESPN.

Those investigative findings — which described verbiage on Udoka’s part that was deemed especially concerning coming from a workplace superior — contribute to what is likely a difficult pathway back to his reinstatement as Celtics coach in 2023, sources told ESPN.

The power dynamic associated with a superior’s improper relationship with a staff member was the primary finding and policy violation cited in the law firm’s report, which was commissioned by the Celtics and completed early last week, sources said.

At a news conference last week, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said the suspension — which extends through June 30, 2023 — was a product of multiple violations of team policies, and sources told ESPN the Celtics won’t stand in Udoka’s way should he have the chance to become a coaching candidate elsewhere. There are teams that have tried to gather a preliminary understanding of the full explanation for Udoka’s suspension in preparation for possibly evaluating him for future coaching employment, sources told ESPN.

Grousbeck also said Udoka would be receiving a cut in his salary during the suspension.

In his first season, Udoka, 45, led the Celtics to an Eastern Conference championship and NBA Finals berth, where Boston lost in six games to the Golden State Warriors. The Celtics return a team expected again to be a championship favorite, and Udoka had appeared destined for a long runway as the franchise’s coach after replacing Brad Stevens, who moved into the front-office role previously occupied by Danny Ainge during the 2021 offseason.

Grousbeck said during the news conference that no one else within the organization faced discipline as a result of the investigation. The Celtics wouldn’t confirm the nature of the violations, but Stevens, the team’s president of basketball operations, became emotional when describing the number of women employed by the Celtics who were targeted by unfounded social media rumors and allegations.

The Celtics promoted assistant coach Joe Mazzulla to interim coach for the upcoming season. Mazzulla, 34, is well-regarded inside and outside of the Celtics organization and counts Stevens among his most significant supporters. Mazzulla was a finalist for the Utah Jazz head-coaching job over the summer that went to top Celtics assistant Will Hardy.

Grousbeck and Stevens would not elaborate on the criteria Udoka would need to meet to return to coaching the Celtics following his suspension.

Grousbeck defended the Celtics’ decision to suspend Udoka for the entire season, insisting it was the proper response based on the probe’s findings.

“This felt right, but there’s no clear guidelines for any of this,” he said. “It’s conscience and gut feel. … We collectively came to this and got there but it was not clear what to do but it was clear something substantial needed to be done, and it was.”

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.

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Sports

Fantasy Football Rankings for Week 4, 2022: Model says start Cordarrelle Patterson, sit Davante Adams

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The Seahawks’ Rashaad Penny was the hottest running back during the Fantasy football playoffs last year, but he hasn’t recaptured that same form this year. With Russell Wilson out of town, teams are loading the box against Seattle and Penny has yet to top 66 yards in a game. Still, he’s looking appealing for Week 4 Fantasy football lineups against the Lions’ porous run defense. No team has allowed more Fantasy points to opposing backs than Detroit, which automatically boosts Penny up the Week 4 Fantasy football rankings. Where should every player be in the Week 4 Fantasy football RB rankings? Before you lock in your lineups, be sure to check out the Week 4 Fantasy football rankings from the advanced computer model at SportsLine.

When it comes to ranking players, SportsLine’s model beat human experts in Fantasy football for the past several seasons especially when there were big differences in ranking. Over the course of a season, that could literally be the difference between winning your league or going home empty-handed.

Last week, the model was extremely high on Jaguars running back James Robinson, saying he’d finish as a top-10 player at his position. The result: Robinson rushed 17 times for 100 yards and a touchdown, while also catching all three of his targets for 16 yards in Jacksonville’s win over the Chargers. Anybody who had him in their lineup was well on their way to a huge week.

Now, the model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times, has revealed its Fantasy football rankings for Week 4 of the 2022 NFL season. Head to SportsLine now to see them.

Top Week 4 Fantasy football picks 

One player the model is high on this week: Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson. Perhaps miscast as a receiver for much of his career, Patterson has been a standout at running back. He ranks third in the NFL with 302 rushing yards, and playing with a mobile quarterback like Marcus Mariota has been a boon to Patterson’s production. Defenses have to think about Mariota running the ball on the read-option, which has opened up running lanes for Patterson.

Those lanes should be present when the Falcons host the Browns on Sunday. Only two teams have allowed more rushing touchdowns than Cleveland, and the Browns have allowed 204 scrimmage yards to opposing backs over the last two games alone. Given this advantageous matchup, the model pegs Patterson as an RB1 in all-sized leagues and it ranks him ahead of stars like Aaron Jones and Austin Ekeler in Week 4 Fantasy football rankings. See who else to target here.

And a massive shocker: Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams, who’s scored a touchdown in every game this season, stumbles big-time and doesn’t even crack the top 20 at his position. After spending his first eight seasons in Green Bay, Adams was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in the offseason. In his first game as a Raider, Adams hauled in 10 receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers. However, the veteran has recorded only seven receptions for 48 yards across his last two contests.

Adams and the Raiders will now face a stingy Denver Broncos defense. The Broncos are giving up just 170.3 passing yards per game this season, the third-best mark in the NFL. Denver has also allowed just one passing touchdown in its last two games, which doesn’t bode well for Adams’ Fantasy value this week. With such a tough matchup on Sunday, Adams is a player to consider putting on the bench in Week 4. See who else to fade here.

How to set Week 4 Fantasy football rankings

The model is also calling for a surprising quarterback you aren’t even thinking about to finish in the top 10 of its Week 4 Fantasy football rankings. This pick could be the difference between winning big and going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 4 Fantasy football rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that has outperformed experts big-time.

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Sports

Fantasy Football Rankings for Week 4, 2022: Model says start Cordarrelle Patterson, sit Davante Adams

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Anyone who put their confidence in Giants running back Saquon Barkley this season has been rewarded handsomely, as he has produced an NFL-leading 408 scrimmage yards while scoring twice. Barkley is an automatic start in your Week 4 Fantasy football lineups as the Giants take on the Bears, but you’re sure to have more difficult Fantasy football start-sit decisions to make. Optimizing lineups is all about understanding the Fantasy football matchups, which is why you’ll need a reliable set of Week 4 Fantasy football rankings that take NFL injuries and the latest depth chart movement into account. Before you lock in your lineups, be sure to check out the Week 4 Fantasy football rankings from the advanced computer model at SportsLine.

When it comes to ranking players, SportsLine’s model beat human experts in Fantasy football for the past several seasons especially when there were big differences in ranking. Over the course of a season, that could literally be the difference between winning your league or going home empty-handed.

Last week, the model was extremely high on Jaguars running back James Robinson, saying he’d finish as a top-10 player at his position. The result: Robinson rushed 17 times for 100 yards and a touchdown, while also catching all three of his targets for 16 yards in Jacksonville’s win over the Chargers. Anybody who had him in their lineup was well on their way to a huge week.

Now, the model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times, has revealed its Fantasy football rankings for Week 4 of the 2022 NFL season. Head to SportsLine now to see them.

Top Week 4 Fantasy football picks 

One player the model is high on this week: Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson. The Tennessee product was a first-round pick of the Vikings in the 2013 NFL Draft as a wide receiver, but he never seemed to grasp the nuance of the position during the first several years of his NFL career. He was an elite kick returner and has reinvented himself as a running back in his 30s.

Patterson had 1,166 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns in his first season as Atlanta’s primary option at running back in 2021 and has been even better through the first three games of 2022. He’s had two 100-yard rushing efforts and has now rushed for 302 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll take on a Browns defense that has allowed 4.1 yards per carry, but even if the Falcons find themselves trailing and take to the air, you can count on Patterson to be heavily involved because of his receiving background. See who else to target here.

And a massive shocker: Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams, who’s scored a touchdown in every game this season, stumbles big-time and doesn’t even crack the top 20 at his position. After spending his first eight seasons in Green Bay, Adams was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in the offseason. In his first game as a Raider, Adams hauled in 10 receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers. However, the veteran has recorded only seven receptions for 48 yards across his last two contests.

Adams and the Raiders will now face a stingy Denver Broncos defense. The Broncos are giving up just 170.3 passing yards per game this season, the third-best mark in the NFL. Denver has also allowed just one passing touchdown in its last two games, which doesn’t bode well for Adams’ Fantasy value this week. With such a tough matchup on Sunday, Adams is a player to consider putting on the bench in Week 4. See who else to fade here.

How to set Week 4 Fantasy football rankings

The model is also calling for a surprising quarterback you aren’t even thinking about to finish in the top 10 of its Week 4 Fantasy football rankings. This pick could be the difference between winning big and going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 4 Fantasy football rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that has outperformed experts big-time.

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World

Liz Truss’s premiership has got off to the worst start possible

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Liverpool, England
CNN
 — 

Liz Truss’s first few weeks as British prime minister have been defined by crisis. She’d barely been in the job 48 hours when news broke that Queen Elizabeth II had died, placing the country in a state of official mourning and delaying the official launch of the Truss plan for Britain.

Once that official mourning period was over last Monday, her government unleashed a wave of radical policies, climaxing on Friday with the announcement of £45 billion ($48 billion) in tax cuts. The measures included scrapping the top rate paid by the highest earners, in adjustments that will benefit the rich far more than millions of people on lower incomes.

The logic, according to Truss’s government, is that cutting personal and corporate tax will trigger an investment boom and kick-start the British economy.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper last week, Truss defended her economic plans saying that her government was “incentivizing businesses to invest and we’re also helping ordinary people with their taxes.”

UK prime minister defends tax cuts as pound plummets

But Truss’s plans have seemingly backfired almost immediately. The pound fell to its lowest level in nearly four decades on Monday, at one point reaching near parity with the dollar. It seems very likely that the Bank of England will hike interest rates, which will make repayments harder for those fortunate enough to have mortgages, while those seeking to get mortgages are already seeing products removed by banks.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England announced it would buy UK government bonds in an attempt to “restore orderly market conditions” and to prevent “dysfunction” following the cuts, and subsequent plunge in the pound.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a rare rebuke for a developed country on Tuesday night, criticizing the UK’s tax-cutting plans, saying they will “likely increase inequality.”

The chaos couldn’t have come at a better time for the official opposition Labour Party, which held its annual conference in Liverpool this week.

Going into the conference, Labour was enjoying poll leads it hasn’t seen since the days of the last Labour prime minister to win a general election, Tony Blair.

The Labour Party has suffered badly since losing power in 2010. Its past two leaders have struggled with their personal credibility on a range of issues, from economics to security.

The party’s last leader, Jeremy Corbyn, came from the far left of the party. He had in the past associated with known extremists, opposed NATO, shared platforms with antisemites and generally existed on the fringes of politics for decades.

When his successor, Keir Starmer, took over in 2020, received wisdom was that his job was to remove Corbyn’s influence from the party and then hand it over to a new leader, probably closer to 2030 than the next scheduled general election in 2024.

This week in Liverpool, however, Starmer’s Labour looked legitimately like a government-in-waiting. It is nothing short of remarkable given that not even a year ago, Boris Johnson looked like the undisputed champion of British politics.

But after scandals sank his premiership and Conservatives’ approval ratings, the unassuming Starmer, a softly-spoken lawyer with a smart haircut and unremarkable suits, really does look as though he could be the next prime minister of the UK.

In the two years of his leadership, Starmer has managed to silence many of the elements of his party that Corbyn attracted. It has gone from being a home for far-left radicals to a party whose conference this week attracted corporate lobbyists who were only too happy to bankroll events and brush shoulders with the potential next government.

And after years of accusations while Corbyn was in charge that Labour was somehow anti-British, conference this year began with delegates singing the national anthem.

Those around Starmer are tempering their optimism. The Labour Party has smelled power before, only to be disappointed when the next general election came around. The UK, particularly England, is a traditionally Conservative-voting country. Previous Labour governments won power largely due to Scottish support.

That has all but drained away since the independence referendum of 2014, in which Scotland voted to stay in the UK by a margin of 55% to 45%. That left nearly half of Scots disgruntled and throwing their support behind the pro-independence Scottish National Party.

The Labour Party also has form for making unforced errors. While this year’s conference went largely without a hitch, one near-crisis had to be dealt with.

On Tuesday, a video emerged of a Labour MP calling the Conservative finance minister, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, “superficially” Black. The MP, Rupa Huq, had her party whip removed almost immediately, meaning she is expelled from the party and now sits as an independent. Huq later tweeted that she had apologized to Kwarteng for comments she described as “ill judged.”

And Labour Party members know very well that the Conservative Party plays the game of politics better than most. The term “natural party of government” might seem odd, given the chaos taking place around Truss at the moment, but Conservatives like winning at almost any cost.

None of this is providing Conservative MPs with much comfort, however.

“Every single problem we have now is self-inflicted. We look like reckless gamblers who only care about the people who can afford to lose the gamble,” one former Conservative minister told CNN on Wednesday morning.

Taking aim at the team around Truss, which is largely comprised of libertarian Conservatives, the former minister said: “We’ve made the mistake of thinking that things which go down well in free-market think tanks go down well with the free market.”

For all that things don’t look great for Truss, there is a fear in Labour circles that the current polling is a reflection of disapproval of the Conservatives rather than enthusiasm for Labour. Many still question whether Starmer truly has the strength of personality to win over sufficient voters to comprehensively defeat the Conservatives at the next election.

That caution could be born of a reluctance to get ahead of themselves. And their doubts over Starmer could be the same reason that some Conservatives are quietly optimistic that Truss has more personal substance than her Labour rival and could simply overpower him in the future.

What’s undeniable is that the expectations in British politics have shifted this week. For the first time in years, the next election is undeniably Labour’s to lose.



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Sports

Fantasy Football Week 4 Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em Wide Receivers: Brandin Cooks overdue for his breakout game

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Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Injuries, injuries. Stefon Diggs (lower body), Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle), Michael Thomas (toe), Jaylen Waddle (groin), Tee Higgins (toe), Keenan Allen (hamstring), Chris Godwin (hamstring), Hunter Renfrow (concussion), Jarvis Landry (ankle), Julio Jones (knee), Jakobi Meyers (knee), Michael Gallup (knee), Sterling Shepard (knee), Kadarius Toney (hamstring), Rondale Moore are among those to monitor for Week 4. Fantasy managers will still have plenty of options, but coming up with the best ones is another matter.

It is our objective to find you the wide receivers you’ll want to move in and out of your lineups based on matchups every week. Playing matchups is key, and we’re here to find you the perfect path to a winning 2022. 

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Sports

New York Jets QB Zach Wilson medically cleared, will start against Pittsburgh Steelers

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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — After sitting out the first three games due to a preseason knee injury, quarterback Zach Wilson has been medically cleared and will start Sunday for the New York Jets, coach Robert Saleh announced Wednesday.

Wilson, who practiced on a limited basis the past two weeks, is expected to take a full load of practice reps as he ramps up for his return — a road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Saleh was optimistic this would be the outcome, pending a confirmation from Wilson’s Los Angeles-based doctor.

Saleh said Wilson will “absolutely” start, assuming he makes it through the week of practice.

“He’s very comfortable,” Saleh said. “He’s in a great mental state. Everyone is comfortable with where he’s at physically.”

The former BYU star, drafted second overall in 2021, tore his meniscus and suffered a bone bruise on a noncontact play in the first preseason game. On Aug. 16, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in Los Angeles, performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

Initially, it was deemed a two- to four-week recovery, but the Jets announced Sept. 7 — four days before the opener — that Wilson would return Week 4 at the earliest.

The Jets went 1-2 during Wilson’s absence, with Joe Flacco leading them to a stunning comeback victory over the Cleveland Browns in Week 2. Flacco is fifth in passing yards (901), but he has led the offense to only five touchdowns in three games, including two in the final 1:22 of the Cleveland miracle.

“It’s exciting to get him back out there,” Saleh said. “But at the same time, it’s not all about Zach. It’s making sure we’re executing on all cylinders.”

Wilson returns to a unit that has struggled to protect the passer — allowing nine sacks. Left tackle George Fant (knee) was placed on injured reserve Tuesday, meaning career backup Conor McDermott likely will get the nod in his place. McDermott, re-signed after being cut at the end of the preseason, struggled mightily in last week’s 27-12 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Saleh said the unsettled situation at tackle didn’t cause any hesitation in returning to Wilson.

“His knee is 100 percent,” Saleh said. “As far as the tackles are concerned, we’ve got all the faith in the world in the guys we do have. Max [Mitchell] is playing really well, and McDermott has played a lot of good football.”

The Jets face a Pittsburgh defense known for its exotic pressure packages, but it hasn’t been the same without elite pass-rusher T.J. Watt (torn pectoral muscle), who was placed on IR Sept. 15. The Steelers are 0-6 without Watt, dating to his rookie season in 2017.

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Sports

Russell Wilson Looks Bad but Broncos Remain Contenders in Shocking Start for AFC West | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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AP Photo/Jack Dempsey

The AFC West is the NFL’s version of a great movie trailer that gets everyone excited, only to be disappointed once the film begins. Expectations can ruin the actual experience.

A supposed arms race took place this offseason. The Las Vegas Raiders traded for Davante Adams and signed Chandler Jones as a free agent. The Los Angeles Chargers brought in Khalil Mack and J.C. Jackson and fortified their previously soft defensive interior.

The Kansas City Chiefs moved on from the likes of Tyreek Hill and Tyrann Mathieu but made sure to beef up the defense with the first-round draft selections of Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis. The Denver Broncos’ made arguably the biggest move by acquiring future Hall of Fame quarterback Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks.

The Broncos’ appalling 11-10 victory Sunday against the Jimmy Garoppolo-led San Francisco 49ers provided the perfect ending to an awful day for the division.

Yes, a win is a win. But not all wins are the same. And not all wins are good wins.

Denver played terribly throughout the night. Garoppolo’s futility allowed the Broncos to escape with an underserved victory, which is becoming a regular occurrence against subpar competition.

Last week, the Broncos trailed the Houston Texans by three points entering the fourth quarter. The Texans are one of two winless teams currently found around the league.

The 49ers, meanwhile, are dealing with the fact they’re now starting the quarterback they wanted to rid themselves of but didn’t have a better option other than cutting his salary and having him serve as a backup.

Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett (Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

To underline how poorly Denver’s offense played Sunday, the team went three-and-out on nine different occasions, which is the most by a Wilson-led offense during the quarterback’s 11-year career.

During the team’s initial 11 drives, Wilson averaged a putrid 5.4 air yards per attempt, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. In total, the team has converted one of seven red zone trips into a touchdown so far this season.

In all fairness, some of the quarterback’s old magic appeared with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter. With 10:12 left to play and down five points, Wilson completed five of seven passes and created with his legs to avoid pressure and pick up 12 yards on a crucial 3rd-and-6 at San Francisco’s 36-yard line.

Even so, the sight of errant throws, miscommunication on routes and an inability to properly block the 49ers’ defensive front shows how disjointed the Denver offense is at the moment.

“We’re still all learning each other,” Wilson told reporters. “We’re so close. I’ve been a part of some good offenses, and I think we have a chance to be really, really great … I’m excited because I can feel it—everything is just that close. And once we do, with our defense, we’re going to be unstoppable, I think. We’ve got a chance.”

A 2-1 record keeps the Broncos stride-for-stride with the Kansas City Chiefs atop the AFC West. The current standings are more of an indictment of both teams than a reflection of quality performances.

Against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Kansas City found a way to lose. The Colts couldn’t get their offense on track for most of the day. The Chiefs did an excellent job of confusing veteran quarterback Matt Ryan and his highly paid offensive line throughout the contest. Kansas City created multiple free runs at Ryan to disrupt Indianapolis’ game plan.

Yet a missed field goal, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on defensive lineman Chris Jones after a successful third-down stop, and a Patrick Mahomes interception led to the Colts’ comeback victory. All of this occurred after a minor sideline dustup between the quarterback and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (AP Photo/Zach Bolinger)

Ultimately, it’s the little things. The Chiefs are still easing into their new offensive setup, and Mahomes took the blame for the loss in his postgame press conference.

“We’ve got to gel all together. It starts with me. There were certain throws I was putting on guys’ back hips instead of in front of him. There were certain situations where we were just barely off of it … Whenever you’re playing a tough game like that, you have to execute at a higher level and we have to learn from it. Our schedule gets no easier. We have a hard game Sunday (against) Tampa next week with a great defense, so we have to get better quickly. And if we don’t, we don’t want these (losses) to start piling up. We want to make sure we get back on that winning train.”

Meanwhile, the Chargers are dealing with multiple key injuries. Defensive end Joey Bosa didn’t return during Los Angeles’ 38-10 thumping at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars after suffering a groin injury. Left tackle Rashawn Slater injured his biceps. Quarterback Justin Herbert is already playing through fractured rib cartilage.

“I just didn’t want to quit on the team,” Herbert told reporters after the decisive loss.

Center Corey Linsley (knee), wide receiver Keenan Allen (hamstring) and cornerback J.C. Jackson (knee) didn’t even play in the contest.

Availability and quality of depth play big parts in how successful a team can be. If its top performers aren’t healthy or not playing well, expectations must be tempered.

Lastly, the Las Vegas Raiders are allowed to have some hope, even though they’re the only team to start 0-3 this season. Sunday’s performance within their division makes it possible to climb back into the race.

Granted, the Chiefs and Broncos are already two games ahead. Six teams during the Super Bowl era have made the playoffs after starting 0-3, according to the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow.

Quarterback Derek Carr even insinuated certain individuals must be better in practice during his postgame press conference.

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)

“You try your best to do it the right way in practice, and if you don’t do it right in practice, then you can’t expect it to go right in the game,” Carr said. “We’ve got to look at that, each man as an individual and say, ‘OK then, I’ve got to get better at this, this, and this.'”

The rest of the AFC sees the Miami Dolphins leading the way with a 3-0 record. The Buffalo Bills may have come up short against their division rival this weekend, but they’re clearly one of the league’s best.

Lamar Jackson is back to MVP form during the Baltimore Ravens’ 2-1 start. Jacksonville is much tougher than expected, with a true professional now leading the team in head coach Doug Pederson.

A weak first act can be saved by a strong finish. Even after a rough start, the AFC West shouldn’t fall completely apart. Expectations simply need to be adjusted. Maybe the division wasn’t as good as everyone originally projected.

Even so, the eventual winner can still have its made-for-movie ending.

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @brentsobleski.



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Business

Stocks trade higher after negative start to the week

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Visitors stands in front of an electronic ticker at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), operated by Japan Exchange Group Inc. (JPX), in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020.

Toru Hanai | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed on Tuesday after sharp falls on Monday.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.61%, and the Topix index gained 0.7%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.25%. The Shanghai Composite in mainland China rose 0.26% and the Shenzhen Component was 0.314% higher.

South Korea’s Kospi struggled for direction and last lost 0.62%, while the Kosdaq shed 0.74%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost 1.06%, with the Hang Seng Tech index down 1.7%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.29%. China’s industrial profits for January to August fell 2.1% from the same period a year ago, official data showed.

Overnight in the U.S., major stock indexes dropped. The S&P 500 slipped 1.03% to 3,655.04, a new closing low for 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell into a bear market after it lost 329.60 points, or 1.11%, to 29,260.81. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.6% to 10,802.92.

“The sell-off in bonds and equities continued as sterling’s weakness highlighted the fragility of markets to policy uncertainty,” ANZ Research analysts wrote in a Tuesday note, a day after the pound hit a record low.

— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.

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