B's Stories of the Week #3

Week two of this column and we already have big stories. From the pitch in England to the turf in America what a weekend it was. We saw the Lions roar and mark their territory, the Sooners boom into the spotlight, and the Gunnars of Arsenal have shot up through the ranks to prime position in the Premier League. The fall is young my friends and the season's sporting events will only get more intense from here.

Arsenal's Conquest of City - Sometimes an image is poetry in motion. That is what the picture above shows. Sometimes you can see something taking form but cannot quite recognize it nor appreciate it until it comes to true fruition. That something that is in the process of being built is the era of Arsenal football that's ruler is Mikel Arteta. This game although just the tenth of the season, feels like the iconic Bob Dylan song, "The Times They Are a Changing."

Manchester City won the three most prestigious trophies they could have won last season, the Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup Manchester City last year had the league leader in goals in Erling Haaland who set the record for all time goals in a Premier League season. For the first time since his signing a team has found a way to stop him. They have won the Premier League each of the last three years and five of the last six years. For the first time since they won their first Premier League title in that run, they do not look invincible.

There have been some inconsistencies from this challenger, but the taste of revenge and of heartbreak is still in the mouths of the Arsenal fanbase and club which means the extra motivation to get the job done will be there. Yesterday Erling Haaland had no scoring opportunities and the undisputed best soccer team in the world right now was held to one shot on goal throughout the entire game. The challengers played the entire game without their #1 striker and somehow found a way to pull off the impressive victory. It was a one goal game that was chippy from the beginning and led to a physical altercation between a few Manchester City players and the Arsenal bench.

With Arsenal now tied for the first place in the league, the times are most certainly a changing. Have the times changed is a question we will wait to see be answered but for now we can see that this is not the farmers league that many think it is. We have not even touched on the form Liverpool and Tottenham have been in, so this year as Tracy Chapman once did, we will be talking about a revolution.

The Detroit Lions have found their Roar - Objectively speaking, the Lions are my favorite team in the National Football League. No other team's fanbase has been through more and to see them finally reap the rewards puts a smile on my face. It could be because I am a big Jets fan, I am not sure but whatever the case is, seeing the Lions thrive is a wonderful thing to witness.

The Lions are a much more balanced team this year but are a lot more consistent on both sides of the ball. Last year when facing the Lions pass defense, teams averaged 7.5 yards per play and had a first down percentage of 37.3%. This year when facing that defense, passing offenses have averaged 5.8 yards per play and a 31.3 % first down percentage. The Lions rush defense has really stepped up, going from fourth most yards allowed last year to fourth least yards allowed this year. They by no stretch of the imagination have the best defense in the league, but the defense they have is helping them win games they could not close out in the past two years.

Dan Campbell, the Lions coach is absolutely one for talking and getting guys riled up. He is not one for talking down his opponents though and that is why I have the utmost respect for him. He has taken a team in 2021 who was expected to lose every single game they played to a team and who just barely missed the playoffs last year with a winning record. Of all the games they played last season, the ESPN Probability factor expected them to win just one game. They won nine.

Currently, the Lions are tied for the second-best record in the NFL with some very impressive performances including a week one victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. The Lions in the upcoming weeks have games against teams with winning records such as the Ravens and the Bucs. This is when they can really become a contender not only for the NFC North division but for the NFC title.

Oklahoma's Booming Performance - The Sooners coming into this game had not seen much stiff competition. As of this moment they will go down as only having played two ranked teams in the regular season. That is perfectly fine though, because they have won six games and lost none. They are coming off an impressive victory against the #3 ranked Texas Longhorns who was the team to beat coming in.

Oklahoma trailed in this high scoring affair by a total of just under six minutes. Oklahoma proved they are one of the best teams in college football by scoring a game winning touchdown with five seconds left. Their defense forced three turnovers and three redzone stops. They are led by Coach Brent Venables who in his second year has completely changed the narrative of this Sooner football team.

This team controls its own destiny, meaning if they win out, they should be guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff. Still a lot of football this season to be played, but for now Oklahoma is balling out and any team on their schedule better pray for mercy.