Reigning NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry enjoyed his best game of the new season as he put up 47 points in the Golden State Warriors' 116-113 home win against the Sacramento Kings on Monday.

After posting a season-high 39 points his last time out in a loss to the Orlando Magic, Curry went even bigger, hitting 17-of-24 from the field, seven-of-12 from deep and six of his seven free throws.

The former unanimous league MVP also added eight rebounds and eight assists, boasting a plus/minus of plus 20 in his 38 minutes. That means in the 10 minutes he was on the bench, the Warriors were outscored by 17.

With Klay Thompson having an off-shooting night (six-of-18 for 16 points), Andrew Wiggins stepped up as Curry's sidekick, chipping in 25 points (10-of-17 shooting) with 10 rebounds, two steals and a block.

With his seven three-pointers, Curry is now averaging a league-leading 5.1 made threes per game, is fifth in the league in scoring (31.0 points per game) and 15th in assists (6.8 per game).

For the Kings, point guard De'Aaron Fox continued his strong start to the campaign, scoring a team-high 28 points on eight-of-17 shooting to raise his season average to 26.3 (12th in the league).

Doncic extends 30-point streak in Mavs win

Luka Doncic has now scored at least 30 points in each of the Dallas Mavericks' first nine games after putting up 36 in his side's 96-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Doncic was incredibly efficient, particularly from long range, hitting 11-of-22 from the field and five-of-nine from long range. For the season, he is shooting a career-high 52.7 per cent from the field, and that is despite a career-worst three-point percentage of 26.2.

He now owns the second-longest streak in NBA history for consecutive 30-point games to start a season, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's streak of 23 games to start the 1962-63 campaign.

Returning from a four-game absence due to swelling in his knee, Ben Simmons came off the bench for the first time in his 282-game career, scoring two points in 16 minutes.

A.J. Griffin highlights impressive rookie performances as he hands the Bucks their first loss

The Milwaukee Bucks suffered their first loss of the season as Atlanta Hawks rookie A.J. Griffin starred off the bench.

Griffin, the 16th overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, finished with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while snatching three steals in a strong 31-minute performance.

Meanwhile, Paolo Banchero's ridiculous start to his career continued as he had his second straight 30-point game in the Orlando Magic's 134-127 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Banchero continues to justify his selection as the top pick in the draft, hitting eight-of-16 from the field and 12-of-14 from the free throw line. He is averaging 22.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the first 10 games of his career.

Last year's second overall draft pick, Jalen Green, was terrific for the Rockets, scoring a game-high 34 points (12-of-18 from the field, five-of-11 from long range).

Indiana Pacers big-man Myles Turner enjoyed one of the best games of his career in his side's 129-122 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.

Turner, who has led the NBA in blocked shots per game on three occasions (2018-19, 2020-21 and 2021-22), also reached a significant milestone as he tallied three blocks to become the second-quickest Pacers player to reach 1000.

While he dominated the defensive end of the court, he also excelled as an offensive threat, scoring a game-high 37 points on 11-of-18 shooting (four-of-seven from long range, 11-of-11 free throws) with 12 rebounds.

All five Pacers starters scored at least 15 points, but Tyrese Haliburton was Turner's partner in the win, scoring an efficient 20 points (seven-of-14 shooting, six-of-10 from three) while dishing 13 assists.

Speaking to the media after the win, Turner indicated he is much happier in his role under coach Rick Carlisle, turning more into a big who can shoot as opposed to just being a big shooter.

"My teammates look for me, and being at the five I have a lot more advantages down low now, especially against teams who are switching more," he said.

When asked about his 1000th blocked shot – which came on a dunk attempt from Zion Williamson – he made it clear where he feels he stands among the game's best rim-protectors.

"It's special man, this is what I do," he said. "I think I'm the best shot-blocker in the world, and I'm going to stay with that confidence.

"It's special that I can do this here at home – regardless of the noise, my heart is in Indy, I think my fans here know that."

His last comment was in reference to consistent chatter linking him with a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers – chatter he contributed to with his appearance on Adrian Wojnarowski's 'Woj Pod' where he laid out why he would be a good fit with LeBron James.

This performance will undoubtedly get the attention of the Lakers, but for now he remains in Indiana, where head coach Carlisle believes he is becoming the player he wants to be.

"[Turner] did damage around the basket at both ends," he said. "It was one of his most impactful games that I've seen since I've been here.

"He just played the game, played a simple game. When they switched on him, he positioned himself to catch the ball and punish them inside. 

"There was nothing he did that was out of character, or that was something he was not capable of doing. That's one of the beautiful things about this game, is when you play within yourself and do things to your strengths, you can be extremely confident, extremely cocky and extremely successful."

The Baltimore Ravens' defense was at its suffocating best as they sucked the life out of the New Orleans Saints in a 27-13 win on Monday.

New Orleans could only muster six points until their first touchdown came with four minutes remaining in the last quarter, with the game already put to bed.

The Ravens did it by shutting down Alvin Kamara and the Saints' rushing attack, limiting the star running back to nine carries for 30 yards and three catches for an additional 32 yards.

In doing so, they forced quarterback Andy Dalton to beat them from the pocket, and he could not deliver. He ultimately finished with a respectable stat-line, completing 19 of 29 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown, but that masked his struggles.

Dalton was sacked four times, with two-and-a-half of those being credited to edge-rusher Justin Houston, and threw a fourth-quarter interception – also to Houston, off a deflection – when his side was only down 14 and still had a chance.

The Ravens struggled similarly throwing the ball, with Lamar Jackson only tallying 133 passing yards from 12 completions, but their ground attack was unstoppable.

Jackson himself carried the ball 11 times for 83 yards, and with starting running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards both missing through injury, Kenyan Drake stepped up for 93 yards and two touchdowns from 24 carries. It led to over 37 minutes of ball-control for the Ravens, with the Saints having just 22 minutes.

The Ravens are now alone atop the AFC North with a 6-3 record, while the Saints drop to 3-6, but remain just one win behind the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5).

The Brooklyn Nets welcomed Ben Simmons back to the rotation on Monday after he missed four games with swelling in his knee.

Simmons, who was acquired by the Nets during last season as the centre-piece in their trade sending James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers, had previously started all 281 games in his NBA career before coming off the bench against the Dallas Mavericks.

The 26-year-old Australian averaged a career-low 14.3 points per game in the 2020-21 season – his last regular season before missing all of the 2021-22 campaign – but that figure has plummeted down to 6.2 points per game as he finds his footing with a new team and a new role.

In his 10 games for the Nets across both the preseason and the start of the regular season, Simmons is yet to score 10 points in a contest, however he is leading Brooklyn in assists (7.3 per game).

Against the Mavericks, Simmons joined Seth Curry as the first players off the Nets' bench with 2:39 remaining in the first quarter.

Nearly a month into the NBA season, Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane has continued his ascent into one of the best shooters in the sport, and he headlines the early candidates on breakout-watch.

The six-foot-five, third-year product out of TCU was considered a steal by avid college basketball fans when the Grizzlies selected him 30th overall in the draft, as he profiled as an elite shooter and stout defender from day-one.

As a 21-year-old rookie he averaged 9.2 points and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 43.2 per cent from three-point range, starting in 17 of his 68 appearances, before graduating to a full-time starter in his second season.

In his sophomore season, Bane started all 76 of his games and found his footing in the league, raising his averages to 18.2 points and 2.7 assists, and while his three-point attempts went up from 4.0 to 6.9, his percentage also went up from 43.2 to 43.6. Teammate Ja Morant won the league's Most Improved Player, but he gifted the award to Bane (who ultimately returned it).

A player's ability to scale up their volume of shots while maintaining efficiency is a telltale sign of someone ready to assume a larger role (see: Mikal Bridges, De'Andre Hunter), and that has continued in Bane's third season.

His usage rate jumped from a supporting-role-level 15.5 per cent as a rookie, to a main-option-level 22.6 per cent in his second campaign, before ascending to a 26.9 per cent usage this season. 

For reference, that is the 27th-highest figure in the league for players averaging at least 20 minutes per game, putting him ahead of players like C.J. McCollum (26.3) and Anthony Edwards (26.3) and only narrowly behind DeMar DeRozan (27.8).

His three-point attempts have also jumped again from 6.9 to 8.8, and once again, his three-point percentage has inexplicably risen with it, up to a career-high 46.8 per cent. 

It has led to career-highs across the board in points (24.6), rebounds (5.0), assists (4.6) and minutes (32.7). His 4.1 made three-pointers per game is tied with Buddy Hield for second in the league, trailing only Stephen Curry (5.1).

With a two-plus season sample size now under his belt, it is now clear Bane is not just a good shooter, but one of the best in the world. His career three-point figure of 43.7 per cent is the second-highest among all active players, trailing only Seth Curry (43.8 per cent).

It would be disrespectful to the legendary, game-changing Stephen Curry to put anybody in his class as a marksman, but if he were to retire tomorrow, Bane would have an argument to be the game's best shooter.

It had been assumed in Memphis that Jaren Jackson Jr was the long-term running-mate their potential MVP in Morant, but Bane has become undeniable, and it is now easy to envision the Grizzlies treating Bane as the Klay Thompson to Morant's Stephen Curry in their macro team-building vision.

Eventually, everybody's bill comes due. 

That is the lesson the Los Angeles Rams are learning in an extremely hard way in the 2022 season.

The price the Rams are paying, one which has them 3-5 and above only the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West, is one they will be happy to pay in the grand scheme of things given they lifted the Lombardi Trophy last season.

But their struggles this season are a consequence of the ultra-aggressive strategy that has seen the Rams consistently part with draft capital to acquire star players.

Now the stars of their top-heavy roster are failing to elevate those around them, and while many may view this pain as tolerable for 2022, there is reason to be concerned about the viability of this team as a long-term contender.

Even in a less than stellar NFC, it is tough to see this version of the Rams recovering to make a run at the postseason, and right now it is just as difficult to envisage a path through which Los Angeles can return to prominence in the years to come.

Stafford slumping under duress

The root of the Rams' problems is on offense. That is not a revelation to anyone who has even briefly watched Sean McVay's group in 2022. The Los Angeles attack poses nothing close to the same threat it presented last season and is one of the worst in the NFL through eight games.

In Sunday's defeat to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team who had lost five of their previous six games, the Rams averaged a pitiful 3.7 yards per play. Their season average of 4.71 puts the Rams last in the NFL, while only the Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans have produced fewer explosive plays of 10 yards or more than Los Angeles (86).

Blame could be laid at the feet of Matthew Stafford, the quarterback the Rams gave up a pair of first-round picks to acquire last offseason and who put them over the top in 2021. His well-thrown percentage of 80 is below the league average of 80.6 for quarterbacks with a minimum of 100 attempts, yet it is actually a stark improvement on his first season with the Rams, when he delivered an accurate, well-thrown ball on 73.7 per cent of passes.

The number to focus on with Stafford is his air yards per attempt, which has dropped off substantially from 8.62 in 2021 to 6.35 this season. In other words, Stafford's accuracy is up because the degree of difficulty on throws he is attempting is significantly down, and that is a symptom of dreadful pass protection.

Los Angeles' sack rate allowed of 8.7 per cent is the fourth-worst in the NFL, while the time from Stafford's snap to release has dropped from 2.72 seconds in 2021 to 2.54 this campaign, a reflection of the short passing attack the Rams have adopted to prevent their quarterback taking too much damage and how often he has been hurried into getting the ball out.

In the Week 8 loss against the San Francisco 49ers, Stafford averaged 4.71 air yards per attempt, the lowest of any quarterback to attempt multiple passes, with the Rams' attack reduced to one reliant on the screen pass and the occasional deep shot to Cooper Kupp that had no answer when both those options were taken away.

The Rams' lack of a riposte has been jarring to watch this season, and even Kupp has not been as effective as they would hope.

Counterpunches in short supply

Of course, it would be difficult for Kupp not to endure a drop-off after a 2021 season in which he led the NFL in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns.

But the fall, at least by one measure, has been drastic. 

Kupp's burn rate, which measures how often a receiver wins his matchup on a play where he is targeted, is 58.7 per cent, a huge dip from his 2021 rate of 66.5 per cent, which was the ninth-best in the NFL among wideouts with at least 100 targets.

When he does win his coverage matchup, Kupp is at least still consistently creating clear separation. His burn yards per route average of 4.8 is up on his league-leading tally of 4.0 from last season and trails only Tyreek Hill (5.6) for receivers with a minimum of 50 targets.

The problem the Rams have is not necessarily that Kupp is not performing at the level of his 2021 zenith; it is that has no support from his surrounding cast. Down the stretch last year, he had Odell Beckham Jr. to divert coverage away from him. This season, no Rams wideout with at least 10 targets has a burn rate higher than Kupp's, with Allen Robinson (48.8 per cent) among the worst in the league by that measure. At tight end, Tyler Higbee (52.7 per cent) is below the average for his position.

And the lack of non-Kupp difference-makers extends to the run game.

Los Angeles' ground attack largely consists of jet sweeps to Kupp, with carries of any other variety resulting in precious little gain.

The Buccaneers (2.98 yards per carry) are the sole team with a worse rushing average than that of the Rams (3.2), but no offense has a worse ratio of successful runs than that of Los Angeles. McVay's attack has a success rate of just 22.7 per cent on the ground. The team directly above the Rams, the New England Patriots, are a full eight percentage points clear.

The Rams' decision to try to trade running back Cam Akers and then reintegrating him after failing to do so encapsulates their woes on the ground and is emblematic of a season where nothing has gone right for an offense that is fourth-worst in the NFL with an overall success rate of 35.2 per cent.

Any room for optimism comes on the defensive side of the ball.

Time for a Rams reset?

While Stafford and, to a lesser extent, Kupp may be in the midst of down years, the cornerstones the Rams possess on defense are still performing at an extremely high level.

The Los Angeles defense had the Rams in position to get back to winning ways in Tampa, holding the Bucs to six points going into the final quarter, and remains one of the better units in the NFL on that side of the ball.

Allowing 5.29 yards per play, the Rams rank 10th in the NFL by that metric, with Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey both continuing to excel.

Donald headed into Week 9 having won 37 of his 50 pass rushes, good for an incredible stunt-adjusted win rate of 73.66 per cent, and his frequent interior pressure forced Tom Brady to get the ball out at an average of 2.21 seconds from snap to release. Only Zach Wilson (2.04) was quicker among QBs with 20 attempts in Week 9.

Ramsey, meanwhile, went into the Bucs game with a combined open percentage allowed across man and zone of 27.66 per cent (the average for cornerbacks is 34 per cent).

But the Rams' defense has a similar issue to that of the offense. Save for emerging linebacker Ernest Jones, this group is short of young impact players who can develop around Donald and Ramsey.

And on the final Tampa Bay drive of the Buccaneers' 16-13 win, a defense that had seen the offense inexplicably give the ball back after running the ball three times and using under a minute of clock with the chance to kill the game with a first down proved powerless to stop Brady authoring another game-winning series.

Brady's decisiveness and quick release rendered Donald a non-factor, and Ramsey found himself similarly helpless and picked on as the Bucs successfully attacked the Rams' soft zone coverage on a drive capped by tight end Cade Otton's decisive score.

Asked if he thought the defense would be back on the field after the Rams stopped the Bucs in the red zone on Tampa's penultimate drive, Ramsey replied: "We should not have been."

Those five words spoke volumes as to what Ramsey thinks of the offense, but the cold hard truth is that – even though the defense is the superior unit – the Rams in their current guise are not doing anything well enough to escape avoidable situations.

And their avenues to get better are not obvious. Their offensive fortunes could be improved by a greater reliance on play-action, which the Rams are utilising just 10.4 per cent of the time (the average is 12.5 per cent) but racking up 11.52 yards per play when they do.

That is unlikely to be a cure-all, though, and any reticence on Stafford's part to turn his back to the defense for a play-fake while playing behind this offensive line would be understandable.

The resources with which they could boost the O-line, their collection of playmakers or the defense in the coming offseason are thin. The Rams have a second and third-round pick this year and four selections across the final two rounds, but asking the front office to unearth instant impact players from those non-premium picks is a tall order for a franchise that has racked up its share of misses with the draft selections it has held on to in recent years.

Projected to be $2million over the cap in 2023, don't expect a free agency splurge from the Rams either.

Given the retirement rumours that have previously swirled around Donald and McVay, this is a situation that would be ripe for a rebuild, were the Rams not locked into Stafford's contract until 2026. Instead, if they cannot produce a second-half surge, it is likely to be more of an attempt at a reset that quickly gets the Rams back in contention.

With the paucity of tools they have to attack that challenge, successfully doing so would be as impressive as the comebacks this star-studded team produced to lift the Lombardi back in February.

The Indianapolis Colts made a stunning decision on Monday by naming former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday as interim head coach after firing Frank Reich. 

Saturday has no NFL or college coaching experience and had been working as a consultant for the Colts as well as an analyst for ESPN since retiring from the NFL following the 2012 season. 

The 47-year-old Saturday played for Indianapolis from 1999-2011 before his final season with the Green Bay Packers in 2012.

He earned six Pro Bowl selections and was named a first-team All-Pro twice in his career. Saturday helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI, their first title since leaving Baltimore for Indianapolis, at the end of the 2006 season.

The Colts fired Reich on Monday after Sunday’s 26-3 defeat at the New England Patriots dropped the team to 3-5-1. Indianapolis are last in the NFL with 14.7 points per game. 

Reich went 40-33-1 with the Colts after they hired him prior to the 2018 season. Indianapolis advanced to the playoffs twice during his tenure, reaching the AFC Divisional Round in 2018 before losing in the Wild Card Round in 2020. 

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will team up to face Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas for the 'The Match' next month.

It was announced on Monday that 15-time major champion Woods and world number one McIlroy will take on the American duo at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida on December 10.

Spieth and Thomas, who have five majors between them, will take on Woods and McIlroy in what will be the seventh edition of the exhibition series.

Woods faced Phil Mickelson when the event launched five years ago, then came up against his compatriot again when Peyton Manning and Tom Brady played in 'The Match' in 2020.

Thomas and Spieth will be making their first appearances in the competition.

The legendary Woods made an incredible return at the Masters in April after he suffered serious injuries in a car crash last year, before also teeing off in the PGA Championship and The Open.

Conor Murray will miss the remainder of Ireland's Autumn Nations Series campaign after sustaining a groin strain in Saturday's 19-16 win over South Africa.

Murray saw his 100th cap end in disappointing fashion when he was forced off in the first half in Dublin, but Ireland handled his absence admirably to seal a 10th consecutive home triumph.

On Monday, a squad update issued by the world's top-ranked side revealed Murray was to return to Munster to undergo rehabilitation and would play no part in Saturday's meeting with Fiji.

Stuart McCloskey and Tadhg Furlong joined the scrum-half in making an early exit against the Springboks, but both are expected to take part in training this week.

Captain Johnny Sexton is also said to be "recovering well" after suffering a dead leg, while Leinster's Robbie Henshaw is set to return this week after missing the South Africa fixture due to a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Ulster lock Iain Henderson has returned to Andy Farrell's squad, and uncapped Leinster prop Michael Milne has also been called up.

Ireland are just two home victories away from matching the longest such winning streak in their history (12 between November 2016 and November 2018) and welcome both Fiji and Australia to the Aviva Stadium before the end of November. 

The Indianapolis Colts have fired head coach Frank Reich.

Reich became the second coach to be fired in-season in 2022 on Monday following a dismal 3-5-1 start. Matt Rhule was the first, dismissed by the Carolina Panthers in October.

Indianapolis suffered a 26-3 defeat at the New England Patriots in what proved to be Reich's final game in charge.

Reich was hired in 2018 after Josh McDaniels went back on his decision to take the job.

While he was not the Colts' first choice, he initially enjoyed great success, leading Indianapolis to a 10-6 record in his first season. After beating the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round, they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round.

Andrew Luck's shock retirement ahead of the 2019 season saw them take a step back and finish 7-9 and, though they got back to the playoffs with Philip Rivers at quarterback in 2020, the Colts' decision-making at the game's most important position following Luck exiting the stage played a crucial role in Reich's downfall.

Reich reunited with Carson Wentz in 2021 after the Colts gave up a first-round pick to land the quarterback he coached as the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator in 2017, when Wentz was in the MVP race before suffering a season-ending injury and the Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl.

But Wentz has never since reached the same heights and represented a huge gamble by the Colts, one that backfired in Week 18 of last season when he and Indianapolis imploded in a loss to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars, missing out on a playoff berth as a result.

The Colts subsequently traded Wentz this offseason and landed 2016 MVP Matt Ryan in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons.

However, a seemingly astute move proved a misguided one and Ryan was benched for Sam Ehlinger prior to a Week 8 loss to the Washington Commanders.

The quarterback switch has not yielded the desired results, with the Colts unable to overcome their lack of talent at the skill positions and regression by an offensive line that has received little investment at tackle.

The Colts are 30th in the NFL with an average of 4.77 yards per play, their efforts offering little help to a defense that is seventh by yards per play allowed.

Reich departs with a regular-season record of 40-33-1 and the Colts next face the Las Vegas Raiders, who are 2-6 under the leadership of McDaniels, in Week 10 of a season that looks set to end in a rebuild for the Colts.

Patrick Mahomes' extraordinary success with the Kansas City Chiefs has largely been built on his incredible rapport with tight end Travis Kelce.

On Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, it was his connection with an unheralded tight end that proved to critical for Mahomes and Kansas City.

The Chiefs fought back from a 17-9 deficit to see off the Titans 20-17 in overtime and move to 6-2.

Mahomes produced magic with his legs to help the Chiefs tie the game, a 20-yard rush on third-and-17 keeping alive a scoring drive he capped with a 14-yard touchdown run. He then added the two-point conversion on another scramble.

His 68 passes were just two shy of the all-time single-game record. Mahomes completed 43 passes, again two short of the league record, with the gap between his tally and that of Titans rookie Malik Willis (five) representing the largest between two starting quarterbacks in a game.

No completion was more important than Mahomes' 27-yard connection with tight end Noah Gray on third-and-1 from the Tennessee 49-yard line.

Under pressure from Demarcus Walker, Mahomes rolled to his right before deftly evading the defensive lineman and stepping up to fire downfield to Gray, who had uncovered from the coverage of Roger McCreary. Gray leapt to make a juggling catch over the head of McCreary, putting Kansas City on the edge of the red zone.

Though the Chiefs could not clinch the game with a touchdown, Harrison Butker converted a 28-yard field goal and the defense stopped Willis and the Titans in four plays on the subsequent series to wrap it up.

"It's funny," Mahomes said. "I think I said it in training camp: I feel like I don't target Noah enough because a lot of times plays are called either to him or he's one of the options I can give him a chance on. And it seems like I don't throw it to him.

"He's always open — and so as the season's going on and as our careers go on I want to give him more and more chances, because I think he can be a big part of this offense. 

"That whole tight end room has been great for us this season. But for [Gray] to make that catch in that moment? I mean, that was a tough catch that he made; that was a big one for us. That was probably the reason that we were able to get down there and win."

Asked about his third-down run that set the comeback in motion, Mahomes replied: "I definitely saw a lane to get it close enough that I thought we'd be able to go for it [on fourth down].

"When you're in that situation, you know that if you can get it to a fourth-and-5, fourth-and-4, coach Reid's probably going to give you a chance there.

"And then as I was running, I felt the – I think it was the safety — kind of overpursuing so I kind of shot my shot and went out there. I actually tried to get outside again which didn’t work out for me; I’m not fast enough.

"But it was a good play and like I said we just battled at the end of the day. It wasn't like we were designing it up we were just going out there and trying to make some stuff happen."

Mahomes is the NFL king of making stuff happen, and his primetime heroics in Week 9 moved the Chiefs level with the 6-2 Buffalo Bills at the top of the AFC. The Chiefs are in prime position to make another run at a Super Bowl title.