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This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

Greetings to you all on this fine Monday morning. It's Otto Strong, filling in for the regular writing crew, and I'm guessing you already know we have a mountain of sports news to discuss. Aside from all of the NFL, college football and WNBA playoffs news and commentary, we enter the last week of MLB's regular season and the start of the Ryder Cup is only four days away.

The Ryder Cup will be contested at the famed Bethpage Black course on Long Island, just outside of New York City. We'll showcase more each day this week, but we tee off with a story about how Scottie Scheffler, the world's top golfer, can separate himself from Tiger Woods. Despite his greatness, the Ryder Cup was Woods' Kryptonite as he personally struggled over the years and was only able to lay claim to the Cup once in eight tries. Like I said, there will be more Ryder Cup content in the days ahead.

But before we go forward, we've got to go back, waaaayyy back, if you will and acknowledge the special 50th anniversary of The NFL Today that aired yesterday. The tribute to the first live televised pregame studio show featured the original opener, those retro graphics, music, stylized set and -- yes -- hair and wardrobe. As usual, James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and Matt Ryan nailed the commentary, just with a few extra layers of hair and polyester. But the real highlight was having Brent Musburger, the host from 1975 to 1990, back at the desk to complete the vibe. Kudos to all who had a hand in making the show a reality. Hopefully, you had a chance to see it, but you can find more about our throwback show here ... Now let's get you back to 2025 and ...

🏈 Five things to know Monday

  1. The Chiefs beat the Giants to avoid the dreaded 0-3 start. Kansas City looked shaky again early, but managed to get the 22-9 win, in part, due to Russell Wilson's two interceptions. Fans at Met Life Stadium called for backup QB Jaxson Dart to take over, and after the game Brian Daboll refused to address who starts against the Chargers in Week 4. Maybe there's a reason he wouldn't commit?
  2. It was a wild Week 3. Sunday was the first day in NFL history that there were multiple interception return touchdowns, multiple fumble blocked field goal return touchdowns and multiple punt return touchdowns. Here's a story that ranks all nine defensive and special teams touchdowns. Plus, we have your Week 3 grades, overreactions and winners and losers.
  3. And there were several key injuries. Nick Bosa. Mike Evans. CeeDee Lamb. James Conner. Najee Harris. They all had serious scares, and the fear is that the road back for Conner (ankle) and Harris (Achilles) will be long. That's unfortunate for them as well as the Cardinals and Chargers, respectively. The severity of the other injuries should be known at some point today.
  4. Aaron Rodgers passed two NFL greats on two different lists. Rodgers 509th career touchdown pass broke a tie with former Packers teammate Brett Favre. Now in fourth all alone, he finished the game at 510 TDs thrown and needs 29 more to catch Peyton Manning. He also overtook Philip Rivers for sixth place on the career yards list and now has 63,538. Next up, Ben Roethlisberger, who is 550 yards away.
  5. The AP Top 25 poll is out and Ohio State and Miami are 1 and 2. The Buckeyes were idle, but they still captured 52 first-place votes. Miami beat Florida, 26-7, and earned seven first-place votes in moving up three spots to No. 2. The biggest surprise of the week would have to be No. 19 Indiana streamrolling No. 9 Illinois, 63-10. The Hoosiers moved up eight spots to No. 11, and the Fighting Illini tumbled 14 spots, all the way down to No. 23. The 53-point victory was the largest ever by a non-top-10 team going up against an AP Top-10 team, according to CBS Sports Research.

🏈 Do not miss this: The ugly truth at Chapel Hill

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In the crush of NFL news, and major college football programs jockeying for position in the top 25, baseball teams slugging it out and the WNBA playoff field getting whittled down, it is worth five minutes of your time to make sure you had a chance to catch up with a program that was nearly inescapable a month ago. We, of course, are talking about the University of North Carolina football team.

John Talty took another look at the Tar Heels' football program (now 2-2) and what he reveals might make you look at Bill Belichick in a new light. Originally published on Saturday, it would be worth your time if you're at all interested in the behind-the scenes nature of college football. Plus -- not gonna lie -- the headline, "Tobacco roadblock: The Bill Belichick experiment at UNC is an even bigger disaster than expected" is awesome as well.

  • Talty: "Before the season, there were player and coaching talent concerns around how this would all work for Belichick in Chapel Hill. On paper there wasn't a lot of NFL talent on UNC's roster. The coaching staff, one of the highest-paid in the ACC, didn't exactly elicit wows from industry sources after Belichick put it together. It felt like a mish-mash of family connections (two Belichick sons and GM Mike Lombardi's son all on staff), guys with NFL experience and college retreads. Multiple industry sources couldn't believe that Belichick entrusted Freddie Kitchens to be his offensive coordinator."

⚾ Brewers, Phillies remain 1-2 atop MLB Power Rankings as division races heat up

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We're not going to look for new ways to say the Brewers and Phillies are the class of Major League Baseball. Milwaukee and Philadelphia retained their top spots in Matt Snyder' MLB Power Rankings for a fourth straight week, as both clubs are the only ones to have clinched their respective divisions.

The next team most likely to clinch a division crown might figure to be the Dodgers. They have a three-game lead on the Padres, but Los Angeles will play their final six on the road at Arizona and Seattle while San Diego hosts Milwaukee and then Arizona.

The American League is where things have really tightened up. The Yankees have pulled within two games of the Blue Jays, and will close the season at home against two American League cellar-dwellers, Chicago and Baltimore. Toronto also plays its last six at home, hosting Boston and Tampa Bay.

In the AL West, the Mariners now have a three-game lead on the Astros after sweeping them in Houston over the weekend. But the craziest race of them all has been the AL Central. The Tigers (1-9 over their last 10) let the Guardians (9-1 over their last 10) back into the playoff picture, and Cleveland hosts a three-game set with Detroit starting on Tuesday.

For an expanded look at these races, and which teams are in the running for wild-card berths, check out our playoff picture post. And here are our MLB Power Rankings heading into the last week of the regular season, along with how the top five fared last week.

  1. Brewers (1)
  2. Phillies (2)
  3. Dodgers (5)
  4. Blue Jays (3)
  5. Yankees (7)

🏆 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

📺 What we're watching Monday

⚽ Ballon d'Or ceremony, 2 p.m. on Paramount+
⚽ Serie A: Pisa at Napoli, 2:45 p.m. on Paramount+
🏒 Preseason: Penguins at Canadiens, 7 p.m. on NHL Network
⚾ Nationals at Braves, 7:15 p.m. on MLB Network
🏈 Lions at Ravens, 8:15 p.m. on ESPN/ABC