he Trae Young | Tua Tagovailoa | The LeBronnofLax +TheDefense&Stars&CTESolve+ TThe Defennse & Staars & CCTE Sollve ....of ofToTomorrow NOVEMBER 19–26 , 2018 DOUBBLE ISSUE SI.COM | @SINOW ANDY REID IS CREATING FOOTBALL’S FUTURE PATRICK MAHOMES IS LIVING IT BY JENNY VRENTAS P. 40 PhotPhotographograph byby DAVIDAVIDDE. E.KLUTH KLUTHOO WE MAKE MORE HOLIDAY DELIVERIES TO MORE HOMES THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY, WITH ONE NOTABLE EXCEPTION. Santa and the United States Postal Service® both know holiday deliveries need to show up on time – for everyone. That’s why we deliver to every single address in America. Ship now at usps.com/merry © 2018 United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. The Eagle Logo is among the many trademarks of the U.S. Postal Service®. NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 VOLUME 129 | NO. 11 DEPARTMENTS SI TV P. 2 LEADING OFF P. 4 INBOX P. 10 SCORECARD P. 13 FACES IN THE CROWD P. 24 POINT AFTER P. 100 the ANDY REID 40 How his innovations have reshaped NFL offenses ByJennyVrentas A SCHEME TO SAVE THE D 47 Great minds think alike: taking on the scoring explosion By Conor Orr QB EVOLUTION 52 Size and strength are out; mobility and accuracy are in ByJennyVrentas TRAE YOUNG 56 Prototypical NBA sharpshooter, social media pro ByAndrewSharp PROMISE KEEPERS 64 Six youngsters poised to lead the next wave ByJeremyFuchs LACROSSE 72 Is a new pro league’s business plan the way to go? ByBenReiter IT’S HARD TO REPEAT 78 The author discovered that he’s no soothsayer ByBenReiter GARY PLUMMER 84 Can alternative therapies reverse cognitive decline? ByChrisBallard A MOMENT LIKE THIS 94 Maybewe’dallenjoysportsmore if we lived in today ByTimLayden THE CAVS 26 When dysfunction is the operating MASTER CHIEF principle By Rob Mahoney · An ode to Cleveland QBs bysteverushin Running back Kareem Hunt pounded out 71 yards as 9–1 BEST BUY Kansas City beat Arizona 26–14 to retain control of the AFC West. 32 BryceHarper,andthecraziesthot stove in years ByTomVerducci PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID E. KLUTHO NOW ON Hope Chess IF AMERICA’S descent into chess oblivion began with Bobby Fischer’s decline, then its ascent into a chess renaissance starts with Fabiano Caruana, who is the subject of the documentary Your Move on SI TV. While Fischer was bombastic and incendiary, the 26-year-old Caruana is soft-spoken and demure. While Fischer was anxious and suspicious—equally concerned with the knight encroaching on his king as with the cameras filming his every move—Caruana is laid back. Despite their differences, Caruana is attempting to do something no American has done since Fischer, in 1974. By HOW TO winning the Candidates Tournament in Berlin in March, Caruana earned the right to play Magnus WATCH LENNART OOTES /COURTESY OF SAINT LOUIS CHESS CLUB Carlsen of Norway for the world championship in London. “Every chess player in the United States in some sense lives in [Fischer’s] shadow,” Caruana says. “But my chess can stand alone.” For classic The championship will be determined over 12 games at The College in Holborn, from Nov. 9 to 28. sports movies Carlsen, 27, became world champion in 2013 and defended his title in ’16. Caruana managed a draw in and TV the first two matches, but whether he upsets Carlsen is almost beside the point. His appearance at the shows, plus championship can galvanize the sport in the U.S. “Caruana has simply electrified American chess in a Crossover TV and other way that no one has in decades,” says Maurice Ashley, a U.S. grandmaster and noted chess commenta- compelling tor. “He’s telling all of the other players, Get on my back. You guys can keep growing, keep developing, original because we’re making a mark on the world stage.” —Jeremy Fuchs programming, go to SI.TV 2 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 CLERMONT K.Y. U.S. WE’VE BUILT A NAME ON BOURBON AND A LEGACY ON RYE. EVERY B T EARNED KNOB CREEK® KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY 50% ALC./VOL. ©2018 KNOB CREEK DISTILLERY CLERMONT, KY. LEADING OFF INSIDE THE LINES HERE IS a part of professional football that T holds little interest for fantasy players or statisticians. Analytics wizards pay it little mind as well. The few times the members of the overlooked group appear center screen during a game is when one has committed an infraction that undoes the spectacular feat of a player who does get attention all the time. Yet all this group does, on most fall Sundays, is determine the outcome of the actual football game. For the last few weeks we have trained our lenses on these stalwarts—NFL offensive linemen—who receive little credit, except of course from the running backs who would be poorer without them, the quarterbacks who depend on them for their safety and the coaches who count on them to deliver a victory week after week. PETERS PRINCIPLE No one, not even Eagles All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters, has stopped the Vikings’ Danielle 1 Hunter, whose 11 ⁄2 sacks rank second in the league. PHOTOGRAPH BY ROB TRINGALI LEADING OFF FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED MIDDLE MUSH Broncos left guard Max Garcia (76) tried to stand tall against J.J. Watt (99) and Angelo Blackson (97), a combined 600 pounds of Texans defensive end. PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMIE SCHWABEROW LEADING OFF FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED CHICAGO STUDS With right tackle Bobby Massie (70), the NFC North– leading Bears have allowed their quarterbacks to be hit just 36 times, fourth fewest in the NFL. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID E. KLUTHO BRADY VS. RODGERS It boggles my mind that sportswriters won’t stop conflating team success and individual greatness. We have a way to compare players: statistics. Aaron Rodgers is head and shoulders above Tom Brady, both by traditional stats and advanced metrics. Si’s INBOX FOR NOVEMBER 5, 2018 will soon be able to bypass college and earn $125,000 as LEADING OFF was overwhelmed by aprofessional.The What a remarkable the poignancy of his G-League is good, old- photo of Andrew proseashedetailed fashioned American Benintendi’s catch the loyalty, resilience capitalism at its best! in the World Series in and passion of InIntime,itwillproveto time, it w front of Fenway Park’s Boston’s players and be the bestthingfor Green Monster. And their manager as they college bassketball since what a reminder that pursued greattness. the shot clock. Andy Benoit is right to the Orioles finished a They succeeded William McCarthy say there’s no debate: whopping 61 games beyond everyone’s Athens,Ga. it’s Rodgers who is behind the eventual expectations, as much better. champion Red Sox. did Verducci in THETOP 255 Brian Hofman That is a stunning documenting You mentiont that there Kanawha, Iowa commentary on the lack their are a “whopping six of parity in major league magnificent teams”s from the POINT AFTER WINSLOW TOWNSON (BENINTENDI); GREGORY (BAZL PAYAN/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK baseball today. journey. SEC inntheTop20 Iunderstandthat BRIAN D. KERSEY/GETTY IMAGES RODGERS); (BRADY, JOHN MCDONOUGH W. (COVE Mark A. Weber Rick Lalor withouut noting that Lindsey Vonn is one of Indialantic, Fla. Glendora, Calif. thereareeanamazing the greatest athletes seven teamms from the we’ve seen over the past UNBREAKABLE FREED MARKEET ACC, includding three 15 years, but I still would Anyone who has Bravo to Charles intheTop88. Come on, have liked to hear much wondered why Red Sox P. Pierce for his theACCis the best more about her future Nation is so devoted succinct, hardd- basketball conference. plans in her retirement to its team need only hitting essay on The mediaa’s sudden announcement. read Tom Verducci’s the G-League,where devotion to the SEC Gary Dembs powerful story about 18-year-old basketball does not change that. Huntington Woods, the World Series. I stars like Darius Bazley Brian King, Tampa Mich. EY); R) For ad rates, an editorial Letters should include the To purchase reprints of SI covers, ON DECK calendar or a media kit, email SI at writer’sfullname,addressand go to SICOVERS.COM The next edition of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED will [email protected] telephone number and may be be the December 3, 2018, issue. Look edited for clarity and space. Email: for it on newsstands and in your mailbox [email protected] beginning on November 28. 10 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | NOVEMBER 19-26, 2018 THE PROTEIN TO HELP POWER THROUGH A GRUELING DAY OF FANTASY COACHING. ®/©2018 Tyson Foods, Inc. ®/©2018 Tyson Keep it real. Keep it Tyson. BELFAST | FLORSHEIM.COM NEWSMAKERS P.15 A LIFE REMEMBERED P. 19 GAMEPLAN P.21 SI EATS P. 22 FACES IN THE CROWD P.24 SCORECARD AST SATURDAY the known as the Woolsey Fire began L marquee outside Oaks charring a suburban hillside about EASING Christian School asked 10 miles northeast of the town. As for thoughts and prayers for the blaze—which had rapidly spread THE our thousand oaks community, across 85,000 acres—engulfed their without making clear which of the two tree-shrouded neighborhoods on PA IN local catastrophes it was referencing. Saturday, thousands of Thousand Three nights earlier a gunman Oaks’s 130,000 residents grieving SPORTS PROVIDE SOME entered the Borderline Bar and Grill from the mass shooting were forced RELIEF TO A CALIFORNIA on Rolling Oaks Drive and killed to flee their homes. COMMUNITY UNDER SIEGE 11 patrons and a Ventura County That same day Oaks Christian’s sheriff’s sergeant before taking his football team, undefeated and BY MICHAEL MCKNIGHT own life. Then, 15 hours later, the ranked No. 8 in the nation, was EUGENE GARCIA/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCKEUGENE first flames of what would become on a southbound bus, headed to NOVEMBER 19–26, 2018 | SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 13 SCORECARD itsSouthernSectionDivisionI huskyfromshoutingandbreathingdust.