Virgil van Dijk is not accustomed to being powerless on the pitch, but he had temporarily lost control.

"It's a feeling you can't really describe," the centre-back tells ESPN FC, revisiting the moment his legs gave way at the Wanda Metropolitano when Divock Origi's goal marked Liverpool as Champions League winners. He was half-turned away from the action, jogging back into position after miscuing his kick from James Milner's corner and losing a header against Tottenham's Jan Vertonghen when the ball fell to Joel Matip, who touched it on for the Belgian striker.

As Origi's left-footed strike passed Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and pinballed into the bottom-far corner, Van Dijk spread his arms out in triumph as those closest to him -- Jordan Henderson, Andrew Robertson and Fabinho -- had done. Like them, he began to run towards the scorer, but collapsed to his knees three strides in and ended up flat on his back.

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"It was pure relief taking over my body," Van Dijk says of those scenes on 87 minutes when Liverpool went 2-0 up in Madrid, winning their first trophy under Jurgen Klopp and the club's sixth European Cup. "We were under pressure before that, and I thought 'finally, it's over.'

"We were dropping back, we were defending like mad. At one point, we were just hoofing the ball forward, but it was the mental aspect. Usually we would build from the back, play our own football, but going 1-0 up after two minutes [through Mohamed Salah's penalty] is just a crazy situation in such a big game. Everyone can say what they want about how s--- the final was, but for us it didn't matter after Divock scored the goal.

"There were so many emotions, but the first one was relief."

That feeling immediately centered on the match situation, but soon spread to the "painful memory of Kiev," where Liverpool lost the Champions League final 3-1 to Real Madrid a year earlier. It went further too, covering the five months when, as he puts it, "lots of things happened" between the 28-year-old wanting to leave Southampton for Anfield at the end of 2016-17 and his £75 million transfer.

On the Wanda Metropolitano turf, where he lay overwhelmed with both his hands covering his face and would later roll in the confetti with his two young daughters and wife, Rike, Van Dijk's choice was vindicated.

On Sunday, Liverpool were edged 5-4 on penalties in the Community Shield by Manchester City, the club that also coveted Van Dijk and twice believed they would get him, before turning to Aymeric Laporte. It is also the team the Netherlands captain identifies as the biggest threat to Liverpool's objectives given their staggering 198-point haul in the Premier League over the past two seasons.

"They are incredible," said Van Dijk, who got the assist for the equaliser to take Sunday's game to a shootout. "And so are we. To get so close in the league was remarkable -- 97 points and just one defeat -- so it was disappointing not to win it, but I put that feeling away. I could respect that City were one point better last season. It's driven me on to work even more, to push the limits and help do everything we can to win.

"We know it will be difficult, because they will improve and so will the other teams, but we are not afraid of challenges."

Liverpool's status as continental kings and title challengers could not have transpired without the £75 million purchase of Van Dijk, which was finally agreed on December 27, 2017. The signing ended nearly two years of extensively scouring the market, pulling together a dual-pronged dossier on the best candidates to bolster the heart of their defence.

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The recruitment team, headed by sporting director Michael Edwards, analysed 34 centre-backs separated into "A" and "B" grade categories by watching them in blocks of 15 games or more. The former group were elite players that could make an immediate difference, with Van Dijk at the top of a pile that also featured Laporte, Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly and Jerome Boateng of Bayern Munich. The "B" section contained younger candidates with the potential to become top quality defenders in future.

The Reds' team felt that Van Dijk should have had his own bracket: he was superior in every metric from aerial prowess to recovery speed. Klopp also believed Southampton's captain to be a class apart; beyond his attributes, the manager noted both his composure and how he commanded the respect of those around him. Van Dijk wasn't just a phenomenal centre-back, he was a reference point for his teammates.

"If we go for a centre-half, we need to know how he acts in big spaces," Klopp said in April 2017, when asked about adding a defender. He felt that the right candidate for Liverpool had to be aerially dominant and "football smart: they have to make the right decision in the right moment, stepping back and all that stuff." By September that year, having opted to wait for Van Dijk rather than bring in an alternative, the 52-year-old was already under fire for that call with Liverpool shipping 13 goals in their opening seven games.

Significantly, Klopp was correct in thinking none of the available options were better than Van Dijk, who is now a front-runner for the Ballon d'Or.

Only three defenders have ever received the top honour: Franz Beckenbauer (1976), Matthias Sammer (1996) and Fabio Cannavaro (2006). Since the former Italy captain's triumph, nine of the 12 winners (just four different recipients: Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Luka Modric) have lifted the Champions League cup in that season. The three exceptions have been for extraordinary goal-scoring campaigns from Messi (91 goals in 2012, 60 in 2010) and Ronaldo (66 in 2013).

Van Dijk won a higher percentage of his duels than any other defender in Europe's top five leagues in 2018-19, was pivotal to Liverpool's Champions League victory and narrowly lost the Nations League final, 1-0, to hosts Portugal. "It's something special to have your name associated with such a prestigious award, more so because defenders hardly get considered," he says.

"It's nice, but the only thing for me to focus on and control is continuing to play at a high level. I have to start strong again along with the rest of the team so we can meet our ambitions: that's more important."

The Netherlands international underlines Messi along with his teammates Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Alisson -- "a cool guy, who works hard, but is also a prankster that came in and settled immediately" -- as strong contenders for the prize.

Van Dijk's own adjustment period at Anfield was smooth considering Klopp's exacting demands, the fact he had joined midseason and the weight of wearing the "world's most expensive defender" label, a tag just taken by England's Harry Maguire, now joining Manchester United. Van Dijk was aided by receiving a lowdown on life at the club from his countryman Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson, with whom he shares an agent.

He noted that Liverpool's captain in particular was an "important factor" in choosing the Reds, due to the level of detail shared by Henderson on everything from the manager's relationship with his players to the mindset of those in the dressing room. "He painted the picture for me and made it easy to join."

A team bonding trip to Dubai straight after his debut against Everton in the FA Cup third round, in which he scored an 84th-minute winner, proved priceless.

"Virgil grew so close to everybody, it was very important for us and for him as well to be involved more in the team," Sadio Mane would later reveal of that getaway in early January 2018. "After Dubai, it looked like he had already been with us here for three or four years."

Van Dijk's description of Alisson as "a cool guy, who works hard but is also a prankster" may as well be a mirror into his own personality. From teasing Dejan Lovren about his "one of the best defenders in the world" claim to mocking his close friend Joe Gomez for having a locker that "looks like a beauty parlour," he is one of the biggest characters at the club.

"I'm not a guy to sit still and not get to know everyone so Dubai was the perfect kind of trip for me so soon after joining," Van Dijk says. "I'd never experienced coming to a club midseason before, but we had a good laugh, and it clicked immediately; you could tell everyone was willing to work for each other."

Van Dijk has a reputation as a "transformer" at Liverpool and is all too aware of the adulation he enjoys from the Kop, which includes a catchy ditty to the tune of The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town." The scale of affection is appreciated by the player, but it does not surprise him.

"That summer when I made the decision until I actually joined the club, I had so many Liverpool fans coming up to me wherever I went -- everywhere -- telling me how much they wanted me to sign for the club," he says. "That gave me a bit of a feeling of how big Liverpool is and how passionate the supporters are. When you look at the Barcelona game [a historic Champions League semifinal comeback at Anfield], the scenes from the parade in the city and you watch videos of them celebrating all over the world, it says everything. It's unbelievable to be involved in something so special."

"I think the minimum you can do at such a beautiful and big club is to give everything you've got and have no regrets when you leave the pitch because you know you did everything in your power to win the game. The fans appreciate that. That's the mentality we all have in the squad; we will work every yard of the pitch and work for each other: it's our base.

"No one can blame us for not trying, for not having ambition because we give everything."

Van Dijk understands what it means to represent Liverpool not just on the pitch, but off it too. On his first day as a home player at Anfield two years ago on Dec. 30, he did not notice Rocco Daly, then 10, wearing a "Virgil 4" shirt. He was swarmed upon entering the stadium, and security were trying to lead him into the tunnel so he could meet his new teammates ahead of them lining up against Leicester City. The club's record signing did see a picture of Rocco postmatch, however, and asked Liverpool staff to track down the kid so he could send him an autographed shirt.

It wasn't his only outreach. Van Dijk saw a Twitter plea from Chris Geldard for signed merchandise to decorate his son Oliver's hospital room and duly obliged with a signed home kit and boots. Last December, he paid for the Owen McVeigh Foundation Christmas party, which 120 children got to enjoy thanks to his donation instead of the usual number of 50. He doesn't like to talk about any of these deeds in detail, but what he does like to discuss, however, is the strength of the collective within the club.

Framed as the club's main man, Van Dijk is skilled at directing the conversation away from himself and to those he feels do not get enough credit, Matip being an example. "How we ended the season was unreal, and I told him after the [Champions League] final that I was personally so happy for him because the year before he played no part in Kiev, and he had a thigh problem at the beginning of the season.

"At Liverpool, we are all part of one unit, not just the 11 on the pitch."

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A close-knit dressing room and the relentlessness of the coaching staff are factors Van Dijk underscores as fundamental to Liverpool's success. "The progress since I've been here has surprised me a little, but at the same time, it hasn't been surprising because if you look at the team, we have a fantastic squad on and off the pitch," he says.

"It's not just the talent we have: everyone gets along, we want to fight for each other, we want to develop together and that's something that comes down from the manager and how he is with his staff. The senior players here are welcoming, set the tone in terms of how we treat each other and what we should demand from ourselves.

"We want to improve, we won't get comfortable. That's a big credit to the manager and everyone that works at Melwood: they always remind us there's no time to feel like it's all good. That we have to strive to be better than the last game, even if it was an incredible performance. There are always things we can still learn to perfect."

One of those aspects could be Van Dijk not actually shanking volleys and scoring for himself, although his worst efforts have contributed to two of Liverpool's most euphoric moments of last season: Origi's 96th-minute winner against Everton and the 24-year-old's mammoth goal in the final.

"Don't even start," Van Dijk laughs. "Divock loves it. I can't believe I got the assist for his goal in the derby. I'll try to give him a few more this season, but one of them has to eventually go in: come on!"

Van Dijk won't mind more miskicks or moments where he temporarily loses control if it equates to an increase in silverware.

"We've got the big one, but that's only a start," he says, tapping his right fist into his left palm. "The time for celebrating is over, let's get back to work."

Somerset have set the gold standard among counties for streaming their games, and have had to find a way to manage an influx of traffic after the signing of Babar Azam.

Ben Warren, Somerset's digital marketing executive, had to upgrade the club website's server capacity after their first game of the Blast, a win at Glamorgan that was not streamed live, as fans in Pakistan were so desperate to follow their star batsman's progress.

But the change appears to have been worthwhile: their home defeat against Sussex last weekend, in which Babar made 83, attracted over 1.5 million views on YouTube.

It remains a source of frustration for several clubs that due to the technicalities within the broadcast deal between the ECB and Sky, streams on YouTube have to remain 'unlisted' - meaning they do not show up in the search bar, and have to be found via hyperlinks.

It may seem like a minor difference, but counties are convinced they are missing out on substantial traffic because of it, and hope that after consultation with the governing body, a change will be implemented ahead of next season.

***

Lancashire have stormed to the top of the North Group thanks to Glenn Maxwell's runs, Liam Livingstone's all-round exploits, and a bowling attack which offers genuine pace and high-quality spin.

They could be forgiven for looking forward to the quarter-finals already, but the knockouts pose a real conundrum for them. The quarter-finals are scheduled for the same week as the Old Trafford Ashes Test, which gives Lancashire a headache if they finish in the top two.

As reported on Saturday, the club are in discussions with the ECB as to their potential options - Sky would struggle to show a game at any of their outground options, and they will be loath to give their opponents home advantage, so a neutral venue might be an avenue worth exploring.

Further, it has emerged that Maxwell will be unavailable if they are to reach Finals Day, as he will be returning to Australia in time for the start of the domestic season, with James Faulkner likely in a similar position.

Article 3.5 of the ECB's regulations on player registration - commonly known as the "Bravo Rule", since it was introduced after Dwayne Bravo's ill-fated Finals Day appearance for Essex in 2010 - means that a potential replacement for the knockout stages would have to have played at least one group game, meaning Lancashire would likely go in without an overseas player.

And while Jos Buttler is usually available for Finals Day, he may well be made unavailable by England this time around after a hectic summer. Lancashire are flying high, but could soon be in danger of suffering from vertigo.

***

Durham are set for a scrap to reach the quarter-finals for a second year running, a sentence which must have seemed improbable at the start of last season.

What they lack in high-profile names - D'Arcy Short and Peter Handscomb are the only real stars - they more than make up for with wholehearted contributors, which is perhaps epitomised best by their unlikely death-bowling duo.

Nathan Rimmington, the diminutive 36-year-old Australian seamer who plays on a British passport, has combined with 20-year-old Matty Potts to great effect so far, and the pair find themselves leading the way among regular death bowlers.

Rimmington's economy rate at the death is 7.01, and his 59 balls in overs 16-20 have brought only four boundaries, while Potts has an almost identical record to last year's breakout star Pat Brown - both have conceded 65 runs in 48 balls at the death, though Brown has one wicket more.

There is another improbable face just behind Rimmington, in Ravi Rampaul, who is quietly enjoying a stellar Blast for Derbyshire, while Tom Helm (12.22) and - surprisingly - Harry Gurney (11.00) find themselves at the wrong end of the rankings.

***

Wayne Parnell is best known for his left-arm seam and a feisty on-field attitude, though he is not completely without pedigree with the bat.

He had regularly been deployed as a pinch-hitting opener by Cobras, his domestic team in South Africa, and before the start of last week, had batted in every position from Nos. 1 to 11 in T20, except one.

As if to try him out in the only role he was yet to have a go at, Worcestershire promoted him to No. 4 for their run chase against Derbyshire. And the risk paid off in some style: he belted 81 not out off just 46 balls to see them home, before adding an 18-ball 27 in the win against Yorkshire two days later.

***

Gloucestershire were left fuming on Sunday, as their attempts to defend 159 against Sussex were derailed by a six-run penalty applied due to their slow over-rate.

The main sources of contention appeared to be the umpires taking some time to confirm Luke Wright was out, after a boundary-rope catch by AJ Tye, and a lost ball, with Michael Klinger convinced his side had not been given sufficient extra time in which to bowl their overs.

It meant Sussex only needed eight from the final over rather than 14, which Delray Rawlins knocked off easily enough. Gloucestershire allrounder Benny Howell risked sanction from the ECB by tweeting afterwards: "Such an unfortunate end to a great day and exciting game. The umpires need to be held accountable for costing us a potential 2 points."

Even that controversy, though, could not take the shine away from a memorable occasion, as both teams wore specially-designed shirts to raise awareness for the charity Grief Encounter.

Tom Smith, the Gloucestershire and ex-Sussex spinner, lost his wife to a rare form of liver cancer in 2018, and the charity has provided him and his daughters with support and counselling since. For further details, visit www.griefencounter.co.uk/about-us

Big picture

With lightning scares, and the possibility of any series result other than India's win out of the way, the teams move to Guyana, in the northern mainland of South America for the third and final T20I. Neither team looked keen on making changes during the second match on Sunday, but that will likely change.

While a look to next year's World Cup - 14 months away - is not plausible, West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite did hint towards long-term planning during the toss, and as such may be looking to bring even more young talent into the fray before they move to the next series. There is also a five-match losing streak to snap.

For India, there is the chance to reward some of IPL's most consistent players in what is essentially a dead rubber. In a system brimming with competition for places, they will not find a more convenient time.

Form guide

West Indies LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WWLLL

In the spotlight

Shimron Hetmyer batted at No. 5 for a duck in the first game, and came in at No. 6 before the players went off in the second. At home in Guyana, West Indies could look to push him higher up the order and have the kind of impact he had in the limited-overs leg of the India tour last year. They've had two different No. 4s in the first two games, so it is not out of the question.

India will be impressed by Krunal Pandya's integration into the senior team. The last four series he's played in have all been in different countries and he's produced notable performances in each of those. However, even within that small sample size, he's shown the tendency to follow up good performances with middling ones. With the form he showed with both bat and ball on Sunday, he has the opportunity to close out the series on a high.

Team news

West Indies will be fairly happy with their bowling performances over the two matches, and the batting improved vastly from the sub-100 effort in the first match. They'll be tempted to name a few changes in the top order to build on that.

West Indies XI (probable): 1 John Campbell/Evin Lewis, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Nicholas Pooran/Anthony Bramble (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Carlos Brathwaite (capt), 8 Keemo Paul, 9 Khary Pierre, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Oshane Thomas

India could bring all four of their benched players in and still put out a competitive squad. They are yet to play Rahul Chahar, the only wristspinner in the squad, and Shreyas Iyer, who has long been knocking on the doors.

India XI (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan/KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Manish Pandey/Shreyas Iyer, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja/Washington Sundar, 8 Deepak Chahar/Navdeep Saini, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Rahul Chahar

Pitch and conditions

Thunderstorms are forecast in Georgetown, Guyana just before start of play. So not much changes in terms of potential sluggishness in the pitch - they got it in Florida, and they could get it again on Tuesday.

Stats and trivia

• Having won five of their first seven completed T20I matches against India, West Indies have failed to win in the last five - dating back to July 2017

• Rishabh Pant hasn't made a limited-overs fifty for India across formats in his last six innings

Australia 284 (Smith 144, Broad 5-86) and 487 for 7 dec (Smith 142, Wade 110, Head 51) beat England 374 (Burns 133, Root 57, Stokes 50) and 146 (Lyon 6-49, Cummins 4-32) by 251 runs

They came with hope of batting out the final day and leaving Edgbaston intact, but England were blown away by Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins as Australia completed victory by a crushing 251 runs before tea. Lyon lived up the billing as the major fourth-innings threat with 6 for 49, his best figures against England, and finished with nine in the match.

It was Australia's first victory at the venue in any format since 2001 - which is also their last Test series win in England - and this is the first time they have led an away Ashes since 2005. The lead-up to the match was dominated by a multitude of selection debates, but it was two of the nailed-on names who did the wicket-taking work on the final day to ensure that Steven Smith's monumental performances will always be associated with victory rather than a stalemate. Given that Australia were 122 for 8 on the first day, it will go down as one of their finest victories even though England were a bowler down.

Cummins began Australia's march to victory on the final morning, by removing Rory Burns with a well-directed short ball, and finished with 4 for 32, in the process claiming his 100th Test wicket in his 21st match when he removed Jonny Bairstow. That was the second-fastest number of games for an Australian pace bowler, behind Charlie Turner's 17, a game quicker than Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Bill Johnston.

There was a milestone, too, for Lyon as he reached 350 Test wickets with the scalp of Ben Stokes as England's middle order was destroyed. There had been some hope when, despite the loss of Burns - splicing the ball to gully - in the third over the day, they reached 60 for 1 but Lyon was soon getting to work.

His first wicket of the day owed a lot to a horrendous shot from Jason Roy who charged down the pitch, was nowhere near the ball and still went through with a swipe to the leg side. The end result was not pretty. He is early in his Test career and has been picked because he is a dynamic player, but this was a bad misjudgement. Joe Denly started positively with a brace of sweeps off Lyon but everything was in the offspinner's favour and it wasn't long before a bat-pad chance looped to short leg.

Root twice used DRS to overturn poor lbw decisions by Joel Wilson - who had a torrid game - when he was given out to James Pattinson on 4 with the ball missing leg and again on 9 against Peter Siddle when there was an inside edge. The contest between Lyon and Root was absorbing while it lasted, the England captain eager to try and not let Lyon settle, but there was no need for an umpiring decision when he did fall, a thick inside edge being safely held by Cameron Bancroft.

Four down at lunch and England's only real hope was to have a wicketless middle session: six balls into the resumption and they lost their fifth. Cummins had troubled Jos Buttler before the break - reviewing a tight lbw that was umpire's call on height - and Buttler was 1 off 24 balls when he had his off stump trimmed. He played it as though the ball kept low, and perhaps it did a fraction, but he was also beaten by Cummins' challenging length.

On a surface that became slower as the match progressed, Cummins made exceptional use of the short ball throughout the day. Having earlier defeated Burns, he then angled one in at Bairstow's chest and he couldn't lower his hands in time. The ball ballooned to slip and Bairstow reviewed, intimating it had come off his arm, but it had just brushed the wristband of the glove as well. Credit to Wilson for the correct decision.

Next ball, Lyon got one to spin and bounce at Stokes to take the edge with Tim Paine completing another excellent catch up to the stumps. Chris Woakes played his shots as well as anyone on the day, but the end did not take long to come. In one of the more predictable dismissals Lyon snared Moeen Ali again, caught at second slip, for his fifth wicket then put himself on a hat-trick by removing Stuart Broad with another beautiful off-break. The distance by which Lyon out-bowled Moeen in this match was one of the deciding factors despite Smith's run-glut.

James Anderson, whose injury in the opening session created a hole England couldn't cover up, hobbled out and denied Lyon the hat-trick. It was Cummins who started the demolition and Cummins who ended it when another short ball was fended to slip by Woakes. Fittingly, too, the ball landed in the hands of Smith.

The Fortress had been well and truly breached.

Dale Steyn has retired from Tests with immediate effect, finishing as South Africa's highest wicket-taker. The 36-year-old took 439 wickets in 93 Tests, overtaking Shaun Pollock earlier this year. He will continue to be available for ODI and T20I selection.

"Today I walk away from a format of the game I love so much," Steyn said. "In my opinion Test cricket is the best version of this game. It tests you mentally, physically, emotionally. It's terrible to consider never playing another Test again but what's more terrifying is the thought of never playing again at all. So I will be focusing on ODIs and T20s for the rest of my career to maximise my full potential and ensure my longevity in this sport.

"I'd like to thank everyone in cricket, no one specific, because everyone has been a part of my journey. And I look forward to continuing to play for the Proteas in the shorter formats. Thank you."

Steyn battled various injuries over the last few years, and after what seemed like a successful comeback to all formats late last year, a shoulder injury kept him out of this year's World Cup. He was recently picked up as a marquee player for Euro T20 Slam franchise Glasgow Kings.

More to follow

Joe Root, England's defeated Test captain, said that the selection of James Anderson had been a group decision, after his absence from the attack due to injury contributed significantly to England's 251-run loss against Australia in the opening Test of the Ashes at Edgbaston.

Despite coming through a number of fitness tests in the lead-up to the game, Anderson lasted just four overs on the first morning before reporting tightness in his right calf, the same muscle that he had torn while bowling for Lancashire in a Championship fixture in early July.

In his absence, Australia were able to recover from 122 for 8 on the first day to set England an eventual fourth-innings target of 398, one that they never came close to challenging as they were rolled aside for 146 on the final day.

"It does hurt, we're bitterly disappointed," Root said during the post-match presentations at Edgbaston. "I thought we played some really good cricket throughout the majority of the Test match. But credit to Australia for how they got back in it."

The major thorn in England's side was the indomitable Steven Smith, whose twin innings of 144 and 142 added up to more than the eventual margin of victory. However, his second-innings dismissal, caught snicking a rare swinging ball from Chris Woakes, was an indication of what might have been had Anderson's skill with the Dukes ball been available throughout the match.

"It was two brilliant innings, we'll have to keep working hard on getting him out," said Root. "But it was obviously going to be hard as well, having lost Jimmy pretty early on, in terms of balancing the attack.

"But these things happen in cricket and we've got to take it on the chin and move forward, and come back really hard at Lord's."

However, Anderson is sure to be missing from the attack at Lord's in just over a week's time - even though Root demurred when asked the direct question, saying they would have to wait for the scans on his calf to be properly analysed. And as a consequence, the rationale of his selection for this game, having missed the one-off match against Ireland, is bound to come under scrutiny.

"It was a group decision in terms of the selection of him," said Root. "He passed all the fitness tests. and it's just one of those freak things that can happen in in cricket. It's disappointing, but we've got to try and respond to that and make sure that we get things exactly how we want them at Lord's."

Jofra Archer, who appeared as a substitute fielder during the Edgbaston Test, is an obvious name in the frame to replace Anderson and make his Test debut, having had a chance to rest the side strain that hampered him during the World Cup. But Root said that that decision, too, would have to wait until he had proven his red-ball fitness with a second XI outing for Sussex against Gloucestershire this week.

"We'll have to wait and see how he shapes up as well," said Root. "He's going away tomorrow to get some cricket in, get some overs in. We don't have to make any shotgun decisions in terms of selection. We got plenty of time before the next game. It's really important that we're very clear on how we want to go about it."

On England's final-day meltdown, in which they lost all ten wickets inside two sessions as Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon shared the spoils, Root said that he would not be over-analysing the final performance.

"I think we were bowled out today, to be brutally honest. It was high-class bowling, we were made to work very hard for our wickets. And I think we got to look further back into the Test match for where we could have been slightly better."

Root also insisted that the euphoria of England's World Cup win was not a factor in England's lacklustre start to the Ashes.

"I think that's a bit of an excuse to be honest. We played some good stuff throughout the game, we just didn't do it for long enough and we didn't take our chance at the start, when we had them in that position."

Nevertheless, a week off until the Lord's Test was welcome, he added.

"It gives us time to get away, regroup, and make sure that we're really clear on how we want to approach that Test match. And make sure that this [result] doesn't have a hangover effect going into the next game."

The IBF on Monday formally ordered Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Gennady Golovkin to meet for its vacant middleweight world title. As expected, the sanctioning body sent a letter to both camps telling them to begin negotiations immediately for a fight that will fill the 160-pound world title stripped from Canelo Alvarez on Thursday when his team did not finalize a deal with mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko.

"The IBF middleweight title was declared vacant on August 1, 2019. The IBF is therefore ordering that a bout take place between the two highest ranked contenders to fill this vacancy," IBF championships chairman Carlos Ortiz Jr. wrote in a letter to Alex Dombroff, the attorney for Derevyanchenko promoter Lou DiBella, and John Hornewer, the attorney representing Golovkin's GGG Promotions.

The Derevyanchenko and Golovkin camps have 30 days, or until Sept. 4, to make a deal. They then have another 15 days to submit signed contracts to the IBF for the fight that is slated to take place Oct. 5 -- the date Golovkin exclusive broadcaster DAZN has him penciled in for the second bout of his six-fight, nine-figure deal. If the fighter camps cannot make a deal the IBF will order a purse bid, but DiBella told ESPN he did not think a purse bid would be necessary.

"We knew the letter was coming and we've already been talking and I'm very confident in short order that we will be able to close a deal," DiBella said.

The IBF also dictated that the winner of the vacant title must make his mandatory defense against the leading available contender within six months.

Alvarez promoter Golden Boy had been working on a deal with DiBella for Alvarez to defend his unified title against Derevyanchenko in late October, but after the purse bid was delayed, and the negotiating period was extended multiple times, Alvarez was stripped of the belt per the terms of a deal Golden Boy made with the IBF that the fight would either be finalized by last Thursday afternoon or the title would become vacant.

Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs), 28, of Mexico, claimed he was not aware of the deal Golden Boy made with the IBF, but he was stripped anyway, paving the way for former unified champion Golovkin to face Derevyanchenko for the vacant title.

Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs), 33, of Ukraine, who suffered his lone defeat by split decision to Daniel Jacobs for the vacant IBF belt in October, outpointed Jack Culcay in a title eliminator on April 13 to gain the mandatory position. Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs), 37, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Santa Monica, California, who had previously been stripped of the same title by the IBF, was the next contender in its rankings.

Golovkin had hoped for a third fight with Alvarez this fall, but Alvarez declined to make the bout despite pressure from DAZN, which also has Alvarez under contract.

As the NFL preseason schedule gets cranking with upcoming games, there are intense battles for starting jobs and roster spots raging all across the league.

Who will start at quarterback in Miami and Washington? Who will be snapping to Drew Brees? When the Patriots go four-wide, who will be running routes for Tom Brady?

NFL Nation reporters break down the most important competitions in training camp for all 32 teams.

Jump to a team:
ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE
DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC
LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ
OAK | PHI | PIT | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WSH

AFC EAST

Buffalo Bills

Right Guard

If everyone is healthy, the Bills' starting left tackle, left guard, center and right tackle are set. The problem is everyone is not healthy. Injuries to center Mitch Morse and guards Quinton Spain and Spencer Long have shuffled things around through the Bills' first week of training camp, but some combination of Spain, Long and Jon Feliciano will have to man the guard spots. So far, it appears Spain is the team's best option at left guard, with Feliciano and Long duking it out on the other side. -- Marcel Louis-Jacques

Miami Dolphins

Quarterback

This might be the most interesting position battle in the NFL, a true youthful potential vs. veteran performance to decide which quarterback will lead the rebuilding Dolphins. Head coach Brian Flores said Ryan Fitzpatrick is clearly the leader after one week of training camp, but Josh Rosen has performed better in Week 2 as he continues to grow in the offense. Many fans want Rosen to start regardless of who wins the battle because he's the only quarterback with a chance to be a long-term answer for a team planning for the future. However, Flores refuses to lie to his team about the value of competition and seems set to start the better performer for Week 1. It's likely that both will play this year, but the season becomes a lot more interesting if Rosen can steal this starting job from Fitzpatrick in Week 1. -- Cameron Wolfe

New England Patriots

Wide Receiver

Julian Edelman and first-round pick N'Keal Harry are locks, and Phillip Dorsett is a key piece, but how does it shake out after them? Maurice Harris and Braxton Berrios are next on the depth chart (Demaryius Thomas isn't yet cleared for action), with veteran Dontrelle Inman also looking to make a charge. Harris has made an early impression on the coaching staff with his smarts and tactical route-running. As is often the case with backup receivers, contributions on special teams could be an important tiebreaker. Berrios has punt-return experience, but he has yet to make his mark at receiver. -- Mike Reiss

New York Jets

Outside Linebacker

They're experimenting with various combinations and packages. Jordan Jenkins and Brandon Copeland are the incumbents, but Tarell Basham and Harvey Langi are getting some first-team reps. Jenkins is the best of the bunch. After him, it's fluid. -- Rich Cimini

AFC NORTH

Baltimore Ravens

Left Guard

The left guard spot became even more wide open with the unexpected release former starter Alex Lewis on Monday. Baltimore's options include: Jermaine Eluemunor, who failed his conditioning test to start camp after working with the starters in the spring; Ben Powers, a rookie fourth-round pick; and James Hurst, who finished last season as the starting left guard but has primarily worked at tackle this year. Coach John Harbaugh said he wants someone to step up and seize the job. A week into camp, no one has done so. -- Jamison Hensley

Cincinnati Bengals

Left Guard

With veteran offensive lineman Clint Boling retiring because of a blood clot, the Bengals have a spot to fill on one of their most criticized units. Veterans Christian Westerman and John Jerry have worked with the first team during the first few practices of training camp. At Texas A&M, new offensive line coach Jim Turner was known to tinker with his front five during camp. Between Westerman, Jerry, Trey Hopkins and Michael Jordan, the Bengals have plenty of options to evaluate. -- Ben Baby

Cleveland Browns

Right Guard

The Browns traded away 2018 starter Kevin Zeitler for defensive end Olivier Vernon, which leaves right guard as the only real position battle remaining on the offense. The Browns have been rotating Austin Corbett, Kyle Kalis and Eric Kush so far in camp. They need one of those three to emerge to solidify the offensive line. -- Jake Trotter

Pittsburgh Steelers

Right Tackle

Matt Feiler has the inside track after 10 starts a year ago and a strong training camp. But Chukwuma Okorafor turns 22 just before the first preseason game and has excellent feet, which helps offset the occasional camp struggle. Expect the Steelers to mix lineups throughout August to maximize competition between the two. -- Jeremy Fowler

AFC SOUTH

Houston Texans

Offensive Line

Yes, that's five positions, but Bill O'Brien is still moving his linemen around to find the right combination. Nick Martin should be a lock at center, and Seantrel Henderson is expected to start at right tackle. The line could look like Matt Kalil (LT), first-round pick Tytus Howard (LG), Martin and either second-round pick Max Scharping or last year's starter, Zach Fulton (RG), and Henderson. Offensive linemen Greg Mancz, Martinas Rankin (2018 draft pick) and Julién Davenport (2017 draft pick) have a chance to compete for a starting spot, as well. -- Sarah Barshop

Indianapolis Colts

Cornerback

Pierre Desir is locked in at one cornerback spot, and Kenny Moore is the NFL's highest-paid slot corner. Rookie Rock Ya-Sin, who was selected in the second round of the draft, is battling Quincy Wilson to be the No. 2 cornerback on the outside. Wilson has the edge in experience, as he's headed into his third season, but Ya-Sin has made his presence felt early in camp with his physicality. He's gone toe-to-toe physically with the taller Devin Funchess while also chasing the speedy T.Y. Hilton. -- Mike Wells

Jacksonville Jaguars

Right Tackle

There really aren't any starting jobs open, but it will be interesting to see how things shake out at right tackle once the preseason begins. The Jaguars drafted Jawaan Taylor in the second round, and the logical thought is it's his job to lose -- but the Jaguars also signed former first-round pick Cedric Ogbuehi, who has gotten first-team reps, too. Taylor has some lower-body mechanics that he needs to clean up, but he's strong in his upper body and has the nasty approach line coaches love. Left tackle Cam Robinson is coming off a torn ACL and hasn't practiced yet, so it's important for the Jaguars to get at least one tackle spot settled. -- Mike DiRocco

Tennessee Titans

Right Guard

The competition between veteran Kevin Pamphile and rookie Nate Davis for the final starting spot on the offensive line is one to watch. Once the pads go on and the players can bang, a more true picture can be formed. Davis made a statement to offensive line coach Keith Carter by quickly moving away from the "frog stance" he used in college. Pamphile is entering his sixth NFL season and started two games for the Titans last year. -- Turron Davenport

AFC WEST

Denver Broncos

Wide Receiver

It's not that Emmanuel Sanders, Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton should be concerned about their standing, it's just that after those three, the chances for a wild-card player to make the roster are the highest at this position. The Broncos are optimistic about Sanders' recovery from Achilles surgery in December but might keep an extra receiver to start the season. Tim Patrick, River Cracraft, Trinity Benson, Kelvin McKnight and 2019 draft pick Juwann Winfree have each shown their potential value. Toss in sixth-year veteran Nick Williams, who arrived in late July and immediately showed a comfort level in the offense, and the competition is plenty crowded. -- Jeff Legwold

Kansas City Chiefs

Safety

Veteran Daniel Sorensen is occupying one starting spot along with Tyrann Mathieu, but rookie Juan Thornhill could earn that position by the time the season starts. Thornhill has shown in the early days of camp some much-needed playmaking ability. -- Adam Teicher

Los Angeles Chargers

Safety

The Chargers have a three-way battle for the starting free safety job. Rayshawn Jenkins is the guy for now after earning the job at the end of last season. But the Chargers selected Nasir Adderley in the second round in April because of his range and ability to take the ball away. Adderley has flashed during camp but has been slowed by a nagging hamstring injury. Veteran defensive back Jaylen Watkins would have been the starter last season had he not suffered an ACL knee injury during preseason play. The Chargers like Watkins' versatility, and he remains part of the competition if he can stay healthy. -- Eric D. Williams

Oakland Raiders

Punter

Define "most important" on a team coming off a 4-12 season. But with so many starting gigs already spoken for, let's go with punter. Johnny Townsend was a fifth-round draft pick last year and struggled. Mightily. His 43.2-yards average ranked 32nd in the league, and his 38.2 net average was 30th. Undrafted rookie free agent A.J. Cole, meanwhile, is third in NC State history with a 42.2-yards average. Townsend is more of a directional kicker, and Cole goes for the booming, hang-time kicks. -- Paul Gutierrez

NFC EAST

Dallas Cowboys

Backup Quarterback

That the biggest battle is to see who will be Dak Prescott's backup speaks to the state of the Cowboys' roster. On offense, the roles are set, although this is assuming holdout running back Ezekiel Elliott will be back sooner rather than later. On defense, the roles for the key players remain the same. If the Cowboys lose Prescott, they are in trouble, which is why all eyes are on Cooper Rush, who has handled the role for most of the past two seasons but has thrown only three passes, and Mike White, who was inactive for every game last season. This will play itself out in the preseason, but both have had some good and not-so good moments in camp. If both struggle in the preseason games, the Cowboys could be forced to look for a better backup -- something Jerry Jones would like to avoid. -- Todd Archer

New York Giants

Center

This really is the only open competition for a starting spot at camp. It's either Jon Halapio (the favorite) or Spencer Pulley. Both started last season. Halapio is getting most of the first-team reps at practice at training camp and fits what the Giants are looking for as they build a power line. He has played well, but offensive line coach Hal Hunter said it will come down to how both play in the first three preseason games before a final decision is made. -- Jordan Raanan

Philadelphia Eagles

Cornerback

Projected starters Ronald Darby (ACL) and Jalen Mills (foot) are still working their way back from injuries, providing opportunity for those who are healthy -- and heightening the urgency for someone to step up. Sidney Jones has risen to the occasion thus far. Working both outside and in the slot, the former second-round pick out of Washington has made several big plays during camp. He's competing with guys such as Avonte Maddox and Rasul Douglas for playing time. -- Tim McManus

Washington Redskins

Quarterback

There are definite battles at the two outside receiver spots, but nothing matters more than who will start at quarterback. Technically, it's a three-man race between Colt McCoy, Case Keenum and Dwayne Haskins. But realistically, it's between Haskins and Keenum. They've alternated on a daily basis who takes the first-team reps. McCoy has played in this system for five years; that matters and gives him the early edge. The offense functions at a different tempo with him on the field. Keenum, though, has started 30 games combined the past two years and helped Minnesota reach the NFC Championship Game two years ago. -- John Keim

NFC NORTH

Chicago Bears

Wide Receiver

The Bears are set at the top of the depth chart with Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller and Cordarrelle Patterson, but a fierce battle is underway for the final spots. Just two seasons ago, Kendall Wright was Chicago's leading receiver with 59 catches. Fast-forward to 2019, and the Bears suddenly have great depth at the position. Veteran Marvin Hall, former seventh-round pick Javon Wims and 2019 fourth-round pick Riley Ridley are all pushing hard to make the roster. -- Jeff Dickerson

Detroit Lions

Offensive Guard

Graham Glasgow is expected to be a starter -- and should be despite working here and there with the second unit instead of the first throughout camp -- but who starts at the team's other guard spot remains wide open. Kenny Wiggins appeared to be the early favorite, but he's been getting a bunch of reps with the second team, as well. Joe Dahl and Oday Aboushi have gotten a lot of work with the No. 1s, although all four have seen time there. On a unit on which continuity and familiarity are important, competition for the fifth starting job will be worth watching. -- Michael Rothstein

Green Bay Packers

Backup Quarterback

Maybe it doesn't matter because the Packers' season would be ruined if anything happened to Aaron Rodgers, but they need to solidify his backup. The battle between DeShone Kizer, Tim Boyle and Manny Wilkins can best be described as "meh." Neither has stood out. Could this be 2013 all over? That summer, the Packers cut all of their backups and signed Seneca Wallace in Week 1. Perhaps a veteran with experience in new coach Matt LaFleur's system will become available. -- Rob Demovsky

Minnesota Vikings

No. 3 Wide Receiver

The position battles in Vikings camp center on backup roles. The third wide receiver is intriguing because that role has changed yearly in Minnesota's offense. Behind Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, Chad Beebe appears to be the leading candidate for the job. There are some other in the mix, including ex-Broncos wideout Jordan Taylor and two late-round draft picks, but if Beebe can stay healthy, the shifty slot receiver could present the best fit for the job coupled with his abilities as a returner. -- Courtney Cronin

NFC SOUTH

Atlanta Falcons

Left Guard

James Carpenter and Jamon Brown have rotated throughout camp, and the initial unofficial depth chart even listed Brown as the starter until it was changed to Carpenter a day later. Then Carpenter left Sunday's practice with a hip flexor strain, which could affect the competition if the injury lingers. Whatever the case, the Falcons need stability at this position and right tackle, where Ty Sambrailo is competing with rookie Kaleb McGary, who had a heart procedure that could keep him out for weeks. -- Vaughn McClure

Carolina Panthers

Free Safety

It's really the only starting spot one could consider totally up for grabs. The Panthers are hoping second-year player Rashaan Gaulden steps up and owns it. But cornerback Ross Cockrell is getting some time there because of his cover ability. Cole Luke could be a dark horse, but if Gaulden doesn't win the job outright, don't be surprised if the answer isn't on the current roster. -- David Newton

New Orleans Saints

Center

Pro Bowler Max Unger retired, leaving an open competition between rookie Erik McCoy, third-year pro Cameron Tom and newly signed veteran Nick Easton. McCoy is the clear front-runner after the Saints traded up to draft him in Round 2. And he appears to be off to a good start in training camp, where he has taken the majority of snaps with the starters in recent days. But he also has the steepest learning curve -- especially considering the play-calling aspect of the job. So the preseason will be vital. -- Mike Triplett

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Right guard

The Bucs had a huge hole there last season, with Caleb Benenoch struggling big-time in a rotation with Evan Smith and Alex Cappa (Benenoch is now a backup swing tackle). They never filled it in the offseason, with the exception of signing a rotational player in Larry Warford. Unless they want to average 3.9 yards per carry again on the ground, someone needs to solidify this position or the Bucs might look elsewhere. -- Jenna Laine

NFC WEST

Arizona Cardinals

Center

Veteran A.Q. Shipley is trying to win back the starting spot he had to vacate last training camp when he tore his ACL. He was replaced by Mason Cole, who was a rookie out of Michigan last year. Cole proved himself to be durable and reliable, being the only offensive lineman to play in all 16 games last season. Shipley has been getting the majority of the first-team reps, giving him valuable time with rookie quarterback Kyler Murray. But the battle isn't over. Cole is 10 years younger than Shipley and was drafted to be the Cardinals' future center, so he won't be written off so quickly. -- Josh Weinfuss

Los Angeles Rams

Nose Tackle

The Rams let Ndamukong Suh depart in free agency and now they're dependent on two young players to try to replace him. Coaches have been impressed by the development of Sebastian Joseph-Day, a sixth-round pick from Rutgers in 2018. Joseph-Day made the 53-man roster as a rookie but was inactive throughout the season. He will be challenged by Greg Gaines, a fourth-round pick from Washington. After drafting Gaines in April, coach Sean McVay said he would be a candidate to start immediately. -- Lindsey Thiry

San Francisco 49ers

Cornerback

Offenses regularly targeted the spot opposite Richard Sherman in 2018 with great success, so the 49ers signed talented but injury-prone Jason Verrett as a potential solution. A healthy Verrett will have a legitimate chance to win the starting job, but he's going to have to do some work to surpass an apparently improved, incumbent Ahkello Witherspoon, who struggled in his sophomore season but has had a strong offseason and camp so far. Either way, the defense would benefit greatly from a heated competition, leading to improved production from this spot in 2019. -- Nick Wagoner

Seattle Seahawks

Safety

Tedric Thompson has been working with the No. 1 defense at free safety with Delano Hill (hip) sidelined and rookie second-round pick Marquise Blair (hamstring) only recently returning to practice. Those three are competing for a starting spot next to veteran Bradley McDougald, who can play either safety position. Thompson took over for Earl Thomas last season and has the most starting experience. Hill is a strong safety with strong coverage and tackling skills. Blair is known as a big hitter but does not have a big frame. -- Brady Henderson

The NFL moves and shifts faster than you think. Since the league went to its current standings and schedule format back in 2002, an average of six teams have made repeat trips to the playoffs each season, meaning half of the playoffs turn over from season to season. Just five of the 12 teams that made it to the playoffs in 2017 made it back to the postseason in 2018, and even that was up from four the previous season.

Is the NFL just total chaos outside of the Patriots inevitably winning 11 or more games? Maybe, on the surface. It would have been difficult at this time last year to see perennial contenders like the Steelers, Vikings and Panthers taking a major step backward and missing the postseason, while struggling franchises like the Bears and Colts rode stunning streaks into the playoffs. There is a place you might have gotten tipped off about those very teams (and a handful of others) declining or improving: this very column from one year ago.

Over the past two years, I've identified 11 teams whose underlying statistics seemed to portend future improvement in this column. Nine of those 11 teams have improved, with the average team's record jumping by nearly four wins from the previous season. Let's run through the five NFL teams numbers suggest are most likely to improve their record from 2018, a list that starts out West. We'll hit the teams likely to decline on Tuesday:

Jump to a team:
SF | CAR | TB | NYJ | NYG

San Francisco 49ers (4-12)

2018 point differential: minus-93
Pythagorean expectation: 5.8 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 3-5
FPI projected strength of schedule: 15th-easiest

This time last year, there was no trendier pick to make a leap into the postseason than the 49ers, who had started 1-10 in 2017 before winning each of Jimmy Garoppolo's first five starts as a member of the organization. The numbers didn't bear out that sort of optimism, but we didn't really get a chance to see what would have happened; Garoppolo tore an ACL during a Week 3 loss to the Chiefs, and the 49ers didn't have the horses to get by without their starting quarterback -- though they eventually stumbled onto a solid half-season from undrafted free agent Nick Mullens.

Curiously, even though Garoppolo should be ready for Week 1, San Francisco isn't getting the same sort of hype this summer. This year, the numbers and San Francisco's offseason personnel moves actually back a meaningful improvement in 2019. If they can get a healthy season -- or at least a significantly healthier season -- from Garoppolo, the Niners might very well emulate the 2018 Colts in making an unexpected trip to the playoffs.

Last year was a lost season for the 49ers, but it wasn't quite as bad as the 4-12 record seem to indicate. Their minus-93 point differential suggests they were closer to a 6-10 team, which doesn't sound great, but that's a much better starting point for negotiating this season. The 50 most similar teams in terms of underperforming their record since 1989 improved by an average of 2.7 wins the following season. That group includes the 2017 Texans, who were featured on this list a year ago after a 4-12 season and also benefited from getting their promising young quarterback on the field for an entire campaign.

The most obvious issue for the 49ers sans Garoppolo is that they couldn't hold onto leads. They tied for the league lead in losing four games that they had led at halftime, which would be bad enough. What's worse is they lost four games they had been winning in the fourth quarter:

• In Week 4, they decided to kick a field goal on fourth-and-1 in the red zone to go up 27-26 on the Chargers with 12:43 to go; the Chargers responded by kicking a 23-yard field goal to take the lead, and two subsequent 49ers drives failed to advance past their own 31-yard line.

• On Monday Night Football two weeks later, they were up 30-23 on the Packers with the ball in their hands, 3:52 to go, and the Pack out of timeouts. The Packers not only ended up winning the game 33-30, but they won the game in regulation after C.J. Beathard, the original Jimmy G replacement, threw an interception at midfield and a Richard Sherman illegal contact call extended a Packers drive on third-and-15.

• Two weeks after that, San Francisco kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line to go up 15-3 on the lowly Cardinals with 13:37 to go. Josh Rosen proceeded to piece together what would be his finest hour in an Arizona uniform, going 12-of-18 for 150 yards with two touchdown passes and a two-point conversion to lead the Cardinals back for a victory.

• Finally, the Niners' running game drove them into the red zone for a short field goal and a 23-20 lead over the Giants with 2:50 to go in Week 10. The defense again couldn't hold, letting Eli Manning march down the field on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that included second-and-20 and third-and-12 conversions via penalty. Sterling Shepard scored with 57 seconds left to give the Giants a 27-23 lead, and Mullens' subsequent attempt at a response stalled out at the 23-yard line.

This doesn't happen very often, even to bad teams. It's tempting to ascribe this to a young team not knowing how to close games, but that's too simplistic. Beathard was the quarterback in three of these games, and he played terribly in those key moments. Kyle Shanahan's offense sputtered in the red zone all season, finishing 30th in the NFL with 4.21 points per trip. (Don't tell Falcons fans.) The defense committed terrible penalties at exactly the wrong times when stops would have ended drives or put the opposing offense in a compromising situation.

I can find two reasons San Francisco struggled in the fourth quarter, and they should be better at both in 2019. A pass rush built around dominant interior pass-rusher DeForest Buckner fell off late in games. The 49ers ranked 13th in pressure rate through the first three quarters of games, but Robert Saleh's defense fell to 25th in the same category during fourth quarters. It's easy to picture the pass rush lasting longer into games now that the 49ers will replace Cassius Marsh and Arik Armstead on the edge with former Chiefs standout Dee Ford and second overall pick Nick Bosa.

If you take any prediction from this article to the bank, start with this second problem for last season's 49ers. Sherman & Co. intercepted a total of two passes all season. That's not a typo. Antone Exum and Jaquiski Tartt each picked off one pass. That's it. The defense had just two total takeaways during the entirety of the second half of 2018, both fumble recoveries against the Bears in a 14-9 loss in Week 16.

You probably won't be surprised when I tell you that no team in NFL history managed to intercept fewer passes in a season than the 49ers did in 2018. They also became the first team in history to rack up 11 games in a season without a takeaway, easily breaking the previous record of nine. San Francisco will intercept more than two passes in 2019 by sheer chance and randomness alone.

As you also probably suspected, a 49ers team that intercepted one pass every two months and started backup quarterbacks for most of the season also posted the league's worst turnover margin, coming in at a dismal minus-25. The Bucs were the only other team below minus-12.

Only four teams have posted a turnover margin of minus-25 or worse since 1989; one of those teams was the 2017 Browns, another one of the likely improvers on last year's list. The Browns imported Baker Mayfield, upgraded their defense, and swung their turnover margin by a whopping 35 takeaways from minus-28 in 2017 to plus-7 a year ago. They're not the only ones; teams that have finished with a turnover margin of minus-20 or worse in a season since 1989 improved their margin by an average of 24 takeaways the following year. Their records simultaneously rose by an average of more than four wins.

Adding takeaways should raise San Francisco's floor. It'll end drives on defense and give an offense that inherited the league's worst average starting field position on offense by nearly a full yard the opportunity to cash in on some short fields. The Niners' offense is unlikely to be as dismal in the red zone as it was a year ago regardless of who lines up at quarterback or running back. Unless they're forced to turn to Beathard or a quarterback not currently on the roster for significant time in 2019, they will be better than 4-12.

Their ceiling, though, might still depend on Garoppolo's health. Mullens' numbers in San Francisco are basically identical to those of Garoppolo, but most would admit that the former Patriots standout has more upside. It's likely that Garoppolo will play more than three games in 2019, but we still haven't seen the 28-year-old start more than five games at a time without getting injured. If he and a 49ers team that finished with the fourth-most adjusted games lost get healthier, they could deliver on their 2018 hype a year later.

Carolina Panthers (7-9)

2018 point differential: minus-6
Pythagorean expectation: 7.8 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 2-7
FPI projected strength of schedule: 12th-toughest

Let's continue with another team whose season was dominated by an injury to its quarterback. The Panthers, listed as likely candidates to regress on last year's list, started the season 6-2 before collapsing in the second half. With Cam Newton's shoulder ailing and the roster riddled with injuries, Carolina went just 1-7 in the second half. It became just the eighth team under the current schedule structure to start 6-2 and finish with a losing record.

It's too extreme to suggest that the Panthers were Super Bowl contenders in the first half of the year and one of the worst teams in football during the second half. Using point differential to project their record, they played more like a 5-3 team in the first half and a 3-5 team during the second half. For one, Carolina needed a pair of massive comebacks to get to 6-2, including a 63-yard game-winning field goal by Graham Gano to beat the Giants and a furious fourth-quarter comeback from 17-0 down to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia.

Having gone 9-3 in one-score games since the start of 2017, the Panthers promptly went 0-5 in one-score contests during the second half of 2018. They blew narrow fourth-quarter leads against the Seahawks, Browns and Saints. Trailing 24-17 against a brutally bad Buccaneers defense, Newton & Co. made four trips into Bucs territory in the fourth quarter and failed to score even once.

If you want evidence that the idea from the 49ers' section that a team can learn how to win close games is nonsense, you can start with the recent history of the Panthers under Ron Rivera. They've been on a wild pendulum swing from season to season, even if their overall record in close games is just about what we would expect over an eight-season stretch:

There's no reason to think that the Panthers will Saberhagen their way into a season in which they win 85% of their close games again, but they should project to win about half of their close games in 2019. That alone would be enough to push them into playoff contention based on their performance from a year ago.

Newton has looked healthy in the early days of training camp and should be ready for Week 1. That's a huge plus. He should also have a much healthier offensive line, given that Carolina got only one combined appearance from projected starting tackles Matt Kalil and Daryl Williams. The Panthers did get excellent play in 2018 from Taylor Moton, who will likely start at right tackle. Williams, who was a second-team All-Pro in 2017, will compete on the left side against second-round pick Greg Little. Carolina lost longtime center Ryan Kalil to retirement but signed Broncos standout Matt Paradis to replace him.

Carolina should also be far deeper on the defensive line after excellent offseason work from general manager Marty Hurney. With Julius Peppers retiring, the team rebuilt its edge rotation around Mario Addison by signing Bruce Irvin and drafting Brian Burns in the first round. With 2016 first-rounder Vernon Butler failing to emerge next to Kawann Short, the Panthers loaded up on interior help by signing Dontari Poe and then adding Gerald McCoy as an impact free agent from Tampa. They will throw a wider variety of defensive fronts out in 2019 to take advantage of their new weapons on defense.

As easy as it might seem to pin Carolina's second-half collapse on a spiraling Newton, the defense shoulders plenty of blame. The Panthers allowed the league's eighth-lowest QBR and were sixth in pressure rate. Over the second half, though, Carolina ranked 29th in both categories. The Panthers were impacted by injuries and inconsistent play in the secondary, but Rivera will have to hope that the deeper line rotation keeps their pass rush fresh during the final two months of the season.

If Newton doesn't return to his old form, of course, this team is in trouble. It's difficult to see the Panthers competing for the playoffs with Taylor Heinicke or rookie Will Grier starting the majority of the season's games. You might also worry about the difficulties of the NFC South, given that the Falcons will return a much healthier defense and the presence of another team on this list. The Panthers will have to hope for an easier schedule after facing what the ESPN Football Power Index deemed to be the seventh-hardest slate in football last season. In the famously topsy-turvy NFC South, though, Carolina should be more competitive over the entire season in 2019.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-11)

2018 point differential: minus-68
Pythagorean expectation: 6.5 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 3-6
FPI projected strength of schedule: Seventh-toughest

The Bucs? Sure, I'll understand if you're not excited. This is a team that has just one winning season in the past eight years. Tampa's 42-86 record over that time frame is the third worst in football, topping only the Jaguars and Browns. I just mentioned how the NFC South is topsy-turvy, but the Bucs have finished last in the division seven out of eight seasons over that span.

That's all true, and Tampa might very well finish last again. There's enough evidence, though, to suggest that Tampa will post six or more wins in 2019. And my reasoning involves a coach who has managed to defy the numbers before.

Tampa's 2018 season, at least by point differential, wasn't all that much different from its 2017 season. The 2017 Bucs went 5-11 while getting outscored by 47 points, which usually projects to about 6.8 wins. They narrowly missed making it onto my list of most likely teams to improve a year ago, in part because of the uncertainty surrounding Jameis Winston when I was putting together the column. The 2018 Bucs went 5-11 while getting outscored by 68 points, which is a 6.5-win pace. In 2017, they went 3-7 in one-score games, which is unlikely to recur, but not impossible: The 2018 Bucs went 3-6 in those same games.

Enter Bruce Arians. Tampa's new coach spent 12 games as the interim coach in Indianapolis while Chuck Pagano was being treated for leukemia before leading the Cardinals from 2013-2017. Over that five-year span, Arians was an impressive 58-33-1. What's even more notable for the purposes of this column is that the grizzled veteran coach went 28-12-1 in games decided by seven points or fewer, winning more than 68% of the time in a situation in which we would typically expect coaches to go 50-50.

Is that 41-game sample enough to say that Arians has a special skill with regards to pulling out the close ones? I'm skeptical. Setting the lone tie aside, the binomial distribution suggests that a coach who won 28 of 40 coin flips would happen by chance just 0.8% of the time, but Arians' success rate is more likely a product of the Wyatt Earp effect than indicative of what would be a remarkably valuable skill. I wouldn't expect the Buccaneers to win nearly 70% of their close games in 2019, but at the very least, I expect them to have a fighting shot at winning half of their one-score contests under Arians. That alone would be progress.

It's easy to chalk up middling performance in close games to some sort of Bucs stink, but that's the same thing people said about the Chargers as they slowly made their way up the ranks in recent years. It was also pretty clearly tied to kicking. The Chargers had dismal kicking between 2015-17 and went 7-20 in one-score games. In 2018, once they stumbled onto competent kicking from Mike Badgley, Los Angeles went 5-1 in one-score games and actually outperformed its Pythagorean expectation.

The Bucs have been even worse at kicking than the Chargers, ranking 31st or 32nd in Football Outsiders' scoring statistics for place-kickers in each of the past four seasons. General manager Jason Licht has haplessly cycled through both rookie kickers (Kyle Brindza, second-round pick Roberto Aguayo) and free-agent acquisitions (Nick Folk, Chandler Catanzaro) alike without solving his team's woes. Tampa has hit on just 72.7% of its field goal tries over the past four years, which is horrific in a league in which the average kicker has hit 84.4% of their tries and no other team has been below 78%. The Bucs have been nearly three standard deviations below the mean in this category over the past four years.

Tampa will come to camp this year with Cairo Santos and fifth-round pick Matt Gay. Santos struggled last season but was excellent under better coaching in Kansas City, while Gay hit 86.2% of his attempts over two years at Utah. I don't have faith in Licht drafting the right guy, but let's hope that new special teams coach Keith Alexander's success over a decade with Matt Bryant in Atlanta will carry over to his new charges. It's also just difficult for any team to be as bad at anything as the Bucs have been at kicking over the past four years.

I'm less confident about the Buccaneers improving dramatically upon a defense that ranked last in DVOA in both 2017 and 2018. They allowed a 110.9 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks last year, meaning that the average quarterback played roughly as well against the Bucs last season as Russell Wilson did all year. It was the second-worst passer rating allowed for a team in NFL history, trailing the 2015 Saints. You know a defense is bad when it can drag Drew Brees down to 7-9.

Tampa may have upgraded by swapping out Gerald McCoy for Ndamukong Suh and Kwon Alexander for first-round pick Devin White, but it was already thin at defensive end before losing Jason Pierre-Paul, who is expected to miss most of the season with a neck injury. Few teams in the league are weaker on the edge than Tampa, which will need to depend on Suh and Todd Bowles' track record of creating pressure with blitzes to generate a steady pass rush. Tampa has seven defensive backs on rookie deals who were taken in one of the first three rounds of the draft, and Bowles will need to develop them into worthwhile contributors.

I have question marks about the talent, but there are two reasons to think the Bucs might at least approach mediocrity on defense in 2019. One is health; last year's Bucs posted the most adjusted games lost on defense of any team in the statistic's history. JPP was the only defender who started all 16 games, but history tells us that it's virtually impossible the Bucs will be as banged-up, even as they're already working from behind after losing their star defensive end for a chunk of the year.

Tampa is also likely going to be better in the red zone than it was a year ago. By my count, the Bucs allowed 5.91 points per red zone possession in 2018. That's the second-worst mark for any team in any season since 2001, and while it came in a season teams allowed more points per red zone trip (4.97) than ever before, it's a dreadful number. It's natural to assume that a bad defense outside the 20s would also be bad in the red zone, but that isn't really the case; the second-worst defense in the red zone by points per trip last season was Buffalo, which finished second in defensive DVOA by rarely allowing offenses to get inside the 20. Houston was third-worst.

I would still expect the Bucs to allow plenty of trips to the red zone, but there's no way they can be this bad inside their own 20 again. When you take a look at the 30 worst red zone defenses since 2001, you'll see clear evidence of regression toward the mean. Those defenses averaged 5.54 points per red zone trip in their ugly campaigns, but the following year, those same defenses allowed an average of 4.70 points per trip. Their records improved by an average of 1.8 wins the following season.

To go this far without mentioning the offense is strange given that the Bucs clearly hired Arians to get the most out of Winston (or his possible replacement), but the offense hasn't been the problem in Tampa. Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick turned the ball over too frequently in 2018, which helped drive Tampa to the league's second-worst turnover margin, but the Bucs ranked 12th in offensive DVOA after an 11th-place mark in 2017. Arians' success with a written-off Carson Palmer in Arizona suggests he can make hay with Winston if the embattled former first overall pick can stay on the field, but Tampa's chances of improving in 2019 have less to do with the offense and more to do with what happens when their offense is on the sidelines.

New York Jets (4-12)

2018 point differential: minus-108
Pythagorean expectation: 5.4 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 1-5
FPI projected strength of schedule: Second-easiest

If low expectations for the Bucs are par for the course, projecting doom and gloom for the Jets is a cottage industry. Like the Bucs, the Jets have just one winning season in their past eight tries, including a 14-34 mark over the past three seasons under Bowles. The Jets fired Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan, although they curiously let Maccagnan hand out several huge contracts in free agency and handle the draft before removing him in May. New York will move forward with GM Joe Douglas and coach Adam Gase, with the latter hired to help develop second-year quarterback Sam Darnold.

Am I optimistic about the Jets' long-term future? Not really, unless Darnold is a transcendent quarterback who carries them to 10 wins every season. After years of dismal drafts, the team has just three players drafted by the organization before 2015 left on the roster in Bilal Powell, Brian Winters and Quincy Enunwa. They have attempted to cover up holes by throwing gobs of money at free agents, a strategy the Giants tried in 2016 ahead of Ben McAdoo's first season as coach.

For a year, that strategy worked. The imports stayed healthy and played at a high level, and a Giants team that went 3-8 in games decided by seven points or fewer in Tom Coughlin's final season went 8-3 in McAdoo's first. They jumped from 6-10 to 11-5, and everything was great for a few months. The plan (and the record in close games) was unsustainable, and the contracts were generally bad ideas, but adding talent to a roster with missing pieces helps in the short term.

The Jets pursued a similar strategy with one year of success in 2015 after acquiring the likes of Darrelle Revis, and it would hardly be a surprise to see a short-term turnaround for the Jets in 2019. The contracts Maccagnan handed out to Le'Veon Bell, C.J. Mosley and Jamison Crowder probably won't age well, but this team is unquestionably better right now for making those moves.

Darnold will have more help than he did a year ago from a running game that ranked 30th in offensive DVOA. Bell is a massive upgrade on the trio of Isaiah Crowell, Elijah McGuire and Trenton Cannon. The latter two each averaged 3.0 yards per carry, and while Crowell's 4.8 yards per carry average seems more promising, it was the product of three long runs on 143 carries. Crowell ranked 46th out of 47 qualifying backs in success rate, while McGuire posted the worst rushing DVOA in the league for any back with more than 30 carries.

It's too much to expect Bell to be the runner he was in Pittsburgh behind a less-imposing offensive line, but the Jets' running game should be significantly more efficient in 2019, especially after adding former All-Pro guard Kelechi Osemele on a salary dump from the Raiders and coaxing former Panthers stalwart Ryan Kalil out of of retirement to play center. That will help Darnold and the Jets, who faced the league's third-longest average distance on second downs a year ago.

Darnold's rookie season was uneven, as is often the case for highly drafted quarterbacks. The hope for New York is that the guy we saw in a three-game stretch from Weeks 14-16 is the quarterback the Jets can count on in 2019. He came back from a foot injury and proceeded to post a league-best 82.0 Total QBR over a three-game span, completing 66% of his passes while throwing six touchdown passes against one interception before a season-ending blowout loss to the Patriots. It's unfair to cherry-pick one small sample as proof that a quarterback will grow in Year 2, but it was a promising stretch of play from the No. 2 overall pick.

It's also telling that the Jets had the best quarterback in football for three weeks ... and lost two of those games. Over a four-week span, they blew three fourth-quarter leads, including a nine-point lead over the Titans, a 22-19 lead over the Texans with five minutes to go, and a 15-point lead over the Packers. When the NFL's other 31 teams held a lead of two possessions or more entering the fourth quarter last season, they were 121-8-2. The Jets were 3-2. No team in NFL history has ever lost two games it had led by nine points or more entering the fourth quarter in a season and repeated that feat the following year. The Jets probably won't be the first.

Even if Darnold does take a step forward, the Jets will need to get more out of their defense to really shock observers. There's unquestionable top-level talent here, with Mosley and rookie third overall pick Quinnen Williams joining Maccagnan's two most productive draft picks in first-rounders Leonard Williams and Jamal Adams. Trumaine Johnson had a brutal debut season in New York, but he's one year removed from a very good season with the Rams.

Gase's team also will get help from a friendly schedule. While the Jets are stuck in a division with the Patriots, who severely limit Gang Green's chances at a division title, they'll face what Football Power Index projects to be the second-easiest slate in football. In addition to four games against the Bills and Dolphins, a Jets team that finished last in the East will get to play the Jaguars and Raiders, along with eight games against the NFC East and AFC North.

Gase's first year in Miami saw the Dolphins ride a streak of close wins over bad teams into the postseason. We can't count on the close wins (even given that Gase went 20-6 in one-score games with the Dolphins), but the ceiling for the Jets in 2019 is probably as a surprise wild-card contender.

New York Giants (5-11)

2018 point differential: minus-43
Pythagorean expectation: 7.0 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 4-8
FPI projected strength of schedule: Fifth-easiest

I can hear you laughing. I can't blame you. The Giants are a punching bag after trading away Odell Beckham Jr. GM Dave Gettleman passed on a handful of quarterbacks in 2018 to take a running back with the second overall pick, talked up a crumbling Eli Manning, then drafted a guy who wasn't very good in college to take over as the team's quarterback of the future this past April. The Giants bandwagon is bare and empty right now, and with good reason. Nobody should be excited about this team.

At the same time, there's reason to think the Giants were better than their 5-11 record in 2018. They finished 16th in the league with a perfectly average 0.0% DVOA, which was actually the best mark for any of the four NFC East teams. By point differential, the Giants played like a seven-win team, and the two-win gap between their win total and expected win total was the largest in the league. The argument here is that things that were out of their control might go their way in 2019, and that a less talented Giants team might still be likely to improve on their record from a year ago.

The numbers may be naive, but they're optimistic. When you look at the 50 teams since 1989 with the most similar gap between wins and expected wins to last year's Giants and see how they did the following year, 42 of the 50 teams improved. The 50-team subset improved by an average of 2.7 wins over their previous season's record. Teams with this large of a gap between their implied performance and actual performance almost always produce a better record the following season.

It's also fair to point out that zero of those 50 teams lost their best offensive and defensive players between campaigns. I felt more confident that the Giants would be able to cobble together a useful wide receiving corps in Beckham's absence before the first week of training camp. Sterling Shepard, signed to an extension this offseason, broke his thumb. Golden Tate, signed after the OBJ trade, announced that he was appealing a four-game PED suspension as a result of taking fertility medication. I didn't have any faith Corey Coleman was going to make a difference, but even the former Browns first-rounder tore his ACL. Tate and Shepard should be a useful pair around Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram as the season goes along, but the Giants could feasibly start Cody Latimer as their top wide receiver in Week 1 if Shepard isn't ready to go. That's scary.

Could the offense be better in 2019 without Beckham? Given that the Giants ranked 13th in offensive DVOA last season -- better than the likes of the Eagles, Browns, Vikings and Bears -- it's extremely unlikely. Could the offense fall somewhere in the same range? That's more plausible, although it'll be a different sort of offense.

For whatever criticisms you want to lob toward Gettleman, he has unquestionably upgraded the offensive line. Will Hernandez was a passable starter as a rookie, and he's joined now at guard by Browns import Kevin Zeitler, who has been consistently above-average as a run-blocker. Nate Solder was a mess in his first year away from New England, with Stats LLC crediting him for eight sacks allowed, but the former Pats star was still an upgrade on Ereck Flowers. (A low bar, to be fair.) His broader body of work suggests Solder will be better in 2019. Right tackle is still a question mark even after Gettleman signed former Panthers tackle Mike Remmers, but this should be the best offensive line the Giants have fielded in years. If you're a team that wants to run the ball with your star back, it's probably better not to have an offensive line that ranked 29th in Football Outsiders' run-blocking stats.

The Giants will rely even more heavily upon Barkley, of course, but they might also hope to upgrade at quarterback. There are major question marks about No. 6 overall pick Daniel Jones and with good reason, but it's hardly as though he's Aaron Rodgers replacing Brett Favre. Manning has been running on fumes for the better part of two years now, and even given Jones' apparent lack of upside, it's not out of the question that the rookie is better than the 38-year-old Manning this season. (It's also entirely possible Jones is worse, which would be a serious problem.)

The offensive shift unsurprisingly got all the press this offseason, but it's the defense that really needs to improve for New York to get better in 2019. I'm not particularly optimistic. Gettleman traded Olivier Vernon to acquire Zeitler and didn't really replace the team's only known quantity at edge rusher. Lorenzo Carter made the occasional splash as a rookie pass-rusher in 2018, but the former third-round pick is now written in ink as a starter on the edge, with former Cardinals rusher Markus Golden the favorite to start on the other side. The Giants should be deeper at cornerback after drafting Deandre Baker in the first round and getting back supplemental draftee Sam Beal from a shoulder injury, but it's hard to see this pass defense impressing in 2019.

So, the Giants might be worse on offense and probably won't be better as a pass defense. I understand if you're not exactly seeing a strong case for them to improve. Again, let's run to the numbers. The Giants went 4-8 in games decided by one score or less. There are "close" games where a team scores late to make a contest look more competitive than it really was, and the Giants had games like that against the Cowboys, Falcons and Washington last season. They also lost on a late field goal against the Eagles and on a 63-yarder by Graham Gano and the Panthers in a game they led by two points. They were up six on the Colts in Week 16 and lost when Andrew Luck threw a touchdown pass with 55 seconds left, and then when they were up by seven against the Cowboys at the two-minute warning and allowed Dak Prescott to complete a fourth-and-15 pass for a touchdown and a subsequent two-pointer.

The flip side of that argument is that New York also won exactly one game against a starting quarterback, which came when it topped Deshaun Watson and the Texans in Week 3. The team's four other wins came in games started by C.J. Beathard, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Chase Daniel and Mark Sanchez, and while they blew out Sanchez and Washington, the other three wins were by a combined 10 points. Point differential is a better stat for predicting future performance, but it's not a perfect one, and the Giants might be more misleading than most.

Other elements of the game won't go against them. The Giants ranked 31st in Football Outsiders' "hidden" special teams statistic, which incorporates elements out of a team's control, such as opposing field goal kickers. Opponents were 31-of-35 against the Giants last season, including a 6-of-7 performance from 50-plus yards. That includes the 63-yard Gano winner and a 56-yarder from Giorgio Tavecchio that put the Falcons game out of reach. The Giants recovered just 40% of the fumbles in their games, the fifth-worst rate in football. That's total randomness.

The most important element in the Giants' favor is one of the easiest schedules in football. They'll get four games against the AFC East, and while you can probably safely pencil in the Patriots for a victory in New England on Oct. 10, that's one of the weakest divisions in football. New York's own division isn't particularly scary given that Washington is a mess at quarterback and the Cowboys are likely to decline. As the last-place team in the East, the Giants get games against the Cardinals and Buccaneers.

I don't think the Giants are going to be very good this season. This isn't a column predicting whether teams will be good, though; it's merely about whether a team's record will improve from the prior season. They have been aggressively stupid in public for most of the past two years. They brag about ignoring positional scarcity and appear set on chasing an offensive game plan that most of the league has tossed aside because it's not as effective at scoring points.

They are blessed to face low expectations in two ways. One is that they play in the same market as the Knicks and can't possibly be run worse. The other is that they need to get to only six wins to improve on their record from a year ago. The Giants can get there.

This week the United States men's basketball team begins preparation for its first major competition since the 2016 Rio Olympics as it starts a weeklong training camp in Las Vegas in advance of the World Cup to be held next month in China.

For the first time in 15 years there is a new coach, Gregg Popovich, and he will have almost a completely new roster. Here's a simple FAQ to catch you up on everything happening with the team.

Q: It seems like a lot of players have dropped out of the competition. Why?

A: Yes, in fact, since the 20-player roster was announced in June, more than a dozen have dropped out, including James Harden, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Several other players who were candidates for the team, such as Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, are out with injuries.

There are several reasons. First, in this era when rest and recovery have become paramount, playing extra basketball is less of a desire for many players. Second, under the new international basketball schedule, the World Cup and the Olympics are being played in back-to-back summers, and that isn't appetizing for stars who have busy offseasons. Third, the NBA season starts earlier and the World Cup ends later than in years past, squeezing time even more. Fourth, the NBA is sending six teams to Asia this October for exhibition games, and it would've required a number of players, including Harden and Davis, to go twice in a matter of weeks.

Q: Who will be on the team?

A: There is some uncertainty. Training camp followed by two exhibition games will be meaningful in Popovich's decisions. Kemba Walker and Kyle Lowry are locks at point guard, assuming Lowry is recovered from thumb surgery last month.

It appears veteran wings Harrison Barnes, who played on the team in 2016, and All-Star Khris Middleton are likely to make it, with Donovan Mitchell likely as well. There will be strong competition -- including Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart -- for the other wing spots. Popovich probably won't take all six, so that should add some intrigue this week.

At the big men spots, it seems likely that veterans Brook Lopez and P.J. Tucker will get strong consideration, with Myles Turner having an ideal skill set for international play as well. Kyle Kuzma, Thaddeus Young, Mason Plumlee and the just-added Bam Adebayo might compete for one or two slots.

Q: Is the U.S. going to win?

A: The U.S. will still have the most talent by far, even with a roster that will be missing many top stars. Not unlike the NCAA tournament, historically international basketball is won with superior guard play. Europe has produced many fantastic big men but not nearly as many top guards, and since the Americans have been sending NBA talent, they have generally won this way.

The last two U.S. losses were guard-play based. In the 2004 Olympics, Manu Ginobili and Pepe Sanchez outplayed a less-than-top-form Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson. In 2006 at the World Cup, veteran Greek ballhandling expert Theo Papaloukas tore apart a young Chris Paul and an overmatched Kirk Hinrich running the pick-and-roll, and young guard Vassilis Spanoulis had one of the games of his life.

Team USA should still have the most dominating guards in the tournament, especially Walker, who is in position to wreak havoc on inferior competition.

Q: So who will challenge them?

The Americans got a break when Slovenia, the current European champs, didn't qualify. The ballhandling team of Luka Doncic and Goran Dragic would've been a threat.

Team Canada will have the best roster it has ever had, though there are questions regarding whether its backcourt stars will play. Both Jamal Murray and Cory Joseph wavered on their commitments but reported to the team Sunday. They also have the talented Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Canadians are coached by the Toronto Raptors' Nick Nurse, who has extensive experience coaching international-style play. But they've suffered losses, too, as Andrew Wiggins and Tristan Thompson decided not to play, and young star RJ Barrett has pulled out because of an injury.

Spain is always competitive and will be again as Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio and Sergio Llull, one of the best players in Europe, are on the roster. But Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Nikola Mirotic and Sergio Rodriguez aren't playing, so Spain might not be at its best.

A matchup to watch for is a potential meeting between the U.S. and Greece in the second round. Greece has a talented young player you might have heard of named Giannis Antetokounmpo. Just like many of his opponents in the NBA, the Americans really don't have a way to stop him, and in a 40-minute international game in which he is the best player on the floor, anything is possible.

Q: Is there a chance one of the Select Team players could make the roster?

A: Yes. There's a 14-player team that comes to training camp to help the senior roster prepare. In 2014, the last World Cup, Plumlee was promoted from the Select Team to the roster that won gold in Spain.

With Lowry's status uncertain to a degree, there's a good chance one of the Select point guards could make the big team if they play well this week. The strong candidates are De'Aaron Fox and Trae Young. Fox's defense, speed and ability to finish over size are great assets. Young will be one of the best shooters in the gym, and the 3-point shot is vital in international play.

Q: What will the main differences be between Popovich and previous coach Mike Krzyzewski?

A: They are very different coaches with very different styles. One is a college coach whose lead assistant for a decade on the national team was another college coach: Jim Boeheim, whose zone expertise was an asset. Popovich is one of the best pro coaches of all time, and his lead assistant is a former player and champion coach in Steve Kerr. Popovich has much deeper roots in the international game than Coach K did when he first took over, as Popovich has coached numerous international players in San Antonio.

While Krzyzewski was determined to instill respect for opponents, he was a little more resistant to the international game when he started out than Popovich might be. Though Krzyzewski wasn't afraid to be fiery when he needed it, Popovich has a reputation for being gruff and demanding with players.

At the end of the day, they are both Hall of Famers and the team is in good hands.