On paper it looked as though this was going to be a pretty uneventful and unexciting weekend of college football action (outside of the huge USC-Ohio State game of course). But there was some great drama to be found after all, so let’s take a review of the important results:
#3 USC 18, #8 Ohio State 15 – It looked as though Ohio State was finally going to get the monkey off their back and get a huge win on a national TV stage, but they once again fell short. This was a very hard fought game and it heavily favored Ohio State’s style of play. It was a defensive battle that focused more on special teams and field position instead of sheer offensive firepower. For the most part, USC’s offense did not look that good. Freshman QB Matt Barkley looked like a freshman and the whole team did not do much until the final drive of the game. Barkley was finally able to step up and drove the Trojans 96 yards for the game winning touchdown. Ohio State looked a little better than USC on offense, but QB Terrelle Pryor did not have as much of an opportunity to create with his legs as he should have had. I will give credit to USC’s defense for keeping them in the game and giving the offense a chance to win it. At this point, I may have to concede that USC could be a real threat for the National Championship. However, I still think that Barkley’s inexperience will catch up to him one week and the Trojans will lose a game this year. Ohio State should not be ashamed of their performance, but this is not any sort of confidence booster and now they will have to try and fight back into BCS position. At this point, they will face a must win against Penn State to have a chance.
Michigan 38, #18 Notre Dame 34 – Once again, Notre Dame came up short in a big game that could have provided Coach Charlie Weis some breathing room from his critics and could have propelled Notre Dame towards a potential BCS Bowl game. This was a great college football game and will probably go down as one of the best in the storied Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry. Both teams traded shots at each other back and forth and neither defense played particularly well. Notre Dame’s defense certainly did not play the type of game that they did last week against Nevada. The star of the game turned out to be Michigan freshman QB Tate Forcier. He was cool and calm all day and made the big plays that Michigan needed. QB Jimmy Clausen and the Irish were just as good, but they made a mistake at the end of the game by throwing the ball and not trying to force Michigan to use their timeouts when they had a 3 point lead. That allowed Forcier to drive Michigan down the field and he won the game by throwing a 5-yard TD pass to WR Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left. This win now proves that Michigan is for real this season and I would expect them now to easily make a bowl game and they will most likely make the Top 25. I don’t think they will turn into a dominant team by any means, but they are going to overachieve this year. Notre Dame’s dream of a major BCS run is probably shot and they will settle down into a solid, but not spectacular year. Hopefully Lou Holtz is ready to eat some crow.
Houston 45, #5 Oklahoma State 35 – The biggest upset of the day came courtesy of the Houston Cougars, who went into Oklahoma State and came out with a 10 point victory. I did speculate in my preview that this would be a great test for Oklahoma State’s defense and it could be closer than some people thought. Chalk up a great prediction from me and mark it down as a miserable failure for Oklahoma State’s defense. They looked terrible out there and nothing like the team that shut down Georgia last week. The Cowboys let Houston totally dictate the pace of the game and it turned it into a shootout. Normally, the Cowboys are happy to play that type of game, but they were not as efficient as Houston on offense and they could not keep up. Houston QB Case Keenum looked great and he sliced up Oklahoma State’s defense. I have to say that the Cougars are definitely impressive and they have a ton of weapons on offense. They should be able to make a Bowl game this year and they could surprise more people along the way. Oklahoma State now needs to seriously regroup because I think they can kiss any BCS Bowl game dreams goodbye. You can not win on a consistent basis by winning shootouts. I thought their defense might be up to the challenge based on last week’s game, but it seems like it is not. It seems like the logical conclusion is that Georgia’s offense just came out flat and out of sync and that made the Cowboys look good.
#17 Utah 24, San Jose State 14 – Utah was able to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games, but it was not without a major fight. The game was tied 7-7 heading into the 4th quarter and Utah was finally able to shake San Jose State late in the game. Since USC killed San Jose State last week, this obviously proves that Utah might not be on a level with the likes of the Trojans. But a win is a win and Utah will try to march up the polls and see if they can be a BCS buster.
#19 North Carolina 12, Connecticut 10 – North Carolina needed a holding call in the end zone that resulted in a safety to narrowly avoid being upset by Connecticut. I also stated in my weekly preview that this could be a pretty good football game and was worth paying attention to. Obviously, it was pretty ugly and a defensive struggle, but it did almost produce an upset. Both defenses showed up in this game and neither team could do a damn thing on offense. I thought if North Carolina’s D showed up like it did last week, they would have little trouble winning. The only problem is their offense, especially the running game, stayed home. It seems like Connecticut will give every team they play a tough game and they could end up being a spoiler in the Big East. North Carolina could also be a factor in the ACC if their defense stays this strong, but will need more offense in those games to contend for a conference championship.
#21 Georgia 41, South Carolina 37 – Wow, was this a crazy game…so much for that old stat about these teams not being able to score more than 18 points against each other. This game was a back and forth slugfest that featured a kickoff return TD, an interception return TD, a safety, a blocked PAT, and tons of penalties. It came right down to the wire as well. South Carolina drove the ball all the way down to Georgia’s 7-yard line with 22 seconds left in the game, but QB Stephen Garcia’s 4th down pass was broken up on the goal line. You can never count out a Steve Spurrier coached team, so expect South Carolina to pull an upset at some point during the season. I don’t know exactly what to make of Georgia. They got the offense cranked up this week, but the defense fell apart after putting in a solid effort last week against Oklahoma State. It spells out inconsistency to me, and I believe Georgia will most likely not challenge LSU or Mississippi for the SEC West division title.
#25 Missouri 27, Bowling Green 20 – Missouri played an extremely bad first half and had to rally from 13-0 and 20-6 to beat Bowling Green. As good as Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert looked last week, he looked equally bad in the first half this week. He did recover to throw 2 TD passes in the second half to get a win for the Tigers. Missouri is still a young team and I do not really expect them to hang around the Top 25 all season. They seem likely to lose at least a game or two, but they should easily be able to make a Bowl game.
#1 Florida 56, Troy 6
#2 Texas 41, Wyoming 10
#4 Alabama 40, Florida International 14
#7 Penn State 28, Syracuse 7
#9 BYU 54, Tulane 3
#10 California 59, Eastern Washington 7
#11 LSU 23, Vanderbilt 9
#12 Boise State 48, Miami (OH) 0
#13 Oklahoma 64, Idaho State 0
#14 Virginia Tech 52, Marshall 10
#16 TCU 30, Virginia 14
#22 Nebraska 38, Arkansas State 9
#23 Cincinnati 70, Southeast Missouri State 3
#24 Kansas 34, UTEP 7
The above results are what you call taking care of business. As expected, there were a great deal of cupcake games out there and about half of the Top 25 feasted on them. Florida, Texas, and Alabama all got off to slow starts on Saturday. But by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, they had it in cruise control and were on the easy road to victory.
Penn State did look choppy again in their win over Syracuse, but they were never in danger and they had control of the game the entire time. Penn State will need to get better though because Ohio State, even with their loss to USC, looks strong and will really give the Nittany Lions a game.
Even though rain played havoc on them, LSU still looked shaky for the second week in a row and they let another underdog hang around. Vanderbilt was only down by one touchdown midway through the 4th quarter until LSU scored late to put the game away. It seems like LSU, Georgia, and Mississippi all look a little questionable to start the year and who knows what team will win the SEC West and get a shot at Florida in the SEC Championship game. But at this point, I am not sure any one of the three will be able to give Florida any sort of challenge.
Oklahoma, their defense, and QB Landry Jones tried to make a statement that they will keep fighting. They destroyed Idaho State and gave up only 6 first downs. TCU got off to a great start as well, as their defense only gave up 7 first downs the entire game.
The Game’s Quick Hits
- The Dany Heatley trade speculation is finally over as the Ottawa Senators traded Heatley and a fifth-round draft pick to the San Jose Sharks for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second-round draft pick. So it turns out that the rumored 3 team trade that I mentioned yesterday was indeed just a bad rumor. However, the Sharks were still involved in this deal. San Jose needed to do something to shake up their team after continued failures in the playoffs. Heatley is a dangerous scorer when he is focused and playing well, but it will remain to be seen whether he delivers in crunch time during the postseason. He should be able to help San Jose remain a top level team, but as it always is with the Sharks, things change in the playoffs. The Senators got some good value back in return, but I am not sure if it matches the value of a motivated Dany Heatley. Michalek is only 24-years old and had 23 goals and 24 assists last season. He is a good player with the potential to get better, but I doubt he will become a consistent 40-50 goal scorer. Cheechoo had a brilliant 2005-06 season when he scored 56 goals, but he has dropped off ever since. He had only 12 goals and 17 assists last year. Unless a change of scenery really sparks his career, he seems destined to just become a role player. So in my estimation, the Sharks got a good deal in this. But, we will have to wait until playoff time to see just how good of a deal it is.
- In other NHL news, the Calgary Flames have invited former All-star and Stanley Cup winner Theo Fleury to training camp for a tryout. The 41-year old Fleury has been away from the game for 6 years as he battled to get himself sober after alcohol addiction. Fleury had 455 goals and 633 assists in more than 1,000 career games with Calgary, the Colorado Avalanche, the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks between 1988 and 2003. Although I am not sure how much Fleury has left, this could be a really good story and I hope that he makes the team and gets to play in a game. I always appreciate a good comeback story and it is a big thing to overcome a substance abuse problem. Addiction can destroy your life, so I hope Fleury is able to stay on a good path and I wish him luck on his comeback attempt.
- Well it looks like the Richard Seymour saga is finally over. Late on Friday it was reported that Seymour was planning a trip out to California and would in fact report to the Oakland Raiders and be ready to play in Monday night’s game against the Chargers. It looks like the “5 day letter” did its job because Seymour did not get a new contract and did not get a promise that the Raiders would not slap the franchise tag on him next year. He will not lose any money this year, which he was in danger of doing by not reporting to Oakland. So now the story starts to come out. Seymour probably had a sense of what New England might have done with his contract status before the trade and he wanted the same from Oakland. Looks like it did not work at this point. The NFL is a business and it sucks for Seymour that he got shipped to the Raiders, but he is under contract so he has no right to start making demands. Again, I would think a player that has grown up in the Patriots organization would be a professional. Seymour was pushing it and I am glad to see that he blinked. His goal should be to have the best season that he can and then the money will take care of itself. It does him no good to bitch and moan and sandbag this season. He finally did break his silence on Saturday and says that the trade “blindsided” him and he claims he made no demands. He had personal issues to take care of and is excited to join the Raiders. Well that is nice to hear, but I am willing to bet there was some sort of talk about money and his contract.
- Brett Favre has been named a captain for the Minnesota Vikings this season after being with the team for only less than a month. So I guess this blows up the whole “schism” story right? There is no question that Favre is a tremendous leader and has a burning desire to play the game and to win. While he might not have gone about joining the Vikings in the “right” way, he is going to go in there and do the best he can. I still believe that Favre will be able to steady the offense for the Vikings, manage the game, make some big plays, and most importantly, lead them to victories. I still believe that the Vikings are the slight favorites to win the NFC North due to Favre’s presence.
- The Memphis basketball program got some bad news as it was revealed that sophomore forward Angel Garcia had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss the 2009-10 season. This is a big blow considering that Garcia, who is 6-foot-11 and missed last season due to NCAA eligibility issues, was expected to step up and help a team that is now down to 8 scholarship players. The loss of Coach John Calipari is going to hit Memphis hard I believe. I can see them slowly slipping away from being a national powerhouse. Calipari was the draw to the school and frankly, I have never even heard of their current coach, Josh Pastner. My prediction is that Memphis will go downhill until they hire another big name coach who has a proven track record of success.
- Major League Baseball will not take any actions against New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for past performance-enhancing drug use. MLB was investigating Rodriguez to determine if he lied about the exact period of time he admitted to using PEDs. Apparently, the investigation did not turn up anything new and he will not be punished. I’m at least pleased to hear that they didn’t find out about any past use from Rodriguez. Even though he was using steroids for a few seasons, I still contend that Rodriguez is one of the best players in Major League history. The guy had his greatest year in 2007 when he was clean and even with a bad hip this season, he is still hitting home runs and being productive. Take away his “steroid years” and Rodriguez would still be a Hall of Famer. And in other Yankees’ news, SS Derek Jeter had 2 hits Friday night to pass Lou Gehrig on the Yankees’ all-time hit list with 2723. That is an amazing accomplishment to have, but unless Jeter goes on a tear and wins multiple World Series titles again, he will not be able to reach the great pantheon of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle.
- BMW Championship: Tiger Woods entered the weekend and the 3rd round of the BMW tied for lead and had a chance to take control of the tournament. Mission accomplished. Tiger was on absolute fire as he shot a course record 9-under par 62 to finish at 16-under par for the tournament. This gave him a 7 shot lead over Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman. I said yesterday that I expected Tiger to take care of business this weekend and win, but I didn’t expect this good of a performance today. When Woods plays like this, he is impossible to beat and everyone is fighting for second. Not much else to say on this. Tiger will cruise home to victory tomorrow and grab the FedEx Cup points lead heading into the Tour Championship, the final event of the Playoffs. It seems like it will be a tall task for anyone to beat him.
- U.S. Open Update: Rain held off enough to allow for play to continue at the U.S. Open and #3 seed Rafael Nadal wasted no time finishing up his quarterfinal match against #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez. Nadal dusted him off quickly, winning 7-6, 7-6, 6-0, and he will now face #6 seed Juan Martin del Potro tomorrow in one semifinal. The women had their semifinals next after another lengthy rain delay and the match between unseeded Kim Clijsters and #2 seed Serena Williams ended in bizarre fashion. Williams was down 1 set and 5-6, 15-30 when she faulted on her first serve and then was called for a foot fault on her second serve. Serena then proceeded to yell at the lines official who made the call and told her “I will stuff this ball down your f**king throat”, among other things. Williams had already received a code violation earlier in the match for slamming her racquet, so this second offense cost her a point at 15-40 and the match was over. This was totally crazy and certainly something that I have never witnessed before. Clijsters had dominated the action and obviously, Williams was frustrated. The foot fault call by the official was a bad judgment call at that point in the match, but the way Williams lost her cool and what she said was uncalled for and she paid the price. Clijsters now moves onto the final to face #9 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat unseeded Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets.
Showing posts with label richard seymour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label richard seymour. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
NFL Division by Division Season Preview
The time is finally here. The final cuts have been made and the rosters have been trimmed down to 53. All of the meaningless preseason games are over and every team has a fresh start and a clean slate. Indeed, NFL kickoff weekend is upon us and the season starts on Thursday night with a great game between the Titans and Steelers. So today I wanted to give a general overview of how I see every division shaking out this year.
NFC East:
My Division Favorite – Eagles by a slight margin
Playoff Contenders – Eagles, Giants, Cowboys
The NFC East is always one of the best divisions in the NFL and it should be no different in 2009. I think it will be a knock down, drag out fight for the division title between the Eagles and Giants this year. Both teams come into this season looking very similar. The Eagles have been built around the defensive side of the ball for years and they have always gotten enough from QB Donovan McNabb (even through injuries) and RB Brian Westbrook to be perennial playoff participants. For whatever reason though, the Eagles just have not been able to get over the hump and a Super Bowl title has eluded them. After last season’s late surge, the Eagles come into 2009 with renewed hopes though. QB Michael Vick was given a 2nd chance by Philadelphia and he should be able to help the Eagles’ offense be more dynamic and unpredictable, but it remains to be seen how much he will help. The Eagles will once again hope that McNabb and Westbrook stay health and that they continue to get development from their receivers. The defense may not be as dominant as it has been, especially with the passing of Jim Johnson in the offseason.
The New York Giants are built the same way as the Eagles. They rely on a stingy defense to shut down other teams and then ask QB Eli Manning to do enough to manage the game while they pound it out on the ground. The problem for the Giants this year is at the WR position. After the sad situation with Plaxico Burress, the Giants have no big playmaker at WR. The loss of Burress clearly hurt the team last year, as Manning struggled to do anything in the passing game. The Giants did not do anything to bring in a dynamic WR this offseason, so those concerns remain. The Giants and Eagles should be battling atop the division and I really think it could go either way depending on how the two games between both teams shake out this year. I give the slight edge to the Eagles, but the Giants could easily walk away with the division title as well.
The Dallas Cowboys are hoping for a turnaround this season after releasing WR Terrell Owens and hopefully improving team chemistry. The problem though is that the Cowboys are really no different than they were last year and they are minus a future Hall of Fame WR. I am not sure Dallas will be able to take a step up and they should remain behind the Eagles and Giants. I think the Cowboys have a shot to battle for a Wild Card spot if they get some luck and bring consistent play to the field. They do have a good defense and QB Tony Romo can be one of the best in the league sometimes. As for the Washington Redskins, I see them as a .500 team and they should not challenge for a playoff spot. They have the talent to look like world beaters some weeks, but then other weeks they will look mediocre at best. I think they will lose enough divisional games to keep them in the bottom of the division.
NFC North:
My Division Favorite – Vikings by a small margin
Playoff Contenders – Vikings, Packers, Bears
Just like the NFC East, the NFC North is always a great division to watch. The games are rough and hard hitting and the division title race always seems to come down to the final week of the season. The addition of QB Brett Favre to the Minnesota Vikings gives them the edge to win the division this year in my opinion. In the past few seasons, the Vikings have been able to build up a really good defense and the drafting of RB Adrian Peterson instantly gave Minnesota a dangerous running game. However, inconsistent play and mistakes from the QB position has held them back. Brett Favre will be able to come in and offer stability to the position. He knows the offense like the back of his hand and I believe he will not have to be a gunslinger this year. If Favre is able to limit mistakes and lean on Peterson and the defense to do some heavy lifting, it should be a recipe for success. An injury to Favre would obviously derail this plan, but right now, Favre should only develop more chemistry with the offense and the Vikings should be in great position.
Behind the Vikings, it should be a great battle between the Packers and Bears. Both of these teams have the potential to sneak up and win the division if the Vikings run into problems and the Favre experiment does not work. The Packers will be driven by how good QB Aaron Rogers will be this year. Rogers is starting to show that he can be an elite level star in the league and he will carry the offense. The question is if he can get solid help from the running game and if he will get big play help from his receivers. The Packers will also need their defense to step up and try to allow Rogers to win games for them. The Bears have no trouble on the defensive side of the ball and now the franchise may have finally found an answer at QB with the acquisition of Jay Cutler. The Bears have relied on defense and a strong running game to win for years, but now they might be able to hurt teams through the passing game. The Bears still lack a weapon at WR though, so Cutler will only be able to do so much and it remains to be seen how quickly things will gel for the offense. I do think that the Packers and Bears both have a shot at contending for the Wild Card spots, and maybe the division, if they catch some breaks. And as for the lowly Detroit Lions, they will still suffer through a horrible season, but I do think they can get 2 or 3 wins this year. Expect growing pains from rookie QB Matthew Stafford, but if he develops, the Lions could finally be on a path to respectability.
NFC South:
My Division Favorite – Falcons by a small margin over the Panthers
Playoff Contenders – Falcons and Panthers
I feel that the balance of power has shifted to the Atlanta Falcons this year and I believe they will overtake the Panthers and win the division this season. QB Matt Ryan will only continue to develop and he has a wealth of weapons in RB Michael Turner, WR Roddy White, and newly acquired TE Tony Gonzalez. The Falcons also sport a pretty good defense and they should have enough to win the division this year. The taste of success, combined with playoff disappointment, should be enough to motivate Atlanta and give them confidence heading into this year. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I just have a feeling that the Panthers will not be as good this season. QB Jake Delhomme is another year older and the Panthers are still one dimensional in the passing game with WR Steve Smith. The Panthers can pound it out on the ground however, and they still have a really good defense, but I just have a hunch they will not be as good this season. They did not look particularly good against the Ravens in the most important preseason game, so maybe that skews my thinking. I do think the Panthers will strongly contend for a Wild Card spot though, but they could be shut out with the wealth of contenders from the NFC East and North.
The New Orleans Saints will be a fun team to watch with QB Drew Brees running their high powered offense, but I think their defense will hold them back and they will fall short of the playoffs again this year. The Saints pretty much rely on their offense to just outscore opponents, and usually that is not the way to go for long term success. One too many off days from the offense will bring about too many losses and I can only see the Saints being around .500 this year. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be bringing up the rear of this division. The Bucs are still fairly solid on defense, but they are far from the dominant unit they used to be. The Buccaneers biggest problem will be an anemic offense though. QB Byron Leftwich is not consistent enough and the team lacks enough weapons to get the job done. Add in a rookie head coach and I see a team that will be mediocre and finish below .500.
NFC West:
My Division Favorite – Cardinals by a decent margin
Playoff Contenders – Cardinals
The NFC West should basically be a one team division this year. The Arizona Cardinals have become the class of the division and they should have no trouble winning it and being the only playoff representative from the division. The loser of the Super Bowl has had trouble qualifying for the playoffs in the next season, but the weakness of the NFC West should prevent that problem for Arizona. QB Kurt Warner returns with his dynamic duo of WRs in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin and the addition of rookie RB Chris Wells will really help the offense be potent. Throw in a solid and improving defense and the Cardinals should have no trouble winning the division.
The 49ers and Seahawks should be battling for 2nd place, but the ceiling for both of those teams should be around .500. Behind Coach Mike Singletary, the 49ers are slowly improving. The have a pretty tough defense, but are still held back by the offense. They will try to pound it out on the ground, but they lack the ability to have balance because the passing game is weak. Rookie WR Michael Crabtree could have really helped QB Shaun Hill, but he decided to be a fool and “diva” and his contract dispute will hurt the team. The Seahawks get a healthy Matt Hasselbeck back at QB, but even with the addition of WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Seahawks will still be lacking on both offense and defense and they don’t have enough to make a complete turnaround from last year. The St. Louis Rams will most likely be in the basement of the division. Their only bright spot is RB Steven Jackson, but he is not enough to overcome the other problems and it will be a struggle for the Rams as they continue to try and rebuild.
AFC East:
My Division Favorite – Patriots by a solid margin
Playoff Contenders – Patriots and Dolphins
Barring another injury to QB Tom Brady or another bizarre scenario, the Patriots should be back on top of the division this year. It seems as if Brady’s shoulder is fine and the “injury” he suffered will just be a small scare. The Patriots looked great on offense in the preseason and Brady and WR Randy Moss look ready to pick up where they left off before Brady’s knee injury. The defense will be solid as usual for the Patriots and they should have no trouble winning the division. I think the Dolphins are primed to slip this year. They caught many teams by surprise last season, but they will not do so this year. The schedule is much tougher for the Dolphins and Tom Brady is back to 100% for the Patriots. That combination spells trouble and 2nd place for Miami. The Dolphins lack firepower on offense and I don’t think the methodical, no mistake philosophy will be enough. The defense should keep Miami in most every game, but they will come up short in too many. The Dolphins should still have a shot at a Wild Card spot, but the AFC is very tough and I would not be surprised if Miami’s schedule bites them and they miss the playoffs entirely.
The Jets and the Bills will be fighting to stay out of last place in the division. I probably have to give the edge to the Jets to finish 3rd. New Coach Rex Ryan has had first hand experience with a rookie QB, baring witness to QB Joe Flacco last year with the Ravens, so he should be able to support rookie QB Mark Sanchez in New York. I still think though that the Jets will not be able to do enough to make a playoff run. Their defense is solid but certainly not up to the Ravens’ level and they lack weapons on offense to really help Sanchez. The Jets will be solid and have a shot at .500. The Bills will end up being mediocre at best and will finish last. WR Terrell Owens was brought in to try and make the offense more explosive, but he will most likely be keyed on by defenses and he will not make that big of an impact. The offense looked terrible in the preseason and the defense is nowhere near being dominant enough to carry Buffalo. The Bills will struggle and it will be fun to see if Owens blows up this year.
AFC North:
My Division Favorite – Steelers BARELY over the Ravens
Playoff Contenders – Steelers and Ravens
As I have said a few times already, this should be one hell of a fight this season for the AFC North title. I can’t wait to see the two games between the Steelers and Ravens and the result will most likely decide the division. Both teams are built on defense and look to do enough on the offensive side of the ball to win. I am hearing many so-called “experts” say that the Ravens will miss former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. You mean like the team missed Marvin Lewis when he left? That is a weak argument and I don’t think the people saying this realize how deep the Ravens are on defense. The Steelers still have an edge when comparing offenses however. QB Ben Roethlisberger has proven himself time and again as a star and he has a solid running game and WR Hines Ward to back him up. Ravens’ QB Joe Flacco is continuing to improve and develop though, and he looks to be better this year already compared to last season. The Ravens still have a good running game with RB Ray Rice improving and RB Willis McGahee now being the 2nd back to help spell him. Again, the Ravens could be held back because they have no game breaking WR, but Derrick Mason is as solid as they come and the Ravens have worked on getting Flacco to spread the ball around. Based on experience and a slight talent edge, I have to give the Steelers the edge to win the division. I think they find a way to be 1 game better than the Ravens, but I would not be surprised at all if Baltimore wins it because they have looked great in the preseason. No matter how it shakes out, both teams will make the playoffs.
The Browns and the Bengals will be fighting to finish in 3rd place, but it seems as though the Bengals have a solid edge over the Browns. Both of these teams have come into the past few seasons with hopes and promise and they somehow find a way to disappoint. The Browns are trying to rebuild around QB Brady Quinn (or QB Derek Anderson…who the hell knows with Mangini) and the Bengals are hoping a healthy QB Carson Palmer will bring more success this year. I do believe a full, healthy year from Palmer can bring more wins to Cincinnati, but I don’t think they have enough to make any sort of playoff run, even though a few misguided “experts” seem to think so. Clearly, the Ravens and Steelers are much better than the Browns and Bengals, so either team will be lucky to get a sniff at .500 this year. I expect the Browns to fall away though and be pretty bad while the Bengals should be able to hang in there. Make no mistake, the Browns and Bengals will still compete in every game, but they just do not have enough to get things done and they are looking at sub par seasons.
AFC South:
My Division Favorite – Titans by a small margin over the Colts
Playoff Contenders – Titans and Colts
The winds of change are slowly sweeping into the AFC South and the division now seems to belong to the Titans for the time being. Tennessee features a tough hitting and solid defense and a great running game. They are built just like the Steelers and Ravens and that is a good recipe for success. QB Kerry Collins remains the starter for the Titans and he will effectively manage the game and provide Tennessee with a lot of wins and a division title, building off of last year’s great regular season campaign. The Titans’ biggest challenge will come from the Indianapolis Colts, but the Colts are slowly starting to slip from dominance. The window is slowly closing on QB Peyton Manning. Coach Tony Dungy and WR Marvin Harrison are gone and the offense is not as explosive as it once was, but they do have young talent in place. The sheer greatness of Manning though will keep the Colts dangerous on offense and he will get the job done. The defensive unit in Indianapolis is still pretty good and I believe the Colts will be able to do enough to sneak into the playoffs. The AFC is going to be a slugfest this year, so I would not be shocked if Indy caught some bad breaks and not even made the playoffs. But then again, they could get hot and win the division outright. It should be a great battle.
The Houston Texans are starting to improve and there is talk that they could make a playoff run this year. I just do not see that happening. The Texans have many weapons on offense and success will hinge on whether or not QB Matt Schaub can stay healthy. He has already looked a bit shaky in the preseason, so I don’t know if that will happen. The Texans are held back by their defense. Mario Williams has developed into a dominating pass rusher and he is starting to justify his #1 overall draft pick status, but he needs more help. The secondary in Houston is extremely soft and I think these problems will be too much for Houston to expect a playoff berth this year. The Jacksonville Jaguars will most likely fall away and finish last in the division. I just do not see them having enough offense to contend and their defense is certainly not one of the tops in the league. Coach Jack Del Rio will have the Jags ready to play each week, but they do not have enough talent to be an elite team.
AFC West:
My Division Favorite – Chargers by a wide margin
Playoff Contenders – Chargers
Just like the NFC West, the AFC’s western division is a one team race. The Chargers should clearly be head and shoulders above the rest and they are a potential Super Bowl contender. The Chargers have an explosive offense and are good enough on defensive to get to double digit wins and win the division handily. Their top competition should come from the Denver Broncos, but there is so much turmoil in Denver that I don’t know how much of a challenge they can provide. Coach Josh McDaniels is trying to install a new system and get the team on board with it and he has had to already deal with the Jay Cutler situation and problem child WR Brandon Marshall. I am not convinced that QB Kyle Orton is the answer and the Broncos continue to have problems keeping a RB healthy. The defense has slipped in recent years and I only foresee a mediocre season at best. The Chiefs and the Raiders will be in the basement of the AFC West and they both have a long way to go to even reach respectability. I think this is the year that the Chargers finally avoid a slow start and they should beat up on their division rivals easily.
The Game’s Quick Hits
ECW Recap: ECW continues to be a fairly entertaining hour of television when the WWE allows the focus to be on in-ring action. I was pleased to see that tonight and glad the no-talent Abraham Washington did not grace my screen. The night started with a match between The Hurricane and Paul Burchill. These two have had a nice little feud going and even though there is nothing ground breaking here and it is only mid-card filler, they produced a pretty good match. I was pleased to see both wrestlers focus on their strengths and show a nice contrast. The Hurricane tried to use his speed and quickness, while Burchill relied on his strength advantage and tried to wear Hurricane down with power moves. The pace was good and the crowd was supportive of Hurricane and into the match. In the end, Hurricane won with an Eye of the Hurricane after Paul ran into Katie Lea on the ring apron. This was a solid effort all around and much appreciated. These types of matches need to happen more on Raw instead of stuff like the Hornswoggle garbage. It also seems as though Shelton Benjamin and Sheamus are headed toward a feud after an altercation they had following a tag team victory over Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu. I still believe Benjamin should be going after the ECW Championship or moved to Raw or Smackdown and challenge for one of the secondary titles. He can put on some great matches when given the chance. Let’s hope that he can produce some good things with Sheamus. I am still on the fence about the “Celtic Warrior”, but he is definitely the best of the “New Talent Initiative” wrestlers.
The main event featured ECW Champion Christian and Tommy Dreamer taking on Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov. We learned that Christian will be defending his belt against William Regal at Breaking Point, so this match turned into the WWE’s hard sell for the PPV tonight. The two sides put on a perfectly acceptable tag team match. As you would expect, Christian and Dreamer had to rely on speed and veteran savvy, while Kozlov and Jackson brought pure power. Jackson was showcased a little more in this match, looking very imposing and dominant at times and he was able to pick up the victory on Dreamer after a grab of the foot from Regal on the outside. The “Ruthless Roundtable” stood tall at the end of the night and we were left to wonder if Christian’s title reign would soon be over.
- Oklahoma could use some more good news, but they did not get any on Tuesday as Coach Bob Stoops told the media that star TE Jermaine Gresham underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured right knee to determine the severity of cartilage damage. Unfortunately for the Sooners, the injury was not a simple removal of anything and the doctors determined that Gresham needed stitches to repair the cartilage, which will require a recovery time of 5 months and put Gresham out for the season. Gresham returned to school and put off the NFL for a year, so this is extremely bad news for him and could hamper his draft value. He was Oklahoma’s leading returning receiver this year and a real playmaker on offense. Now that he is out for the year, it is pretty much a given that the Sooners offense will suffer and miss his big play ability. At this point, I still stick to my view that Oklahoma will lose against Texas and now the game against Miami is looking more dangerous. It will take a huge effort and tons of determination for the Sooners to fight through this adversity.
- The Richard Seymour watch continues as he failed to report to the Raiders for the 2nd straight day. Raiders Coach Tom Cable said he has nothing new to report and nothing has changed, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick refuses to talk about it since the Patriots no longer have the rights to Seymour, and the NFL is saying to get a statement from the teams. This is quickly starting to turn into some drama now. Reports are saying that Seymour had no advanced warning of the trade and right now, things such as his contract and his role with the Raiders and what they expect from him need to be “worked out”. As I stated yesterday, this move must suck for Seymour, but he really needs to be a professional about it and report to the team or at least give a statement. I would have thought he learned some class and professionalism from the Patriots, even though they did deal him a tough hand. In the NFL, business is business.
- Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick spoke to a group of 200 students on the first day of classes at Nueva Esperanza Academy, a North Philadelphia charter school. He warned the students not to bow to peer pressure and to make good choices that will allow you to be a leader and not a follower. Vick offered himself up as an example of what happens when you lose focus and how your life can go down a bad path. I am happy to see that Vick is getting out in the community and trying to do some good work. As I have stated before, if he can work to make a positive difference and stay on course himself, then the 2nd chance he is getting in the NFL is totally justified. I hope that more schools and organizations give Vick a chance to make a positive impact and not just sit back and bitch and moan about how Vick is bad for young people. That will solve nothing.
- The captain’s selections are in for the 2009 President’s Cup: Ryo Ishikawa, who at 17-years old will be the youngest player ever in the competition, and Adam Scott were chosen by Captain Greg Norman for the International team and Captain Fred Couples chose 2009 U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan for the United States team. Scott’s selection was a bit curious considering the fact that he has fallen to 53 in the world rankings and is suffering through the worst year of his career. Glover and Mahan bring experience to the U.S. squad, as they also were the Captain’s picks 2 years ago. The President’s Cup is a very fun event to watch, even though it is not at the level of the Ryder Cup. I love seeing the match play format, as well as the different foursome matches. There is some real drama that is created and I still say that even though on the surface golf might not seem that exciting, it really can be some of the best competition that you can watch if you are a sports fan.
- I thought this tidbit was worth mentioning with the U.S. Open going on right now. The new head of the men’s tennis tour, Adam Helfant, said that the tour is planning an All-star event in March to try and boost the sport’s popularity. He said the top players are in favor of the event, which would include a skills competition, celebrity doubles matches, and an awards show. Helfant wants to try and create more buzz at the beginning of the year for tennis, something he claims other sports do well. While I think this is a noble cause Helfant is trying to do, I don’t think it will do much good. Tennis is more of a niche sport that will always appeal to a segment of the population, but it will never grow to the heights of the four major professional sports in America. Tennis is a great recreational sport and it will always be around, but it can only grow so much. Unless you can somehow bring along new stars that grow to the level of guys like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, and other greats, AND have them develop intense rivalries, tennis will always lag behind in viewership and popularity. That’s just the way it is.
- U.S. Open Update: The women’s side of the draw has reached the quarterfinals and #2 seed Serena Williams still has not really been tested as she cruised by #10 seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3. In the other women’s quarterfinal of the day, Kim Clijsters routed #18 seed Li Na 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinals against Williams. This is an amazing run by Clijsters after being away from the game for 2 years and the match with Serena has the potential to be very intriguing. On the men’s side, a huge upset occurred as #2 seed Andy Murray was blitzed and totally outplayed in losing to #16 seed Marin Cilic, who won in straight sets 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Cilic will now play #6 seed Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals. Men’s #3 seed Rafael Nadal lost the first set to #13 seed Gael Monfils, but Nadal was able to eventually wear down Monfils as he slowly faded away and Nadal won in 4 sets. Nadal will now face #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez, who advanced by beating #7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 4 sets.
NFC East:
My Division Favorite – Eagles by a slight margin
Playoff Contenders – Eagles, Giants, Cowboys
The NFC East is always one of the best divisions in the NFL and it should be no different in 2009. I think it will be a knock down, drag out fight for the division title between the Eagles and Giants this year. Both teams come into this season looking very similar. The Eagles have been built around the defensive side of the ball for years and they have always gotten enough from QB Donovan McNabb (even through injuries) and RB Brian Westbrook to be perennial playoff participants. For whatever reason though, the Eagles just have not been able to get over the hump and a Super Bowl title has eluded them. After last season’s late surge, the Eagles come into 2009 with renewed hopes though. QB Michael Vick was given a 2nd chance by Philadelphia and he should be able to help the Eagles’ offense be more dynamic and unpredictable, but it remains to be seen how much he will help. The Eagles will once again hope that McNabb and Westbrook stay health and that they continue to get development from their receivers. The defense may not be as dominant as it has been, especially with the passing of Jim Johnson in the offseason.
The New York Giants are built the same way as the Eagles. They rely on a stingy defense to shut down other teams and then ask QB Eli Manning to do enough to manage the game while they pound it out on the ground. The problem for the Giants this year is at the WR position. After the sad situation with Plaxico Burress, the Giants have no big playmaker at WR. The loss of Burress clearly hurt the team last year, as Manning struggled to do anything in the passing game. The Giants did not do anything to bring in a dynamic WR this offseason, so those concerns remain. The Giants and Eagles should be battling atop the division and I really think it could go either way depending on how the two games between both teams shake out this year. I give the slight edge to the Eagles, but the Giants could easily walk away with the division title as well.
The Dallas Cowboys are hoping for a turnaround this season after releasing WR Terrell Owens and hopefully improving team chemistry. The problem though is that the Cowboys are really no different than they were last year and they are minus a future Hall of Fame WR. I am not sure Dallas will be able to take a step up and they should remain behind the Eagles and Giants. I think the Cowboys have a shot to battle for a Wild Card spot if they get some luck and bring consistent play to the field. They do have a good defense and QB Tony Romo can be one of the best in the league sometimes. As for the Washington Redskins, I see them as a .500 team and they should not challenge for a playoff spot. They have the talent to look like world beaters some weeks, but then other weeks they will look mediocre at best. I think they will lose enough divisional games to keep them in the bottom of the division.
NFC North:
My Division Favorite – Vikings by a small margin
Playoff Contenders – Vikings, Packers, Bears
Just like the NFC East, the NFC North is always a great division to watch. The games are rough and hard hitting and the division title race always seems to come down to the final week of the season. The addition of QB Brett Favre to the Minnesota Vikings gives them the edge to win the division this year in my opinion. In the past few seasons, the Vikings have been able to build up a really good defense and the drafting of RB Adrian Peterson instantly gave Minnesota a dangerous running game. However, inconsistent play and mistakes from the QB position has held them back. Brett Favre will be able to come in and offer stability to the position. He knows the offense like the back of his hand and I believe he will not have to be a gunslinger this year. If Favre is able to limit mistakes and lean on Peterson and the defense to do some heavy lifting, it should be a recipe for success. An injury to Favre would obviously derail this plan, but right now, Favre should only develop more chemistry with the offense and the Vikings should be in great position.
Behind the Vikings, it should be a great battle between the Packers and Bears. Both of these teams have the potential to sneak up and win the division if the Vikings run into problems and the Favre experiment does not work. The Packers will be driven by how good QB Aaron Rogers will be this year. Rogers is starting to show that he can be an elite level star in the league and he will carry the offense. The question is if he can get solid help from the running game and if he will get big play help from his receivers. The Packers will also need their defense to step up and try to allow Rogers to win games for them. The Bears have no trouble on the defensive side of the ball and now the franchise may have finally found an answer at QB with the acquisition of Jay Cutler. The Bears have relied on defense and a strong running game to win for years, but now they might be able to hurt teams through the passing game. The Bears still lack a weapon at WR though, so Cutler will only be able to do so much and it remains to be seen how quickly things will gel for the offense. I do think that the Packers and Bears both have a shot at contending for the Wild Card spots, and maybe the division, if they catch some breaks. And as for the lowly Detroit Lions, they will still suffer through a horrible season, but I do think they can get 2 or 3 wins this year. Expect growing pains from rookie QB Matthew Stafford, but if he develops, the Lions could finally be on a path to respectability.
NFC South:
My Division Favorite – Falcons by a small margin over the Panthers
Playoff Contenders – Falcons and Panthers
I feel that the balance of power has shifted to the Atlanta Falcons this year and I believe they will overtake the Panthers and win the division this season. QB Matt Ryan will only continue to develop and he has a wealth of weapons in RB Michael Turner, WR Roddy White, and newly acquired TE Tony Gonzalez. The Falcons also sport a pretty good defense and they should have enough to win the division this year. The taste of success, combined with playoff disappointment, should be enough to motivate Atlanta and give them confidence heading into this year. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I just have a feeling that the Panthers will not be as good this season. QB Jake Delhomme is another year older and the Panthers are still one dimensional in the passing game with WR Steve Smith. The Panthers can pound it out on the ground however, and they still have a really good defense, but I just have a hunch they will not be as good this season. They did not look particularly good against the Ravens in the most important preseason game, so maybe that skews my thinking. I do think the Panthers will strongly contend for a Wild Card spot though, but they could be shut out with the wealth of contenders from the NFC East and North.
The New Orleans Saints will be a fun team to watch with QB Drew Brees running their high powered offense, but I think their defense will hold them back and they will fall short of the playoffs again this year. The Saints pretty much rely on their offense to just outscore opponents, and usually that is not the way to go for long term success. One too many off days from the offense will bring about too many losses and I can only see the Saints being around .500 this year. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be bringing up the rear of this division. The Bucs are still fairly solid on defense, but they are far from the dominant unit they used to be. The Buccaneers biggest problem will be an anemic offense though. QB Byron Leftwich is not consistent enough and the team lacks enough weapons to get the job done. Add in a rookie head coach and I see a team that will be mediocre and finish below .500.
NFC West:
My Division Favorite – Cardinals by a decent margin
Playoff Contenders – Cardinals
The NFC West should basically be a one team division this year. The Arizona Cardinals have become the class of the division and they should have no trouble winning it and being the only playoff representative from the division. The loser of the Super Bowl has had trouble qualifying for the playoffs in the next season, but the weakness of the NFC West should prevent that problem for Arizona. QB Kurt Warner returns with his dynamic duo of WRs in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin and the addition of rookie RB Chris Wells will really help the offense be potent. Throw in a solid and improving defense and the Cardinals should have no trouble winning the division.
The 49ers and Seahawks should be battling for 2nd place, but the ceiling for both of those teams should be around .500. Behind Coach Mike Singletary, the 49ers are slowly improving. The have a pretty tough defense, but are still held back by the offense. They will try to pound it out on the ground, but they lack the ability to have balance because the passing game is weak. Rookie WR Michael Crabtree could have really helped QB Shaun Hill, but he decided to be a fool and “diva” and his contract dispute will hurt the team. The Seahawks get a healthy Matt Hasselbeck back at QB, but even with the addition of WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Seahawks will still be lacking on both offense and defense and they don’t have enough to make a complete turnaround from last year. The St. Louis Rams will most likely be in the basement of the division. Their only bright spot is RB Steven Jackson, but he is not enough to overcome the other problems and it will be a struggle for the Rams as they continue to try and rebuild.
AFC East:
My Division Favorite – Patriots by a solid margin
Playoff Contenders – Patriots and Dolphins
Barring another injury to QB Tom Brady or another bizarre scenario, the Patriots should be back on top of the division this year. It seems as if Brady’s shoulder is fine and the “injury” he suffered will just be a small scare. The Patriots looked great on offense in the preseason and Brady and WR Randy Moss look ready to pick up where they left off before Brady’s knee injury. The defense will be solid as usual for the Patriots and they should have no trouble winning the division. I think the Dolphins are primed to slip this year. They caught many teams by surprise last season, but they will not do so this year. The schedule is much tougher for the Dolphins and Tom Brady is back to 100% for the Patriots. That combination spells trouble and 2nd place for Miami. The Dolphins lack firepower on offense and I don’t think the methodical, no mistake philosophy will be enough. The defense should keep Miami in most every game, but they will come up short in too many. The Dolphins should still have a shot at a Wild Card spot, but the AFC is very tough and I would not be surprised if Miami’s schedule bites them and they miss the playoffs entirely.
The Jets and the Bills will be fighting to stay out of last place in the division. I probably have to give the edge to the Jets to finish 3rd. New Coach Rex Ryan has had first hand experience with a rookie QB, baring witness to QB Joe Flacco last year with the Ravens, so he should be able to support rookie QB Mark Sanchez in New York. I still think though that the Jets will not be able to do enough to make a playoff run. Their defense is solid but certainly not up to the Ravens’ level and they lack weapons on offense to really help Sanchez. The Jets will be solid and have a shot at .500. The Bills will end up being mediocre at best and will finish last. WR Terrell Owens was brought in to try and make the offense more explosive, but he will most likely be keyed on by defenses and he will not make that big of an impact. The offense looked terrible in the preseason and the defense is nowhere near being dominant enough to carry Buffalo. The Bills will struggle and it will be fun to see if Owens blows up this year.
AFC North:
My Division Favorite – Steelers BARELY over the Ravens
Playoff Contenders – Steelers and Ravens
As I have said a few times already, this should be one hell of a fight this season for the AFC North title. I can’t wait to see the two games between the Steelers and Ravens and the result will most likely decide the division. Both teams are built on defense and look to do enough on the offensive side of the ball to win. I am hearing many so-called “experts” say that the Ravens will miss former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. You mean like the team missed Marvin Lewis when he left? That is a weak argument and I don’t think the people saying this realize how deep the Ravens are on defense. The Steelers still have an edge when comparing offenses however. QB Ben Roethlisberger has proven himself time and again as a star and he has a solid running game and WR Hines Ward to back him up. Ravens’ QB Joe Flacco is continuing to improve and develop though, and he looks to be better this year already compared to last season. The Ravens still have a good running game with RB Ray Rice improving and RB Willis McGahee now being the 2nd back to help spell him. Again, the Ravens could be held back because they have no game breaking WR, but Derrick Mason is as solid as they come and the Ravens have worked on getting Flacco to spread the ball around. Based on experience and a slight talent edge, I have to give the Steelers the edge to win the division. I think they find a way to be 1 game better than the Ravens, but I would not be surprised at all if Baltimore wins it because they have looked great in the preseason. No matter how it shakes out, both teams will make the playoffs.
The Browns and the Bengals will be fighting to finish in 3rd place, but it seems as though the Bengals have a solid edge over the Browns. Both of these teams have come into the past few seasons with hopes and promise and they somehow find a way to disappoint. The Browns are trying to rebuild around QB Brady Quinn (or QB Derek Anderson…who the hell knows with Mangini) and the Bengals are hoping a healthy QB Carson Palmer will bring more success this year. I do believe a full, healthy year from Palmer can bring more wins to Cincinnati, but I don’t think they have enough to make any sort of playoff run, even though a few misguided “experts” seem to think so. Clearly, the Ravens and Steelers are much better than the Browns and Bengals, so either team will be lucky to get a sniff at .500 this year. I expect the Browns to fall away though and be pretty bad while the Bengals should be able to hang in there. Make no mistake, the Browns and Bengals will still compete in every game, but they just do not have enough to get things done and they are looking at sub par seasons.
AFC South:
My Division Favorite – Titans by a small margin over the Colts
Playoff Contenders – Titans and Colts
The winds of change are slowly sweeping into the AFC South and the division now seems to belong to the Titans for the time being. Tennessee features a tough hitting and solid defense and a great running game. They are built just like the Steelers and Ravens and that is a good recipe for success. QB Kerry Collins remains the starter for the Titans and he will effectively manage the game and provide Tennessee with a lot of wins and a division title, building off of last year’s great regular season campaign. The Titans’ biggest challenge will come from the Indianapolis Colts, but the Colts are slowly starting to slip from dominance. The window is slowly closing on QB Peyton Manning. Coach Tony Dungy and WR Marvin Harrison are gone and the offense is not as explosive as it once was, but they do have young talent in place. The sheer greatness of Manning though will keep the Colts dangerous on offense and he will get the job done. The defensive unit in Indianapolis is still pretty good and I believe the Colts will be able to do enough to sneak into the playoffs. The AFC is going to be a slugfest this year, so I would not be shocked if Indy caught some bad breaks and not even made the playoffs. But then again, they could get hot and win the division outright. It should be a great battle.
The Houston Texans are starting to improve and there is talk that they could make a playoff run this year. I just do not see that happening. The Texans have many weapons on offense and success will hinge on whether or not QB Matt Schaub can stay healthy. He has already looked a bit shaky in the preseason, so I don’t know if that will happen. The Texans are held back by their defense. Mario Williams has developed into a dominating pass rusher and he is starting to justify his #1 overall draft pick status, but he needs more help. The secondary in Houston is extremely soft and I think these problems will be too much for Houston to expect a playoff berth this year. The Jacksonville Jaguars will most likely fall away and finish last in the division. I just do not see them having enough offense to contend and their defense is certainly not one of the tops in the league. Coach Jack Del Rio will have the Jags ready to play each week, but they do not have enough talent to be an elite team.
AFC West:
My Division Favorite – Chargers by a wide margin
Playoff Contenders – Chargers
Just like the NFC West, the AFC’s western division is a one team race. The Chargers should clearly be head and shoulders above the rest and they are a potential Super Bowl contender. The Chargers have an explosive offense and are good enough on defensive to get to double digit wins and win the division handily. Their top competition should come from the Denver Broncos, but there is so much turmoil in Denver that I don’t know how much of a challenge they can provide. Coach Josh McDaniels is trying to install a new system and get the team on board with it and he has had to already deal with the Jay Cutler situation and problem child WR Brandon Marshall. I am not convinced that QB Kyle Orton is the answer and the Broncos continue to have problems keeping a RB healthy. The defense has slipped in recent years and I only foresee a mediocre season at best. The Chiefs and the Raiders will be in the basement of the AFC West and they both have a long way to go to even reach respectability. I think this is the year that the Chargers finally avoid a slow start and they should beat up on their division rivals easily.
The Game’s Quick Hits
ECW Recap: ECW continues to be a fairly entertaining hour of television when the WWE allows the focus to be on in-ring action. I was pleased to see that tonight and glad the no-talent Abraham Washington did not grace my screen. The night started with a match between The Hurricane and Paul Burchill. These two have had a nice little feud going and even though there is nothing ground breaking here and it is only mid-card filler, they produced a pretty good match. I was pleased to see both wrestlers focus on their strengths and show a nice contrast. The Hurricane tried to use his speed and quickness, while Burchill relied on his strength advantage and tried to wear Hurricane down with power moves. The pace was good and the crowd was supportive of Hurricane and into the match. In the end, Hurricane won with an Eye of the Hurricane after Paul ran into Katie Lea on the ring apron. This was a solid effort all around and much appreciated. These types of matches need to happen more on Raw instead of stuff like the Hornswoggle garbage. It also seems as though Shelton Benjamin and Sheamus are headed toward a feud after an altercation they had following a tag team victory over Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu. I still believe Benjamin should be going after the ECW Championship or moved to Raw or Smackdown and challenge for one of the secondary titles. He can put on some great matches when given the chance. Let’s hope that he can produce some good things with Sheamus. I am still on the fence about the “Celtic Warrior”, but he is definitely the best of the “New Talent Initiative” wrestlers.
The main event featured ECW Champion Christian and Tommy Dreamer taking on Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov. We learned that Christian will be defending his belt against William Regal at Breaking Point, so this match turned into the WWE’s hard sell for the PPV tonight. The two sides put on a perfectly acceptable tag team match. As you would expect, Christian and Dreamer had to rely on speed and veteran savvy, while Kozlov and Jackson brought pure power. Jackson was showcased a little more in this match, looking very imposing and dominant at times and he was able to pick up the victory on Dreamer after a grab of the foot from Regal on the outside. The “Ruthless Roundtable” stood tall at the end of the night and we were left to wonder if Christian’s title reign would soon be over.
- Oklahoma could use some more good news, but they did not get any on Tuesday as Coach Bob Stoops told the media that star TE Jermaine Gresham underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured right knee to determine the severity of cartilage damage. Unfortunately for the Sooners, the injury was not a simple removal of anything and the doctors determined that Gresham needed stitches to repair the cartilage, which will require a recovery time of 5 months and put Gresham out for the season. Gresham returned to school and put off the NFL for a year, so this is extremely bad news for him and could hamper his draft value. He was Oklahoma’s leading returning receiver this year and a real playmaker on offense. Now that he is out for the year, it is pretty much a given that the Sooners offense will suffer and miss his big play ability. At this point, I still stick to my view that Oklahoma will lose against Texas and now the game against Miami is looking more dangerous. It will take a huge effort and tons of determination for the Sooners to fight through this adversity.
- The Richard Seymour watch continues as he failed to report to the Raiders for the 2nd straight day. Raiders Coach Tom Cable said he has nothing new to report and nothing has changed, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick refuses to talk about it since the Patriots no longer have the rights to Seymour, and the NFL is saying to get a statement from the teams. This is quickly starting to turn into some drama now. Reports are saying that Seymour had no advanced warning of the trade and right now, things such as his contract and his role with the Raiders and what they expect from him need to be “worked out”. As I stated yesterday, this move must suck for Seymour, but he really needs to be a professional about it and report to the team or at least give a statement. I would have thought he learned some class and professionalism from the Patriots, even though they did deal him a tough hand. In the NFL, business is business.
- Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick spoke to a group of 200 students on the first day of classes at Nueva Esperanza Academy, a North Philadelphia charter school. He warned the students not to bow to peer pressure and to make good choices that will allow you to be a leader and not a follower. Vick offered himself up as an example of what happens when you lose focus and how your life can go down a bad path. I am happy to see that Vick is getting out in the community and trying to do some good work. As I have stated before, if he can work to make a positive difference and stay on course himself, then the 2nd chance he is getting in the NFL is totally justified. I hope that more schools and organizations give Vick a chance to make a positive impact and not just sit back and bitch and moan about how Vick is bad for young people. That will solve nothing.
- The captain’s selections are in for the 2009 President’s Cup: Ryo Ishikawa, who at 17-years old will be the youngest player ever in the competition, and Adam Scott were chosen by Captain Greg Norman for the International team and Captain Fred Couples chose 2009 U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan for the United States team. Scott’s selection was a bit curious considering the fact that he has fallen to 53 in the world rankings and is suffering through the worst year of his career. Glover and Mahan bring experience to the U.S. squad, as they also were the Captain’s picks 2 years ago. The President’s Cup is a very fun event to watch, even though it is not at the level of the Ryder Cup. I love seeing the match play format, as well as the different foursome matches. There is some real drama that is created and I still say that even though on the surface golf might not seem that exciting, it really can be some of the best competition that you can watch if you are a sports fan.
- I thought this tidbit was worth mentioning with the U.S. Open going on right now. The new head of the men’s tennis tour, Adam Helfant, said that the tour is planning an All-star event in March to try and boost the sport’s popularity. He said the top players are in favor of the event, which would include a skills competition, celebrity doubles matches, and an awards show. Helfant wants to try and create more buzz at the beginning of the year for tennis, something he claims other sports do well. While I think this is a noble cause Helfant is trying to do, I don’t think it will do much good. Tennis is more of a niche sport that will always appeal to a segment of the population, but it will never grow to the heights of the four major professional sports in America. Tennis is a great recreational sport and it will always be around, but it can only grow so much. Unless you can somehow bring along new stars that grow to the level of guys like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, and other greats, AND have them develop intense rivalries, tennis will always lag behind in viewership and popularity. That’s just the way it is.
- U.S. Open Update: The women’s side of the draw has reached the quarterfinals and #2 seed Serena Williams still has not really been tested as she cruised by #10 seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3. In the other women’s quarterfinal of the day, Kim Clijsters routed #18 seed Li Na 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinals against Williams. This is an amazing run by Clijsters after being away from the game for 2 years and the match with Serena has the potential to be very intriguing. On the men’s side, a huge upset occurred as #2 seed Andy Murray was blitzed and totally outplayed in losing to #16 seed Marin Cilic, who won in straight sets 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Cilic will now play #6 seed Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals. Men’s #3 seed Rafael Nadal lost the first set to #13 seed Gael Monfils, but Nadal was able to eventually wear down Monfils as he slowly faded away and Nadal won in 4 sets. Nadal will now face #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez, who advanced by beating #7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 4 sets.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Is Oklahoma's Season Finished?
With Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford going down to a shoulder injury Saturday night, the big sports debate of the day is whether or not Oklahoma’s season is finished. Bradford suffered a sprain of his AC joint in his shoulder and was scheduled to undergo an MRI to find out the extent of the damage. This type of injury can keep someone out for at least 2-4 weeks, but in Bradford’s case, it could be longer because of the stress he would put on his shoulder throwing the football. Team doctors said on Sunday that they will continue to look at Bradford’s shoulder over the holiday weekend and there are a number of rehab options that could be done. At this point, there is no specific timetable for his return. So does this injury totally ruin Oklahoma’s season? To a certain extent, I think it does.
The injury itself already cost Oklahoma the game against BYU. Pollsters do take injuries into account, but without question, this loss stings. Oklahoma is now at a huge disadvantage in the chase to make it to the BCS Championship Game. The Sooners have lost their star player and leader and they now have to find another way to hang on and win some football games. Oklahoma does have two fairly easy games coming up. Idaho State and Tulsa will be traveling to Oklahoma to play them and the Sooners should be able to win both of those games. They will need their defense to remain outstanding just like it was against BYU. The Sooners also need their running game to produce and carry the load to help QB Landry Jones. Jones looked pretty much lost in the 2nd half against BYU, and he does not look like he can drive the Sooners down the field with his arm to put points on the board. The offensive line will also need to quickly gel because they are Oklahoma’s biggest weakness. Bradford was only hit 43 times last season and on the drive that ended with his injury, Bradford was hit 3 times alone. The unit will have to improve, or it could be a longer season for Oklahoma than many anticipated.
A bigger test for Oklahoma will come on October 3rd when they travel to Miami. Miami will play their first game against Florida State tonight, so it remains to be seen just how good the Hurricanes will be. But without question, Miami is improving and if they look good, a Sooners team without Bradford could be ripe for an upset when they travel down to Florida to face them. As of right now, it appears that Bradford would be able to make it back on the field by the time Oklahoma faces Texas on October 17th. This was expected to be the deciding game between the two teams in the Big 12 South, but now it takes on a much different look. Without Bradford, the Sooners would have no shot to win that game. But even if Bradford is back by then, how good will he be? Just coming out of camp and only getting one half worth of work, I am thinking Bradford could still be rusty and trying to develop a rhythm with the offense. I would expect Texas and QB Colt McCoy to be in top form by the time this game occurs, so even with a healthy Bradford, I now believe that Texas will be a big favorite to win this game.
The only chance Oklahoma has right now to even come close to the BCS Title game would be for them to run the table and win every single game and then hope that every other team out there suffers one loss. Oklahoma would have to look impressive in beating Texas and then they would have to regain an air of dominance by the time the end of the season rolls around. Even if they accomplish all of this, they still might get shut out of the title game. They still have an opportunity to make a BCS Bowl game, but that could be on shaky ground at this point.
With the way the offensive line looked last night and depending on how severe Bradford’s injury is, I think the Sooners will most likely lose at least one more game this season. Another loss would be devastating and it would kill any hopes of a BCS game. Oklahoma will still have to travel to Kansas and Nebraska and those will be tough games that they could lose. If Oklahoma State is the real deal this year and their defense improves, they could beat Oklahoma in the last game of the regular season. The uphill climb for Oklahoma to make it back to the National Championship game this year has now turned into a mountain. Bradford’s injury will cost him a shot at repeating as the Heisman Trophy winner and it may just cost Oklahoma a great season. Good is not good enough when it comes to Oklahoma football, but it might be all they can hope for now.
Today is Labor Day here in the United States, so I hope that everyone has a safe and relaxing day. As always, tons of things happening in the world of sports, so let’s take a look at what went down on Sunday.
The Game’s Quick Hits
#8 Mississippi 45, Memphis 14 – The score of this game does not indicate how close it was. Mississippi had a great deal of trouble hitting their stride and they did not look like the #8 team in the country until the 4th quarter. The Rebels were able to eventually wear down Memphis and overcome a subpar performance from star QB Jevan Snead. The running game and defense of Mississippi carried the team to victory. They were only up 17-7 heading into the 4th quarter. Memphis was driving and had a chance to get closer until they failed on a 4th and short play. From there, Mississippi turned on the jets and beat down Memphis until the final whistle. After the opening weekend, it seems as though Alabama has the inside track to win the SEC West. But remember, this was the opening weekend and there is a great deal more football to be played. There is no doubt that Snead will be better and there are some great SEC Conference games to come.
- Sunday got off to a surprising start as the New England Patriots traded defensive lineman Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raiders for a 2011 first round draft pick. Seymour is only 29 years old, is a 5 time Pro Bowler, and matched his career high in sacks last season, which makes this a very curious move. Obviously, Seymour still seems to have a great deal left in the tank, so I have no idea why the Patriots made this move. Seymour had become an anchor of the Patriots’ defense and to just deal him away for a draft pick in ’11 does not seem that smart. Maybe the Patriots see some bad things coming and they felt Seymour’s production would fall off really soon, but there is no evidence yet to support that. However, he is in the last year of his contract and will be crossing the age of 30, so maybe it is a calculated and smart gamble by New England. The Raiders get immediate help for their defense, but this has to really suck for Seymour. He goes from a team that will be making a run at the Super Bowl to a team that will barely make a run at staying out of the basement of the AFC West. The Raiders will still be a bad team this year and now the question will become: does the loss of Seymour have any ill effect on the Patriots? A healthy Tom Brady all year might be able to compensate nicely for any defensive drop off, so we will just have to see how it plays out.
- San Diego Chargers LB Shawne Merriman was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of choking and restraining his girlfriend, reality TV “star” Tila Tequila. Tequila was taken to the hospital while Merriman was arrested and charged with battery and false imprisonment. Wow, I wonder if Merriman was drinking too much tequila or maybe just ate the worm and started acting the fool. Obviously, this is an unwanted and unneeded distraction, especially when Merriman should be focusing on returning to top form after missing last season with an injury. I will not speculate or comment on what might have went down, but only say that it is disgusting if he did in fact choke and restrain her. There is no excuse for a man to physically assault a woman. This is just another case of piss poor judgment and I would not be surprised if Roger Goodell looked into this and suspended Merriman for a game or two. San Diego should have no trouble winning the AFC West, but this type of attention and situation is not what the team needs with one week until opening day.
- Recently fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert took at shot at the Buffalo Bills and Coach Dick Jauron after he was fired on Friday with this choice quote he offered during a phone interview with Buffalo TV station WIVB: “He wants a 'Pop Warner' offense. He limited me in formations, and limited me in plays. He's been on my back all offseason." Damn, that is some great stuff. You have to love a team imploding and being in turmoil even before the season starts. I am wondering if it will even be much of a spectacle this year if WR Terrell Owens blows up after what has happened already. The Bills look like they are falling apart and will end up being pretty bad this year.
- Seattle Mariners OF Ichiro Suzuki became the second fastest player to reach 2,000 career hits on Sunday. He hit a double for his 2,000th hit and he did it in his 1,402nd major league game. Counting his hit total from his playing days in Japan, Ichiro has 3,278 hits in his baseball career. Without question, Ichiro is one of the best pure hitters the game has ever seen and he will certainly be a future Hall of Famer. He will get to the 200 hit plateau for the 9th consecutive year as well, which would be a new MLB record.
- Once again, the conditions were perfect for scoring at the Deutsche Bank Championship and Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson could do nothing but watch as they struggled to find their games and made no charge on moving day. Woods and Mickelson both shot rounds of 1-over par 72 as they both moved backwards and fell out of contention. The course was slightly tougher on Sunday, but Steve Stricker, Retief Goosen, and Sean O’Hair navigated things just fine and they enter the final round tied for the lead at 13-under par. It should be a great finish as there are a dozen players within 3 shots of the lead. As I stated yesterday, Tiger is just not dialed in here and I predicted he would not be moving up to challenge for the win. He now needs to try and fix his inconsistent play if he hopes to win the FedEx Cup. Steve Stricker continues to look great and he is making a real charge to win the Cup. Stricker hit an amazing second shot with his hybrid club to within 5 feet and he drained the eagle putt on 18 to put him in a tie for the lead. A victory Monday will put him atop the FedEx Cup standings. Tiger usually rises to the occasion, so it would not shock me at all if he is able to find his game and win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. He won’t be winning today however.
- Sources indicate that suspended Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount made a phone call to Boise State coach Chris Petersen on Saturday to apologize for his actions and he was also able to apologize to Byron Hout, the Boise State player who Blount punched at the end of the Oregon/Boise State game Thursday night. It is good to hear that Blount has taken the first step to deal with this situation and hopefully will be able to benefit from it. It is a sad situation because Blount not only lost the rest of his college career, but he might have also lost his chance to make the NFL. It is a good lesson to others that you can not lose your cool and you need to always act in a respectful manner, especially when it comes to athletic competition. Hopefully Blount can work to become a better person from all this.
- Reports indicate that Allen Iverson has a face-to-face meeting with executives from the Memphis Grizzlies scheduled for Monday as the two sides seem to be coming closer to an agreement. Memphis is the only team that has actively pursued Iverson this offseason and it seems like it will be his last option. There is no doubt that Iverson is starting to enter the twilight of his career and he needs to accept the fact that he is going to have to come off the bench now. He is not getting any younger, but he still has something to offer to the game. Iverson has been one of the greatest players and scorers the past decade in the NBA, but his time in the sun is dwindling. Iverson should have been looking to get a championship ring and tried to sign with a contender and just accept the reality that his skills are starting to diminish at 34. But I guess every athlete has to cope with this and I hope Iverson can find some peace with it all and not turn into a distraction if he does go to the Grizzles, or anywhere else for that matter.
- U.S. Open Update: Well is seems as though with all the excitement of college football on Saturday, I missed noticing that women’s #1 Dinara Safina was bounced from the tournament. Wow, what a shocker. I was all over that and said there would be no way she would win the tournament. Kudos to me on that. The #3 seed on the women’s side, Venus Williams, was also upset on Sunday afternoon as unseeded Kim Clijsters beat her 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. Clijsters is making her return to the game after a two year absence and she seems to be in good form and is now a dangerous threat. Number 2 seed Serena Williams is now the highest seed left and she is still looking for a test as she easily beat #22 seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0. On the men’s side, #3 seed Rafael Nadal needed to take a 10 minute injury timeout to have his abdominals worked on, but he was still able to beat #32 seed Nicolas Almargo in straight sets to move into the 4th round. No other significant upsets occurred as the men hit the round of 16.
The injury itself already cost Oklahoma the game against BYU. Pollsters do take injuries into account, but without question, this loss stings. Oklahoma is now at a huge disadvantage in the chase to make it to the BCS Championship Game. The Sooners have lost their star player and leader and they now have to find another way to hang on and win some football games. Oklahoma does have two fairly easy games coming up. Idaho State and Tulsa will be traveling to Oklahoma to play them and the Sooners should be able to win both of those games. They will need their defense to remain outstanding just like it was against BYU. The Sooners also need their running game to produce and carry the load to help QB Landry Jones. Jones looked pretty much lost in the 2nd half against BYU, and he does not look like he can drive the Sooners down the field with his arm to put points on the board. The offensive line will also need to quickly gel because they are Oklahoma’s biggest weakness. Bradford was only hit 43 times last season and on the drive that ended with his injury, Bradford was hit 3 times alone. The unit will have to improve, or it could be a longer season for Oklahoma than many anticipated.
A bigger test for Oklahoma will come on October 3rd when they travel to Miami. Miami will play their first game against Florida State tonight, so it remains to be seen just how good the Hurricanes will be. But without question, Miami is improving and if they look good, a Sooners team without Bradford could be ripe for an upset when they travel down to Florida to face them. As of right now, it appears that Bradford would be able to make it back on the field by the time Oklahoma faces Texas on October 17th. This was expected to be the deciding game between the two teams in the Big 12 South, but now it takes on a much different look. Without Bradford, the Sooners would have no shot to win that game. But even if Bradford is back by then, how good will he be? Just coming out of camp and only getting one half worth of work, I am thinking Bradford could still be rusty and trying to develop a rhythm with the offense. I would expect Texas and QB Colt McCoy to be in top form by the time this game occurs, so even with a healthy Bradford, I now believe that Texas will be a big favorite to win this game.
The only chance Oklahoma has right now to even come close to the BCS Title game would be for them to run the table and win every single game and then hope that every other team out there suffers one loss. Oklahoma would have to look impressive in beating Texas and then they would have to regain an air of dominance by the time the end of the season rolls around. Even if they accomplish all of this, they still might get shut out of the title game. They still have an opportunity to make a BCS Bowl game, but that could be on shaky ground at this point.
With the way the offensive line looked last night and depending on how severe Bradford’s injury is, I think the Sooners will most likely lose at least one more game this season. Another loss would be devastating and it would kill any hopes of a BCS game. Oklahoma will still have to travel to Kansas and Nebraska and those will be tough games that they could lose. If Oklahoma State is the real deal this year and their defense improves, they could beat Oklahoma in the last game of the regular season. The uphill climb for Oklahoma to make it back to the National Championship game this year has now turned into a mountain. Bradford’s injury will cost him a shot at repeating as the Heisman Trophy winner and it may just cost Oklahoma a great season. Good is not good enough when it comes to Oklahoma football, but it might be all they can hope for now.
Today is Labor Day here in the United States, so I hope that everyone has a safe and relaxing day. As always, tons of things happening in the world of sports, so let’s take a look at what went down on Sunday.
The Game’s Quick Hits
#8 Mississippi 45, Memphis 14 – The score of this game does not indicate how close it was. Mississippi had a great deal of trouble hitting their stride and they did not look like the #8 team in the country until the 4th quarter. The Rebels were able to eventually wear down Memphis and overcome a subpar performance from star QB Jevan Snead. The running game and defense of Mississippi carried the team to victory. They were only up 17-7 heading into the 4th quarter. Memphis was driving and had a chance to get closer until they failed on a 4th and short play. From there, Mississippi turned on the jets and beat down Memphis until the final whistle. After the opening weekend, it seems as though Alabama has the inside track to win the SEC West. But remember, this was the opening weekend and there is a great deal more football to be played. There is no doubt that Snead will be better and there are some great SEC Conference games to come.
- Sunday got off to a surprising start as the New England Patriots traded defensive lineman Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raiders for a 2011 first round draft pick. Seymour is only 29 years old, is a 5 time Pro Bowler, and matched his career high in sacks last season, which makes this a very curious move. Obviously, Seymour still seems to have a great deal left in the tank, so I have no idea why the Patriots made this move. Seymour had become an anchor of the Patriots’ defense and to just deal him away for a draft pick in ’11 does not seem that smart. Maybe the Patriots see some bad things coming and they felt Seymour’s production would fall off really soon, but there is no evidence yet to support that. However, he is in the last year of his contract and will be crossing the age of 30, so maybe it is a calculated and smart gamble by New England. The Raiders get immediate help for their defense, but this has to really suck for Seymour. He goes from a team that will be making a run at the Super Bowl to a team that will barely make a run at staying out of the basement of the AFC West. The Raiders will still be a bad team this year and now the question will become: does the loss of Seymour have any ill effect on the Patriots? A healthy Tom Brady all year might be able to compensate nicely for any defensive drop off, so we will just have to see how it plays out.
- San Diego Chargers LB Shawne Merriman was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of choking and restraining his girlfriend, reality TV “star” Tila Tequila. Tequila was taken to the hospital while Merriman was arrested and charged with battery and false imprisonment. Wow, I wonder if Merriman was drinking too much tequila or maybe just ate the worm and started acting the fool. Obviously, this is an unwanted and unneeded distraction, especially when Merriman should be focusing on returning to top form after missing last season with an injury. I will not speculate or comment on what might have went down, but only say that it is disgusting if he did in fact choke and restrain her. There is no excuse for a man to physically assault a woman. This is just another case of piss poor judgment and I would not be surprised if Roger Goodell looked into this and suspended Merriman for a game or two. San Diego should have no trouble winning the AFC West, but this type of attention and situation is not what the team needs with one week until opening day.
- Recently fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert took at shot at the Buffalo Bills and Coach Dick Jauron after he was fired on Friday with this choice quote he offered during a phone interview with Buffalo TV station WIVB: “He wants a 'Pop Warner' offense. He limited me in formations, and limited me in plays. He's been on my back all offseason." Damn, that is some great stuff. You have to love a team imploding and being in turmoil even before the season starts. I am wondering if it will even be much of a spectacle this year if WR Terrell Owens blows up after what has happened already. The Bills look like they are falling apart and will end up being pretty bad this year.
- Seattle Mariners OF Ichiro Suzuki became the second fastest player to reach 2,000 career hits on Sunday. He hit a double for his 2,000th hit and he did it in his 1,402nd major league game. Counting his hit total from his playing days in Japan, Ichiro has 3,278 hits in his baseball career. Without question, Ichiro is one of the best pure hitters the game has ever seen and he will certainly be a future Hall of Famer. He will get to the 200 hit plateau for the 9th consecutive year as well, which would be a new MLB record.
- Once again, the conditions were perfect for scoring at the Deutsche Bank Championship and Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson could do nothing but watch as they struggled to find their games and made no charge on moving day. Woods and Mickelson both shot rounds of 1-over par 72 as they both moved backwards and fell out of contention. The course was slightly tougher on Sunday, but Steve Stricker, Retief Goosen, and Sean O’Hair navigated things just fine and they enter the final round tied for the lead at 13-under par. It should be a great finish as there are a dozen players within 3 shots of the lead. As I stated yesterday, Tiger is just not dialed in here and I predicted he would not be moving up to challenge for the win. He now needs to try and fix his inconsistent play if he hopes to win the FedEx Cup. Steve Stricker continues to look great and he is making a real charge to win the Cup. Stricker hit an amazing second shot with his hybrid club to within 5 feet and he drained the eagle putt on 18 to put him in a tie for the lead. A victory Monday will put him atop the FedEx Cup standings. Tiger usually rises to the occasion, so it would not shock me at all if he is able to find his game and win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. He won’t be winning today however.
- Sources indicate that suspended Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount made a phone call to Boise State coach Chris Petersen on Saturday to apologize for his actions and he was also able to apologize to Byron Hout, the Boise State player who Blount punched at the end of the Oregon/Boise State game Thursday night. It is good to hear that Blount has taken the first step to deal with this situation and hopefully will be able to benefit from it. It is a sad situation because Blount not only lost the rest of his college career, but he might have also lost his chance to make the NFL. It is a good lesson to others that you can not lose your cool and you need to always act in a respectful manner, especially when it comes to athletic competition. Hopefully Blount can work to become a better person from all this.
- Reports indicate that Allen Iverson has a face-to-face meeting with executives from the Memphis Grizzlies scheduled for Monday as the two sides seem to be coming closer to an agreement. Memphis is the only team that has actively pursued Iverson this offseason and it seems like it will be his last option. There is no doubt that Iverson is starting to enter the twilight of his career and he needs to accept the fact that he is going to have to come off the bench now. He is not getting any younger, but he still has something to offer to the game. Iverson has been one of the greatest players and scorers the past decade in the NBA, but his time in the sun is dwindling. Iverson should have been looking to get a championship ring and tried to sign with a contender and just accept the reality that his skills are starting to diminish at 34. But I guess every athlete has to cope with this and I hope Iverson can find some peace with it all and not turn into a distraction if he does go to the Grizzles, or anywhere else for that matter.
- U.S. Open Update: Well is seems as though with all the excitement of college football on Saturday, I missed noticing that women’s #1 Dinara Safina was bounced from the tournament. Wow, what a shocker. I was all over that and said there would be no way she would win the tournament. Kudos to me on that. The #3 seed on the women’s side, Venus Williams, was also upset on Sunday afternoon as unseeded Kim Clijsters beat her 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. Clijsters is making her return to the game after a two year absence and she seems to be in good form and is now a dangerous threat. Number 2 seed Serena Williams is now the highest seed left and she is still looking for a test as she easily beat #22 seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0. On the men’s side, #3 seed Rafael Nadal needed to take a 10 minute injury timeout to have his abdominals worked on, but he was still able to beat #32 seed Nicolas Almargo in straight sets to move into the 4th round. No other significant upsets occurred as the men hit the round of 16.
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