Beginning of October... Every Sports Lover's Dream

This blog and all of my blogs are dedicated to my family, especially to my pop pop, who took me to a few games. You were always there for me and I love you forever.

Not only did this weekend bring some exciting professional and college football games but it also brought the end of the regular baseball season, MLB playoff time and the start of the NBA pre-season.

Saturday was chock-full o’ some great college games, with match-ups like Miami and Clemson, Florida and Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma. I guess it’s only appropriate to start this with the team who’s at the top of the rankings and that would be none other than Alabama’s Crimson Tide who ran all over the Gators this weekend. After starting their early demolition of Florida with a field goal the Gators came right back up the field and looked like they might score a touchdown. Instead of going for the tie on 4^th and goal, John Brantley threw an interception and let’s just say it only got worse for the Gators after that. Florida was unable to score a touchdown which made the final score 31-6. This brings Nick Saban’s record at Bama to 38-8.

The Miami Hurricanes traveled to South Carolina to face the Clemson Tigers on Saturday.  This ACC battle was a key victory for the Hurricanes who are now 3-1 (1-0 in the ACC). Jacory Harris continues to have highs and lows in each game, he’s consistently inconsistent. He threw for 205 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and only completed 13 passes out of 33, (that’s about 39%).  He did however look better than Clemson’s QB Kyle Parker, who threw 3 interceptions and zero touchdowns. Leonard Hankerson, out of St. Thomas Aquinas, came up big in this game, catching 7 times for 147 yards (more than 71% of Miami’s total receiving yards) and 3 of Harris’ TDs. Miami’s Matt Bosher sealed the deal with a 29-yard field goal with 2:40 left in the fourth.

The Red River Rivalry, the annual game between Texas and Oklahoma was played in Oklahoma on Saturday. Sam Bradford’ replacement, Landry Jones, looked good throwing for 2 touchdowns and 236 yards. Colt McCoy’s replacement, Garrett Gilbert, continues to struggle leading the Longhorn offense. Oklahoma won this meeting, making the all time Red River record 59-41 in favor of the Longhorns.

Sunday brought the last games of regular season baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays beat Kansas City to clinch the AL East and the best record in the American League. The Yankees clinched the wild card spot to make the playoffs for the 49^th time. The Texas Rangers clinched the AL West and the Minnesota Twins clinched the AL Central. The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL East for the 4th straight year. The Reds clinched the NL Central and the San Francisco Giants beat the Padres to clinch the NL West. The Braves clinched the wild card and will start their playoff run against the Giants on Thursday. The Reds will travel to Philly on Thursday as well. Both AL games are on Wednesday.

NFL Sunday was full of upsets, heartbreaking losses and sloppy wins. After being up 14-0, the 49ers let the Falcons come all the way back to 14-13. On the drive to go up, Matt Ryan threw an interception to the 49ers’ Nate Clements. I thought the game was over at that point. The Falcons’ Roddy White thought differently and forced a fumble in order for the Falcons winning drive to stay alive. Matt Bryant saved the day for the second week in a row, kicking a 43-yard field goal with 2 seconds left on the clock.

The always-good Colts lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who failed to score a touchdown last week against the Eagles. Peyton Manning had his 3^rd 300+ yard game on Sunday but that wasn’t enough to the Jags. This game was close the entire time. Each score was answered with another score. In the middle of the fourth quarter Joseph Addai ran for a touchdown to bring the score to 21-21. Maurice Jones-Drew answered that with an 8 yard touchdown making it 28-21. Peyton Manning, no stranger to having to perform under pressure led his team down the field and threw a TD to Austin Collie with 48 seconds left. At that point, I think Peyton, along with the entire Colt’s team thought they were headed for over-time. Not so fast. The desperate Jaguars sloppily made it to the Colts’ 41 yard-line. With 5 seconds left Jaguars kicker, Josh Scobee kicked the field goal of his life. It flew 59 yards before crossing the uprights. Both of these AFC South teams are 2-2.

Donovan McNabb made his return to Philly on Sunday, in a Redskins jersey. Number 5 was welcomed with a standing ovation, then the game started and the cheers quickly turned to jeers. It was neither team’s best game. Michael Vick left the game in the first quarter with rib and chest injuries. Had he not been injured, this game probably would have looked a whole lot different. Donovan McNabb’s lackluster performance was enough to get him the W, and the revenge on his old team and his old coach, Andy Reid. The final was 17-12, with the Skins scoring all their points in the first half and the Eagles relying on David Akers to score half of their points. The Eagles scored a touchdown in the fourth but failed to complete the 2 point conversion that would have cut the Redskins’ lead to 3 points. I like Donovan and I’m glad he got the victory over the Eagles. These teams are 2-2 now as well.

Staying with the NFC East, the Giants beat the then 3-0 Bears on Sunday Night Football. The rain in New York was quite obvious; neither team seemed to be able to hold on to the ball. The first half was reminiscent of that Steelers-Dolphins game a few years ago (The Steelers won 3-0 in horrible weather in Miami).  At the end the Giants came up on top 17-3 and they also sacked Jay Cutler nine times (and Caleb Hanie once). Lovie Smith had to send out 2 back up QBs after Jay Cutler sustained a concussion. Todd Collins was sent to the sidelines after a blindside hit from LB Michael Boley. Caleb Hanie took the field at the end of the fourth quarter to finish the game.

Just a few more notes from Sunday: Joe Flacco and the Ravens beat their AFC North rivals, the Steelers in a game that came down to the very end. Cincinnati lost to the Browns (WHAT?????) and Detroit almost won for the fourth time this season. The Kansas City Chiefs remain the only undefeated team at 3-0, and 20 teams have lost 2 or more games. 

NFL Week 3

Week 3 of the 2010 NFL season was quite eventful and I have to say not all too surprising... 

Are the boys back in town? The Dallas Cowboys had their best performance of the season Sunday in Houston. They held the number one offensive team to only 13 points and scored 27 points themselves. Apparently the Cowboys ate their Wheaties Sunday morning and it looks like they all took that player meeting they had on Monday seriously. Tony Romo threw for 2 touchdowns and Marion Barber ran for another. The Boys finally established their running game, and the defense performed like the defense we saw last season. Matt Schaub was picked off twice and sacked four times, three of those sacks coming from DeMarcus Ware. We finally saw the team that everyone was expecting to see this year. 

Tom Brady led the New England offense to 38 points, bringing their 3-week total to 90 points.  He threw for 252 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Randy Moss was on the receiving end of 2 of those touchdowns and Danny Woodhead, who was let go by the Jets earlier this month, scored another. The Patriots defense continued to look spotty in comparison to the offense. The Bills combined score for the first 2 weeks was 17, but somehow they scored 30 points on the Pats’ D. Bill Belichick, the defensive minded coach that he is, needs to get his defense in line. Yes, they are a young team but they’ve had the entire off-season to prepare. They can’t rely on the offense to score 5 touchdowns a game, to bail them out. Bottom line: They need to get their act together. In other news, the Bills let go of veteran QB Trent Edwards on Monday, one day after their loss to the Pats. Do they really have that much faith in Ryan Fitzpatrick? Yeah, he helped their offense score 30 points but what if he gets hurt. I can promise you the Jets' defense will not be as lackadaisical as the Pats' D looked on Sunday. After all, Fitzpatrick's got that Harvard degree to fall back on, what do the Bills have to fall back on? Edwards was picked up on waivers by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who failed to score a touchdown against the Eagles on Sunday.

There was a showdown Monday night in Chicago as the Packers took on their division rivals, the Bears for the 180th time. Aaron Rodgers looked solid, throwing for  316 yards, one touchdown and one interception, with a passer rating of 92.5. The Packers really hurt themselves with penalties (18 for 152 yards). With 2 minutes left in the game and the score tied at 17, the Packers, instead of capitalizing on an interception thrown by Jay Cutler, fumbled the ball and lost their chance to be 3 and 0. And now the Bears are leading the NFC North at 3-0. Lovie Smith was the winning coach on Monday and he's hoping to avoid another mediocre season following their 13-3 Super Bowl run in 2006, where they lost to the Colts.

Speaking of the NFC North, the Detroit Lions continue to impress me despite their losing record. They are currently 0-3, but have looked like a great team in their losing effort. They have also had some questionable calls against them (that Calvin Johnson touchdown in week one against the Bears! C'mon man! He's on my fantasy team). In week 2 they lost to the Eagles after Shaun Hill failed to complete a single pass in the Lions' last drive, but the final score was 35-32. So close! This past Sunday the Bears faced their foes from the West, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikes ended up winning 24-10. Maybe things will turn around once Matthew Stafford is back under center.

The New York Jets traveled to Miami on Sunday to play the Dolphins. This battle was close the entire time. Every time the Jets scored the Dolphins would counter it with a score of their own. It came down to the last 2 minutes, the score 24-23 in favor of the Jets. Chad Henne, looking to go ahead was picked off in the end-zone when he tried to complete a pass to his tight end Anthony Fasano, who was in double coverage (Come on, he's not Randy Moss). Ladainian Tomlinson ran in the final TD to end the game at 31-23, and to solidify the Jets' spot at the top of the AFC East standings. Next week the Jets head to Buffalo while the Patriots head to Miami... Should be interesting.

Now I thought the Steelers were done before the season even started with Ben Roethlisberger being suspended for the first 4 games. Then they won their first 2 games with Dennis Dixon leading them. Then Dennis Dixon got hurt, they let go of Byron Leftwich and announced the Charlie Batch would be the starter. I thought they were really screwed. But low and behold they beat the then 2-0 Buccaneers 38-13. Whoa Charlie Batch, Ben might have some competition.

I'd like to end this week by saying, Michael Vick. Holy Crap Michael Vick. You play D.Mac next week, can't wait to see what happens.

That's it for this week,
Sports Truly

NFL Week 2

So since this is my first blog ever, I'm going to explain how this works. Every week (hopefully) I'm going to break down what happened in sports and offer my 2 cents on the issues. Alright, let's do this.

Most recently, the San Francisco 49ers put up quite a fight against the reigning Super bowl champion New Orleans Saints. There are 2 topics that arise from this Monday night game: 1. San Fran looked pretty decent. They had a few turnovers and kind of kicked themselves with bad timeouts but let's face it, they definitely scared the Saints. Alex Smith led the 49ers down the field to score a touchdown with a 2 point conversion with a minute and 19 seconds left. This tied the score at 22. But as we've seen that is way too much time to leave Drew Brees in this type of situation. The niners' defense played well, but they couldn't stop Brees at the end of the game. Garrett Hartley saved the Saints with a 37 yard field goal as time ran out. This brings the Saints total points from week 1 and 2 to 39, which brings me to topic 2. Are the Saints as good as everyone thought they were going to be? Last season, the Saints had scored 89 points in the first 2 games. Yes, I know at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the W and the Saints are 2-0, but are they slowly falling into that Super bowl hangover?

If I've learned anything in the last 2 weeks it's that football really is about any given Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday). Sports are unpredictable. I would have never thought that the Dallas Cowboys would be 0-2 right now, after all the Super Bowl hype that surrounded them in the off-season. They have looked awful so far. After watching their pre-season performance I knew they had to make a change, but I don't think they've made it yet. Their team isn't playing like a team, their coach is happy ALL THE TIME, even when their doing bad. What's going on in the Big-D? Jerry Jones has said time and time again that he will stand by Wade Phillips, but if they continue to preform this badly I think Wade Phillips is going to be off the sidelines and inside of a mall with kids sitting on his lap, telling him what they want for Christmas. Bottom line: The Cowboys need to turn this around, talk to each other and play like the team they were last year. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are undefeated. That's right, they have won their first 2 games. I am still in shock that they are currently leading the NFC South. Just a year ago they were 3-13 with their wins coming in the last few weeks of the regular season. They play the Steelers at home next week, let's see if this hot streak continues.

Michael Vick. Yes, he is a criminal, yes he is a dog killer. He served his time and apparently only got better while incarcerated. He looked like the Michael Vick of old when he played the Lions this past Sunday. He went 21 for 34 with 2 touchdowns, threw for 284 yards, and rushed for 37 yards. If you ask me, he looked way better leading the team than Kevin Kolb did a week earlier. The area that needs work in Philly is their defense. They let the Lions score 32 points? In the words of Cris Carter, "C'mon man!" This just announced, Vick was named the starting QB for the Eagles this Sunday. I love when they take my advice =). 

The New England Patriots scored 38 points in their first week and kept the super hero team of Palmer, Ochocinco and Owens to a lackluster 24 points. Three of those Cincy touchdowns came in the second half of the game. This past weekend, the Pats headed to the Meadowlands to face off against their division rival New York Jets. In the first half Tom Brady threw for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns. In the second half he threw for a minuscule 32 yards, no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The Pats' defense sacked Mark Sanchez three times in the first half and could barely get a hand on him or any of the Jets in the second half. This makes me wonder, do they all hurry to the locker room at halftime, take a nap, then hit the field for the second half? What is Bill Belichick doing? Everyone thinks he is such a genius, well this genius needs to get his team together and rip them a new one after that loss. The Patriots need to be able to play the entire game, not just for 30 minutes of it. And that whole Revis calling Moss a "slouch" thing... Well we all saw what happened with that. Hey Revis, how's that hamstring buddy?

I think that's going to be it for this week, I'd just like to close with this one thought: Brett Favre, you should have stayed in Mississippi bud. 

Sports Truly