From me to you: I hope that you and yours have had a very blessed Thanksgiving.
With that said, feast on this blog post; it's time to go around the world of sports, starting of course with football.
The Panthers beat the Cowboys to remain undefeated and did so convincingly, but to me what caught my eye just as much was the first game between the Eagles and the Lions. It caught my eye because of just how badly the Eagles performed and let a terrible Lions team (although they've been playing better) walk all over them.
You know, we're in the waning hours of Thanksgiving, but maybe the Eagles should be thankful that they get to play this game and make the millions of dollars that they earn. And maybe with that thought in mind, they should go out and give more than a token effort like they gave today. You can't call that effort acceptable in any way, and I'm surprised Chip Kelly still has his job tonight.
Then again, considering that he's found out that his system and the NFL go together like oil and water, perhaps he's jonesing for a return to the college game. I hear that LSU may have an opening soon....
Not saying it will happen, but can you imagine: Chip Kelly vs Nick Saban, every single year.
On the second game: Cam Newton didn't do much numbers wise but didn't have to do much today, especially since the Panthers defense picked off Romo three times (two of them for scores) and knocked Romo out of the game. Heck of a job by the Panthers to come to Dallas on a short preparation week and take care of business, remaining undefeated.
Time to double back to the previous weekend now briefly:
- I don't know if they'll make the playoffs, but certainly the Texans have played better since they cut the Oversleeper, Ryan Mallett. It's only three games since that point, but I wonder just how much damage he caused in that locker room because before he was cut, they weren't giving an ounce of effort at all as that performance in Miami last month could attest to. Of course it doesn't hurt that Watt has taken over this month and helped put the team on his back.
- Even when the Ravens win, they lose. They beat the Rams on Sunday but lost Joe Flacco (QB) and Justin Forsett (RB), both starters, for the season. Ravens vs Browns is the Monday night game this week; can you even imagine how awful a game that's going to be?
- Peyton Manning is allegedly three weeks at least from being able to play again. If Osweiler comes in and does his job like he did in Chicago though Peyton may have to fight to get his position back when he does come back though. He certainly wasn't worth a darn against Kansas City. It will be interesting to see how Osweiler does against the Pats.
On college football:
- I do not envy Urban Meyer this week prior to going up to Michigan; Buckeye soap opera is in full effect. You've got players pointing fingers and already declaring they're going pro, you've got your arch rival who is hungering to snap a three game losing streak against you and it's on the road. Meyer is a great coach but definitely has his hands full this week.
- And even if they win, they still have to somehow hope Penn State beats Michigan State...on the road. With Michigan State's standing in the Big 10 East and in the college football playoff, they very likely don't need any help; very likely scenario is beat Penn State and Iowa and you're in the four team playoff for the title. In fact, I'm sure Michigan State would rather see Iowa beat Nebraska than lose even though Iowa is ahead of them, if both teams take care of business, then Iowa vs MSU basically decides a berth in the playoff.
- Florida is ranked No. 12 in the playoff poll this week but I have no idea how, they've been playing like total horse hockey this month. 9-7 win over Vanderbilt, 24-14 over South Carolina, and 20-14 in OVERTIME over a 2-9 Florida Atlantic team. Now here comes Florida State; I don't think the Gators have been sandbagging for the Noles, but we'll see.
- Big game in college ball this week is the Bedlam battle in Stillwater Saturday night. It honestly all depends on who is QBing for Oklahoma IMHO; if Mayfield plays and all indications are he will start, then I don't see Okla State bouncing back from that flat effort against Baylor. A rivalry game may spark them up again, but I think Oklahoma is on a mission and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
On to a few baseball notes now:
- The Blue Jays apparently are not a major factor in the David Price sweepstakes; not surprising, since Price is a high-caliber pitcher who will demand a massive contract from someone. Apparently there are rumblings that teams such as the Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals, Cubs and Giants are poised to make a run at him. One team I am surprised to see not on this list is the one team that needs a top-caliber starting pitcher more than any other...the Yankees. I'm not surprised the Cubs are on this list; the Cubs fans I know have indicated to me they're going to make a major move for Price. The Cards...we'll see but they're not usually inclined to break out the big bucks for players like that. Dallas Keuchel of the Astros has apparently been trying to recruit Price but Luhnow is not going to be overpaying for him.
- The Astros traded infielder Jed Lowrie to the A's; the Astros got Brendan McCurry back in the deal. This one is hardly surprising considering Carlos Correa is the future; he came up when Lowrie was out with his thumb injury and Lowrie never really regained his footing. I like Lowrie, but no doubt it was time to part ways.
- One notable aspect of this deal is the Astros trimmed 7.5 mil off their payroll; they are possessed it seems with finding an elite closer; the lack of a great closer was a major reason the Astros lost to Kansas City in the playoffs this year. Jeff Luhnow, the general manager, also seems to want a veteran presence on his starting rotation.
Couple of college basketball quick hitters:
- The holy trinity of great University of Northern Iowa sports moments now has its third wheel: Kurt Warner winning the Super Bowl with the Rams, UNI beating Kansas in the NCAA tournament in 2010, and that same UNI basketball program beating No. 1 North Carolina last Saturday in Cedar Falls. That is a legitimately tough basketball program they've built in Cedar Falls, and they're competitive every single year. From all indications, they're going to be tough once again.
I know the Hawkeyes and Cyclones fans who follow that sport who are meeting at the lake in Panora today are drinking a toast to Roy Williams getting smacked across the face by any Iowa school; to say that Roy Williams is disliked in Iowa would be a gross understatement.
- It's early and they usually gag in March but so far, Kansas is off to a very good start; they won the highly prestigious Maui Invitational yesterday, beating a top 20 team to do so. Another in their long line of consecutive Big 12 titles is very likely in the cards for KU this year.
Finally from the pros:
- While things are better in Houston with the Texans, the same cannot be said for the team from Toyota Center. The team is third to last in the Western Conference, fired its coach, and lots of theories have been proposed as to why the team is so bad, but one seems to stick out in my mind; the alleged "Kardashian curse" which has hit star James Harden. That's right, the bearded Rockets star has been seeing Khloe Kardashian plenty. I'm not going to speculate on what goes on with them as I'm not really into that sort of thing, but my question is why? If you're going to be contending for a championship, you CANNOT have that sort of distraction.
- The Golden State Warriors are 16-0, the best start in NBA history. They are a powerhouse, no doubt about it. But let's not forget about the little old 12-3 San Antonio Spurs. The Warriors are going to get all the attention until these two teams play, but the problem is they won't play until after the new year. I'd like to know who the schedule maker was that decided that....
Until next time....
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Friday, November 13, 2015
11/13: Rex Bowl and much more
So, Thursday night football comes and goes again and Buffalo gets a second big win in a row. Plus a lot more in this edition.
A couple of quick things on Thursday's game:
1. This game to me was defined by New York Jets miscues and missed opportunities. They had four turnovers, and in the waning moments of the game, they actually had an opportunity to take the lead after being down 22-3. They had the ball at the Bills' five yard line, in fact, but as happened so many times, execution doomed them in this game.
2. LeSean McCoy, after a very slow first half of the season, is finally developing into the running back the Bills need him to be. He hadn't gone over 100 yards in any game this year until the last two weeks but has gone over 100 each of the last two and Thursday he was great in the late stages, helping the Bills get key yards and big plays when they needed them especially in the fourth quarter.
3. The Bills have a very favorable schedule over the next few weeks which made this game so important. They get the Patriots next week and likely will not win that one, but look at their games after that; five beatable teams in a row before a season ending showdown with the Jets (@ Kansas City, Texans at home, @ Philadelphia, @ Washington and Dallas at home). Not saying they will win all those games, but the opportunity is there for a good streak.
Other NFL bits:
Last summer on this very blog I questioned the validity of giving Cam Newton an enormous contract for a guy who had a mediocre few years after a spectacular rookie campaign.
With the Panthers 8-0 and Cam being a major part of that success, no one is laughing now. There is even serious talk about him being the league MVP at this point. That, I don't know about, but I do know there are very few players who are more valuable to their team than Cam Newton is to the Carolina Panthers.
Green Bay plays Detroit this week and Minnesota is out in Oakland (a very intriguing matchup actually) but please get me to week 11 because Week 11 (next week) is Green Bay at Minnesota, the marquee late game, in Minneapolis. A great rivalry game, in a marquee spot with a top tier team and a Minnesota team that has surpassed a lot of expectations. Packers are in a tough part of their schedule, huh? They're playing the Broncos, Panthers and Vikings in the span of four weeks and all those games are on the road. Yikes.
The Raiders lost in Pittsburgh last week but Derek Carr is on a roll. The last three weeks, this guy is averaging over 300 yards passing with an insane 11 touchdowns and just one interception. And he's got Detroit and Tennessee before the month is over; two more opportunities to net some huge numbers.
The Colts might be 4-5 with Andrew Luck hurt, but considering they just beat Denver, that Matt Hasselbeck is quarterbacking their team (not a bad option) and that the rest of the division is the Texans, the Jaguars and the Titans, they may not be hurt all that much.
Couple of college football things:
From LSU/Alabama last Saturday: Year after year, the problem with LSU continues to be the quarterback. And heaven knows, they've had some mediocre to bad ones, from Anthony Jennings to Jordan Jefferson and everyone in between. It's amazing to me that LSU could have such talented players and still have such a simple offense that is so easy to defend. With the latest piece of LSU QB mediocrity, Brandon Harris, stinking it up Saturday at QB it was easy for Alabama to put as many hats as they could on Fournette. Miles still doesn't get it; football is a QB driven sport and until he gets an elite one in recruiting, they won't win another national championship.
Elsewhere, the Nebraska season of tales from the bizarre continues. If I had to describe the Nebraska football season in a song, it would be "Crazy Train" by famous heavy metalist Ozzy Osbourne. And Saturday night, we Husker fans really went for a ride on the crazy train. Ironically, the man involved in the controversial play which won the game for the Huskers (and in all likelihood destroyed Michigan State's national title hopes), Brandon Reilly, is a guy from Lincoln Southwest who wasn't highly regarded out of high school and chose to walk on at Nebraska during the previous regime.
I see where Michigan State players and announcers have not been able to put the game behind them. Shilique Calhoun of MSU was talking about dirty play by Nebraska, and Michigan State announcers left a little note about the officials in their announcers booth. At least their coach D'Antonio took the high road. My advice to Michigan State players and announcers, sincerely?
Kiss my butt.
NU fans have had more than enough things go against them this year to last three seasons but we choose to focus on our own issues instead of blaming others. Maybe Sparty players should remember they had a 12 point lead with four minutes to go and didn't finish.
Speaking of bizarre, that Arkansas/Ole Miss overtime game was the definition of crazy. This play that I've linked up is a 4th and 25 play which ends up being a lateral between two Arkansas players and went for a first down: Arkansas lateral
A few plays later Arkansas scored and then following an Ole Miss penalty, the Hogs won the game on a two point conversion
Couple of basketball notes:
Good heavens, the Golden State Warriors are a freight train. 10-0 to start the season, and they look to be even better than the team that won it all last year. The other thing is it's not like they're trucking scrubs; they've beat the Grizzlies twice already, the Pelicans once, the Rockets once and the Clippers once. The only team that can stop them from winning it all might be themselves...and that team in San Antonio. It really is too bad that the Spurs and Warriors won't play until after the new year because I'd like to see those two go at it right now.
Really disappointed with the Rockets start to the season; 4-4 wouldn't be that bad except that two of the losses came to the Nuggets and the Nets, both at home. It's obvious that the focus isn't there right now and when you play in the always-tough Western Conference, you have to win those types of games. The Nets hadn't won a game all year and then they beat the Rockets.
A few Astros related notes now:
The big baseball item out of Houston is that Colby Rasmus decided to accept the Astros qualifying offer of $15.8 mil for one year and remain with the team. That is huge for the Astros because with him back, the outfield is really in good hands and for another year at least, the Astros get that clubhouse presence that Rasmus brings; he's a popular player with the team with his long, greasy haircut and so having him is a huge bonus for the team.
It's a good thing the Astros are in the process of keeping the core of their team together and/or improving the ballclub because the Angels made a huge move on Thursday, getting two time Gold Glove winner Andrelton Simmons from Atlanta for a veteran shortstop, two prospects, and cash. The addition of Simmons just adds to what was already an extremely talented roster. On paper, they'll probably be the favorite to win the West as one of the game's big spenders, but in baseball games aren't played on paper.
What the Astros really need is a closer, and one of the closers on the market that is expected to be picked up by somebody (if you listen to widely known baseball guy Peter Gammons) by the end of the weekend is Reds fastballing closer Aroldis Chapman. That guy is one of the best closers in the game and if the Astros could get him (not saying they will) that would be an enormous get.
One final thing: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the World Series at least briefly and its aftermath. The Kansas City Royals are the World Champs for the first time in 30 years, and while I'd like that to have been the Astros, the Royals beat them fair and square and proved to be a formidable team throughout this whole season.
And their parade...oh my God their parade. Two days after the Royals won the title, 800,000 people showed up to their parade...to put that in perspective, the metro Kansas City area consists of 2.3 million people. And the amazing thing? No riots. Not one. That's how you class it up after a win.
Until next time....
A couple of quick things on Thursday's game:
1. This game to me was defined by New York Jets miscues and missed opportunities. They had four turnovers, and in the waning moments of the game, they actually had an opportunity to take the lead after being down 22-3. They had the ball at the Bills' five yard line, in fact, but as happened so many times, execution doomed them in this game.
2. LeSean McCoy, after a very slow first half of the season, is finally developing into the running back the Bills need him to be. He hadn't gone over 100 yards in any game this year until the last two weeks but has gone over 100 each of the last two and Thursday he was great in the late stages, helping the Bills get key yards and big plays when they needed them especially in the fourth quarter.
3. The Bills have a very favorable schedule over the next few weeks which made this game so important. They get the Patriots next week and likely will not win that one, but look at their games after that; five beatable teams in a row before a season ending showdown with the Jets (@ Kansas City, Texans at home, @ Philadelphia, @ Washington and Dallas at home). Not saying they will win all those games, but the opportunity is there for a good streak.
Other NFL bits:
Last summer on this very blog I questioned the validity of giving Cam Newton an enormous contract for a guy who had a mediocre few years after a spectacular rookie campaign.
With the Panthers 8-0 and Cam being a major part of that success, no one is laughing now. There is even serious talk about him being the league MVP at this point. That, I don't know about, but I do know there are very few players who are more valuable to their team than Cam Newton is to the Carolina Panthers.
Green Bay plays Detroit this week and Minnesota is out in Oakland (a very intriguing matchup actually) but please get me to week 11 because Week 11 (next week) is Green Bay at Minnesota, the marquee late game, in Minneapolis. A great rivalry game, in a marquee spot with a top tier team and a Minnesota team that has surpassed a lot of expectations. Packers are in a tough part of their schedule, huh? They're playing the Broncos, Panthers and Vikings in the span of four weeks and all those games are on the road. Yikes.
The Raiders lost in Pittsburgh last week but Derek Carr is on a roll. The last three weeks, this guy is averaging over 300 yards passing with an insane 11 touchdowns and just one interception. And he's got Detroit and Tennessee before the month is over; two more opportunities to net some huge numbers.
The Colts might be 4-5 with Andrew Luck hurt, but considering they just beat Denver, that Matt Hasselbeck is quarterbacking their team (not a bad option) and that the rest of the division is the Texans, the Jaguars and the Titans, they may not be hurt all that much.
Couple of college football things:
From LSU/Alabama last Saturday: Year after year, the problem with LSU continues to be the quarterback. And heaven knows, they've had some mediocre to bad ones, from Anthony Jennings to Jordan Jefferson and everyone in between. It's amazing to me that LSU could have such talented players and still have such a simple offense that is so easy to defend. With the latest piece of LSU QB mediocrity, Brandon Harris, stinking it up Saturday at QB it was easy for Alabama to put as many hats as they could on Fournette. Miles still doesn't get it; football is a QB driven sport and until he gets an elite one in recruiting, they won't win another national championship.
Elsewhere, the Nebraska season of tales from the bizarre continues. If I had to describe the Nebraska football season in a song, it would be "Crazy Train" by famous heavy metalist Ozzy Osbourne. And Saturday night, we Husker fans really went for a ride on the crazy train. Ironically, the man involved in the controversial play which won the game for the Huskers (and in all likelihood destroyed Michigan State's national title hopes), Brandon Reilly, is a guy from Lincoln Southwest who wasn't highly regarded out of high school and chose to walk on at Nebraska during the previous regime.
I see where Michigan State players and announcers have not been able to put the game behind them. Shilique Calhoun of MSU was talking about dirty play by Nebraska, and Michigan State announcers left a little note about the officials in their announcers booth. At least their coach D'Antonio took the high road. My advice to Michigan State players and announcers, sincerely?
Kiss my butt.
NU fans have had more than enough things go against them this year to last three seasons but we choose to focus on our own issues instead of blaming others. Maybe Sparty players should remember they had a 12 point lead with four minutes to go and didn't finish.
Speaking of bizarre, that Arkansas/Ole Miss overtime game was the definition of crazy. This play that I've linked up is a 4th and 25 play which ends up being a lateral between two Arkansas players and went for a first down: Arkansas lateral
A few plays later Arkansas scored and then following an Ole Miss penalty, the Hogs won the game on a two point conversion
Couple of basketball notes:
Good heavens, the Golden State Warriors are a freight train. 10-0 to start the season, and they look to be even better than the team that won it all last year. The other thing is it's not like they're trucking scrubs; they've beat the Grizzlies twice already, the Pelicans once, the Rockets once and the Clippers once. The only team that can stop them from winning it all might be themselves...and that team in San Antonio. It really is too bad that the Spurs and Warriors won't play until after the new year because I'd like to see those two go at it right now.
Really disappointed with the Rockets start to the season; 4-4 wouldn't be that bad except that two of the losses came to the Nuggets and the Nets, both at home. It's obvious that the focus isn't there right now and when you play in the always-tough Western Conference, you have to win those types of games. The Nets hadn't won a game all year and then they beat the Rockets.
A few Astros related notes now:
The big baseball item out of Houston is that Colby Rasmus decided to accept the Astros qualifying offer of $15.8 mil for one year and remain with the team. That is huge for the Astros because with him back, the outfield is really in good hands and for another year at least, the Astros get that clubhouse presence that Rasmus brings; he's a popular player with the team with his long, greasy haircut and so having him is a huge bonus for the team.
It's a good thing the Astros are in the process of keeping the core of their team together and/or improving the ballclub because the Angels made a huge move on Thursday, getting two time Gold Glove winner Andrelton Simmons from Atlanta for a veteran shortstop, two prospects, and cash. The addition of Simmons just adds to what was already an extremely talented roster. On paper, they'll probably be the favorite to win the West as one of the game's big spenders, but in baseball games aren't played on paper.
What the Astros really need is a closer, and one of the closers on the market that is expected to be picked up by somebody (if you listen to widely known baseball guy Peter Gammons) by the end of the weekend is Reds fastballing closer Aroldis Chapman. That guy is one of the best closers in the game and if the Astros could get him (not saying they will) that would be an enormous get.
One final thing: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the World Series at least briefly and its aftermath. The Kansas City Royals are the World Champs for the first time in 30 years, and while I'd like that to have been the Astros, the Royals beat them fair and square and proved to be a formidable team throughout this whole season.
And their parade...oh my God their parade. Two days after the Royals won the title, 800,000 people showed up to their parade...to put that in perspective, the metro Kansas City area consists of 2.3 million people. And the amazing thing? No riots. Not one. That's how you class it up after a win.
Until next time....
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