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....
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