PRETTY ENTERTAINING THURSDAY NIGHT
For a Thursday evening, it was pretty damn exciting with good NFL game won by the Eagles 34-24, a double overtime college game won by Arizona State 31-30 after blocking their second PAT to send in-state rival Arizona to their 4th straight loss. As these progressed, we watched #4 Kansas escape a home-court loss when UCLA was whistled for a foul with .7 seconds left. The Jayhawks made a free throw to win 77-76 & that game was followed by #9 Mizzou at Oregon. Mizzou roared out to a 44-24 halftime lead & our attention shifted to the 2nd overtime in Tucson. The Sun Devils scored first & Arizona scored to pull within 1. The ASU had blocked an extra point with 27-seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. They did it again, winning the "Territory Trophy", contested every year between the Arizona schools. Now we shift back to the Mizzou-Oregon contest & the Tigers began running out of gas. It was their 7th game in 14-days everywhere from Cancun Mexico to Columbia Missouri to Eugene Oregon & it was starting to take it's toll. The Ducks outscored Mizzou 56-39 but the Tigers prevailed making free throw after free throw down the stretch, which was nice after watching them gag in the Georgetown game Tuesday night, missing 3 in the last 14-seconds. So yeah, it was a damn good sports night for a Thursday.
The Eagles hung in, took advantage of the porous Houston secondary to win their 8th game of the season. Michael Vick threw for 301-yards, with two scores & a pick while running 10-times for 48-yards & another touchdown. The Texans took the lead briefly in the 3rd quarter, but same old story, their defense couldn't hold it. Down two games in the loss column with 5 to play, Houston is closing in on elimination.
The Chiefs filed tampering charges against the Detroit Lions with the league office on Thursday. The specifics of their allegations weren't revealed but if you'll recall this August when former K.C. defensive coordinator, Guenther Cunningham, said "They want to dump a bunch of their players & there's a few I'd like to get my hands on, I know them, they're pretty good." He had already claimed former #2 draft pick Turk McBride & was very interested in holdout safety Jarrad Page. Page was later traded to New England.I'm rather surprised it took them a couple of months to put this charge together.
Dexter McCluster has returned to full speed at practice & is no longer listed on their injury report. Brandon Flowers didn't practice, only worked out on the stationary bike, so I don't expect him to play Sunday. Matt Cassel was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November. He is certainly deserving, as is Dewayne Bowe. He is the first Chiefs' QB since Steve Deberg, way, way, back when, to win the award.
Quick Kansas City stat update. The Chiefs lead the NFL in rushing with an average of 174.3 per game. The Jets are a distant 2nd at 148.1. The Denver Broncos rank 30th with a 79.4 yards per game average. Denver is also 30th against the run, allowing an average of 141.6 yards per game. Kansas City's defense is ranked 7th vs. the run. Think we'll see another heavy dose of Jamaal Charles again Sunday?
The New England Patriots suffered a real loss when they placed right guard Stephen Neal on injured reserve. He re-injured his right shoulder & could require another operation, that is if he doesn't retire.
Ben Rothlisberger's foot injury is described by the team as a "sprain" while several Pittsburgh news outlets are saying he has a broken 5th metatarsal. He's still in a walking boot & the Steelers still say he'll play Sunday night.
I told you yesterday the Bengals would be blacked out again this Sunday but Chad 85 is now saying he intends to buy the remaining non-premium seats to lift the blackout. Unless he notified the league, the deadline has come & passed at 4 PM Thursday afternoon. Chad said "if I gotta play, you gotta watch." Whatta guy huh?
Alabama will be without their leading tackler for whatever bowl game they accept. Safety Mark Barron suffered a torn pectoral muscle & will undergo surgery.
In the "whoda thunk it?" category, the State of Texas has six bowl eligible football programs & none of them is Texas. A&M, TCU, Tech, yes, SMU, Baylor & even UTEP, but no Longhorns. Amazing, in fact downright memorable.
My 107-69 record kept me ahead of Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Merrill Hoge, Eric Allen, Adam Schefter & tied with Ron Jaworski in the "Office Pool Picks" pot. I got a nice check from one of my readers who used those picks to win last week. Thank you, let's do it again.
I bagged on University President E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State for his stupid & insensitive remarks about TCU & Boise State. The national media, for the most part, got all up in E. Gordon's grill, thankfully. On Thursday, he made amends.
"I need to keep my mouth closed. What I should do is go over to the surgical suites & get my foot extracted from my mouth."
"What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher, I have no business talking about college football. In the future I won't."
As to his remark about TCU & Boise playing the "Little Sisters of the Poor" E. Gordon said
"I contacted the nearest Catholic orphanage & wrote the sisters a personal check as a donation, It was never my intention to demean any other school or suggest their opponents were anything less than teams Ohio State plays."
Good for you E. Gordon. You did extract your foot in a very classy way.
The Eagles hung in, took advantage of the porous Houston secondary to win their 8th game of the season. Michael Vick threw for 301-yards, with two scores & a pick while running 10-times for 48-yards & another touchdown. The Texans took the lead briefly in the 3rd quarter, but same old story, their defense couldn't hold it. Down two games in the loss column with 5 to play, Houston is closing in on elimination.
The Chiefs filed tampering charges against the Detroit Lions with the league office on Thursday. The specifics of their allegations weren't revealed but if you'll recall this August when former K.C. defensive coordinator, Guenther Cunningham, said "They want to dump a bunch of their players & there's a few I'd like to get my hands on, I know them, they're pretty good." He had already claimed former #2 draft pick Turk McBride & was very interested in holdout safety Jarrad Page. Page was later traded to New England.I'm rather surprised it took them a couple of months to put this charge together.
Dexter McCluster has returned to full speed at practice & is no longer listed on their injury report. Brandon Flowers didn't practice, only worked out on the stationary bike, so I don't expect him to play Sunday. Matt Cassel was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November. He is certainly deserving, as is Dewayne Bowe. He is the first Chiefs' QB since Steve Deberg, way, way, back when, to win the award.
Quick Kansas City stat update. The Chiefs lead the NFL in rushing with an average of 174.3 per game. The Jets are a distant 2nd at 148.1. The Denver Broncos rank 30th with a 79.4 yards per game average. Denver is also 30th against the run, allowing an average of 141.6 yards per game. Kansas City's defense is ranked 7th vs. the run. Think we'll see another heavy dose of Jamaal Charles again Sunday?
The New England Patriots suffered a real loss when they placed right guard Stephen Neal on injured reserve. He re-injured his right shoulder & could require another operation, that is if he doesn't retire.
Ben Rothlisberger's foot injury is described by the team as a "sprain" while several Pittsburgh news outlets are saying he has a broken 5th metatarsal. He's still in a walking boot & the Steelers still say he'll play Sunday night.
I told you yesterday the Bengals would be blacked out again this Sunday but Chad 85 is now saying he intends to buy the remaining non-premium seats to lift the blackout. Unless he notified the league, the deadline has come & passed at 4 PM Thursday afternoon. Chad said "if I gotta play, you gotta watch." Whatta guy huh?
Alabama will be without their leading tackler for whatever bowl game they accept. Safety Mark Barron suffered a torn pectoral muscle & will undergo surgery.
In the "whoda thunk it?" category, the State of Texas has six bowl eligible football programs & none of them is Texas. A&M, TCU, Tech, yes, SMU, Baylor & even UTEP, but no Longhorns. Amazing, in fact downright memorable.
My 107-69 record kept me ahead of Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Merrill Hoge, Eric Allen, Adam Schefter & tied with Ron Jaworski in the "Office Pool Picks" pot. I got a nice check from one of my readers who used those picks to win last week. Thank you, let's do it again.
I bagged on University President E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State for his stupid & insensitive remarks about TCU & Boise State. The national media, for the most part, got all up in E. Gordon's grill, thankfully. On Thursday, he made amends.
"I need to keep my mouth closed. What I should do is go over to the surgical suites & get my foot extracted from my mouth."
"What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher, I have no business talking about college football. In the future I won't."
As to his remark about TCU & Boise playing the "Little Sisters of the Poor" E. Gordon said
"I contacted the nearest Catholic orphanage & wrote the sisters a personal check as a donation, It was never my intention to demean any other school or suggest their opponents were anything less than teams Ohio State plays."
Good for you E. Gordon. You did extract your foot in a very classy way.
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