BLACK MONDAY HAS SEVERAL CASULTIES, SPARTY SAVES BIG-10 & THE OTHER BOWLS FROM TODAY
Didn't take long before heads started rolling around the NFL this morning. Two moves everybody saw coming, Raheem Morris out in Tampa & Steve Spagnuolo sent packin' in St. Louis were announced, but it was the third move that rocked everybody around the league. Colts owner Jim Irsay relieved Vice Chairman of the board, Bill Polian & his son Chris, Indy general manager, of their duties around noon. I never heard any rumblings regarding the Polians. Apparently Irsay wasn't happy with their plans for Peyton Manning & the possible drafting of Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Bill Polian had been in charge of football operations since right after the 1998 season, two months later he drafted Manning for the Colts. Peyton said in a release later Monday afternoon how shocked he was by the moves to remove the Polians from the organization. It will be very interesting to hear some of the explanations regarding their dismissal. Rams' owner Stan Kroenke not only fired coach Spagnuolo but his GM, Billy Devaney as well. Spagnuolo lost more games in his three-year tenure(38) than Bill Belichick lost in the last decade(37).
Morris was very humble in his press conference, thanking the Glazer family for his opportunity, saying they had been very supportive, respectful & he might not have been a head coach if not for the Glazers. He made no excuses for his teams 10-game losing streak to close the season, "At the end tho I had nothing to stand on, the last 10-games, you can't do that."
Charger ownership said they were going to take a few days to determine the future of head coach Norv Turner & GM A.J. Smith. One or both are as good as gone.
Raider coach Hue Jackson was quick to blame others for the teams collapse down the stretch. "I blame the team, they didn't show up yesterday, especially on defense." D-coordinator Chuck Bresnahan will most certainly be let go very soon. Jackson also raised more than a few eyebrows with these remarks "I'm going to take a stronger hand in the direction this whole damn thing, this whole organization, everything that goes on here." I wonder if ownership is aware Hue is about to take over the entire operation? He engineered the trade for Carson Palmer that will cost the Raiders their 1st & 2nd round choices in April's draft as well as their #2 next year. Oakland fans can take a few days off around the draft, their team doesn't have a pick until the third day in the fifth round. They also surrendered their third-round pick for QB Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft & their 4th round selection in a trade with Washington for injured quarterback Jason Campbell. By the way, Oakland was 4-2 without Palmer & 4-6 with him.
Steeler RB Rashard Mendenhall does in fact have a torn ACL & is lost for the playoffs.
The cancer Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes has become lands squarely on the shoulders of head coach Rex Ryan. He appointed him team captain, thinking the responsibility would help Holmes become a more mature team leader. It had the opposite effect, players have said he became a loner who used his position to shout people down, to avoid responsibility. One player said he was a "locker room cancer" & interacting with Holmes "was like dealing with a 10-year old." Another Jet on the outs with both teammates & management is linebacker Bart Scott who used Monday to flip the bird to every media member who approached him & even to a few teammates. I'm thinkin' Bart is on his way out in New York. He was another of Rex's boys.
Think Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald ain't tough, think again. The all-pro joined three other receivers in history to gain over 1,400-yards in 4 consecutive seasons. The other three? Jerry Rice, Randy Moss & Marvin Harrison. Midway thru the third quarter of Sunday's overtime win, Fitzgerald sustained a bruised lung & was spitting up blood on the sideline. He never missed a snap when the offense played the rest of the game, making two one-handed grabs for first downs that allowed the Cardinals to tie the game & later win it in O.T.
Chiefs' inside linebacker Derrick Johnson was named team MVP in a vote of his teammates. The honor is well deserved. Fellow linebacker, rookie Justin Houston, was named winner of the Mack Lee Hill Award, given to the team's outstanding rookie. Also the right choice.
As I turned on the TV this morning to watch the Ticket City Bowl from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas I was disturbed to find about 3-dozen protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church were outside the stadium spreading their hate. They were on hand to protest Penn States involvement in the game. What happened at Penn State was as vile as it gets, you know I've written about it many times. But the players at Penn State had nothing to do with Jerry Sandusky & his pedophilia. These kids have been drug thru the mud strictly by playing for the same school that employed this monster. Very sad to see such hate leveled at people who are completely innocent.
The game was Houston vs. Penn State & the Cougars were eager to show the nation their fall from #7 in the BCS rankings to #19 was out of line after losing just one game in 13 starts. To say quarterback Case Keenum went out on a high note was an understatement, he threw for 552-yards against the nations' #6 rated pass defense. Keenum threw three touchdown passes in the Cougars 30-14 victory over the Nittany Lions. The game was never close.
All in all it was a brutal day for the Big Ten Conference. They went 1-4 in bowl games today, saved only by the Spartans of Michigan State. Sparty was down 16-0 before mounting a comeback & finally tied the game with 16-seconds remaining in the 4th quarter to send it to overtime. It took three stanzas to get it done, but a blocked field goal in period #3 won the game for MSU 33-30 over Georgia. Florida used two special teams touchdowns to beat Ohio State 24-17, sending the Buckeyes to their first losing season since 1997.
In the Capital One Bowl, South Carolina beat Nebraska 30-13 for the Gamecocks first 11-win season. A pair of future NFL first-round draft picks, S.C.'s WR Alshon Jeffrey & Nebraska's CB Alfonzo Dennard went at it in a classic matchup that didn't have a good ending. After Jeffrey caught a Hail Mary score right before the half, the pair squared off in a 3rd quarter fistfight that got them ejected from the game. It did bring a smile to my face to see Nebraska coach Bo Pelini blow his stack a few times in their loss.
The Rose Bowl was a record breaker with 83-points scored between Oregon & Wisconsin. The Ducks prevailed 45-38 in a very entertaining game. It was the Badgers second straight Rose Bowl defeat. The game was back & forth before a late fumble by Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis deep in Duck territory decided the outcome.
But it was the Fiesta that carried the most hype, #3 Oklahoma State versus #4 Stanford & the game certainly lived up to it. With Andrew Luck for Stanford & QB Brandon Weeden & WR Justin Blackmon for the Cowboys, it featured some of the very best players in all of college football. Despite the heroics of Luck, a redshirt freshman placekicker determined the outcome. Stanford's Jordan Williamson hooked two field goals wide left, one at the end of regulation to win it & the other to go ahead in overtime. The misses gave the Cowboys another chance & they didn't miss, winning the game 41-38. If you'd never seen Andrew Luck in action, you can now see why he will be the first player picked in the NFL Draft, he's an incredibly special player. This was probably the 15th time I'd seen him in action & with one exception, I've always been amazed with the way he plays the quarterback position. He's the best prospect in a very long time. Blackmon is also a special talent, a wide receiver who might become Larry Fitzgerald-good. He is obviously driven to be the very best & whoever drafts him in April is getting a real weapon for their team. Blackmon was the game's offensive MVP with 8 catches for 186-yards & 3 touchdowns. The way he snatches the ball out of the air is already as good as anyone you'll see on Sundays. Plus he has rare strength for a receiver to break tackles & the speed to go the distance. Blackmon told the TV audience after the game he was turning pro this spring.
For those of you who constantly quote time of possession stats to me, get a load of this. Stanford held the ball for nearly 42-minutes tonight, Oklahoma State had it barely 18-minutes. Wisconsin had 35+ minutes of possession time while Oregon had the ball just over 24-minutes. See it's not how long you possess the ball, it's what you do with it that matters.
With 5 bowl games to go, the Big-12 is leading the pack with a 6-1 record & 1 left to play. The SEC is second with a 5-3 mark & one left to play. Actually the SEC has three teams left, but since LSU is playing Bama, one's gonna win & one's gonna lose right? Their remaining team is Arkansas who will play Kansas State Friday night in the Cotton Bowl. programming note, it is the lone remaining bowl game not on ESPN, it's on FOX. The Big Ten is 3-5 with Michigan left to play tonight against Virginia Tech. The PAC-12 is truly bringing up the rear with a dismal 2-5 mark with no games left to play. The Cotton Bowl is a big one for the respective conferences, if Kansas State wins, the Big-12 finishes the post season with a very impressive 7-1 record & considering TCU & West Virginia will join next year, it could be a banner year for the Big-12. TCU has already won their bowl, West Virginia plays Clemson Wednesday night in the Orange Bowl.
Morris was very humble in his press conference, thanking the Glazer family for his opportunity, saying they had been very supportive, respectful & he might not have been a head coach if not for the Glazers. He made no excuses for his teams 10-game losing streak to close the season, "At the end tho I had nothing to stand on, the last 10-games, you can't do that."
Charger ownership said they were going to take a few days to determine the future of head coach Norv Turner & GM A.J. Smith. One or both are as good as gone.
Raider coach Hue Jackson was quick to blame others for the teams collapse down the stretch. "I blame the team, they didn't show up yesterday, especially on defense." D-coordinator Chuck Bresnahan will most certainly be let go very soon. Jackson also raised more than a few eyebrows with these remarks "I'm going to take a stronger hand in the direction this whole damn thing, this whole organization, everything that goes on here." I wonder if ownership is aware Hue is about to take over the entire operation? He engineered the trade for Carson Palmer that will cost the Raiders their 1st & 2nd round choices in April's draft as well as their #2 next year. Oakland fans can take a few days off around the draft, their team doesn't have a pick until the third day in the fifth round. They also surrendered their third-round pick for QB Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft & their 4th round selection in a trade with Washington for injured quarterback Jason Campbell. By the way, Oakland was 4-2 without Palmer & 4-6 with him.
Steeler RB Rashard Mendenhall does in fact have a torn ACL & is lost for the playoffs.
The cancer Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes has become lands squarely on the shoulders of head coach Rex Ryan. He appointed him team captain, thinking the responsibility would help Holmes become a more mature team leader. It had the opposite effect, players have said he became a loner who used his position to shout people down, to avoid responsibility. One player said he was a "locker room cancer" & interacting with Holmes "was like dealing with a 10-year old." Another Jet on the outs with both teammates & management is linebacker Bart Scott who used Monday to flip the bird to every media member who approached him & even to a few teammates. I'm thinkin' Bart is on his way out in New York. He was another of Rex's boys.
Think Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald ain't tough, think again. The all-pro joined three other receivers in history to gain over 1,400-yards in 4 consecutive seasons. The other three? Jerry Rice, Randy Moss & Marvin Harrison. Midway thru the third quarter of Sunday's overtime win, Fitzgerald sustained a bruised lung & was spitting up blood on the sideline. He never missed a snap when the offense played the rest of the game, making two one-handed grabs for first downs that allowed the Cardinals to tie the game & later win it in O.T.
Chiefs' inside linebacker Derrick Johnson was named team MVP in a vote of his teammates. The honor is well deserved. Fellow linebacker, rookie Justin Houston, was named winner of the Mack Lee Hill Award, given to the team's outstanding rookie. Also the right choice.
As I turned on the TV this morning to watch the Ticket City Bowl from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas I was disturbed to find about 3-dozen protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church were outside the stadium spreading their hate. They were on hand to protest Penn States involvement in the game. What happened at Penn State was as vile as it gets, you know I've written about it many times. But the players at Penn State had nothing to do with Jerry Sandusky & his pedophilia. These kids have been drug thru the mud strictly by playing for the same school that employed this monster. Very sad to see such hate leveled at people who are completely innocent.
The game was Houston vs. Penn State & the Cougars were eager to show the nation their fall from #7 in the BCS rankings to #19 was out of line after losing just one game in 13 starts. To say quarterback Case Keenum went out on a high note was an understatement, he threw for 552-yards against the nations' #6 rated pass defense. Keenum threw three touchdown passes in the Cougars 30-14 victory over the Nittany Lions. The game was never close.
All in all it was a brutal day for the Big Ten Conference. They went 1-4 in bowl games today, saved only by the Spartans of Michigan State. Sparty was down 16-0 before mounting a comeback & finally tied the game with 16-seconds remaining in the 4th quarter to send it to overtime. It took three stanzas to get it done, but a blocked field goal in period #3 won the game for MSU 33-30 over Georgia. Florida used two special teams touchdowns to beat Ohio State 24-17, sending the Buckeyes to their first losing season since 1997.
In the Capital One Bowl, South Carolina beat Nebraska 30-13 for the Gamecocks first 11-win season. A pair of future NFL first-round draft picks, S.C.'s WR Alshon Jeffrey & Nebraska's CB Alfonzo Dennard went at it in a classic matchup that didn't have a good ending. After Jeffrey caught a Hail Mary score right before the half, the pair squared off in a 3rd quarter fistfight that got them ejected from the game. It did bring a smile to my face to see Nebraska coach Bo Pelini blow his stack a few times in their loss.
The Rose Bowl was a record breaker with 83-points scored between Oregon & Wisconsin. The Ducks prevailed 45-38 in a very entertaining game. It was the Badgers second straight Rose Bowl defeat. The game was back & forth before a late fumble by Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis deep in Duck territory decided the outcome.
But it was the Fiesta that carried the most hype, #3 Oklahoma State versus #4 Stanford & the game certainly lived up to it. With Andrew Luck for Stanford & QB Brandon Weeden & WR Justin Blackmon for the Cowboys, it featured some of the very best players in all of college football. Despite the heroics of Luck, a redshirt freshman placekicker determined the outcome. Stanford's Jordan Williamson hooked two field goals wide left, one at the end of regulation to win it & the other to go ahead in overtime. The misses gave the Cowboys another chance & they didn't miss, winning the game 41-38. If you'd never seen Andrew Luck in action, you can now see why he will be the first player picked in the NFL Draft, he's an incredibly special player. This was probably the 15th time I'd seen him in action & with one exception, I've always been amazed with the way he plays the quarterback position. He's the best prospect in a very long time. Blackmon is also a special talent, a wide receiver who might become Larry Fitzgerald-good. He is obviously driven to be the very best & whoever drafts him in April is getting a real weapon for their team. Blackmon was the game's offensive MVP with 8 catches for 186-yards & 3 touchdowns. The way he snatches the ball out of the air is already as good as anyone you'll see on Sundays. Plus he has rare strength for a receiver to break tackles & the speed to go the distance. Blackmon told the TV audience after the game he was turning pro this spring.
For those of you who constantly quote time of possession stats to me, get a load of this. Stanford held the ball for nearly 42-minutes tonight, Oklahoma State had it barely 18-minutes. Wisconsin had 35+ minutes of possession time while Oregon had the ball just over 24-minutes. See it's not how long you possess the ball, it's what you do with it that matters.
With 5 bowl games to go, the Big-12 is leading the pack with a 6-1 record & 1 left to play. The SEC is second with a 5-3 mark & one left to play. Actually the SEC has three teams left, but since LSU is playing Bama, one's gonna win & one's gonna lose right? Their remaining team is Arkansas who will play Kansas State Friday night in the Cotton Bowl. programming note, it is the lone remaining bowl game not on ESPN, it's on FOX. The Big Ten is 3-5 with Michigan left to play tonight against Virginia Tech. The PAC-12 is truly bringing up the rear with a dismal 2-5 mark with no games left to play. The Cotton Bowl is a big one for the respective conferences, if Kansas State wins, the Big-12 finishes the post season with a very impressive 7-1 record & considering TCU & West Virginia will join next year, it could be a banner year for the Big-12. TCU has already won their bowl, West Virginia plays Clemson Wednesday night in the Orange Bowl.
The way I see it, we saw the National Championship Game last night, and not the BS Fiasco that will be aired next weekend. O-State is the National Champion. I probably will not watch that other game
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Rich I just collected my winnings, all $346 of it. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR KNOWING SO MUCH ABOUT PICKING NFL GAMES.
I will think of you every time we play with our Wii video game. I tell everybody to read your blog, hope it helps.
Thank you again!
Patti
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