- First off, my fantasy football draft was a disaster. We play in a modified keeper league where you keep 6 and have two players available in a transition round where you can take a player off someone else's team in exchange for your first round pick. I had #7 and there are really only 5.5 good rookie prospects so I figure I'll take Santonio Holmes off another dude's roster. Well then freaking Snake takes him instead at #4.
I'm not panicking yet, figuring I have good RB depth with Ray Rice, LaSean McCoy, and Deangelo Williams, so I'll just hope I can get WR Greg Little or something at 7 and everything will be ok. Then fucking Bear takes Williams off my roster with his #9 pick and I go into minor panic mode. But now I have #7 and #9. I know I now need a RB and, since I was unable to consummate a trade for Sam Bradford, need a QB as well since I'm not sure of Peyton's status. I figure I'll grab Matt Stafford at #7 and then take the best available RB at #9.
Well guess what? Bear takes Stafford at #9 and now all hell breaks loose. It's suddenly going down as if I have no idea what I'm doing. I end up drafting Delone Carter at #7 despite the fact that I have no idea how to pronounce his name and that he's the back-up RB, then Greg Little goes right after me and there is literally nobody interesting left to draft. I end up going with Kevin Kolb and, just to show how panicked I was, I nearly took Jay Cutler here which is a move that I do believe would have gotten me kicked out of the league - although Bogart's dad probably would have tongue-kissed me since he loves the Bears like Joe Mauer loves sitting.
Then round 2 rolls around and I take Joe Addai because apparently I'm now handcuffing shitty running backs together. Everything just snowballs somehow and by draft end I end up with all four Colt running backs and a receiver I've never heard of but he's #2 on Arizona and I've already got Kevin Kolb so what the hell? Yes, all four Colt running backs (Addai, Carter, Donald Brown, and Javarris James). Then the night ended with me getting a case of Coors Light out of the trunk of my car and me, Snake, Dawger, Bogart, and Bear plowing into a 30-pack of White Castle sliders. Or maybe Snake walked home by then. I don't know. I had a lot of beer.
Still, though, I ended up with my big WR sleeper who I might as well tell you is Brandon Gibson from St. Louis because I know one of those assholes will put it in the comments anyway. Trust me on this. St. Louis is going to throw the ball a lot and Bradford won't be content to go dinking around to RBs and Danny Amendola again, one of the grown-up wideouts is going to have a big year. You know it won't be Mike Sims-Walker because we've already seen his upside, so that leaves Donnie Avery, Gibson, or Danario Alexander. Avery is coming off an injury and his name is Donnie and Alexander is already hurt, so not only is Gibson the most talented off all those dorks but he'll have the best opportunity as well. Holy shit was that paragraph football nerd-y. Sorry. I like to stick to baseball and college basketball nerdy. That's way more high class. Like Outback vs. Olive Garden.
Anyway, here's the team:
Qb Peyton Manning, Kevin Kolb
Rb Ray Rice, LaSean McCoy, all the Colts, Demarco Murray, Javon Ringer
WR Hakeem Nicks, Dez Bryant, Jeremy Maclin, Andre Roberts, Brandon Gibson
TE Jason Witten
K don't remember
DEF probably someone like the Saints
Not too bad.
- You probably missed this because you don't pay attention to cool things, but Andre Drummond finally is officially on-board the UCONN train. Drummond was ranked as the #1 center by everybody, and the #1 overall player for 2012 by ESPN and NBAdraft.net and the #2 player by Rivals and Scout. Bascially he's an absolute monster - think Dwight Howard/Kevin Garnett - awesome on defense, awesome rebounder, and a developing offensive game, although based on sheer size and athleticism he's going to get his points. A program changing type of player (assuming he ends up being eligible - some minor questions there).
UCONN was rumored to be in the lead for him, but he announced he was going to go to prep school for a year. Then last Friday he tweeted that he would be attending UCONN after all, and the one UCONN fan I know pretty much lost his mind and maxed out multiple betting accounts taking the Huskies to win the whole thing at 30-1. Not bad, actually, because it's now dropped to 15-1.
Basically they now have Drummond, Jeremy Lamb who really started to come into his own at the end of last year, and Shabazz Napier and Alex Oriakhi who were keys in the tournament victory and should be better this year. Add in freshman small foward DeAndre Daniels, the #10 player in the country no less, and UCONN has suddenly gone from a good team to a legitimate threat to repeat. Fellow freshman Ryan Boatright (#48 nationally) can push Napier, so between the two the biggest weak link for UCONN is handled, and with Lamb, Oriakhi, Drummond, and Roscoe Smith this is going to be an incredibly good defensive team. Between them, North Carolina, Ohio State, and Kentucky there are going to be some insanely good teams this year. Should be fun. Until I have to go watch the Gophers play.
- I guess the big NFL news, besides that my team rocks, is that Mike Vick signed a 6 year, $100 million deal with the Eagles. I was so interested in this news that I farted and then yawned.
- Oh dude I almost totally forgot about this. The other day on the radio Dark Star and one of the sidekick guys were talking Twins and they started talking about a the Twins needing a legit ace. Whoever it was asked if Dark Star thought there was any way the Twins could get Felix Hernandez. Dark Star said they'd have to give up "Kubel, a starter, and a young guy like Plouffe or Tolbert." What. The. Eff? I can't even see PA making that statement and he's a total retard, while Star - although a total retard - at least seems to understand baseball and the Twins. I was just floored. I think Kubel, any starter, and Plouffe or Tolbert might land you like,
- Jesus Christ J.J. Hardy hit another home run tonight. That's #26. He's the first AL shortstop since 2007 to hit 25 or more in a season. You know who the last one was? J.J. freaking Hardy. In a related note, did you know Khalil Greene hit 27 home runs in 2007? That's weird. Too bad he went all wack-o and crazied himself right out of the league. True story. Also a true story - I'm bored. God this blog sucks.
- Oh, but dinner tonight was a white chicken chili put together by the missus. She likes her food a little less spicy than I do, so I would have added some cayenne pepper, but the flavor was excellent. Mixing in black beans with the cannellini beans not only gave it a better flavor, but also was a nice contrast in color. I mean come on, white, black, it's just like the black and white cookie. Mrs. W - bringing racial harmony to the world one delicious recipe at a time.
Showing posts with label Colts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colts. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Week in Review - 2/8/2010
You cretins probably don't realize how difficult it is to run a blog, especially when you do a critically acclaimed and widely recognized Week in Review every Monday with an Awesome and Sucks section. Like, what am I supposed to do about this Gopher basketball game?
They won a road game on a last-second shot: Awesome. But it was against Penn State: Sucks. They played well enough to essentially dominate the game: Awesome. But a serious of mistakes in the final minutes almost let the game slip away: Sucks. Huge shot by Westbrook to win the game: Awesome. But it wouldn't have come to that if Westbrook hadn't made maybe the biggest of the mistakes down the stretch: Sucks.
Seriously, I didn't feel any excitement at all after he hit that shot, it was something closer to relief mixed with exasperation. About the only good thing about this game was Ralph turning into a monster. Snake once told me I expected too much out of Ralph too soon, and I think he was right. I was looking for this monster to emerge too early in his career, but I can see the career arch I had envisioned beginning to take shape. I'm starting to think two Big Ten Player of the Year awards was a bit too optimistic, but one is practically a given - assuming he stays two more years.
Anyway, I think the best strategy is just to ignore this game. It really means nothing other than now we have to watch a few more games before we can give up on this team. I'm still looking forward to a few NIT games.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Gonzaga. The Zags dropped a WCC game to San Francisco two weeks ago, ending their nine game win streak, but if you thought it was some kind of indication that they weren't awesome you are sadly mistaken my buddy friend. They started out this week with a complete drubbing of one of this season's pretenders to the WCC crown - Portland (Gopher fan: *cry*), waxing the Pilots 76-49, and then picked up a nice win on Saturday, beating Memphis at the FedEx Forum (that's in Memphis, genius). Beating the Tigers isn't quite the same feather in your cap it used to be the last few years, but beating a good team, and a good home team, in their place is always a good indication of a tough team. I don't love Matt Bouldin (GrandSlam's favorite player, FYI) but he can light it up when he needs to. Stephen Gray is the next Jeremy Pargo, Elias Harris is the next Austin Daye, and Robert Sacre is the most athletic center I can remember Gonzaga having. I don't think they're a final four threat, but they're closer to that than some of the versions we've seen of the Bulldogs before who were just ripe for a first round upset.
2. UNLV. Right now the Mountain West has probably two guaranteed bids - BYU and New Mexico - and there is probably room for one other team, either UNLV or San Diego State. The Rebels just took a huge stride towards grabbing that bid, blowing out BYU in Las Vegas in a game that was much less close than the 88-74 score would indicate. UNLV jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game and led 47-18 at one point before letting the foot off the gas. Former Memphis transfer Tre'Von Willis led the way with 33 points, 8 assists, and five rebounds, following up his 15-8-8 effort earlier in the week against Wyoming. The Rebels already have wins over Louisville, Arizona, and Nevada in the non-conference season and have already beaten New Mexico and San Diego State to go along with that win over BYU, so assuming there are no major hiccups they are in pretty good shape to grab a bid. Just don't lose to teams like Air Force or Colorado State or anything.
3. New Orleans Saints. I'm actually pretty bummed about this despite betting on the Saints. First, because I'm kind of a half-assed Colts fan and it sucks to keep watching the greatest QB of all-time (yeah, I said it) keep losing in the playoffs due to other people's mistakes. Secondly, the whole "Saints are destined to win to make up for Katrina" crap is mind-blowingly retarded. Seriously, how stupid are you people? A Super Bowl is going to make up for eighty-bajillion dollars in damages and a kajillion deaths? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure God still owes New Orleans a whole lot. And then he goes and has Chris Paul get hurt? Nice guy, your god. Anyway, congrats to the Saints. Sean Payton outcoached Jim Caldwell to infinity, Drew Brees executed perfectly, and that onside kick to start the 2nd half might have been the ballsiest call in history. This was probably the first Super Bowl in history where I didn't hate at least one of the teams, so I'm happy either way. But I would have been way happier if the Colts won. Also the Sidler is probably on suicide watch (he's from Indiana). Yes, again.
4. Steve Stricker. I haven't written a word about golf since the season started back in January, mainly because all the tournaments thus far have had less than thrilling player fields, but this week I have to give props to Stricker. After two good rounds, Stricker was in a tie with Dustin Johnson at ten under heading into the weekend, both three shots clear of the third place golfer. Rather than sit back, Stricker got after it again on Saturday, posting a five under 66, the second-best round of the day, which staked him to a huge lead going into the final round, a lead that let him simply coast to the championship with a 70. It was a very impressive and convincing win over a pretty good field that included Phil Mickelson, Paddy Harrington, Hunter Mahan, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, and notorious homo Stew Cink, among others. It seems strange to say Stricker is the #2 golfer in the world, but it's now official - he is.
5. Bracket Busters. The matchups for Bracket Busters were announced this week, and for once they managed not to screw it up. Of course, as usual there are a ton of matchups and a lot of them include teams like Presbyterian (RPI 318), UT-Martin (RPI 335), and Marist (RPI 337), but the eleven tv matchups are pretty intriguing with 19 of the 22 teams having an RPI under 100. The highlight is Siena at Butler, with Butler probably ok either way but Siena really needing this win to get an at-large, but there are six other games involving ten other teams that have NCAA At-Large bid ramifications (at-large hopefuls in bold): Old Dominion at Northern Iowa, William & Mary at Iona, Louisiana Tech at Northeastern, Akron at Virginia Commonwealth, Charleston at George Mason, and Wichita State at Utah State - although both W&M and GMU lost this week, probably ending their chances. In year's past there was usually one, maybe two games worth watching, but this year there are at least seven. The only thing really missing is a couple of Ivy League squads in Cornell and Harvard, but I guess the nerds have to nerd it up in their precious library and can't come out and play. Way to go, Poindexter! Enjoy your English Lit degree when you're serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
WHO SUCKED
1. Michigan. If it's frustrating to be a Gopher fan this basketball season, and it most certainly is, try to imagine being a Michigan fan. Picked by most analysts to be a NCAA Tournament team and in the top five or so in the conference this season has been a huge struggle. A tough schedule and some poor play led to the Wolverines coming into conference play with a 6-5 record, but with a very good RPI and SOS they had a pretty good chance at a bid if they just played well against conference teams. However they dropped the opener to Indiana and have been faltering ever since. I win over UCONN two weeks ago could have been a rallying point for a late season push, but since then Michigan has gone 2-5, culminating this week in a blowout loss at Northwestern and then a blowout at home against Wisconsin, dropping them to 4-7 in the Big Ten and 11-12 overall, aka not even eligible for the NIT. This is what happens when a coach (Beilien) tries to force the players on his team to play in his stupid everybody bomb three-pointers at all times system when those players can't shoot. It's like a team of Paul Carters out there just bombing away.
2. LSU. Maybe it isn't exactly fair to call out LSU this week since they did play Tennessee and Kentucky, but they had them both at home, lost both, were completely embarrassed by Kentucky (lost 81-55), and it has become impossible to ignore the fact that the Tigers are now sitting at 0-9 in SEC play. Ouch. They were just in the Final four in 2006, and made the tournament last year and stretched eventual champ UNC into a damn good game. What happened? They still have Tasmin Mitchell, who is one of the best overall players in the NCAA, but everybody else is gone from last year, and the new guys all suck. Bo Spencer, a three-point specialist last year who shot 40% behind the line, has been unable to move into a more prominent role and is shooting just 28% from three this year. It's just depressing. I like my LSU teams to be hyper-athletic and capable of beating anybody at any time. Not on nine-game losing streaks with a win over Rice as their best of the year. And did I mention that Kentucky was winning 42-14 at half on Saturday? Yuck.
3. LaSalle. If you ever want proof that I'm an idiot, you can ring up my preseason LaSalle prediction as your latest in a long, long, line of evidence. I was blinded in the preseason by a returning super-stud scoring machine (Rodney Green) and a super fancy brand new freshman center (Aaric Murray) and picked them to finish second in the A-10. Well it turns out they suck, and this week eliminates any doubt. They had two home games - the first a nice chance to pick off a top team with Rhode Island coming in, the second a simple win over St. Louis - and obviously they lost them both or I wouldn't be here typing this right now. LaSalle is now 3-6 in the conference, tied for 8th with crap factory Duquesne, and is at 11-12 overall. Like Michigan, they are now not even eligible to make the NIT since they are under .500. Sounds like a killer CBI match-up. Between this and my pimping of Cincinnati it's pretty clear my eye for talent is worse than someone who thought Troy Williamson would be a super star (bogart). Ohio State better come through for me.
4. Cincinnati. Oh yeah, Cincinnati. The team I pimped as a final four sleeper this year. Whoops. They might still make the tournament and all, currently sitting at 5-6 in the Big East with a couple of really good non-conference wins already on the resume, but you can go ahead and forget about them making any kind of run barring Lance Stephenson turning into Carmelo Anthony in the next month. This week was a pretty good barometer of what type of team we have here. Good teams beat bad teams on the road and beat other good teams at home. This week the Bearcats played Notre Dame on the road and Syracuse at home - they went 0-2 and neither game was even close, which tells me this isn't any kind of special team whatsoever, just another lame-o team like so many out there. Deonta Vaughn has taken about twenty steps backwards, Stephenson has been just ok, Ibrahima Thomas hasn't made much of an impact, and everybody else here is just meh. I'm so disappointed.
5. Reggie Wayne. If you're looking for a goat for the game, don't bother with Peyton or Caldwell, look to Wayne. Targeted eleven times he came up with just five catches for 46 yards. He let a perfect pass go right through his hands at the end of the game which would have been a touchdown (also we could maybe look hard at Pierre Garcon here if we're talking dropping passes). Most importantly, he slipped on the big Peyton INT that Porter returned for a TD. If he doesn't slip, that's either a catch or, at worst, an incompletion. Instead, he slips and can't get back for the ball, and you know the rest. Yeah. It's not Manning this time, it's Wayne. And with Garcon and Collie on board and Gonzalez coming back from injury, it's probably time to trade him while his value is high. Maybe to like, the Vikings or something. I don't know, just brain storming here.
Seriously though, I am happy for the Saints. They're almost impossible to hate, other than the whole "team of destiny" crap and the fact that Reggie Bush is a big piece of crap yet Bogart loves him. Seriously, he totaled 25 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards in the game. You know what's even worse? He covered the OVER with both of those. Seriously. Dude sucks. He's the next Dave Meggett. But he does have Kim Kardashian, so who am I to argue?
And if you aren't excited now, you should start getting excited because it's RIVALRY WEEK on ESPN! Woo! What does that mean? Well, like every other year, it pretty much just means North Carolina and Duke play this week, and then they pretend that a bunch of non-rivalries are rivalries so they can call it a "week." Whoopy.
They won a road game on a last-second shot: Awesome. But it was against Penn State: Sucks. They played well enough to essentially dominate the game: Awesome. But a serious of mistakes in the final minutes almost let the game slip away: Sucks. Huge shot by Westbrook to win the game: Awesome. But it wouldn't have come to that if Westbrook hadn't made maybe the biggest of the mistakes down the stretch: Sucks.
Seriously, I didn't feel any excitement at all after he hit that shot, it was something closer to relief mixed with exasperation. About the only good thing about this game was Ralph turning into a monster. Snake once told me I expected too much out of Ralph too soon, and I think he was right. I was looking for this monster to emerge too early in his career, but I can see the career arch I had envisioned beginning to take shape. I'm starting to think two Big Ten Player of the Year awards was a bit too optimistic, but one is practically a given - assuming he stays two more years.
Anyway, I think the best strategy is just to ignore this game. It really means nothing other than now we have to watch a few more games before we can give up on this team. I'm still looking forward to a few NIT games.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Gonzaga. The Zags dropped a WCC game to San Francisco two weeks ago, ending their nine game win streak, but if you thought it was some kind of indication that they weren't awesome you are sadly mistaken my buddy friend. They started out this week with a complete drubbing of one of this season's pretenders to the WCC crown - Portland (Gopher fan: *cry*), waxing the Pilots 76-49, and then picked up a nice win on Saturday, beating Memphis at the FedEx Forum (that's in Memphis, genius). Beating the Tigers isn't quite the same feather in your cap it used to be the last few years, but beating a good team, and a good home team, in their place is always a good indication of a tough team. I don't love Matt Bouldin (GrandSlam's favorite player, FYI) but he can light it up when he needs to. Stephen Gray is the next Jeremy Pargo, Elias Harris is the next Austin Daye, and Robert Sacre is the most athletic center I can remember Gonzaga having. I don't think they're a final four threat, but they're closer to that than some of the versions we've seen of the Bulldogs before who were just ripe for a first round upset.
2. UNLV. Right now the Mountain West has probably two guaranteed bids - BYU and New Mexico - and there is probably room for one other team, either UNLV or San Diego State. The Rebels just took a huge stride towards grabbing that bid, blowing out BYU in Las Vegas in a game that was much less close than the 88-74 score would indicate. UNLV jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game and led 47-18 at one point before letting the foot off the gas. Former Memphis transfer Tre'Von Willis led the way with 33 points, 8 assists, and five rebounds, following up his 15-8-8 effort earlier in the week against Wyoming. The Rebels already have wins over Louisville, Arizona, and Nevada in the non-conference season and have already beaten New Mexico and San Diego State to go along with that win over BYU, so assuming there are no major hiccups they are in pretty good shape to grab a bid. Just don't lose to teams like Air Force or Colorado State or anything.
3. New Orleans Saints. I'm actually pretty bummed about this despite betting on the Saints. First, because I'm kind of a half-assed Colts fan and it sucks to keep watching the greatest QB of all-time (yeah, I said it) keep losing in the playoffs due to other people's mistakes. Secondly, the whole "Saints are destined to win to make up for Katrina" crap is mind-blowingly retarded. Seriously, how stupid are you people? A Super Bowl is going to make up for eighty-bajillion dollars in damages and a kajillion deaths? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure God still owes New Orleans a whole lot. And then he goes and has Chris Paul get hurt? Nice guy, your god. Anyway, congrats to the Saints. Sean Payton outcoached Jim Caldwell to infinity, Drew Brees executed perfectly, and that onside kick to start the 2nd half might have been the ballsiest call in history. This was probably the first Super Bowl in history where I didn't hate at least one of the teams, so I'm happy either way. But I would have been way happier if the Colts won. Also the Sidler is probably on suicide watch (he's from Indiana). Yes, again.
4. Steve Stricker. I haven't written a word about golf since the season started back in January, mainly because all the tournaments thus far have had less than thrilling player fields, but this week I have to give props to Stricker. After two good rounds, Stricker was in a tie with Dustin Johnson at ten under heading into the weekend, both three shots clear of the third place golfer. Rather than sit back, Stricker got after it again on Saturday, posting a five under 66, the second-best round of the day, which staked him to a huge lead going into the final round, a lead that let him simply coast to the championship with a 70. It was a very impressive and convincing win over a pretty good field that included Phil Mickelson, Paddy Harrington, Hunter Mahan, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, and notorious homo Stew Cink, among others. It seems strange to say Stricker is the #2 golfer in the world, but it's now official - he is.
5. Bracket Busters. The matchups for Bracket Busters were announced this week, and for once they managed not to screw it up. Of course, as usual there are a ton of matchups and a lot of them include teams like Presbyterian (RPI 318), UT-Martin (RPI 335), and Marist (RPI 337), but the eleven tv matchups are pretty intriguing with 19 of the 22 teams having an RPI under 100. The highlight is Siena at Butler, with Butler probably ok either way but Siena really needing this win to get an at-large, but there are six other games involving ten other teams that have NCAA At-Large bid ramifications (at-large hopefuls in bold): Old Dominion at Northern Iowa, William & Mary at Iona, Louisiana Tech at Northeastern, Akron at Virginia Commonwealth, Charleston at George Mason, and Wichita State at Utah State - although both W&M and GMU lost this week, probably ending their chances. In year's past there was usually one, maybe two games worth watching, but this year there are at least seven. The only thing really missing is a couple of Ivy League squads in Cornell and Harvard, but I guess the nerds have to nerd it up in their precious library and can't come out and play. Way to go, Poindexter! Enjoy your English Lit degree when you're serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
WHO SUCKED
1. Michigan. If it's frustrating to be a Gopher fan this basketball season, and it most certainly is, try to imagine being a Michigan fan. Picked by most analysts to be a NCAA Tournament team and in the top five or so in the conference this season has been a huge struggle. A tough schedule and some poor play led to the Wolverines coming into conference play with a 6-5 record, but with a very good RPI and SOS they had a pretty good chance at a bid if they just played well against conference teams. However they dropped the opener to Indiana and have been faltering ever since. I win over UCONN two weeks ago could have been a rallying point for a late season push, but since then Michigan has gone 2-5, culminating this week in a blowout loss at Northwestern and then a blowout at home against Wisconsin, dropping them to 4-7 in the Big Ten and 11-12 overall, aka not even eligible for the NIT. This is what happens when a coach (Beilien) tries to force the players on his team to play in his stupid everybody bomb three-pointers at all times system when those players can't shoot. It's like a team of Paul Carters out there just bombing away.
2. LSU. Maybe it isn't exactly fair to call out LSU this week since they did play Tennessee and Kentucky, but they had them both at home, lost both, were completely embarrassed by Kentucky (lost 81-55), and it has become impossible to ignore the fact that the Tigers are now sitting at 0-9 in SEC play. Ouch. They were just in the Final four in 2006, and made the tournament last year and stretched eventual champ UNC into a damn good game. What happened? They still have Tasmin Mitchell, who is one of the best overall players in the NCAA, but everybody else is gone from last year, and the new guys all suck. Bo Spencer, a three-point specialist last year who shot 40% behind the line, has been unable to move into a more prominent role and is shooting just 28% from three this year. It's just depressing. I like my LSU teams to be hyper-athletic and capable of beating anybody at any time. Not on nine-game losing streaks with a win over Rice as their best of the year. And did I mention that Kentucky was winning 42-14 at half on Saturday? Yuck.
3. LaSalle. If you ever want proof that I'm an idiot, you can ring up my preseason LaSalle prediction as your latest in a long, long, line of evidence. I was blinded in the preseason by a returning super-stud scoring machine (Rodney Green) and a super fancy brand new freshman center (Aaric Murray) and picked them to finish second in the A-10. Well it turns out they suck, and this week eliminates any doubt. They had two home games - the first a nice chance to pick off a top team with Rhode Island coming in, the second a simple win over St. Louis - and obviously they lost them both or I wouldn't be here typing this right now. LaSalle is now 3-6 in the conference, tied for 8th with crap factory Duquesne, and is at 11-12 overall. Like Michigan, they are now not even eligible to make the NIT since they are under .500. Sounds like a killer CBI match-up. Between this and my pimping of Cincinnati it's pretty clear my eye for talent is worse than someone who thought Troy Williamson would be a super star (bogart). Ohio State better come through for me.
4. Cincinnati. Oh yeah, Cincinnati. The team I pimped as a final four sleeper this year. Whoops. They might still make the tournament and all, currently sitting at 5-6 in the Big East with a couple of really good non-conference wins already on the resume, but you can go ahead and forget about them making any kind of run barring Lance Stephenson turning into Carmelo Anthony in the next month. This week was a pretty good barometer of what type of team we have here. Good teams beat bad teams on the road and beat other good teams at home. This week the Bearcats played Notre Dame on the road and Syracuse at home - they went 0-2 and neither game was even close, which tells me this isn't any kind of special team whatsoever, just another lame-o team like so many out there. Deonta Vaughn has taken about twenty steps backwards, Stephenson has been just ok, Ibrahima Thomas hasn't made much of an impact, and everybody else here is just meh. I'm so disappointed.
5. Reggie Wayne. If you're looking for a goat for the game, don't bother with Peyton or Caldwell, look to Wayne. Targeted eleven times he came up with just five catches for 46 yards. He let a perfect pass go right through his hands at the end of the game which would have been a touchdown (also we could maybe look hard at Pierre Garcon here if we're talking dropping passes). Most importantly, he slipped on the big Peyton INT that Porter returned for a TD. If he doesn't slip, that's either a catch or, at worst, an incompletion. Instead, he slips and can't get back for the ball, and you know the rest. Yeah. It's not Manning this time, it's Wayne. And with Garcon and Collie on board and Gonzalez coming back from injury, it's probably time to trade him while his value is high. Maybe to like, the Vikings or something. I don't know, just brain storming here.
Seriously though, I am happy for the Saints. They're almost impossible to hate, other than the whole "team of destiny" crap and the fact that Reggie Bush is a big piece of crap yet Bogart loves him. Seriously, he totaled 25 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards in the game. You know what's even worse? He covered the OVER with both of those. Seriously. Dude sucks. He's the next Dave Meggett. But he does have Kim Kardashian, so who am I to argue?
And if you aren't excited now, you should start getting excited because it's RIVALRY WEEK on ESPN! Woo! What does that mean? Well, like every other year, it pretty much just means North Carolina and Duke play this week, and then they pretend that a bunch of non-rivalries are rivalries so they can call it a "week." Whoopy.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Weekend Review
(note: Weekend Review will now include the entire previous week's events, due to college basketball being awesome and taking place all week not unlike stupid football)
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Iowa football. I wasn’t exactly sure if I should mention this as Iowa being awesome or Penn State sucking, but I decided to put it here mainly because of the performance of Shonn Greene, who also gets points for finding yet another way to spell the name Shawn – every time I think all possibilities have been explored, someone comes up with another one. Anyway, Greene was the main offensive reason the Hawkeyes managed to knock of #3 Penn State 24-23 on a last second field goal. Greene ran for 117 yards and two TDs, and has exceeded 100 yards in every game this season, putting him third in the country in rushing yards and well on his way to becoming sort of a darkhorse Heisman contender.
2. Adrian Peterson. Sweet fancy Moses this guy is just ridiculous (the Vikings’ one, not the Bears’ one if he still exists). It’s been said before, but his combination of size, vision, speed, and quickness is probably even better than LaDainian Tomlinson’s was before he decided to start doing his Shaun Alexander impression this season. On the final drive for the Vikings, AP ran and caught for 64 of the team’s 69 yards, culminating in what turned out to be the game winning 29 yard TD run. But it just doesn’t do the guy justice to talk about his stats, he is simply incredible to watch. Remember when the Vikes had Culpepper and Moss, and you never wanted to miss a play because they could score at anytime from anywhere on the field? That’s what Peterson is like, and I can’t remember a running back like that since Barry Sanders.
3. Atlanta Falcons. I’ve written about this team here before, but I just can’t get over how good they have been this season, moving to 6-3 on the year after beating the Saints 34-20 yesterday. Rookie QB Matt Ryan is looking like the next Peyton Manning, and with high quality skill position players in RB Michael Turner and WR Roddy White, this team could be a contender for years. Turner is third in rushing yards this season, White is fourth in receiving yards, and Ryan has a better QB Rating than Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. Speaking of Peyton Manning….
4. Indianapolis Colts. Are the Colts back to being a Super Bowl contender? I say yes after going into Pittsburgh and beating the Steelers 24-20, bringing them to 5-4. They won't catch the 9-0 Titans for the division crown, but they are right in the Wild Card race and, if they make it, will be a very dangerous wild card team. After a very bad start to the season that included two pretty "lucky" wins over the Vikings and Texans, Peyton and the rest of the team seem to have hit their stride. A pretty easy schedule the rest of the way that includes Detroit and Cincinnati has the Colts in a very good position.
5. The BCS Title Game. Obviously it hasn't happened so it wasn't awesome, but the circumstances got awesomer with Penn State's loss to Iowa on Saturday. This essentially guarantees the title game will be between a team from the SEC and a team from the Big 12 (or possibly USC) and should make for a very entertaining and competitive game with the two best teams in college football, rather than an awesome team taking on the weak big 10 representative and kicking the crap out of them yet again.
WHO SUCKED
1. Gopher football. Omg omg omg omg. You guys, seriously. What the holy hell? As I said last week, I expected them to lose at least one of their last four, but I didn’t expect them to drop back to back games at home against bad teams. And to score just 6 points against the horrible Michigan defense is embarrassing. It’s beyond embarrassing, there’s just no word invented to describe it. And it’s not even like they were at least moving the football and then made mistakes and turnovers, they couldn’t get anything going all game and didn’t even bother to get a first down until almost halftime and ended up with less than 200 total yards against the same team that let Purdue rack up over 500 the previous week. I picked a hell of a game to go to. And to make it worse, the crazy lady who sits next to us wouldn’t even say anything crazy. I kept trying to talk to her and get her to say something weird, but her answers were all normal and rational. She must have gotten on some kind of medication and that sucks. Just a horrible day all around.
2. Tennessee football. Not the Titans, they’re good, I mean those guys who wear orange and used to be awesome and now suck worse than the Gophers. The program has managed to completely collapse, leading to the school forcing long time coach Phil Fulmer out at the end of the year, and culminating this week in an embarrassing loss to Wyoming at home, 13-7. Wyoming is dead last in college football in scoring, but managed to put up just enough for the big upset. How bad is Wyoming? Tennessee was favored in this game by 28 points, and Tennessee sucks. They have just three wins on the year and got destroyed by South Carolina last week, but were still favored by 28 against Wyoming. That’s how bad Wyoming was, and that’s how embarrassing this loss is. Truly rock bottom.
3. Notre Dame. It’s been easy to pick on the Irish the last few years, but I can’t lay off any longer. Like Michigan and Tennessee, this is another formerly great program that has just imploded. They are 5-4 this year, so it kind of looks like they are turning it around, but that schedule is laughable. Being an independent, they can mess around with their schedule and get it to their liking, and this year’s is a joke. The five wins are against Washington (0-9), Stanford (5-5), Purdue (3-7), Michigan (3-7), and San Diego State (1-9), five of the worst teams in the country. When your best win of the season is against Stanford, you’ve had a bad year. And with Navy and Syracuse still on the roster, the Irish will be heading to a bowl game and everyone will think things are wonderful again but trust me, Notre Dame sucks and their stupid quarterback Jimmy Clausen sucks (4 INTs Saturday vs. Boston College) and is only a sophomore, so it will be at least three more years before they get good again.
4. Vikings special teams. Specifically punt coverage. It's an embarrassment, as Green Bay's Will Blackmon returned yet another punt for a TD against them, bring the season total to 27 against the Vikes. I have no idea if it's the personnel, the special teams coach, or Childress, but something needs to change in a big way. And don't give me the whole "Heath Farwell is out for the year" BS. Who cares? It's Heath Farwell, a ninth string linebacker. It has gotten so bad, that earlier in the game Blackmon fielded a punt two yards deep in his own endzone. Normally a very stupid move, but against this team, why not go for it? It didn't work, but it certainly could have.
5. College Basketball. Obviously, college basketball doesn't suck, it's awesome, but whoever makes programming decisions sucks. The season starts tonight, with the Duke region of the coaches vs. cancer classic. Two games will be played this evening, Georgia Southern vs. Houston and Duke vs. Presbyterian. However, whoever is in charge of these kind of things isn't putting either game on TV, or at least regular TV people get, as the Duke game is on ESPNU, the Houston game is on nowhere despite being the more interesting game of the two. Why? Well ESPN has the Monday Night Football game tonight, but guess what is on ESPN2: a World Series of Poker marathon. Isn't this whole stupid poker craze over? Sure, I got hooked for a while, but then I realized it was really stupid to be watching people play cards. And now it's being televised over college basketball. Looking ahead, there are basketball games all week, and none of them are on anything other than ESPNU or ESPN360, which works for nobody. I blame you America. The terrorists have won.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Iowa football. I wasn’t exactly sure if I should mention this as Iowa being awesome or Penn State sucking, but I decided to put it here mainly because of the performance of Shonn Greene, who also gets points for finding yet another way to spell the name Shawn – every time I think all possibilities have been explored, someone comes up with another one. Anyway, Greene was the main offensive reason the Hawkeyes managed to knock of #3 Penn State 24-23 on a last second field goal. Greene ran for 117 yards and two TDs, and has exceeded 100 yards in every game this season, putting him third in the country in rushing yards and well on his way to becoming sort of a darkhorse Heisman contender.
2. Adrian Peterson. Sweet fancy Moses this guy is just ridiculous (the Vikings’ one, not the Bears’ one if he still exists). It’s been said before, but his combination of size, vision, speed, and quickness is probably even better than LaDainian Tomlinson’s was before he decided to start doing his Shaun Alexander impression this season. On the final drive for the Vikings, AP ran and caught for 64 of the team’s 69 yards, culminating in what turned out to be the game winning 29 yard TD run. But it just doesn’t do the guy justice to talk about his stats, he is simply incredible to watch. Remember when the Vikes had Culpepper and Moss, and you never wanted to miss a play because they could score at anytime from anywhere on the field? That’s what Peterson is like, and I can’t remember a running back like that since Barry Sanders.
3. Atlanta Falcons. I’ve written about this team here before, but I just can’t get over how good they have been this season, moving to 6-3 on the year after beating the Saints 34-20 yesterday. Rookie QB Matt Ryan is looking like the next Peyton Manning, and with high quality skill position players in RB Michael Turner and WR Roddy White, this team could be a contender for years. Turner is third in rushing yards this season, White is fourth in receiving yards, and Ryan has a better QB Rating than Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. Speaking of Peyton Manning….
4. Indianapolis Colts. Are the Colts back to being a Super Bowl contender? I say yes after going into Pittsburgh and beating the Steelers 24-20, bringing them to 5-4. They won't catch the 9-0 Titans for the division crown, but they are right in the Wild Card race and, if they make it, will be a very dangerous wild card team. After a very bad start to the season that included two pretty "lucky" wins over the Vikings and Texans, Peyton and the rest of the team seem to have hit their stride. A pretty easy schedule the rest of the way that includes Detroit and Cincinnati has the Colts in a very good position.
5. The BCS Title Game. Obviously it hasn't happened so it wasn't awesome, but the circumstances got awesomer with Penn State's loss to Iowa on Saturday. This essentially guarantees the title game will be between a team from the SEC and a team from the Big 12 (or possibly USC) and should make for a very entertaining and competitive game with the two best teams in college football, rather than an awesome team taking on the weak big 10 representative and kicking the crap out of them yet again.
WHO SUCKED
1. Gopher football. Omg omg omg omg. You guys, seriously. What the holy hell? As I said last week, I expected them to lose at least one of their last four, but I didn’t expect them to drop back to back games at home against bad teams. And to score just 6 points against the horrible Michigan defense is embarrassing. It’s beyond embarrassing, there’s just no word invented to describe it. And it’s not even like they were at least moving the football and then made mistakes and turnovers, they couldn’t get anything going all game and didn’t even bother to get a first down until almost halftime and ended up with less than 200 total yards against the same team that let Purdue rack up over 500 the previous week. I picked a hell of a game to go to. And to make it worse, the crazy lady who sits next to us wouldn’t even say anything crazy. I kept trying to talk to her and get her to say something weird, but her answers were all normal and rational. She must have gotten on some kind of medication and that sucks. Just a horrible day all around.
2. Tennessee football. Not the Titans, they’re good, I mean those guys who wear orange and used to be awesome and now suck worse than the Gophers. The program has managed to completely collapse, leading to the school forcing long time coach Phil Fulmer out at the end of the year, and culminating this week in an embarrassing loss to Wyoming at home, 13-7. Wyoming is dead last in college football in scoring, but managed to put up just enough for the big upset. How bad is Wyoming? Tennessee was favored in this game by 28 points, and Tennessee sucks. They have just three wins on the year and got destroyed by South Carolina last week, but were still favored by 28 against Wyoming. That’s how bad Wyoming was, and that’s how embarrassing this loss is. Truly rock bottom.
3. Notre Dame. It’s been easy to pick on the Irish the last few years, but I can’t lay off any longer. Like Michigan and Tennessee, this is another formerly great program that has just imploded. They are 5-4 this year, so it kind of looks like they are turning it around, but that schedule is laughable. Being an independent, they can mess around with their schedule and get it to their liking, and this year’s is a joke. The five wins are against Washington (0-9), Stanford (5-5), Purdue (3-7), Michigan (3-7), and San Diego State (1-9), five of the worst teams in the country. When your best win of the season is against Stanford, you’ve had a bad year. And with Navy and Syracuse still on the roster, the Irish will be heading to a bowl game and everyone will think things are wonderful again but trust me, Notre Dame sucks and their stupid quarterback Jimmy Clausen sucks (4 INTs Saturday vs. Boston College) and is only a sophomore, so it will be at least three more years before they get good again.
4. Vikings special teams. Specifically punt coverage. It's an embarrassment, as Green Bay's Will Blackmon returned yet another punt for a TD against them, bring the season total to 27 against the Vikes. I have no idea if it's the personnel, the special teams coach, or Childress, but something needs to change in a big way. And don't give me the whole "Heath Farwell is out for the year" BS. Who cares? It's Heath Farwell, a ninth string linebacker. It has gotten so bad, that earlier in the game Blackmon fielded a punt two yards deep in his own endzone. Normally a very stupid move, but against this team, why not go for it? It didn't work, but it certainly could have.
5. College Basketball. Obviously, college basketball doesn't suck, it's awesome, but whoever makes programming decisions sucks. The season starts tonight, with the Duke region of the coaches vs. cancer classic. Two games will be played this evening, Georgia Southern vs. Houston and Duke vs. Presbyterian. However, whoever is in charge of these kind of things isn't putting either game on TV, or at least regular TV people get, as the Duke game is on ESPNU, the Houston game is on nowhere despite being the more interesting game of the two. Why? Well ESPN has the Monday Night Football game tonight, but guess what is on ESPN2: a World Series of Poker marathon. Isn't this whole stupid poker craze over? Sure, I got hooked for a while, but then I realized it was really stupid to be watching people play cards. And now it's being televised over college basketball. Looking ahead, there are basketball games all week, and none of them are on anything other than ESPNU or ESPN360, which works for nobody. I blame you America. The terrorists have won.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Weekend Review
I'm going to try to do this every Monday now. Odds are, it won't be very consistent. Oh well.
WHO WAS AWESOME:
1. Michael Turner. Jumped head first into his new starting gig, leading all rushers with 220 yards and 2 TDs and jump starting all three of my fantasy teams to victory. Scored a 66 yd TD on one of his first few carries and it was all easy from there. On a related note, the Lions tackle like the Gophers
2. Gopher Football. Speaking of the Gophers, awesome might be a tad strong for it but they are certainly better than I expected. Let's not pretend Bowling Green is the world's greatest opponent, but I figured they were set up to blow the Gophers out of the water, especially at home. The defense turned the Eagles over five times, and the offense was good as expected. Maybe there's a little life in these guys. They should go into the Big Ten season at 4-0 now, and could easily squeak out two wins and head to a bowl. A great accomplishment this season.
3. Willie Parker. I thought he was done. A lot of people did, possibly including his own team after drafting Rashard Mendenhall. Parker served notice that he's still the man, going for +100 yds and three TDs, while Mendenhall got ten carries, mostly in garbage time, and did pretty much nothing. Pittsburgh looks very, very good, and suddenly my sleeper pick of the Texans has me worried, Andre Johnson awesomeness (10 catches, 112 yards).
4. Camilo Villegas. Pretty much lead the BMW the whole way, and didn't fold in the end despite having Jim Furyk take the lead in the final round. Came back and held off Anthony Kim in a duel that was fun to watch to take his first ever PGA tour victory.
5. Britney Spears. Watched the VMAs. She's hot again.
WHO SUCKED:
1. Tom Brady. Well, sucked is maybe not the right word, but getting hurt for the season certainly sucks for Brady, the Patriots, all of New England, all the girls (and boys) who would like to make sweet, sweet love to Mr. Brady, and several million fantasy owners (suck it, Dharma Bum). Personally, I'm bummed. I want the Patriots to fail with no excuses, not have a built in reason for failure. At least they won for me in my survivor pool.
2. Indianapolis Colts. Sorry Sidler, and if you'd like to expound on this, please do, but they looked god awful. I know the Bears are a solid-to-great defensive squad, but that was embarrassing. I have no idea if it was because Peyton was out all preseason and their timing is screwy or what, maybe it's the new stadium. I don't know, but it was awful. With them looking awful, the Chargers playing poorly, and Brady's injury, the Steelers are looking like a good pick right now.
3. Ted Ginn. I know he's not exactly a great player yet, but I was expecting a bit of a splash. 19 total yards and a fumble is not a way to take a step forward in your career. I don't know, maybe I'm just an idiot.
4. West Virginia. This is more of a pro-East Carolina thing, but I already have five positives above. The Pirates have now beaten two ranked teams in West Virginia and Virginia Tech, and with a pretty easy CUSA schedule in front of them could be in line for a BCS bowl bid. As for the Mountaineers, they have a schedule left that leaves them plenty of opportunity to get back in the BCS picture, but it's pretty clear that Pat White is no Major Harris.
5. The Twins. Way to keep sucking bullpen, great job.
MINI RANT:
Why, why, why do people lie about insignificant things nobody cares about? Here at work we have six people, most of whom get in between 7:30 - 9:00 every morning. I'm one of these. We have one guy who always tells people how he gets in before 7, usually by 6:30. Now, with a baby, no matter how genius-level her intelligence, she does some weird things in her sleep schedule and sometimes I'm up really early so I just head into work. In the approximate 100 days I've worked this job, I've ended up going in before 7 probably ten times. You know how many of those times this guy has been there when I arrived? Zero. Dude, you aren't here every day by seven. Sure, maybe sometimes. Maybe most of the time, but I find it pretty suspicious that you haven't been in even once when I get here early. Why lie? It makes no sense. Just say you try to get in before seven, ass. Nobody is impressed, and you're a damn dirty liar.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The Colts are depressing me...let's talk college hoops
The Sidler is back and the Colts look awful on Sunday night. Injuries suck, but the pathetic depth at WR is inexcusable. The Chargers are a love/hate team for me. Their defense is completely annoying, with Roid Rage Merriman and everyone always running 20 yards and then celebrating after every good play...funny, don't remember that from last week. But their offense is on the other end of the spectrum.
What a first half--the Colts gave up a kick and punt return for a TD, Manning threw 4 INTs, the backup LT got hurt, the starting RT got hurt, and a missed FG. One more injury and Jim Sorgi gets to play O-line or WR.
On to college hoops--I have a few things.
1. Check out basketballprospectus.com , the latest addition to the growing ___ Prospectus analytical tree. John Gasaway, formerly bigtenwonk, wrote a fairly in-depth preview of each team that is worth reading.
2. Nice start for the Gophers. By the time I got to MN, Monson was already working his magic to turn The Barn into a morgue, so I'm hoping Tubby can reverse Dandy Dan's work.
3. I can't wait to watch Eric Gordon and the rest of IU play this season. Here's his highlight reel from last year's appearance on ESPN.
I also can't wait for the Wolves to draft him with the first pick of the NBA draft next year.
What a first half--the Colts gave up a kick and punt return for a TD, Manning threw 4 INTs, the backup LT got hurt, the starting RT got hurt, and a missed FG. One more injury and Jim Sorgi gets to play O-line or WR.
On to college hoops--I have a few things.
1. Check out basketballprospectus.com , the latest addition to the growing ___ Prospectus analytical tree. John Gasaway, formerly bigtenwonk, wrote a fairly in-depth preview of each team that is worth reading.
2. Nice start for the Gophers. By the time I got to MN, Monson was already working his magic to turn The Barn into a morgue, so I'm hoping Tubby can reverse Dandy Dan's work.
3. I can't wait to watch Eric Gordon and the rest of IU play this season. Here's his highlight reel from last year's appearance on ESPN.
I also can't wait for the Wolves to draft him with the first pick of the NBA draft next year.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Patriots v. Colts
Here is it, the world's most important football game, and who better to break it down nerd-style, than my good buddy The Sidler. I introduced him a bit here, and here he breaks it down:
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It is the game of the century...until the media declares some other game as the game of the century in a few years. But this is the latest meeting of undefeated teams in the modern NFL era and features the two teams that have clearly put themselves head and shoulders above the rest of the league.
Before I dive into my preview, know a few things:
1. I have been a Colts fan since the Mayflower landed in Indianapolis in 1984
2. The Patriots are like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Nick Punto wrapped into one--I hate them
3. I'm going to use FootballOutsiders.com 's statistics, primarily DVOA (defensive value over average), which is similar to Baseball Prospectus' VORP that WWWWWW has used before.
Check this out for more information: Football Outsiders.
The Patriots, simply put, have been a juggernaut through the first half of their schedule.
How good have they been? Looking at DVOA in the last 10 years, only 10 teams have posted a +40% rating through the first eight weeks. The top two are facing off Sunday, but the Patriots 70.6% rating is 13.6 POINTS(!) better than the Colts. The key to their rating is the offense, which has essentially been twice as good as the third-best offense in the league (Dallas) and provided about 70% of the Patriots' overall value. Of course, their defense is the third best in the league, according to DVOA, putting them merely in the "great" category instead of "otherworldly." And they've done it without Richard Seymour. Great. Almost forgot special teams—thanks to Gostkowski's booming kickoffs, they have the 5th best so far.
Colts DVOA rankings: Offense: 1; Defense: 6; Special Teams: 13
It is worth pointing out that the Colts rankings are impacted by their 4th quarter performance, which has included kneel-downs, a lot of running, and even Jim Sorgi. Great article by the Boston Herald pointing some key differences, including the Pats outscoring the Colts 86-57 and attempting 25 more passes than the Colts. Which leads me to…
One final category that the Patriots are completely dominating—the all-important douchebag rating. Belichick has cranked it to 11 in his personal quest to give the entire league the middle finger for enforcing its rules. And that's not even taking the general douchebaggery of their fans (led by ultimate Pats apologist Bill Simmons) into account. When they went for it on 4th and 2 last week against the Redskins, New England crossed that imaginary line in many people's heads. Unfortunately the Redskins simply bent over and grabbed their ankles, otherwise I'd be writing about how awesome it was that Marcus Washington and Sean Taylor combined to tear the ACL of either Tom Brady or Randy Moss.
As a Colts fan that had to endure numerous articles calling the Patriots a classy, dreamy franchise over the past 5 years, it is at least refreshing that the Pats are making it easy for the sports media to question their sportsmanship. Of course they're a few years late; while Belichick and Brady have been great frontrunners, they instantly turn into pouty little bitches once someone has the temerity to defeat them. Witness Brady walking away from the podium or not showing up after two recent losses to the Colts and Belichick's inane barking following any loss. Manning might have thrown a teammate under the bus after a loss, but at least he's man enough to answer every question. And for f*cks sake, the NFL has a bigger problem with coaches wearing suits than they do Belichick dressing like a homeless man every week.
Enough about what is probably the best 8-game stretch ever in the NFL, it is time to talk about the game itself. I'll use the traditional "when X has the ball…" format that the Star Tribune used to love.
When the Patriots have the ball…
The passing game gets all of the attention, but did you know the Pats rank 8th in the league in rushing yards per game? F*ck me. On paper, that's the biggest mismatch—the Pats solid run game against the worst-rated unit taking the field, the Colts' 13th ranked rush defense. Maroney, if healthy, should be able to find openings around the edges and turn them into fairly big gains. Part of me wonders if Belichick is going to pull a complete 180 and play old school power football on Sunday; I think it would work.
The Colts have the best pass defense in the league, which is surprising considering how often the team has had the lead and both starting CBs from the 2006 team left via free agency. Also a surprise and major area of concern—the Colts are allowing QBs to complete over 65% of their passes while a team like the Steelers (#4) allow under 58%. This shows me that the secondary and LBs are keeping plays in front of them (giving up a league-low 7 pass plays of 20+ yards) and preventing other teams from racking up big YAC numbers.
So who wins this matchup—the best passing offense or best passing defense? Unfortunately, I don't think the Colts can stop Brady unless Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis set up shop in the New England backfield. Stallworth is the kind of WR that the Tampa 2 can neutralize, but there is simply no answer for Randy Moss or Wes Welker, unless…Marlin Jackson can be extremely physical with Moss at the line of scrimmage and Bob Sanders can get in Moss Mania's head, causing the old alligator arms to make an appearance.
But remember where you heard it first—I think there's a decent chance New England comes out and tries to grind out the game with Maroney, Faulk, et al.
When the Colts have the ball…
Here's a question—is the Patriots #5 rushing defense ranking being caused by their offense or defense? They have given up 4.2 yards/carry and are the only team in the top 10 to give up more than 3.8. If Colts' left tackle Tony Ugoh can play, the stretch play that direction could be the key to the game for the Colts offense. Ugoh is much more athletic than Tarik Glenn was, allowing him to get to the second level on the stretch play, opening up huge lanes for Joseph Addai. The Patriots LBs are slow (and getting slower) and they know it, which is why Adalius Thomas was brought in during the offseason. But I think Thomas is going to have his hands full with Dallas Clark (more on that next), so Bruschi, Seau, Colvin, and Vrabel will need to react quickly to get outside in time.
Adalius Thomas has gone from a devastating pass rushing LB in Baltimore to a do-everything LB and has the ability to neutralize Dallas Clark, the key to Colts passing game so far this year. Expect to see him glued to Clark all afternoon, taking away Manning's safety valve. Ben Utecht will need to step up from the TE2 position, but he'll probably fumble and get hurt instead.
There are two big questions about the Colts passing game:
1. Will Marvin Harrison play? The Colts have managed to be effective without him, but they haven't faced a secondary as good as the Patriots yet.
2. Can they keep the Patriots out of the backfield? Ugoh playing will be a big help, but I'm sure we'll see the usual array of blitzes and the Colts to have some problems with them in the first half.
Ultimately, I expect both offenses will prevail, but it will probably take the Colts a couple drives to get everything sorted out before they find a way to work Wayne and Harrison into the downfield passing game. Rodney Harrison has lost a step and the Colts first round pick, Anthony Gonzales, has the speed to expose him if the Colts can force that matchup.
Prediction time
The Colts can't afford to wait for the offense to get everything sorted out. The Patriots roll from the opening kickoff, jumping out to an early 14-3 lead that will prove to be insurmountable.
Hold on, I just threw up and need to clean up my keyboard.
OK, I'm back. If the Colts are going to win this game, a few things need to happen:
1. +2 in the turnover battle
2. Control the first half with Addai and Kenton "Hands of Stone" Keith
3. Get tons of pressure on Brady and force the passing game out of rhythm
One thing is a near certainty—if the Patriots take control of the game, they will relish running up the score on their most heated rival.
Patriots 38
Colts 31
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I disagree, but then again, I'm not a Wabash educated young man. Thanks Sidler. Go Colts! F the Patriots (except Randy Moss).
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It is the game of the century...until the media declares some other game as the game of the century in a few years. But this is the latest meeting of undefeated teams in the modern NFL era and features the two teams that have clearly put themselves head and shoulders above the rest of the league.
Before I dive into my preview, know a few things:
1. I have been a Colts fan since the Mayflower landed in Indianapolis in 1984
2. The Patriots are like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Nick Punto wrapped into one--I hate them
3. I'm going to use FootballOutsiders.com 's statistics, primarily DVOA (defensive value over average), which is similar to Baseball Prospectus' VORP that WWWWWW has used before.
Check this out for more information: Football Outsiders.
The Patriots, simply put, have been a juggernaut through the first half of their schedule.
How good have they been? Looking at DVOA in the last 10 years, only 10 teams have posted a +40% rating through the first eight weeks. The top two are facing off Sunday, but the Patriots 70.6% rating is 13.6 POINTS(!) better than the Colts. The key to their rating is the offense, which has essentially been twice as good as the third-best offense in the league (Dallas) and provided about 70% of the Patriots' overall value. Of course, their defense is the third best in the league, according to DVOA, putting them merely in the "great" category instead of "otherworldly." And they've done it without Richard Seymour. Great. Almost forgot special teams—thanks to Gostkowski's booming kickoffs, they have the 5th best so far.
Colts DVOA rankings: Offense: 1; Defense: 6; Special Teams: 13
It is worth pointing out that the Colts rankings are impacted by their 4th quarter performance, which has included kneel-downs, a lot of running, and even Jim Sorgi. Great article by the Boston Herald pointing some key differences, including the Pats outscoring the Colts 86-57 and attempting 25 more passes than the Colts. Which leads me to…
One final category that the Patriots are completely dominating—the all-important douchebag rating. Belichick has cranked it to 11 in his personal quest to give the entire league the middle finger for enforcing its rules. And that's not even taking the general douchebaggery of their fans (led by ultimate Pats apologist Bill Simmons) into account. When they went for it on 4th and 2 last week against the Redskins, New England crossed that imaginary line in many people's heads. Unfortunately the Redskins simply bent over and grabbed their ankles, otherwise I'd be writing about how awesome it was that Marcus Washington and Sean Taylor combined to tear the ACL of either Tom Brady or Randy Moss.
As a Colts fan that had to endure numerous articles calling the Patriots a classy, dreamy franchise over the past 5 years, it is at least refreshing that the Pats are making it easy for the sports media to question their sportsmanship. Of course they're a few years late; while Belichick and Brady have been great frontrunners, they instantly turn into pouty little bitches once someone has the temerity to defeat them. Witness Brady walking away from the podium or not showing up after two recent losses to the Colts and Belichick's inane barking following any loss. Manning might have thrown a teammate under the bus after a loss, but at least he's man enough to answer every question. And for f*cks sake, the NFL has a bigger problem with coaches wearing suits than they do Belichick dressing like a homeless man every week.
Enough about what is probably the best 8-game stretch ever in the NFL, it is time to talk about the game itself. I'll use the traditional "when X has the ball…" format that the Star Tribune used to love.
When the Patriots have the ball…
The passing game gets all of the attention, but did you know the Pats rank 8th in the league in rushing yards per game? F*ck me. On paper, that's the biggest mismatch—the Pats solid run game against the worst-rated unit taking the field, the Colts' 13th ranked rush defense. Maroney, if healthy, should be able to find openings around the edges and turn them into fairly big gains. Part of me wonders if Belichick is going to pull a complete 180 and play old school power football on Sunday; I think it would work.
The Colts have the best pass defense in the league, which is surprising considering how often the team has had the lead and both starting CBs from the 2006 team left via free agency. Also a surprise and major area of concern—the Colts are allowing QBs to complete over 65% of their passes while a team like the Steelers (#4) allow under 58%. This shows me that the secondary and LBs are keeping plays in front of them (giving up a league-low 7 pass plays of 20+ yards) and preventing other teams from racking up big YAC numbers.
So who wins this matchup—the best passing offense or best passing defense? Unfortunately, I don't think the Colts can stop Brady unless Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis set up shop in the New England backfield. Stallworth is the kind of WR that the Tampa 2 can neutralize, but there is simply no answer for Randy Moss or Wes Welker, unless…Marlin Jackson can be extremely physical with Moss at the line of scrimmage and Bob Sanders can get in Moss Mania's head, causing the old alligator arms to make an appearance.
But remember where you heard it first—I think there's a decent chance New England comes out and tries to grind out the game with Maroney, Faulk, et al.
When the Colts have the ball…
Here's a question—is the Patriots #5 rushing defense ranking being caused by their offense or defense? They have given up 4.2 yards/carry and are the only team in the top 10 to give up more than 3.8. If Colts' left tackle Tony Ugoh can play, the stretch play that direction could be the key to the game for the Colts offense. Ugoh is much more athletic than Tarik Glenn was, allowing him to get to the second level on the stretch play, opening up huge lanes for Joseph Addai. The Patriots LBs are slow (and getting slower) and they know it, which is why Adalius Thomas was brought in during the offseason. But I think Thomas is going to have his hands full with Dallas Clark (more on that next), so Bruschi, Seau, Colvin, and Vrabel will need to react quickly to get outside in time.
Adalius Thomas has gone from a devastating pass rushing LB in Baltimore to a do-everything LB and has the ability to neutralize Dallas Clark, the key to Colts passing game so far this year. Expect to see him glued to Clark all afternoon, taking away Manning's safety valve. Ben Utecht will need to step up from the TE2 position, but he'll probably fumble and get hurt instead.
There are two big questions about the Colts passing game:
1. Will Marvin Harrison play? The Colts have managed to be effective without him, but they haven't faced a secondary as good as the Patriots yet.
2. Can they keep the Patriots out of the backfield? Ugoh playing will be a big help, but I'm sure we'll see the usual array of blitzes and the Colts to have some problems with them in the first half.
Ultimately, I expect both offenses will prevail, but it will probably take the Colts a couple drives to get everything sorted out before they find a way to work Wayne and Harrison into the downfield passing game. Rodney Harrison has lost a step and the Colts first round pick, Anthony Gonzales, has the speed to expose him if the Colts can force that matchup.
Prediction time
The Colts can't afford to wait for the offense to get everything sorted out. The Patriots roll from the opening kickoff, jumping out to an early 14-3 lead that will prove to be insurmountable.
Hold on, I just threw up and need to clean up my keyboard.
OK, I'm back. If the Colts are going to win this game, a few things need to happen:
1. +2 in the turnover battle
2. Control the first half with Addai and Kenton "Hands of Stone" Keith
3. Get tons of pressure on Brady and force the passing game out of rhythm
One thing is a near certainty—if the Patriots take control of the game, they will relish running up the score on their most heated rival.
Patriots 38
Colts 31
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I disagree, but then again, I'm not a Wabash educated young man. Thanks Sidler. Go Colts! F the Patriots (except Randy Moss).
Monday, October 29, 2007
It's Almost Here
We are exactly one week away from the start of college basketball season, with the Coaches vs. Cancer regionals (Memphis, Kentucky, UCONN, and Oklahoma) and I couldn't be more ready. Baseball is over (F the Red Sox), Football is starting to get boring - although if AP continues to get 25 or so carries it might be more interesting. Also, F the Patriots too. I hate that team as well. The whole Boston area is a wasteland of idiocy - although I actually love the city - the sports fans up there are basically the exact kind of fans who give sports fans a bad name. I really hope Manning and the Colts beat them next week, but I'm not counting on it.
My good buddy The Sidler is preparing a nice write up on the game, and on why the Patriots and Belichick are the devil. He's very qualified, as he's a big Colts fan who grew up in Indy and went to school at Wabash College. He's such a big Colts fan, that he named his son James Edgerrin and his daughter Peyton Manning, and his best friend in high school was Courtney James. So we should all listen to what he has to say.
Unfortunately, I'm heading to Utah later this week and will miss both of the Gopher basketball exhibition games. I'm going to assume that Dan Coleman isn't tough enough, Spencer Tollackson is slightly uncoordinated and fouls too much, Lawrence McKenzie takes a lot of ill-advised shots but makes a lot of them, Abu-Shamala can't play defense or create, and Kevin Payton can't score.
The good news is, I'll be taking in a Utah State (I'll look for Bryce) vs. Laval University exhibition and a Weber State vs. Fort Lewis College exhibition. I'll be sure to report on Jaycee Carroll, who I'm actually pretty excited to see. One of the best players in the WAC over the past few years. Weber State could be interesting as well, considering they are the favorite to win the Big Sky this year. Are they better than the Gophers? I'll try to figure it out.
Anyway, the ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll is out, and it's not perfect. Such as,
#4 KANSAS - Yeah, save the whole "they have a ton of talent back and now they'll have Cole Aldrich to give them somebody else down low" stuff. It's Kansas. It doesn't matter how talented they are, they'll choke.
#5 GEORGETOWN - Losing your best player and keeping a poor man's Dikembe Mutombo (with less offensive game) does not make you the #5 team in the country. The Hoyas do have two awesome freshmen coming in, but they're both up-tempo style guards, which doesn't work with a big guy who takes three minutes to run the length of the court.
#10 WASHINGTON STATE - Huh? They play the world's most boring style of basketball and it manages to put teams to sleep during the regular season, but as soon as they play a half-way athletic team they lose. And this year the Pac-10 is all revamped and awesome. They'll be out of the top 25 by mid-January (not before, because their non-conf schedule is something you'd expect to see from Monson's Gophers).
#20 PITTSBURGH - What? This team hasn't been very good in years, is always rated highly, and I'd like to know why. They lost three starters, and are going to be relying for most of their offense from three guards who can't shoot.
#21 STANFORD - Worst ranking ever. They barely got into the tournament last year, where they were thoroughly embarrassed, and they added nothing. The halfway decent twin is suspended because he won't go to class, and most of the rest of the team can't take care of the ball. Horrible.
#25 VILLANOVA - You can't be good when you lose three starters from a mediocre team, don't add much, and your point guard shoots constantly. Scottie Reynolds took as many shots as Lawrence McKenzie last year, and more than twice as many three pointers. Wow.
MISSING: Clemson, Syracuse, and Kansas State are all in the "others receiving votes" section, but should be top 25. Syracuse is a top ten team this year, even with Rautins out for the year, Devendorf is quality, Paul Harris is amazing, and freshmen Johnny Flynn and Donte Greene could be all conference types right away. K-State has not only possible top freshman Michael Beasley, but Bill Walker and David Hoskins as well. As long as somebody can play point, they'll be tough. Clemson started 17-0 last year before crashing - then recovered and made it to the NIT championship game. The only starter they're losing is their point guard, and last season's Mr. Basketball in North Carolina is there to step in.
And F the Red Sox.
My good buddy The Sidler is preparing a nice write up on the game, and on why the Patriots and Belichick are the devil. He's very qualified, as he's a big Colts fan who grew up in Indy and went to school at Wabash College. He's such a big Colts fan, that he named his son James Edgerrin and his daughter Peyton Manning, and his best friend in high school was Courtney James. So we should all listen to what he has to say.
Unfortunately, I'm heading to Utah later this week and will miss both of the Gopher basketball exhibition games. I'm going to assume that Dan Coleman isn't tough enough, Spencer Tollackson is slightly uncoordinated and fouls too much, Lawrence McKenzie takes a lot of ill-advised shots but makes a lot of them, Abu-Shamala can't play defense or create, and Kevin Payton can't score.
The good news is, I'll be taking in a Utah State (I'll look for Bryce) vs. Laval University exhibition and a Weber State vs. Fort Lewis College exhibition. I'll be sure to report on Jaycee Carroll, who I'm actually pretty excited to see. One of the best players in the WAC over the past few years. Weber State could be interesting as well, considering they are the favorite to win the Big Sky this year. Are they better than the Gophers? I'll try to figure it out.
Anyway, the ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll is out, and it's not perfect. Such as,
#4 KANSAS - Yeah, save the whole "they have a ton of talent back and now they'll have Cole Aldrich to give them somebody else down low" stuff. It's Kansas. It doesn't matter how talented they are, they'll choke.
#5 GEORGETOWN - Losing your best player and keeping a poor man's Dikembe Mutombo (with less offensive game) does not make you the #5 team in the country. The Hoyas do have two awesome freshmen coming in, but they're both up-tempo style guards, which doesn't work with a big guy who takes three minutes to run the length of the court.
#10 WASHINGTON STATE - Huh? They play the world's most boring style of basketball and it manages to put teams to sleep during the regular season, but as soon as they play a half-way athletic team they lose. And this year the Pac-10 is all revamped and awesome. They'll be out of the top 25 by mid-January (not before, because their non-conf schedule is something you'd expect to see from Monson's Gophers).
#20 PITTSBURGH - What? This team hasn't been very good in years, is always rated highly, and I'd like to know why. They lost three starters, and are going to be relying for most of their offense from three guards who can't shoot.
#21 STANFORD - Worst ranking ever. They barely got into the tournament last year, where they were thoroughly embarrassed, and they added nothing. The halfway decent twin is suspended because he won't go to class, and most of the rest of the team can't take care of the ball. Horrible.
#25 VILLANOVA - You can't be good when you lose three starters from a mediocre team, don't add much, and your point guard shoots constantly. Scottie Reynolds took as many shots as Lawrence McKenzie last year, and more than twice as many three pointers. Wow.
MISSING: Clemson, Syracuse, and Kansas State are all in the "others receiving votes" section, but should be top 25. Syracuse is a top ten team this year, even with Rautins out for the year, Devendorf is quality, Paul Harris is amazing, and freshmen Johnny Flynn and Donte Greene could be all conference types right away. K-State has not only possible top freshman Michael Beasley, but Bill Walker and David Hoskins as well. As long as somebody can play point, they'll be tough. Clemson started 17-0 last year before crashing - then recovered and made it to the NIT championship game. The only starter they're losing is their point guard, and last season's Mr. Basketball in North Carolina is there to step in.
And F the Red Sox.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Colts Suck
So I watched a good chunk of the Colts/Cowboys preseason game tonight, because when you are supposed to fly home from DC and they cancel your flight and make you stay in DC another night and you have nothing better to do than sit at the hotel bar, you don't have a lot of viewing options, and I have to say the Colts are terrible.
A mediocre Cowboys team destroyed them. The offense was out of sync, the run defense was weak, and the pass defense was like swiss cheese.
Sorry to my good buddy The Sidler, but your team is done. They should start trading players away and rebuild.
Also, note to the guy sitting next to me at the bar: It's ok to eat buffalo wings without being really loud and obnoxious. I promise.
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