Jul 21
AndrewSports Basketball
Oklahoma City will christen its new pro basketball team, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics, the Thunder, according to rumors flying around the media. The team has refused official comment. The team name, however, did win in a bracket-style contest over the Outlaws hosted by The Oklahoman.
Oklahoma City hosted the Hornets team for two seasons after the New Orleans Super Dome was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. The temporary move seemed to prove that the Oklahoma City market could support a professional basketball team, and the city was the top choice for the relocated Sonics. Clay Bennett, the team’s current owner, is a well-known Oklahoma City businessman.
The relocation agreement includes leaving behind the SuperSonics team name, colors and franchise history with Seattle.
Jul 14
AndrewSports Football
Green Bay Packers fans, a few of them anyway, united around the possible return of Brett Favre to the organization. The AP reported 200 fans turned out for what is expected to be a weekly summer event, the “Bring Brett Back” rally. The rally, held at Lambeau Field yesterday, doubled as a can food drive to help flood victims. It is planned for every Sunday until Favre is reinstated to the team. Fans hope to encourage Green Bay Packers management to embrace Favre as the team’s starting quarterback for the upcoming football season.
If you missed the rally, you may have a second chance tonight in Milwaukee, WI. All the details are available at BringBackBrettFavrecom and while you’re there, you can purchase Favre 08 tees and yard signs.
Favre retired formally from the professional football at the end of last season, but recently expressed the desire to return. Packers management hasn’t exactly been in love with the idea, but Favre is on the payroll anyway so he might as well play right? Favre last week asked for an unconditional release from the team so he could sign with another team.
While it’s up to the league to reinstate Favre formally, the Packers have to decide what to do with the 9-time pro bowler who helmed the team for 16 seasons and has the most consecutive starts for a NFL quarterback at an astounding 253 regular season starts. Fans loyalty to Favre is well-deserved but Favre has also strung the team along by vacillating between playing and retirement for several seasons now. Now, they are faced with three possibilities:
- The team can install him as a backup quarterback to his replacement, Aaron Rodgers.
- The team can make him the starting quarterback.
- Or they can trade him to another team.
What they will probably not do is give him his unconditional release, which will almost certainly end with Favre on a team within the same division, either the Chicago Bears or the Minnesota Vikings.
Jul 11
AndrewSports Football
Favre has reportedly asked for an unconditional release from the Green Bay Packers in a letter sent to the Packers organization today. The move will make him available to sign with another team for the upcoming NFL season and undoubtedly quashes any public denials that Favre is not interested in playing again after he retired from professional football at the end of the 2007 season.
Packers management has been reluctant to embrace any Favre unretirement talk. The team has spent the offseason transitioning Aaron Rodgers into the starting quarterback position. During a conference call earlier this week, Favre reportedly was explicit about his intent to play again. When the Packers rebuffed him, his agent drafted the letter requesting unconditional release and sent it off. If the Packers force Favre to honor his contract, he could still be traded but an unconditional release will allow Favre to sign with the organization of his choice.
Nov 12
AndrewSports Football
Forget Indianapolis vs. New England, the supposed-Super Bowl 41½ championship game preview. Turned out, that match-up was notable only for the most blatant one-sided refereeing ever in a football contest. The game itself was dull and predictable compared to last night’s romp in San Diego. For New England fans (yeah, them again) it was vindication watching Adam Vinatieri blow two field goals (one at the end of each half) and watch Peyton Manning misstep with poor reads to a 6 interception game with two (count ‘em -- two!) opportunities in the final two minutes of the game to steal the victory.
If you went to bed early, or assumed that San Diego would be walloped by a Colts team seeking revenge after losing to the New England Patriots in the 4th quarter of last week’s game, then you missed a primetime contest for the ages. Sure, it looked like the Colts were going to come back and put a stake in the Chargers season. In the fourth quarter, with :32 elapsed, the Colts had scored a touchdown, made a two-point conversion and recovered a Chargers fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. San Diego’s 16 point lead evaporated in less than a minute, and the only saving grace was a second unsuccessful two-point conversion that allowed San Diego to retain a slim lead.
No one, not in San Diego, not in Indianapolis, and sure as hell not in New England, though the Chargers were going to pull out a win at that point. Many a television switched themselves off on the east coast, with the time rapidly approaching 11 p.m. and Indianapolis verging on another nauseating comeback.
There were two reasons this seemed inevitable. First, on the last drive of the 3rd quarter, the Colts finally reverted to their usual make-it-look-easy form. Manning deftly completed five passes for 66 yards, mixed in a couple of rushing plays and in about four and a half minutes, took the Colts from their 10 yard line to San Diego’ s 10 yard line. Suddenly, it was vintage Colts, even though there injury report looks like a team roster (Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark and Anthony Gonzalez were all out for the game.) With two snaps in the fourth quarter, the Colts were suddenly a touchdown and a two-point conversion away from tying the game.
Second, San Diego’s offense had sputtered to a halt. Unable to take advantage of the turnovers or the Colts’ injury-riddled defense, the Chargers scored on a kick-off return, a punt return and a field goal in the first half. And anyone who watches the Colts knows that a 16-point lead is a precarious one going into halftime. The Colts can, and did, erase the deficit in the blink of an eye. Only the Patriots adjust better to opponents in the second half of games, and no one doubted Manning, even after four interceptions left the city of Boston giddy with pleasure.
The stats tell an interesting story. San Diego’s 177 total yards were split pretty evenly between the pass and the rush. The Colts only rushed for 75 yards (compared to 119 yards against New England, 112 of those belonging to Joseph Addai) but Manning passed for 311 yards. Indianapolis easily reigned in time of possession. And even stranger, San Diego was vastly more penalized than Indianapolis, 10 for 78 yards versus the colts 4-21. There was no reason for the Chargers to have won this game.
The obvious game-changing stat was Manning’s six interceptions -- a team record, and Manning’s personal best. Vinatieri’s two missed field goals were obviously factors, too (one from 42 yards, the other from 29 yards, for a man of Vinatieri’s reputation, both relative chip shots.)
Though all the focus now will be on the Colts losing two straight, San Diego is now leading its division at 5-4 and it’s hard to give Denver or Kansas City the edge on the second half of the season. Especially since San Diego still has to face each of its division rivals again and it’s only division loss was to Kansas City. San Diego’s defense came through yesterday while it’s offense looked strangled. And when it gets right down to it, that is probably what is going to rub Manning the most. Oh, and that 9-0 team the New England Patriots
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
The Green Bay Packers have found ways to win with the passing attack that sustained them in the first half and suddenly there is a possibility of a rushing attack with Ryan Grant having his second career 100-yard rushing game. Some of the pressure in the division has been relieved by Detroit’s loss yesterday, but what is more amazing is that Green Bay is playing good football. Compared to last year, this is a revelation (and squashing Favre retirement rumors temporarily.) Okay, look, Minnesota rolled over in Sunday’s game, it looked like the Packers versus a practice squad; but it was an important division rivalry. And if the Packers are the elite team this season, they have to beat the teams they are expected to beat. That’s what elite teams do. Though there is still plenty of season left, there is less pressure for Green Bay to win out, and a respectable loss at Dallas, or even a split with Detroit, and the Packers can still handily take the division.
It was tough to watch the Cleveland Browns give away that game to the Steelers. Maybe I should be giving more credit to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, but I can’t help thinking about how often emerging teams falter in the second half of games. The elite teams adjust in the second half and that’s exactly what the Steelers did. Roethlisberger made the adjustments to his game, and you could tell in the second half that he had Cleveland’s number.
Aside from a few anomalies (particularly the game against New England,) Browns quarterback Derek Anderson has been pretty good. The Browns need to gel, and a lot of their performance can be chalked up to a combination of inexperience and the specter of losing seasons. Everyone expects the Browns to suck, but a loss to Pittsburgh isn’t the worst thing. It would have been nice to see a better second half performance overall, but you could definitely make the case that Cleveland is on the rise.
A lot of people were amped up about the Dallas Cowboys game yesterday. But didn’t it seem a little business as usual? Quarterback Tony Romo is the kind of QB that does better in the spotlight, and Terrell Owens has managed his game better this year (a lot of unwarranted dropped passes last season.) The Giants did just enough to lose, a typical display of QB Eli Manning prowess combined with what once was chalked up to inexperience. But now? Maybe Manning will always be less than perfect because he gets compared to his brother more often than is really fair.
Either way, while everyone was impressed with the Cowboys performance, the entire game was a little bland. Yeah, it was nice to see the Cowboys play up to their elite position in the NFL, but it was also a disappointment to have the Giants become less competitive in the one game they needed a grander performance.
Oct 08
AndrewSports Football
The time of year in the NFL when the contenders and pretenders show their true colors. When the win-loss record starts to separate the teams into the good, the bad and the ugly. Heading into the October stretch with a 5-0 record doesn’t guarantee a perfect season, but heading into October with a 0-5 record pretty much does guarantee a long and protracted whupping. Just ask the Miami Dolphins.
The Ugly: Miami Dolphins
This is a dicey analysis. Where do you put the blame in Miami? In the offseason, Miami traded away Sammy Morris and Wes Welker to the Patriots leaving them to essentially rely on Ronnie Brown for both their running game (114 yards on 23 carries yesterday against the Texans) and their passing game (39 yards on 5 receptions.) Only wide receiver Marty Booker has made any significant contribution this season in the passing game. (Chris Chambers started strong but has evaporated in the last two games.) You could make a pretty good case that QB Trent Green was the best player on the offense, and he took a knee to the brain in yesterday’s game when he went on a low block against Texans defensive tackle Travis Johnson. Green was back at the stadium after the game, but no word yet on whether he will be able to start next week.
On Sunday, Miami took the lead in the first quarter against the 2-2 Houston Texans and did not relinquish it until a third quarter field goal by Texans kicker Kris Brown, who then tied the game again in the fourth and went for the go-ahead score on the final drive the game. The 57-yard kick sealed Miami’s woeful season with 00:01 on the clock. Let me recap in case you missed it: Miami had zero offense in the second half except for a field goal kick by Jay Feely from 48 yards, and Houston had not one, not two, but three successful field goals from over 50 yards that allowed the Texans to catch up and pass the Dolphins for the win.
You can trace some of the roots of Miami’s problems to Dan Marino. Since Marino, Miami has had a string of only moderately successful QBs including Jay Fielder, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon and Trent Green (if I missed anyone, just let me know…) Miami hasn’t dealt well with its quarterbacks. Fielder was the quarterback of choice until he went down in the 2004 season. The Dolphins essentially rolled his body into a carpet and dumped it into the Everglades hoping nobody would notice. That’s what they do with underperforming QBs, just ask…well any quarterback since. But even when Fielder when the anointed starter, he always seemed to feel the heat of his back-up QB (Lucas in 2002, Griese in 2003, Feeley in 2004) and that is not a recipe for an inspiring offense.
Take the Daunte Culpepper era: four games 2 TDs, 1 interception (1-3 record.) Sure, Culpepper was damaged goods, and the team might have been better served by starting the season with someone else. But to dump Culpepper for Harrington, and then dump Harrington for Lemon (who may have regained his starting job this season in the absence of Green?) was just piling on one desperate decision after another. Long ago, the lack of consistency at quarterback was slowly strangling this team.
Miami’s future looks grim. Because for all that, and we never got around to dissecting the defensive woes (age,) Ricky Williams, Nick Saban, or the fact that the Dolphins play in the Patriots division. As to the latter, it’s not so much that the Patriots are the runaway team to beat, again. It’s that the Jets and the Bills have such a lock on mediocrity that the Dolphins can barely compete at their level. Let the John Beck era begin!
The Bad: Cleveland Browns
The Browns missed an opportunity. New England’s sloppy play on Sunday was ripe for an upset, but instead of capitalizing, the Browns played the Pats close to the vest and lost. Fortunately for them, it may have gone unnoticed since the Indians became the only team in a close-out division series game that failed to sweep their opponent.
Cleveland can only blame itself. New England was horrible. QB Tom Brady had a hard time finding receivers, and they had a hard time finding the ball. The stats don’t tell the tale properly of how out of sync the Pats offense was (in fact, in the end, at least statistically, it was business as usual.) The Pats were penalized more yards on one fewer penalties. Randy Moss was non-existent (46 yards on 3 receptions, no touchdowns.) But Brady also had three touchdown, and no interceptions (he’s only got two on the season) found his groove with Benjamin Watson and Donte’ Stallworth and Sammy Morris ran for another 102 yards, his second consecutive game over 100 yards.
The Browns had 3 first half tipped interceptions by quarterback Derek Anderson, running back Jamal Lewis left the game with an injury, as did wide receiver Joe Jurevicius. It was all too much for the Browns offense to overcome. They did manage a respectable fourth quarter, and put points on the board to bring the game within 10. Browns defense recorded zero sacks and couldn’t break through New England’s massive front line to pressure Brady.
Look, the W was a long shot anyway. But the Pats waited all the way until 0:52 left to put the game out of reach, and the Browns, especially head coach Romeo Crennel, should have sniffed out the opportunity. They are in a ridiculously competitive division and a win in New England could have muffled some of the naysayers. The Pats gave them that chance. Hey, on the upside, next week the Browns are at home against Miami.
The Good: New York Giants
The Giants are kind of a mixed bag so far this season. They lost to Dallas and Green Bay (both undefeated at the time) but lost badly. Then they went into Washington and pulled out a win and a week later, trampled the Philadelphia Eagles, giving them two consecutive division wins (much needed if Dallas continues to roll.) A win against the Jets yesterday wasn’t critical, except that good teams don’t lost to crappy teams. And the Giants desperately want to be a good team.
Give the Giants credit on both sides of the ball. The offense scored four touchdowns (plus an Aaron Ross interception for a touchdown) and the defense stifled the Jets (admittedly, it doesn’t take much.) Quarterback Eli Manning’s stats aren’t spectacular, but he seems to be making better adjustments in the second halves of games.
But being a good team may not be enough. Dallas is steamrolling and Washington is playing competitively. The Giants upcoming games are at Atlanta, at home against San Francisco, and at Miami (score!) There next gut check game isn’t until early November when they host the Dallas Cowboys. By then, though they could likely have surpassed Washington in the standings, but can those three wins really mark the Giants as a legitimate postseason contender?
(Washington’s schedule in that same span: at Green Bay, home at Arizona and at New England. And don’t tell me the Packers and the Cardinals -- both of whom currently lead their respective divisions -- don’t have something to prove in the next couple of weeks. At the very least, Washington has a challenge ahead of them.)
This, then is the critical issue, can the Giants prove that they are a better than average team until they play a better than average team?
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
There are two 5-0 teams left in the AFC and Dallas has a reasonable chance to be the only 5-0 team in the NFC after tonight’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Indianapolis will always be a Super Bowl contender so long as they are led by Peyton Manning. That said, the Colts are depleted. Marvin Harrison and Joseph Addai are both out with injuries. Freddy Keiaho, Bob Sanders and Rob Morris are too (Morris has a season-ending knee injury.)
Thankfully, Manning still had Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne to play catch with (plus wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez ably filling in) as they destroyed the Tampa Bay Bucs. Going into a bye week, with the potential to get at least some of their starters back in the mix before a game against Jacksonville, don’t expect too much concern.
Can Indianapolis possibly be looking ahead to the match-up against New England on November 4? Why not, sure as hell everybody else is. Expect head coach Bill Belichick to come down hard on the offense for their undisciplined play against Cleveland yesterday. And likewise, expect that New England will be focused on winning out their next three games before heading to Indianapolis. New England is scary this season and all the talk of a perfect season will go into overdrive when the Pats beat the Colts. And don’t think a little revenge for last year’s AFC Championship game isn’t on Brady’s mind. Sure, it was two Reche Caldwell drops that sealed the Indianapolis win in that game, but the bottom line is that the Pats could smell the Super Bowl and it was the Colts that took home the rings.
Dallas has an almost guaranteed free pass to 5-0 with a Bills match-up tonight. To give the Bills a whupping on national television will give Dallas the credibility they’ve been aching for. Romo is a spotlight player; he plays best on primetime. Expect this game to be over in the first half.
Sep 10
AndrewSports Football, NFL
Week 1
1. Green Bay Packers
Brett Favre is tied with John Elway for most victories for a starting quarterback after his team’s 16-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday. The win wasn’t authoritative, but for the Packers, who have been back and forth between winning and losing seasons, this season appears to be an upswing.
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy made it clear that he was going to rein in the wild west ways of his starting QB, but restraint has never been Favre’s cup of tea. It would be nice if the Pack didn’t have to live and die by Favre’s arm, and that appears to be what we learned from Sunday’s game.
The Packers won because of special teams play and on the shoulders of their defense. Favre was mostly the same gunslinger he always is, 23/42, no touchdowns and one interception. But by keeping the Pack in the game, the defense squashed Philadelphia’s mostly tepid offense, they were able to win on 3 field goals and a fumble recovery in the end zone.
That’s not a great recipe for the postseason, but for now, I’ll take it.
2. Minnesota Vikings
Was it just by virtue of playing the disheartened Atlanta Falcons, or are the Vikings ready to make a legitimate chase for a playoff berth, the first since 2004? Things could have been shaky under Tavaris Jackson, who is only in his first year as a full-fledged starter and only his second year in the league overall.
But his first game stats were decent. He finished with 75.1 quarterback rating, one touchdown and one interception and 13-23 passing attempts for 163 yards. The defense for the Vikings really stepped up their game, and hey, playing against Joey Harrington probably didn’t hurt either.
It’s disingenuous, though, to put the win on the Falcons poor play instead of giving credit to the Vikings. They suffocated Harrington and exposed an offense that wasn’t clicking. And Vikings rookie running back Adrian Peterson earned his keep, rushing for 103 yards on 19 carries. He also showed some nimble fingers.
In a crowded NFC North, where even the Lions are showing signs of life, the Vikings are going to succeed if they can get consistent production from week to week.
3. Carolina Panthers
I’m rooting for a good season from the Panthers. Last year, they finished 8-8 and were bounced from playoff contention in week 15 so that their last win against the Saints was meaningless as far as the postseason was concerned.
But it’s nice to see a resurgence of Steve Smith, who sealed the victory in the third quarter with a 68-yard dash to the goal line. And Jake Delhomme was one of the better quarterbacks in Sunday’s match-ups, with three touchdown passes and 18/27 for 201 yards. With a nice compliment of players around the superstars, it was refreshing to see the Panthers return to form.
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
I can’t let a week 1 column go by without mentioning the Chicago Bears. They don’t really fit in this column because, let’s face it, yesterday’s game against San Diego was more of the same. You can talk about the enormous expectations because of the Super Bowl appearance, or how they faced the San Diego Chargers, who legitimately had a case to make the Super Bowl themselves last season. But the bottom line is this: they gave away Thomas Jones to rely on Cedric Benson and the other Adrian Peterson (you know it’s bad when you’re a six-year veteran and you’re only getting noticed as “the other guy.”) And no matter what you say about the Bears, their starting quarterback is Rex Grossman. Here’s an snippet I wrote about Grossman back in January. The assessment today is virtually unchanged.
The key sequence in the New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys match-up last night was the 80-yard Giants possession that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Ward. Then after a horrible interception that probably had Dallas fans cocking a pistol to their foreheads, the Giants scored again bringing the score within 3 points in the fourth quarter with four minutes of game left.
Dallas QB Tony Romo redeemed himself with the final scoring drive of the game which sealed the win. What shouldn’t pass unnoticed, though, was that Giants quarterback Eli Manning showed some of the poise that makes his brother, Peyton, the outstanding quarterback that he is. The younger Manning still looks a little rough at times, but it is easy to forget he is only playing in his fourth season. If he can even bring half of what Peyton does to the field, the Giants are going to major contenders in the NFC East for years.
Tonight’s match-up of the Arizona Cardinals at the San Francisco 49ers is notable because both teams have the potential to improve their game tremendously. The Cardinals are their own worst enemy, but they have the players, and now the coach, to make a successful play-off run.
Last season was all about transition. They swapped starting QBs, benching Kurt Warner who was washed up three years ago, for rookie Matt Leinart, and shipping out head coach Dennis Green for a great hire in Ken Whisenhunt. But the fans are tired of transition and want to see some wins and maybe a playoff appearance. The postseason dry spell is verging on a decade.
Probably the biggest change is Ken Whisenhunt who will bring some creativity to the offense and hopefully some consistency to a generally inconsistent team. Leinart is starting is first full year as starter and he could establish himself as a splashy phenom if he can bring success to Arizona. It’s hard to put all the pressure to succeed on one QB, but Leinart is going to have to produce because Arizona is starving for something positive.
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