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Lookin At The NFL - Week Two

New England 38, San Diego 14 - Whoever said that cheaters never prosper never met Bill Belichick. Coming off a week that saw him fined $500,000 and his team stripped of a draft choice, Belichick first received a contract extension and then a hero's welcome by the hometown crowd at the outset of last night's game with the Chargers. His team responded to all of the chaos by laying another beating on an AFC rival and further establishing themselves as the team to beat in the conference. Taking the talent of the Patriots and adding in the fury of a woman scorned is a dangerous combination indeed for the NFL. Dangerous for the Chargers is a second poor outing for Philip Rivers and the sneaking suspicion that they may have missed their last, best chance at making it to the Super Bowl against these same Patriots in the playoffs last season. 

Houston 34, Carolina 21 - What a difference a quarterback makes. Matt Schaub spent more time slinging passes to Andre Johnson than staring at the clouds and the Texans are 2-0. They've got a good little defense, too. They forced three turnovers and sacked Jake Delhomme three times to help overcome a 14-0 first quarter deficit. The Panthers need to work on holding onto the ball and the defense could use an upgrade but Delhomme and Steve Smith need no remedial work. They hooked up for all three Panther touchdowns.

Cleveland 51, Cincinnati 45 - Message to Chad Johnson: Don't tempt the powers of karma by leaping into the opposing team's stands after you score a touchdown. Message to Cincinnati defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan: You need to do a better job. Message to Derek Anderson: Job very well done. Message to Jamal Lewis: Welcome back!

Jacksonville 13, Atlanta 7 - David Garrard threw for 272 yards and a touchdown and the Jags sacked Joey Harrington seven times. They also committed 11 penalties and needed two missed field goals to escape with a win against a terrible Falcons team, which is what we in the business call bad omens of future success.

Indianapolis 22, Tennessee 20 - The Titans blueprint for this season is pretty clear. Run the ball behind a talented offensive line all day long and let Vince Young take care of anything else. It worked in Week One and nearly did the trick against the Colts on Sunday but the Indy defense stiffened late and held off the last-ditch rally. 

San Francisco 17, St. Louis 16 - Remember when Dante Hall was one of the most explosive weapons in the NFL? You'll have to because now he's a guy who fumbles punts in the fourth quarter and sets up the game-winning field goal for the opposition. Frank Gore bailed out another crap performance from Alex Smith with 81 yards and two touchdowns but the Niners need to find a passing game if they want to keep winning games.

Green Bay 35, Giants 13 - Those of us in New York were thrilled to find the Giants on Fox for the early game on Sunday afternoon. Check that, we were dismayed, depressed and searching for any other way to spend the day especially once the fourth quarter began. The Pack blew open a 14-13 game with three fourth-quarter touchdowns against a team that quit playing. That sound you hear is Tom Coughlin's resume getting updated.

Pittsburgh 26, Buffalo 3 - The Steelers did what they were supposed to do to a team playing with a skeleton defense and a heavy heart after Kevin Everett's injury. If they keep this up against teams that aren't from Buffalo and Cleveland we'll start getting excited.

Tampa Bay 31, New Orleans 14 - Was Joe Horn really the reason why the Saints had the most explosive offense in the NFL last season? He was the only significant departure from the roster but seems to have taken all of the firepower to Atlanta with him. It should be noted that the Falcons don't have any firepower so perhaps it's some kind of chemical reaction that needs both Horn and the Saints together but whatever the case the pressure is mounting on Bourbon Street.

Arizona 23, Seattle 20 - Arizona blew another huge lead and was staring at another Neil Rackers field goal from the hash to try and pull out a win. In the Chicago game that effectively ended Dennis Green's tenure, Rackers missed and the Bears won. Yesterday, however, Rackers was true from 42 yards out and the Cardinals pulled out a big divisional victory.

Dallas 37, Miami 20 - The Cowboys offense continued unabated and the defense showed a little more steel than they did against the Giants. Unless the old Wade Phillips rears its ugly head the 'Boys are going to be one of the toughest teams to beat in all of football.

Detroit 20, Minnesota 17 - The Vikings defense is no joke. Tarvaris Jackson is a huge joke, though, and that's the difference between being 2-0 and 1-1. On the Lions side as long as Jon Kitna is in the game they have a chance to win but when he's out, as he was for most of Sunday's contest, J.T. O'Sullivan isn't able to keep the offense humming.

Baltimore 20, Jets 13 - So glad that the Jets found the money to keep Justin McCareins on the team but weren't able to scrape together a couple of nickels for Pete Kendall.

Denver 23, Oakland 20 - The Raiders need to play 60 minutes of football, stop worrying about when the other guy calls a timeout and figure out if Josh McCown is hurt or just a bad quarterback, in that order.

Chicago 20, Kansas City 10 - What a difference a year doesn't make - Bears defense and special teams win a game because Rex Grossman isn't able to get out of his own way.

(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A New Home For My Jets Thoughts

If you're wondering where today's recap of the Jets 20-13 loss in Baltimore is, I invite you to head over to the FanHouse where I've just completed my first weekend as a writer. I'm covering the Jets as well as the Ravens, Broncos and Bears and am excited to be part of such a talented group of writers on one of the best sports blogs on these here internets. It does mean that there will be less coverage of Gang Green on these pages but you can be sure that no stone will be left unturned when it comes to bringing all the news and views that are fit to print on the pages of my new employer. Hope to see you there and as a taste of what you can find here are yesterday's recaps.

Ravens Hold On When Comeback Slips Through Jet Fingers

Broncos 23, Raiders 20: The Wild West Lives

Devin Hester's Many Happy Returns Sink The Chiefs

The Phillies Are Phanatical About Beating The Mets

I was conversating with a friend last week about the National League and opined that if I were a National League team I would be most scared of playing the Phillies in October. Yes their pitching is tee-ballish but the rest of the NL isn't exactly overflowing with Spahn and Sain. Everyone's praying for rain in the Senior Circuit and no one can flood the scoreboard quicker than the Phillies. That clearly worries the Mets. They lost to their division rivals for the 12th time in 18 meetings this season at Shea on Sunday and were so unnerved by their opponents that they made six errors in the 10-6 loss. That followed Saturday's 5-3 loss which was filled with baserunning errors by the division leaders who watched their lead drop to three and a half games during the sweep. There may not be much to worry about, the last Phillie sweep led to some of the best Mets play of the season and Philly isn't guaranteed anything more than 13 regular season games, but you don't want to find a team that has your number in a short series. Like, say, the NLCS.

• Jason Marquis is probably feeling like the smartest kid in town this morning. He threw six and a third innings of one-run ball and beat the team he left after last season, the Cardinals, 4-2 to keep the Cubs a game ahead of the Brewers in the NL Central. Matt Murton struck the big blow for the Cubbies, a three-run homer that made it 10 straight games with a longball for the Wrigleymen, and the rookie catcher Geovany Soto had four hits. Mark Mulder had his third poor start since coming off the disabled list for the Cards who are now seven games back and officially waiting for next year.
• Back in Chicago, Jim Thome joined the 500 home run club in dramatic fashion. He hit a two-run, walk-off homer to beat the Angels 9-7 and join the esteemed group with the fourth-fewest at-bats of any new member. That still doesn't make him a Hall of Famer in my mind but we celebrate his accomplishments nonetheless.
• Jake Peavy is going to be your National League Cy Young winner and if you had any doubt about that just check out his performance on Sunday. 10 strikeouts, one walk and one run over seven-plus innings of a 5-1 victory against the Giants that kept the Padres a game and a half up on the Phillies for the Wild Card. It completed a three game sweep of their former manager Bruce Bochy's club and dropped Peavy's ERA to 2.39. Peavy's 18 wins are the most in the National League while his ERA is the best in all of baseball as are his 255 strikeouts.
• The Texas Rangers and Oakland A's don't have many tangible things to play for over the next couple of weeks so they are fighting for pride. And I mean fighting! Nick Swisher got beaned by Vicente Padilla in the first inning and since he'd homered in the first three games of the series (and been hit by two other pitches) Swisher wasn't thinking coincidence. He charged the mound, the benches emptied and Padilla got the better of him in the scrap. After that it was the Michael Young show. The Ranger had a career-high seven RBI and the Rangers won the game 11-9.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

A Mixed Weekend

The Yankees certainly ended this weekend's series with the Red Sox on a high note. Derek Jeter's three-run homer over the Green Monster halted Curt Schilling's masterful night and gave the Yankees the series win. Jeter's eighth inning heroics, and the comeback in the same inning on Friday night, overshadowed some problems that reared their head over the three-game set, however. The top two starters, Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte, got thrashed on Friday and Saturday and the bullpen offered little relief in either of those games.

The thundering offense of late Friday night may have created a wrinkle of doubt about Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon but the failure of the pitching staff, outside of Roger Clemens, was just as illustrative of problems going forward. If the Yankees make it to the postseason they will be facing good lineups and their pitching has to be better than it was this weekend if they hope to avoid another first-round ouster.

That said, Friday night's eighth inning rally was a reminder of why the Yankees will be a very tough out come October. Okajima has been death on lefties all season but Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano hit home runs and Johnny Damon doubled to chase him from the game before he could get an out. The homers were the first all season by lefthanders against the Red Sox rookie and the evisceration of Papelbon was equally unexpected. It proved that there are no easy outs in the Yankee lineup and A-Rod's game-winning hit was a sign that he's ready to shed that choker label.

And last night's win was full of grace notes that leave you feeling warm and sunny. Roger Clemens looked as good as he has all season which probably means his ligament issues have as much to do with burnishing his image as they do with causing him actual pain and the Jeter homer was a pretty fair impersonation of another Yankees shortstop in Beantown. Not nearly as dramatic a moment, of course, but anytime a shortstop pops one over the Green Monster it makes you think of Bucky and that's not a bad way to end a Sunday night at all.

Rants And Ravens

One way or the other we're going to find out what kind of football team the Jets are this weekend. Last week's game was a mess on both sides of the field but the combination of superior talent and espionage make it hard to know how much that has to do with the Patriots and how much it has to do with Gang Green. Is the pass rush really as feeble as it looked last weekend? Are the defensive backs as impotent? Can the offensive line really be that much worse for the loss of Pete Kendall? My initial feelings on these questions are two optimistic no's and an emphatic yes. That yes may have cost them Chad Pennington for this weekend's action and could get whoever ends up starting at quarterback killed against the Ravens.

That defense almost won Monday's opener all by itself for Baltimore but even their greatness couldn't overcome six turnovers and an awful pass-interference call on Todd Heap that cost the Ravens most of their scoring chances. Steve McNair may not be able to play on Sunday after sustaining his regular buffet of injuries although it's hard to judge how much of an edge that might give Mangini's minions. Kyle Boller resembled Kyle Boller but the Ravens, who are also missing Jonathan Ogden, aren't likely to open up the offense any more than necessary. Still, without Ogden and without much offensive flow the Jets should be able to challenge the Ravens offense if last week's miscues were caused by the Patriots. The Bengals got a lot of pressure last weekend and held Willis McGahee in check for the most part, if the Jets can't do the same it's going to be a long, long season.

The uncertainty at quarterback is going to hurt the Jets either way. If Pennington starts he will be at less than 100% and if it's Clemens, and I expect it will be, then you're basically throwing a three-year old in the deep end to see if he can swim. Maybe he can but more likely he drowns under the onslaught of Rex Ryan's aggressive game plan. It would be nice if Thomas Jones came up with a big game to take some pressure off whoever was throwing the ball but the Ravens line is both strong and fast, a combination that should be fatal to the leaky unit the Jets employ up front. I don't like the Jets chances to turn things around this week and even with a ten point spread I can't see betting against BALTIMORE.

Pats Get Off Easy

The NFL handed down its punishment to the Patriots yesterday and it falls far short of harsh. The team will lose a first-round pick this season if they make a playoffs or their second and third-rounders if they miss the postseason and will pay a $250,000 fine. Bill Belichick will personally have to pay a $500,000 fine. The penalty seems severe since no team has ever been stripped of the first-round pick that the Pats will potentially lose but it isn't. Let's be honest about how good the Patriots are this season, something Roger Goodell wasn't willing to do, and posit that they make the Super Bowl. They would then lose either the 31st or 32nd pick in the draft, pay their minimal fine and move on without really suffering any setback after getting caught cheating. That still leaves the Pats with the 49ers first-round pick and unless Alex Smith turns into Joe Montana that's sure to be a better selection than the one they earn by themselves and the penalties do nothing to hurt the Patriots this season. They could have suspended Belichick for what Goodell called "a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field."

What's more important to a professional sports league than that? Wade Wilson, a Cowboys coach, got a five game suspension for buying performance enhancing drugs - and the drugs weren't to enhance his coaching performance - because PEDs fly in the face of fair play and honest competition. Yet Belichick does something that tampers with the outcome of a game and gets away scott free. It doesn't make sense that Goodell would say that he considered suspending the coach but decided against it because the penalty handed down was far more significant and long-lasting than a suspension.

Doesn't that depend on the suspension, Roger? I'm not advocating what Carson Palmer of the Bengals suggested, a suspension equal to that of Chris Henry, because Belichick isn't a criminal miscreant but wouldn't the same suspension that Wilson received create some problems for New England? And why the focus on something long-lasting. The Patriots got caught cheating this season and should get penalized for it this season. 

Tubby Resurrection

When the Padres released David Wells a month ago they had good reason. He'd gone 0-3 with a 14.33 ERA in his past four starts, was facing a suspension and the team had a playoff race to think about. When the Dodgers signed him it seemed like a desperate team grasping at straws after their season imploded and left them as the fourth team in the NL West. What a difference a month makes. Wells won for the second time in three starts with the Dodgers and got sweet revenge on his former employers in Thursday's 6-3 victory. He also doubled, providing him with the most cardio he's had since he chased down a meatball following an ill-timed sneeze. The win moves the Dodgers within a game and a half of the Padres in the Wild Card race and they are five and a half back of the Diamondbacks as the two teams open a three-game series this evening.

• The Phillies are tied with the Dodgers in the Wild Card race after slamming the Rockies 12-4 to salvage a split of their series. Their starting pitcher J.D. Durbin lasted only an inning because he gave up three runs to the Rockies and started the second frame with two straight singles but Geoff Geary entered, got a double play and pitched three scoreless innings to right the ship. The offense also contributed by scoring four runs off Jeff Francis in the bottom of the first and posting another four-spot in the fourth. The runs were welcome after the Phils spent the previous two games getting crushed 20-2 by the Rockies, who remained two and a half games back of the Padres.
• The Brewers were idle last night, not a bad strategy in the NL Central but it backfired when the Cubs won for the second straight night and took a half-game lead on their rivals from Wisconsin. They got homers from Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Daryle Ward and Cliff Floyd in the 6-2 win against Houston and made Steve Trachsel a winner in Chicago for the first time in 2,906 days.
• The Cubs may actually extend their winning streak even further this weekend when they head to St. Louis. The Cardinals lost their seventh straight game Thursday 5-4 to the Reds and neither they nor Rick Ankiel seem to be able to get back on track after the HGH revelations a week ago. Ankiel went 0-for-2 and is now 2-for-20 since the story broke and the team looks like it took the final hit in a season full of them. Recovery may be impossible without a sweep this weekend.

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Kennedy Makes It Tough For Torre

Ian Kennedy ranks sixth out of six Yankee starters when it comes to starting a postseason game this October.  Short of convincing Joe Torre that he's been in the majors since his Uncle Bobby was running for president there's nothing he can do to change that status. That means starts like last night's seven-inning, one-hit gem will merely set the table for future seasons and future Octobers. It's a good looking table with places set for Kennedy, Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain with youngsters like Alan Horne, Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman at the kid's table begging for a shot at a regular seat. It also means that Torre will be opening himself up for another round of questions about his managerial acumen if he tabs Mike Mussina for a start in a big game and gets rewarded with a bomb.

Kennedy's brilliance didn't earn him a victory last night, though. The Yankees had their winning streak halted at seven games because A.J. Burnett was just as good as Kennedy and because Lyle Overbay made a diving stab that saved two runs in the top of the ninth. The score remained tied at one and Chris Britton got touched for a single, a steal of second and a Frank Thomas single that scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The Yankees have to hope that last night's offensive indifference is only a one-night happenstance as they jet off to Boston for tonight's series opener. Their Wild Card lead isn't enormous, three and a half games, but unless they get swept by the Sox it should suffice to carry them into a creampuff end of the season. Yes, those creampuffs in Baltimore and Tampa have caused some problems for the Bombers this season but unless last night's lack of hitting becomes an epidemic there's not an overwhelming reason to worry.

Remember Kiddies, Uncle Michael Is Never Wrong

Sam Bowie Out For The Season

 

Sorry, does that say Sam Bowie? It should say Greg Oden out for the season and that, of course, is much, much worse news for current Portland Trail Blazer fans. The members of that group that have been around a while can probably remember Bowie and Bill Walton, even, so they should take aside the younger ones and try to offer some comfort and reassurance in these cruel times. Making the news even worse is that Oden underwent micro fracture surgery today and that's hardly a cure-all.

"Greg had an arthroscopy and a micro fracture surgery today," said team physician Dr. Don Roberts, who preformed the surgery. "He was found to have articular cartilage damage in his right knee. The area of injury was not large and we were able to treat it with micro fracture, which stimulates the growth of cartilage. There are things about this that are positive for Greg. First of all he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery from micro fracture surgery."

Micro fracture surgery has a very mixed history of success among NBA players. Jason Kidd had it and has returned to the same excellent level of play as before, so did John Stockton. The operation hasn't helped Chris Webber return to his previous form, though, and Allan Houston and Penny Hardaway are making last-ditch comeback efforts this season because they never sufficiently healed from having the surgery.

The best hope for the Blazers is that Oden follows the path of Amare Stoudemire. He missed the 2005-06 season after having the operation but returned this year with 20 points and nine-plus rebounds per game. If that's the case it will merely delay the start of Oden's career and shouldn't have a terrible impact on his production. But Oden had problems with his wrist and back before hitting the pro game and there were pre-draft questions about the long-term health of his knees. Taking that into account you can understand why Blazer fans with a sense of history might be wondering if they haven't made the Bowie mistake all over again by passing on Kevin Durant. It's much too soon to say that, of course, but the dark clouds in the Pacific Northwest have little to do with the weather this afternoon.