Monday Morning Quick Hitters

The New England Patriots blew opportunity after opportunity to take over the game in Indy, finally losing to The Colts 15 – 18.

The Jets D clamps down on Buffalo, slamming the Bills 26 – 17 to create a log jam at the top of the AFC East.

Sexy Rexy comes to the rescue, as the Bears top the Lions 23 -27

Cincinnati gets their 1st win of the season, beating the Jaguars 21 – 19.

Baltimore comes to play on the offensive side of the ball, Flacco throws 2 TDs and the Ravens beat the Cleveland Browns 37 – 27.

The Titans dodge a couple of bullets yesterday, including a late missed field goal, finally hit a field goal in OT to beat Green Bay 19 – 16.

The Tampa Bay Bucs overcome 4 turnovers, storm back in the 4th quarter, get lucky on their own false start penalty and finally beat the Kansas City Chiefs in OT 30 – 27.

Kurt Warner looked like the Warner of old, making the St Louis Rams look like the Linehan Rams, beating the Rams 34 – 13.

The Minnesota Vikings use a few big plays to out shoot the Houston Texans 28 – 21.

Miami picks off Jay Cutler 3 times as the Miami Dolphins beat the Denver Broncos 26 – 17

Matt Ryan is a NFL QB after all. The Falcons seem to have life after the disaster of the last 3 seasons as they move to 5 – 3 with a 24 – 0 drubbing of the Oakland Raiders.

The Dallas Cowboys are D-O-N-E…Done Done…as division rival New York Giants slam the Boys 35 – 14.

Other than the 1st play of the game from the Seattle Seahawks (a 90 Yrd TD pass from Seneca Wallace to Koran Robinson) The Seahawks played POORLY. Donovan McNabb throws for 350 yrds and 2 TD as the Eagles stomp the Seahawks 26 – 7.

Texas’ loss puts yet another kink in the BCS.

Here are the BCS Standings
1 – Alabama 6 – Oklahoma
2 – Texas Tech 7 – USC
3 – Penn State 8 – Utah
4 – Texas 9 – Oklahoma State
5 – Florida 10 – Boise State

The Oklahoma City Thunder (still the worst team name in the NBA…and that’s saying something) earn the 1st win in team history.

Knicks team President Donnie Walsh to meet with D’Antoni and Stephon Marbury

Monday Morning Quick Hitters

Phillies Pheaver is at a…well, PHEAVER PITCH (Please no sequel) as the Philadelphia Phillies are 1 win away from taking home its 1st World Championship in 28 years. Joe Blanton pitched 6 strong innings and helped his own cause by hitting the 1st HR by a pitcher in 38 years. The Tampa Bay Rays could only muster 6 hits, including 2 HRs, 1 by Carl Crawford and the other by Eric Hinske, who replaced Cliff Floyd on the roster. The Phillies won 10 – 2. The Phillies lead the series 3 games to 1.

The New England Patriots continued the roller coaster season that is the post Tom Brady season, beating the St Louis Rams 23 – 17. Matt Cassell drove the team down the field on the 4th quarter, hitting Kevin “Not My Cigars” Faulk for a TD Pass with just over 3 minutes left. Deltha O’Neil, yep, that Deltha O’Neil intercepted a pass from the Rams QB Marc Bulger to seal the deal. The Pats are tied for the division lead with the Bills at 5 – 2.

A surprising display of defense from the Cowboys lead the Boys over the Tampa Bay Bucs 13 – 9.

The Washington Redskins used a stellar punt return TD by Santana Moss catch and finally beat the hapless Detroit Lions 25 – 17.

The Buffalo Bills, in a position to take control of the AFC East, floundered and turned over a victory to the Miami Dolphins, allowing the Dolphins to win 25 – 16.

The New Orleans Saints survived the trip to London and the lack of defense, and showed Londoners just how American Football is supposed to play, beating the San Diego Chargers 37 – 32. The win propels the Saints to 4 – 4 and drops the Chargers to 3 – 5.

Even after his 3rd interception, returned for a TD, Brett Favre proved he’s got a little left. Favre drove the team down for the game winning TD, hitting Laveranues Coles with less than 1 minute left to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28 – 24.

After a defensive 1st half, the offenses broke loose in the 3rd quarter as the Carolina Panthers outlasted the Arizona Cardinals 27 – 23.

The Baltimore Ravens keep floating that Wildcat Offense or as Ravens Coach John Harbaugh calls it “Suggs Package” (referring to Terrell Suggs statements that Troy Smith should be the starting QB) as Ohio State product QB Troy Smith hit QB Joe Flacco on a pretty 43 yrd pass that almost resulted in a TD. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Battle of the Ryan Brothers and the Oakland Raiders 29 – 10.

Wake me up when it’s over…oh it’s over?!? The Houston Texans beat the Cincinnati Bengals 35 – 6.

The Pittsburgh Steelers defense did all it could do, holding the NY Giants to 16% Red Zone Efficiency, but Big Ben Roethlisberger threw 4 picks to help the New York Giants to a 21 – 14 win over the Steelers.

Is there any way Mike Singletary can play for the 49ers? The 49ers lost to the Seattle Seahawks 34 – 13. This is all that needs to be said.

Here are the BCS Standings
1 – Texas 6 – Georgia
2 – Alabama 7 – Texas Tech
3 – Penn State 8 – Florida
4 – Oklahoma 9 – Oklahoma State
5 – USC 10 – Utah

Saturday Morning Quick Hitters

#12 Boise State keeps its BCS hopes alive all while staying in the drivers seat in the WAC with a 33 – 16 win over Fresno St.

Rich Rodriguez finalizes 6 year deal with the Wolverines.

The World Series moves to Philly tonight ties 1 – 1. Weather may play a factor tonight, possibly eliminating an off day, causing games 3 – 7 to be played in 5 consecutive days. Charlie Manuel tries to calm everyone down.

Apparently up to 10 NFL players tested positive for banned substances.

Sources are telling ESPN, Carson Palmer done for season.

Santonio Holmes in a little trouble for “Special” Cigars…unlike Kevin Faulk…they are his.

Isiah Thomas seems to be in yet another fishy situation

If this doesn’t get you Boston Celtics fans ready….nothing will.

Wednesday Morning Quick Hitters

2 struggling MAC teams battle…kinda…Temple wins 14 – 10.

Rodney Harrison’s career possibly over.

The Cleveland Browns suspended TE Kellen Winslow Jr for 1 game.

Reggie Bush has surgery.

London gets ready for Chargers – Saints.

The Boston Bruins came away unsatisfied again as they lose to the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout, 3 – 2.

Russian police are taking over the investigation of Alexei Cherepanov’s death.

Wondering why no Boston writer has done a story about the death of Harry Mangurian Jr., Boston Celtics owner at the start of the Larry Bird era. He was 82.

Kobe Bryant injures knee during the Lakers 102 – 98 pre-season win over the Bobcats.

Tuesday Morning Quick Hitters

Boston Red Sox ace Jon Lester pitched like the ace he is and Jed Lowrie got a single to drive home Jason Bay in an amazing 9th inning to propel the Red Sox to the ALCS by beating the California Angels 3 – 2.

The Tampa Bay Rays finish off the Chicago White Sox with a 6 – 2 win in Chicago. This sets up a Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays American League Championship Series.

Reggie Bush had 2 huge returns for TDs, but the Saints could not outlast the Minnesota Vikings, Vikes win in New Orleans 30 – 27.

Brian Westbrook broke ribs in his return game.

THE OFFICIAL CENTRAL MAINE SPORTS BLOG NFL POWER RANKINGS

Here is a new weekly addition to the Central Maine Sports Blog..The NFL Power Rankings. The rankings will be compiled by votes from the contributors of the CMSB, so you will have us and only us to blame.

1 Dallas Cowboys – Hard to argue the strength of this team. Tony Romo and TO are in mid season form and the D, while not as strong against Philly, will have more than enough power to keep them high on the list.

2 New York Giants – While blasting the St Louis Rams is all that noteworthy, this team looks to be firing on all cylinders on both sides of the ball.

3 Green Bay Packers – while they have beaten 2 weaker teams, looks like the Packers aren’t missing Brett Favre at all.

4 Pittsburgh Steelers – The Steelers biggest test will be in the upcoming week, but they have proved to be strong on both sides of the ball. The game vs the Eagles could cause a free fall or move them closer to the top.

5 New England Patriots – The Patriots defense obviously has something to prove, that the Pats season indeed continues, played ferocious D against the Jets and with a multiple running back attack, the Patriots will keep their hold on being one of the better teams in the NFL.

6 Philadelphia Eagles – Monday Night should prove to the neigh-sayers wrong and that the Eagles are here to stay.

7 Denver Broncos – All that needs to be said about the Broncos…Jay Cutler

8 Carolina Panthers – Jake Delhomme has had a resurgence, and the D has played strong against pretty good teams.

9 Tennessee Titans – Chris Johnson and Kerry Collins lead the offense to a big win. A Titans tidbit last time the Titans were 2 – 0, 1999….Can we say Super Bowl

10 Buffalo Bills – The Bills comeback agains a strong Jags team puts them in the Top 10.

11 Indianapolis Colts – Even with all the injuries, this team deserves to be knocking on Top 10 door.
12 San Diego Chargers
13 New Orleans Saints
14 Arizona Cardinals
15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
16 Chicago Bears
17 Jacksonville Jaguars
18 New York Jets
19 Washington Redskins
20 Baltimore Ravens
21 Minnesota Vikings
22 Cleveland Browns
23 San Francisco 49ers
24 Houston Texans
25 Seattle Seahawks
26 Atlanta Falcons
27 Oakland Raiders
28 Miami Dolphins
29 Detroit Lions
30 Kansas City Chiefs
31 Cincinnatti Bengals
32 St Louis Rams

Monday Morning Quick Hitters

Well…maybe Bill “Yoda” Belichick knows what he is doing after all. Matt Cassel’s 1st NFL start looked a whole lot like one of the 1st few games that one Tom Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001, lots of running, lots of screens and lots of short dump offs and take 1 shot down the field just to stretch the D. Cassel didn’t turn the ball over and was a fairly efficient 16 – 23 for 165 yards. Lamont Jordan gave the running game a boost in the 2nd half, pounding his former team for 62 yrds in 11 carries. The Pats beat the Jets 19 – 10.

The Chicago Bears choked up a lead and a game against the Carolina Panthers 20 – 17.

The Oakland Raiders, who may be minus a head coach today, beat the KC Chiefs 23 – 8.

The New York Giants totally stomped on the St Louis Rams 41 – 13.

The Colts barely slipped by the Minnesota Vikings with a late FG 18-15.

Backup QB Kerry Collins and rookie RB Chris Johnson led the Tennessee Titans to a big 24 – 7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Redskins D picked off Drew Brees 2 times and Jason Campbell finally got Jim Zorn’s offense to edge out the New Orleans Saints 29 – 24.

Trent Edwards has a strong game as the Buffalo Bills outlast the Jacksonville Jags 20 – 16.

JT O’Sullivan gets sacked 8 times, but still throws for over 300 yrds and leads the 49ers to a 33 – 30 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

The Tampa Bay Bucs bring Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons back to Earth with a 24 – 9 win in Tampa.

The Arizona Cardinals and Anquan Boldin sliced and diced the Miami Dolphins 31 – 10.

The San Diego Chargers got a little robbed as the Denver Broncos went for 2 and won the game 39 – 38.

In the nightcap, not exactly the way the NFL drew it up, The Pittsburgh Steelers limped to a 10 – 6 win over the Cleveland Browns.

Jon Lester looked like an ace once again, helping the Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4 – 3. The Sox took 3 of 4 against the Jays and head to Tampa 1 game back of the Rays.

The New York Yankees did the Red Sox a favor by beating up on the Tampa Bay Rays 8 – 4.

NL Central leading Chicago Cubs sure got a game out of Carlos Zambrano. With the game moved to Miller Park in Milwaukee, Zambrano threw the Cubs 1st no hitter in 36 years, beating the Astros 5 – 0.

The Milwaukee Brewers fall continued as the Philadelphia Phillies finished off a sweep of the Brewers with a 7 – 3 win. The win propelled Philadelphia to a tie with the Brew Crew for the Wild Card lead.

The Minnesota Twins dropped another game in the standings, losing to the Baltimore Orioles 7 – 3.

The LA Dodgers lose to the Colorado Rockies 1 – 0 in 10 innings, but still remain 4 1/2 games up on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

LIVE Pats – Jets Blog

4:19 Pats win toss and defer to Jets, Jets moving down field 2 nice throws by Favre and couple of runs by Jones

4:23 Jets drive deep in Pats territory and Jay Feely…..MISSES!!! NADA for the Jets. The Matt Cassell Era begins!

4:29 Drive starts. Nice completion to Faulk. Another nice completion to WWW. Cassel driving the Pats downfield and has his 1st incompletion in the end zone. Looked like Pats were about to run the direct snap to Faulk while in motion and the Jets called time out…3rd and Goal. Drive peters out and get a field goal. Pats 3 Jets 0

4:40 2nd Jets drive goes nowhere Grahmn punts

4:45 2nd Pats drive…so far yards are even 76 Pats to 75 Jets. Cassel hitting lots of 2001 Brady-esq dump offs and short stuff. Marouney gets another Pats 1st down.

END OF 1ST QUARTER PATRIOTS 3 JETS 0

4:55 Pats drive stalls in the Red Zone but they are 2 for 2 on field goals. Pats 6 Jets 0

4:59 WTF is up with Steven Gostkowski? 3 BOOMING kickoffs!

5:06 Pats D comes up huge stopping Jones short of the end zone on 3rd and goal. Jets settle for 3. Pats 6 Jets 3

5:20 Pats and Jets trade Punts…Pats get ball at mid field after terrible Jets punt. Cassel limping OH NO!!!! Can we say Kevin o’Connell Era

5:28 END OF HALF

Pats 6 Jets 3

Matt Cassel 9 – 13 for 96 yrds…9 – 10 not in Red Zone….0 – 3 in Red Zone…

Not a poor performance, pretty much what we expected from the Pats offense.

Start of 2nd Half and Lawrence Mauroney is out with a shoulder injury

Jets and Favre with the 1st turnover, Favre picked off by Merriweather.

6:00 Cassel with a nice screen to Faulk, 3 plays later, Morris over the top for the TD.

Pats 13 – 3

Friday Morning Quick Hitters

The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox race stayed even Thursday as both teams lost. The Twins lost to the KC Royals 3 -2 and the Pale Hose lost to the surging Toronto Blue Jays 6 – 4. The Twins remain 1 game behind the White Sox.

K-Rod ties Bobby Thigpen’s 57 Saves mark as the California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 7 – 4.

Jamie Moyer and Ryan Howard powered the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6 – 3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Philly is 3 back of the Mets in the NL East race and 3 games back of the Brewers in the Wild Card race.

Kerry Wood gets his 30th save as the Cubs beat the Cardinals 3 – 2.

The Houston Texans move game in light of impending hurricane.

Problems in Raider-ville?

Chris Wells status up in the air for Ohio State.

Butch Davis’ Tar Heels slam Rutgers on their home field.

Eric Staal signs 7 yr deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.