From Mangenius to Manmoron

Ah, ah geez guys, guys, I am going to get fired for this

Of course Mangini got fired. The Jets were the biggest disappointment in the NFL this year. The Jags? Look at how beat up their line was. The Boys? No chemistry and their QB went down for 3 weeks. Name any team you want, and none of them will have had the red carpet rolled out for them with a trip to the playoffs at the end of it.

First, the Jets and the rest of the AFC get the luck of the draw with schedule, getting both the NFC and AFC Wests–two divisions whose teams went 21-59 out of their own divisions. But what do the Jets do? Go 3-5 against those teams–let us remember the OT game in Oakland when you failed to score on three possessions. Sure they had 4 games on the West Coast, but so didn’t the Pats, and they went 3-1 unlike the Jets at 1-3.

If that wasn’t enough they brought in a ton of talent in the off-season with guys like Vernon Gholston, Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins, Alan Faneca, Dustin Keller, Tony Richardson….and then they got the granddaddy of them all, Brett Favre. The QB Jets fans had yearning for since Broadway Joe. It appeared that this team that finished 4-12 would finish at least 8-8, maybe even 9-7.

Then the Jets got the biggest break, er, tear, they could’ve asked for–Tom Brady goes down for the season. The man that made the Patriots go was down for the season with just former 7th round pick Matt Cassel to take over. Then Rodney Harrison goes down in Week 6, followed Adalius Thomas in Week 10 and Tedy Bruschi in Week 14. It got so bad for the Pats that they had to pull Junior Seau off of a surfboard to play. Sure the Pats finishing 11-5 speaks more their resiliency than it does to the Jets collapse….BUT THIS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE THE YEAR FOR THE JETS. Forget the surprising Dolphins and the underachieving Bills, you finished two games behind your chief rival in a year when you should have blown them out of the water.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the second half meltdowns of all meltdowns. You are 8-3 and coming off a win in Tennessee, their first loss of the year. Some are wondering if the Jets are the best team in the AFC and, with their light 5 game stretch to end the season, the team that will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Then New York goes out, crawls into bed, and takes the biggest, steamiest dump in its own bed by going 1-4 to close out the season against the Bills, Broncos, Niners, Dolphins and let’s not forget about that awful showing in Seattle.

I mean what the hell. Let’s recap. Light Schedule–check. Ton of talent brought in, including a QB that everyone in NY had been clamoring for–check. Chief rival loses starting QB year with the guy from Lucas coming into play–check. 8-3 with a game lead after week 12–check. And what do fans in New York get? A 9-7 team that finishes two games behind a MASH unit and a team that went 1-15 last year and signed the QB you let go to make for “Broadway Brett”.

It would be nice to see Mangini come back to the Pats. The Hoodie could always use a juice box boy

NFL Week 17 Final Injury Report

These Injury reports are for the three games that matter to the New England Patriots and there playoff chances…

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS at BALTIMORE RAVENS

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

Status Report

PROBABLE RB Maurice Jones-Drew (knee)

BALTIMORE RAVENS Status Report

OUT LB Antwan Barnes (chest), WR Marcus Maxwell (hip)

QUESTIONABLE T Willie Anderson (foot), LB Jarret Johnson (calf), WR Derrick Mason (shoulder), S Ed Reed (thigh), RB Ray Rice (calf), CB Samari Rolle (ankle), T Adam Terry (knee), CB Fabian Washington (toe)

PROBABLE WR Yamon Figurs (head), DE Trevor Pryce (illness)

MIAMI DOLPHINS at NEW YORK JETS

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Status Report

QUESTIONABLE

CB Will Allen (groin), LB Channing Crowder (knee)

NEW YORK JETS

Status Report

QUESTIONABLE

WR Laveranues Coles (thigh), T Wayne Hunter (shoulder), LB Bryan Thomas (shoulder)

PROBABLE

LB Eric Barton (knee), WR Jerricho Cotchery (shoulder), LB David Harris (groin), DE Kris Jenkins (hip)

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS at BUFFALO BILLS

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Status Report

OUT

LB Tedy Bruschi (knee), S Raymond Ventrone (jaw), G Billy Yates (hand)

QUESTIONABLE

LB Gary Guyton (ankle), T Mark LeVoir (ankle), CB Deltha O’Neal (ankle), LB Vince Redd (ankle), S James Sanders (abdomen), CB Lewis Sanders (shoulder), DE Richard Seymour (back), DE Ty Warren (groin)

PROBABLE

CB Ellis Hobbs (shoulder), T Matt Light (shoulder), DT Vince Wilfork (shoulder)

BUFFALO BILLS

Status Report

OUT

CB Jabari Greer (knee), WR James Hardy (knee)

DOUBTFUL

LB Teddy Lehman (groin), WR Roscoe Parrish (knee), T Jason Peters (knee)

QUESTIONABLE

RB Marshawn Lynch (shoulder), LB Kawika Mitchell (knee)

Big Game Brett? We Hope.

New England needs a Superhero………ugh

So the New England Patriots’ season comes down to this; win and hope for some help. While the Pats are taking on a Bills team they handled in Week 10 20-10, they need either the Jacksonville Jaguars to beat a very good Ravens team that has something to play for, OR the New York Jets to beat the surprising Dolphins. Neither prospect is very promising.

The Jags have won just 2 of their last 9 games (one against the hapless Lions), while the Ravens need to win to assure themselves a playoff spot, and with their second ranked defense the Ravens should have little trouble punching their ticket for the playoffs. That leaves the Pats needing Brett Favre and the New York Jets to beat the Fins–oh boy. The Fins have won 8 for their last 9 games–though just one win against a team with a winning record–while the Jets have looked as bad as those throwback jerseys they for whatever reason decide to pull out from time to time. The biggest reason for this tail spin? The man who was suppose to save the Jets–Brett Favre.

After winning 7 of 8 games from Week 4 through their stomping of the Titans in Week 12, the Jets have looked terrible in dropping 3 or their last 4. Over that stretch Favre has been one of the worst QBs in the league, completing fewer than 60% of his passes, averaging under 200 yards a game while throwing 6 picks to just 1 TD pass. The Jets are still in a position to win the AFC East only because of their Week 15 win over the Bills in which the defense scored 10 points in the fourth quarter while Favre and the offense mustered zero first downs. While Favre’s play has been the primary cause for the Jets’ recent struggles, the coaching staff also deserves to shoulder some of the blame.

That’s because another trend that has coincided with the Jets recent and season struggles–Thomas Jones’ carries. While most in New York have called for the ball to be in Favre’s hands more often, the Jets need is to get the ball into Jones’ hands–New York is 5-1 when he gets 20 or more rushing attempts, 4-5 when he is a pedestrian. Part of the reason for this correlation between the Jets’ commitment to a running game and their winning football games is because of the problems the offense faces when it gets in 3rd and longs (6 yards plus). Favre’s numbers in those situations are decent except that he often turns the ball over; 44/71, 478 yards, 6.73 YPA, 2/7 TD/INT. For whatever reason the coaching staff in New York decides at times to go away from the running game and Jones–as they did in Seattle where they rushed a total of 25 times during the game, with just 9 in the second half (3 more than they had on their first drive of the game, their longest of the game).

So, here is what we Pats fans need. First, show up and beat Buffalo. Though the Pats should win this game, the Bills will be looking to be the spoiler and keep the team that posted 56 on them the last time they met in Buffalo out of the playoffs. Next, we need Mr. Magini and company to commit to a running game that is third in the league in yards per carry at 4.8 and keep the offense (Favre) out of third and longs against the Fins. Otherwise we will probably see Favre hand the Fins the division, and the hatred for Favre will only increase in the northeast.

NFL Playoff Scenarios

Here are your 2008 Week 17 Playoff Scenarios

CLINCHED: Tennessee – AFC South and homefield advantage.

Pittsburgh – AFC North and first-round bye.

Indianapolis – Playoff spot

ELIMINATED: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland.

Miami clinches AFC East Division with:

1) MIA win OR

2) MIA tie + NE loss or tie.

Miami clinches a playoff spot with:

1) MIA tie + BAL loss.

New England clinches AFC East Division with:

1) NE win + MIA loss or tie OR

2) NE tie + MIA loss.

New England clinches playoff spot with:

1) NE win + BAL loss or tie OR

2) NE tie + BAL loss.

NY Jets clinch AFC East Division with:

• NYJ win + NE loss.

NY Jets clinch playoff spot with:

1) NYJ win + BAL loss.

Baltimore clinches a playoff spot with:

1) BAL win OR

2) BAL tie + MIA loss or tie OR

3) BAL tie + NE loss or tie OR

4) NE loss.

Denver clinches AFC West Division with:

1) DEN win or tie.

San Diego clinches AFC West Division with:

1) SD win.

CLINCHED: N.Y. Giants – NFC East and homefield advantage.

Arizona – NFC West.

Carolina – Playoff spot.

Atlanta – Playoff spot.

ELIMINATED: Detroit, Green Bay, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington.

Dallas clinches a playoff spot with:

1) DAL win OR

2) DAL tie + CHI loss or tie + TB loss OR

3) DAL tie + MIN loss or tie + TB loss OR

4) DAL tie + CHI loss + TB tie OR

5) DAL tie + MIN loss + TB tie.

Philadelphia clinches a playoff spot with:

1) PHI win + TB loss + MIN loss OR

2) PHI win + TB loss + CHI loss.

Atlanta clinches NFC South Division and a first-round bye with:

1) ATL win + CAR loss.

Carolina clinches NFC South Division and a first-round bye with:

1) CAR win or tie OR

2) ATL loss or tie.

Tampa Bay clinches a playoff spot with:

IF CHICAGO BEATS GREEN BAY:

1) TB win + DAL loss or tie OR

2) TB tie + DAL loss + MIN loss or tie OR

3) TB tie + DAL loss + CHI loss or tie OR

4) TB tie + DAL tie + MIN tie + CHI win or tie OR

5) TB tie + DAL tie + CHI tie + MIN win or tie.

Minnesota clinches NFC North with:

1) MIN win OR

2) MIN tie + CHI loss or tie OR

3) CHI loss.

Minnesota clinches a playoff spot with:

1) MIN tie + DAL loss + TB loss.

Chicago clinches NFC North Division with:

1) CHI win + MIN loss or tie OR

2) CHI tie + MIN loss.

Chicago clinches a playoff spot with:

1) CHI win + DAL loss or tie + TB loss or tie OR

2) CHI tie + DAL loss + TB loss.

Helmet Graphics Courtesy MGHelmets.com

Like the Seasons…Time Warner vs The NFL

OK here we go, I have my soap box, I have many websites to back up my assertions…and I have my mental state of health. We are good to go. The subject, the NFL and it’s NFL network vs Time Warner Cable. I will forewarn you, I may, from time to time, stray into other media territory, but I will try to stay on point..here goes.

For the 2nd time in less than 1 calendar year, a very important NFL game will be unavailable to millions and millions of households across the country. Once again, for us in the northeast, the New England Patriots are involved. Thursdays showdown between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets is surprisingly (Tom Brady’s injury, Brett Favre and his NY arrival) a battle for 1st place in the AFC East and is scheduled to be broadcast on the NFL’s own NFL Network. Approximately 70% of cable households in the country (pre–Comcast arbitration ruling) do not have The NFL Network. Here are each sides position on this matter.

The NFL believes that this programming is their NFL only version of ESPN. The NFL Network offers in depth game coverage, news programs, replays of all time great games, NFL Films library, and unprecedented access to coaches, locker rooms and game coverage. Starting last season, they broadcast a few special games a season, on Thursday and Saturday nights, in an attempt to lengthen the NFL week. The NFL believes their network should be broadcast on cables basic digital tier, with no extra fees involved. In a Peter King SI.com article last year, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones laid out some of the NFL’s points.

“We offer the cable company several minutes of advertising inventory on NFL Network. Every hour of every day they receive commercial time where they sell the ads and keep all the revenue. And in an effort to be better partners, we even set aside extra commercial inventory during our highly rated NFL games. Each cable operator gets 18 30-second ads during these games and they keep all the revenue from those too. Why do they have to charge the fans? Ask the fans this: Would you trade in three shopping channels, the Versus Network and Turner Classic Movies for the opportunity to have one channel in this country dedicated to football year-round? We offer a tremendous array of football-related content, the most popular programming in the country, and we do it for the cost to the cable operator of less than one movie ticket a year per subscriber. Would you rather go see one movie in the theater for two hours or have 24/7 year-round access to football?” ¹

According to the same Peter King article here is the breakdown of costs for Time Warner with regards to other programming offered.

COST PER SUBSCRIBER HOUSEHOLD (per month)¹

Leading non-sports channels
TNT: 91 cents
Disney Channel: 83 cents
USA Network: 51 cents
CNN: 46 cents
TBS: 44 cents
Nickelodeon: 43 cents
FX: 36 cents

Leading sports channels
ESPN: $3.26
Fox Sports Net: $1.92
NFL Network: 80 cents
Fox College Sports: 63 cents
NHL Network: 51 cents
ESPN2: 46 cents
NBA TV: 36 cents

Now Time Warner has a very different spin on the situation. Time Warner’s position is that The NFL Network offers niche programming that should be offered to only those who want it. According to Time Warner’s Director of Public Affairs in Central Texas, Roger Heaney, “the NFL Network has ignored reasonable terms to date, including insisting on a $750 million price tag to air eight regular season games that would otherwise have been free”² or this from Time Warner Nebraska site

The NFL is Out of Control

• The NFL pulled 8 games that were available for free last year and now wants to charge all of our customers for these out-of-market games.
• The NFL Network’s price-value proposition is not balanced. They want to charge every customer an outrageously high price for eight, out-of-market games.
• Under the direction of the National Football League’s executives the cost to watch professional football as escalated out of control.
• TV rights are up 10,000% since 1970 (Washington Post, 4/24/05).
• The NFL is receiving $3.7B annually until 2011 for the most recent television rights contracts (Washington Post, 4/24/05).
• But that’s not enough. The NFL is asking for a 350% increase for continued carriage of its Network.
• Estimates for the NFL Network’s 8 out-of-market game package are $400M alone (Forbes, 1/30/06).
• The league is demanding $100M from Time Warner Cable and yet we only operate 18% of the cable universe.
• And for a league that tries to distance itself from unsavory activity like gambling, they have no problem stripping 8 games from football fans and scalping them back in order to make a 350% profit.
• This just builds on the NFL’s legacy of greed. And recent reports seem to point to no end in sight as several of the League’s top executives are vying to become the next Commissioner.
• Some understand the issue. NBA-TV is carried on the Time Warner Cable sports package. The NBA runs a tight ship and has done well for the owners and by the fans; and sees the value in making NBA-TV available on Time Warner Cable’s sports tier. NBA-TV looks a lot like the NFL Network, but last year carried 96 live regular season games, that’s 88 more than the 8 out-of-market games on the NFL Network. “³

Well here comes the opinion part of all of this, while there is plenty of blame to be thrown around, what the bottom line is that 2 multi-billion dollar companies can’t figure out who will get a bigger piece of the pie. As usual, in squabbles like this, the consumer, aka Football Fans, lose every single time. The NFL and it’s approach seems much more reasonable to me than does Time Warner’s reasons. Time Warner is in this biz to make money, I have no issue with that, but when the NFL Network is giving you plenty of ad space to sell, which is supposed to be a LARGE part of your revenue, go out and sell it. Don’t make money on the backs of your subscribers. Time Warner can put The NFL Network on their regular tier tomorrow and make a profit from ad sales, they just don’t want to. They want to raise the price of the sports tier to accommodate the NFL Network and then some (c’mon you think they won’t make a huge profit from this angle) and THEN they can sell specialized, higher priced ad space and make even more money on top of that. The sports fan will get it from both ends of the stick. It is quite clear that Time Warner believes that The NFL Network doesn’t have programming worthy of watching, they are making a content judgement. They are attempting to control what it is you watch. Time Warner would rather you subsidize the Lifetime Network with your basic cable subscription, rather than pay for worthy programming for NFL fans. Do Lifetime Network watchers spend billions and billions of dollars a year on tickets, media and merchandise…I think we all know the answer to this one. Now let’s look at Time Warner’s other major reason for not making this move, payback. The NFL will not allow cable companies to carry the ever present and ever expensive NFL Sunday Ticket. I bet Time Warner thinks that is programming worthy of offering…oh wait…they do. Time Warner president Glenn Britt said at a hearing on Capitol Hill in March of this year that (the NFL is) “especially disingenuous” in appealing for the government “to compel distributors to carry one of their services, NFL Network, on broadly distributed tiers while simultaneously defending its right to limit distribution of its more appealing service — the NFL Sunday Ticket package — to a single distributor, DirecTV.” Do not discount this as being a major reason Time Warner will not aqueous to the NFL and its demands.

During the New England Patriots run to history last season, things heated up between Time Warner and the NFL, but as usual, nothing came of it. The NFL offered Time Warner binding arbitration. Time Warner President Glenn Britt once again “Over the years we’ve been able to successfully reach agreements with hundreds of programming networks without the use of arbitration,” Britt wrote. “We continue to believe that the best way to achieve results is to privately seek a resolution and not attempt to negotiate through the press or elected officials.”⁴

Seems like Time Warner doesn’t practice what it preaches.

Bottom line is Time Warner wants to charge the consumer for something they should work a little extra hard for…profits. The Cable TV industry is just as, if not more, out of control than sports teams and their spending. Time Warner had made no efforts to improve consumer technology over the last 4 years. Look for yourself, the High Definition box you have in your home today is the exact same model they released 5 years ago. No networking capabilities, no USB add-ons, and frankly little HDMI support. Scientific Atlanta, which is now Cisco, contracts with Time Warner for hardware, introduced a new HD cable set top box in 2006, and hasn’t had even a nibble from Time Warner to purchase new boxes that would offer new services that they would have to work for. Tivo had upgraded 4 times and DirecTV has 3 new boxes in the same time span. Is that the definition of a company that is working for the consumer and their needs? How about Time Warner’s new Road Runner Turbo⁵ pricing? They offer you speeds up to 15mbps…not the measly 5mbps you get now…over the same lines you have already paid for, with little infrastructure improvement for the low low price of $14.99 extra a month. Yeah, that’s not out of control.

The NFL Network situation is a microcosm of what is wrong with the entertainment business in the USA today. These mega companies still want to work on old business models and do little to move forward with the times. There will be a resolution to this one way or the other. In the meantime, as usual, NFL fans will suffer, alternate plans will need to be made and one thing is for certain, the rich will continue to get richer.

References

1 – Peter King SI.com – Monday Morning QB November 19th, 2007

2 – Time Warner Cable Website – Mid Texas Region

3 – Time Warner Cable Website – Nebraska Region

4 – Washington Post Article Authored by Mark Maske “Time Warner Rejects NFL’s Offer of Arbitration” December 21 2007

5 – Time Warner Cable Website – New England Region

Tuesday Morning Quick Hitters

The San Diego Chargers got their 1st win of the season against the NYJ 48 – 29.

Green Bay’s Al Harris may have a torn spleen.

The ever popular sports hernia get another player, this time Jeremy Shockey.

The Boston Red Sox had to put off their celebration for another night, losing to the Cleveland Indians 4 – 3. The Sox magic number is still 1 and with Tampa Bay’s 4 – 2 win over the Orioles they are 2 1/2 games back in the AL East. The Red Sox are 7 games up on Minnesota in the Wild Card.

The Philadelphia Phillies increased their lead over the New York Mets on Monday. The Phillies beat up on the Atlanta Braves 6 – 2. The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs at Shea 9 – 5. The Chicago Cubs clintched the NL Central. Philadelphia leads the NY Mets by 2 1/2 games in the NL East and the Mets lead the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card race by 1 game.

The Arizona Diamondbacks gain 1/2 game on the Dodgers in the NL West by beating the St Louis Cardinals 4 – 2. The D-Backs are now 2 games behind the Dodgers.

USC’s top DB Shareece Wright might be lost for “weeks”

Boston Bruins Patrice Bergeron is back on the ice for the 1st time since he took the cheap shot hit from the thug of the Phialdelphia Flyers. The Bruins beat the Canadiens 8 – 3.

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

Brady Injury puts Spotlight on the Jets

In exactly a one month span, the New Jersey Jets went from AFC East bottom dwellers to contenders. On August 7th the Jets added Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre while the Pats lost their Hall of Fame QB on the 7th of September, greatly altering the AFC East landscape. The Jets had already made a host of moves, especially on defense, prior to the change in QBs for the two rivals, and even with the buzz that Favre had created around the Jets (buzz that made the defending Super Bowl champs an after thought in their own town during the pre-season), not too many were thinking anything better than maybe a Wild Card spot. Now, with Matt Cassel under center for the Pats, the expectations for the Jets could not get much higher……..and that may come back to bite them.

Gary Myers of the NY Post wrote an article on September 8th entitled “With Tom Brady done, Eric Mangini, Brett Favre have to win division”. Myers’ believes that the Jets must “win now”, and much of this stems from the one year window in which the Jets, with Favre in (and who knows if he will be around for 2009) and Brady out (who should be back for 2009), have to make some noise in the division and possibly make a deep run in the playoffs……..not to mention generate some noise before they and the Giants move into a brand new stadium in 2010.

As we know, the NY media can be the most critical (and ruthless) in the country of its respective area pro sports teams. After struggling in Fenway in just his 16th career start as a 21 year-old, Phil Hughes was ripped by the NY Post. A related Post article targeted fellow “young gun” Ian Kennedy……both articles came less three weeks into the season. If the NY media gives little slack to two kids who had, at the time, started fewer than 30 games…..combined……it is hard to think they will be any less critical of a team that went from a being 10-6 playoff team to a 4-12 joke, a coach that is already on the hot seat, a future Hall of Fame QB, and a defense that drafted one of the highest rated defensive players in this year’s draft as well as bring in a Pro-Bowl defensive tackle and throw $42 million at new OLB. Even some non-NY media personalities were stating before the Brandy injury that the Jets are in a must win now situation.

However, while the Jets should certainly finish much better than 4-12 as they did in 2007, this is a team that still has some things to iron out. Favre admits he is still not fully comfortable with the offense, Gholston struggled with his transition to OLB during the pre-season and how all of the new acquisitions will mesh together remains to be seen. And despite defeating the pathetic Dolphins by just 6 points this past Sunday……granted the game was in Miami and the Jets were without a kicker…….there are those in the NY media who think the Jets are good enough right now to knock off New England this Sunday. (Even without Tom Brady the Pats bolster a very strong roster.)

The Jets are a contender in the division, no doubt about that, but they are still a team trying to find its identity with so many additions to the roster and the NY media will not be patient. It will be interesting to see how Jets’ players react to articles written about them like those written about Hughes and Kennedy should they struggle in the early going. Even Brett Favre, possibly the most beloved players of our generation (retirement talk aside) is not impervious to the critics. New York is a tough town to play in to begin with…….high expectations make it near impossible.

Thursday Morning Quick Hitters

Little Dusty does it again. Dustin Pedroia homered in the 7th to start the 4 run rally and newly acquired Mark Kotsay had a triple to drive home runs in the 5 – 4 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Lil Dusty is hitting an astounding .618 in his last 8 games.

The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays once again in Tampa 8 – 4. A HR by A-Rod was the 1st time that video replay was used in MLB History. The Rays are only 3 games up on the Red Sox in the AL East.

The Minnesota Twins lost a game in the AL Central race and the Wild Card race, losing to the Toronto Blue Jays 5 – 4 in 11 innings.

The Chicago White Sox avoided a sweep by the Cleveland Indians, beating the Tribe 4 – 2.

The New York Mets finished off a sweep of NL Wild Card leader Milwaukee Brewers 9 – 2.

The Chicago Cubs lost their season longest 5th game in a row, bowing to the Astros 8 – 0. Houston has won 8 in a row and now are 6 games back in the Wild Card race.

Adam Dunn drives the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4 – 3 win over the St Louis Cardinals.

The LA Dodgers stay 1 1/2 game behind the D-Backs with a 6 – 4 win over the San Diego Padres.

THE NFL SEASON OPENS TONIGHT! Sorry, that deserved all caps.

And the Rudi Johnson era begins with weirdness in Detroit.

Baltimore Ravens starting QB, Kyle Boller, out for season.

Tom Brady Sr discusses Juniors injury.

The New York Jets players elect Brett Favre a captain.

Carolina Panthers backup QB Matt Moore breaks leg.

It’s official, Oklahoma City Thunder. Steve Martin is VERY happy!

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports GSW Monta Ellis may have some ‘splainin to do.

Around the NFL

The Pats cut four players and have another 14 cuts to make in order to get to the 53 man limit.

Former Pats LB Rosey Colvin was cut by the Texans.

Chad Henne looks to have the backup job in Miami secure as Josh McCown was dealt.

Matt Hasselbeck may be throwing to himself this year.

The Cowboys fill a hole on their offensive line while they have some issues at receiver.

Surprise, suprise, Al Davis is feuding with his coach.

Phillip Rivers wants to work on his image…..or he finally realized LT is why he is a winning QB.

Buffalo and their All-Pro LT remain at loggerheads.

The New Jersey Jets are not worried about the play of one of their rookies…..yet.

Cadillac Williams will have to wait to try to reclaim his starting job.

Braylon Edwards says he will be ready for the opener while explaining how he missed three weeks of practice.

Mike Tomlin expects things to improve in the Steel Ciy in his second year.

UPDATES

Kevin Faulk received a one game suspension for drug possession.

Rudi Johnson got his walking papers.