Weekend Wrapup (10/09/06)
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by Debo
Some observations from the world of sports over the weekend.
MLB
- We all know by now that Joe Torre is in the hot seat, and nothing really makes me happier than seeing the Yankees in a pickle. The lost the Divisional Series to the Tigers - and not only did they lose, but the last two games weren't even close. A-Rod sucked, but is that really a surprise? The Yankees and their $200 million dollar payroll are going home without a ring, and really, I don't feel too sorry for them. Torre will probably get fired. Is it justified? Maybe. I think that Yankees GM Brian Cashman is more at fault here than Torre. Torre can only do so much for team chemistry, which has proven again and again more important than pure talent. On paper, would you rather have Jeter-Abreu-ARod-Giambi or Polanco-Thames-Ordonez-Guillen? Most teams would probably pick the former, but a roster of superstars doesn't necessarily guarantee success, as the Yankees have proven this year (and last year, and the year before that, and the year before that...). It should be an interesting offseason, and I'm sure we'll see some fireworks from Steinbrenner and company.
Joe Torre is feeling the heat
- I'm not guessing that the Tiger's vs. A's was the ALCS matchup many experts predicted at the beginning of the season. But, here we are. Frank Thomas has been playing out of his mind. I'm picking him to lead the A's to the World Series in 6.
- The Cards redeemed themselves after nearly pulling off a monumental collapse to end the season. They looked pretty impressive against the Padres. The Mets also looked dominant in their series. They were the best team in baseball in the regular season, and they haven't showed any signs of slowing. Look for them to take the series in 5 games.
NFL
- The Bears have established themselves as the team to beat in the NFL, in my opinion at least. They absolutely demolished the Bills, and this coming a week after pounding the defending NFC Champion Seahawks. Grossman is playing like the quarterback everyone thought he could be. Bernard Berrian has 5 catches over 40 yards on the season already. Combine him with Mushin Muhammad, a consistent possession receiver, and you might have the best tandem in the NFC. And take a look at this eye-popping stat: the Bears have outscored their opponents 156-36 on the season.
- The Eagles beat the Cowboys 38-24 in easily the most hyped up game of the season so far. And, for the most part, the game lived up to it. T.O., on the other hand, didn't look too spectacular in his glorious return to Philly. Parcells, as usual, looked like he might strangle the reporters asking him the questions in the post-game interviews.
- Two Chiefs have my vote for the worst-looking head injuries of the season so far. Larry Johnson nearly had his head pulled so far around he could see his name on the back of his jersey. Johnson eventually walked off under his own power after several minutes on the ground. The injury occured on a 78-yard screen pass that eventually led to the go-ahead field goal for the Chiefs. Couple that injury with Trent Green's nasty collision in week 1, and you got yourself the worst looking injuries of the season so far.
Larry Johnson nearly got his head torn clean off, but he took it like a man
- Speaking of Larry Johnson, he still managed to be a fantasy stud for me despite only rushing for 36 yards, by catching 6 balls for 106 yards and a score (thanks in big part to the 78-yard pass).
- The Raiders continued their quest for a dream season when they lost to the Niners 34-20. Like last week, they had a pretty good first half, but Art Shell and his band of goonies didn't make any halftime adjustments and consequently got outscored 27-7 in the final two quarters. And to top everything off, Randy Moss was seen laughing on the sideline right after he had dropped an easy touchdown pass. He did catch his 100th career touchdown later in the game. You know that things aren't going well when you have a "quarterback carousel" of Aaron Brooks, Marques Tuiasosopo and Andrew Walter. Art Shell has some tough QB decisions to make in the upcoming weeks.
- Reggie Bush got his first TD of the season on a late punt return against the still winless Bucs. Bush's TD proved to be the game-winning score. This guy is as electrifying to watch in the NFL as he was in college. I'll admit, I didn't think he would do so great in the NFL, but he has proven me wrong so far. New Orleans has got themselves a keeper for the next several years.
- With 1:45 remaining in the Vikings-Lions game, the Lions were down 19-17, and had the ball facing a fourth down. Jon Kitna was trying to get the Lions into field goal range, to capitalize on a missed extra point by Minnesota and possibly win the game with a field goal. Instead, he was forced out of the pocket, nearly sacked, and threw the ball in desparation as he was falling down. The ball only flew five yards, and into the hands of E.J. Henderson, who raced 45 yards down the field for a touchdown, icing Minnesota's 26-17 victory. Why was this so significant? Well, if Kitna would have been sacked instead of throwing the ball up just before he went down, the Vikings would have taken over on downs, and, in all likelihood, just run the clock out to take a 19-17 victory...and given Lions betters a win. The spread on the game gave the Lions a 6.5 point advantage. E.J. Henderson's cheap touchdown instead gave Vikings betters the win. Needless to say, Henderson is probably on some Lions betters' hit lists right about now. They probably should blame Kitna for the ill-advised pass instead.
EJ Henderson may very well be killed by a broke Detroit fan in the next few days
- Three rookie quarterbacks got starts Sunday, the first for both Matt Leinart and Bruce Gradkowski and the second for Vince Young. All three lost, but played relatively well. Young got his first career rushing touchdown on a 19-yard run in the first quarter, while Leinart and Gradkowski each threw for two touchdowns.
College Football
- Arkansas looked real impressive in their victory over Auburn. The game was never really close, and the Hogs had two 100-yard rushers on the day. Pretty impressive considering Auburn had only given up 100 yards rushing to a team only twice on the season (124 against Washington State and 109 against South Carolina). Arkansas moved up to 17th in the latest AP poll, which may be a little premature. They should be ranked, but not quite that high yet.
Felix Jones ran for over 100 yards along with Darren McFadden in the Hogs' upset over Auburn
- USC got away with one at the Coliseum. Washington had the ball at USC's 15 yard line with 2 seconds left in the game down 26-20, but couldn't get a snap off after confusion on the field. The play before that, Washington's receiver was tackled for a first down with what seemed like about 5 seconds left. The clock should have stopped for the first down right after he was tackled, but another 3 seconds passed before it did stop. The whole last sequence was exciting, but had a pretty anti-climactic ending, which was frustrating for me, a fan of neither team, let alone Huskie fans.
- USC is a good team without Dwayne Jarrett. They are a exceptional team with him. They need Jarrett healthy if they want to have a chance at a national title run. Jarrett only played a few plays against Washington and missed the game completely last week against Washington State, and USC could have easily lost both games.
- Florida looked good against LSU. I've been pretty impressed by Tim Tebow, Florida's freshman phenom quarterback. He had an efficient day to say the least, going 2-2 for 36 yards and 2 TDs throwing, while also adding another TD on the ground, accounting for 18 of Florida's 23 points. Tebow and fellow freshman receiver Percy Harvin should make for one of the best QB/WR combos in the country for the next few years.
Tim Tebow had a crazy jump double-pump pass that looked really awkward but was also pretty sweet
- Louisville needs Brian Brohm back badly. Their offense didn't look too special for most of the game against Middle Tennessee State. Brohm is on schedule to return at the very latest for the West Virginia game. Cardinal fans are hoping that he is 100% for the showdown against the Mountaineers, or else it might not be such a showdown at all.
- Tennessee continues to roll, putting up 51 points, including 37 in the second half, against Georgia's stingy defense. I think that they should be in the top 6 or 7 in the polls. Their only loss was to Florida, and it was only by a point. Too bad we can't see a rematch of the two in the SEC title game, since both teams are in the Eastern division of the conference.
- Wake Forest had a golden opportunity to prove to the nation that they were for real. They had a 17-3 lead on #15 Clemson going into the fourth quarter, only to give up 24 points in the last 15 minutes to lose 27-17. The Demon Deacons are still a good team, certainly better than they've been for quite a few years now, but that really could have been a signature win for them.
- Nebraska rolled over Iowa State in Ames, led by two 100-yard backs. The Huskers have had four running backs go over the 100-yard mark in a game on the season, and could end up with those four backs rushing for over 600 yards this season. I'm not sure if that's been done before. And the scary thing is that two of the RBs are sophomores and two are juniors, meaning that all of them will be back next season. Watch out for the Huskers next year. This year, meanwhile, they've put up a 5-1 record, only losing to USC. It seems like their rise back to college football's elite is well on its way (and not a day too soon for this diehard Husker fan!)
Cody Glenn is one of four Husker running backs who could rush for over 600 yards this season
- I got a chance to watch Garrett Wolfe yesterday against Miami Ohio, and this kid is for real. He has great speed and vision, and is surprisingly strong for such a small kid (5'7", 177 pounds). He's already got 1,343 yards and 13 TDs on the ground this season, and his Heisman push was only made stronger after his performance yesterday on national TV (he finished with 162 yards and 2 TDs).
- Baylor is 2-0 in the Big 12, after sending Colorado to its 10th straight loss in a triple-overtime thriller. Baylor and Texas will be playing next week for the Big 12 South lead. Yes, you read that right.
- Florida State and Miami are both out of the Top 25. I've been waiting a long time to say that.
- With all the Calvin Johnson Heisman talk, I'm surprised there isn't more for Mario Manningham of Michigan. The super sophomore has comparable stats and one more touchdown against arguably tougher competition. He's a big reason Michigan is doing as well as they are this season.
NASCAR
- There was controversy in yesterday's race as Brian Vickers spun out his teammates car....wait what? You guys don't care about NASCAR? Okay good, me neither.
