Bruins
I'm glad hockey's back. It was fun listening to the game over the radio yesterday. It's good to see that most of the team from the Cup run is in tact.Red Sox
The Red Sox had a truckload of money to spend this offseason and they've spent most of it. We'll see if they spent it wisely or not. It's easy to say that they overpaid the free agents they signed and yet didn't get a "sexy" signing. Yet all of the big names in free agency also expected to sign top dollar long term contracts while presenting major risks, exactly the kind of contracts they'd just gotten out from under on. I'm hoping they offered Hamilton big money on a short-term contract. I love the Uehara signing. While the hold up on Napoli's contract makes me wonder about whether or not he'll make it through the season in once piece, it also shows that the Red Sox are doing due diligence and that they're doing so in an intelligent way. They're not negotiating in the press and they're still working to get the contract done. That's still a refreshing change to me as I think back to the Lou Gorman and Dan Duquette eras. Imagine either of those GMs re-working Napoli's contract without causing Napoli or his agent to explode publicly. Now that I think about it, that speaks well of Napoli and his agent. I think.I'm interested to see how the team does. Hopefully, they'll be exciting enough to make me want to pick up tickets to all of their games in Seattle.
Oh, and it was good to see Dan Duquette get another shot with the Orioles. While the way he handled players late in his Red Sox tenure was awful, he still did a lot to improve the ballclub and I'm surprised it took this long for him to get another shot in the big leagues. I hope he does well for the Orioles, but that the O's go 0-16 or whatever against the Red Sox.
NFL Playoffs
The Return of Tecmo Bowl Randall Cunningham
Kaepernick scares the hell out of me. In other words: Go, Falcons. The Patriots played the 49ers earlier in the season, but they didn't see the offense that the 49ers unleashed last week against the Packers. I don't remember which article made the comparison, but someone pointed out that last week Kaepernick played like Tecmo Bowl Randall Cunningham.
Speaking of which, what a season for Russell Wilson. The Seahawks future looks bright with him leading the team.
Here's hoping Robert Griffin III recovers quickly. For me, he was even more fun to watch than Kaepernick or Wilson because of the way the offense ran through him and Morris. In their second game against the Cowbows I was bug eyed watching the Redskins leave DeMarcus Ware unblocked at the line of scrimmage. Once the ball was snapped, Griffin would move to hand off to Morris. If Ware flinched to the outside, Griffin let Morris take the ball to the inside of Ware. If Ware flinched to the inside, Griffin pulled the ball back and ran to the outside. I don't watch much college football, so maybe this type of matchup happens more at that level. But I don't remember seeing it at the pro level, especially not when focused on someone as good as DeMarcus Ware. The poor guy looked gassed and frustrated late in the game. With that said, the way the Redskins used RGIII may lead to him not having as long or as successful a career. We'll see.
I heard rumors on ESPN Radio that Chip Kelly will put most of the Browns' money into the defense and bring in multiple effective but low budget college quarterbacks who can run the read option, knowing that those players may have short term success and he can just replace them as they get injured. Somewhere, Billy Beane nods in agreement.
One last running quarterback note. Last year, Cam Newton broke my favorite NFL record - rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback. I asked a few people about who previously held that record. They guessed Randall Cunningham. The rest of the discussion went..."Wait, Randall Cunningham doesn't hold record? Did Vick break his record without me knowing about it? Steve Grogan holds that record? Seriously?!? That guy who had the enormous neck roll in the 80's?"
Back to the Seahawks for a moment. I'm no Pete Carroll fan. I didn't like him as the Patriots coach and really dislike how he takes credit for USC's dominance while completely distancing himself from the fallout there. On some level, I chuckled at how his decisions in the first half of the Seahawks/Falcons game affected the outcome. Two trips into the red zone in the first half for zero points? Maybe I'm just conservative but as the game was being played, I thought he should have kicked field goals in both spots. The Seahawks have been a great forth quarter team this year and I thought that taking the points there to keep it close was key. Even though the Seahawks were scoreless in the first half, it's not like the Falcons' defense was stopping them. That was a good sign for the second half.
Flacco v. Ryan - The Search for a Pulse
I watched the fourth quarters (and overtime, where applicable) of the Ravens/Broncos and Falcons/Seahawks games and I've been amazed at how much credit the winning quarterbacks of those games have received for inspiring their teams with their supreme confidence. Granted, both of those quarterbacks deserve a lot of credit for leading last minute drives to save their seasons. And yet...they both seemed incredibly detached leading up to and during those drives.
When the Seahawks took the lead with less than a minute left, the cameras showed Matt Ryan hanging his head on the sidelines. A couple days later on sports radio (with the reception fading in and out), a host was talking about how as the Seahawks were driving for their go ahead touchdown, Matt Ryan was pumping up his entire offense, reminding them that they'd been in this type of situation before in the season, with less than a minute left to go and needing a field goal to win, that they knew how to do this because they'd done it before and would do it again. I figured maybe that was something the Fox broadcast didn't show. It turns out, the sports radio host wasn't talking about Ryan, he was talking about the Falcons' kicker - Matt Bryant. So it's the kicker who's revving up the offense just before they take the field to try to keep their season alive? Too much ice in Matty Ice?
Meanwhile in the Ravens/Broncos game, Cool Joe is so cool that the play cock doesn't phase him. In the fourth quarter, John Harbaugh had to burn a timeout late in the game because Flacco wasn't going to get the play off and didn't seem to realize it. It's a road playoff game. It happens now and then, even to quarterbacks with road playoff experience. As if to prove that point, Flacco was called for delay of game in the first overtime period. Again, Flacco seemed completely unaware, but at least it was a cool unawareness.
Speaking of Flacco, his five road playoff victories is an interesting stat. Flacco's road record in the playoffs is just over .500 (for now) at 5-4. Compare those numbers to Brady's, who has played in five road playoff games in his career and he's 3-2. Brady hasn't played in a road playoff game since the 2006 season. By the end of the day, Flacco will have played in ten road playoff games in five seasons. By my math, he and the Ravens are averaging two road playoff games every season. That's the stat that's truly amazing to me. In order for a team to do that, they have to be good enough to make the playoffs and do well, but struggle just enough to have a low playoff seed to have road playoff games. Crazy.
Ray Lewis' Last Pre-Game Speech?
It's about heart, who wants it most, putting blood, sweat and tears on the field, fighting for every last inch, not letting up, playing to the whistle and beyond, fighting for your life, not letting anyone take anything from you, and not giving up anything, not your season, not your career, not even that white suit, even if they have a warrant.
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