Category Archives: football

August 13, 2012 · 5:39 AM

Speaking of Arrested

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Former Patriot Chad Ochocinco Johnson was arrested Saturday night for “allegedly” head-butting his new wife Evelyn Lozada. The story goes she found condoms on a credit card receipt and confronted him. It ended in him in cuffs.

The Dolphins released him on Sunday. It’s pretty amazing how quickly this guy has fallen. From a great wide out on Cincinnati to a career low in every category in New England lady year. If Al Davis was alive I’d say he lands in Oakland with Carson Palmer once again throwing him passed…wait and see.

And speaking of arrested receivers.

The Patriots had Plaxico Burress in for a workout Sunday. A move some people I’m sure were scratching their heads on, me included.

But here’s my thinking. If you have Welker and Lloyd as your #1 and #2 would your team be better with Plaxico as your #3?

Taking out play book knowledge which Gaffney, Stallworth, Branch, and Edelman all have an advantage; isn’t Burress a better receiver? Certainly is in the end zone.

My fear of course would be the team cuts a guy to bring in Burress and he’d bust like the aforementioned Johnson.

I leave this one to the experts. I’m not a huge Branch fan and I thought Stallworth filled your jailed receiver quota. Whatever the Pats decide, I’ll be comfortable. After all, with Gronk and Hernandez on the team, your third wideout shouldn’t be a huge thought.

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June 22, 2010 · 5:49 AM

Weighing in on Logan

The year is 2005. April to be exact. The Patriots are fresh off their third Super Bowl Championship in four years and hold the 32nd overall pick in the NFL Draft. At that point we were thinking linebacker as the corps certainly couldn’t keep on that type of production or wide receiver as Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch was heading into the last year of his contract.

And with the 32rd pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select, Logan Mankins, guard, Fresno State.

Our collective reaction was “Who? From what college?”.

Don’t get me wrong Logan has turned out to be a very good lineman. He’s a two time Pro-Bowler and in 2007 was named as an All Pro as part of the line that protected Tom Brady and the 16-0 regular season Pats.

Mankins is a restricted free agent this summer. Meaning that any team that wants to sign him would have to surrender a 1st round pick and the Patriots would have the right to match any offer. The Pats tendered him the highest amount they could for his restricted status a $3.26 million dollar deal which he didn’t sign.

As of last Tuesday the Patriots could lower that offer to $1.54 million but it is unclear if they have or not. In the meantime Mankins was a holdout to the teams mandatory mini-camp and demanded a trade. His demands stem from him being told that a long term deal would be worked out. A long term deal rumored to be around $30 for five years that the player refused.

With the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) unclear for next season I can see it from the Patriots side. Playing your ass off and not being rewarded with a new contract, I can see it from the player’s side too.

What’s really bad for Mankins is if the CBA was already done prior to this upcoming season, he would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer. So if it’s a big pay day that he’s pissed about not getting, maybe he can complain to his union heads that didn’t get a deal done in time and made this upcoming season uncapped.

I don’t want to see him go away. Anyone that protects Brady over the next few years is on my list of “must haves”. I just hope it doesn’t get too sloppy. We’ll just have to watch and see how it all plays out.

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November 2, 2009 · 6:46 AM

Sunday Recap

You know in the movies where they say “let’s spend the weekend in bed” and it’s super sexy and you only see the people come out of the bedroom for food? I can tell you that a weekend in bed when you’re sick is the exact opposite. From Thursday night until this morning I spent almost that entire time in bed coming out for chicken soup and orange juice. Feeling a little better than I did Friday I’m going to attempt to go to work today.

Before that, let’s recap my picks from Friday.

I picked Baltimore over Denver and the under. Both correct as the Broncos got it handed to them 30-7. Nice to see Denver come crashing back down to Earth. Let’s hope for a few more losses like that so the Pats can vault into the #2 seed. (2 for 2)

I picked the Giants over the Eagles. Whoops. The Eagles embarrassed the Giants but then the Yankees embarrassed the Phillies. I did get the over right as the bar was 44 and the final was 40-17. (1 for 2)

I told you to take Miami over the Jets and the under. Once again half right. The Dolphins laid a hurting on the Jets returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in the third quarter and taking the wind out of the Jets sails. Miami wins 30-25. (1 for 2)

I picked the Colts who were a 12.5 point favorite. Oh and I picked the over. Then a competitive football game broke out in Indy. The 49ers hung around until a Joseph Adai touchdown pass sealed the win for the Colts. 18-14 is your final. (0 for 2)

The Lions lost to the winless (no more) Rams 17-10. I feel bad for anyone that actually had a vested interest in this game. I picked the Lions and the under. (1 for 2)

Seattle getting 9.5 at Dallas I thought was a safe cover. Wrong again. Dallas rolled 38-17 taking the under right out of the equation. (0 for 2)

Buffalo lost to Houston at home 31-10. Thankfully the over/under was 41.5 so I squeaked out that part of the bet. So much for the Bills pulling the upset. (1 for 2)

Cleveland got blown out by Chicago 30-6. Covers both the under and the 13 point spread. (2 for 2)

I said the Raiders would cover and they did losing 24-16 to the Chargers. However I also picked the over. (1 for 2)

I picked Tennessee to finally win a game and I was right as they beat down the Jaguars 30-13. The line was set at 45 though so my pick for the over was wrong. (1 for 2)

Green Bay was favored by 3 with an over/under of 47.5. I picked the Vikings to bounce back from their loss last weekend and was right. Vikings roll (with drama) 38-26. (2 for 2)

Carolina at Arizona had the Cardinals favored by 10.5. They lost 34-21. I picked the over set at 41. (1 for 2)

So what have we learned from all this? Well, I suck at gambling. Good thing I didn’t place any money on any of these games. I went 13 for 24 on my picks. If I nailed the over/under I missed the winner or vice versa. Proud that I nailed the Vikings and Baltimore, the two biggest match-ups in each conference yesterday.

Tonight the Saints favored by 10.5 and a 54 over/under. I picked the Saints and the over on Friday. I’ll stick by my guns. The Saints are the Colts from a few years ago. They’re going to score a ton of points, but will they have enough “D” come playoff time? We shall see.

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October 6, 2009 · 6:02 AM

Can I Continue?

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I went off on a little tangent yesterday on our favorite running back Sandyvagititus Maroney. But it occurred to me that some people, although they laugh at the name, have no idea what sandyvagititus means.

According to the Urban Dictionary (they list it as sandy vaginitis) it’s defined as follows:

When a person has sand in his or her vagina, which results in the person not haning out with friends or partaking in the usual activites of partying and having a good time.

Although I respect the Urban Dictionary I’m going to have my own definition as it relates to professional sports:

When a player on a professional sports team plays like a wimp/baby/pussy/12 year old girl. The opposite of having balls.

In a sentence:

Laurence Maroney took the handoff when his sandyvagititus kicked in and he was tackled for a loss of three.

or

Even though the team had two healthy outfielders, JD Drew’s sandyvagititus prevented him from manning up and playing that night.

Even his kickoff returns are pathetic. Take out the one that opened the season and Maroney is averaging a whopping 19.5 yards per kick return. That number alone puts them just ahead of the Raiders and Giants for last place in the league. He’s a piece of garbage that really needs to not play football anymore.

The story goes that last season or the season prior the rest of the locker room was so sick and tired of his sandyvagititus that they stuck a box of diapers outside his locker basically telling him that he’s a baby with all his “injuries”. It’s gotten to the point that the O-Line is almost defeated when he comes on the field. They know before the play if they don’t make a whole that’s 10 feet wide, the offense is going to lose yards. It’s awful.

Put Fred Taylor back there full time. If he’s tired spell him with Sammy Morris and keep Faulk as your third down back. Activate Green-Ellis for the remaining games and do what you did with Galloway on Sunday with Maroney. Bench him. Like don’t even dress him for the game. It’s absurd for him to get anywhere near the field anymore. Let Edelman and Slater return kicks, again Maroney stays on the bench.

It’s a tough pill to swallow given you wasted a first round pick on him, but it’s time for the Patriots to cut bait with Maroney.

He may come out this week at Denver and rush for 150 yards and two scores and all will be forgiven…who am I kidding, not going to happen. Don’t even dress him. Done for the season.

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October 5, 2009 · 5:53 AM

Pats Defense Steps Up Again

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Listening last night to the post game show they were referring to the Pats defense as the no name defense. I have to disagree with that statement given the fact they have Wilfork, Warren, Thomas, Meriweather and Sanders. Sure you may not know the names of all the linebackers and defensive backs but you know most of the guys out there.

A game that featured the Pats against one of the toughest defenses in the league the Pats stepped it up enough to take the win at home. Of course that doesn’t come without gripes. The Ravens lockers room was complaining that the officials basically gave the Pats the game. Two key penalties on Patriots scoring drives led to 14 points on the board. Baltimore wasn’t helped by turning the ball over two times.

But can we vent on the Patriots inability to put the ball in the end zone? The Pats given a gift on the kickoff when they forced a fumble and then went three and out. An incomplete pass to your fourth receiver, a run by Sandyvagititus Maroney for a whopping one yard and a third down sack. That’s why the Ravens red zone defense is the best in the league. Even attempting to run on them with Maroney was a joke.

While we’re talking about Maroney, let’s take a moment to recognize that he’s a worthless piece of garbage. The only play yesterday that he did anything decent was called back. Sure he had a nice catch for 17 yards but what about the fact he carried the ball seven times for six yards. Absurd. One of the runs was for a five yard gain, so that means that more than one of his runs was for negative yards. Next year when he’s playing for another team, you’ll see him featured as a third down back. Similar to Kevin Faulk, he’ll be catching passes out of the backfield for some team because that seems to be all he’s good at. If I never see him on the field for the Pats again, it’s fine by me.

Following a Flaco touchdown the Patriots were able to put together a drive of their own that ended with a Tom Brady dive for the score. Interesting that on the bootleg the play prior he didn’t get in the endzone. You can’t blame him for sliding with Ray Lewis bearing down on him.

Pats run it in with Morris (great to see Maroney no where near the field) and made it 17-7. Then Baltimore driving down for what looks to be a sure touchdown drive before the half and then Leigh Bodden makes an amazing interception dragging his toe as he fell out of bounds. Brady takes a knee and the Pats have a ten point halftime lead.

The second half started with the Pats punting to the Ravens after a failed drive. The Ravens then kicked a punt to Kevin Faulk who was popped and coughed up the ball. Then Leigh Bodden was the right man in the right place as he scooped up the fumble and the Pats retained possession. One the next play, Matt Light got beat (yup, again) and Brady was strip sacked. The Ravens picked it up and walked in the endzone. Now it’s a three point game. So much drama.

The two teams exchanged touchdowns again and that was followed by a Gostkowski field goal following a bizzarre botched fake field goal. I guess he would have had the first down and it would have counted if he was the outside guy opposed to the guy one spot in. Confusing as hell, but that field goal put the Pats up 27-21 where they satyed for the rest of the game.

Again there was drama as Baltimore was marching down the field but Mark Clayton’s inability to catch a ball that hit him in the chest on fourth down sealed the deal. Pats win a close game. Very exciting.

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