Tag Archives: boston

Thanksgiving Day Pick Em’ – Week 12

Posted on by
Reply

Pretty hard to believe it is already week 12 and the Thanksgiving games are upon us, but here are my predictions and analysis of the three excellent games tomorrow.

Thursday November 24, 2011

Packers @ Lions 12:30 PM

This game is the first one of Thanksgiving day, and probably going to be the most exciting. A battle of two stellar offenses and two mediocre defenses. I’m not completely on the Packers bandwagon yet. Yes, they are 10-0 but that does not make them a lock to win every week, and I’m certainly not handing them the Lombardi trophy just yet. Last weeks game showed that their defense has its holes. The Packers are the Packers, they are not the 2007 Patriots. They both have very similar offenses as the patriots averaged 36.8 points per game, and the Packers are at 35.5. The main difference is this; the Patriots of 07′ outscored their opponents by 19.7 points per game, this years Packers are outscoring their opponents at a rate of 14.3. The main difference: Defense. Also the same reason of why the Lions have a prayer in hell this week. With Stafford tossing the ball up to Megatron, anything is possible. The Lions bounced back after a miserable first half last week and were able to get the victory against a weak Carolina team, but their defense didn’t look superior to the Packers D.

Analysis: The Packers offense is better than that of the Lions. Both defenses are similar. I’m going with the packers in a shootout, and a fake Ford Field Leap by Jordy Nelson.

Prediction: Packers 34 Lions 27

 

Dolphins @ Cowboys 4:15 PM

The Fin’s have outscored their opponents 86-20 the previous three weeks, although they have faced Buffalo, Washington, and Kansas City, which in all honesty doesn’t say much. After an 0-7 start to the season it looks like Tony Sparano might be trying to save his job, the season on the other hand was lost back in the early weeks of the season. I still have a bold prediction that Miami will finish tied, or above the fake Buffalo Bills by the end of the season. They showed who was the better team when they stomped all over them 35-8 last week. Reggie Bush is looking to revive his career after a rather disappointed professional career so far. Matt Moore is looking to be more comfortable with his receivers, and definitely looks in a groove with TE Anthony Fasano.

The Cowboys I still believe have the potential to be one of the elite teams in the NFC. They are the best in their division and after the Bears’ Jay Cutler went down last week, they may be the number two team in the whole conference. Their offense is explosive, and they have Demarcus Ware on the defensive side, teaming up with defensive mastermind Rob Ryan. They have shown they can stop a prolific offense when they almost beat New England at Gillette earlier this season.

Analysis: The Cowboys are still too powerful for a Miami team that has won three in a row, but against opponents that are on a season downfall. Dallas won’t lose to a team like Miami at home on Thanksgiving. Dallas improves to 7-4.

Prediction: Dallas 31 Miami 16

 

49ers @ Ravens 8:20PM

This game is everything the first game of the day is not. A battle of defenses. In the first meeting between head-coaching siblings ever in NFL history this one should certainly be an exciting game to watch.

The key of the game for the Ravens is to not turn the ball over, which hasn’t exactly been easy for 49ers opponents so far this season. The 49ers defense has 15 interceptions this year, which isn’t exactly good news for Joe Flacco. Flacco has been average this year with only throwing 8 interceptions, but he might be able to consider himself lucky if he covers a spread of 1 1/2 ints. tomorrow.

The 49ers need to stick with the run game and allow Alex Smith to continue to put them in situations to win games, or better yet, not to lose them. He’s clearly done his job this year as the niners are 9-1 and haven’t had any speculation of any type of QB controversy this season, considering going into the season no one knew who would be under center for the niners.

Analysis: Jim wins this one. I just think the 49ers defense with Patrick Willis sticks it out and gets the victory. Don’t expect a blowout of any sort, and I wouldn’t exactly bet the over on this one. I’m just as excited for the post-game handshake as I am for the real game.

Prediction: 49ers 17  Ravens 16

 

College Preview

Posted on by
Reply

Duke looks to take home the Maui Invitational trophy this year following UConn’s win in 2010 that eventually led to a national title. They will take on 14th ranked Kansas Wednesday night at 10. Duke seems pretty unstoppable, making more than 50 percent of their 3 pointers in the last few games… and they usually take at least 20. The only player I will root for is Austin Rivers because of the obvious connection to Doc. Other than that I hope that both teams lose. More importantly, go Bruins, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

B’s Focused

Posted on by
Reply

Heading into tonight’s matchup against the Sabres, the only thing that the Bruins are concerned about is stretching their win streak to 10 games and claiming first place in the Northeast Division. The Sabres may have something else in mind. Retaliation. At least that’s what the media is building it up to be, and it could end up helping the B’s. The hit that Lucic put on Miller only eleven days ago is still fresh in everyone’s mind. A controversial hit like that always leads to this sort of hype before the next time the teams meet, but the Bruins are focused on the greater goal at hand. “It’s not like you can just go out there and be stupid,” Ference said Monday. “We were in a similar situation obviously with the Cooke thing. If they want to get goofy then that’s fine. Our team is well equipped for different kinds of games.” The Bruins are ready to play hockey, whether that means reacting to Buffalo vengeance or not. If the Sabres go head hunting tonight, you can bet the house that the B’s will be ready.

Bruins Streaking

Posted on by
Reply

For anyone that didn’t notice because there was some other game on, the Bruins beat the Canadiens Monday night 1-0.  Defenseman Andrew Ference scored the lone goal on Carey Price, although he only saw 18 shots come his way.  Tim Thomas on the other hand saw 33 and stopped them all.  Pretty odd game seeing as there were only 10 minutes worth of penalties compared to the usual amount of about 40 plus a few fights.  There was only one stand out fight and that was when Canadiens fans jumped a Bruins fan and beat the hell out of him.  We should give these guys a free pass to the Garden next game so we can return the favor.

Check out the video here: Bruins/Canadiens Fight

Gronk Nation

Posted on by
Reply

From the beginning we knew Gronk was an animal. As Barstool put it, “It’s Gronk’s world, we’re just living in it”. There’s no doubt he had a great time during the lockout and partied like the best of ’em, but it was a question as to how his off-field presence would transfer over come game time. Last night, Gronk answered that question and left no doubt in anyone’s mind as to how much of an absolute beast he really is. With his 20th career TD reception in 26 NFL games, Gronkowski became the fastest TE to reach that mark in NFL history, right ahead of Ditka (31 games). In doing so, the Pats turned a slow start into a good old fashion beat down last night in Foxboro. Oh, not to mention Gronk also shrugged off a broken neck to pop the ball like a balloon in the end zone. No biggie.

Merrimack’s #1

Posted on by
Reply

I know that this does not mean much to most people, but the Merrimack College Hockey team is now the #1 team in the country.  Being that most of our followers probably do not follow Hockey East (the toughest division in the country) most will think that this isn’t a big deal.  Well it is! For a school that has less than 2000 students in it, being ahead of teams such as BC, BU, Northeastern, and Minnesota is pretty amazing. So anyone who doesn’t care, and would rather hear something else about the Penn St. scandal or how LSU and Alabama are 1-2 again, go read ESPN.  Warriors.

Letter to John Madden – Real or Fake?

Posted on by
2

So this has to be one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while. Ethan Albright, a long snapper for the Redskins, apparently wrote up this letter to John Madden regarding his player ratings in Madden NFL 2007. The only thing is that I can’t figure out if it was actually written by him or some clever guy with nothing else to do then make Ethan Albright look like a badass. Give it a quick read and decide whether you think it’s real or fake.

Link to Letter: Ethan Albright Letter to John Madden

Fight Club

Posted on by
Reply

They certainly weren’t playing in the Garden or wearing Celtic green, but Rondo and Pierce were in town this weekend for a charity game at Harvard University. Unfortunately, news of a scuffle took precedent over the event, and it too was certainly not on the court or while wearing the Celtic green.

If you haven’t heard already, early Saturday morning Rondo was allegedly part of an altercation while leaving a night club in downtown Lowell. By altercation I mean there was some pushing as a crowd shuffled out of the club (that never happens), and one person ended up swinging at Rondo, supposedly unknowingly. The nightclub, Brian’s Ivy Hall, had been hosting an event featuring the Celtics star, accompanied by a few other notable NBA stars including Nate Robinson, Rudy Gay, and Josh Smith. Apparently there was no report of intoxication by the alleged attacker in the police write up, nor was Rondo drinking at all that night. Now I’ll be the first to admit inebriated decisions are completely null and void, but soberly making the decision to go after a hometown star, accompanied by other NBA stars and several rather large body guards (could be an understatement), probably wasn’t the best way to confront the issue, that is, unless Micky Ward had his back. Gotta love downtown Lowell.

Celtics Game Day – Mock Season

Posted on by
Reply

After a strong start to the season, the Celtics found trouble on the road in Florida this past week, losing two straight to the Heat and Magic. A Sunday win at home is exactly what the squad needed on this incredible late November day. The C’s went up against an outmatched Golden State team that just couldn’t hang with the big boys. The win today puts them back on track heading into the big Thanksgiving week.