Tag Archives: football

Jets Still Talking

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Everyone knows that the Jets always talk trash. It’s in their nature. But this time, they are talking trash about one of their own. The New York Daily News polled 12 Jet’s players to see if they agreed with Rex Ryan’s decision to stick with Mark Sanchez after starting 3-6 this season. The media is all over it because they want to see Tebow and have the Tebow-mania frenzy that we saw last season.

An anonymous defensive starter said, “He’s terrible,”. This is true. The guy only completes 52% of his passes and it seems like he gets intercepted every other play when get gets in the Red Zone. Another player said there is “no other viable option”, meaning that Tebow is of little help to the offense.

Let’s hope that this can continue to pile up and eat away at the players so we can watch the Pats demolish them on Thanksgiving night. Go Pats!

The Boy Who De-Feet-ed the Odds: An Unbelievable Feat

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ImageDefying a Disability: 11-year-old Gabriel Muniz is considered to be one of the best young soccer players among his age group in the the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But this young talent isn’t making headlines across the world for what he can do “with his feet”, he’s making heads turn for what he can do “without them”.

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly. No need to adjust your computer screen, 11-year-old Gabriel Muniz was born without feet but has been walking since age 1 and has played the game he loves persistently. Muniz’ birth defect is medically known as Meromelia, which is the lack of one or more limbs such as the hands, or in Gabriel’s case his feet.

Humbling Highlights: Videos have surfaced recently, via YouTube, YahooSports, MSN.com and other websites, showcasing Muniz’ talent’s and the tape is without question an amazing display of determination, courage, and inspiration. Here’s a clip of the highlights:

 

 

As mentioned in the video, Muniz has been invited to attend a Barcelona training camp in Saquarema, just outside of Rio, where he will meet some of his soccer idols. The youngster will also get to showcase his skills in Spain as the Barcelona coaching staff, intrigued by his skill and determination, invited him to train with the Catalan Side. Though Muniz may never make a professional team, it’s humbling to witness a youth overcoming obstacles, believing in himself, and disregarding his disability to chase his dreams.

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Final Thoughts: This story is a breath of fresh air for me as a sports fan. It takes you away from all the high-profile-headlines, big dollar contract talks, rumor-mill trade stories, etc, and lets you view a different side of sports, the inspirational one. Stories like these remind us why we are sports fans.

The passion, love for the game, commitment and dedication to a sport, makes up the unwritten code we the fans live by. Hopefully one day, all of those things will help Gabriel Muniz achieve his dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

Big Day for the Pats

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Just a quick overview of a busy Tuesday for the Patriots team that had a bye week on Sunday. ( I refuse to admit that we lost against the Cardinals with Kevin Kolb behind center)

1. Deion Branch has reached an agreement to come back to the Patriots. Most saw this coming from a mile away. And now with Hernandez going down, we needed someone else who was familiar with our system. As a former Super Bowl MVP and one of Tom Brady’s favorite players to be around, this is a big move for the Pats that all fans should love.  Branch had 702 yards last season and 5 Touchdowns. New England left his locker exactly the same as when he left, something they failed to do with the hopeful return of Brian Waters.

2. Kellen Winslow reached a deal with the Pats to help immediately in place or Hernandez. Winslow has caught for more than 1100 yards in a season with the Browns, and 4 other 700+ yard seasons with the Bucaneers/Browns.

3. The Pats released WR Greg Salas to make room for Branch on the roster. He played for McDaniels at St. Louis last season and quickly became one of there most reliable players. He has been hurt for a while but the Pats will not rule out bringing him back later in the season to keep him around our system. He is only 24 years old out of Hawaii and had 264 yards in only 6 games last season but he averaged 9.8 yards per catch.
More on this tomorrow!

Von Miller Tebow Tribute

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I’m not sure if I enjoyed this more as a shot at Tebow or because I loved watching the Steelers lose so I have some sort of defense while Non’s is drooling over the Orioles success. Either way I think everyone knows what that game meant last night. Peyton and the Bronco’s could be trouble down the line. Might not be as easy as last year’s playoff whomping.

Pats Opener

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With the Offensive Line weaker than ever, and the lack of time the starters played in our 1-3 preseason, will the Patriots be able to cover their spread against the energized Titans. I am willing to bet that  Chris Johnson has a huge season just as he did three years ago when he had over 2000 rushing yards and 16 TD’s. Last season was more of a fluke after his big contract extension. This year, he will be ready to play.

However, our young-looking defense is now one year more experienced, and recieved big help from rookies Hightower and Jones. Plus, Wilfork’s 300 pound figure makes it hard for any running back to come up the middle.

The spread on the game is +6 going to the Titans. Will the Patriots be able to cover? I think that they will but I wouldn’t be expecting the same 59-0 blowout from 2009. Although, Brady’s 6 TD passes in that game would be great since he is now on my fantasy team. Enjoy your weekend!

TCU Not So Christian-like

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Four TCU players have been arrested on drug charges in the past two days.  A few of their star defenders have been caught by undercover officers in a sting that has been occurring over the last 6 months.  At first, the officer was just buying small amounts of Marijuana, and then he moved onto larger quantities and harder drugs.  They have been arrested on charges in distributing Marijuana, Cocaine, Ecstasy, and Prescription Drugs.

The reason why these players got caught was because of parents and other students complaining.  Everyone seemed to know that this was going on except for the coaches.  Even a recruit said that he did not want to attend the University because of their extreme drug use.  Apparently, only about 20 players on the whole team were able to pass a drug test.  There were 17 students total that have been kicked out of Texas Christian University.  They are moving to the Big 12 conference next season and hopefully this won’t affect them too much.

Patriots vs. Giants: Running Backs

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Up second today is the running back position for both teams. Usually I include stats in my comparison articles but when it comes to how both these teams use their running backs, and the depth they both have I just don’t think stats are a key factor in determining their talent.

The Giants have a great combination of size and speed in the backfield. Bradshaw is a hard runner with solid speed. A couple of years back he was second in line to Brandon Jacobs but that certainly is not the case anymore. Last season Bradshaw became more of the feature back with Jacobs coming in during goal line and short yardage situations. Brandon Jacobs possesses size that is a rarity at the running back position. Jacobs being stuffed behind the line of scrimmage for a loss is something that is difficult to achieve. He is bigger than your average linebacker and even if you are lucky enough to bring him down, he’s going to pick up the extra two yards almost every time. Although the Giants don’t rely on their running game too much, they certainly have the talent back there if they had to.

Overall Grade: B

20120203-131125.jpgThe Patriots running game this year is very similar to every other year. They use a combination of guys that each have certain strengths and use them to their abilities. BenJarvus Green-Ellis has good size and never fumbles the football, and when I say never I mean he has literally never fumbled the football during his pro career. Belichick trusts Green-Ellis in the red-zone because he knows the ball is safe in his hands. Rookie Stevan Ridley has shown flashes of greatness at times this year. He’s not huge, and doesn’t have Chris Johnson like speed but he is very elusive and not easy to bring down. Now on to Danny Woodhead…Minus the fumble on the kickoff last week this guy has been a great option for the Pats. He comes in primarily on passing downs, and that helps his yard per carry ratio out a lot because when he does run the ball the defense normally isn’t expecting it. Woodhead has been a solid replacement for the aging Kevin Faulk. Overall the Patriots have a solid backfield, but just like their opponents, they don’t use it to often. My prediction is that will change this week. I expect the Patriots to come out pounding the ball to keep those Giants pass-rushers on their toes.

Overall Grade: B-

Edge: Giants

New Draft Record

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There have been a record number of underclassmen who have declared for the NFL Draft this year.  65 to be exact.  This is well over the record of 56 that declared for last years. One of the main reasons seems like it has to do with the new labor agreement (remember that lockout thing?).  Well rookie contracts are now almost half of what they had been in previous years.  This encourages these players to get into the league early, get through their rookie contracts sooner, and move on to the larger stipends that come along with their second contracts.

This basically gets rid of any incentive to remain in college to better their draft status for the following years.  Hopefully they can figure this out so it does not turn into a nightmare like college basketball.

Patriots vs. Giants: Kickers

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Today we will focus on which team has the edge in the kicking game. One of the things that gave me the idea to do a daily article evaluating each team in the super bowl was NFL.com, last week they came out with an evaluation article of each teams main positions. They gave Cundiff the edge over Gostkowski. They were definitely spot on with that one huh?

Lawrence Tynes is an average kicker at best. His field goal percentage isn’t all that bad at slightly over 79%, but if you look at the stats you notice he isn’t trusted to much to kick the ball over 40 yards, and it looks likes its all in good reason. Tynes only attempted eight kicks over 40 this season, and only converted four of them. 50% isn’t what you are looking for in a Super Bowl game. What are the Giants going to do on 4th and 3 from the 28-yard line in a tie game with a couple minutes left? My bet is they’re going for it.

Overall Grade: C

Stephen Gostkowski may be one of the most underrated kickers in the league today. His average is just under 85% and he makes clutch kicks when called upon. The difference here is when asked to kick a field goal over forty; Gostkowski frequently comes through. He is 76% from over 40; converting on ten of thirteen field goals. The Patriots have trust in their kicker and that’s huge in a game like this when its expected to come down to as little as a field goal. Could this be an Adam Vinatieri like finish? I’d take it.

Overall Grade: B+

Edge: Patriots