Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Suh's Strikes Again

Hey All,

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials looked at Ndamukong Suh's latest infamous act on the field from several angles, trying to understand why the Detroit Lions defensive tackle kicked Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin area.

''Intent is something that is very difficult for us to ever try to make a judgment on,'' Goodell told reporters before speaking at a Lions charity event Tuesday night.

Goodell said he hasn't spoken to Suh about what he did in last Thursday's game, adding that the league's football operations staff is in the process of speaking to him about it. Suh was on his chest after being taken down by an offensive lineman and extended his left foot to hit Schaub below the belt, dropping the QB to his knees doubled over in pain in the first quarter of Houston's 34-31 overtime win.

''They're still going through the process of whether it should be a fine,'' Goodell said. ''They'll probably make that decision in the next couple days.''

In a few weeks, Goodell said the NFL's competition committee will meet and might suggest changing a rule for the playoffs that hurt Detroit's chances of beating the Texans last week.

''We may evaluate it as it relates to the postseason,'' Goodell told reporters.

This is what reporter LARRY LAGE (AP Sports Writer The Associated Press - November 27, 2012) said about Suh's actions on Thanksgiving. That's also the facts, and I'm unsure as to why the league is protecting Suh. He clearly isn't going to stop this actions, and fining him, isn't doing anything. The league needs to take the action that they took with the Saints players. Suspend him, for a full year and see if that doesn't change his actions.

For more on this story you can find it at Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Reed Wins Appeal

Hey All,

Today Ed Reed, of the Baltimore Ravens, won his appeal against his one game suspension for flagrant hits against defenseless players. This was Reeds third offense in three seasons. This meant that something had to be done with the league. At first the league felt that this was enough to give him a game suspension without pay.

The third violation of this rule came in Sunday night's game against the Steelers Emmanuel Sanders. Reed went to the ruling, and hearing officer Ted Cottrell on Tuesday to try and reduce the suspension. Apparently it worked, because Reed was sent a letter from Cottrell saying  ''I have determined that your actions were egregious and warrant significant discipline. However, I do not believe that your actions were so egregious as to subject you to a one-game suspension without pay.''

This is good for the Ravens already beat up D. They don't have to lose a very important piece to their defense, and by far one of the best DB's they have. If you ask me I think that the NFL is taking it too easy on their rulings and players. I feel that if a suspension was given, regardless of the reason, it should be held out. This appeals process is crap. The NFL needs to stick to their guns and hold out these suspensions. These players being able to appeal their suspensions, is just saying "hey you can screw up, write and appeal, and we'll let you back in the league and able to play".

I've never liked this, and probably never will, until a suspension on a player is actually held up. Once this happens I will have more faith in the league and their ruling process. Until then, it's crap.

Until next time,
You keep doing that you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Steelers vs Ravens

Hey All,

Last night, Sunday November 18th, the Steelers took on the Ravens in one of the best football rivalries in game today.

When these two teams come together to play one another, it's nothing less than a heavy weight bought that last 15 rounds. Last night was no different. The only difference was, there was no Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers star QB was out with a shoulder injury as well as a rib injury.

In his place the Steelers went with back up QB Byron Leftwhich, instead of Charlie Batch. Batch as been labeled the 3rd string QB rather than the back up as he's been for many years. Both QB's are long time veterans of the league, and more than capable to replace Ben. That being said, lets talk about the game.

The game got off to a rocky start for the Steelers WR Mike Wallace in the first quarter. Just minutes into the game the speedy receiver fumbled and gave the Ravens an chance to jump out early, had the Steelers not recovered the fumble. After that Leftwhich wanted to try and air it out, and drew a pass interference call putting the Steelers in great field position. The very next play, Bryon Leftwhich takes off after a busted play and took the ball 32 yards for the first touchdown of the game. This was also the longest rush of Leftwhich's career. The Steelers D would hold the Ravens on their first possession, and that would be the tail of the take for the rest of this game. The next Steelers possession tragedy would strike again for Wallace, as he fumbles again but this time the Ravens were able to recover the fumble. On the Ravens next Offensive possession they were only able to get a field goal out of the drive, making the score 7-3 in favor of the Steelers. The rest of the game would be like this, a defensive game. The Steelers would go 3 and out of the next possession, and would make the biggest mistake of the game. The Steelers would kick to dangerous return make Jacobi Jones, who would take the kick 63 yards for the only touchdown of the game making the score 10-7 in favor of the Ravens. This would be how the quarter would end.

The second quarter would have little to no excitement, but would have a lot of things go wrong for the Ravens. The Ravens would loss their main Tight End Denis Pitta, who would leave the game with a concussion. There would be no offense from either team in this quarter at all. The only other scoring chance would come from the Ravens, and it would be a missed field goal from 41 yards. This would be the end of the half with the score 10-7 Ravens.

In the second half, it would be the same thing that went on in the first half, NO OFFENSE. Neither team would be able to produce any type of offense at all. There would only be two more scores and they would both be field goals one from the Ravens from 39 yards, and the other from the Steelers Shaun Suisham from 22 yards out. The only other action that happened in this half, was an interception from Leftwhich, but other than that, nothing.

My take on this game would have to be that the Steelers blew this game. They gave it away. It was clear to everyone who could see, that Bryon Leftwhich was hurt, and in pain throughout the game. He hurt himself when he scored the only offensive touchdown of the game. He tripped and fell awkwardly in the end zone. He instantly reached up and grabbed his shoulder. If I was the coach, I would have had the medical staff check him out completely and make sure that he was okay to return to the game. They have a capable back up to him in Charlie Batch, so why no bring him in and make sure that Leftwhich could finish the game, yet that did not happen. Why it didn't happen? I have no idea. This was the dumbest thing that the Steelers could have done in this game. Leftwhich was missing throws that he is able to make, winsing in pain after every throw, and not willing to run the ball at all. Given, he was taking so many shots in this game. The line didn't protect him at all. If they would have been able to give him a little more time, he may have made some throws, and not get hit as much.

All in all, it doesn't matter how much I bitch about this game. The Steelers lost, and that's that. Can't take it back, can't have a do over for this game, and they fell 2 games back from the Ravens in the Division. They only thing that they can do, is wait 2 weeks until they play them again in Baltimore. This would be a rematch of the heavy weight bought that we saw Sunday night. The only thing I think that can save the Steelers chances to win this game would be to get Ben healthy and have him play instead of Leftwhich or Batch.

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Steelers WR Looking Better

Hey All,

Everyone has been coming to me and saying that the Steelers WR aren't some of the best receivers in the league. Well to those who say they aren't that good, I say look at the stats. The Steelers receivers are among the best in the league. They may drop a few passes here and there, but when it counts they make it happen. This one little factor makes them great players. When the game is on the line, and the Steelers are down, they find ways to come up with the big catch.

Let's take a look at the Chiefs game and you tell me, after I give you the facts, that they are not great receivers when it counts. Late in the second quarter the Steelers were down 10-3 against the Chiefs. They were going into score, and the Chiefs had great coverage on Mike Wallace. Wallace was in double coverage, and comes up with a one handed catch that he controls between his legs. He regained control just before rolling out of bounds. This was critical because it tied the game and took the wind out of the sails of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs then began to shoot themselves in the foot. Stupid penalties in the second half and taking points off the board. As this was happening the Steelers came up big, even when Big Ben was out hurt. Byron Leftwitch came in and the rest of the team rallied around each other to help pull out an overtime win against the Chiefs

Everyone is so quick to blame the offense when the team isn't doing good. But have you ever thought of taking a look at the defense, that isn't doing much of anything. The team has 16 sacks on the season, as well as 8 fumbles on the season, and 5 interceptions   I know they're playing a lot of the back ups, with key players being out, but as a back up you should be just as good and ready to play at a moments notice.

I think the Steelers will be okay here, if they can get a few of the injured players back in the line up. The defense needs to start and step it up so that the Steelers can keep on the winning way. They haven't looked good, but have found ways to come up with the win when it matters. If the team can keep pulling out tough wins when it matters the most, I think they will be okay and look for a playoff run.

They have a though road ahead of the playing the Ravens twice in the next three weeks. It's uncommon for a team to play a divisional team twice in three weeks, and will make the test of the Steelers that much more critical. With all the injuries, now the injury to Ben, the Steelers need to get healthy and get health quick.

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Rookies Have a Great Day

Hey All,

Yesterday, Sunday November 4th, a pair of rookies had record breaking days. Running back Doug Martin for the Bucs explodes with a huge day on the ground, while Andrew Luck and Brandon Marshall scored a hat trick.

By now, Fantasy owners probably gave up on Doug Martin, but not this guy. I knew it would only be a few games before Martin had a big day, and became a feature back in the NFL. He already won the position over a very good running back in LaGarrette Blunt in the off-season, and has looked very good as of late.

Martin happened all over the Raiders with a legendary performance of 272 total yards and four touchdowns. The arrow is pointed firmly up for the Boise State rookie after three straight scoring weeks and a second straight multi-touchdown outing. The rest of the schedule is promising, too. San Diego's fourth-ranked rushing defense next week looks like the biggest obstacle without one other top-11 ranked unit on the rest of the schedule. The Broncos (12th), Eagles (16th), Panthers (20th), Falcons (24th) and Rams (13th) are all middle of the pack at best, with Week 15's Saints matchup looking like playoff gold.

Andrew Luck's record 433-yard, two-touchdown day suggested a bigger win, but the Colts needed every completion to down the Dolphins. While Reggie Wayne has had a career resurgence this season, on Sunday the two biggest beneficiaries were rookie T.Y. Hilton (on a team-best 11 targets) and the inconsistent Donnie Avery, who both went over the 100-yard mark. In part, that was also a function of an inconsistent running game. Wayne is still the only receiver to wholly trust, but those in deep keeper leagues should have Hilton on their rosters for safe keeping.

Along with these two having monster days on the grid iron, there were a couple of players that did not have too good of days. There are bigger problems in New York these days other than football, much less fantasy production. But it was still surprising to see the top-ranked pass defense of the Steelers climb off a bus, then hold Eli Manning and the Big Blue passing game to 10-of-24 for 125 yards and no touchdowns. There are better days ahead for the Giants, but a tip of the hat to the Steelers who continue to be a matchup landmine for opposing fantasy owners.


From the "Stop Me When You've Heard This One Before" file, I give you Raiders running back Darren McFadden. It's been a strange year for Run DMC, who started the season being more effective catching the ball and despite flashes overall, is averaging a paltry 3.3 yards per carry and has two rushing touchdowns. He's never made it a full 16 games in the regular season and yesterday's leg injury shows why it's so hard for fantasy owners to trust him. Owners should grab Mike Goodson for a handcuff if they can, of if Goodson is too injured to go, target a Marcel Reece.

All in all some Fantasy owners should be happy with their players, provided they had Luck or Martin. On the other side of things they probably don't feel to good about themselves if they have the Giants D, or McFadden. My advice is that if you have any of these players I would stick it out with Martin, Luck and I would stick it out with the Giants D. As for McFadden I would be looking around for other options.

If you would like to know more
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/fantasy/11/05/fantasy-football-awards-week9/index.html#ixzz2BNWto6B5

Until next time,
You keep doing what your doing, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports