The laughing stocks of the NFL, the past decade have been the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions. Both teams were virtual locks for last place in their division and easy games on the NFL schedule. Now things have changed as both teams are an undefeated 3-0 with quality wins on the schedule.
The Bills rolled the Chiefs Week 1, and had 2 comeback wins Week 2 and 3 to beat the Raiders (2-1) and the arch nemesis Patriots (2-1). Buffalo hadn't beat New England and Brady in the last 15 meetings dating back to a time when Facebook was "The Facebook" and in the works. The Bills have Chan Gailey as the new head coach and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick might be Mark Zuckerburg with his Harvard education playing at a high level in the NFL. Stevie Johnson is a stud WR and not a bda rapper while Fred Jackson is the unsung hero thats has been all across the world trying to play football.
After 3 weeks I'd say the Bills are for real and I'll take a glass of that kool-aid. To beat Tom Brady after trailing 21-0 and intercept him four times is an accomplishment I don't care if you are the Bills or not.
In the NFC the Lions are 3-0. Yes it may be more impressive then the Bills, let's not forget in 2008 the Lions went 0-16, yes they won 0 games. Now with Stafford, Best, HC Jim Schwarz, Pettigrew, Suh and Fairley added on since, the Lions are on the prowl. They trailed 20-0 to the Vikings and won 26-23 in OT yesterday and beat up on KC and Tampa Bay (10-6 last season). Both the Lions and Bills have beaten an 0-3 Chiefs team that looks terrible and last year's 10-6 playoff appearance may have been a fluke as the Ravens routed them anyway.
The Bills and Lions in the Super Bowl? Hold on just minute I'm not drinking that kool aid just yet
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Justin Verlander
Go ahead make the exception, because he is just that good. Tigers ace Justin Verlander improved to 24-5, yes a freakish 24-5 record this season with his 12th straight win on the mound locking him up the AL CY Young and you should go ahead and give him the AL MVP as well. With all sue respect to Curtis Granderson, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jose Bautista and others the award is for Most Valuable Player to his team, not the best player.
It's simple, the AL Central runaway champion Tigers are no where without Verlander being an absolute monster on the mound this season. Verlander even has a no-hitter this season to his resume and has the Tigers as a strong playoff contender as October looms and playoff baseball begins.
I have to give you Verlander stats because I'm a stat guy and his numbers are too good to pass up, like a $10 steak night or buy one get one free Doritos.
Verlander- 24-5 (12 consec. wins), 244 strikeouts, 2.29 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 244 IP (K per inning), 4 CG, 2 SH, 1 no-hitter, BAA .190= Simply Sensational
Let's not mention the Tigers caught the Indians in the division and have been dominant behind Verlander's charge the last 2 months. Detroit has rattled off a 16-3 record in its past 19 games and will be a scary team with Verlander pitching twice in a playoff series.
He's been a fantasy baseball hero for me (I drafted him in the 4th rd, what a steal) and he gives me a shot in the finals of my league and that right there makes him the best pitcher in the MLB this 2011 season.
It's simple, the AL Central runaway champion Tigers are no where without Verlander being an absolute monster on the mound this season. Verlander even has a no-hitter this season to his resume and has the Tigers as a strong playoff contender as October looms and playoff baseball begins.
I have to give you Verlander stats because I'm a stat guy and his numbers are too good to pass up, like a $10 steak night or buy one get one free Doritos.
Verlander- 24-5 (12 consec. wins), 244 strikeouts, 2.29 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 244 IP (K per inning), 4 CG, 2 SH, 1 no-hitter, BAA .190= Simply Sensational
Let's not mention the Tigers caught the Indians in the division and have been dominant behind Verlander's charge the last 2 months. Detroit has rattled off a 16-3 record in its past 19 games and will be a scary team with Verlander pitching twice in a playoff series.
He's been a fantasy baseball hero for me (I drafted him in the 4th rd, what a steal) and he gives me a shot in the finals of my league and that right there makes him the best pitcher in the MLB this 2011 season.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Historic streaks- done
In the past year, two Hall of Fame NFL QBs Brett Favre and Peyton Manning who were 1 and 2 on the consecutive starts list stumbled over some injuries, which caused these streaks to end. Favre's streak formerly #1, now done at 297 straight starts towards the end of the 2010 and Manning could not catch him with neck surgeries all offseason falling victim to the injury bug and not playing Week 1 at Houston to kickoff the 2011 season. Kerry Collins started for the Colts who were smashed by a hungry Texans team 34-7 (led 34-0). Favre's streak began in 1992 and since then 238 QBs have started in the NFL and 17 of them once were Favre's backups themselves (Aaron Rodgers, Matt Hasselbeck). Joe Webb was the first QB to start in favor of Favre when he went down with injury last season.
Manning's streak ended at 208 games (227 games including playoffs), he started every game for the Colts since 1998 and the last QB until the streak recently ended to start in Indy was current 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. The torch has been passed Favre to Manning and Manning couldn't hold it very long as now it seems it falls in the hands of....
Eli Manning. Peyton's little brother keeps the Manning family atop the list with a active streak of 104 consecutive starts. Currently the longest active streak and the 6th longest streak in NFL history. The second longest streak resides in San Diego as Phillip Rivers is now up to 81 consecutive starts, tied for 13th all time with Trent Green.
By the end of the 2011 season if both players stay healthy Eli will be at 119 consecutivve starts and Rivers will be at 96 moving into the 3rd longest starts streak ever and Rivers will move into 7th just ahead of former Eagles legend Ron Jaworski (116).
Rivers would have to play 13 seasons more as a starting QB to catch Favre and Eli will need about 11.5 seasons to catch Favre. With all that said lets realize that the NFL without Favre and Peyton Manning isn't quite the same.
Manning's streak ended at 208 games (227 games including playoffs), he started every game for the Colts since 1998 and the last QB until the streak recently ended to start in Indy was current 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. The torch has been passed Favre to Manning and Manning couldn't hold it very long as now it seems it falls in the hands of....
Eli Manning. Peyton's little brother keeps the Manning family atop the list with a active streak of 104 consecutive starts. Currently the longest active streak and the 6th longest streak in NFL history. The second longest streak resides in San Diego as Phillip Rivers is now up to 81 consecutive starts, tied for 13th all time with Trent Green.
By the end of the 2011 season if both players stay healthy Eli will be at 119 consecutivve starts and Rivers will be at 96 moving into the 3rd longest starts streak ever and Rivers will move into 7th just ahead of former Eagles legend Ron Jaworski (116).
Rivers would have to play 13 seasons more as a starting QB to catch Favre and Eli will need about 11.5 seasons to catch Favre. With all that said lets realize that the NFL without Favre and Peyton Manning isn't quite the same.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Oregonian- Throwback 2008
Portland State 78, Rice 74: Dominguez's clinching shot lifts Vikings in opener
by Keith Cordero Jr., Special to The Oregonian Saturday November 15, 2008, 4:07 PM
HOUSTON -- Senior point guard Jeremiah Dominguez scored 24 points, including a key late three-pointer, to lift Portland State to a season-opening 78-74 victory at Rice on Saturday.
"We needed a big bucket at the end to seal the win," last season's Big Sky Conference MVP said of his shot that gave the Vikings a 76-70 lead.
Coming off a season in which it finished 23-10, including 14-2 in the Big Sky, and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth, Portland State (1-0) spoiled Rice's home opener in the remodeled Tudor Fieldhouse by outscoring the Owls 45-38 in the second half.
"You always want to start the year off on the right note," Vikings coach Ken Bone said, "so being able to come in here and play a team the caliber of Rice, I'm extremely happy with our guys and the ability to pull out the win."
After falling behind early, the Vikings made an 11-1 run to close within 18-17 with about nine minutes left in the first half. PSU soon took its first lead when junior forward Jamie Jones sank two free throws to put the Vikings up 25-23.
"Once we got the ball moving, we got good shots and people were knocking them down," Dominguez said.
Rice (0-1) answered with a run of its own, junior guard Cory Pflieger hitting back-to-back three-pointers to put the Owls up 30-27.
Rice ended the first half on a 13-8 run for a 36-33 lead.
Limited to seven points in the first half, Dominguez took charge to open the second half, scoring 10 quick points to put the Vikings up 53-51.
Consecutive three-pointers by sophomore forward Phil Nelson and junior guard Dominic Waters gave PSU a 65-57 lead with 8:47 left.
The Vikings pushed the lead to double digits, 73-63, when Dominguez found Jones for an easy layup with 3:12 left.
Rice answered with five quick points, capped by sophomore forward Trey Stanton's layup and free throw with 2:09 left, to make it 73-68.
A little more than a minute later, with the Owls within three points, Dominguez hit the big three-pointer with 1:01 left to seal the win.
A key to the game: The Vikings had a 17-5 advantage in offensive rebounds and scored 26 second-chance points off those. Rice, on the other hand, managed just nine such points.
"Were the Big Sky champs the last two years in a row -- as far as rebounding -- and we take a lot of pride in that," said Bone, whose team outrebounded the Owls 38-27.
In addition to Dominguez's 24 points and four assists in 38 minutes, Jones had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Waters added 18 points.
Pflieger led the Owls with 17 points.
"We needed a big bucket at the end to seal the win," last season's Big Sky Conference MVP said of his shot that gave the Vikings a 76-70 lead.
Coming off a season in which it finished 23-10, including 14-2 in the Big Sky, and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth, Portland State (1-0) spoiled Rice's home opener in the remodeled Tudor Fieldhouse by outscoring the Owls 45-38 in the second half.
"You always want to start the year off on the right note," Vikings coach Ken Bone said, "so being able to come in here and play a team the caliber of Rice, I'm extremely happy with our guys and the ability to pull out the win."
After falling behind early, the Vikings made an 11-1 run to close within 18-17 with about nine minutes left in the first half. PSU soon took its first lead when junior forward Jamie Jones sank two free throws to put the Vikings up 25-23.
"Once we got the ball moving, we got good shots and people were knocking them down," Dominguez said.
Rice (0-1) answered with a run of its own, junior guard Cory Pflieger hitting back-to-back three-pointers to put the Owls up 30-27.
Rice ended the first half on a 13-8 run for a 36-33 lead.
Limited to seven points in the first half, Dominguez took charge to open the second half, scoring 10 quick points to put the Vikings up 53-51.
Consecutive three-pointers by sophomore forward Phil Nelson and junior guard Dominic Waters gave PSU a 65-57 lead with 8:47 left.
The Vikings pushed the lead to double digits, 73-63, when Dominguez found Jones for an easy layup with 3:12 left.
Rice answered with five quick points, capped by sophomore forward Trey Stanton's layup and free throw with 2:09 left, to make it 73-68.
A little more than a minute later, with the Owls within three points, Dominguez hit the big three-pointer with 1:01 left to seal the win.
A key to the game: The Vikings had a 17-5 advantage in offensive rebounds and scored 26 second-chance points off those. Rice, on the other hand, managed just nine such points.
"Were the Big Sky champs the last two years in a row -- as far as rebounding -- and we take a lot of pride in that," said Bone, whose team outrebounded the Owls 38-27.
In addition to Dominguez's 24 points and four assists in 38 minutes, Jones had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Waters added 18 points.
Pflieger led the Owls with 17 points.
Fantasy Football- bad luck with QBs
Who doesn't love fantasy football? It is the safest gambling one can do when it comes to NFL football. We throw $100 into a pot and we pick players that we think will have great seasons statistically on the field. It is my 6th year of fantasy football and I have yet to win my league ever. I try so hard year in and year out to win, but somehow or another my QB fails. My QBs the last few seasons- Derek Anderson (2009), Brett Favre (2010), Chad Henne (2010) and Matt Cassell (2009) and now the injured Peyton Manning in 2011. I know. This is a horrible collection of fantasy football QBs, but somehow or another all the top QBs are gone by the time I draft and then I'm stuck with middle of the pack QBs that aren't fantasy material. Am I QB cursed? Maybe and the trend continues in 2011...I drafted Peyton Manning in the 5th round. Our draft was a few days before the big announcement that Manning would be out for the majority of the season and I really thought he'd be back. So I'm all in this season on....Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, yes Harvard graduate Ryan Fitzpatrick, formerly of the Rams and Bengals. Could this be his breakout season? Maybe. Fitz as I call him did chuck 4 TD passes Week 1 in a thrashing of the Chiefs 41-7. I have to say I'm sold on Fitz, he was a nice bye week replacement for me in 2010 and I targeted him again in later rounds this season to be my Manninf insurance and now he is my starter. Henne and Cam Newton were quickly scooped up off the waiver wire and it just leaves me Fitz. I have to say despite losing Manning for probably the entire season, Chan Gailey's fresh look in Buffalo could trigger Fitz to a breakout season...
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