In the NFL yesterday, the Miami Dolphins defense overwhelmed the Cleveland Browns and the offense did enough to take Miami to a 23-10 win over Cleveland. The Dolphins’ “D” recorded six sacks and had three interceptions. Ryan Tannehill overcame a sluggish start, and completed 24-38 passes for 272 yards and Brian Hartline caught nine of those passes for 114 yards. Mike Wallace caught only one pass for 15 yards in the game, and complained about it loudly. The Dolphins’ running attack did not make the trip to Cleveland, as they only managed to run for 20 yards on 23 carries.
Here’s more on the game, from Chris Perkins of the Sun-Sentinel:
Defensive Tackle Randy Starks apparently wasn’t very happy. Check out his reaction after recording a sack, pointing to the Dolphin coaches:
Here are some of my thoughts from yesterday’s win:
Nice win, but the lack of rushing offense concerns me. Ryan Tannehill looked good enough, however, even without the threat of a running game.
Speaking of offense, why was Mike Wallace not targeted at all in the first half of the game? Unless Cleveland cornerback Joe Haden is the greatest cornerback ever, he cannot possibly cover Mike Wallace one-on-one and get away with it. Game plan needs to be tweaked to include Wallace the entire game.
I told you after the draft that rookie kicker Caleb Sturgis was going to have a huge positive impact. 3-3 on field goal attempts, and finding the end zone on his kickoffs consistently.
Sticking to the kicking game, punter Brandon Fields is again showing he is All-Pro material. Five punts for just a hair under a 54-yard average yesterday.
To summarize, it is going to get a lot tougher for the Dolphins the next four weeks, so Dolfans need to savor this win and prepare for a possible rough stretch. Their next four games: at Indianapolis (Andrew Luck), Atlanta (Matt Ryan), at New Orleans (Drew Brees), and Baltimore (Joe Flacco), before their bye week on October 13th.
The Herald has more Dolphin news, including how the Fins are taking steps to avoid blackouts in South Florida:
The Palm Beach Post reports that yesterday’s game was one of the worst ever in franchise history:
The Dolphins will name a new CEO today:
Here is Armando Salguero with all the latest:
Here are all the scores and highlights from the rest of week 1 in the NFL so far. I’m 3-2 on my picks against the spread here in week one, with one game to go this week - Hou@SD.
Week one concludes tonight with two games, both of them on ESPN on the Monday Night extravaganza:
7:00 pm
Philadelphia @ Washington - 3 1/2 ESPN
10:20 pm
Houston @ San Diego + 3 ESPN
I love the Texans defense, especially DE J. J. Watt and his 20 1/2 sacks last season, and the addition of future hall of fame safety Ed Reed is going to make them even better, once he is 100% healthy. The Texans can run the ball, with all-pro Arian Foster and Ben Tate, who should get more carries this year as they try and reduce Foster’s workload. QB Matt Schaub has some wonderful weapons at the receiver position, with Andre Johnson and highly-touted rookie DeAndre Hopkins. Over on the other sideline, QB Phillip Rivers had a miserable season last year, and this year will be in a new offensive scheme with less emphasis on deep passes. His receivers, including Malcolm Floyd, Eddie Royal, and former Patriot RB Danny Woodhead should benefit from that change. San Diego is 4-0 against the Texans all-time, but I look for that to change in this game. I’ll take the Texans minus the 3 points.
One of the stories I’ll be following this season from around the league is the progress of Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton and how he improves under his new QB coach, former Hurricane quarterback Ken Dorsey:
There were a couple of injuries, including a fatality, in two separate falls at NFL stadiums in week 1:
Here’s ESPN’s NFL Nation Blog, with more news from all around the league:
Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
The Marlins lost two out of three to the Nationals over the weekend. After Jose Fernandez’ gem on Friday night, the Nats had no problems, and closed out the series yesteray with a 6-4 win. Ryan Zimmerman and Wilson Ramos both connected long distance in the win. The Fish now welcome the Atlanta Braves for a four-game series that begins today. Make a note that Jose Fernandez’ last start this season will be on Wednesday:
MONDAY Kris Medlen vs Henderson Alvarez 7:10 pm
TUESDAY Julio Teheran vs Tom Koehler 7:10 pm
WEDNESDAY Mike Minor vs Jose Fernandez 7:10 pm
THURSDAY Alex Wood vs Nathan Eovaldi 12:40 pm
The Marlins are still the worst offensive team in the majors. The Fish have been held to three runs or less 87 times this season, and their record in those 87 games is 17-70. Taking it one step further,
When scoring three runs in a game - 6-16
When scoring two runs in a game - 9-17
When scoring one run in a game - 2-21
Of course, they lead the majors in getting shutout, having been blanked 16 times so far this season. Ouch.
Although they’ve been scoring more runs lately, the Marlins are still at the bottom of the list in runs scored in MLB, scoring only 461 runs in their 141 games, an underwhelming 3.26 runs per contest. Here are the rest of the bottom-dwellers:
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 53-88 461
White Sox 57-85 531
Phillies 66-77 539
Giants 64-79 541
Padres 65-77 543
In contrast, the Boston Red Sox (87-58) lead MLB with 757 runs scored and the Detroit Tigers (82-61) have plated 728. The Sox have played two more games than the Tigers.
In the Major Leagues yesterday, first in the National League, as the three division leaders coming into the weekend, the Pirates, the Dodgers, and the Braves, all got swept.
Phillies 3 Braves 2
Dan Ruf’s solo homer in the eighth inning was the difference. Evan Gattis accounted for both Braves runs with two home runs.
Cardinals 9 Pirates 2
Michael Wacha tossed seven scoreless innings and drove in a pair of runs.
Reds 3 Dodgers 2
Ryan Hanigan ended the game with a run-scoring double in the ninth inning. Jay Bruce homered twice for the Reds in the win.
Giants 3 D-Backs 2 (11 innings)
Angel Pagan sent everybody home as he singled in the game winner.
Padres 5 Rockies 2
San Diego scored four runs in the seventh inning to complete a three-game sweep of the Rockies.
Over in the American League,
Yankees 4 Red Sox 3
Ichiro Suzuki scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning, after Mariano Rivera blew the save, giving up a home run to Will Middlebrook in the top of the ninth,.
Mets 2 Indians 1
Eric Young broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth inning with a run-scoring double.
White Sox 4 Orioles 2
Adam Dunn hit a two run homer as the Sox avoided a four-game sweep.
Royals 5 Tigers 2
Eric Hosmer blasted a three-run homer in the fifth inning.
Blue Jays 2 Twins 0
Jose Reyes broke a scoreless tie in the eighth inning with a run-scoring double, then stole third and scored the second run on a Rajai Davis single.
Rangers 4 Angels 3
Alex Rios homered and later drove in the deciding run in the seventh inning with a double. Elvis Andrus drove home the other two runs for Texas.
A’s 7 Astros 2
The A’s scored all their runs in the third inning. Seth Smith hit a three-run homer, Brandon Moss drove in a pair.
Rays 4 Mariners 1
Pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez came through with a tie-breaking run-scoring single in the top of the eighth inning. The Rays had lost three games in a row.
Today in MLB, in the National League,
Braves @ Marlins 7:10 pm
Kris Medlen vs Henderson Alvarez
Cubs @ Reds 7:10 pm
Travis Wood vs Bronson Arroyo
Nationals @ Mets 7:10 pm
Gio Gonzalez vs Carlos Torres
D-Backs @ Dodgers 10:10 pm
Randall Delgado vs Ricky Nolasco
Rockies @ Giants 10:15 pm
Jhoulys Chacin vs Tim Lincecum
Over in the American League,
Yankees @ Orioles 7:05 pm
CC Sabathia vs Chris Tillman
Royals @ Indians 7:05 pm
Ervin Santana vs Ubaldo Jimenez
Angels @ Twins 7:10 pm
Jered Weaver vs Pedro Hernandez
Pirates @ Rangers 8:05 pm
Gerrit Cole vs Yu Darvish
Tigers @ White Sox 8:10 pm
Max Scherzer vs Chris Sale
Astros @ Mariners 10:10 pm
Jarred Cosart vs Taijuan Walker
In other baseball news, Derek Jeter is out again:
Former GM Jim Bowden, now with ESPN, rates this year’s rookies. Who’s number 1?
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
Jayson Stark of ESPN breaks down the postseason schedule
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: The Orioles’ Chris Davis leads the majors in home runs with 48 so far this season. Who holds the Orioles’ team record for home runs in a season? The answer comes later, alligator.
The University of Miami Hurricanes are a top-25 team for the first time since 2010 after beating the #12 ranked Florida Gators on Saturday, 21-16:
Here’s the Herald’s game story:
Coach Al Golden tells his players to keep the foot on the pedal after the big win over the Gators:
The Herald’s Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest scoop from the University of Miami:
My take on Saturday's big win over Florida: Good to see the Canes take care of business against the Gators. However, some red flags may be visible. Offense only mustered 212 total yards, only 50 on the ground. That is bad. The defense gave up 413 yards of offense to the Gators, luckily Florida continued to shoot itself in the foot with five turnovers and only scoring once in six red zone opportunities. They're going to have to do better than that.
The Canes will have an open date this week, before what should be a walk in the park against Savannah State on Saturday, September 21, at the Seven Names Stadium.
FIU got trounced by Central Florida 38-0 at FIU stadium on Saturday. Can it get any uglier at the Westchester campus? Reaction after the game from the FIU faithful at the game was not a pretty picture, and it is going to get even uglier. They have even started a web site asking for the firing of FIU’s athletic director Pete Garcia: www.firepetegarcia.com
FIU’s next game is this Saturday, at 6:00 pm, again at FIU Stadium, against Bethune Cookman, who pummeled Virginia Union 66-7 this past saturday.
Here’s the latest news from Westchester:
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and FSU:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
Here are this week’s new top-25 in college football:
Here is this past week’s complete results:
The Heat are in the news. Yahoo! Sports has the story as the champs are considering bringing back former #1 pick Michael Beasley.
A couple of former Heat players are in the news, both good and bad.
Caron Butler is now a Milwaukee Buck.
Gary Payton is in the hall of fame.
Lamar Odom is in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: The Orioles’ Chris Davis leads the majors in home runs with 48 so far this season. Who holds the Orioles’ team record for home runs in a season?
Brady Anderson, who hit 50 in 1996. Can you spell P.E.D.?
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