TGIF! Let’s start off today with the NFL and the Dolphins.
Here is the schedule of games for NFL week 3, and my picks for the week. Good start for me on my picks this week, as KC beat Philadelphia:
THURSDAY
Kansas City 26 Philadelphia 16
The KC defense forced five turnovers and sacked Michael Vick five times. Alex Smith completed 22 of 35 passes for 273 yards and was his efficient self with no interceptions. Donnie Avery was his preferred target last night, with 7 receptions and 141 yards. Jamaal Charles carried the load offensively as well, with 20 carries for 92 yards and 7 receptions for 80 yards. The Chiefs are 3-0 after finishing last year at 2-14.
Here’s the rest of the schedule for week 3.
SUNDAY
Green Bay @ Cincinnati +3 1/2 1:00 pm FOX
This game will probably be an offensive shootout. Aaron Rodgers threw for 480 yards and four touchdowns last week, while James Starks became the first Packer running back to rush for over 100 yards (he ran for 132 yards) since Brandon Jackson did it in 2010. Bengals’ QB Andy Dalton has enjoyed success so far this season, albeit not at the pace Rodgers is. WR AJ Green is a stud, and Cincinnati’s rookie tandem of TE Tyler Eifert and RB Giovanni Bernard have made an immediate impact. The Bengals have beaten the Packers the last two times the teams have met. I’ve been going back and forth on this game, but I will go with the Bengals and take the 3 1/2 points.
NY Giants @ Carolina +1 1:00 pm FOX
In a “battle” of two winless teams, this is the week that the Giants get off the schneid. The Giants have not been able to run the ball at all so far this season, and they have compounded their offensive woes by turning the ball over ten times the first two games. Look for Eli Manning to have a very good day against the Panthers and look for the Giants’ defense to have a good game against Cam Newton, who has been pressured constantly the first two games and has been sacked six times. I’ll take the Giants and give the one point.
St. Louis @ Dallas -4 1:00 pm FOX
Tampa Bay @ New England -9 1:00 pm FOX
Arizona @ New Orleans -9 1:00 pm FOX
Detroit @ Washington -1 1:00 pm FOX
Houston @ Baltimore +3 1:00 pm CBS
Cleveland @ Minnesota -7 1:00 pm CBS
Another “battle” of winless teams. Minnesota’s porous defense will find the Browns to be the medicine they need. Cleveland has not scored a touchdown in six quarters. The Browns have basically given up for this season, trading their starting running back and best offensive player Trent Richardson. They will also be starting third-string QB Brian Hoyer in place of the injured Brandon Weeden. The Browns do get top receiver Josh Gordon back this week, after serving a two-game suspension for violating the substance-abuse policy of the league. I’ll go with the Vikings and give the seven points.
San Diego @ Tennessee -3 1:00 pm CBS
Atlanta @ MIAMI even 4:05 pm FOX
The Fins are in the middle of a tough part of their schedule, playing four consecutive games against expected playoff contenders. They got off to a good start, beating the Colts last week. Now, it is the Falcons, Saints, and Ravens the next three weeks. Atlanta has one of the most explosive offenses in the league, with Matt Ryan leading the orchestra that includes all-pro WR’s Julio Jones, Roddy White, TE Tony Gonzalez, and RB Steven Jackson. The Dolphins haven’t been able to control the tight ends so far this season, and Gonzalez is one of the best, if not the best, of all time. Jackson is not going to play against the Fins this week due to a thigh injury. I really like the matchup for the Dolphins’ defensive line against the Falcons O-line. The Fins should be able to put on enough pressure to rattle Matt Ryan, who is not nearly as mobile or elusive as Andrew Luck. For Miami, Ryan Tannehill continues to show improvement in this, his second season. He has completed almost 66% of his passes for 591 yards, with two TD’s and only 1 interception. New WR Mike Wallace caught nine passes last week for 115 yards and a touchdown. Wallace, Brandon Gibson, and Brian Hartline should do well against a banged-up Falcons’ secondary, and look out for TE Charles Clay, who had a terrific day against the Colts, and even scored a rushing TD out of the fullback slot. The Fins are going to have to do a better job running the ball. After running for only 20 yards against the Browns in week 1, last week they managed to run for 101 yards against the Colts, as Lamar Miller gained 69 yards and ran for a score. The last time the Dolphins started 3-0 was 2002. I’ve also gone back and forth on this contest, which is now an EVEN bet in Las Vegas. I’ll take the Dolphins at home in a close one.
Buffalo @ NY Jets +1 4:25 pm CBS
Indianapolis @ San Francisco -12 4:25 pm CBS
Jacksonville @ Seattle -19 4:25 pm CBS
Chicago @ Pittsburgh +3 8:30 pm NBC
Who would have thunk it? The Bears are undefeated at 2-0, the Steelers are winless at 0-2. Pittsburgh has not been able to run the ball at all, rushing for only 75 yards total their first two games, and have only managed to score 19 total points. Meanwhile, Jay Cutler is 2-0 against the Steelers and is getting more and more comfortable in Head Coach Marc Trestman’s offense. The defense continues to be as opportunistic as ever, and have forced six turnovers in their first two games. I’ll pick the Bears to stay unbeaten, while giving the three points.
MONDAY
Oakland @ Denver -16 8:30 pm ESPN
Payton Manning leads a Broncos offense that has averaged 45 points and 463 yards in their first two games. Denver’s defense has only allowed 86 yards per game and they should have a field day teeing off on Oakland QB Terrell Pryor. Denver will miss LT Ryan Clady, as the three-time Pro Bowler will be out the rest of the season. The Oakland defense is tied for the NFL lead in sacks with nine, so this will be a good test for the revamped Bronco offensive line. Sixteen points is a HUGE amount of points, especially for a game against a division opponent. I’m still going to pick the Broncos and give the 16 points.
I’m off to a good start, with the KC win over Philadelphia. Let’s see how the rest of the weekend plays out.
vs the Spread Straight Up Season Total
WEEK 1 3-2-1 4-2 ------ -----
WEEK 2 5-2 7-0 8-4-1 11-2
WEEK 3 1-0 1-0 9-4-1 12-2
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.
Let’s go out to the ballparks.
After giving up three runs in the first inning to the Nationals last night, Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez immediately hit Ian Desmond with a pitch and then combined with the Marlins pen to hold the Nats scoreless the rest of the game. However, as is usually the case, the Fish could muster enough offense to only score two runs, and fell to the Nats 3-2. The anemic Miami offense went 2-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. Washington is now 12-4 against the Marlins this season, including a perfect 7-0 at home. The Fish need to win seven of their remaining 9 games in order to avoid the second 100-loss season in team history.
To put this in another way, even if the Marlins were to win their remaining nine games, they wouldn’t reach the number of wins that the Miami Heat (66-16) had last season, even though the NBA regular season is comprised of only 82 games, while the MLB regular season has 162 games. Not gonna happen.
The Marlins and the Nats continue their four-game series up in DC. Here are the probable pitchers for the rest of the series:
TONIGHT Jacob Turner vs Jordan Zimmerman 7:05 pm
SATURDAY Tom Koehler vs Stephen Strasburg 7:05 pm
SUNDAY Brian Flynn vs Dan Haren 1:35 pm
The Fish will close out the regular season at home next week, with three games against the Phillies and a three-game weekend series against Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers.
The Marlins are still the worst offensive team in the majors, and one of the worst in major league history. The Fish have been held to three runs or less 96 times this season, and their record in those 96 games is 18-78. Taking it one step further,
When scoring three runs in a game - 7-18
When scoring two runs in a game - 9-20
When scoring one run in a game - 2-23
Of course, they lead the majors in getting shutout, having been blanked 17 times so far this season.
The Marlins are still at the bottom of the list in runs scored this season in MLB, scoring only 491 runs in their 153 games, an obscene 3.2 runs per contest. Here is the complete list of the bottom-dwellers:
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 56-97 491
White Sox 60-92 562
Padres 71-81 578
Cubs 64-89 583
Phillies 71-81 584
In contrast, the Boston Red Sox (93-61) lead MLB with 799 runs.
I must again congratulate the Herald for finally seeing what has been going on around them for a while. Linda Robertson is the latest Herald writer to jump all over the Marlins’ incompetent and unstable owner, Jeffrey Loria:
In case you missed it, this article, from ThePostGame.com, is a sad commentary on the whole sad state of affairs with the team. Thanks to alert readers and friends Armando Sierra and Ed Hennessy for sharing it:
Here are the capsules and summaries from all the games in the majors yesterday.
Today’s games around the majors,
Here is the complete, month-by-month 2014 schedule for the Marlins:
Great finish this season as we race towards the playoffs.
In the American League, Tampa Bay and the Texas Rangers are once again tied for the wild card, with the Indians right on their tails. 1/2 game behind. The Orioles are 2 games back, the Royals are 3 games out, and the Yankees now find themselves 3 1/2 games behind.
Over in the National League, the only division that is yet to be decided is the Central, where the Cardinals lead the division by 1 games over Pittsburgh and the Cincinnati Reds are just one game behind the Pirates. The Washington Nationals are 5 games behind the Reds, even after a run that has seen them win 11 out of their last 13 games. A case of too little, too late for the Nats, who have under-performed all season. All three teams from the NL Central will advance to the postseason, it is just a matter of who wins the division and who end up facing each other, and where, in the one-game wild card playoff.
The Yankees are going to need a miracle to get into the postseason:
Even though getting into the playoffs is great, the additional wild card game may be hazardous to any team’s health:
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
In other baseball news, the Dodgers celebrated clinching their first NL West division championship by jumping into the pool at the Diamondbacks’ stadium.
Andy Pettitte is retiring again after this season:
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Andy Pettitte said yesterday he would be retiring (again) after this season. He will end his career as the all-time leader in strikeouts as a Yankee, and in third place all-time in wins as a Yankee. Who are on top of the list for wins as a Yankee? The answer comes later, alligator.
The Herald’s Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest scoop from the University of Miami, as the Canes prepare for this week’s encounter with doormat Savannah State at the Seven Names Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm, and there is no live TV, since the Canes are favored by close to 100 points (actually by 60 points) over Savannah State, who would probably get beat by a couple of the top-notch South Florida high school teams. You can, however, watch the game on your computer on ESPN3:
FIU is in Louisville to take on the University of Louisville. Kickoff is at 12 noon. No free TV for the game, which is probably done so nobody down here has to bear witness to what should be a massacre. If you choose to, you can watch the game on your computer, on ESPN3. Louisville is favored by 42 points over the Panthers. Remember, FIU beat this Louisville team two seasons ago, and last year, they played them very tough and had a 14-7 lead before FIU QB Jake Medlock suffered a foot injury. The Panthers fell behind 28-14, and made it interesting, losing 28-21.
Please tell me again why Mario Cristobal was fired.
Here’s the latest from FIU:
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and FSU:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
Here is the complete schedule in College Football for week 4, including yesterday’s results:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Andy Pettitte said yesterday he would be retiring (again) after this season. He will end his career as the all-time leader in strikeouts as a Yankee, and in third place all-time in wins as a Yankee. Who are on top of the list for wins as a Yankee?
Whitey Ford leads the way in Yankee history with 236 wins, followed by Red Ruffing with 231. Pettitte has 218, followed by Lefty Gomez in fourth place with 189, and Ron Guidry, who won 170 games with the Yanks. Pettite leads all Yankee pitchers in career strikeouts with 2,009, followed by Ford with 1,956, and Guidry with 1,778.
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!
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